Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	death_n	die_v	resurrection_n	7,569	5	9.1208	5	true

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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

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

Jews understood not these things prophesied of Him nor yet the Prophets that prophesied them seeing they ministred those things says the Apostle not to themselves but to us which are reported by them that preach the Gospel 1 Pet. 1.12 and therefore he hath it before That they prophesied of the Grace which should come or was to come and not then come v. 10. St. Paul accordingly lets the Romans understand Rom. 16.25 26. how the Gospel therefore was mainly a Revelation of the Mystery which was kept secret since the World began that now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the Commandment of the Everlasting God made known to all Nations for the Obedience of Faith That is as much as to say God by his Spirit hath opened those Prophecies to these first Preachers commanding them to Reveal the same to the World for Confirmation of what Christ said and did suffer'd and rose again they being such as abode with him as Eye and Ear-Witnesses of the same For which cause says he again Ephes 3.1 2 3 4 5 6. I Paul the Prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles if you have heard of the Dispensation of the Grace of God which is given me to you-ward how that by Revelation he made known unto me the Mystery which in other Ages was not made known to the Sons of Men as it is now revealed to his holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit The Knowledge of Christ dying and risen again as now revealed by the Gospel that is as dying for our Sins and rising again for our Justification with the Application thereof by Faith we see plainly was a Mystery and not made known to the Sons of Men till the times of the Apostles It appears therefore that the Redemption of Christ and Benefits of his Death and Resurrection must be of larger extent than the Knowledge of him for else no Man in the World till Faith came till Christ and the Gospel came could as is said before have been saved As for the Distinction here which you used of an Implicit and Explicit Faith or Knowledge of Christ I count it but a yielding the Cause For when we say The Benefit of Christ's Redemption and the Knowledge of Him or Faith in Him are not Commensurate we mean it of such a Kowledge of him or Faith as is now preached by the Gospel that is that Explicit Knowledge as was revealed by the Spirit to the Apostles and by them made known and so required of us as necessary to our Salvation And if this be granted that such an Explicit Knowledge of Christ and Faith in him is not of the same Extent Necessitate medii with our Benefit by him the Point is obtained If you will not grant it the matter is enforced or proved by this Text. A bare Implicit Knowledge of the Messiah to come without an Explicit Knowledge of his Death and Resurrection as now revealed is a thing that could be of no more avail to the Salvation of the Jews than the Faith of a Gentile only in God's Mercy upon his Repentance which we see the Ninevites had without the Knowledge of Christ at all and if either the one or the other had Repentance unto Life wrought upon their Hearts by the Spirit of God which is f●ee to operate where he will for the Wind bloweth where it listeth Christ himself says they were accepted only through the Satisfaction and Merits of our Redeemer whereof indeed they were both a-like Ignorant this being the Mystery of the Gospel yet hid from the Sons of Men. I must confess when I ask'd you Whether you did or could really believe that every Jew and Heathen that ever was saved allowing the Salvability of such had a Faith in Christ's dying and rising And you said You did verily believe so I wonder'd at it and told you I lik'd you the better as being a Man of a stronger Faith than I who can believe no such thing if I would never so fain On the contrary I do believe that there never was any Man in the World that had the Knowledge of Christ Dying for his Sins and Rising again for his Justification so as to make Application of it to his own Soul by Faith as is required now of us under the Gospel until the Prophecies which the Jews had were accomplished by Him that is till after his Death and Resurrection We are sure the Apostles knew nothing of his Death and Resurrection and consequently of his Satisfaction and Merit thereby though Christ did more than once tell them of it for indeed they were not yet under that Dispensation as they should believe it And when the Disciples undestood nothing thereof for all the Scriptures how can you believe that others did or could understand their Meaning before these Scriptures were fulfilled You ask in your Book Who taught Abraham Job our first Parents but God and Christ by the Holy Spirit in their Hearts I say the like as to any good man that ever was among the Heathen That it was God by his Spirit that wrought that Good in him as in us But I say also that God did teach them every one of them the one as well as the other so much in their day as was necessary to their Salvation by such way and means as he thought best But such a Faith and Knowledge of Christ as is necessary to the Salvation of a Christian that is one to whom the Gospel is preached and received I do by no means believe to be necessary to the Salvation of every Man on the Earth that is or ever was saved no nor to any one of those that lived before Christ came We read in John when Christ was going from his Disciples and from the World to his Father he has these remarkable words Ye believe in God believe also in me John 14.1 Under that Dispensation the Jews and the Disciples were before the Christian Dispensation was opened they were to have Faith in God and to put their whole trust in him and it was that Faith by which the Just Man was to Live Hab. 2.4 But the Dispensation was coming on and is now come when we must believe also in Christ It was Life Eternal for the Jews to know God the God of Abraham to be the only true God and to live in the Acknowledgment and Service of him But now we are to know Jesus Christ also and believe in Him whom he hath sent John 17.3 6.29 In both places note the word Sent which was not of necessity to Salvation therefore before he was sent When Christ had finished the Work of our Redemption by his Death on the Cross and Risen again he enter'd into that Kingdom which John and He Preached was at hand All Power is given me saith he in Heaven and Earth Go and Disciple all Nations The Jews were under a Theocracy and so God's People It pleased him now to have that

upon his Repentance as appears by their Sacrifices and that if they lived uprightly it should be well with them Now if upon this it pleased God to choose any one of them as he did Abraham when he was an Idolater in Ur of the Caldees and by his Spirit gave him an inward and effectual Call by stirring him up to lay hold on God and his Covenant in a desire and endeavour to walk up to his Light within or Knowledge he hath attained with Sincerity of Heart and Life which is performing the Condition of the Covenant of Grace according to the Dispensation he is under although such a Man does not know upon what account Sin is expiated God reconciled and the Sinner saved yet is it certain that this Man's Sins are pardoned God reconciled to him and his Soul in a State of Salvation as well as the Christians who hath the Explicit Knowledge of Christ's Death and Resurrection and that is upon the same account as his even through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant to wit through the Covenant of Grace preached and purchased for us by his Blood the Death Satisfaction Mediation Redemption of Christ Jesus so that if any held or are willing to hold a Salvability for the Heathen and yet deny their Salvaon by Covenant but by an uncovenanted Miraculous Mercy they do but trip in plain Ground upholding a Doctrine that is Good and Generous but without its Foundation For there is no Way nor ever was but one Way which is this by the Covenant of Grace procured for us by Christ of Salvation to any Mortal under Heaven As for them whom God hath left in Darkness says the Bishop intending all the Heathen they are certainly out of Covenant out of those Promises and Declarations that are made in it so that they have no foederal Right to be saved neither can we affirm that they shall be saved This I must needs say I take to be spoken without second Thoughts and I like nothing so inconsiderate though in this excellent Person There is no Man coming into the World so left in Darkness but he hath a Light within which if he lives up to he is one of God's People says the Quaker There is no Man in the Earth that loves God sincerely I say for certain can perish The Quakers Doctrine in this point is to be preferr'd before the Bishops I will say more there is no Man in the Earth Heathen or Christian but he is a Subject of the Covenant the Covenant of Grace and God is certainly his Governour by this Law or Covenant so far that if he obeys him answers it and keeps it or lives up to that Revelation of God's Will which he has he hath by performing the Condition the Promise thereof accordingly to be saved and we may affirm that he shall I must yet say further if it be farther That there is no Man on the Earth that is saved but it must be by the Covenant the Covenant of Grace and the Promise of it There is one Distinction therefore I must offer which the Bishop hath not and is wanting in the place and I will be solemn upon it It pleased God to call Abram out of his Country to make him a Nation and to give him Canaan and upon this account he is the first Elect we read of in Scripture Thou art the Lord the God who didst choose Abram and brought him out of Ur in the Caldees Neh. 9.7 That is in regard to his Posterity after him who were Chosen of God to be a Peculiar People to him by a Covenant which was a Political Covenant between him and them as their Ruler This Covenant required the mark of Circumcision in their Flesh by way of Separation of that Nation from all others Among all the Multitudes of People thou hast gotten thee a People and unto this People thou gavest a Law that is approved of all 2 Esd 5.27 Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord to enter into Covenant with the Lord thy God Deut. 27. Thou art a holy People unto the Lord thy God the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special People unto himself above all People that are upon the face of the Earth Deut. 7.6 So again Chap. 14. v. 2. A special People a peculiar People He hath not dealt so with other Nations as he did to them says the Psalmist He hath shewn his Mind unto Jacob his Statutes and Judgments to Israel Ps 147.19 20. To whom pertaineth the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants and the giving the Law and the Service of God Rom. 19.4 By all which it appears That God was their God and they his People by a Covenant that was Peculiar to them as the Seed of Abraham with whom it began and is called by Divines therefore the Covenant of Peculiarity which is to be distinguished in this respect from the Covenant of Grace that does belong to all Mankind the Posterity of Adam the difference indeed being in regard to its divers Administrations When the Scripture therefore does speak of the Gentiles that they were in respect to the Jews without God in the World without the Covenant Aliens to the Commonwealth of Israel without Hope the hope of Israel without Christ Strangers to the Covenant of Promise We are to understand all this in regard to the Church State of the Jews which no Nation but the Jews were in as appears by all the Texts before-cited They were without God How is that As he was to the Jews a Peculiar Governour but not without God as Universal Soveraign of Heaven and Earth Is he the God of the Jews only Is he not of the Gentiles Yea of the Gentiles also Rom. 3.29 Without the Covenant How is that Without the Covenant of Peculiarity not without the Covenant of Grace but under the Government of God by this Law or Covenant which is the Law of the Gospel by which all Men at the great Day shall be judged According to my Gospel says the Apostle Rom. 2.16 That Law now cannot but be the Law we must Live by as govern'd by God which we must be Judged by That Law must be first Norma Officii a Rule of Life which at last must be Norma Judicii the Rule of Judgment Well then there is that Covenant which some call a Political some a Peculiar some a Subservient Covenant belonging to the Jews and now to us Christians also the Partition Wall being thrown down who are therefore as the Jews were called by Peter a Chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood a Holy Nation a Peculiar People 1 Pet. 2.9 and by Paul are said to be Grafted into their Olive that is into the same external Covenant-Relation Rom. 11.17 and this the Heathen are without But there is also the Covenant of Life of Grace of Salvation or of the Gospel and this we are all under Jew and Gentile Christian and Heathen and though the Gentile