OBJECTIONS AND TEXTS OP SCRIPTURE CONSIDERED. 405
US opposed ; fourthly, For tlie term " every one," it must relate unto all men as considered in an alike condition, for several respects and conditions of the same persons may cause them to come under several obligations unto duties : now, there is no one condition common unto all but only the state of wrath and death, Eph. ii. 3, and therefore every man must be considered as in that condition; so that, in sum, the sense of the minor proposition is, " All men in the world, as considered in a state of wrath and unregeneracy, are bound to believe, as before described, that it was the intention of God that Christ should die for every one of them in particular."
Now, not to say any thing to the major proposition, which yet is false, that which men are bound to believe in this sense being, as hath been observed by many, neither true nor false, but good, the assumption is absolutely false, and hath not the least colour of rea- son or Scripture to support it; and (taking "every one" for every indi- vidual in the world) when our adversaries prove it, I engage myself to be their proselyte : for, — First, Then must some be bound to be- lieve that which is false ; which cannot be, every obligation to believe being from the God of truth. Now, it is false that Christ died for all and every individual of human kind, as hath been before proved at large. Secondly, Then should men be bound immediately to be- lieve that which is not revealed, though divine revelation be the object of all faith; for the Scriptures do not hold out anywhere that Christ died for this or that particular man as such, but only for sin- ners indefinitely, specified ofttimes antecedently by God's purpose, and consequently by their own purchased obedience. Thirdly, Neither, in- deed, is the intention and inirj^ose of God, concerning which we now inquire, proposed as the object of the faith of any; but only his com- mands, promises, and threatenings, — the other being left to be col- lected and assured to the soul by an- experience and sense of some sweet infallible issue and effect thereof in the heart actually enjoyed. Nor, fourthly, can any command in the Scripture to believe be in- terpreted by the pui'pose and intention of God, as though the meaning of it should be, " God intended that Christ should die for thee in par- ticular ;" nor doth any promise contain that sense. Besides, fifthly, which of itself is enough to break the neck of this argument, all have not any such object of faith as Christ's death at all proposed to them. How can they believe unless they hear? Can they be bound to believe that of which they never heard the least rumour? How many millions of infants and others, in barbarous nations, go to their " own place" without hearing the least report of Jesus Christ, or his sufferings for them or others, even in these days of the gospel ! how much more, then, before the coming of Christ in the flesh, when the means of grace were restrained to one small nation, with some few proselytes! Were all these, are they that remain, all and
406 THE DEATH OF DEATH. [BOOK IV.
every one, boimd to believe that Christ died for them, all and every one in particular? Those that think so are, doubtless, bound to go tell all of tiiem so ; I mean those that are yet in the land of the living. Is not unbelief the great damning sin, where faith is required? John iii. 86 ? and yet doth not Paul prove that many shall be con- demned for sinning against the light of nature, Rom. ii. 12? an evi- dent demonstration that faith is not required of all, — all are not bound to believe.
But perhaps our adversaries will except, as they must except if they intend to have any colour or show of strength left unto this argu- ment, that they mean it only in respect of them who are called by the word, and so it is of force; to which end let it be thus proposed: —
" That which every one called by the word, to whom the gos- pel is preached, is bound to believe, is true ; but that Christ died for him in particular, every one so called is bound to believe: errjo," etc.
Ans. 1. Only the last exception foregoing is taken off by this reformed argument ; all the rest stand in their full force, which are sufficient to evert it. 2. Who seeth not that this very reforming of the argument hath made it altogether useless to the cause in Avhose defence it was produced ? for if any one, much more the greatest part of men, be excepted, which are now excluded from the verge of this argument, the general ransom falls to the ground. From the in- numerable multitudes of all, we are come to the many that are called, and doubt not but that we shall instantly descend to the few that are chosen. Unto the exception, that that which is true in respect of them to whom it is proposed would also be true in respect of all if it should be proposed to them, I answer, by the way, — First, That the argument is to be taken from the scriptural obligation to believe, and can be extended no farther than it is actually extended. Secondly, That it is no safe disputing of what would be or should be, if things were not as God hath appointed and ordained them. We see the will of God for the present; neither are we to suppose so as to make our supposal a bottom for any argument that they could have been otherwise disposed. Thirdly, That if the gospel should be preached to all the world, or all in the world, this is all the mind and will of God that would or can in general be signified to them by it, " He tliat believetli and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned;" or, that God hath concatenated and knit these two things together, /ai^/j- and salvation, so that wliosoever will enjoy the latter must perfomi the former. If the gospel should now be preached to the Turks and the Indians, and they should re- ject it, certainly they should be damned for not believing that which they were, upon the preaching of it, bound to believe. Now, what is this ? that Christ died for every one of them in particular ? No,