XXIV. "That I speak as meanly of Christ's suffering on the cross, and death, as if there were no such thing."

For thus he says of me, p. 54, "I seem to have consulted the Mahometan Bible, which did say, Christ did not suffer on the cross, did not die. For I, and my allies, speak as meanly of these articles as if there were no such thing."

To show our unmasker's veracity in this case, I shall trouble my reader with some passages out of my Reasonableness of Christianity, p. 35, "When we consider, that he was to fill out the time foretold of his ministry, and after a life illustrious in miracles and good works, attended with humility, meekness, patience, and suffering, and every way conformable to the prophecies of him, should be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and, with all quiet and submission, be brought to the cross, though there were no guilt or fault found in him." And, p. 42, "contrary to the design of his coming, which was to be offered up a lamb, blameless and void of offence." And, p. 63, " laying down his life, both for Jews and Gentiles." P. 96, "Given up to contempt, torment, and death." But, say what I will, when the unmasker thinks fit to have it so, it is speaking out of the Ma hometan Bible, that "Christ did not suffer on the cross, did not die; or at least, is speaking as meanly of these articles as if no such thing had been."

His next slander is, p. 55, in these words: "this gentleman presents the world with a very ill notion of faith; for the very devils are capable of all that faith, which, he says, makes a Christian." It is not strange, that the unmasker should misrepresent the faith which, I say, makes a Christian; when it seems to be his whole design to misrepresent my meaning every where. The frequency of his doing it, I have showed in abundance of instances, to which I shall add an eminent one here; which shows what a fair champion he is for truth and religion.

Page 104, of my Reasonableness of Christianity, I

give this account of the faith which makes a Christian; that it is" men's entering themselves in the kingdom of God; owning and professing themselves the subjects of Jesus, whom they believe to be the Messiah, and receive for their Lord and King: for that was to be baptized in his name." This sense of believing Christ to be the Messiah, that is, to take him for our King and Lord, who is to be obeyed, I have expressed over and over again; as, pp. 110, 111, my words are, "that as many of them as would believe Jesus the Son of God, (whom he sent into the world) to be the Messiah, the promised Deliverer, and would receive him for their King and Ruler, should have all their past sins, disobedience, and rebellion, forgiven them. And if, for the future, they lived in sincere obedience to his law, to the utmost of their power, the sins of human frailty for the time to come, as well as those of their past lives, should for his Son's sake, because they gave themselves up to him to be his subjects, be forgiven them and so their faith, which made them to be baptized into his name, (i. e. enrol themselves in the kingdom of Jesus, the Messiah, and profess themselves his subjects, and consequently live by the laws of his kingdom) should be accounted to them for righteousness.' Which account of what is necessary, I close with these words: "this is the faith, for which God of his free grace justifies sinful man." And is this the faith of devils?

To the same purpose, p. 113, are these words:"the chief end of his coming was to be a king; and, as such, to be received by those who would be his subjects in the kingdom which he came to erect." And again, p. 112,"only those who have believed Jesus to be the Messiah, and taken him for their King, with a sincere endeavour after righteousness in obeying his law, shall have their past sins not imputed to them." And so again, pp. 113, and 120, and in several other places; of which I shall add but this one more, p. 120, "it is not enough to believe him to be the Messiah, unless we obey his laws, and take him to be our King to reign

over us. Can the devils thus believe him to be the Messiah? Yet this is that, which, by these and abundance of other places, I have showed to be the meaning of believing him to be the Messiah.

Besides, I have expressly distinguished the faith which makes a Christian, from that which the devils have, by proving, that, to the believing Jesus to be the Messiah, must be joined repentance, or else it will not make them true Christians: and what this repentance is, may be seen at large in p. 105, &c. some expressions whereof I shall here set down; as, p. 105, "repentance does not consist in one single act of sorrow, (though that being first, and leading, gives denomination to the whole) but in doing works meet for repentance; in a sincere obedience to the law of Christ, the remainder of our lives.' Again; to distinguish the faith of a Christian from that of devils, I say expressly, out of St. Paul's epistle to the Galatians, "that which availeth is faith, but faith working by love; and that faith, without works, i. e. the works of sincere obedience to the law and will of Christ, is not sufficient for our justification." And, p. 117, That to inherit eternal life, we must love the Lord our God, "with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind." And, p. 121, "Love Christ, in keeping his

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commandments."

This, and a great deal more to this purpose, may be seen in my Reasonableness of Christianity; particularly where I answer that objection about the faith of devils, which I handle in p. 102, &c. and therein at large show, wherein the faith of devils comes short of the justifying faith which makes a Christian. And yet the good, the sincere, the candid unmasker, with his becoming confidence, tells his readers here, p. 55, "That I present the world with a very ill notion of faith for the very devils are capable of all that faith, which I say makes a Christian man."

To prevent this calumny, I, in more places than one, distinguished between faith, in a strict sense, as it is a bare assent to any proposition, and that which is called evangelical faith, in a larger sense of the word; which

comprehends under it something more than a bare simple assent; as, p. 26, "I mean, this is all that is required to be believed by those who acknowledge but one eternal, invisible God, the maker of heaven and earth: for that there is something more required to salvation, besides believing, we shall see hereafter." P. 28, "All I say, that was to be believed for justification. For, that this was not all that was required to be done for justification, we shall see hereafter." P. 51, Obeying the law of the Messiah, their King, being no less required, than their believing that Jesus was the Messiah, the King and Deliverer, that was promised them." P. 102, "As far as their believing could make them members of Christ's body." By these, and more, the like passages in my book, my meaning is so evident, that nobody, but an unmasker, would have said, that when I spoke of believing, as a bare speculative assent to any proposition, as true, I affirmed that was all that was required of a Christian for justification: though that, in the strict sense of the word, is all that is done in believing. And therefore, I say, As far as mere believing could make them members of Christ's body; plainly signifying, as much as words can, that the faith, for which they were justified, included something more than a bare assent. This appears, not only from these words of mine, p. 104, "St. Paul, often in his epistles, puts faith for the whole duty of a Christian;' but from my so often, and almost every where, interpreting " believing him to be the Messiah, by taking him to be our King;" whereby is meant not a bare idle speculation, a bare notional persuasion of any truth whatsoever, floating in our brains; but an active principle of life, a faith working by love and obedience.

To make him to be our King," carries with it a right disposition of the will to honour and obey him, joined to that assent wherewith believers embrace this fundamental truth, that Jesus was the person who was by God sent to be their King; he that was promised to be their Prince and Saviour.

But, for all this, the unmasker, p. 56, confidently tells his reader, that I say no such thing. His words

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are: "But, besides this historical faith, (as it is generally called by divines) which is giving credit to evangelical truths, as barely revealed, there must be something else added to make up the true substantial faith of a Christian. With the assent of the understanding, must be joined the consent or approbation of the will. All those divine truths which the intellect assents to, must be allowed of by this elective power of the soul. True evangelical faith is a hearty acceptation of the Messias, as he is offered in the Gospel. It is a sincere and impartial submission to all things required by the evangelical law, which is contained in the epistles, as well as the other writings. And to this practical assent and choice, there must be added, likewise, a firm trust and reliance in the blessed author of our salvation. But this late undertaker, who attempted to give us a more perfect account than ever was before of Christianity, as it is delivered in the Scriptures, brings us no tidings of any such faith belonging to Christianity, or discovered to us in the Scriptures. Which gives us to understand, that he verily believes there is no such Christian faith; for in some of his numerous pages, (especially p. 101, &c.) where he speaks so much of belief and faith, he might have taken occasion to insert one word about his complete faith of the Gospel."

Though the places above quoted, out of my Reasonableness of Christianity, and the whole tenor of the latter part of it, show the falsehood of what the unmasker here says; yet I will set down one passage more out of it, and then ask our unmasker, when he hath read them, Whether he hath the brow to say again, that "I bring no tidings of any such faith?" My words are, Reasonableness of Christianity, p. 129, "Faith in the promises of God, relying and acquiescing in his word and faithfulness, the Almighty takes well at our hands, as a great mark of homage paid by us, poor frail creatures, to his goodness and truth, as well as to his power and wisdom; and accepts it as an ac knowledgment of his peculiar providence and be nignity to us. And therefore, our Saviour tells us,