# John Downame on the allegedly universalistic passages of scripture



## Reformed Covenanter (Jun 25, 2022)

The Objections against all this that hitherto hath been said, are of no value. God (say some) would have all men saved, 1. _Tim._ 2. 4. and none _to perish, but all to come to Repentance, 2. Pet._ 3. 9. And Christ is a Propitiation for the sins of the whole World, 1. _John_ 2. 2. But they understand not that those general speeches are to be restrained to the subject there in hand: for the Apostle sheweth in the first of those places, that howsoever that be true, which else-where he teacheth, that not many noble, not many mighty ones, not many of account are called to the profession of the Gospel: yet there is no estate so high, or great, nor any estate or sort of men at all, but God hath his among them; for whom we are to pray, that in his good time he would vouchsafe to bring them to the knowledge of the Truth.

And so is this particle _all_ in sundry places applied to every sort and kind, and namely, _Mat._ 4. 23. where our Saviour Christ is said to have healed all diseases, that is, all kind of diseases. That of _Peter_ is plainly meant of the Elect alone. And _John_ sheweth, that our Saviour died, not for the Nation of the Jews, or those that lived in his time only, but for all the Elect of Jews and Gentiles out of every Kindred, Tongue, Nation and People, as it is said, _Reuel._ 5. 9. and of all ages from the beginning of the World. And so is this place notably expounded, _John_ 11. 51, 52. that _Jesus was to dye for that Nation, and not for that Nation only, but that he might gather into one the Children of God dispersed._ According whereunto you must take the name of World, _John 1. 29. The Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the World._ And _John 4. 42. This is of a truth that Christ the Saviour of the World;_ and in other such like places.

For the reference, see John Downame on the allegedly universalistic passages of scripture.


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