a Divine Revelation Divine Revelation is the only Reason and Ground of our believing it And the Nature of that Doctrine consist in this that it is a Divine Revelation In the next Place this Author considers the Authority of our Saviour intrusted in his Apostles which is exprest in their Commission Mat. 28. 19 20 21. Which Commission as it invests them with as full a Power of teaching whatsoever was necessary to Salvation so it lays as great a Necessity upon others of believing them as if Christ himself had taught in his own Person p. 19 20. Answ. Very true But all that Jesus Christ himself did teach was not nor is not absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians or to Salvation only so much of it as he required to be believed as absolutely necessary thereunto And the same is to be said as to the Apostles Our Saviour intrusted his Apostles with Authority to Disciple People to him and upon their avouching him for their Lord to Baptize and externally admit them into his Church and then to teach them the other Doctrines he had authorized them to divulge as the Laws of his Kingdom and Matters they were to learn and having learned must necessarily believe But he did not intrust them with an Authority to make a New-Covenant with People and to require the Belief of more Articles as absolutely necessary to make them Christians or to Salvation than he himself had required as absolutely necessary to be believed for that purpose The Epistles are part of that Revelation Christ hath given to be the Rule of all Christians Faith But no other Doctrines are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians or to Salvation than those on the believing and owning of which Christ and his Apostles did admit those Unbelievers to whom they preached into the Church and Kingdom of Christ if our Saviour himself did understand the Covenant of Grace and the Terms on which People were to be admitted into it or if the Apostles did understand their Commission For they neither required the explicite Belief of those Distinct Doctrines they have delivered in their Epistles as absolutely necessary to make Men Christians in their Preaching to Unbelievers if we may credit the Relation given of the Method and Tenour of their Ministry in the Acts of the Apostles Nor do they in their Epistles any where require the explicite Belief of these Doctrines as absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians They have in their Epistles delivered many Doctrines which Believers or Christians are to be pressed to endeavour to understand and explicitely believe on hazard of their Salvation which I conceive they had pressed on those who were converted before they writ their Epistles as well as they did then and afterwards But they do not any where in their Epistles teach that these Doctrines are absolutely necessary to be believed explicitely to make Men Christians or to Salvation See Second Vindic. of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. p. 76 83 c. In p. 23. this Author saith something concerning the Covenant of the Gospel but gives not a clear and distinct Account in my Judgment of that Covenant and the Conditions thereby made absolutely necessary for our obtaining Happiness though he truly saith This is fully done in the Covenant of the Gospel The Covenant of the Gospel in short I think is this That all those shall have Eternal Life who do so heartily believe Jesus to be the Messiah or Christ as to receive him for their Lord with invincible Purpose and Resolution to be absolutely governed by him so far as they shall obtain the Knowledge of his Pleasure let what Inconveniencies Difficulties or Hardships soever happen to be in their way and that they will seriously apply themselves to know his Pleasure Eternal Life is the Benefit or Blessing here Promised by Christ. The Condition he appoints to be complied with or performed on our Part in order to our being entitled to receive that Benefit from him is not an explicite believing a certain Number of particular Doctrines he or his Apostles should teach but only a believing him to be the Messiah or Christ so as to take him absolutely for our Lord and King And as the Conditions are necessary to be known saith this Author before we can perform them which is very true and undeniably certain so God has taken sufficient care to give us a full Revelation of them first in a large History of the Method that Christ made use of for the purchasing of our Redemption and the Miracles which he wrought for the Confirmation of his Mission and Doctrine p. 23. Answ. 1. God has given us a large History of the Method Christ took by his Order to purchase our Redemption that is to purchase to himself a Right to publish the aforesaid Covenant and to perform what is there promised to them who shall comply with and perform the Conditions there expressed But neither the Method nor the explicite believing of it is made the Condition on our part of the Covenant The actual observing of that Method was Christ's part in order to his obtaining or purchasing to himself the Right before mentioned And seeing he hath revealed that he did take this Method for this End it is an Article a Fundamental Article to be believed by every one who hath received him for his Lord and is thereby entred into Covenant with him or with God through him when he knows that he hath revealed it 2. The History of the Miracles Christ wrought is a mighty proper and powerful Inducement to us to believe that he is the Messiah and a very good Introduction to our taking him for our Lord. And Secondly In a more full and clear Manifestation by the coming of the Holy Ghost of all those things which were required of us to be believed Answ. The Holy Ghost was sent or poured forth on the Apostles to inable them to work Miracles to prove their Mission by or from Christ to publish the same gracious Declaration Jesus Christ had made before and to admit those who should receive Jesus for their Lord into his Kingdom upon their professing the same and acknowledge them for his Subjects and to instruct and teach them and leave to the Church a particular compleat Account and Body of all the Laws of Christ's Kingdom which must be studied believed and observed by his Subjects as long as they live These are not the Conditions which are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed or consented to to make Men Christians but they are the Laws of Christ's Kingdom which those who receive him for their Lord and King are to endeavour to learn and as they attain to know them explicitely believe and observe which is a good and full Employment for them as long as they live after they are Christians let their Lives be lengthened to ever so great an Extent But the Holy
Ghost was not given to the Apostles to empower them to make a New Covenant with People by making more Articles absolutely necessary to be believed to Make Men Christians than Christ himself had made so though they were to produce more Proof and Evidence of what he had made absolutely necessary to be believed than was given before and were to furnish Christians with a more compleat Body of the Laws of that Kingdom they were Members of than was before published See Second Vindic. of the Reasonab p. 89 90 325 330. It may therefore with great Truth and I think for that Reason without any absurdity be affirmed that all things which are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to Salvation are fully and clearly contained in the Gospels See Second Vindic. of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. p. 73. In p. 30. This Author discourses concerning the Apostles Creed and saith That The Articles of that Creed are not to be looked on as the only Fundamentals unless we also firmly believe the natural Consequences and Conclusions from them and the frequent Explanations of them which are set down in the other Parts of Revelation That is those Explanations of them which are set in the Epistles distinct from what is said of them in the Gospels and Acts. Answ. I will wave taking Notice of several things which might be observed here from the Generality and Extensiveness of the Expressions here used And shall only put this Author in mind that the Question he should peremptorily answer to is this Whether all that is absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed by Christ's and his Apostles Appointment to make Men Christians be contained in that Creed If those who answer this Question Negatively be in the Right let them talk what they please of the great Esteem and Veneration they have for this Creed and the Church of England there is no help for it but both the one and the other must unavoidably fall under a very ugly Reflection for the more full clearing of which and answer to what this Author hath further writ on this Subject I shall refer to the Second Vindic. of the Reasonab p. 74 c. 77 163 169 c. In p. 31 and 32. This Author offers considerations in answer to a Passage he quotes out of p. 297. of the Reasonab of Christianity c. I shall here only observe First That these Considerations are grounded upon Two great Mistakes 1. A Supposition that the Force of the Argument he opposeth depends upon the time when the Gospels and Acts and when the Epistles were writ viz. which were writ first Whereas the Force of the Argument lies in this That those Truths delivered in the Epistles cannot be absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians which were not revealed till after the Decease of many who were Christians By the Epistles we understand what Doctrines the Apostles were intrusted to instruct Christians in but supposing the Acts and every one of the Gospels had been writ after all the Epistles they acquaint us most clearly and distinctly what were the Doctrines which Christ and his Apostles proposed as absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed by Unbelievers to make them Christians 2. A Supposition that the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. rejects the Epistles from being part of that Rule of Faith that Christ hath given to Christians for which I cannot perceive the least Ground Secondly that this Passage this Author pretends to answer hath the full Evidence of Demonstration with respect to the Words immediately before it Having declared that the Authors of the Epistles were inspired from above and writ nothing but Truth and in most Places very weighty Truths to us c. He adds But yet every Sentence of theirs must not be taken up and looked on as a Fundamental Article necessary to Salvation without an explicite Belief whereof no Body could be a Member of Christ's Church here nor be admitted into his Eternal Kingdom hereafter Where we see what he means by Fundamental Articles in the very next Sentence which is the Passage reflected on by this Author and delivered in these Words If all or most of the Truths declared in the Epistles were to be received and believed as Fundamental Articles what then became of those Christians who were fallen asleep as St. Paul witnesses in his First to the Corinthians many were before these things in the Epistles were revealed to them To this Passage in the Reasonableness of Christianity c. p. 294. The Epistles being all written to those who were Believers and Christians the Occasion and End of writing them could not be to instruct them in that which was necessary to make them Christians This Author replies in these Words This seems rather to strengthen than lessen the Force of the Argument That the Apostles had taught those same Doctrines for Fundamentals before which they afterwards communicated as sacred Depositums of their Faith p. 33. Answ. Supposing they had taught the very same Doctrines before to the Christians or Churches they afterwards writ to and so they were Fundamentals to those Christians who had been instructed in them yet there is no force in the Argument that these Doctrines are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians or were so to them till it be proved that they had propounded these Doctrines to be explicitely believed to make them Christians In answer to another Passage quoted out of the same Page of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. this Author propounds this Question How can it be proved that all those the Epistles were written to understood all the Fundamentals of Religion Answ. The Question is whether they were Christians though they did not understand all those Doctrines you call Fundamentals here If they were Christians then those you call Fundamentals were not absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make them Christians If any shall say they were not Christians to whom the Apostles writ their Epistles they may if they please excuse my want of Complaisance in declaring I shall chuse to believe the Apostles rather than them Again saith this Author May there not be supposed to be some less knowing amongst them In answer to which I ask Were those less knowing Persons Christians if not how came they to be concerned in the Epistle or how came they to be Members of the Church to which the Epistle was writ The latter part of the Question And some who would not throughly believe several Doctrines of Christianity without such an Authority the Apostles had c. seems not to bear a propitious Aspect to what this Author formerly advanced as the way to distinguish Fundamental Truths from other Parts of Divine Revelation What this Author further saith on this Subject is no more than what I think is sufficiently answered in my Animadversions p. 26 27. But I do not perceive how it will follow from what
in the Pages this Author hath chosen to Animadvert on in this part of his Book The true Reason of Christ's coming into the World I think was the Father's Appointment A very true and excellent Account is given in the Reasonableness c. of the great End for which Christ came into the World though not in the Pages to which this Author doth here confine himself In these Pages the Author of the Reasonableness c. takes notice of the Occasion of Christ's coming into the World and of what Men are restored to by Iesus Christ. These Benefits may perhaps be properly enough called collateral or concomitant Ends of his coming into the World because particularly intended but they comprehend not the whole End of his coming into the World It is agreed on both sides that Bliss and Immortality were lost by Adam 's Fall Immortality the Author of the Reasonableness c. saith is restored by Christ to all Men but Eternal Bliss is not restored by Christ absolutely to any Man I meddle not with the Case of those who dy in their Infancy and what is absolutely necessary in order to any Man 's obtaining by Christ a claim of Right to Eternal Bliss is the Subject of a great part of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. The Obedience and Sufferings of Christ cannot I conceive be properly called the Reason of his coming into the World nor the End thereof any otherwise than a Means is called a Subordinate End But though I said Christ's restoring Immortality to Man was agreed on both sides yet this Author seems to be dissatisfied with the Account the Author of the Reasonableness c. hath given of it and if I apprehend him aright because he doth not include Bliss in his Notion of Immortality Now this I think is the Truth of the Case Immortality as lost by Adam's Transgression is restored to all Men by Christ in that he will raise them all from Death And he hath purchased Eternal Bliss for them on the Terms the Author of the Reasonableness c. hath given a large and full Account of from the Testimony of Christ and his Apostles That is that all who heartily take Jesus for their Lord and Faithfully obey and follow him shall at the Resurrection be everlastingly blessed The great and famous Athanasius who was never reputed an Enemy that I know of to Christ's Satisfaction hath more than once declared it was his Judgment that Christ came into the World to purchase Immortality for Mankind I have not his Works by me and therefore can neither relate his Words nor refer particularly to the Places but I think I may depend upon it that my Memory doth not fail me as to his Notion But without laying any stress upon his Authority I ask what can be pretended for Mens being Immortal any other way than by Christ by those who acknowledge that Sin hath brought Death upon all Men If the Resurrection be the Fruit of Christ's Undertaking and Performance how could it have been possible for guilty Man to suffer after he was dead if Christ had not come The Discourse is concerning Men not concerning separate Spirits This Author p. 57. makes the Reasons of Christ's coming into the world and the End of his coming to be the same and saith It 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 Satisfaction it self was not the ultimate End of his coming into the World His Sufferings and Death were parts of the way and means by which he was to obtain what was the End of his coming into the World His Death and his Resurrection too had a Relation to a further End viz. his being Lord both of the Dead and Living Rom. 14. 9. In his Sufferings and dying he had an Eye and Regard to what was the great End of his Undertaking Heb. 12. 2. that his Death had a Relation to this is most evident from Phil. 2. 7 to the 12th He hath purchased Immortality for Mankind absolutely But he hath not purchased Pardon and Bliss for Men absolutely but upon certain Conditions viz. their believing in the True God and in him as sent by him so as to take him unfeignedly for their Lord and King So that the true End of Christ's coming into the World was to obtain to himself a Kingdom or to be a King and to have a Right to dispence and confer Pardon and Eternal Blessedness on those who should become his sincere Subjects which I think is as plain as can be if we will take his own Word for a Proof of it Pilate therefore said unto him art thou a King then Iesus answered thou sayest that I am a King to this End was I born and for this Cause came I into the World that I should bear Witness unto the Truth every one that is of the Truth heareth my Voice Th. 18. 37. In p. 60. This Author hath these Words concerning Christ's satisfying for our Sins We do not 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 Answ. Christ's Satisfaction is a very great and weighty Point But either I or many who have writ concerning it are under some Mistakes with Reference to it I conceive Christ did not satisfy the Law for Sinners which they had broken For had he suffered the same Punishment which they should have suffered that would not have satisfied it because it required Personal Punishment alone and did not run that the Offender or another should suffer it And Equivalent Sufferings could not satisfy it because there was no such Proviso in the Law Christ's Satisfaction I conceive did not consist in his Sufferings being equivalent to the Eternal Punishment of a whole World of Sinners by reason of the Dignity of his Person For if the Dignity of his Person made his Sufferings equivalent to the Eternal Punishment of a whole World of Sinners the Degrees of his Sufferings could not signify any thing to his making Satisfaction the Dignity of his Person was the same whether his Sufferings were greater or less and could confer the same Vertue to one as to many Degrees The laying the whole Stress of Christ's Satisfaction on the Dignity of his Person I suppose was that from whence some took occasion to vent that ungrounded dangerous Notion which still infects too many That one Drop of Christ's Blood was sufficient to save many Worlds of Sinners Which makes the greatest parts of Christ's Sufferings utterly useless as to Satisfaction and in the natural and just Consequences of it throws most horrid Aspersions both on God and Christ. I conceive the Satisfaction of Christ consisted in his perfect fulfilling the Law that pertained to him as Mediator here upon Earth antecedently to his