to furnish them with the Knowledge of the Sense in which those People to whom the Proposition was first delivered understood those Terms Whosoever doth duly believe that Proposition doth oblige himself to hearken to that is to believe and obey whatsoever this Jesus hath delivered so far as he shall obtain the Knowledge thereof and to endeavour seriously to know what his Mind and Will is Which Faith makes a Man a Christian and hath the Promise of Eternal Life made to it The Proposition doth not comprehend in it an explicite Account of all the Matters of Faith which a Christian is to endeavour to know and believe nor is the explicite Knowledge of them necessary to a Man's believing that Proposition But his believing of it brings him under an Obligation to endeavour to know them all and to believe explicitely whatsoever he shall attain to know Jesus hath taught which is to be the great Work and Business of the Remainder of his Life when he is a Christian. Those Jews and Lewd Fellows of the baser sort at Thessalonica who set themselves against Paul and Silas understood that their preaching that Jesus was the Christ for that was the great Point they opened and alledged in the Synagogue there amounted to this that he was the Person they persuaded the People to receive for their Lord and King For how malicious soever their intent was in accusing them before the Ruler it is most plain from their Accusation that they clearly apprehended that Paul by preaching that Jesus was the Christ did mean that they were to take him for their King saying that there is another King one Iesus Act. 17. 7. Vid. Second Vindic. of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. p. 108 109. For besides saith this Author if every Text of Scripture must be looked upon as sufficient to Salvation upon the Belief of which eternal Life is promised even the very Scripture will hardly be found reconcilable to it self For though in some Places Salvation is promised to those who believe Jesus to be the Messiah yet in others it is declared to be Life Eternal to know the only true God as well as Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Both of which Places if they must be understood in their limited Sense will be almost found contradictory to each other Because the one proposes a larger Faith to Salvation than is required by the other p. 9. Answ. The Propositions here spoken of as they are delivered in the Scripture are in effect the same For it is not possible for a Man to believe that Jesus is the Messiah without believing antecedently in the only True God The Word of Salvation by Christ is not sent to any but those who fear God Act. 13. 26. But I deny that it is any where in Scripture declared to be Eternal Life to know the only True God as well as Jesus Christ whom he hath sent That is either of them separately The Text of Scripture which comes nearest to these Words is Ioh. 17. 3. where the Knowledge of the only True God taken apart from the Knowledge of Jesus Christ as sent by him is not declared to be Eternal Life But the Knowledge of both is declared to be Eternal Life I wave a particular considering what this Author saith p. 9 10. concerning the true Notion of believing in Christ when alone required to make a Man a Christian Because the plain Truth of the Matter we are discoursing of consists in this viz. That the sincere Belief of all those Doctrines Christ hath declared are absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation is of it self sufficient to Salvation But this is so far from excluding that it doth include a necessity of believing other Doctrines if the Person is allowed space to obtain the Knowledge of more Doctrines which Christ hath revealed and that he hath revealed them Yet if the Person who sincerely believes the aforesaid Doctrines should dye before he could obtain the Knowledge of any other Doctrine Christ hath taught he will receive the Salvation promised to the Belief of those Doctrines he doth believe Christ knows his Sincerity and will not fail to perform the Promise he hath made to him There are many even very many Articles Christ hath revealed which those who are Christians are necessarily obliged to endeavour to know and then explicitely believe and as many of these Doctrines as they do attain to understand whether they be delivered in the Gospels or Acts or Epistles are Fundamental to them But the Explicite Belief of these Doctrines is not absolutely necessary to make Men Christians or to Salvation Our Faith is true and saving when it is such as God by the new Covenant requires it to be But it is not intire and consummate till we explicitely believe all the Truths contained in the Word of God For the whole Revelation of Truth in the Scripture being the proper and entire Object of Faith our Faith cannot be entire and consummate till it be adequate to its proper Object which is the whole Divine Revelation contained in the Scripture Second Vindic. of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. p. 310. This Author p. 11. distinguishes betwixt Truths which are only to be believed upon the general Ground of Faith which is the Veracity of God and those of a higher Nature which have an immediate Tendency to the Salvation of Mankind and the Method by which our Saviour has obtained it for us And these latter sort of Truths he saith are to be explicitely believed by all in order to their Salvation And the Reason he gives for this is because the only End for which he hath revealed these Truths is the Eternal Benefit and Happiness of Mankind Answ. This seems to be a Distinction without a Difference for seeing they are all Divine Revelations the Ground and Reason of our believing them is the very same and every Way equal viz. because God hath revealed them If it be revealed that some of these Doctrines are absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians or to Salvation we must believe them to be so and that the Ground or Reason of that Belief is Divine Revelation But if Men will believe them to be absolutely necessary to be explicitely known c. in order to Salvation and God hath not revealed any such thing concerning them their Faith in that case will want a just Foundation or Reason But it 's said These Truths of a higher Nature have an immediate Tendency to the Salvation of Mankind Answ. Christ's observing the Methods appointed him by the Father in order to his obtaining Salvation for Mankind had undoubtedly their appointed Tendency to his obtaining Salvation for Mankind But the Doctrines which relate what those Methods were have not thesame Tendency to the Salvation of Mankind nor can a Person 's believing those Doctrines which declare that Christ hath observed these Methods and thereby obtained Salvation for Mankind be properly said to have
very material in these Papers which has not been observed before in the Writings of the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. I shall not account that a just Prejudice against them For if the Answers here propounded be very material to what is alledged against the Reasonableness of Christianity c. it cannot reasonably be supposed that the Objections insisted on should be of any great weight with me And my deriving the Answers from that Authors Writings I hope may pass with Persons of Candor Reason and Discernment for some justification of the Value I set on the Reasonableness of Christianity c. Observations on the Vindication of the Epistles THIS Author begins his Animadversions with that Part to which he gives this Title A Vindication of the Epistles And he enters on this Part with assigning Two Reasons why the Reasonableness of Christianity doth not as he saith give such Satisfaction to an inquisitive Mind as might prevent all Exception against it whether it was designed for the Benefit of those who were not throughly and firmly Christians or to be a general Rule of Faith to all sorts of Men Answ. That Author's Design was to give a clear and distinct Account of what Articles or Doctrines are absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians And the Treatise gives me full Satisfaction concerning this Matter because it lays down all that Jesus Christ and his Apostles have declared to be thus necessary and nothing but what they have declared to be so And his giving so full and large Proof that Christ and his Apostles did require the Belief of the Articles he hath laid down and did not require the Belief of any other Article as absolutely necessary to make Men Christians redered his Treatise very proper to be published for the Benefit of those who were not throughly and firmly Christians For nothing can tend more to the Benenefit of such Persons than a clear distinct full and true Information of what is absolutely necessary to be believed by them in order to their being Christians What this Author understands by a General Rule of Faith to all sorts of Men I do not know The whole New Testament is the General Rule of Faith to all Christians as the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. hath declared And the Doctrines he hath insisted on are the Doctrines absolutely necessary to be believed by those who are not Christians to make them Christians The First Reason this Author gives why the Reasonableness of Christianity c. does not seem to give Satisfaction to an inquisitive Mind is because it introduces a new Scheme of Belief in Opposition to the anciently received Doctrine of the Church Answ. Here I must observe it is not opposite to the most anciently received Doctrine of the Church Because it is the very same Scheme Jesus Christ introduced and his Apostles constantly kept to in admitting of Unbelievers into the Church His Second Reason is Because it doth not answer the full Sense and Intent of Revelation which is the only Reason and Measure of our Faith Answ. Here I must observe it doth answer the full Sense and Intent of Revelation as to what the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity was inquiring after Because it delivers all that Revelation requires to be believed as absolutely necessary to make Men Christians and we are not to insist on any thing as absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians but what Revelation the only Reason and Measure of our Faith in this Case doth declare is absolutely necessary to be believed to that end Whoever affirms any Doctrine though the Doctrine it self is revealed is absolutely necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian which Revelation doth not declare to be so affirms it without Reason according to this Authors own Arguing because Revelation is the only Reason why we are to affirm any Doctrine is absolutely necessary to be believed to this purpose and so he goes beyond the only Measure of our Faith in this Matter The Reason why we are to insist on such or such Doctrines as absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians is because Revelation requires the Belief of them as absolutely necessary to make Men Christians not barely because the Doctrines are revealed for then every Doctrine which is revealed must be absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make a Man a Christian because the Reason assigned for the Particulars we are minded to insist on extends to every particular which is revealed and obliges as much to every one as to any one For make your Catalogue as large as you will if you leave out any one Doctrine or any Branch of it that is revealed your Catalogue cannot possibly answer the full Sense and Intent of Revelation unless a defective partial Scheme of Faith can answer the full Sense and Intent of Revelation or some parts of Revelation have no Sense and were revealed for no purpose or Intent Both which are equally uncapable of Proof and altogether unreasonable to suppose This Author declares p. 4. what it is he undertakes to prove in this First part of his Book His Words are these It shall be my business in the First Place to prove that there are Doctrines in the Epistles distinct from those delivered in the Gospels or Acts which are as absolutely necessary to be believed and to be made Fundamental Articles of Faith as any other Parts of Revelation That is in short that there are Doctrines in the Epistles distinct from any delivered in the Gospels and Acts which are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians The Argument he makes use of to prove what he hath undertaken is this to word it so as that it may reach the Point he hath undertaken to prove Some of the Doctrines set down in the Epistles which are distinct from any delivered in the Gospels and Acts have been confest viz. by the Church from the very First Ages of Christianity to be altogether as necessary to be actually or explicitely believed unto Salvation as any whatsoever Here I shall observe that before this Argument can do the Business for which it is brought the Author must 1. Relate what he means or understands by the Term Church 2. He must prove clearly that whatsoever the Church in the Sense in which he understands that Term hath from the first Ages of Christianity confest to be absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians is so and that the Confession or Testimony of that Church is the sole or ultimate Rule by which the Question concerning what is absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians or to Salvation is to be resolved and determined That is That we are not to be determined in this Matter by the Testimony of Christ and his Apostles but by the Churches Testimony at least that it is thus as to the Doctrines which are
not sincere in their Profession as they give of the Mistake of their Judgment in the present Point This Author certifies he will endeavour hereafter to shew there are Some Doctrines in the Epistles distinct from those contained in the Gospels or Acts which are of that Nature without the Belief of which though we may grant Men might be saved before they were known yet when they were divulged they could no more be stiled true Christians without the Belief of them than if they had not at all believed p. 17. Answ. When our belief of a Doctrine is grounded purely upon the Nature of the Doctrine we believe it only as we are rational Creatures and do imploy our Reason about the Doctrine it self considering it's Nature and not as Christians for the only Ground of our Belief as Christians is Divine supernatural Revelation And let the Nature of the Doctrine be what it will Revelation is the Ground and Reason of our believing it If you will therefore produce Doctrines absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians because of the Nature of them you must fetch them from Natural Religion and they are to be judged of as to their Nature and the Reason of our believing them by Natural Reason without any regard to Revelation which is a Notion that will do Christianity I doubt but little Service Hitherto it hath done no inconsiderable Hurt The divulging of more Doctrines to be believed by Christians as they should attain the Knowledge of them did not make more Doctrines absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians than were asolutely necessary to that purpose before they were divulged For if it did every new Doctrine when it was divulged became a new Condition to be explicitely consented to in order to any Man's admission into the Covenant of Grace and consequently there were so many New Covenants Yet these other Doctrines when they were divulged were necessarily to be believed by those particular Christians who did understand and know them and so they are now not to make them Christians but by Virtue or Reason of that Obligation they are under by being Christians to believe whatsoever they shall know their Lord hath revealed The Difference between those who were Christians before these Doctrines were divulged and those who become Christians since is this They were obliged by their being Christians or believing Jesus to be Messiah to believe whatsoever he had or should reveal when they should know the same now his Revelation is compleated those who believe him heartily to be the Messiah are thereby obliged to believe whatsoever he hath Revealed as they attain the Knowledge thereof For a more clear and full understanding of these things see Second Vindicat. of the Reasonableness c. p. 82 83 252 c. 337 c. 343 344. Whereas this Author saith p. 17. It will be necessary to consider an Objection or rather an Evasion of the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. since it intimates that he believes as much of the Epistles and in as true a Sense as any Man whatsoever And then relating some Passages in p. 299. of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. afterwards saith They do not seem altogether unexceptionable p. 18. I shall observe that the Author of the Reasonableness c. doth in p. 298. begin his Answer to an Objection concerning the Epistles or to this Question Whether the Truths delivered in the Epistles may be believed or disbelieved by a Christian without any Danger To which he answers That the Law of Faith being a Covenant of Free Grace God alone can appoint what shall be necessarily believed by every one whom he will justify what is the Faith which he will accept and account for Righteousness depends wholly on his good Pleasure For it is of Grace and not Right that this Faith is accepted and therefore he alone can set the Measures of it Where we have the most Rational Evidence for that Point that I think Words can express Afterwards in p. 299. he answers directly to the Question affirming that the other Parts of Divine Revelation are Objects of Faith and are so to be received they are Truths whereof none that is once known to be such may or ought to be disbelieved c. Yet notwithstanding he affirms the Doctrines in the Epistles are Divine Truths very weighty to us now and which no Christians who know them may disbelieve This Author Saith these Passages are not altogether unexceptionable For though these allow the Truths contained in the Epistles to be Objects of our Faith yet they do not suppose them or any Parts of them to be more so than any other Places of Scripture which have no Relation to the Salvation of Mankind and which we are only bound to believe to be true upon the Veracity of God that revealed them p. 18. Answ. The Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. teacheth That the Truths contained in the Epistles are Objects of our Faith because they are Divine Revelations or Divine Truths And this Author p. 11. teacheth That the only End for which God hath revealed any thing to us is the Eternal Benefit and Happiness of Mankind The Author of the Reasonableness c. doth not detract from the Honour due to any part of Divine Revelation But asserts That as they are all equally Divine Revelations so they are all equally Objects of our Faith when known and have all a Relation to the Salvation of Mankind But how this Author will reconcile his teaching That the only End for which God hath revealed any thing to us is the Eternal Benefit and Happiness of Mankind with his saying That some Places of Scripture have no Relation to the Salvation of Mankind I cannot tell without a very singular Account of what is meant by Doctrines having a Relation to the Salvation of Mankind Some Doctrines acquaint us with the Gracious Purpose of God towards Sinners and with the Ways and Methods how Jesus Christ obtained Salvation for Mankind which may be said to have an Historical Relation to the Salvation of Mankind Some Doctrines are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make and constitute Men Christians and entitle them to that Salvation Which Doctrines may be said to have a Conditional Relation to our Salvation There are Doctrines which those who are Christians must endeavour to understand and explicitely believe as they attain to know them Such are those which belong to the First Head and a great many more delivered in the New Testament These have not an Immediate Relation to our Salvation But they may be said to have a Consequential and Obediential Relation to our Salvation The Doctrines we are now discoursing of are those which pertain to the Second Head And if any Man think there are Doctrines in the Epistles distinct from those laid down by the Author of the Reasonableness c. that are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed
to make Men Christians and entitle them to Salvation when he shall set down a List of them and produce his Proof that every one of them is absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians c. a Judgment may be made of them But till this is done the distinction of Revealed Truths to be believed upon God's Veracity and Truths of a higher Nature will be of little or no use unto me I shall here further observe That 1. It is certain the Doctrines which relate what Christ hath done and suffered have not the same Relation to the Salvation of Mankind the Obedience and Sufferings of Christ had The Doctrine which instructs us what was paid to obtain Salvation for Mankind is not the Price it self with which that Salvation was purchased 2. The Belief of these Doctrines hath no Relation to the Salvation of Mankind The most that can be pretended with any Colour is only that the Belief of these Doctrines hath a Relation to the Salvation of the Person who doth believe them or to whom they are delivered and made known 3. The Relation the Belief of these Doctrines hath to his Salvation who doth know and believe them is the very same which the Belief of any other Doctrines delivered in the New Testament hath to his Salvation who doth know and believe them which consists in this That it is an Act of Submission and Obedience to Jesus whom he hath taken to be his Lord. Whatever those Matters be which notwithstanding they are revealed in the New Testament some are pleased to Term Indifferent Matters a sincere Christian is as much obliged to believe them when he knows they are revealed there as he is to believe any other Matters which are revealed there For 4. The Reason of my believing any Doctrine as I am a Christian is Divine Revelation and not the Nature of the Doctrine that is of the Matter taught And therefore my believing one Doctrine hath the same Relation to my Salvation that my believing another Doctrine Christ hath taught hath to my Salvation they being equally Acts of Obedience to Christ and the Ground and Reason of each Belief being the very same Yet I will acknowledge that if our Belief of these Doctrines this Author hath a respect to had the same Relation to our partaking of Salvation the Obedience and Sufferings of Christ which were the real Price and a proper purchasing of Salvation for Mankind had to the purchasing of Salvation for Mankind the Belief of them would be absolutely necessary to Salvation But then I must add we should hereby as properly purchase our own Salvation as Jesus Christ did Salvation for Mankind which is a Notion I cannot easily be reconciled to 5. If a Judgment is to be made from the Nature of Doctrines what Doctrines are absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians or to Salvation then this Necessity of believing them to this Purpose must be obvious to the Natural Reason of Mankind and every Man must judge for himself by considering the Nature of these Doctrines which and how many are absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation which is a Notion that as it lays aside Christ's and his Apostles Authority to determine the Matter so it will not do the Church any great Service without pretending that one certain Man or a Number of Men is to make this Judgment from the Nature of the Doctrines Christ and his Apostles have taught and all others must rest satisfied with and depend wholly on his or their Determination This indeed may have a Tendency to raise humane Authority to a great height in the most important Business of Religion but then it will be no Advantage to the Nature of Doctrines for hereby People will be determined to take them for Doctrines absolutely necessary to be believed not from their perceiving that such a necessity arises from their Nature but from bare humane Authority Nor can they be certain that he or those who have judged them to be absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation have been determined in their Judgment by the Nature of their Doctrines and not by their own arbitrary Pleasure till they have resolved the Matter themselves by exercising their own Reason about the Nature of the particular Doctrines which shall be recommended to rather imposed on them It plainly appears by what the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. hath writ that though he doth not think the Epistles the most proper parts of the New Testament to be consulted in order to our discerning which be the Doctrines Christ and his Apostles did require to be believed as absolutely necessary to make Men Christians or to Salvation yet that he thinks the Doctrines contained in the Epistles are Fundamental Articles to be actually believed by Christians now as they obtain the Knowledge of them And that they are to make such use of them as they shall understand they ought to make of them either by considering their Nature or what they find the Scripture doth instruct concerning the same See Reasonableness of Christianity c. p. 300. Second Vindic. of it p. 201. and 319. But saith this Author These Doctrines which have a Relation to the Salvation of Mankind are to be believed upon another Ground besides that of mere Revelation p. 19. Answ. Upon what Ground are they to be believed besides the Veracity of God who revealed them Is that Ground better or worse doth it lay a greater or less Obligation on People to believe them than Divine Revelation does I expect not to meet with a better Reason why I am to believe any of Christ's Doctrines than this that he taught them Those who will not acquiesce here may wander where they please for Satisfaction provided they will not go about to compel others to rove with them Moreover are not those places of Scripture where these Doctrines lie Historical declaring the Way and Method how Jesus obtained Salvation for Mankind And is there any way for People to know that what is declared in those Doctrines had a Relation to the Salvation of Mankind but Revelation It had no natural Relation to the Salvation of Mankind How is it possible then to know from its Nature that it was graciously appointed to have a Relation to that End We cannot know any thing more from the Nature of a thing than the Nature of the thing is fitted to discover If it be said that the Discourse is not concerning the Nature of the Thing treated of in the Doctrine but concerning the Nature of the Doctrine it self I answer we can learn no more from the Nature of the Doctrine than the Doctrine doth deliver Therefore if the Doctrine do not declare that the Belief of it is absolutely necessary to Salvation we cannot learn any such thing from the Nature of the Doctrine because the Nature of the Doctrine doth not deliver any such thing Besides the Doctrine it self being
a Divine Revelation Divine Revelation is the only Reason and Ground of our believing it And the Nature of that Doctrine consist in this that it is a Divine Revelation In the next Place this Author considers the Authority of our Saviour intrusted in his Apostles which is exprest in their Commission Mat. 28. 19 20 21. Which Commission as it invests them with as full a Power of teaching whatsoever was necessary to Salvation so it lays as great a Necessity upon others of believing them as if Christ himself had taught in his own Person p. 19 20. Answ. Very true But all that Jesus Christ himself did teach was not nor is not absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians or to Salvation only so much of it as he required to be believed as absolutely necessary thereunto And the same is to be said as to the Apostles Our Saviour intrusted his Apostles with Authority to Disciple People to him and upon their avouching him for their Lord to Baptize and externally admit them into his Church and then to teach them the other Doctrines he had authorized them to divulge as the Laws of his Kingdom and Matters they were to learn and having learned must necessarily believe But he did not intrust them with an Authority to make a New-Covenant with People and to require the Belief of more Articles as absolutely necessary to make them Christians or to Salvation than he himself had required as absolutely necessary to be believed for that purpose The Epistles are part of that Revelation Christ hath given to be the Rule of all Christians Faith But no other Doctrines are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians or to Salvation than those on the believing and owning of which Christ and his Apostles did admit those Unbelievers to whom they preached into the Church and Kingdom of Christ if our Saviour himself did understand the Covenant of Grace and the Terms on which People were to be admitted into it or if the Apostles did understand their Commission For they neither required the explicite Belief of those Distinct Doctrines they have delivered in their Epistles as absolutely necessary to make Men Christians in their Preaching to Unbelievers if we may credit the Relation given of the Method and Tenour of their Ministry in the Acts of the Apostles Nor do they in their Epistles any where require the explicite Belief of these Doctrines as absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians They have in their Epistles delivered many Doctrines which Believers or Christians are to be pressed to endeavour to understand and explicitely believe on hazard of their Salvation which I conceive they had pressed on those who were converted before they writ their Epistles as well as they did then and afterwards But they do not any where in their Epistles teach that these Doctrines are absolutely necessary to be believed explicitely to make Men Christians or to Salvation See Second Vindic. of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. p. 76 83 c. In p. 23. this Author saith something concerning the Covenant of the Gospel but gives not a clear and distinct Account in my Judgment of that Covenant and the Conditions thereby made absolutely necessary for our obtaining Happiness though he truly saith This is fully done in the Covenant of the Gospel The Covenant of the Gospel in short I think is this That all those shall have Eternal Life who do so heartily believe Jesus to be the Messiah or Christ as to receive him for their Lord with invincible Purpose and Resolution to be absolutely governed by him so far as they shall obtain the Knowledge of his Pleasure let what Inconveniencies Difficulties or Hardships soever happen to be in their way and that they will seriously apply themselves to know his Pleasure Eternal Life is the Benefit or Blessing here Promised by Christ. The Condition he appoints to be complied with or performed on our Part in order to our being entitled to receive that Benefit from him is not an explicite believing a certain Number of particular Doctrines he or his Apostles should teach but only a believing him to be the Messiah or Christ so as to take him absolutely for our Lord and King And as the Conditions are necessary to be known saith this Author before we can perform them which is very true and undeniably certain so God has taken sufficient care to give us a full Revelation of them first in a large History of the Method that Christ made use of for the purchasing of our Redemption and the Miracles which he wrought for the Confirmation of his Mission and Doctrine p. 23. Answ. 1. God has given us a large History of the Method Christ took by his Order to purchase our Redemption that is to purchase to himself a Right to publish the aforesaid Covenant and to perform what is there promised to them who shall comply with and perform the Conditions there expressed But neither the Method nor the explicite believing of it is made the Condition on our part of the Covenant The actual observing of that Method was Christ's part in order to his obtaining or purchasing to himself the Right before mentioned And seeing he hath revealed that he did take this Method for this End it is an Article a Fundamental Article to be believed by every one who hath received him for his Lord and is thereby entred into Covenant with him or with God through him when he knows that he hath revealed it 2. The History of the Miracles Christ wrought is a mighty proper and powerful Inducement to us to believe that he is the Messiah and a very good Introduction to our taking him for our Lord. And Secondly In a more full and clear Manifestation by the coming of the Holy Ghost of all those things which were required of us to be believed Answ. The Holy Ghost was sent or poured forth on the Apostles to inable them to work Miracles to prove their Mission by or from Christ to publish the same gracious Declaration Jesus Christ had made before and to admit those who should receive Jesus for their Lord into his Kingdom upon their professing the same and acknowledge them for his Subjects and to instruct and teach them and leave to the Church a particular compleat Account and Body of all the Laws of Christ's Kingdom which must be studied believed and observed by his Subjects as long as they live These are not the Conditions which are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed or consented to to make Men Christians but they are the Laws of Christ's Kingdom which those who receive him for their Lord and King are to endeavour to learn and as they attain to know them explicitely believe and observe which is a good and full Employment for them as long as they live after they are Christians let their Lives be lengthened to ever so great an Extent But the Holy
divinely revealed and set down in the New Testament 3. He is then to set down the particular Doctrines he hath a regard to in this place And 4. He must prove that from the very First Ages of Christianity the Church hath confest that every one of those Doctrines is absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians or to Salvation It is not the bare saying that the Church hath such an Authority nor the bare affirming such a Matter of Fact concerning the Church that will prove the Business in Hand The explaining and full proving the Particulars already named will require some time and Consideration And when they are fully cleared and substantially confirmed there will not be any need to inquire whether or how the Church was imposed on In the mean time I shall lay down a few Considerations which I conceive are true and consonant with the Judgment of the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. 1. That which makes a Doctrine of supernatural Revelation absolutely necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian is not its being placed in one part of the New Testament or in another but the Divine Determination that it must be necessarily believed for that purpose 2. That our knowing that such a Doctrine is absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians depends upon God's declaring that the Belief of it is absolutely necessary to make Men Christians let this Declaration lie in what part of the New Testament soever 3. That what is revealed to be absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians may be better discerned in the Gospels and Acts than in the Epistles though the same Doctrines are likewise to be found in them And this for the Reasons the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. hath assign'd 4. The New Testament comprehends the entire Revelation the Lord Jesus Christ hath made of the Mind of God In which Sacred Writings our Blessed Saviour declares what Articles are absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men his Disciples and Subjects or Christians and in these Holy Scriptures he hath also delivered or declared all the Laws of his Kingdom by which those he admits for his Subjects must be govern'd so that they are not to admit or receive any thing for a Part of their Religion as Christian but what he hath taught and delivered in some part of these Holy Writings 5. The enquiry is not how many are the Laws of Christ's Kingdom or how many Articles he hath taught and delivered which those who are his Subjects are obliged to endeavour to understand believe and observe but what are those Articles he doth require to be believed as absolutely necessary to make Men his Subjects or Christians 6. All the Doctrines delivered in the New Testament are equally Divine Revelations and are therefore to be received with equal Degrees of Assent by all those Christians who do understand them and know that they are revealed or delivered in those Sacred Writings But these Doctrines are not absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians Indeed there are several Doctrines which I know are delivered in the New Testament which have not the like Effect and Influence on me at present in proportion to their Nature that other Doctrines have which I know are taught there But this Difference ariseth not from the Nature of the former Doctrines which is always the same and unalterable nor from my not receiving them with equal Degrees of Assent for I do receive them with equal Degrees of Assent being as firmly persuaded they are Divine Revelations as the other but this Difference spoken of now ariseth from something else viz. my present State and Circumstances or the like Now saith this Author if several of the Doctrines contained in those parts of Revelation viz. the Epistles have all along down from the Apostles Times been reputed necessary to be believed to Salvation then certainly they ought not to be denied to be absolutely subservient to that end without the Proof of one or all these things which are Five in Number Answ. 1. It is not particular Persons or Churches reputing things to be absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation that makes them absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation In the very early times of Christianity even long before the Apostles decease there were People professing themselves Christians and who set up for Teachers in the the Church who affirmed certain things were absolutely necessary to Salvation which were not so as is undeniably evident from Act. 15. 1. 2. When this Author shall be pleased to set down plainly the Doctrines his Words seem to have a Secret Relation to a Judgment may be made whether they were justly reputed absolutely necessary to be believed explicitly to make Men Christians or not by considering whether Christ and his Apostles reputed them absolutely necessary or not 3. If the Church did originally repute any Doctrines to be absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to Salvation without warrant the successive continuance of that Reputation cannot make those Doctrines to be absolutely necessary Length of Time and reiterated Applause cannot advance an original Mistake into Truth The Second Concoction will not in this case rectify the Error of the First 4. A Person who doth suppose yea acknowledge that several Doctrines delivered in the Epistles which are distinct from any taught in the Gospels and Acts have been justly reputed necessary to be believed to Salvation may regularly and with good Warrant deny that they are absolutely necessary for that I suppose this Author means for otherwise the Consequence he draws is not to his Purpose though he useth the Word Subservient to be believed to Salvation without being obliged to prove either one or Five Negatives For many Doctrines may be very justly reputed necessary to Salvation which are not absolutely necessary to Salvation And therefore when it is inferred that such and such Doctrines are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to Salvation if they have all along been reputed necessary to be believed to Salvation the Consequence may be regularly denied and no necessity follow thereupon that the Person denying it must be obliged to prove 1. That the Authors of the Epistles were not divinely inspired 2. c. And for that Reason I suppose it is that this Author applies himself in the Remainder of this part of his Animadversions to prove these Five Points 1. That the Authors of the Epistles were Divinely Inspired 2. That the Apostles had Authority or Commission to deliver some things for necessary Articles of Faith 3. That some of their Doctrines were writ with a Design that all Christians should be necessarily required to believe them to Salvation 4. That there is no Contradiction in the Epistles to the other parts of Scripture 5. That some of those Doctrines are of equal Necessity to be explicitely known to make a Man a Christian with
the Messiah since if they once firmly believed that they must necessarily believe him to be God p. 78 79. I shall only observe 1. That the Sense of the Term Messiah is here acknowledged to be very different from what this Author has before declared the Apostles meant by it 2. That here is no Supposition that the People did not know what was meant by Messiah and therefore must have it either interpreted or explained to them but an Acknowledgment that our Saviour and his Apostles did use the Term according to the familiar and commonly known meaning of it amongst the Jews 3. That supposing the Jews did generally believe the Messiah should be God yet they must believe that Iesus of Nazareth was the Messiah before they could believe him to be God And it being this only that he was the Messiah which was propounded to be believed to make them Christians it must be a right believing of this that did make them Christians how near a Connection soever their believing any thing else which they knew and believed concerning him who should be the Messiah might have with their believing Jesus to be the Messiah Supposing they did generally believe that their expected Messiah should be God yet those who believed other Persons to be the Messiah and consequently believed them to be God too were not Christians So that it was not the believing a Person to be the Messiah nor a believing that Person to be God that made People Christians but a believing him to be the Messiah who really was the Messiah But as we are obliged to know who was the Author of our Being so also must it be equally a Crime not to know clearly who and what he was that could be the Author of our Salvation p. 87. In answer to this I shall only say That we are obliged to endeavour to know as much as we can of that God who is the Author of our Being This holds true as to all Men and so Christians are obliged to endeavour to know as much as they can of him who is the Author of their Salvation It is a Crime to be wilfully Ignorant of any thing that is revealed of him who is the Author of our Salvation There could be no Reason saith this Author for the defending his Divinity viz. our Saviour's with so much Care and Concern as St. Iohn did defend it if it was not absolutely necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian or if there was no Danger in believing him to be only Man p. 87. Answ. 1. The Reason we have to defend Divine Truths when opposed and denied by Persons is not to be taken barely from the End for which they are to be believed but also from their Nature viz. because they are Divine Truths and therefore Truths to be believed and which may by no means be denied 2. He that believes Jesus to be the Messiah does not therein believe him to be only Man he believes him to be Man but not only Man for that is not propos'd to his Belief when it is proposed to him to believe that Jesus is the Messiah And by believing him to be the Messiah he obliges himself to believe whatsoever he shall attain to know is revealed concerning him Believing in Christ saith this Author if it mean any thing must be interpreted of every thing that Scripture has required to be believed concerning him So that this we may be certain is a Fundamental that as Christ is the Author of our Salvation So that Revelation is the just Measure of our belief in him and that we must not believe either more or less of him than we are warranted by Scripture p. 92. Answ. Revelation is the just Measure of what we are to believe concerning Christ. So that a Christian let his Advances in Knowledge be ever so great must no believe any thing concerning him but what he is warranted or at least apprehends upon mature Consideration he is warranted by Scripture But that a Man cannot be a Christian till he doth explicitely believe every thing the Scripture doth warrant People to believe concerning Christ is a Notion the Scripture doth not any where warrant Were this Notion true no Man can be a Christian whose Knowledge of every thing relating to Christ is not every way equal to that of the most learned sagacious and understanding Person in the whole Christian World or that ever was or ever will be in the World Nay according to this Notion it may be justly questioned whether ever there was a Christian since the Apostles Days For there may be Ground to question whether any uninspired Man did or will attain to a just and adequate Knowledge of every thing the Scripture doth reveal concerning Christ. But it will probably be objected saith this Author to all this that though it is granted that there are several Articles to be believed by those who are throughly Christians yet there was no more required by our Saviour himself or his Apostles to make a Man a Christian or in order to his Admission into Christianity than the believing Jesus to be the Messiah and that this is all which the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. contends for The Objection is not proposed in its full weight but that I need not insist on for if the Answer reach it as it is here laid down it will serve the turn In answer to this saith this Author it may be observed First That the forementioned Articles as well as others that might be named are of the same Nature with that one Article of believing Jesus to be the Messiah and are a Repetition of it in all its Branches p. 92 93. Answ. This Answer is not at all satisfactory because it is wholly concerning another matter than that treated of in the Objection The Objection is concerning what our Saviour and his Apostles have required to be believed to make Men Christians The Answer is concerning the Nature of Articles Moreover it is not easy to understand what is meant here by several distinct Articles being of the same Nature with this That Iesus is the Messiah This Author hath formerly distinguished betwixt the Nature of several Doctrines and their being Divine Revelations Now consider several particular Doctrines singly in themselves and abstractedly from their being Divine Revelations they are not of the same Nature one with another how can they then be every one of the same Nature with this that Jesus is the Messiah I agree with this Author that a Person 's believing explicitely certain particular Doctrines Jesus hath taught for this Reason because he knows that Jesus who is the Messias hath taught them is a Repetition of his Belief of that Article the Ground and Reason of his believing every one of the other Doctrines But if his believing certain particular Doctrines be but a Repetition of his believing that Jesus is the Messiah how can the repeated or rather limited exercise
of that Belief as to particular Branches or Doctrines make Men Christians if the due believing Jesus to be the Messiah do not constitute Men Christians Besides the Reason of our believing Jesus to be the Messiah is quite different from the Reason why we believe these particular Articles But Secondly there was more required even to make a Man a Christian than the Belief of Jesus being the Messiah for our Saviour himself required the believing in the whole Trinity For this was the Commandment which our Saviour gave his Disciples That they should teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost i. e. They should first instruct them in whom they were to believe and then baptize them into that Faith p. 93. Answ. The command was to Disciple all Nations that is not first instruct them in the particular Doctrines those who believe Jesus to be the Messiah must believe upon his Authority when they know he hath taught them but by propounding such Considerations and Arguments as are most proper to convince and satisfy them that Jesus is the Messiah bring them to own him to be Messiah so as to take him for their King and Ruler by engaging themselves without any Reservation to learn of and obey him And then they were to baptize them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost after which they were to teach them the Particulars they were to believe and do by Virtue of their having taken him to be their Lord which Particulars comprehend the whole Revelation Christ hath made concerning the Father Son and Holy Ghost That is the whole Doctrine delivered in the New Testament In p. 95. This Author saith He will Examine the Reasonableness of that Article of Faith the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. hath insisted on and set down in the largest Terms p. 301. What this Author means by the Reasonableness of that Article is not very plain I suppose he doth not mean that he will examine whether it is reasonable a Man should believe that Article If he means the Reason why that Author hath declared That this is the only Article absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed by those who believe in the True God to make them Christians that Reason is clearly this because our Saviour and his Apostles have not required the explicite Belief of any other Article but this for that purpose Yet because the Author of the Reasonableness c. observed That the Almerciful God seems herein to have consulted the Poor of the World and the Bulk of Mankind This Author For a clearer Examination of this proposeth certain things to be considered First supposing God either had or should reveal any thing to Mankind and make the Belief of it a Condition of Salvation which the Reason of Man could not comprehend and we had all the Evidence the thing was capable of that the Revelation proceeded from God would this Incomprehensibleness of it be a sufficient Plea for our rejecting it Answ. No But 1. There is a great difference betwixt an Article's being absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to Salvation and an Article's being absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed when known by Reason of a Person 's believing what is absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to Salvation The Difference is as great as betwixt an absolute Necessity and a conditional Necessity There are Articles which the Reason of Man cannot comprehend the Belief of which is necessary to those who know Christ hath taught them yet the explicite Belief of them is not made absolutely necessary to Salvation Nor can the explicite Belief of any Number of particular Doctrines taught in the New Testament be properly said to be the Condition of Salvation for if it could he who should explicitely believe them all could not be obliged to believe one more The Condition of Salvation Now is believing Jesus to be the Messiah so as to take him without Exception or Limitation to be our Lord and King And hereby we are obliged to believe as many Doctrines as we can attain to know he hath taught So that a true Christian never believes so many Doctrines but he is still under the same Obligation to believe more when he attains to know more and that Christ hath taught them It is in Matters of Faith as in Matters of Practice let a Man do ever so many things which Christ commands if he obstinately allow himself in the wilful Violation of any one Command he knows Christ hath enjoyned him he is not a sincere Christian. So let a Man believe ever so many Articles if he obstinately refuse to assent to any one Article he knows Christ hath taught he is not a true Christian. His obstinate wilful Refusal to believe that one Article is a plain Demonstration he hath not that Faith which is the Condition of Salvation and that the Assent he gives to those other Doctrines hath some other Original A sincere Christian 's believing particular Doctrines when known is the genuine and necessary Fruit and Effect of that Faith which is the Condition of Salvation These Acts of Faith are but a partial limited exerting of that Faith which made him a Christian and is the Condition of Salvation in such Proportion as his explicite Knowledge doth reach attended with a promptness and readiness to extend it further as he shall attain to know more of his Lord's Mind This true and sincere believing Jesus to be the Christ so as to take him for our Lord and King is the Faith which is the Condition of Salvation And hence it is that this Faith doth avail and is effectual to the Salvation of them who are Honest and Cordial notwithstanding they happen to be ever so much beneath others in natural and acquired Accomplishments 2. Should God now reveal any more Articles as absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to Salvation than what Christ and his Apostles delivered as absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to Salvation whether the Reason of Man could comprehend them or not they would alter and make a New Covenant 3. If the Author of the Reasonableness c. had of his own Head declared that no Article is necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians but this That Iesus is the Messiah and for this Reason because God could not reasonably require the Belief of any Article as absolutely necessary to Salvation but what illiterate and labouring Men can comprehend there would have been just Ground to examine and contradict what he had said For this had been an intruding on God's Right and Prerogative and a presumptuous prescribing to him But 4. The Author of the Reasonableness c. doth expresly declare that what is the Faith God will accept depends wholly on his good Pleasure p. 298. So that he might have made the Belief of Articles which the Reason of Man cannot comprehend absolutely necessary