(JG ANIMADVERSIONS ON A TREATISE
rity. Nay, be it that it be iDcleed a truth which he denies,— being only denied by him because he is persuaded that it is not of Christ, the first revealer, and therefore not true,— there is no fear of the dan- ger threatened. But the matter is, that all that is brought from Christ by the same hand must be equally received. It is true, if it be brought from Christ by the same hand, it must be so; not because by the ^mie hand, but because from Christ. They that preached Christ, and withal that men must be circumcised, had put men into a sad condition if, in good sooth, they had been necessitated to em- brace all that they taught,— the same men teachmg Christ to be the Messiah, and circumcision to be necessary to life eternal. Amongst those that were converted to the gospel by the Jews that were zeal- ous of the law, how easy had it been for their teachers to have utterly frustrated St Paul's doctrine of Christian liberty, by telling them that they could not forego circumcision but they must forego Christ also; for all those things they received by the same hand! If, in- deed, a man comes and delivers a system of religion upon his own authority and reputation only, he that denies any one point of what he delivers is in a fair way of everting all that he asserts. But if he come as sent from another, and affirm that this other commanded him to declare that which he delivers for truth in his name, and produce for that end his commission, wherein all the truths that he is to deliver are written ; [and] if he deliver what he hath not re- ceived in commission, that may honestly be rejected, without the least impeachment of any one truth that was really committed unto him by him that sent him. And this was the way, this the condi- tion of them who planted the gospel in the name of Christ, not being themselves divinely inspired. So that if, in the second edition of Christianity in some parts of this nation, by Austin and his associates, any thing was taught or practised that was not according to the rule and commission given by Christ, it may be rejected without the least impeachment to the authority of the first revealer; nay, his autho- rity, being once received, cannot be preserved entire without such rejection. I confess I do almost mistrust that by this revealer of Cliristianity, and his authority, which he discourses about, our author intends the pope; which, if so, what we have discoursed of Christ is, I confess, to little purpose : and it were easy to turn our reply that way ; but because I have not clear evidence for it, I will not charge him with so hon-id a presumptuous insinuation. When he declares his mind, he shall hear more of ours.
But he farther specifies his meaning in an enumeration of doctrines that were preached by the first planters of the gospel, in and unto the extirpation of Gentilism. "If," saith he, "the institution of monasteries, to the praise and service of God, day and night, be
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thought, as it hath been now these many years, a superstitious folly; if Christian priests and sacrifices be thiugs of high idolatry; if the seven sacraments be deemed vain, most of them; if it suffice to sal- vation only to believe, whatever life we lead; if there be no value or merit in good works ; if God's laws be impossible to be kept ; if Christ be not our law-maker and director of doing well, as well as Redeemer from ill; if there be no sacramental tribunal for our reconciliation ordained for us by Christ on the earth ; if the real body of our Lord be not bequeathed unto his spouse in his last will and testament; if there be not under Christ a general head ot the church, who is chief priest and pastor of all Christians upon earth, under God, whose vicegerent he is in spiritual affairs, — all which things are now held forth by us, manifestly against the doctrine of the first preachers of Christianity in this land ; — then, I say. Paganism was unjustly dis- placed by these doctrines, and atheism must needs succeed ; for if Christ deceived us, upon whom shall we rely? and if they that brought us the first news of Christ, brought along with it so many gTand lies, why may not the very story of Christ be thought a ro- mance ?"
I could wish there had been a little more clearness and ingenuity in this enumeration; the mixing of what he takes to be truths with some negatives that he condemns in the same series, breeds some confusion in the discourse: and I am also compelled to complain of want of candour and ingenuity in his representation of the Protestant doctrine, in every particular wherein he takes occasion to mention it. Let us, then, separate the things that have no place of their own in this argument, then what is ambiguously proposed ; after which, what remains may be distinctly considered : —
1. What makes that inquiry in our way at this time, " If it suffice to salvation to believe, whatever life we lead ?" Who ever said so, taught so, wrote so, in England ? Is this the doctrine of the church of England ? or of the Presbyterians or Independents ? or whose is it ? or what makes it in this place ? If this be the way of gaining Catholics, let them that please make use of it. Protestants dislike the way as much as the end.