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
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
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
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
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