accident in Japan or the Regions beyond the Mountains of the Moon as that all were damn'd though otherwise never so wise and vertuous who did not know the History of the Gospel when yet we find how the Disciples themselves who convers'd with Jesus were ignorant of the Nature of his Government expecting a temporal Messiah nor were they fully instructed till after the descent of the Holy Ghost and even then too we find Peter doubting whether it were lawfull to converse with the Gentiles as appears by the case of Cornelius It remains therefore that the Gentiles of this latter Age of the World could have no other ways of knowing the Christian Mysteries but by such ordinary methods as other matters of Fact are brought to Light which failing the only Medium of Knowledg and Information must be by an extraordinary Revealer And this was the true State of the World in the first Age of the Church when the Disciples of Jesus furnish'd with supernatural Gifts and Graces were made the Apostles and Messengers of these glad Tidings of Salvation nor did they doe all this in one Age but succeeding Ages and Nations became Converts to the Christian Faith as new Discoveries and Men of an Apostolick Spirit did present themselves as all Histories do testifie This then being the greatest Point in Controversie I shall endeavour to pursue it more fully by such Arguments as Natural Reason and Scripture can afford us First then that such Men as we now speak of having not by any Means receiv'd Information of the Christian Mysteries should yet be capable of Salvation is very insonant to the Nature of an All-mercifull and Righteous God viz. Not to punish Men for what was not in their Power to help or if in their Power they would have yielded all dutifull Compliance with it Now as this is consonant to God's Goodness so is it not derogatory to his Justice considering as I promis'd at first that such a knowledg of God and Practice of Moral Vertues as we find oftentimes amongst the Gentiles are the Gifts of God and not the Effects of Man's proper Will and Power neither yet are they derogatory to the Merits of Christ when we call to mind what was above promis'd that Christ's Obedience and Passion is the efficient and meritorious Cause of Man's Salvation so that Man's knowledge being only instrumental whatsoever influence it has it must be deriv'd also from God and resolv'd finally into the Merits of Christ according to my first two Axioms or Postulata's let us argue then the Point a little closer The King of England perhaps sends a considerable Summ of Money for the Redemption of all English Slaves throughout the Turkish Dominions those who hearing the joyfull News readily embrace it with all imaginable Thankfulness whilst others hearing nothing of it sit silent now would it not seem very hard and unjust that these should be excluded from all Benefit by this Act of Grace and Bounty and left in perpetual Bondage because they did not lay hold of that which they never heard of which yet doubtless they would have embrac'd also with the same sense of Gratitude with others had they had the same notice nay rather do we not account an unknown Act of Grace and Bounty done to a Man and before 't is sought for to carry Characters of greater Goodness and to lay a stronger Obligation also upon the Receiver when he shall come to have a knowledg of his most generous Benefactour So that I doubt not but Socrates Aristides Epictetus with other such like Heroes whom without Blasphemy or Heresie we may suppose capable of Mercy in the day of Judgment will exalt with great Joy and celebrate the Praises of their gracious Redeemer when they shall see him though in the Clouds yet far more glorious than the Sun and by whose Merits and Mercies they were brought into that luminous Region of Eternal Happiness And as this is the Voice of Reason so also is it of the Holy Scriptures The first is that of the 11th to the Hebrews where we read that he that cometh to God must believe he is and the Rewarder of them who diligently seek him Now this belief many of the Heathens had viz. of his Existence as also of a future State where after this Life good Men should be rewarded and the Wicked Men punished we see then that by these two Acts of Assent the Heathens were said to come to God or to be admitted to his Favour and Grace which yet cannot be verified of them unless they be accounted capable of Salvation nay farther this kind of coming to God is called Faith and such a Faith without which 't is impossible to please him when the Apostle tells us in the Context That without Faith 't is impossible to please God subjoining it presently as a Reason For he that cometh to God must believe that he is c. Another Argument from Scripture is that Passage of Cornelius the Centurion Act the 10th who though a Heathen yet by his Alms and Prayers and the devout Order he kept in his Family procur'd the Grace and Favour of God to have St. Peter sent to him for his farther instruction And of such force and conviction was this Truth that even St. Peter himself though the Apostle of the Circumcision could not forbear to make an open profession of it saying of a truth I find that God is no respecter of Persons but in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousness as did Cornelius and many also of the illuminated Gentiles is accepted of him Nay St. Peter's Discourse does imply that in every Nation there might be some who feared God and wrought Righteousness and if so of a certain truth they are accepted of him To these Places we may add what St. Paul testifies of himself that though he had an historical Knowledg of the Life Doctrines and Sufferings of Jesus and was a violent Persecuter of those who believed on him yet obtain'd Mercy because he did it in Ignorance and Unbelief 1 Tim. 1. ought we therefore to exclude all from Mercy who never heard of Jesus and yet such too as would have been as ready as others to embrace him and to suffer for him had he been reveal'd unto them The last Argument which I shall take from Scripture is that of the 1st to the Romans For the invisible Things of him saith St. Paul from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the Things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead so that they are without Excuse Here we see that the Apostle condemns the Gentiles not for Ignorance or not Believing but for their Idolatrous Worship and not living conformably to that knowledg they had by the Works of the Creation of God's Eternity and Power which Knowledg renders them inexcusable and yet they would have been excusable had not their Knowledg join'd with a suitable Worship of the same true
number of learned Men from Age to Age even to the very times these Sacred Authors flourish'd and this is that which we call the Authority of the Church or universal Tradition The other Point respects the Authority of these Writings That they have transmitted to Posterity a true History of Jesus and were Divinely inspir'd appears from the near Relation they had to Christ in being instructed by him so that they could neither deceive or be deceiv'd For the same Arguments which prove the Messiah-ship and Divine Gift of Jesus prove the Testimonies of those to whom he reveal'd his Doctrine to be convincing and infallible Now here comes in a Point about which Papists and Protestants raise a mighty Dispute viz. How the Authority of the Apostles Writings call'd the Word of God can depend upon Tradition which is an Inferiour kind of Authority To understand this point we are carefully to distinguish betwixt the Authority of a Witness and the Authority of a Judge The former is only Ministerial Declaratory and conversant about matter of Fact the other is Magisterial and Legislative and may concern matters of Faith that is such Divine Truths as are many times above our Natural Reason to understand Now that Divine Truths as to their manifestation should depend upon the Authority or Testimony of the Church is not at all absurd but very consonant to Reason which in Scripture Phrase is called an Evidence or Reason of our Belief or Hope But then Evidence once made we are requir'd to yield an implicit kind of assent to the Doctrines of Scripture upon the account of the Divine Authority and veracity of their Author as being an infallible Legislator and upon that score to be believed in whatsoever he saies though never so difficult to our Wills and Understandings and this is called Faith Let us illustrate this Point a little For instance The King sends his Letters Mandatory by his Messenger or some other person of Credit and Reputation Upon the persuasion we have of the Credit and Reputation of the Messenger we receive such Letters as Royal Mandates with a suitable Veneration and then without more adoe we yield or ought to yield Obedience to them in the same manner as if his Royal Majesty were present in Person to enjoin the Contents Here 't is plain we make a difference betwixt the Authority of the Testimony or Messenger and the Authority of the Prince and yet we should not easily submit to these Letters were they not attested by such credible means for should we find such Letters in the Streets or High-ways though never so Patent and Sign'd and Seal'd with all Formalities Imaginable we should not take much Notice of them much less be oblig'd to pay our Obedience to them so that here we see how the Motives of Assent are one thing and the Subject of Assent is another and of a higher Nature though depending on the former Having clear'd the way to the reason of our Belief let us now Consider the Scope and Contents of the New Testament and we shall find them to be either Doctrinal or Historical The Doctrinals are such as are Conversant about matters of Belief or matters of Practise We shall begin with matters of Belief the grand Scope whereof seems to level at this one Fundamental Point that Jesus is the Christ or the promised Messiah This as it hath been already prov'd from the Prophesies of the Old Testament let us now proceed to prove also by the actual Offices of a Messiah or Redeemer A Redeemer is one who pays a Debt for another and sets him at Liberty and properly it has respect to Slaves or Men Imprison'd who are unable of themselves to satisfie their Creditors or those to whom they are in Bondage Now Christ as the Redeemer of Mankind being a Publick Representative was under a twofold Obligation first of fulfilling the Law or Commands of God himself and this is call'd active Obedience secondly of satisfying or suffering for the breach of it and this is call'd Passive Obedience Christ's Active Obedience or his fulfilling the Law appears several ways as touching the Moral Law Christ fulfill'd it in his strict Observance of it but especially in his more perfect Interpretation of it by shewing its true full and genuine Sense which indeed is the Soul of every Law The Jews look'd only to the outward performance or shell of the Law whereas Christ had regard to the inward bent of the Soul and to the Affections The Law said Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God Christ saies Thou shalt love him with all thy heart and with all thy strength The Law saith Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in Vain Christ goes further saying Swear not at all The Law saies Thou shalt not kill thou shalt not commit Adultery Christ saies Whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of Judgment and that whosoever looketh on a Woman with a lustfull thought committeth Adultery in his Heart Christ firbids not onely all false Testimonies but even all idle Works Then for the Judicial Law it was Lex Talionis an Eye for an Eye c. Christ says Whosoever shall smite thee on the right Cheek turn to him the left also The Law said Love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy Christ says Love your Enemies and bless them that curse you Also for Alms Prayer and Fasting he improves these Duties to an higher degree of Perfection than that under the Jewish Ordinances As for the Ceremonial Law 't is known that Christ was in all things conformable thereunto he was circumcis'd and was presented in the Temple and he observ'd their Feasts c. But besides all this he fulfill'd these Laws in another Sense in as much as they were accomplish'd in him for all the Rites and Sacrifices under the Jewish Law with all their Types as hath been already shewed were Figures onely of Christ Now the Figure or Shadow vanishes when the substance comes in place all the Prophets ceas'd upon the appearance of Christ as in the presence of a Prince the Office of an Ambassadour ceases For from the time of John the Baptist who was the last Prophet and by his preaching Repentance usher'd in the Blessed Jesus the Jews never had a Prophet more a clear proof that he was the Messiah of whom they all writ The other Obligation under which Christ lay to the Law was that of his Passive Obedience in suffering the Punishment due to the Transgression of it He poured out his Soul unto Death and bare the sins of many And so under these two Capacities Isaiah 53. he made a full Satisfaction or a Complete Redemption Now that one Man as a Representative should bear the sins of many seems no way strange for under the Jewish Law we read of the Scape Goat on whose head the Priest transferr'd the sins of the People with a kind of an Anathema which Goat was presently
great Usurper in suppressing the Senate in whom the Government had so long continued yet the Senate themselves having confirm'd this Alteration for so many Ages and through so many Successions by infinite Decrees and Acts testifying their Submission here was a real Abdication or Resignation on their part And although they were at first brought to this by Conquest yet so many subsequent and voluntary Acts by which as it were step by step they divested themselves of their Authority settled an indubitable right of Government in the Heirs and Successors of Caesar Had Cato Cassius and the Bruti with others of the Republican Party prevailed after that bold blow they gave in the Senate they would have had not only Statues but also Altars and Temples erected to them But Octavian and his Party getting the better by many illegal Methods no less violent and sanguinous than those of his Predecessors the Form of the Government I say was chang'd and submitted to by the Senate themselves and those brave Men who endeavour'd to preserve and retrieve their Countries Liberty were stigmatiz'd with the black Character of Conspirators and Parricides So much does Success give Credit and Authority to Tyrannical Attempts Now where there is an Authority or Government of such continuance and so universally submitted to by the former Lords and Masters as the Roman Empire was at the time St. Paul wrote this Epistle then will it be pertinent to cite this Passage but when nothing of this appears an Argument taken from a State so settled and submitted to as the Roman Empire was is little to the purpose The same Answer serves to that place of St. Peter 1. Ep. cap. 2. As also that of our Saviours paying Tribute or giving to Caesar the things that were Caesar's for this was spoken about the Sixteenth Year of Tiberius and Seventy Years after the death of Julius so that in all these Cases there was no visible Right or Title which stood in competition with the Possession of the Empire Hitherto I have spoken to the Testimonies of Scripture in the Explication whereof the Rule is most safe and Orthodox viz. to interpret Scripture by Scripture and to understand it in such a Sense as shall not contradict a greater Evidence and Testimony of Scripture and not to do as some who when they are press'd with the pernicious Consequences of their Interpretation presently shelter themselves under God's unsearchable Wisdom crving out Who art thou O man who prescribest Rules to thy Maker with such Nonsensical Stuff as though God's Omnipotence could not be declared but by obtruding on him horrid Impieties and the most gross Absurdities By the same Capacity or Absurdity rather by which they endeavour'd from Scripture Testimonies to prove National Revolutions procur'd by wicked Means to be the peculiar and proper Work of God's Providence or that such Tyrannical Powers once introduc'd have God's Authority to warrant and defend them upon the Score of his Providential Prerogative I say by the same Logick we may prove from Scripture also that God has no Providential Care over the World at all Forasmuch as we read 2 Cor. chap. 4. That the God of this World viz. Satan hath blinded the Minds of Men so that the Dominion of Satan in his Government of this World is absolute and that of a God Now if the Devil rules in this World as Prince or God what Province to assign to God Almighty's Inspection is hard to imagine 'T is apparent therefore from hence That all such Scriptures are not to be understood literally but analogically and with reference to God's Attributes and to the Articles of our Christian Faith Where by the way we may also observe Calvin's perverse Interpretation of that place of 2 Thes chap. 2. where God is said to send them a strong delusion that they should believe a Lye that they all might be damn'd who believ'd not the Truth when yet from this place of the second to the Corinthians chap. 4. the blinding of the Minds of those who believe not is ascribed to the Devil to the Devil by the way of Counsel and Execution to God by way of Permission For we cannot ascribe this Spiritual Execution to God and Satan too in one and the same Sense without manifest Impiety But to return to the Temporal and greater Transactions of the World what can be more absurd than that all violent acquisitions all the Usurpations and Oppressions all the Blood Sacrilege Rapine and wicked Practices by which many Kingdoms and Empires through all Ages have been raised up propagated and enlarg'd I say that all such Kingdoms thus supported should be God's Ordinances and that they who do not acknowledge this are in a State of Damnation Hence it will follow that all the Christians who have groaned under the Turkish Slavery should they by adhering to Christian Princes endeavour to recover their former Fortunes and Liberties which they were Tyrannically deprived of in doing this they would resist the Ordinances of God and incur Damnation Nay 't will follow also that the power of Supremacy which the Pope is said to usurp is also of God or God's Ordinance And truly if Duration can give a Title this of the Pope's has been of longer continuance than any other Title now in Europe or perhaps in the whole World It has been challeng'd for above a Thousand Years and actually submitted to by a great many Nations But it may be said perhaps that the Popes Usurpations are Spiritual and that in Spiritual Matters we are to obey God rather than Man This Objection does not dissolve but rather knit the Knot faster For the Text saith There is no Power but of God the Powers that be are ordained of God so that all Power without exception falls under a Notion of God's Ordinance And truly if God take such a care for Temporal Administration much more for Spiritual if a Sparrow falls not to the Ground without his Will he must needs be morè concern'd for so great a Body of Men the Church being that which he himself with his own Right Hand hath planted in sending his only Son to purchase it by his Incarnation and suffering death upon the Cross The Spiritual Capacity is his Kingdom more peculiarly and tho' the Papal Power were an Usurpation that 's no matter it being once possess'd by the Bishop of Rome and that for so long a time it becomes a settled Government and an Ordinance of God They therefore who in the first Reformation did resist this Power did according to these Mens Doctrine resist the Ordinance of God and are liable for so doing to Damnation And thus have they found out a new Argument to justifie the Pope's Authority such as never any Jesuit nor the Pope himself yet dream'd of Nay the Dominion and Power of Antichrist according to their Doctrine must be an Ordinance of God's also For whether the Pope be Antichrist or whether he be yet to come certain it
God been capable to have procur'd their Happiness For it would be unjust to condemn Men for not doing of a thing and yet condemn them too although they doe it and therefore a good Life join'd with their Knowledg must leave them with a reasonable Excuse or make them capable of Salvation 'T is true St. Paul speaks in general Terms that the Gentiles were Idolaters and for that reason condemnable as acting contrary to Knowledg but that all the Gentiles thus acted contrary to Knowledg does by no means follow from St. Paul's manner of expressing himself it being usual in Scripture to speak of all in general and comprehensive Terms when such as are or may be excepted are very few in number So the Prophet Elijah in the Term of that general Apostacy under Ahab exclaim'd saying that he alone was left of all the true Worshipers of God 1 Kings 19. But God tells him that he had left in Israel 7000 Men who had not bow'd the Knee to Baal and even in Sodom the most wicked Town that ever was upon the Earth there was found a Righteous Lot To put the Question out of all dispute we have a most pregnant Proof from St. Paul in his continuation of this Argument 2 Rom. v. 10. pronouncing Glory Honour and Peace to every one that worketh Good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile for there is no respect of Persons with God telling us also that not the Hearers but that the Doers of the Law are justified before God For when the Gentiles who have not the Law that is a reveal'd Written Law doe by Nature the Things contain'd in the Law they having not the Law are a Law unto themselves which shew the Work of the Law written in their Hearts their Consciences also bearing witness c. In this Place St. Paul treating professedly of the Law of Nature by which the Gentiles did act calls it the Law viz. of God written in their Hearts and that acting according to the Dictates of this Law they doe the Things contain'd in the Law having the Testimony also of their Consciences acquitting them for so doing and therefore Doers of the Law are justified in the sight of God And truly I am the more confirm'd in this Opinion when I think upon that last great and final Sentence which shall pass on Men at the general Judgment of the World Many then shall make great Ostentation of the Faith saying Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name Mat. 7. and in thy Name cast out Divels c. But Christ knows them not but tells them Mat. 25. that because they did not doe Works of Mercy towards their Brethren the suffering Members of Christ they should go into utter Darkness but that those who did shew compassion towards them should enter into Everlasting Happiness Let us now see what may be objected against this Discourse And first Christ before his Ascension Mark 16. says He that believeth and is Baptiz'd shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damn'd Now that those who never heard of Christ do not believe is plain also from 10th to the Rom. How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a Preacher therefore no Salvation to those who never heard of Christ To this Objection which indeed carries the greatest force of any thing that can be urg'd I answer First that Passage of the 16th of St. Mark He that believeth not is damn'd is not to be understood negatively as though an Ignorance of Christ and of his Doctrines did certainly expose Men to Damnation for then the Children of Christian Parents dying before they come of Age to make an Act of Faith would be damn'd The Words then of this Place do include a positive Act of dis-believing or rejecting the Doctrines of Christ after they are propos'd This is evident from the Context in the precedent Verse where Christ gives Authority to his Disciples saying Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature he that believeth and is Baptiz'd shall be sav'd but he that believeth not shall be damn'd So that they are damn'd who after the Gospel was preached to them did yet reject it all which concerns not those who never heard of Christ nor of his Gospel This then doth supersede that also of Rom. the 10th where the Apostle speaketh of a positive and explicite Act of Faith for v. the 9th he saith that if thou shalt confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thy Heart that God raised him from the Dead thou shalt be sav'd Now as such a Faith cannot be attain'd but by the preaching of the Gospel or from extraordinary Revelation so neither doth it follow from hence that all who have not receiv'd this joyfull Tidings of the Gospel shall not be sav'd He that is a great Linguist is generally reckon'd to be a learned Man and yet from thence it doth not follow that he who is not a great Linguist is not a learned Man upon the whole the Sense of the Apostle amounts to no more but this that they who by the hearing of God's Word or of Teachers shall arrive to a knowledg of Jesus Christ their Saviour and believe his Resurrection are in a State of Salvation quoad Antecedens in respect of the means but quoad Consequens or the effect that all such shall actually be sav'd is no way ascertain'd from the foremention'd place We read every where in Scripture of those who make shipwrack of their Faith and of falling from the Faith and when we are exhorted to stand stedfast in the Faith this does imply a possibility of lapsing Nor is it any thing to the purpose to say that no Man who has once embrac'd the true Faith can fall from it for the Faith which the Apostles exhorts us to stand stedfast in is doubtless the True Faith In like manner at the 13 v. of the same 10th Chap. to the Romans we read that whosoever calleth upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved and yet Matth. 7th we read Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doeth the Will c. So that all such Places are not to be understood Mathematically and precisely such as cannot be otherwise but morally or as to the general being attended with a good Life and good Works of Christian Charity But it may be farther objected John the 3d. Except a Man be born of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God so that Salvation cannot be had without Baptism but they who never heard of Christ could never be Baptiz'd into Christ and must be therefore excluded Salvation To this I answer that Baptism under the Gospel is the same with Circumcision under the Law this being a Type of the other and both of them a Sign or Seal of a Covenant of Mercy But in