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Secondly, The proper counsel and intention of God, in sending his Son into the world to die, was, that thereby he might confirm and ratify the new covenant to his elect; and purchase for them, all the good things, which are contained in the tenure of that covenant; to wit, grace and glory: that by his death, he might bring many (yet some certain) children to glory, obtaining for them that were given unto him by his Father, that is, his whole church, reconciliation with God, remission of sins, faith, righteousness, sanctification, and life eternal. That is the end, to which they are to be brought, and the means whereby God will have them attain it: he died that he might gather the dispersed children of God, and make them partakers of everlasting glory, to give eternal life, to all that God gave unto him;' John xvii. 2. And on this purpose of himself, and his Father, is founded the intercession of Christ, for his elect and chosen people, performed partly on the earth, John xvii. partly in heaven before the throne of grace; which is nothing but a presentation of himself and his merits, accompanied with the prayers of his mediatorship before God, that he would be pleased to grant, and effectually to apply, the good things, he hath by them obtained, to all for whom he hath obtained them his intercession in heaven, is nothing but a continued oblation of himself. So that whatsoever Christ impetrated, merited, or obtained, by his death and passion, must be infallibly applied unto, and bestowed upon them, for whom he intended to obtain it; or else his intercession is vain, he is not heard in the prayers of his mediatorship: an actual reconciliation with God, and communication of grace and glory, must needs betide all them that have any such interest in the righteousness of Christ, as to have it accepted for their good; the sole end, why Christ would so dearly purchase those good things, is an actual application of them unto his chosen: God set forth the propitiation of his blood, for the remission of sins, that he might be the justifier of him that believeth on Jesus;' Rom. iii. 25, 26. But this part of the controversy is not that which I principally intend: only I will give you a brief sum of those reasons which overthrow their heresy, in this particular branch thereof.

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First, The death of Christ, is in divers places of the Scripture restrained to his people, and elect, his church,

and sheep; Matt. i. 21. John x. 11-13. Acts xx. 28. Eph. v. 25. John xi. 52. Rom. viii. 32, 33. Heb. ii. 10. 13. Rev. v. 9. Dan. ix. 27. and therefore the good purchased thereby, ought not to be extended, to dogs, reprobates, and those that are without.'

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Secondly, For whom Christ died, he died as their sponsor, in their room and turn, that he might free them from the guilt and desert of death; which is clearly expressed, Rom. v. 6-8. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes, we are healed;' Isaliii.. 5, 6, &c. He hath redeemed us, from the curse, being made a curse for us;' Gal. iii. 13. He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin;'. 1 Cor. v. 21. Evidently he changeth turns with us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him: yea, in other things, it is plain in the Scripture, that to die for another, is to take his place and room, with an intention that he should live; 2 Sam. xviii. 33. Rom. v. So that Christ dying for men, made satisfaction for their sins, that they should not die: now for what sins he made satisfaction, for them the justice of God is satisfied, which surely is not done for the sins of the reprobates, because he justly punisheth them to eternity upon themselves; Matt. v. 26.

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Thirdly, For whom Christ died, for them also he rose again, to make intercession for them: 'for whose offences he was delivered, for their justification he was raised;' Rom. iv. 25. v. 10. He is a high priest to make intercession for them in the holiest of holies, for whom by his blood he obtained everlasting redemption;' Heb. ix. 11, 12. Those two acts of his priesthood are not to be separated, it belongs to the same Mediator for sin, to sacrifice, and pray; our assurance that he is our Advocate, is grounded on his being a propitiation for our sins: he is an Advocate for every one, 'for whose sins his blood was a propitiation;' 1 John ii. 1, 2. But Christ doth not intercede, and pray for all, as himself ' often witnesseth;' John xvii. He maketh intercession only for them who come unto God by him; Heb. vii. 24. He is not a Mediator of them that perish, no more than an Advocate of them that fail in their suits, and therefore the benefit of his death also must be restrained to them, who

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are finally partakers of both: we must not so disjoin the offices of Christ's mediatorship, that one of them may be versated about some towards whom he exerciseth not the other; much less ought we so to separate the several acts of the same office. For whom Christ is a priest, to offer himself a sacrifice for their sins, he is surely a king, to apply the good things purchased by his death unto them, as Arminius himself confesseth; much more to whom he is a priest by sacrifice, he will be a priest by intercession: and therefore, seeing he doth not intercede and pray for every one, he did not die for every one.

Fourthly, For whom Christ died, he merited grace, and glory, faith, and salvation, and reconciliation with God, as I shall shew hereafter: but this he hath not done for all, and every one many do never believe, the wrath of God remaineth upon some, the wrath of God abideth on them that do not believe;' John iii. 36. To abide, argueth a continued uninterrupted act; now to be reconciled to one, and yet to lie under his heavy anger, seem to me ȧoúorara, things that will scarce consist together; the reasons are many, I only point at the heads of some of them.

Fifthly, Christ died for them, whom God gave unto him to be saved: Thine they were, and thou gavest them unto me;' John xvii. 6. He layeth down his life, for the sheep committed to his charge;' John x. 11. But all are not the sheep of Christ, all are not given unto him of God, to be brought to glory; for of those that are so given, there is not one that perisheth, for he giveth eternal life to as many as God hath given him;' John xvii. 2. No man is able to pluck them out of his Father's hands;' chap. x. 28, 29.

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Sixthly, Look whom, and how many, that love of God embraced, that was the cause of sending his Son to redeem them; for them, and so many, did Christ, according to the counsel of his Father, and in himself, intentionally lay down his life: now this love is not universal, being his good pleasure of blessing with spiritual blessings, and saving some in Christ; Eph. i. 4, 5. Which good pleasure of his evidently comprehendeth some when others are excluded; Matt. xi. 25, 26. Yea, the love of God in giving Christ for us, is of the same extent with that grace whereby he calleth us to faith, or bestoweth faith on us: For he hath called us with a holy

calling, according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Jesus Christ;' 2 Tim. ii. 9. Which doubtless is not universal and common unto all.

Innumerable other reasons there are to prove, that seeing God hath given his elect only, whom only he loved, to Christ to be redeemed; and seeing that the Son loveth only those who are given him of his Father, and redeemeth only whom he loveth seeing also that the Holy Spirit, the love of the Father and the Son, sanctifieth all, and only them, that are elected and redeemed; it is not our part, with a preposterous liberality against the witness of Christ himself, to assign the salvation attained by him, as due to them that are without the congregation of them whom the Father hath loved and chosen; without that church, which the Son loved and gave his life for it; nor none of the members of that sanctified body, whereof Christ is the head and Saviour. I urge no more, because this is not that part of the controversy that I desire to lay open.

I come now to consider the main question of this difference, though sparingly handled by our divines; concerning what our Saviour merited and purchased for them for whom he died. And here you shall find the old idol playing his pranks, and quite divesting the merit of Christ, from the least ability or power, of doing us any good; for though the Arminians pretend very speciously, that Christ died for all men yet, in effect, they make him die for no one man at all; and that by denying the effectual operation of his death, and ascribing the proper issues of his passion to the brave endeavours of their own Pelagian deity.

We (according to the Scriptures) plainly believe, that Christ hath by his righteousness, merited for us grace and glory; that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings, in, through, and for him; that he is made unto us righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; that he hath procured for us, and that God for his sake, bestoweth on us, every grace in this life, that maketh us differ from others, and all that glory we hope for, in that which is to come; he procured for us remission of all our sins, an actual reconciliation with God, faith, and obedience. Yea, but this is such a desperate doctrine, as stabs at the very heart of the idol; and would make him as altogether useless, as if he were but a

fig-tree log what remaineth for him to do, if all things in this great work of our salvation, must be thus ascribed unto Christ, and the merit of his death? Wherefore the worshippers of this great god, Lib. Arbit. oppose their engines against the whole fabric, and cry down the title of Christ's merits, to these spiritual blessings, in the behalf of their imaginary deity.

Now, because they are things of a twofold denomination, about which we contend, before the King of heaven; each -part producing their evidence; the first springing from the favour of God towards us: the second from the working of his grace, actually within us; I shall handle them severally 'and apart; especially because to things of this latter sort, gifts, as we call them, enabling us to fulfil the condition required, for the attaining of glory, we lay a double claim on God's behalf: first, As the death of Christ is the meritorious cause procuring them of him: secondly, As his free grace is their efficient cause working them in us; they also producing a double title, whereby they would invest their beloved darling, with a sole propriety in causing these effects. First, In regard that they are our own acts performed in us, and by us: secondly, As they are parts of our duty, which we are enjoined to do, so that the quarrel is directly between Christ's merits and our own free-will, about procuring the favour of God, and obtaining grace and righteousness. Let us see what they say to the first.

They affirm that the immediate and proper effect, or end, of the death and passion of Christ, is not an actual oblation of sin from men, not an actual remission of iniquities, justification and redemption, of any soul: that is, Christ's death is not the meritorious cause of the remission of our sins, of redemption and justification; the meritorious cause, I say, for of some of them, as of justification, as it is terminated in us, we confess there are causes of other kinds, as faith is the instrument, and the Holy Spirit the efficient thereof. But for the sole meritorious procuring cause of these spiritual blessings, we always took it to be the righteousness and death of Christ; believing plainly, that the end why Christ died, and the fruit of his sufferings, was our reconciliation with b Immediata mortis Christi effectio, ac passionis, illa est non actualis peccatorum ab his aut illis ablatio, non actualis remissio, non justificatio, non actualis horum act illorum redemptio. Armin. Antiperk. p. 76.

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