he was the Messiah as our Author instances in St. Peter's Sermon to Cornelius that whosoever believeth on him should receive remission of Sins Act. 10.43 But will our Author assert that this implies no more than the bare believing him to be the Messiah without knowing what is meant by the Word Does it not also in the same place intimate that he by Vertue of his Dignity and Office had Power to forgive Sins which none can do but God alone And thus in the 36 ver that this Messiah was Lord of all i.e. Was over all God blessed for ever All which as they are implied in the Sermon of St. Peter so they there seem necessarily required to be believed in order to Baptism and consequently to Salvation And we cannot besides imagine that the Apostle would so far impose upon Men as to oblige them to believe what they knew nothing of or to build their Faith upon Words without Meaning Which we must suppose them to do if they made the bare believing Jesus to be the Messiah to be all that was necessary without explaining what they meant by Messiah how he was our Messiah or what he must be either God Man or both that he might be capacitated to be the Messiah And therefore we are to understand by believing Jesus to be the Messiah in this and almost all other places the full Extent and Meaning of those Words as they are explain'd by this and other Apostles in all parts of Scripture Which were all of them Inspired by the same Holy Ghost and therefore must all have the same Meaning unless the Holy Spirit dictated different or contradictory kinds of Doctrine which would be too impious to assert And therefore the believing Jesus to be the Messiah as it is now requir'd for a Fundamental of our Faith must comprehend the full Sence that is given of it in Scripture unless we can prove that there was not the same Inspiration and consequently not the same Reason for our Faith Nor does the believing Jesus to be the Messiah appear to be all that is necessary to make a Man a Christian from that place of the Acts where the Eunuch is mentioned to have been Baptized upon that Confession of his Faith to Philip I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Act. 8.37 For though here is no more set down yet no doubt there is more implied For we have none of the Doctrines recorded that Philip Preacht to him but that he instructed him in the Christian Religion from that Chapter of Isaiah which is a Prophesy of the Sacrifice of Christ and that he was to Die for our Sins which Doctrines as they must be part of what Philip taught so no doubt they were requir'd as absolutely necessary to be believed and besides since Philip Baptized him no question but he did it in that Form which Christ himself enjoin'd In the Name of Father Son and Holy Ghost and then it will follow that the Belief and Confession of the Three Persons was required For where the Form of Baptism is not mention'd we ought to understand it to be the same which was Instituted and Commanded by Christ himself and which was observ'd by the Primitive Church But Secondly I shall shew that the Gospels and Acts are directly opposite to our Author's Scheme of Doctrine and do require much more to be believed concerning our Saviour than barely that he was the Messiah As first It is plainly laid down in those Holy Writings that he was God nay his Divinity is so plainly asserted by St. John in the first Chapter of his Gospel that it seems almost impossible for Words to express it more clearly In the beginning was the word and the word was God c. Now it is most certain as has been already observed that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both in Jewish and Heathen Writers was meant a Divine Person and was much used by the Platonists that liv'd in this Apostle's Time and that the most Learned a mongst the Jews did appropriate that Title to their expected Messiah as well as they believed he should be God So that this may be a very good Reason for our Saviour and his Apostles requiring no more to be believed in their Preachings amongst the Jews than that Jesus was the Messiah since if they once firmly believed that they must necessarily believe him also to be God And this is also evident from the Jews never objecting Idolatry at the first to the Christans upon supposition that he was the Messiah whom they Worshiped which certainly they would have done had they not expected their Messiah should be God Which is an Argument manag'd with such Strength and Judgment in a late Discourse by a Learned Prelate of our Church that it may seem of it self sufficient to silence all Opposition except that of Malice that can be made against it or against the Divinity of Christ Indeed Trypho the Jew in his Dispute with * Justin Martvr Dialog cum Tryphon Judaeo p. 2668. Ed. Paris Justin Martyr asserts that the Jews did not expect their Messiah to be God but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he expresseth it but that he does not here speak the true sence of the Jews who lived before him is evident from what †Dem. Evang. l. 4. c. 1. Eusebius declares that the Jews had the same Opinion with the Christians concerning Christ's Divinity till they changed it in direct Opposition to the Christians Which gives us a very good account of the Reason why Trypho and the rest of the Jews fell from their Notion concerning the Divinity of their expected Messiah the Christians having gain'd great Advantages over them from the Opinions of the ancient Rabbins about it And therefore we may best judge of the Opinions of the Jews concerning the Divinity of the Messiah from those who lived before our Saviour since the latter Jews have differed very much from them And this is plain from their different Interpretation of the second Psalm For †R. David sunt qui interpretantur Psalmum istum de Gog Magog estque Messiah Rex Messias atque ita exposuerunt Doctores nostri Estque Psalmus hoc modo explicatus perspicuus at vero proprius est dixisse ipsum Davidem de seipso uti a vobis expositum Not. Miscel in Maimon C. 8. p. 314. One of them ingeniously confesses That all their Doctors had expounded it it of the Messiah which he allows to be a clear Explication of it but however that it would be more to the Purpose for them now to understand it as spoken by David of himself And * Doctores nostri exposuerunt hujus Psalmi significatum de Rege Messiah at prout sonat ut respondeatur Menaeis seu Hereticis expedit intepretari ipsum de ipso Davide R. Salamo Jarchi p. 315. another of them also acknowledges That this Psalm was constantly interpreted by their Doctors to signify
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
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