Part 15

[Sidenote: Prop. I.] [Sidenote: _Proved._] The first Thing to be proved is, _That God hath given to every Man a Day or Time of Visitation, wherein it is possible for him to be saved_. If we can prove that there is a Day and Time given, in which those might have been saved that actually perish, the Matter is done: For none deny but those that are saved have a Day of Visitation. [Sidenote: Proof I.] This then appears by the Regrets and Complaints which the Spirit of God throughout the whole Scriptures makes, even to those that did perish; [Sidenote: _Those that perish, had a Day of Mercy offered them._] sharply reproving them, for that they did not accept of, nor close with God’s Visitation and Offer of Mercy to them. Thus the Lord expresses himself then first of all to _Cain_, Gen. iv. 6, 7. [Sidenote: _Instances._ 1. Cain.] _And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy Countenance fallen? If thou dost well, shalt thou not be accepted? If thou dost not well, Sin lieth at the Door._ This was said to _Cain_ before he slew his Brother _Abel_, when the evil Seed began to tempt him, and work in his Heart; we see how God gave Warning to _Cain_ in Season, and in the Day of his Visitation towards him, Acceptance and Remission if he did well: For this Interrogation, _Shalt thou not be accepted?_ imports an Affirmative, _Thou shalt be accepted, if thou dost well_. So that if we may trust God Almighty, the Fountain of all Truth and Equity, it was possible in a Day, even for _Cain_ to be accepted. Neither could God have proposed the doing of _Good_ as a Condition, if he had not given _Cain_ sufficient Strength, whereby he was capable to do _Good_. This the Lord himself also shews, even that he gave a Day of Visitation to the Old World, [Sidenote: _The_ Old World.] _Gen._ vi. 3. _And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive in Man_; for so it ought to be translated. This manifestly implies, that his Spirit did strive with Man, and doth strive with him for a Season, which Season expiring, God ceaseth to strive with him, in order to save him: For the Spirit of God cannot be said to strive with Man after the Day of his Visitation is expired; seeing it naturally, and without any Resistance, works its Effect then, to wit, continually to judge and condemn him. From this _Day of Visitation_, that God hath given to every One, is it, that he is said to _wait to be gracious_, Isa. xxx. 18. [Sidenote: _God is Long-suffering, and long waiting to be gracious unto all_.--] And to be _Long-suffering_, Exod. xxxiv. 6. Numb. xiv. 18. Psal. lxxxvi. 15. Jer. xv. 15. Here the Prophet _Jeremy_, in his Prayer, lays hold upon the _Long-suffering of God_; and in his expostulating with God, he shuts out the Objection of our Adversaries in the 18th Verse; _Why is my Pain perpetual, and my Wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? Wilt thou altogether be unto me as a Liar, and as Waters that fail?_ Whereas, according to our Adversaries Opinion, the Pain of the most Part of Men is perpetual, and their Wound altogether incurable; yea, the Offer of the Gospel, and of Salvation unto them, is as a Lie, and as Waters that fail, being never intended to be of any Effect unto them. The Apostle _Peter_ says expresly, that this _Long-suffering of God waited in the Days of _Noah_ for those of the Old World_, 1 Pet. iii. 20. which, being compared with that of _Gen._ vi. 3. before-mentioned, doth sufficiently hold forth our Proposition. And that none may object that this _Long-suffering_ or _Striving of the Lord_ was not in order to save them, the same Apostle saith expresly, 2 _Pet._ iii. 15. [Sidenote: _In order to save them._] _That the Long-suffering of God is to be accounted Salvation_; and with this _Long-suffering_, a little before in the 9th Verse, he couples, _That God is not willing that any should perish_. Where, taking him to be his own Interpreter (as he is most fit) he holdeth forth, That those to whom the Lord is _Long-suffering_, (which he declareth he was to the Wicked of the Old World, and is now to all, _not willing that any should perish_) they are _to account this Long-suffering of God to them Salvation_. Now, how or in what respect can they account it _Salvation_, if there be not so much as a _Possibility_ of _Salvation_ conveyed to them therein? For it were not _Salvation_ to them, if they could not be saved by it. In this Matter _Peter_ further refers to the Writings of _Paul_, holding forth this to have been the universal Doctrine. Where it is observable what he adds upon this Occasion, [Sidenote: _Some Things in _Paul_’s Epistles hard to be understood._] how _there are some Things in _Paul_’s Epistles hard to be understood, which the Unstable and Unlearned wrest to their own Destruction_; insinuating plainly this of those Expressions in _Paul_’s Epistles, as _Rom._ ix. _&c._ which some, _unlearned_ in spiritual Things, did make to contradict the Truth of _God’s Long-suffering towards all_, in which he willeth not any of them should perish, and in which they all may be saved. Would to God many had taken more Heed than they have done to this Advertisement! That Place of the Apostle _Paul_, which _Peter_ seems here most particularly to hint at, doth much contribute also to clear the Matter, _Rom._ ii. 4. _Despisest thou the Riches of his Goodness, and Forbearance, and Long-suffering, not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance?_ _Paul_ speaketh here to the Unregenerate, and to the Wicked, who (in the following _Verse_ he saith) _Treasure up Wrath unto the Day of Wrath_; and to such he commends the Riches of the Forbearance and Long-suffering of God; shewing that the Tendency of God’s Goodness leadeth to Repentance. How could it necessarily tend to _lead them to Repentance_, how could it be called _Riches_ or _Goodness_ to them, if there were not a Time wherein they might repent by it, and come to be Sharers of the Riches exhibited in it? From all which I thus argue.

[Sidenote: Arg.] [Sidenote: _God’s Spirit strives in the Wicked._] If God plead with the Wicked, from the Possibility of their being accepted; if God’s Spirit strive in them for a Season, in order to save them, who afterwards perish; if he wait to be gracious unto them; if he be Long-suffering towards them; and if this Long-suffering be Salvation to them while it endureth, during which Time God willeth them not to perish, but exhibiteth to them the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance to lead them to Repentance; then there is a Day of Visitation wherein such might have been, or some such now may be saved, who have perished; and may perish, if they repent not:

But the first is true: Therefore also the last.

§. XX. [Sidenote: _Proof 2._] _Secondly_, This appeareth from the Prophet _Isaiah_ v. 4. [Sidenote: _The Vineyard planted brought forth wild Grapes._] _What could I have done more to my Vineyard?_ For in Ver. 2. he saith; _He had fenced it, and gathered out the Stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest Vine: And yet _(saith he)_ when I looked it should have brought forth Grapes, it brought forth wild Grapes_. Wherefore he calleth the Inhabitants of _Jerusalem_, and Men of _Judah_, to judge betwixt him and his Vineyard, saying; _What could I have done more to my Vineyard, than I have done in it? and yet _(as is said)_ it brought forth wild Grapes_: Which was applied to many in _Israel_, who refused God’s Mercy. The same Example is used by Christ, _Matth._ xxi. 33. _Mark_ xii. 1. _Luke_ xx. 9. where _Jesus_ shews, how to some _a Vineyard was planted_, and all Things given necessary for them, to get them Fruit to pay or restore to their Master; and how the Master many Times waited to be merciful to them, in sending Servants after Servants, and passing by many Offences, before he determined to destroy and cast them out. _First_ then, this cannot be understood of the Saints, or of such as repent and are saved; for it is said expresly, _He will destroy them_. Neither would the Parable any ways have answered the End for which it is alleged, if these Men had not been in a Capacity to have done Good; yea, such was their Capacity, that Christ saith in the Prophet, _What could have I done more?_ So that it is more than manifest, that by this Parable, repeated in three sundry _Evangelists_, Christ holds forth his Long-suffering towards Men, and their Wickedness, to whom Means of Salvation being afforded, do nevertheless resist, to their own Condemnation. To these also are parallel these Scriptures, _Prov._ i. 24, 25, 26. _Jer._ xviii. 9, 10. _Matth._ xviii. 32, 33, 34. _Acts_ xiii. 46.

[Sidenote: _Proof 3._] _Lastly_, That there is a Day of Visitation given to the Wicked, wherein they might have been saved, and which being expired, they are shut out from Salvation, [Sidenote: _Christ’s Lamentation over_ Jerusalem.] appears evidently by Christ’s Lamentation over _Jerusalem_, expressed in three sundry Places, _Matth._ xxiii. 37. _Luke_ xiii. 34. and xix. 41, 42. _And when he was come near, he beheld the City, and wept over it, saying; If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy Day, the Things that belong to thy Peace; but now they are hid from thine Eyes!_ Than which nothing can be said more evident to prove our Doctrine. For, _First_, he insinuates that there was a Day wherein the Inhabitants of _Jerusalem_ might have known those Things that belonged to their Peace. _Secondly_, That during that Day he was willing to have gathered them, even as an _Hen gathereth her Chickens_. A familiar Example, yet very significative in this Case; which shews that the Offer of Salvation made unto them was not in vain on his Part, but as really, and with as great Chearfulness and Willingness, as an _Hen gathereth her Chickens_. Such as is the Love and Care of the Hen toward her Brood, such is the Care of Christ to gather lost Men and Women, to redeem them out of their corrupt and degenerate State. _Thirdly_, That because they refused, the Things belonging to their _Peace were hid from their Eyes_. Why were they hid? Because ye would not suffer me to _gather you_; ye would not see those Things that were _good for you_, in the Season of God’s Love towards you; and therefore _now_, that Day being expired, _ye cannot see them_: And, for a farther judgment, God suffers you to be hardened in Unbelief.

[Sidenote: _God hardens, when._] So it is, after real Offers of Mercy and Salvation rejected, that Men’s Hearts are hardened, and not before. Thus that Saying is verified, _To him that hath, shall be given; and from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath._ This may seem a Riddle, yet it is according to this Doctrine easily solved. He hath not, because he hath lost the Season of using it, and so to him it is now as nothing; for Christ uses this Expression, _Matth._ xxv. 26. [Sidenote: _The one Talent was sufficient._] upon the Occasion of the taking the _one Talent_ from the _slothful Servant_, and giving it to him that was diligent; which _Talent_ was no ways insufficient of itself, but of the same Nature with those given to the others; and therefore the Lord had Reason to exact the Profit of it proportionably, as well as from the rest: So, I say, it is after the rejecting of the Day of Visitation, that the Judgment of Obduration is inflicted upon Men and Women, as Christ pronounceth it upon the _Jews_ out of _Isa._ vi. 9. which all the four _Evangelists_ make Mention of, _Matth._ xiii. 14. _Mark_ iv. 12. _Luke_ viii. 10. _John_ xii. 40. and last of all the Apostle _Paul_, after he had made Offer of the Gospel of Salvation to the _Jews_ at _Rome_, pronounceth the same, _Acts_ xxviii. 26. after that some believed not; _Well spake the Holy Ghost, by _Isaiah_ the Prophet, unto our Fathers, saying, Go unto this People, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For the Heart of this People is waxed gross, and their Ears are dull of hearing, and their Eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their Eyes, and hear with their Ears, and understand with their Hearts, and should be converted, and I should heal them._ So it appears, that God would have them to see, but they closed their Eyes; and therefore they are justly hardened. [Sidenote: Cyril. Alex.] Of this Matter _Cyrillus Alexandrinus_ upon _John_, Lib. 6. Cap. 21. speaks well, answering to this Objection. _But some may say, If Christ be come into the World, that those that see may be blinded, their Blindness is not imputed unto them; but it rather seems that Christ is the Cause of their Blindness, who saith_, He is come into the World, that those that see may be blinded. _But, _saith he,_ they speak not rationally, who object these Things unto God, and are not afraid to call him the Author of Evil. For, as the sensible Sun is carried upon our Horizon, that it may communicate the Gift of its Clearness unto all, and make its Light shine upon all_; [Sidenote: _The Cause of Man’s remaining in Darkness, the closing of his Eyes._] _yet if any one close his Eye-lids, or willingly turn himself from the Sun, refusing the Benefit of its Light, he wants its Illumination, and remains in Darkness, not through the Defect of the Sun, but through his own Fault. So that the true Sun, who came to enlighten those that sat in Darkness, and in the Region of the Shadow of Death, visited the Earth for this Cause, that he might communicate unto all the Gift of Knowledge and Grace, and illuminate the inward Eyes of all by a spiritual Splendor: But many reject the Gift of this heavenly Light freely given to them, and have closed the Eyes of their Minds, lest so excellent an Illumination or Irradiation of the eternal Light should shine unto them. It is not then through Defect of the true Sun that they are blinded, but only through their own Iniquity and Hardness_; for, _as the wise Man saith, Wisdom_ ii. Their Wickedness hath blinded them.

From all which I thus argue:

[Sidenote: _The obstinate _Jews_ had a Day._] If there was a Day wherein the obstinate _Jews_ might have known the Things that _belonged to their Peace_, which, because they rejected it, _was hid from their Eyes_; if there was a Time wherein Christ would have gathered them, who, because they refused, could not be gathered; then such as might have been saved do actually perish, that slighted the Day of God’s Visitation towards them, wherein they might have been converted and saved.

But the first is true: Therefore also the last.

§. XXI. [Sidenote: Prop. II.] [Sidenote: _Proved._] _Secondly_, That which comes in the second Place to be proved is, _That whereby God offers to work this Salvation during the Day of every Man’s Visitation_; and that is, _That he hath given to every Man a Measure of saving, sufficient, and supernatural Light and Grace_. This I shall do, by God’s Assistance, by some plain and clear Testimonies of the Scripture.

[Sidenote: _Proof 1._] _First_, From that of _John_ i. 9. _That was the true Light, which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World_. [Sidenote: _The Light enlightening every Man_, &c.--] This Place doth so clearly favour us, that by some it is called the _Quakers Text_; for it doth evidently demonstrate our Assertion; so that it scarce needs either Consequence or Deduction, seeing itself is a Consequence of two Propositions asserted in the former Verses, from which it followeth as a Conclusion in the very Terms of our Faith. The first of these Propositions is, _The Life that is in him is the Light of Men_: The second, _The Light shineth in the Darkness_; And from these two he infers, and _He is the true Light, which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World_.

[Sidenote: Obs. 1.] From whence I do in short observe, That this divine Apostle calls _Christ the Light of Men_, and giveth us this as one of the chief Properties, at least considerably and especially to be observed by us; seeing hereby, as he is the _Light_, and as we walk with him in that _Light_ which he communicates to us, we come to have Fellowship and Communion with him; as the same Apostle saith elsewhere, 1 _John_ i. 7. _Secondly_, That _this Light shineth in Darkness, though the Darkness comprehend it not_. [Sidenote:--_Not to a certain Number of Men, but every Man._] _Thirdly_, That _this true Light enlighteneth every Man that cometh into the World_. Where the Apostle, being directed by God’s Spirit, hath carefully avoided their Captiousness, that would have restricted this to any certain Number: Where every one is, there is none excluded. Next, should they be so obstinate, as sometimes they are, as to say that this [_every Man_] is only every one of the Elect; these Words following, _every Man that cometh into the World_, would obviate that Objection. So that it is plain there comes no Man into the World, whom Christ hath not _enlightened_ in some Measure, and in whose dark Heart this _Light_ doth not shine; though the _Darkness comprehend it not_, yet it shineth there; and the Nature thereof is to dispel the Darkness where Men shut not their Eyes upon it. [Sidenote: _The Light dispelling Darkness begets Faith._] Now for what End this _Light_ is given, is expressed, Ver. 7. where _John_ is said to come for a _Witness, to bear Witness to the Light, that all Men through it might believe_; to wit, through the _Light_, [Greek: di autou: δι αυτου], which doth very well agree with [Greek: phôtos: φωτος], as being the nearest Antecedent, though most Translators have (to make it suit with their own Doctrine) made it relate to _John_, as if all Men were to believe through _John_. For which, as there is nothing directly in the Text, so it is contrary to the very Strain of the Context. For, seeing Christ hath _lighted every Man_ with this _Light_, Is it not that they may come to believe through it? All could not believe through _John_, because all Men could not know of _John_’s Testimony; whereas every Man being lighted by this, may come therethrough to believe. _John_ shined not in _Darkness_; but this _Light_ shineth in the _Darkness_, that having dispelled the _Darkness_, it may produce and beget Faith. And, _Lastly_, We must believe through that, and become Believers through that, by walking in which, Fellowship with God is known and enjoyed; but, as hath been above-observed, it is by walking in this _Light_ that we have this Communion and Fellowship; not by walking in _John_, which were Nonsense. So that this Relative [Greek: di autou: δι αυτου], must needs be referred to the _Light_, whereof _John_ bears Witness, that through that _Light_, wherewith Christ hath _lighted every Man_, all Men might come to believe. Seeing then this _Light_ is the _Light_ of Jesus Christ, and the _Light_ through which Men come to believe, I think it needs not to be doubted, but that it is a supernatural, saving, and sufficient _Light_. [Sidenote: _The Light is supernatural, saving, and sufficient._] If it were not supernatural, it could not be properly called the _Light_ of Jesus; for though all Things be his, and of him, and from him; yet those Things which are common and peculiar to our Nature, as being a Part of it, we are not said in so special a Manner to have from Christ. Moreover, the Evangelist is holding out to us here the Office of Christ as Mediator, and the Benefits which from him as such do redound unto us.

[Sidenote: Obser. 2.] _Secondly_, It cannot be any of the natural Gifts or Faculties of our Soul, whereby we are said here to be enlightened, because this Light is said to _shine in the Darkness_, and cannot be comprehended by it. [Sidenote: _The Darkness is Man’s natural State and Condition._] Now this Darkness is no other but Man’s natural Condition and State; in which natural State he can easily comprehend, and doth comprehend, those Things that are peculiar and common to him as such. That Man in his natural Condition is called _Darkness_, see _Eph._ v. 8. _For ye were sometimes Darkness, but now are ye Light in the Lord._ And in other Places, as _Acts_ xxvi. 18. _Col._ i. 3. 1 _Thess._ v. 5. where the Condition of Man in his natural State, is termed _Darkness_: Therefore, I say, this _Light_ cannot be any natural Property or Faculty of Man’s Soul, but a supernatural Gift and Grace of Christ.

[Sidenote: Obser. 3.] _Thirdly_, It is sufficient and saving.

[Sidenote: Arg. 1.] That which is given, _That all Men through it may believe_, must needs be saving and sufficient: That, by walking in which, Fellowship with the Saints and the Blood of Christ, _Which cleanseth from all Sin_, is possessed, must be sufficient:

But such is the LIGHT, 1 _John_ i. 7.

Therefore, _&c._

Moreover;

[Sidenote: Arg. 2.] That which we are commanded to believe in, _That we may become the Children of the Light_, must be a supernatural, sufficient and saving Principle:

But we are commanded to _believe in this Light_:

Therefore, _&c._

The _Proposition_ cannot be denied. The _Assumption_ is Christ’s own Words, _John_ xii. 36. _While ye have the Light, believe in the Light, that ye may be the Children of the Light._

[Sidenote: Object.] To this they object, _That by _[Light]_ here is understood Christ’s outward Person, in whom he would have them believe._

[Sidenote: _Answ._] That they ought to have believed in Christ, that is, that he was the MESSIAH that was to come, is not denied; [Sidenote: _Whether Christ’s outward Person was the Light?_] but how they evince that Christ intended _that_ here, I see not: Nay, the Place itself shews the Contrary, by these Words, _While ye have the Light_; and by the Verse going before, _Walk while ye have the Light, lest Darkness come upon you_: Which Words import, That when that Light in which they were to believe was removed, then they should lose the Capacity or Season of believing. Now this could not be understood of Christ’s Person, else the _Jews_ might have believed in him; and many did savingly believe in him, as all Christians do at this Day, when the Person, to wit, his bodily Presence, or outward Man, is far removed from them. [Sidenote: _The Light of Christ is not Christ’s outward Man or Person._] So that this Light in which they were commanded to believe must be that inward spiritual Light that shines in their Hearts for a Season, even during the Day of Man’s Visitation; which, while it continueth to call, invite, and exhort, Men are said to have it, and may believe in it; but when Men refuse to believe in it, and reject it, then it ceaseth to be a Light to shew them the Way; but leaves the Sense of their Unfaithfulness as a Sting in their Conscience, which is a Terror and Darkness unto them, and upon them, in which they cannot know where to go, neither can work any Ways profitably in order to their Salvation. And therefore to such rebellious Ones the Day of the Lord is said to be _Darkness_, and not _Light_, Amos v. 18.