so taking him for their king, whom they are resolved to obey to the utmost of their power, what shall become of all mankind who lived before our Saviour's time, who never heard of his name, and consequently could not believe in him? To this the answer is so obvious and natural, that one would wonder how any reasonable man should think it worth the urging. Nobody was, or can be, required to believe what was never proposed to him to believe. Before the fulness of time, which God from the council of his own wisdom had appointed to send his Son in, he had, at several times and in different manners, promised to the people of Israel an extraordinary person to come, who, raised from amongst themselves, should be their ruler and deliverer. The time, and other circumstances of his birth, life, and person, he had, in sundry prophecies, so particularly described, and so plainly foretold, that he was well known and end of the world, the Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all scandals, and them which do iniquity, and cas them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." And again: "The angels shall sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire." Matt. xvi. 24: "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." Luke xiii. 26: "Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not: Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity." Matt. xxv. 24-26: "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations, he shall set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on his left: then shall the King say to them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre-expected by the Jews, under the name of the Mespared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee?" &c. "And the King shall answer, and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick and in prison, and ye visited me not. Insomuch that ye did it not to one of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." 159. These, I think, are all the places where our Saviour mentions the last judgment, or describes his way of proceeding in that great day; wherein, as we have observed, it is remarkable, that every where the sentence follows doing or not doing, without any mention of believing, or not believing. Not that any to whom the gospel hath been preached shall be saved without believing Jesus to be the Messiah; for all being sinners, and transgressors of the law, and so unjust, are all liable to condemnation, unless they believe, and so through grace are justified by God for this faith, which shall be accounted to them for righteousness: but the rest, wanting this cover, this allowance for their transgressions, must answer for all their actions; and being found transgressors of the law, shall, by the letter and sanction of that law, be condemned, for not having paid a full obedience to that law, and not for want of faith; that is not the guilt on which the punishment is laid, though it be the want of faith which lays open their guilt uncovered, and exposes them to the sentence of the law against all that are unrighteous. 160. The common objection here is, if all sinners shall be condemned, but such as have a gracious allowance made them, and so are justified by God for believing Jesus to be the Messiah, and siah, or Anointed, given him in some of these prophecies. All then that was required before his appearing in the world was, to believe what God had revealed, and to rely with a full assurance on God for the performance of his promise; and to believe, that in due time he would send them the Messiah, this anointed king, this promised Saviour and deliverer, according to his word. This faith in the promises of God, this relying and acquiescing in his word and faithfulness, the Almighty takes well at our hands, as a great mark of homage, paid by us frail creatures, to his goodness and truth, as well as to his power and wisdom; and accepts it as an acknowledgment of his peculiar providence and benignity to us. And therefore our Saviour tells us, John xii. 44: "He that believes on me, believes not on me, but on him that sent me.' The works of nature show his wisdom and power: but it is his peculiar care of mankind, most eminently discovered in his promises to them, that shows his bounty and goodness; and consequently engages their hearts in love and affection to him. This oblation of a heart fixed with dependence on, and affection to him, is the most acceptable tribute we can pay him; the foundation of true devotion, and life of all religion. What a value he puts on this depending on his word, and resting satisfied in his promises, we have an example in Abraham, whose faith "was counted to him for righteousness," as we have before remarked out of Rom. iv. And his relying firmly on the promises of God, without any doubt of its performance, gave him the name of the father of the faithful, and gained him so much favor with the Almighty, that he was called the "friend of God;" the highest and most glorious title that can be bestowed on a creature. The thing promised was no more but a son by his wife Sarah, and a numerous posterity by him, which should possess the land of Canaan. These were but temporal blessings, and (except the birth of a son) very remote, such as he should never live to see, nor in his own person have the benefit of; but because he questioned not the performance of it, but rested fully satisfied in the goodness, truth, and faithfulness of God who had promised, it was counted to him for righteousness. Let us see how St. Paul expresses it: "Who against hope believ ed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, he had this testimony, that he pleased God.— Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet," being wary, "by faith prepared an ark, to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righte ousness which is by faith." And what it was that God so graciously accepted and rewarded we are told, verse 11: "Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child, when she was past age." How she came to obtain this grace from God the apostle tells us: "Because she judged him faithful who had promised." Those therefore who pleased God, and were accepted by him before the coming of Christ, did it only by believing the promises, and relying on the goodness of God, as far as he had revealed it to them. For the apostle, in the following words, tells us, verse 13: "These all died in faith, not having received (the accomplishment of) the promises; but having seen them afar off: and were persuaded of them, and embraced them." This was all that was required of them, to be persuaded of, and embrace the promises which they had. They could be persuaded of no more than was proposed to them; embrace no more than was revealed, according to the promises they had received, and the dispensations they were under. And if the faith of things "seen afar off;" if their trusting in God for the promises he then gave them; if a belief of the Messiah to come, were sufficient to render those who lived in the ages before Christ, acceptable to God and righteous before him, I desire those who tell us that God will not (nay, some go so far as to say cannot) accept any who do not believe every article of their particular creeds and systems, to consider, why God, out of his infinite mercy, cannot as well justify man now for believing Jesus of Nazareth to be the promised Messiah, the king and deliverer, as those heretofore, who believed only that God would, according to his promise, in due time, send the Messiah to be a king and deliverer? So shall thy seed be: and being not weak in his | he should not see death; for before his translation faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old; neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded, that what he had promised he was able to perform: and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness."* St. Paul having here emphatically described the strength and firmness of Abraham's faith, informs us, that he thereby gave glory to God; and therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. This is the way that God deals with poor frail mortals. He is graciously pleased to take it well of them, and give it the place of righteousness, and a kind of merit in his sight, if they believe his promises, and have a steadfast relying on his veracity and goodness. St. Paul tells us, "Without faith it is impossible to please God:" but at the same time tells us what faith that is." For," says he, "he that cometh to God, must believe that he is; and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." He must be persuaded of God's mercy and good will to those who seek to obey him, and rest assured of his rewarding those who rely on him, for whatever, either by the light of nature or particular promises, he has revealed to them of his tender mercies, and taught them to expect from his bounty. This description of faith (that we might not mistake what he means by that faith without which we cannot please God, and which recommended the saints of old) St. Paul places in the middle of the list of those who were eminent for their faith, and whom he sets as patterns to the converted Hebrews under persecution, to encourage them to persist in their confidence of deliverance by the coming of Jesus Christ, and in their belief of the promises they now had under the gospel: by those examples he exhorts them not to draw back from the hope that was set before them, nor apostatize from the profession of the Christian religion. This is plain from verses 35 -38, of the precedent chapter: "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have great need of persisting," or perseverance, (for so the Greek word signifies here, which our translation renders patience,)" that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." 161. The examples of faith which St. Paul enumerates and proposes in the following words, plainly show, that the faith whereby those believers of old pleased God, was nothing but a steadfast reliance on the goodness and faithfulness of God, for those good things which either the light of nature or particular promises had given them grounds to hope for. Of what avail this faith was with God we may see: "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain; by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. By faith Enoch was translated that 162. There is another difficulty often to be met with, which seems to have something of more weight in it; and that is, that though the faith of those before Christ (believing that God would send the Messiah, to be a prince, and a Saviour to his people, as he had promised) and the faith of those since his time (believing Jesus to be that Messiah, promised and sent by God) shall be accounted to them for righteousness; yet what shall become of all the rest of mankind, who having never heard of the promise or news of a Saviour, not a word of a Messiah to be sent, or that was come, have had no thought or belief concerning him? 163. To this I answer, that God will require of every man according to what he hath, and not according to what he hath not. He will not expect ten talents where he gave but one; nor require any one should believe a promise of which he has never heard. The apostle's reasoning, Rom. x. 14, is very just: "How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?" But though there be many who, being strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, were also strangers to the oracles of God committed to that people; many, to whom the promise of the Messiah never came, and so were never in a capacity to believe or reject that revelation; yet God had, by the light of reason, revealed to all mankind, who would make use of that light, that he was good and merciful. The same spark of the divine nature and knowledge in man, which, making him a man, showed him the law he was under as a man, showed him also the way of atoning the merciful, kind, compassionate Author and Father of him and his being, when he had transgressed that law. He that made use of this candle of the Lord, so far as to find what was his duty, could not miss to find also the way to reconciliation and forgiveness, when he had failed of his duty; though, if he used not his reason this way, if he put out, or neglected this light, he might, perhaps, see neither. 164. The law is the eternal, immutable standard of right. And a part of that law is, that a man should forgive, not only his children, but his enemies, upon their repentance, asking pardon and amendment; and therefore he could not doubt that the author of this law, and God of patience and consolation, who is rich in mercy, would forgive his frail offspring, if they acknowledged their faults, disapproved the iniquity of their transgressions, begged his pardon, and resolved in earnest for the future to confirm their actions to this rule, which they owned to be just and right. This way of reconciliation, this hope of atonement, the light of Bature revealed to them. And the revelation of the gospel having said nothing to the contrary, leaves them to stand and fall to their own Father, and Master, whose goodness and mercy is over all his works. I know some are forward to use that place of the Acts, chap. iv., as contrary to this. The words, verses 10 and 12, stand thus: "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man [that is, the lame man restored by Peter] stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought by you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, in which we must be saved." Which, in short, is, that Jesus is the only true Messiah; | neither is there any other person but he given to be a mediator between God and man, in whose name we may ask and hope for salvation. 165. It will here possibly be asked, Quorsum perditio hæc? What need was there of a Saviour? What advantage have we by Jesus Christ? It is enough to justify the fitness of any thing to be done, by resolving it into the wisdom of God, who has done it, though our short views and narrow understandings may utterly incapacitate us to see that wisdom, and to judge rightly of it. We know little of this visible, and nothing at all of the state of that intellectual world, wherein are infinite numbers and degrees of spirits, out of the reach of our ken or guess; and therefore know not what transactions there were between God and our Saviour, in reference to his kingdom. We know not what need there was to set up a head and a chieftain, in opposition to "the prince of this world, the prince of the power of the air," &c. whereof there are more than obscure intimations in Scripture and we shall take too much upon us, if we shall call God's wisdom or providence to account, and pertly condemn for needless, all that our weak and, perhaps, biassed understandings cannot account for. 166. Though this general answer be reply enough to the forementioned demand, and such as a rational man, or fair searcher after truth, will acquiesce in; yet in this particular case, the wisdom and goodness of God has shown itself so visibly to common apprehensions, that it hath furnished us abundantly wherewithal to satisfy the curious and inquisitive; who will not take a blessing, unless they be instructed what need they had of it, and why it was bestowed upon them. The great and many advantages we receive by the coming of Jesus the Messiah, will show that it was not without need that he was sent into the world. The evidence of our Saviour's mission from heaven is so great, in the multitude of miracles he did before all sorts of people, that what he delivered cannot but be received as the oracles of God, and unquestionable verity; for the miracles he did were so ordered by the divine Providence and wisdom, that they never were, nor could be denied by any of the enemies or opposers of Christianity. 167. Though the works of nature, in every part of them, sufficiently evidence a Deity, yet the world made so little use of their reason, that they saw him not, where even by the impressions of himself he was easy to be found. Sense and lust blinded their minds in some, and a careless inadvertency in others, and fearful apprehensions in most, (who either believed there were, or could not but suspect there might be superior unknown beings,) gave them up into the hands of their priests, to fill their heads with false notions of the Deity, and their worship with foolish rites, as they pleased; and what dread or craft once began, devotion soon made sacred, and religion immutable. In this state of darkness and ignorance of the true God, vice and superstition held the world; nor could any help be had or hoped for from reason, which could not be heard, and was judged to have nothing to do in the case; the priests every where, to secure their empire, having excluded reason* from having any thing to do in religion. And in the crowd of wrong notions, and invented rites, the world had almost lost the sight of the one only true God. The rational and thinking part of mankind, it is true, when they sought after him, found the one, supreme, invisible God; but if they acknowledged and worshipped him, it was only in their own minds. They kept this truth locked up in their own breasts as a secret, nor ever durst venture it amongst the people, much less the priests, those But by false pretenders to religion reason is still in a great measure proscribed. The sketch that follows of paganism is scarcely correct: in many countries of antiquity the priests gained very little by their false religion which they might not have gained by the true one. Priests, moreover, were far less numerous in antiquity than in modern times, and their gains were infinitely smaller. The religion they taught, also, was better than none; and, though it is customary to abuse priests, perhaps, if we would be just, we should acknowledge that, even in pagan times, there was considerable utility in their establishments, which kept alive, in many places, the flame of piety, and was always more or less favorable to virtue.-ED. wary guardians of their own creeds and profitable inventions. Hence we see that reason, speaking never so clearly to the wise and virtuous, had never authority enough to prevail on the multitude, and to persuade the societies of men that there was but one God, that alone was to be owned and worshipped. The belief and worship of one God was the national religion of the Israelites alone; and, if we will consider it, it was introduced and supported amongst that people by revelation. They were in Goshen, and had light, whilst the rest of the world were in almost Egyptian darkness, without God in the world. There was no part of mankind who had quicker parts, or improved them more; that had a greater light of reason, or followed it further in all sorts of speculations, than the Athenians; and yet we find but one Socrates amongst them, that opposed and laughed at their polytheisms and wrong opinions of the Deity; and we see how they rewarded him for it.* Whatsoever Plato and the soberest of the philosophers thought of the nature and being of the one God, they were fain, in their outward worship, to go with the herd, and to keep to the religion established by law; which what it was, and how it had disposed the mind of these knowing and quick-sighted Grecians, St. Paul tells us, Acts xviii.: "Ye men of Athens." says he, "I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious for as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God. Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth unto all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all the nations of men, for to dwell on the face of the earth; and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitations; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel him out, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us." Here he tells the Athenians, that they and the rest of the world (given up to superstition) whatever light there was, in the works of creation and providence, to lead them to the true God, yet they few of them found him. He was every where near them; yet they were but like people groping and feeling for something in the dark, and did not see him with a full clear daylight; "but thought the godhead like to gold, and silver, and stone, graven by art and man's device." vered, and the light of the gospel hath come, those mists have been dispelled; and, in effect, we see that, since our Saviour's time, the belief of one God has prevailed and spread itself over the face of the earth. For even to the light that the Messiah brought into the world with him, we must ascribe the owning and profession of one God, which the Mahometan religion hath derived and borrowed from it. So that, in this sense, it is certainly and manifestly true of our Saviour, what St. John says of him, 1 John iii. 8: "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." This light the world needed, and this light it received from him-that there is but one God, and he eternal, invisible; not like to any visible objects, nor to be represented by them. 169. If it be asked, whether the revelation to the patriarchs by Moses did not teach this, and why that was not enough? the answer is obvious; that however clearly the knowledge of one invisible God, maker of heaven and earth, was revealed to them, yet that revelation was shut up in a little corner of the world, amongst a people, by that very law which they received with it, excluded from a commerce and communication with the rest of mankind. The Gentile world, in our Saviour's time, and several ages before, could have no attestation of the miracles on which the Hebrews built their faith, but from the Jews themselves; a people not known to the greatest part of mankind, contemned and thought vilely of by those nations that did know them; and therefore very unfit and unable to propagate the doctrine of one God in the world, and diffuse it through the nations of the earth, by the strength and force of that ancient revelation, upon which they had received it. But our Saviour, when he came, threw down this wall of partition, and did not confine his miracles or message to the land of Canaan, or the worshippers at Jerusalem; but he himself preached at Samaria, and did miracles in the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and before multitudes of people gathered from all quarters. And after his resurrection sent his apostles amongst the nations, accompanied with miracles, which were done in all parts so frequently, and before so many witnesses of all sorts, in broad daylight, that, as I have before observed, the enemies of Christianity have never dared to deny them; no, not Julian himself, who neither wanted skill nor power to inquire into the truth, nor would have failed to have proclaimed and exposed it, if he could have detected any falsehood in the history 168. In this state of darkness and error in re- of the gospel, or found the least ground to question ference to the true God, our Saviour found the the matter of fact published of Christ and his aposworld. But the clear revelation he brought with tles. The number and evidence of the miracles him, dissipated this darkness; made the one invi-done by our Saviour and his followers, by the sible true God known to the world; and that with power and force of truth, bore down this mighty such evidence and energy, that polytheism and and accomplished emperor, and all his parts, in his idolatry hath no where been able to withstand it. own dominions. He durst not deny so plain matBut wherever the preaching of the truth be deli-ter of fact; which being granted, the truth of our * Saviour's doctrine and mission unavoidably follows, wit could invent, or malice should offer to the connotwithstanding whatsoever artful suggestions his trary. Nevertheless, among the Greek philosophers, the unity of God was clearly enough expressed in their writings; and it is supposed, with considerable probability, that this was the true secret revealed 170. 2. Next to the knowledge of one God, in the mysteries, the knowledge of which was sup-maker of all things, a clear knowledge of their posed to secure happiness in a future state. Aristo- duty was wanting to mankind. This part of phan. Zipnn, 375. Barpax, 451. et Brunck, ad loc. knowledge, though cultivated with some care, by ples, by clear deductions made out an entire body of the law of nature. And he that shall collect all the moral rules of the philosophers, and compare them with those contained in the New Testament, will find them to come short of the morality delivered by our Saviour, and taught by his apostles: a college made up, for the most part, of ignorant but inspired fishermen. some of the heathen philosophers, yet got little told what they wonder how they could miss footing among the people. All men indeed, under thinking of? which yet their own contemplations pain of displeasing the gods, were to frequent the did not, and possibly never would have helped temples; every one went to their sacrifices and them to. Experience shows that the knowledge services; but the priests made it not their business of morality, by mere natural light (how agreeable to teach them virtue. If they were diligent in soever it be to it,) makes but a slow progress, and their observations and ceremonies punctual in little advance in the world: and the reason of it their feasts and solemnities, and the tricks of reli- is not hard to be found in men's necessities, pasgion, the holy tribe assured them, the gods were sions, vices, and mistaken interests, which turn pleased; and they looked no further. Few went their thoughts another way: and the designing to the schools of the philosophers, to be instructed leaders, as well as the following herd, find it not in their duties, and to know what was good and to their purpose to employ much of their meditaevil in their actions. The priests sold the better tions this way: or whatever else was the cause, pennyworths, and therefore had all their custom. it is plain, in fact, that human reason unassisted, Lustrations and processions were much easier failed men in its great and proper business of than a clean conscience, and a steady course of morality. It never, from unquestionable princivirtue; and an expiatory sacrifice, that atoned for the want of it, was much more convenient than a strict and holy life. No wonder, then, that religion was every where distinguished from, and preferred to virtue, and that it was dangerous heresy and profaneness to think the contrary. So much virtue as was necessary to hold societies together, and to contribute to the quiet of governments, the civil laws of commonwealths taught, and forced upon men that lived under magistrates -but these laws, being for the most part made by such who had no other aims but their own power, reached no further than those things that would serve to tie men together in subjection; or, at most, were directly to conduce to the prosperity and temporal happiness of any people. But natural religion, in its full extent, was no where, that I know, taken care of by the force of natural reason. It should seem, by the little that has hitherto been done in it, that it is too hard a task for unassisted reason, to establish morality, in all its parts, upon its true foundations, with a clear and convincing light. And it is at least a surer and shorter way, to the apprehensions of the vulgar, and mass of mankind, that one manifestly sent from God, and coming with visible authority from him, should, as a king and law-maker, tell them their duties, and require their obedience, than leave it to the long, and sometimes intricate deductions of reason, to be made out to them, such strains of reasonings the greatest part of mankind have neither leisure to weigh, nor, for want of education and use, skill to judge of. We see how unsuccessful in this, the attempts of philosophers were, before our Saviour's time.How short their several systems came of the perfection of a true and complete morality, is very visible. And if, since that, the Christian philosophers have much outdone them, yet we may observe, that the first knowledge of the truths they have added, are owing to revelation; though, as soon as they are heard and considered, they are found to be agreeable to reason, and such as can by no means be contradicted. Every one may observe a great many truths which he receives at first from others, and readily assents to as consonant to reason, which he would have found it hard, and perhaps, beyond his strength to have discovered himself. Native and original truth is not so easily wrought out of the mine, as we, who have it delivered ready dug and fashioned into our hands, are apt to imagine. And how often at fifty or threescore years old, are thinking men (18) 79 171. Though yet, if any one should think that, out of the sayings of the wise heathens, before our Saviour's time, there might be a collection made of all those rules of morality, which are to be found in the Christian religion; yet this would not at all hinder, but that the world nevertheless stood as much in need of our Saviour, and the morality delivered by him. Let it be granted (though not true) that all the moral precepts of the gospel were known by somebody or other, amongst mankind, before. But where, or how, or of what use, is not considered. Suppose they may be picked up here and there; some from Solon and Bias in Greece; others from Tully in Italy; and, to complete the work, let Confucius, as far as China, be consulted; and Anacharsis the Scythian contribute his share. What will all this do to give the world a complete morality, that may be to mankind the unquestionable rule of life and manners? I will not here urge the impossibility of collecting from men so far distant from one another, in time and place, and languages. I will suppose there was a Stobæus in those times, who had gathered the moral sayings from all the sages of the world. What would this amount to, towards being a steady rule, a certain transcript of a law that we are under? Did the saying of Aristippus or Confucius give it an authority?Was Zeno a lawgiver to mankind? If not, what he or any other philosopher delivered was but a saying of his mankind might hearken to it or reject it, as they pleased, or as it suited their interest, passions, principles, or humors: they were under no obligation; the opinion of this or that philosopher was of no authority; and if it were, you must take all he said under the same character. All his dictates must go for law, certain and true, or none of them. And then, if you will take any of the moral sayings of Epicurus (many whereof Seneca quotes, with esteem and approbation) for precepts of the law of nature, you must take all the rest of his doctrine for such too, or else his authority ceases; and so no more is to be received from him, or any of the sages of old, for parts of the law of nature, as carrying with it |