292 A CÄVEAT,A6AINST IN£IDEtt : Now, since he bath revealed peculiar Ways of pleasing and 'Mi iring him, and obtaininghis fâvöur, and that to various ages and nations, it isevident, that he did not design to give a loose to the wild fancies of mankind, to contrive a religion, each for himself, and to resolve to be pleased with any superstitions which they should invent, If the servants of *family, or the subjects or officers of a kingdom, had special' forms of service and duty assigned them, in order to please their superior, surely no prince, nor master, could be pleased' with their humorous and- fantastic' pretences, to please or ghatify him in another way,under thenegr lect Of his own.appointments. However', this is sufficient for us, that since we in Great Britain,.havea divine revelation so well attested, we are not left toour'own fancy,to invent a worship for ourselves: Nor Will the' great God ever be pleased with those,who reject his divine con- trivances, and counsels in the gospel, and pretend to find new ways of their own to obtain his favour. The very pretence is too assuming and presumptuous for a creature ever to hope for . acceptance by,it in the sight of God his Creator. Question IX: But have not heathens and infidels been saved as well as Jews and christians ? Did not Job andhis four friends' in Arabia, Melchisedecking of Salem, and Jethro the priest of Midian, and Cornelius a heathen soldier, a centurion in Cesarea all find acceptance with God, though they were Gentiles or hea- thens, and worshipped him in a different way,.froiwAbra{lam and- Moses, and the nation of the Jews? Did not God sufficiently ¡howl-As approbation of them and their religion, though some of them lived near enough to the families of Abraham and Israel, and might have acquainted themselves with their instituted ways of worship ? And cloth, not Peter's speech to Cornelius confirm - this ? Read the story ; Acts x. 1, 2, 3, 31, 34, 35. There was a. certain man in Cesarea, called Cornelius, a centurion of the band, called the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God, with all his house, whichgave much alms is the people, andprayed to God alway. He saw an a vision; evidently, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel ofGod coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius, thy prayer' is heard, and thy alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Then Peter being sent for, opened his mouth, and said, of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation, he that feareth him, andworketla righteousness, is accepted with him. Why then may not a philosopher in ,China, a heathen in America, or a deist its Britain, if he follows the dictates of the light of nature, wor- shipping the true God, and practising the common duties of mo- rality, find acceptance with. God ? Answer. The last part of this question, has, I think, a std.- dent answer given to it under the former questions, when I. proved that the mere light of nature is not sufficient to secure
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