OBJECTIONS AND TEXTS OF SCRIPTUEE CONSIDERED. 879
any man breathing, to search out the meaning of the word and mind of God in it ; holding ourselves to the proportion of faith, essentiality of the doctrine of redemption, scope of the places where such asser- tions are, comparing them with other places, and the like ways, — labour- ing in all humility to find the mind of the Lord, according to his own appointment. And of the success of such a trial, laying aside such failings as will adhere to my personal weakness, I am, by the grace of God, exceedingly confident ; having, by his goodness, received some strength and opportunity to search into and seriously to weigh whatever the most famous assertors of universal redemption, whether Lutherans or Arminians, have been able to say in this cause. For the present, I address myself to Avhat is before me ; only desiring the reader to observe, that the assertion to be proved is, "That Jesus Christ, according to the counsel and will of his Father, suitable to his purpose of salvation in his own mind and intention, did, by his death and oblation, pay a ransom for all and every man, elect and reprobate, — both those that are saved and those that perish, — to redeem them from sin, death, and hell, [and] to recover salvation, life, and immortality for them ; and not only for his elect, or church, chosen to an inheritance before the foundation of the world." To confirm this we have divers places produced; which, by the Lord's assistance, we shall consider in order.
Proof 1 of argument 6. " God so loved the world, that he gave his Son to be the Saviour of the world, 1 John iv. 14; and sends his serv^ant to bear witness of his Son, that all men through him might believe, John i. 4, 7; that whosoever believes on him might have everlasting life, John iii. 16, 17. And he is willing that all should come to the knowledge of the truth, 1 Tim. ii. 4, and be saved, 1 Tim. i. 15. Nor will he be wanting in the sufficiency of helpfulness to them, if, as light comes, they will suffer themselves to be wrought on and to receive it, Prov. i. 23, viii. 4, 5. And is not this plain in Scripture?"
Ans. First, The main, yea, indeed, only thing to be proved, as we before observed, is, that those indefinite propositions which we find in the Scripture concerning the death of Christ are to be understood universally, — that the terms all and world do signify in this business, when they denote the object of the death of Christ, all and every man in the world. Unless this be done, all other labour is altogether useless and fruitless. Now, to this there is nothing at all urged in this pre- tended proof, but only a few ambiguous places barely recited, with a false collection from them or observation upon them, which they give no colour to.
Secondly, 1 John iv. 14, God's sending his Son to be the "Sa- viour of the world," and his servant to testify it, is nothing but to be the Saviour of men living in the world; which his elect are. A
380 THE DEATH OF DEATH. [BOOK IV.
hundred sucli places as these, so clearly interpreted as they are in other places, would make nought at all to the purpose. The next thing is from John i. 4, 7. Verse 4 is, that Christ was the " life of men \' which is most true, no life being to be had for any man but only in and through him. This not being at all to the question, the next words of verse 7 [are], " That all men through him might believe;" which Avords being thrust in, to piece-up a sense with another fraction of Scripture, seem to have some weight, as though Christ were sent that all men through him might believe. A goodly show! seeming no less to make for universal redemption than the ScrijDture cited by the devil, after he had cut off part of it, did for our Saviour's casting himself from the pinnacle of the temple. But if you cast aside the sophistry of the old serpent, the expression of this place is not a little available to invalidate the thesis sought to be maintained by it. The words are, " There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe." Now, who do you think is there meant by ht abroZ, "through him?" Is it Christ, think you, the light ? or John, the witness of the light ? Certainly John, as al- most all expositors do agree, except certain among the Papists, and Grotius, — that Ishmael. So the Syriac interpreter, reading, "By his hand or ministry." So the word infers ; for we are not said to believe dia xpiffrou, " by Christ," or, as it should be here, dia tou forSg, " by the light;" but E/'s to (pug, John xii. 36, " in the light," not hi/ it. And Jt/ tov Kvpiov, Acts ix. 42, " believed in the Lord ;" so also, Rom. ix. 83, Kai eras 6 'Triffnuuv W axjrOj, " Every one that believeth on him." So iv Xfidrui, in divers places, in him; but no mention of believing hi/ him, Avhich rather denotes the instrument of believing, as is the ministry of the word, than the object of faith, as Christ is. This being apjDarent, let us see what is affirmed of John, why he was sent "that all through him might believe." Now, this word all here hath all the qualifications which our author requireth for it, to be always esteemed a certain expression of a collective universality, that it is spoken of God, etc. And who, I pray you, were these all, that were intended to be brought to the faith by the ministry of John? Were they not only all those that lived throughout the world in his days, who preached (a few years) in Judea only, but also all those that were dead before his nativity, and that were born after his death, and shall be to the end of the Avorld in any place under heaven? Let them that can l^elieve it enjoy their persuasion, with this assur- ance that I will never be their rival; being fully persuaded that by all men here is meant only some of all sorts, to whom his word did come. So that the necessary sense of the word all here is wholly destnictive to the proposition.