Rous:

But the same men that are so hard against the Saints, yet they are very kind to the Reprobates, and they that will not allow a particular grace to give unto the Saints a sure salvation, will allow a general grace to give unto all, (Reprobates and all) an uncertain salvation; Yea, to speak the truth under the show of a general salvation, they give no salvation at all. For man fallen will not stand, by that grace wherein man perfect did fall: so that if effectual grace be taken away, salvation is taken away. But what say they? Christ dyed for all. True, but what of that? Therefore all men have grace to be saved by Christ’s death. A miserable inconsequence. There can be nothing follow but this, Therefore Christ gave himself a sufficient ransom for all. The ransom is sufficient for all, it is offered to all, but all men doe not receive it. Man by his fall hath deprived himself of grace, by which he may accept the promises of grace, so that his own incapacity, hinders him from accepting this general remedy. A King at his Coronation gives a general pardon; yet this doth not prove that all men are able particularly to apply this general pardon. There are some that think themselves rectos in Curia, and that they need it not, some are negligent and careless of their estates; and a third sort are ignorant of it, and a fourth is poor and cannot sue it out. So in the general pardon offered in Christ Jesus, there are some justificiaries, as the Scribes and Pharisees that think they need it not, there are some that with Esau despise it for carnal profanity, there are some that are hardened and blinded being ignorant of Gods Righteousness in Christ Jesus, though they have it Preached, yea though they have a zeal of God and such are Jews; and they cannot sue out a pardon by believing in him of whom they have not heard. But this is the sum of the truth: Man being wholly fallen by free-will though assisted with a general and sufficient grace, lost his free-will, grace and life eternal. God in his mercy gives a Savior with a sufficient ransom for all the sinners of the world, that of all the world he may take whom he pleases, and by effectual grace join them to Christ in an eternal union of blessed felicity. If Christ had not dyed for all, God could not of all have saved whom he pleased. If he had given effectual grace to all, all would be saved; and then God had been all Mercy, and no Justice; if he had given effectual grace to none, none would be saved, and then God would have been all Justice, and no Mercy. But God purposed to show, both Mercy and Justice, leaves some in the state of the fall, to which man voluntarily cast himself, and by effectual grace join others to Christ unto eternal salvation. His Justice cannot be accused, but his Mercy ought to be magnified: And wee are infinitely more bound to God for his sure Mercies in that Effectual Grace, by which he certainly saves millions, then to Arminians for their general grace, by which they go about certainly to damn all.

Francis Rous, The Truth of Three Things, Viz, the Doctrine of Predestination, Free-Will, and Certainty of Salvation, as It is Maintained by the Church of England, Wherein the Grounds of Arminianism is Discovered and Confuted ([London]: no.pub., 1633), 70–72. [Some spelling modernized; some reformatting; and underlining mine.]

[Credit to Tony for the find.]

[Notes: It is interesting that we can see echoes of what Rous says in other writers. For example,  1) his comment that Christ death is sufficient for all, and it is offered to all echoes Calvin on Romans 5:18; and, 2) Rous’ comment on the general pardon mirrors Jean Taffin’s identical comments regarding the offer of gospel in relation to Christ’s death.]

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 at 10:59 am and is filed under For Whom did Christ Die?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Comments are closed at this time.