Peaceable Disquisitions, To the reader – Errata
READER,
LEaſt I ſhould not have occaſion (or leaſt I ſhould not take it, if I have) to write again upon theſe matters, I muſt tell you of ſome things I find wanting. I have not commended this Ingenious Perſon for his very apt Expoſition of ſome Texts, as I think he deſerves, if I had examined them well enough to do it. Again, I have not declared my ſcope in the diſcourſe I have about the Natural and Spiritual man, in the beginning of the Book. If one imagine my ſcope to be only to confute this Author, he will make little of me, and leſs of himſelf. My ſcope is not to invalidate the Interpretation he brings, which I acknowledge fair: nor to advance the other, which I impute to the Friendly Debater (becauſe I took my firſt hint from him) but in the cultivation of it any man may ſee in whoſe mind it is harbored: Nor do I confirm the Doctors againſt this Authors oppoſition, to prefer it before either: But I do impartially endeavour the elucidation of the place, as a ſearcher after Truth, to this end, that he who hath the beſt faculty of diſcerning, may have all the light I have to his own, to make judgement. This is not the manner ordinarily of others. And this I do alſo, that by ſuch indifferency of mine, I may put ſome diſcountenance upon the over-peremptorineſs of this worthy Young man, who, when he ſees his own Notion to be reaſonable, does forget that the Doctors, or mine, may be reaſonable alſo. Another thing is this, Ʋnto the Objection againſt the ſalvability of Heathen [becauſe Salvation is by Chriſt, and they have, no Faith in Chriſt, and no knowledge of him] I have omitted ſomething at large, that I muſt give you intimation of here in a little. Salvation is by Chriſt, I have determined (I ſuppoſe well) in that he hath procured a Law of Grace by which we are governed, and ſhall be judged; and ſo long as the Heathen, or all the world, are under that government of grace as well as we, Salvation muſt come to them upon the ſame account of Chriſt, as it does to us, if any of them perform the Condition. And what if the Heathen knows not this, that it is Chriſt that hath procured this remedying Law for us, and them, yet is that nothing, as to the truth of the thing, for ſo it is, and thoſe that live well, have the benefit of it. If a ranſom be gathered for the Slave at Algiers, he is freed from his ſlavery no leſs for that, becauſe he knowes not the Friends that did it. The Diſciples were partakers of Redemption by Chriſt, when they knew nothing of his Sacrifice till after his death and reſurrection. And what did the Jews know, if the Diſciples knew no more? For Faith then, As there is a threefold Adminiſtration of the Covenant of grace according to the ſtate of the Heathen, the Jew, and the Chriſtian, according to what I have ſaid: So is there a threefold Faith in regard to theſe three Adminiſtrations of it. Faith is diverſified according to its Objects, or the Revelations which man has from God. I have not room here for Explanation. Though a Heathen hath not that Faith as is required of the Chriſtian under the third promulgation of the Covenant, or was of the Jew under the ſecond, yet hath he ſuch a faith as belongs to the firſt, and ſo long as that faith he has, does work by love, or by ſincere obedience to God, it will juſtifie him, as ours will. And this is the meaning of that Text, But now is the righteouſneſs of God revealed from faith to faith: The righteouſneſs of God is the righteouſneſs of this Covenant, which hath been ever a foot, as in my Paper of the Covenants I ſhew, and from faith to faith, is from the faith which was ſufficient in the firſt and ſecond, to that which is now required in the third and laſt Promulgution of it. I have not ſaid this full enough, but it is neceſſary to be intimated; And in the the room that is left I muſt give notice, that I let theſe ſheets be a ſticht Book, that my Papers of the Middle Way may be bound up with them, becauſe they are of the ſame Nature. There was four of theſe Papers, about five ſheets a piece. Of Election and Redemption; Of Juſtification; Of the Covenant, Law and Goſpel; and Of Perfection. They are compleat none of them without one another, for what I found wanting in one Paper, I took liberty to ſupply in the next, though of another Subject. My work is to dig the Metal, the Refiner is another Trade. The Point of Juſtification that got out firſt from me, is not perfectly ſtated till the Reader hath read both the ſix and ſeven firſt leaves of the Covenants, and the beginning of Perfection. Theſe … … together, I entituled Mediocria, and from … in theſe preſent Sheets I do once or twice call thoſe who are for the Middle way in theſe Points, Mediocrians. There are ſeveral places in them very needful for him to ſee that reads theſe preſent Diſquiſitions; but ſix or ſeven firſt leaves of the Paper of the Covenants, Law and Goſpel (before I come to treat thoſe Subjects themſelves) I ſuppoſe to be moſt neceſſary; though the laſt Point I think moſt maturely ſtated. Thoſe twenty ſheets, and theſe fourteen together will make a ſufficient bound Book.
J. H.
ERRATA.
Page 58. line 31. for diſcernings read deſervings. p. 92. l. ult. for dy r. body.
End of the text · John Humfrey, Peaceable Disquisitions (1678)