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was not spoken of priests. But his making my mentioning the faults of the priests of old, in our Saviour's time, to be an "exposing the office of the ministers of the "gospel now, and a vilifying those who are employed in "it;" I must desire him to examine, by his own rules of love and candour; and to tell me, "Whether I have not "reason, here again, to mind him of his FIENDS, and "to advise him to beware of them?" And to show him how I think I have, I crave leave to ask him these questions:

1. Whether I do not all along plainly, and in express words, speak of the priests of the world, preceding, and in our Saviour's time? Nor can my argument bear any other sense.

2. Whether all I have said of them be not true?

3. Whether the representing truly the carriage of the jewish, and more especially of the heathen priests, in our Saviour's time, as my argument required, can expose the office of the ministers of the gospel now? Or ought to have such an interpretation put upon it?

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4. Whether what he says of the "air and language I use, reaching farther," carry any thing else in it, but a declaration, that he thinks some men's carriage now, had some affinity with what I have truly said, of the priests of the world, before christianity; and that therefore the faults of those should have been let alone, or touched more gently, for fear some should think these now concerned it?

5. Whether, in truth, this be not to accuse them, with a design to draw the envy of it on me? Whether out of good will to them, or to me, or both, let him look. This I am sure, I have spoken of none but the priests before christianity, both jewish and heathen. And for those of the jews, what our Saviour has pronounced of them, justifies my reflections from being bitter; and that the idolatrous heathen priests were better than they, I believe our author will not say and if he were preaching against them, as opposing the ministers of the gospel, I suppose he will give as ill a character of them. But if any one extends my words farther, than to those they were spoke of, I ask

whether that agrees with his rules of love and candour?

I shall impatiently expect from this author of the occasional paper, an answer to these questions; and hope to find them such as becomes that temper, and love of truth, which he professes. I long to meet with a man, who, laying aside party, and interest, and prejudice, appears in controversy so as to make good the character of a champion of truth for truth's sake; a character not so hard to be known whom it belongs to, as to be deserved. Whoever is truly such an one, his opposition to me will be an obligation. For he that proposes to himself the convincing me of an errour, only for truth's sake, cannot, I know, mix any rancour, or spite, or ill-will, with it. He will keep himself at a distance from those FIENDS, and be as ready to hear, as offer reason. two so disposed can hardly miss truth between them, in a fair inquiry after it; at least they will not lose goodbreeding, and especially charity, a virtue much more necessary than the attaining of the knowledge of obscure truths, that are not easy to be found; and probably, therefore, not necessary to be known.

And

The unbiassed design of the writer, purely to defend and propagate truth, seems to me to be that alone which legitimates controversies. I am sure it plainly distinguishes such from all others, in their success and usefulness. If a man, as a sincere friend to the person, and to the truth, labours to bring another out of errour, there can be nothing more beautiful, nor more beneficial. If party, passion, or vanity direct his pen, and have a hand in the controversy; there can be nothing more unbecoming, more prejudicial, nor more odious. What thoughts I shall have of a man that shall, as a christian, go about to inform me what is necessary to be, believed to make a man a christian, I have declared, in the preface to my "Reasonableness of christianity," &c. nor do I find myself yet altered. He that, in print, finds fault with my imperfect discovery of that, wherein the faith, which makes a man a christian, consists, and will not tell me what more is required, will do well to satisfy the world what they ought to think of him,

INDEX

TO THE

SIXTH VOLUM E.

A.

ABRIDGMENT of faith, what

275

it is,
Acts of the apostles, book so
called, the author did not
charge his readers against stir-
ring beyond it,
248

how wisely as well as faith-
fully written by St. Luke, 328,

329
Actual assent to fundamental ar-
ticles, how necessary, 223, 224
Adam, wrong notions concern-
ing his fall,
4, 5, &c.
what he fell from, ibid.
Allegations between contending
parties, to be esteemed false
until proved,
Apostles, the wisdom of the Lord
in choosing, such mean per-

sons,

192

83

their minds illuminated
by the Holy Spirit, 92, &c.
Article of faith, how the author
pleaded for one only, 174,

196

Articles of christianity, and such
as are necessary to make a
man a christian, different, 352

of religion, have been
several hundreds of years ex-

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Author not guilty of folly in re-
quiring from his opponent a
complete list of fundamentals,
215-222

his opponent compared
to a judge unwilling to hear
both sides,

243
not justly called a soci-
nian for omitting what is not
expressed in the apostles creed,
281

his faith unjustly repre-
sented as little different from
that of a Turk, 282,283

his account of faith very
different from that of devils,
283-285
unjustly charged with
patronizing ignorance,

293

his adversary's arguing
from one to none would equally
serve a pagan,

305

how he proves himself a

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CHRIST, the meaning of his
answer, (John vi. 70) 56
--why he did not expressly
reveal his Messiahship to his
disciples,
35, &c.

his Messiahship more clearly.
discovered a little before his
sufferings, 57-Yet even then
he did not expressly declare it
to the jewish rulers,

69
how wisely he answered
his captious enemies, 74
why he owned himself to
be the Son of God before the
high-priest,
77

why he would not expressly
own himself a king before
Pilate,
77, 78
his innocency attested even
by Pilate and Judas, 80, 86
why he spoke obscurely of
his destroying Jerusalem,
(Matt. xxiv.)
88

Judas being gone, he spake
more explicitly of his king-
dom,

90

to the last he required of
his disciples only to believe
him to be the Messiah, 96, &c.

Christ expressly applied the pro-
mises of the Messiah to himself
after his resurrection, 99, &c.

much oftener mentioned
his kingly office than any other,
113, &c.
how he fulfilled the moral
law,
122

what we may think to be
the state of those who never
heard of him,
132
the necessity of his coming
to make God known, 135-To
teach men their duty, 138-To
instruct in the right forms of
divine worship, 147, &c.-To
give sufficient encouragement
to a good life, 148-And to
assure men of divine assistance,

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time, is so still,

358

are obliged to believe
all that they find our Saviour
taught,
4.04.
all things necessary to
be believed by them, not ne-
cessary to their being such,
405, &c.
why they must believe
whatever they find revealed by
Christ,
408
Christianity, the fundamental ar-
ticles of it easy to be under-
stood,
175
Commission of our Lord, was to

convince men of his being the
Messiah,
332
Commission of the apostles, and
of the seventy, of the same
tenour,
335, 386
Covenant, changed, when the

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