Doctrines which are affirmed to be absolutely necessary to be believed to make men Christians be Doctrines which Christ hath taught yet if he hath not taught that the Belief of them is absolutely necessary to make Men Christians but only requires them to be believed for other Purposes the requiring the Belief of them as absolutely necessary to make Men Christians must be built upon a Foundation and Authority distinct from Christ's and his Apostles which therefore at best can be but Humane Authority Till this Clause is agreed to the former Clauses in the Reason will not avail much to put a happy Conclusion to Religious Controversies Besides I cannot understand why the assumed Authority of the several Parties may not be yielded to for the deciding of particular Controversies in Religious Matters as well as for the determining and assigning what Points are to be be believed in order to any Peoples being Christians I leave it to others to enquire how much Men's assuming Authority to impose certain of Christ's Doctrines without his Warrant as absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians hath contributed to their Stretching the like Authority further even to make some things Parts of the Christian Religion which Christ and his Apostles have not authorized which is infamously done in the Church of Rome and perhaps in some degree in most of the Parties truly termed Protestant It may be easy to prove to those who are Christians that they are to believe such or such Doctrines by shewing them plainly that Christ Jesus whom they have received to be their Lord hath taught them But when we require those who are not Christians to believe them as absolutely necessary to make them Christians we must undertake to prove to them the Truth of those Doctrines by some other Medium than Christ's Authority For it cannot rationally be expected that People who do not believe Jesus to be the Messiah or the Christ will assent to believe and receive Doctrines meerly because he they do not believe to be the Christ hath taught them And when they are brought to believe that Jesus is the Messiah so as to take him for their Lord and King if that do not constitute them Christians it will not suffice to make them Christians to prove to them that Christ hath taught such or such Doctrines which therefore they must believe but it must be proved to them that that same Jesus hath taught that these same Doctrines are absolutely necessary to be believed to make them Christians unless their believing this Branch upon some other Authority will serve the turn And if that will do the Business why may they not be required to believe that Jesus is the Messiah upon the same Authority and consequently all the other Doctrines the said Authority shall be pleased to avouch The Difference is not much in rational Discourse whether a Person believes a certain Doctrine to be Christ's which he never taught upon the Testimony of such a Person or Church or whether he believes a Doctrine Christ hath certainly taught to be absolutely necessary to a certain Purpose which Christ never declared to be absolutely necessary to that purpose upon the same Testimony or Authority For the Ground Foundation and Reason of the Belief in both Cases is the very same and is an Authority distinct from Christ's In the next place the Author of the Animadversions relates what he thought was the main Design of the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. in these Words The main Design which the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. seems to have had is to lay down such a Scheme of Faith only as he finds delivered in Scripture and not to rest satisfied with those Collections of Articles which are to be met with in the common Systems without any sufficient warrant from Scripture I will keep as near as I can to this Author's Words in relating what I conceive to be the Truth touching this Matter The main Design of the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. seems to have had as to one main part of his Book was to lay down such a Scheme of those matters of Faith only that are absolutely necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christistian as he found delivered in the Scripture but not to lay down such a Scheme of those Matters of Faith as he found in Scripture which any Man after he is a Christian may be necessarily obliged to Believe The Reason why the Author of the Reasonableness did not rest satisfied with those Collections of Articles which are to be met with in the common Systems doth not appear to be because all or most or perhaps any of the Articles in some of those Systems were without any sufficient Warrant from Scripture Though it may be the Composers of those Systems might assert something concerning several of those Articles for which there might not be any sufficient Warrant from Scripture There might be sufficient Warrant from Scripture for the Articles themselves and not the like Warrant for every thing those Authors might deliver concerning them But the Reasons why he was not satisfied with those Collections seem to me to be 1. Because those Collections did not agree some of them consisting of more some of fewer Articles and those which had the greatest number left out some of the Articles which were insisted on or inserted in another 2. Because it was pretended by the Composers of those Systems of their Followers or both that all the Articles collected into those Systems were necessarily to be believed to make Men Christians Now according to that Notion what certainly could there be who were Christians or to be admitted and owned as such whilst there was so great a Disagreement concerning the Articles which were absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians For those who were Christians according to the Composers and followers of one System were not Christians according to the Followers of another because they wanted something in their Judgment absolutely necessary to make them Christians The Design of those who write Systems of Christian Divinity I apprehend should be to collect those Articles which are mainly insisted on in the New Testament and to which most or all that is delivered in those Sacred Writings may be pertinently and conveniently reduced together with an account of the principal things there taught concerning those Articles And if the Composers of Systems did carefully distinguish the Articles those Sacred Writings teach are absolutely necessary to be believed to make men Christians from those which are of great Moment to be known and believed by them who are already Christians I am of Opinion the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity would not think their doing so any Blemish to their Systems and that he would not be dissatisfied with any of those Articles of which their Systems should consist nor with any thing they should say concerning those
to make Men Christians and entitle them to Salvation when he shall set down a List of them and produce his Proof that every one of them is absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians c. a Judgment may be made of them But till this is done the distinction of Revealed Truths to be believed upon God's Veracity and Truths of a higher Nature will be of little or no use unto me I shall here further observe That 1. It is certain the Doctrines which relate what Christ hath done and suffered have not the same Relation to the Salvation of Mankind the Obedience and Sufferings of Christ had The Doctrine which instructs us what was paid to obtain Salvation for Mankind is not the Price it self with which that Salvation was purchased 2. The Belief of these Doctrines hath no Relation to the Salvation of Mankind The most that can be pretended with any Colour is only that the Belief of these Doctrines hath a Relation to the Salvation of the Person who doth believe them or to whom they are delivered and made known 3. The Relation the Belief of these Doctrines hath to his Salvation who doth know and believe them is the very same which the Belief of any other Doctrines delivered in the New Testament hath to his Salvation who doth know and believe them which consists in this That it is an Act of Submission and Obedience to Jesus whom he hath taken to be his Lord. Whatever those Matters be which notwithstanding they are revealed in the New Testament some are pleased to Term Indifferent Matters a sincere Christian is as much obliged to believe them when he knows they are revealed there as he is to believe any other Matters which are revealed there For 4. The Reason of my believing any Doctrine as I am a Christian is Divine Revelation and not the Nature of the Doctrine that is of the Matter taught And therefore my believing one Doctrine hath the same Relation to my Salvation that my believing another Doctrine Christ hath taught hath to my Salvation they being equally Acts of Obedience to Christ and the Ground and Reason of each Belief being the very same Yet I will acknowledge that if our Belief of these Doctrines this Author hath a respect to had the same Relation to our partaking of Salvation the Obedience and Sufferings of Christ which were the real Price and a proper purchasing of Salvation for Mankind had to the purchasing of Salvation for Mankind the Belief of them would be absolutely necessary to Salvation But then I must add we should hereby as properly purchase our own Salvation as Jesus Christ did Salvation for Mankind which is a Notion I cannot easily be reconciled to 5. If a Judgment is to be made from the Nature of Doctrines what Doctrines are absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians or to Salvation then this Necessity of believing them to this Purpose must be obvious to the Natural Reason of Mankind and every Man must judge for himself by considering the Nature of these Doctrines which and how many are absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation which is a Notion that as it lays aside Christ's and his Apostles Authority to determine the Matter so it will not do the Church any great Service without pretending that one certain Man or a Number of Men is to make this Judgment from the Nature of the Doctrines Christ and his Apostles have taught and all others must rest satisfied with and depend wholly on his or their Determination This indeed may have a Tendency to raise humane Authority to a great height in the most important Business of Religion but then it will be no Advantage to the Nature of Doctrines for hereby People will be determined to take them for Doctrines absolutely necessary to be believed not from their perceiving that such a necessity arises from their Nature but from bare humane Authority Nor can they be certain that he or those who have judged them to be absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation have been determined in their Judgment by the Nature of their Doctrines and not by their own arbitrary Pleasure till they have resolved the Matter themselves by exercising their own Reason about the Nature of the particular Doctrines which shall be recommended to rather imposed on them It plainly appears by what the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. hath writ that though he doth not think the Epistles the most proper parts of the New Testament to be consulted in order to our discerning which be the Doctrines Christ and his Apostles did require to be believed as absolutely necessary to make Men Christians or to Salvation yet that he thinks the Doctrines contained in the Epistles are Fundamental Articles to be actually believed by Christians now as they obtain the Knowledge of them And that they are to make such use of them as they shall understand they ought to make of them either by considering their Nature or what they find the Scripture doth instruct concerning the same See Reasonableness of Christianity c. p. 300. Second Vindic. of it p. 201. and 319. But saith this Author These Doctrines which have a Relation to the Salvation of Mankind are to be believed upon another Ground besides that of mere Revelation p. 19. Answ. Upon what Ground are they to be believed besides the Veracity of God who revealed them Is that Ground better or worse doth it lay a greater or less Obligation on People to believe them than Divine Revelation does I expect not to meet with a better Reason why I am to believe any of Christ's Doctrines than this that he taught them Those who will not acquiesce here may wander where they please for Satisfaction provided they will not go about to compel others to rove with them Moreover are not those places of Scripture where these Doctrines lie Historical declaring the Way and Method how Jesus obtained Salvation for Mankind And is there any way for People to know that what is declared in those Doctrines had a Relation to the Salvation of Mankind but Revelation It had no natural Relation to the Salvation of Mankind How is it possible then to know from its Nature that it was graciously appointed to have a Relation to that End We cannot know any thing more from the Nature of a thing than the Nature of the thing is fitted to discover If it be said that the Discourse is not concerning the Nature of the Thing treated of in the Doctrine but concerning the Nature of the Doctrine it self I answer we can learn no more from the Nature of the Doctrine than the Doctrine doth deliver Therefore if the Doctrine do not declare that the Belief of it is absolutely necessary to Salvation we cannot learn any such thing from the Nature of the Doctrine because the Nature of the Doctrine doth not deliver any such thing Besides the Doctrine it self being
OBSERVATIONS ON THE Animadversions Lately Printed at OXFORD ON A Late BOOK ENTITULED THE Reasonableness of Christianity As delivered in the SCRIPTURES By S. BOLD Rector of Steeple Dorset Not for that we have Dominion over your Faith But are Helpers of your Ioy for by Faith ye stand 2 Cor. 1. 24. LONDON Printed for A. and I. Churchill at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row 1698. PREFACE TO THE READER READER I Am not concerned to enquire why other Persons have given such accounts as they have of the main Proposition laid down in the Reasonableness of Christianity c. of the Design that Author had in publishing his Treatise and of the Reason why he observed the Method he hath taken to clear and prove the great Point treated of there It may suffice to declare why I apprehend that his Proposition his Design and the Reason of his Method are very different from what they have represented them which in short is because I cannot help it The Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. being perfect Master of his own Notions hath expressed them in such perspicuous and proper Terms I must offer Violence to my own Understanding and Reason to put that Construction on them which some have assigned them The worthy Author of the Animadversions c. having very particularly related what he took to be the Design c. of the Author of the Reasonableness c. occasioned my setting down all along as I read his Account what I conceived was the Design c. of the aforesaid Author and my making some Observations on what he offered in answer to those Passages he quoted out of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. which are now published to prompt others to peruse attentively that excellent Treatise and to make themselves Masters of the Truths there delivered and because I am perswaded that neither the Doctrines delivered in the New Testament nor Christians can have their full Right done them till People do understand and entertain the great Point insisted on in the Reasonableness of Christianity c. and do preserve themselves under the Influence and Conduct of it It is a Notion that tends not so much to gratify some People's Ambition and serve their secular Interest as another may But it is more adapted to the Advantage of pure and undefiled Religion and will contribute more to Christians Growth in Scripture Knowledge and all Godliness of living and to their rational Comfort and good Assurance than any other Notion I am acquainted with One thing which hath occasioned many to entertain a Prejudice against the Reasonableness of Christianity c. I conceive is a wrong Notion they have imbibed concerning those Composures we call Creeds viz. Their fancying that all the Articles contained in all or some of the Creeds are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians Concerning which I shall observe 1. That not one of the Authors we have who wrâ—te in the first Century after Christ doth make any mentiâ—n of a Creed in their Days So that we cannot have aâ—y certainty that there was any such thing during the Firâ—â— Hundred Years after Christ though we are very sure theâ—â— were Christians during that space 2. Creeds were not originally designed to relate whaâ— Articles were absolutely necessary to be explicitely believeâ— to make Men Christians though some did afterwardâ— turn them to that purpose but to direct the Clergy anâ— those who were to instruct Christians in the Matters of Reâ—ligion what Heads Points or Articles and Doctrines of Faith they were to take particular Care to discourse of and insist on in order to their building up Believers in their most Holy Faith Of this very good Evidence might be produced from Antiquity if there were occasion 3. We have no certainty concerning the precise Number of the Articles which did make up the First Creeds We are certain that some of the Articles that now constitute the oldest Creeds we have any Knowledge of were not at first in them but were afterwards added on particular occasions 4. A Doctrine's being placed in a Creed is so far from making the explicite Belief of it absolutely necessary to make Men Christians that it doth not make it an Object of Christian Faith No Doctrine is an Object of Christian Faith but what Iesus Christ or his Apostles have taught And a Christian's Faith must be grounded on Evidence that he or his Apostles have taught it Now the placing of a Doctrine in a Creed doth not make it a Doctrine that Christ c. have taught nor doth it sufficiently evidence that they have taught it A Christian as such is not to believe any Doctrine because it is in a Creed though when he is convinced that Christ or his Apostles have taught such or such a Doctrine which is placed in a Creed he is to believe it He that should say that Faction first occasioned Men's composing of Creeds and that the Abuse of Creeds hath contributed no small Assistance to the maintaining and keeping up of Factions would not be wholly disbelieved Creeds are of great use if they be used aright We may say of a Creed as the Apostle doth of the Law 1 Tim. 1. 8. We know that it is good if a Man use it lawfully I hear that some who having a Mind to talk of what they do not understand apply themselves to rail against the Reasonableness of Christianity c. in that Phrase with which the worst of Men made such a Noise under the late Reigns affirming confidently upon their own Word that it is contrary to the Church of England If these People are capable of thinking would they exercise that Faculty to any good purpose they might easily perceive that when Iesus Christ and his Apostles have determined a point it is the most scandalous and wicked Aspersion that can be devised to pretend to introduce the Church of England in opposition to them Had these People that respect for and would they pay to the Church of England that Deference which is due to her they would not prostitute her venerable Name at every turn in Imitation of those bad Persons who neither believing in our Blessed Saviour nor in the Living God do constantly prophane their Sacred Names when ever they have a mind to give vent to some unreasonable Passion There is one thing which should particularly recommend the Reasonableness of Christianity c. to good Christians and for which they can hardly set too great a value on it viz. That it fully resolves some Difficulties in our Saviour's Conduct which I think were never throughly cleared to the World till it was published Some time after the following Observations were sent to the Press I met with some Papers writ by Mr. Edwards against the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. and against my self but to pass them over without saying any thing of them is the greatest Civility that can be expressed to
that Writer by Your Faithful Servant S. BOLD OBSERVATIONS ON THE ANIMADVERSIONS ON THE Reasonableness of Christianity c. Observations on the Preface IT cannot be denied but that a wrong Construction may be put upon a very good and useful Book And that what it discourses of may be represented quite contrary to what the Author designed and hath delivered in most intelligible apposite and plain Expressions Now if a Person who pretending to write against a Book he does not rightly understand or mis-represents doth propose any thing that is pertenent in opposition to that Book it is very rational to suppose his doing so is rather to be attributed to Chance than to the Exactness of his Iudgment and his certain Intention For it is hardly to be conceived that a Rational Person will deliberately and advisedly write any thing but what he conceives hath a clear Connection with what he directly and immediately proposeth to be the Subject of his Discourse And though at some distance he aims at the Book he talks of yet he mainly designs to confirm the Propositions he lays down as he conceives directly contrary to those delivered in that Book But if the Propositions on both sides are in Truth very well consistent though he doth not apprehend so he can hardly offer any Considerations to weaken the Force or expose the Truth of the Propositions advanced by the Author he professeth to oppose but those very Considerations will as certainly wound his own Propositions and reflect as unluckily on them as they can on the other which it will not be allowed to suppose a wise and prudent Writer could design Whilst he mistakes the Author he in Words opposeth let him confirm and establish his own Assertions ever so strongly he does not at all distress what that Author hath indeed Published One Man affirms that all the Doctrines which are absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians or to Salvation are laid down in the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles Another professeth to oppose this and therefore lays down and elaborately endeavours to prove this Proposition That the Epistles are part of the Rule of Saving Faith Now both these Propositions are very true and consistent and whatever Arguments can be produced to prove the latter comport very well with the Truth of the former and cannot at all invalidate but may very much confirm it But if he who undertakes to prove the latter do let fall Passages which reflect on the former Proposition those Passages have really the same ill Aspect with relation to his own Proposition they have to the other The whole amounts to no more than if one should declare that all that is absolutely necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian or to Salvation is delivered in the Epistles And another out of a sort of Zeal for the Gospels and the Acts should professedly oppose that Proposition and publish a Book to prove that the Gospels and Acts are part of the Rule of Saving Faith But when the Question is this seeing the Doctrines absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians are laid down both in the Gospels and Acts and in the Epistles In what parts of the New Testament may it be best discerned which be the Doctrines that are absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians Then certain Reasons may be assigned why they may be better discerned by consulting the Gospels and Acts than the Epistles Peoples misrepresenting a good Book may be derived from various Originals as Wilfulness Inadvertence Weakness Prepossession c. I will not suspect that the Author of the Animadversions lately Printed at Oxford on the Reasonableness of Christianity as delivered in the Scriputers hath misrepresented that excellent Treatise through an Indulgence to any thing for which he may be justly blamed because he writes for the most part with so much Temper and hath made a Profession in the Close of his Preface so every way becoming a worthy and good Christian. But if I understand the true Meaning of the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. as expressed in that Treatise it is mightily misrepresented in those Animadversions how innocent and harmless soever the Author may be in what he has done That I may do both these Authors all the Right I am able I will observe all along wherein they do agree and give as true impartial and distinct an Account of the Sense of the Reasonableness of Christianity as I can in those Points treated of especially in the First and Third Parts of these Animadversions and take some notice of what this Author hath offered against what he hath alledged out of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. And that I may proceed the more orderly I will begin my Observations where the Author of the Animadversions begins his viz. P. 1. of his Preface Where he declares his Agreement with the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. That the most Rational Means of silencing all Religious Controversies is to take the Scriptures for the only Rule of Faith This I apprehend is a true Account of the Judgment of the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity concerning this Matter And I conceive he agrees with the Author of the Animadversions in the main of that Reason which he hath annexed to that Proposition Though to express what I apprehend a more clear and full Account of the Sense of the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. I will take the Liberty to word it in some Places otherwise than this Author hath done and to add one Passage or Clause he hath not inserted For there might be some probable Grounds to hope for a happy Conclusion of all Disputes in Religion if all Parties would joyn issue in this that no Christian ought to be required to believe any thing but what is injoyned by the clear and express Declarations of Scripture nor any thing so injoyned till it be made appear to him that it is so injoyned and that no Christian may reject or with-hold his assent from any Article which appears to him to be plainly delivered in the Holy Scriptures The Clause I shall add is this That nothing ought to be required to be believed as absolutely necessary to make Men Christians but what is injoyned by the clear and express Declaration of Scripture to be believed for that purpose And I add this Clause for this Reason amongst others because whoever imposeth on People certain Doctrines though the Doctrines are really Christ's Doctrines as absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians which Christ and his Apostles have not declared to be absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians doth as really advance a Foreign Authority and set it up equally with Christ's as he doth who imposeth any thing as a necessary part of the Christian Religion which Christ and his Apostles never made a part of it For notwithstanding the
Articles which had sufficient warrant from Scripture And to this end saith the Author of the Animadversions he has run through the Gospels and Acts to discover upon what Terms our blessed Saviour who first founded and his Apostles who afterwards built up Christianity admitted Men into that Religion Answ. The Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity finding so great a Disagreement amongst the Writers of Systems concerning the Articles which must necessarily be believed to make Men Christians did betake himself to the sole reading of the Scriptures to discover upon what Terms our blessed Saviour and his Apostles did admit Men for Disciples or Christians or did own them to be Christians And upon his having made an attentive and unbiassed Search throughout the Scriptures upon what Terms they admitted Men into the Christian Religion he found that what those Terms were were best to be discerned in the Gospels and Acts of the Apopostles and for that Reason confined himself in his giving an account of those Terms to the frequent and exact Relations which are given of them in those parts of the New Testament And saith the Author of the Animadversions having declared at large all that he can find required by them to make a Man a Christian which he tells us was only the believing Jesus to be the Messiah he concludes that nothing ought to be made necessary to be believed now which was not so then nor any Articles imposed upon us which were not injoyned in order to Salvation in those parts of Scripture which he has considered which alone according to him declare the Conditions upon which Men are denominated Believers or Christians Answ. The Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity having shewn at large that Jesus Christ and his Apostles did not require any thing to be believed as absolutely necessary to make a Man who believed in the only True and Living God a Christian but only this that Jesus was the Messiah He concluded that nothing ought now to be imposed on Men as absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians which is not injoyned as absolutely necessary to be believed in order to Salvation in the Gospels and Acts in which parts of Scripture the Conditions upon which Men are denominated Believers or Christians are best to be discerned But I do not remember that he doth any where say that the Gospels and Acts are the Parts of Scripture which alone declare the Conditions upon which Men are denominated Believers or Christians He doth expresly declare that the Articles necessarily to be believed to make Men Christians are to be found in the Epistles Reasonab of Christianity c. p. 295. This way of examining our Faith by the Scripture saith the Author of the Animadversions had been an unexceptionable method for fixing the measure of it if he had omitted no Articles which are there made as necessary to be believed by all Christians as what is observed in his Treatise Answ. The Method then observed by the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. was unexceptionable for the fixing the Measure of Faith so far as he was inquiring after it viz. what Artiticles are absolutely necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian not what Articles may be necessary to be believed by all or any who are already Christians provided he did not omit any Articles which the Scripture makes absolutely necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian. And if he hath omitted any such Article that may be a good Exception against his Collection but not against his Method But had he collected a certain Number of Articles delivered in the Scripture proper to be believed by them who are Christians and then affirmed that every one who is or ever shall be a Christian must necessarily explicitely believe every one of them and no Christian must believe any more I think there would have been very just Ground to have excepted against his Collection how unexceptionable soever his way of examining our Faith had been unless he could have proved that every Christian shall have both Capacity to understand every one of them and Space enough to be convinced that every one of them is delivered in Scripture Many more Articles may be necessary to be believed by some Christians than may be necessary to be believed by other Christians because some may attain to the Knowledge of more Articles and that they are delivered in Scripture than many other very good Christians can The Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. appears to be a Person whose Understanding and Charity are of a different Size from theirs who are for Persons swallowing Articles of Faith as some People do Pills a precise Number because said to be taken out of such a Box or of such a Persons prescribing to make their Operation certain without understanding either what they are made of or for what particular Reasons they are to be administred For that there are others required even to make a Man a Christian in these parts of Sacred Writ from whence he hath extracted his Article of Faith is saith the Author of the Animadversions what I purpose to make appear in the following Observations Answ. Prove from any part of the New Testament that there are other Articles distinct from those the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity doth insist on which are taught by Christ and his Apostles to be absolutely necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christians you do your business as effectually as if you prove it from the Gospels and Acts. But this Author intends to prove more than this not only that there are more Doctrines in the Gospels and Acts absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians than the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity hath set down in his Treatise but that there are Doctrines in the Epistles which are not in the Gospels and the Acts which yet are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians as appears from these following Words As also to shew that there are some distinct Articles from what are set down in the Gospels and Acts delivered in the Epistles that are absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation Answ. Here this Author undertakes to shew not that there are Articles in the Epistles distinct from all which are set down in the Gospels and Acts which may be necessary to be believed to Salvation for both these Authors agree as to that But that these distinct Articles are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians or to Salvation So that should a Person upon found Conviction heartily yield up himself without any Reservation unto Jesus Christ as the Messiah and unfeignedly receive him for his Lord to be absolutely governed by him year should sincerely follow his Conduct as long as he lives and having attained the Knowledge of all the Articles taught in the Gospels and Acts does firmly assent to and
More particularly here are Three distinct Questions to be considered 1. Whether nothing is absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation but what God hath declared to be so To this I answer Affirmatively For God only hath a right to determine and fix the Terms on which he will bestow Salvation And what his Determination is cannot be known till it is declared Nor can any declare his Determination but himself The Church hath not a Right or Authority to declare any thing in this Matter but what God hath declared concerning it And every particular Person hath Right to examine whether the Church doth or hath declared as she ought For that Revelation which is the Rule by which the Church is to govern her self in her Declaration about this Matter is the Rule by which every particular Person is to examine and judge for himself whether the Church hath declared right and delivers truly what God hath declared in his Determination concerning this Matter 2. Whether Salvation is promised to every particular that is required as absolutely necessary to Salvation To this I answer Negatively If God hath made the Belief of more than one Article absolutely necessary to Salvation the Promise of Salvation is not made to any of them apart but to them all in Conjunction Therefore the Belief of the only true God and that Jesus is the Messiah must go together and Salvation is not promised to one alone for though the believing Jesus to be the Messiah cannot be without the former yet the former may be without the latter Moreover there is something absolutely necessary to make a Man a Christian which no Man nor Church can particularly determine what it is For a Man cannot rationally believe that Jesus is the Messiah but he must first have or understand some Evidence and Proof that he is the Messiah but Men cannot determine upon what Proof a Man must necessarily believe it because God hath provided Men with great Store of eminent Proofs proper to convince them that Jesus is the Messiah and hath not bound up himself that he will not give forth his effectual Influence and Blessing with any but one Instance amongst that great variety of Argument with which he hath furnished Men in order to their Conviction Now Salvation is not directly promised to the Belief of the Argument proving but the Article proved though sometimes the one is put for the other and the Belief of the Article proved is expressed by believing the Argument which proves it 3. Whether any Doctrine upon the believing of which Salvation is promised is singly of it self sufficient for Salvation I answer Salvation is not promised to the Belief of any one Doctrine considered singly in it self yet Salvation might have been promised to those who sincerely believe Jesus to be the Christ upon their believing certain other Doctrines and the Belief of those Doctrines not be absolutely necessary to Salvation As a Person may believe a Doctrine which is absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation and yet have no true Title to Salvation because Salvation was never promised to the Belief of that Doctrine alone So Salvation might have been promised to the Belief of certain Doctrines and yet a Person might be saved though he did never attain explicitely to know and believe those Doctrines because the explicite Belief of them is not made absolutely necessary to Salvation The main if not the whole Excellency and Dignity of a Person 's believing the particular Doctrines delivered or taught in the New Testament to be believed by Christians consists in this that that Faith is an Act of Submission or Obedience to that Jesus they have received to be their Lord. As a Man may believe in the True God and yet not believe in Jesus Christ and so may miss of Salvation because he doth not believe all that is absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation so a Man may believe several Doctrines taught in the New Testament and not believe that Jesus is the Messiah and so may miss of Salvation because he does not believe all that is absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation though the promise of Salvation had been annexed to the Belief of those Doctrines in them who do unfeignedly believe that Jesus is the Christ and who believe them in obedience to him But Salvation is not promised to the Belief of any Doctrine which does not suppose Jesus to be the Messiah Thirdly I will now take some Notice of what this Author doth say to these Matters If this saith he be made the only Rule whereby to judge of Fundamentals viz. a Doctrine's being expresly declared to be necessary to be actually believed to Salvation we should I fear by this means raise several Exceptions against a great part of Religion p. 8. Answ. The Question here is by what Rule we are to judge what Articles are absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians or to Salvation The Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. says the Rule we must judge of this Matter by is the Declaration God hath made of his Determination concerning this Matter by Jesus Christ and his Apostles No saith this Author and his Reason is he fears then Men will raise several Exceptions against a great part of Religion I do not know what Men will do but the Question will be whether they will then raise just Exceptions against a great part of Religion Our Fears must not rob God of his Right But I am certain by keeping closely to God's Declaration no just Exception can be raised against any one Part of the Christian Religion What this Author saith after concerning Matters of Faith and of Practice I think is fully answered in the Second Vindication of the Reasonableness c. p. 83 84. and thither I refer the Reader for Satisfaction if he needs any I shall only observe that Salvation is not promised in the New Testament to any Matter of Faith or Practice but but with respect to the Belief of this Article That Iesus is the Messiah Let any Man produce a Promise of Salvation to an Unbeliever if he can upon his believing any other Doctrine or performing any Matter of Practice considered separately from his believing Jesus to be the Messiah Salvatition is not promised to any but those who believe that Jesus is the Messiah and when it is promised to such with relation to other Matters the Promise then hath a respect to that Article to which it was primarily promised and respects those other Matters as Fruits Effects and Evidences of their sincere believing in Jesus Christ except where the Promise respects not Salvation in General but Degrees of Happiness or Glory If in Matters of Faith saith this Author nothing is to be required for a Fundamental but what is so proposed and to which Salvation is expresly annexed and promised it would very probably make way for a very unintelligible Faith in which Christians could
not sincere in their Profession as they give of the Mistake of their Judgment in the present Point This Author certifies he will endeavour hereafter to shew there are Some Doctrines in the Epistles distinct from those contained in the Gospels or Acts which are of that Nature without the Belief of which though we may grant Men might be saved before they were known yet when they were divulged they could no more be stiled true Christians without the Belief of them than if they had not at all believed p. 17. Answ. When our belief of a Doctrine is grounded purely upon the Nature of the Doctrine we believe it only as we are rational Creatures and do imploy our Reason about the Doctrine it self considering it's Nature and not as Christians for the only Ground of our Belief as Christians is Divine supernatural Revelation And let the Nature of the Doctrine be what it will Revelation is the Ground and Reason of our believing it If you will therefore produce Doctrines absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians because of the Nature of them you must fetch them from Natural Religion and they are to be judged of as to their Nature and the Reason of our believing them by Natural Reason without any regard to Revelation which is a Notion that will do Christianity I doubt but little Service Hitherto it hath done no inconsiderable Hurt The divulging of more Doctrines to be believed by Christians as they should attain the Knowledge of them did not make more Doctrines absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians than were asolutely necessary to that purpose before they were divulged For if it did every new Doctrine when it was divulged became a new Condition to be explicitely consented to in order to any Man's admission into the Covenant of Grace and consequently there were so many New Covenants Yet these other Doctrines when they were divulged were necessarily to be believed by those particular Christians who did understand and know them and so they are now not to make them Christians but by Virtue or Reason of that Obligation they are under by being Christians to believe whatsoever they shall know their Lord hath revealed The Difference between those who were Christians before these Doctrines were divulged and those who become Christians since is this They were obliged by their being Christians or believing Jesus to be Messiah to believe whatsoever he had or should reveal when they should know the same now his Revelation is compleated those who believe him heartily to be the Messiah are thereby obliged to believe whatsoever he hath Revealed as they attain the Knowledge thereof For a more clear and full understanding of these things see Second Vindicat. of the Reasonableness c. p. 82 83 252 c. 337 c. 343 344. Whereas this Author saith p. 17. It will be necessary to consider an Objection or rather an Evasion of the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. since it intimates that he believes as much of the Epistles and in as true a Sense as any Man whatsoever And then relating some Passages in p. 299. of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. afterwards saith They do not seem altogether unexceptionable p. 18. I shall observe that the Author of the Reasonableness c. doth in p. 298. begin his Answer to an Objection concerning the Epistles or to this Question Whether the Truths delivered in the Epistles may be believed or disbelieved by a Christian without any Danger To which he answers That the Law of Faith being a Covenant of Free Grace God alone can appoint what shall be necessarily believed by every one whom he will justify what is the Faith which he will accept and account for Righteousness depends wholly on his good Pleasure For it is of Grace and not Right that this Faith is accepted and therefore he alone can set the Measures of it Where we have the most Rational Evidence for that Point that I think Words can express Afterwards in p. 299. he answers directly to the Question affirming that the other Parts of Divine Revelation are Objects of Faith and are so to be received they are Truths whereof none that is once known to be such may or ought to be disbelieved c. Yet notwithstanding he affirms the Doctrines in the Epistles are Divine Truths very weighty to us now and which no Christians who know them may disbelieve This Author Saith these Passages are not altogether unexceptionable For though these allow the Truths contained in the Epistles to be Objects of our Faith yet they do not suppose them or any Parts of them to be more so than any other Places of Scripture which have no Relation to the Salvation of Mankind and which we are only bound to believe to be true upon the Veracity of God that revealed them p. 18. Answ. The Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. teacheth That the Truths contained in the Epistles are Objects of our Faith because they are Divine Revelations or Divine Truths And this Author p. 11. teacheth That the only End for which God hath revealed any thing to us is the Eternal Benefit and Happiness of Mankind The Author of the Reasonableness c. doth not detract from the Honour due to any part of Divine Revelation But asserts That as they are all equally Divine Revelations so they are all equally Objects of our Faith when known and have all a Relation to the Salvation of Mankind But how this Author will reconcile his teaching That the only End for which God hath revealed any thing to us is the Eternal Benefit and Happiness of Mankind with his saying That some Places of Scripture have no Relation to the Salvation of Mankind I cannot tell without a very singular Account of what is meant by Doctrines having a Relation to the Salvation of Mankind Some Doctrines acquaint us with the Gracious Purpose of God towards Sinners and with the Ways and Methods how Jesus Christ obtained Salvation for Mankind which may be said to have an Historical Relation to the Salvation of Mankind Some Doctrines are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make and constitute Men Christians and entitle them to that Salvation Which Doctrines may be said to have a Conditional Relation to our Salvation There are Doctrines which those who are Christians must endeavour to understand and explicitely believe as they attain to know them Such are those which belong to the First Head and a great many more delivered in the New Testament These have not an Immediate Relation to our Salvation But they may be said to have a Consequential and Obediential Relation to our Salvation The Doctrines we are now discoursing of are those which pertain to the Second Head And if any Man think there are Doctrines in the Epistles distinct from those laid down by the Author of the Reasonableness c. that are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed
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
this Author hath said that it cannot be better discerned by consulting the Gospels and Acts what are the Articles Christ and his Apostles propounded as absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians than the Epistles And if that do not follow from his Discourse nothing follows from it that is to the purpose against the Reasonableness of Christianity c. Nor will it follow The Apostles were unfaithful to their Trust or that they clog Mens Faith with unnecessary Points of Belief because they have taught several Doctrines which are not absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians but which Christians must labour to understand and which will then be necessary to be explicitely believed by them The Apostles Fidelity to their Trust is not to be judged of by Mens prejudicated Fancies and therefore Persons had need take heed of determining that The Apostles ought certainly to be blamed for Writing such Doctrines in their Epistles as are not absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians It is no Argument of an unwary Christian but the Duty of a good Christian to embrace the Doctrines delivered in the Epistles when he knows them and that they are delivered there as firmly as any other Doctrines whatsoever But saith this Author if it can be proved that the great and principal End of the Writing of their Epistles was to deliver several Doctrines that should be necessarily believed to Salvation by all who were converted to the Faith we are oblieged to believe them as such p. 35. Answ. Very true But then 1. If what you suggest here was the great and principal End of writing their Epistles the Cause is clearly given up to the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. For then the great and principal End of the writing of their Epistles was not to deliver several Doctrines absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians or Converts to the Faith 2. It will not be easy to prove that all that are Christians must necessarily explicitely believe every Doctrine delivered in the Epistles though the Doctrines are necessarily to be believed by all Christians who do understand them This Author then proceeds to prove what he hath declared to be the great and principal End of writing the Epistles was really so by producing many Places out of them All which I may pass over without any Observation because it is not pretended that they prove any thing more than that that those who are Christians must necessarily believe them But because this Author sometimes infers That the explicite Belief of them is absolutely necessary to Salvation I will briefly intimate what I conceive to be the proper import of those Places of Scripture he quotes 1 Cor. 14. 37. speaks not barely of Christians but Persons who pretended at least to be inspired But take it of Christians all who did know what he had writ or that he had writ things were to believe explicitely or implicitely that the things he writ were the Commandments of God because they knew he had given full Proof of his Apostleship and in the same manner are Christians now to acknowledge the same 1 Cor. 15. 1. c. Is a very plain Account how he had preached to them that Jesus was the Messiah and what sorts of Proofs he had propounded for their Conviction and that they had believed this Gospel â—s also that this was the Faith by which they were saved and made Christians without the believing of which whatever else they believed would not avail them to Salvation Vid. Second Vindic. of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. p. 269. The Apostle in his Third Chapter of this Epistle had declared that Jesus Christ is the Foundation without borrowing other Articles to underprop it some proof of which he here minds them of and that all the other Articles of the Christian Religion are Superstructures erected on that Foundation Rom. 10. 9. hath been formerly considered Vid. Second Vindic. of the Reasonab c. p. 303 c. 1 Tim. 3. 16. Is a Motive to Timothy to take care to behave himself in the Church of God as he ought 1 Th. 4. 1. Is a Direction to Christians to take heed of entertaining the Doctrines which false Teachers would obtrude on them certifying they might justly conclude those to be false Teachers who did deny Jesus Christ to be real Man The 14th and 15th Verses are express that believing Jesus to be the Son of God or the Messiah doth make a Man a Christian. Whether believing him to be the Son of God be a distinct Act here from the believing him to be the Messiah may be considered when we come to the place where it is to be shewed 2 Cor. 1. 13. Doth not considered strictly declare any thing more than that they did know and own the Truth of what he had writ in the former Verse concerning his Conversation 2 Thes. 2. 15. shews that Believers or Christians must take care to hold fast whatever Doctrines they have been instructed in and fully assured are Christ's Doctrines Not one of these Places of Scripture considered by it self nor all of them considered together do prove that the Apostles enjoyned the explicite Belief of all that they writ in their Epistles as absolutely necessary to Salvation These and innumerable other Places of Scripture are of great use to those who are of the same Judgment with the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. to shew them that are Christians that they ought to set a very great value on the Writings of the Apostles that they ought to be very diligent in endeavouring to acquire as distinct a Knowledge as they can of the Doctrines they have delivered in their Epistles that they ought to take great care to retain and hold fast what Doctrines they have learned from their Writings and that they must not entertain any Doctrines for Articles of their Faith but what Christ and his Apostles have taught And saith this Author it would be absurd to imagin that the Apostles should fill their Writings with any of the Doctrines of Christianity if they did not impose a necessity upon Men of believing them p. 37. Answ. True if Christians when they know they have writ them should be at liberty not to believe them But would it be absurd to imagine they should fill their Epistles to Believers or Christians with Doctrines of Christianity if they did not impose an absolute necessity on Unbelievers to believe them all explicitely to make them Christians Is every particular Doctrine that is to be be believed to be explicitely known and believed by Unbelievers to make them Christians so that when once they are Christians there is nothing more for them to endeavour to know and believe And here adds this Author it is not material whether the Epistles were written to those who were already Christians and whether designed to teach them any Doctrines
the Collection those who shall believe every one of those Articles which shall be proposed to them will not believe that Jesus is the Messias in the full Sense given of that Term in Scripture and therefore according to this Notion will not be Christians It may further be enquired whether those who shall believe explicitely every one of these Doctrines will be obliged to endeavour to know and believe any more Doctrines If the Answer be No then either these are all Doctrines which are delivered in Scripture or there are some Doctrines taught in the Scripture which Christians are not obliged to endeavour to know though they have Opportunity to understand them or to believe them though they do know them If the Answer be Yes it may be asked how that comes about Perhaps it will be said because amongst the Doctrines before spoken of this is one That Jesus is our King and therefore to testify our Submission and Obedience to him we are to endeavour to know and believe other Doctrines This indeed is a way whereby they may acquire some assurance to themselves and give Evidence and Proof to others that they believe Jesus to be their King but not according to the Notion we are now discoursing of that they believe him to be the Messiah or that they are Christians How comes it to pass that seeing the explicite Belief of every one of the other Doctrines is equally necessary to make them Christians with the Belief of this only a part of that Faith which makes them Christians must oblige and govern them after they are Christians Whence is it that some Doctrines delivered in Scripture must be believed in Obedience to Jesus and others not whilst he is equally the Teacher of them all This Author saith That Though no more is set down Act. 8 37. but that the Eunuch believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God yet no doubt there is more implied For Philip instructed him in the Christian Religion from that Chapter of Isatah viz. which the Eunuch was reading which Doctrines were no doubt required as absolutely necessary to be believed Besides since Philip baptized him no doubt but he did it in that Form which Christ himself enjoined in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and then it will follow that the Belief and Confession of the Three Persons was required p. 77 78. Answ. It is not at all doubted but there is something absolutely necessary to be believed by an Unbeliever in order to his becoming a Christian besides that the due believing whereof doth constitute him a Christian. For a Man cannot believe a Proposition to be true without some Proof and Evidence that it is true Now the enquiry is not what Arguments and Proofs are absolutely necessary to be believed to bring a Man to the due Belief of what is absolutely necessary to be believed to make him a Christian. That is a Question no Man can possibly determine by assigning one in particular or a precise Number For the Arguments Proofs and Evidences are many and various and God has not limited himself to make only one of them effectual nor obliged himself that he will not give forth his Blessing but with a certain Number of them in conjunction He that doth duly believe all that is absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians is a Christian whether he was brought to this Belief by the Belief of more or fewer Arguments There are Truths to be believed antecedently to a Man's believing what is absolutely necessary to be believed to make him a Christian and there are Truths to be believed by him after he is a Christian the due believing of which are Proofs and Evidences that he doth believe what is absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians But it is not the Belief of the one sort or the other sort of these Truths nor of both together which is the Faith that constitutes Men Christians but only the Belief of that to which the Belief of those other Truths hath an Antecedent or Consequential Relation How many Doctrines the Eunuch was instructed in or what those Doctrines were in particular we cannot tell because they are not revealed to us but what it was upon the believing of which he was owned for a Christian and Baptized is expresly declared and we have Reason to believe that if the explicite Belief of more Articles had been required of him as absolutely necessary to make him a Christian they would have been set down and expressed in his Confession I think also it is more than probable that the Eunuch was baptized in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost unless it can be proved that that Form was in those Days confined or appropriated to the Apostles who were intrusted with conferring the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost Whatever Articles the Eunuch did explicitely believe at present he was by believing Iesus to be the Messiah obliged to endeavour to know explicitely and believe as many more as he could both concerning the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost even all that was or should be revealed concerning them which I think reaches the whole extent of the New Testament In p. 78 c. This Author undertakes To shew that the Gospels and Acts are directly opposite to our Author's Scheme of Doctrine and this he will do by shewing they do require much more to be believed concerning our Saviour than barely that he was the Messiah Here this Author proves very well and learnedly the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour and on that Account we cannot set too high a value on his Book He also mentions some other Doctrines very clearly delivered in the Gospels and Acts. But the Reason why he offers these things in Opposition to the Reasonableness of Christianity c. I suppose was his mistaking the Design of that Treatise The Author of the Reasonableness c. did not propose to enquire how many Doctrines are delivered in the Gospels and Acts concerning our Saviour but what Christ and his Apostles did require as absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians Reckon up therefore as many Articles as you please which are clearly and expresly taught in the Gospels and Acts yea in all the New Testament this will not affect or make any thing against the Reasonableness of Christianity c. unless withal you prove that Jesus or his Apostles required the explicite Belief of all or some of them which are distinct from this that he is the Messiah whom we are to take for our Lord and King to make Men Christians Whereas this Author saith That the most Learned amongst the Jews did appropriate the Title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to their expected Messiah and also 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