Edmund Calamy (1600–1666) as Recorded in the Minutes of the Westminster Assembly

I am far from universal redemption in the Arminian sense; but that that I hold is in the sense of our divines in the Synod of Dort, that Christ did pay a price for all, absolute intention for the elect, conditional intention for the reprobate in case they do believe, that all men should be salvabiles, non obstante lapsu Adami [saveable, not withstanding the fall of Adam]. . . that Jesus Christ did not only die sufficiently for all, but God did intend, in giving of Christ, and Christ in giving Himself, did intend to put all men in a state of salvation in case they do believe.

Minutes of the Sessions of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, eds. Alexander F. Mitchell & John P. Struthers (Edinburgh: W. Blackwood and Sons, 1874), 152.

I argue from the iii. of Joh[n] 16, in which words a ground of God's intention of giving Christ, God's love to the world, a philanthropy the world of elect and reprobate, and not of elect only; it cannot be meant of the elect, because of that 'whosoever believeth' . . . xvi. Mark, 15. 'Go preach the gospel to every creature.' If the covenant of grace be to be preached to all, then Christ redeemed, in some sense, all both elect and reprobate; but it is to be preached to all; there is a warrant for it. . . . For the minor, if the universal redemption be the ground of the universal promulgation, then . . . the minor, else there is no verity in promulgation. All God's promulgations are serious and true. . . . Faith doth not save me, but only as an instrument to apply Christ. There is no verity in the universal offer except founded in the . . .

Ibid., 154.

The difference is not in the offer, but in the application. . . . That voluntas decreti comes only in the application. . . . For the word world ... I grant it signifies the elect sometimes, but sometimes it signifies the whole world, and so it must do here. . . . For this love he saith he under ... There is a double love: general and special. A general love to the reprobate, and the fruit of this, a general offer, and general grace, and general reformation.

Ibid., 156.

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Observe:

1) Calamy says that he holds to a form of universal redemption that is "far from" the Arminian sense.
2) He sees his view expressed by the divines in the Synod of Dort.
3) He speaks of an intentional sufficiency, such that Christ did actually pay a price for all.
4) This objective price paid for all renders all men savable, but they must believe to obtain the benefit.
5) John 3:16 is used as a proof of his view, and he argues that "world" cannot mean the "elect only" in that instance.
6) He also argues that a universal proclamation presupposes a form of universal redemption.
7) He associated the "verity in the promulgation," or the seriousness and truthfulness of God's "universal offer," with universal redemption; and further argues that if a price was not paid for all, there could be no "verity" in the offer.
8) He associated the limitation of the decree with the application, and not with the offer or in the redemption price itself.
9) Calamy says there is a general and a special love of God, and that "general love" is shown "to the reprobate," as seen in the "general offer" and "general grace" (as distinguished from special grace).

The only thing that I take exception to above is this:

For the word world ... I grant it signifies the elect sometimes...

Rather, I agree with Ezekiel Culverwell:

I profess I cannot find any one clear place where [the World] must of necessity be taken for the Elect only.

Tom Ascol on the Will of God

On May 18th of 2006 [in the context of discussing the "debate" with Ergun and Emir Caner], Dr. Ascol said the following on his blog in response to a question I asked. He said:

I believe that God desires for all people to be saved but has purposed to save His elect. I see two (at least two) dimensions in God's will: revealed and decretive. Failure to make this kind of distinction is a failure to read the Bible's teachings on the will of God accurately.

Update #1:

In one of his recent responses to a "non-Calvinist" SBC statement, Ascol said:

I can also affirm "God's desire for every person to be saved" though I suspect that my reasons for doing so would differ from those who have framed this document. In His law God commands everyone to have no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3) and in His gospel He "commands all people everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30). This revealed "desire" of God in no way mitigates His eternal purpose as expressed, regarding salvation, in the doctrine of unconditional election. This latter doctrine involves the "secret things that belong to the Lord our God" while the former "desire" is part of "the things that are revealed" which "belong to us and to our children" (Deuteronomy 29:29). God has revealed His will that all people be saved but He has purposed that His chosen people will infallibly be saved.

Update #2:

Recently, on his Facebook page, Ascol linked to this article by Piper and said: "More wisdom from John Piper. This is a humble, biblical consideration of profound truth."

Update #3:

On Apr. 29th 2017, Jeffrey D. Johnson (a Reformed Baptist pastor) inquired on Twitter: "Does God desire all people to come to Christ? Yes? Or no, only the elect?" Someone at the Founders Ministry Twitter account answered, "Yes. He commands them to come and He desires them to obey His command."

John Bunyan (1628–1688) on the Heart of the Saviour

Thy stubbornness affects, afflicts the heart of thy Saviour. Carest thou not for this? Of old, ‘he beheld the city, and wept over it.’ Canst thou hear this, and not be concerned? (Luk. 19:41, 42). Shall Christ weep to see thy soul going on to destruction, and will though sport thyself in that way? Yea, shall Christ, that can be eternally happy without thee, be more afflicted at the thoughts of the loss of thy soul, than thyself, who art certainly eternally miserable if thou neglectest to come to him. Those things that keep thee and thy Saviour, on thy part, asunder, are but bubbles; the least prick of an affliction will let out, as to thee, what now thou thinkest is worth the venture of heaven to enjoy.

Hast thou not reason? Canst thou not so much as once soberly think of thy dying hour, or of whither thy sinful life will drive thee then? Hast thou no conscience? or having one, is it rocked so fast asleep by sin, or made so weary with an unsuccessful calling upon thee, that it is laid down, and cares for thee no more? Poor man! thy state is to be lamented. Hast no judgment? Art not able to conclude, that to be saved is better than to burn in hell? and that eternal life with God’s favour, is better than a temporal life in God’s displeasure? Hast no affection but what is brutish? what, none at all? No affection for the God that made thee? What! none for his loving Son that has showed his love, and died for thee? Is not heaven worth thy affection? O poor man! which is strongest, thinkest thou, God or thee? If thou art not able to overcome him, thou art a fool for standing out against him (Mat. 5:25, 26). ‘It is a fearful thing to fall into the hand of the living God’ (Heb. 10:29-31). He will gripe hard; his fist is stronger than a lion’s paw; take heed of him, he will be angry if you despise his Son; and will you stand guilty in your trespasses, when he offereth you his grace and favour? (Exo. 34: 6, 7).

John Bunyan, “The Jerusalem Sinner Saved, or, Good News for the Vilest of Men,” in The Whole Works of John Bunyan (London: Blackie and Son, 1862), 1:90.

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Thomas Chalmers (1780–1847) on God and the Gospel Offer

5. We ought therefore to proceed on the obvious representations which Scripture gives of the Deity, and these beheld in their own immediate light, untinged by the dogma of Predestination. God waiting to be gracious—God not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance—God swearing by Himself that He has no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but rather that all should come unto Him and live—God beseeching men to enter into reconciliation, and this not as elect, but simply and generally as men and sinners;—these are the attitudes in which the Father of the human family sets Himself forth unto the world—these the terms in which He speaks to us from heaven. Now what we affirm, what we zealously affirm, is, that the gospel is not adequately rendered, if the full and natural force of these exhibitions be not brought to bear on the hearts of all men. It is a distorted gospel, if through any doctrinal medium whatever, the spectacle of a God beckoning their return to forgiveness be at all darkened or transformed. Any charm which there is in Christianity to recall or to regenerate some, lies in those of its overtures which are so framed as to hold out the offered friendship of God unto all. We strip our religion of its moral efficacy if we do not so represent it. It is not a limited, it is a universal offer in the gospel, which is the instrument of every particular conversion. This is not superseded by the system of necessity. The same God who makes the manifested good-will of one man an instrument for gaining the confidence and affection of another towards him, makes His own manifested good-will the instrument for gaining the confidence and affection of sinners unto Himself; and it is an instrument, we repeat, which may be brought to bear upon all. It is an open manifestation on which every man is invited to look, and in which all have an equal warrant to trust and to rejoice. All that necessity does is to make sure the concatenation between antecedents and their consequents, between means and their ends; and this it does whatever the antecedents and whatever the consequents are. There is nothing, therefore, in necessity, or to substitute the theological term, there is nothing in predestination, which hinders the antecedent in the work of conversion from being the general offer of pardon to all men, and the consequent from being the repose of a confiding acceptance on the part of all or of any who are willing to enter on the path of reconciliation. The index to this path is lifted up in the sight of all. The bidding to walk in this path is addressed unto all. The Sun of righteousness hath arisen for the general behoof of human spirits, just as much as the sun of nature hath arisen for the general behoof of human eyes. We can imagine so violent a perversity as that of shutting one's eyes against the light of day, and so walking wilfully in darkness. And we are not left to imagine, for we see it exemplified of thousands, that they shut the eyes of their understanding against the light of the gospel, and so walk wilfully in spiritual darkness. He who doeth evil cometh not unto the light, says our Saviour. It is because of our own perversity, it is because of our own resistance, if we do not obtain the pardon of the gospel. We have it for the taking. The book of revelation is open to us, and we may read our welcome there, even in the very passages where the elect read it, for they have no more access than others to the book of destiny. The demonstration held forth in the gospel is that of a God not only commanding but even beseeching His strayed creatures to return unto Him. If one man be carried by this demonstration and another resist it, it is not because the external demonstration has been differently given to the two men, but because it has been differently received by them. God, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, holds forth the very same overtures to both; and the only distinction is, that it is not responded to in the same way by both. The command on both to believe is alike imperative. The entreaty for both to return is alike importunate. The love wherewith God loved the world so as to send His only begotten Son into it, ought to be urged on both these inhabitants of the world—in the very same style of entreaty and unreserved assurance—and that for the purpose of awakening in them the same confidence, and calling forth the same gratitude for the good-will from heaven thus manifested to the one just as it is to the other. We are aware that there may be and often is a difference in the result, but the cause of this must be looked for inwardly, to a difference between the men, and not outwardly, to the application that has been brought to bear upon them. The application is a free pardon held out for acceptance to them both—the assurance of God's readiness in Christ Jesus to forgive, coupled with the call of repentance to them both—the declaration of a blood that cleanseth from all sin, and that will most assuredly cleanse them from their sin if they will only put their trust in it, made equally to them both—the proclamation of an open way of access, towards which our very first movement will cause joy in heaven, and God Himself—like the father in the parable—to meet them with the encouragements of His parental welcome, lifted up in the hearing of both, a longing affection on the part of their Creator, lifted up in such touching expressions as—Oh, that they would remember the things which belong to their peace; and, Oh, that there were a heart in them to keep my commandments, this, we say, pointedly and with the same force of moral earnestness addressed to them both. Such is the outward engine made to play on the hearts of each; and that minister is untrue to his commission who does not bear it indiscriminately round, and cause it to operate with equal freeness and importunity at every door. We are aware that the effect within will not be the same, but the application from without ought to be the same; and that theologian has wildered himself among speculations which he knows not how to manage, and which therefore as too high for him he had better let alone, who suffers his views on necessity, on predestination, on the sovereignty of Divine grace, or the decrees of a past eternity, to embarrass the plain work that has been put into his hands, which is to make full tender of the mercy of God in Christ to all who will; and an equally full tender of the strength from on high, by which he might perfect the indispensable repentance of the gospel to all who will.

Thomas Chalmers, Institutes of Theology (Edinburgh: Sutherland and Knox, 1849), 2:409–412.

Michael Wigglesworth (1631-1705) on the Last Judgment and Grace Refused

LI.

The wicked are brought to the Bar.
    like guilty Malefactors,
That oftentimes of bloody Crimes
    and Treasons have been Actors.
Of wicked Men, none are so mean
    as there to be neglected;
Nor none so high in dignity
    as there to be respected.

LII.

The glorious Judge will privilege
    nor Emperor nor King;
But every one that hath misdone
    doth unto judgment bring.
And every one that hath misdone,
    the Judge impartially
Condemneth to eternal woe,
    and endless misery.

LIII.

Thus one and all, thus great and small,
    the Rich as well as Poor,
And those of place, as the most base,
    do stand the Judge before.
They are arraign'd, and there detain'd
    before Christ's Judgment seat,
With trembling fear their Doom to hear,
    and feel his Anger's heat.

LIV.

There Christ demands at all their hands
    a strict and straight account
Of all things done under the Sun,
    whose number far surmount
Man's wit and thought: they all are brought
    unto this solemn Trial,
And each offense with evidence,
    so that there's no denial.

LV.

There's no excuse for their abuse,
    since their own Consciences
More proof give in of each Man's sin,
    than thousand Witnesses.
Though formerly this faculty
    had grossly been abused,
(Men could it stifle, or with it trifle,
    when as it them accused,)

LVI.

Now it comes in, and every sin
    unto Men's charge doth lay;
It judgeth them and doth condemn,
    though all the World say nay.
It so stingeth and tortureth,
    it worketh such distress,
That each Man's self against himself,
    is forced to confess.

LVII.

It's vain, moreover, for Men to cover
    the least Iniquity;
The Judge hath seen, and privy been
    to all their villainy.
He unto light and open sight
    the work of darkness brings;
He doth unfold both new old,
    both known and hidden things.

LVIII.

All filthy facts and secret acts,
    however closely done,
And long conceal'd, are there reveal'd
    before the mid-day Sun.
Deeds of the night, shunning the light,
    which darkest corners sought,
To fearful blame, and endless shame,
    are there most justly brought.

LIX.

And as all facts, and grosser acts,
    so every word and thought,
Erroneous notion and lustful motion,
    are unto Judgment brought.
No Sin so small and trivial,
    but hither it must come;
Nor so long past but now at last
    it must receive a doom.

LX.

At this sad season, Christ asks a Reason
    (with just austerity)
Of Grace refus'd, of light abus'd
    so oft, so wilfully;
Of Talents lent, by them misspent
    and on their Lust bestown,
Which if improv'd as it behoov'd
    Heav'n might have been their own;

LXI.

Of times neglected, of means rejected,
    of God's long-suffering
And Patience, to Penitence
    that sought hard hearts to bring;
Why chords of love did nothing move,
    to shame or to remorse?
Why warnings grave, and counsels, have
    naught chang'd their sinful course?

LXII.

Why chastenings, and evils things,
    why judgments so severe,
Prevailed not with them a jot,
    nor wrought an awful fear?
Why promises of Holiness,
    and new Obedience,
They oft did make, but always brake
    the same, to God's offense?

LXIII.

Why still Hell-ward, without regard,
    they bold ventured,
And chose Damnation before Salvation,
    when it was offered?
Why sinful pleasures and earthly treasures,
    like fools, they prized more
Than Heav'nly wealth, Eternal health,
    and all Christ's Royal store?

LXIV.

Why, when he stood off'ring his Blood
    to wash them from their sin,
They would embrace no saving Grace,
    but liv'd and died therein?
Such aggravations, where no evasions,
    nor false pretences hold,
Exaggerate and cumulate
    guilt more than can be told.

Michael Wigglesworth, The Day of Doom, Or, A Poetical Description of the Great and Last Judgment (New York: American News Company, 1867), pp. 35-39.

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George Swinnock (c.1627–1673) on Universal Offers of Grace

Ponder how universal his offers of grace are. Jesus Christ, with all his merits, are tendered to all. The proposals of divine mercy and love are general and universal. 'Go preach the gospel,' observe, 'to every creature. He that believeth shall be saved.' 'Ho every one that thirsteth,' Isa. lv. 1. 'If any man,' let him be poor or rich, high or low, 'thirst, let him come to me and drink,' John vii. 37.

It is a great encouragement that, in the offers of pardon and life, none are excluded; why, then, shouldst thou exclude thyself. 'Come to me all ye that are weary and heavy-laden,' Mat. xi. 28. Mark, poor sinner, 'all ye.' Art not thou one of that all? Is not thy wickedness thy weight, and thy corruption thy burden? Then thou art called particularly as well as generally. Jesus Christ taketh thee aside from the crowd, and whispereth thee in the ear, O poor sinner, that art weary of the work, and heavy-laden with the weight of sin, be entreated to come to me; I will give thee rest. Why doth thy heart suggest that he doth not intend thee in that call? Doth he not, by that qualification, as good as name thee? Ah, it is an unworthy, a base jealousy, to mistrust a loving Christ without the least cause.

Once more, meditate how willing he is to heal thy wounded spirit, and be not faithless, but believing. He is willing to accept of thee, if thou art willing to accept him. What mean his affectionate invitations? He seeketh to draw thee with cords of love, cords that are woven and spun out of his heart and bowels: Cant. iv. 8, 'Come away from Lebanon, my sister, my spouse; from the lion's den, from the mountains of leopards.' Christ's love is hot and burning; he thinketh thou tarriest too long from his embraces: 'Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled,' Cant. v. 2. Christ stands begging for entrance: Lost man, do but suffer me to save thee; poor sinner, suffer me to love thee. These are the charms of gospel rhetoric. None singeth so sweetly as the bird of paradise, the turtle that chirpeth upon the church's hedges, that he may cluck sinners to himself. What mean his pathetical expostulations, 'Why will ye die?' Ezek. xxxiii. 11. What reason hast thou thus to run upon thy death and ruin? 'What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me?' Jer. ii. 5; what harm have I ever done them? what evil do they know by me, that they walk so contrary to me? But one place for all: Micah vi. 3, 4, 'O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. For I brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants.' O my people, remember now what bowels of love are here sounding in every line; what fiery affection is there in such sweet expostulations! Oh admirable condescension!

What meaneth his sorrow for them that refuse him for their Saviour? 'He is grieved because of the hardness of men's hearts,' Mark iii. 5.

He shed tears for them that shed his blood. When he came nigh that city, which was the slaughter-house of the prophets of the Lord, and of the Lord of the prophets, he wept, Luke xix. 41: 'If thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day.' The brokenness of his speech sheweth the brokenness of his spirit. He is pitiful towards their souls that are so cruel to themselves, and weepeth for them that go laughing to hell.

What meaneth his joy at the birthday of the new creature, when he is received with welcome into the sinner's heart? The mother is as much pleased that her full breasts are drawn as the child can be. The day of thy cordial acceptation of him will be the day of the gladness of his heart. At such an hour he rejoiced in spirit, saith the evangelist, Luke x. 21. He wept twice, and he bled, as some affirm, seven times; but we never read of his rejoicing, if I mistake not, but in this place. And surely it was something that did extraordinarily take the heart of Christ, which could, in the time of his humiliation, tune his spirit into a merry note, and cause this man of sorrows to rejoice. Ah, sinner, believe it, he would never so willingly have died such a cursed, painful death, if he had not been willing that sinners should live a spiritual and eternal life.

What mean, I say, his invitations, expostulations, grief upon refusal, joy upon acceptance, his commands, entreaties, promises, threatenings; his wooing thee by the ministers of his word, by the motions of his Spirit, by his daily, nightly, hourly mercies, by his gracious providence, by his unwearied patience, but to assure thee that he is heartily willing to accept thee for his servant, for his son, if thou art heartily willing to accept him for thy Saviour and for! thy sovereign? He would never present thee with such costly gifts, if his offer of marriage were not in earnest. Besides, broken-hearted sinner, for it is to thee that all this while I have been speaking; how darest thou any longer entertain such a traitor against the King of saints in thy breast, as a thought that the Lord Jesus can be guilty in any of the forementioned particulars of the least insincerity?

George Swinnock, “Heaven and Hell Epitomised,” in The Works of George Swinnock (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1868), 3:352–354.

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Hugh Latimer (c.1487–1555) on Christ's Blood

For for what other cause did Christ come, but only to take away our sins by his passion, and so deliver us from the power of the devil? But these merit-mongers have so many good works, that they be able to sell them for money, and so to bring other men to heaven too by their good works: which, no doubt, is the greatest contempt of the passion of Christ that can be devised. For Christ only, and no man else, merited remission, justification, and eternal felicity for as many as will believe the same: they that will not believe it, shall not have it; for it is no more but, "Believe and have." For Christ shed as much blood for Judas, as he did for Peter: Peter believed it, and therefore he was saved; Judas would not believe, and therefore he was condemned; the fault being in him only, in nobody else. But to say, or to believe, that we should be saved by the law, this is a great dishonouring of Christ's passion: for the law serveth to another purpose,—it bringeth us to the knowledge of our sins, and so to Christ: for when we be come through the law to the knowledge of our sins, when we perceive our filthiness, then we be ready to come to Christ, and fetch remission of our sins at his hands.

Hugh Latimer, "Sermons Preached in Lincolnshire, 1552: On the Epistle for the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity [on Philippians 3:17-18]," Sermons by Hugh Latimer, ed. George Elwes Corrie (Cambridge: University Press, 1844), 521.

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J. C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels; with a Quote from His Exposition of John

Matthew

Mark

Luke: Volume 1, Volume 2

John: Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3

I will give place to no one in maintaining that Jesus loves all mankind, came into the world for all, died for all, provided redemption sufficient for all, calls on all, invites all, commands all to repent and believe; and ought to be offered to all—freely, fully, unreservedly, directly, unconditionally—without money and without price. If I did not hold this, I dare not get into a pulpit, and I should not understand how to preach the Gospel.

But while I hold all this, I maintain firmly that Jesus does special work for those who believe, which He does not do for others. He quickens them by His Spirit, calls them by His grace, washes them in His blood—justifies them, sanctifies them, keeps them, leads them, and continually intercedes for them—that they may not fall. If I did not believe all this, I should be a very miserable, unhappy Christian.

J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of John: Volume 3 (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1880), 186.