428 STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OE HUMAN REASON. in the New Testament, He that believeth not shall be. damned: If ye believe not that I am he, that is the Messiah, ye shall die in your sins. Nor would the blessed God ever denounce such ter- rible sentences as these, for mere errors of the mind, without any . vice of the will. God well knows where he has given sufficient light and evidence ; and he also knows, that however an honest and sincere mind may happen to be led astray for a season, yet nothing but criminal negligence, or culpable prejudices, or some sinful aversion to the gospel, can influence men, under such evi- dences, constantly and finally to reject it : It is plain tome, even from these scriptures, that no man who truly fears and loves God, and seeks to knowor to do his will, can or will be guilty of constant and final opposition to the gospel, where itis surrounded with its proper attestations. And upon this account, dear Lo- gisto, I am persuaded, your sincere enquiries to find out the true religion, will issue in a hearty belief and profession of christi- anity, though your thoughts may be at present fluttering abroad with someuncertainty where to fix. Loe. I cannot withhold myself, gentlemen, from interrupt- ing our moderator in his discourse, that I may make my acknow- ledgments for his tender concern about my best interests, which he has expressed in so affectionate and respectful 'a manner. I must confess, I have no obstinate and rooted aversion to the christian religion, if I can find that there is any real need of it, and that it stands upon solid foundations, and if I could answer some few difficulties that belong to the bible. But lest I make too long an interruption ofyour discourse, Ientreat you, Sophro- Dius, proceed to your third proposition. Som. III. Though I suppose no man shall be saved but by virtue of the mediation and death of Christ, nor loth the gospel permit me to allow salvation to those who wilfully and finally reject it, under clear light and evidence ; yet there is good reason to believe, that there have been many sinners actually saved, who never believed in Jesus Christ the Son of Mary, nor ever heardof his name, nor had any notion of his atoning death and sacrifice. Such were some of theearly descendants of Noah, who lived long before this name was known in the world; among whom we may reckon Abimelech king of the Philistines, Mel - chisedec king of Salem, Job in the land of Uz*, with his four it Some wilt object here, did not Job believe in Jesus Christ, bis Redeemer, who shall stand at last on the earth; Job xix. 24, &c. Answer. It is granted that in name bright hours, and particularly in the text cited, he was carried by inspiration, above the level of the dispensation under which he lived, so far as, .plainly to rejoice in this glorious Saviour of mankind, even the same person who was afterward manifested in theworld tinder the name of Jesus Christ: And on might several other pious men under the ancient dispensations and perhaps many or most of them might hope for some sucliSaviour : but ii can scarce be proved, that all of themhad an explicit notion of .Such a glorious Messiah, and that they actually trusted in him as a Mediator; mach less does it appear, that they all trusted in him as an atoning sacrifice, though they might wait and hope for him, as some future deliverer.
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