had left men free from all and all manner of Command and Obligation to Repent under the former and onely charged them with this duty under the latter but onely sheweth or supposeth that that Obligation to repent which lay upon men under the former the times of ignorance was but weak faint obscure and with little authority upon the Consciences of men in comparison of that tye obligation or engagement hereunto which God by an express Command imposeth upon the World under the latter the times of the Gospel This to be the genuine and true import of the said Antithesis appears 1. By the frequent and familiar usage of the Scripture in like cases 2. By consideration of the state and condition of the Heathen throughout the World in the Point in question before the times of the Gospel First It is a thing of frequent Observation amongst Expositors and Divines that the Holy Ghost intending to mention and assert any considerable encrease or advance of some former Dispensation is wont to express it in simple positive and absolute terms and as if it were a new kinde of Dispensation and which had not formerly been known or heard of in the World i Thus the Promises made to Abraham Gen. 12. concerning the multiplication of his seed and their inheriting the Land of Canaan are afterwards as viz. Cap. 17. 2 4 5 c. again mentioned and expressed as if they had now been new or first made onely because they are expressed more largely fully and emphatically When Christ spake thus to his Disciples after his Resurrection These are the words which I spake unto you whilest I was yet WITH YOU Luk. 24. 44. in this latter clause whilest I was yet with you he insinuates his present being with them by way of Antithesis to his former being with them viz. before his Death not as if he were not now present with them as well as he had been formerly but because his being now with them was of a more transcendent and peculiar nature and consideration then his former presence had been in as much as he was now in the estate of the Resurrection whereas in his former being with them he was but in the ordinary condition of men When Moses and the Priests spake thus unto all Israel Take heed and harken O Israel that this day thou art become the People of the Lord thy God Deut. 27. 9. their meaning was not to imply that they never had been the People of the Lord until now i. e. a People whom God had owned and countenanced from Heaven taken into Covenant with himself c. but that God by the constant Tenor of his gracious Administrations towards them from time to time until that day had made them now more his People then ever had further declared himself to be their God and to accept and own them for a People peculiar to him then formerly and that upon this account it concerned them more neerly then ever to harken unto him and obey his voyce In like Notion our Saviour promiseth his Disciples that he will pray the Father and that he should give them another Comforter even the Spirit of Truth when as in the very same period or passage of speech he affirmeth that this Comforter or Spirit was already given them or which is the same dwelt now with or in them Joh. 14. 15 16. So that he mentioneth a larger Effusion or Donation of the same Spirit as if it were the primitive or first gift thereof In like manner when being now upon his Journey for the raising of Lazarus from the dead he saith to his Disciples I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent that you MIGT BELEEVE Joh. 11. 15. he expresseth their beleeving to a further degree as if it were the first of their beleeving and that they had not beleeved before Whereas it is evident from Joh. 2. 11 22. and other places that they had beleeved on him before When the Apostle affirms this to be Gods end in chastising his People That they might be Partakers of his Holiness Hebr. 12. 10. he doth not suppose that they were in no degree partakers of his Holiness before their chastisement but he expresseth a fuller and richer participation hereof as if it were a simple absolute or original participation in this kinde So again when the Evangelist John saith that the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not glorified Joh. 7. 39. his meaning is not that the Spirit had in no measure been formerly given for questionless all those who under the Law beleeved and so those who in the days of our Saviours converse on Earth before his Glorification beleeved unto Justification were led hereunto by the Spirit here spoken of but he expresseth that abundant and most remarkable Donation and pouring out of it upon the Apostles and others after upon and by vertue of Christs Ascention into Glory as if it had been the first and only giving of it And it is a good rule or observation which Testardus delivers hereupon Those things saith he are said not to be or not to be done before the times of the Gospel which do less or not appear or are less perceived or felt before this fulness of times k So that when the Apostle saith in the Scripture under debate that God now in the times of the Gospel commandeth all men every where to repent it doth not necessarily imply that God never till now commanded the same thing I mean Repentance unto them but that now he commanded it upon other terms with more expressness and particularity of Command upon more lively and pregnant grounds or motives with another edg of Authority under greater severity of punishment threatened in case of disobedience then he had commanded it formerly Many instances from the Scriptures have been presented unto you and many more I doubt not upon a little further search might be added unto them wherein such a construction as this must of necessity be admitted And that this is the true and genuine sence of the place in hand appears yet further by the latter consideration mentioned which respects the state or condition of all Mankind under the times of that ignorance of which the Apostle speaketh and before the days of the Gospel For that the World was then under a Command from God to Repent is evident from hence viz. because otherwise their impenitency and obdurate proceedings in such ways and practises which are contrary to the Law of God yea and the Law of Nature it self had been no sin in them nor obligatory unto punishment the Apostles assertion being express that it is the Law that worketh Wrath i. e. that subjecteth men unto punishment because where no Law is there is no transgression Rom. 4. 15. meaning as he expresseth himself upon the account in the Chapter following vers. 13. that sin is not imputed i. e. charged upon men or punished where there
of Good and Evil which accompany it are and have been by means hereof in such a capacity of having the Gospel if not preached yet which is altogether as much or rather more revealed unto them and consequently of beleeving it that were they had they been true and faithful to the dear Interest of their own Peace and Happiness they may and might beleeve it If so the want of the letter or oral preaching of it unto them doth not excuse them from sin in their non-beleeving it unless we shall say that the committing of one sin excuseth from the guilt of another or that the neglect of one duty dischargeth from the obligation of another 3. And lastly Suppose and grant we yet further for Argument sake that the Heathen actually wanting the letter and external Ministry of the Gospel by men were in no capacity at all of coming to the knowledg of it either by the Works of Creation and Providence nor yet by any improvement of their natural Abilities possible unto them yet it must needs be acknowledged that they were in a capacity of being made Partakers even of the letter and oral Administration hereof in such a sence as all Nations are in a capacity of having and enjoying such merchandize or commodities which are exportable from any one Nation under Heaven and may be had by recourse and equitable applications made to this Nation for them When God erected and set up first his Tabernacle and afterwards his Temple amongst the Jews together with that entire systeme or body of his Ceremonial Worship wherein though under Types and Figures he discovered his gracious Counsel and Intentions by Jesus Christ towards the world and indeed preached the Gospel though his intent and purpose herein was to priviledg and accommodate this Nation above any other People and Nation under Heaven yet was it no part of his minde that these Discoveries of Himself or the great Blessing accruing thereby unto men should be so confined or appropriated unto this People but that all the World and all the Nations round about them far and neer yea and every particular person born or dwelling in any of these Nations might if they pleased have had part and fellowship with them in all this Grace and Blessedness as many actually had who became Proselytes to the Religion and Worship of this Nation Yea all the priviledg or prerogative which this Nation had above others in or about the Word and Worship of God the Apostle Paul resolveth into this {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Rom. 3. 2. that they were entrusted with made Feoffees as it were in trust of that great treasure the Oracles of God not for themselves nor their posterities onely but for the World or generality of Mankinde even as the same Apostle speaking of himself and of the Gospel saith in the same word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Gal. 2. 7. that he was entrusted with it for the Gentiles or Gentile part of the World as Peter was for the Circumcision i. e. the Jews This Apostle as in consideration that the said Ceremonial Worship or Mosaical Gospel was committed or deposited in trust with the Jews he calls it theirs Rom. 9. 4. So because they were entrusted with it on the behalf of the World elsewhere calls it in respect of the several members parts and veins of it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the rudiments or elements of the world Gal. 4. 3. Colos. 2. 8 20. meaning those Mosaical Ceremonies and Observations which God delivered unto Jews by Moses for the nurture and training up of the World during the infancy and pupillage of it in the Knowledg of God and the things of their Eternal Peace In like manner in that Spirit of Prophecy which God poured out so abundantly upon this Nation in those Prophets which he raised up and sent unto them from time to time to instruct admonish reprove declare unto them things to come c. he had respect as well to the Nations of the World as to the Jews themselves as appears by sundry particular Prophecies which much more neerly concerned other States and Nations as Babylon Egypt Tyre Edom Moab c. then the Jews Athanasius among the Fathers very excellently and fully to this point discourseth in his Treatise concerning the Incanation of the Word of God where having affirmed that the Grace of that Image stamped upon men according to the likeness of God is and was sufficient to afford unto men the Knowledg of the Word of God and yet that in case men should neglect to know him by looking into themselves he had provided this remedy for such their weakness viZ. That by the Works of Nature they might understand him to be the Workman c. he advanceth his discourse in words to this effect But when as the negligence of men by degrees grew worse and worse God yet again provided for this weakness also sending unto them Laws and Prophets familiar with them or which might be well known to them that in case it were troublesom unto them to look up towards Heaven they might receive instruction from their Neighbors or neer at hand For one man may learn of another that which is excellent neerer hand So then they might by lifting up their eyes to the vast magnitude of the Heavens and considering the sweet harmony of Nature or the Creation come to know the Word of the Father to be the Captain or Guider hereof and that by his Providence over all things he discovers and makes known the Father unto all Men and that he therefore gives motion unto all things that all Men by him may know God Or if this were grievous to them they might converse with Saints or holy men and from these learn to know God the Maker of all things to be the Father of Christ and that the worshiping of Idols is impiety and full of all ungodliness They might also by the Knowledg of the Law abstain from all Transgression and live righteously or vertuously For the Law was not brought into the world for the Jews onely nor were the Prophets sent onely for them or their sakes They were sent indeed unto the Jews and of the Jews were persecuted but they were the sacred and publique School of the whole World to instruct men as well in the Knowledg of things appertaining unto God as in matters relating to the Discipline and Government of the Soul c Consonant to the import of this Discourse is that of Calvin also transcribed by me pag. 508 509. of my Redemption Redeemed toward the cloze whereof he speaketh words to this purpose Although indeed there was no necessity to seek him God very far by reason that each one might finde him in his own self being that we are all kept and preserved by his vertue dwelling in us In the mean time to manifest more imply his goodness and infinite clemency amongst men or towards men
he hath not contented himself to instruct them by all such documents as those we have exprest but hath specially given to understand his Voyce to a certain People c. meaning that from and by means of these the rest of the World might have opportunity to receive the Knowledg of those things which were revealed unto them not for their own sakes onely but for the accommodation and benefit also of all others If you please to peruse the Commentaries of our best Protestant Writers upon those passages of Christ Joh. 4. 36 37 38. sent you to reap that whereon you bestowed no labor other men labored c. you will find many things directly pointing towards the Notion in hand Calvin himself acknowledgeth that some understand these passages as well of the Gentiles as the Jews and confesseth that in all ages there were some grains or seeds of Piety or true Religion scattered over the whole World d Gualter writing upon the said Verses plainly affirmeth That the Fathers and the Prophets by their diligent husbandry about the Lords Field sew the seeds of true Piety all the World over e Again a little after he saith that God used the Labor and Ministry of the Patriarchs and Prophets in tilling or culturing the World and preparing it for the Evangelical Harvest f Afterwards he sheweth at large into what Countries first the Partiarchs travelled spreading abroad where they came the sweet savor of the true Knowledg of God and then how the Prophets following them by the spreading of their Sermons and Prophecies into divers Nations far and neer advanced the same service which also he further saith was much promoted by means of the Captivities and Banishments of the Jews in Assyria Babylon and over all the East Having hereunto added the Consideration of the Translation of the Scriptures then extant or of the Old Testament into the Greek Tongue procured by Ptolomy Philadelphus King of Egypt after the Babylonian Captivity which as he truly saith was of very great consequence for the Propagation of the Knowledg of the true God through the World he concludes that these particulars did much facilitate and help forward the Work and Labors of the Apostles in the Conversion of the World Hugo Grotius likewise upon the same place to the same purpose The Field was broke up and brought into tilth by the Prophets who not onely in Judea but in many other Countries and Nations amongst the Gentiles both by word and writing awakened men to the Worship of the One God which is the seed of an Evangelical Harvest or Enerease g Thus then you see that it is not my sence alone but the Judgment likewise of many wiser and more learned men That God in setting up that great Light of the Knowledg of himself in the Land of Judea which some conceive to be the Center or middle part of the habitable World and amongst the Jews as upon a Candlestick did intend the benefit and blessing of the shining of it throughout the great House of the whole World And as many did partake of this Benefit and Blessing who inhabited Countries far remote from the Jews joyning themselves unto the people of the God of Abraham so had all others the opportunity of doing likewise And though remoteness of Country or dwelling from Judea might haply be some extenuation or mitigation of the sin of mens remaining ignorant of God his true Worship and Service and of those spiritual Mysteries which were to be learned in Judea yet was it no adequate or sufficient excuse thereof These things duly weighed and considered the particulars objected by you against that Proposition of mine about which it seems you are at present dissatisfied appear reconcilable enough to it and fairly answerable For 1. whereas you argue that all Men have not a legal tye or obligation upon them to beleeve on Jesus Christ and upon this account cannot stand bound to beleeve on him I answer by denying your Antecedent and affirm That all Men i. e. all men not wholy disabled either through want of years or defect of natural capacity to beleeve though there be a sence which the Schoolmen term sensus divisus wherein even such persons as these are under a tye of beleeving but all others I affirm are simply and directly under an obligation of beleeving on Jesus Christ Whereas you further argue If so then are they under this obligation either by the Law of Nature or else by some positive Law of God and affirm that by neither and hence conclude not at all I answer The obligation you speak of lieth upon them by the force and authority of both these Laws First The Law of Nature requireth all Men teacheth all Men 1. To seek and enquire after God i. e. the Knowledge of his Nature Attributes Excellency and Perfection of Being 2. After the richest and best Discoveries of his Will and Pleasure concerning men which are anywhere to he found 3. And lastly This Law requireth likewise of all Men to submit unto every part of the Will and Pleasure of God concerning them being any ways made known to them Otherwise we must hold either that this Law teacheth not men to regard minde look or listen after any Manifestation or Dicovery which God makes of himself in any part of the World but onely neer to them and as the saying is under their noses or within their own thresholds or else that it teacheth them to rest satisfied with such Discoveries in this kinde which are imperfect and unsatisfactory or lastly that it doth not teach them to submit to the Will of God in all things as far as it shall be discovered unto them None of all which can be affirmed with truth or likelyhood of truth First then if the Law of Nature requireth of all Men except the before excepted to enquire after the best and fullest Discovery which God anywhere maketh of himself his Will and Pleasure concerning Men And 2. if the Gospel be the fullest and richest Discovery in this kinde which he hath made or which is to be found which I presume is no Christian mans Question And lastly if it be the express revealed Will of God in this Gospel-Discovery of himself That all Men who hear of it or come to the knowledg of it should beleeve in his Son Jesus Christ it roundly follows That by the Law of Nature all Men of years and competent understanding stand obliged to beleeve in Christ either in sensu composito as viz. if they have or have had the letter of the Gospel or live or have lived under the found of the Ministry of it or else in sensu divisa viz. in case the Gospel hath never yet in the Letter or Ministry of it been revealed unto them Nor is that which you alledg concerning the inability of the Light of Nature to discover that there was or ever would be such a Man and Mediator as Jesus Christ much
considerable to your purpose though it should be granted in as ample terms as you propound it For what though the Light of Nature be not sufficient to make such a Discovery yet is it sufficient to teach men that it is their Duty to enquire and harken out what Discoveries God maketh of himself in the World and when they have heard of or found out the Discovery you speak of I mean of such a Man and Mediator as Jesus Christ it is able to inform and teach them that it is their Duty to beleeve in him accordingly The Light of Nature probably is not sufficient to inform every Member or Subject in a State or Commonwealth what Laws or Statutes the Parliamentary or Legistative Authority of their State will enact or impose upon the respective Members hereof Nor can it reasonably or equitably be expected from the persons invested with the Legislative Power that they should cause all the Laws which they enact from time to time for the due Government of their State to be proclaimed by an Officer of State at every particular mans door no nor yet in every particular Village or Town to oblige the Inhabitants to a subjection unto them It is sufficient for such an end and purpose as this if they be proclaimed published or promulgated in the Metropolis or head City of this State where or from whence all and every the respective Inhabitants and Subjects hereof may and ought to receive information of them what they be And they that live most remote from the said Metropolis or place where the Publication of the said Laws is made are notwithstanding as well obliged to the observation and keeping of them as the Inhabitants of this City it self though these by reason of their dwelling have a readier and better opportunity to come to the knowledg of them In like manner God being the Absolute Monarch of and Lawgiver unto the World it is sufficient for him and as much as can reasonably be expected from him onely that he should take care and provide that that great Law of Life and Death the Gospel should be published and promulgated in some eminent place or places of the World from whence all other parts of the World round about might have an opportunity to receive the Knowledg of it Nor are any of the respective Subjects of this great Kingdom of the World priviledged or exempted from yeelding Obedience and Subjection to their King in that great Law of his Gospel because of any remoteness of their dwellings from those places where he hath made any solemn Publication of it or because he hath not sent a publique Officer of Heaven an Authorized Minister of this Gospel home to their Houses to proclaim or publish it within their doors So that by the way the meaning of those Demands of the Apostle on which you insist How shall they beleeve on him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a Preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent the meaning I say of these Interrogatories or any of them is not either as if no man could possibly beleeve the Gospel but he that had personally heard it preached by a Minister or that men could never come to hear it but onely from the mouth of such a Minister or that none could publish it upon such terms as to cause it to be beleeved by men but some such Minister onely all such suppositions as these are palpably irrelative to the minde of the Apostle in those Demands His meaning in them is onely to imply 1. That the World having generally so corrupted themselves with all manner of wickedness and voluntarily estranged their hearts and minds from God were in no likely posture or condition to be brought to beleeve on him by means of Christ or on Christ himself without the opportunity and advantage of some declaration or report of the Gospel made in one kinde or other unto them 2. That they were not like to hear of God or of Jesus Christ in the Gospel had there not been some one or more to have preached or published it in the World 3. And lastly That there was no likelyhood that any such man or number of men would ever have been found or heard of who should or would have preached or published the Gospel or Name of Jesus Christ up and down the World had they not been sent i. e. had they not received both instructions from God concerning the truth tenor and substance of the Gospel and how they were to proceed in the preaching of it as also a special charge and injunction from him to preach it accordingly None of these particulars give the least intimation as if no man were either in a capacity or under an obligation to beleeve the Gospel but onely they to whose habitations some Minister of the Gospel was or should be sent to preach it It is sufficiently known and generally granted by Divines that there were and are several Nations and Countries in the World unto which none of the Apostles ever came to preach the Gospel yet the Apostle Paul informeth us and that with an emphatical asseveration {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} translated verily that their sound went forth into all the Earth and their words unto the end of the World Rom. 10. 18. How can this assertion of his stand but in the strength of this rational supposition That their preaching and publishing the Gospel in such parts and places of the World where they came and had opportunity to do it was vertually and constructively a preaching and publishing of it throughout the whole World and that those Nations unto which the Apostles did not preach it personally had yet a gracious opportunity to come to the Knowledg of it by means of their preaching and spreading of it so far and in such Countries as they did And unless such a supposition as this be admitted we must fall hard and heavy in our censures upon the Apostles and conceive of them as men unfaithful and defective in the Execution of that High Commission and most weighty Charge imposed on them by the Lord Christ concerning the preaching of the Gospel the Tenor whereof as we know was that they should go and teach ALL Nations baptizing them c. Mat. 28. 19. And again as another Evangelist draweth it up that they should go into ALL the World and preach the Gospel to EVERY Creature No Interpretation of what the Apostles did in or about the discharge of this their Commission the equity of this Commission salved can render them obedient and faithful therein unto their great Lord and Master but onely that which supposeth every Creature to have been sufficiently Evangelized or taught by them in the Teachings of that party of the Creature or of those particular Creatures which were actually and personally taught by them and that all the World was put into a sufficient capacity of beleeving or which is the
destitute at present of the Letter and Ministry of the Gospel by men should not stand bound by some Law or Commandment of God to beleeve then in case either the said Letter or Ministry shall at any time hereafter be vouchsafed unto them they must either be supposed to remain still as much disobliged from beleeving as before which I presume is none of your thoughts or else that there is some new Commandment imposed upon them by God which was not imposed on them before Now with God the Scripture plainly affirmeth there is no variableness neither shadow of turning or change Jam. 1. 17. Nor doth he create or make new Laws to subject men unto upon emergent or accidental occasions but all his Laws were made given unto and imposed upon men before any new emergency or change of circumstance or condition befalleth them So that for example he that hath formerly been very poor but hath of late a great and plentiful Estate cast upon him by God doth not now stand charged to distribute to do good to be rich in good works c. by any new Commandment of God imposed on him since his advancement in the World which did not oblige him before but by vertue of such a Command whereunto he was subject all the time of his poverty as well as since his being made rich although he stood not bound by it to act according to the tenor of it but onely then or at such a time when and in case he should become rich and now also not continually but upon due and regular occasions onely This Commandment of God Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God obligeth a man as well sleeping as waking as well in the midst of his lawful employment as at times of liberty and convenience for his actual worshiping of him otherwise God must be said to take off this Law from men as oft as they go to sleep or to the labor of their ordinary Callings and again to lay it on them anew as oft as they awake or cease from their labor or rather as oft and as oft onely as they have opportunity actually to worship him Yet doth it not oblige any man to worship him at such a time when or whilest he is sleeping supposing his sleep in respect of the time or season of it lawful nor yet whilest he is at the work of his Calling supposing that herein he doth but that which is his duty to do I make no question but you have often met with that common Maxim of Divines Praecepta affirmativa semper obligant sed non ad semper Affirmative Precepts always binde but not unto always i. e. not to a perpetual or uninterrupted practice of that duty whereunto they binde A rich man stands always bound to distribute to the poor but not to distribute always but onely upon all Christian Occasions and Opportunities So a Minister stands always bound to preach to his People but he doth not stand bound to preach always or continually to them In like manner suppose it were granted that an Heathen who never heard of the Gospel nor of the Name of Christ nor ever had opportunity to hear of either doth not stand bound to beleeve formally or explicitely in Christ whilest he remains under these disadvantages for such a beleeving yet this proveth not but that even such a person stands simply and absolutely bound to beleeve in him and this upon the terms specified or in case the Gospel shall at any time afterwards be sent unto him by God that he now stands bound to beleeve by a Commandment newly given or imposed upon him by God and not by vertue of that Commandment wherewith he stood charged before Nor is that Text Acts 17. 30. cited by me to prove an universal Obligation positively imposed by God upon all Men to beleeve on Christ disabled by any attempt made by you in that behalf the words being these And the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all Men every where to repent c. For 1. We have demonstratively I suppose proved already That the Repentance here mentioned and commanded by God unto all Men every where includeth or presupposeth Faith in Christ and that no Repentance whatsoever is or can be actually saving but onely such which is influenced or raised by Faith in Christ of one kinde or other either formal and explicite or else consequential implicite and interpretative 2. It hath been in like manner proved that these Universals all Men every where cannot reasonably nor with that Reverence and Honor which are due to Scripture-expressions be here confined to such either persons or places to whom or where the Gospel had been then actually sent and preached when the words were uttered by the Apostle or should afterwards be thus sent and preached but are to be extended to all Men simply and to every Nation under Heaven in as much as there is no necessity for such a cautionary or restrictive Interpretation Whereas you further argue from the Antithesis here made by the Apostle between the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the times of ignorance and the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the present times when the Apostle spake the words or times of the Gospel-Light that how ever God in these latter commands all Men every where to Repent yet under those other he did not I answer 1. That the Conclusion which you hence infer fights directly if I mistake not against your own sence otherwhere asserted in your Papers both concerning an Obligation lying upon Adam to repent in the interim between his Fall and the Promulgation of the Gospel to him as likewise concerning the like Obligation lying upon all his posterity without exception unless onely of such who either through defect of years or of understanding or through inexpiableness of guilt are uncapable of Repentance whether the Letter or Ministry of the Gospel hath been vouchsafed unto them or no For by what Law persons who never heard of the Gospel stand now or whilest the Gospel shines in other parts of the World bound to Repent by the same they stood bound to Repent-likewise before the coming of the Gospel into the World Therefore you cannot with the safety of your own Principles but confess that all Men every where even {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} under those times of ignorance of which the Apostle speaks and before {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or the times of the Gospel stood bound to Repent so or with such a kinde of Repentance which you affirm to be meant in the Scripture in hand i. e. such a Repentance which is conform to the Law of Nature and which includes not Faith in Christ and which you acknowledg also the unevangelized Heathen stand now bound unto 2. Neither doth the Antithesis or opposition between the two differing times mentioned import any such different Dispensation of God under the one and the other as if he
is no Law So that unless we shall suppose the World to have been absolutely lawless and that the generality of men might without contracting any guilt or making themselves liable unto punishment have committed all the abominations which they did commit yea and ten times more until the times of the Gospel we must of necessity make or suppose them subject to some Law or other of God whereby he commands Repentance unto men Yea the Apostle himself in the same Sermon and a very few verses before the words in contest plainly supposeth the men we speak of even all the Nations of men to have been all the time before the Gospel under an engagement or obligation from God to have sought him which supposeth at least their repentance And hath made of one blood all Nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the Earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitations that THEY SHOULD SEEK THE LORD if haply they might feel after him and find him though he be not far from every one of us c. Act. 17. 26 27. His meaning is that God hath taken such a wise and gracious course 1. In the creation and forming of men 2. In disposing and governing them that they might be in a good capacity of seeking him and this so as to finde him and consequently to enjoy him and to be made happy and blessed by him although their minds and understandings were much darkened through corrupt principles which they had voluntarily drank in and sinful practices wherein they had walked in as much as he was neer enough to them all to have been found by them even by groping or feeling as men use to seek for things in the dark meaning that by a very low strain of industry an ordinary diligence and enquiry they might have discovered and found him out so far as to have worshipped and served him with acceptation and this under all those great disadvantages for the finding him out which they had brought upon themselves These things import much more then their being under a simple Command from God to Repent though it is true that a Command to Repent vertually and with interpretation contains and comprehends the whole duty of man Nor do these words which you urge and insist upon And the times of this ignorance God winked at import any thing contrary to what hath been now argued or as if God had neither taken nor meant to take any account at all of those Heathen who before the times of the Gospel had only the Books of Nature Providence and Creation to instruct them for their misdemeanors in sinning The Apostle expresly saith that as many as have sinned without the Law shall perish without the Law Rom. 2. 12. And a little before Tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of him that doth evil of the Jew first and ALSO OF THE GENTILE to omit much more that might be readily cited from the same Apostle to the same purpose Therefore when God is said {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to have over-looked or winked at the times of ignorance i. e. the ways and doings of men under these times it is to be understood in a comparative sence implying onely some such thing as this That whilest means for the Conversion of Men from Sin to Righteousness and for the bringing of them to the true Knowledg and Fear of God were but low scant and weak in the World in comparison of what they are now advanced unto by the shining of the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ amongst men God was nothing so severe to mark what was done amiss nothing so swift to execute Judgment or take Vengeance on Transgressors as now he is and intends to be under the Gospel the vouchsafement whereof unto the World is as the laying of the Ax to the root of the Trees upon which follows the hewing down and casting into the fire every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit Mat. 3. 10. This sence is both very agreeable to the Scripture-phrase which frequently and familiarly expresseth a comparative sence in a positive and absolute form see Joh. 6. 27. 1 Cor. 1. 17. Luk. 12. 4. Joh. 7. 39. Gal. 4. 9. not to mention other places of like purport without number and likewise perfectly accordeth with that Principle of Righteousness and Equity in and about the punishing of sin and sinners which the Scripture from place to place ascribeth unto God and which inclineth him to punish sins committed against greater Light against means and motives of greater Efficacy and Power with more severity proportionably then those which though otherwise the same are perpetrated where means and motives for the refraining of such sins are either fewer or less effectual See upon this account Amos 3. 2. compared with Lam. 1. 12. and Dan. 9. 12. Deut. 6. 12. with 15. Matth. 11. 21 24. Luk. 12. 47 48. Jer. 32. 31. compared with Vers 33. besides many other passages of like import Calvin reading the words in present consideration between us thus Et tempora quidem hujus ignorantiae cùm hactenùs dissimulaverit Deus neither approves your sence of them nor mine though his censure falls much heavier on yours then on mine He affirms that Pauls intent was not to extenute the sins of men but onely to magnifie the Grace of God which had now on the sudden shone upon the World and labors to confute such an Interpretation from that of the same Apostle lately cited They that have sinned without the Law shall notwithstanding perish without the Law l His sence of the words is onely this God winked at or dissembled the times of that ignorance i. e. -that during the long tract and continuance of these times God did not discover or reveal himself unto men m I finde some other modern Expositors of good note steering the same course of Interpretation with him Some conceive that the Apostle speaks of the times past with those that were then living and that his meaning is that God would not lay to their charge i. e. punish or destroy them for their Idolatries past if now they were willing to repent Of this Judgment was Chrysostom and after him Oecumenius Neither of these Interpretations fall in with the genius of your inference from the words nor yet endamage my Notion in the least which saith That the Heathen here spoken of were under a Command from God to Repent even all along the times of the ignorance of which the Apostle speaketh But besides what hath been already offered to countenance the Interpretation of the words awarded by me I conceive this passage of the Apostle Hebr. 8. Vers 8 9 c. doth better the account For finding fault with them he saith Behold the days come saith the Lord when I will make a new Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah Not according to the Covenant that I