divinely revealed and set down in the New Testament 3. He is then to set down the particular Doctrines he hath a regard to in this place And 4. He must prove that from the very First Ages of Christianity the Church hath confest that every one of those Doctrines is absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians or to Salvation It is not the bare saying that the Church hath such an Authority nor the bare affirming such a Matter of Fact concerning the Church that will prove the Business in Hand The explaining and full proving the Particulars already named will require some time and Consideration And when they are fully cleared and substantially confirmed there will not be any need to inquire whether or how the Church was imposed on In the mean time I shall lay down a few Considerations which I conceive are true and consonant with the Judgment of the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. 1. That which makes a Doctrine of supernatural Revelation absolutely necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian is not its being placed in one part of the New Testament or in another but the Divine Determination that it must be necessarily believed for that purpose 2. That our knowing that such a Doctrine is absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians depends upon God's declaring that the Belief of it is absolutely necessary to make Men Christians let this Declaration lie in what part of the New Testament soever 3. That what is revealed to be absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians may be better discerned in the Gospels and Acts than in the Epistles though the same Doctrines are likewise to be found in them And this for the Reasons the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. hath assign'd 4. The New Testament comprehends the entire Revelation the Lord Jesus Christ hath made of the Mind of God In which Sacred Writings our Blessed Saviour declares what Articles are absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men his Disciples and Subjects or Christians and in these Holy Scriptures he hath also delivered or declared all the Laws of his Kingdom by which those he admits for his Subjects must be govern'd so that they are not to admit or receive any thing for a Part of their Religion as Christian but what he hath taught and delivered in some part of these Holy Writings 5. The enquiry is not how many are the Laws of Christ's Kingdom or how many Articles he hath taught and delivered which those who are his Subjects are obliged to endeavour to understand believe and observe but what are those Articles he doth require to be believed as absolutely necessary to make Men his Subjects or Christians 6. All the Doctrines delivered in the New Testament are equally Divine Revelations and are therefore to be received with equal Degrees of Assent by all those Christians who do understand them and know that they are revealed or delivered in those Sacred Writings But these Doctrines are not absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians Indeed there are several Doctrines which I know are delivered in the New Testament which have not the like Effect and Influence on me at present in proportion to their Nature that other Doctrines have which I know are taught there But this Difference ariseth not from the Nature of the former Doctrines which is always the same and unalterable nor from my not receiving them with equal Degrees of Assent for I do receive them with equal Degrees of Assent being as firmly persuaded they are Divine Revelations as the other but this Difference spoken of now ariseth from something else viz. my present State and Circumstances or the like Now saith this Author if several of the Doctrines contained in those parts of Revelation viz. the Epistles have all along down from the Apostles Times been reputed necessary to be believed to Salvation then certainly they ought not to be denied to be absolutely subservient to that end without the Proof of one or all these things which are Five in Number Answ. 1. It is not particular Persons or Churches reputing things to be absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation that makes them absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation In the very early times of Christianity even long before the Apostles decease there were People professing themselves Christians and who set up for Teachers in the the Church who affirmed certain things were absolutely necessary to Salvation which were not so as is undeniably evident from Act. 15. 1. 2. When this Author shall be pleased to set down plainly the Doctrines his Words seem to have a Secret Relation to a Judgment may be made whether they were justly reputed absolutely necessary to be believed explicitly to make Men Christians or not by considering whether Christ and his Apostles reputed them absolutely necessary or not 3. If the Church did originally repute any Doctrines to be absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to Salvation without warrant the successive continuance of that Reputation cannot make those Doctrines to be absolutely necessary Length of Time and reiterated Applause cannot advance an original Mistake into Truth The Second Concoction will not in this case rectify the Error of the First 4. A Person who doth suppose yea acknowledge that several Doctrines delivered in the Epistles which are distinct from any taught in the Gospels and Acts have been justly reputed necessary to be believed to Salvation may regularly and with good Warrant deny that they are absolutely necessary for that I suppose this Author means for otherwise the Consequence he draws is not to his Purpose though he useth the Word Subservient to be believed to Salvation without being obliged to prove either one or Five Negatives For many Doctrines may be very justly reputed necessary to Salvation which are not absolutely necessary to Salvation And therefore when it is inferred that such and such Doctrines are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to Salvation if they have all along been reputed necessary to be believed to Salvation the Consequence may be regularly denied and no necessity follow thereupon that the Person denying it must be obliged to prove 1. That the Authors of the Epistles were not divinely inspired 2. c. And for that Reason I suppose it is that this Author applies himself in the Remainder of this part of his Animadversions to prove these Five Points 1. That the Authors of the Epistles were Divinely Inspired 2. That the Apostles had Authority or Commission to deliver some things for necessary Articles of Faith 3. That some of their Doctrines were writ with a Design that all Christians should be necessarily required to believe them to Salvation 4. That there is no Contradiction in the Epistles to the other parts of Scripture 5. That some of those Doctrines are of equal Necessity to be explicitely known to make a Man a Christian with
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
p. 214 215. Perhaps he was then or had a mind to be in Favour with the Civil Magistrate Those who are willing to part with their Consciences and put them forth to Trust no doubt are desirous to place them where they think it will be most for their own Advantage But I think there cannot be a Notion more contrary to what the Author of the Reasonableness c. delivers than this is Many more Particulars might be mentioned to discover that what is laid down in the Reasonableness of Christianity c. hath no Agreement with the Notions Mr. Hobs advanced but stands at the very same Distance from them the Doctrines delivered by Christ and his Apostles do but I think these are enough to satisfy any indifferent and impartial Person In p. 66. This Author proposeth to examine Whether the Son of God and Messiah or Christ always signify the same in Scripture Answ. This is not the Question to be examined with respect to what the Author of the Reasonableness c. doth assert But whether the Son of God and the Messiah or Christ do always signify the same when they are used either alone or together in those Places of Scripture which declare what it is the due believing whereof doth constitute or make People Christians or which relate what Christ and his Apostles did propose to People acknowledging the True God to be believed to make them Christians and upon their believing of which they did own and acknowledge them for Christians That these Terms when thus made use of in Scripture do signify the same I think the Author of the Reasonableness c. hath proved very clearly and fully in that Book and in his Second Vindication of it they very plainly appear to signify the same with St. Paul on such occasions For soon after his Conversion 't is said he preached Christ in the Synagogues that he is the Son of God Act. 9. 20. That which he proposed to be believed was this That Jesus Christ of Nazareth or that Person who was eminently known by the Name Christ is the Son of God Now in v. 22. it is said he confounded the Iews the Persons who opposed this Doctrine how did he confound them By proving this is the very Christ. Now if the Son of God and the Christ or Messiah did not here signify the same his proving that the Person he preached of was very Christ could not be a Proof and such a Proof as would confound the Jews that he was the Son of God I acknowledge the Son of God is an Expression that denotes our Saviour's Divinity in very many Places of Scripture even in all those where it is made use of in declaring and teaching that particular Doctrine But the Author of the Reasonableness c. was not enquiring in how many Senses that Phrase the Son of God was used in Scripture but what its Sense and Meaning is in such Places of Scripture as I before spoke of The Reasonableness c. neither treats of our Saviour's Divinity nor enquires how many things Christians must endeavour to know and then believe concerning Christ. But it lays down the Articles which Christ and his Apostles have taught are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to make Men Christians by Virtue of their believing of which aright they will be necessarily obliged to employ their best Endeavours to attain to a sound Knowledge of what Christ hath taught and to believe our Saviour's Divinity and the other Doctrines which are delivered in all those Sacred Writings which make up the entire Rule of Christian Faith when they know that they are taught there This Author urges That The Son of God is of a larger Signification than the Christ or Messiah in Iohn 20. 31. But these things are written that ye might believe that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God c. Because the Design of St. Iohn's Gospel was to assert the Divinity of Christ against those that opposed it Now if those Phrases mean only the same then St. Iohn himself does not assign the true I suppose he would say the compleat or full and adequate Reason for his writing that Gospel for it appears that he had certainly another End in it than barely to prove Jesus to be the Messiah But if they mean differently and Son of God does there denote Christ's Divinity then we have in that forementioned Passage the whole Intention of the Apostle assigned for his writing that Gospel namely to shew that Jesus was the Christ and that he was God p. 68 69. Answ. I acknowledge St. Iohn did design in his Gospel to assert the Divinity of Christ and that he hath proved his Divinity at large in his First Chapter as this Author most truly declares and I think he hath very clearly taught it in other Parts of his Gospel too I think likewise it is past doubt that St. Iohn in writing his Gospel did design to instruct People in several other Doctrines besides Christ's Divinity as he hath actually done for I cannot be persuaded that those other Doctrines were dropt there by Chance so that to shew that Jesus was the Christ and that he was God could not be the whole Intention of the Apostle in writing that Gospel Further I think this Author and I are agreed that the Miracles our Saviour wrought were not immediate Proofs of the Doctrines he taught but of his Mission or that he was the Christ. Moreover the Son of God denotes something besides our Saviour's Divinity or being God in those places of Scripture where it is used for the Proof of that Point but St. Iohn is not giving an Account in this Passage Chap. 20. 31. of his whole design in writing that Gospel but of the Reasons why he did so largely relate the Signs and Miracles which Christ did which Signs and Miracles did not prove any thing more directly and immediately than that he was the Messiah Thus the Christ and the Son of God seem here to signify the same In p. 73. This Author saith That What might be sufficient to denominate a Man a Believer or a Christian during the actual Ministry of Christ would not truly entitle any one to that Character after our Saviour's Assention and for this Reason because we do not find from the whole History of the Gospel that any of those who believed on our Saviour had a just Knowledge of him or what was the true End of his coming into the World Answ. The direct contrary appears by the Acts of the Apostles where we constantly find the Apostles propounding just the same Articles Jesus himself did to be believed in order to Peoples being Christians or denominated Believers And if Christ admitted Persons during his Ministry into the same Covenant People are admitted into since his Assention what was sufficient before for that purpose must be so after his Assention But what this Author means by a just Knowledge of Christ and the true End
as a Christian is to believe them does but repeat or re-act his Belief that Jesus is the Christ with a precise Determination of that Belief to those Doctrines as known and considered to be taught by Christ. Now if a Man cannot believe any of these Doctrines as they ought to be believed or for that Reason for which they are to be believed till he is a Christian with what consistency can it be pretended that the Belief of any of these Doctrines is absolutely necessary to make a Man a Christian Upon what Evidence upon what Authority must a Man believe any of these Doctrines to make him a Christian They are not parts of natural Religion Will a Man's believing them in Submission to humane Authority make him a Christian If it be said he must believe them upon Christ's Authority who hath revealed them then he must first of all believe that Jesus is the Messiah or Christ and so as to take him for his Lord. If it shall be said that is granted and therefore it is affirmed that that Belief is the first Act of Faith and the first Step to Christian Faith but that Faith doth not constitute or make a Man a Christian till it be compleated and grown up to a certain Size by additional Acts of Faith believing a precise Number of Articles more It may then be ask'd what we are to call or what we must understand by that Faith of which believing Jesus to be the Christ is the first Act It 's said It is not Christian Faith and if it be properly said to be an Act of Faith what Name soever shall be given to it it must be Antecedent to what is but the Act of it But how it can be an Act of Christian Faith and yet but a Step to Christian Faith has some more Difficulty in it But further it may be enquired if the due believing Jesus to be the Christ do not constitute a Man a Christian how can the limited exercising of this Faith with respect to a certain Number of Doctrines constitute him a Christian when all or the main Excellency of his believing those Doctrines is derived from his believing jesus to be Christ Does a Creature 's being endued with Reason make him a Rational Creature or his exerting and exercising his Reason to certain degrees about a precise Number of Objects Again it may be queried not only what are those additional Articles but upon whose Authority or for what Reason must they be believed to be absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians 5. Because it is only the due Belief that Jesus is the Christ which doth or can constitute a Person a true Disciple or Subject of Christ. The Belief of all the other Doctrines in the Bible taken separately from this will not make a Man a Christian For if it would a Man might be a Christian though he did not believe Jesus to be the Christ. And so believing Jesus to be the Christ could neither be the first Act as is said of Christian Faith nor an absolutely necessary Step to Christian Faith Add the Belief of all other Doctrines in the Bible to the Belief that Jesus is the Christ they cannot make the Man a Christian. The Additional Belief is but Evidence and Proof that he doth believe that Jesus is the Messias so as to take him for his Lord And if a due belief that Jesus is the Christ doth not constitute a Man a Christian all other Belief is so far from constituting him a Christian it will not amount to a Proof that he is a Christian. A due Believing that Jesus is the Messiah or Christ is the grand Principle of a Christian's Belief and Practice as to all the particular Doctrines of Faith and Rules of Good living laid down by Christ in the whole Scripture This brings the Person under an indispensable Obligation to endeavour seriously to know what Christ hath delivered both as to the one and the other This obliges him to believe whatsoever Doctrines he shall attain to know Christ hath taught and to perform and practice whatsoever he shall attain to know Christ hath made his Duty It is this that preserves to all the Doctrines of Faith and Rules of Practice delivered to us in the Holy Scriptures their full Force and Obligation Hereby we perceive them to be the Doctrines and Laws of him we have received for our Lord whom we are on that account to believe and obey in every thing we understand is his declared Will Secondly I will now consider what this Author propounds to be examined viz. whether nothing is absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation but what is declared to be so or whether any Doctrine upon which Salvation is proposed is singly of it self sufficient for it Here are Two Questions proposed as if they were but one differently worded I will say something in general touching this Matter and then speak more particularly to it In general I shall observe that there is a great difference between these Three Things 1. A Doctrine's being declared to be absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation 2. Salvation being promised to what is absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation 3. Salvation being promised to the Belief of something but not under this precise Consideration as absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation To believe in the only True God is declared to be absolutely necessary to Salvation and it is impossible that a Man should believe a right that Jesus is the Messiah without believing in the only True God For a Man cannot believe that Jesus was sent by the True God and is constituted King by him except he believe in that God who did send him c. Now notwithstanding this Belief is absolutely necessary to make a Man a Christian or to Salvation yet it doth not make him a Christian nor is Salvation promised to it Salvation is promised to that Faith which doth make a Man a Christian which is believing Jesus to be the Christ or Messiah so as to take him for our Lord. But Salvation was not proposed to any upon their believing Jesus to be the Christ but only those who first of all acknowledged their Belief in the True and Living God And therefore those who did not believe in the only True God were always instructed concerning the True God and called on to believe in him before Salvation was promised to them upon their believing Jesus to be the Messiah If Salvation is promised upon the believing of other Points or to any Matters of Practice it is not promised to those Matters as absolutely necessary to be believed c. unto Salvation but the Promise is made with respect to those Matters to them who do already believe Jesus to be the Messiah Some things are absolutely necessary to Salvation to which no Promise of Salvation is made And Salvation may be promised to some things which are not absolutely necessary to Salvation
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
Resurrection All the Instances and Degrees of which Obedience and Sufferings were appointed by his Father with infinite Wisdom and for most good and wise Reasons That his Obedience and Sufferings had the Virtue and Efficacy of making Satisfaction for Sinners provided they should comply with the Terms he should propose to them was from the Father's appointing and accepting them for that Purpose as well as for several other Purposes they had by the same Appointment a Relation to both with respect to Christ himself and those who should believe in him not to say any thing of the respect they had to all Mankind and the Benefits that redound therefrom to all Men. Observations on the Third Part. THE Title given to this Part is What we are to believe concerning Christ. This Author saith p. 65. That The Author of the Reasonableness c. and Mr. Hobs agree so exactly concerning the necessity of believing this one Article only viz. that Jesus is the Christ and in the Method they have taken for the Proof of it by citing several Texts from the Preaching of our Saviour and his Apostles in the Acts and no further that they only differ so much as a Copy does from an Original Yet this Author is so ingenuous he grants This can be no good Reason for rejecting what the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. hath asserted if his Doctrine be otherwise found agreeable to the whole Tenour of Scripture Answ. I desire no more but that these Words may be added so far as it discourses concerning what the Author of the Reasonableness c. was enquiring after viz. what Articles are absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed by one who acknowledges the true God to make him a Christian. A few Days ago I accidentally met with a Book entituled Hobs's Tripos and perceiving that one part of it was entituled De Corpore Politico I was so curious as to read that Part to see whether he did there treat of Religion and what he did say concerning it In the Sixth Chapter of the Second Part of it I found him discoursing very agreeably to what this Author quotes out of the Eighteenth Chapter of his Book De Cive Mr. Hobs doth proceed in this Book I speak of further than the Acts citing several Texts out of the Epistles And if I reach his Sense and Design Mr. Hobs's Notion is vastly different from that laid down in the Reasonableness of Christianity c. Mr. Hobs's Notion seems to be this That one who is a Christian cannot be necessarily obliged to believe any more Articles than this that Iesus is the Messiah That one who is a Christian is necessarily obliged to believe as many Articles as he can attain to know are taught in the Holy Scriptures is the Notion of the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. I think Mr. Hobs's Discourse is neither consistent with it self nor with that he intended it should support His Expressions are many times so general they comprehend enough to overthrow all he aims at He seems willing that several Distinct Articles should be absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed to Salvation though how his bringing in the Belief of the Scriptures amongst them can be consistent with what he principally designed is above my Reach But when he comes to prove his Fundamentals as he calls them he produceth no Scriptures but what particularly teach this Doctrine that Iesus is the Christ and therefore at last concludes this is the only Fundamental Point of Faith But if he would have spoken exactly and truly he should have said The only Point absolutely necessary to be explicitely believed by those who acknowledge the only True and Living God Though other Points saith he may be true they are not so necessary to be believed as that a Man may not be saved though he believe them not As to the former Part of this Assertion I shall take Notice that he only saith They may be true But the Author of the Reasonableness c. saith They are Divine Truths and that they must be received with stedfast Faith c. As to the latter part of Mr. Hobs's Assertion I shall observe that the Point is not whether a Man may not be saved though he believe them not But 1. Whether the Belief of them is not necessary to Salvation in him who doth know they are taught in the Holy Scriptures 2. Whether a Christian subject may without hazard of his Salvation do Actions in Obedience to his Sovereign which imply a Denial of them notwithstanding he knows they are revealed in the Scripture Mr. Hobs declares for the affirmative p. 214. Mr. Hobs saith the Belief of that Point viz. That Jesus is the Christ is sufficient for the Salvation of any Man whosoever he be p. 208. That is let a Man know ever so many Doctrines delivered in the New Testament and that they are taught there he is not obliged to believe them Nothing saith he is truly a point of Faith but that Iesus is the Christ p. 110. The Author of the Reasonableness c. delivers the direct contrary Truths And these are Notions which cannot possibly consist with a Person 's believing Jesus to be the Christ so as to take him heartily for his Lord and King Yet Mr. Hobs saith Christian Faith consisteth in acknowledging our Saviour Christ to be King of Heaven and therefore we must endeavour to obey his Laws p. 211. But it seems believing what our Saviour hath taught was not with Mr. Hobs any part of our Obedience to him The contradictory of this is what the Author of the Reasonableness c. hath delivered most justly for the Truth Mr. Hobs seems to lay much stress on this that the Controversies of Religion amongst Christians are about Points unnecessary to Salvation by which I conceive he means unnecessary for Christians to believe But a Points being controverted doth not make the Belief of it unnecessary Men may raise and maintain Controversies about what Points they please but I am obliged to believe what I do know Jesus Christ hath taught and to endeavour to know as many more Doctrines which he hath taught as I can and to believe explicitely as many as I shall attain an explicite Knowledge of let other People dispute and make as many Controversies about them as they please Controversy may occasion and engage Christians to enquire more accurately whether Christ hath said any thing concerning the Points and what he hath taught concerning it And what a Christian understands Christ hath taught concerning it he is necessarily to believe let those who controvert it say what they will I find Mr. Hobs was for a Publick Conscience and for Peoples transferring their Right of Iudging in matters of Religion to another Which Notion agrees well enough with that of a great many Persons in the World He differs from them in this That he is for having the Right transferred to the Civil Magistrate
Duty And in order to their attaining to the clearest and fullest Knowledge of their Lord's Will they must take care they do not confine themselves to a certain Number of Articles and Precepts of Mens collecting but must diligently read and study the entire and compleat Revelation Christ hath made of his Fathers Pleasure in the Holy Scriptures Yet we are not to believe any Article is absolutely necessary to Salvation but what he hath revealed to be so for if we do we transgress our Bounds and go further than the utmost extent of Revelation reaches as to that Matter and consequently do that which we have no warrant for in Divine Revelation It doth not follow that because Christians are not to believe any thing as an Article of the Christian Faith but what is taught in the New Testament and must endeavour to know as many of the Doctrines which are taught there as they can and believe every one as they attain to know them therefore every Doctrine delivered in the New Testament is absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians But saith this Author if all that was absolutely necessary to Salvation or to denominate Men truly Christians was the bare believing Jesus to be the Messiah the believing Jesus to be the Messias so as to take him absolutely for their King why should our Saviour promise the Mission of the Holy Ghost to instruct them viz. his Disciples farther in what they ought to believe concerning him p. 75. Answ. Our Saviour did not promise the Holy Ghost to instruct them in what they were to believe to make them Christians for they were Christians when the Promise was made to them or how could they be his Disciples but in such Matters as they must believe when instructed in by Virtue of their having received him for their Lord and as other Christians must endeavour to understand and then believe on the same Account To what purpose did they oblige themselves in taking Jesus for their Lord to believe whatever he should teach them if they knew and believed before all that they should ever be obliged to believe This Author thinks he hath Reason to conclude from Act. 10. 43. c. That we are to understand by believing Jesus to be the Messiah in this and almost all other Places the full extent and meaning of those Words as they are explained by this and other Apostles in all Parts of Scripture because they were all of them inspired by the same Holy Ghost and therefore must all have the same Meaning And that therefore the believing Jesus to be the Messiah as it is now required for a Fundamental of our Faith must comprehend the full Sense that is given of it in Scripture p. 76 77. Answ. If I comprehend the Force of this Author 's arguing here it is thus The Apostles by the Term Messiah did understand all those particular Doctrines they have delivered throughout the Holy Scriptures concerning that Jesus of whom they preached so that by Peoples believing Jesus to be the Messiah they meant their believing explicitely every one of those Doctrines This Notion now is built upon this Supposition that the Apostles when they preached Jesus to any they did particularly acquaint them with every one of those Doctrines and then promising them Pardon c. if they did believe Jesus to be the Messiah they declared to them that by believing Jesus to be the Messiah they meant the explicite believing of every one of those Doctrines they had proposed to them The Reason given for this Supposition is as I apprehend this They were all inspired by the same Holy Ghost and therefore must all have the same Meaning that is I suppose they must all understand the Term Messiah in the same Sense viz. as signifying precisely every one of those Doctrines Many Remarks might be made on this Occasion I will only observe 1. That the Supposition is perfectly precarious without any warrant at all from Scripture Several of these Doctrines might be propounded as very proper Inducements to believe Jesus to be the Messiah but that is not the Point in Discourse but whether the Term Messiah did with the Apostles signify just such a set of Doctrines 2. The Holy Ghost was not given to the Apostles to teach them the Meaning of the Term Messiah for they understood it very well before nor did they in preaching to the Jews use the Term Messiah in a Sense they never heard of before and which would therefore need a particular Explanation but as a Term so common and so distinctly understood amongst them as the Term in any Nation is commonly understood by the Inhabitants which expresseth and signifieth their Supream Governour All the Apostles understood the Term Messiah in the same Sense and used it in the same Sense in which those who heard them did commonly understand it Their Business was not to preach and explain New Terms nor to tack New Meanings unto Old Terms 3. In their preaching to Unbelievers they insisted on such Considerations as were most proper to convince them that Jesus was the Messiah according to the known and common Meaning of the Term and not such as did immediately prove the Truth of a certain Number of New Doctrines which they were Strangers to and which must make up a New Sense for an Ancient Word 4. We have good Warrant from the Scripture to believe that the Apostles were not instructed at once but gradually in the Doctrines concerning Jesus which are delivered in the several Parts of Scripture and therefore they could not mean every one of these Doctrines constantly by the Term Messiah for they could not acquaint their Hearers at first with any more of these Doctrines than they were at that time instructed in and if they added more Doctrines when they were instructed in more as the Sense in which they understood the Term Messiah they used it then in a New Sense and Meaning It may be said but now we have a full Account in the Scripture of the full Meaning in which the Term Messiah is to be used and consequently what is to be understood by believing Jesus to be the Messiah taking the Term Messiah to signify every one of the Doctrines delivered in the Scripture concerning Jesus and therefore these are to be collected out of the Scripture and Persons must now explicitely believe every one of them in order to their believing Jesus to be the Messias in the full Sense given of it in Scripture 'T is very true all the Doctrines we are to believe concerning Jesus are set down in the Scripture But it may be ask'd seeing all these Doctrines are not set down in any one place of Scripture together for this End to whom is the Office of collecting them for this purpose committed And what assurance shall People have if uninspired Men may undertake it that their Collection is compleat For if any one Passage be omitted distinct from what shall be in
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
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
to furnish them with the Knowledge of the Sense in which those People to whom the Proposition was first delivered understood those Terms Whosoever doth duly believe that Proposition doth oblige himself to hearken to that is to believe and obey whatsoever this Jesus hath delivered so far as he shall obtain the Knowledge thereof and to endeavour seriously to know what his Mind and Will is Which Faith makes a Man a Christian and hath the Promise of Eternal Life made to it The Proposition doth not comprehend in it an explicite Account of all the Matters of Faith which a Christian is to endeavour to know and believe nor is the explicite Knowledge of them necessary to a Man's believing that Proposition But his believing of it brings him under an Obligation to endeavour to know them all and to believe explicitely whatsoever he shall attain to know Jesus hath taught which is to be the great Work and Business of the Remainder of his Life when he is a Christian. Those Jews and Lewd Fellows of the baser sort at Thessalonica who set themselves against Paul and Silas understood that their preaching that Jesus was the Christ for that was the great Point they opened and alledged in the Synagogue there amounted to this that he was the Person they persuaded the People to receive for their Lord and King For how malicious soever their intent was in accusing them before the Ruler it is most plain from their Accusation that they clearly apprehended that Paul by preaching that Jesus was the Christ did mean that they were to take him for their King saying that there is another King one Iesus Act. 17. 7. Vid. Second Vindic. of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. p. 108 109. For besides saith this Author if every Text of Scripture must be looked upon as sufficient to Salvation upon the Belief of which eternal Life is promised even the very Scripture will hardly be found reconcilable to it self For though in some Places Salvation is promised to those who believe Jesus to be the Messiah yet in others it is declared to be Life Eternal to know the only true God as well as Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Both of which Places if they must be understood in their limited Sense will be almost found contradictory to each other Because the one proposes a larger Faith to Salvation than is required by the other p. 9. Answ. The Propositions here spoken of as they are delivered in the Scripture are in effect the same For it is not possible for a Man to believe that Jesus is the Messiah without believing antecedently in the only True God The Word of Salvation by Christ is not sent to any but those who fear God Act. 13. 26. But I deny that it is any where in Scripture declared to be Eternal Life to know the only True God as well as Jesus Christ whom he hath sent That is either of them separately The Text of Scripture which comes nearest to these Words is Ioh. 17. 3. where the Knowledge of the only True God taken apart from the Knowledge of Jesus Christ as sent by him is not declared to be Eternal Life But the Knowledge of both is declared to be Eternal Life I wave a particular considering what this Author saith p. 9 10. concerning the true Notion of believing in Christ when alone required to make a Man a Christian Because the plain Truth of the Matter we are discoursing of consists in this viz. That the sincere Belief of all those Doctrines Christ hath declared are absolutely necessary to be believed to Salvation is of it self sufficient to Salvation But this is so far from excluding that it doth include a necessity of believing other Doctrines if the Person is allowed space to obtain the Knowledge of more Doctrines which Christ hath revealed and that he hath revealed them Yet if the Person who sincerely believes the aforesaid Doctrines should dye before he could obtain the Knowledge of any other Doctrine Christ hath taught he will receive the Salvation promised to the Belief of those Doctrines he doth believe Christ knows his Sincerity and will not fail to perform the Promise he hath made to him There are many even very many Articles Christ hath revealed which those who are Christians are necessarily obliged to endeavour to know and then explicitely believe and as many of these Doctrines as they do attain to understand whether they be delivered in the Gospels or Acts or Epistles are Fundamental to them But the Explicite Belief of these Doctrines is not absolutely necessary to make Men Christians or to Salvation Our Faith is true and saving when it is such as God by the new Covenant requires it to be But it is not intire and consummate till we explicitely believe all the Truths contained in the Word of God For the whole Revelation of Truth in the Scripture being the proper and entire Object of Faith our Faith cannot be entire and consummate till it be adequate to its proper Object which is the whole Divine Revelation contained in the Scripture Second Vindic. of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. p. 310. This Author p. 11. distinguishes betwixt Truths which are only to be believed upon the general Ground of Faith which is the Veracity of God and those of a higher Nature which have an immediate Tendency to the Salvation of Mankind and the Method by which our Saviour has obtained it for us And these latter sort of Truths he saith are to be explicitely believed by all in order to their Salvation And the Reason he gives for this is because the only End for which he hath revealed these Truths is the Eternal Benefit and Happiness of Mankind Answ. This seems to be a Distinction without a Difference for seeing they are all Divine Revelations the Ground and Reason of our believing them is the very same and every Way equal viz. because God hath revealed them If it be revealed that some of these Doctrines are absolutely necessary to be believed to make Men Christians or to Salvation we must believe them to be so and that the Ground or Reason of that Belief is Divine Revelation But if Men will believe them to be absolutely necessary to be explicitely known c. in order to Salvation and God hath not revealed any such thing concerning them their Faith in that case will want a just Foundation or Reason But it 's said These Truths of a higher Nature have an immediate Tendency to the Salvation of Mankind Answ. Christ's observing the Methods appointed him by the Father in order to his obtaining Salvation for Mankind had undoubtedly their appointed Tendency to his obtaining Salvation for Mankind But the Doctrines which relate what those Methods were have not thesame Tendency to the Salvation of Mankind nor can a Person 's believing those Doctrines which declare that Christ hath observed these Methods and thereby obtained Salvation for Mankind be properly said to have
the Messiah since if they once firmly believed that they must necessarily believe him to be God p. 78 79. I shall only observe 1. That the Sense of the Term Messiah is here acknowledged to be very different from what this Author has before declared the Apostles meant by it 2. That here is no Supposition that the People did not know what was meant by Messiah and therefore must have it either interpreted or explained to them but an Acknowledgment that our Saviour and his Apostles did use the Term according to the familiar and commonly known meaning of it amongst the Jews 3. That supposing the Jews did generally believe the Messiah should be God yet they must believe that Iesus of Nazareth was the Messiah before they could believe him to be God And it being this only that he was the Messiah which was propounded to be believed to make them Christians it must be a right believing of this that did make them Christians how near a Connection soever their believing any thing else which they knew and believed concerning him who should be the Messiah might have with their believing Jesus to be the Messiah Supposing they did generally believe that their expected Messiah should be God yet those who believed other Persons to be the Messiah and consequently believed them to be God too were not Christians So that it was not the believing a Person to be the Messiah nor a believing that Person to be God that made People Christians but a believing him to be the Messiah who really was the Messiah But as we are obliged to know who was the Author of our Being so also must it be equally a Crime not to know clearly who and what he was that could be the Author of our Salvation p. 87. In answer to this I shall only say That we are obliged to endeavour to know as much as we can of that God who is the Author of our Being This holds true as to all Men and so Christians are obliged to endeavour to know as much as they can of him who is the Author of their Salvation It is a Crime to be wilfully Ignorant of any thing that is revealed of him who is the Author of our Salvation There could be no Reason saith this Author for the defending his Divinity viz. our Saviour's with so much Care and Concern as St. Iohn did defend it if it was not absolutely necessary to be believed to make a Man a Christian or if there was no Danger in believing him to be only Man p. 87. Answ. 1. The Reason we have to defend Divine Truths when opposed and denied by Persons is not to be taken barely from the End for which they are to be believed but also from their Nature viz. because they are Divine Truths and therefore Truths to be believed and which may by no means be denied 2. He that believes Jesus to be the Messiah does not therein believe him to be only Man he believes him to be Man but not only Man for that is not propos'd to his Belief when it is proposed to him to believe that Jesus is the Messiah And by believing him to be the Messiah he obliges himself to believe whatsoever he shall attain to know is revealed concerning him Believing in Christ saith this Author if it mean any thing must be interpreted of every thing that Scripture has required to be believed concerning him So that this we may be certain is a Fundamental that as Christ is the Author of our Salvation So that Revelation is the just Measure of our belief in him and that we must not believe either more or less of him than we are warranted by Scripture p. 92. Answ. Revelation is the just Measure of what we are to believe concerning Christ. So that a Christian let his Advances in Knowledge be ever so great must no believe any thing concerning him but what he is warranted or at least apprehends upon mature Consideration he is warranted by Scripture But that a Man cannot be a Christian till he doth explicitely believe every thing the Scripture doth warrant People to believe concerning Christ is a Notion the Scripture doth not any where warrant Were this Notion true no Man can be a Christian whose Knowledge of every thing relating to Christ is not every way equal to that of the most learned sagacious and understanding Person in the whole Christian World or that ever was or ever will be in the World Nay according to this Notion it may be justly questioned whether ever there was a Christian since the Apostles Days For there may be Ground to question whether any uninspired Man did or will attain to a just and adequate Knowledge of every thing the Scripture doth reveal concerning Christ. But it will probably be objected saith this Author to all this that though it is granted that there are several Articles to be believed by those who are throughly Christians yet there was no more required by our Saviour himself or his Apostles to make a Man a Christian or in order to his Admission into Christianity than the believing Jesus to be the Messiah and that this is all which the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity c. contends for The Objection is not proposed in its full weight but that I need not insist on for if the Answer reach it as it is here laid down it will serve the turn In answer to this saith this Author it may be observed First That the forementioned Articles as well as others that might be named are of the same Nature with that one Article of believing Jesus to be the Messiah and are a Repetition of it in all its Branches p. 92 93. Answ. This Answer is not at all satisfactory because it is wholly concerning another matter than that treated of in the Objection The Objection is concerning what our Saviour and his Apostles have required to be believed to make Men Christians The Answer is concerning the Nature of Articles Moreover it is not easy to understand what is meant here by several distinct Articles being of the same Nature with this That Iesus is the Messiah This Author hath formerly distinguished betwixt the Nature of several Doctrines and their being Divine Revelations Now consider several particular Doctrines singly in themselves and abstractedly from their being Divine Revelations they are not of the same Nature one with another how can they then be every one of the same Nature with this that Jesus is the Messiah I agree with this Author that a Person 's believing explicitely certain particular Doctrines Jesus hath taught for this Reason because he knows that Jesus who is the Messias hath taught them is a Repetition of his Belief of that Article the Ground and Reason of his believing every one of the other Doctrines But if his believing certain particular Doctrines be but a Repetition of his believing that Jesus is the Messiah how can the repeated or rather limited exercise