The covenant of life opened, or, A treatise of the covenant of grace

which Davenantius, Bishop of Salisbury (if that opus posthumum have been written by him in his riper years, and revised by himself) justly censures as the boil of Pelagian Doctrine, which Faustus Rhegiensis did covertly teach: The Lord (saith he) redeems such as are willing, being a rewarder of their good or evil wills. Now hardly can these eschew this Pelagianism who teach, that the death of Christ is an universal salve applicable,¹ by the decree of God, to save all and every one of mankind, Christian and Pagan, so they actually believe: For it cannot be said, that Christ hath died to make all mankind saveable, upon condition of actual faith to receive Christ preached: for so Infants, to whom Christ preached is in no tolerable sense applicable, that way, by any ordination of God, if they actually believe, shall be no parts of the world, & they must be excluded from Baptism. And it cannot be said that this argument shall militate against us: for we do not defend such a conditional applicability of Christ upon condition of faith actual in preached Christ even to infants in the Visible Church, yet we teach they are in Covenant with God, and so God hath his decree of election to Glory and Redemption in Christ, among infants as among aged professors. 2. There is a providential, and to many thousands of Pagans, who never heard, nor could hear of Christ, an invincible impediment, and so Christ is not applicable by Gods decree to them, upon condition of actual believing, Rom. 10.14. How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? It ⟨p. 184⟩seems to me physically impossible, that there is such a thing as the Indians worship Satan under such a name and in such rites, if I never heard of the Indians, or of their God, or their worship: So neither can they worship Christ in a Gospel-way, who never heard of him. Its impossible to beleeve a non ens, Christ offered in the Gospel is very nothing and so not applicable to thousands by any decree of God. 3. This is not written in Scripture. God hath decreed that Christ be Preached and life be offered actually to all and every one of all and every Nation under Heaven, and this opinion saith that Christ died and satisfied offended Justice for the sins of all and every one of all and every Nation under heaven, except for final unbelief. The Antecedent is clear by Scripture and experience.