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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
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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

came not in to the Jew to be Circumcised and the Heathen come not in to us to be Baptized that is to the Profession of this Covenant they are yet all under the Verge of it in regard to Obligation and if any of them be wrought on by the Spirit so as inwardly to enter into and keep it they are made Partakers of the Benefit the Priviledge the Promise of it as well as the Christian I have had lately sent me some certain Manuscripts to read the Works of a Sedulous Divine I know not an Anti-Arminian Learned Pious Man who hath these words in one of these Manuscripts which I will transcribe Dr. Payne p. 513. says It has been an uncharitable Question Whether any of the Gentiles should be saved Now they cannot be saved in an ordinary way by Vertue of the Christian Covenant to which they have no Title or Claim Yet God may in extraordinary Mercy let all Mankind have the benefit of it and save them by Christ though they know him not Ans It is certain that all such of fallen Mankind as be Penitent and honour God by holy Love and Obedience have by God's holy Covenant in Christ true Right to Remission of Sins and the Kingdom of Heaven and shall be saved they are really and indeed true Saints But no one of fallen Mankind can be truly Penitent and honour God by holy Love and Obedience without special Grace And special Grace God gives to none of fallen Mankind save for the sake of Christ who hath merited it for all the Elect by Vertue of the Covenant between God and Christ according to the fore-knowledge and purpose of God These are the words of another and I am to give no more account of them than I please But this I will add to them That the Elect which are to be gathered from the four quarters of the Earth are I believe in some more places than where there are Christians I return To them pertain the Covenants and the giving the Law The Covenants of Circumcision and that Covenant when he took them by the hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt and the Law and Ordinances given by Moses These indeed its true did pertain to the Jews only and not to any other People But there was a Promise which belonged to them also by which when none of them were justifiable by their works for by the deeds of the Law shall no Flesh living be justified the penitent believing Jew was saved The Promise was the Promise of the Woman's Seed made to Adam fallen and the same Promise made to Abraham that in his Seed should all the Nations of the Earth be blessed which was the Substance of the Gospel preached to him which is now preached to the World that is the Promise of a Redeemer who was then to come and so was only in Promise but now already come that Redemption obtained and the Promise fulfilled Again As for the giving the Law there is a Law which came from Mount Sinai and it is true this pertained to the Jew but there is a Law also from Zion and that belongs to Jew and Gentile Christian and Heathen Out of Zion shall go forth a Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem Isa 2.3 This is the Law of the Gospel and the same with the Covenant of Grace of Life and Salvation If there be any then that apprehend the Covenant of Grace to be made with Christ in behalf of the Elect and to belong only to them I am not of their Opinion The Covenant of Grace I account is God's Covenant with Mankind and made with Adam fallen in behalf of his Posterity and this is as good as expresly declared by Christ Go preach the Gospel to all Nations to every Creature or to all the World he that believes or whosoever believes shall be saved and he that believes not shall be damned Mat. 28.19 Mark 16.15 16. This is likewise as good as exprest by St. Paul This is the Covenant I will make with the House of Israel after those days Heb. 8.10 Who is the House of Israel now the Partition Wall between the Jew and Gentile is down but the whole World Besides if Christ be Party how is he Mediator A Mediator is to bring two Parties to Agreement If God and Christ be the Parties and not God and Man how is he the Mediator between God and Men For there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 That the Redemption of Christ therefore is Universal and the Effect of it the Covenant belongs to all is not to be denyed nay because the Covenant belongs to all or because it must be granted that Christ hath died for all so far that he hath obtained an Universal Conditional Remission and Salvation or a Law or Act of Grace that whosoever believes and Repents or performs the Condition of the Gospel shall be pardoned and saved by the Gospel therefore must our Redemption by Christ be Universal And if any persist to deny it whosoever they be though they see it not for then they would not presume to do so they in effect do divest God as Redeemer of his Government over the World This must appear by what hath been said to an intelligent Man It is time for me then to come now to the Testimony I am willing to produce out of other Books I have formerly written that this Doctrine may not appear strange as newly taken up or not consider'd as throughly as I could but by the Confirmation and Inculcation thereof with the cumulative Light I bring out of them it may find the willinger Admission and give satisfaction to them that have free Minds and are meet to receive it Out of a Book Entituled The Ax laid to the Root of Separation As God has made all things so is he Universal Governour of his Creatures The Government of God over his Creatures that are Reasonable must be a Moral Government requiring Obedience from them upon Motives of Reward and Punishment The Instrument of this Government must be his Law The Law of God is either the Law of Nature or his Revealed and Positive Laws The Government of God is likewise double Natural or Conventional The Natural Government of God over Men and Women which he hath by right of Creation is over all the World as they are particular Persons giving them the Law of Nature to Live by that they may please him and be saved This Law of Nature is either the Law of Innocent or Lapsed Nature The Law of Innocent Nature is that perfect Rule of Righteousness that was writ in Adam's Heart when Created requiring him to preserve his Innocency and Integrity upon pain of Death and it is called the Law of Works The Law of Lapsed Nature is the same Law with Mitigation requiring the same Duty but not as the Condition of Life accepting of the imperfect Service of

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

Innocency and the Law of Lapsed Nature which is the Law of Grace and Mercy towards Man in regard to his fallen Condition To express it more fully there is Lex Naturae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Lex Connaturalis Gratiae the Law of Nature and the Connatural Law of Grace as Suarez hath it in his Book De Legibus I am much pleased with the Terms though I found not that he did well understand them or explain them himself Only thus much he says That the Ancients before Moses who were govern'd by the Law of Nature only must have this Lex Connaturalis Gratiae together with it or comprehended under it or else no Man then upon Earth could be saved which is a Truth so evident as makes the Proof of that Law by that Reason alone to be good When he terms this Law then Connatural I understand by it that this Law of Lapsed Nature this Law of Grace or Remedying Law is written in the Heart of Man in regard to his fallen Nature no less than the Law of pure Nature it self was The Law of Nature as I take it is the Dictates of right Reason declaring to us our Duty to God to our Selves to our Neighbours and the Light of the same Reason will dictate to us when we have fail'd in that Duty to repent and turn to God with trusting in his Mercy for pardon if we do so and not else We do find it legible in our Hearts that God is good and wisely gracious to pity our Infirmities and consider our lost Estate and necessary Frailty as that there is a God and any Worship that is at all due to him There is Mercy with thee that thou should'st be feared And these Characters thus engraven in the Heart of Man is the same Law of Grace in the Practical Contents as is more largely Paraphrased on by the Prophets in the Old and the Apostles in the New Testament There is no difference at all in the Substance as Divines speak but in the Administration It is no otherwise than as a Book thrice Printed the second Edition is larger than the first and the third most compleat and perfect This I will say the Covenant was still on foot the Condition sincerity in walking according to their Light Men were judged by it and many saved Here only is the difference that the Foundation on which all this is laid the Mediation Sacrifice and Righteousness of Christ comes not to be revealed but in Types and darker Promises till the Promulgation of the Gospel Now I say that though the Heathen be not under or have not this Law of Grace in the third and last setting out or in the State under the Gospel yet they are under it or have it in the State of the Ancients or as they had it in the first Promulgation and upon Supposition that any of them do according to the Light they have live up in Sincerity to this Law I dare not be the Man that shall deny but through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ procuring this Law or Covenant for them as for us and all the World they shall be saved even as we and we shall be saved even as they To them who by patient Continuance in well-doing seek for it Eternal Life Not to leave this yet I have learned from Cicero That all Laws must be derived from the Divine Reason and Will I have learned from others That this Reason of God in his Government of all things agreeable to his own Nature and the Nature of his Creatures is the Eternal Law I have learned from the Scripture That there is a Law of Works and a Law of Grace I do learn by consequence That these Laws as Frames of God's Government over Man must be Reconcileable with the Eternal Law or the Reason of his Wisdom and Justice and Goodness the one of them being fit for the State of Man in Innocency the other for his Lapsed Condition How these Laws do now consist and not consist with one another while the Scriptures say sometimes that we are freed from the Law and sometimes that it is Established sometimes that not a tittle of it shall pass and sometimes that we are not under the Law but under Grace I do not intend here any full decision I will draw only one chief Stroke towards it The Law may be considered as the Rule of Man's Duty or Measure of Good and Evil according to his own Nature and God's or as the Instrument of God's Government over Man or Measure of his Dealing with us or Judging us according to our deservings It cannot be conceived but so long as the Nature of God and Man is the same and Good and Evil which consists of agreeableness or disagreeableness to them both is the same the Law of Nature must remain unchangeable as the Measure of our Moral Actions But as it is the Instrument of God's Government in the World it is as certain that through the Mediation of Christ who hath satisfied his Father for our breach of it it is relaxed so as we are not dealt withal according to the Tenor of the Law in the Matters of this Life or of that which is to come I distinguish these two things A Rule of Life and a Rule for Life A Rule for Life is expressed in these words He that doeth them shall live in them We are freed from the Law on the latter account we are made free to it in regard to the former That is we are under the Law so as that we are still bound to live according to it but we are delivered from it so as through Mercy and the Merits of Christ we shall not be judged by it There is Norma Vitae and Norma Judicii The Law is of force as a Rule of Life or Duty but we are not under it as a Rule of Judgment We shall be Judged says St. James by the Law of Liberty and Paul says According to my Gospel Blessed be God for this good Truth Now that the Government of God over the whole World is by the Law of Grace and not of Works thus much being said only for light in the way does appear as the Sun or Moon in the Heavens For God hath not left himself without Witness in that he does good and gives us Fruitful Seasons These are Effects of his Mercy which he could not shew to the World as he does if he dealt with it according to the Law of Works When Abraham pleads with God for Sodom that he would spare it if there were ten Righteous Persons there it is manifest that he must account of God's Government over the Earth to be a Government of Grace That the Righteous be as the Wicked that be far from thee says he shall not the Judge of all the Earth do Right If God should do but Right to the best of Men according to the Righteousness of the Law of Works there could be no such Pleading as