An Apology for the True Christian Divinity. Robert Barclay

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ &c.

      Again,

      Arg. 4.That which God willeth is not impossible:

      But God willeth all Men to be saved:

      Therefore it is not impossible.

      And Lastly;

      Arg. 5.Those for whom our Saviour gave himself a Ransom, to such Salvation is possible:

      But our Saviour gave himself a Ransom for all:

      Therefore Salvation is possible.

      §. VIII.

       Table of Contents

      Proof 1.This is very positively affirmed, Heb. ii. 9. in these Words, But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the Angels, for the suffering of Death, crowned with Glory and Honour, that he by the Grace of God might taste Death for every Man. He that will but open his Eyes, may see this Truth here asserted: If he tasted Death for every Man, then certainly there is no Man for whom he did not taste Death; then there is no Man who may not be made a Sharer of the Benefit of it: For he came not to condemn the World, but that the World through him might be saved, John iii. 17. He came not to judge the World, but to save the World, John xii. 47. Our Adversaries false Doctrine of a great Part of Mankind being pre-ordained for Damnation, refuted.Whereas, according to the Doctrine of our Adversaries, he rather came to condemn the World, and judge it; and not that it might be saved by him, or to save it. For if he never came to bring Salvation to the greater Part of Mankind, but that his Coming, though it could never do them good, yet shall augment their Condemnation, from thence it necessarily follows, that he came not of Intention to save, but to judge and condemn the greater Part of the World, contrary to his own express Testimony; and as the Apostle Paul, in the Words above cited, doth assert affirmatively, That God willeth the Salvation of all, Proof 2.so doth the Apostle Peter assert negatively, That he willeth not the perishing of any, 2 Pet. iii. 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise, as some Men count Slackness, but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to Repentance. And this is correspondent to that of the Prophet Ezekiel, xxxiii. 11. As I live, saith the Lord, I have no Pleasure in the Death of the Wicked, but that the Wicked turn from his Way and live. If it be safe to believe God, and trust in him, we must not think that he intends to cheat us by all these Expressions through his Servants, but that he was in good earnest. And that this Will and Desire of his hath not taken effect, the Blame is on our Parts, as shall be after spoken of; which could not be, if we never were in any Capacity of Salvation, or that Christ had never died for us, but left us under an Impossibility of Salvation. What mean all those earnest Invitations, all those serious Expostulations, all those regretting Contemplations, wherewith the Holy Scriptures are full? As, Why will you die, O House of Israel! Why will ye not come unto me, that ye might have Life? I have waited to be gracious unto you: I have sought to gather you: I have knocked at the Door of your Hearts: Is not your Destruction of yourselves? I have called all the Day long. If Men who are so invited be under no Capacity of being saved, if Salvation be impossible unto them, shall we suppose God in this to be no other but like the Author of a Romance, or Master of a Comedy, who amuses and raises the various Affections and Passions of his Spectators by divers and strange Accidents; sometimes leading them into Hope, and sometimes into Despair; all those Actions, in effect, being but a mere Illusion, while he hath appointed what the Conclusion of all shall be?

      Proof 3.Thirdly, This Doctrine is abundantly confirmed by that of the Apostle, 1 John ii. 1, 2. And if any Man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. And he is the Propitiation for our Sins; and not for ours only, but also for the Sins of the whole World. Adversaries comment on the Words the whole World. The Way which our Adversaries take to evite this Testimony, is most foolish and ridiculous: The [World] here, say they, is the World of Believers: For this Commentary we have nothing but their own Assertion, and so while it manifestly destroys the Text, may be justly rejected. For, First, let them shew me, if they can, in all the Scripture, where the [whole World] is taken for Believers only; I shall shew them where it is many Times taken for the quite Contrary; as, The World knows me not: The World receives me not, I am not of this World: Besides all these Scriptures, Psalm xvii. 14. Isai. xiii. 11. Mat. xviii. 7. John vii. 7. and viii. 26. and xii. 19. and xiv. 17. and xv. 18, 19. and xvii. 14. and xviii. 20. 1 Cor. i. 21. and ii. 12. and vi. 2. Gal. vi. 14. James i. 27. 2 Pet. ii. 20. 1 John ii. 15. and iii. 1. and iv. 4, 5, and many more. Secondly, The Apostle in this very Place contra-distinguished the World from the Saints thus; And not for ours only, but for the Sins of the whole World: What means the Apostle by [Ours] here? Is not that the Sins of Believers? Was not he one of those Believers? And was not this an universal Epistle, written to all the Saints that then were? So that according to these Men’s Comment, there should be a very unnecessary and foolish Redundancy in the Apostle’s Words; as if he had said, He is a Propitiation not only for the Sins of all Believers, but for the Sins of all Believers: Is not this to make the Apostle’s Words void of good Sense? Let them shew us wherever there is such a Manner of speaking in all the Scripture, where any of the Penmen first name the Believers in Concreto with themselves, and then contra-distinguish them from some other whole World of Believers? That [whole World] if it be of Believers, must not be the World we live in. But we need no better Interpreter for the Apostle than himself, who uses the very same Expression and Phrase in the same Epistle, Ch. v. 19. saying, We know that we are of God, and the whole World lieth in Wickedness. There cannot be found in all the Scripture two Places which run more parallel; seeing in both the same Apostle, in the same Epistle to the same Persons, contra-distinguisheth himself, and the Saints to whom he writes, from the whole World; which, according to these Men’s Commentary, ought to be understood of Believers: As if John had said, We know particular Believers are of God; but the whole World of Believers lieth in Wickedness. What absurd wresting of Scripture were this? And yet it may be as well pleaded for as the other; for they differ not at all. Seeing then that the Apostle John tells us plainly, That Christ not only died for him, and for the Saints and Members of the Church of God, to whom he wrote, but for the whole World, let us then hold it for a certain and undoubted Truth, notwithstanding the Cavils of such as oppose.

      

      This might also be proved from many more Scripture-Testimonies, if it were at this Season needful. All the Fathers, so called, and Doctors of the Church, for the first four Centuries, preached this Doctrine; according to which they boldly held forth the Gospel of Christ, and Efficacy of his Death; The Heathens invited to Salvation; none predestinated to Damnation.inviting and intreating the Heathens to come and be Partakers of the Benefits of it, shewing them how there was a Door open for them all to be saved through Jesus Christ; not telling them that God had predestinated any of them to Damnation, or had made Salvation impossible to them, by with-holding Power and Grace, necessary to believe, from them. But of many of their Sayings, which might be alleged, I shall only instance a few.

      Proof 4. The Testimonies of the Doctors and Fathers of the first Church, that Christ died for all.Augustine on the xcvth Psalm saith, “The Blood of Christ is of so great Worth, that it is of no less Value than the whole World.” Prosper ad Gall. c. 9. “The Redeemer of the World gave his Blood for the World, and the World would not be Redeemed, because the Darkness did not receive the Light. He that saith, the Saviour was not crucified for the Redemption of the whole World, looks not to the Virtue of the Sacrament, but to the Part of Infidels; since the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Price of the whole World; from which Redemption they are Strangers, who either delighting in their Captivity would not be Redeemed, or after they were СКАЧАТЬ