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10. Again; It is fet forth as an evidence of the univerfal love and good-will of God to man, that “he willeth not that any, even the wicked, fhould perish; but that all, that all men every where, fhould come to repent66 ance and be faved";" not merely, as Calvin explains away the univerfality of the expreffions, that "God is prepared to pardon, as foon "as the finner fhall be converted, and there"fore he willeth not his death, in as far as he "willeth his repentance";" but that he abfolutely willeth both the end and the means, and fo affords to all men opportunity of repentance as the means, and falvation and happiness as the end as Voffius teftifies to have been the fentence of the primitive Church, that "God "willeth the converfion and falvation of all 66 men." If he does not, what comfort do thefe promises afford to the great body of mankind? but "these," faith the venerable Latimer, “are "moft comfortable words; for now we may "be fure, that when we will leave our fins

2 Pet, iii. 9. Tit. ii. 4. Acts xvii. 30. Ezek. xviii. 23. xxxiii. 11.

Atque hæc fumma eft, non effe dubitandum, quin Deus paratus fit ignofcere, fimul ac converfus fit peccator. Ergo ejus mortem non vult, quatenus vult pænitentiam. Calv. Inft. lib. iii. cap. xxiv. fect. 15.

• Veteris hæc Ecclefiæ fententia fuit, velle Deum converfionem et falutem omnium. Voff. Hift. Pelag. lib. vii. thef. ii. p. 652.

"and wickednefs, and turn unto him with all "our hearts earnestly, then he will turn him"felf unto us, and will fhow himself a loving "father. And to the intent we fhould believe

this, he fweareth an oath; we ought to be"lieve God without an oath, yet he sweareth "to make us more fure P." At the fame time various fcriptures concur in proving, that his love is not confined merely to "fome of all "nations, or of all forts, of men," as Auftin, and after him Calvin', affirm, and as their followers interpret fuch paffages in Scripture ; but that all the children of men are objects of the divine benevolence. "God is naturally

good," faith our great reformer Archbishop Cranmer, "and willeth all men to be faved, "and careth for them, and provideth all things.

by which they may be faved, except by their own malice they will be evil, and fo

P Latimer's Sermons, vol. ii., p. 623.

Aut certe fic dictum eft, Qui omnes homines cult falves fieri; non quod nullus hominum effet, quem falvum fieri nollet: fed ut omnes homines omne genus humanum intelligamus per quafcunque differentias diftributum; reges, pri vatos, &c. &c. Auguft. Enchir. cap. xxix.

-Deo, qui velit omnes homines falvos fieri. Quo nihil aliud profecto fignificat, quam nulli hominum ordini viam ad falutem præclufiffe: quin potius mifericordiam fuam fic effudiffe, ut nullum ejus expertem effe velit. Calv. Inft. lib. iii. cap. xxiv. fect. 16.

Whitefield's Works,

Toplady on Predeft. page 47. vol. vi. p. 223. Eighteen Sermons, p. 160.

"by righteous judgment of God perish and be "loft. For truly men be to themselves the "authors of fin and damnation. God is nei"ther author of fin nor caufe of damnation. "And yet doth he most righteously damn thofe men, that do with vices corrupt their "nature, which he made good; and do abufe the fame to evil defires, againft his most holy " will. Wherefore men be to be warned, that they do not impute to God their vice or "their damnation, but to themfelves, which

by free-will have abused the grace and be"nefits of Godt." "Chrift," faith the venerable Latimer, "would have all the world to "come unto him. The promises of our Saviour "Chrift are general; they pertain to the whole "world, to all mankind; wherefore then "fhould any man defpair "?" And again;

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Seeing the Gofpel is univerfal, it appeareth "that God would have all mankind to be faved; "and that the fault is not in him, if we be "damned; for it is written thus, God would "have all to be faved. His falvation is fuffi"cient to fave all mankind; but we are fo "wicked of ourfelves, that we refufe the fame, "and we will not take it, when it is offered

t

Neceffary Doctrine and Erudition for any Chriftian Man, Article of Free-will.

Latimer's Sermons, vol. ii. p. 471, 480.

"to us; and therefore he faith, Few are cho "fen; that is, few have pleasure or delight in "it." And to the fame effect Bishop Hooper argues, "that as the fins of Adam, without "privilege or exemption, extended and apper"tained unto all and every of Adam's pofterity, fo did the promise of grace generally

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appertain as well to every and fingular of "Adam's pofterity as to Adam ;" and again, "The promise of grace appertaineth to every "fort of men in the world, and comprehendeth "them all, how beit within certain limits and "bounds, the which if men neglect or pafs

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over, they exclude themselves from the pro"mife in Chrift: as Cain was no more exclud"ed, till he excluded himself, than Abel; Saul "than David; Judas than Peter; Efau than "Jacob; by the Scripture it feemeth that the "fentence of God was given to fave the one, "and to damn the other, before the one loved "God, or the other hated God. Howbeit "these threatenings of God against Efau, if he "had not of his wilful malice excluded himself "from the promife of grace, fhould no more "have hindered his falvation than God's "threatenings againft Nineveh; which, not

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withstanding that God faid it fhould be deftroyed within forty days, ftood a great time "after, and did penance. Efau was circum"cifed and presented unto the church of God

by his father Ifaac in all external ceremonies "as well as Jacob; and that his life and con"verfation was not as agreeable unto justice "and equity as Jacob's, the fentence of God "unto Rebecca was not in the fault, but his

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own malice; for there is mentioned nothing

at all in that place, that Efau was difinherit"ed of eternal life; but that he should be in"ferior to his brother Jacob in this world; "which prophecy was fulfilled in their pof"terities, and not in the perfons themselves"." Nay, what more ample teftimony of God's abundant kindnefs and good-will to all men can be given, than his overture of mercy to fuch unprincipled wretches as Judas Iscariot and Simon Magus? As the learned Barrow after St. Ambrofe has remarked, "that our "Lord ought not to pafs by the man that "fhould betray him, that all men might take "notice, that, in the choice even of his traitor, "he did hold forth a pledge or mark of all "men being to be faved"

"Preface to Hooper's Declaration of the Ten Command

ments.

* Barrow's Works, vol. iii. p. 322. Venerat Dominus Jefus omnes falvos facere peccatores; etiam circa impios oftendere fuam debuit voluntatem: et ideo nec proditurum debuit præterire, ut adverterent omnes, quod, in electione etiam proditoris fui, fervandorum omnium infigne prætendit. Ambrof. de Paradifo, cap. viii.