OBJECTIONS AND TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE CONSIDERED. 409
doubtless; but this, "There is none otber name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved," but only by the name of Christ, made known to us in the gospel, Acts iv. 12. [They would be damned] for rejecting the counsel and wisdom of God to save sinners by the blood of Jesus ; for not believing the necessity of a Redeemer, and that Jesus of Nazareth was that Redeemer, — according to his own word to the Jews, "If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins;" as, indeed, the peculiar infidelity of that people was their not believing him to be their Messiah, whom they saw to be de- clared to be the Son of God with power. The not believing these things would be the soul-damning infidelity of such obstinate refusers to come in upon the call of the gospel, and not a refusing to believe that Christ died for every one of them in particular ; which could not, by the rule of the gospel, be proposed unto them, and which they never come so far as to question or esteem.
Still, then, we deny the minor proposition of the reduced syllogism ; and that partly for the reasons before produced, partly for these sub- joined : —
1. They to whom the gospel is preached are bound to believe with that faith which is required to justification only. Now, this is not a full persuasion that Christ died for any one in particular, in the in- tention and purpose of God, which reveal eth not the object of justi- fication, nor the way whereby a sinner may be justified.^
2. Because there is an order, natural in itself, and established by God's appointment, in the things that are to be believed ; so that until some of them are believed the rest are not required (a man is not commanded, nor can he reasonably, to get to the top of a ladder by skipping all the lower rounds), — namely, (1.) Repent, and believe the gospel to be the word of God, to contain his will, and that Jesus Christ, therein revealed, is the wisdom and power of God unto salva- tion. (2.) That there is an inseparable connection, by God's appoint- ment, between faith and salvation, gospel faith carrying a sinner quite out of himself and from off his own righteousness. (8.) That there be a particular conviction, by the Spirit, of the necessity of a Redeemer to their souls in particular; whereby they become weary, heavy ^aden, and burdened. (4.) A serious full recumbency and rolling of the soul upon Christ in the promise of the gospel, as an all-sufficient Saviour, able to deliver and save to the utmost them that come to God by him; ready, able, and willing, through the preciousness of his blood and sufficiency of his ransom, to save every soul that shall
I The last clauses of this sentence are obscure. In the edition by the Rev. Adam Gib, 1755, it is proposed to render them, — " which is not revealed to the object of jus- tification, or in the way whereby a sinner may be justified." If we were at liberty to change the "nor" into "but," a meaning sufficiently intelligible would be obtained, without any violent alteration of the text, and quite in harmony with the scope of the reasoning. — Ed.
408 THE DEATH OF DEATH. [B06K IV.
freely give up themselves unto him for that end, amongst whom he is resolved to be. And in doing of all this, there is none called on by the gospel once to inquire after the purpose and intention of God concerning the particular object of the death of Christ, every one being fully assured that his death shall be profitable to them that believe in him and obey him.
Now, fourthly, after all this, and not before, it lies upon a believer to assure his soul, according as he finds the fruit of the death of Christ in him and towards him, of the good-will and eternal love of God to him in sending his Son to die for him in particular. What a preposterous course, and how opposite to the rule of the gosj^el, were it, to call upon a man to beheve that it was the intention and purpose of God that Christ should die for him in particular, and de- sire him to assure his soul thereof, before he be convinced either, — 1. Of the truth of the gospel in general; or, 2. That faith is the only way of salvation; or, 8. That himself standeth in need of a Saviour; or, 4. That there is enough in Christ to save and recover him if he give up himself unto him in his ovth way ! Now, it is most apparent that it is only such as these that are bound to beUeve that whereof we discourse.
The argument, then, must be once again reformed, and thus jDro- posed: —
"That which every one, convinced of the necessity of a Saviour, and of the right way of salvation, hungering, thirsting, and pant- ing after Jesus Christ, as able alone to give him refreshment, is bound to believe, is true ; but every such a one is bound to believe that Christ died for him in particular: ergo, it is true." And some grant the whole without any prejudice to the cause we have under- taken to defend. It is most apparent, then, — 1. That all that are called by the word are not, in what state or condition soever they continue, bound to believe that Christ died for them ; but only such as are so qualified as before described. 2. That the precept of believing, with fiduciary confidence, that Christ died for any in par- ticular is not proposed nor is obligatory to all that are called ; nor is th% n on -performance of it any otherwise a sin, but as it is in the root and habit of unbelief, or not turning to God in Christ for mercy.