298 x CAVEAT AGAINST INFIDELITY. given amongst men, whereby we must be saved? And thence, some persons may infer, that the actual knowledge of the name of Christ, and faith in him, since his religion was instituted, are absolutely necessary for the salvation of all men. To this I answer, First, That the apostle in this place, does not assert the actual knowledge of Christ, to be necessary to all men, but only, that there is but one Saviour provided for all men 'under heaven and that is Jesus Christ. Now as the patriarchs and the ancient Jews were saved by Jesus of Nazareth, and by virtue of his atonement, without knowing his name, and, before he came into the world, so might those gentiles, if they maintained the sub- stance of the patriarchal religion, be saved by the atonement of Christ, without the actual knowledge of his name. But I an- swer in the second place, That if the gentiles might be saved, by observing the patriarchal religion before the coming of Christ, they might also be saved by the same religion, where the name of Christ was never preached For the coming, or not coming of Christ, can make no difference in the religion of those nations which never heard of it. Objection II. But we do not read that Melchisedec or Cor- nelius, offered sacrifices as Noah did, or kept close in all partsof faith and practice to the religion of Noah. Answer I. We read that Job andJethro offered sacrifices; Job i. 5. Ex. xviii. 12.. And it is very probable, that Melchisedec did so too ; for though lie was apriest ofintercession, and prayed for Abraham, and blessed him, yet this does not at all forbid our belief of his receiving, and preserving the institution of sacrifices from his ancestor Noah : Whether Cornelius offered sacrificesor no, the scripture is silent. And as for the other parts of Noah's faith and practice, as they were derived partly from reason, and partly from revela-. tion, though they were lost among several nations in a few ages, yet it is very probable that they were conveyed down through several ages in some other nations, and especially among those who had any commerce with the Jews: l'or the chief thing, which the Jews themselves required of their proselytes of the gate, in order to their share of happiness in the world to come, was their conformity to the preceptsof Noah. Those who prat- . tiled them, were called the devout or religious persons, and the men thatfeared God in Acts xiii. 16, 43. and Acts xvii. 4, 17. among whom,the apostles obtained the largest harvest of Gen.. tile converts in their first preaching the gospel. And probably, these are the same precepts in the main which were enjoined by the apostles, in the xv. of Acts to the converted Gentiles, except- ing only that sacrifices were omitted, since the great sacrifice of Christ was offered. Thus it is evident that Noah's religion was
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