None but Christ, OR A SERMON Upon Acts 4. 12. Preached at St. Mary's in Cambridge, on the Commencement Sabbath, July 4. 1652. To which is annexed, an Enquiry after what hope may be had Of the salvation of 

1. Heathens.  
2. Those of the old world, the Jews and others before Christ.  
3. Such as die Infants, and Idiots, etc. now under the Gospel.    
By Anthony Tuckney, D. D. and Master of St. John's College in Cambridge.  Qui dicit hominem servari posse sine Christo, Dubito an ipse per Christum servari potest Augustin. 
London, Printed for John Rothwell, and S. Gellibrand. 1654.   

None but CHRIST.  ACTS 4. 12. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. 
IN the beginning of the Chapter, we meet with the first persecution of the Gospel, recorded in Scripture, after our Saviour's Ascension. Sad, that so good news should find so bad entertainment! but happy for some, that as it was raised for so good a word, so occasioned by so good a 
Mat. 13. 21  deed done to an impotent man in the foregoing Chapter. Such may ever our sufferings be, that if a black shadow must needs follow us, it may be only because we walk in the light; and that if it prove our lot to hear and far ill, it may be for doing well, 
1 Pet. 3. 17  and that the Apostle saith, is to suffer as a Christian, 1 Pet. 4. 16. Nay, as Christ himself; for such good works he was once to have been stoned. John 10. 32. and for the like, Peter and John were here arraigned and questioned, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Verse 7.  by what Name or Authority, or by what power or virtue. Qua arte Medica vel Magica (as it was ordinary to account both Christ and Christians in the primitive times, to 
Grotius Lyranus.  be Conjurers) they had done This: Theophylact and Oecumenius observe they were ashamed to name it, being an high act of charity, and must it be made a matter of accusation by their malice and envy? Cursed men! who accounting it a credit for them to do evil, make it a crime for the Apostles to do good; enviously malicious, that men may not act charity, without purchasing their Licence ad practicandum: and withal, apparently ridiculous, in ask, by what power, when the thing itself proclaimed it to be done by the power of God.  
And therefore, to this their foolish proud Question, verse 7. Peter returns 
Matth▪ 2● 69, 70.  a plain and round answer from verse 8. to 13. And so He, who sometimes full of himself, was baffled by a Damosel, now being filled with the holy Ghost, verse 8. silenceth and confoundeth his not more potent than malicious accusers and Judges, v. 13, 14. How wosully weak are we, when we rely on our own strength; but how able to do all things, when Christ strengtheneth us? In te stas & non stas, 
Phil. 4. 13.  saith Austin. Thou art sure to come down, when thou standest on thine own legs; but how mightily upheld and carried on, when supported and conducted by God's hand? As the Ship, which when the sale is filled with a strong gale, goeth on amain; in a calm, notwithstanding all our rowing, is carried down the stream. And therefore when Moses had prayed for Judah, that his hands might be sufficient for him, he added (as there was need.) And be thou an help to him, Deut. 33. 7. In hoc signo vinces. Go out in this thy strength, and thou shalt prevail. Judg. 6. 14. Ithiel and Vcal here are Twins, the first of those names saith, God is with me, and then 
Prov. 30. 1.  the second assureth me, that I shall be able to prevail, whatsoever, or whosoever is against me.  
If you look into the fifth and sixth verses, you shall see a very full Bench, not of Justices, but of professed potent enemies: and this of all parties, who in other things could not agree; and from all parties, It's said, they were gathered together, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, at or unto Jerusalem, as though there had not been enough in the City, all were sent for out of the Country, but enough, one would have thought, to have dashed a poor prisoner in bonds, and now at the Bar, quite out of countenance; But O the ingenuous boldness of a good conscience in a good cause! Peter there makes an open Proclamation, with a Noverint Vniversi. Be it known unto you all, that by the name of Jesus Christ, doth this man stand before you whole. He dare bear witness to Christ, and against their sin together, that as so many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they had rejected that stone which God had made the head of the corner, and as so many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had killed him, who had given to that poor man, health and life, vers. 10, 11. yea, and salvation to all, in the Text. Neither is there salvation in any other, etc.  
In which words we have  
1. A confident Assertion. That there is no salvation, but by Christ.  
2. As strong a proof of it, taken from God's designation, because no 
Explication of the words.  name under Heaven is given us, whereby we may be saved.  
Neither is there salvation. i e. not so much as any temporal, much less any spiritual and eternal salvation.  
In or by any other.  
For, here he gives a sufficient reason 
Alius, vel alia vis cuju squam Sive auto ritas: Beza: Grotius. in 2 Tim. 2. 1●.  of it.  
There is no name, i. e. Person, as Act 1. 1. 15. or Sec● (which were wont to be called by the names of their Masters,) or way, or Authority.  
Under Heaven. Not as though we may hope for any other Saviour's, (as Saints and Angels) in heaven; but to express the place where our salvation was purchased, and that was here on earth under heaven, which the Socinian will have accomplished only in Heaven; but although the blood of the sacrifice was presented in the holy of holies, yet it was shed without 
Levit. 16. 11, 12. etc.  to make an atonement: and so Christ our blessed High Priest, who for us men and our salvation came down from Heaven, returned indeed again to Heaven, and entered into the holy place with his own blood, yet it was 
Heb. 9 12.  having obtained eternal redemption for us, by that his blood shed here on earth; de coelo est salus, sed sub coelo 
Lorinus.  medium salutis.  
Or (it may be) this expression under Heaven holdeth forth rather the extent of our Saviour's Empire, and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much as Vspiam. So Beza, and so Dan. 9 12. We find that phrase under the whole Heaven, used in this sense, in which no name under Heaven, here signifieth, None at all, or any where.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Either the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as we so find the like phrase, Chap. 7. 44. and so the vulgar here readeth it Hominibus, to men. Or as Ours render it, among men, who were very many, and had amongst them many other conceited ways of salvation, and many of them were very great Names in the world; and yet amongst them All, no other name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, given. i e. by God designed, appointed, and that indeed of free gift.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. In or by which we must be saved. Not as though there were any necessity in regard of us, or our worth, that therefore we must needs be saved; but to express thus much, that if through God's free grace we be saved, it then necessarily must be only in and by Jesus Christ, which is the Doctrine of the Text, and which we are now to insist on.  
Besides, or without Christ no salvation:  
The Gospel of Jesus Christ saith, 
Doct. Evangelium Jes● Christi non est Evangelium ●●tra Ch●istum. Ca●●. wright.  Mark Chap. 1. 1. It is so in his Gospel, that there is no such good news, but by him, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The Christ, The Saviour. John 4. 42. spoken not only emphatically, but also exclusively. The Christ is so the Saviour, that he is the only Saviour. But your Christian belief will not need the proof of this fundamental sum of the Doctrine of Christ. It would be hard to be put upon the proof of first Principles, and sometimes proves hard, when unreasonably put upon it, to do it, which would be but the emblasoning of a sunbeam, or the laying on a colour to make Ivory or Snow the whiter: A man hath never less to say, than when, that which he is to prove or clear, is more certain and manifest than his proof; omni ●uce 
Mornay. de veritat. Cap. 1.  clarius, omni interpretatione notius. Such hard tasks are we now put upon in these our sinful days, which attempt to raze the most grounded Fundamentals of Religion; but blessed be GOD, that there is less difficulty in proving this, which is of such absolute necessity to salvation, That out of Christ there is no salvation. Haec Petri sententia, (as he saith) est 
Sarcerius.  Decretum super omnium conciliorum decreta, not to be doubtfully disputed, but yet may be fully proved. 
Psal. 118. 22. Isa. 28. 16. Eph. 2. 20.   
1. From the Titles given to Christ in Scripture, as The corner stone and Foundation. So that if, either it be laid aside (as in the verse before the Text) or we be not laid upon it, we build upon the sand, and utterly ruin all, Matth. 7. 26, 27. The Apostle is peremptory, that no man can lay any 
1 Cor. 3. 11.  other foundation, and therefore besides him no salvation.  
The Root and true Vine. And therefore 
Colos. 2. 7.  if not implanted and rooted in him, we shall certainly whither, and become fuel for everlasting burn. John 15. 1. to 9  
The head of the body. And then, 
C 〈…〉. 18.  though Popish Legends can tell you of men walking without their heads, yet sober Christians are no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heretics. The strength of the sheep of Christ's pasture is in their Head, and all their life and vigour from union with it, Ephes. 4. 16. so that the body may as well live without the head, as we without Christ gain salvation.  
The beloved-Husband, by whom alone the chaste spouse bringeth forth 
2 Co●. 1● 2.  fruit unto God, Rom. 7. 4. and she is but an Harlot that embraceth the bosom of a stranger.  
The Mediator and the only one, even as God himself is one, one God, and one Mediator between God and Man, and that only the man Christ Jesus. 1 Tim. 2. 5. A proof which St. Austin very often and strongly urgeth 
Contra Julian.  to this purpose. It is no Platonic faith (as some call it) which can unite us at so great an odds to God, without Christ, our alone Mediator, to come between, and make up the breach, there will for ever remain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, an infinite distance, and immortal enmity.  
The Door, which a blind Sodomite 
Joh. 10. 9 Revel. 22. 15.  cannot find, and therefore remains without with Dogs. Besides which no entrance, either into the Church here, or Heaven hereafter.  
Lastly, The way, the truth, and the 
Joh. 14. 6.  life. The true way to life, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, via illa certissima, qu â un â, etc. As Beza upon the place, the only way, by which we may certainly, and out of which it is impossible we should ever come to life, or the God of our life, as our Saviour addeth in the very next word, none cometh to the Father 
Joh. 17. 3.  but by me. As elsewhere, This is eternal life to know thee and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent, who is so the way, the truth, and the life, that out of him, we shall perish from the 
Psal. 2. 12.  way; shall deceive ourselves with a lie, if we believe not in this truth; and abide for ever in death, if not made partakers of this life.  
2. This truth, that out of Christ no salvation is further made out from all the parts of this salvation, in the whole progress from first to last, all is in and by Jesus Christ.  
Elected in him, Ephes. 1. 4.  
Redeemed by him; in whom we have Redemption through his blood. verse 7.  
If Adopted. It is in ou● Elder Brothers right, unto the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ. v. 5.  
If justified. It is by his righteousness imputed; accepted, but in the Beloved. v. 6.  
If sanctified. It is by his spirit communicated, He hath chosen us in him to be holy. v. 4.  
If sa●ed. It is by his merit imparted. In whom also we have obtained an Inheritance. v. 11.  
And blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, but still in Christ. v. 3.  
It is the grossest darkness of ignorance, that we lie in, unless he be our light and Prophet, to enlighten and instruct us. Mat. 4. 16.  
It is the heaviest guilt that we lie under, unless he be our Priest, to make expiation for us, be our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 1 John 2. 2. Rom. 3. 25.  
And when that is done, a thousand miscarriages and mischiefs from others, and (should all else fail) from ourselves, would betid us, unless he be Melchizedeck King of Salem; 
Heb. 7. 1.  Our King to govern and defend us, Isa. 9 6. & 33. 22.  
It is he only, who of God is made unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, 1 Cor. 1. 30. even all in all. Col. 3. 11. And then if he be All, All besides him are nothing. And so still without him, no one part of salvation.  
3. And this is true of all persons in all places, as he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. All, and this unto All, Col. 3. 11. The Apostle there makes a large enumeration of Greek, Jew; circumcision, uncircumcision; Barbarian, Scythian; Bond, free; He was as well a light to the Gentiles, as the glory of his people Israel. 
Luke 2. 32  From East to West, this Sun of righteousness enlightens all, And if any without the Tropic of the more visible Church should have the light of 
John 8. 12  life, it is from more obliqne beams, which by ways best known to himself, he dart●th upon them where ever they be, if they be under the whole Heaven, or amongst men: the Text tells them to whom they must be beholden for salvation. Of which if we yet doubt, Austin, I am sure, is certain. Certus sum non esse animam ullam 
Epist. 28.  in genere humano, cui non sit necessarius ad liberationem Mediator Dei & hominum, etc.  
4. And thus, lastly, in reference to all Times and Ages, whether of our life, or of the world.  
1. Of our life.  
If we be grown up to be men, it will be more easily granted, that he that believeth not shall be damned, Mark 16. 16.  
And for those that die Infants, although we cannot so easily understand how they should actually believe, yet we must believe, that unless unto us a Child were born, and a Son given, they, who in themselves are Children of wrath, would never become heirs of life. This also is another Article of Augustine's Creed, which 
Epist. 157.  he would have kept inviolate. Illa fides in nobis salva sit, quâ credimus, nullum hominem sive majoris sive parvulae, quamlibet & recentioris aetatis liberari e contagione mortis aeternae, et obligatione peccati quam contraxit prima sua nativitate, nisi per unum Mediatorem Dei et hominum, Jesum Christum. Whether old or young, we must have the everlasting Father to be the 
Isu. 9 6.  Prince of our peace, or else our breach is irreconcilable.  
2. And the like is to be said of the several Ages of the world, from first to last. Christ is the first and last, which 
Rev. 1. 11. Epist. 157.  made St. Austin still confidently affirm in reference to this my Text. Ex ●o tempore valet ad servandum genus 
John 1. 29. Rev. 13. 8.  humanum; ex quo in Adam est vitiatum, etc. Christ the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world, was slain from the beginning of the world. Which believers in all their sacrifices (almost as ancient as the world) 
De Demonstrat.  looked after, as Eusebius showeth, which made Ignatius conclude, that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 
Lib. 1. cap. 10. Ad Magnes. Histor. lib. 1. cap. 4.  and Eusebius in another place, to the same purpose calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christians indeed, though not then so named, for in the faith of a Messiah, a Christ to come, they lived and died, and so were saved, as the Apostle showeth at large, Heb. 11. So that as the whole body is under the Head, 
It a omnes sancti qui ante Domini nostri, J. C. nativitatem erant, quamvis ante nati erant, tamen corpori universo sed capiti cohae serunt. Augustin. Gregor. homil. 17. in Ezek.  though one part of it be born after another. So here also in this mystical body of Christ. As Austin compareth it; or as Gregory alluding to that passage of the Gospel, expresseth it, Some went before, and some came after; but both, all, cry Hosannah, (and that word signifieth salvation) to the Son of David.  
In a word, to conclude this general proof, it is Paul's full scope in his most divine Epistle to the Romans, to prove that neither Jew nor Gentile can be justified or saved, but only by the faith of Christ, the second Adam, by whom are saved all that are saved, as all were undone by the first. But should I recite all Scripture-proofs of this truth, I should transcribe the greatest part of the old and new Testament. Bernard saith of some, that by 
Dum multum sudat quo modo Platonem faciat Christianum, se probat Ethnicum, Epist. 190.  labouring to prove Plato to be a Christian, proved themselves no Christians, which makes me fear I should too much wrong both myself, and this most Christian Auditory, as though it were scarce Christian, if I should labour too long in the proof of this fundamental & characteristical Article of their Christianity; And therefore I the rather come to the ground of it in the  
Reas. 1 Second part of the Text. There is salvation in none other, because there is no other name given, whereby we must be saved. And it is taken (as Calvin observeth, from 
Explicatio est proximae sententiae, in Christ● solo est salus, quo ●iam ita Deus decrevit etc. Calvin in locum.  God's free purpose, which is especially to be heeded in matters of his free grace, and if he appointed no other, than it is high presumption in us to fancy any other. When in ourselves we are all justly condemned, we must give God leave to choose, as whom he will save, so by what means he will procure and dispense this salvation. And if for that he hath made choice only of Christ, as in some respects necessary, but in all respects, as Austin truly saith, absolutely most convenient, 
Sa●andae nostraemiseriae, convenientiorem modum non fuisse. August. de Tem. lib. 13 Cap. 10 aliter absolutè potuit salvasse mundum, licet ad satisfactionem de rigore justitiae videtur necessari● hypostatica unio Lorinus. Orthodox. Eplicat. Lib. 3.  than he was not more blasphemous who said he could have told God a better way to have made the world, than they are presumptuous, who dare be so bold as in their wanton fancies to conceit another way of redeeming the world then by Christ alone, which was the most happy product of the most divine Counsels of all the three Persons in the blessed Trinity from all eternity. And shall we then attempt to be wiser than God, and in effect say, that He might have spared his Counsels, and Christ his death, Seeing there may be a way for such as never knew him, to come to life without him? so Andradius sticks not to accuse God for cruelty, if it should be otherwise. But when the Question in the Prophet was, is there any other God besides me? God thought he had sufficiently answered in the Negative, when he said, I know none, Isa. 44. 8. and so if the like question be made of a Saviour, whether there be any other besides Christ? let us sit down satisfied with this, it is he only who of God is made 
1 Cor. 1. 30.  to us wisdom, righteousness, etc. He it is whom the Father hath sealed, and let 
John 6. 27  that make this impression on our hearts that although there be many that are 
1 Cor. 8. 5. 6.  called Gods, & Lords many, and accordingly, many conceited ways of Religion, and thereby of salvation; yet to us, as there was but one God, so but one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And therefore 
1 Tim. 2. 5  let us have a Saviour of Gods choosing and making, and not of our own framing and fancying; for how miserable should I be, if whilst I have been looking out for other ways to save me, God who hath appointed this way, which I have neglected or miss of, should damn me? It is my security, if when I can say, I have a manifest token of salvation, I can add 
Phil. 1. 28.  with the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this of God, because in and by 
Act 5. 31.  Christ, whom he hath appointed, and exalted to be Prince and Saviour.  
Reas. 2 To this add in the second place, that salvation is dispensed to us by way of Covenant: and had it been by the first Covenant of which the first Adam was head, his name might have been written on it; but seeing it is by the second, of which Christ the second Adam is the only Head (as the Apostle showeth in that divine parallel between the two adam's, Rom. 5) as he is made our Covenant, so also our salvation, Isa. 49. 6, 8. guilty we were and condemned by the first Adam, and therefore justified and saved we 
Concil. Trident. de justific. Cap. 3.  must be by the second, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. This opportet in the Text, is now not only of conveniency, but also of necessity. Nemo ad mortem nisi per illum, nemo ad vitam nisi per istum.  
Reas. 3 To this purpose consider further, that Christ is so the head of this saving Covenant, that God's glory in this exaltation is the chief end intended in it. In which Christ is not brought in per accidens, or in an inferior subordination, as a subservient means to us and our salvation as the end, (though even so there would be no salvation without him, as no attaining the end, without the means, & if there be but one only means to the end, it is as necessary as the end.) But Christ's and God's glory in him is the prime design of it, Ephes. 1. 6. That our salvation wrought by him should be as a subordinate means to his glory, as the chief end. And therefore as on the one side, we should not so much look at Christ for our salvation, as at our salvation for Christ and his glory; so on the other side, if whilst we take in salvation we leave out Christ, we cut off the stream from the fountain from which it floweth, and so our salvation would be an empty dry pit, prove vain, and fall short of its end, and we of the comfort of it, if (whilst we are saved some other way) he should not have the honour of being (as he most certainly is) the Author of 
Heb. 5. 9  it.  
Reas. 4 And as our salvation would so be empty and vain, so also our Saviour also should have suffered and died in vain. It is Augustine's inference, gratis enim 
Contra Jelianum. Lib. 4. Cap. 3.  Christus mortuus est, si homines ulli absque Christo ad fidem veram, virtutem veram, etc. quacunque re alia, quacunque freti ratione perveniant: and Paul's before him, Gal. 2. 21. if righteousness come by the Law, (and so it must if not by Christ) than Christ is dead in vain. If any without him may now come to life, then ad quid perditio 
Lib. 3. Cap. 47.  haec? to what purpose was all that waist? was he so prodigal of his blood, that when (according to this opinion) we might have been saved, and that (as Bradwardine showeth) by an easier and readier way, without it? A damnable error! and fully confuted  
By the dear experience of every humbled sinner, which fully convinceth him of an absolute necessity of having Christ, and of his most certain & inevitable perishing without him. As on the contrary, it is observable, that they who are most for the other opinion, and so can lick themselves and others whole, are least acquainted with what a wounded conscience meaneth, and the work of Gospel-humiliation. Who, did they more know themselves, would thereby come more to know the necessity of Jesus Christ, and that such a Demoniac 
Mat. 17. 17  cannot be cured without being brought to him. As the Scripture all over proclaimeth that it was this our good Samaritan only, that pitied, when all else passed by, and undertook the cure, when all else had given it over as desperate, even when there was none to help, then at such a dead lift, and case of such extreme necessity, his arm only brought salvation, Isa. 63. 3, 5. And yet rather than a Philosopher should not be dubbd a Saint, and his moral virtue's prov saving graces, and we have nothing inherent in ourselves to stick to; Imputed righteousness not only by Papists must be derided; But be too much slighted and undervalved by too many amongst ourselves; the great mystery of godliness, and the whole counsel of God in Christ must all at once be dashed, and all the links of that golden Chain snapped asunder, piè scilicet! And a fair requital it is, that we so make of Christ's kindness, when in effect we tell him, he might have kept it to himself, and we have fared never the worse, seeing so many have been, and all might have been 
1 Cor. 15. 17.  saved without him. I say, Christ should so have died in vain.  
Reas. 5 And then also our faith must needs be in vain, if Christ were not necessary, our faith would be needless; 
Strom. l. 1.  which yet Clemens Alexandrinus (much forgetting what elsewhere he saith of the Gentile, being justified by Philosophy) calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. I am sure the Scripture requireth it as the necessary Instrument of justification. Rom. 5. 1. and inlet to salvation, Ephes. 2. 8. and that not only necessitate praecepti, but Medii, as Valentia 
Tom. 3. dist. 1. qu. 2. p. 317.  concludes, and as the Apostle plainly showeth in that divine connexion. Rom. 10. 13, 14. whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved; but how shall they call on him, on whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe on him, of whom they have not heard? and accordingly, we read, Acts 11. 17, 18. that upon their believing by Peter's preaching, the Disciples inferred, that Then (and not till then) God had also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life: as also chap. 15. 9 Then it was that he put no difference between Jew and Gentile, when once he had purified their hearts by faith. Thus we see, that faith is necessary, and that the word of faith, Rom. 10. 8. is the word of life. Phil. 2. 16. But what need of either becoming Proselytes, under the Law or of sending out Apostles for the Ministry of the Gospel, to them who had enough at home, to instruct them in the ways of eternal life?  
What necessity of reading the Scriptures, if the same lesson may be taken out of the Book of the Creature?  
Or of hearing the Sermons of the Apostles, when Sun, Moon, and Stars were sufficient preachers.  
And so by this means, with this faith of Christ, if not all Religion, yet all Christian Religion is gone too.  
Two things are here said: 
Zuinglius de●peccat: orig. Tom. 2. pag. 118.   
1. That faith is required only where the Gospel is preached. Mark 16. 15, 16. but as for them who never heard of Christ, and so are invincibly ignorant of him, They hope their Negative Infidelity shall not damn them.  
I answer, not as an Operative cause, and containing new guilt, if the ignorance be really and totally invincible; But yet as (if I may so call it) a defective Cause it will, they thereby falling short of the only means to take away the old guilt, and so the man indeed dyeth of his old wounds; but withal, he necessarily dyeth, because he hath not the Medicine which only could have cured him. And the Traitor is executed meritoriously for his Treason; but unavoidably, because he wanteth his pardon, either not accepted, or not so much as heard of, which only should, and could have saved him.  
2. But secondly they will grant, that indeed, without faith it is impossible to please God, and they must grant it, because the Scripture expressly saith it, Heb. 11. 6. but then they will tell you, that such a faith will serve the turn, as the Apostle here speaks of, viz. such as believeth that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, as it is there described, and such a faith the Gentiles, and such as never heard of Christ, may have, and so please God, and be saved by it. This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature's Champions, and the Heathens Advocates apply to their wound, that it may not prove mortal, which they distinguish of an explicit and implicit faith; they conclude, that an implicit faith may be sufficient, and such the Heathens might have, and had.  
For when they believed that there was a God, eandem habuerunt fidem in unius Dei credulitate inclusam. So Sixtus Senensis.  
And when they believed that he was a Rewarder of those that seek him, they did believe God's providence, et per consequens modum salutis humanae, saltem implicitum, and by consequence, at least implicitly the way and manner of man's salvation. So 
Orthodox: Explic. pag. 292. quàm latè pateat Dei providentia, & quanta c●m vigilantia provideat rebus humanis, satis intelliget humani generis per Christum redemptionem in divina providentia implicitè & absconditè contineri.  Rike●.  
To which Andradius addeth, that he who shall consider how fare God's providence reacheth, and how watchfully it intendeth man's concernments, he cannot but understand that the Redemption of man by Christ is implicitly contained in it.  
And some 
* Mr. J. G. in his Gentiles debt and dowry.  of late have told us, that whilst they see heaven and earth, and the frame of nature continue, they may by God's patience gather, that his wrath is pacified, and so come to the knowledge of a Mediator.  
To all which I say  
1. And first grant, that the like explicit faith which is required of some, is not alike necessary to all for their salvation. For  
What is now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with open fa●e revealed to us in the times of the Gospel, was under the 
2 Cor. 3. 18.  Law vailed over with shadows and Ceremonies, even to the godly then, who yet through them, looked at a Messiah for their salvation.  
Nor is it now prejudicial to weaker Christians (as to their salvation) that they cannot so clearly and distinctly understand all the particulars in the several Articles of the Christian faith, as some do, who are more learned and able. The dim-sighted man may certainly see his friend standing by him, though not so clearly as he who hath a quicker eye; and I may as truly see him standing in the shade, though not so distinctly, as if he were in the Sunshine.  
2. But as the Popish implicit faith hath been a snare and ruin to many Christians, so this farre-fetched, and fa●re more implicated faith will at last be found insufficient for the salvation of Heathens, and to evade the Apostles Sorites, viz. They that have not heard of a Saviour, do not, cannot believe 
Rom. 10. 13, 14, 15.  in him; They that believe not in him, cannot call upon God; they that call not upon God, cannot be saved; and therefore a primo ad ultimum, they that have not heard of a Saviour cannot be saved. 
Lib. 1. ●orol. 132   
I need not here insist on what Bradwardine and other Schoolmen dispute for the necessity of an explicit faith. This I am sure of, that Christ himself saith, that this is eternal life, not only to know the Father to be the only true God, but also Jesus Christ whom ●e hath sent, John 17. 3. and therefore would not have his Disciples rest in their believing in God, but would also have them believe in him. John 14. 1. And therefore.  
1. For that in Heb. 11. 6. of believing that God is, and that he is a rewarder: however (as Hugo observeth) before the fall, faith in God as a 
De sacram: Lib. 1. Part. 10. Cap. 5. Isa. 45. 22.  Creator was sufficient, yet not since, but we must of necessity look at him in a Redeemer, if we would (as the Prophet biddeth us) so look at him, as to be saved by him.  
And although a Christian Believer must by his justifying and saving faith, tanquam ex praesupposito believe that God is, and that he is a righteous Judge, (which is all that 
Sentent. Lib. 3. dist. 25.  can necessarily be inferred from that place) yet Lambard rightly addeth non sufficit. It is not all, not sufficient and enough, either savingly to please him (else the Devils should) or to make us come to him, and diligently to seek him; for then many desperate and despairing sinners should, who yet, (even upon thought and conviction of it) run away from him. And so we find that the faith of all those many believers, which the Apostle in that same Chapter instanceth in, went further: which plainly evinceth, that it is not a Philosophical, but a Thelogical, not a natural but a supernatural knowledge that he there 
G. Valenti● M. Canus.  speaketh of. A belief that God is, but a God in Christ, and that he is a rewarder, but in an evangelical way.  
2. And therefore for S. Senensis his in unius Dei credulitate, etc. that in the belief of one God, the faith of Christ God-man should be contained sufficiently to salvation. It will bring in a Saviour before the Fall, and find him in the Covenant of works, as well as in the Covenant of grace, and make the Turk the true Musulman (as he calls himself) as true a believer as the best Christian.  
3. And for Andradius his conceit, that the belief of God's Providence, and how vigilant it is in the behalf of man in general, should imply and contain the knowledge and belief of this particular Providence of his saving man by a Messiah. It will take in all the men that have ever been in the world, except some few Atheists and Epicureans, that denied a Deity and a Providence: nor it may be would they be excepted, if they had been rightly understood and reported of, who perhaps were taken to deny a Deity, when they only denied the false Deities which were then adored by others, and so possibly were less Atheists than many than were, and now are: and so by this means, quae coelo ducit semita facta via est, the way and gate to Heaven, which our Saviour saith, is narrow, and straight, and which 
Mat. 7. 14.  few find, will be made fare wider then either they or any will find it.  
4. And for what was said, that by God's patience in continuing the world, they may infer that he is pacified; I only say two things.  
First, if they might possibly from thence infer a Mediator, yet for all that they would be still to seek who that Mediator should be, and so they would only erect an Altar to an 
Acts 17. ●3  unknown God, but mean while have no knowledge or thought, that this Mediator is Jesus Christ: but the Jews may think it is their long-looked-for Messiah, and the Turk may put in for his Mahomet, both which, and their salvation by either will come together. And if the Heathen stay till they both get in, he may come to be kept out for ever.  
Secondly, I add that although a true believer by light from the word may from God's patience infer Christ's mediation; yet others from these men's principles cannot necessarily conclude so much, but only might infer that God is gracious and merciful, and so without the intervention of a Mediator to pacify his anger, doth of himself either for some time forbear, or wholly forgive, as the Socinians positively affirm that he hath done, and many both Papists and others, say (but for his purpose and decree) he might have done.  
So that if this be all the Dowry of the Heathens, neither true faith nor salvation may be entailed upon it, and will be but the Concubines, children's gifts, but will fall short of the free-woman's heirs inheritance; It was of old, Faith in a Messiah to come, and in Jesus Christ now that he is come, that ever did, doth, or will bring any to salvation. And although they who are otherwise minded, may seem the more candid and charitable, yet I must account it not pity but folly and pride, to make ourselves more merciful and wise than God; and that therefore S. Austin was more 
Gredendum est neminem ullâ unquam at eaten ad spiritualem Jerusalem pervenisse, nisi cui divinitùs revelatus fuerit unus Mediator Dei & hominum, &c De Civitat. Dei l. 18. cap. 47  sound in the faith, who makes this one Article of it. That it is to be believed, that none ever belonged to the spiritual Jerusalem, to whom Christ was not revealed, as Mediator; which he looks at as so Fundamental a truth, and which he was so fully possessed with, that he is not afraid to speak a very great word, and if I tell you it, I hope you will not be offended at it. It is this. Qui dicit hominem servari posse sine Christo, dubito an ipse per Christum servari potest. He doubteth whether that man can be saved by Christ, who believes and maintain's that any man can be saved without Christ. But notwithstanding all this, Satan and Antichrist are deadly enemies to Christ, would have him rob of his glory, either in whole or in part, and therefore would have us either not as beholden to him, or at least as little as may be.  
And our proud hearts too self-ful are loath to go out of themselves to Christ. His imputed righteousness is to us a riddle, and something inherent in us we make our idol. Something in us some way our own. The Pharisees and Jews of old, and 
Rom. 10. 〈◊〉  Pelagius, with all his heirs and allies in their several shapes to this day, they would have some way or other to commend us to God. And so out of an overweening of a selfmoral righteousness which they adore, and out of a fond pity of Philosophers and others whom they admire, they cannot be persuaded but that many such might be saved without faith in our only Saviour. The more full clearing of wh●ch point I must in the following Enquiry refer to another place, and for the present close all with some Application.  
Use 1. If no salvation but by Christ; then Calvin's inference is 
Ergo patres veteris Testamenti ejusdem Redemptioris Incarnatione & Passione salvati sunt. Augustin Ep. 157.  good, that Believers under the Old Testament and the New, have one and the same common Saviour, they all drank of the same spiritual rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ, 1 Cor. 10. 3, 4. Our Christ was their Messiah, the precious foundation, corner stone, which did unite both sides of the building and uphold both, as it was the same brazen serpent which from contrary quarters of the Camp they looked at for healing. They looked forward at him as to come, we backward as already come, but both their faith and ours meet in the same Jesus, yesterday, and to day, and for ever, 
Heb. 13, 8.  who being lifted up on the Cross, and by faith looked upon heal's and saves all that ever were, or shall be saved; for besides him no salvation.  
And in this let us admire and adore the vast exten● and unvaluable worth of our Saviour's merit, that reacheth to so many, and operateth at such a distance.  
How ductile and precious is this finest gold that spreadeth so fare, and purchaseth the Redemption of so many? Of them in the beginning of the world by a price that was paid four thousand years after? According to men's ordinary rates, its little that they would part with for the present, for a payment to be made, or a purchase to be enjoyed a thousand years after. That price therefore must be of infinite value, which at a far greater distance pu●chased the salvation of so many precious souls, one of which a whole world could not redeem. For this you shall once and again in the Revelation have the whole Chorus 
Rev. 5. 9 Rev. 7 9, 10.  singing Amen, Hallelujah.  
Use 2. With the like humble awfulness, let us adore and tremble at the most dreadful, and yet most just Judgement of God upon the Heathen, the fare greater part of the world then, whom yet he over-looked, Acts 14. 16. & 17. 30. and left in darkness without the true knowledge of a Saviour, and so without means and hopes of salvation; and i 〈…〉 ead of flattering them, and thereby hardening others, (by cutting out new ways invented by ourselves, besides the King of Heaven's highway to life, and not sticking as some do loudly to accuse God of partiality, injustice, and cruelty, if it should be otherwise.) Let us lay our hands upon our mouths, when standing upon the brink of this bottomless depth, we have first cried out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Lord, who will not fear 
Rom. 11. 33.  thee, for thy judgements are made manifest. Who showest mercy on whom 
Rev. 15. 3. 4.  thou wilt show mercy, and whom thou wilt thou hardnest. Even so, O Father, 
Rom. 9 18 Matth. 11. 25, 26.  for so it seemed good in thy sight, and what is good in his eyes, let it not be evil in ours.  
Use 3. And as we are to tremble at the thoughts of them then, so let us pity the forlorn condition of Pagans, Infidels, and Jews now; who either do not know, or will not acknowledge the only Saviour which is Christ the Lord; and so while 
Luke 2. 11  they are deadly sick, either hear of no Physician, or spit out their Physic; though they will not, yet their most undone condition cryeth out aloud that they have greatest need of our pity and prayers.  
Use 4. And God may as much expect our humblest and heartiest praises, who hath provided better things for us, to whom he hath made known the riches of the glory of this 
Col. 1. 26, 27. Ephes. 3. 5  mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in us the hope of glory, and who hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel. That he in whose hand our times 
2 Tim. 1. 10.  are, hath not cast them and us into those former Ages of Heathenish blindness and darkness, but hath reserved us to such times, and settled us in such places, in which Christ and salvation by him have been fully manifested, freely offered, nay strongly urged and pressed upon our acceptance. What was his being a Grecian, an Athenian, a Philosopher, to thy being a Christian, a Protestant, a Scholar, especially if such an one, as savingly knoweth Jesus Christ, and how will his so great thankfulness for the former, condemn thy great ingratitude for the latter?  
1. The mercy being great of the largest size. It is Salvation. Now how joyful and thankful was Zacheus, when upon his entertainment of Christ salvation came to his 
Luke 19 9  house?  
How much more should we be, if upon our enjoyment and answerable entertainment of the Gospel, this salvation be come to our souls?  
2. The distinguishing mercy in it is as great, and therefore calls for greater praises, That we should have that which others are, and have been deprived of. How doth Haman enhance and ingrandize his 
Esth. 5. 12.  honour, that he should be invited when none else were? That was to a royal banquet, but nothing to this Marriage Feast which the King of Heaven makes us, and in which they that minister to us, are Ministers of Christ and salvation. This non 
Ps. 147. 20.  fecit taliter, rendereth it a singular mercy. This made Christ himself rejoice in spirit, and say, Father I 
Matth. 11. 25, 26.  thank thee; and what there followeth, addeth  
3. A third argument of greater praise, That as it is a great and peculiar favour, so when others of greatest worth are passed by, it is bestowed on them that are more unworthy, concealed from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes: To the Gentiles, whose style was that they knew not God, 1 Thess. 4. 5. without God, and without hope too▪ Ephes. 2. 12. not only helpless, but hopeless, and so (as in ourselves) wholly desperate.  
And yet more particularly amongst them to us here without the Tropic, extra solis vias, in the uttermost end of Heaven, and in the skirts of the Earth, and might have been as much divided from God, as we 
Et penitùs toto divisos orbe Britannos.  are from the rest of the world; whose Ancestors in times of Heathenism were as barbarous as any, if we believe Caesar; and in times of Popery as idolatrous and superstitious as any, nay, afforded more Schoolmen avowed Champions for it, than any other Nation, if you will credit either your own computation, or some others that have taken the pains to make it. And yet even into this dark corner hath this glorious light shined; and then as she said, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; whence is this that God hath respected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Luke 1. 43  our very low estate and condition? that 
V 48.  this dayspring from on high hath visited us, which sat in darkness and 
V 78, 79.  the shadow of death? The Psalmist beginneth and endeth the consideration of such a mercy, with a Hallelujah, Ps. 147. 1, 20. And if they through such veils could see such cause to bless God for such darker glimmerings, how much more should we in the brighter Sunshine? who are either not left in the Heathens midnight, or the Jews twilight, but live in the Gospel's noonday brightness, & have salvation so openly and clearly revealed and manifested?  
4. And (which is yet a further ground of thankfulness) this salvation only in and by Jesus Christ. Now blessed be God, as for so blessed a gift; so that it is both wrought and kept for us by so safe a hand: for had it been in any other, our own or others, it might have proved either so weak or false, that our salvation might have never been wrought, or at least not insured. What Prodigals we were of it in Adam, our present broken condition in ourselves doth too sadly evidence. But blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who hath 
Luke 1. 68 69.  raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. Hath laid help upon one that is mighty, 
Ps. 89. 19 Isa. 63. 1. Isa. 9 6.  even mighty to save, and so the mighty God proves the Prince of our peace. Hath chosen every way the best for us, that he only is our Saviour, who is the only Potentate; alone 
1 Tim. 6. 15.  all-sufficient, and most faithful and merciful, that in all our straits we may stand still, and see the salvation 
Exod. 14. 13.  of a God. We need no other, we can have no better, none so good, and therefore it is infinite mercy that we can have none but him only.  
Use 5. And therefore from our souls, let us abhor that lose and profane opinion, that every man may be saved in any Religion, if he be true to it, and live orderly in it. Maintained of old by Apelles, as we find 
Hist. lib. 5. cap. 13. Philast●ius  in Eusebius. By Rhetorius in Austin, and the Lampetiani in Damascen. Mahomet promiseth Paradise to every Sect that liveth lively. And it were well if too many Christians in this turned not Turks, in thinking they may be saved in any Religion; for else they would stick more firmly than they do to the true: The German Familists held the like in the former Age. Our Church then cursed it in their eighteenth Article, (which is the only one Anathema that we find in the whole number of the thirty nine) but that accursed 
Josh. 6. 26. 1 Kings 16 34.  Jericho is fast building up again in this of ours, whilst all Sects are so much suffered, which (it may be feared) is strongly acted by them, who when they have gotten power, and with it fire and faggot into their hand, will suffer none but their own. God in mercy prevent and disappoint all such designs: Mean while, let us think, how our present Indifferency in matters of Religion agreeth with this one only way to salvation in the Text.  
Which further condemneth the obstinate blind Jews, who whilst they worship and look to be saved by a God, reject, curse, and blaspheme the only Saviour as an Impostor, and in their prayers make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (which is 
Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic. cap. 5.  the name of our Jesus) an abreviature of that their horrid petition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which they blasphemously pray that his most blessed Name and memory may be blotted out, by which only the Text assureth us, that all, that ever shall, must be saved.  
Which also condemneth the sublimated Deists of our Age, who, it seemeth, are such intimate friends to God, that they can have free access to him, without a Mediator, whom yet the Scripture, out of him, holdeth out to us, as a consuming fire; & therefore it was Luther's Canon, as he calleth it, and which he oft inculcate's, Abstinendum esse à specuculatione 
In Gal. 1.  Majestatis. God's dread Majesty, if not pacified by the Son of his Love, will frown the stoutest sinner into Hell, which will never be quenched but by his blood. He is the bridge by which alone we can pass over to eternal life; tread beside, and we are irrecoverably plunged into that bottomeless gulf, that jacob's Ladder by which God cometh down to us, and by which alone we get up to God, if put by it, beware▪ a break-neck fall.  
Add to these the complete Moralist, who also proves the self-sufficient Justiciary, who looks at faith, but as a notion, and at an imputed righteousness, as a putatitious ridiculous absurdity. His rational and virtuous morality is his Religion. And an Aristotle's Ethics, or a Tully's Offices, or some such like Book his Bible. Which were he of S. Augustine's Religion, would not satisfy him, because he cannot find the name of Christ there. But he that is well, needeth not the Physician; and he who is in his own thoughts so safe and complete, hath as little thought of a Saviour, or of any but himself, and his own fair, just, and sober dealing, which he claimeth Heaven by. But would such know, that when the gulf is to be shot, to clasp their own arms about themselves is the certain way to sink irrecoverably.  
Nor must we here forget the Papists, with their followers, who have invented many other names; as Masses, Indulgences, , Merits, Pilgrimages, etc. whereby they hope to be saved, which made Bullinger on this Text cry out, Sed O Deus bone, etc. Good Lord, how long hath this blessed doctrine lain hid, and been obscured, that it hath been but to a poor few that the mystery of Christ hath been manifested. And Calvin upon it saith, that were we throughly possessed with this one truth, it would have silenced most of the Popish Controversies. In which, although they dare not deny, but that we are saved by Christ, yet dum tot adminicula confingunt vix certissimam salutis partem illi faciunt residuam. Stapleton 
Stapleton Antidote.  here plieth it fast with his Antidotes, as though these their inventions were subservient to Christ. But his Antidotes will never take away this poison, that many of them are contrary to Christ, and derogate from him, and that their  and Merit set their own name, at least in part on their salvation, when the Text will own no other name whereby we must be saved.  
Use 6. And therefore our duty on the contrary, is  
1. Out of a tender care of ourselves, if there be no salvation but by Christ, then above all things to make sure of Christ, As ever we would make sure of salvation, If saved only by him. O then with the woman in 
Matth. 9 20, 21.  the Gospel, let every believing soul say, That I may be so happy as to touch the hem of his garment. If he 
John 1. 14  be the only begotten Son of God, he shall be the only beloved of my soul, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unus & unicus meus, my only One, my only Saviour; and how then shall we escape, if we neglect so great 
Heb. 2. 3.  salvation? And what an overwhelming confusion shall we lie under, if Christ our Saviour finding us yet in our sins, shall say to us, quae utilitas in sanguine meo? As for any profit or benefit that we through 
Ambros. de virgin. l. 3.  our neglect of it, shall gain by it? were there but one only remedy for some deadly disease that we are sick of, if it might be had, we would not rest till we had got the receipt of it, and made use of it; O let us not be more careful of our bodies then of our souls, or for the health and life of the one then for the eternal salvation of the other. How sick of love should the faint Spouse be for her only beloved? That she may 
Cant. 2. 5.  once be able to embrace him, and say, My Beloved is mine, and I am 
Ver. 16.  his. What ever it costs me, my salvation lieth upon it, and therefore through all difficulties and dangers, I will make out after him, and not rest till I enjoy him; and if in this pursuit I perish, I perish. Let me perish for him, who am sure to perish everlastingly without him. This in care of ourselves.  
2. But upon this account something it is, yea very much that we own in way of gratitude to him.  
1ᵒ As he is our only One, so let the chaste Spouse be his, Cant. 6. 9▪ only for him, and not for another, Hos. 3. 3. The Apostle telleth us that he died for this very end, that we might not live to ourselves, but to him, 2 Cor. 5. 15.  
2ᵒ And as we in and by him enjoy that peculiar and singular blessing, which (as we heard) the wisest of the Heathens fell short of, so let us be a peculiar people to him, do 
1 Pet. 2. 9 Matth. 5. 47.  some singular thing for him, and labour to outstrip them as much in performance of duty, as we do in enjoyment of mercy; at least let us not in the light stumble in that way, wherein they walked more uprightly in the dark, by being worse than 
2 Chro 9  they, which the Prophet Ezekiel sadly 
Ezek. 16. 47, 48. 51.  bewailed in his time, and Salvian in his. O be ashamed that the morality of a Pagan should outstrip the Religion of a Christian, that our rebellions should justify their abominations. 
Ezek. 16. 51, 52. M. Pemble.  For (as He said well) God certainly will shame that servant that dishonoureth his Master.  
3ᵒ And last, because salvation is only by Christ, therefore in all matters of salvation, with a single eye let us look to Christ, and to God in him, and at ourselves as receiving all from him, as Elected in him, Redeemed by him, Justified by his grace, and the imputation of his righteousness, in which is the ground of our comfort, and Sanctified by his Spirit, not by a Philosophical faith, or the use of right Reason, or a virtuous morality, too much now adays admired and cried up. As of old, The Temple of the Lord, The 
Jer. 7. 4.  Temple of the Lord. So now, The Candle of the Lord, The Candle of the Lord. I would not have th●t Candle put out, I would have it snuffed and improved as an handmaid to faith, but not so (as when the Candle is set up) to shut the window, either wholly to keep out, or in the least to darken the Sunshine, as it is with men's eyes, who can read better by a candle in the night, then by daylight. A profane ingratitude for God's infinite bounty! To feed on Acorns and Husks, whilst the Heavenly Manna falleth round about our Tents, preferring a good saying or precept of Morality found (as we use to call them) in some gallant or noble Philosopher, before the spiritual and divine commands of Christ in his Word, not being so much taken with the Mass of Gold in the Mine, as with a piece of base aloy found here and there in the dunghill. But what ever Nature 
Ennii Sterquilinium. Col. 3. 11.  and Morality may be to others, yet to us let Christ be all in all. Nor let us be Deists, but Christians; let us not take up in such a Religion, as a 
Col. 3. 11.  Jew, or Turk, or Pagan, in a way of Nature and Reason only may rise up unto, but let us indeed be, what we are called, Christians. It is not Abanah, or Pharpar, nor all the 
2 Kings 5. 12.  Rivers of Damascus, but Israel's Jordan only, that will cleanse our sinful Leprosy; not a Philosophical dull Morality, but the Law of the Spirit of life, which is in Christ Jesus, 
Rom. 8. 2.  that will quicken us to a spiritual walking with God; not that Candle-light, but this Sun of righteousness, 
●nk. 1. 79.  that will guide our feet into the way of peace. Let all things else therefore be loss and dung in comparison 
Phil. 3. 8.  of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, this superexcellent and transcendent knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord; and let the life that we now live in the 
Gal. 2. 20.  flesh, be by the faith of the Son of God, who hath loved us, and given himself for us. And seeing there is no other name but this under Heaven given, by which we must be saved. Say we with the Psalmist, whom have I 
Psal. 73. 25  in Heaven but thee? and there is none on Earth that I desire in comparison 
Mr. I. Lambert. Fox Acts and Monuments, Tom. 2. pa. 427.  of there. If salvation be in none other, then with the Martyr, in life and death, let our word be None but Christ, None but Christ.  
Tibi Domine Jesus.   

AN ENQVIRIE AFTER What hopes may be had of the Salvation  

Of 1. Heathens.  
2. Those of the old world, the Jews and others before Christ.  
3. Such as die Infants, Idiots, & distracted persons now under the Gospel.   
THE Doctrine before delivered, That there is no salvation but by Christ, is such a Fundamental in Christianity, that whosoever denieth it, may seem scarce to be a Christian: and yet too many, who go in that number, can very hardly digest it, and are ready to object against it. The instances of  
1. Divers Pbilosophers, and other virtuous Heathens, altogether strangers from Christ.  
2. The Patriarches and others of the Church, before the Flood, and after it, but all before Christ.  
3. Many Idiots, and distracted▪ ones, and such as die Infants in the Church since Christ.  
Of all which, they are ready to think and say, that its very hard to conceive how any of them did or could, do or can believe in Christ, and yet as harsh to say that for want of it, they should be cast off by him.  
Now because the first instance of virtuous Heathens, and especially of their Philosophers, occasioneth the greatest dispute, and the other two are brought in but as pleas for them, by their Advocates, I shall especially deal with them, and more briefly tou●h upon the other two; and that it may better appear, whom I have herein to deal with, I shall crave leave to premise and hint the Rise and Progress of this Controversy.  
Now for this, you know, that although 
In initio: Annaliam apud v 〈…〉 res patres omnes in confesso 〈◊〉 Casaub. Exercit. 1▪  Barovius looks at salvation only by Christ, as so plainly Fundamental, and so generally received, that he is bold to say, that it is in Confesso with all the Ancient Fathers; yet from Casaubon and others, it plainly appears, that  
chrysostom held, that before Christ's coming in the flesh, God 
Homil. 3● in Matth.  required not the acknowledgement or knowledge of such a Christ, but that such then as abstained from Idols, worshipped the true God, might be saved.  
And that Clemens Alexandrinus 
Stomat. l. 〈◊〉  saith, that God then gave two Testaments, the Law to the Jews, and Philosophy to the Gentiles; which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by which he justified the Greeks or Gentiles: a very high and bold 
lib. 1.  speech, for which (it may be) Gelasius thrust him among the Apocryphals, his words expressing much more than per modum, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Vossius and Andradius, would interpret him; and much more also than his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by which he elsewhere qualifieth it, and (I would be glad to think) revoketh that his error.  
And Justin Martyr plainly asserteth, 
Apolog. 8.  that both Jews and Gentiles at that time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, That lived according to the rule of right Reason, though before Christ, yet were indeed Christians, and in that number reckoneth up Socrates, Heraclitus, and other Heathens, and joineth them with Abraham, Elijah, and others of the chiefest of God's servants, mentioned in the Old Testament. Saying further, that Christ was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: upon occasion whereof, Casaubon rightly mindeth us of Basils' Caveat, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as though because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth both Christ the Word, and also Reason, that therefore every one that hath the one, should also be partaker of the other.  
To which some add that of Tertullian, 
Apologet.  O Testimonium animae naturaliter Christianae.  
Thus of old.  
And since of late, for the Socinians and Arminians, that they may 
Corvinus in Tilenum.  better maintain their opinion of a general sufficiens auxilium. It is too well known how favourably they speak of the Gentiles, And how Venator followeth the chase with a full mouth, and like a resolute Doctor or 
F●st. Hom. specim. art. 27.  peremptory Respondent, saithe, Nego hanc propositionem. Nemo potest sal●us fieri, qui Christo per veram fidem non sit insitus.  
But of our other more sound Divines, Zuinglius is especially noted, for what he saith of the Gentiles, as 
De peccato Originali.  elsewhere in his works, so especially in his Explication of the Christian faith, (which yet not he himself, but 
Pareus in Irenico.  others put out five years after his death) he telleth the King of France, to whom he dedicateth it, That in Heaven he shall see not only the two adam's, Abel, Enoch, Noah, and others of the faithful in the Old Testament, but also Hercules, Theseus, Socrates, Numa, and others of the Gentiles, and all his predecessors, quotquot in fide hinc migraverunt. From which last words, some of our Divines would excuse him, as though he meant only of such as died in the 
Rivet. Pareus in Irenic. cap. 28. Vedellius Rationale cap. 9 pag. 106, 107, 108. Prideaux lect. 8.  faith which it seemeth then Herculess and Theseus, according to him had, but the words and discourse to them that read them are too plain to admit of such a salvo. And therefore some others say that none of ours defend them, which I cannot say; for Gualther in his Apology prefixed before Zuinglius his works, purposely and at large endeavoureth it. But whilst he defends him, and others would excuse him, I am sure the Papists on the one hand, and the Lutherans on the other, with open mouth do all fall upon him, railing, and some of them jeering, and bidding their Scholars take ●eed of Zuinglius his Heaven, for they will 
Vitus Vinscinius Professor Wittenber.  there meet with Hercules and his club. To whom I wish no worse place than Zuinglius his Heaven, and then should they possibly find Hercules there; yet he would not have his club there to terrify them. But both parties might well have abated of some of their fervour and keenness. 
See Pareus ●bi prius.   
The Lutherans if they would remember how moderate their Melancthon was in his thoughts of the Gentiles, and that Luther himself hopeth well of Tully, and Brentius placeth even the Devils themselves in Heaven.  
And much rather might the Papists have forborn to fall so foully upon him, seeing so many of their own have spoken full out as much, in this kind as ever Zuinglius did. Cassalius one of the Council of Trent, leaveth it free to us which way to take, seeing their Church had not determined it, as indeed the Council of Trent doth not speak out in this point. And it is well known, that in that Council whilst sitting, a Franciscan in his Sermon to them, proved the Gentiles Advocate, without 
Sleidan ad ann. 1552.  their censure. I am sure that Soto and Vega, two of their great Divines in that Council, in the main are clearly of Zuinglius his judgement; and that Andradius a third of great note amongst them in his Orthodox Explications, (wherein seemeth to explain what their mind and judgement was) speaks out Zuinglius his opinion to the full, and that with more copiousness and earnestness. Seissellus another of theirs 
See Collii lib. 1. cap. 11, 12. de animabus paganorum.  makes two sorts of the better Heathens, viz. of such as with their whole might sought and worshipped God, and perfectly fulfilled the Law of Nature: and such according to his account went bolt-right up to Heaven. And for the second sort of others of them, which kept the Law of Nature too, but did not so earnestly seek after God, although (as he thinks) they got not to Heaven, yet they escaped Hell, and without punishment and pain were in some other place they cannot tell where. The Colonien●es wrote a Book de salute Aristotelic. And 
Balaei Centue & C. Agrippa. Chemnit: exam:  Thamnerus saith, that Aristotle was Christ's sore-runner, in naturalibus, as John Baptist was in gratuitis, and accordingly maintained his opinion de Fide & salute Philosophica, sine verbo Dei, & sine spiritu sancto; and accordingly Bruno maintaineth it, that satis erat Gentibus si crederent quod Creator unus esset, & singulis pro eorum actibus retribuerit: only Rikel addeth, dummodo implicitam habuerint fidem de adventu & incarnatione Christi, which Zuinglius never excluded. So that Erasmus in comparison of some of these, according to his facetious temper, was but in jest, when he said that he could hardly forbear saying sancte 
In praefat. ad quaest:  Socrates, ora pro nobis; or if he were in good earnest, it was▪ not so much to adore Socrates his Saintship, as to 
Tuscul: Non tam ex animi sui sententiâ, quam Romanae mercatur● reprehendedae causâ. M●ntacut. Analect. pa. 77. In lib. 18. cap. 47. de Civit. Dei.  deride many of the Popish Saints, as thinking that Socrates was a better Saint than many of those whom the Pope hath Canonised: To all the former I only add one more, who is L. Vives, who speaks as loud in this cause as any, and saith, that qui ex Gentilibus naturam sequebantur d●cem. The Gentiles who followed only the guidance of Nature, were as pleasing to God as the Jews, who o●eyed the Law, and maketh only this difference, that the Jew was like a traveller who traveleth by his Map, the Gentile like him ●ho goeth his journey by his own knowledge and memory, and so thereby makes him the more skilful traveller. And that those now who in the remotest parts of the Earth hear not of Christ, but love God and their neighbour, (such of them no doubt he will find in some Nova Atlantis, or Utopia) want nothing but water, having received the same Spirit that the very Apostles had, to whom their Conscience is their Law, and to whom he applieth that in the Psalm, Memor est in nocte nominis Dei, & custodit ●egem ejus.  
So that although Zuinglius was unhappy, in a more harsh expression, & in his instancing more particularly in Hercules, Theseus, etc. yet he needed not have been so harshly dealt with, eithen by the Lutherans, or Papists, seeing that so great Names of both their parties were of his opinion.  
Quest. But for the opinion itself; if according to the Text, there be no salvation but by Christ, what shall we think of those Heathens▪ that never knew Christ?  
Answ. For Answer whereto,  
1. First, I would premise this, that I would be very loath to undergo a 
N. Culverwel of the light of Nature, ca 18. pa. 208  late Authors imperious check, which he giveth to some, whose censure (he saith) is too harsh and rigid, (it may be his is so of them) who as if they were Judges of eternal life and death, damn Plato and Aristotle without question, and do as confidently pronounce they are in Hell, as if they saw them flaming there. And therefore I could say, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that silence were the best answer; and so that their Morality may not be cried up for good Divinity, and their virtues idolised to the disservice of Christ, and the disparagement of his Grace and Gospel, for me they shall sleep quiet in their dust; I'll not rake in their graves, but let them stand or fall to their own master, only for his glory, I now must, and shall always believe and openly profess, that if this their Lord and Master be not Jesus Christ, or God in him, they are fallen irrecoverably.  
2. This I premise in the second place, that under the name of those Heathens, Gentiles, and Pagans, which we inquire after, are not to be comprehended, all that lived before the Flood, or before the giving of the Law of Moses, and are usually (though untruly) accounted to have been under the Law of Nature; for in Seths' line the Church of God was continued, and so in Sems after the Flood, and so in Abraham's, Isaaks, and jacob's afterward; nor will I restrain all saving knowledge to Abraham's, and Isaaks seed of promise, although the Scripture is more plain about Esau, Heb. 12. some Divines are not without hopes of Ishmael; but however it was with their persons, yet Abraham so instructing his family, Gen. 18. 19 I dare not deny, but that some of both ishmael's, and Esau's race, and of those children which Abraham had by Keturah, Gen. 25. 1, 2. might retain for some time what they had learned of their pious Ancestors; but they deceasing, other generations risen up which knew not the Lord, (like that Judges 2. 7. 10. and the further the descent went, the more they fell off from God, and as the greatest sound faileth by little and little, and at last comes to nothing, so here at last they came quite to lose the sight of Land, and the light of that evening growing less and less, at last closed up in a dark night of Ignorance, Idolatry, or Atheism) especially after God had made choice of Israel as his peculiar people, and fenced them in by the pale of his Law given to them; other Nations grown then into greater impiety, were more fully excluded by the wall of partition, Ephes. 2. 14. and excepting some few Proselytes, and by name Naaman, and the Ninivites, and Nabuchadnezzar, and Cornelius, (whom they mention as instances, all which if saved, either lived among the people of God, as Cornelius, had Prophets of God with them, as Nabuchadnezzar, and the Ninivites, or came to the Prophet, as Naaman, and so had means of saving knowledge;) The rest, for any thing we know, continued in their blindness and ignorance: Now if such, in those times, and at such a distance from the godly Patriarches, when Israel was a distinct people of God, severed from the rest of the world, when Poets and Philosophers, and the Devil himself were their Oracles and guides; of such (I say) is this question especially to be understood.  
3. This I also pr●mise that this Question is to be understood, not of 
Collius' áe animabus Paganorum, l. 1. cap. 3.  those more abominable Pagans, who did prostitute themselves to all wickedness and uncleanness, who are generally given for lost, and find no Patrons to defend or excuse them; but of the more sober and virtuous Philosophers, and other Heathens, who after their fashion worship God, and lived (as their Books tell us, and many amongst us believe) piously and virtuously, and so they come to have so many Advocates.  
4. Nor in this Discourse do I intent to dispute, whether those more refined Heathens did attain to any true moral virtues, (I mean moral, as opposed to such as are truly Theological) which Saint Austin up and down in his disputes with the Pelagians, constantly denieth, (whom Prosper, and 
* De Incarnate. Christi cap. 25, 26, 27. Lib. 1. à capite 4. ad 10. Joh. 4. 17.  Fulgentius his Scholars 
De vocat. gent. l. 1.  and others follow) but many of the Ancients seem to affirm, and Collius at large endeavoureth to make good. That which I am now to inquire after, is, whether they attained to any such saving virtue or grace, which only cometh by Christ our Saviour, that thereby we may probably conclude for their salvation.  
5. Now as to that, in the general, I must say, that I dare not deny, but that some who (as for their birth and place of abode) were Heathen, might be saved; for I confine not Grace and Salvation (no not in the time of the Law, when Israel was the only People of God) within the 
De Civi●. Dei lib. 18. cap. 47. See Bellarmin. de verbo Dei non scripto lib. 4. ca 4.  bounds of Palestina. Saint Austin dare boldly affirm, that the Jews themselves, (who yet were sufficient Monopolizers of their own privileges) durst not say, that none besides themselves belonged to God. Populus enim ex verá, qui propriè Populus Dei diceretur, nullus alius fuit; homines autem in aliis Gentibus fuisse, negare 
In Apologia. To these Genebrard adds Pharaoh in Egypt, Nahor and Laban in Mesopotamia, Jobs three friends, & Elihu in Arabia, with the sons of Ketura, Ishmael, & the Ninivites. Epist. 99  non possint. As he instanceth in Job, who was neither Jew, nor Proselyte, to whom Gualther addeth Melchizedek the Jebusite, Abimelech the Egyptian, (or rather Canaanite) Jethro the Midianite, Naaman the Syrian, Nebuchadonozor the Chaldean, and the Eunuch Ethiopian, with some few others. Qui vel apparent in Scriptures, vel in genere humano latent, as Austin elsewhere expresseth it; especially such as lived near to the people of God, or with whom Abraham, or other the Patriarches, or Prophets of God sojourned, and so had some more light from them: As another of our own saith, we deny 
Montacut. Analect. p. 22. In which account come Melchizedek, Job, and most of those which they instance in out of the Old Testament.  not, quin ad alios interdum scintillaverit lux illa Israelis, atque aliquando è vicinis praecipuè Gentibus, & conterminis Israelis, hunc vel illum, unum alium, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, irradiaverit, modis multis, miris, extra ordinem, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, quia placuit, tanquam aliud subinde agens. This we grant, but what is this to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to the rest and greatest part of the world, more remote from judea, and yet farther off from the least hearsay of a Messiah, of whom (as it was with the poor Americans, and many others in the then habitable parts of the world) they never thought, nè per febrem vuquam somniarunt?  
6. If any shall importunately urge, that some of the Philosophers and other virtuous Heathens were in the number of these saved ones, I shall as peremptorily aver, that if they were saved, (of which more hereafter) it was only in and by our alone Saviour; for my Text will abide for ever most true and certain, that besides him there is no Saviour or Salvation. So Austin, In & sub lege 
Coutra Julian l. 4. c. 3  naturali viventes salutem nonnulli sunt adepti, non tamen ex vi naturalis legis; and even Zuinglius himself, who (as we shown) thinks some of them were saved, yet maintain's it to have been by Jesus Christ; per 
De peccat. Orig. pag. 118, 119. In Apologia  Christum enim accedere oportet quicunque ad Deum veniunt, unde Socerum Mosis, etc. And so Gualther testifieth of him. Quoscunque è Gentilium numero Sanctorum numero adjudicandos esse censuit, non aliâ ratione quam Dei gratiâ per Christum praestita salutem consecutos fuisse sensit. Not as 
In Orthodox: Explicat:  Andradius roundly and boldly, sine lege Mosis, & Evangelicâ nobis per Jesum Christum datâ solâ lege naturae permultos fuisse Dei gratiâ justificatos & salvos.  
But what ever He may, yet the Scripture acknowledgeth no saving grace out of our Saviour. Epiphanius speaking of those, saith that God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saved men by many ways, but yet meant not this in opposition, but in subordination to Christ; but (as he well saith) Margarita in mari nascitur, 
Montacut:  ver●●m ex rore coelesti; a gem may be generated in the Sea, but of the dew of Heaven; so if there were any such gem found in them 
* Like that which they say is in some Toads head. , it was not from the Sea of this world, but from Heaven's influence; not from the strength of nature, or their , as though they who were dead in sin, could rise up out of the grave, and walk, and work o●t their salvation; It was not Justin Martyrs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Of which (as he saith) all partaked, not their right use of right Reason, or their practice of their moral virtues, that could bring them to Heaven, which even a Christians graces, as they are prescinded from Christ cannot do; if either of them be saved, it is because God in Christ forgave both. I say, it was by Christ, which (it may be) none of those who are their greatest Advocates, will much deny: and therefore  
7. I add in the seventh place, as, if this ever was, it must be by Christ, so by Christ, in some measure, and by some means or other revealed to them; for as Christ, so also faith in Christ, is in the Scripture required as necessary to salvation, Ephe. 2. 8. Heb. 10. 3. Acts 13. 48. This was a piece of Saint Augustine's Creed, That none belonged to the spiritual Jerusalem, nisi cui divinitùs revelatus fuerit Christus, but such as to whom Christ was revealed. And so Lombard after 
Lib. 3. didst 25.  him, dici potest nullum fuisse justum, cui non facta esset Revelatio vel distincta vel velata, vel in aperto vel in mysterio. It was not, as though a Captive should be redeemed by a price paid by one, whom never before nor after he had any knowledge of. So that God for Christ's sake should save them, and yet never by any means, or in any measure, should make that Christ known to them. He must by some means or other be revealed to them, who being grown up to the use of Reason, were ever saved by 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. In Orat. ad Graecos.  him, which made Justin Martyr who had so good thoughts of their salvation, to have this other concerning the means of it, that in some part he was made known to them: but how that was it will be very hard (as we shall see by and by) to demonstrate.  
Indeed for the measure and degree of this Revelation of Christ to them who are saved by him, I easily grant that it is not necessary that it should be equal and alike to all, but that to some it might be more obscure and indistinct, according both to several men's estates and conditions, as also to the times and places they lived in.  
And so in the time of the Law under those Types, and through those Veils, we may say Christ was revealed to the believing Jews, velatâ revelatione, by a veiled revelation, without a contradiction, in adje●to. And yet I believe that revelation 
Aquin. 22. q. 2. a. 7. Clem. Alex.  which they had of Christ was necessary, and withal more distinct and full, than what some say was sufficient, as though it were sufficient for them to believe God to be liberatorem secundum modos sibi placitos, their deliverer by some means or other, which he pleased, but they knew nothing of. And as for many of their farfetched consequences, and strange implications of their implicit Faith before mentioned, I may boldly say they were so large, as would wrap up in the bundle of life; not only their Philosopher's, and other more virtuous among them, but also the whole bulk of the Heathen, if not the worst of them, whom yet they themselves would have excluded from this privilege. Mean while we must hold, that if they can prove, that any of them were saved, I suppose we have proved, that it was not only in and by Christ, but also by him some way, and in some measure revealed to them.  
8. But whether Christ was thus revealed to them, and by what likely means it was, this is the question; to which they will very hardly give a probable, at least a satisfactory answer: For although I doubt not of the power of God (which they plead) but that he is able variis & occultis modis fidem eorum ●cordibus instillare, (as they speak) by various (and to us unknown) ways to instil faith into their hearts, he being able (as the Apostle saith) to do above all that 
Ephes. 〈◊〉. 20.  we can ask or think, (which place some produce to this purpose, though I think not so fitly, because it speaks of them who had already believed) yet we are not here to consider what God absolutely and extraordinarily could, and was able to do for them, but what either certainly, or probably he hath done, and this according to his ordinary Power and Providence, and in that way by which he hath ordained and revealed in Scripture, to bring men to life and salvation. And truly according to this, they were as far out of the way of salvation, as they were from the Church, extra quam non est salus, and unto which God useth to add those that are to be saved; and so they 
Acts 2. 47.  were much out of the way, and sat in darkness and the shadow of death, Matth. 4. 15, 16.  
And as for the ways and means which are propounded by divers, by which Christ and Salvation should be revealed to them, in my weak eye (and it is not an evil one) they seem no way promising, as sufficient or likely to effect it. And that for them, their case looks as very doubtful, if not extremely dangerous. For which purpose let us a little take view of those ways that are suggested.  
1. And here not to trouble our selves with those ways of their illumination, which Collius in his second Book at large insisteth on, viz. by apparitions of Angels, Saints, nay damned souls and Devils, such Legendary stuff is not vendible with us, as being to the Jews, and I cannot but think to the very Pagans offensive and ridiculous: besides that many of those brave exploits he instanceth in were since Christ, and in places where the Gospel was Preached, and therefore nothing to our present purpose.  
Let the Areopagites conceit be first 
De coeles●● Hierarch. cap. 9  considered, which was, that in such of them as lived virtuously God always at some time or other sent some man or Angel savingly to illuminate them. A piece of news it is, confidently enough reported by him, which it may be he heard when he was amongst his Celestial Hierarchies, but is as Apocryphal as they, and his Books are; for the Book of God, Matth. 11. 21. in the case of Tyre and Sidon, telleth us otherwise, and that although they had been likely to have proved more tractable, yet they were not so visited.  
2. Clemens Alexandrinus therefore 
Strom. li. 6.  suggests another way of Christ himself, preaching to them in Purgatory. To which I say, it was well that they were all gotten into Purgatory, and that none of them were left in Hell; for there they think Christ preached not. And truly, if they heard no more of him then they heard from him preaching to them in their Limbus or Purgatory, they will be left far enough out of the hearsay of salvation. This therefore is but a vain folly, nay, Philastrius calleth i● an Heresy. 
Austin de Heres. 79. Aquin: 22ae q. 2. a. 〈◊〉. ad 3. De Civit. Dei lib. 18. ca 23.   
3. And therefore as weary of that conceit, the same Author elsewhere pitcheth upon some other of their Instructors, as Hydaspes, but especially upon the Sibyls, one of which S. Austin hopeth may belong to the City of God, and so might direct others to the way thither. Now that such some Sibyls there were (though there be great difference of opinions both about them, and the number of them) what we read in Virgil, and others may persuade. But what they were, I will not, I cannot say; but y●● can say this, that if the proofs brought for the Heathens illumination to salvation, be not more authentic than the supposititious Books are, which now go under the name of the Sibyl's prophecies, there would be but very weak proof of their hopeful condition.  
4. If Balaams' prophecies, which 
Numb. 24. 17.  maketh mention of a Star to come out of Jacob, at which Star that was lightened which directed the wise men of the East to Christ, Matth. 2. I say, that that Prophecy as well as that Star was not of an elevation high enough to prove an universal Luminary; that 
Vide Grotium in Matth. 2.  last from which those wise men came, not being so remote from Judea, as sometimes was conceived, and besides those wise men (it seemeth) were not so sufficiently directed by it, but that they came to Jerusalem for better guidance.  
But to leave these four ways, there are three other which some of late have principally insisted on.  
5. As the contemplation of God's 
I G. Gentiles debt and dowry: see also Collius, lib. 2. c. 13. ad finem.  works of Creation and Providence, as though we could spell Christ and Salvation out of that Book, or that the Sun, Moon, and Stars had been to them sufficient Gospel-Preachers. Indeed what the Psalmist, Psal. 19 4. saith of the Sun, and Stars of Heaven, the Apostle, Rom. 10. 18. by way of allusion applieth to the Apostles; so that that place saith, that the Apostles were like Stars, but not that the Stars are true Gospel-Preachers or Apostles. I think that in the exposition of these two Scriptures, Interpreters have gone wide on both hands, some thinking that the Psalmist did not literally mean Stars, but Apostles; others that the Apostle really meaneth Stars and not Apostles.  
6. Nor will that other way be more helpful which Arminius insisteth on; that upon their worthy improvement of their Naturals, God might, and did reveal to them Christ and Spirituals, because habenti dabitur. But  
1ᵒ That is but a Popish Polagian strain, to say, that they ever risen up to such a worthiness of improvement of Nature, as might come to such a congruity of merit of Christ and grace.  
2ᵒ That habenti dabitur spoken of in another case, will not reach this, though some do operosè endeavour to evince it.  
3ᵒ Should it, we should yet be to seek after what manner, and by what means God did reveal Christ to them, which is the thing we are now enquiring after.  
7. The last way therefore cometh nearer to it, viz. Intercourse with the Jews, by which they might come to partake of this saving knowledge, as they might of any other Commodity or Merchandise.  
Either by the Heathens coming to them, as Pythagoras, and Plato, and other Philosophers, traveled and trafficked abroad for Learning, and thereby (as some think) came to the sight and use of Moses his writings:  
Or on the other side, the Jews trafficking with them might impart this knowledge to them for their spiritual cure, as the Israelitish maid did to Naaman for his bodily. And 
2 King's 〈◊〉 2, 3.  so Zebulon and Issachar, dwelling at the haven of the Sea, Gen. 49. 13. did call the people to the mountain, Deut. 33. 18, 19 as the Scribes and Pharisees afterward compassed Sea and Land to make Proselytes, Matth. 23. 15. And besides many of the Prophets prophesied of other Lands and Countries, as well as of Israel and Judah, by which they might come to the knowledge of their duty, and of the means of their salvation.  
Nay, Jonah in person was sent to Niniveh, and that with success to their conversion.  
The Seventy two Interpreters also translated the whole Old Testament, 
Masius.  as some conceive, or at least (as others think) the five Books of Moses into 
●ehickard.  Greek, which many of the Heathen reading, and believing, and practising, might be saved.  
In general, the Jews were Feoffees in trust, of God's Oracles, and that 
Rom. 3. 2.  not for themselves alone, but for all the world, and therefore those Oracles committed to them were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Gal. 4. 3. Col. 2. 8. (as some think) the elements or rudiments of the world, i. e. whereby the world (by the means of the Jews, with whom they were betrusted) might be trained up in the knowledge of God, and the things of their eternal 
I. G. ubi prius.  peace, as they would prove out of Athanasius.  
For answer whereto, I say,  
1. That it was late before the Pharisees arose, and were so busy; and what then became of all the Heathen before that time? And if than their Proselytes were by them made twofold more the children of Hell than themselves, as our Saviour expressly in the same place saith it; what proof will thence be of such Heathens salvation? Much like that of the Jesuits Indian Converts, whom they turn from Heathenish to Popish Idolatry and Superstition.  
2. As for Zebulons calling the people to the mountain, i. e. (as Interpreters generally expound it) to mount Zion, or the mountain of the house of the Lord, to worship him there; yet the people they called, might only be themselves mutually; so Calvin or the other Tribes nearer to the Temple, whom they (living more remote in the out-borders) called upon as they came by them in the way to it: So the Chaldee and Piscator, or in part be meant of the other Nations which they trafficked with; so Junius and some others, it 
A●nsworth.  is said, they should call them, but it's not said, how many came; and if some did by that or some other means, 1 Kings 8. 41, 42. that only proveth, that some neighbouring, or it may be possibly some more remote Heathens came, (of which number Collius will have the Queen of Sheba to be one) and became Proselytes, and joined themselves to the people of God. But yet what is this to the salvation of those Heathens, which never had, or heard of such a call, and were farther off from the Jews in heart then in habitation?  
3. If Plato, or any other of them got the sight of Moses writings, or if others by the use of the Septuagints Translation attained to the saving knowledge of a God in a Messiah, let it be said and proved, and we will not Jew-like vilify or envy them, but rejoice with them in this their happiness.  
Something we may find in their writings, (as we see Ovid in his Metamorphosis treading much in Moses steps, as concerning the Creation, Deluge, etc.) which we Christians may take notice of, as consonant to the Scriptures, and thereby gather, that they had a sight or rather some hearsay of them.  
But when in most (if it not in all) of their writings, we find so much Heathenish Error, Superstition, Idolatry, and many other abominations, wholly inconsistent with the saving knowledge of God in a Messiah, which they yielded to, approved, lived and died in; we cannot but conclude, that they were far enough from salvation, if not from the sufficient means of the knowledge of it; but that for the generality of them, they were  
Either wholly ignorant of the Jewish Religion,  
Or if they had any knowledge of it, they did not so much understand it, as loathe and deride it, as we may see in Juvenal, Tacitus, and others.  
And whether their Philosophers did not come under one of these heads, (should we judge either by their own writings, or by what others writ of them) it would require a very quick eye to espy that which cannot be seen, or an over-large lasted charity to believe the contrary.  
3. What the Ninivites gained by jonah his prophesying amongst them, 
Jonah 3. 4.  that within forty days their City should be destroyed, (which for any thing we read, was the sum of his Sermons) we cannot say, we indeed read that thereupon they believed God, so as that they were humbled, 
V 5, 6, 7, 8, 9  and turned from their evil ways, so far as was available to the avoiding of that threatened destruction; but whether savingly illuminated and converted, is more than can be proved; or if they than were for the present, yet not so, as that thereby their posterity retained that knowledge, nor more than they did that preservation of their City, which for their iniquity afterward was destroyed.  
4. And for the other Prophet's prophecies, though I deny not but that some of them were sent to those people, which the Prophets themselves in person went not to, as may appear from jer. 25. 15, 16. etc. and 27. 3. yet they contained especially threaten of judgements against them for their sins, of which we read of no good effect wrought in them thereby. Such prophecies indeed being rather for the information and comfort of the jews at home, then for those other Nations abroad.  
5. For that instance of traffic and commerce which the jews had with other Nations, it is very well known that it was but very small, and not far off. And (except it be of Solomon's Voyages to Ophir, and his traffic with Egypt, 1 Kings 9 26, 27, 28. and chap. 10. 28, 29. and that with Tyre, Ezek. 27. 17. which last were not far off; and of Jehoshaphats making of ships, which were broken, and so sped not in the Voyage, 1 Kin. 22. 48.) we read not much, that so thereby the Nations might be instructed by the jews, who were envious enough to impart to the Gentiles that their peculiar treasure. And indeed the situation of their Land was such, and their Ports so few, that their traffic with other Nations was not great, and this wisely so disposed by God, that they might be the less corrupted by the Nations they conversed with, Deut. 17. 16, 17.  
So that notwithstanding all that from these instances can be proved, although possibly some few of the Gentiles by some of these means might become Proselytes, or be brought on to the knowledge of God, yet for the generality of the Heathen, yea, and of their Philosophers, their case in regard of these two things seemeth to be extremely dangerous, if not desperate.  
1. That they were wholly devoid of any saving knowledge of God in a Messiah, whom to know (he himself saith, john 17. 3.) is eternal life. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Rom. 1. 19 viz. a natural knowledge of God, but that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which you read of in the tenth verse of this Chapter, and ch. 13. 38. Be it known unto you, by this man is preached unto you forgiveness of sins, is a point not of Philosophical, but Apostolical Doctrine; so that whatsoever is, or may be said to the contrary, the Scripture in this is plain and peremptory, That God dealt not so with all Nations, Psalm 147. 20. That the Gentiles knew not God, 1 Thess. 4. 5. That they sat in darkness, and the shadow of death, Mat. 4. 16. Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in them, because of the blindness (or hardness) of their hearts, Ephes. 4. 18. where we have words multiplied, to express the certainty of the things. Their dim Lamp did show them some glimmering appearance of a summum bonum, at a great distance; but could not sufficiently inform them in it, or direct them to it, no more than a candle can the traveller in the dark, when he is ignorant of the way. And hence were their so many multiplied opinions (no fewer than 288) in Varro's time about it. But as for the way of salvation 
Augustine de Civit. lib. 19 ca 〈◊〉 22ae. q. 2. a●t. 7.  by a Messiah, Adam before his fall, what ever Aquinas thinks to the contrary, and some others object concerning the Sacramental Tree of Life, (which Christ now only indeed is, Rev. 22. 2.) knew it not. And although after his fall, and the first promulgation of it, Gen. 3. 15. He knowing of it, it is more than likely he instructed his offspring about it, as Abraham did his family in the things of God, Gen. 18. 19 yet the greatest of them soon forgot it, as they did God's Sabbath and worship, yea, and many other things which were even of the Law of Nature; so that Plato (as Ficinus in his life showeth) acknowledged that he had not found out the true way; and Porphyry doth not like communem illam 
Augustine de Civit. Dei l. 10.  viam homines sanandi. Austin could not find the name of Christ in Tully's writings; nor is Faith one of the virtues in Aristotle's Ethics. And when Mornay would say something of their knowledge in this kind, me thinks he speaks very faintly. Adiverant 
Morn: de veritat. ca 27.  two fortè, necesse esse ut homo pro peccatis mundi vitam traderat, & ergo Diabolus suadebat hominem immolandum esse, & Civitatis, regionisque (si Deo placet) sceleribus onerandum, i. e. It might possibly b●, that they heard that a man should die for the sins of the world. And therefore the Devil persuaded them to sacrifice a man (a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, some notorious malefactor) on whom they might cast all their sins, as the filth of the street into the Scavingers dung-cart; which yet He himself confesseth was most vain and ridiculous in itself, ut qui Deum sibimet ipsi iratum habet, aliis propitium redderet. That the execution of some abominable malefactor, should be any fit means to lead them to the knowledge and belief of a Messiah, who was indeed a sin-offering for us, but had no sin in himself, 2 Cor. 5. 21. and so was fit to satisfy for others; a glimmering of which truth, the Gauls in Caesar 
De bello Gallico, l. 6.  may seem rather to have had, who Diti suo quàm maximè innocuos immolabant, sacrificed the most innocent, in which they more increased their guilt, but thought that the more likely way to expiate it. And as for that which the same Author allegeth out of Porphyry, that our purgation is per principia, and that 
Morn▪  by those principia are meant the Persons of the sacred Trinity, and that of Julian his making Aesculapius, who was Jupiter's son to be Man's Physician, signifying thereby that the Son of God should be Man's Saviour. It may well be his Moral beyond their meaning, or if it were their sense, yet (you will say) makes nothing to the question in hand, if you consider who Julian and Porphyry were. Heathens indeed, but of apostatised Christians, and therefore might well come to the knowledge of that, which their malice could not suffer them to believe and acknowledge; but what is that to others of them who were before Christ, or more remote from Christians? who either had not that knowledge, or despised as much as they had of it; and in that other knowledge which they had, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, they became most vain and foolish, even in what they accounted themselves most wise and 
Rom. 1. 21, 22. 1 Cor. 1. 20. Vide Gratium in utrumque locum.  acute. They first wanted the true knowledge of God in Christ.  
2. And (which was worse) ●●ey were positively possessed and poisoned with contrary Atheistical or Idolatrous persuasions and practices inconsistent with the very Fundamentals of Christianity; as how many of such do you find in the writings of the best of them, even of your divinest Plato, who is so much admired, and well-nigh adored, and out of whom and his followers, so many things are produced as agreeable to Christian faith, that he is half baptised Christian? And hereupon when Christ came indeed to be revealed to the world, he and his Gospel were by none more scornfully derided, and more maliciously opposed and persecuted, then by these Philosophers, those Patriarches of Heretics, as Tertullian calleth them.  
Such Disputers had about with the Proto-Martyr Stephen, Acts 6. 9 and after the Epicurean and Stoic Philosophers with Paul at Athens, Acts 17. 18. and so from Crescens (Justin Martyrs Persecuter) and downward, 
Euseb. hist. l. 1. cap. 15. Graec: 16.  we shall find none more frequent and fierce opposers of Christians, than Philosophers and Conjurers, the preaching of a crucified Saviour was to these Learned Greeks foolishness.  quisque ingenium habet multa erudition 
1 Cor. 1. 23.  magis subactum, it a maximè ei sordet simplicitas Evangelii. And then as Austin argueth, quomodo sunt verè 
Contra Julian: l. 4. cap. 3.  justi, quibus vilis esi humilitas verè justi? quo enim propinquaverunt intelligentiâ, inde superbiâ recesserunt. Their knowledge brought them not so near, as their pride ●et them off at a distance from Christ, as Ambrose speaks of Polemon, si resipuit à vino, 
lib. de Elia & jejunio cap. 12.  fuit tamen semper temulentus sacrilegi●; though he was not drunk with wine, yet he was with sacrilege.  
And thus these two particulars render their case (as I said) extremely dangerous, if not right out desperate.  
If saved, they must be justified, Rom. 8. 30. but that is by the knowledge of Christ, Isa. 53. 11. Children of wrath they were by nature, Eph. 2. 3. and the Scripture speaks of no way of reconciliation but by the Son of God's love, 2 Cor. 5. 19 Nemo Deo, sine Deo placere potest. Guilty they were, and that guilt could be taken away only by his sacrifice, and righteousness, and therefore they being out of Him, were out of that way by which God appoints, all that do, to come to life, John 14. 6.  
But yet let us consider what on the other side, is, or may be said to prove their state to be safe, or at least more hopeful; and here  
1. I may confidently first say, that nothing is said for it from sound Scripture proof, for it no where speaketh so favourably of them as our pitiful Remonstrants, and others 
Pemble.  do, we can there find no such promising evidences of their safe condition, but the quite contrary. It confineth Grace, and the ordinary means of it to the Jews, openeth a fountain for Judah and Jerusalem, 
Ps. 147. 29 20. Zechar. 13. 1.  but telleth us not that Plato was baptised in it. It saith, that they knew not Gods judgements, Psal. 147. 20. that they sat in darkness, Mat. 4. 15, 16. that they knew not God, 1 Thess. 4. 5. that they had no hope (what ever we have of them) living without God in the world, Ephes. 2. 12. God suffering all those Nations to walk in their own way, (and that was none of Gods, which led to salvation) as Paul told them at Lystra, Acts 14. 16. And therefore you may observe, that usually in Scripture mention is made of their vices and abominations, as of Rocks in the Sea to avoid them, Mat. 6. 32. Rom. 1. 21, 22, etc. 1 Thes. 4. 4, 5. rather then of their virtues, as to be patterns of our imitation.  
Indeed the Scripture sometimes to convince the Jews of their guilt in breaking the Law given to them, produceth the Gentiles by the Light of Nature doing something, which for the outward act, were agreeable to the Law of Nature, Rom. 2. 14, 15. etc. But that makes not them a fit pattern for us to imitate, much less proveth that they so doing were in a safe condition, which is directly contrary to the general scope of the Apostle in that discourse, as we shall see by and by.  
Sometimes also the Lord shameth his people for doing worse than they, Jer. 2. 11, 12. 2 Chron. 33. 9 Ezek. 16. 46, 47. But that is far enough from proving that they did well.  
Sometimes likewise God threatneth that he would provoke Israel to jealousy by them, Deut. 32. 21. But that was not while they continued in their Heathenish blindness, but when upon the Jews rejection, they were called to the grace of Christ, as the Apostle expoundeth it, Rom. 10. 19  
But yet there are three ordinary 
Augustine contra Julian: l. 4. c. 3.  places which Julian of old objected to Austin, and which Andradius with other Papists, Corvinus, and other Arminians, yea, and Gualther in his Apology for Zuinglius, and others usually produce in their behalf, which yet will not be a sufficient Rowler to bind and strengthen their 
Ezek. 30. 21.  broken arm.  
1. The first is Rom. 1. 19 where the Apostle saith, that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (which Gualther stretcheth too far, when he rendereth it omne illud quod de Deo sciri & intelligi potest) was manifested to them, and that (as he addeth in the two next following verses) was so perverted by them, that it left them unexcusable. But is this Natural knowledge of a Creator, (of which only he there speaketh) which they had, and so abused, as that it aggravated their damnation, a sufficient proof, that they had the true knowledge of a Redeemer, and that sufficient to salvation? No, but in Gods just judgement (as one saith) they were left as without 
Pemble Vindiciae gratiae.  sufficient direction for well doing, so without all lawful excuse for ill doing.  
2. The second is, Rom. 2. 14, 15. of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The work of the Law written in their hearts, whereby they did for the matter of the work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the things of the Law. Whereupon their Consciences sometimes so far excused them, as otherwhile, for the contrary they accused them.  
But when a true Christian cannot be justified by his best spiritual works done by faith, shall the bare outward bulk of their actions, without faith, and other due requisites, be able to justify and save them?  
Again, is not this (as I said before) directly against the main scope of the Apostles whole discourse in those three first Chapters? which was to prove both Jew and Gentile (what ever were the privileges of the one, or the accomplishments of the other) to be fallen short of the glory of God: and so to lie under the guilt of sin, so that if ever any of them come to be justified and saved, it must be by the faith of a Mediator.  
And therefore because julian urged these places to prove that sine fide Christi, lege naturae, they did please God, Austin deservedly telleth 
Vbi ●rius.  him, that therein he manifestly shown himself an enemy of the grace of Christ, and addeth that grave and heavy expression, Hoc est unde maximè Christiana vos detestetur Ecclesia.  
3. The third is that of Acts 17. 30. where it is said, that the ti●es of that ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men every where to repent.  
But although our English word winked, there used, may seem to look towards such a sense, as a man is said to wink at that fault, which he doth not punish; and that so God all that while spared and pardoned the Gentiles in their ignorance, which now he would not, if when the Gospel was preached, they should not, if they should not repent, but reject it.  
And so far as concerned Gods much sparing of them then in regard of outward punishment, is true in the thing, as he is said to forgive when he doth not destroy, Psal. 78. 38. yet it is not the true meaning of that place, or of the wo●d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there used, which signifieth indeed to overlook, but not so to wink at their faults, as to be pleased with their persons, so as not at all eternally to punish them; for the same Apostle elsewhere saith, that they who sinned without the Law, should perish without the Law, Rom. 2. 12.  
But the true meaning is, that he so over-looked (not their sins, but) them and their times, as not in a saving way to regard them, but to let them walk in their own ways, (as it is in that other place, Acts 14. 16. which Interpreters make parallel to this) without taking that care of 
Calvin. Cornel. à lapide.  them which now he did in sending the Gospel to them; so that this overlooking is far from that winking which they mean. Not a sparing and pardoning, but a neglecting of them, and suffering them to perish in their own ways, and sins, so that they are wet to the skin under that bush, from which they thought to get shelter; for this Scripture speaketh God's wrath and their damnation, rather than his favour to their salvation.  
And yet these three places are the chief Scriptures produced for the Heathens, by their Advocates, which we see stand them but in little stead.  
And as these afford them but little relief, so others speak so sadly of them, that if they should but speak the like of them who must plead for them, I doubt they would judge themselves to be but in a very doubtful condition, and be glad to look out for more grace in Christ, and some better evidence of salvation.  
We may consider then that it is not from any Scripture-evidence that either the Heathens or any for them, can plead their claim to life & salvation.  
2. But it is from proud Reason, which as in many other things, so in this, will take the boldness to control and give check to the counsels of God. Though they, whom the righteous sentence of Scripture condemns, may justly fear, that all the Reason of Man, will not be able to dispute them out of their guilt and punishment.  
And here the faulty cause is especially an Idolising of Nature, and of man principally, of whom as he is in his Naturals, they are wont to have too high thoughts and expressions, as having looked at Philosophers, and other virtuous Heathens, in none of the truest (but too flattering) glasses, of their own writings or other discourses and relations of them, and so they look so beautiful and amiable, that our pitiful humanity and ingenuity, what ever the Scripture speaketh of them, cannot entertain a misgiving thought of them, cannot be brought to think that such richly gilded, and curiously carved pieces should ever prove fuel of everlasting burn: As Austin to this purpose saith, Virtutes Gentilium quadam indole animi ita delectant, 
Epist. 99  ut in quibus hae fuerint, vellemus, praecipuè ab Inferni cruciatibus liberare, nisi aliter se haberent sensus humani, aliter justitia Creatoris. Whence it hath come to pass, that rather than we will condemn them, we will not stick to blaspheme God; and in case he should not accept and save them, we dare impeach him as guilty of three heinous crimes: 1. A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or of an undue respecting of persons. 2. Of injustice, in not rewarding their virtues. 3. Of cruelty and tyranny, in rejecting and condemning them who were so virtuous. All which deep and desperate charges, let us a little consider distinctly.  
1. And first they cry out of an inordinate respecting and accepting of persons, if they should be rejected who were so virtuous, whilst others both Jews of old, and Christians how were and are accepted, who had been more vicious. Whereas Peter upon the H. Ghosts being given to the Gentiles, with an open mouth saith, 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, Acts 10. 34, 35.  
Which objection, although made by many, yet to me seemeth very strange: For,  
1. I hope they think that that only is properly a vicious accepting of persons, 
Deut. 1. 17  which is in point of Judicature and Justice, when one is favoured, and another is discountenanced in his right, from some extrinsecall respects and considerations, beside the merit of the cause; as when a Judge doth acquit one, because he is his friend, and condemn another, because he is his enemy, when both were alike innocent or guilty, or (it may be) his friend more guilty than the other. It is not in matters of mere grace and favour due to neither, as even Collius their Champion confesseth, lib. cap. and therefore without injustice may be given or denied to either or both, as we please. So when two men are equally unworthy, I may give that out of affection to my friend, which I will not to a stranger. Or when two Malefactors are both justly condemned, the King may out of his Princely favour pardon the one out of his love to him, and not the other, whom he doth not so affect without injustice. And therefore although God be no partial unjust Accepter of persons, yet I pray give him leave to accept of whom he will in his Beloved, Ephes. 1. 6.  
2. In gratuitis, it would look more like a partial respecting of persons, if when they were otherwise alike, for some not considerable circumstance, one should be favoured, and the other disrespected. As for the instance in the place produced, the partition wall being now broken 
Ephes. 2. 14.  down; in case a Gentile that feared God as much as a jew, in all things else like or inferior to him, should be preferred because he was a Jew: So the Apostle there saith, that God accepteth not persons, but those Gentiles now fearing God, and working righteousness, are as well accepted as the Jews. But is it not strange, that that which the Apostle in that case applieth to such Gentiles, as unto whom God had given repentance unto life, Acts 11. 18. and who had received the H. Ghost, and the grace of Christ, and now feared God, and wrought righteousness, should be pleaded in the behalf of such Philosophers, and other Heathens, who lived in their ignorance and infidelity. How specious soever their virtues and actions were, yet  
1ᵒ What worth were they of 
Epist. ad Bonifac. P. Martyr loc. come: pag. 160.  without Christ? Quid tu cum virtutibus, qui Christo Dei virtute cares? as Bernard truly, sordet Natura sine gratia. So Austin: Paul accounteth them but dung, Phil. 3. 8. and chrysostom, but as gay  on a stinking dead carcase.  
2ᵒ Haddit they in themselves been of more price and worth than they were, yet could they discharge the old arrear? Their Advocates forget this, when they so plead for them and justify them, as though they were upon even terms with God, and not originally indebted, or that their virtues, had they been much greater than they were, falling infinitely short of their present duty, could discharge the old reckoning.  
3ᵒ As though their actions and virtues were perfect, or so truly good (as some would make them) that God himself should be a respecter of persons, if he did not accept them; Can they say, and make it good when they have said it, that indeed they truly feared God, and wrought righteousness, as those accepted Gentiles Peter saith did in the place mentioned? Seneca himself (who I hope must go in the foremost rank of their worthies) confesseth that in their devotions they did rather, morem sequi quam rem, and then if their fear of God were taught and learned by the precepts, and customs of men, our Saviour will tell us how they were like to speed, Matth. 15. 9 Indeed we somewhere read of a Platonic faith, that uniteth to God; and sometimes we hear much of their souls abstraction from, and dominion over their bodies, of their freedom from passion, their love, justice, etc. and we are to think the best of all, and for many of their actions we freely say with Saint Austin, that non solùm vituperare non possumus verùm etiam meritò rectéque laudamus, we are so far from discommending, that we rightly and deservedly praise them, yet notwithstanding all this, without breach of charity, I may safely say,  
1. That we are not infallibly to build upon what some of their Authors say of them; for pictures are wont to flatter, and therefore it would be a piece of too simple credulity, to give credit to all their relations. The Greeks had wit and words at will, and could tell how to Hyperbolise, and that sometimes Graecâ fide, and when they do so idolise their Emperors in their Panegyrics, it would go hard if their Scholars should not do as much for the Philosophers their Masters.  
2. Nor are we to judge of them by their own say, or writings, which were often better than their actings, and their precepts then their practice. Philosophi sententiâ, vita ignavi. Like Pharisees, who were better in the Chair, then in their walkings, as it is not very strange even now in the days of the Gospel, to hear the same men to inveigh much against those very sins in the Pulpit, which they themselves are known to be notoriously guilty of in their conversations.  
And that this may not be taken for an uncharitable surmise and suspicion, let us reflect a little upon some of the  particulars, for which they have been and are so much applauded: whereas they are cried up for their freedom from passion, although it be very fare that either affectation, or morality, may carry an Heathen in matters of this nature, which were their highest perfections, and so brute creatures often exceed men in matters of sense, as being their highest top; yet it is well known how greater pressures and dangers have uncased them, and put them out of their Spanish gravity, the storm affrighted the stiff Stoic out of his Lethargical Apathy. I need not tell you, how Cato, Brutus and Cassius handled themselves when brought to such extremities. Seneca would discourse and write elegantly of Bounty and Liberality, who yet was notoriously covetous, and that even our England in part paid for.  
And as for their high soaring souls, Abstractions from, and Dominion over their bodies, the very best of them are very much wronged, and that by their own Authors, if they were not foully debauched, and that with unnatural bodily lusts, and unclean practices. Fornication not accounted a fault, especially in young men, which some think was the reason why the Apostles reckoned it amongst the Indifferents, Acts 15. 29. And even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that unnatural boye's-play Plutarch indeed dare not justify, nor 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  yet dare he condemn, because ●ven Socrates practised it.  
And what ever others may say of them, I am sure the Scripture giveth another character of them, and that foul enough, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not in the lust of concupiscence as the Gentiles that know not God; and this not of the basest and worst (as some would so put off such places) but of the wisest and best of them, as appeareth from Rom. 1. 22, 23, 24, etc. 
〈◊〉. 〈◊〉.  1 Cor. 1. 19, 20. their knowledge in itself being too dark and uncertain to cause any powerful and vigorous impression on their wills and affections, natural conscience being overpowered by the weight of natural corruption, and God taking vengeance on their abuse of natural light, by giving them up to unnatural works of darkness.  
3. But how true soever they were to their own principles, or how true soever others reports may be of their virtuous carriages, yet in the third place I may safely and boldly say, they were not truly good works, or saving gracès, urenda flammis, non condenda horreiss, as Leo speaks.  
This (what ever it may be accounted by any of us now) was of old esteemed true wholesome Christian Doctrine; so Cyprian treating 
De bono patientiae.  of patience, saith, Hanc sectari Philosophi quoque profitebantur, sed tàm illis falsa patientia est, quam falsa sapientia.  
And Hierome is bold to say, that sine Christo omnis virtus in vitio est, and 
In Gal. 3.  Theophylact is punctual and peremptory, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 
In Johan. 3. 19  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, He granteth that there may be bad Christians, but that there may be any good Heathens, he can in no wise believe. Prosper alloweth them nullam veram virtutem, but only virtutum imaginem. But Austin the most serious & faithful Champion of the grace of Christ, is herein most full, ever and anon upon this argument, up and down in his writings against the enemies of it; he calleth them virtutes non veras sed verisimiles, nay, he 
Contra Julian l. 4. c. 3.  averreth them to be truly and really peccata, though splendida, sinful although they made a great deal of glittering. He doth not believe that 
Extra veram Ecclesiam veras virtutes reperiri non posse, lib. de patientia. Contra Julian: ubi prius.  there were any true virtues out of the true Church (of which God himself saith, all my springs are in thee, Psal. 87. 7.) and abhorre's with an absit the very thought of any true virtue out of Christ: Absit ut sit aliqua vera virtus, nisi fuerit justus; absit autem ut sit justus verè, nisi vivat in side, justus enim ex fide vivit. And so in particular for Chastity; Quomodo verà ratione pudicum corpus asseritur, quando à vero Deo animus fornicatur? Quis infidelis ita, quis haec sapiat, nisi desipuit? and therefore he urgeth Julian with that of our Saviour, that an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit; and when he answered that the Heathens were steriliter boni, he telleth him, aut jocaris vel deliras, qui sterilium fructus arborum laudas. He choketh him also with that of the Apostle, That we are God's workmanship, and that we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works, Ephes. 2. 10. not brought to them either by natural disposition or moral acquisition. And he telleth him again and again, that he must bear with him, if he still object that of the Apostle to him, That without faith it is impossible to please God, Heb. 11. 6. And he would not have him think to terrify him with the great names of Fabritius, Fabrius, etc. for sit licet Fabritius, etc. quorum me nominibus putasti esse terrendum, yet of the best of them all he dare say, that voluntas infidelis & impia non est bona, that an unbelieving will is no good will, nor can any live well, who liveth not by faith in Christ, and that only hac fide, prudenter, fortiter, rectè sapientérque justus vivit, quia fideliter vivit. It is faith which worketh by love, that effects any thing that is truly good, and I must needs say, they have too low thoughts of Christ and his grace, who think that those dull Moralities of the Heathen should reach that salvation, which faith only leads to.  
That they who never truly knew their first fall, though they bemoaned some felt effects of it, as the blind man may mourn in fence of the pain of that wound, when yet, he knoweth not how he came by it.  
That never knew what Original sin meaneth, nor the true sinfulness of any sin, as the breach of a spiritual Law of God, and so could never truly repent.  
Were wholly strangers to the true means of our recovery by jesus Christ, and so could never truly believe.  
Were notoriously blind and abominable in their Ignorance, Superstions, and Idolatries, and in a total neglect (in a manner) of the first Table.  
Were also manifestly guilty of (and yet approved themselves in) many notorious breaches of the second Table. So that in their writings and doctrines of Morality, they made vices virtues, as Arisiotle doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which Paul condemneth 
Ethic: lib. 4. cap. 14.  as unseemly for a Christian, Ephes. 5. 4. and in his description of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or noble generosity, are divers 
Lib. 4. c. 7, 8.  particulars, which agree not with Christian humility. And what in this kind they laid down as rules in their writings, you may be sure they observed and followed in their practices, and so allowed themselves in many open transgressions of the law of God.  
Vega their friend, confesseth, that 
Orthodox: Explic pag. 207.  none of them did as much as they could, although Andradius their Champion, taketh it for granted that they did.  
And although for the outward act they did many of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, many things of the Law, Rom. 2. 14. yet non omnia, none constanter, non recto modo. Not all required, not constantly, not rightly. It would be too tedious and needless to recount the many gross failings which our Divines do truly observe in their most virtuous actions, their righteousness being  
1. Not general and universal, as it should be, Psal. 119. 6. but although some of them were eminent in some virtues, yet as foul in some vices, as it's said of Catiline, and is true of others of them who were much better than he.  
2. It was often rather negative then positive, magis extra vi●ia quàm cum virtutibus, many of them were 
Pemble vindic. gratiae.  rather not vioious, then virtuous.  
3. Or if positive, yet more outward, teste populo, then inward, testibus Deo & conscientia, attested more by others, then by God and their own consciences.  
4. Though in some (it may be) more inward, that they did revereri seipsos, and so for the substance of their actions they were virtuous, yet for those great and most material circumstances, by and according to which bonum benè fit, that which is good in itself may be done well, and acceptably to God, they were wholly defective, or rather quite contrary: as,  
1. For the Principle and Efficient. They were not done out of faith, by which the person should first be accepted, and then the work, without which it is impossible to please God, Heb. 11. 6.  
2. For the End, (which as it is the goodness of every thing, so it is most necessary to be looked after to make our virtues or actions truly good; for non officiis sed finibus disc●rnendae virtutes sunt, as Austin telleth us) here they were wholly wide; for as the same Austin saith in sum, Daemonibus vel humanae gloriae servierunt, it was either the Devil or vainglory that they served in all; it was either to a bad end, or if to a good, yet  
It was particulari non universali, 
See Vossii Theses de virtutibus Gentilium, p. 258, etc.  to some narrow particular end, and not (as it should have been) to a more common and universal.  
It was not with a spiritual eye, singly looking at the glory of God, which is full in faith's eye, and should be in all our actions, 1 Cor. 10. 31. but rather  
At best, at the safety and honour of their Country,  
Their own outward quiet, or inward satisfaction.  
But most commonly, and oftentimes most notoriously, and affectedly, others applause and their own praise and commendation. Vicit amor patriae, laudúmque immensa cupido. So that Austin concludeth, Si 
Virgil. De spirit. & litera, cap. 27. and Epist. 99  discutiantur quo fine fiant, vix inveniantur quae justitiae debitam laudem desensimémque mereantur. I cannot therefore believe, that Timoleon was a very godly man, as some in the 
M. H.  Pulpit have here styled him. Nor can I but be offended at Zuinglius his expression, 
De peccat: Origin: Tom: 2. pa: 118. In Apologia.  when speaking of Seneca, he admireth, viri sanctissimi fidem. And at Gualthers' question speaking of Numa, An ergo tam piis & sanctis studiis coeleste numen defuisse putabimus? As Austin detesteth a like 
Vbi prius  question of julian's, Erant ergo condemnatione sempiterna, in quibus erat vera justitia? with his O vocem impudentiâ majore praecipitem, which we might also return to as bold a question, but in many more words 
Orthodox: Explic. pag: 289.  made by Andradius to Kemnitius, Qui verum Deum quem assidua meditatione totisque animi viribus inquisiverunt, etc. venerati sunt, in ipso omnes spes suas collocarunt, illi perpetuò placere studuerunt, illos tu Kemniti, illa fide, Deique cognitione destitutos diees, etc. But why should we now labour to bolster them up, whom their own Philosophers and Rhetoricians, (who better knew them then we can) saw cause to leave as in a dangerous condition. Lactanti●s had been one of them, and what saith he of them and their way, when he left them and turned Christian. Quae professio multo melior, ●utilior, 
De falsa Relig. ca 1  gloriosior putanda est, quam illa Oratoria in qua diu versati, sed planè ad argutam malitiam juvenes erudiebamus. And afterwards he addeth, Omissis ergo hujus terrenae Philosophiae Autoribus, nihil certi asserentibus aggrediamur viam rectam, etc. He could find no certainty in their assertions, nor true virtue, but argute malice or wickedness in their institutions, and therefore he thinks he hath reason to leave them, and to betake himself to Christianity, as a better and more profitable and glorious profession.  
And what need then of all that ado which some make to stick over and mangonize a Heathens beauty, consisting at best, but  
In a bare civil conversation, without true spiritual sanctity.  
In a dark knowledge of a God, muffled up in superstition and Idolatry.  
In a bare natural knowledge of a Creator, and none of a true Saviour.  
In some cold affections of love and fear of a God, wholly differing from that which is truly filial in those who by the Spirit of Adoption can cry Abba Father.  
Dull Religion! and apt to work the like in them that so admire and affect them.  
One Paul to me is more than a thousand Socrates and Seneca's.  
How dead and wan in a spiritual eye is Heathenish virtue, when it looks out even in its loveliest countenance, in comparison of that divine beauty which sparkleth in a lively faith, and that in the poorest, meanest lively spiritual Christian, there is life in faith, and but deadness in dull Heathenish morality.  
So that I cannot but account it a most unworthy and disingenuous ingratitude in them, who otherwise most of all cry up ingenuity, when God in the Gospel hath held forth Christ, that we may be enamoured with his beauty, so to dote upon, and to commit folly with such dead pictures, to feed on acorns, when 
as Ezek: 23. 14, 15, 16.  God hath afforded us the bread of Heaven, in so admiring the Heathens virtues, as setting them in a safe condition, when Christ and his saving grace only is held out to us in the Gospel, as the way to salvation. And therefore I cannot say less, then to avouch it blasphemy in case God should not accept them to life, to impeach him as guilty of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or an undue respecting or accepting of persons.  
2ᵒ And this blasphemy higher, if upon this ground he be accused (as he is by some) of injustice in not rewarding their virtues.  
1. Who might most justly condemn the very best of them for their foul abominations, and if their best virtues and actions were so foully faulty, (as was shown in the former particular) if they will needs have them in justice rewarded, by right than it must have been in that kind which the Scripture speaks of, when it speaks of rendering a reward to the 
Psa. 94. 2.  proud, (for such were they) which God explaineth by its Synonymam, I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their do, Hos. 4. 9  
2. But God who is infinite in bounty and goodness, not suffering the least degree or appearance of it in the creature to go without a proportionable acceptance and reward, as he would not let Nabuchadnezzar go without his hire for his service against Tyre, though therein he intended to serve his own design rather than God's Providence, Ezek. 29. 18, 19, 20. much less would he suffer any of the more virtuous Heathens to go unrewarded.  
1ᵒ Partly in this life  
With inward tranquillity and 
Bonum a●iquod temporale & & conscientiae tranquillitas. Prideaux Lect. 8.  quiet of their mind, their consciences excusing them, Rom. 2. 15.  
And outward peace and prosperity, together with safety and honour, which was that which they themselves especially aimed at, and which accordingly they were answered in, and so as our Saviour said of the Pharisees in a like case, Mat. 6. 5. they had their reward: so the virtuous Romans and others, had their City and Country preserved, enlarged, enriched renowned, and their own memories perpetuated to posterity. Thus the children of the Concubines were not without their 
Gen.  gifts, but yet sent away with them, and not possessed of Isaaks inheritance. Hic ei prodest opus ejus, & hic ei addit Deus bona pro opere suo; 
Contra Collatorem, ca 22. 28. De vocat: Gent. li. 1. cap: 7. Epist. 17. Fulgent. de Incarn. li. 1. cap. 7. Chrysostom. ad Pop. Antioch. Hom. 67.  in illo autem saeculo nihil ptodest opus ejus. So Prosper. And again, Hujus tantùm temporis vitam ornavit, ad veras virtutes aeternámque beatitudinem non profecit. And so Austin. Primi Romani etsi non habentes veram pietatem erga Deum verum, quae illos etiam in aeternam Civitatem possit salubri Religioni perducere, custodientes tamen quandam sui generis probitatem quae possit terrenae constituendae augendae conservandaeque sufficere, etc. Those ancient Romans, although by their virtues they could not attain the Heavenly City, yet they by them founded, augmented, and preserved their Earthly, and so wanted not their reward here, which was that which they aimed at.  
2ᵒ Partly in the life to come, although not advanced to Heaven, yet by this means they were not so deeply sunk in Hell; which Athanasius phraseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 
Contra Julian l. 1. c. 3 Vide Prideaux. ubi prius.  Austin sometimes by mitiùs urunt, and otherwhile by tolerabiliùs puniuntur, their torments are less proportionably as their sins were: Minùs enim Fabritius quam Catilina punietur, non quia iste bonus, sed quia ille magis malus; Et minùs impius quam Catilina Fabritius, non veras virtutes habendo, sed à veris virtutibus non plurimùm deviando. So Austin.  
And yet for all this, if these Heathons' be not saved, their Advocates dare accuse God not only of partiality and injustice, but also  
3. In the third place even of cruelty and tyranny, for casting them away, and condemning them for want of that which (as they object) they might be invincibly ignorant of; at which Andradius fiercely and giganteo 
Orthodox: Explic: pa. 291.  impetu let's fly with his Neque eni● diri●as atque inhumanitas tetrio● ulla esse pote●●, quàm sempiternis cruciatibus homines mancipare propter fidei ill●● inopiam, ad quam nullus pa tebat adnus.  
Answ. To which bold and direful expressions, an awful Christian, whose heart trembleth at such blasphemies, in stead of other answer might only return that of the Angel, Dominus 
Zech. 3. 2.  increpet te Satana, The Lord rebuke thee Satan. Or was Kemnitius too 
Exam. C. T. pag. 109.  harsh when he called these Cerbereos Andradii Latratus. I am sure what he after addes is true; what is, if 
Quid est, si hoc non est, ve●bum Dei procul●are, fidem justificantem ludificare, & judicia Dei blasphemare?  this be not to kick at, and trample on the Word of God, to make a mock of justifying faith, and to blaspheme Gods righteous judgements? But for a more particular answer,  
1. As though God had nothing to reckon with them for but their bare infidelity. As though they had not been obnoxious to God's revenging justice in Adam, which deserved wrath, Ephes. 2. 3. and by which also they had contracted this impossibility which they speak of; and in this and other their disputes in which they advance the power of man and freewill, they generally take it for granted, that it is an impious absurdity to think that God commands impossibilities, taking no notice of any difference herein of man's collapsed estate from that of his primeve integrity. But I hope such an impossibility will not accuse Gods most righteous commands, nor excuse their defect or neglect, if it were not antecedent but consequent to their miscarriage in their first parent, and that not ex tyrannide 
Prideau●, ubi prius.  obligantis, sed ex temeritate obligati.  
2. As though besides that, they were not guilty of other actual sins, and wilful personal violations of that very Law of Nature which they might justly perish in, Rom. 2. 12.  
3. And yet further, as though the infidelity (at least) of some of them had been merely and only negative, and that they were not at all guilty of any positive neglect of such means as they had, and of what they might have done by the help of them; for although the Papists themselves will grant, that whatever 
Collius' de animab. Paganorum lib. 1. cap. 20, 21, etc.  those Pagans could do, could not bring to Heaven, or even prepare to grace as a disposition to it, yet they might have abstained from many sins which more indisposed them to it; and it is the common maxim amongst Papists and Arminians, Facienti quod in se est Deus non denegat gratiam, and in this very dispute about Pagans 
Collius, l. 1. cap. 24, 25.  it is one of their conclusions, that it is most agreeable to Gods most sweet Providence and Bounty, to vouchsafe the light of faith and grace to such Gentiles, as did observe the Law of Nature as they were able, by which they might come to everlasting felicity; so that according to them there was in them some positive, and wilful, if not malicious neglect, and not a bare negative infidelity, 
Calvin Instit. l. 1. c. 4  whilst they damped and corrupted that light which they had, which not only our Divines assert, but even the Papists also freely grant; and amongst others Ambicatharinus enquiring after the reason why the Philosophers who acknowledged God as Creator, and in his infinite Providence, Goodness, and other perfections to be worshipped, should yet fall short of his grace, resolveth it thus: Supernaturalis gratiae donis ditandos eos etiam fuisse, ni terrenae scientiae superbi â elati, hoc ipsum coelestis gratiae donum haud disperissent. That they had also been blessed with saving grace, but that being puffed up with conceit of their earthly wisdom and knowledge, they despised that which was saving and celestial, as is evident and manifest in many of them, in whom not so much ignorance and negative infidelity, as positive malice and pride, and prepossession of false and wicked principles and practices were the obex which kept them off from saving knowledge and grace; and although for many of them they had not (as we have seen before) sufficient means of it, yet they might have advanced farther and come nearer to it then they did: For Jerusalem and the Church of God was even then as a Beacon or City on the top of an hill, and what God did there, was not done in a corner; so that Andradius his ad quam nullus patebat aditus, was an overlasted Hyperbole. For they might have done more than they did, and might have gained so much knowledge, as that, although it might not have made them wise to salvation, yet the careless, and wilful, and (in some) malicious neglect of it, may justly render them inexcusable, and fully clear God's righteousness in their just condemnation.  
And thus I have endeavoured to clear it from this threefold blasphemous imputation, in which not only Papists, but also many of our own are extremely bold and presumptuous, so as cannot but make any good heart tremble to read and hear what too often in this kind is written and spoken; it would be well therefore that they would be more wary, for if vera de Deo loqui periculosum sit, if to speak truth of God in some cases may be dangerous, to speak blasphemies of him will be desperate; and therefore that they would sadly think and repent of it, and lay their hands on their mouths, and never open them this way any more, lest at last when God will be able to declare the holiness and righteousness of his decrees, and proceed to them, above what they can or will now see, they be not left altogether speechless, when after all their presumptuous querying of his 
Matth. 22. 12.  counsels, he shall ask them this question, like that of Zebul to Gaal, 
Judg. 9 38  Where is now thy mouth, wherewith thou saidst, etc.  
There now remains but a Plea or two more for the salvation of those Gentiles which fell, or do fall short of the knowledge of God in Christ, and they are taken from the two other  Instances.  
And the first of them is of the men of the old world before the Flood; Of the other Patriarches after it, and of the Jews under the Law before Christ.  
Many of whom we must believe were certainly saved, and yet for the most part they knew no more of a Christ or a Messiah, than the very Heathon; the faith of Christ Mediator being no where (if you will believe Stapleton) written or made 
Nec fidem Mediatoris Christi usquàm scribi in toto V T.  mention of in the Old Testament.  
To which I answer,  
1. That this bold assertion is very injurious to the Jews, the then people of God, in putting them and the Heathens into the same condition. Nay, Lud: Vives (as before was shown) makes the Heathens condition the better of the two; as he is the more expert traveller, who knoweth his way of himself, than he that looks for it in his Map; but the Apostle is of a far other mind, who makes the privilege and advantage of the Jews much more every way, and especially in this, that unto 
Rom 3. 1, 2, 3, etc. & cap. 9 4, 5.  them were committed the Oracles of God. Which the Psalmist before in the Old Testament had fully declared, when he said, That God had not so dealt with any other Nation, and as for his judgements they had not known them, Psal. 147. 20. which the Jews had v. 19 and therefore our Saviour himself faith, that salvation was of the Jews, John 4. 22. An happy privilege of them, as on the contrary (if well considered) a very heavy word, expressing the woeful estate of the Gentiles.  
2. I confidently avouch, that all 
Augustin de Civit. Dei, l. 10. cap. 25.  the Jews and others both before and under the Law that were saved, were saved by the same faith in a Messiah to come, that we are now that he is come, as the Apostle showeth at large, Heb. 11. where, having in the last verse of the tenth Chapter, spoken of our now believing to the saving of the soul, in the eleventh Chapter he showeth the same faith to have been in the believers of the Old Testament to their salvation. And he beginneth with Abel, who by faith offered his sacrifice, v. 4. as in it by faith looking at the all-sufficient sacrifice which our blessed high Priest should afterwards offer up for all Believers; and so he goeth on to Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and other of the Patriarches who lived and died in faith, not having indeed received the promises, but yet saw them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, v. 13. according to that of Austin, Christi saluberrimâ fide etiam illi justi salvi facti sunt, qui priusquam veniret in carne crediderunt in carnem venturam; which also Lombard averreth to be the joint sentence of all the holy Fathers, Sine fide Mediatoris nullum hominem vel ante vel post fuisse s●lvum sanctoru● authoritates 
Lib 3. didst 25.  contestantur.  
I acknowledge indeed, that the eye of their faith in general was more dim, or that the Types and Veils and Shadows which they then looked through, were more dark, so that a less measure of faith, and of the 
S. Sinensis.  distinctness and clearness of it might save them which now will not save us, as chrysostom himself asserteth, 
Hom 37. in Matth.  who although he required of them no knowledge of Christ as necessary to their salvation, or (as some favourably interpret him) no explicit 
Casaub. ex●rcit. 1.  knowledge; yet he addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, God expecting that we now should see more in the Sunshine; then they could in the Twilight, in which, as many Articles of the Christian Religion, were more obscurely delivered, so they were more imperfectly apprehended and believed. But as they came down nearer and nearer to Christ's time, the more distinctly they had them revealed to them, as the nearer it groweth to Sun-rise, we may see the more clearly; and so according to Bonaventure, Fides crevit successu temporis, non Articulorum 
In 3. Senton: dist: 28. q. 4. 22ae q. 2. 〈◊〉. 7.  numerositate, sed credendorum explicatione; or as Aquinas hath it, for substance and in the general their faith and ours was the same, though some more particular Articles are now revealed, which they did not so particularly and distinctly apprehend; but yet so as that in the general they agreed with us in the faith of a Messiah. Some (in Lombard) are bold 
Vbi prius.  to name particulars, as Christ's Birth, Death, and Resurrection; and Aquinas 
Vbi prius.  concludeth for the necessity of explicit believing of his Incarnation in all times, because it was the means of salvation; which reason will hold also for the necessity of belief of his Death and Resurrection. For my part, I dare not be over-confident to determine for particulars, but that in general, that all that were saved then and always, were saved by faith in a Messiah and Saviour.  
Nor this with such an implicit faith as Lombard speaks of, viz. in believing what their Majors or Governors believed, quibus fidem suam committebant, to whom they committed their faith, and pinned it on their sleeve, to which purpose they ridiculously apply that in Job, Boves 
Cap. 1. 14.  arabant, & asinae pascebantur juxta eos, too Collier-like, or rather Asslike a faith for them that are made wise to salvation.  
Much less may we grant, that they knew more of Christ then the very Heathens did, in whom there was not so much as an implicit faith of a Saviour in any tolerable construction. 
See Prideaux, ubi prius.  At best were but Deists, (as I may so call them) i. e. that after their woeful manner worshipped a God without any true knowledge of a Redeemer, indeed were without God, and without hope, as well as strangers from the Commonwealth of Israel, Coloss. 2. 12.  
Of which number Cornelius was not, as they would have him, and accordingly bring him in frequently in their writings, as an instance of an Heathen, who yet feared God, and and whose alms and prayers (and therefore 
Acts 10. 2. 4. Lombard, ubi prius. Austin de praedest. c. 7 Gregor. Hom. 19 in Ezek. Aquin. 3. in part tertia, q. 69 art. 4.  his person) were accepted by God. For he was a Proselyte, and living among the Jews, had the same faith of a Messiah, that they had. Believed that he was to come, but was at first ignorant that Jesus Christ was he, and so that he was come; to certify him whereof, Peter was by God sent unto him. And thus much for their Plea taken from the Jews, and others before Christ; The last is from  
Infants,  
Or the children of Christians dydying Infants, and others that are distracted, or were deaf and blind from the womb; and so without this possibility of having Christ so revealed to them, as for them by faith to lay hold on him, and yet who dare say, that none of them have been, are, or shall be saved by him? Especially the children of believing parents dying in their infancy, whom the Scripture giveth us better hopes of. And therefore as these are saved Christo satisfaciente non recepto, so why might not the Heathens also be sine Christo Christiani, (as he calleth them) or if they had not Christ revealed to them in an extraordinary way, and faith infused into them, yet why might it not be by his own power and Spirit, imputing and applying the merits of a Saviour unto them, although 
N. Calverwell of the light of Nature.  they wanted an hand of faith to lay hold on him. For although wheresoever Christ is offered and displayed, there indeed is necessarily required the mutual and reciprocal act of the creature to embrace and entertain him; yet where he is not at all, or not clearly made known, even there God according to his distinguishing goodness (if he will) can accept of some for his sake, which is but a kind of preventing and anticipating love, as all the love of God is, and in his infinite wisdom can find out several ways of saving such by the pleonasme of his love in Jesus Christ. So that what in an extraordinary way may be granted to Infants, for want of age, or to distracted one's for the want of reason, the like may seem may justly be indulged to Heathens, invincibly ignorant of a Saviour, for want of means to manifest him unto them.  
Answ. To which I answer, that indeed I find Zuinglius putting these together, and making their case alike, which yet is much different: For,  
1. It cannot rationally be said, that there was an equal invincibility of ignorance in those Heathens, to that which is in Infants and distracted persons, which want the use of reason, which they had; and therefore might have made more use of it then they did; and therefore their sin was more wilful, and so made them more obnoxious to God's wrath, which therefore these Infants, etc. as less guilty, may in reason better escape.  
2. How God worketh in, or dealeth with elect Infants, which die in their infancy (for any thing that I have found) the Scripture speaks not so much, or so evidently, as for me (or it may be for any) to make any clear or firm determination of it. But yet so much as that we have thence ground to believe, that they being in the Covenant, they have the benefit of it, Acts 3. 25. Gen. 17. 7.  
Whether God may not work and act faith in them then, (as he made john Baptist leap in the womb) which Beza, and others of our Divines deny, 
Luke. Luther in Gal. 3. Kemnit. in Sess. 7. Concil. Trident.  and others are not unwilling to grant, I dare not peremptorily determine. Yet this I may say, that he acteth in the souls of Believers in articulo mortis, when some of them are as little able to put forth an act of reason, as they were in articulo nativitatis. But the Scripture (for any thing that I know) speaks not of this, and therefore I forbear to speak any thing of it. Only (as I said) it giveth us ground to believe, that they being in the Covenant may be so wrapped up in it, as also to be wrapped up in the bundle of life, and did it give us but as good hopes of the Heathens (of whom it rather speaks very sadly) as it doth of such Infants, I should be as forward as any to persuade myself and others, that they were in a hopeful condition.  
For such infants, suppose they have not actual faith, so as to exert it, yet they may have it infused in the habit, they are born in the Church, and in the Covenant, and what the faith of the Church, and of their believing parents may avail them, I do not now particularly inquire into! The Heathens (I am sure) came short of them in these advantages, nor will the pity or piety of the Saints, or their Tutelary Angels (to which Collius hath recourse, as to an Anchora sacra, for 
De animabus Pagan. lib. 2. ca 14  their safety) save them from a wrack, which he thinks they may, although they did not pray to them: This difference between them, and children of believing Christians, is evident, that these by virtue of the Covenant they are in may and aught to be baptised, which no Heathen till he profess his faith, can lay any claim to, no more then till he believe, he can to the Covenant. And if God did not vouchsafe him sufficient means of salvation, it is a misgiving sign, and ground of fear, that in his just Judgement, he let him fall short of salvation, which both by his original and actual guilt he had justly forfeited.  
And whereas mention was made of an anticipating and preventing grace of God, by which without faeith he might be saved; I conceive and believe that it is abundant anticipating and preventing grace, when either in Him or in any, God beginneth and worketh faith to lay hold on Christ. But such a preventing grace as to accept us for Christ's sake without faith in Christ, the Scripture mentioneth not, is a new notion of a young Divine, which without better proof must not command our belief, or impose upon our credulity.  
And the like I may say of imputing Christ's righteousness and satisfaction to them without their receiving of it, and him by faith. For it is that which the Scripture owneth not. It maketh account that it is indulgence enough to impute Christ's merits to us, in and upon our taking hold of him by faith, which is therefore said to be imputed to us for righteousness, Rom. 4, 5. 22.  
And whereas it was said, that God could do it if he would, we do not dispute of his extraordinary or absolute power, and what by it he can do; but what in the dispensation of grace he doth, and declareth in Scripture he will do. And as for that, although he is able to do more than we can think, yet his will must not 
Eph. 3. 20  be measured by our thoughts, nor may we pitch upon ways of salvation of our own devising; for what rare contrivances here would self-love and a luxuriant fancy make? But must hold to what he in his word hath revealed, to be his own way, which in the matters, as of his worship, so of his free grace, he will have the liberty of making the choice and appointment of.  
And therefore in the last place, for that Pleonasme of love, by which this way (it was said) they might be saved. I, with Paul, thankfully acknowledge not only a Pleonasme, but even an hyper-pleonasme of love as the Apostles word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 1 Tim. 1. 14. but I pray read on, and see what immediately followeth there in the very same sentence, where it is added, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it is in Christ Jesus with faith and love; but to extend it to them (especially in this way) that were wholly strangers to Christ, never knew him, never believed in him, or loved him savingly, and above all, (whatever Collius weakly dispute's to the contrary) is a Pleonasme indeed of a sparkling wit and pen, according to Quintilians' description of a Pleonasme. Qui 
Lib. 1. cap. 15, 16, 17.  fit, quoties verbis supervacuis oneratur Oratio; a neat expression, and a piece of a strong line, but no solid Divinity, which in the Text telleth us, that besides or without Christ, we must look for no salvation. Which therefore  
1. As before, should teach us with an holy and awful trembling and reverence to adore Gods holy counsels and righteous dispensations towards those Heathens, which (by what hath been said) appear to be in a very doubtful and dangerous condition, which though to us may seem severe, yet take we heed of blaspheming them for being unjust, lest God at the last clear his righteousness in our confusion. His Justice is as infinite and incomprehensible as his Mercy; and therefore we who easily grant that his mercy is more than we can comprehend, shall then as plainly be made to see, that his Justice is more than we can fathom, which yet because we cannot now comprehend, we too presumptuously take the boldness to implead and blaspheme; to be sure God will be cleared 
Psal. 51. 4.  when he is judged, & therefore we had need take heed that we be not condemned when God shall at last come to judge us, as for other matters, so for those hard speeches, which some 
Judas v. 15  have spoken against him, and those horrid imputations which they not more frequently then boldly load his decrees and proceed in this kind with, which although they blaspheme as none of his, yet should they at last prove indeed to be so (as many as gracious and able as themselves judge they are) such a question as you read, 2 Kings 19 22. will not be then to be answered, or not without confusion when God shall ask, Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed, and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? if with him, thy conscience shall then be enforced to make that answer there following, even against the holy One of Israel.  
Such I say, therefore had need be more wary, and forbear such horrid expressions and imputations, lest their present confidence do not happily, or rather most unhappily end in confusion.  
2. This should rather teach us with all humble thankfulness to admire Gods distinguishing mercy to us under the Gospel, who by the revelation of it hath removed those difficulties which made their estate (at the best) so extremely doubtful.  
Hath so ordered that we should be born and live, neither in the midnight of Heathenism, where no light of salvation by Christ shined, nor in the twilight of the Law, under whose veils this saving light appeared so obscurely.  
Hath not suffered us to die Infants, but hath let us live till we could put forth acts of Reason, that so also we might act faith in a revealed Saviour.  
Hath not bereft us of the use of of our Beason, as in those distracted ones instanced in, or of our Senses, as those who are born deaf and blind, etc. but that we may read the Scriptures, hear the Gospel preached, and know the mysteries of our salvation.  
3. Which therefore should be our serious care and endeavour so to improve these blessed helps and advantages in laying hold on Christ by faith thus revealed, and in working out our salvation by him purchased, that as we are the children of the light, so we 
Ephes. 5. 8 Matth. 11. 20. to 25. Heb. 2. 3.  may walk as such, lest our condition prove far worse than the Heathens, whilst we so manifestly neglect so great salvation, concealed from them, but openly manifested to us; for which with the Psalmist, let us humbly 
Psal. 147. 12.  and hearty bless the Lord, and so let the last word of his Psalm be the last of this Discourse. hallelujah. 
Ps. 147. 20   
hallelujah, Salvation, glory, and honour, and 
Rev. 19 1. 2. Ver. 3, 4.  power unto the Lord our God, for true and righteous are his judgements. hallelujah, Amen, hallelujah.  
FINIS.