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"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 ".

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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 it. Can any one, who reads this commission, unless he hath the brains, as well as the brow of an unmasker, 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

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, whọ by their own, or others forgetfulness, might have dropped 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

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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 66 way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, "Peace be to this house. And if the Son of peace be "there, your peace shall rest upon it; if not, it shall re"turn to you again. And in the same house remain,

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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 heal the sick that are therein, and SAYUNTOTHEM, "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; notwithstanding, 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 Sidon, which have been done in

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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."

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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 belief, 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

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they do not all occur in any one place of scripture." Something is in it, (whether owing to his will or understanding, I shall not inquire,) that the unmasker always 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 are, I grant, several

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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 required, is to beg, not to prove the question.

If he disputes this collection of mine out of that sermon 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,

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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 necessary to make a christian, here it is: here he (if he knew how to do it, for it is plain from his words he designed to do it) has put it together. But there is a

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

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(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 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

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