Proof 5. " God hath testified, both by his word and his oath, that he would that his Son should so far save as to work a redemption for all men, and likewise that he should bring all to the knowledge of the truth, that there-through redemption might be wrought in and upon them, 1 Tim. ii. 4, with John iii. 17. So he willeth not, nor hath any pleasure in, the death of him (even the wicked) that dieth, but rather that he turn and live, Ezek. xviii. 23, 32, xxxiii. 11. And dare any of us say, the God of ti-uth saith and sweareth that of which he hath no inward and serious meaning? O far be such blasphemy from us!"
Ans. First, This assertion, " That God testifieth, by his word and oath, that he would that Christ should so far save us," etc., is a bold calling of God to witness that which he never affirmed, nor did it ever enter into his heart; for he hath revealed his will that Christ should save to the utmost them that come to him, and not save so far or so far, as is boldly, iguorantly, and fidsely intimated. Let men beware of provoking God to their own confusion ; he will not be a witness to the lie of false hearts. Secondly, " That Christ should so bring all to the knowledge of the truth, that there-through re-
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demption might be wrought in and upon them," is another bold corruption of the word, and false- witness-bearing in the name of God. Is it a small thing for you to weary and seduce men? will you weary our God also? Thirdly, For places of Scripture corrupted to the sense imposed: In John iii. 17, God is said to "send his Son, that the world through him might be saved;" not be saved so far or so far, but saved "from their sins," Matt. i. 21, and "to the uttermost," Heb. vii. 25 : so that the world of God's elect, who only are so saved, is only there to be understood, as hath been proved. In 1 Tim. ii. 4, there is something of the will of God for the saving of all sorts of men, as hath been declared ; nothing conducing to the bold assertion used in this place. Fourthly, To those are added that of Ezek. xviii. 28, that God hath no "pleasure at all that the wicked should die;" and, verse 32, "no pleasure in the death of him that dieth." Now, though these texts are exceeding useless to the busi- ness in hand, and might probably have some colour of universal voca- tion, but none possibly of universal redemption, there being no mention of Christ or his death in the place from whence they are cited; yet because our adversaries are frequently knitting knots from this place to inveigle and hamper the simple, I shall add some few observations upon it to clear the meaning of the text, and demonstrate how it belongs nothing at all to the business in hand.
First, then, let us consider to whom and of whom these words are spoken. Is it to and of all men, or only to the house of Israel? Doubtless these last; they are only intended, they only are spoken to: " Hear now, O house of Israel," verse 25. Now, will it follow that because God saith he delights not in the death of the house of Israel, to whom he revealed his mind, and required their repentance and conversion, that therefore he saith so of all, even those to whom he never revealed his will by such ways as to them, nor called to re- pentance, Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20? So that the very ground- work of the whole conclusion is removed by this first observation. Secondly, "God willeth not the death of a sinner," is either, "God purposeth and determineth he shall not die," or, "God commandeth that he shall do those things wherein he may live." If the first, why are they not all saved? why do sinners die? for there is an immutability in the counsel of God, Heb. vi. 17; "His counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure," Isa. xlvi. 10. If the latter way, by commanding, then the sense is, that the Lord commandeth that those whom he calleth should do their duty, that they may not die (although he knows that this they cannot do without his assistance) ; now, what this makes to general redemption, I know not. Thirdly, To add no more, this whole place, with the scope, aim, and intention of the prophet in it, is miserably mistaken by our adversaries, and wrested to that whereof there is not the least thought in the text. The
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words are a part of the answer which the Lord gives to the repining Jews, concerning tlieir jiroverb, " The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge/' Now, about what did they use this proverb ? Why, '* concerning the land of Israel," verse 2, the land of their habitation, which was laid waste by the sword (as they affirmed) for the sins of their fathers, themselves being innocent. So that it is about God's temporal judgments in overturning their land and nation that this dispute is; wherein the Lord justifieth himself by declaring the equity of these judgments by reason of their sins, even those sins for which the land devoured them and spewed them out; telling them that his justice is, that for such things they should surel}^ die, their blood should be upon them, verse 13, — they shall be slain with the sword, and cut oft' by those judgments which they had deserved : not that the shedding of their blood and casting out of their carcases was a thing in itself so pleasurable or desirable to him as that he did it only for his own will, for let them leave their abominations, and try whether their lives were not prolonged in peace. This being the plain, genuine scope and meaning of this place, at the first view presenting itself to every unprejudiced man, I have often admired how so many strange conclusions for a general purpose of showing mercy to all, universal vocation and redemption, have been wrested from it ; as also, how it came to be produced to give colour to that heap of blasphemy which our author calleth his fifth proof