1 Part.Our Theme then hath two Parts; First, That those that have the Gospel and Christ outwardly preached unto them, are not saved but by the Working of the Grace and Light in their Hearts.

2 Part.Secondly, That by the Working and Operation of this, many have been, and some may be saved, to whom the Gospel hath never been outwardly preached, and who are utterly ignorant of the outward History of Christ.

1 Part. Proved.As to the first, though it be granted by most, yet because it is more in Words than Deeds (the more full discussing of which will occur in the next Proposition concerning Justification) I shall prove it in few Words. And first from the Words of Christ to Nicodemus, John iii. 3. Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a Man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. The New Birth (or Regeneration) cometh not by the outward Knowledge of Christ.Now this Birth cometh not by the outward Preaching of the Gospel, or Knowledge of Christ, or historical Faith in him; seeing many have that, and firmly believe it, who are never thus renewed. The Apostle Paul also goes so far, while he commends the Necessity and Excellency of this new Creation, as in a certain Respect to lay aside the outward Knowledge of Christ, or the Knowledge of him after the Flesh, in these Words, 2 Cor. v. 16, 17. Wherefore henceforth know we no Man after the Flesh; yea, though we have known Christ after the Flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any Man be in Christ, he is a new Creature, old Things are passed away, behold all Things are become new. Whence it manifestly appears, that he makes the Knowledge of Christ after the Flesh but as it were the Rudiments which young Children learn, which after they are become better Scholars, are of less Use to them; because they have and possess the very Substance of those first Precepts in their Minds. As all Comparisons halt in some Part, so shall I not affirm this to hold in every Respect; yet so far will this hold, that as those that go no farther than the Rudiments are never to be accounted learned, and as they grow beyond these Things, so they have less Use of them, even so such as go no farther than the outward Knowledge of Christ shall never inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. But such as come to know this new Birth, to be in Christ indeed, to be a new Creature, to have Old Things passed away, and all Things become new, may safely say with the Apostle, Though we have known Christ after the Flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. But by the Work of Light and Grace in the Heart.Now this new Creature proceeds from the Work of this Light and Grace in the Heart: It is that Word which we speak of, that is sharp and piercing, that implanted Word, able to save the Soul, by which this Birth is begotten; and therefore Christ has purchased unto us this holy Seed, that thereby this Birth might be brought forth in us, which is therefore also called the Manifestation of the Spirit, given to every one to profit withal; for it is written, that by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body. And the Apostle Peter also ascribeth this Birth to the Seed and Word of God, which we have so much declared of, saying, 1 Pet. i. 23. Being born again, not of corruptible Seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. Though then this Seed be small in its Appearance, so that Christ compares it to a Grain of Mustard-seed, which is the least of all Seeds, Matth. xiii. 31, 32. and that it be hid in the earthly Part of Man’s Heart; yet therein is Life and Salvation towards the Sons of Men wrapped up, which comes to be revealed as they give Way to it. The Kingdom of God is in the Seed, in the Hearts of all Men.And in this Seed in the Hearts of all Men is the Kingdom of God, as in Capacity to be produced, or rather exhibited, according as it receives Depth, is nourished, and not choked: Hence Christ saith, that The Kingdom of God was in the very Pharisees, Luke xvii. 20, 21. who did oppose and resist him, and were justly accounted as Serpents, and a Generation of Vipers. Now the Kingdom of God could be no otherwise in them than in a Seed, even as the Thirty-fold and the Hundred-fold is wrapt up in a small Seed, lying in a barren Ground, which springs not forth because it wants Nourishment: And as the whole Body of a great Tree is wrapped up potentially in the Seed of the Tree, and so is brought forth in due Season; and as the Capacity of a Man or Woman is not only in a Child, but even in the very Embryo, even so the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, yea, Jesus Christ himself, Christ within, who is the Hope of Glory, and becometh Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption, is in every Man’s and Woman’s Heart, in that little incorruptible Seed, ready to be brought forth, as it is cherished and received in the Love of it. For there can be no Men worse than those rebellious and unbelieving Pharisees were; and yet this Kingdom was thus within them, and they were directed to look for it there: So it is neither lo here, nor lo there, in this or the other Observation, that this is known, but as this Seed of God in the Heart is minded and entertained. And certainly hence it is, even because this Light, Seed, and Grace that appears in the Heart of Man is so little regarded, and so much overlooked, that so few know Christ brought forth in them. Calvinists, Papists, Arminians and Socinians Errors denying the Light to be saving.The one Sort, to wit, the Calvinists, they look upon Grace as an irresistible Power, and therefore neglect and despise this eternal Seed of the Kingdom in their Hearts, as a low, insufficient, useless Thing as to their Salvation. On the other Hand, the Papists, Arminians, and Socinians, they go about to set up their natural Power and Will with one Consent, denying that this little Seed, this small Appearance of the Light, is that supernatural saving Grace of God given to every Man to save him. And so upon them is verified that Saying of the Lord Jesus Christ, This is the Condemnation of the World, that Light is come into the World, but Men love Darkness rather than Light; the Reason is added, Because their Deeds are evil. All confess they feel this; but they will not have it to be of that Virtue. Some will have it to be Reason; some a natural Conscience; some, certain Reliques of God’s Image, that remained in Adam. So that Christ, as he met with Opposition from all Kinds of Professors in his outward Appearance, doth now also in his inward. The Meanness of Christ’s Appearance in the Flesh.It was the Meanness of his outward Man that made many despise him, saying, Is not this the Son of the Carpenter? Are not his Brethren and Sisters among us? Is not this a Galilean? And came there ever a Prophet out of Galilee? And such-like Reasonings. For they expected an outward Deliverer, who as a Prince should deliver them with great Ease from their Enemies, and not such a Messiah as should be crucified shamefully, and as it were lead them into many Sorrows, Troubles, and Afflictions. So the Meanness of this Appearance makes the crafty Jesuits, the pretended rational Socinians, and the learned Arminians, overlook it; desiring rather something that they might exercise their Subtilty, Reason, and Learning about, and use the Liberty of their own Wills. And the secure Calvinists, they would have a Christ to save them without any Trouble; to destroy all their Enemies for them without them, and nothing or little within, and in the mean While to be at Ease to live in their Sins secure. The Nature of the Light.Whence, when all is well examined, the Cause is plain; it is Because their Deeds are Evil, that with one Consent they reject this Light: For it checks the wisest of them all, and the learnedest of them all; in Secret it reproves them; neither can all their Logick silence it, nor can the securest among them stop its Voice from crying, and reproving them within, for all their Confidence in the outward Knowledge of Christ, or of what he hath suffered outwardly for them. For, as hath been often said, In a Day it strives with all, wrestles with all; and it is the unmortified Nature, the first Nature, the old Adam, yet alive in the wisest, in the learnedest, in the most zealous for the outward Knowledge of Christ, that denies this, that despises it, that shuts it out, to their own Condemnation. They come all under this Description, Every one that doeth evil hateth the Light, neither cometh to the Light, lest his Deeds should be reproved, John iii. 20. So that it may be said, now, and we can say from a true and certain Experience, as it was of old, Psalm cxviii. 22. Mat. xxi. 42. Mark xii. 10. Luke xx. 17. Acts iv. 11. The Stone which the Builders of all Kinds have rejected, the same is become unto us the Head of the Corner. Glory to God for ever! who hath chosen us as First-fruits to himself in this Day, wherein he is arisen to plead with the Nations; and therefore hath sent us forth to preach this everlasting Gospel unto all, Christ nigh to all, the Light in all, the Seed sown in the Hearts of all, that Men may come and apply their Minds to it. And we rejoice that we have been made to lay down our Wisdom and Learning (such of us as have had some of it) and our carnal Reasoning, to learn of Jesus; and sit down at the Feet of Jesus in our Hearts, and hear him, who there makes all Things manifest, and reproves all Things by his Light, Ephes. v. 13. For many are wise and learned in the Notion, in the Letter of the Scripture, The Wise and Learned in the Notion, Crucifiers of Christ.as the Pharisees were, and can speak much of Christ, and plead strongly against Infidels, Turks, and Jews, and it may be also against some Heresies, who, in the mean Time, are crucifying Christ in the small Appearance of his Seed in their Hearts. Oh! better were it to be stripped and naked of all, to account it as Dross and Dung, and become a Fool for Christ’s Sake, thus knowing him to teach thee in thy Heart, so as thou mayest witness him raised there, feel the Virtue of his Cross there, and say with the Apostle, I glory in nothing, save in the Cross of Christ, whereby I am crucified to the World, and the World unto me. This is better than to write thousands of Commentaries, and to preach many Sermons. And it is thus to preach Christ, and direct People to his pure Light in the Heart, that God hath raised us up, and for which the wise Men of this World account us Fools; None are saved by the Knowledge of the History, but by the Operation of the Light of Christ in the Mystery.because by the Operation of this Cross of Christ in our Hearts, we have denied our own Wisdom and Wills in many Things, and have forsaken the vain Worships, Fashions, and Customs of this World. For these divers Centuries the World hath been full of a dry, fruitless, and barren Knowledge of Christ, feeding upon the Husk, and neglecting the Kernel; following after the Shadow, but Strangers to the Substance. Hence the Devil matters not how much of that Knowledge abounds, provided he can but possess the Heart, and rule in the Will, crucify the Appearance of Christ there, and so keep the Seed of the Kingdom from taking Root. Contentions about outward Observations and Lo here’s.For he has led them abroad, lo here, and lo there, and has made them wrestle in a false Zeal so much one against another, contending for this outward Observation, and for the other outward Observation, seeking Christ in this and the other external Thing, as in Bread and Wine; contending one with another how he is there, while some will have him to be present therein this Way, and some the other Way; and some in Scriptures, in Books, in Societies, and Pilgrimages, and Merits. But some, confiding in an external barren Faith, think all is well, if they do but firmly believe that he died for their Sins past, present, and to come; while in the mean Time Christ lies crucified and slain, and is daily resisted and gainsayed in his Appearance in their Hearts. The Call of God to blinded Christendom.Thus, from a Sense of this Blindness and Ignorance that is come over Christendom, it is that we are led and moved of the Lord so constantly and frequently to call all, invite all, intreat all, to turn to the Light in them, to mind the Light in them, to believe in Christ, as he is in them: And that in the Name, Power, and Authority of the Lord, not in School-arguments and Distinctions (for which many of the wise Men of this World account us Fools and Mad-men) we do charge and command them to lay aside their Wisdom, to come down out of that proud, airy, Brain-knowledge, and to stop that Mouth, how eloquent soever to the worldly Ear it may appear, and to be silent, and sit down as in the Dust, and to mind the Light of Christ in their own Consciences; which, if minded, they would find as a sharp two-edged Sword in their Hearts, and as a Fire and a Hammer, that would knock against and burn up all that carnal, gathered, natural Stuff, and make the stoutest of them all tremble, and become Quakers indeed: Which those that come not to feel now, and kiss not the Son while the Day lasteth, but harden their Hearts, will feel to be a certain Truth when it is too late. To conclude, as saith the Apostle, All ought to examine themselves, whether they be in the Faith indeed; and try their ownselves: For except Jesus Christ be in them, they are certainly Reprobates, 2 Cor. xiii. 5.

Arg.To whom the Gospel, the Power of God unto Salvation, is manifest, they may be saved, whatever outward Knowledge they want:

But this Gospel is preached in every Creature; in which is certainly comprehended many that have not the outward Knowledge:

Therefore of those many may be saved.

But to those Arguments, by which it hath been proved, That all Men have a Measure of saving Grace, I shall add one, and that very observable, not yet mentioned, viz. that excellent Saying of the Apostle Paul to Titus, Chap. ii. Ver. 11. The Grace of God, that brings Salvation, hath appeared to all Men; teaching us, That denying Ungodliness and worldly Lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present World: Than which there can be nothing more clear, it comprehending both the Parts of the Controversy. First, It testifies that it is no natural Principle or Light, but saith plainly, It brings Salvation. Secondly, It says not, that it hath appeared to a few, but unto all Men. The saving Grace of God teacheth the whole Duty of Man.The Fruit of it declares also how efficacious it is, seeing it comprehends the whole Duty of Man: It both teacheth us, first, to forsake Evil, to deny Ungodliness and worldly Lusts; and then it teacheth us our whole Duty. First, to live Soberly; that comprehends Temperance, Chastity, Meekness, and those Things that relate unto a Man’s self. Secondly, Righteously; that comprehends Equity, Justice, and Honesty, and those Things which relate to our Neighbours. And lastly, Godly; which comprehends Piety, Faithfulness, and Devotion, which are the Duties relating to God. So then there is nothing required of Man, or is needful to Man, which this Grace teacheth not. Yet I have heard a public Preacher (one of those that are accounted zealous Men) to evade the Strength of this Text, deny this Grace to be saving, and say, It was only intended of common Favours and Graces, such as is the Heat of the Fire, and outward Light of the Sun. Such is the Darkness and Ignorance of those that oppose the Truth; whereas the Text saith expresly, that it is saving. The Absurdities of our Adversaries Comment upon the Word All, denying Grace to be saving. Tit. 2. 11.Others, that cannot deny but it is saving, alledge, This [All] comprehends not every Individual, but only all Kinds: But is a bare Negation sufficient to overturn the Strength of a positive Assertion? If the Scriptures may be so abused, what so absurd, as may not be pleaded for from them? Or what so manifest, as may not be denied? But we have no Reason to be staggered by their denying, so long as our Faith is found in express Terms of Scripture; they may as well seek to persuade us, that we do not intend that which we affirm (though we know the Contrary) as make us believe, that when the Apostle speaks forth our Doctrine in plain Words, yet he intends theirs, which is quite the Contrary. And indeed, can there be any Thing more absurd, than to say, where the Word is plainly [All] Few is only intended? For they will not have [All] taken here for the greater Number. Indeed, as the Case may be sometimes, by a Figure [All] may be taken, of two Numbers, for the greater Number; but let them shew us, if they can, either in Scripture, or profane or ecclesiastical Writings, that any Man that wrote Sense did ever use the Word [All] to express, of two Numbers, the lesser. Whereas they affirm, that the far lesser Number have received saving Grace; and yet will they have the Apostle, by [All] to have signified so. Though this might suffice, yet, to put it further beyond all Question, I shall instance another Saying of the same Apostle, that we may use him as his own Commentator, Rom. v. 18. Therefore as by the Offence of One, Judgment come upon all Men to Condemnation, even so by the Righteousness of One, the Free-gift came upon all Men unto Justification of Life. Here no Man of Reason, except he will be obstinately ignorant, will deny, but this similitive Particle [As] makes the [All] which goes before, and comes after, to be of one and the same Extent; or else let them shew one Example, either in Scripture, or elsewhere, among Men that speak proper Language, where it is otherwise. We must then either affirm that this Loss, which leads to Condemnation, hath not come upon all; or say, that this free Gift is come upon all by Christ. Whence I thus argue:

Arg.If all Men have received a Loss from Adam, which leads to Condemnation; then all Men have received a Gift from Christ, which leads to Justification:

But the first is true: Therefore also the last.

Even the Heathens may be saved by the Light.From all which it naturally follows, that all Men, even the Heathens, may be saved: For Christ was given as a Light to enlighten the Gentiles, Isa. xlix. 6. Now, to say that though they might have been saved, yet none were, is to judge too uncharitably. I see not what Reason can be alleged for it; yea, though it were granted, which never can be, that none of the Heathens were saved; it will not from thence follow, That they could not have been saved; or that none now in their Condition can be saved. For, A non esse ad non posse non datur sequela, i. e. That Consequence is false, that concludes a Thing cannot be, because it is not.

Obj.But if it be objected, which is the great Objection, That there is no Name under Heaven, by which Salvation is known, but by the Name Jesus:

Therefore they (not knowing this) cannot be saved.

Answ.I answer; Though they know it not outwardly, yet if they know it inwardly, by feeling the Virtues and Power of it, the Name Jesus indeed, which signifies a Saviour, to free them from Sin and Iniquity in their Hearts, they are saved by it: The literal Knowledge of Christ is not saving; but the real experimental.I confess there is no other Name to be saved by: But Salvation lieth not in the literal, but in the experimental Knowledge; albeit those that have the literal Knowledge are not saved by it, without this real experimental Knowledge: Yet those that have the real Knowledge may be saved without the external; as by the Arguments hereafter brought will more appear. For if the outward distinct Knowledge of him, by whose Means I receive Benefit, were necessary for me before I could reap any Fruit of it; then, by the Rule of Contraries, it would follow, that I could receive no Hurt, without I had also the distinct Knowledge of him that occasioned it; whereas Experience proves the Contrary. How many are injured by Adam’s Fall, that know nothing of there ever being such a Man in the World, or of his eating the forbidden Fruit? Why may they not then be saved by the Gift and Grace of Christ in them, making them righteous and holy, though they know not distinctly how that was purchased unto them by the Death and Sufferings of Jesus that was crucified at Jerusalem; especially seeing God hath made that Knowledge simply impossible to them? As many Men are killed by Poison infused into their Meat, though they neither know what the Poison was, nor who infused it; so also on the other Hand, how many are cured of their Diseases by good Remedies, who know not how the Medicine is prepared, what the Ingredients are, nor oftentimes who made it? The like may also hold in spiritual Things, as we shall hereafter prove.

Obj. 1.If it be said, That these Children are the Children of believing Parents:

Answ.What then? They will not say that they transmit Grace to their Children. Do they not affirm, That the Children of believing Parents are guilty of original Sin, and deserve Death as well as others? How prove they that that makes up the Loss of all explicit Knowledge?

Obj. 2.If they say, Deaf People may be made sensible of the Gospel by Signs:

Answ.All the Signs cannot give them any explicit Knowledge of the History of the Death, Sufferings, and Resurrection of Christ. For what Signs can inform a deaf Man, That the Son of God took on him Man’s Nature, was born of a Virgin, and suffered under Pontius Pilate?

Obj. 3.And if they should further allege, That they are within the Bosom of the visible Church, and Partakers of the Sacraments:

Answ.All that gives no Certainty of Salvation; for, as the Protestants confess, they confer not Grace ex opere operato. And will they not acknowledge, that many are in the Bosom of the Church, who are visibly no Members of it? But if this Charity be extended towards such who are where the Gospel is preached, so that they may be judged capable of Salvation, because they are under a simple Impossibility of distinctly knowing the Means of Salvation; what Reason can be alleged why the like Charity may not be had to such, as though they can hear, yet are under a simple Impossibility of hearing, because it is not spoken unto them? A Chinese or Indian excusable for not knowing the History of the Death of Christ, &c.Is not a Man in China, or in India, as much to be excused for not knowing a Thing which he never heard of, as a deaf Man here, who cannot hear? For as the deaf Man is not to be blamed, because God hath been pleased to suffer him to lie under this Infirmity; so is the Chinese or the Indian as excusable, because God hath with-held from him the Opportunity of hearing. He that cannot hear a Thing, as being necessarily absent, and he that cannot hear it, as being naturally deaf, are to be placed in the same Category.

Answ. 2.Secondly, This manifestly appears by that Saying of Peter, Acts x. 34. Of a Truth I perceive that God is no Respecter of Persons; but in every Nation, he that feareth him, and worketh Righteousness, is accepted of him. Peter was before liable to that Mistake that the rest of the Jews were in; judging that all were unclean, except themselves, and that no Man could be saved, except they were proselyted to their Religion, and circumcised. But God shewed Peter otherwise in a Vision, and taught him to call nothing common or unclean; God regarded the Prayers of Cornelius, a Stranger to the Law.and therefore, seeing that God regarded the Prayers of Cornelius, who was a Stranger to the Law, and to Jesus Christ as to the outward, yet Peter saw that God had accepted him; and he is said to fear God before he had this outward Knowledge: Therefore Peter concludes that every one in every Nation, without respect of Persons, that feareth God and worketh Righteousness, is accepted of him. So he makes the Fear of God and the working of Righteousness, and not an outward historical Knowledge, the Qualification: They then that have this, wherever they be, they are saved. Now we have already proved, that to every Man that Grace is given, whereby he may live godlily and righteously; and we see, that by this Grace Cornelius did so, and was accepted, and his Prayers came up for a Memorial before God before he had this outward Knowledge. From what Scripture did Job learn his excellent Knowledge?Also, Was not Job a perfect and upright Man, that feared God, and eschewed Evil? Who taught Job this? How knew Job Adam’s Fall? And from what Scripture learned he that excellent Knowledge he had, and that Faith, by which he knew his Redeemer lived? (For many make him as old as Moses). Was not this by an inward Grace in the Heart? Was it not that inward Grace that taught Job to eschew Evil, and to fear God? And was it not by the Workings thereof that he became a just and upright Man? How doth he reprove the Wickedness of Men, Chap. xxiv? And after he hath numbered up their Wickedness, doth he not condemn them, Ver. 13. for rebelling against this Light, for not knowing the Way thereof, nor abiding in the Paths thereof? It appears then Job believed that Men had a Light, and that because they rebelled against it, therefore they knew not its Ways, and abode not in its Paths; even as the Pharisees, who had the Scriptures, are said to err, not knowing the Scriptures. Job’s Friends; their excellent Sayings.And also Job’s Friends, though in some Things wrong; yet who taught them all those excellent Sayings and Knowledge which they had? Did not God give it them, in order to save them? or was it merely to condemn them? Who taught Elihu, That the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth Understanding; that the Spirit of God made him, and the Breath of the Almighty gave him Life? And did not the Lord accept a Sacrifice for them? And who dare say that they are damned? But further, the Apostle puts this Controversy out of Doubt; for, if we may believe his plain Assertions, he tells us, Rom. ii. That the Heathens did the Things contained in the Law. From whence I thus argue;

Arg.In every Nation he that feareth God, and worketh Righteousness, is accepted:

But many of the Heathens feared God, and wrought Righteousness:

Therefore they were accepted.

The Minor is proved from the Example of Cornelius: But I shall further prove it thus;

He that doth the Things contained in the Law, feareth God, and worketh Righteousness:

But the Heathens did the Things contained in the Law:

Therefore they feared God, and wrought Righteousness.

Can there be any Thing more clear? For if to do the Things contained in the Law, be not to fear God, and work Righteousness, then what can be said to do so, seeing the Apostle calls the Law Spiritual, Holy, Just, and Good? But this appears manifestly by another Medium, taken out of the same Chapter, Ver. 13. So that nothing can be more clear: The Words are, The Doers of the Law shall be justified. From which I thus argue, without adding any Word of my own;

Arg.The Doers of the Law shall be justified:

But the Gentiles do the Things contained in the Law:

The Gentiles justified doing the Law.All that know but a Conclusion, do easily see what follows from these express Words of the Apostle. And indeed, he through that whole Chapter labours, as if he were contending now with our Adversaries, to confirm this Doctrine, Ver. 9, 10, 11. Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of Man that doth Evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no Respect of Persons with God. Where the Apostle clearly homologates, or confesses to the Sentence of Peter before-mentioned; and shews that Jew and Gentile, or as he himself explains in the following Verses, both they that have an outward Law and they that have none, when they do Good shall be justified. And to put us out of all Doubt, in the very following Verses he tells, That the Doers of the Law are justified; and that the Gentiles did the Law. So that except we think he spake not what he intended, we may safely conclude, that such Gentiles were justified, and did partake of that Honour, Glory, and Peace, which comes upon every one that doth Good; even the Gentiles, that are without the Law, when they work Good; seeing with God there is no Respect of Persons. So as we see, that it is not the having the outward Knowledge that doth save, without the inward; so neither doth the Want of it, to such to whom God hath made it impossible, who have the inward, bring Condemnation. And many that have wanted the Outward, have had a Knowledge of this inwardly, by Virtue of that inward Grace and Light given to every Man, working in them, by which they forsook Iniquity, and became just and holy, as is above proved; Many wanting the History, were sensible of the Loss by Adam, and Salvation come by Christ in themselves.who, though they knew not the History of Adam’s Fall, yet were sensible in themselves of the Loss that came by it, feeling their Inclinations to sin, and the Body of Sin in them: And though they knew not the Coming of Christ, yet were sensible of that inward Power and Salvation which came by him, even before as well as since his Appearance in the Flesh. For I question whether these Men can prove, that all the Patriarchs and Fathers before Moses had a distinct Knowledge either of the one or the other, or that they knew the History of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and of Adam’s eating the forbidden Fruit; far less that Christ should be born of a Virgin, should be crucified, and treated in the Manner he was. For it is justly to be believed, that what Moses wrote of Adam, and of the first Times, was not by Tradition, but by Revelation; How little the Jews knew Christ, mistaking the Prophets.yea, we see that not only after the Writing of Moses, but even of David and all the Prophets, who prophesied so much of Christ, how little the Jews, that were expecting and wishing for the Messiah, could thereby discern him when he came, that they crucified him as a Blasphemer, not as a Messiah, by mistaking the Prophecies concerning him; for Peter saith expresly, Acts iii. 17. to the Jews, That both they and their Rulers did it through Ignorance. And Paul saith, 1 Cor. ii. 8. That had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. Yea, Mary herself, to whom the Angel had spoken, and who had laid up all the miraculous Things accompanying his Birth in her Heart, she did not understand how, when he disputed with the Doctors in the Temple, that he was about his Father’s Business. And the Apostles that had believed him, conversed daily with him, and saw his Miracles, could not understand, neither believe those Things which related to his Death, Sufferings, and Resurrection, but were in a certain Respect stumbled at them.

Some called him an Holy Spirit, as Seneca, Epist. 41. who said, There is an holy Spirit in us, that treateth us as we treat him. Cicero calls it an Innate Light. Lactan. In Sect.Cicero calleth it an innate Light, in his Book De Republica, cited by Lactantius, 6 Instit. where he calls this Right Reason, given unto all, constant and eternal, calling unto Duty by commanding, and deterring from Deceit by forbidding. Adding, That it cannot be abrogated, neither can any be freed from it, neither by Senate or People; that it is one, eternal, and the same always to all Nations; so that there is not one at Rome, and another at Athens: Whoso obeys it not, must flee from himself, and in this is greatly tormented, although he should escape all other Punishments. Plotinus also calls him Light, saying, That as the Sun cannot be known but by its own Light, so God cannot be known but with his own Light: And as the Eye cannot see the Sun but by receiving its Image, so Man cannot know God but by receiving his Image; and that it behoveth Man to come to Purity of Heart before he could know God; calling him also Wisdom, a name frequently given him in Scripture; see Prov. i. 20. to the End; and Prov. viii. 9, 34. where Wisdom is said to cry, intreat, and invite all to come unto her, and learn of her: And what is this Wisdom but Christ? Hence such as came among the Heathen, to forsake Evil and cleave to Righteousness, were called Philosophers, that is, Lovers of Wisdom. Philosophers whence so called?They knew this Wisdom was nigh unto them, and that The best Knowledge of God, and divine Mysteries, was by the Inspiration of the Wisdom of God. Phocylides.Phocylides affirmed, That the Word of the Wisdom of God was best. His Words in the Greek are, [Greek: Tês de Theopneustou sophias logos estin aristos: Της δε Θεοπνευσςου σοφιας λογος εστιν αριστος].

And much more of this Kind might be instanced, by which it appears they knew Christ; and by his working in them, were brought from Unrighteousness to Righteousness, and to love that Power by which they felt themselves redeemed; so that, as saith the Apostle, They shew the Work of the Law written in their Hearts, and did the Things contained in the Law; and therefore, as all Doers of the Law are, were no Doubt justified, and saved thus by the Power of Christ in them. And as this was the Judgment of the Apostle, so was it of the primitive Christians. Socrates a Christian, &c.Hence Justin Martyr stuck not to call Socrates a Christian, saying, That all such as lived according to the divine Word in them, which was in all Men, were Christians, such as Socrates and Heraclitus, and others among the Greeks, &c. That such as live with the Word, are Christians without Fear or Anxiety.

Clem. Alex.Clemens Alexandrinus saith, Apol. 2. Strom. Lib. 1. That this Wisdom or Philosophy was necessary to the Gentiles, and was their School-master to lead them unto Christ, by which of old the Greeks were justified.

Augustin. de Civ. Dei.Nor do I think, saith Augustine, in his Book of the City of God, Lib. 18. Cap. 47. that the Jews dare affirm that none belonged unto God but the Israelites. Lud. Vives.Upon which Place Ludovicus Vives saith, That thus the Gentiles, not having a Law, were a Law unto themselves; and the Light of so living is the Gift of God, and proceeds from the Son; of whom it is written, that he enlighteneth every Man that cometh into the World.

The Platonists saw the Word in the Beginning; which was Light.Augustine also testifies in his Confessions, Lib. 1. Cap. 9. That he had read in the Writings of the Platonists, though not in the very same Words, yet that which by many and multiplied Reasons did persuade, that in the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; this was in the Beginning with God, by which all Things were made, and without which nothing was made that was made: In him was Life, and the Life was the Light of Men: And the Light shined in the Darkness, and the Darkness did not comprehend it. And albeit the Soul gives Testimony concerning the Light, yet it is not the Light, but the Word of God; for God is the true Light, which enlighteneth every Man that cometh into the World; and so repeats to Ver. 14. of John i. adding, These Things have I there read.

Hai Eben Yokdan.Yea, there is a Book translated out of the Arabick, which gives an Account of one Hai Eben Yokdan; who living in an Island alone, without Converse of Man, attained to such a profound Knowledge of God, as to have immediate Converse with him, and to affirm, That the best and most certain Knowledge of God is not that which is attained by Premises premised, and Conclusions deduced; The Supreme Intellect enjoyed by the Mind of Men.but that which is enjoyed by Conjunction of the Mind of Man with the Supreme Intellect, after the Mind is purified from its Corruptions, and is separated from all bodily Images, and is gathered into a profound Stillness.

Of this Light therefore Augustine speaks in his Confessions, Lib. 11. Cap. 9. In this Beginning, O God! thou madest the Heavens and the Earth, in thy Word, in thy Son, in thy Virtue, in thy Wisdom, wonderfully saying, and wonderfully doing. Who shall comprehend it? Who shall declare it? Augustine trembled at the In-shinings of the Light unto him, and why?What is that which shineth in unto me, and smites my Heart without Hurt, at which I both tremble, and am inflamed? I tremble, in so far as I am unlike unto it; and I am inflamed in so far as I am like unto it: It is Wisdom, Wisdom which shineth in unto me, and dispelleth my Cloud, which had again covered me, after I was departed from it, with Darkness and the Heap of my Punishments. And again he saith, Lib. 10. Cap. 27. It is too late that I have loved thee, O thou Beautifulness, so ancient and so new! Late have I loved thee, and behold thou wast within, and I was without, and there was seeking thee! Thou didst call, thou didst cry, thou didst break my Deafness, thou glancedst, thou didst shine, thou chasedst away my Darkness.

Buchanan testifying to the Light.Of this also our Countryman George Buchanan speaketh thus in his Book De Jure regni apud Scotos: Truly I understand no other Thing at present than that Light which is divinely infused into our Souls: For when God formed Man, he not only gave him Eyes to his Body, by which he might shun those Things that are hurtful to him, and follow those Things that are profitable; but also hath set before his Mind as it were a certain Light, by which he may discern Things that are vile from Things that are honest. Some call this Power Nature, others the Law of Nature; I truly judge it to be divine, and am persuaded that Nature and Wisdom never say different Things. Moreover God hath given us a Compend of the Law, which in few Words comprehends the Whole; to wit, that we should love him from our Hearts, and our Neighbours as ourselves. And of this Law all the Books of the holy Scriptures, which pertain to the forming of Manners, contain no other but an Explication.

Jew and Gentile, Scythian and Barbarian, Partakers of the Salvation of Christ.This is that universal evangelical Principle, in and by which this Salvation of Christ is exhibited to all Men, both Jew and Gentile, Scythian and Barbarian, of whatsoever Country or Kindred he be: And therefore God hath raised up unto himself, in this our Age, faithful Witnesses and Evangelists to preach again his everlasting Gospel, and to direct all, as well the high Professors, who boast of the Law and the Scriptures, and the outward Knowledge of Christ, as the Infidels and Heathens that know not him that Way, that they may all come to mind the Light in them, and know Christ in them, the just one, [Greek: ton Dichaion: τον Δικαιον], whom they have so long killed, and made merry over, and he hath not resisted, James v. 6. and give up their Sins, Iniquities, false Faith, Professions, and outside Righteousness, to be crucified by the Power of his Cross in them, so as they may know Christ within to be the Hope of Glory, and may come to walk in his Light and be saved, who is that true Light that enlighteneth every Man that cometh into the World.