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glory, when they know him not? For though they have means of knowing the being and perfections of God, yet they know not who the true God is; but being left to the mere light of nature, fix upon that which is not God, to be so; and consequently can have no true love. to the only true God, nor true faith in him, nor a true regard to his glory. And we say the same of the works and actions of all men in a state of nature, before conversion, who are destitute of love to God, and faith in Christ: and so says the church of which this author was a member, in her thirteenth article, "Works done before the grace of Christ, and the inspiration of his Spirit, are not pleasant to God, forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ, neither do they make men meet to receive grace, or (as the school-authors say) deserve grace of congruity; yea, rather, for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not but that they have the nature of sin." But, after all, supposing that the heathens have sufficient means of knowing God, and the duties of natural religion, and that they do know God, and do perform the duties of natural religion, are these the means of grace, life, and salvation; when it is not by works of righteousness, works done according to a righteous law, and from a principle of grace and holiness, which we Christians, believers in Christ, have done after conversion, in the faith of Christ, from love to God, and a view to his glory, that we are saved; but according to the mercy of God, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour? To say no more, the argument may easily be retorted thus: It seemeth evident from reason, that if God had willed that all the individuals of human nature, and among the rest the heathens, should be saved through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom alone we hope to be saved, there being no other way of salvation that we know of; I say, it seemeth evident from reason, that God would have given these persons the means of salvation, the means of knowing Christ, and salvation by him, and the knowledge of these things itself.

2. It is further argued+, "If God hath given to all men immortal souls, it seemeth plainly hence to follow, that he hath put them some way in a capacity of being happy after death, and hath not left them under an inevitable necessity of being always miserable. For since, according to our Saviour's words, it had been better for such men that they had not been born; and, according to right reason, it is better not to be, than to be miserable; and seeing all such men must be subject to a necessity of being miserable, only by being born into the world, that is, by God's own action in giving them life, and infusing a spiritual soul into them; it follows, that either we must deny the immortality of the souls of these heathens, or allow, that they are placed by Divine Providence in a capacity of avoiding being ever miserable." I reply; That God hath given to all men, and so to the heathens, immortal souls, is certain; but from hence it follows not, that he has put, or is obliged to put them some way in a capacity of being ever Whitby, p. 534; ed. 2. 512.

Tit. iii. 5, 6.

happy; seeing he makes the angels, immortal and immaterial spirits, those that fell from him, as well as those that stand; but he has not, nor is he obliged to put the former any way in a capacity of being ever happy; since they became sinful, and so miserable of themselves, and not by any act of his. So the heathens, to whom God has given immortal souls, of themselves, through their own sin, became miserable, or subject to misery, and not by being born into the world, or by God's own action of giving them life, and infusing an immortal soul into them: God's act of giving them being and life, and infusing an immortal soul into them, is a blessing; it is their own iniquity that subjects them to misery, or makes them miserable, and it can be no unrighteous thing with God to leave them so; nor is it more eligible not to be, than to be so; our Lord does not say, it had been better for such men, that they had not been born; but it had been good for that man, Judas, if he had not been born*. And this, as some think, was said according to the judgment of men, and as Judas himself would hereafter judge, and is designed to express the woefulness of his state and condition; though it is not said, it had been good for him if he had not been, but if he had not been born; that is, if he had been an abortive, had died in his mother's womb. It is not according to right reason, but according to an erroneous judgment, that "it is better not to be, than to be miserable;" for to be is something, and something good, though attended with misery; but, not to be, is nothing; and non entis nulla affectio, can have neither goodness nor betterness, nor can be properly eligible or desirable. The reasoning, which follows, from the goodness of God in temporal things, to his concern for men's spiritual welfare, and from the law of nature and light of reason, implanted in them, hath been elsewhere considered.

3. It is urgedt, that "it cannot be consistent with divine equity and goodness, to make that a condition of any man's happiness, which he cannot know to be his duty, or knowing, cannot do. Hence it is evident, that the knowledge of any revelation made to Jew or Christian, cannot be necessary to the happiness of heathens in general, much less the practice of any purely Christian duty; and therefore faith in Jesus Christ cannot be necessary to the salvation of as many of them as have never heard of him." I answer; that the heathens will not be condemned and punished for their ignorance of that revelation which was never vouchsafed to them, nor for the nonperformance of any purely Christian duty, such as baptism and the Lord's supper; nor for not believing in Christ, of whom they have never heard, only for those sins which they have committed against the law and light of nature: but inasmuch as they are without any true knowledge of the way of atonement for sin, and without any. revelation from God of the method of salvation from it, they must be considered as destitute of the means of grace, and as far from true happiness and felicity.

4. When this author says +, "This I think certain, that God will only judge men at the last for sinning against the means he hath

Matt. xxvi. 24.

Whitby, p. 536; ed. 2. 514.

Ibid. p. 537; ed. 2. 514, 515.

vouchsafed them to know, and to perform their duty, and only by that law which he hath given them. Hence it must follow, that those heathens to whom the law of nature only hath been given, can be judged only for the violations of that law." This will be readily allowed as agreeable to what the apostle says*, As many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law. But then, this observation is no proof of their having any means of grace; this leaves them without any, and discovers the equity and justice of God in their condemnation.

5. It is further observed †, that "God having laid down this method in the dispensation of his gifts, that he who is faithful in the least talent, shall have a suitable reward; and that to him that hath, so as to improve what he enjoys, shall more be given, and vice versa; we may hence rationally conclude, that he who diligently endeavours to do good, according to that light he hath received, shall find some tokens of the favour of God; and that if any farther aid be requisite to enable the heathens acceptably to perform their duty, the divine goodness will impart that also to them, by those secret dispensations of his providence which we are not acquainted with." To which may be replied; that the parable of the talents referred to, does not relate either to the gifts of nature, or of special grace; but to ministerial gifts, or such as qualify men for the preaching of the gospel, as has been shown in the first Part of this work; and therefore cannot be of any service in the argument before us. What secret methods God may make use of to impart his grace to heathens, to afford them the aid that is requisite to perform their duty acceptably; to communicate his mercy to them, and apply the meritorious performances of Christ; are, indeed, secrets to us; and secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed, belong to us and to our children §. It is only according to the revelation God has made we are able to judge of things, and beyond that we cannot go; and according to that revelation, it appears that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life ||; the true way to eternal life; that no man can come to the Father but by him; that there is salvation in no other; that there is none other name under heaven given among men, Jews or Gentiles, whereby we must be saved; that the heathens, destitute of revelation, know not God ** ; are without Christ, strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and God in the world ++; and consequently, according to all the views of things we are capable of taking from hence, must be without any means of grace and salvation.

6. And lastly, it is said‡‡, that "we may reasonably conclude, God will deal with them, both with respect to the acceptation and reward of their good, and his displeasure against and punishment of their evil actions, according to the measures of their ignorance and knowledge, the abilities, motives, and inducements afforded to them to do or to avoid them; and that in these particulars. That their good actions,

*Rom. ii. 12.
|| John xiv. 6.

+ Sect. xxvi. ** 1 Thess. iv. 5.

† Whitby, p. 539; ed. 2. 516.
Acts iv. 12.
Whitby, p. 540, &c.; ed. 2. 517, &c.

§ Deut. xxix. 29. †† Eph. ii. 12.

done upon less convictions, aids, and motives, may be more acceptable to God, than the like actions done by Christians, upon much stronger evidence, and better aids, and more powerful inducements to the same actions, according to John xx. 29, Luke vii. 9, Matt. xv. 28. That the heathens may expect a reward upon performance of less duty, according to Luke xii. 48. That God should be more ready to pardon and pass by their transgressions, because there must be in them the more of ignorance, and so the less of contempt, and so the more of that which renders them excusable, and the less of that which aggravates transgression. That God should be more patient and long-suffering towards them before he punisheth, because the less the light is they enjoy, the less is their offence against it. It is also reasonable to conceive, that God may be more gentle in the punishment of their iniquities, according to our Lord's own aphorism, Luke xii. 47." I answer; It cannot well be thought that the actions of heathens, which want the circumstances of a good work, such as love to God, faith in him, a view to his glory, and which have only the appearance of goodness in them, should, upon any consideration whatever, be more acceptable to God, than the actions of Christians done by the assistance of grace, in faith, from pure love to God, and with a single eye to his glory, and which are attended with, and are presented before God through, the sweet incense of Christ's mediation. There must be as much difference between these actions, in point of acceptance, as between the most fragrant flower in the garden, and the most stinking herb of the field. The words of our Lord, John xx. 29, do not compare Christians and heathens together, but Christians and Christians, and commend such who believe on Christ, without the sight of his person and miracles, before such who believed on him upon the sight of them. The centurion, Luke vii. 9, and the Syro-Phoenician woman, Matt. xv. 28, though they were of heathen extract, were not to be reckoned pure heathens, since they conversed among the Jews, and probably were Jewish proselytes, especially the former, and had heard of the Messiah, and were now, moreover, blessed with a gospel revelation, enjoyed the ministry, and saw the miracles of Christ; and, therefore, their actions, and the instances of their faith, are not pertinent to the present argument. The saying of Socrates this author mentions supposes a plurality of gods; and the expressions of Epictetus breathe out the pride and vanity, the affectation and stupidity, of a stoic. Nor have the heathens reason to expect a reward upon performance of less duty; for they have no reason to expect a reward, especially of eternal life, upon the performance of any duty, be it more or less, since the reward must be either of debt or of grace; if of debt, the expectation must be founded upon the performance of the duty itself, and the strict proportion between the duty and the reward; but between eternal life, and the best performances of men, there is no proportion at all, and consequently there is no reward due unto them, and therefore no just expectation can arise from hence; if it is of grace, and the expectation is founded on divine goodness, there must be some notification of it, a promise of eternal life must be given: but the heathens are strangers to

the covenants of promise*; they have no such promise, and are incapable of having any, without a revelation, as this author himself observes +; and therefore can have no well-grounded expectation of the reward of eternal life, upon the performance of any duty whatever; but are, as the apostle says‡, without hope, that is, of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began§. The words of our Lord, in Luke xii. 28, can be no foundation of expectation of reward to heathens, upon performance of less duty, since they know nothing of them; and did they, could be none at all, since they speak not of any reward to be given to men upon performance of more or less duty, only of what is required of men to whom much is committed.

To proceed: Though the heathens have more of ignorance, and less of contempt, in their transgressions, than others who enjoy the light of the gospel, and so as their sins are not so aggravated, their punishment will not be so great, but that they may reasonably expect, that God should be more ready to pardon and pass by their transgressions, because of their ignorance, when they are not sensible of it, is not easy to be conceived of. Again, though the less the light is men enjoy, the less is their offence against it, and God may be more patient and longsuffering towards them before he punisheth; but that the heathens may expect he will be so on this account, is not very evident. There have been instances, indeed, of God's patience and long-suffering towards them; but that of God's waiting upon the old world, in the days of Noah, who was a preacher of righteousness to them, cannot well be thought to be an instance of God's forbearance of heathens, of men destitute of a divine revelation. It must be owned it is reasonable to conceive, that God may be more gentle and mild in the punishment of the iniquities of heathens, not only from Luke xii. 47, but from the express declaration of Christ ||, that it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, and for the land of Sodom, in the day of judgment, than for Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, wherein most of his mighty works were done; which brings me to the consideration of these words, and the inference said to be made from them. As to the sense and meaning of them, that has been considered already in the first Part¶ of this work, to which the reader is referred. The inference said ** to be made from them is this, namely, "Hence it appears, that the means of salvation are not always applied to them, whom God foresaw would use them better." By whom this inference is made, I cannot find, and am jealous, that it is not fairly represented as it was drawn; since these words, according to our sense of them, are not to be understood of God's prescience or foresight of what would certainly come to pass, if such means were vouchsafed; but of a probability and likelihood, according to a human view and judgment of things, that the miracles of Christ would have been more regarded by, and would have had a greater influence upon, the inhabitants of Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom, had they been wrought among them, than on the inhabitants of those Whitby, p. 538; ed. 2. 515. ¶ Sect. xxiv.

* Eph. ii. 12.

Matt. xi. 20-24.

D D

+ Eph. ii. 12.
**Whitby, p. 545; ed

§ Tit. i. 2. 2. 523.

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