Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
faith_n	abraham_n	believe_v	impute_v	7,639	5	9.9008	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45134	A letter to George Keith concerning the salvability of the heathen together with a testimony to the same doctrine, as long held and not newly taken up, out of several former books of him that writ it / by J.H.	Humfrey, John, 1621-1719.; Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1700 (1700)	Wing H3684; ESTC R25550	27,967	37

Kingdom enlarged and the Gentiles brought into it and to commit it to his Son so that the Church in the Wilderness is now Catholick a Church over the World and the Law by which it is governed is the same as was on foot since Adam fell but under a diverse Dispensation Administration or Edition Upon this account do we read of Cornelius a devout Servant of God though a Roman Gentile or Heathen is commanded to send for Peter to Preach to him the Gospel which is the Scepter of Christ's Kingdom and by Baptism to receive his Allegiance and declare him a Subject From which Instance there is one Objection that by many is urged against the Salvability of any Heathen If Cornelius say they could have been saved without an explicit Knowledge of and Faith in Christ Dying for his Sins and Rising again for his Resurrection this need not have been done They urge besides the Angel's speech That Peter should tell him such words whereby He and his Household should be saved But this is indeed standing on Words more than Things It was fit it was meet that so eminent a worthy Servant of God as this should be chosen out to be first brought in for a leading Example to other Gentiles at the opening the Gospel Dispensation It is to be more throughly considered that since it pleased God that this Covenant of Grace which is the Covenant of Life and Salvation for Mankind according to which every Man and Woman shall Live or Dye as they perform or not perform the condition thereof should have a diverse Administration we cannot but think it to be advantageous for any Man to be brought under that Administration thereof that is most perfect and such being this of the Gospel Cornelius hath his gracious call into it Not that Cornelius was out of a state of Grace and Salvation before for it is plain that he was a Man that feared God a Devout Man his Prayer heard and accepted of God which no Man can be but in the beloved or through Christ's Satisfaction and Merits and such an acceptance is an acceptance unto Life and Salvation To say he was accepted but not justified is to speak without Book and with prejudice I am satisfied to the contrary and if you are not I pray what think you of the Disciples I hope you believe that Peter James and John Nathaniel and the rest were in a state of Salvation while under the Jews Administration and understood not the Scriptures as is said before nor Christ hmself when he spake of his Death and Resurrection and could have no Faith in him Dying for their Sins and Rising again for their Justification then as they had afterwards when accomplished Well consider it then Cornelius is one that fears God and worketh Righteousness and performing the condition of the Covenant of Life he is in a state of Salvation according to that Administration of it as the whole World is under The Disciples likewise fear God and work Righteousness and are in a state of Salvation according to the Jewish Administration they both being in such a state Cornelius hears Peter Preaching and believes in Jesus Christ lives up to the Gospel and is now in a state of Salvation according to the Covenant under the Christian Administration The Disciples likewise Preach themselves and they believe and live according as they Preach and are in the same condition What inconsistency is there here but that the same Persons may be in a state of Grace under one Administration of the Covenant and under the other when they are called from one into the other Abraham is called out of his Country and he obeyeth God promises to make him a Nation which shall inherit Canaan He believes God and his Faith is imputed for Righteousness After this God appeared and makes a Covenant with him and requires Circumcision Will any say here What need is there of this seeing Abraham was in a justified State already No indeed there was no need of this for that end but it is God's Will that though Abraham is a Man that walked before God and was Perfect that is Evangelically and so in a saved State yet because here is a new Administration of the Covenant to be set up it is the Command of God alone is both the Rule and Reason for the doing As for the Good and Benefit he shall have by it Abraham is to be assured of that seeing God who is good and doth good thought it good to be done Abraham believes and goes out of his Country and is thereby justified Abraham believes and receives Circumcision and is thereby justified Abraham believes and Offers up his Son Isaac and is thereby justified He received Circumcision as a Seal of the Righteousness of that Faith which he had when he was Uncircumcised He is justified by the Obedience of Faith in doing all and his Justification by one is no impediment to his being justified also by the other The Angel's telling Cornelius That he shall bear words whereby he shall be saved is no more than Paul's saying That the Gospel is the Power of God to the Salvation of all that believe which is true whether the Believer was in a State of Grace already or no whether he be a Jew or Gentile whether Cornelius or the Disciples themselves of the Lord Jesus If this be so that a Heathen may be saved you may say Then is his Condition easier and his State better than that of the Jew or Christian I Answer This is not only False because the Condition of Salvation to walk before God and be Perfect being the same to all So much the lesser means that one hath thereunto must needs make it to be so much the harder But it is also Profane to say so because the Apostle to the Romans is express that the Advantage of the Jew is much every way above the Gentile Rom. 3.1 2. And to the Hebrews he is express That we Christians have a better Covenant than the Jew Heb. 8.6 The first and second Covenant he speaks of there are nothing but the two Administrations of the Covenant of Grace the same in Substance say our Divines in regard to the Jews which preceded and then to us Christians If you will ask wherein the second Administration is better than the first consult the common place of our Divines That I fix upon as the result of them all is that these new Administrations did still afford more Means and Inducement to the bringing up their Hearts unto the terms of the Covenant of Life it self by which it was only that any were or could be Saved No doubt but there was more wrought on of the Jewish Nation having the advantage of the Oracles of God and among us that have a fuller Revelation in regard to our Saviour to come up to a sincere walking before God which are the terms and the same I say to all than among the Heathen who are without

Man according to his present State so long as it is performed in Sincerity of Heart towards God and is called the Law of Grace As Man in Innocency had the Notices of the most Holy God and his Duty writ in his Heart or could gather it from the Light of his Reason being to live perfectly in that State So must the World after Man's fall and the loss of his Innocency have some the Like Notices implanted there or arising naturally from the Exercise of his Faculties that God is good and merciful and will not punish him if he Repent but consider him according to his frail Condition and consequently that he must now have no Government at all over him for Life and Salvation or else that he must be under another Law than that of Innocency or under other Conditions in obeying it for else must every Man on the Earth Everlastingly Perish Upon what account or upon what ground the Righteousness of God could stand in dealing with Man when fallen by another Law than that at first implanted in him in Innocency was a Mystery hidden from the Foundation of the World and not revealed but Darkly till the times of the Gospel But the Belief that God was good and would pardon the Sinner upon his Repentance though they could not tell how or upon what ground it was the way of Reconciliation through Christ being beyond the Ken of all Humane Understanding was General in the World as does appear in particular by the Ninevites as also by the Sacrifices for appeasing the Deity which have been in use in all Nations Not but they all are under the same Law as Adam was the Law that was for our Nature cannot be altered but we are not under it upon the same terms We are under it so as we are bound to live according to it but we are not under it so as to be Justified or Condemned by it We are under it as a Rule of Life but not under it as the Rule of Judgment There is One Religion therefore Law or Rule for all Mankind to obtain Life by which being the Law of our Lapsed Nature or Remedying Law containing God's Grace administred to all the Earth in a threefold State of such as were or are without the Law or before it and under the Law and under the Gospel As this Administration is threefold so hath the Faith which is the Condition thereof been diversifyed But now is the Righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith The Righteousness of God is the Righteousness of this Law which hath ever been a-foot in the World And though a Heathen hath not that Faith as is required of the Christian in the Third Edition of it or that which was required of the Jew under the Second yet hath he such a Faith as belongs to the First such as the Ancients before Abraham had And so long as that Faith he has does work by Love or by sincere Obedience to God according to the Light he has it will justifie him as well as that which is now farther required of us under the Gospel It follows that this Law being that which is given for Life and so the one only true Measure of Religion to all the World must belong to the Government of God which is Universal and that is the Natural Government of God The Government of God which is Conventional is that Government which he hath taken over some certain Persons as they are gathered or joyned together in Societies unto which they are called out from the World for the Glorifying his Name in that Worship or Service of him which he hath instituted by his Positive Law Precepts Ordinances I mean such as he hath any ways revealed to be his Will whether they be such as belong to the Law of Nature also or such as do not in order to the taking owning and acknowledging him for their God in a peculiar manner that is in opposition to the Worship of any other God or Idols and the serving him the true God in any other way but what he hath appointed and their becoming thereby a Peculiar People to him and so being under his Favour and Blessing in regard to all the good things of this Life and that which is to come I do observe here the Government of God which is Natural is over all the World This Government which is Conventional is over some Persons only called out of the World into a peculiar Relation to God That the One is over all but considered as single Persons taking in every Individual in the World the Other over some and so over Singulars also but considered as Incorporated for the publick Service of God That the One Government is by the Law of Nature I mean both of Lapsed and Innocent Nature The Other is by his Positive and Revealed Laws That these Laws and Ordinances of God therefore which he hath revealed as they are more and as they are revealed otherwise or farther than by the Light of Nature or Natural Reason only are a high Priviledge to such as they are vouchsafed to What advantage then hath the Jew above the Gentile Much every way chiefly because unto them was committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3.1 2. He hath shewed his Mind to Jacob his Statutes and Judgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any other Nation Ps 147.19 20. This giving to a People his Oracles or Positive Institutions are advantagious upon this account That they are means for obtaining his Blessing or else there could be no such advantages in them This Blessing of God must be look'd on not only to concern Temporal things but Spiritual and Eternal For seeing Man consists of a Body and a Soul and that Soul is Immortal he cannot be blessed but in both and the great and principal Advantage therefore that we have by these Ordinances or Government of God which is Conventional must and does lie in being Means for the bringing Men up to the performance of the Terms of that Law which God by his Government that is Natural and Universal hath made to be the Rule of Judgment to all Men for Everlasting Life or Condemnation Thus much as Introductory out of that Book I come now to another Out of a Book call'd Peaceable Disquisitions There is a threefold Government in one to speak accurately that God hath had in the World over Man in reference to his chief end the Salvation of his Soul The first was by the Law of Nature the second by the Law of Moses and the third by the Law of Christ Before God gave his Law unto Israel the whole World was under that Law which is written in the Heart God must govern Man by that only when there was no other This Law now writ in Man's Heart we are to know is two-fold for Nature coming under a double Consideration as Entire and as Fallen the Law must be double the Law of Innocent Nature or Law of