Many objections are against this —
Ohj. 1. Say they, it is true ; they cannot be saved without Christ ;
VeR. 6.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 77
but they are saved by Christ, though they have no knowledge of hhn ; as Peter was delivered by the angel out of prison before he wist Avho it was, Acts xii. 9. 10 ; so they feel themselves to be saved before they know their saviour.
Ans. The apostle saith, ' Without faith it is impossible to please God.' He doth not only say without Christ, but without faith ; so that not only the benefit of Christ is established in this doctrine, but the necessity of faith : so Jolm xvii. 3, ' This is life eternal to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Clirist, whom thou hast sent. As none can be saved without Christ, so none can have benefit by Ciirist, but those that know liim, and that believe in him.
ObJ. 2. But say they, by some extraordinary ways God might reveal himself and discover Jesus Christ to them.
A71S. This we cannot judge ; we are to keep to the rule. Only let me hint that the ground of this conceit is naught ; that because the heathens had many moral virtues, therefore they think God was bound to reveal Christ to them, they having so far improved nature. This is again a falsehood, because those things which do not come from faith, and were not done for the gloiy of God, were not accepted with God ; they were but sins set off" with the fairer lustre and varnish ; and the only privilege they could have by that was tit viifius ardeant, that they may have a cooler hell.
Ohj. 3. It is said of divers, they were persons devout and feared God before ever they had any knowledge of Christ ; as Acts xvi. 14, ' A certain woman which worshipped God, heard us ; ' so it is said, Acts ii. 5, ' There were dwelling at Jerusalem devout men, out of everv nation under heaven,' that were not as yet christians ; but they repented, and were converted by the sermon of Peter. So Acts x. 2, ' Cornelius Avas a devout man that feared God with all his house ; and ver. 34, 35, it is said, 'God is not a respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.'
Ans. These places do either s])eak of a natural devotion, which may arise merely from the instinct of conscience, therefore our translation useth the expression ' devout,' not ' religious ; ' or, they speak of prose- lytes that did actually profess the Jewish worship, or were acquainted with it, though they did not join with them, as many of the Eomans did, though they were not actually circumcised. In Acts, chap. xvi.. where Lydia is said ' to worship God,' it is meant only out of blind instinct of conscience ; in the second of the Acts, it is spoken there of Jewish proselytes that came up to Jerusalem to worship at the feast. Concerning Cornelius, though he were not a professed proselyte, yet he was acquainted with the doctrine of the Jews, and had some know ledge of God. Such an one was the eunuch, Acts viii. They knew and feared the true and living God, and had faith in the Messiah to come, though they had not faith concerning the person of Christ ; they expected the redemption of Israel, upon which faith, being drawn out into acts of obedience, they were accepted of God, as the patriarchs were that did believe in the Messiah to come. As to Cornelius, it is clear he was exactly religious ; he was already converted by being acquainted with the Jewish doctrine concerning God and the Messiah ; his prayers and alms came up before God. Now God heareth not sin-
78 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XL [SeR. XXIV.
ners ; and for that general conclusion in Acts x. 34, ' Whosoever fear- eth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of liim.' I answer, righteousness is there taken for any conformity to the will of God, revealed either in the law or gospel. He that renounceth his own righteousness, and casteth himself upon the merits of Christ in the sense of the gospel, is a worker of rigliteousuess, and God will accept of him of whatever nation he be. The expression showeth that all distinctions are taken away, and the pale of grace is enlarged.
Obj. 4. If God will not accept the gentiles without faith in Christ, then he requires that which is impossible ; there being no revelation of Christ made to them, and they having in Adam not so much as a power to believe in Christ ; for if he had not sinned he had no need of a mediator ; and, therefore, how can the Lord require faith of them for their acceptation to life ?
Ans. 1. At the last day the gentiles shall not be i-esponsible for want of faith in Christ, but for not keeping the moral law which was written upon their hearts, and for not obeying the dictates of theu' own consciences, as the apostle proves at large : Rom. ii. 12,-14, ' As many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law,' &c ; for God deals with men according to the measure of their light, and in the process of the last day he will call the heathens to an account for not living according to the dictates of reason and conscience : God will exact no more than he gives. It is true, he doth not give them further means ; but that is not their sin, but their infelicity and punish- ment for their sin, though they can never be accepted without Christ.