Answ.All that gives no Certainty of Salvation; for, as the Protestants confess, they confer not Grace ex opere operato. And will they not acknowledge, that many are in the Bosom of the Church, who are visibly no Members of it? But if this Charity be extended towards such who are where the Gospel is preached, so that they may be judged capable of Salvation, because they are under a simple Impossibility of distinctly knowing the Means of Salvation; what Reason can be alleged why the like Charity may not be had to such, as though they can hear, yet are under a simple Impossibility of hearing, because it is not spoken unto them? A Chinese or Indian excusable for not knowing the History of the Death of Christ, &c.Is not a Man in China, or in India, as much to be excused for not knowing a Thing which he never heard of, as a deaf Man here, who cannot hear? For as the deaf Man is not to be blamed, because God hath been pleased to suffer him to lie under this Infirmity; so is the Chinese or the Indian as excusable, because God hath with-held from him the Opportunity of hearing. He that cannot hear a Thing, as being necessarily absent, and he that cannot hear it, as being naturally deaf, are to be placed in the same Category.
Answ. 2.Secondly, This manifestly appears by that Saying of Peter, Acts x. 34. 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. Peter was before liable to that Mistake that the rest of the Jews were in; judging that all were unclean, except themselves, and that no Man could be saved, except they were proselyted to their Religion, and circumcised. But God shewed Peter otherwise in a Vision, and taught him to call nothing common or unclean; God regarded the Prayers of Cornelius, a Stranger to the Law.and therefore, seeing that God regarded the Prayers of Cornelius, who was a Stranger to the Law, and to Jesus Christ as to the outward, yet Peter saw that God had accepted him; and he is said to fear God before he had this outward Knowledge: Therefore Peter concludes that every one in every Nation, without respect of Persons, that feareth God and worketh Righteousness, is accepted of him. So he makes the Fear of God and the working of Righteousness, and not an outward historical Knowledge, the Qualification: They then that have this, wherever they be, they are saved. Now we have already proved, that to every Man that Grace is given, whereby he may live godlily and righteously; and we see, that by this Grace Cornelius did so, and was accepted, and his Prayers came up for a Memorial before God before he had this outward Knowledge. From what Scripture did Job learn his excellent Knowledge?Also, Was not Job a perfect and upright Man, that feared God, and eschewed Evil? Who taught Job this? How knew Job Adam’s Fall? And from what Scripture learned he that excellent Knowledge he had, and that Faith, by which he knew his Redeemer lived? (For many make him as old as Moses). Was not this by an inward Grace in the Heart? Was it not that inward Grace that taught Job to eschew Evil, and to fear God? And was it not by the Workings thereof that he became a just and upright Man? How doth he reprove the Wickedness of Men, Chap. xxiv? And after he hath numbered up their Wickedness, doth he not condemn them, Ver. 13. for rebelling against this Light, for not knowing the Way thereof, nor abiding in the Paths thereof? It appears then Job believed that Men had a Light, and that because they rebelled against it, therefore they knew not its Ways, and abode not in its Paths; even as the Pharisees, who had the Scriptures, are said to err, not knowing the Scriptures. Job’s Friends; their excellent Sayings.And also Job’s Friends, though in some Things wrong; yet who taught them all those excellent Sayings and Knowledge which they had? Did not God give it them, in order to save them? or was it merely to condemn them? Who taught Elihu, That the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth Understanding; that the Spirit of God made him, and the Breath of the Almighty gave him Life? And did not the Lord accept a Sacrifice for them? And who dare say that they are damned? But further, the Apostle puts this Controversy out of Doubt; for, if we may believe his plain Assertions, he tells us, Rom. ii. That the Heathens did the Things contained in the Law. From whence I thus argue;
Arg.In every Nation he that feareth God, and worketh Righteousness, is accepted:
But many of the Heathens feared God, and wrought Righteousness:
Therefore they were accepted.
The Minor is proved from the Example of Cornelius: But I shall further prove it thus;
He that doth the Things contained in the Law, feareth God, and worketh Righteousness:
But the Heathens did the Things contained in the Law: