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

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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, 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

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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."

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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

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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 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

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 resurrection from the dead; which being the great and demonstrative 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 argument 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 synagogue, 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."

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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, understood very well: who therefore "came together unto "Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver

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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

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"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 demonstration, 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 resurrection, 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 peculiarly 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 discourse 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.

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These, (which in my "Reasonableness of christianity," 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 importance in christianity) is only mentioned; but all the "rest must be supposed, because they are mentioned "in other places."

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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 resurrection, for the reason I have given, is truly of great

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 importance, 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 believe 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 promised 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 expressed.

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That which he subjoins, as a consequence of what he had said, is a farther proof of this: "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 "with 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; confounding, as he did before, essential and integral parts, which, it seems, he cannot distinguish. 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, until we explicitly believe all the truths contained in the word of God. For the whole revelation of truth in the scripture being the proper and intire