" Christian faith." To this Mr. Bold thus softly re- plies, p. 31, "I think Mr. Edwards is much mistaken, " both in his assertion and inference: " and to show- that he could not so infer, adds: " If the author of " the Reasonableness of Christianity, &c. had not " brought any tidings of such a faith, I think it could " not be thence justly inferred, that he verily believes " there is no such Christian faith: because his inquiry " and search was not concerning Christian faith, con- " sidered subjectively but objectively; what the articles " be, which must be believed to make a man a chris- " tian; and not, with what sort of faith these articles " are to be believed."
To this the creed-maker answers indeed: but it is something as much worse than nothing, as falsehood is worse than silence. His words are, p. 258, " It may " be questioned, from what he [the animadverter] hath " the confidence to say, p. 31, viz. There is no in- " quiry in the Reasonableness of Christianity, con- " cerning faith subjectively considered, but only ob- " jectively," &c. And thus having set down Mr. B — d's words, otherwise than they are; for Mr. Bold does not say, there is no inquiry, i. e. no mention, (for so the creed-maker explains inquiries here. For to convince Mr. Bold that there is an inquiry, i. e. men tion, of subjective faith, he alleges, that subjective faith is spoken of in the 296th and 297th pages of my book.) But Mr. Bold says not, that faith, considered subjectively, is not spoken of any-where in the Rea sonableness of Christianity, &c. but " that the au- " thor's inquiry and search (i. e. the author's search, or " design of his search) was not concerning Christian " faith considered subjectively." And thus the creed- maker, imposing on his reader, by perverting Mr. Bold's sense, from what was the intention of my inquiry and search, to what I had said in it, he goes on, after his scurrilous fashion, to insult, in these words which follow: " I say it may be guessed from this, what a liberty this " writer takes, to assert what he pleases." Answ. " To " assert what one pleases/* without truth and without certainty, is the worst character can be given a writer; Reasonableness of Christianity, $$c. 413 and with falsehood to charge it another, is no mean slander and injury to a man's neighbour. And yet to these shameful arts must he be driven, who finding his strength of managing a cause to lie only in fiction and falsehood, has no other but the dull Billingsgate way of covering it, by endeavouring to divert the reader's ob servation and censure from himself, by a confident re peated imputation of that to his adversary, which he himself is so frequent in the commission of. And of this the instances I have given, are a sufficient proof; in which I have been at the pains to set down the words on both sides, and the pages where they are to be found, for the reader's full satisfaction.
The cause in debate between us is of great weight, and concerns every Christian. That any evidence in the proposal, or defence of it, can be sufficient to conquer all men's prejudices, is vanity to imagine. But this, I think, I may justly demand of every reader, that since there are great and visible falsehoods on one side or the other, (for the accusations of this kind are positive and frequent,) he would examine on which side they are: and upon that I will venture the cause in my reader's judgment, who will but be at the pains of turning to the pages marked out to him; and as for him that will not do that, I care not much what he says.
The creed-maker's following words, p. 258, have the natural mark of their author. They are these: " How can this animadverter come off with peremp- " torily declaring, that subjective faith is not inquired " into, in the treatise of the Reasonableness of chris- " tianity, &c. when in another place, p. 35, and 36, " he avers, That Christian faith and Christianity, con- " sidered subjectively, are the same?" Answ. In which words there are two manifest untruths: the one is, " That Mr. Bold peremptorily declares, that subjec- " live faith is not inquired into, i. e. spoken of, in the " Reasonableness of Christianity," &c. Whereas Mr. Bold says in that place, p. 31, " If he, [i. e. the au- " thor,] had not said one word concerning faith sub- " jectively considered." The creed-maker's other un truth is his saying, " That the animadverter avers, 414 A Second Vindication of the " p. 35, 36,, that Christian faith and Christianity, consi- " dered subjective!}', are the same." Whereas it is evi dent, that Mr. Bold, arguing against these words of the creed-maker (" The belief of Jesus being the Messiah, " was one of the first and leading acts of Christian " faith/*) speaks in that place of an act of faith, as these words of his demonstrate: " Now, I appre- " hend that Christian faith and Christianity, considered " subjectively, (and an ACT of Christian faith, I think, " cannot be understood in any other sense,) are the " very same." I must therefore desire him to set down the words wherein the animadverter peremptorily de clares, LIIL That subjective faith is not inquired into, or spoken of, in the treatise of the Reasonableness of Christianity, &c.
And next, to produce the words wherein the animad verter avers, LIV. That Christian faith and Christianity, considered subjectively, are the same.
To the creed-maker's saying, " That the author of " the Reasonableness of Christianity, &c. brings us no " tidings of evangelical faith belonging to Christianity," Mr. Bold replies: That I have done it in all those pages where I speak of taking and accepting Jesus to be our King and Ruler; and particularly he sets down my words out of pages 119, &c.
BUT TO THIS Mr. Edwards ANSWERS NOT.
The creed-maker says, p. 59, of his Socinianism un masked, that the author of the Reasonableness of Chris tianity " tells men again and again, that a Christian " man, or member of Christ,, needs not know or be- " lieve any more than that one individual point." To which Mr. Bold thus replies, p. 33, " If any man will " show me those words in any part of the Reasonable- " ness, &c. I shall suspect I was not awake all the " time I was reading that book: and I am as certain Reasonableness of Christianity, 8$c. 415 " as one awake can be, that there are several passages " in that book directly contrary to these words. And " there are some expressions in the Vindication of the " Reasonableness, &c. one would think, if Mr. Edwards " had observed them, they would have prevented that " mistake."
BUT TO THIS Mr. Edwards ANSWERS NOT.
Mr. Bold, p. 34, takes notice, that the creed-maker had not put the query, or objection, right, which, he says, " Some, and not without some show of ground, " may be apt to start; and therefore Mr. Bold puts the " query right, viz. ' Why did Jesus Christ and his " ' apostles require assent to, and belief of, this one ar- " ' tide alone, viz. That Jesus is the Messiah, to consti- " ' tute and make a man a Christian, or true member of " e Christ, (as it is abundantly evident they did, from the " ' Reasonableness of Christianity,) if the belief of more " ' articles is absolutely necessary to make and con- " * stitute a man a Christian?"
BUT TO THIS Mr. Edwards ANSWERS NOT.
And therefore I put the objection, or query, to him again in Mr. Bold's words, and expect an answer to it, viz.
LV. Why did Jesus Christ, and his apostles, require assent to, and belief of, this one article alone, viz. That Jesus is the Messiah, to make a man a Christian, (as it is abundantly evident they did, from all their preaching, recorded throughout all the whole history of the Evangelists and the Acts,) if the belief of more articles be absolutely neces sary to make a man a Christian?
The creed -maker having made believing Jesus to be the Messiah, only one of the first and leading acts of Christian faith; Mr. Bold, p. 35, rightly tells him, That " Christian faith must be the belief of something " or other: and if it be the belief of any thing besides " this, that Jesus is the Christ, or Messiah, that other " thing should be specified; and it should be made ap- " pear, that the belief that Jesus is the Messiah, without 416 A Second Vindication of the " the belief of that other proposition^ not Christian faith." BUT TO THIS Mr. Edwards ANSWERS NOT.
Mr. B — d, in the four following pages, 36 — 39, has excellently explained the difference between that faith which constitutes a man a Christian, and that faith whereby one that is a Christian, believes the doctrines taught by our Saviour; and the ground of that differ ence: and therein has fully overturned this proposition, " That believing Jesus to be the Messiah, is but a step, " or the first step to Christianity."
BUT TO THIS Mr. Edwards ANSWERS NOT.
To the creed-maker's supposing that other matters of faith were proposed with this, that Jesus is the Messiah; Mr. Bold replies, That this should be proved, viz. that other articles were proposed, as requisite to be believed to make men Christians. And, p. 40, he gives a reason why he is of another mind, viz. " Because there is no- " thing but this recorded, which was insisted on for that " purpose."
BUT TO THIS Mr. Edwards ANSWERS NOT.
Mr. Bold, p. 42, shows that Rom. x. 9, which the creed-maker brought against it, confirms the assertion of the author of the Reasonableness, &;c. concerning the faith that makes a man a Christian.
BUT TO THIS Mr. Edwards ANSWERS NOT.
The creed-maker says, p. 78, " This is the main an- " swer to the objection, (or query above proposed,) viz. '•' That Christianity was erected by degrees." This Mr. Bold, p. 43, proves to be nothing to the purpose, by this reason, viz. " Because what makes one man a chris- " tian, or ever did make any man a Christian, will at any " time, to the end of the world, make another man a " Christian:" and asks, " Will not that make a Christian " now, which made the apostles themselves Christians?"
BUT TO THIS Mr. Edwards ANSWERS NOT. In answer to his sixth chapter, Mr. Bold, p. 45, tells him, " It was not my business to discourse of the " Trinity, or any other particular doctrines, proposed " to be believed by them who are Christians; and that " it is no fair and just ground to accuse a man, with " rejecting the doctrines of the Trinity, and that Jesus Reasonableness of Christianity, 8$c. 417 " is God, because he does not interpret some particu- " lar texts to the same purpose others do."
BUT TO THIS Mr. Edwards ANSWERS NOT.
Indeed he takes notice of these words of Mr. Bold, in this paragraph, viz. " Hence Mr. Edwards takes oc- " casion to write many pages about these terms [viz. " Messiah and Son of God]; but I do not perceive that " he pretends to offer any proof, that these were not " synonymous terms amongst the jews at that time, " which is the point he should have proved, if he de- " signed to invalidate what this author says about that " matter." To this the creed maker replies, p. 257, " The animadverter doth not so much as offer one " syllable to disprove what I delivered, and closely " urged on that head." Answ. What need any answer to disprove where there is no proof brought that reaches the proposition in question? If there had been any such proof, the producing of it, in short, had been a more convincing argument to the reader, than so much brag ging of what has been done. For here are more words spent, (for I have not set them all down,) than would have served to have expressed the proof of this propo sition, viz. that the terms above mentioned were not synonymous among the jews, if there had been any proof of it. But having already examined what the creed-maker brags he has closely urged, I shall say no more of it here.
To the creed-maker's making me a socinian, in his eighth chapter, for not naming Christ's satisfaction among the advantages and benefits of Christ's coming into the world; Mr. Bold replies, " 1. That it is no " proof, because I promised not to name every one of " them. And the mention of some is no denial of " others." 2. He replies, That, " satisfaction is not " so strictly to be termed an advantage, as the effects " and fruits of it are; and that the doctrine of satisfac- " tion instructs us the way how Christ did, by divine " appointment, obtain those advantages for us." And this was an answer that deserved some reply from the creed-maker.
BUT TO THIS HE ANSWERS NOT.
418 A Second Vindication of the Mr. Bold says right, that this is a doctrine that is of mighty importance for a Christian to be well acquainted with. And I will add to it, that it is very hard for a Christian, who reads the scripture with attention, and an unprejudiced mind, to deny the satisfaction of Christ: but it being a term not used by the Holy Ghost in the scripture, and very variously explained by those that do use it, and very much stumbled at by those I was there speaking to, who were such, as I there say, " Who will. te not take a blessing, unless they be instructed what " need they had of it, and why it was bestowed upon " them; " I left it with the other disputed doctrines of Christianity, to be looked into (to see what it was Christ had taught concerning it) by those who were Christians, and believed Jesus to be the Saviour promised, and sent from God. And to those who yet doubted that he was so, and made 'this objection, " What need was " there of a Saviour? " I thought it most reasonable to offer such particulars only as were agreed on by all Christians, and were capable of no dispute, but must be acknowledged by every body to be needful. This, though the words above quoted out of the Reasonable ness of Christianity, &c. p. 129, show to be my de sign; yet the creed-maker plainly gives me the lye, and tells me it was not my design. " All the world are " faithless, false, treacherous, hypocritical strainers " upon their reason and conscience, dissemblers, jour- " neymen, mercenary hirelings, except Mr. Edwards:" I mean all the world that opposes him. And must not one think he is mightily JDeh olden to the excel lency and readiness of his own nature, who is no sooner engaged in controversy, but he immediately finds out in his adversaries these arts of equivocation, lying, and effrontery, in managing of it? Reason and learning, and acquired improvements, might else have let him gone on with others, in the dull and ordinary way of fair arguing; wherein, possibly, he might have done no great feats. Must not a rich and fertile soil within, and a prompt genius, wherein a man may readily spy the propensities of base and corrupt nature, be acknow ledged to be an excellent qualification for a disputant, Reasonableness of Christianity, fyc. 419 to help him to the quick discovery and laying open of the faults of his opponents; which a mind otherwise disposed would not so much as suspect? But Mr. Bold, without this, could not have been so soon found out to be a journeyman, a dissembler, an hired mercenary, and stored with all those good qualities, wherein he hath his full share with me. But why would he then venture upon Mr. Edwards, who is so very quick-sighted in these matters, and knows so well what villainous man is capable of?
I should not here, in this my Vindication, have given the reader so much of Mr. Bold's reasoning, which, though clear and strong, yet has more beauty and force, as it stands in the whole piece in his book; nor should I have so often repeated this remark upon each passage, viz. "To this Mr. Edwards answers not;" had it not been the shortest and properest comment could be made on that triumphant paragraph of his, which begins in the 128th page of his Socinian creed; wherein, among a great deal of no small strutting, are these words: " By " their profound silence they acknowledge they have " nothing to reply." He that desires to see more of the same noble strain, may have recourse to that emi nent place. Besides, it was fit the reader should have this one taste more of the creed-maker's genius, who passing by in silence all these clear and apposite replies of Mr. Bold, loudly complains of him, p. 259, " That " where he [Mr. Bold] finds something that he dares " not object against, he shifts it off." And again, p. 260, " That he does not make any offer at reason; " there is not the least shadow of an argument — -As if " he were only hired to say something against me, [the " creed-maker,] though not at all to the purpose: and " truly, any man may discern a MERCENARY stroke all " along;" with a great deal more to the same purpose. For such language as this, mixed with scurrility, neither fit to be spoken by, nor of, a minister of the gospel, make up the remainder of his postscript. But to pre vent this for the future; I demand of him, that if in either of his treatises, there be any thing against what I have said, in my Reasonableness of Christianity, which 420 A Second Vindication of the he thinks not fully answered, he will set down the pro position in direct words, and note the page of his book where it is to be found: and I promise him to answer it. For as for his railing, and other stuff besides the matter, I shall hereafter no more trouble myself to take notice of it. And so much for Mr. Edwards.
THERE is another gentleman, and of another sort of make, parts, and breeding, who, (as it seems, ashamed of Mr. Edwards's way of handling controver sies in religion) has had something to say of my " Rea- " sonableness of Christianity," &c. and so has made it necessary for me to say a word to him, before I let those papers go out of my hand. It is the author of " The " Occasional Paper/' numb. 1. The second, third, and fourth pages of that paper, gave me great hopes to meet with a man, who would examine all the mistakes which came abroad in print, with that temper and indifferency, that might set an exact pattern for controversy, to those who would approve themselves to be sincere contenders for truth and knowledge, and nothing else, in the dis putes they engaged in. Making him allowance for the mistakes that self-indulgence is apt to impose upon hu man frailty, I am apt to believe he thought his perform ance had been such: but I crave leave to observe, that good and candid men are often misled, from a fair unbiassed pursuit of truth, by an over-great zeal for something, that they, upon wrong grounds, take to be so; and that it is not so easy to be a fair and unpreju diced champion for truth, as some, who profess it, think it to be. To acquaint him with the occasion of this re mark, I must desire him to read and consider his nine teenth page; and then to tell me, 1. Whether he knows, that the doctrine proposed in the " Reasonableness of Christianity, &c." was bor rowed, as he says, from Hobbes's Leviathan? For I tell him, I borrowed it only from the writers of the four Gospels and the Acts; and did not know those words, he quoted out of the Leviathan, were there, or any thing like them. Nor do I know yet, any farther than as I believe them to be there, from his quotation.
Reasonableness of Christianity, 8$c.
2. Whether affirming, as he does positively, this, which he could not know to be true, and is in itself per fectly false, were meant to increase or lessen the credit of the author of the " Reasonableness of Christianity," &c. in the opinion of the world? Or is consonant with his own rule, p. 3, " of putting candid constructions on " what adversaries say? " Or with what follows, in these words? " The more divine the cause is, still the greater " should be the caution. The very discoursing about " Almighty God, or our holy religion, should compose " our passions, and inspire us with candour and love. " It is very indecent to handle such subjects, in a man- " ner that betrays rancour and spite. These are fiends " that ought to vanish, and should never mix, either " with a search after truth, or the defence of religion."
3. Whether the propositions which he has, out of my book, inserted into his nineteenth page, and says, " are " consonant to the words of the Leviathan," were those of all my books, which were likeliest to give the reader a true and fair notion of the doctrine contained in it? If they were not, I must desire him to remember and beware of his fiends. Not but that he will find those propositions there to be true. But that neither he nor others may mistake my book, this is that, in short which it says: 1. That there is a faith that makes men Christians.
2. That this faith is the believing " Jesus of Naza- " reth to be the Messiah."
3. That the believing Jesus to be the Messiah, in cludes in it a receiving him for our Lord and King, promised and sent from God: and so lays upon all his subjects an absolute and indispensable necessity of as senting to all that they can attain the knowledge that he taught; and of a sincere obedience to all that he commanded.
This, whether it be the doctrine of the Leviathan, I know not. This appears to me out of the New Testa ment, from whence (as I told him in the preface) I took it, to be the doctrine of our Saviour and his apostles; and I would not willingly be mistaken in it. If there fore there be any other faith besides this, absolutely re- A Second Vindication of the quisitc to make a man a Christian, I shall here again de sire this gentleman to infovm me what it is, i. e. to set down all those propositions which are so indispensably to be believed, (for it is of simple believing I perceive the controversy runs,) that no man can be a believer, i. e. a Christian, without an actual knowledge of, and an explicit assent to them. If he shall do this with that candour and fairness he declares to be necessary in such matters, I shall own myself obliged to him: for I am in earnest, and I would not be mistaken in it.
If he shall decline it> I, and the world too, must con clude, that upon a review of my doctrine, he is con vinced of the truth of it, and is satisfied, that I am in the right. For it is impossible to think, that a man of that fairness and candour, which he solemnly prefaces his dis course with, should continue to condemn the account I have given of the faith which I am persuaded makes a Christian; and yet he himself will not tell me (when I earnestly demand it of him, as desirous to be rid of my errour, if it be one) what is that more, which is ab solutely required to be believed by every one, before he can be a believer, i. e. what is indispensably necessary to be known,, and explicitly believed to make a man a Christian.
Another thing which I must desire this author to ex amine, by those his own rules, is, what he says of me, p. 30, where he makes me to have a prejudice against the ministry of the gospel, and their office, from what I have said in my Reasonableness, (Sec. p. 135, 136, con cerning the priests of the world, in our Saviour's time: which he calls bitter reflections.
If he will tell me what is so bitter, in any one of those passages which he has set down, that is not true, or ought not to be said there, and give me the reason why he is offended at it; I promise him to make what repara tion he shall think fit, to the memory of those priests whom he, with so much good nature, patronizes, near seventeen hundred years after they had been out of the world; and is so tenderly concerned for their reputa tion, that he exccpts against that, as said against them, which was not. For one of the three places he sets down, Reasonableness of Christianity) S^c. 423 was not spoken of priests. But his making my mention ing 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 ex pose the office of the ministers of the gospel now? Or ought to have such an interpretation put upon it?
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 there fore 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 pro nounced 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 mi nisters 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 424 A Second Vindication., fyc.
whether that agrees with his rules of love and can dour?