in this long Difcourfe speak nothing of them ;) or else it must be certain from our Saviour's Words, that they may be bleffed, who do not believe them. In the fame Sermon he faith alfo, Not every one that faith unto me, Lord, Lord, fhall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven.

Now fure it would be very hard to fay, that no Man could fincerely do the Will of God, who docs not firmly believe all the forementioned Propofitions, of which our Saviour speaketh not one Word; and yet more hard to think that he fhould not only know them to be as neceffary to be believed, as any one thing he had taught, was to be done, and yet fay nothing of them; But alfo fay unto his Father, This is Life eternal, to know thee to be the only true God, and Jefus Chrift whom thou haft fent. And,

Lastly, our Saviour fays, Te are my Friends, if ye do what foever I command you, Joh. xv. 14. And promised, v. 10. That if we keep bis Commandments, we shall abide in his Love; And that he will give to them that hear his Voice, eternal Life: Since he hath faid, that they who know his Precepts, fhall be happy if they do them; that he who hath his Commandments, and keepeth them, is one that loveth him that if any one loveth me, he will keep my Sayings, and the Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and

make

make our abode with him, Joh. xiv. 23. It must be certain that they who yield fincere Obedience to his Laws, fhall be for ever happy.

Now what can be conceived neceffary to the Performance of this Obedience, befides fufficient Power to do what is commanded, and the most ftrong and powerful Inducements to engage us fo to do? Seeing the first must make us able, the fecond must be fufficient to make us willing, to do what is required of us. Since therefore it is certain, that a juft, and gracious Lawgiver cannot require us, on Pain of his fevere Difpleasure to do what he will not enable us to perform; and fince it is as certain, that the Promise of eternal Life, that is, the Promife of the greatest and moft lafting Bleffing that we can enjoy, must be fufficient to make us willing to do what we are able; it must be also certain, that the Divine Affiftance, which God will certainly afford to all that do fincerely ask it, that they may be ftrengthened in the inward Man to do his Will, and that a firm Affurance of that eternal Life, which he hath promised to them that do so, must be all that is necessary to the Performance of that Obedience, to which Chrift hath annexed the Promife of eternal Happiness.

St. John concludeth the Hiftory of his Gofpel in these Words; There are many other things which Jefus did, which are not written in this Book, but these things are writ D 3

ten,

ten, that ye might believe, that Jefus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, ye might have Life through his Name; plainly declaring that eternal Life may be obtained by a plain Belief that Jefus is the Chrift, and a Life fuitable to that Faith. Where by the way, we are to obferve, that he fpake this of the Belief, not of the Godhead of Jefus Chrift but of the Deeds done by him, which as he himself faith, bear witness that the Father bath fent him, and therefore that he was the

Chrift.

;

Agreeably to this, faith the Apostle Paul, This is the Word of Faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confefs with thy Mouth, that Jefus Chrift is Lord; and shalt believe in thine Heart that God hath raised him from the Dead, thou shall be faved, Rom. x. 8, 9. Becaufe by owning him as our Lord, we own our Obligation to yield Obedience to his Commands; For why, faith he, call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I fay? And the Belief of his Refurrection affords the highest Motives to perform it, we being, faith St. Peter, 1 Ep. i. 3. begotten by his Refurrection from the Dead, to a lively hope of an Inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, that fadeth not away, referved in the Heavens for

us.

Now from this Principle, that a Rule prefcribed by an All-wife God, to teach the most fimple, rude, and ignorant, as well as the wife

and

and prudent, what is neceffary for them to believe, and do, in order to Salvation, must be plain, and easy to be understood, by the most fimple and illiterate, it follows,

First, That 'tis repugnant to the Wisdom of God, to require any thing as necessary to be believed, which is dubious, and obfcure in Scripture; fince that would be to propound that as a Means for obtaining an End, which he knew to be infufficient to obtain it ; being certain, that what is dubious and obfcure in Scripture, cannot afford us a certain Knowledge of our Duty.

it

Secondly, It alfo feems repugnant to the Goodness of God, to perplex and confound weak Minds with fuch Subtilties, for the Knowledge of which he has not given them suitable Qualifications. Seeing, as St. Paul obferves, God accepteth, according to that a Man hath, and not according to that he hath not, 2 Cor. viii. 12. Now it is evident, from the continual Clashings of our most learned Divines about thefe Subtilties, that the illiterate can have no certain Knowledge of the Truth or Falfhood of them.

Thirdly, It feemeth inconfiftent with the Juftice and Righteousness of God, to require any Man to believe what he does not, nor cannot, understand; for no Man can be faid to believe, that is, affent to, what he does not underftand; because Affent is an Act of the Underftanding, and we muft understand the Mean

ing of every Term in a Propofition, before we can affent to it, or diffent from it; for Words of which we do not understand the Meaning, are the fame to us, as if they had no Signification at all. A Righteous God puts upon no Man the Egyptian Task, of making Brick without Straw; nor requires any thing of us in order to our Salvation, which we cannot perform; that being in Effect to require impoffible Conditions of Salvation. from us. See this farther proved, Serm. 4. Sect. 2. 3, 4, 5.

In fine, Belief, or Disbelief, can neither be a Virtue, or a Crime, in any one who uses the best Means in his Power of being informed. If a Propofition is evident, we cannot avoid believing of it; and where is the Merit or Piety of a neceffary Affent? If it is not evident, we cannot help rejecting it, or doubting of it; and where is the Crime of not performing Impoffibilities, or not believing what does not appear to us to be true? If I have done my beft Endeavour to know the Mind of God revealed in Scripture, I have done all I could, and therefore all that God requires of me in order to that End: Can then a good and gracious God be angry with me, or condemn me for my unwilling Miftakes, when I have done all that was in my Power to avoid them?

In fine, It is obfervable that the very Nature of a Prophet requires this, that he should be a Person fent from God, and not speaking