Places of Scripture to prove obedience due from Christians to their sovereign in all things.
4. And for the actions of men which proceed from their consciences, the regulating of which actions is the only means of peace, if they might not stand with justice, it were impossible that justice towards God, and peace amongst men, should stand together in that religion that teacheth us, that justice and peace shall kiss each other, and in which we have so many precepts of absolute obedience to human authority; as Matth. xxiii. 2, 3, we have this precept: The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat; all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do. And yet were the Scribes and Pharisees not priests, but men of temporal authority. Again Luke xi. 17: Every kingdom divided against itself shall be desolate; and is not that kingdom divided against itself, where the actions of every one shall be ruled by his private opinion, or conscience, and yet those actions such as give occasion of offence and breach of peace? Again Rom. xiii. 5: Wherefore you must be subject, not because of wrath only, but also for conscience sake. Titus iii. 1: Put them in remembrance, that they be subject to principalities and powers. 1 Peter ii. 13, 14: Submit yourselves unto all manner of ordinance of man, for the Lord’s sake, whether it be unto the king, as unto the superior, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers. Jude, verse 8: These dreamers also that defile the flesh, and despise government, and speak evil of them that are in authority. And forasmuch as all subjects in commonwealths are in the nature of children and servants, that which is a command to them, is a command to all subjects. But to these St. Paul saith (Colos. iii. 20, 22): Children, obey your parents in all things; servants, be obedient to your masters according to the flesh in all things. And verse 23: Do it heartily as to the Lord. These places considered, it seemeth strange to me, that any man in a Christian commonwealth, should have any occasion to deny his obedience to public authority, upon this ground, that it is better to obey God than man. For though St. Peter and the apostles did so answer the council of the Jews, that forbad them to preach Christ, there appeareth no reason that Christians should allege the same against their Christian governors, that command them to preach Christ. To reconcile this seeming contradiction of simple obedience to God, and simple obedience to man, we are to consider a Christian subject, as under a Christian sovereign, or under an infidel.
A distinction propounded between a fundamental point of faith and a superstruction.
5. And under a Christian sovereign we are to consider, what actions we are forbidden by God Almighty to obey them in, and what not. The actions we are forbidden to obey them in, are such only, as imply a denial of that faith which is necessary to our salvation: for otherwise there can be no pretence of disobedience; for why should a man incur the danger of a temporal death, by displeasing of his superior, if it were not for fear of eternal death hereafter? It must therefore be enquired, what those propositions and articles be, the belief whereof our Saviour or his apostles have declared to be such, as without believing them, a man cannot be saved; and then all other points, that are now controverted, and made distinction of sects, Papists, Lutherans, Calvinists, Arminians, &c. (as in old time, the like made Paulists, Apollonians, and Cephasians), must needs be such, as a man needeth not for the holding thereof, deny obedience to his superiors. And for the points of faith necessary to salvation, I shall call them fundamental, and every other point a superstruction.
An explication of the points of faith, that be fundamental.
6. And without all controversy, there is not any more necessary point to be believed for man’s salvation than this, that Jesus is the Messiah, that is, the Christ; which proposition is explicated in sundry sorts, but still the same in effect; as, that he is God’s anointed; for that is signified by the word Christ: that he was the true and lawful king of Israel, the son of David, the Saviour of the world, the redeemer of Israel, the salvation of God, he that should come into the world, the son of God, and, which I desire by the way to have noted, against the now sect of Arians, the begotten Son of God, Acts iii. 13; Heb. v. 5: The only begotten Son of God, John i. 14, 18; John iii. 16, 18; 1 John iv. 9: That he was God, John i. 1; John xx. 28: That the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily, Coloss. ii. 9: Moreover, the Holy One, the Holy One of God, the forgiver of sins, that he is risen from the dead. These are explications, and parts of that general article, that Jesus is the Christ. This point therefore, and all the explications thereof are fundamental: as also all such as be evidently inferred from thence; as, belief in God the Father: John xii. 44: He that believeth in me, believeth not in me, but in him that sent me; 1 John ii. 23: He that denieth the Son, hath not the Father: belief in God the Holy Ghost, of whom Christ saith, John xiv. 26: But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name: and John xv. 26: But when the Comforter shall come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth: BELIEF OF THE SCRIPTURES, by which we believe those points and of the immortality of the soul, without which we cannot believe he is a Saviour.
That the belief of those fundamental points, is all that is required to salvation, as of faith.
7. And as these are the fundamental points of faith necessary to salvation; so also are they only necessary as matter of faith, and only essential to the calling of a Christian; as may appear by many evident places of Holy Scripture: John v. 39: Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. Now, forasmuch as by the Scripture, is meant there the Old Testament (the New being then not written), the belief of that which was written concerning our Saviour in the Old Testament, was sufficient belief for the obtaining of eternal life: but in the Old Testament, there is nothing revealed concerning Christ, but that he is the Messiah, and such things as belong to the fundamental points thereupon depending. And therefore those fundamental points are sufficient to salvation as of faith. And John vi. 28, 29: Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them. This is the work of God, that ye believe in him, whom he hath sent. So that the point to be believed is, That Jesus Christ came forth from God, and he which believeth it, worketh the works of God. John xi. 26, 27: Whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. Believest thou this? She said unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. Hence followeth, He that believeth this, shall never die. John xx. 31: But these things are written, that ye might believe, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through his name. By which appeareth, that this fundamental point is all that is required, as of faith to our salvation. 1 John iv. 2: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the[the] flesh, is of God: 1 John v. 1: Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God; and (verse 5) Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth, that Jesus is the Son of God: and verse 13: These things have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life. Acts, viii. 36, 37: The eunuch said, Here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said unto him, If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest. He answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. This point therefore was sufficient for the reception of man into baptism, that is to say, to Christianity. And Acts, xvi. 29-31: The keeper of the prison fell down before Paul and Silas, and said, Sirs, what shall I do to be saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the sermon of St. Peter, upon the day of Pentecost, was nothing else but an explication, that Jesus was the Christ. And when they had heard him, they asked him, What shall we do? He said unto them, (Acts, ii. 38): Amend your lives, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Rom. x. 9: If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart, that God raised him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved. To these places may be added, that wheresoever our Saviour Christ doth approve the faith of any man, the proposition believed, if the same be to be collected out of the text, is always some of these fundamental points before mentioned, or something equivalent: as the faith of the centurion (Matth. viii. 8): Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed; believing he was omnipotent: the faith of the woman, which had an issue of blood, (Matth. ix. 21): If I may but touch the hem of his garment; implying, he was the Messiah: the faith required of the blind men, (Matth. ix. 28): Believe you that I am able to do this? the faith of the Canaanitish woman, (Matth. xv. 22), that he was the Son of David, implying the same. And so it is in every one of those places, none excepted, where our Saviour commendeth any man’s faith, which because they are too many to insert here, I omit, and refer them to his inquisition that is not otherwise satisfied. And as there is no other faith required, so there was no other preaching: for the prophets of the Old Testament preached no other; and John the Baptist preached only the approach of the kingdom of heaven, that is to say, of the kingdom of Christ. The same was the commission of the apostles (Matth. x. 7): Go preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Paul preaching amongst the Jews, (Acts, xviii. 5), did but testify unto the Jews, that Jesus was the Christ. And the heathens took notice of Christians no otherwise, but by this name, that they believed Jesus to be a king, crying out, (Acts, xvii. 6, 7): These are they that have subverted the state of the world, and here they are, whom Jason hath received. And these all do against the decrees of Cæsar, saying, that there is another king, one Jesus. And this was the sum of the predictions, the sum of the confessions of them that believed, as well men as devils. This was the title of his cross, Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews; this the occasion of the crown of thorns, sceptre of reed, and a man to carry his cross; this was the subject of the Hosannas; and this was the title, by which our Saviour, commanding to take another man’s goods, bade them say, The Lord hath need; and by this title he purged the temple of the profane market kept there. Nor did the apostles themselves believe any more than that Jesus was the Messiah, nor understand so much; for they understood the Messiah to be no more than a temporal king, till after our Saviour’s resurrection. Furthermore, this point, that Christ is the Messiah, is particularly set forth for fundamental by that word, or some other equivalent thereunto in divers places. Upon the confession of Peter (Matth. xvi. 16): Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, our Saviour (verse 18) saith, Upon this rock will I build my church. This point therefore is the whole foundation of Christ’s church. St. Paul saith, (Rom. xv. 20) I so enforced myself to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should have built upon another man’s foundation. St. Paul, (1 Cor. iii. 10) when he had reprehended the Corinthians for their sects, and curious doctrines and questions, he distinguisheth between fundamental points, and superstruction; and saith, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereupon; but let every man take heed how he buildeth upon it. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Coloss. ii. 6, 7: As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and builded in him, and stablished in the faith.
That other points not fundamental, are not necessary to salvation as matters of faith; and that no more is required by way of faith to the salvation of one man than to the salvation of another.
8. Having showed this proposition, Jesus is the Christ, to be the only fundamental and necessary point of faith, I shall set down a few places more, to show, that other points, though they may be true, are not so necessary to be believed, as that a man may not be saved, though he believe them not. And first, if a man could not be saved without assent of the heart to the truth of all controversies, which are now in agitation concerning religion, I cannot see, how any man living can be saved; so full of subtilty, and curious knowledge it is to be so great a divine. Why therefore should a man think that our Saviour, who (Matth. xi. 30), saith, that his yoke is easy, should require a matter of that difficulty? or how are little children said to believe, (Matth. xviii. 6); or how could the good thief be thought sufficiently catechised upon the cross? or St. Paul so perfect a Christian presently upon his conversion? and though there may be more obedience required in him that hath the fundamental points explicated unto him, than in him that hath received the same but implicitly; yet there is no more faith required for salvation in one man, than another. For if it be true, that Whosoever shall confess with his mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in his heart, that God raised him from the dead, shall be saved; as it is, Rom. x. 9, and that Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God; the belief of that point is sufficient for the salvation of any man whosoever he be, forasmuch as concerneth faith. And seeing he that believeth not that Jesus is the Christ, whatsoever he believe else, cannot be saved; it followeth, that there is no more required of the salvation of one man, than another, in matter of faith.