" And one of them shall not fall to the ground without " your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all " numbered. Fear ye* not therefore; ye are of more " value than many sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall " confess me before men, him will I confess also before " my Father, which is in heaven. But whosoever shall " deny me before men, him will I also deny before my " Father, which is in heaven. Think not that I am u come to send peace on earth: I came not to send 66 peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at " variance against his father, and the daughter against " her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her " mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of " his own household- He that loveth father and mo-" ther more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that " loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy " of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and fol-" loweth after me, is not worthy of me. He that " iindeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his 44 life for my sake, shall find it. He that receiveth you, " receiveth me: and he that receiveth me, receiveth " him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet in " the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's re-<* ward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the Reasonableness of Christianity, 8$c. 335 " name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous " man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink " unto one of these little ones, a cup of cold water " only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, " he shall in no wise lose his reward. And it came to " pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding " his twelve disciples " This is the commission our Saviour gave his apostles, when he sent them abroad to recover and save " the " lost sheep of the house of Israel." And will any of the unmasker's intelligent and observing men say., that the history of the " scripture is so concise, that any " passages," any essential, any material, nay, any parts at all of the apostles commission, " are here omitted by " the sacred penman? " This commission is set down so at full, and so particularly,, that St. Matthew, who was one of them to whom it was given, seems not to have left out one word of all that our Saviour gave him in charge. And it is so large, even to every particular article of their instructions, that I doubt not, but my citing so much, " verbatim," out of the sacred text, will here again be troublesome to the unmasker. But whether he will venture again to call it tedious, must be as nature or caution happen to have the better on n.
Can any one, who reads this commission, unless he hath the brains, as well as the brow of an un masker, allege, that the conciseness of the history of the scripture has concealed from us those fundamental doctrines, which our Saviour and his apostles preached; but the sacred historians thought fit by consent, for unconceivable reasons, to leave out in the narrative they give us of those preachings? This passage here., wholly confuteth that. They could preach nothing but what they were sent to preach: and that we see is contained in these few words, " preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at " hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the " dead, cast out devils;" i. e. acquaint them, that the kingdom of the Messiah is come, and let them know, by the miracles that you do in my name, that I am that King and Deliverer they expect. If there were any other necessary articles that were to be believed, for the 336 A Second Vindication of the saving of the lost sheep they were sent to, can one think that St. Matthew, who sets down so minutely every circumstance of their commission, would have omitted the most important and material of it? He was an ear-witness, and one that was sent: and so (without supposing him inspired) could not be misled by the short account he might receive from others, who by their own, or others forgetfulness, might have drop ped those other fundamental articles, that the apostles were ordered to preach.
The very like account St. Luke gives of our Saviour's commission to the seventy, chap. x. 1 — 16, "After " these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, " and sent them two and two before his face, into every " city and place, whither he himself would come. " Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is " great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore " the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth " labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold I " send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither " purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the " way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, " Peace be to this house. And if the Son of peace be 66 there, your peace shall rest upon it; if not, it shall re-" turn to you again. And in the same house remain, <( eating and drinking such things as they give: for " the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house " to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they " receive you, eat such things as are set before you. " And healthesickthataretherein.and SAY UNTO THEM, " THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS COME NIGH UNTO YOU.
" But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive " you not, go your ways out into the streets of the " same, and say, even the very dust of your city, which " cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you; notwith- " standing, be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God " is come nigh unto you. But I say unto you, that it " shall be more tolerable, in that day, for Sodom, than " for that city. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto " thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been " done in Tyre and Si don, which have been done in Reasonableness of Christianity 9 8$c. 337 " you, they had a great while ago repented sitting in " sackcloth and ashes. But it shall be more tolerable " for Tyre and Sidon, at the day of judgment, than " for you. And thou Capernaum, which art exalted " to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell. He that " heareth you, heareth me: and he that despiseth you, " despiseth me: and he that despiseth me, despiseth " him that sent me."
Our Saviour's commission here to the seventy, whom he sent to preach, is so exactly conformable to that which he had before given to the twelve apostles, that there needs but this one thing more to be observed, to convince any one that they were sent to convert their hearers to this sole belief, That the kingdom of the Messiah was come, and that Jesus was the Messiah: and that the historians of the New Testament are not so concise in their account of this matter, that they would have omitted any other necessary articles of be lief, that had been given to the seventy in commission. That which I mean is, the kingdom of the Messiah is twice mentioned in it to be come, verse 9 and 11. If there were other articles given them by our Saviour, to propose to their hearers, St. Luke must be very fond of this one article, when, for conciseness sake, leaving out the other fundamental articles, that our Saviour gave them in charge to preach, he repeats this more than once.
The unmasker's third particular, p. 76, begins thus: " This also must be thought of, that though there are " several parts and members of the Christian faith, yet " they do not all occur in any one place of scripture." Something is in it, (whether owing to his will or under standing, I shall not inquire,) that the unmasker al ways delivers himself in doubtful and ambiguous terms. It had been as easy for him to have said, " There are " several articles of the Christian faith necessary to be " believed to make a man a Christian," as to say, (as he does here,) " There are several parts and members " of the Christian faith." But as an evidence of the clearness of his notions, or the fairness of his arguing, he always rests in generals. There arc, I grant, several 338 A Second Vindication of the parts and members of the Christian faith, which do no more occur in any one place of scripture, than the whole New Testament can be said to occur in any one place of scripture. For every proposition, delivered in the New Testament for divine revelation, is " a part and " member of the Christian faith." But it is not those " parts and members of the Christian faith" we are speaking of; but only such " parts and members of " the Christian faith," as are absolutely necessary to be believed by every man, before he can be a Christian. And in that sense I deny his assertion to be true, viz. that they do not occur in any one place of the scripture: for they do all occur in that first sermon of St. Peter, Acts ii. 36, by which three thousand were at that time brought into the church, and that in these words: " therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, " that God hath made that same Jesus, whom you have " crucified, Lord and Christ. Repent, and be bap-" tized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ." Here is the doctrine of Jesus the Messiah, the Lord, and of repentance, proposed to those, who already believe one God: which, I say, are all the parts of the Christian faith necessary to be believed to make a man a Christian. To suppose, as the unmasker does here, that more is re quired, is to beg, not to prove the question.
If he disputes this collection of mine out of that ser mon of St. Peter, I will give him a more authentic collection of the necessary parts of the Christian faith, from an author that he will not question. Let him look into Acts xx. 20, &c. and there he will find St. Paul saying thus to the elders of Ephesus, whom he was taking his last leave of, with an assurance that he should never see them again: " I have kept back nothing that " was profitable unto you; but have showed you, and " have taught you publicly, and from house to house, " testifying both to the jews, and also to the Greeks, re-" pentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord " Jesus Christ." If St. Paul knew what was neces sary to make a Christian, here it is: here he (if he knew how to do it, tor it is plain from his words he designed to do it) has put it together. But there is a Reasonableness of Christianity, 8$c. 339 greater yet than St. Paul, who has brought all the parts of faith necessary to salvation into one place; I mean our Saviour himself, John xvii. 13, in these words: " This is life eternal, that they might know thee the " only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast " sent."
But the unmasker goes on: " Therefore, when, in " some places, only one single part of the Christian " faith is made mention of, as necessary to be em-" braced in order to salvation, we must be careful not " to take it alone, but to supply it from several other " places, which make mention of other necessary and " indispensable points of belief. I will give the reader " a plain instance of this, Rom. x. 9, " if thou shalt " believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him " (i. e. the Lord Jesus) from the dead, thou shalt be " saved." Here one article of faith, viz. the belief of " Christ's resurrection (because it is of so great impor-" tance in Christianity) is only mentioned: but all the " rest must be supposed, because they are mentioned " in other places."
Answ. One would wonder that any one conversant in holy writ, with ever so little attention, much more that an expounder of the scriptures, should so mistake the sense and style of the scripture. Believing Jesus to be the Messiah, with a lively faith, i. e. as I have showed, taking him to be our King, with a sincere submission, to the laws of his kingdom, is all that is required to make a man a Christian; for this includes repentance j too. The believing him therefore to be the Messiah is very often, and with great reason, put both for faith and repentance too: which are sometimes set down singly, where one is put for both, as implying the other; and sometimes they are both mentioned; and then faith, as contradistinguished to repentance, is taken for a simple assent of the mind to this truth, that Jesus is the Messiah. Now this faith is variously expressed in scripture.
There are some particulars in the history of our Saviour, allowed to be so peculiarly appropriated to the Messiah, such incommunicable marks of him, that to z Z 340 A Second Vindication of the believe them of Jesus of Nazareth, was in effect the same, as to believe him to be the Messiah, and so are put to express it. The principal of these is his resur rection from the dead; which being the great and de monstrative proof of his being the Messiah, it is not at all strange, that the believing his resurrection should be put for believing him to be the Messiah; since the declaring his resurrection, was declaring him to be the Messiah. For thus St. Paul argues, Acts xiii. 32, 33, " We de-" clare unto you good tidings, or we preach the gospel " to you [for so the word signifies], how that the pro-" mise, that was made unto the fathers, God hath ful-" filled the same unto us their children, in that he hath " raised up Jesus again." The force of which argu ment lies in this, that, if Jesus was raised from the dead, then he was certainly the Messiah: and thus the promise of the Messiah was fulfilled, in raising Jesus from the dead. The like argument St. Paul useth, 1 Cor. xv. 17, " If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, you are yet " in your sins;" i. e. if Jesus be not risen from the dead, he is not the Messiah, your believing it is in vain, and you will receive no benefit by that faith. And so, likewise, from the same argument of his resurrection, he at Thessalonica proves him to be the Messiah, Acts xvii.
2, 3. " And Paul, as his manner was, went into the sy-" nagogue, and three sabbath-days reasoned with the " jews out of the scriptures, opening and alleging, that " the Messiah must needs have suffered and risen again " from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach " unto you, is the Messiah."
The necessary connection of these two, that if he rose from the dead, he was the Messiah; and if he rose not from the dead, he was not the Messiah; the chief priest and pharisees, that had prosecuted him to death, under stood very well: who therefore " came together unto " Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver " said, whilst he was yet alive, After three days I will " rise again. Command, therefore, that the sepulchre " be made sure unto the third day, lest his disciples " come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the " people, " He is risen from the dead:" " so the last Reasonableness of Christianity, 8$c. 341 " errour shall be worse than the first." The errour they here speak of, it is plain, was the opinion, that he was the Messiah. To stop that belief, which his miracles had procured him amongst the people, they had got him put to death; but if, after that, it should be believed, that he rose again from the dead, this demon stration, that he was the Messiah, would but establish what they had laboured to destroy by his death; since no one, who believed his resurrection, could doubt of his being the Messiah.
It is not at all therefore to be wondered, that his re surrection, his ascension, his rule and dominion, and his coming to judge the quick and the dead, which are characteristical marks of the Messiah, and belong pe culiarly to him, should sometimes in scripture be put alone, as sufficient descriptions of the Messiah; and the believing them of him put for believing him to be the Messiah. Thus, Acts x. our Saviour, in Peter's dis course to Cornelius, when he brought him the gospel, is described to be the Messiah, by his miracles, death, resurrection, dominion, and coming to judge the quick and the dead.
These, (which in my " Reasonableness of christiani-" ty," I have upon this ground taken the liberty to call concomitant articles,) where they are set alone for the faith to which salvation is promised, plainly signify the believing Jesus to be the Messiah, that fundamental article, which has the promise of life; and so give no foundation at all for what the unmasker says, in these words: " Here one article of faith, viz. the belief of " Christ's resurrection (because it is of so great import-" ance in Christianity) is only mentioned; but all the " rest must be supposed, because they are mentioned " in other places."
Answ. If all the rest be of absolute and indispensable necessity to be believed to make a man a Christian, all the rest are, every one of them, of equal importance. For things of equal necessity, to any end, are of equal importance to that end. But here the truth forced its way unawares from the unmasker: Our Saviour's resur rection, for the reason I have given, is truly of great 342 A Second Vindication of the importance in Christianity; so great, that his being, or not being the Messiah, stands or falls with it: so that these two important articles are inseparable, and in effect make but one. For, since that time> believe one, and you believe both; deny one of them, and you can believe neither. If the unmasker can show me any one of the articles in his list, which is not of this great im portance, mentioned alone, with a promise of salvation for believing it, I will grant him to have some colour for what he says here. But where is to be found in the scripture any such expression as this: if thou shalt be lieve with thy heart " the corruption and degeneracy " of human nature," thou shalt be saved? or the like. This place, therefore, out of the Romans, makes not for, but against his list of necessary articles. One of them, alone, he cannot show me any-where set down, with a supposition of the rest, as having salvation pro mised to it: though it be true, that that one, which alone is absolutely necessary to be superadded to the belief of one God, is, in divers places, differently ex pressed.
That which he subjoins, as a consequence of what he had said, is a farther proof of this: u And consequently, " says he, 'if we would give an impartial account of our " belief, we must consult those places: and they are " not altogether, but dispersed here and there. Where-" fore we must look them out, and acquaint ourselves " writh the several particulars, which make up our be-" lief, and render it intire and consummate."
Answ. Never was a man constanter to a loose way of talking. The question is only about articles necessary to be believed to make a man a Christian: and here he talks of the " several particulars which make up our " belief, and render it intire and consummate; " con founding, as he did before, essential and integral parts, which, it seems, he cannot distinguish. Our FaTfh is true and saving, when it is such as God, by the new covenant, requires it to be: but it is not intire and con summate, until we explicitly believe all the truths con tained in the word of God. For the whole revelation of truth in the scripture being the proper and intire Reasonableness of Christianity, <fyc.
object of faith, our faith cannot be intire and consum mate, until it be adequate to its proper object, which is the whole divine revelation contained in the scripture: and so, to make our faith intire and consummate, we must not look out those places, which, he says, are not altogether. To talk of looking out, and culling of places, is nonsense, where the whole scripture alone can " make up our belief, and render it intire and consum-" mate:" which no one, I think, can hope for, in this frail state of ignorance and errour. * To make the unmasker speak sense and to the purpose here, we must understand him thus: " That if we will give an impar-" tiai account " of the articles, that are necessary to be believed to make a man a Christian, " we must con-" suit those places where they are; for they are not all " together, but dispersed here and there; wherefore we " must look them out," and acquaint ourselves with the several particulars, which make up the fundamental articles of our belief, and will render a catalogue of them intire and consummate. If his supposition be true, I grant his method to be reasonable, and upon that I join issue with him. Let him thus " give an " impartial account of our belief; let him acquaint us " with the several particulars which make up a " Christian's belief, and render it intire and consum-" mate." Until he has done this, let him not talk thus in the air of a method, that will not do: let him not reproach me, as he does, for not taking a course, by which he himself cannot do, what he reviles me for failing in. " But our hasty author," says he, " took " another course, and thereby deceived himself, and " unhappily deceived others." If it be so, I desire the unmasker to take the course he proposes, and thereby undeceive me and others; and " acquaint us with the " several particulars which make up a Christian's be-" lief, and render it intire and consummate; " for I am willing to be undeceived: but until he has done that, and shown us by the success of it, that his course is better, he cannot blame us for following that course we have done.
I come now to his fourth and last particular, p. 78, 344 A Second Vindication of the which, he says, is the main answer to the objection; and therefore I shall set it down in his own words, intire, as it stands together. " This," says he, " must " be born in our minds, that Christianity was erected " by degrees, according* to that prediction and promise " of our Saviour, that " the Spirit should teach them " all things." John xiv. 26. and that " he should " guide them into all truth." John xvi. 13. viz. " after his departure and ascension, when the Holy " Ghost was to be sent in a special manner, to en-" lighten men's minds, and to discover to them the " great mysteries of Christianity. This is to be noted by t us, as that which gives great light in the present case.
" The discovery of the doctrines of the gospel was '' gradual. It was by certain steps that Christianity " climbed to its height. We are riot to think then, " that all the necessary doctrines of the Christian re-" ligion were clearly published to the world in our " Saviour's time. Not but that all that were necessary " for that time were published, but some which were " necessary for the succeeding one, were not then dis-" covered, or, at least, not fully. They had ordinarily " no belief, before Christ's death and resurrection, of '• those substantial articles, i. e. that he should die and " rise again: but we read in the Acts, and in the " epistles, that these were formal articles of faith after-" wards, and are ever since necessary to complete the " Christian belief. So as to other great verities, the " gospel increased by degrees, and was not perfect at " once. Which furnishes us with a reason why most " of the choicest and sublimest truths of Christianity are " to be met with in the epistles of the apostles, they " being such doctrines as were not clearly discovered " and opened in the Gospels and the Acts." Thus far the unmasker.
I thought hitherto, that the covenant of grace in Christ Jesus had been but one, immutably the same: but our unmasker here makes two, or I know not how many. For I cannot tell how to conceive, that the conditions of any covenant should be changed, and the covenant remain the same; every change of conditions, Reasonableness of Christianity, 8$c. 345 in my apprehension, makes a new and another covenant. We are not to think, says the unmasker, " That all the " necessary doctrines of the Christian religion were " clearly published to the world in our Saviour's time; " not but that all that were necessary for that time were " published: but some, which were necessary for the <c succeeding one, were not then discovered, or, at least, " not fully." Answ. The unmasker, constant to him self, speaks here doubtfully, and cannot tell whether he should say, that the articles necessary to succeeding times, were discovered in our Saviour's time, or no; and therefore, that he may provide himself a retreat, in the doubt he is in, he says, " They were not clearly " published; they were not then discovered, or, at " least, not fully." But we must desire him to pull off his mask, and to that purpose, 1. I ask him how he can tell, that all the necessary doctrines were obscuredly published, or in part disco vered? For an obscure publishing, a discovery in part, is opposed to, and intimated in, " not clearly published, " not fully discovered." And, if a clear and full disco very be all that he denies to them, I ask, XXXVIT. Which those fundamental articles are, " which were obscurely published," but not fully discovered in our Saviour's time?
And next I shall desire him to tell me, XXXVIII. Whether there are any articles necessary to be believed to make a man a Christian, that were not discovered at all in our Saviour's time: and which they are?
If he cannot show these distinctly, it is plain he talks at random about them; but has no clear and distinct conception of those that were published, or not publish ed, clearly or obscurely discovered in our Saviour's time. It was necessary for him to say something for those his pretended necessary articles, which are not 346 A Second Vindication of the to be found any-where proposed in the preaching of our Saviour and his apostles, to their yet unbelieving audi tors; and therefore, he says, " We are not to think all " the necessary doctrines of the Christian religion were " clearly published to the world in our Saviour's time.'* But he barely says it, without giving any reason, why " we are not to think so." It is enough that it is ne cessary to his hypothesis. He says, " we are not to think so," and we are presently bound not to think so. Else, from another man, that did not usurp an authority over our thoughts, it would have required some reason to make them think, that something more was re quired to make a man a Christian after, than in our Saviour's time. For, as I take it, it is not a very pro bable, much less a self-evident proposition, to be re ceived without proof, that there was something neces sary for that time to make a man a Christian, and something more, that was necessary to make a Christian in the succeeding time.
However, since this great master says, " we ought * to think so," let us in obedience think so as well as we can; until he vouchsafes to give us some reason to think, that there was more required to be believed to make a man a Christian, in the succeeding time, than in our Saviour's. This,, instead of removing, does but increase the difficulty: for if more were necessary to be believed to make a man a Christian after our Saviour's time, than was during his life; how comes it, that no more was proposed by the apostles, in their preaching to unbelievers, for the making them Christians, after our Saviour's death, than there was before; even this one article, " that he was the Messiah? " For I desire the unmasker to show me any of those articles men tioned in his list, (except the resurrection and ascension of our Saviour, which were intervening matters of fact, evidencing him to be the Messiah,) that were proposed by the apostles, after our Saviour's time, to their unbe lieving hearers, to make them Christians. This one doctrine, " That Jesus was the Messiah/' was that which was proposed in our Saviour's time to be believ ed, as necessary to make a man a Christian: the same Reasonableness of Christianity, 8$c. 347 doctrine was, likewise, what was proposed afterwards, in the preaching of the apostles to unbelievers, to make them Christians.