'QUESTION III. 74 the wise and the foolish, the Jews and the Greeks, the threaten- ing of kings, and the violenceof the people, was amore power- ful and evident proof of the, truth of their faith, than if they had made long speeches, and had the testimony of acontinued blame- lessconversation in a lanci and age of ehristians. Surely that confession, which was sufficient for martyrdom, if their enemies knew it ; must be sufficient for communion, when made known to the church. But in our age and :nation where Christianity is the profession of the time and the country, a mere acknowledg- ment of the name, or death and resurrection of Christ, is not sufficient to prove us knowing or sincere ehristians ; and there ought to be so much larger a confession, and so many credible circumstances attending it, before we can reasonably, or upon just grounds, believe a man to be a true Christian. All these re- .quirements which I have before mentioned being put together, .do not amount to so credible a profession, as for a man to say boldly this one sentence, " Lam aChristian;" in the face of death -and martyrdom. Axsw. V. I might, add also :in the last place, that a great number of the conversions of the primitive ehristians, were so sudden and surprising by the extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, that the very miracle of their conversion did sufficiently answer the end of a large and particular confession. 'l'he work of God on the souls of men was sometimes in an instant, and they were madebelievers, out of unbelievers, at once Me spirit fell on them while they heard the word ; and when they who just before professed Judaism or heathenism, and neither knew nor loved Jesus Christ, confessed his name and his religion at once; the wonderful change was evident to all, and theyhad nó lo.ig accounts to give either of their faith or conversion, their know- ledge or conversation ; nor was it required, because the miracle itself made their profession sufficiently credible. Besides, spiri- tual gifts were conferred on multitudes in that day as soon as they were converted, and gave sufficient evidence for acceptance unto baptism, as Acts x. 44, 46, 47. While Peter yet spoke these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then answered Peter, can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost, as well as we 2 He that well considers all these things, and sets the affairs of the primitive times in, a due light, and thus compares themwith our own, will see plainly that something more is ne- cessary to make a profession of .Christianity credible in our day, than was needful in the first age of the church. And yet still we may be said-to follow the rules and examplesof scripture, while ive require nothing more in order to communion than what is ne- cessary to make our profession credible; for só much of this has
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