My second is. That which is procured for any one, thereunto he hath a right ; the thing that is obtained is granted by him of whom it is obtained, and that to them for whom it is obtained. To this it is answered, —
1. In the margin, " That I should make great changes in England if I could make all the lawyers believe this strange doctrine." But of what the lawyers be- lieve or do not believe Mr B. is no competent judge, — be it spoken without dis- paragement,— for the law is not his study. I, who, perhaps, have much less skill than himself, will be bound at any time to give him twenty cases out of the civil and canon law to make good this assertion ; which if he knows not that it may be done, he ought not to speak with such confidence of these things. Nay, amongst our own lawyers (whom perhaps he intends), I am sure he may be informed that if a man intercede with another to settle his land by conveyance to a third person, giving him that conveyance to keep in trust until the time come that he should by the intention of the conveyer enjoy the land, though he for whom it is granted have not the least knov/ledge of it, yet he hath such a right unto the land thereby created as cannot be disannulled. But, —
2. He says, " That the fruits of the death of Christ are procured for \is finalitcr, not subjective."
Ans. They are procured for us objective, are granted " ex adaequatione rerum," and may make us subjects of the right, though not of the things themselves which it regards ; may, I say, though I do not say it doth. The following similitudes of my horse and a king have no correspondency with this business at ail. Of the rijj ht of horses there is nothing in the law ; in the latter, there is nothing omitted in the comparison but merit and purchase, which is all.
Thirdly, All the fruits of the death of Christ are obtained and procured by his merit for them for whom he died.
Mr B. :—
"1. Not all, not the same measure of sanctification for one as for another; not faith for all for whom he died as for his elect.
" 2. He procured it for us as ihQ finis cui, not subjects of the present right."
Ans. 1. The substance of the fruits of the death of Christ and the ultimate end belong to his purchase ; the measure and degrees of them to the Father's sovereign disposal, ad ornatum universi.
2. It is most false that Christ did not purchase faith for all for whom he died.
612 OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST,
3. What our right is hath been before delivered; the Jiiiis cui and subject of a present right are not very accurately opposed.
4. The nature of merit infers an attendant right, Rom. iv. 4. Mr B. :—
" If this be your debt, you may say, ' Lord, I have merited salvation in Christ, there- fore it is mine of debt.' Christ hath of debt the right to pardon you ; you have no debt," etc.
Ans. Very good, but I use no forms of prayer of other men's composing. Who said it was our debt ? who says our right is actionable ? The whole here intended is, that Christ meriting pardon of sins for the elect, it is just they should obtain it in the appointed season. Such another prayer as that here mentioned doth Mr B. afterward compose, in a suitableness, as he supposes, to my principles ; but what may he not do or say!
Fourthly, He for whom a ransom is paid hath a right to his liberty by virtue of that payment.
Mr B. :—
" All unproved, and by me unbelieved. If you pay a sura to the Tm-k for a thousand slaves, thereby biiying them absolutely into your own power, I do not believe that they have any more right to freedom than they had before. If a prince pay a ransom for some traitors to the king his father, thereby purchasing to himself a dominion or a propriety over them, so that they are absolutely his, yet I think it gives them no more right than they had before."
Ans. 1. I suppose it is not yet determined that this business is to be regulated absolutely according to what Mr B. thinks or believes; for I must needs say that whether he believes it or no, I am still of the same mind that I was.
He for whom a ransom is paid hath a right to a deliverance, as to him to whom the ransom was paid. If Mr B. believe not this, let him consult the civil lawyers, with whom he is so conversant, tit. de pact.
2. I say that the law of redemption requires that the redeemed be at the dis- posal of the redeemer, whei-e he hath no plea, jure postiliminii; and it is most certain that Christ hath a dominion over his elect (for a " propriety over them" I understand not) ; yet that dominion is the proximate end of the death of Christ, under the notion of a ransom, price, or purchase (which yet are of various considerations also), is the ^pSrov -k^EDSos of this discourse.