men by nature, as it is now corrupted, have no true knowledge of God, nor yet of virtue and vice; what they ought, and what they ought not to do, in order to their being saved. I know, there are some general notions of these things in all, or most men, but they are so weak and confused, that they have no influence at all upon their minds; and when they come to be applied to particular cases, they are generally mistaken, virtue for vice, and vice for virtue: as we see in the ancient inhabitants of America, before the Christians came among them; though they had some notions of a God among them, yet they knew nothing of Him, who, or what He was; some taking one thing, others another for Him, but none the right; neither did they perform any kind of religious worship to any thing, except it was to the sun, or the devil: and though they believed the immortality of the soul, that after death the virtuous lived in fine gardens, and the vicious in torments; yet they were so far from understanding the true nature of virtue and vice, that the most vicious wretches in the world were reckoned by them to be the most virtuous, even such as had taken most of their enemies captives, and had afterwards in cold blood killed and eaten them; as one (Johannes Lerius) who conversed a great while with those who lived upon the coast of Brazil, assures us upon his own knowledge. Now, what could such people as these do towards their Salvation? The more they lived according to their law, and the light of nature which they had, the worse they were. And so were anciently the greatest part of mankind, in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as in America; I may too truly say all, except those which lived near to that part of Asia where Christ all along had His Church and people, to whom He revealed the will of God, what He would, and what He would not have them do: whereby the true knowledge of God, and of their duty to Him, was constantly kept up among them, and in some measure was imparted by them to the people that lived about them, and frequently conversed with them; especially the Egyptians on the one hand, and the Phoenicians on the other; from whom the Greeks afterwards received it, as they did, by their own confession, their learning, and their very letters too, as the

SERM. Romans did from them: to which the Israelites' abode in

XXVII. Egypt for 215 years together, and their several captivities

1 Pet. 1. 10, 11.

and dispersions afterwards, contributed very much; and they seem to be designed by God for this very purpose. For by this means, some of God's own people being scattered among all the nations thereabouts, and often speaking, as doubtless they did, of the God they worshipped, and of the excellent laws which He had given them; others took occasion from thence, to look a little more narrowly into these things, and finding them very agreeable to something within themselves, which they had taken no notice of before, they began to think, and talk a little more consistently about God, and also about good and evil, virtue and vice, than they had hitherto done. The natural notions of these things, which at first were implanted, but were now almost quite stifled in them, beginning by this means to revive a little, and shew forth themselves again; especially the Greeks first, and then the Latins, improved these hints so far, that some of them could discern pretty well, between what they ought, and what they ought not to do. But whatsoever knowledge they had of these things, came either immediately, or else mediately from the Jews; and therefore we find very little, if any thing at all of it, till after the ten tribes were carried out of their own, and dispersed in other countries; nor in any places but those which were either so themselves, or else were frequented by persons that came from such places as were near to Judea. For those which were furthest off from thence on all sides, as the north of Europe, the north and east of Asia, the south and west of Africa, and all America, were overspread with gross ignorance and barbarity; which to me seems plainly to argue, that all the knowledge which the ancient heathens had of religion and morality, came first from the Jews, as theirs did from Christ; who intending to be born into the world of their stock, in all ages sent Prophets among them, to instruct them in it: for that it was the Spirit of Christ which was in the Prophets, and by which they spake, is evident from many places of Holy Writ, and particularly from that of St. Peter, where he saith," of which Salvation the Prophets have inquired, and

searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify." From all which it appears, that mankind in general are so far from being able to attain Salvation without Christ, that without Him they had never so much as known any thing that was necessary to be done in order to it.

And if we cannot know, much less can we do any such thing as we ought without Him. I know some have highly extolled and magnified the powers and faculties of man, as if we were able to do great things of ourselves, when God knows that we are "not sufficient of ourselves to think any 2 Cor. 3. 5. thing as of ourselves:" "but every imagination of the Gen. 6. 5. thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually." And therefore they who boast so much of their strength, do but betray their own weakness by it; as might be shewn in many respects; but it appears sufficiently in this, that they take the height of man's power by nature, from that which they themselves have by Christ. For they living under the light of the Gospel, which hath alway something of heat attending it, are able thereby to understand and do some things that seem to be very good. And from thence they conclude, that they or any other may do so by their own natural strength without Christ; which is not only a great mistake, but an horrid abuse of the grace which Christ hath given them: for He gave it that they might serve and honour Him with it; whereas they employ it against Him, by making themselves and others, if they could, believe that they are not beholden unto Him for it.

Or

But if they would give us a true description of men's natural strength to avoid evil, or do good, they should go into those parts of Africa or America, where men never yet heard either of God's law or gospel; or else have quite forgotten it, and therefore live in the true state of nature. if they be loth to travel so far, let them but read the many impartial relations that have been made of those parts, when they were first discovered; and then let them tell us what mighty things men can do by their own natural powers. They will find many of those people as ingenious and cunning as themselves, but it is only to do mischief, to destroy

XXVII.

SERM. and devour one another, which they reckon to be a great virtue but whether it be or no, I leave it to our Socinian and Pelagian philosophers to dispute the case with them.

But they will say, perhaps, although these were such brutish and savage people, that there was no shadow of any true virtue among them; yet there have been other heathens, as the Platonists, the Peripateticks, and several of the old philosophers, who have discoursed very well of religion and virtue. It is true, they did so. But as I have shewn

already, they received the first intimations of these things from Christ Himself, by His people the Jews which lived near them, and some among them; otherwise I doubt not but they would have been as much in the dark about such things as the Tartarians, Africans and Americans are at this day. And besides, all their discourses of this nature were confined to some particular virtues, which were most obvious and apparent to men, with the total neglect, if not contempt, of such as had an immediate respect to the true God, and of many others that were as necessary to qualify a man for Heaven. And these they did talk of, they only talked of them: we do not find that any ever practised them all, nor Rom. 1. 21. indeed any one of them, so as that it might be truly termed a virtue. But after all their talk, their very virtues, as they managed them, were but as so many vices; and the good works they seemed to do, were done so ill, that they were neither pleasing unto God, nor any way profitable to their own salvation: but rather have the nature of sin, as our Church hath declared of all manner of works, done by any person whatsoever, without or before the grace of Christ, and the inspiration of His Holy Spirit. - Article XIII.

And verily, whatsoever proud and groundless conceits some men may have of their own gifts, and parts, and power, to do good, I am sure they have none without Christ. For Christ Himself hath told us so, saying, with His own mouth, John 15. 5. “Without me ye can do nothing." And by His Holy 1 John 5. 5. Spirit, saying, "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" From whence it is as plain as words can make it, that neither Pagan, nor Jew, nor Turk, nor Christian, no person whatsoever can overcome the world, so as to live soberly, righte

ously, and godly in it, but only by Jesus Christ; nor by Him neither, unless he believe Him to be the Son of God, in that sense wherein He is declared to be so in the Holy Scriptures, even of the same nature or substance with the Father; which St. Paul was so sensible of, that he ascribes all the ability he had of doing any thing that was truly good and virtuous, wholly to Christ, saying, "I can do all things Phil. 4. 13. through Christ which strengtheneth me." From which, and many such-like places of Holy Scripture, which might be produced, we may infallibly conclude, that there is none other name given among men, whereby they can do any thing towards their Salvation, but the Name of Christ.

But what if it were possible, as it is not, for a man to do some good works by his own strength without Christ; doth it thence follow, that he can be saved without Him? By no means. For whatsoever good works a man may be supposed to do, it must be granted, that he doth, or hath done some that are really ill and sinful. This all must acknowledge, that believe either God's Word, or their own experience. But how then shall a man be freed from the guilt he hath contracted, and from the punishments he hath deserved by his sins? Can he be freed by the good works he is supposed to have done? No, surely. When he hath done all he can, he is still but "an unprofitable servant," he hath [Luke 17. done no more than what was "his duty to do," and therefore 10.] cannot possibly merit any thing at all by it, much less so great a favour, as to have his sins pardoned, and so his obligations to punishment for them, cancelled and made void. Neither hath he any ground to expect such a mercy at the hands of God without Christ: for we do not find that God was ever merciful to any of His creatures, but only to those for which Christ died. And therefore may be certain, that His mercy in the pardon of men's sins, is never shewn but only for the sake and upon the account of that death, whereby Christ made complete satisfaction to His truth and justice for them.

But this is a point that deserves to be a little more cleared; for which end, I shall not insist upon God's vindictive justice, or whether He can in justice pardon any sins, without having satisfaction made unto Him for them. For justice,