ought to do. If Christ bad not assumed our nature, and therein made satisfaction for the injury offered to the Divine Majesty, God would not have come into a treaty of peace with us more than with the fallen angels, whose nature the Son did not assume: but this way being made, God holds out unto us the golden sceptre of his word, and thereby not only signifieth his pleasure of admitting us unto his presence, and accepting of our submission, which is a wonderful grace, but also sends an embassage unto us, and entreats us that we would be reconciled unto them.2 Cor. v. 20. "Hence we infer against the first extremity, that by the virtue of this blessed oblation, God is made placable unto our nature (which he never will be unto the angelical nature offending); but not actually appeased with any, until he hath received his Son, and put on the Lord Jesus. As also, against the latter extremity, that all men may be truly said to have interest in the merits of Christ, as in a common; though all do not enjoy the benefit thereof, because they have no will to take it. "The well-spring of life is set open unto all; Rev. xxii. 17. Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely;' but many have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.' Faith is the vessel whereby we draw all virtue from Christ; and the Apostle tells us, that faith is not of all; 2 Thess. iii. 2. Now the means of getting this faith is the hearing of the word of truth, the Gospel of our salvation, Eph. i. 13, which ministereth this general ground for every one to build his faith upou. "Syllogism. What Christ hath prepared for thee, and the Gospel offereth unto thee, that oughtest thou with all thankfulness to accept and apply to the comfort of thy own soul. But Christ by his death and obedience bath provided a sufficient remedy for the taking away of all thy sins, and the Gospel offereth the same unto thee. Therefore thou oughtest to accept and apply the same to the comfort of thine own soul. "Now this Gospel of salvation many do not hear at all, being destitute of the ministry of the word; and many hearing do not believe, or lightly regard it; and many that do believe the truth thereof, are so wedded to their sins, that they have no desire to be divorced from them: and therefore they refuse to accept the gracious offer that is made unto them. And yet, notwithstanding this refusal on their part, we may truly say, that good things were provided for them on Christ's part, and a rich prize was put into the hands of a fool, howsoever he had no heart to use it. Prov. xvii. 16. "Our blessed Saviour, by that which he hath performed on his part, hath procured a jubilee for the sons of Adam; and his Gospel is his trumpet, whereby he doth proclaim liberty to the captives, and preacheth the acceptable year of the Lord. Luke iv. 18, 19. If for all this some are so well pleased with their captivity, that they desire no deliverance, that derogates nothing from the generality of the freedom annexed to that year. If one say to sin, his old master (Levit. xxv. 39; Exod. xxi. 5; Deut. xv. 66), I love thee, and will not go out free, he shall be bored for a slave and serve for ever. But that slavish disposition of his maketh the extent of the privilege of that year not a whit the straighter, because he was included within the general grant, as well as others, howsoever he was not disposed to take the benefit of it. The kingdom of heaven is like to a certain king that made a marriage for his son, and sent his servants to those that were bidden to the wedding with this message: Behold I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; come to the marriage.' (Matt. xxiv.) If we look to the event, they that were bidden made light of their entertainment, and went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise,' (verse 5); but that neglect of theirs doth not falsify the word of the king (verse 4), viz. that the dinner was prepared, and these unworthy guests were invited there'unto: for what if some did not believe, shall their unbelief disannul the faith and truth of God?' (Rom. iii. 3, 4.) God forbid; yea, let God be true and every man a liar, as it is written, that thou mayest be justified in thy saying, and overcome when thou judgest.' Let not the house of Israel say, The way of the Lord is unequal. For when he cometh to judge them, the inequality will be found on their side, and not on his. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal; are not your your ways unequal, saith the Lord.' Ezek. xviii. 29. "The Lord is right in all his ways, and holy in all his works.' All the ways of our God are mercy and truth: when we were in our sins, it was of his infinite mercy that any way or remedy should be prepared for our recovery: and when the remedy is prepared, we are never the nearer, except he be pleased, of his free mercy, to apply the same to us, that so the whole praise of our redemption, from the beginning to the end thereof, may entirely be attributed to the riches of his grace, and nothing left to sinful flesh wherein it may rejoice. "The freeing of the Jews from the captivity of Babylon, was a type of that great deliverance which the Son of God hath wrought for us. "Cyrus, king of Persia, who was Christus Domini (and herein but a shadow of Christus Dominus, the author of our redemption), published his proclamation in this manner: Who is amongst you of all his people, the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up." (Ezra i. 2, and 2 Chron. xxxvi. 23.) Now it is true they alone did fol low this calling, whose spirit God had raised to go up. (Ezra. i. 5.) But could they that remained still in Babylon justly plead, that the king's grant was not large enough, or that they were excluded from going up by any clause contained therein? The matter of our redemption, purchased by our Saviour Christ lieth open to all: all are invited to it: none that hath a mind to accept it is excluded from it. The beautiful feet of those that preach the Gospel of peace do bring glad tidings of good things to every house where they tread, the first part of their message being this: "Peace to this house." (Rom. x. 15; Luke x. 5.) But unless God be pleased, out of his abundant mercy, to guide our feet into the way of peace, the rebellion of our nature is such, that we run headlong to the ways of destruction and misery. Rom. iii. 16. And the ways of peace do we not know. They have not all obeyed the Gospel. Rom. x. 16. All are not apt to entertain this message of peace; and, therefore, though God's ambassadors make a true tender of it to all unto whom they are sent, yet their peace only resteth on the sons of peace: but if it meet with such as will not listen to the motion of it, their peace doth again return unto themselves. Luke x. 6. The proclamation of the Gospel runneth thus (Rev. xxii. 17): 'Let him that is athirst come;' for him this grace is specially provided, because none but he will take the pains to come: but lest we should think this should abridge the largeness of the offer, a quicunque vult is immediately added; and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely:' yet withal this must be yielded for a certain truth, that it is God who must work in us to will and to do of his good pleasure; and though the call be never so loud and large, yet none can come except the Father draw him. John vi. 44. For the universality of the satis faction derogates nothing from the necessity of the special grace in the application: neither doth the speciality of the one any ways abridge the generality of the other. Indeed, Christ our Saviour saith (John xvii. 9), "I pray not for the world, but for them that thou hast given me:" but the consequence hereby inferred may well be excepted against, viz.; He prayeth not for the world; therefore he payed not for the world; because the latter is an act of his satisfaction, the former of his intercession, which, being divers parts of his priesthood, are distinguishable one from another by sundry differences. This his satisfaction doth properly give contentment to God's justice, in such sort as formerly hath been declared: his intercession doth solicit God's mercy. The first contains the preparation of the remedy necessary for man's salvation; the second brings with it an application of the same. And consequently the one may well appertain to the common nature which the Son assumed, when the other is a special privilege vouchsafed to such particular persons, only, as the Father hath given him. And therefore we may safely conclude out of all these premises, that the Lamb of God offering himself a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, intended, by giving sufficient satisfaction to God's justice, to make the nature of man, which he assumed, a fit subject for mercy, and to prepare a medicine for the sins of the whole world, which should be denied to none that intended to take the benefit of it. Howsoever he intended not, by applying this all-sufficient remedy unto every person in particular, to make it effectual unto the salvation of all, or to procure thereby actual pardon for the sins of the whole world. So, in one respect, he may be said to have died for all, and, in another respect, not to have died for all; yet so, as in respect of his mercy, he may be CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 161. counted a kind of universal cause of the restoring of our nature, as Adam was of the depraving of it; for as far as I can discern, he rightly hits the nail on the head, that determineth the point in this manner: "Thomas.contraGentiles, lib.iv.55. "Mors Christi est quasi quædam universalis causa salutis; sicut peccatum primi hominis fuit quasi uni-* versalis causa damnationis. Oportet autem universalem causam applicari ad unumquemque specialiter, ut effectum universalis causæ participet. Effectus igitur peccati primi parentis pervenit ad unuinquemque per carnis originem; effectus autem mortis Christi pertinet ad unumquemque per spiritualem regenerationem, per quam Christo homo quodammodo conjungitur et incorporatur.' "March 3, 1617." "JAMES USHER, 1 To the Editor of the Christian Observer. As expositors of prophecy, particularly in the present eventful times, can never be too careful in accurately surveying their ground; I send you an argument, relative to the apocalyptic arrangement of the 1260 years, which has recently occurred to me, and which I would recommend to the consideration of Mr. Cuninghame and other expositors who believe that that great period has already expired. My own opinion has always been, that the 1260 years commence with the sounding of the fifth trumpet, which ushers in the first woe; and that they expire with the effusion of the seventh vial, when a great voice declares, It is done. Hence I conceive them to comprehend the whole of the first woe, the whole of the second woe, and the six earliest vials included under the third woe. It is plain, therefore, that I suppose, as is most natural, both their commencement and their termination to be marked by distinctly specified apocalyptic epochs. 20 The opinion of Mr. Cuninghame, on the contrary, is, that the 1260 years commenced about the year 532; which is no determinate apocalyptic epoch, but a year which occurs somewhere between the sounding of the fourth and the sounding of the fifth trumpet; and that they expired about the year 1792, when he supposes the seventh trumpet to have sounded, and the third woe to have commenced. His arrangement, therefore, has the disadvantage of making them commence at a point which does not coincide with any: one of the great apocalyptic epochs; while it dissimilarly makes them terminate at a point which (in his hypothesis) does coincide with one of the great apocalyptic epochs. Now, as Mr. Cuninghame, like myself, rightly pronounces all the seven vials to be component parts of the third woe, and consequently to be posterior in point of time to the commencement of the seventh trumpet, which ushers in the third woe; it is obvious, that, according to my arrangement of the 1260 years, the six first vials are included within that period; while, according to his arrangement, they are excluded from it, and are consecutive to it. Here, therefore, the question is narrowed into this consideration-whether six of the vials ought, or ought not, to be included within the period of the 1260 years. If the former, then Mr. Cuninghame's arrangement is clearly wrong; if the latter, then it may or may not be right. Supposing, therefore, it can be proved that even a single vial ought to be included within the 1260 years, Mr. Cuninghame's arrangement would by such proof be imme, diately subverted: for he makes that period terminate at the beginning of the third woe, and rightly supposes all the vials to be posterior to the beginning of that woe; consequently, with him every vial is posterior to the termination of the 1260 years, and therefore no one vial is included within them. Now, such a proof I engage to furnish; that is to say, I undertake to prove, that one or more of the vials must necessarily be comprehended within the 1260 years; whence it will plainly follow, that these years cannot have expired previous to the effusion of all the vials, the point to be established. 1. The sackcloth-prophesying of the witnesses, and the 1260 years, exactly coincide, from their respective commencements to their respective terminations. 2. Whatever, therefore, occurs during the sackcloth-prophesying of the witnesses, occurs also during the lapse of the 1260 years. 3. But we are told, that the witnesses, during the days of their prophecy, have power over waters to turn them to blood, and have power over the earth to smite it with all plagues (Rev. xi. 6.) 4. Hence it follows, that the turning of the waters into blood, and the smiting of the earth with certain plagues, occur during the sackcloth-prophesying of the wit nesses. 6. But the sackcloth prophesying of the witnesses exactly coincides with the 1260 years. 6. Therefore the turning of the waters into blood, and the smiting of the earth with certain plagues, occur during the lapse of the 1260 years, and are thence, of course, included within them. 7. But the waters are turned into blood under the second and third vials: and the first, the fifth, and the sixth vials are all poured out upon the earth; as are likewise, indeed, the second and third, if the symbolical earth be viewed in a large sense as opposed to the symbolical heavens. Moreover, all the vials are expressly called plagues. (Rev. xv. 1.) 8. Hence it appears, that the waters are turned into blood, and the earth is smitten with certain plagues, under the first, seconi, third, fifth, and sixth vials. 9. But such calamities were to befal the waters and the earth the vials. The two cannot stand. during the sackcloth-prophesying together. of the witnesses, and consequently during the lapse of the 1260 years. 10. Therefore the first, second, third, fifth, and sixth vials, and thence also palpably the fourth vial, which occurs in the very midst of them, must all be included within the sackcloth-prophesying of the witnesses. 11. But, if the six first vials must all be included within the sackcloth-prophesying, they must likewise be all included within the 1260 years. 12. Consequently, since all the six first vials must be included, by the express terms of the pre phecy, within the 1260 years; those 1260 years cannot expire previous to the effusion of the six first vials. 13. But Mr. Cuninghame makes them expire previous to the effusion of any one of the vials: therefore Mr. Cuninghame's arrangement must, even on his own acknow. ledged principles, be erroneous. Mede avoids this difficulty, by placing most incongruously and arbitrarily the six first vials under the second woe, and by making the third woe and the seventh vial commence synchronically. Such an arrangement enables him to suppose, that the 1260 years expire at the commencement both of the third woe and of the seventh vial. But no expositor, who places all the seven vials under the third woe, where homogeneity manifestly requires that they should be placed: no expositor, who thus arranges them, can, consistently with the ferms of the prophecy (Rev. xi. 6, compared with Rev. xv. 1, xvi. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12), make the 1200 years expire at the commencement of the third woe, and therefore previous to the effusion of the vials. If Mr. Cuninghame, in short, retains his arrangement of the 1260 years, he must, so far as I can judge, give up his arrangement of I take this opportunity of mentioning, that I believe the French Revolutionary Government, from the year 1808, down to the present time, has been under the baneful influence of the fifth vial. It is not impossible that that vial may not be yet exhausted: should that be the case, we may expect the French arms to experience further reverses. I fear, however, that nothing will prevent the ultimate re-establishment of the FrancoRoman western empire; though such re-establishment will only be the prelude to its final subversion, and though I much incline to believe that England, though scourged, will be safe in the midst of the whirlwind.-My principles of exposition led me to anticipate the downfal of the Bourbons and the restoration of the Revolutionary Government, even from the very first. My reasoning was of course hypothetical: IF my principles were right, THEN such and such events must inevitably follow. Yet I felt them to be so strongly established, that I had little fear in reasoning upon them accordingly. In a note to the 5th edition of my work on the 1260 years, which is dated July 28, 1814, I stated at large the grounds of my persuasion, that the Bourbons would not long reign in France, and that the Revolutionary Government would soon be restored. The reader will find that note in vol. ii. p. 400. G. S. FABER. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. HAVING ventured, some time ago, to offer a few remarks on a system of theology which appeared to me to proceed on a high and disproportionate view of some parts of religious truth, I have been induced to bring before your readers the counterpart, as it were, of those * Vol. for 1814, p. €20. |