Universal redemption of mankind, by the Lord Jesus Christ stated and cleared by the…

Arg. 14th. Acertitudine fidei, & possibilitate rectè credendi.

If Christ hath not satisfied for the Sins of all, then no Man hath a sufficient ground for his first justifying Faith: (All Men are left at an utter uncomfortable uncertainty whether they may believe to Justification or not) But the consequent is false: Therefore so is the Antecedent.

That which is said before doth show so much of the grounds of this Argument, that I shall be the shorter in it now. All the doubt is of the consequence of the Major, and to clear that, I suppose it is granted that all firm, sufficient Faith for justification, must not only have a command to warrant it, but also a fit object about which it must be exercised. God commandeth no Man to believe a falsehood to make it become true by believing it, nor to trust to a person or promise that is not to be trusted, as being not only fallible, but certainly will deceive. As for the Act of affiance or recumbency, commonly called the justifying Act, no Man can groundedly or ⟨p. 169⟩comfortably rest on Christ for justification by his Blood, who doth not first know that his Blood was shed for him, and hath satisfied for him: Else he must rest on that which he knows not to be sufficient for him to rest upon: For it hath been proved that Christs death is not sufficient to justify any for whom it was not suffered, though they should believe. He suffered not superfluously, as I have showed: Take the confession of a Divine that for fear of Arminianism joined Hands with the Antinomians, Maccovius colleg. disp. de justif. disp. 5. §. 22. Quoad substantiam poenae nihil olus perpessus est Christus quam per legem debebatur: Neque enim vel Amor Patris, vel etiam justitia permittere potuit, plura ut filio imponerentur, quam quae illi necessariò tanquam sponsori ferenda erant; Quoad circumstantias autem, patientis personam, patiendi causam, passionis efficaciam plusquam sufficiens satisfactio Christi. Neque enim lex requirebat ut Deus moreretur, neque ut sine peccato proprio quis moreretur, neque morstalis quae suffecisset pro peccatis totius mundi, sive pro omnibus & singulis hominibus. Here he confesseth that Christ suffered no more than was due by Law, and than was necessary for him to suffer as Sponsor: And yet that his Death was sufficient for the Sins of all the World, even for all Men and every Man. And if so, then either he suffered as Sponsor for all: Or else circumstances did make that Death sufficient for all, which yet quoad substantiâ poenae (as he calls it) had none of that which the Law required, and was necessary for the Sponsor to undergo.