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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	gentile_n	heart_n	write_v	7,180	5	5.8793	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45151	Peaceable disquisitions which treat of the natural and spiritual man, preaching with the demonstration of the Spirit, praying by the Spirit, assurance, the Arminian grace, possibility of heathens salvation, the reconciliation of Paul and James, the imputation of Christ's righteousness, with other incident matters : in some animadversions on a discourse writ against Dr. Owen's Book of the Holy Spirit / by John Humfrey ...	Humfrey, John, 1621-1719.	1678 (1678)	Wing H3702; ESTC R21932	66,481	118

or Moon in the Heavens For God hath not left himself without witness in that he does good and gives us fruitful seasons These are effects of his mercy which he could not shew to the world as he does if he dealt with it according to the Law of Works When Abraham pleads with God for Sodom that he would spare it if there were ten righteous persons in it it is manifest that he must account of Gods Government over the earth to be a Government of Grace That the righteous be as the wicked that be far from thee saies he shall not the judge of all the earth do right If God should do but right to the best of men according to the righteousness of the Law of Works there could be no such pleading as this Neither is there any righteous no not one saies the Scripture nor could God have accepted of Abraham himself for one had there been nine besides but upon the account of the Law of Grace It is a righteousness consisting in a condecency of his Goodness and Mercy and not in the Rule of his district Holiness that Abraham intends When the Prophets call upon Israel to repent and to do righteousness that they may live it is a perpetual discovery that God dealt not with them according to the Covenant of Works The Law admits no repentance and there is no righteousness that a man can live by according to the Law It is such a righteousness then they must mean still which is the same with the just mans faith whereby it is said he shall live and that is the righteousness of faith in the Gospel or righteousness of God which lies in a conformity to the law of Grace See Mediocria about the beginning of my Paper of the Covenants We are righteous according to this Law when we perform the condition God is righteous according to it when he accepts us thereupon unto Pardon and Life We have a most signal instance in the Ninevites of these two things I do here stand upon If Gods government over the Heathen was not by the Law of Grace how could the Ninevites by their repentance have diverted his judgments And if this Law had not been connatural with faln man so as to be written in their hearts how could they trust in God that upon their forsaking sin and their turning to him they should find mercy and be saved from destruction Both these things I say have in this one instance their full evidence And what think we of Cornelius the Centurion and Roman how could his Prayers and Almes be accepted with God if Cornelius as well as Paul a Roman as well as Jew were not under the same Government of Grace when there is nothing we do but is imperfect and lyable to a curse by the Law of Works And what shall we conclude then from both instances but that which Peter upon conviction himself concludes Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted of him There are three things go to a Law That it be for the publick good That it be the will of the Lawgiver That it be promulgated to the subject That the Law of Grace is good for the world there can be no question That it is Gods will the world should be governed by it appears by what is spoken and that this Law hath been promulgated to mankind appears both in the general notice of it in mens hearts I will write my Law in their hearts saies God in the New Covenant as distinguished from that of the Jews and in the express declaration of God to our first Parents that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head and in his Covenanting with Noah which must be understood without dispute in regard to them and their posterity Now when such a Law hath been promulgated to Adam and Noah as belonging to all the world being to come of them it must be proved that this Law is or hath been somewhere or at some time again repealed by God or else must every man and woman in the world be under this government of God according to it and consequently be in a capacity of Salvation I will to these Reasonings add one syllogism It is not the hearers of the Law but doers shall be justified This is express in one Verse of the second to the Romons But same Heathen are doers of the Law though not hearers of it This is affirmed in the next Verse For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law with the rest following Ergo some Heathen are justified and saved If any cavil and say that no man is a doer of the Law he must be answered that the Apostle here speaks of such a doing only as is supposed to be among the Jews that were godly or Jews inwardly in the Verses after And I renew my argument They that are doers of the Law according to the sense of such Texts as make the keeping the Commandments of God necessary to Salvation such as when Christ saies If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments and such as when the Apostle saies They that by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory shall have eternal life that is They who are doers of it as all that are Jews inwardly and in the Spirit do keep it and no otherwise to wit not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not according to the rigour of the Law but according to acceptation by the equity of the Gospel They I say shall be justified and saved But some Heathen are doers of the Law in this sense which is the sense of the Apostle Ergo some Heathen are justified and saved I confirm the Minor by the words ensuing that we may be sure we have the mind of the Apostle Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the Law shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature if it fulfil the Law judge thee who by the letter and circumcision doest break the Law It follows that such as these therefore are Jews inwardly and in the Spirit though they were not outward Jews or in the flesh or of the Circumcision as is apparent in the words already and the last Verses They that are Jews inwardly and in the Spirit then I follow my argument though not outwardly so and in the flesh do fulfill the Law in the sense of this place and are justified But such are some of the Heathen here according to the Apostle Ergo some Heathen are justified and saved And what could be desired more full and convincing if it were not for the first Verse which follows in the next Chapter which does yet add such abounding confirmation to it as I must profess my self perfectly striken with the evidence as with a Beam of light

never to be withstood or any more to be doubted What advantage then hath the Jew above the Gentile These are the words It cannot be imagined by me now that this question could be offered after he had said thus much if there were such a difference between these two as that one of them only was under a possibility of Salvation It is brought in as an objection to his foregoing assertion in this sense that if this be true there appears no difference in the matter whether a man be Jew or Gentile seeing he that hath the Law only written in his heart and keeps it that is in sincerity shall have the benefit and be saved as well as he that hath it written in the Bible The Apostle does as good as answer This is true yet is there a difference Chiefly because that unto the Jew were committed the Oracles of God I interpret not these words but give this paraphrase The Heathen were under the same law of Grace for life as the Jews but the Jews advantage was that they had it in the second promulgation with this priviledge of Ordinances and our advantage is the like over them that we have it in the third and last promulgation by the Gospel I argue then once more If this was the chief advantage the Jew had over the Gentile that one had the Oracles of God and the other had not then was there not this difference between them as my Gentleman does make that one is only in a state of Nature and the other in a state of Grace or that one was in a capacity and the other under an impossibility of Salvation for this were an advantage of a far greater nature But this was the chief advantage Chiefly because Ergo. The Objections against this Doctrine are two The one is from the Scriptures which in many places in the New-Testament do require quire faith in Christ or believing the Gospel as the condition of Salvation He that believeth not shall be damned I answer As the Apostle saies of the Law Now we know that whatsoever things the Law saith it saith to them that are under the Law So say I of the Gospel whatsoever things of this kind the Gospel saith it saith to those that are under the Gospel Where the Gospel is Preached and the Revelation is sufficient so that men wilfully reject it such are left without excuse The case of such is dangerous indeed and these Texts applicable to them If ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins But as for those who never heard the Gospel or when the Revelation hath been insufficient for such conviction the case I hope is otherwife The case is I think as I have said and our good God will not require of any more than he hath given The other objection is from the authority of men or of the Church more generally that condemns this opion But I count the testimony of Christians in this point is for themselves and so partial I suppose it taken again upon trust and followed by the most for want of light I believe also that if they had had but this light only that I offer they would have determined as I do It is true I grant as our Church thinks that there is no Religion by which a man can be sayed but one only that is the true Religion but this is a great truth here to be received that Christianity in the root according to what is said is indeed the universal Religion of mankind whom therefore ye ignorantly worship him declare I unto you So that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that live according to Reason such as Socrates Heraclitus and the like men were Christans though they were not so called according to Justin the holy Martyr in his Apology whatsoever Ancients besides we have for us Which doctrine nevertheless to salve most fully the eighteenth Article of our Church at first mentioned is not once to be thought on or harboured but as it is compatible with this certain Position that there is no way for all that under Heaven whereby a man or woman is or was or can be saved but in and through the only Name and mediation of our Saviour For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Christ Jesus In the fourth place I must require a better explanation from this Author how every man and woman that hath the Gospel preached to them are brought into such a state of grace as to have that assistance from the Spirit of God which enables them to believe and many of them effectually unto Salvation and yet that it is the Believer only is the Object of that promise that God will give his Spirit to them that ask him There are two of his Chapters where he enumerates the effects of the Spirit and he does in both make faith to be one and the chief of those effects that he may not find here any evasion yet does he make faith the condition of that promise How will he come off here Untill a man be a Believer or have faith the promise of Gods giving his Spirit belongs not to him and yet is faith and teachableness in order to it an effect of the Spirit That which is promised on a condition is not obtained but by our performance of the condition himself argues somewhere If Faith then be the thing promised how can it be the condition of the Promise If the Spirit that works Faith or the Spirit in regard to this effect is promised to the Believer then is Faith made a condition for obtaining it self when it is made so for obtaining the Spirit that gives it If we must believe that we may have the Spirit how comes Faith to be the effect of having it To be the condition which is antecedent to it and to be the effect also which follows it is methinks incompossible He may shist perhaps and distinguish There is a Faith that makes a man a Christian or his Believer and a faith that makes a man holy and is saving The one may be the condition of the other Well I will ask him then of the former Is that faith I pray the effect of a mans own strength or freewill or of the Spirit If he say the first what thinks he of that saying of our Lord Without me ye can do nothing that is nothing to any saving purpose to use the apt words of this Author otherwhere when it is something I think to purpose to do that as shall qualifie a man to be the Object of this promise that God will give him his Spirit upon his asking and the promise otherwise did not belong to him Especially seeing this Gentleman thinks it Pelagianism to allow so much without grace and therefore does he set up his common grace to avoid that danger If it be not of our selves but of the Spirit then have we here one of his Operations though the Spirit is

have been more kind to the Nations I have some little light therefore here or I believe it to be so to offer to this very susceptible person There is a three-fold Government in one to speak accurately that God hath had in the world over man in reference to his chief end the salvation of his soul The first was by the Law of Nature the second by the Law of Moses and the third by the Law of Christ Before God gave his Law unto Israel the whole world was under that Law which is written in the heart God must govern man by that only when there was no other This Law now writ in mans heart we are to know is two-fold for Nature coming under a double consideration as entire and as fallen the Law must be double the Law of innocent nature or Law of Innocency and the Law of lapsed nature which is the Law of Grace or mercy toward man in regard to that condition To express it more fully there is Lex Naturae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Lex connaturalis gratiae The Law of Nature and the connatural Law of Grace as Suarez has it in his Book De Legibus I am pleased much with the terms though I found not that he did well understand them or explain them himself Only thus much he says that the Ancients before Moses who were governed by the Law of Nature only must have this Lex connaturalis gratiae together with it or comprehended under it or else no man then upon earth could be saved which is a truth so evident as makes the proof of that Law by that reason alone to be good When he terms this Law then a Law connatural I understand by it that this Law of lapsed Nature this Law of Grace or remedying Law is written in the heart of man in regard to his fallen nature no less than the Law of pure nature it self was The Law of Nature as I take it is the dictates of right reason declaring to us our duty to God to our selves and to our neighbours and the light of the same reason will dictate to us when we have failed in that duty to repent and turn to God with trusting to his mercy and pardon if we do so and not else We do find it legible in our hearts that God is good and wisely gratious to pity our infirmities and consider our lost estate and necessary frailty as that there is a God and any worship that is at all due to him There is mercy with thee that thou shouldst be feared And these Characters thus engraven in the heart of man is the same law of Grace in the practical contents as is more largely paraphrased upon by the Prophets in the Old and the Apostles in the New-Testament There is no difference at all in the Substance as Divines speak but in the Administration It is as one lately hath expressed it lively no otherwise than as a Book thrice Printed the second Edition is larger than the first and the third most compleat and perfect This I will say the Covenant was still on foot the Condition sincerity according to their light men were judged by it and many saved Here only is the difference that the foundation on which all this is laid the Mediation Righteousness and Sacrifice of Christ comes not to be revealed but in Types and darker promises till the promulgation of the Gospel Now I say that though the Heathen be not under or have not this Law of Grace in the third and last setting our or in the state under the Gospel yet they are under it or have it in the state of the Ancients or as they had it in the first promulgation and upon supposition that any of them do according to the light they have live up in sincerity to this Law I dare not be the man that shall deny but through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ procuring this Law or Covenant for them as for us and all the world they shall be saved even as we and we shall be saved even as they Not to leave this yet I have learned from Cicero that all Laws must be derived from the Divine Reason and Will I have learned from others that this Reason of God in his Government of all things agreeably to his own nature and the nature of his Creatures is the Eternal Law I have learned from the Scripture that there is a Law of Works and a Law of Grace I do learn by consequence that these Laws as frames of Gods Government over man must be reconcileable with the Eternal Law or the reason of his Wisdom and Justice and Goodness the one of them being fit for the estate of man in Innocency the other for his Lapsed condition How these Laws do now consist and not consist with one another while the Scripture saies sometimes we are freed from the Law and sometimes that it is established That not a tittle of it shall pass and that we are not under the Law but under Grace I do not intend here any full decision I will draw only one chief stroke towards it The Law may be considered as the Rule of man's duty or Measure of Good and Evil according to his own nature and Gods Or as the Instrument of God's Government over man or Measure of his dealing with us or judging of us according to our discernings It cannot be conceived but so long as the Nature of God and Man is the same and Good and Evil which consists in an agreeableness to them both is the same the Law of Nature must remain unchangeable as the measure of our moral actions But as it is the instrument of Gods Government in the world it is as certain that through the Mediation of Christ who hath satisfied his Father for our breach of it it is relaxed so as we are not dealt withal according to the tenour of the Law in the matters of this life or of that which is to come I distinguish these two things a Rule of Life and a Rule for Life A Rule for Life is expressed in these words He that doeth them shall live in them We are freed from the Law upon the later account we are made free to it in regard to the former That is we are under the Law so as we are still bound to live according to it but we are delivered from it so as through mercy and the merits of Christ we shall not be judged by it There is Norma vitae and Norma judicii The Law is of force as a rule of Life or Duty but we are not under it as a rule of Judgement We shall be judged saies St. James by the Law of Liberty and Paul saies according to my Gospel Blessed be God for this truth Now that the Government of God over the whole world is by the Law of Grace and not of Works thus much being said imperfectly only for light in the way does appear as the Sun