in the power of the Father to enter into a new covenant with man-all which Arminian tenets were condemned by the synod of Dort, as injurious opinions, offering indignity to the efficacy of the cross of Christ. The opinions and decisions of the great and good men who composed the synod merit high respect, though they are not infallible. In this case the decision is supported both by scripture and reason. How can Christ be said to have given himself a ransom-a price of redemption for us-to have procured for us eternal salvation to redeem us from all iniquity, and other things of the same kind, which denote not the possibility, but actual procurement of salvation; if after all, he only rendered it possible that we might be saved?

Another objection equally futile is that " redemption was procured for all with a design that it should be applied to them; provided they would not reject it." This cannot be asserted with respect to an innumerable number, to whom Christ has never been offered, and who do not know him even in name. If it be alleged that Christ proposed to himself an object so vain and fruitless respecting a thing which should never happen, and which could not happen without his gift, which he determined not to give, what an indignity is offered to his wisdom! It represents Christ as saying, I wish to obtain salvation for all, to the end that it may be applied to them, will they but believe; however, I am resolved not to reveal this redemption to all, and to refuse to innumerable multitudes that salvation which is essentially necessary to their embracing of it—the only means by which it can be applied to them. Shall men, to support a favorite theory, make the infinitely wise and holy Jesus say, I desire that to come to pass, which I know neither will nor can take place; and I am even unwilling that it should, for I refuse to communicate the only means by which it can' ever be brought to pass, and the granting of this means depends upon myself, and upon myself alone. What a shameful indignity does this offer to the wisdom of Emanuel! It would be an insult to the understanding of frail man. Nor will the matter be amended by saying that the failure of the applica

tion is not to be attributed to Christ, but to the wickedness and unbelief of man. This is not less injurious to the honour of Christ, for it represents him either as not foreseeing, or as not capable of preventing those impediments, which might obstruct the application of the salvation, which he obtained, and thus cause him to miss his aim. They indeed allege that it was not in vain, though it fails of success; because, however men treat the salvation offered them, Christ will not miss the prime object which he had in view in his death; that is, that pardon and salvation may be provided for men, if they will believe and repent-and that before his death the rigour of divine, inexorable justice, rendered this salvation impossible, and that nothing now hinders but the sinner's obstinacy. All this does not remove the absurdity. The object in procuring salvation could be none other than its application; and it was obtained for no valuable purpose if it is never applied; and thus loses its object. Christ needs not die for men, to procure for them pardon and saltion under a condition, which it is impossible for them to comply with; but he died that he might in reality obtain pardon and complete redemption, for his people.

This is confirmed from the manner in which Christ procured salvation; for if the procurement extended to all, it must be either absolute or conditional. The former will not be asserted, for then all men, universally, would be saved. The latter is equally inadmissible, for-1st. What is procured conditionally, is not, properly speaking, procured at all, but only a mere possibility of its being procured, provided the condition is complied with. 2d. Either Christ has procured the condition itself for all, or for some only. If he has acquired the condition for all, then all will assuredly be saved; for this condition could be obtained for them in no other way than absolutely; unless indeed they would say that there is a condition of a condition, which, though it is absurd, as tending to stretch out into an endless chain of conditions, yet all these conditional conditions will be, on the present supposition purchased by Christ. If the condition, by which the salvation is to be obtained, has been procured for some only, then the salvation has not been fully

procured for all. The procurement has been partial and defective in the most essential point. In this view, vain and delusive has been the act by which salvation is said to have been provided; for the condition annexed to it is one, with which the sinner is utterly unable to comply—it is a condition, which will never be performed, and which God not only foresaw would never be complied with, but he also decreed not to give the power to fulfil it, while he alone is able to give it. Finally, this subterfuge represents Christ as having had a double intention in his atonement; one conditional, in favour of all, the other absolute, in favour of the elect a representation unsupported by reason and revelation, and irreconcilable with the unity and simplicity of the decree, which appointed the death of Christ..

5. Another source from which we argue in favour of limiting the atonement, is the extent and fulness of the blessings which Christ purchased for all those for whom he died. Christ suffered death for those only, for whom he merited salvation, and with salvation all the means necessary to put them in possession of it, especially faith and repentance; and opened a way for the application by the Holy Spirit, the author of both; without all which, salvation is unattainable. That he purchased faith, repentance, and the graces of the Holy Spirit, for all men universally, cannot be said; for then all men would necessarily be saved by his death. He procured them for the elect only; therefore for the elect only he died. This argument is irresistibly conclusive, unless it is denied that Christ purchased those means of salvation. But that Christ purchased faith for man, is proved, by the most luminous scriptural testimony. 1. Christ is said to be* 66 αρχηγὸς καὶ τελαιωτὴς πίστεως, the author and finisher of our faith." If he is the author of our faith, he must be its purchaser, for he bestows nothing on us, which he has not procured for us by his merits. 2. Christ is the meritorious cause of salvation. To him and his merits we are entirely indebted for our salvation, and consequently for every part

*Heb. xii. 5. Acts, v. 31.

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of it, for every thing which contributes to our salvation. But faith and spiritual life which he works and implants in us, are the chief part of our salvation. 3. Christ is the cause and foundation of all spiritual blessings;* “Who,” Christ, "hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings." And faith is one of the greatest spiritual blessings which God bestows on man. Hence it is elsewhere said, "It is given you on the part of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." In what other sense can faith be said to be given us for Christ's sake, but because he purchased it for us? 4. Christ promised to send the Spirit; he must have opened a way by his death for the Spirit's operations, and established such a connection between his purchase and the communication of the graces of the Spirit, that the Spirit necessarily, though freely, works all these graces in the hearts of those for whom Christ shed his blood. Hence the Spirit is spoken of as one of the fruits of Christ's death.‡ All the gifts of the Spirit, especially faith, are the fruits of Christ's purchase. Here we are not to distinguish between the Spirit as sanctifying and comforting, and the Spirit as imparting spiritual illumination to the mind; as if Christ had merited the former only, and not the latter. For as all the graces of the heart proceed from the same Spirit, he who opened by his purchase a way for the operations of the Spirit, the author of these graces; must also have purchased for us all his gifts; and as faith is the principle and root of our sanctification, he who purchased the graces of the Spirit who sanctifies, must also have purchased "faith, which worketh by love, and purifieth the heart." 5. Christ could not be a full and perfect Saviour, unless he had procured for us faith, without which it is impossible to be made partakers of salvation. This doctrine has been uniformly taught in the Reformed church. They maintained that Christ had not less procured for us faith, than salvation-and that he is the cause of all the gifts which the Father bestows upon us, Hence the venerable divines of the synod of Dort in their † Phil. i. 29.

* Eph. i. 3.

+ John xvi. 7.

exhibition of the doctrines of truth, say,* "Christ, by his death, purchased for us faith and all the other saving graces of the Spirit." And to the same purpose, in their condemnation of errors,† they pronounce those "unsound in the faith," who teach that Christ, by his satisfaction, did not merit salvation for any definite number, and also that faith, by which his satisfaction is efficaciously applied for salvation, and that he purchased no more than a power, and entire willingness for the Father to enter into a new covenant with man, and to prescribe whatever conditions he might think fit; the compliance with which conditions depended upon the free will of man; so that either all, or none might fulfil them. Such teachers think too meanly of the death of Christ, are ignorant of its glorious fruits, and the blessings procured by it, and drag from its grave the Pelagian heresy."

It is a vain distinction which some make here, respecting the decree. They say "that we must distinguish between the decree to deliver Christ up to death," and his death, which took place in time; that the decree to deliver Christ up to die for sinners, was antecedent to the election of a definite number, but his death procured the decree of special election." Amyraut,‡ speaking of Christ's death in time, says, redemption ought to be equal, that it may respect all, as the creatures of God equally sinful," &c. He elsewhere says, "that the nature of the thing proves this, for seeing the affection of the Son must be the same with that of the Father, for all men as his children; so the death of Christ in time, must be conformed to the eternal decree of the Father, as he would not make an atonement, unless according to the decree, and command of his Father. Therefore, when the decree of the Father respecting Christ's death, proceeded from equal fatherly affection towards all, before any were elected to faith; Christ, in his death, could have no other end and intention than to execute his counsel." Even in this view of the subject, Christ in his death, must have consider

* Th. 8.

†Th. 3.

De Prædesti. p. 77.