Had man then been destroyed, the race would have been extinct. But he was spared; suffered long to continue and rear a family, from which the myriads of human kind have descended. Though exiled Eden, and doomed to labor and sorrow, he was still at the head of this lower creation, and creatures below him generally subservient to his comfortable subsistence. The ground was indeed cursed for his sake and fatiguing cultivation rendered necessary; but still it yielded the necessaries, and many of the comforts of life; though not the sweets of its primitive state.
These effusions of divine goodness were probably the wonder of angels, though so little noticed by men, the ungrateful objects of them.
But these were inconsiderable, compared with the strange provision made for their eternal salvation.
That God bears good will to mankind, not—withstanding their apostasy, and is desirous of their salvation, is from many considerations apparent. It is the spirit of the text, and the general language of the scriptures, as will be shewn in the sequel.
That God is willing that all should be saved, appears from the sufficiency of the provision which is made for the salvation of sinners; the frequent declarations that it is designed for all; the offers which are made indiscriminately to all; and the suitableness of the provision to the circumstances of all.
1. From the sufficiency of the provision which is made for the salvation of sinners, This is adequate to the salvation of the whole race. Christ, being a divine person, made an infinite atonement. In him there is a fulness of merit. Was the number of sinners ten times greater than that of our whole race, there would be no need of another Savior, or of Christ's dying again for their redemption. In him "dwells the whole fulness of the Godhead bodily." The reason all are not saved, is not a deficiency of merit in the Redeemer, or any limitation of his satisfaction. Sinners "are not straitened in him, but in their own bowels."
2. That God is willing all should be saved appears from the frequent declarations of scripture, that Christ died for all—Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time—We see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them, and rose again.
3. The same appears in the offers made to all. When after his resurrection Christ sent forth his apostles to effect his gracious purposes, both his orders and promises were indefinite—"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned."
Had salvation been provided for only a part of mankind, and the Savior been unwilling the residue should be saved, he would not have given charge to his ministers to tender salvation to all—to every creature, and declared that whoever came up to the specified conditions, should be saved.
Nothing false or insincere can be predicted of God our Savior. His words are truth. His offers and proposals are fair and open. That which appears the most obvious meaning of them is their meaning. And surely the offers of salvation appear to be made to all who hear the sound of the gospel; and they are invited and urged to accept them. They were so by Christ. "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." [56] And they were so by his apostles when sent into all the earth to spread the gospel among the nations, and call them to come to Christ for life.