A REPLY TO Mr. EDWARDS's Brief REFLECTIONS ON A Short Discourse of the True Knowledg of Christ Jesus c. To which is prefixed A PREFACE Wherein something is said concerning Reason and Antiquity in the chief Controversies with the Socinians By S. Bold Rector of Steeple Dorset One is your Master even Christ Mat. 23.10 London Printed for A. and J. Churchill at the Black Swan in Pater-noster-Row 1697. THE PREFACE to the Reader I Have been preaching a considerable time on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians and coming to the 8th Verse of the third Chapter of that Epistle I preached the Sermon on which Mr. Edwards hath bestowed his Reflections I had not any Thoughts of making that Sermon more publick than the other Sermons I had preached on that Epistle till I afterwards found the Proposition laid down in that Sermon most unmercifully traduced by Mr. Edwards in his Books writ against the Reasonableness of Christianity c. The Sermon was published because I thought it did plainly manifest that the Proposition did not impair any of the Doctrines taught in the New Testament but did assert and secure to them all their Authority did preserve them in the Places where Christ had set them and for the Vses for which he intended them The Animadversions were designed to intimate that Mr. Edwards had mistaken or misrepresented the Proposition and to hint that in certain Respects the Considerations Mr. Edwards had offered against the Proposition were deficient But Mr. Edwards hath fancied other things and therefore puts a different Construction on them both I should be inclined to think it something strange that the Proposition discoursed of in the following Papers the Truth of which Proposition the most Ingenious Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. hath so fully proved from the Testimony of Christ and his Apostles should be so coarsely treated but that I am very well satisfied that there is no great Cause to wonder that even learned and good Men do differ in their Apprehensions about Matters of no small Moment and that neither Learning nor Piety no nor both together are always strong enough in this imperfect Estate to restrain the Fondness Men have for Notions they have a great while espoused from expressing it self in its Natural Dialect The Primitive Christians had a more honourable Esteem of this Proposition when they thought it of much greater Consequence than their Lives The Christians were at first persecuted not so much for any particular Doctrines they professed to believe but for Jesus's Name sake that is for their owning Jesus to be the Messias And afterwards when the Christians were murdered with a more immediate Respect to particular Doctrines they would not renounce because they knew Jesus whom they believed to be the Messias had taught them or would not embrace Doctrines for which there was no Proof that Christ ever taught them it was the Respect they had to Jesus as the Messias that did dignify their Sufferings and advance them to the Crown of Martyrdom The great Point of Anti-Christianism at least next to a professed disowning Jesus to be the Messias consists in setting up an Authority to make any thing a part of Religion which Jesus Christ hath not authorized And the great Malignity of that lies in this that it involves a tacit denying that Jesus is the Messias Those who are of the Opinion that true Christians are obliged to endeavour to encrease extensively in Knowledg and Faith and yet think that the Belief of more Articles than this that Jesus is the Messias is indispensably necessary to make or constitute a Man a Christian may if they consider Matters well perceive that the Notion of the Absolute Necessity of the Belief of more Articles to make a Man a Christian will prove in its just Consequences very injurious to Christ's Authority For those things the Belief whereof doth constitute a Man a Christian must be the Rule and Measure by which he is to judg and determine what he is to endeavour to know and believe So that whatever he can be obliged to endeavour to know and believe by virtue of his being a Christian must have a clear and plain Connection with every one of those Articles which are absolutely necessary to be believed to make him a Christian It s having ever so plain and immediate a Connection with one or two or more of those Articles will not prove he is obliged to believe it if there be yet more Articles the Belief of which was necessary to make him a Christian because it answers not or comes not up to that entire Rule by which he is to judg whether he be obliged to believe it For in that case it falls as really short of answering the Rule by which he is to proceed as a Person 's judging that a due believing that Jesus is the Messias makes a Man a Christian falls short of the Truth if the Belief of more Articles is indispensably necessary to make him a Christian Thus his knowing that Jesus Christ hath revealed such a Doctrine brings him not under an Obligation to believe it but he may notwithstanding that with-hold his Assent If it shall be said that knowing Christ hath revealed it he is by virtue thereof obliged to believe it with respect to the end for which it is revealed I answer that if a due Belief that Jesus is the Messias do not constitute a Man a Christian a Christian is to judg by all that which is necessarily to be believed to constitute him a Christian of his being obliged to believe any Point to any Purpose in Religion for what is necessary for any Purpose in Religion concerns him as he is a Christian and so is not to be judged of by what doth not constitute him a Christian but by what doth constitute him a Christian be that the Belief of more or fewer Articles Mr. Edwards hath thought fit to reproach the Proposition I speak of as a Socinian Doctrine and a way to extirpate the Christian Religion out of the World and to introduce Infidelity But I think it is the only Point that can with full Assurance be advanced and insisted on effectually and with the greatest Ease and Speed to prostrate the Opposers of Christ's Divinity and of the Doctrine of the ever blessed Trinity and to overthrow all the false and corrupt Notions which disfigure the Christian Church yea which do prevail in the World The Doctrines or Articles which Christians are to endeavour to understand and believe are those which are delivered in the New Testament And the Reason why they are to believe the Doctrines which are taught there is the Authority of Jesus considered as the Messias Whoever believes that Jesus is the Messias must assent to the Truth of every Proposition he knows that Jesus hath taught for his Testimony is the Great Evidence of the Truth of those Propositions If any Man pretends to believe that Jesus is
the Messias and yet will reject or refuse to believe what he knows he hath taught he doth thereby manifest that he is not a true Christian i. e. that he doth not indeed believe that Jesus is the Messias Those who say they would not believe such or such a Doctrine if it were expresly taught in the New Testament do plainly declare they do not own those Books to be divinely inspired And if they should say they would not believe them if Jesus Christ himself did deliver them they would more immediately declare that they do not believe him to be the Messias The Ebionites who out of Design pretended to believe Jesus to be the Messias were so sensible of this that because they would not acknowledg him to be God they rejected the Books of the New Testament and provided themselves another Book which had not that Doctrine in it which they pretended did contain the Doctrines which he taught It hath been the way of those who have set themselves against the Holy Scriptures or some of the Doctrines taught in them either to advance some Doctrines as necessary to be believed which are not taught in those sacred Writings or to alter some of the Doctrines taught in them by annexing their own Sense and Interpretation to the Words in which Jesus Christ and his Apostles delivered them Of this latter sort were those who opposed the Divinity of Christ and the Doctrine of the Trinity which occasioned the Primitive Christians to make it their Business to shew that the Words which Christ and his Apostles used did import a great deal more than what those Persons pretended was the full Sense of them Those false Teachers and their Successors especially those who have of late contended against these Doctrines applied themselves to an Artifice very common amongst them who have set up to combate the Doctrines of our Blessed Saviour and undermine the Christian Religion which is to endeavour to enlarge the Controversy as much as possible that thus they might have the more room to turn in They have by this Means obtained certain unhappy Advantages They have amused and bewildered many of the weaker sort of People They have found out many Evasions and Shifts under which to hide and shelter themselves They have created Persons of prodigious Learning and Parts much unnecessary Trouble Whereas bad they been kept strictly to this one Point that Jesus is the Messias and not suffered to start from that and its immediate Consequence the Controversy would have been brought to a speedy Issue by producing the Messias's own Words For then the utmost they could do would be only to talk of Accents Articles and Copies which I conceive are Topicks they do not much care now to insist on and amongst other Reasons besides their having been so often baffled already because very few Persons in comparison would regard the Debate when those things would be all they could discourse of But they have exceedingly extended the Controversy by prevailing with the Orthodox to fix on other Topicks for Discourse They have greatly indangered the Truth under a Pretence of being revenged on those Terms the Antient Christians had settled for the expressing of their Sense concerning these Doctrines in opposition to those who formerly set themselves against these Doctrines And thus the Controversy is run into Antiquity and Reason By which means the Socinians and the Orthodox have had opportunity to produce very great Proofs of the Strength of their Natural Endowments and their acquired Accomplishments Vpon these Points we have had of late very notable Encounters The Orthodox have all things considered acquitted themselves bravely and with singular Dexterity except some of them falling together by the Ears one with another that their Adversaries might have some breathing Space and a little Diversion to boot but I am apt to suspect that the great Reason why they have done so little Execution is because they have yielded for a while to lay aside the Sword of the Spirit the Testimony of the Messias and have consented to fight their Adversaries at their own Weapons Did I enjoy my former Health I should think it a very pleasant Diversion to see Prizes plaid this way by Persons who are well-skill'd at these sort of Weapons provided the Matters in Debate were of another Nature But in the present Matters these Methods seem to me little other than if David had laid down his Sling and Pouch and had gone forth to fight the huffing Philistine in Saul's Armour Neither Reason nor Antiquity can determine any thing immediately concerning these Doctrines whether they be true or not whether we are to believe them or no. Our Certainty of their Truth depends entirely on the Testimony of Jesus Christ The Proofs that Jesus is the Messias lie level to the Senses or Reason of Mankind And if we have Reason to believe that Jesus is the Messias and are convinced of that his Testimony affords us as good and satisfactory Reason why we should believe what we know he hath taught as the Testimony of our Senses can yield us why we should believe any Proposition which respects their proper Objects Our Reason doth not immediately judg concerning the thing treated of in the Proposition but concerning the Evidence whether it be such as by virtue of it we ought to assent to the Proposition The Reasonableness of our believing any particular Doctrine taught in the New Testament as delivered there depends upon the Reasons we have to believe that Jesus is the Messias And if we are fully satisfied that we have sufficient Reason to believe him to be the Messias our Reason must certify us that it is the most reasonable thing in the World to believe whatever we know he hath taught For could there be any Reason to doubt whether what he hath said is true we could not have sufficient Reason to believe that he is the Messias If we believe him to be the Messias his Testimony is the fullest Evidence we can desire of the Truth of what he hath taught And if we allow the Evidence to be compleat and full tho we cannot form a distinct Idea of the Matter treated of we have all imaginable Reason to believe the Proposition When our Adversaries talk of Reason as to these Matters they seem to mean that the things discoursed of must be brought down to that degree that laying aside Revelation we may form distinct and clear Notions of the things themselves by the sole Exercise of our natural Faculties so that by contemplating them we may find out intrinsick Reasons to believe or assent to the Propositions Christ hath delivered concerning them Which is the absurdest thing that can be For herein they require that the Nature of the things should be altered and they renounce Revelation whilst they pretend to avow and own it And they might with every jot as much Reason require that People should judg of Sounds by their Eyes and of Colours by their
Fingers If we were to judg of the Matters themselves and to form the Propositions originally our selves there would not be any need of such Revelation as we now have the Messias would not have had any occasion to have said any thing of them but then we must have had new Faculties and those proportioned to what is discoursed of But the Propositions being delivered down to us there is no need of our having new Faculties it is enough to render it most reasonable for us to believe the Propositions that we have new Evidence administred to our old Faculties When our most learned Divines speak of Reason as to these Doctrines they do not speak of the Doctrines as delivered by Christ and his Apostles for no Reason can be assigned for our believing them under that precise Consideration but only the Testimony of Christ But they speak of those Terms in which the Church hath delivered her Sense in opposition to those who represented the Words of Christ when applied to these Matters as signifying no more than the Words of any ordinary Man do when concerned about most obvious and common things And thus they shew that those Terms comprehend a great deal more in them than that other sort of People pretend is signified by our Saviour's Words and that the Notions these Terms do stand for are very consonant to the Reason of Mankind But they do not pretend that these Terms as strictly expressing those Notions do exhaust the whole that is comprized in our Saviour's Words For should they do so they would pretend to comprehend the Matters themselves Christ doth speak of and to set them forth in a clearer Light than he hath done A Doctrine or Proposition is reasonable when it truly relates or expresseth the Reason of the things about which it is concerned that is when the Subject and Predicate have such a Connection in the Proposition as doth truly express and signify the Connection there is betwixt what the Subject and Predicate do stand for and note in the things spoken of Now there is a very great Difference between my understanding the Reason the Order the Relation there is between the things spoken of in the Proposition i. e. wherein that Order doth consist or what it is that constitutes that Order and my having Reason to believe the Proposition which doth relate and declare that there is a certain Order Relation and Reason between them or belonging to them Evidence is the Reason or Ground of my Assent and Belief And tho the things spoken of are in their own Nature above my reach yet there may be such Evidence of the Truth of the Proposition as may be sufficient to oblige my Belief of it The Testimony of my Senses concerning their proper Objects is the Reason of my assenting to the Truth of Propositions which respect those Objects and not my being able to philosophize about those Objects either after the old or new way I believe the Doctrines I know Christ hath taught not because I can comprehend and philosophize on the Matters spoken of but because I know that Jesus whom I believe to be the Messias hath taught them He fully understood the Order of the Things he spake of and his Testimony is as full Evidence to engage my Belief of whatever I know he hath taught as my Sight is to oblige my Assent to Propositions relating to the proper Objects of that Sense These Doctrines are not propos'd to us for Speculation but for our Use and Benefit We have Evidence enough even as much as we can with Reason desire of the Truth of these Propositions if we believe that Jesus is the Messias and our blessed Saviour hath given us full Direction what Vse we are to make of them that we may partake of the singular Advantages he will communicate those ways And if instead of quarrelling and wrangling about Matters which are far above our loftiest Speculations we would submissively betake our selves to the Methods our Lord doth advise and prescribe us we might confidently expect the most exhilarating Satisfaction concerning these Points If any Man will do his Will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self John 7.17 Whereas the Socinians pretend that these Doctrines do contradict our natural Notions that is a Suggestion so gross one might wonder how rational Men could ever entertain such a dry and senseless Conceit unless it hath sprung from hence that hearing that these Doctrines must necessarily be believed to make Men Christians they have concluded that the Truth of these Doctrines must be judged of by their natural Notions And to speak the Truth freely I know not how to remove the Difficulty as long as that Prejudice continues But this I dare affirm with the greatest Assurance that it cannot with any Colour be said that any of the Doctrines which Christ hath taught do contradict our natural Notions and therefore not these in particular for they do not treat concerning Matters of which we have any natural Notions Now if these Matters were spoken of in such a way that to speak in the same manner concerning those things of which we have natural Notions would be a Contradiction to our natural Notions it cannot with any Sense be said that there is such a Contradiction when the Matters discoursed of are such as we have no natural Notions of The Application of Words must be according to the Truth of Things otherwise the Propositions would be false and contradict the Truth Jesus Christ delivered his Doctrines in the Words he used because those Words do truly express the Reason there is in the things he spake of and we are to believe those Propositions on his Authority because he hath faithfully related the Truth concerning the Things he speaks of And if we believe him to be the Christ or Messias we can have no Pretence to doubt of the Truth of what we know he hath taught Could we be satisfied that a certain Person hath a distinct Sense from what is common to Mankind and that there are Objects peculiar to that Sense we should have as much Reason to believe what he saith concerning those Objects as we have to be satisfied that he hath such a Sense that there are Objects peculiar to it and that he is a Person of Discernment and Integrity And if he should speak of those Objects in such a manner as would be a Contradiction to our natural Notions did he speak so concerning those things which are the Objects of our Senses and precisely under that Consideration we should have no Reason to say he contradicts our natural Notions whilst he discourses of things which we know nothing at all of but purely by his Information He is to accommodate his Words to the Reason and Truth of the Things he discourses of not to the Notions we have of Matters which are quite different And the Reason we have to believe what be saith of
some of those Doctrines as necessarily to be believed to make a Man a Christian There is then some mistake on one side or on the other Now before I entertain a disparaging Thought concerning any of those who are of a different Judgment from me in this Matter the Point ought to be placed in a very good Light and be exceeding clear on my side And an equitable Person will perhaps reckon I may with Reason expect that the other Point be made very plain before those who espouse it do grow Stormy and Tempestuous because I declare my Opinion and calmly represent wherein I conceive the weakness of what any of them do offer for the Support or Illustration of their Judgment doth lie It is agreed on both sides that Jesus Christ and his Apostles have taught that the Belief of that one Article I insist on is indispensably necessary to constitute and make a Man a Christian They alledg several Texts to prove certain other Propositions as necessarily to be believed to make a Man a Christian as that other Article is I acknowledg the Scriptures they quote are full Proof that the Propositions contained in them are Divine Truths But that is not the thing for which they produce those Scriptures for so far we are agreed but they produce them as Proofs that Jesus Christ and his Apostles have taught that the explicit Belief of those Propositions is indispensably necessary to make a Man a Christian I own they fully prove the former but I am utterly at a loss to find how they prove the latter which is the thing they are brought to prove and the very Point concerning which we differ viz. That Jesus Christ and his Apostles have as plainly taught not that these Propositions are Divine Truths but that the Belief of these Propositions is as necessary to constitute or make a Man a Christian as they have taught that the Belief that Jesus is the Christ or Messias is necessary to make a Man a Christian Great Care is to be taken to preserve the Doctrines of the New Testament in their Purity and in their proper Order All the particular Doctrines there taught are the Doctrines of Christ they are revealed that they may be learned and then believed upon his Authority every one of them hath its peculiar and proper Intendment and is to be used and improved especially for that purpose If a Person insists on the Necessity of one Article for a purpose for which Christ did not intend it he attributes that to it which doth not belong to it And if a Person oppose and reject the Necessity of any Article as to the purpose for which it was intended he does not give it its full due In this Case we are not only to consider whether Christ hath taught and revealed such or such an Article but also for what end and purpose he doth more especially require it should be learned and believed Now it is agreed on all Hands that the Belief that Jesus is the Messias is by Christ's appointment necessary to make a Man a Christian The Notion that the due and right Belief of this alone doth constitute a Man a Christian preserves to all the other Articles all the Necessity that Christ assigns them unless it can be made out that he hath made the Belief of every one of them or of a certain Number of them necessary to this very purpose And till that be very clearly proved there seems no great Reason that he who advanceth the aforesaid Notion should be treated presently as if he came immediately out of the Bottomless-pit and would fill the whole World with Locusts and worse Plagues than ever Egypt was afflicted with if not doomed peremptorily and without delay to bear all the invidious Characters and Epithets that an exalted fiery Genius can make a shift to jumble together The Notion of the one Article may induce those who embrace it to esteem more Persons Christians than the other Notion can allow of for they of the former must reckon all those Christians who give credible Evidence that they believe indeed that Jesus is the Messias and accept of and submit to him as their Lord and thus far I fancy the Advantage is on the former's side for I conceive there is no hurt in letting Charity as well as Patience have its perfect Work And if I be not much mistaken that Notion contributes most to engage People to take particular Care that the Belief of Jesus's being the Messias may be very well and firmly settled in their Hearts yea it seems to me to be the surest way to bring them to the sound Belief of the other Articles But let these things pass for Suggestions that come from a cold phlegmatick Temper yet methinks this Notion should be acknowledged to comport best with the Honour of the Gospel since it acquaints Christians that by virtue of their being Christians on the account of their unfeigned Belief of this Point they are under an indispensable Obligation to endeavour continually to encrease in the Knowledg and Belief of what Christ and his Apostles have taught Whereas by the other Notion according to Mr. Edwards when once they believe as much as is necessary to make them Christians they need not concern themselves to know any thing more of what Christ and his Apostles have taught except for Ornament-sake This we are sure of that Jesus Christ and his Apostles do lay a particular stress on this one Article for the Purpose discoursed of And it is not so evident that they require the explicit Belief of any more Articles as absolutely necessary to make a Man a Christian Besides if the Nature of the thing be well considered viz. what we mean when we use the term Christian it may afford some Light to this Matter Is the true Account of a Christian one who believes just such a number of Doctrines or one who believes in Jesus Christ who owns Jesus to be the Christ and therefore hath devoted and yielded up himself entirely to learn from and be governed and saved by him Moreover if all those Articles Mr. Edwards insists on are not to be expresly mentioned in the Definition or Description of that Faith which justifies a Sinner and constitutes him a Christian then something will be left out of it which must necessarily be explicitely believed according to his Notion in order to his Justification and to his being a Christian but if no particular Article besides this that Jesus is the Christ is to be inserted into it then I conceive it must be granted that is is only the Belief of that Article that doth make and constitute a Man a Christian In a word if the Belief of more Articles be necessary to make a Man a Christian then those who are for the Necessity of the one Article alone as to this purpose do not attribute to other Articles their full due and if the right Belief of that one Article be all
vent to Truth and that only Mr. Edwards hath thought fit to continue his late way of Writing in these Papers wherein considering the number of Pages there is as much Banter as in his Socinianism Vnmask'd These parts of his Discourse I shall pass over very lightly for whatever Impression such Passages may make on those who have not been inured to such kind of Treatment they make very little on me who have been accustomed a long time together to be entertained with such sort of Reflections not only from Persons in all Respects very much below Mr. Edwards but from some who wore a more sublime Character both in Church and State than Mr. Edwards doth I do not say than he deserves in the Church tho I am of Opinion if all their Reading were put together it would not amount to one half of what Mr. Edwards is Master of These things only respect my Person not the Cause and as for my self I can bear with Peoples dealing with that as they please they can hardly entertain more contemptible Thoughts of me than I ought to have of my self And if their loading me by their words with all they have a mind to may but help me to be duly low in my own Thoughts I shall reap more Advantage by it than they can from the Pleasure they feel in the exercise of that Faculty I have met with many very much beneath Mr. Edwards in respect of laudable Accomplishments every whit as ready and expert in this sort of Talk as he appears to be which makes me conclude that this kind of Discourse doth not result from the eminency of Mens Parts but that Mr. Edwards's having made no greater a Proficiency in it proceeds from Nature's being under the restraint of those noble Endowments in him which many want who have the other in common with him Indeed in some Pages Mr. Edwards doth use much softer and more kind Expressions than I could expect from him for which excess of Charity I return him my thanks provided the King of Ham may not be thought to have a Hand here as also that he hath taken such speedy Care by altering his Tone to prevent my being over much swoln because of those favourable words which happened to drop from his Pen. Wherein his Prudence with respect to himself may not be altogether unworthy of Observation for not knowing but my weakness might be such those gentle Words might from a Person of his Figure perfectly overwhelm me with Joy that he might not be thought to have a Hand in my Death he hath been pleased to determine me a Felo de se saying he hath dispatched himself Mr. Edwards is pleased to say any Man may discern a Mercenary stroke all along the Animadversions This it 's true I ought not to look upon as said to me because Mr. Edwards is positive I did not write them but lest all who read him should not take his Word for it and therefore think the Aspersion sticks on me I may take leave to say on my own behalf that I think I have hardly ever appeared on a fashionable Subject or to accommodate my Discourse on any Subject to a predominant Humour I am certain I never knew any Man write against me who fail'd of speedy Preferment And I heartily wish Mr. Edwards may meet with the same Fortune and that in some proportion to his just Deserts and those eminent Qualifications with which he is stored and for which I mightily reverence him For tho I cannot justify every Expression he useth yet I am perswaded he is a very good Man as well as a Person of very much Reading 'T is true there seems to be some Vinegar in his Ink but I am sensible that Men of warm and cholerick Tempers are somewhat apt to be testy and may need some Grains of Allowance tho they may not apprehend it as well as those who are of such a cold and phlegmatick Constitution as I am A pious Zeal is not always in all Circumstances Judicious A hot Fancy when it begins to rove will without a great deal of Care take a large Compass and when upon the reflecting Pin will have a fling at every thing within its view And therefore I do not wonder that the Sermon Preface Animadversions Author nay a Gentleman quite unknown to me if not to Mr. Edwards also and Booksellers should have a share yea that the Street or Row should be brought in and that the Sign too must come in for a Rarity The first thing Mr. Edwards lays to my charge in my Sermon is that I have contradicted the very Proposition I had laid down Now if this be true I am undoubtedly guilty of a very great fault in Discourse But tho Mode and Figure were not necessary to confute what I had said they would not have done any hurt if they had been used to make the Contradiction manifest Nor would it have been an imputation to any Person 's Ingenuity who is professedly and with very good Reason against Clipt Christianity to have set down my words entirely without clipping of them To shew that I contradict the Proposition I laid down Mr. Edwards doth first of all set down the Proposition it self in these words There is but one Point or Article necessary to be believed for the making a Man a Christian And then he produceth other words in my Sermon which he saith do contradict that Proposition This saith Mr. Edwards he pretends to maintain as an undeniable Truth viz. the forementioned Proposition and yet he declares that other Points are necessary to be believed Sermon pag. 32. Answ My words were thus pag. 32. Tho the belief of other Points or Articles is not necessary to constitute a Person a Christian yet other things or Articles are necessary to be believed by him who is a true Christian I did not say that other Articles are necessarily to be believed to make a Man a Christian if I had said so I had contradicted the Proposition before mentioned but I only said there are other Articles necessary to be believed by him who is already made a Christian when he understands them and knows that Jesus Christ hath taught them Again Mr. Edwards produceth part of a Sentence in p. 29. of my Sermon The words I confess are all mine but they do no more contradict the Proposition I laid down than my words last discoursed of did contradict it as the Reader may plainly see if he will take the Pains to read the whole Sentence as it lies in that Page referred to where he will find my Proposition and the words Mr. Edwards quotes in the same Sentence Afterwards Mr. Edwards sets down some other words to make out his Charge that I have contradicted the Proposition I had laid down referring to p. 33. of my Serm. which words are not precisely mine but I do not insist on that for as they are set down by him they do not contradict my Proposition Mr.
Edwards then adds that I reckon up several Articles and Propositions which are the very same which he had mentioned in his Discourses against the Conceit of one Article I will not stay to compare them to see whether they are exactly the same The Sermon was writ before I saw his Discourses I may have read them all somewhere or other I pretend not to be an Original but I did not then mind any particular Author where I had read them altogether Upon such Occasions I only set down what occurs to my Mind so far as I apprehend pertinent without troubling my self to try whether I can recollect where I have read any Sentence or Phrase I am beholden to some or other for ought I know for every Passage and Word I write Now saith Mr. Edwards if there be other Points and particular Articles and those many which a sincere Christian is obliged and that necessarily and indispensably to understand and believe and assent unto he should have said to endeavour to understand c. then this Writer doth in effect yield to that Proposition which I maintained viz. That the Belief of one Article is not sufficient to make a Man a Christian and consequently he runs counter to the Proposition which he had laid down Answ If there are more Articles c. which a sincere Christian is obliged to endeavour to understand and then believe it doth not immediately follow that the Belief of more than this one Article That Jesus is the Messias is necessary to make a Man a Christian It must first be proved that the explicite Knowledg and Belief of all those Articles any Christian may be necessarily c. obliged to endeavour to understand and believe is necessary to make a Man a Christian And then it will follow that the Belief of this Article That Jesus is the Messias is not sufficient to make a Man a Christian But the Discourse now is not concerning the Truth of either Mr. Edwards's Opinion or of mine touching that Matter but whether I did contradict the Proposition I had laid down Now supposing the Proposition I had laid down were false my declaring that there are many Articles which a sincere Christian is necessarily obliged to endeavour to understand and then believe doth not contradict my Proposition for my Proposition was not That a sincere Christian is not obliged to endeavour to know and believe any more than this one Article That Jesus is the Messias If it were clearly proved that Jesus Christ hath taught that the explicit Knowledg and Belief of all those Articles which any Christian can be necessarily obliged to endeavour to know and believe is absolutely necessary to make a Man a Christian then it might very fairly be said that my Proposition doth contradict the Truth but it could not with any colour even then be pretended that my declaring that there are other Articles which sincere Christians are necessarily obliged to endeavour to know and believe doth contradict the Proposition I had laid down For saith Mr. Edwards I bring the Business to this issue If the believing of one single Article be enough to constitute a Man a Christian then the Belief of something more is not necessary and indispensable Answ If the right Belief of this single Article that Jesus is the Messias be enough to constitute a Man a sincere Christian then the Belief of something more is not necessary indispensably necessary to make a Man a Christian Nor hath Mr. Edwards produced any Passage out of my Sermon which affirms that any thing more is necessarily c. to be believed to constitute a Man a Christian For saith Mr. Edwards the knowing or believing of more may be some Ornament and Embellishment to him viz. a Christian yet it cannot be said that it is necessary and indispensable Answ True it cannot be said to be necessary to make him a Christian but it may be said to be necessary and that he is indispensably obliged to endeavour to know it and believe it with respect to those Ends and Purposes for which it is revealed and for which he is commanded to endeavour to know and believe it If Mr. Edwards speaks here of knowing and believing Doctrines which Jesus Christ and his Apostles have taught and revealed for if he means knowing and believing other Matters it is not to our purpose the distinguishing of Gospel-Doctrines into necessary and such as are only for Ornament and Embellishment seems somewhat harsh to me A Distinction in Matters of Faith very like to that in Practicals between Evangelical Precepts and Counsels The Reason Mr. Edwards doth assign for his saying that the knowing and believing of more than what is necessary to constitute a Man a Christian cannot be said to be necessary and indispensable is this because nothing is so viz. necessary and indispensable in Christianity but what contributes to the making a Man a Christian a sincere Christian Answ We are now discoursing concerning the Articles which are necessarily to be believed whether one or more not concerning the Faith with which they are to be believed therefore what is necessary to a Man's being a sincere Christian is not the Subject of our Enquiry here By this term Christianity therefore Mr. Edwards must mean the Articles necessarily to be believed to make a Man a Christian And the term Christianity in this Proposition There is nothing necessary and indispensable in Christianity but what contributes to the making a Man a Christian must then signify either a certain precise Number of Articles collected out of the New Testament the Belief of every one of which is indispensably necessary to make a Man a Christian Or all the Doctrines Propositions and Articles which Christ and his Apostles have taught and are contained in the New Testament If Mr. Edwards understands Christianity in this latter Sense then this Proposition There is nothing indispensably necessary in Christianity but what contributes to the making a Man a Christian must be understood I think in one of these Senses 1. There is no Doctrine Proposition or Article in the New Testament but the explicit Knowledg and Belief of it is indispensably necessary to make a Man a Christian because there is no Doctrine c. in the New Testament but what contributes to the making of a Man a Christian And if this be his Meaning then the Articles he hath reckoned up are not sufficient when believed to make a Man a Christian because there are a great many more Articles in the New Testament than those he hath named And it will be very hard for any Man to prove that no Man can be a Christian till he hath an explicit Knowledg and Belief of every particular Article taught in the New Testament 2. There is no Article c. taught in the New Testament that is indispensably necessary to any purpose but what is indispensably necessary to make a Man a Christian and that because there is no Article there
Jesus whom he believes to be the Christ or Messias hath taught it at least till he knows that he who was to be the Messias is God And in this case he must know that Jesus was the Messias before he can know he is God If any Man pretend he can or does rationally believe that Jesus is God upon any other account I am pretty certain he doth not believe it as a Christian ought to believe it 'T is well if a clamorous decrying this Notion that the right Belief that Jesus is the Messias is that which constitutes and makes a Man a Christian does not contribute to further Socinianism c. tho contrary to the Intentions and Designs of learned and good Men who happen to yield a little further to their Passions than in strictness they ought That Jesus is God is an Article to be believed by those who are Christians not by those who are not yet Christians Men cannot judg of Matters nor believe any thing but according to the Light and Evidence they do enjoy And if we make the Belief of this and other Articles which are peculiar to those who are already Christians indispensably necessary to make Men Christians they who are not Christians will judg of this and those other Articles according to that Light they have whereby to judg of things in their present State I do not wonder that many are Socinians and that many do treat the great Articles of the Gospel so very indecently For hearing that these Articles are to be believed to make them Christians they will and must judg of them by the mere Light of Nature and Reason and therefore will not admit of any thing but what lies level with or is proportionate to the Light by which they are to judg Let the Articles necessarily to be believed be more or fewer they will judg of every one of them by the same Rule and must do so till they have another Rule to judg of Matters by And till a Man is a Christian he hath no Rule whereby to determine his Judgment and Faith absolutely but natural Light and Reason I think it is as unfair to exact Belief of any Man that Jesus is God before he is a Christian as to require a Man to judg aright concerning an Object peculiar to a Sense that he hath not Did People generally heartily believe Jesus to be the Messias I am perswaded a much greater Veneration would be manifested for the Books which make up the New Testament and the Doctrines delivered in them than is commonly discovered I apprehend that the irreverent Opposition that is made to some of the greatest and most momentous Doctrines taught in the New Testament proceeds more from the want of a due Belief that Jesus is the Messias than from an Affectation to combat those Doctrines When a Man doth duly believe that Jesus is the Messias he hath as satisfying Evidence of the Truth of every Article he attains to know Jesus hath taught as the brightest natural Evidence can be to satisfy concerning Matters within the Verge and Compass of Nature The Grounds the Motives the Inducements I speak not concerning supernatural Influences on the Mind and Heart to believe what is indispensably necessary to be believed to make Men Christians are accommodated to our natural and rational Powers But I cannot say so concerning the particular Doctrines of the Gospel which are to be believed for this very Reason Because Jesus hath revealed and taught them Natural Reason is of great use in order to our being Christians and so it is after we are Christians but it is not the immediate Rule by which our Belief of the Doctrines delivered in the Gospel is to be determined for that is to be founded on and resolved into Christ's Authority exerted in his declaring and teaching those Points He cannot say saith Mr. Edwards It is not viz. That the Belief that Jesus is God is not necessary to make a Man a Christian because to believe him to be God who really is so is no indifferent thing in Christianity Answ A Man must know that Jesus is God before he can believe him to be God And if a Man cannot know him to be God before he is a Christian then that Belief is not absolutely necessary to constitute a Man a Christian But what Mr. Edwards doth mean by Christianity here is as hard to understand as in some other Places where the same Term is used by him If he mean that when a Christian knows that it is taught in the New Testament that such an one is really God it is no indifferent thing whether he believe it or no that is he is not left to his Liberty to believe it or not he saith the very Truth But if he means that a Person cannot be a Christian till he believes that whomsoever the New Testament doth declare is really God is so I am so far from saying so that I think he must be a Christian before he can believe them to be so notwithstanding they really are so Indeed no Man can be a true Christian till he believes him to be God who really is so he must believe the true and living God But that is so far from constituting a Man a Christian that it is the very first Principle and Ground of Natural Religion therefore I do not think that to be Mr. Edwards's meaning here But saith Mr. Edwards this is absolutely requisite to constitute a Man a Christian for a Man cannot be such unless he hath a Knowledg of him that is true God Answ It is absolutely requisite to constitute a Man a Christian to know him who is true God for otherwise he who is a Christian could not be under any Obligation to believe Jesus to be God But notwithstanding Jesus is really God and a Man cannot be a Christian without knowing this Jesus who is really God it will not follow from thence that the knowing him to be God is absolutely necessary to make a Man a Christian It is not a Man's believing that Jesus is God that constitutes him a Christian what can constitute a Man a Christian but the right and due believing him to be the Christ or Messias who really is so It was not his being God that constituted him the Christ or Messias for then he would not have been freely but necessarily the Christ and Saviour of Sinners A Man cannot be a true Christian unless he knows him who is true God because he who is the Messias or Christ is true God and a Man cannot be a true Christian unless he know him who is the Messias or Christ But it is not the knowing him to be true God but the right knowing of him to be the Messias or Christ that doth constitute or make a Man a Christian could a Man know him to be God without knowing him to be the Christ this Knowledg would but constitute him a Theist not a Christian Whether it doth inevitably follow
from what I had said that I must hold that the assenting to this Proposition that Christ Jesus is God is necessary to make a Man a Christian and whether I have in effect positively said as Mr. Edwards doth phrase it that the believing of more than that one Article before mentioned is absolutely requisite to make a Man a Christian I leave the Reader now to determine But for my own part I am not sensible that I have yet contradicted the Proposition I had laid down which is the thing Mr. Edwards is still upon In another Place saith Mr. Edwards speaking of the Account which the Scripture gives of the Holy Spirit viz. That he is God he adds that a true Christian is as much obliged to believe this as to believe that Jesus is the Christ pag. 40. Answ What my words are may be seen in the Page referred to But certainly I did not say that a Person is as much obliged to believe that to make him a Christian as he is to believe that Jesus is the Christ to make him a Christian See here saith Mr. Edwards the force and energy of Truth it will make its way through the Teeth of those who oppose it Answ Let the Reader consider my words referred to before and then conclude whether the Force and Strength of Prejudice doth not appear so great as to prevail sometimes with People to oppose Truth in spite of their Teeth and Lips yea and Eyes too Mr. Edwards saith I have plainly and professedly contradicted the Proposition I had laid down for this saith he is the Case If a true Christian be as much obliged to believe one as the other then it is certain that Christianity is as much concerned in the Belief of the one as of the other and if so then a Man cannot be a Christian without this Belief Answ The former part of that Speech may be true or otherwise according to the Sense in which the term Christianity shall be understood But there is no consequence at all that because one who is a Christian may be as much obliged to believe that Truth or Doctrine as the other therefore the Belief of it is so necessary that a Man cannot be a Christian without it It is as necessary for me to believe that Jesus was at Cana of Galilee and turned Water into Wine there as it is that he was Crucified without the Gates of Jerusalem because I have the same Evidence for the one I have for the other But I cannot say it is of as much importance for a Man to know the one as it is to know the other much less can I say that no Man can be a Christian till he knows and believes that Jesus was at Cana in Galilee c. And tho I cannot submit to this non-sense that a Man can be a Christian tho he believe not those things without which he cannot be a Christian Yet if any Man will call this non-sense viz. That a Man may be a Christian without the explicit Belief of several Articles which after he is a Christian he may be obliged to believe I can submit very easily and with a great deal of Reason to it Mr. Edwards having thus concluded his Proof of my self-Contradiction is pleased in the next Page to set down these words Tho he appears in the Form of a Preacher yet he hath said nothing answerable to the specious Title of his Sermon The true Knowledg of Christ Jesus but on the contrary hath said very ill things to the lessening and impairing yea to the defaming of that Knowledg and Belief of our Saviour and of the Articles of Christianity which are necessarily required of us Answ If Mr. Edwards had affirmed that I had said nothing answerable to what he would have said on that great Subject The true Knowledg of Christ Jesus had he undertaken to discourse of it I should readily agree to it But seeing he saith I have said nothing answerable to the Title of my Sermon it would not have been unfair to have set down the true Title of my Sermon which was A short Discourse of the true Knowledg c. And if I have said nothing answerable to the Subject yet the Sermon is something answerable to the Title for then it must be acknowledged short with a Witness If I have said as Mr. Edwards affirms any thing to the lessening impairing or defaming of the Knowledg and Belief of our Saviour or of any Articles in the New Testament I cannot be sorry enough for it I am sure I had no Design to say any thing of that Nature or Tendency I think I have expresly asserted that all the Doctrines in the New Testament are of Divine Authority that being known by Christians to be taught there they must be believed by them that Christians are obliged to use their utmost endeavours to know them and that Peoples attaining to a Knowledg of them before they are true Christians may contribute much to the bringing of them to be true Christians Indeed I did not assert that the Belief of them all is indispensably necessary to make and constitute a Man a Christian but did declare it was my Opinion that the right Belief of this one Article That Jesus is the Christ or Messias doth constitute and make a Man a Christian Now whether the Belief of this one Article alone or of more Articles be indispensably necessary to make a Man a Christian doth not depend on my Judgment nor on the Judgment of any other Man That must be learned from Christ and his Apostles If they have determined for more than the one before mentioned then more are necessary let who will say the contrary If they have determined for the one abovenamed then that alone is indispensably necessary to the purpose spoken of tho all the World should oppose it and say it is not sufficient for that end but more Articles must necessarily be believed to make or constitute a Man a Christian Every honest and good Man who discourses of the Point will speak according to the best of his Judgment And if any Persons differ in their Judgments about this recourse is to be had to the New Testament to see who accords best with what Christ and his Apostles have said upon the Matter Now this I am certain of that Jesus Christ and his Apostles do insist upon this one Article to be believed to make Men Christians and that they have taught many other Doctrines in order to their being known believed and made use of Upon the best Inquiry I have been able yet to make I cannot find that they have required the Belief of any of those other Doctrines as absolutely necessary to make a Man a Christian The Reverend Mr. Edwards and many other very Learned and Godly Persons whom I very greatly honour and reverence for their Labours Piety and extraordinary Accomplishments do think they perceive that Christ and his Apostles did teach and deliver
of your Answer viz. That you believe these Articles because you know that Jesus Christ and his Apostles have taught them For I conceive you here ground your Belief upon their Authority and so believe them because you know they taught them before you believe them under that precise and formal Consideration as Articles necessarily to be believed to make you Christians For I suppose you have that Esteem and Veneration for Jesus Christ as to look upon your selves obliged to believe whatever you know he hath taught Therefore I ask 5. Were you not Christians before you believed all these Articles because you knew that Jesus Christ and his Apostles had taught them Answ No for who can submit to such Nonsense as to believe or think they are Christians who do not believe those things without the Belief of which they cannot be Christians 6. Why do you believe these Articles because Jesus and his Apostles have taught them rather than because any other Persons have taught them Answ We believe them upon our knowing that the Apostles taught them because we know the Apostles were commissioned by Jesus to publish his Mind and Will and Doctrines to the World And we believe what we know Jesus hath taught because we believe he was the Christ or Messias 7. Why do you believe or what hath induced and determined you to believe that Jesus is the Messias Here I doubt with many Persons the main stop would be But I will suppose my Friends can answer this Question with very good Judgment tho they might tell me without answering in a Circle and believing as the Collier did that they believed Jesus to be the Messias because they believed the forementioned Articles that is they understood those Articles and did believe them to be Truths on other Considerations distinct from this that Jesus whom now they believe to be the Messias had taught them and that Belief of them did contribute much to induce them to believe that Jesus was the Messias Here I shall only mind my Friends that that former Belief of these Articles tho joined with the consequent Belief that Jesus is the Messias is not pretended to be that which made them Christians but their believing those same Articles after another manner and upon a distinct Consideration after they did duly believe Jesus to be the Christ from that or those Considerations on which they believed them before is that which made them Christians for you could not believe them because they were taught by Jesus as the Messias till you did believe him to be the Messias tho you might upon other Considerations be induced to believe those Articles to be true Now if my Friends think they have given very good rational Evidence from which they may justly perswade themselves that they are Christians I must tell them they may be very good Christians but they have not produced any Proof that they are Christians according to their own Notion Indeed if that Proposition be true at which upon my laying it down Mr. Edwards saith they have been staggered they may this way prove that they are Christians But if the Belief of all those Articles be absolutely necessary to make them Christians the precise Belief of all of them cannot be such a Proof or Evidence that they are Christians as we are speaking of For we speak not of inward Sensation if I may use that term or Sentiment as Monsieur Claud and some French Authors speak but of discoursive rational Proof and this as to Matters of Faith A Man 's believing that Jesus is the Messias is no Proof that he believes any one of the particular Doctrines taught in the Gospel But his believing particular Doctrines for this Reason because Jesus whom he believes to be the Messias hath taught them is a good Proof that he does believe that Jesus is the Messias And if the Belief of more Articles than this one that Jesus is the Messias is absolutely necessary to make a Man a Christian it is utterly impossible that any Man should obtain a rational discoursive argumentative Satisfaction that he is a Christian with respect to Matters of Faith tho I may safely enough extend the Assertion further For let a Man believe ever so many particular Doctrines taught by Christ and his Apostles that Belief will prove no more but that he believes Jesus is the Messias The Belief of those Articles can be no Evidence with respect to one another that is the Belief of one of those Articles cannot be a Proof that you believe another tho you do really believe it Now methinks the Resolution of this Question What is it that doth make or constitute a Man a Christian ought to issue in that into which all the Evidences respecting I will say both Faith and Practice that can be justly produced to prove a Man a Christian must be resolved and that is if I be not much mistaken a Belief that Jesus is the Messias But now I return to the latter part of the Answer given to my 4th Question and with regard to that I would ask my Friends 8. How do you know that Jesus Christ hath required the Belief of all those Articles you have named as absolutely necessary to make People Christians Here you must take notice that it will not serve your turn to shew that Jesus Christ hath taught them all and then say that they are therefore to be believed For the very same is to be said of a great many more Points But you must answer how you come to be satisfied that Jesus Christ doth require the explicit Belief of every one of those Articles as necessary to make People Christians If you answer that such and such a learned and godly Man doth say so You are to be minded that that Answer is feeble in the present case and that you build your Perswasion that you are Christians on a very weak bottom What will you answer when you are told that other learned and godly Men have insisted on certain other Articles and I could name some of no mean Character who have been very earnest for some Points which I think Jesus Christ hath not taught as necessary to be believed to make Men Christians If those who insist on some other Articles as necessarily to be believed to make Men Christians be in the right you are not yet Christians notwithstanding you believe all those Articles most firmly which you have named because there are more or other Articles necessarily to be believed to make you Christians But supposing all those Articles you have mentioned are necessarily to be believed to make Men Christians I ask you in the last place 9. How do you know that these are all the Articles which are necessarily to be believed to make Men Christians For it is past doubt that Jesus Christ hath revealed and taught many more Articles to be believed Can you shew now that he hath more expresly or plainly declared that this precise
Number you insist on are absolutely necessary to be believed to make People Christians than he hath that any or all of the rest are If not who hath Authority to distinguish in this case where he hath not distinguished so as to determine this and this Article c. are necessarily to be believed to make Men Christians but that and the other Article are not necessary whenas there is the same Authority for Peoples believing the one as the other when known In the next place Mr. Edwards doth particularly and with Earnestness exhort and entreat me to attend and apply my self to what he apprehends of great moment to me on this occasion I shall therefore now more particularly address my self to him Reverend Sir I receive your Exhortation and Counsel with a Gratitude as near as I can proportioned to the Kindness with which you tender it and will endeavour to make a good Use of it depending for Preservation and Stability in the Faith of the Gospel on Jesus as the Messias But Sir it is not the first time I have met with an honest warm Exhortation that hath had no Connection with what has been pretended to be the Ground of it I receive it kindly considered in it self But Sir if any Persons who are not well-disposed shall happen to read it and perceiving on how sandy a Foundation it is built shall conclude all your and perhaps other good Mens fervent Exhortations and pathetick Obtestations are the Effects of Indiscretion and stand upon no better a bottom than this the Damage would not have been very great if this had been communicated privately and not committed to publick view And Sir having pondered John 6.67 I am not satisfied that by going back there is meant an unfeigned well-grounded Belief that Jesus was the Christ or Messias and an entertaining the Doctrines and Articles he taught purely upon his Authority but the direct contrary Nor do I see any Reason to think that that kind of Faith was the Cause of Judas's betraying his Lord but that going away and betraying was from their want of that sort of Faith and Christianity A Reply to Mr. Edwards's Reflections on the Animadversions MR. Edwards employs above two Pages here in relating his Guesses and his Reasons for them and determines I was not the Author of them so that he is willing to excuse me from the crude and shallow things offered in them to the Publick yet he is partly of the Mind I was desired to publish them as my own after they had been transmitted to me And in another Place after he is positive that I was not the Compiler of the Animadversions he saith because he apprehended that he had something for his Advantage with respect to me it is probable I might prick in here and there a fine Flower which seems to be said for no other Reason but to make way for his bringing in as he thought some finer Flowers of his own I will not concern my self about his Guesses nor their Supporters any further than by taking notice of the Reason he gives why I was desired to publish the Animadversions as my own viz. That it might be said that a Man with a Name c. warranted the late Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. To which I have this to say That a much more Reverend Rector I am sure I may say DIVINE than the Rector of Steeple hath vouched that strange Notion for which some do decry the Author of the Reasonableness c. and the Animadverter Nor am I afraid or ashamed to subscribe my Name to any one Article I know that Reverend Divine hath taught That Reverend Man had a Name and did with open Face and without a Vizour warrant the Proposition laid down by the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. and contradicted not in my Sermon but in the Books the Animadversions relate to This Reverend Person I speak of was the most Reverend St. John who with open Face and without a Vizour hath taught That whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God 1 John 5.1 which every one I suppose will acknowledg to be as much as to say a Christian Now if the Belief of more Articles was absolutely necessary to make a Person a Christian let a Man believe this with what sort of Faith soever it could not with Truth be said that whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God But I am very confident St. John knew as well what was necessarily to be believed to make a Man a Christian as the most Reverend Man that hath lived since his Days Thus there was no need that I should be desired to publish the Animadversions as my own that the Notion might come forth with a Name for it was openly warranted by a much better Name before As for the unsufferable Blunder Mr. Edwards hath found out in the Epistle to the Reader any one who looks upon the Epistle it self may perceive the right of that Matter reading cursorily instead of cursory as Mr. Edwards hath well and truly observed when it is determined whether the word Treatise doth more properly belong to the Reasonableness of Christianity or to a single Sermon For the Press was out no more in printing that instead of this than it was in the other word Mr. Edwards hath been pleased to rectify Mr. Edwards's endeavour to make the Animadverter contradict himself is just the same with what he did to shew I had in my Sermon contradicted the Proposition I had laid down and that having been answered there is no need of replying to the Charge here being no auxiliary Strength added to it But I like his making those Doctrines taught in the New Testament which are not absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians meer Conveniencies here with respect to those who are Christians no better than I did his making them meerly Ornamental in his Reflections on my Sermon There is no one Doctrine taught in the New Testament but it is absolutely necessary to make up the entire Body of that Revelation Christ hath committed to his Church yet I am not certain that Mr. Edwards will say that it is absolutely necessary to the making of any Man a Christian that he must explicitly know and believe every Doctrine contained in those Writings for then there will be nothing left for Conveniency and Ornament Mr. Edwards saith it is worth the Reader 's observing that notwithstanding he had in 12 Pages together viz. from the 8th to the 20th proved that several Propositions are necessary to believed in order to our being Christians yet this sham-Animadverter attends not to any one of the Particulars which he had mentioned nor offers any thing against them but only in a lumping way dooms them all in these magisterial Words I do not see any Proof he produceth pag. 21. Answ The matter is truly thus The Animadverter did not take much notice of