SECTION V. 565 life-time, for St. Peter himself did not know that Christ should die when he said, Far be it from thee, Lord; Mat. xvi. 22. which was not long before his death. At the days of Pentecost, after the resurrectionof Christ, when the gosisel kingdom was set up in the world, Peter in his first sermon doth not speak a syllable of it; Acts ii. And as it is granted that Jesus in his own life hinted it but now and then, so in the whole history of the Acts of the Apostles, which contains an account of the pri- mitive ministration of the gospel to the Jews and Gentiles, this doctrine is very little mentioned. I must confess Paulinos lias shewed to my surprise how continually this doctrine is insisted upon in the epistles of Paul, Peter, and John : Yet if we make scripture history our rule of judgment concerning facts, it seems probable that multitudes of souls became true believers in Christ, with very little acquaintance with this doctrine, or the profession of it, before those epistles were written. Must then thetime of the writing and publishing those epistles be the pre- cise date of this fundamental article ? Which was the year, and which was the day, when the canon of scripture was so com- pleted, and divulged, and received in the churches, that all the fundamental articles were settled at-that period ? And whogave Ferventio the notice of it ? IV. Supposing it could be made out that this is the general rule of scripture, as it is now completed, that he that trusts not in the deathof Christ as a proper atonement for sin shall never he pardoned ; yet is it not possible that the great and gracious God may know the particular circumstances under which some men are placed, the special prejudices that may be wrought in their minds even from infancy, and the unhappy influences they maybe exposed to in their growing years, which may greatly excuse their ignorance, and diminish their crime, though they may not yet understand nor receive the doctrine of the atone- ment of Christ in its full and proper sense ? And may not such is view of things in the all-surveying eye of God, the merciful and righteous Judge of men, give occasion to mollify the rigour and severity of this rule, and to descend to a milder sentence ? Nathan the prophet being sent from God, did not condemn David to die, though the general rule of the Jewish laws puts the adulterer to death. It is necessary indeed that the words of a public 1á.w should be strong and positive : But if the expres- sions in this casewere positive and strong, is there no such thing as a court of equity in the breast of God, wherein some un- happy person may find relief, who may stand exposed to the general sentenceof tits public law, by some early and strong prejudices which may have darkened his judgment, and led him ástrsy from truth and fluty? May not God have pity on such a creature and save him ? xn3
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