Knowing now what is the obedience necessary to salvation,and to whom it is due,we are to consider next,concerning faith,whom and why we believe,and what are the articles or points necessarily to be believed by them that shall be saved.And first,for the person whom we believe,because it is impossible to believe any person before we know what he saith,it is necessary he be one that we have heard speak.The person therefore whom Abraham,Isaac,Jacob,Moses,and the prophets believed was God Himself,that spake unto them supernaturally;and the person whom the Apostles and Disciples that conversed with Christ believed,was our Saviour himself.But of them,to whom neither God the Father nor our Saviour ever spake,it cannot be said that the person whom they believed was God.They believed the Apostles,and after them the pastors and doctors of the Church that recommended to their faith the history of the Old and New Testament:so that the faith of Christians ever since our Saviour's time hath had for foundation,first,the reputation of their pastors,and afterward,the authority of those that made the Old and New Testament to be received for the rule of faith;which none could do but Christian sovereigns,who are therefore the supreme pastors,and the only persons whom Christians now hear speak from God;except such as God speaketh to in these days supernaturally.But because there be many false prophets gone out into the world,other men are to examine such spirits,as St.John adviseth us,"whether they be of God,or not."And,therefore,seeing the examination of doctrines belongeth to the supreme pastor,the person which all they that have no special revelation are to believe is,in every Commonwealth,the supreme pastor,that is to say,the civil sovereign.
The causes why men believe any Christian doctrine are various:for faith is the gift of God,and He worketh it in each several man by such ways as it seemeth good unto Himself.The most ordinary immediate cause of our belief,concerning any point of Christian faith,is that we believe the Bible to be the word of God.But why we believe the Bible to be the word of God is much disputed,as all questions must needs be that are not well stated.For they make not the question to be,why we believe it,but how we know it;as if believing and knowing were all one.And thence while one side ground their knowledge upon the infallibility of the Church,and the other side on the testimony of the private spirit,neither side concludeth what it pretends.For how shall a man know the infallibility of the Church but by knowing first the infallibility of the Scripture?Or how shall a man know his own private spirit to be other than a belief grounded upon the authority and arguments of his teachers or upon a presumption of his own gifts?Besides,there is nothing in the Scripture from which can be inferred the infallibility of the Church;much less,of any particular Church;and least of all,the infallibility of any particular man.
It is manifest,therefore,that Christian men do not know,but only believe the Scripture to be the word of God;and that the means of making them believe,which God is pleased to afford men ordinarily,is according to the way of nature,that is to say,from their teachers.It is the doctrine of St.Paul concerning Christian faith in general,"Faith cometh by hearing,"that is,by hearing our lawful pastors.He saith also,"How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?And how shall they hear without a preacher?And how shall they preach,except they be sent?"Whereby it is evident that the ordinary cause of believing that the Scriptures are the word of God is the same with the cause of the believing of all other articles of our faith,namely,the hearing of those that are by the law allowed and appointed to teach us,as our parents in their houses,and our pastors in the churches:which also is made more manifest by experience.For what other cause can there be assigned why in Christian Commonwealths all men either believe or at least profess the Scripture to be the word of God,and in other Commonwealths scarce any,but that in Christian Commonwealths they are taught it from their infancy,and in other places they are taught otherwise?
But if teaching be the cause of faith,why do not all believe?It is certain therefore that faith is the gift of God,and He giveth it to whom He will.Nevertheless,because to them to whom He giveth it,He giveth it by the means of teachers,the immediate cause of faith is hearing.In a school,where many are taught,and some profit,others profit not,the cause of learning in them that profit is the master;yet it cannot be thence inferred that learning is not the gift of God.
All good things proceed from God;yet cannot all that have them say they are inspired;for that implies a gift supernatural,and the immediate hand of God;which he that pretends to,pretends to be a prophet,and is subject to the examination of the Church.
But whether men know,or believe,or grant the Scriptures to be the word of God,if out of such places of them as are without obscurity I shall show what articles of faith are necessary,and only necessary,for salvation,those men must needs know,believe,or grant the same.
The unum necessarium,only article of faith,which the Scripture maketh simply necessary to salvation is this,that Jesus is the Christ.By the name of Christ is understood the King which God had before promised by the prophets of the Old Testament to send into the world,to reign (over the Jews and over such of other nations as should believe in him)under Himself eternally;and to give them that eternal life which was lost by the sin of Adam.Which,when Ihave proved out of Scripture,I will further show when,and in what sense,some other articles may be also called necessary.