viz. as the Unmasker tells us here that it included or signified God and that Philip who we read at Samaria preach'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Messiah i. e. instructed them who the Messiah was had here taken pains only to instruct him that this God was Iesus the Messiah and to bring him to assent to that Proposition Whether this be Natural to conceive I leave to the Reader The Tautology on which the Unmasker builds his whole Objection will be quite removed if we take Christ here for a proper Name in which way it is used by the Evangelists and Apostles in other places and particularly by St. Luke as Act. II. 28. III. 6. 20. IV. 10. XXIV 24 c. In two of these places it cannot with any good sence be taken otherwise for if it be not in Act. III. 6. and IV. 10. used as a proper Name we must read those places thus Iesus the Messiah of Nazareth And I think it is plain in those others cited as well as in several other places of the New Testament that the word Christ is used as a proper Name We may easily conceive that long before the Acts were writ the Name of Christ was grown by a familiar use to denote the Person of our Saviour as much as Iesus This is so manifest that it gave a Name to his Followers who as St. Luke tells us XI 26. were were called Christians And that if Chronologists mistake not Twenty Years before St. Luke writ his History of the Apostles And this so generally that Agrippa a Iew uses it Act. XXVI 28. And that Christ as the proper Name of our Saviour was got as far as Rome before St. Luke writ the Acts appears out of Suetonius l. 5. And by that Name he is called in Tacitus Ann. l. 15. 'T is no wonder then that St. Luke in Writing this History should sometimes set it down alone sometimes join'd with that of Iesus as a proper Name which is much easier to conceive he did here than that Philip propos'd more to the Eunuch to be believed to make him a Christian than what in other places was propos'd for the Conversion of others or than what he himself propos'd at Samaria His 7th Chapter is to prove that I am a Socinian because I omitted Christ's Satisfaction That Matter having been answer'd p. 147. where it came properly under consideration I shall only observe here that the great stress of his Argument lies as it did before not upon my total omission of it out of my Book but on this that I have no such thing in the place where the Advantages of Christ's coming are purposely treated of from whence he will have this to be an unavoidable Inference viz. That I was of Opinion that Christ came not to satisfie for us The reason of my omission of it in that place I told him was because my Book was chiefly designed for Deists and therefore I mention'd only those Advantages which all Christians must agree in and in omitting of that comply'd with the Apostle's Rule Rom. XIV To this he tells me â—latly that was not the design of my Book Whether the Unmasker knows with what design I publish'd it better than I my self must be left to the Reader to judge For as for his Veracity in what he knows or knows not he has given so many Instances of it that I may safely referr that to any body One Instance more of it may be found in this very Chapter where he says I pretend indeed p. 5. that in another place of my Book I mention Christ's restoring all Mankind from the state of Death and restoring them to Life and his laying down his Life for another as our Saviour Professes he did These few words this Vindicator hath picked up in his Book since he wrote it This is all through his whole Treatise that he hath drop'd concerning that Advantage of Christ's Incarnation i. e. Christ's Satisfaction Answ. But that this is not all that I drop'd through my whole Treatise concerning that Advantage may appear by those places above-mentioned p. 157. where I say that the design of Christ's coming was to be offered up and speak of the Work of Redemption which are Expressions taken to imply our Saviour's Satisfaction But the Unmasker thinking I should have quoted them if there had been any more besides those mention'd in my Vindication upon that Presumption sticks not boldly to affirm that there were no more and so goes on with the Veracity of an Unmasker If affirming would do it nothing could be wanting in his Cause that might be for his Purpose Whether he be as good at proving this Consequence amongst other Propositions which remain upon him to be proved will try viz. L. That if the Satisfaction of Christ be not mentioned in the place where the Advantages of Christ's coming are purposely treated of then I am of Opinion that Christ came not to satisfie for us which is all the Argument of his 7th Chapter His last Chapter as his first begins with a Commendation of himself Particularly it boasts his freedom from Bigolism Dogmatizing Censoriousness and Vncharitableness I think he hath drawn himself so well with his own Pen that I shall need referr the Reader only to what he himself has writ in this Controversie for his Character In the next Paragraph p. 104. he tells me I laugh at Orthodoxy Answ. There is nothing that I think deserves a more serious Esteem than right Opinion as the Word signifies if taken up with the Sense of Love and Truth But this way of becoming Orthodox has always Modesty accompanying it and a fair Acknowledgment of Fallibility in our selves as well as a Supposition of Error in others On the other side there is nothing more ridiculous than for any Man or Company of Men to assume the Title of Orthodoxy to their own set of Opinions as if Infallibility were annexed to their Systems and those were to be the standing Measure of Truth to all the World from whence they erect to themselves a power to censure and condemn others for differing at all from the Tenets they have pitch'd upon The Consideration of humane Frailty ought to check this Vanity But since it does not but that with a sort of Allowance it shews it self in almost all religious Societies the playing the trick round sufficiently turns it into ridicule For each Society having an equal right to a good Opinion of themselves a Man by passing but a River or a Hill loses that Orthodoxy in one Company which puâ—â—ed him up with such Assurance and Insolence in another and is there with equal Justice himself expos'd to the like Censures of Error and Heresie which he was so forward to lay on others at Home When it shall appear that Infallibility is intailed upon one set of Men of any Denomination or Truth confined to any Spot of Ground the Name and Use of Orthodoxy as now it is in Fashion every where
A SECOND VINDICATION OF THE Reasonableness OF Christianity c. By the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. LONDON Printed for A. and I. Churchill at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row and Edward Castle next Scotland-Yard-Gate by White-Hall 1697. PREFACE TO THE READER IT hath pleased Mr. Edwards in Answer to the Reasonableness of Christianity c. and its Vindication to turn one of the most weighty and important Points that can come into Question Even no less than the very Fundamentals of the Christian Religion into a meer Quarrel against the Author as every one with Mr. Bold may observe In my Reply to him I have endeavour'd as much as his Objections would allow me to bring him to the Subject matter of my Book and the merits of the Cause Though his peculiar way of writing Controversie has made it necessary for me in following him step by step to wipe off the Dirt he has thrown on me and clear my self from those Falshoods he has filled his Book with This I could not but do in dealing with such an Antagonist that by the Vntruths I have proved upon him the Reader may judge of those other Allegations of his whereof the Proof lying on his side the bare Denial is enough on mine and indeed are wholly nothing to the Truth or Falshood of what is contain'd in my Reasonableness of Christianity c. To which I shall desire the Reader to add this further Consideration from his way of Writing not against my Book but against me for writing it That if he had had a Real concern for Truth and Religion in this Dispute he would have treated it after another manner And we should have had from him more Argument Reasoning and Clearness and less Boasting Declamation and Railing It has been unavoidable for me to take notice of a great deal of this sort of Stuff in answering a Writer who has very little else to say in the Controversie and places his strength in things besides the Question But yet I have been so careful to take all Occasions to eâ—â—lain the Doctrine of my Book that I hope the Reader will not think his Pains wholly lost labour in perusing this Reply wherein he will find some further and I hope satisfying Account concerning the Writings of the New Testament and the Christian Religion contained in it Mr. Edward's ill Language which I thought personally to me though I knew not how I had Provoked a Man whom I had never had to do with I am now satisfied by his Rude and Scurrilous treating of Mr. Bold is his Way and Strength in Management of Controversie And therefore requires a little more Consideration in this Disputant than otherwise it would deserve Mr. Bold with the Calmness of a Christian the Gravity of a Divine the Clearness of a Man of Parts and the Civility of a well bred Man made some Animadversions on his Socinianism Unmask'd Which with a Sermon Preach'd on the same Subject with my Reasonableness of Christianity he Published And how he has been used by Mr. Edwards let the World judge I was extreamly surprized with Mr. Bold's Book at a time when there was so great an Outcry against mine on all hands But it seems he is a Man that does not take up things upon Hearsay nor is afraid to own Truth whatever Clamor or Calumny it may lie under Mr. Edwards confidently tells the World that Mr. Bold has been drawn in to espouse this Cause upon base and mean Considerations Whose Picture of the two such a Description is most likely to give us I shall leave to the Reader to judge from what he will find in their Writings on this Subject For as to the Persons themselves I am equally a Stranger to them both I know not the Face of either of them And having hitherto never had any Communication with Mr. Bold I shall begin with him as I did with Mr. Edwards in Print and here publickly return him this following Acknowledgment for what he has Printed in this Controversie To Mr. Bold SIR THough I do not think I ought to return Thanks to any one for being of my Opinion any more than to fall out with him for differing from me Yet I cannot but own to all the World the Esteem that I think is due to you for that Proof you have given of a Mind and Temper becoming a true Minister of the Gospel in appearing as you have done in the Defence of a point a great point of Christianity which it is evident you could have no other temptation to dedeclare for but the love of Truth It has fared with you herein no better than with me For Mr. Edwards not being able to Answer your Arguments has found out already that you are a Mercenary defending a Cause against your Perswasion for hire and that you are sailing to Racovia by a side Wind Such Inconsistencies can one whose Business it is to Rail for a Cause he cannot defend put together to make a noise with And he tells you plainly what you must expect if you write any more on this Argument viz. to be pronounced a downright Apostate and Renegado As soon as I saw your Sermon and Animadversions I wonder'd what Scare-Crow Mr. Edwards would set up wherewith he might hope to deterr Men of more Caution than Sense from reading of them Since Socinianism from which you were known to be as remote as he I concluded would not do The unknown Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity he might make a Socinian Mahometan Atheist or what sort of Raw-head and Bloody-bones he pleased But I imagined he had had more sence than to venture any such Aspersions on a Man whom though I have not yet the Happiness personally to know yet I know hath justly a great and settled Reputation amongst worthy Men And I thought that that Coat which you had worn with so much Reputation might have preserved you from the bespatterings of Mr. Edward's Dunghil But what is to be expected from a Warrier that hath no other Ammunition and yet ascribes to himself Victory from hence and with this Artillery imagines he carries all before him And so Skimmington Rides in Triumph driving all before him by the Ordures that he bestows on those that come in his way And were not Christianity concerned in the case a Man could scarce excuse to himself the Ridiculousness of entering into the List with such a Combatant I do not therefore wonder that this mighty Boaster having no other way to Answer the Books of his Opponents but by popular Calumnies is fain to have recourse to his only Refuge and lay out his natural Talent in Vilifying and Slandering the Authors But I see by what you have already writ how much you are above that and as you take not up your Opinions from Fashion or Interest so you quit them not to avoid the malicious Reports of those that do Out of which number they can hardly be left
the presence of his Disciples which are not written in this Book So far his History is by his own Confession concise But these says he are written that ye might believe that Iesus is the Messiah the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name As concise as it was there was yet if the Apostle's word may be taken for it against the Unmâ—sker's enough contain'd in his Gospel for the procuring of eternal life to those who believed it And whether it was that one Article that he there sets down viz. That Iesus was the Messiah or that Set of Articles which the Unmâ—sker gives us I shall leave to this Modern Divine to resolve And if he thinks still that all the Articles he has set down in his Roll are necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian I must desire him to shew them to me in St. Iohn's Gospel or else to convince the World that St. Iohn was mistaken when he said that he had written his Gospel that Men might believe that Iesus is the Messiah the Son of God and that believing they might have life thorugh his Name So that granting the History of the Scripture to be so concise as the Unmasker would have it viz. That in some places the infallible Writers recording the Discourses of our Saviour and his Apostles omitted all the other Fundamental Articles propos'd by them to be believed to make Men Christians but this one that Iesus was the Messiah Yet this will not remove the Objection that lies against his other Fundamentals which are not to be found in the Histories of the Four Evangelists nay which are not to be found in every one of them If every one of them contains the Gospel of Jesus Christ and consequently all things necessary to Salvation Whether this will not be a new ground of Accusation against me and give the Unmasker a right to charge me with laying by three of the Gospels with contempt as well as he did before charge me with a contempt of the Epistles must be left to his soveraign Authority to determine Having shew'd that allowing all he says here to be as he would have it yet it clears not the Objection that lies against his Fundamentals I shall now examine what truth there is in what he here pretends viz. that though the one Article that Jesus is the Messiah be mention'd alone in some places yet we have reason to be perswaded from the conciseness of the Scripture History that there were at the same time join'd with it other necessary Articles of Faith in the Preaching of our Saviour and his Apostles It is to be observed that the Unmasker builds upon this false Supposition that in some places other necessary Articles of Faith join'd with that of Iesus the Messiah are by the Evangelists mention'd to be propos'd by our Saviour and his Apostles as necessary to be believed to make those they Preach'd to Christians For his saying that in some places that one necessary Article is mention'd alone implies that in other places it is not mention'd alone but join'd with other necessary Articles And then it will remain upon him to shew XXXVI In what place either of the Gospels or of the Acts other Articles of Faith are join'd with this and propos'd as necessary to be believed to make Men Christians The Unmasker 't is probable will tell us that the Article of Christ's Resurrection is sometimes join'd with this of the Messiah as particularly in that first Sermon of St. Peter Acts II. by which there were Three Thousand added to the Church at one time Answ. This Sermon well consider'd will explain to us both the Preaching of the Apostles what it was that they propos'd to their unbelieving Auditors to make them Christians and also the manner of St. Luke's recording their Sermons 'T is true that here are deliver'd by St. Peter many other Matters of Faith besides that of Iesus being the Messiah For all that he said being of Divine Authority is Matter of Faith and may not be disbelieved The first Part of his Discourse is to prove to the Iews that what they had observed of Extraordinary at that time amongst the Disciples who spake variety of Tongues did not proceed from Wine but from the Holy Ghost And that this was the pouring out of the Spirit prophesied of by the Prophet Ioel. This is all Matter of Faith and is written that it might be believed But yet I think that neither the Unmasker nor any body else will say that this is such a necessary Article of Faith that no Man could without an explicit belief of it be a Christian Though being a Declaration of the Holy Ghost by St. Peter it is so much a Matter of Faith that no body to whom it is now propos'd can deny it and be a Christian. And thus all the Scripture of the New Testament given by Divine Inspiration is Matter of Faith and necessary to be believed by all Christians to whom it is propos'd But yet I do not think any one so unreasonable as to say that every Proposition in the New Testament is a Fundamental Article of Faith which is required explicitly to be believed to make a Man a Christian Here now is a matter of Faith join'd in the same Sermon with this Fundamental Article that Iesus is the Messiah And reported by the Sacred Historian so at large that it takes up a Third part of St. Peter's Sermon recorded by St. Luke And yet it is such a matter of Faith as is not contain'd in the Unmasker's Catalogue of necessary Articles I must ask him then whether St. Luke were so concise an Historian that he would so at large set down a matter of Faith propos'd by St. Peter that was not necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian and wholly leave out the very mention of all the Unmasker's additional necessary Articles if indeed they were necessary to be believed to make Men Christians I know not how any one could charge the Historian with greater unfaithfulness or greater folly But this the Unmasker sticks not at to preserve to himself the Power of appointing what shall and what shall not be necessary Articles and of making his System the Christianity necessary and only necessary to be received The next thing that St. Peter proceeds to in this his Sermon is to declare to the Unbelieving Iews that Iesus of Nazareth who had done Miracles amongst them whom they had Crucified and put to Death and whom God had raised again from the Dead was the Messiah Here indeed our Saviour's Crucifixion Death and Resurrection are mentioned And if they were no where else recorded are matters of Faith which with all the rest of the New Testament ought to be believed by every Christian to whom it is thus propos'd as a part of Divine Revelation But that these were not here propos'd to the Unbelieving Iews as the Fundamental Articles which
pleased to dose it no more nor no less than what is in his System He hath put himself into the Throne of Christ and pretends to tell you which are and which are not the indispensable Laws of his Kingdom Which parts of his divine Revelation you must necessarily know understand and believe and in what sense and which you need not trouble your head about but may pass by as not necessary to be believed He will tell you that some of his necessary Articles are Mysteries and yet as he does p. 115. of his Thoughts concerning the Causes of Atheism that they are easy to be understood by any Man when explained to him In answer to that I demanded of him who was to explain them The Papists I told him would explain some of them one way and the Reformed another The Remonstrants and Anti-remonstrants give them different senses And probably the Trinitarians and Unitarians will profess that they understand not each other 's Explications But to this in his reply he has not vouchsafed to give me any answer Which yet I expect and I will tell him why Because as there are different Explainers there will be different Fundamentals And therefore unless he can shew his Authority to be the sole Explainer of Fundamentals he will in vain make such a pudder about his Fundamentals Another Explainer of as good Authority as he will set up others against them And what then shall we be the better for all this stir and noise of Fundamentals And I desire it may be consider'd how much of the Divisions in the Church and bloody Persecutions amongst Christians has been owing to Christianity thus set up against Christianity in multiplied Fundamentals and Articles made necessary by the Infallibility of opposite Systems The Unmasker's Zeal wants nothing but Power to make good his to be the only Christianity for he has found the Apostles Creed to be defective He is as infallible as the Pope and another as infallible as he and where Humane Additions are made to the Terms of the Gospel Men seldom want Zeal for what is their own To conclude What was sufficient to make a Man a Christian in our Saviour's time is sufficient still viz. the taking him for our King and Lord ordained so by God What was necessary to be believed by all Christians in our Saviour's time as an indispensable Duty which they owed to their Lord and Master was the believing all divine Revelation as far as every one could understand it And just so it is still neither more nor less This being so the Unmasker may make what use he pleases of his Notion That Christianity was erected by Degrees it will no way in that sence in which it is true turn to the advantage of his select Fundamental necessary Doctrines The next Chapter has nothing in it but his great Bug-bear whereby he hopes to fright People from Reading my Book by crying out Socinianism Socinianism Whereas I challenge him again to shew one word of Socinianism in it But however it is worth while to write a Book to prove me a Socinian Truly I did not think my self so considerable that the World need be troubled about me whether I were a follower of Socinus Arminius Calvin or any other Leader of a Sect amongst Christians A Christian I am sure I am because I believe Iesus to be the Messiah the King and Saviour promised and sent by God And as a Subject of his Kingdom I take the rule of my Faith and Life from his Will declar'd and left upon Record in the inspired Writings of the Apostles and Evangelists in the New Testament Which I endeavour to the utmost of my power as is my Duty to understand in their true sense and meaning To lead me into their true meaning I know as I have above declar'd no infallible Guide but the same Holy Spirit from whom these Writings at first came If the Unmasker knows any other infallible Interpreter of Scripture I desire him to direct me to him Till then I shall think it according to my Master's Rule not to be called nor to call any Man on Earth Master No Man I think has a right to prescribe to my Faith or Magisterially to impose his Interpretations or Opinions on me Nor is it material to any one what mine are any farther than they carry their own Evidence with them If this which I think makes me of no Sect entitles me to the Name of a Papist or a Socinian because the Unmasker thinks these the worst and most invidious he can give me and labours to fix them on me for no other reason but because I will not take him for my Master on Earth and his System for my Gospel I shall leave him to recommend himself to the World by this Skill who no doubt will have reason to thank him for the rareness and subtility of his Discovery For I think I am the first Man that ever was found out to be at the same time a Socinian and a Factor for Rome But what is too hard for such an Unmasker I must be what he thinks fit When he pleases a Papist and when he pleases a Socinian and when he pleases a Mahometan And probably when he has consider'd a little better an Atheist for I hardly scaped it when he writ last My Book he says hath a tendency to it and if he can but go on as he has done hitherto from Surmises to Certainties by that time he writes next his Discovery will be advanced and he will certainly find me an Atheist Only one thing I dare assure him of that he shall never find that I treat the things of God or Religion so as if I made only a Trade or a Jest of them But let us now see how at present he proves me a Socinian His first Argument is my not answering for my leaving out Matth. XXVIII 19. and Iohn I. 1. Pag. 82. of his Socinianism Unmask'd This he takes to be a Confession that I am a Socinian I hope he means fairly and that if it be so on my side it must be taken for a standing Rule between us that where any thing is not answer'd it must be taken for granted And upon that score I must desire him to remember some Passages of my Vindication which I have already and others which I shall mind him of hereafter which he passed over in Silence and hath had nothing to say to which therefore by his own rule I shall desire the Reader to observe that he has granted This being premised I must tell the Unmasker that I perceive he reads my Book with the same Understanding that he writes his own If he had done otherwise he might have seen that I had given him a reason for my omission of those two and other plain and obvious Passages and famous Testimonies in the Evangelists as he calls them where I say p. 11. That if I have leâ—t out none of those Passages or
as well as great Impudence of putting his Name in Print to what is not his or taking it away from what he hath set it to whether it belongs to his Bookseller or Answerer Onely I cannot pass by the palpable falsifying of Mr. B d's Words in the beginning of his Epistle to the Reader without mention Mr. B d's Words are Whereby I came to be furnished with a truer and more just Notion of the main Design of that TREATISE and the Good Creed-maker set them down thus The main Design of MY OWN TREATISE OR SERMON A sure way for such a Champion for Truth to secure to himself the Laurel or the Whetstone This irresistible Disputant who silences all that come in his way so that those that would cannot answer him to make good the mighty Encomiums he has given himself ought one would think to clear all as he goes and leave nothing by the way unanswered for fear he should fall into the Number of those poor baffled Wretches whom he with so much scorn reproaches that they would answer if they could Mr. B d begins his Animadversions with this Remark that our Creed-maker had said That I give it over and over again in these formal Words viz. That nothing is required to be believed by any Christian Man but this That Iesus is the Messiah To which Mr. B d replies p. 4. in these Words Though I have read over the Reasonableness of Christianity c. with some Attention I have not observed those formal Words in any part of that Book nor any Words that are capable of that Construction provided they be consider'd with the Relation they have to and the manifest Dependance they have on what goes before or follows after them But to this Mr. Edwards answers not Whether it was because he would not or because he could not let the Reader judge But this is down upon his Score already and it is expected he should answer to it or else confess that he cannot And that there may be a fair Decision of this Dispute I expect the same Usage from him that he should set down any Proposition of his I have not answer'd to and call on me for an Answer if I can And if I cannot I promise him to own it in Print The Creed-maker had said That it is most evident to any thinking and considerate Person that I purposely omit the Epistolary Writings of the Apostles because they are fraught with other Fundamental Doctrines besides that which I mention To this Mr. B d answers p. 5. That if by Fundamental Articles Mr. Edwards means here all the Propositions delivered in the Epistles concerning just those particular Heads he Mr. Edwards had there mentioned it lies upon him to prove That Jesus Christ hath made it necessary that every Person must have an explicit Knowledge and Belief of all those before he can be a Christian. But to this Mr. Edwards answers not And yet without an Answer to it all his Talk about Fundamentals and those which he pretended to set down in that place under the Name of Fundamentals will signifie nothing in the present case Wherein by Fundamentals were meant such Propositions which every Person must necessarily have an explicit Knowledge and Belief of before he can be a Christian. Mr. B d in the same place p. 6 and 7. very truly and pertinently adds That it did not pertain to my undertaking to enquire what Doctrines either in the Epistles or the Evangelists and the Acts were of greatest moment to be understood by them who are Christians but what was necessary to be known and believed to a Person 's being a Christian. For there are many important Doctrines both in the Gospels and in the Acts besides this That Iesus is the Messiah But how many soever the Doctrines be which are taught in the Epistles if there be no Doctrine besides this That Iesus is the Messiah taught there as necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian all the Doctrines taught there will not make any thing against what this Author has asserted nor against the Method he hath observed Especially considering we have an Account in the Acts of the Apostles of what those Persons by whom the Epistles were writ did teach as necessary to be believed to Peoples being Christians This and what Mr. B d subjoins That it was not my design to give an Abstract of any of the inspired Books is so true and has so clear Reason in it that any but this Writer would have thought himself concerned to have answered something to it But to this Mr. Edwards answers not It not being it seems a Creed-maker's Business to convince Mens Understanding by Reason but to impose on their Belief by Authority or where that is wanting by Falshoods and Bauling And to such Mr. Bold observes well p. 8. that if I had given the like Account of the Epistles that would have been as little satisfactory as what I have done already to those who are resolved not to distinguish BETWIXT WHAT IS NECESSARY TO BE BELIEVED TO MAKE A MAN A CHRISTIAN AND THOSE ARTICLES WHICH ARE TO BE BELIEVED BY THOSE WHO ARE CHRISTIANS as they can attain to know that Christ hath taught them This Distinction the Creed-maker no where that I remember takes any Notice of unless it be p. 255. where he has something relating hereunto which we shall consider when we come to that place I shall now go on to shew what Mr. Bold has said to what he answers not Mr. Bold farther tells him p. 10. That if he will prove any thing in Opposition to the Reasonableness of Christianity c. it must be this That Jesus Christ and his Apostles have taught that the Belief of some one Article or certain Number of Articles distinct from this That Iesus is the Messiah either as exclusive of or in Conjunction with the Belief of this Article doth constitute and make a Person a Christian But that the Belief of this that Jesus is the Messias alone doth not make a Man a Christian But to this Mr. Edwards irresragably answers nothing Mr. Bold also p. 10. Charges him with his falsly accusing me in these words He pretends to contend for one single Article with the exclusion of all the rest for this reason because all Men ought to understand their Religion And again where he says I aim at this viz. That we must not have any Point of Doctrine in our Religion that the Mob doth not at the very first naming of it perfectly understand and agree to Mr. Bold has quoted my express words to the contrary But to this this answerable Gentleman answers nothing But if he be such a mighty Disputant that nothing can stand in his way I shall expect his direct Answer to it among those other Propositions which I have set down to his Score and I require him to prove if he can The Creed-maker spends Five Pages of his Reflections in a great stir
venture upon Mr. Edwards who is so very quick-sighted in these matters and knows so well what villainous Man is capable of I should not here in this my Vindication have given the Reader so much of Mr. Bold's Reasoning which though clear and strong yet has more Beauty and Force as it stands in the whole Piece in his Book Nor should I have so often repeated this Remark upon each Passage viz. to this Mr. Edwards answers not had it not been the shortest and properest Comment could be made on that triumphant Paragraph of his which begins in the 128. page of his Socinian Creed wherein amongst a great deal of no small strutting are these Words By their profound silence they acknowledge they have nothing to reply He that desires to see more of the same noble strain may have recourse to that eminent Place Besides it was fit the Reader should have this one taste more of the Creed-maker's Genius who passing by in silence all these clear and apposite Replies of Mr. Bold loudly complains of him p. 259. That where he Mr. Bold finds something that he dares not object against he shifts it off And again p. 260. That he doth not make any offer at Reason there is not the least shadow of an Argument As if he were only hired to say something against me the Creed-maker though not at all to the purpose And truly any Man may discern a Mercenary Stroke all along with a great deal more to the same purpose For such Language as this mixed with Scurrility neither fit to be spoken by nor of a Minister of the Gospel make up the remainder of his Postscript But to prevent this for the future I demand of him That if in either of his Treatises there be any thing against what I have said in my Reasonableness of Christianity which he thinks not fully answer'd he will set down the Proposition in direct Words and note the Page of his Book where it is to be found And I promise him an Answer to it For as for his Railing and other Stuff besides the Matter I shall hereafter no more trouble my self to take notice of it And so much for Mr. Edwards THere is another Gentleman and of another sort of Make Parts and Breeding who as it seems ashamed of Mr. Edwards's Way of handling Controversies in Religion has had something to say of my Reasonableness of Christianity c. And so has made it necessary for me to say a Word to him before I let these Papers go out of my Hand It is the Author of The Occasional Paper Numb 1. The 2 3 and 4 Pages of that Paper gave me great hopes to meet with a Man who would examine all the Mistakes which come abroad in Print with that Temper and Indifferency that might set an exact Pattern for Controversie to those who would approve themselves to be sincere Contenders for Truth and Knowledge and nothing else in the Disputes they engaged in Making him Allowance for the Mistakes that Self-Indulgence is apt to impose upon Humane Frailty I am apt to believe he thought his Performances had been such But I crave leave to observe That good and candid Men are often misled from a fair unbiassed pursuit of Truth by an over-great Zeal for something that they upon wrong Grounds take to be so And that it is not so easie to be a fair and unprejudiced Champion for Truth as some who profess it think it to be To acquaint him with the Occasion of this Remark I must desire him to read and consider his 19th Page and then to tell me 1. Whether he knows that the Doctrine proposed in the Reasonableness of Christianity c. was borrowed as he says from Hobbs's Leviathan For I tell him I borrowed it only from the Writers of the Four Gospels and the Acts and did not know that those words he quoted out of the Leviathan were there or any thing like them Nor do I know yet any farther than as I believe them to be there from his Quotation 2. Whether affirming as he does positively this which he could not know to be true and is in it self perfectly false were meant to encrease or lessen the Credit of the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. in the Opinion of the World Or is consonant with his own Rule p. 3. of putting candid Constructions on what Adversaries say Or with what follows in these words The more Divine the Cause is still the greater should be the Caution The very Discoursing about Almighty God or our Holy Religion should compose our Passions and inspire us with Candour and Love It is very indecent to handle such Subjects in a manner that betrays Rancour and Spite These are Fiends that ought to vanish and should never mix either with a Search after Truth or the Defence of Religion 3. Whether the Propositions which he has out of my Book inserted into his 19th Page and says are consonant to the words of the Leviathan were those of all my Book which were likeliest to give the Reader a true and fair Notion of the Doctrine contained in it If they were not I must desire him to remember and beware of his Fiends Not but that he will find those Propositions there to be true But that neither he nor others may mistake my Book this is that in short which it says 1. That there is a Faith that makes Men Christians 2. That this Faith is the Believing Iesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah 3. That the Believing Iesus to be the Messiah includes in it a receiving Him for our Lord and King promised and sent from God And so lays upon all his Subjects an absolute and indisble necessity of assenting to all that they can attain the Knowledge that he taught and of a sincere Obedience to all that he commanded This whether it be the Doctrine of the Leviathan I know not This appears to me out of the New Testament from whence as I told him in the Preface I took it to be the Doctrine of our Saviour and his Apostles And I would not willingly be mistaken in it If therefore there be any other Faith besides this absolutely requisite to make a Man a Christian I shall here again desire this Gentleman to inform me what it is i. e. to set down all those Propositions which are so indispensibly to be believed for 't is of simple Believing I perceive the Controversie runs that no Man can be a Believer i. e. a Christian without an Actual Knowledge of and an Explicit Assent to them If he shall do this with that Candour and Fairness he declares to be necessary in such Matters I shall own my self obliged to him For I am in earnest and I would not be mistaken in it If he shall decline it I and the World too must conclude that upon a review of my Doctrine he is convinced of the Truth of it and is satisfied that I am in the
of any Argument that remains in his Book to be Answer'd But a great part of the World judging of Contests about Truth as they do of popular Elections that the Side carries it where the greatest Noise is 't was necessary they should be undeceived and be let see that sometimes such Writers may be let alone not because they cannot but because they deserve not to be answer'd This farther I ought to Acknowledge to Mr. Bold and own to the World that he hath entered into the true sence of my Treatise and his Notions do so perfectly agree with mine that I shall not be afraid by Thoughts and Expressions very like his in this my Second Vindication to give Mr. Edwards who is exceedingly quick-sighted and positive in such Matters a handle to tell the World that either I borrowed this my Vindication from Mr. Bold or writ his Animadversions for him The former of these I shall count no discredit if Mr. Edwards think fit to charge me with it And the latter Mr. Bold's Character is Answer enough to Though the Impartial Reader I doubt not will find that the same Vniform Truth consider'd by us suggested the same Thoughts to us both without any other Communication There is another Author who in a Civiller Stile hath made it necessary for me to Vindicate my Book from a Reflection or two of his wherein he seems to come short of that Candor he Professes All that I shall say on this Occasion here is that it is a wonder to me that having published what I thought the Scripture told me was the Faith that made a Christian and desired that if I was mistaken any one that thought so would have the goodness to inform me better so many with their Tongues and some in Print should intemperately find fault with a poor Man out of his Way who desires to be set right and no one who blames his Faith as coming short will tell him what that Faith is which is required to make him a Christian. But I hope that amongst so many Censurers I shall at last find one who knowing himself to be a Christian upon other Grounds than I am will have so much Christian Charity as to shem me what more is absolutely necessary to be believed by me and every Man to make him a Christian. ERRATA PAge â—6 line 22. read Are in the Apostles Creed set down as mâ—â—e â— 2â— r. and therefore may p. 46. l. 8. dele And in the next place wherâ— it iâ— that I say VIII That there must be nothing in Christianity that is not plain and exactly level to all mens Mother Wit p. 57. l. 20. r. Mistake p. 76. l. 25. r Enquiry p. 10â— l. 21. r. needs l. 22. r. needs p. 113. l. 1. r. Premissâ—s p. 146. l. 3. r. Scâ—rrâ—ity p. 167. l. 21. r. pâ—rpâ—sâ— which I p. 17â— l. 9. r. distinction p. 179. l. 3. r. baptizes him p. 181. l. 2. r. in the Vnmas p. 186. l. 5. r. Creed do not p. 228. l. 3. r. Gentleman p. 258. l. â— r. Article p. 260. l. 26. r Of the Doctrines p. 269. l. 21. r. St. Peter Preach'd l. 24. r. as well as he p. â—71 l. 19. r. inserted p. 316. l. 16. r. them but has p. 337. l. 13. r but what we understand p. 356. l. 1â— r. in them granted all I would have And shall not meddle with his spâ—â—king closely and strictly but l. 23. r bespatter'd p. 379. l. 11. r. sense and love p. 399. l. 2. r. Apostles p. 413. l. 2â— r. Sacrament p. 417. l. 18. r. mangleâ— p. 420. l. 10. r. a dangerous p. 432. l. 10. r. to which p. 433. l. 14. r. â—nanswerable l. 22. r. above four Pages p. 438. l. 3. believes all p. 451. l. 9. r. and to proceed l. 11. go for Payment should be in Roman Characteâ—â— p. 47â— l. 16. r have l. 17. â— these Questions A Second Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. A Cause that stands in need of Falshoods to support it and an Adversary that will make use of them deserve nothing but Contempt which I doubt not but every considerate Reader thought Answer enough to Mr. Edwards's Socinianism Unmask'd But since in his late Socinian Creed he says I would have answer'd him if I could That the Interest of Christianity may not suffer by my silence nor the contemptibleness of his Treatise afford him matter of Triumph amongst those who lay any weight on such boasting 't is fit it should be shewn what an Arguer he is and how well he deserves for his Performance to be dubb'd by himself Irrefragable Those who like Mr. Edwards dare to publish Inventions of their own for Matters of Fact deserve a name so abhorr'd that it finds not room in civil Conversation This secures him from the proper Answer due to his Imputations to me in Print of Matters of Fact utterly false which without any Reply of mine fix upon him that Name which without a profligate Mind a Man cannot expose himself to till he hath proved them Till then he must wear what he has put upon himself This being a Rule which common Justice hath prescribed to the private Judgments of Mankind as well as to the publick Judicatures of Courts That all Allegations of Fact brought by contending Parties should be presum'd to be false till they are proved There are two ways of making a Book unanswerable The one is by the clearness strength and fairness of the argumentation Men who know how to write thus are above bragging what they have done or boasting to the World that their Adversaries are baâ—â—led Another way to make a Book unanswerable is to lay stress on Matters of Fact foreign to the Question as well as to Truth and to stuff it with Scurrility and Fiction This hath been always so evident to common sense that no Man who had any regard to Truth or Ingenuity ever thought Matters of Fact besides the Argument and Stories made at pleasure the way of managing Controversies Which shewing only the want of Sense and Argument could if used on both sides and in nothing but downright railing And he must always have the better of the Cause who has Lying and Impudence on his side The Unmasker in the Entrance of his Book sâ—ts a great distance between his and my way of Writing I am not sorry that mine differs so much as it does from his If it were like his I should think like his it wanted the Author's Commendations For in his first Paragraph which is all laid out in his own Testimony of his own Book he so earnestly besâ—eaks an opinion of Mastery in Politeness Order Coherence Pertinence Strength Seriousness Temper and all the good Qualities requisite in Controversie that I think since he pleases himself so much with his own good opinion one in pity ought not to go about to rob him of so considerable an Admirer I shall not therefore contest any of those
Integral Parts of the Christian Faith any more than the Head the Trunk and the Arms Hands and Thighs are the Integral Parts of a Man For a Man is not entire without the Legs and Feet too They are some of the Integral Parts indeed But cannot be called the Integral Parts where any that go to make up the whole Man are lâ—ft out Nor those the Integral but some of the Integral Parts of the Christian Faith out of which any of the Doctrines proposed in the New Testament are omitted For whatever is there proposed is proposed to be believed and so is a part of the Christian Faith Before I leave his Catalogue of the Essential and Integral Parts of the Gospel which he has given us instead of one containing the Articles necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian I must take notice of what he says whilst he is making it p. 9. Why then is there a Treatise publish'd to tell the World that the bare belief of a Messiah is all that is required of a Christian. As if there were no difference between believing a Messiah and believing Iesus to be the Messiah No difference between required of a Christian and required to make a Man a Christian. As if you should say renouncing his former Idolatry and being Circumcised and Baptized into Moses was all that was required to make a Man an Israelite Therefore it was all that was required of an Israelite For these two Falshoods has he in this one short Sentence thought fit slily to Father upon me the humble imitator of the Iesuits as he is pleased to call me And therefore I must desire him to shew XIII Where the World is told in the Treatise that I publish'd That the bare belief of a Messiah is all that is required of a Christian The Six next Pages i. e. from 28. to the End of his Second Chapter being taken up with nothing but Pulpit Oratory out of its place and without any reply apply'd or applicable to any thing I have said in my Vindication I shall pass by till he shews any thing in them that is so In pag. 36. This Giant in Argument falls on me and mauls me unmercifully about the Epistles He begins thus The Gentleman is not without his Evasions and he sees it is high time to make use of them This puts him in some disorder For when he comes to speak of my mentioning his ill treatment of the Epistles you may observe that he begins to grow warmer than before Now this meek Man is nettled and one may perceive he is sensible of the Scandal that he hath given to good People by his slighting the Epistolary Writings of the Holy Apostles yet he is so cunning as to disguise his Passion as well as he can Let all this impertinent and inconsistent stuff be so I am angry and cannot disguise it I am cunning and would disguise it But yet the quick-sighted Unmasker has found me out that I am nettled What does all this notable Prologue of Hictius Doctius of a Cunning Man and in effect no Cunning Man in disorder warm'd nettled in a passion tend to but only to shew that these following words of mine p. 19. of my Vindication viz. I require you to publish to the World those Passages which shew my contempt of the Epistles are so full of heat and disorder that they need no other Answer But what need I good Sir do this when you have done it your self A Reply I own very soft and whether I may not say very silly let the Reader judge The Unmasker having accused me of contemning the Epistles my Reply in my Vindicat. p. 19. was thus Sir when your Angry Fit is over and the abatement of your Passion has given way to the return of your Sincerity I shall beg you to read this Passage in the 297. p. of my Book These holy Writers viz. the Penmen of the Epistles inspired from above writ nothing but Truth and in most places very weighty Truths to us now for the expounding clearing and confirming of the Christian Doctrine and establishing those in it who had imbraced it And again p. 299. the other Parts i. e. besides the Gospels and the Acts of DIVINE REVELATION are Objects of Faith and are so to be received They are Truths of which none that is once known to be such i. e. revealed may or ought to be disbelieved And if this does not satisfie you that I have as high a Veneration for the Epistles as you or any one can have I require you to publish to the World those PASSAGES which shew my contempt of them After such direct words of mine expressing my veneration for that part of Divine Revelâ—â—on which is contain'd in the Epistles any one but an Unmasker would blush to charge me with contempt of them without alledging when summon'd to it any word in my Book to justifie that charge If hardness of Forehead were strength of Brains 't were two to one of his side against any Man I ever yet heard of I require him to publish to the World those Passages that shew my contempt of the Epistles and he answers me he need not do it for I have done it my self Whoever had common sense would understand that what I demanded was that he should shew the World where amongst all I had published there were any Passages that expressed contempt of the Epistles For it was not expected he should quote Passages of mine that I had never published And this accute Unmasker to this says I had published them my self So that the reason why he cannot find them is because I have published them my self But says he I appeal to the Reader whether after your tedious Collections out of the four Evangelists your passing by the Epistles and neglecting wholly what the Apostles say in them be not publishing to the World your contempt of them I demand of him to publish to the World those Passages which shew my contempt of the Epistles And he answers he need not I have done it my self How does that appear I have passed by the Epistles says he My passing them by then are Passages published against the Epistles For publishing of Passages is what you said you need not do and what I had done So that the Passages I have published containing a contempt of the Epistles are extant in my saying nothing of them Surely this same passing by has done some very shrewd displeasure to our poor Unmasker that he so starts whenever it is but named and cannot think it contains less than Exclusion Defiance and Contempt Here therefore the Proposition remaining to be proved by you is XIV That one cannot pass by any thing without contempt of it And when you have proved it I shall then ask you what will become of all those parts of Scripturâ— all those Chapters and Verses that you have passed by in your Collection of Fundamental Articles Those that you have
necessary to be believed till there be some other way found to distinguish them than that they are in a Book which is all of Divine Revelation Though therefore Doctrines of Faith and Rules of Practice are very distinguishable in the Epistles yet it does not follow from thence that Fundamental and not Fundamental Doctrines Points necessary and not necessary to be believed to make Men Christians are easily distinguishable in the Epistles Which therefore remains to be proved And it remains incumbent upon him XVIII To set down the Marks whereby the Doctrines deliver'd in the Epistles may easily and exactly be distinguished into Fundamental and not Fundamental Articles of Faith All the rest of that Paragraph containing nothing against me must be bound up with a great deal of the like stuff which the Unmasker has put into his Book to shew the World he does not imitate me in Impertinencies Incoherences and trifling Excursions as he boasts in his first Paragraph Only I shall desire the Reader to take the whole Passage concerning this Matter as it stands in my Reasonableness of Christianity p. 295. I do not deny but the great Doctrines of the Christian Faith are dropt here and there and scatter'd up and down in most of them But 't is not in the Epistles we are to learn what are the Fundamental Articles of Faith where they are promiscuously and without distinction mixed with other Truths and Discourses which were though for Edification indeed yet only occasional We shall find and discern those great and necessary Points best in the Preaching of our Saviour and his Apostles to those who were yet Strangers and ignorant of the Faith to bring them in and convert them to it And then let him read these words which the Unmasker has quoted out of them It is not in the Epistles that we are to learn what are the Fundamental Articles of Faith they were written for the resolving of Doubts and reforming of Mistakes With his Introduction of them in these words He commands the Reader not to stir a jot further than the Acts. If I should ask him where that Command appears he must have recourse to his old shift that he did not mean as he said or else stand Convicted of a malicious Untruth An Orator is not bound to speak strict Truth though a Disputant be But this Unmasker's Writing against me will excuse him from being of the latter And then why may not Falshoods pass for Rhetorical flourishes in one who hath been used to popular Haranguing to which Men are not generally so severe as strictly to examine them and expect that they should always be found to contain nothing but precise Truth and strict Reasoning But yet I must not forget to put upon his Score this other Proposition of his which he has p. 42. and ask him to shew XIX Where it is that I command my Reader not to stir a jot farther than the Acts In the next two Paragraphs p. 42. 46. The Unmasker is at his natural Play of Declaiming without Proving 'T is pity the Mishna out of which he takes his good breeding as it told him that a well-bred and well-taught Man answers to the first in the first place had not given him this Rule too about Order viz. That Proving should go before Condemning Else all the fierce Exaggerations ill Language can heap up are but empty Scurility But 't is no wonder that the Iewish Doctors should not provide Rules for a Christian Divine turn'd Unmasker For where a Cause is to be maintain'd and a Book to be writ and Arguments are not at hand yet something must be found to fill it Railing in such cases is much easier than Reasoning especially where a Man's Parts lie that way The first of these Paragraphs p. 42. he begins thus But let us hear further what this Vindicator saith to excuse his rejection of the Doctrines contained in the Epistles and his putting us off with one Article of Faith And then he quotes these following words of mine What if the Author designed his Treatise as the Title shews chiefly for those who were not yet throughly and firmly Christians purposing to work upon those who either wholly disbelieved or doubted of the Truth of the Christian Religion Answ. This as he has put it is a downright Falshood For the words he quotes were not used by me to excuse my rejection of the Doctrines contained in the Epistles or to prove there was but one Article But as a reason why I omitted the mention of Satisfaction To demonstrate this I shall set down the whole Passage as it is p. 6. of my Vindication where it runs thus But what will become of me that I have not mention'd Satisfaction Possibly this Reverend Gentleman would have had Charity enough for a known Writer of the Brotherhood to have found it by an Innuendo in those words above quoted of laying down his Life for another But every thing is to be strained here the other way For the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. is of necessity to be represented as a Socinian Or else his Book may be read and the Truths in it which Mr. Edwards likes not be received and People put upon examining Thus one as full of happy Conjectures and Suspitions as this Gentleman might be apt to argue But what if the Author designed his Treatise as the Title shews chiefly for those who were not yet throughly or firmly Christians Proposing to work on those who either wholly disbelieved or doubted of the Truth of the Christian Religion To this he tells me p. 43. that my Title says nothing for me i. e. shews not that I designed my Book for those that disbelieved or doubted of the Christian Religion Answ. I thought that a title that professed the Reasonableness of any Doctrine shew'd it was intended for those that were not â—ully satisfied of the Reasonableness of it unless Books are to be writ to convince those of any thing who are convinced already But possibly this may be the Unmasker's way And if one should judge by his manner of treating this Subject with Declamation instead of Argument one would think that he meant it for no body but those who were of his Mind already I thought therefore The Reasonableness of Christianity as deliver'd in the Scripture a proper Title to signifie whom it was chiefly meant for And I thank God I can with satisfaction say it has not wanted its effect upon some of them But the Unmasker proves for all that that I could not design it chiefly for Disbelievers or Doubters of the Christian Religion For says he p. 43. How those that wholly disregard and disbelieve the Scriptures of the New Testament as Gentiles Iews Mahometans and Atheists do I crave leave to put in Theists instead of Atheists for a reason presently to be mention'd are like to attend to the Reasonableness of Christianity as deliver'd in the Scripture is not to be conceived
Religion disguise the Faith of the Gospel and betray Christianity it self If they did not I am sure I have not For I have not omitted any of the main Articles which they Preached to the Unbelieving World Those I have set down with so much care not to omit any of them that you blame me for it more than once and call it tedious However you are pleased to acquit or condemn the Apostles in the case by your Supream Determination I am very indifferent If you think fit to condemn them for disguising or betraying the Christian Religion because they said no more of Satisfaction than I have done in their Preaching at first to their Unbelieving Auditors Iews or Heathens to make them as I think Christians for that I am now speaking of I shall not be sorry to be found in their Company under what censure soever If you are pleased graciously to take off this your censure from them for this omission I shall claim a share in the same Indulgence But to come to what perhaps you will think your self a little more concerned not to censure than what the Apostles did so long since for you have given instances of being very apt to make bold with the Dead Pray tell me does the Church of England admit People into the Church of Christ at hap-hazard Or without proposing and requiring a Profession of all that is necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian If she does not I desire you to turn to the Baptism of those of riper Years in our Liturgy Where the Priest asking the Convert particularly whether he believes the Apostles Creed which he repeats to him Upon his Profession that he does and that he desires to be baptized into that Faith without one word of any other Articles Baptizes him and then declares him a Christian in these words We receive this Person into the Congregation of Christ's Flock and sign him with the sign of the Cross in token that he shall not be asham'd to CONTINUE Christ's faithful Soldier and Servant In all this there is not one word of Satisfaction no more than in my Book nor so much neither And here I ask you whether for this omission you will pronounce that the Church of England disguises the Faith of the Gospel However you think fit to treat me yet methinks you should not let your self loose so freely against our first Reformers and the Fathers of our Church ever since as to call them Betrayers of Christianity it self because they think not so much necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian as you are pleased to put down in your Articles but omit as well as I your main Article of Satisfaction Having thus notably harangued upon the occasion of my saying Would any one blame my Prudence and thereby made me a Socinian a Iesuit and a Betrayer of Christianity it self he has in that answer'd all that such a Miscreant as I do or can say and so passes by all the Reasons I gave for what I did without any other notice or answer but only denying a Matter of Fact which I only can know and he cannot viz. My design in Printing my Reasonableness of Christianity In the next Paragraph p. 45. in answer to these words of St. Paul Rom. XIV 1. Him that is weak in the Faith receive ye but not to doubtful Disputations which I brought as a reason why I mention'd not Satisfaction amongst the Benefits receiv'd by the coming of our Saviour Because as I tell him in my Vindication p. 5. My Reasonableness of Christianity as the title shews was designed chiefly for those who were not yet throughly or firmly Christians He replies and I desire him to prove it XX. That I pretend a design of my Book which was never so much as thought of till I was sollicited by my Brethren to Vindicate it All the rest in this Paragraph being either nothing to this place of the Romans or what I have answer'd elsewhere needs no farther Answer The next two Paragraphs p. 46. â—49 are meant for an Answer to something I had said concerning the Apostles Creed upon the occasion of his chargeing my Book with Socinianism They begin thus This Author of the New Christianity Answ. This New Christianity is as old as the Preaching of our Saviour and his Apostles and a little older than the Unmasker's System Wisely objects that the Apostles Creed hath none of those Articles which I mention'd p. 12 13. Answ. If that Author wisely objects the Unmasker would have done well to have replied wisely But for a Man wisely to reply it is in the first place requisite that the Objection be truly and fairly set down in its full force and not represented short and as will best serve the Answerers turn to reply to This is neither wise nor honest And this first part of a wise Reply the Unmasker has failed in This will appear from my words and the occasion of them The Unmasker had accused my Book of Socinianism for omitting some Points which he urged as necessary Articles of Faith To which I answer'd That he had done so only to give it an ill Name not because it was Socinian for he had no more reason to charge it with Socinianism for the Omissions he mentions than the Apostles Creed These are my words which he should have either set down out of p. 12. which he quotes or at least given the Objection as I put it if he had meant to have clear'd it by a fair Answer But he instead thereof contents himself that I object that the Apostles Creed hath none of those Articles and Doctrines which the Unmasker mention'd Answ. This at best is but a part of my Objection and not to the purpose I there meant without the rest join'd to it which it has pleased the Unmasker according to his laudable way to conceal My Objection therefore stands thus That the same Articles for the Omission whereof the Unmasker charges my Book with Socinianism being also omitted in the Apostles Creed he has no more reason to Charge my Book with Socinianism for the Omissions mention'd than he hath to charge the Apostles Creed with Socinianism To this Objection of mine let us now see how he answers p. 47. Nor does any considerate Man wonder at it i. e. That the Apostles Creed hath none of those Articles and Doctrines which he had mention'd For the Creed is a form of outward Profession which is chiefly to be made in the Publick Assemblies when Prayers are put up in the Church and the Holy Scriptures are read Then this Abridgment of Faith is properly used or when there is not generally time or opportunity to make any Enlargement But we are not to think it expresly contains in it all the necessary and weighty Points all the important Doctrines of Belief it being only designed to be an Abstract Answ. Another indispensible requiquisite in a wise Reply is that it should be
advise a Buâ—â—oon to talk gravely who has nothing left to draw attention if he should lay by his scurrility The remainder of this 4th Chapter p. 61. â—67 being spent in shewing why the Socinians are for a few Articles of Faith being a Matter that I am not concern'd in I leave to that forward Gentleman to examine who examined Mr. Edwards's Exceptions against the Reasonableness of Christianity and who as the Unmasker informs me p. 64. was chosen to vindicate my attempt c. If the Unmasker knows that he was so Chosen it is well If I had known of such a choice I should have desired that somebody should have been chosen to Vindicate my attempt who had understood it better The Unmasker and Examiner are each of them so full of themselves and their own Systems that I think they may be a fit match one for another And so I leave these Cocks of the Game to try it out in an endless battle of wrangling till Death them depart which of them has made the true and exact Collection of Fundamentals And whose System of the two ought to be the prevailing Orthodoxy and be received for Scripture Only I warn the Examiner to look to himself For the Unmasker has the whiphand of him and gives him to understand p. 65. that if he cannot do it himself by the strength of his Lungs the vehemency of his Oratory and endless attacks of his Repetitions the Ecclesiastical Power and the Civil Magistrates lash have in store demonstrative Arguments to convince him that his the Vnmasker's System is the only true Christianity By the way I must not forget to mind the Unmasker here again that he hath a very unlucky hand at guessing For whereas he names Socinus as one from whom I received my Platform and says that Crellius gave me my Kue it so falls out that they are two Authors of whom I never read a Page I say not this as if I thought it a fault if I had for I think I should have much better spent my time in them than in the Writings of our learned Unmasker I was sure there was no offending the Unmasker without the guilt of Atheism only he here p. 69. very mercifully lays it upon my Book and not upon my Design The tendency of it to Irreligion and Atheism he has proved in an Eloquent Harangue for he is such an Orator he cannot stir a foot without a Speech made as he bids us suppose by the Atheistical Rabble And who can deny but he has chose a fit Imployment for himself Where could there be found a better Speech-maker for the Atheistical Rabble But let us hear him For though he would give the Atheistical Rabble the Credit of it yet 't is the Unmasker speaks And because 't is pity such a pattern of Rhetorick and Reason should be lost I have for my Reader 's Edification set it all down verbatim We are beholding to this worthy Adventurer for ridding the World of so great an Incumbrance viz. That huge Mass and unweildy Body of Christianity which took up so much room Now we see that it was this bulk and not that of Mankind which he had an eye to when he so often mention'd this latter This is a Physician for our turn indeed We like this Chymical Operator that doth not trouble us with a parcel of heavy Drugs of no value but contracts it all into a few Spirits nay doth his business with a single drop We have been in bondage a long time to Creeds and Catechisms Systems and Confessions we have been plagued with a tedious Beadroll of Articles which our Reverend Divines have told us we must make the Matter of our Faith Yea so it is both Conformists and Nonconformists though disagreeing in some other things have agreed in this to molest and Crucifie us But this noble Writer we thank him hath set us free and eas'd us by bringing down all the Christian Faith into one Point We have heard some Men talk of Epistolary Composures of the New Testament as if great Matters were contain'd in them as if the great Mysteries of Christianity as they call them were unfolded there But we could never make any thing of them and now we find that this Writer is partly of our Opinion He tells us that these are Letters sent upon occasion but we are not to look for our Religion for now for this Gentleman's sake we begin to talk of Religion in these places We believe it and we believe that there is no Religion but in those very Chapters and Verses which he has set down in his Treatise What need we have any other part of the New Testament That is Bible enough if not too much Happy thrice happy shall this Author be perpetually esteemed by us we will Chronicle him as our Friend and Benefactor It is not our way to Saint People Otherwise we would certainly canonize this Gentleman and when our hand is in his pair of Booksellers for their being so Beneficial to the World in publishing so rich a Treasure It was a blessed day when this hopeful Birth saw the Light for hereby all the Orthodox Creed-Makers and Systematick Men are ruined for ever In brief if we be for any Christianity it shall be this Author's for that agrees with us singularly well it being so short all couch'd in four words neither more nor less It is a very fine Compendium and we are infinitely obliged to this great Reformer for it We are glad at heart that Christianity is brought so low by this worthy Pen-man for this is a good presage that it will dwindle into nothing What! But one Article and that so brief too We like such a Faith and such a Religion because it is so near to none He hath no sooner done but as it deserved he crys out Euge Sophos And is not the Reader quoth he satisfied that such Language as this hath real truth in it Does not he perceive that the discarding all the Articles but ONE makes way for the casting off that too Answ. 'T is but supposing that the Reader is a civil â—entleman and answers Yes to these two Questions and then 't is Demonstration that by this Speech he has irrefragably proved the tendency of my Book to Irreligion and Atheism I remember Chillingworth somewhere puts up this Request to his Adversary Knot Sir I beseech you when you write again do us the favour to write nothing but Syllogisms For I find it still an extream trouble to find out the conceal'd Propositions which are to connect the parts of your Enthymems As now for Example I profess to you I have done my best endeavour to find some Glue or Sodder or Cement or Thread or any thing to tie the Antecedent and this Consequent together The Unmasker agrees so much in a great part of his Opinion with that Jesuit as I have shew'd already and does so infinitely out-doe him in spinning Ropes of Sand and a
Apostles if they were but ordinarily fair and prudent Men did in an History publish'd to instruct the World in a new Religion leave out the necessary and Fundamental parts of that Religion But let them be consider'd as inspired Writers under the Conduct of the infallible Spirit of God putting them upon and directing them in the writing of this History of the Gospel and then it is impossible for any Christian but the Unmasker to think that they made any such gross Omissions contrary to the design of their Writing without a Demonstration to convince him of it Now all the reason that our Unmasker gives is this That it is confessed by all intelligent and observing Men that the History of the Scripture is concise and that in relating Matters of Fact many Passages are omitted by the Sacred Penmen Answ. The Unmasker might have spar'd the Confession of intelligent and observing Men after so plain a Declaration of St. Iohn himself Chap. XX. 31. Many other things did Iesus in the presence of his Disciples which are not written in this Book And again XXI 25. There are also many other things that Iesus did the which if they should be written every one I suppose the world could not contain the Books that should be written There needs therefore no opinion of intelligent and observing Men to convince us that the History of the Gospel is so far Concise that a great many Matters of Fact are omitted and a great many less material Circumstances even of those that are set down But will any intelligent or observing Man any one that bears the Name of a Christian have the Impudence to say that the inspired Writers in the relation they give us of what Christ and his Apostles Preach'd to Unbelievers to convert them to the Faith omitted the Fundamental Articles which those Preachers proposed to make Men Christians and without a belief of which they could not be Christians The Unmasker talks after his wonted fashion seems to say something which when examin'd proves nothing to his Purpose He tells us That in some places where the Article of Iesus the Messiah is mention'd alone at the same time other matters of Faith were proposed I ask were these other matters of Faith all the Unmasker's necessary Articles If not what are those other matters of Faith to the Unmasker's Purpose As for Example in St. Peter's Sermon Act. II. Other matters of Faith were proposed with the Article of Iesus the Messiah But what does this make for His Fundamental Articles Were They all propos'd with the Articles of Iesus the Messiah If not Unbelievers were converted and brought into the Church without the Unmasker's necessary Articles Three Thousand were added to the Church by this one Sermon I pass by now St. Luke's not mentioning a Syllable of the greatest part of the Unmasker's necessary Articles and shall consider only how long that Sermon may have been 'T is plain from v. 15. that it began not till about Nine in the Morning and from v. 41. that before Night Three Thousand were converted and Baptized Now I ask the Unmasker whether so small a Number of Hours as St. Peter must necessarily imploy in Preaching to them were sufficient to instruct such a mixed Multitude so fully in all those Articles which he has propos'd as necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian as that every one of those Three Thousand that were that day Baptized did understand and explicitly believe every one of those his Articles just in the sense of our Unmasker's System Not to mention those remaining Articles which the Unmasker will not be able in twice as many Months to find and declare to us He says That in some places where the Article of Iesus the Messiah is mentioned alone at the same time other matters of Faith were proposed Let us take this for so at present yet this helps not the Unmasker's case The Fundamental Articles that were propos'd by our Saviour and his Apostles necessary to be believed to make Men Christians are not set down but only this single one of Iesus the Messiah Therefore will any one dare to say that they are omitted every where by the Evangelists Did the Historians of the Gospel make their relation so concise and short that giving an account in so many places of the Preaching of our Saviour and his Apostles for the Conversion of the Unbelieving World they did not in any one place nor in in all of them together set down the necessary Points of that Faith which their Unbelieving Hearers were converted to If they did not how can their Histories be called the Gospels of Iesus Christ Or how can they serve to the end for which they were written Which was to publish to the World the Doctrine of Iesus Christ that Men might be brought into his Religion Now I challenge the Unmasker to shew me not out of any one place but out of all the Preachings of our Saviour and his Apostles recorded in the four Gospels and the Acts all those Propositions which he has reckon'd up as Fundamental Articles of Faith If they are not to be found there 't is plain that either they are not Articles of Faith necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian or else that those inspired Writers have given us an account of the Gospel or Christian Religion wherein the greatest part of Doctrines necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian are wholly omitted Which in short is to say that the Christianity which is recorded in the Gospels and the Acts is not that Christianity which is sufficient to make a Man a Christian. This as absurd and impious as it is is what our Unmasker charges upon the Conciseness as he is pleased to call it of the Evangelical History And this we must take upon his word Though these inspired Writers tell us the direct contrary For St. Luke in his Preface to his Gospel tells Theophilus that having a perfect knowledge OF ALL THINGS the Design of his Writing was to set them in order that he might know the certainty of those things that were believed amongst Christians And his History of the Acts begins thus The former Treatise i. e. his Gospel have I made O Theophilus of ALL that Iesus began to do and to teach So that how concise soever the Unmasker will have his History to be he professes it to contain ALL that Jesus taught Which ALL must in the narrowest sense that can be given it contain at least all things necessary to make a Man a Christian. 'T would else be a very lame and imperfect History of ALL that Jesus taught if the Faith contained in it were not sufficient to make a Man a Christian. This indeed as the Unmasker hath been pleased to term it would be a very lank Faith a very lank Gospel St. Iohn also says thus of his History of the Gospel Ch. XX. 30 31. Many other signs truly did Iesus in
will in that one place be reasonable Till then this ridiculous Cant will be a Foundation too weak to sustain that Usurpation that is raised upon it 'T is not that I do not think every one should be perswaded of the Truth of those Opinions he professes 'T is that I contend for And 't is that which I fear the great Sticklers for Orthodoxy often fail in For we see generally that Numbers of them exactly jump in a whole large Collection of Doctrines consisting of Abundance of particulars as if their Notions were by one common Stamp printed on their Minds even to the least Lineament This is very hard if not impossible to be conceived of those who take up their Opinions only from Conviction But how fully soever I am perswaded of the Truth of what I hold I am in common Justice to allow the same Sincerity to him that differs from me And so we are upon equal Terms This Perswasion of Truth on each side invests neither of us with a right to censure or condemn the other I have no more reason to treat him ill for differing from me than he has to treat me ill for the same cause Pity him I may inform him fairly I ought but contemn malign revile or any otherwise prejudice him for not thinking just as I do that I ought not My Orthodoxy gives me no more Authority over him than his for every one is Orthodox to himself gives him over me When the Word Orthodoxy which in effect signifies no more but the Opinions of my Party is made use of as a pretence to domineer as ordinarily it is it is and always will be ridiculous He saith I hate even with a deadly hatred all Catechisms and Confessions all Systems and Models I do not remember that I have once mentioned the Word Catechism either in my Reasonableness of Christianity or Vindication But he knows I hate them deadly and I know I do not And as for Systems and Models all that I say of them in the Pages he quotes to prove my Hatred of them is only this viz. p. 8. of my Vindication Some Men had rather you should write booty and cross your own Design of removing Mens Prejudices to Christianity than leave out one Title of what they put into their Systems Some Men will not bear it that any one should speak of Religion but according to the Model that they themselves have made of it In neither of which places do I speak against Systems or Models but the ill use that some Men make of them He tells me also in the same place p. 104. that I deride Mysteries But for this he hath quoted neither words nor place And where he does not do that I have reason from the frequent Liberties he takes to impute to me what no where appears in my Books to desire the Reader to take what he says not to be true For did he mean fairly he might by quoting my Words put all such Matters of Fact out of doubt and not force me so often as he does to demand where it is as I do now here again LI. Where it is that I deride Mysteries His next Words p. 104. are very remarkable They are O how he the Vindicator grins at the Spirit of Creed making p. 18. Vind. the very thoughts of which do so haunt him so plague and torment him that he cannot rest till it be conjured down And here by the way seeing I have mention'd his rancour against Systematick Books and Writings I might represent the Misery that is coming upon all Booksellers if this Gentleman and his Correspondents go on sucâ—essfully Here is an effectual Plot to undermine Stationers-Hall for all Systems and Bodies of Divinity Philosophy c. must be cashier'd Whatever looks like System must not be bought or sold. This will fall heavy on the Gentlemen of St. Paul 's Church-yard and other places Here the Politick Unmasker seems to threaten me with the Posse of Paul's Church-yard because my Book might lessen their Gain in the Sale of Theological Systems I remember that Demetrius the Shrinemaker which brought no small gain to the Crafts-men whom he called together with the Workmen of like Occupation and said to this purpose Sirs Ye know that by this Craft we have our Wealth Moreover ye see and hear that this Paul hath perswaded and turned away much People saying that they be no Gods that are made with hands so that this our Craft is in danger to be set at naught And when they heard these Sayings they were full of wrath and cried out saying Great is Diana of the Ephesians Have you Sir who are so good at Speech-making as a worthy Successor of the Silver-smith regulating your Zeal for the Truth and your writing of Divinity by the Profit it will bring made a Speech to this purpose to the Craftsmen and told them that I say Articles of Faith and Creeds and Systems in Religion cannot be made by Mens Hands or Fancies But must be just such and no other than what God hath given us in the Scriptures And are they ready to cry out to your content Great is Diana of the Ephesians If you have well warm'd them with your Oratory 't is to be hoped they will heartily join with you and bestir themselves and choose you for their Champion to prevent the Misery you tell them is coming upon them in the loss of the Sale of Systems and Bodies of Divinity For as for Philosophy which you name too I think you went a little too far Nothing of that kind as I remember hath been so much as mention'd But however some sort of Orators when their hands are in omit nothing true or false that may move those that they would work upon Is not this a worthy Imployment and becoming a Preacher of the Gospel to be a Sollicitor for Stationers-Hall and make the Gain of the Gentlemen of Paul's Church-yard a Consideration for or against any Book writ concerning Religion This if it were ever thought on before no body but an Unmasker who lays all open was ever so foolish as to Publish But here you have an account of his Zeal The views of Gain are to measure the truths of Divinity Had his Zeal as he pretends in the next Paragraph no other aims but the defence of the Gospel 't is probable this Controversie would have been managed after another fashion Whether what he says in the next p. 105. to excuse his so oâ—ten pretending to know my Heart and Thoughts will satisfie the Reader I shall not trouble my self By his so often doing it again in his Socinianism Unmask'd I see he cannot write without it And so I leave it to the Judgment of the Readers whether he can be allow'd to know other Mens thoughts who in many Occasions seems not well to know his own The Railing in the remainder of this Chapter I shall pass by as I have done a great deal of the same
does in the same Address to him p. 248. and write contrary to his Light Had the Creed maker had reason to think in earnest that Mr. Bold was going off to Socinianism he might have reasoned with him fairly as with a Man running into dangerous Errour Or if he had certainly known that he was by any By-ends prevailed on to undertake a Cause contrary to his Conscience he might have some Reason to tell the World as he does p. 239. That we cannot think he should speak truth who is thus brought to undertake the Cause If he does not certainly know that Mr. Bold was THUS brought to undertake the Cause he could not have shewn a more Villainous and Unchristian Mind than in publishing such a Character of a Minister of the Gospel and a worthy Man upon no other Grounds but because it might be subservient to his ends He is engaged in a Controversie that by Argument he cannot maintain Nor knew any other way from the beginning to attack the Book he pretends to write against but by crying out Socinianism a Name he knows in great Disgrace with all other Sects of Christians and therefore sufficient to deterr all those who approve and condemn Books by hearsay without examining their Truth themselves from perusing a Treatise to which he could affix that imputation Mr. Bold's Name who is publickly known to be no Socinian he foresees will wipe off that false Imputation with a great many of those who are led by Names more than Things This seems exceedingly to trouble him and he labours might and main to get Mr. Bold to quit a Book as Socinian which Mr. Bold knows is not Socinian because he has read and considered it But though our Creed-maker be mightily concerned that Mr. B d should not appear in the Defence of it Yet this concern cannot raise him one jot above that Honesty Skill and good Breeding which appears towards others He manages this Matter with Mr. B d as he has done the rest of the Controversie just in the same strain of Invention Civility Wit and good Sence He tells him besides what I have above set down that he is drawn off to debase himself and the post i. e. the Ministry he is in p. 245. That he hath said very ill things to the lessening and impairing yea to the defaming of that knowledge and belief of our Saviour and of the Articles of Christianity which are necessarily required of us p. 245. That the Devout and Pious whereby he means himself for one and none is his own beloved Wit and Argument observing that Mr. Bold is come to the necessity of but ONE Article of Faith they expect that he may in time hold that NONE is necessary p. 248. That if he writes again in the same strain be will write rather like a Turkish Spy than a Christian Preacher That he is a Backslider and Sailing to Racovia with a side Wind Than which what can there be more Scurrilous or more Malicious And yet at the same time that he outrages him thus beyond not only what Christian Charity but common Civility would allow in an ingenuous Adversary he makes some awkward Attempts to sooth him with some ill timed Commendations And would have his under-valuing Mr. Bold's Animadversions pass for a Complement to him Because he for that reason pretends not to believe so crude and shallow a thing as he is pleased to call it to be his A notable Contrivance to gain the greater Liberty of Railing at him under another Name when Mr. B d's it seems is too well known to serve him so well to that purpose Besides it is of good use to fill up three or four Pages of his Reflections a great Convenience to a Writer who knows all the ways of baffling his Opponents but Argument and who always makes a great deal of stir about Matters foreign to his Subject which whether they are granted or denied make nothing at all to the Truth of the Question on either side For what is it to the Shallowness or Depth of the Animadversions who writ them Or to the Truth or Falshood of Mr. B d's Defence of the Reasonableness of Christianity whether a Lay-man or a Church-man a Socinian or one of the Church of England answer'd the Creed-maker as well as he Yet this is urged as a matter of great weight But yet in reality it amounts to no more but this that a Man of any Denomination who wishes well to the Peace of Christianity and has observed the horrible Effects the Christian Religion has felt from the Impositions of Men in Matters of Faith may have reason to defend a Book wherein the Simplicity of the Gospel and the Doctrine proposed by our Saviour and his Apostles for the Conversion of Unbelievers is made out though there be not one Word of the distinguishing Tenents of his Sect in it But that all those who under any Name are for imposing their own Orthodoxy as necessary to be believed and persecuting those who dissent from them should be all against it is not perhaps very strange One thing more I must observe of the Creed-maker on this Occasion In his Socinian Creed Ch. VI. The Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. And his Book must be judged of by the Characters and Writings of those who entertain or commend his Notions A professed Unitarian has defended it therefore he is a Socinian The Author of A Letter to the Deists speaks well of it Therefore he is a Deist Another as an Abettor of the Reasonableness of Christianity he mentions p. 125. whose Letters I have never seen And his Opinions too are I suppose set down there as belonging to me Whatever is bad in the Tenets or Writings of these Men infects me But the Mischief is Mr. Bold's Orthodoxy will do me no good But because he has defended my Book against Mr. Edwards all my Faults are become his and he has a mighty Load of Accusations laid upon him Thus contrary Causes serve so good a Natured so Charitable and Candid a Writer as the Creed-maker to the same purpose of Censure and Railing But I shall desire him to figure to himself the Loveliness of that Creature which turns every thing into Venom What others are or hold who have expressed favourable thoughts of my Book I think my self not concerned in What Opinions others have published make those in my Book neither true nor false and he that for the sake of Truth would confute the Errors in it should shew their Falshood and Weakness as they are there But they who write for other Ends than Truth are always busie with other Matters and where they can do nothing by Reason and Argument hope to prevail with some by borrowed Prejudices and Party Taking therefore the Animadversions as well as the Sermon to be his whose Name they bear I shall leave to Mr. B d himself to take what Notice he thinks fit of the little Sence