Christ crucified, or, The doctrine of the Gospel asserted against Pelagian and Socinian errours revived under the notion of new lights : wherein also the original, occasion and progress of errours are set down : and admonitions directed both to them that stand fast in the faith and to those that are fallen from it : unto which are added three sermons ... / by Paul Lathom.

CHAP. V. The holy Scriptures being owned (at least in outward profession) by men of all professions that lay claim to the common name of Christianity; we may therefore take it for grant∣ed, that Arguments drawn from them, should put an end to all strife amongst us. The design and method of the four following Chapters pro∣posed.

THe Reverence we owe to the authority of the holy Scriptures, doth oblige e∣very good Christian, not onely to account it a necessary piece of humility to subscribe to the doctrine thereof, as the will and plea∣sure of him that made us, and to whom we owe all obedience: but also to esteem it the safest and most prudential course, to enter∣tain and embrace the truths thereof, as the Word of him who is Wisdom it self, and therefore cannot err or be deceived, and Goodness it self, and therefore we may be sure he will not endeavour to seduce or de∣lude us. So that though there be divers

things contained in this Sacred Volume, which our shallow capacities cannot reach to comprehend, yet we finde reason e∣nough to impute it to the defects of our Na∣ture, and not to any over-sight in those Sacred Writings, that we cannot always see a rea∣son of every thing therein delivered. And the Soveraign Authority, and infinite Wis∣dom of him that inspired those holy men that wrote these Books, is a sufficient argu∣ment to move us, to a reverent submission to those matters of Faith which surpass the reach of our reason: and therefore as every sober Professor of Christianity makes the Word of God the foundation of his Faith; so the best Arguments that can be produced for the confirming of our Belief in that Faith, which hath been delivered unto us, will be such as are fetched from this Sacred Prom∣ptuary of holy Writ.

And as I was mentioning it before, for the honour of the Word of God, that men of all Sects and perswasions, who center in the common Profession of the Christian Re∣ligion, do (at least) pretend great reverence to these Writings, and (whether in good earnest, or in design, to put off their opini∣ons the more plausibly in the world) do endeavour to represent even their most he∣terodox and incredible Notions, as the Doctrine of the Spirit of God in the Scri∣pture: we may therefore very reasonably expect that Arguments drawn from the

Scriptures, should be convineing to them, and an end of all strife. And further, that the fair and plain meaning of the words of Scripture, which is most obvious to every man of understanding, and which hath been received by the Church of God in all ages should be embraced by them as well as by us, as the ground upon which all Arguments are to be built: It being as absurd in mat∣ters of Reason and Faith, for one or a few men to expect that his or their single Vote, for some singular meaning of a plain Text of Scripture, should be heard in oppositi∣on to the judgement of the Church of God in all ages; as in matters of sense it would be for one man confidently and contentiously to pronounce that colour to be white or red, which all his Neighbours, and people of all Ages before him, have received under the notion of black.

We may therefore take it for granted, that Arguments drawn from the plain and obvious sense of the Scripture, such as hath been received by the Church in all Ages, should be accounted sufficient, both to con∣firm the faith of those that are serious in Christianity, and also to convince (or at least put to silence) those that are dissenting from us.

In order therefore to the confirming of us in the belief of this Truth, which is the substance of the whole Doctrine of the Gospel, that, The Word made flesh, or, God

the Son manifest in the flesh, hath truely and really undertaken and performed the Office of a Mediator, to reconcile God and man; I shall propound these four general Heads to be considered and confirmed.

First, That the Lord did promise to Adam after his fall, and to all the Fathers and Prophets of the Old Testament, his own Son to become man, and in the Union of these two Natures, to perform all those Offices which were necessary in order to our Re∣demption and Salvation.

Secondly, That the Time which was ap∣pointed for the accomplishing of these pro∣mises and Prophesies, and for the sending of the Son of God into the World, is long since expired; and consequently that we ought stedfastly to believe that our Saviour is already come in the flesh.

Thirdly, That we have full and suffici∣ent grounds to believe, that the same Jesus whom the New Testament holds forth unto us, and in whom we and all the Churches of God in all Ages have believed, is that very Person who was promised to the Fa∣thers, to come as the Messiah or Saviour of the World.

Fourthly, That the Apostles and Evan∣gelists in the New Testament, do hold forth unto us such a Christ, as was really and tru∣ly God and Man, Hypostatically united in one Person; and who did in a real and pro∣per sense satisfie Gods Justice for our sins,

and purchase eternal Salvation for us by his Merits.

On this Rock is the Church of God built: On this, have every one of us built our particular Faith, and in this we had need to be fully and persectly setled. And he that is confirmed in the truth of these four Positions, is confirmed in the whole Doctrine of the Gospel. Let us then pro∣ceed by the assistance of the good Spirit of God, to the opening and confirming of them in order.

Notes

• Chap. 2.
• Matt. 16.18.