562 THE SAC°It'ICE or CHRIST. Charity is a necessary duty to mein by the authority of God, and in God's name let us exercise this christian grace, according to the true measuresand degrees and kinds of it toward all where God requires, all to whomChrist or St. Paul would have exer- cised it. But as they are our leaders or standards, let us not pretend to please God better, or seek the name of better Chris- tians, by going beyond the bounds that they have appointed. Perhaps my charity would extend so far, as to include a heathen deist according to thegeneral revelations of grace made to Adam orNoah, if any such person should be found diligent and sincere in the search of truth by the light of nature, and constant in the daily worship of one true God, and zealous to practise the com- mon rules of virtue among men, who is humbly penitent where lie falls short and trusts in the general mercy of God, while he has never yet heard of the gospel of Christ, nor ever enjoyed any opportunity of acquaintance with Jesus and his salvation. But where the New Testament is known, and sufficient evi- dences of the truth of the gospel shine round about us, where a man has capacity and leisure to read and search out the truth, if he still obstinately persist in Isis infidelity, may not charity itself allow that there is some very criminal prejudice blinds his eyes, and that he lies exposed to that dreadful sentence, he that be- lieves not shall be damned; Mark xvi. 16. And in the same manner, where a person reads the New Testament, and has all proper opportunities for understanding the sense of it, and yet renounces this doctrine of the death of Christ as a sacrifice of atonement for sin ; I think I have sufficient ground to say, it is owing to some criminal prejudice indulged ; and in that case, to repeat the language of the apostle, There remains no more sacri- fice fór, his sins, but a certain fearful expectation, 4c. Heb. x. 20, 27. SECT. V.Queries urged against the Necessity of Believing this Doctrine. All this while Cavenor sat silent: But it was easy to see by the changes of his countenance, and the passions of his face, that he was not unmoved. At last he declared the musings of his soul in this manner : I am mnch surprized now with Fer- ventio's zeal in proclaiming the necessity. of this doctrine of atonement in order to salvation, as I was before to find so many arguments which I never thought of to defend the doctrine itself among the queries of Paulinus ; though I am bóld to say that the reasonings of Paulinus carry more force and evidence with them than the warm discodrse Of Ferventio on this subject. What shall I not be a christian, and can I not be saved except I be- come a convert to this opinion ? Surely those truths should be most exceeding plain, both as to the expressions and the sense of them in scripture, which demand our faith under such a penalty.
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