from all faces, it hinders not but the reprobates shall be cast out to eternity, where there is weeping and wailing, &c. So when Christ is said to die for all, it hinders not, but those reprobates may perish to eternity for their sins, without any effectual remedy intended for them, though occasionally proposed to some of them.

Sixthly, Observe that the Scripture often speaketh of things and persons according to the appearance they have, and the account that is of them amongst men, or that esteem that they have of them, to whom it speaketh; frequently speaking of men, and unto men as in the condition wherein they are, according to outward appearance, upon which human judgment must proceed, and not what they are indeed thus, many are called, and said to be wise, just, and righteous, according as they are so esteemed, though the Lord knows them to be foolish sinners: so Jerusalem is called the holy city, Matt. xxvii. 53. because it was so in esteem and appearance, when indeed it was a very den of thieves: and 2 Chron. xxviii. 23. it is said of Ahaz, that wicked king of Judah, that he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that smote him' it was the Lord alone that smote him, and those idols to whom he sacrificed were but stocks and stones, the work of men's hands, which could no way help themselves, much less smite their enemies; yet the Holy Ghost useth an expression answering his idolatrous persuasion, and saith, 'they smote him:' nay, is it not said of Christ, John v. 18. that he had broken the Sabbath, which yet he only did in the corrupt opinion of the blinded Pharisees? Add, moreover, to what hath been said, that which is of no less an undeniable truth, viz. that many things which are proper and peculiar to the children of God, are oft and frequently assigned. to them, who live in the same outward communion with them, and are partakers of the same external privileges, though indeed aliens in respect of the participation of the grace of the promise: put, I say, these two things, which are most evident, together, and it will easily appear that those places, which seem to express a possibility of perishing, and eternal destruction to them who are said to be redeemed by the blood of Christ, are no ways advantageous to the adversaries of the effectual redemption of God's elect by the blood of Christ; because such may be said to be redeemed κarà

τὴν δόξαν, not κατὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν κατὰ τὸ φαίνεσθαι, not κατὰ τὸ Elva, in respect of appearance, not reality, as is the use of the Scripture in divers other things.

Seventhly, That which is spoken according to the judg ment of charity, on our parts, must not always be exactly squared and made answerable to verity in respect of them, of whom any thing is affirmed; for the rectitude of our judgment it sufficeth, that we proceed according to the rules of judging that are given us: for what is out of our cognizance, whether that answers to our judgments or no, belongs not to us: thus oftentimes, the apostles in the Scriptures write unto men, and term them holy, saints, yea elected, but from thence positively to conclude that they were so all indeed, we have no warrant. So Peter, 1 Pet. i. 2. calls all the strangers to whom he wrote, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect, according to the 'foreknowledge of God the Father,' &c. and yet that I have any warrant to conclude de fide, that all were such, none dare affirm: so Paul tells the Thessalonians, the whole church to whom he wrote, that he knew their election of God; 1 Thess. i. 4. 2 Thess. ii. 13. He blesseth God who had chosen them to salvation.' Now did not Paul make this judgment of them by the rule of charity? According as he affirms in another place, 'It is meet for me to think so of you all ;' Phil. i. 7. And can it, ought it, hence to be infallibly concluded, that they were all elected? If some of these should be found to fall away from the gospel and to have perished, would an argument from thence be valid, that the elect might perish? Would we not presently answer that they were said to be elected according to the judgment of charity, not that they were so indeed? And why is not this answer as sufficient and satisfying, when it is given to the objection, taken from the pe rishing of some, who were said to be redeemed merely in the judgment of charity, as they were said to be elected?

Eighthly, The infallible connexion, according to God's purpose and will of faith and salvation, which is frequently the thing intended in gospel proposals, must be considered. The Lord hath in his counsel established it, and revealed in his word, that there is an indissoluble bond, between these two things, so that whosoever believeth shall be saved; Mark xvi. 16. Which indeed is the substance of the gospel in the out

ward promulgation thereof; this is the testimony of God that eternal life is in his Son, which whoso believeth, he sets to his seal that God is true; he who believes not, doing what in him lieth to make God a liar; 1 John v. 9-11. Now this connexion of the means and the end, faith and life, is the only thing which is signified and held out to innumerable, to whom the gospel is preached; all the commands, proffers, and promises that are made to them, intimating no more than this will of God, that believers shall certainly be saved, which is an unquestionable divine verity, and a sufficient object for supernatural faith to rest upon; and which being not closed with, is a sufficient cause of damnation ; John viii. 24. If you believe not that I am he (that is, the way, the truth, and the life), ye shall die in your sins.' It is a vain imagination of some, that when the command and promise of believing are made out to any man, that though he be of the number of them that shall certainly perish, yet the Lord hath a conditional will of his salvation, and intends that he shall be saved, on condition that he will believe, when the condition lieth not at all in the will of God, which is always absolute; but is only between the things to them proposed, as was before declared. And those poor deluded things, who will be standing upon their own legs, before they are well able to crawl, and might justly be persuaded to hold by men of more strength, do exceedingly betray their own conceited ignorance, when with great pomp they hold out the broken pieces of an old Arminian sophism, with acclamations of grace, to this new discovery (for so they think of all that is new to them), viz. that, as is God's proffer, so is his intention; but he calls to all to believe, and be saved, therefore he intends it to all. For, first, God doth not proffer life to all upon the condition of faith, passing by a great part of mankind without any such proffer made at them at all. Secondly, If by God's proffer, they understand his command and promise; who told them that these things were declarative of his will and purpose, or intention? He commands Pharaoh to let his people go, but did he intend he should so do according to his command? Had he not foretold, that he would so order things, that he should not let them go? I thought always that God's commands and promises had revealed our duty, and not his purpose; what God would

VOL. V.

2 E

have us to do, and not what he will do. His promises, indeed, as particularly applied, hold out his mind to the persons to whom they are applied; but as indefinitely proposed, they reveal no other intentions of God, but what we before discovered, which concerns things not persons; even his determinate purpose infallibly to connect faith and salvation. Thirdly, If the proffer be (as they say) universal, and the intention of God be answerable thereunto, that is, he intends the salvation of them, to whom the tender of it upon faith is made, or may be so; then, first, what becomes of election and reprobation? Neither of them certainly can consist with this universal purpose of saving of all. Secondly, If he intends it, why is it then not accomplished? doth he fail of his purpose? Dum vitant vitium stulti. Is not this certain Scylla worse than the other feared Charybdis? But they say, 'He intended it only upon condition, and the condition being not fulfilled, he fails not in his purpose, though the thing be not conferred.' But did the Lord foreknow whether the condition would be fulfilled by them, to whom the proposal was made or not. If not, where is his prescience, his omniscience? If he did, how can he be said to intend salvation to them, of whom he certainly knew, that they would never fulfil the condition, on which it was to be attained; and moreover knew it with this circumstance, that the condition was not to be attained without his bestowing; and that he had determined not to bestow it; would they ascribe such a will and purpose to a wise man, as they do ignorantly and presumptuously to the only wise God: viz. that he should intend to have a thing done, upon the performance of such a condition, as he knew full well, without him could never be performed, and he had fully resolved not to effect it; for instance, to give his daughter in marriage to such a one, upon condition he would give unto him such a jewel as he hath not, nor can have, unless he bestow it upon him, which he is resolved never to do? Oh whither will blindness and ignorance, esteemed light and knowledge, carry poor deluded souls? This then is the main thing demonstrated and held out in the promulgation of the gospel, especially for what concerns unbelievers, even the first connexion between the duty of faith assigned, and the benefit of life promised, which hath a truth of universal extent, grounded upon the plenary

sufficiency of the death of Christ towards all that shall believe: and I see no reason why this should be termed part of the mystery of the universalists (though the lowest part) (as it is by M. S. page 202.); that the gospel could not be preached to all, unless Christ died for all; which with what is mentioned before, concerning another and higher part of it, is an old, rotten, carnal, and long since confuted sophism, arising out of the ignorance of the word and right reason, which are no way contrary.

Ninthly, The mixed distribution of the elect and reprobates, believers and unbelievers, according to the purpose and mind of God, throughout the whole world, and in the several places thereof, in all or most of the single congregations, is another ground of holding out a tender of the blood of Jesus Christ, to them for whom it was never shed, as is apparent in the event, by the ineffectualness of its proposals. The ministers of the gospel, who are stewards of the mysteries of Christ, and to whom the word of reconciliation is committed, being acquainted only with revealed things (the Lord lodging his purposes and intentions towards particular persons in the secret ark of his own bosom, not to be pryed into), are bound to admonish all, and warn all men, to whom they are sent; giving the same commands, proposing the same promises, making tenders of Jesus Christ in the same manner, to all, that the elect, whom they know not but by the event, may obtain, whilst the rest are hardened. Now these things being thus ordered by him who hath the supreme disposal of all (viz. First, That there should be such a mixture of elect and reprobate, of tares and wheat, to the end of the world; and, secondly, That Christ, and reconciliation through him, should be preached by men ignorant of his eternal discriminating purposes), there is an absolute necessity of two other things: First, That the promises must have a kind of unrestrained generality, to be suitable to this dispensation before recounted. Secondly, That they must be proposed to them, towards whom the Lord never intended the good things of the promises, they having a share in this proposal by their mixture in this world with the elect of God. So that from the general proposition of Christ in the promises, nothing can be concluded concerning his death for all, to whom it is proposed, as having another rise and occasion. The sum is,