Reasonableness of Christianity p. 2. that Since these sacred Writings were designed by God for the Instruction of the illiterate Bulk of Mankind in the way to Salvation as well as others of larger Capacities they ought generally and in necessary Points to be understood in the plain direct Meaning of the Words and Phrases such as they may be supposed to have had in the Mouths of the Speakers who used them according to the Language of that Time and Country wherein they lived without putting any artificial and forced Senses upon them Now what we lost by Adam may indeed be seen as our Author urges from the second and third Chapters of Genesis and that was Bliss and Immortality and a perfect State of Righteousness which was without any of the Miseries of Life or fear of Death But what the Punishment of his Transgression was or more properly speaking would have been had not the Messiah been then promised to recover him from his lapsed State and had not the Merits of his future Satisfaction been imputed to him and all his Posterity from his Fall is not so clearly discovered by any part of that History The Sentence denounced against him if he sinned was only this In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2.17 Now this indeed does threaten the Punishment of Death or Mortality to the Body and does not seem to imply any future Expectation of Eternal Misery for he was from that time subject to a state of Death and Mortality And this is a part of the Punishment which devolves on all his Posterity 1 Cor. 15.22 p. 4. In Adam all die i. e. to use our Author's words by reason of his Transgression all Men are mortal and come to die But though this may be admitted as the natural Meaning of those Words yet it cannot be infer'd from them that the Soul also should be subject to the same Death and Mortality with the Body as our Author contends or that the whole Man should cease to be p. 15. or that By the loss of Men's Souls in Scripture could only be meant the loss of their Lives For besides this Opinion seems wholly precarious and is no way countenanc'd by this other part of the Sentence Cursed is the Ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy Life in the sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat Bread till thou return unto the Ground for out of it wast thou taken for Dust thou art and to Dust shalt thou return Which words will by no means infer that Conclusion which our Author draws from them p. 7. viz. That his Life should end in the Dust out of which he was made and to which he should return and then have no more Life or Sense than the Dust had out of which he was taken For it is not possible that the Mortality of the Soul should be infer'd from hence Nay the directly contrary seems necessarily implied For the returning unto the Ground for Dust thou art and to Dust shalt thou return can relate only to that part of Man which was formed out of the Dust And therefore if the Soul was of a different Original and of a Divine Extract as we are told in Gen. 2.7 And God formed Man of the Dust of the Ground and breathed into his Nostrils the breath of Life and Man became a living Soul It is plain that the Soul could not be included in the Sentence And therefore by this Sentence of Death or that of to Dust shalt thou return cannot be understood a total ceasing to be or a losing of all Actions of Life and Sense p. 6. which the Reasonableness of Christianity so much contends for But moreover if we are to understand no more of the Nature and Extent of the Sentence than is to be found in the second and third Chapters of Genesis and may have no Recourse to the Gospel Dispensation especially to that part of it deliver'd in the Epistles I would desire to know by what Authority our Author includes the Posterity of Adam in the Punishment p. 6. and makes them subject to Death for his Disobedience since there is not the least mention of them in the Sentence For that seems directly level'd against him and not to include any others in it Indeed our Author proves it from Rom. 5.12 p. 4. By one man Sin entred into the world and Death by Sin But if he has no other Proof for it than from the Epistles this would be no sufficient Reason to make it an Article of our Faith since according to him we are not to fetch any Articles of Faith from the Epistles So that this is all would be left for us to believe as to this that all Men are subject to Death but that God has not indispensibly required us to believe that it was a Punishment due to all Men for Adam's Transgression From whence it appears that the full Extent even of Adam's Punishment cannot be gather'd from the Sentence denounc'd against him which in the plainest Sence of the Words could only threaten Death or Mortality to the Body and not a Death of the same kind to the Soul Nor that even this can be proved from the Nature of the Sentence as we find it recorded in the second and third Chapters of Genesis that Death was entail'd upon all Adam's Posterity for his Offence And therefore it must be from the New Testament where we have more Light and larger Discoveries to guide us that we must expect a clearer Account of the Nature of the Punishment that was due to Adam and what sort of Death it was that his Posterity was freed from by Christ's Coming into the World But by the way since his chief Argument for his Notion of Adam's Punishment is that nothing more is meant in the Sentence denounc'd against him I would desire to know why by Death in that place may not be meant an Eternal Loss of God's Favour in a State of Existence as well as by never Dying in many other places is to be understood an Eternal Enjoyment of Happiness or a Freedom from Eternal Misery For by not Dying in such like places is not meant an Exemption from the common Fate of all Men but only not Dying after that manner which others do who believe not in Christ And if by this Joh. 11.26 He that believeth on me shall never dye or as in another place He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting Life and shall not come into condemnation Joh. 5.24 can only be interpreted of an Immortal State of Bliss and Immortality then I see no Reason why the Sentence of Death or Condemnation may not imply an Eternal Loss of that Happiness in a State of Misery especially since I have already shewn that the Mortality of the Soul could not be included in that Sentence of Death denounc'd against Adam And
besides if there have been different degrees of Happiness or Misery in the other World from the very beginning as is evident from the whole Tenour of Scripture and if the Souls of Men have been immortal as may be easily evinc'd from Scripture and Philosophy unless we can prove that any of them have been annihilated by God then we have reason to believe that the Punishment due to Adam and all his sinning Posterity was to have been Eternal Misery From all this it is evident that Adam's Punishment does not appear from Scripture to consist only in a Temporal Death but that as he fell from a State of perfect Obedience as our Author has granted p. 3. and was consequently uncapable of pleasing God so the nature of his Punishment and that which all Mankind should have undergone for all were Sinners will be best known from what the Scripture declares concerning the Reason of Christ's coming into the World And that was to make Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World and to restore Mankind to the Favour of God by suffering in our stead and being made Sin for us And that this was the true End of his Coming into the World and of his Sufferings is evident from the Predictions concerning him and from the Consent of both Gospels and Epistles The Prophesy of Isaiah is very full and express in assigning the End of Christ's Coming Surely he hath born our Griefs and carried our Sorrows He was wounded for our Transgression Isa 53. and was bruised for our Iniquities He was numbred with the Transgressors and he bore the sin of many and made Intercession for the Transgressors All which are so very plain and intelligible that the Force of them cannot be evaded So that the true End of Christ's Coming was not only to obtain for us Bliss and Immortality which we lost by Adam but also in order to effect that to redeem us from our Sins and the Guilt of them and to deliver us from the Wrath to come by the Propitiatory Sacrifice of himself for us We have also this End of Christ's Coming to save Sinners often mention'd in the Gospels Thou shalt call his Name Emanuel Mat. 1.21 for he shall save his people from their sins And Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the World Joh. 1.29 And our Saviour himself hath assured us if we can believe his own Words That God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish i. e. Should not Die eternally or be for ever Miserable but have everlasting Life For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World Joh. 3.16 17. but that the World through him might be saved For would not the Condition of all Mankind have been eternally miserable without Christ's coming into the World but their only Punishment have been only a ceasing to be after Death I think it is neither an Absurdity or Heresy to say That it would have been much more advantagious for Mankind that Christ should never have come into the World since it would have been much better that all Men should have had an End put to their Beings by Death than that part of Mankind only should be saved as it now will be and the rest be Condemned to Eternal Misery though it be by their own Defaults For the Punishment of even all Mankind by such a Death does not seem to bear a sufficient Proportion to the Eternal Misery of but one Soul So that we must allow that Christ's coming into the World was to save those that believe and repent from Eternal Torment in another World or else that his Coming to save us was a general Disadvantage But moreover we have several other Expressions in Scripture Rom. 5.8 of Christ's Dying for us while we were yet Sinners That he was a Propitiation for our Sins He was made Sin for us who knew no Sin 1 John 4.10 2 Coâ— 5.21 Hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us who his own self bare our Sins in his own Body on the Tree with innumerable others to the same Purpose which do undeniably evince the true End of Christ's Satisfaction viz. That the suffering for our Sins and the Substitution of himself in our stead 1 Thess 1.10 was to deliver us from the Wrath to come Which Expression can signify no otherwise than that Christ by his Meritorious Oblation and Sacrifice of himself hath delivered us from the Eternal Misery which we must otherwise have suffer'd in the World to come For there is no other Wrath which Good Men are exempted from for they are still as much expos'd to the Troubles and Miseries of this Life as before and as much and in the same manner as before subject to Mortality Nor can this mean a Freedom from an eternal ceasing to be after Death for that would make no sense of the word Wrath or the fiery Indignation of God which very emphatically denotes a future Punishment after this Life But was it possible to wrest the Scriptures to any other sence or to make it appear that they do not signify what we pretend they do yet were not Christ's Suffering a Satisfaction for our Sins his manner of Dying can be no way accounted for wherein he seem'd to shew much less Courage and Resolution than either any of his Disciples or the lower Rank of Martyrs They suffer'd Joyfully and with the greatest Resolutions but he felt in himself dreadful Agonies and endured bloudy Sweats and seem'd almost like One in Despair when he cry'd out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me All which can have no good Reason assign'd for them unless we allow that he suffer'd in our stead to satisfy God's Justice and bore our Sins in his own Body and became a Propitiation for us which is what we mean by Satisfaction But we do not hereby mean that Christ suffered the same Punishment which we should have done but only that the Dignity of his Person made his Sufferings equivalent to the Eternal Punishment of a whole World of Sinners Nor will this Notion of Christ's Satisfaction take away the Belief of God's freely forgiving Sinners as some late Socinian Writers have pretended for as Christ freely offer'd himself to suffer for us so God freely without any Desert of ours accepted of his Satisfaction which he was no way obliged to But besides the Types and Representations of our Saviour's Sacrifice for us by the Goat that was slain for a Sin-offering Lev. 16. to make an Attonement for the People and by the Sins of the People being transferr'd upon the Scape-Goat clearly prove that Christ's Satisfaction must be also for our Sins And thus was God's Justice satisfy'd by the Punishment of Sin not in the Persons offending but in the Eternal Son of God who paid the Ransom for them with his own Bloud
And therefore those who deny that Christ died for us in that Sense do in effect deny that he properly died for us at all because they do not assign the true Reasons for it which are declar'd in Scripture But that those Arguments from Scripture of Christ's dying for us and in our stead follow from the easy and natural meaning of those Texts I shall evince from other Expressions in Scripture of the like Nature and from common Customs and Ways of speaking in the World Whereby it will appear that no other Interpretation can possibly be put upon them Thus in the Lamentations Our Fathers have sinned and are not and we have born their Iniquities i. e. Have suffered Punishment for their Sins So Christ's bearing the Sins of many can only be understood of suffering for them So in Ezekiel The Soul that sinneth it shall die Ch. 18. v. 20. the Son shall not bear the iniquity of the Father that is shall not suffer for his Sin And also by one Man's suffering for another is meant a transferring the Punishment upon himself as in the Words of St. Peter to our Blessed Saviour I will lay down my Life for thee i. e. Joh. 13.38 To save or redeem thine And the Expression of Caiphas does also import the same It is expedient for us that one Man should die for the people and that the whole Nation perish not i.e. It is necessary that One should die to free the rest from Destruction And therefore he advised that Christ should be sacrificed to prevent the Ruine of their Nation by the Romans And to the same sense are the words of John If any of the men escape 2 Kiâ—â— 10 2â— he that letteth him go his Life shall be for the Life of him i. e. He shall suffer the Punishment design'd for the other We may add to this the Expressions that occur in Profane Authors that signifie the suffering of one for another For by their expiare orimina or scelus piaculum fieri populum lustrare and the like they generally meant a freeing others from an impending Evil by suffering the Punishment in their stead And this is very plain by a great many Instances in History particularly in that noted one of the Decij who sacrificed themselves for the good of their Country or offered themselves for an Expiation of the rest And this Custom of sacrificing one for all was very common with the Heathens almost in all Ages And they have used such Expressions for it as are used in Scripture to denote the great Piacular Sacrifice for the Sins of the whole World As in the * Euripid. Erecht Tom. 2. p. 468. Ed. Cantab. Tragedian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it was not lawful for him to suffer the Destruction of so many things when he might redeem them with the Sacrifice of one Life that of his Daughter And a little after he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That his Daughter would receive abundant Honour by offering her self for a Sacrisice or Expiation to save both the City her Mother Sisters and nearest Relations There might be brought innumerable Instances of this Nature out of the most Ancient Greek and Latin Historians to shew that by a Man's being a Sacrifice they meant a suffering for and in the stead of others to transfer the Faults of others upon himself Which are sufficient to vindicate our interpreting those places of Scripture that mention the Sacrifice of Christ to the sence of a Satisfaction for the Sins of the World since they cannot possibly bear any other Meaning So that the natural Result of all will be this That as the Scripture has in very many places assured us that Christ died for our Sins and in our stead by bearing our Sins in his own Body thereby to deliver us from the Wrath to come and that those are the true Interpretation and Sence of those places which the Words do most naturally import so is it most evident that the End of Christ's Coming into the World was for some other Design than to give us a Title to Immortality And that was to put us in a Condition of saving our selves from Everlasting Misery which we should otherwise most unavoidably have suffered And therefore if either Gospels or Epistles may be allowed to be true that cannot be the only End of Christ's Coming into the World which is assign'd by the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity For certainly that is the most true and most necessary to be believed which is most agreeable to Divine Revelation What we are to Believe concerning CHRIST I Come now to examine that part of the Reasonableness of Christianity which I proposed in the last place to consider And this relates to our Faith in Christ which the Author makes to consist in the Belief of this one Article That he is the Son of God the Saviour of the World or the Messiah And for the Proof of this he cites very many places of Scripture As Joh. 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath Eternal Life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see Life And in the next Chapter from the Belief of the Samaritans p. 25 26 c. who said to the Woman We believe not any longer because of thy saying for we have heard our selves and do know that this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the World And from the words of St. Peter Lord to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of Eternal Life and we believe and are sure that thou art the Messiah the Son of the Living God And from hence he gathers that this was the Faith which distinguisht them from Apostates and Unbelievers and was sufficient to continue them in the Rank of the Apostles And that it was upon the same Profession that Jesus was the Messiah the Son of the living God owned by St. Peter that our Saviour said he would build his Church Matth. 16.18 The Belief of this one Article as the only necessary one to Salvation in the New Covenant is the same with what is maintain'd by Mr. Hobbs and proved after the very same manner as may be seen by any one that will take the Pains to read the Eighteenth Chap. of his Book De Cive which treats of Religion Sect. 5. c. His words are Credere in Christum quid est Vel fidei in Christum quaenam propositio est objectum To which he answers Credere in Christum est nihil aliud quam credere Jesum esse Christum nimirum illum qui secundum Mosis Prophetarum Israelitorum vaticinia venturus erat in hunc mundum ad Instituendum Regnum Dei And then after he has brought very many Proofs out of the Gospels and Acts the very same which our Author has done he tells us that Alia fides ad vitam aeternam praeter
also be acknowledged to be the Son of God i.e. God And that this must be the meaning of these Words of St. John is plain from what is generally allowed by the ancient Fathers to have been the Design of his Gospel which was to assert the Divinity of Christ against those that opposed it as he has done at large in his first Chapter And if this cannot be question'd to have been St. John's Design in his Gospel the foremention'd Proposition must mean more than that was all that was requir'd to be believed that Jesus was the Christ and consequently that Son of God is of a larger signification than Messiah For if they mean only the same then St. John himself does not assign the true Reason for his writing that Gospel For it appears that he had certainly another End in it than barely to prove Jesus to be the Messiah But if they mean differently and Son of God does there denote Christ's Divinity then we have in that foremention'd Passage the whole Intention of the Apostles assign'd for his writing that Gospel namely To shew that Jesus was the Christ and that he was God We may add to all this that the Jews from whom we may best understand the meaning of that Expression believed that God was meant by it For a good work Joh. 10.33 say they we stone thee not but for Blasphemy and that because thou being Man makest thy self God which was only by saying that he was the Son of God ver 36. Which shews that they understood more by the Son of God than being only the Messiah And this Interpretation the High-Priest put upon it Mat. 26.63 when he accus'd him of Blasphemy for saying he was the Son of God But it will probably be objected to this that our Saviour has himself explain'd what he meant by Son of God in his Answer to the Jews when they accus'd him of Blasphemy Is it not written in your Law I said ye are Gods if he called them Gods unto whom the word of God came how say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the World Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God Joh. 10.34 35 36. But does it appear from hence that our Saviour has declared that there is no more meant by his being called the Son of God than that he was sanctify'd and sent by God All that can be concluded from this Passage is only this That supposing he was no more than one thus sent from Heaven yet it would not then be Blasphemy to assume the Title of Son of God But that is by no means a Concession that that Title did not belong to him upon any other account But besides it may as well be infer'd from hence that our Saviour was not God for he as much there declares that he was not God as that his Title of Son of God was only to denote his Divine Mission and he seems to allow that Son of God or God signifie the same as the Jews understood it So that this Text cannot be brought to shew that Son of God and Messiah are the same But there is one Text more which may be urged to prove Son of God and Messiah the same and that is Luk. 1.35 The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God But if the true Occasion of his being called the Son of God is here set down then it is plain that the other Instance last mention'd was not to the Purpose Because there the reason of that Character is pretended to be by our Saviour's own Confession only upon the account of his being sanctify'd and sent by God So that one of them must be given up as proving nothing in the Case But neither does this latter Text give us a full account of our Saviour's being Son of God It only tells us one Reason why he should be called so in his Humane Nature as being conceiv'd by the Holy Ghost of a Virgin But 't is plain that this was not design'd to take in the full Sence of that Expression because there are other places in Scripture that give that Title to our Saviour where it can only relate to his eternal Existence as has been already shewed But it will farther appear from hence that the Jews thought Son of God to signify more than being the Christ That tho' before and at the time of our Saviour's Coming they gave the Title of Son of God to their expected Messiah and the * Vid. Dr. Pocock Not. ad Maimonid p. 316. Chaldee Paraphrast and all the Learned Rabbins had constantly interpreted that Passage in Psal 2. Thou art my Son c. of the Messiah yet after our Saviour's Coming they not only altered that Interpretation but also denied that they ever expected their †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. Advers Cels lib. 1. Messiah should be the Son of God least the Christians should take Advantages of it as one of their Doctors acknowledges Which is sufficient to shew that the Jews who after our Saviour's Coming denied this Title of Son of God to their expected Messiah did believe that it signify'd more than only being the Messiah for they disown'd it because they thought it would prove what the Christians made use of it for the Divinity of the Messiah But this I may have more occasion to consider by and by From all that has been urged it seems evident that as Messiah and Son of God do not signify the same so there is something more necessarily requir'd to be believed besides this Proposition that Jesus is Christ or the Messiah But if we should suppose the believing Jesus to be the Messiah sufficient to make a Man a Christian will it be the believing that bare Proposition that qualifies him for such a Character If it will not of it self what sence must it be taken in Must every one be left to his own private Explication or must it be received according to the general Sence of Scripture Now if we are to believe it as deliver'd in sacred Writ I would know in what Place it is there declar'd that the believing it in such a particular sence just so and no otherwise is requir'd as absolutely necessary to Salvation For if the explicite Belief of that Article only is sufficient why are we not informed from what particular Text of Scripture we must draw the sence of it to be believed in such a manner only upon the Forfeiture of Salvation For it is not much to the Purpose to say that this Proposition is alone requir'd to make a Man a Christian unless there can be produced the same Authority for the absolute necessity of believing it in such a sence But perhaps it will be said in Answer to this that our Author has explain'd this Proposition from the
Declarations of Scripture concerning it and that this is the full sence of it which he has deliver'd p. 31. and repeated in his Vindication p. 28. Believing Jesus to be the Saviour promised and taking him now raised from the Dead and constituted the Lord and Judge of Men to be their King and Ruler But it may be demanded whether this is the full Sence and Interpretation of it in Scripture and whether this is all that is required to be believed concerning the Messiah or where it is laid down in Scripture that this Sence and Meaning of Jesus being the Messiah exclusive of all others is to be believed as necessary to Salvation For this cannot be lookt upon as the only Explication unless it can be shewn that it is declared to be so in Scripture and that this alone neither more nor less is to be believed as necessary to Salvation which seems to be a Matter of no small difficulty So that the believing Jesus to be the Messiah tho' we should take in his Interpretation of it if it was design'd for such does not seem of it self to be sufficient to make a Man a Christian But for the clearer Examination of this Assertion we may consider first That what might be sufficient to denominate a Man a Believer or a Christian during the actual Ministry of Christ would not truly Entitle any one to that Character now or during the Ministry of the Apostles after our Saviour's Ascension and that for this Reason because we do not find from the whole History of the Gospels that any of those who believed on our Saviour had a just Knowledge of him or what was the true End of his coming into the World Which I have already observ'd of his Disciples from that Question of their's to our Saviour Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel To which he does not give a direct Answer but shews them their Ignorance by telling them It is not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own Power but ye shall receive Power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you Acts 1. and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the Earth From whence it is natural to infer that the Apostles had not yet attained to that clear Knowledge of Him and the Design of his Coming which it was necessary they should be endued with And if the Apostles had not arrived to that fullness of Faith who had been with him from the beginning it is absurd to imagine That any others who had believed on Him could have entertain'd any clearer or more distinct Notions of Him So that we cannot form any adequate Rule of Faith from what is deliver'd in the Gospels concerning the believing Jesus to be the Messiah since the just Meaning of that Proposition was not then understood Nor will it alter the Case by saying That those who died then in that Faith were undoubtedly saved for that would be no more an Argument than the proving that because a Jew was saved before Christ's Coming into the World by Vertue of Christ's Mediation in the Observance of the Mosaick Law he might be equally capable of Salvation now in the Profession of that Religion For we are to direct our Faith and Practice according to the most full and clear Revelation of God's Will and to believe that to be necessary to Salvation which appears from the full Extent of Revelation to be requir'd in order to it For that Rule of our Blessed Saviour will always hold That where much is given or much Revealed there is also much required to be believed If therefore the Disciples did not then fully know what is necessary for a Christian now to believe as 't is very evident they did not it will necessarily follow that the bare believing Jesus to be the Messiah is not sufficient or all that is necessary to Salvation or even to make a Man a Believer or a Christian For the Disciples did already believe that Jesus was the Messiah as is granted in the Reasonableness of Christianity but did not understand how far his Mediation extended or what he must do in order to become our Mediator And this I shall prove from our Author 's own Concession to be an Argument of no small Force For if all that was necessary to Salvation or to denominate Men truly Christians was the bare believing Jesus to be the Messiah why should our Saviour promise the Mission of the Holy Ghost to instruct them farther in what they ought to believe concerning him as in Joh. 16.12 I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot hear them now howbeit when he the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth For he shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you And at the 25 Ver. These things have I spoken unto you in Proverbs the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in Proverbs or Parables but shall shew you plainly of the Father Now to what End was all this Was it not to teach them more clearly something that concern'd their Faith and Knowledge But this according to our Author could not be for they had already believed he was the Messiah and if that was all that was necessary why should they need any other Instruction Since our Blessed Saviour had already given God Thanks in one of his last Prayers that they had already believed that God did send him Joh. 17.18 I have given unto them the Words which thou gavest me and they have received them and they have believed that thou didst send me p. 183. i. e. By our Author 's own Interpretation in effect that he was the Messiah promised and sent by God And in the 25 ver Ibid. speaking of his Disciples he says They already know that thou didst send me i.e. Are assured that I am the Messiah Now if they firmly believed all this already according to our Author and this was all required of them to be believed to what End was the Holy Spirit to be given them to instruct them more fully in the Belief of Him or to inform them more particularly of his Dignity and Office For the Coming of the Holy Ghost could not be only to endue them with the Power of working Miracles which were only to be made use of for the Converting of others Nor will that come up to the sence of our Saviour's Words that he should guide them into all Truth so that if they must be allowed to have any Meaning in them they must relate to those larger degrees of Understanding and Knowledge concerning the Mystery of Christ which should be infused into the Apostles by the Holy Ghost But it may be urged that the Apostles after they had received the Holy Ghost made no other Conditions of Faith in Christ than that
into the secret Affections of Men. Whether the present Vnitarian Writers will allow Divine Honours to be paid to our Saviour or not is not very material this every one must be convinc'd of that the Adoration of Christ is as much mention'd in the History of the Gospels and as much enjoin'd in those and other parts of Scripture as any other Doctrine whatever So that it would be much more convenient for them to reject all Revelation in general than to out off all those parts of it that are disagreeable to their Hypothesis For to own a Revelation and at the same time to disbelieve what is therein clearly deliver'd is such a Contradiction as I am afraid their Reason can hardly reconcile But since in some of their Pamphlets they have denied Omnipresence and Omniscience to Almighty God and so have left us at a loss for a God Infinitely Perfect they may with the same Assurance call in question either the Truth or Authority of his Revelation But seeing the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity does believe all that is contain'd in the Gospels and Acts I shall endeavour to convince him by one Text more for the Proof of Christ's Divinity and consequently for the necessity of believing more concerning him than barely that he was the Messiah from the Example and Expressions of the first Martyr St. Stephen who suffered some Years before any of the Gospels or Epistles were written and therefore his Authority ought to carry very great Weight along with it since such an Example seems to be of as great Force and Obligation as a Positive Command For as he was full of the Holy Ghost and saw the Glory of God and the Heavens opened whilst yet in the Body so his Dying Words are upon that account more particularly remarkable And they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice Lord lay not this sin to their charge Act. 7.59 60. In which Words these Two things are very considerable First The Divine Honours here paid to our Saviour wherein if Christ be not GOD he was guilty of Idolatry Secondly The Expressions contain'd in his Petition which are almost the very same which our Blessed Saviour had before made the subject of his last Petition to God the Father at his Passion upon the Cross Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit And as before in the 34 ver Father forgive them for they know not what they do Both which are as to the Matter the same with those St. Stephen offer'd up to our Blessed Saviour and attribute the same Honour and in almost the very same Words which Christ in his Humane Nature gave to God the Father From whence we may conclude that either both or that neither was God I might bring innumerable Instances from Scripture to prove the necessity of believing Christ's Divinity as where the Creation of all things is attributed to him and other things that declare his Divine Power and Authority But these few I have made use of are as sufficient as Ten Thousand where Men are resolv'd to believe according to the Evidence of Things Now the Question is not Whether Christ's Divinity is to be comprehended by our Reason but whether it is not attested by Revelation And if this be made out beyond all possibility of being denied all the Arguments that can be drawn from Humane Reason will prove much too weak to overthrow it unless we can prove that there is more Truth and Certainty in Man's Reason than in the Testimony of God And thus have I shewn from those places of Scripture which the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity does admit of that there is something more to be believed concerning our Blessed Saviour than that he was the Messiah And that those places which I have mention'd are direct Proofs of Christ's Divinity in the most plain and natural Sence of the Words such as they were design'd to have in the Mouths of the Speaker is what the meanest Capacity will easily apprehend But it may be said that Christ's Divinity being asserted in Scripture does not make it an Article of Faith or necessary to be believed to Salvation or to make a Man a Christian unless it was there so declared any more than several other parts of Holy Writ which indeed we acknowledge to be true but yet are of no Concern to us In answer to this it may be question'd in the first place whether the Scripture's asserting him to be God does not make it necessary to believe him to be so as well as we are to believe explicitely that God Created all things though it is not mentioned as an Article necessary to be believed to Salvation in Scripture 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 But Secondly The Design of the Scripture's mentioning him so often with the Characters and Titles of God make it necessary for us to believe him to be so For to what End should St. John so much contend for his being God in opposition to those who denied his Divinity if yet every Man might be at his liberty to believe as he pleased concerning him For there could be no reason for the defending his Divinity with so much Care and Concern 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 In like manner the Design of the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews in asserting so largely the Divinity of Christ by reason of the wrong Opinions that some Men had concerning him makes it necessary for us to entertain true Notions concerning his Divinity And this necessity of believing Christ to be God even to make a Man a Christian will also appear from St. Paul's reasoning in his Epistle to the Colossians where he tells them that all things were created by him and that he is before all things Chap. 1. Ver. 16 17. But chiefly in his second Chapter he admonishes them to Beware lest any man spoil them through Philosophy and vain Deceit after the Tradition of Men after the Rudiments of the World and not after Christ for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily The design of which Words seems plainly to be this To caution them lest they should fall from their Faith concerning Christ's being GOD through the deceitful Arguments of some sort of Men who might perswade them that it was irreconcilable to Reason For he did assure them with all the Sincerity of a faithful Apostle of Christ that the Godhead was really and substantially in him And thereupon he enjoins them to believe it if they would retain the Profession of Christianity And if this be allowed to be the Force of the Apostle's
Reasoning as indeed it seems to be it must be sufficient to inforce the necessity of believing Christ to be GOD to make a Man a Christian But again as we cannot deny that we are obliged to believe Christ to be the Son of God because it is required in several places of Scripture and St. John tells us that his Gospel was written for this End that we should believe Jesus to be the Christ and the Son of God so we must also confess him to be GOD because as I have already proved his Divinity is understood by that Expression the ancient Jews both applying it to their expected Messiah and also meaning a Divine Person by it All which seem as fully to require us to believe him to be GOD if we would be Christians as we are in other Passages enjoin'd to acknowledge him to be Christ And Lastly it is most evident that the explicite Belief of Christ's being God is requir'd to make a Man a Christian from the Form of Baptism at our Admission into Christianity in the Name of Father Son and Holy Ghost Where an equal Belief in all is required as being equally partakers of the same Divine Nature and we may as well say that the Father's Divinity as the Son 's is not here implied But this I have spoken to already And here we may add for a great Confirmation of this Truth of Christ's being God that the Vniversal Church as may be gather'd from the most Primitive Writings and the first General Councils hath always asserted His Divinity as being most undoubtedly expressed in Scripture How comes it therefore to pass that if the Belief of Christ's Divinity was not thought clearly Revealed and necessary to Salvation all those that opposed it from the first Ages of the Church to this present time have been Condemn'd and Censur'd for Hereticks * Vid. Bishop Stillingfleet's Rational Ac. of the Prot. Relig. Not as though the sence of the Catholick Church is pretended to be any infallible Rule of interpreting Scripture in all things which concern the Rule of Faith But that it is a sufficient Prescription against any thing that can be alledged out of Scripture that if it appear contrary to the sence of the Catholick Church from the beginning it ought not to be looked upon as the true meaning of Scripture So that if the denying Christ to be GOD is contrary to the received Interpretation of Scripture in the Catholick Church and also inconsistent with the plain meaning of the Words we must conclude that either his Divinity must necessarily be believed even to make a Man a Christian or that the Revelation is not to be regarded But Secondly We must also believe the Incarnation of Christ For every Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God 1 Ep. Joh. 4.3 and therefore we must acknowledge that he was Man as well as God and that he was made like unto his Brethren that he might be a merciful and a faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people Heb. 2.17 And that this is part of the Mystery of Godliness which is necessary to be believed by all Christians that God was manifest in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 And that though he was in the form of God and thought it not Robbery to be equal with God yet made he himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of Men and being found in fashion as a Man he humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the death of the Cross Phil. 2.6 7 8. All which plainly denote to us both his Divine and Humane Nature which we must believe to be united in one Person Agreeable to which are those Words of St. Paul Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own Blood which could only be done by taking the Manhood into God I need not multiply Texts to prove that our Saviour was Man this I suppose none of the Vnitarians will dispute But the difficulty lies in this that he was both God and Man But this also is very frequently and fully asserted in Scripture But Thirdly We must also believe That he died for us and in our stead to free us from the Wrath to come That his Death was a propitiatory Sacrifice for us and That his was the blood of the New Testament as himself testifies of it which was shed for many for the remission of sins Mat. 26.28 And that this is part of the Christian Faith according to St. Paul that he died for our Sins as the Scriptures foretold of him And for this End he saith He was ordained a Preacher to testify that Christ gave himself a ransom for all 1 Tim. 2.6 7. But this I have insisted upon so largely already and shewn that this was the true Reason of his Death from so many Instances in Scripture that I need say no more upon it It is sufficient to shew that this is necessary to be believed since our Salvation depends on the Knowledge of the New Covenant and the Conditions of it and how far we are concern'd both in Faith and Practice In short as the Scripture hath assured us that Christ was the Mediator of the better Covenant and that we must believe in him so must our Belief of him be measured by what is revealed concerning him For Christ himself hath told us That is Life Eternal to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent i.e. The Knowledge of Christ is as much a Condition of Salvation as that of God the Father And the most certain Knowledge of both is to be drawn from Revelation And therefore as we are obliged to believe concerning the Nature of God whatsoever the Scripture has revealed so also we must believe of Christ as the Scripture has made him known to us So that the adequate Measure of our Faith in both must be taken from Scripture For if upon a Supposition of no Revelation we must believe all that of God which Right Reason could dictate to us then certainly since we have a Revelation from God and that Revelation has also obliged us to believe in Christ in order to Salvation we must believe upon the hazard of our Salvation every thing concerning him which is asserted by that Revelation And as in the general Confession of Faith when we say We believe in God the Father c. we are to understand all the other Attributes of God which are made known to us either by Reason or Revelation as that he is Just Good Merciful that he governs all things by his Providence or whatever else can be conceived in a Being infinitely Perfect so when we say We believe in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord we must also mean by it whatsoever else we can find in Scripture in reference to our clearer understanding that Article as that