4.6 A DISPLAY of thor but God ; by which means he is entitled not only tothe firft fin, asthe efficient cäuç but to all the furs in the world arifing from thence. Plainly andwithout any Grasped confecjuences, he is made theauthor of fm b for even thofe pofrtive properties, which canhave noother fountain but the author ofnature, being fer on evil aredirefl- ly finful. And here the idol of free=will may triumph in this viftoryoier theGod of heaven : heretofore all the blameof fin layupon his fhoulders, butnow he beginsto complain, drK a of dev,ie erta, dead 't'ar's sal a o,ra, st isGod and the fate.of our creation,; that hath placed us in this condition of naturally affefiing' that which is evil; back, with all v rssr charges againft the ill government ofthis new deity, within his imagina- -: ry dominion : what hurt Both he do, but incline men untoevil, and God himfelf did ao lei's, atthe firft ?.But letthem that will, rejoyce in thefe blafphemies, it fufficeth us to know, that God created man upright, though be bath fought out many inventions: fo that in this following dìffonancy, we cleave to the better part. S. S. So God creat, á man in his own image, in the likersefs of God created he him, male and fe- male created he them, Gen. i. 27. Put 'on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that made him, Colof: ri1. so. which after God is created in ríghteouf- nefs and true. holinefs, Ephef. iv. 24. Lo this only have Ifound, that God bath made manupright, but he bath fought out many inventions, &clef. vii. 29. _By one man fm entered into the world,. and death by fin, Rom. v. s a. Let no man fay when he is. tempted, I am tempted of God,. for God tempttth no man,. but every one is tempted whenhe is drawn awayof his own l f, Jam. i. 13. -14. Lib. Arbit. There was' in man before the fall an inclination to finning; ithough not fo vehe- ment and inordinate asnowit is, Armin. God put upon mana repugnancy tohis law, Geferanus in the Synod. Man by reafon ofhis creation had an affeftion to theft things that are forbidden by the law, Corvine. The will of manhad never any fpiritusl endowments, Rem. Apol. It was not fit that man fhould have a law given him, unlefs he had a natural incli- nation to what was forbidden by the law, Corvinue. CHAP. IX. Of the death ofChrift, andofthe efficacy of his merits. THE fum ofthofe Controverfies, wherewith the Arminian', and their abet- tors have troubled the church, about the deathof Chrift, may be reduced to two heads. Firf, Concerning the objeft of his merit, or whomhe died fhr. Secondly, Concerning the efficacy and end of his death, or what he defevved, procured, merited, and obtained, for them for whom hedied. In refolution of the fir", theyaffirm, that he died for all, and everyone; of the fecond, that he died forno one man at all; in that fenfe, Chriftians have hitherto believedthat he laiddown his life, and fubmitted himfelf to bear theburthen ofhis Father's wrath, for their fakes. It feemsto me a Grangeextenuationof the merit ofChrifi, to teach, that no good at all by his death doth redound to divers of them for whomhe died: what participation in the benefit of his fuffering had Pharaoh or yaw ? Dothey not,at this hour, and (hall they not to eternity,feeltheweight and burdenoftheir own fins ?. Hadthey eithergrace in this world, or glory in theother, that they Gould be Paid tohave an intereft in the death ofour Saviour? Chriftiaivs have hitherto believed, that fhtrwhom Chriít died, for their fins he madefatisfaftion ; that they themfelves Gould utfmally fuller for them : is God unjuft to punifh twice for the fame fault? His own T Tin once, and again the poor Gnners for whom he fuffered? I cannotconceive an intention in God, that (hriß Gould fatisfy his juflice for the finof themthat werein hell fome thoufands of years before, and yet be Gill refolved tocontinue Cher punifhment 6n them to all eternity?
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=