Fingers If we were to judg of the Matters themselves and to form the Propositions originally our selves there would not be any need of such Revelation as we now have the Messias would not have had any occasion to have said any thing of them but then we must have had new Faculties and those proportioned to what is discoursed of But the Propositions being delivered down to us there is no need of our having new Faculties it is enough to render it most reasonable for us to believe the Propositions that we have new Evidence administred to our old Faculties When our most learned Divines speak of Reason as to these Doctrines they do not speak of the Doctrines as delivered by Christ and his Apostles for no Reason can be assigned for our believing them under that precise Consideration but only the Testimony of Christ But they speak of those Terms in which the Church hath delivered her Sense in opposition to those who represented the Words of Christ when applied to these Matters as signifying no more than the Words of any ordinary Man do when concerned about most obvious and common things And thus they shew that those Terms comprehend a great deal more in them than that other sort of People pretend is signified by our Saviour's Words and that the Notions these Terms do stand for are very consonant to the Reason of Mankind But they do not pretend that these Terms as strictly expressing those Notions do exhaust the whole that is comprized in our Saviour's Words For should they do so they would pretend to comprehend the Matters themselves Christ doth speak of and to set them forth in a clearer Light than he hath done A Doctrine or Proposition is reasonable when it truly relates or expresseth the Reason of the things about which it is concerned that is when the Subject and Predicate have such a Connection in the Proposition as doth truly express and signify the Connection there is betwixt what the Subject and Predicate do stand for and note in the things spoken of Now there is a very great Difference between my understanding the Reason the Order the Relation there is between the things spoken of in the Proposition i. e. wherein that Order doth consist or what it is that constitutes that Order and my having Reason to believe the Proposition which doth relate and declare that there is a certain Order Relation and Reason between them or belonging to them Evidence is the Reason or Ground of my Assent and Belief And tho the things spoken of are in their own Nature above my reach yet there may be such Evidence of the Truth of the Proposition as may be sufficient to oblige my Belief of it The Testimony of my Senses concerning their proper Objects is the Reason of my assenting to the Truth of Propositions which respect those Objects and not my being able to philosophize about those Objects either after the old or new way I believe the Doctrines I know Christ hath taught not because I can comprehend and philosophize on the Matters spoken of but because I know that Jesus whom I believe to be the Messias hath taught them He fully understood the Order of the Things he spake of and his Testimony is as full Evidence to engage my Belief of whatever I know he hath taught as my Sight is to oblige my Assent to Propositions relating to the proper Objects of that Sense These Doctrines are not propos'd to us for Speculation but for our Use and Benefit We have Evidence enough even as much as we can with Reason desire of the Truth of these Propositions if we believe that Jesus is the Messias and our blessed Saviour hath given us full Direction what Vse we are to make of them that we may partake of the singular Advantages he will communicate those ways And if instead of quarrelling and wrangling about Matters which are far above our loftiest Speculations we would submissively betake our selves to the Methods our Lord doth advise and prescribe us we might confidently expect the most exhilarating Satisfaction concerning these Points If any Man will do his Will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self John 7.17 Whereas the Socinians pretend that these Doctrines do contradict our natural Notions that is a Suggestion so gross one might wonder how rational Men could ever entertain such a dry and senseless Conceit unless it hath sprung from hence that hearing that these Doctrines must necessarily be believed to make Men Christians they have concluded that the Truth of these Doctrines must be judged of by their natural Notions And to speak the Truth freely I know not how to remove the Difficulty as long as that Prejudice continues But this I dare affirm with the greatest Assurance that it cannot with any Colour be said that any of the Doctrines which Christ hath taught do contradict our natural Notions and therefore not these in particular for they do not treat concerning Matters of which we have any natural Notions Now if these Matters were spoken of in such a way that to speak in the same manner concerning those things of which we have natural Notions would be a Contradiction to our natural Notions it cannot with any Sense be said that there is such a Contradiction when the Matters discoursed of are such as we have no natural Notions of The Application of Words must be according to the Truth of Things otherwise the Propositions would be false and contradict the Truth Jesus Christ delivered his Doctrines in the Words he used because those Words do truly express the Reason there is in the things he spake of and we are to believe those Propositions on his Authority because he hath faithfully related the Truth concerning the Things he speaks of And if we believe him to be the Christ or Messias we can have no Pretence to doubt of the Truth of what we know he hath taught Could we be satisfied that a certain Person hath a distinct Sense from what is common to Mankind and that there are Objects peculiar to that Sense we should have as much Reason to believe what he saith concerning those Objects as we have to be satisfied that he hath such a Sense that there are Objects peculiar to it and that he is a Person of Discernment and Integrity And if he should speak of those Objects in such a manner as would be a Contradiction to our natural Notions did he speak so concerning those things which are the Objects of our Senses and precisely under that Consideration we should have no Reason to say he contradicts our natural Notions whilst he discourses of things which we know nothing at all of but purely by his Information He is to accommodate his Words to the Reason and Truth of the Things he discourses of not to the Notions we have of Matters which are quite different And the Reason we have to believe what be saith of
those things bears a Proportion to the Reasons we have to be satisfied of his Credibility and depends not at all on our forming clear and distinct Notions of the things themselves much less on our adjusting what he saith to the Notions we have of other things which are perfectly of another Nature The main Business of Antiquity with relation to these Doctrines is either 1st To shew upon what Occasion other Words than those in which Christ and his Apostles delivered these Doctrines were made use of in asserting and teaching them Or 2dly To shew that the Primitive Christians did manifest that they did believe the Words in which Christ and his Apostles delivered these Doctrines do comprehend a great deal more than what the Opposers of the Divinity of Christ and of the Holy Ghost pretend is the full Sense of them Or 3dly To shew that the Sense in which we understand the Terms in which we ordinarily speak of these Doctrines was the agreed and settled Sense of them in the Christian Church when these Terms were fixed on to be ordinarily used in discoursing of and professing our Belief of these Doctrines Thus the Discourses about Reason and Antiquity do not immediately reach these Doctrines as Christ hath taught them but the way of expressing them when we deliver our selves concerning them in other Words than Christ hath done When we use other Terms in speaking of these Doctrines than Christ hath delivered them in our Words are accommodated to the natural Notions we have of Things And tho these Notions comprehend much more than the Notions do which we oppose yet they do not contain the whole Meaning of Christ as delivered in the Words he hath used for that far surpasses our Capacities So that when all is done we must come to this at last to believe these Doctrines as Christ hath delivered them and for this very Reason because he hath taught them Now before a Person can be brought to this he must believe that Jesus is the Messias And if the due Belief that Jesus is the Messias doth not constitute a Man a Christian I cannot imagine how the Belief of other Articles can constitute him a Christian seeing that Belief is the formal Reason of his believing the other Articles and his believing other Articles is no more but a repeated Belief of that Article in proportion to the Occasions which are administred to him for it Produce as large a Proof as is possible that the Church hath all along taught such a Doctrine that she hath taught it in such Words that she understood those Words in such a Sense before a Person can be satisfied regularly that he is obliged to believe it he must be convinced that Jesus is the Messias and he must be satisfied that that Jesus hath taught it The like may be said as to Reason When you have produced as many Reasons as you can that there may be more Subsistencies than one in the Divine Nature you can neither prove the Necessity nor the Certainty nor the Number of them by Reason But as to all these Matters the Testimony of the Messias must determine our Belief Our Reason doth not only fall short as to the manner how these things are but also as to the Truth and Certainty of them And our Reason cannot assure us that this is all that is imported by and comprehended in the Words in which the Messias hath delivered his Doctrines Mr. Edwards in his Socinian Creed p. 130. doth stile the Proposition discoursed of tho he words it otherwise than it ought to be A Mushroom Notion that hath no Root and Foundation and saith It is probable it will soon decay and come to nothing But this Notion is not of such a late Original as he pretends if Christ and his Apostles are to be credited concerning it And tho I pay Mr. Edwards a great Deference yet I must declare I cannot but prefer their Word to his It is so far from having no Root and Foundation that it is the Root of the New Testament and the Foundation on which the Christian Church is built And whereas be saith It is probable it will soon decay and come to nothing Probabilities are of little Weight when placed in the Ballance against Certainties I am perswaded it will continue safe to the end of the World because the Messias hath undertaken that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Mat. 16.18 If all the Deists Scepticks Socinians c. in the World should pretend to approve of the Proposition discoursed of and that they do believe that Jesus is the Messias I shall not renounce the Proposition on that account But if they continue regardless of oppose or refuse to endeavour to understand and believe the particular Doctrines the Messias hath taught I will maintain in opposition to them all that they do not believe that Jesus is the Messias with such a Faith as is necessary to make a Man a Christian Tho I think I am not mistaken about the Point debated yet I will attend diligently to Scripture and Reason and endeavour to yield a just Submission to them tho offered by the meanest Man living But if Imperious Ramble shall drop from the Learnedest Person in the whole Vniverse touching this Matter it will not be honoured with either of those Titles but be utterly disregarded by Reader Your Faithful Servant S. BOLD A Brief Reply to Mr. Edwards's Brief Reflections c. THE Reverend Mr. Edwards hath caused a Postscript to be tack'd to his Socinian Creed intituled Brief Reflections on a short Discourse of the true Knowledg of Christ Jesus c. That Reverend Author amongst his other Excellencies is taken notice of for his Skill in Critical Learning which requires a guessing Faculty This Talent he hath been pleased to exercise to a considerable Extent in the present Papers termed Brief Reflections c. But as it is often the mishap of those who indulge much to Conjectures that their Guesses are not always right so it happens to Mr. Edwards in the present Case For notwithstanding his Gatherings and Findings and many probable Shows there is not to my particular knowledg one word of Truth in the whole Lump of his Guesses He is every jot as much out in every particular here as he was in his former Writings when he both assured his Reader he could not believe Mr. L. was the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. and substituted his Reasons why he could not believe it and yet he is peremptory in these Papers that that same Gentleman was the Author of that Treatise So that it is evident Mr. Edwards is not so sure in his Guesses no not when he hath declared the Grounds on which they are erected as that either other People or he himself may depend on them as infallible Oracles or of such Credibility that any stress should be laid on them tho he sincerely protests that he intends to give
the number of the Pages for if that had been 1200 it had been the same thing to him But he acknowledged the Places of Scripture Mr. Edwards did quote in those Pages were full Proof of the Truth and Divine Authority of the Propositions contained in them yea he owned that the Knowledg of those Propositions might conduce much to dispose People to be Christians But neither of these things was the Matter in Question but this viz. Whether Mr. Edwards had proved that Jesus Christ and his Apostles had taught that the Belief of those Propositions was indispensably necessary to make Men Christians The Animadverter did not affirm that Mr. Edwards had not said he had fully proved what he had undertaken to prove viz. the Point just now mentioned But it seems the Animadverter was so ill natur'd he would not take Mr. Edwards's bare word for Proof but having read those Pages declared what was the utmost that Mr. Edwards's Proof did extend to and that he did not see any Proof produced in those Pages of this Point That Jesus Christ or his Apostles had taught that those Propositions must necessarily be explicitly understood and believed to make a Man a Christian which was the Point to be proved Thus he delivered his own Sense but without the least intimation that all the World must be led either by his or Mr. Edwards's Eyes He left the Reader to try whether he could see in those Pages any Proof that Christ and his Apostles had taught that the Belief of those Propositions is absolutely necessary to make a Man a Christian and thither I must refer the Reader too to try his Skill for I cannot see any thing like a Proof of that which was the thing to be proved Now I think an Animadverter deals very fairly if he takes notice how far what is offered for Proof can reach and then observes what was the precise Point to be proved and leaves the Reader to try whether he can stretch what was produced and make it come up to the very Point that was to be proved Then Mr. Edwards finds fault with the Animadverter for passing over those Pages so lightly where he evinced this Truth that the Son of God and the Messias were not Terms of the very same Signification nay that among the Jews they were not reckoned so for the Animadverter says no more to all this but that he did not perceive that Mr. Edwards pretended to offer the least Proof that these Terms were not synonimous Terms in our Saviour's time Answ Mr. Edwards might have evinced both the Points he names and yet not have proved that they were not synonimous Terms amongst the Jews at that time I have looked over those Pages Mr. Edwards refers to and if I understand him aright he doth hardly allow of any synonimous Terms in the same Language For all Terms considered singly in themselves do stand for distinct Ideas Terms I conceive are said to be synonimous on the account of their being alike applied to express or signify one and the same Subject or Thing And thus whether the one or the other be made use of with reference to that thing the whole is signified by that which is used that would be signified if the other were used And when both are used together there is not a Tautology but the latter is brought in by way of Apposition Thus tho Face Ground and Knees stand for distinct Ideas considered simply in themselves yet if these Phrases to fall on the Face to fall on the Ground c. were commonly used amongst a People to signify one certain Posture he that should use one of those Phrases would say the very same thing as he or another would should he or the other express themselves by one of the other Phrases notwithstanding Ground Face and Knees be not the same things neither do those Words signify the same things amongst that People when considered singly in themselves But that the terms Messias and the Son of God when applied to him whose Titles they are were not reckoned amongst the Jews to be terms of the very same Signification is a Passage I cannot find in those 5 or 6 Pages where Mr. Edwards saith he hath evinced it That those terms Messias and the Son of God simply considered have not the very same Signification is so evident there is no need of a Text to prove it And as for that Text Acts 8.37 what Mr. Edwards doth say concerning it amounts to this that if Christ and the Son of God are there of the same Signification the Words do sound thus I believe that Jesus Christ is Christ. But I think they amount to somewhat more viz. that Jesus Christ is The Christ It cannot be denied that Jesus Christ is sometimes used in the New Testament as a proper Name as in John 17.3 and if it be so used in Acts 8.37 that Text will not answer Mr. Edwards's Design But whether there is such an absurd Tautology if those Terms be taken in that Text to be of the same Signification as Mr. Edwards saith there is then in that Confession I shall leave the Reader to judg when I have set down the Account the Author of the Reasonableness c. doth give of the Sense of that Text p. 34. I believe that he whom you call Jesus Christ is really and truly the Messiah that was promised I acknowledg there were different Grounds of those two Denominations and so I am apt to think there were of all synonimous Terms but when they came to be indifferently used to design the same Person each of them in its full Latitude comprehended all that the other did tho when considered apart as to the Grounds and Reasons of their Application they had distinct and peculiar Significations The famously Learned and Reverend Bishop Pierson saith that to be the Christ and to be the Son of God were by the Jews themselves accounted equivalent Exposit on the Creed p. 105. I acknowledg Mr. Edwards hath closely urged what he hath delivered in the Pages he speaks of but I can no more perceive that he hath at all proved that the Terms spoken of were not synonimous Terms amongst the Jews in our Saviour's time than the Animadverter could And therefore I may say that whatever Olaus Magnus's Gladiator might do by looking on his Adversaries Weapons it was not possible for the Animadverter to blunt the Edg of Mr. Edwards's Arguments here because they never had any There may perhaps be some Keenness in some of his Words and Phrases but as for his other Weapons the Gladiator himself would have lost his Labour in looking upon them Mr. Edwards then saith he had secured his Proposition before he formed his Syllogisms and therefore it was not necessary to add any further Medium and to proceed to another Syllogism as the Reader may satisfy himself Answ Let the Reader then satisfy himself I will only mind him that the Point Mr. Edwards was
Jesus whom he believes to be the Christ or Messias hath taught it at least till he knows that he who was to be the Messias is God And in this case he must know that Jesus was the Messias before he can know he is God If any Man pretend he can or does rationally believe that Jesus is God upon any other account I am pretty certain he doth not believe it as a Christian ought to believe it 'T is well if a clamorous decrying this Notion that the right Belief that Jesus is the Messias is that which constitutes and makes a Man a Christian does not contribute to further Socinianism c. tho contrary to the Intentions and Designs of learned and good Men who happen to yield a little further to their Passions than in strictness they ought That Jesus is God is an Article to be believed by those who are Christians not by those who are not yet Christians Men cannot judg of Matters nor believe any thing but according to the Light and Evidence they do enjoy And if we make the Belief of this and other Articles which are peculiar to those who are already Christians indispensably necessary to make Men Christians they who are not Christians will judg of this and those other Articles according to that Light they have whereby to judg of things in their present State I do not wonder that many are Socinians and that many do treat the great Articles of the Gospel so very indecently For hearing that these Articles are to be believed to make them Christians they will and must judg of them by the mere Light of Nature and Reason and therefore will not admit of any thing but what lies level with or is proportionate to the Light by which they are to judg Let the Articles necessarily to be believed be more or fewer they will judg of every one of them by the same Rule and must do so till they have another Rule to judg of Matters by And till a Man is a Christian he hath no Rule whereby to determine his Judgment and Faith absolutely but natural Light and Reason I think it is as unfair to exact Belief of any Man that Jesus is God before he is a Christian as to require a Man to judg aright concerning an Object peculiar to a Sense that he hath not Did People generally heartily believe Jesus to be the Messias I am perswaded a much greater Veneration would be manifested for the Books which make up the New Testament and the Doctrines delivered in them than is commonly discovered I apprehend that the irreverent Opposition that is made to some of the greatest and most momentous Doctrines taught in the New Testament proceeds more from the want of a due Belief that Jesus is the Messias than from an Affectation to combat those Doctrines When a Man doth duly believe that Jesus is the Messias he hath as satisfying Evidence of the Truth of every Article he attains to know Jesus hath taught as the brightest natural Evidence can be to satisfy concerning Matters within the Verge and Compass of Nature The Grounds the Motives the Inducements I speak not concerning supernatural Influences on the Mind and Heart to believe what is indispensably necessary to be believed to make Men Christians are accommodated to our natural and rational Powers But I cannot say so concerning the particular Doctrines of the Gospel which are to be believed for this very Reason Because Jesus hath revealed and taught them Natural Reason is of great use in order to our being Christians and so it is after we are Christians but it is not the immediate Rule by which our Belief of the Doctrines delivered in the Gospel is to be determined for that is to be founded on and resolved into Christ's Authority exerted in his declaring and teaching those Points He cannot say saith Mr. Edwards It is not viz. That the Belief that Jesus is God is not necessary to make a Man a Christian because to believe him to be God who really is so is no indifferent thing in Christianity Answ A Man must know that Jesus is God before he can believe him to be God And if a Man cannot know him to be God before he is a Christian then that Belief is not absolutely necessary to constitute a Man a Christian But what Mr. Edwards doth mean by Christianity here is as hard to understand as in some other Places where the same Term is used by him If he mean that when a Christian knows that it is taught in the New Testament that such an one is really God it is no indifferent thing whether he believe it or no that is he is not left to his Liberty to believe it or not he saith the very Truth But if he means that a Person cannot be a Christian till he believes that whomsoever the New Testament doth declare is really God is so I am so far from saying so that I think he must be a Christian before he can believe them to be so notwithstanding they really are so Indeed no Man can be a true Christian till he believes him to be God who really is so he must believe the true and living God But that is so far from constituting a Man a Christian that it is the very first Principle and Ground of Natural Religion therefore I do not think that to be Mr. Edwards's meaning here But saith Mr. Edwards this is absolutely requisite to constitute a Man a Christian for a Man cannot be such unless he hath a Knowledg of him that is true God Answ It is absolutely requisite to constitute a Man a Christian to know him who is true God for otherwise he who is a Christian could not be under any Obligation to believe Jesus to be God But notwithstanding Jesus is really God and a Man cannot be a Christian without knowing this Jesus who is really God it will not follow from thence that the knowing him to be God is absolutely necessary to make a Man a Christian It is not a Man's believing that Jesus is God that constitutes him a Christian what can constitute a Man a Christian but the right and due believing him to be the Christ or Messias who really is so It was not his being God that constituted him the Christ or Messias for then he would not have been freely but necessarily the Christ and Saviour of Sinners A Man cannot be a true Christian unless he knows him who is true God because he who is the Messias or Christ is true God and a Man cannot be a true Christian unless he know him who is the Messias or Christ But it is not the knowing him to be true God but the right knowing of him to be the Messias or Christ that doth constitute or make a Man a Christian could a Man know him to be God without knowing him to be the Christ this Knowledg would but constitute him a Theist not a Christian Whether it doth inevitably follow
that is absolutely necessary to make a Man a Christian then those who insist on the explicit Belief of more Articles as absolutely necessary to that purpose attribute more to them than Christ Jesus hath ordered And it may be worth their Consideration whether they do not derogate therein from the Honour due to Jesus as the Messias If the Lord Jesus hath appropriated this unto himself that the due believing him to be the Christ or Messias shall of it self constitute and make a Man a Christian so that he will own and acknowledg those for his Disciples and to be Christians who do so believe him to be the Messias as to consign themselves entirely to him we cannot introduce any other Articles tho only such as he hath expresly taught to be Sharers with this Article in this Business but we raise them to a Post he hath not assigned them Believe as many Articles which Christ hath certainly taught as you can and let them all have all the Honour Christ appoints them to have and use them for the Purposes he assigns them to but set not any of them without his certain Order in the Throne with himself Jesus Christ and his Apostles have constantly insisted on the Necessity of Peoples believing this Article that Jesus is the Messias to make them Christians And if they have not as particularly discriminated some other Articles as thus necessarily to be believed to make Men Christians from the rest they have taught Men may sooner exceed the Bounds they ought to observe when they betake themselves to single out more Articles as necessarily to be believed to make Men Christians I say they may sooner exceed their just Limits than even a forward Imagination will suggest Mr. Edwards in the next place is for addressing himself more closely to me if he can do it than he hath done already And here he speaks of my debasing my self and the Post I am in But what he hath said doth not convince me that I debase my self or the Post I am in by publishing the Truth And the Proposition I laid down may be the Truth tho it were granted I had contradicted it in my Sermon It is my asserting the Proposition I conceive which he reckons my debasing my self c. not the Contradiction For he hath got over that Part of his Charge and is to speak more closely to me if he can than that amounted to Nor do I think it a debasing of my self to endeavour to set a Gospel-Truth in its true Light let who will advance it when I perceive any Attempts made to obscure and darken it But if that great and eminent Person was the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity Mr. Edwards now affirms was the Author of it he can be no Disparagement to the Cause Any rational Person may then be satisfied there is more to be said for it than every hasty Opposer may be aware of Nor do I wonder Mr. Edwards should find so much fault with my way of Writing since he undertakes to blame some Expressions in that Author whose Words are so accurately adapted to what he speaks of that I thought no Man who pretended to judg of Stiles would have reflected on him on that account As for those sorts of Sparks Mr. Edwards reckons up in the next place I have no Acquaintance with any of them no more than I have with the Field-Officer whom I never heard of till now But if any of those kinds of Folk Mr. Edwards doth speak of have been induced by reading the Reasonableness of Christianity to believe aright that Jesus is the Messias and do therefore seriously endeavour to know and believe the other Doctrines Christ and his Apostles have taught and do behave them agreeably thereunto they do not deserve the Denominations he gives them If they continue Deists Scepticks c. and yet pretend to admire the main Point the Reasonableness of Christianity hath advanced they exceedingly pervert it and carry themselves most unreasonably But we must not quit the Truth because the greatest Enemies to it do pretend to approve it but rather acquaint the World with the right and true Use they should make of it We shall make but ill Work on 't if we will quarrel Divine Truths and sacrifice the Doctrines of the Gospel whenever bad Men shall out of Design set up for and cry them up If they find they can prevail this way it will not be long before they will get not this Article but every one of those Mr. Edwards has a mind should be absolutely necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian from us Mr. Edwards being in the mood hath found out a way both to make me a Journey-man to and to rank me with the Patrons of the same Person in less than the space of one whole Page But that Eminent Person he speaks of needeth not any of the Patrons he hath assigned As for my unknown Friends who have signified their Affection by Mr. Edwards's Pen I heartily thank them for their Respects and would much rather they should fear without than with Cause I would not willingly disoblige any Man but be a Friend to every Man and serve all Men to the utmost of my Power But Friends or Enemies make little Alteration with me when Truth is concerned Their Expectation from one Article to none I suppose is brought in rather for Wit than for Friendship and therefore I must pass over that bluntly for I pretend not to the Faculty Yet I would tell them seriously that those who shall insist on the Absolute Necessity of twenty Articles to be believed to make a Man a Christian if they make but little account of that one I insist on may sooner part with their whole score than another who is well settled in the Belief of that one will either part with it or any other Article he knows is founded upon that one However Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall If my Friends have by this time in any measure recovered their Amazement I would in order to their better Establishment and to prevent their being so easily staggered again propound a few Questions to them supposing all along what Answers they would make to them I would ask them 1. Do you believe or think that you are Christians Answ Yes 2. Upon what Ground or for what Reason do you believe that Answ Because we do believe all those Articles which are necessarily to be believed to make People Christians 3. What be those Articles which must necessarily be believed to make People Christians Answ Here I will suppose them to name all those Articles Mr. Edwards hath mentioned 4. Upon what Ground do you assent unto and believe these Articles Answ Because Jesus Christ and his Apostles have taught that these Articles are necessarily to be believed to make Men Christians Very well but not to interrupt our Discourse now I will consider at present but one part
of your Answer viz. That you believe these Articles because you know that Jesus Christ and his Apostles have taught them For I conceive you here ground your Belief upon their Authority and so believe them because you know they taught them before you believe them under that precise and formal Consideration as Articles necessarily to be believed to make you Christians For I suppose you have that Esteem and Veneration for Jesus Christ as to look upon your selves obliged to believe whatever you know he hath taught Therefore I ask 5. Were you not Christians before you believed all these Articles because you knew that Jesus Christ and his Apostles had taught them Answ No for who can submit to such Nonsense as to believe or think they are Christians who do not believe those things without the Belief of which they cannot be Christians 6. Why do you believe these Articles because Jesus and his Apostles have taught them rather than because any other Persons have taught them Answ We believe them upon our knowing that the Apostles taught them because we know the Apostles were commissioned by Jesus to publish his Mind and Will and Doctrines to the World And we believe what we know Jesus hath taught because we believe he was the Christ or Messias 7. Why do you believe or what hath induced and determined you to believe that Jesus is the Messias Here I doubt with many Persons the main stop would be But I will suppose my Friends can answer this Question with very good Judgment tho they might tell me without answering in a Circle and believing as the Collier did that they believed Jesus to be the Messias because they believed the forementioned Articles that is they understood those Articles and did believe them to be Truths on other Considerations distinct from this that Jesus whom now they believe to be the Messias had taught them and that Belief of them did contribute much to induce them to believe that Jesus was the Messias Here I shall only mind my Friends that that former Belief of these Articles tho joined with the consequent Belief that Jesus is the Messias is not pretended to be that which made them Christians but their believing those same Articles after another manner and upon a distinct Consideration after they did duly believe Jesus to be the Christ from that or those Considerations on which they believed them before is that which made them Christians for you could not believe them because they were taught by Jesus as the Messias till you did believe him to be the Messias tho you might upon other Considerations be induced to believe those Articles to be true Now if my Friends think they have given very good rational Evidence from which they may justly perswade themselves that they are Christians I must tell them they may be very good Christians but they have not produced any Proof that they are Christians according to their own Notion Indeed if that Proposition be true at which upon my laying it down Mr. Edwards saith they have been staggered they may this way prove that they are Christians But if the Belief of all those Articles be absolutely necessary to make them Christians the precise Belief of all of them cannot be such a Proof or Evidence that they are Christians as we are speaking of For we speak not of inward Sensation if I may use that term or Sentiment as Monsieur Claud and some French Authors speak but of discoursive rational Proof and this as to Matters of Faith A Man 's believing that Jesus is the Messias is no Proof that he believes any one of the particular Doctrines taught in the Gospel But his believing particular Doctrines for this Reason because Jesus whom he believes to be the Messias hath taught them is a good Proof that he does believe that Jesus is the Messias And if the Belief of more Articles than this one that Jesus is the Messias is absolutely necessary to make a Man a Christian it is utterly impossible that any Man should obtain a rational discoursive argumentative Satisfaction that he is a Christian with respect to Matters of Faith tho I may safely enough extend the Assertion further For let a Man believe ever so many particular Doctrines taught by Christ and his Apostles that Belief will prove no more but that he believes Jesus is the Messias The Belief of those Articles can be no Evidence with respect to one another that is the Belief of one of those Articles cannot be a Proof that you believe another tho you do really believe it Now methinks the Resolution of this Question What is it that doth make or constitute a Man a Christian ought to issue in that into which all the Evidences respecting I will say both Faith and Practice that can be justly produced to prove a Man a Christian must be resolved and that is if I be not much mistaken a Belief that Jesus is the Messias But now I return to the latter part of the Answer given to my 4th Question and with regard to that I would ask my Friends 8. How do you know that Jesus Christ hath required the Belief of all those Articles you have named as absolutely necessary to make People Christians Here you must take notice that it will not serve your turn to shew that Jesus Christ hath taught them all and then say that they are therefore to be believed For the very same is to be said of a great many more Points But you must answer how you come to be satisfied that Jesus Christ doth require the explicit Belief of every one of those Articles as necessary to make People Christians If you answer that such and such a learned and godly Man doth say so You are to be minded that that Answer is feeble in the present case and that you build your Perswasion that you are Christians on a very weak bottom What will you answer when you are told that other learned and godly Men have insisted on certain other Articles and I could name some of no mean Character who have been very earnest for some Points which I think Jesus Christ hath not taught as necessary to be believed to make Men Christians If those who insist on some other Articles as necessarily to be believed to make Men Christians be in the right you are not yet Christians notwithstanding you believe all those Articles most firmly which you have named because there are more or other Articles necessarily to be believed to make you Christians But supposing all those Articles you have mentioned are necessarily to be believed to make Men Christians I ask you in the last place 9. How do you know that these are all the Articles which are necessarily to be believed to make Men Christians For it is past doubt that Jesus Christ hath revealed and taught many more Articles to be believed Can you shew now that he hath more expresly or plainly declared that this precise