Hardy:

Suitably hereunto it is that divines conceive a double covenant to be intimated in Scripture—the one universal and conditional, the other special and absolute; the one made with all, and every man, upon these terms, ‘Whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish,’ John iii. 16; the other made with Christ concerning a seed which he should see upon making his soul an offering for sin, Isa. liii. 10, to whom he promiseth not only salvation by Christ upon condition of believing, but the writing his law in their hearts, Heb. x. 16, whereby they are enabled to perform the condition, and so infallibly partake of that salvation. By all which, it appeareth that notwithstanding God’s special affection, and decree of election whereby he hath purposed this propitiation shall be actually conferred upon some, we may truly assert, God hath a general love whereby he hath ordained the death of Christ an universal remedy applicable to every man as a propitiation for his sins, if he believe and repent. And hence it is that this propitiation, as it is applicable, so it is annunciable to every man. Indeed, as God hath not intended it should be actually applied, so neither that it should be so much as actually revealed to many men; but yet it is, as applicable, so annunciable, both by virtue of the general covenant God hath made with all, and that general mandate he hath given to his ministers of preaching the gospel to all, so that if any minister could go through all the parts of the world, and in those parts singly, from man to man, he might not only with a conjectural hope, but with a certain faith, say to him, God hath so loved thee that he gave his only son, that if thou believe in him, thou shalt not perish; and that this is not barely founded upon the innate sufficiency of Christ’s death, but the ordination of God, appeareth in that we cannot, may not, say so to any of the fallen angels, for whom yet, as you have already heard, Christ’s death is instrinsically sufficient.

Nathanael Hardy, The First General Epistle of St John the Apostle, Unfolded and Applied (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1865), 141. [Underlining mine.] [This is reprint from the original 1654 edition. Hardy was an Anglican Puritan in the spirit of John Davenant.]

Credit to Tony for finding Hardy

Davenant:

Some relevant quotations:

1) The last argument is taken from a comparison of the twofold covenant, and according to it, of a twofold ordination of men to salvation. As, therefore, in the covenant of nature, that is, the agreement with Adam at the time of creation, salvation was procurable by Adam and all his posterity under the condition of obedience to be paid to the law of nature, and to the express commandment of God; so in the covenant of grace, which was confirmed by the blood of the Mediator, salvation is also understood to be procurable for all men under the condition published in the Gospel, that is, of faith in this Mediator, who hath made satisfaction for the sins of the human race. Moreover, as in the first covenant, God, who ordained salvation as procurable for Adam and his posterity, yet did not predestinate that either Adam himself or any of his posterity should be really saved by that covenant; so God, who in the second covenant ordained salvation as procurable for all under the condition of faith, yet hath not predestinated to give to all men individually this faith. by which they might infallibly obtain salvation. But lest the blood of the Son of God should flow, and through the fault of the human will the same should happen in the second covenant which had happened in the first, namely, that no one should enjoy the benefit of it, God resolved with himself a more deep and secret counsel and determined of his mere and special mercy to give to some persons the ability and will to fulfil the aforesaid condition of faith, and further, that they should actually and infallibly fulfil it. But now, as he would be unjust towards God who should deny that salvation was ordained by God as procurable for Adam and his posterity under the covenant of nature; so he is more unjust towards Christ, who denies that his death was ordained by God, as a remedy for salvation applicable to all under the condition of the new covenant, although many do not obtain salvation by means of it. God himself gave to the world this remedy applicable to all mankind individually; let the world concede to God the liberty of applying it, as it may seem good to his wisdom and justice. Those who think in this manner of the death of Christ do not take away that common loving-kindness of God, of which the Scripture testifies; and yet at the same time they contend, that as many as are saved by the merit of the death of Christ, are saved by special and undeserved grace; and that as many aa are not saved, perish through their own unbelief, or at least. through their own fault. I omit bringing forward any more arguments to corroborate this our opinion. Let us now attend to what is wont to be objected on the other side. John Davenant, Dissertation on the Death of Christ, 364-365.

2) REPLY 1. But I answer, When we affirm the death of Christ according to the ordination of God, and the nature of the thing, to be a remedy applicable to every man, we consider not merely the outward passion of Christ endured at the appointed moment of time, but the eternal virtue of the death of Christ, bringing salvation to mankind in every age. For Christ, as to the intention of God, was a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and the efficacy ofthis propitiatory sacrifice could extend itself as much to those who lived before Christ suffered, as to us who live after his passion. If therefore they only mean, that those could not be relieved by the death of Christ in time, who before his death were by an irrevocable decree adjudged to infernal punishment, we confess the same; because they had then ceased to be living in this world, and therefore were not capable of repentance and faith; but if they mean to contend farther, that the eternal virtue of the death of Christ was not applicable to such persons while they were alive in this world, because the passion of Christ did not regard them any more than the wicked and condemned angels, that we deny. For it may be truly said of Cain, Esau. or any man who died before Christ suffered, that he might have been absolved from his sins, and saved through the virtue of the sacrifice to be offered up by the Messiah, if he had believed in him ; which cannot be said of the condemned angels: because the universal covenant of salvation under the condition of faith, embraces the whole human race, but does not embrace the fallen angels. It is therefore worthy of observation, that God would not that the death of his Christ should either be applied or applicable under any condition to any of the fallen angels: to all these, therefore, God conducted himself alike and equally. But not equally to mankind; for as to these, although he determined and declared that the death of his Son was applicable to any one under the condition of faith, yet he did not determine to cause it by the benefit of his special mercy to be applied equally to every one. John Davenant, Dissertation on the Death of Christ, 367-368.

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Zwingli:

And the reason why he made the promise was none other than because of blessedness could not come to us, however much we toiled and sweated, while the fall of the first parent had not been atoned for. But when Christ, slain for us, appeased the divine justice and become the only approach to God, God entered into a new covenant with the human race, not new in the sense that he had only just discovered this remedy, but because he applied it at the right moment, having prepared it long before.

Exposition and Basis of the Conclusions or Articles Published by Huldrych Zwingli,  (PA: Pickwick Publications, 1984)  2:224.

[Note: for the first quotation I have retained the original spelling. For the balance, I have modernized the spelling.]

Bullinger:

1) There is very much mention made of wedlocke and mariage in the holy Scriptures both in the olde and new Testament: The which may not be expounded afeer the letter, but by an allegory: least with the Turkes and Mahometists, we fall into shamefull and monstrous absurdities. For spiritual thyngs are figured by corporall matters. Of the spirituall this is the summe: God the father the louer of mankinde, wil saue men by his sonne. This thyng is declared by a parable of wedlocke and mariage. And in the matrimonie there is a contract or making sure, there is a coupling or handfasting of eyther partie, and finally mariage.

In the contracte not only the yong man and the mayde are affiaunced, but also the whole manner of maryage to come is appointed, and an order taken For the lawyers say, that affiancing is a promise of the maryage to come. Thys contracte was made at the beginning of the worlde, where God promised that he wyll deliuer mankind by his sonne, and receiue him into glory. Hereunto appertaine all the promises of Christ, of the remission of sinnes, and of euerlastyng lyfe. Moreouer the duties of the spouse are prescribed. Shee promised to be obedient, and other thyngs. &c. Christ the brydegroom the sonne of God the father, affiaunced to himself all the chosen through his free grace: he promises them his righteousness, all heauenly gifts and eternal lyfe. He taketh upon him moreouer all the infirmities of the bride, and pourgeth her filthines. And the bryde is affianced to hym by fayth, as it is written on Osee, & shee byndeth her selfe wholy to hym: after the whose will and law shee frameth her self wholy. For she is the bodye of a lyuely head. As S. Paule sayth in the. 5. To the Ephes. The bryde leaders be the Prophetes, Patriarkes, Aposltes. So John Baptist in the. 3. of John, calleth hymself the friend of the brydegrome. He addeth [to be the spouse of Christ.] S. Paule. 2. Cor. 11. I haue maryed you to one man a chaste vyrgin. &c. Hereunto the. 16. chapt. of Ezechiell seemeth to appertayne.

And the ioyning together of eyther partie, is made after they be affiaunced, with certaine ceremonies: to wit, by takyng ech other by the hands, and certayne wordes spoken, and there is giuen a token or a ring. &c. Immediately after the beginning, there was a couenant or bond made betwixt God and men, which is oft tymes red to haue been renued, not without ceremonies, certayne wordes and sacrifices, as by Abraham, Moses and others. God byndeth him self to men, and men to hym, and that not without the Sacramentes. And all those thyings, serue to this end: namely that God would be in league with man, and haue men bounded to him, and all his thynges communicated to us. And this mariage, was then most straightly ioyned and made, when the sonne of God had united our flesh into one and the same person with him, and commanded his Apostles to preach unto all, that he will haue a communion with the faythful. Of the which communion are read many thyngs euery where in the Scriptures. And he hath geuen a pledge of fayth & perpetuall amitie, not a ryng of gold, but rather the Sacraments: yea euen the holy ghost, as S. Paul sayth in the. 2. to the Corinth.1. and to the Ephes. the first.

And the mariage shal be solemnized in the resurrection of the dead. The soules verely passs from bodily death, into lyfe euerlastyng: but yet the full restitution and saluation of man is not made perfect, except the body come also. Therfore at the resurrection commeth the mariage of the lambe, tha tis, of Christ our redemer. Henry Bullinger, A Hundred Sermons Vpon the Apocalipse of Iesu Christ (London: Printed by Iohn Daye, dwellying ouer Aldersgate, 1573), 256-257.

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