SECTION IV. 581 general epistle of St. John, where he cites the words of our Saviour; John vi. 53. " Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you :" And then adds, The express words of Christ clearly declare the necessity of faith in his body given, and his blood shed for the remission of sins, to justification and salvation, we " being justified by his blood, and through faith in his blood," as Rom. iii. 25. and chapter v. 9. He goes on to prove the same point from the plain declara- tions of St. Paul, who among the many things he preached to the Corinthians, as things by the belief of which they should be saved, mentions three articles. First of all, " that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures ; secondly, " that he was buried ;" and thirdly, " that he rose from the dead ;" 1 Cor. xv. 1-4. The doctrine of the sufficiency of faith in Christ's death for " justification without the works of the law," is by the same apostle declared to be so necessary, that he saith of them who gainsayed it, " Christ is become of no effect to you, ye are fallen from grace ;" Gal. v. 2, 4. Thus far Doctor Whitby. Now what would these gentlemen have said to Agrippa, if he had acquainted them with his scheme, if we may judge of their sentiments by these citations ? All their charity would not have allowed him a place in a christian chute y nor thought him worthy of the privilege of our holy communion. Ferventio having cited two suchauthors as these, supposed he had sufficiently secured himself from the censure of an uncha- ritable spirit : But todefend his sentiments yet further, he pro- ceeds thus : I Would fain know, says he, what is charity, when the word-is used in this sort of debate. Though charity, is said by St. Paul ; 1 Cor. xiii. 7. to believe all things, and to hope all things, yet can we ever think that charity obliges us to believe that man to be a christian, who renounces one chief office of Christ ? Or to hope that Agrippa has all the necessaries of chris- tianity, when it is so evident by his own confession that he wants several of them? Will charity require us to say, that any man will find propitiation'for his sins, through ,faith in the blood of Christ, who denies that this blood hath made any real propitia- tion for sin, and bath no faith in it for that purpose, and whocon- tinues to do this after the whole New Testament is put into his hands, and these scriptures which so plainly assert it, are pointed out to him in abundance and variety ? Christian charity; my friends, though it ought to be stretched to a large extent, yet it, ought not to renounce truth and scripture, nor must it be bound- less and unlimitable. ' Est modus in rebus, sent certi denique fines, Quo's ultra cintaq; nequit consistere rectum."Hor. " There is a mean in things, its boituds are sure : Nor truth nor goodness can extremes endure." VOL. Iv. N N
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