An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ,…

It is the observation of the Learned Dr. Prideaux, ¹That in the dark age of the School-men, Paulus cessit Aristoteli, & gratia naturae: St. Paul was fain to yield to Aristotle, and grace to nature: And I fear it will be so again, we have here set before our eyes natural Faith: Faith natural in its believing principle, and natural in its Object; Reason of it self, and without any elevation of Grace, may, nay, I suppose, must admit the things of natural Theology, as being within its own Sphere; and shall we call this faith, justifying faith, which is nature, & nothing but nature? Justifying Faith, if we believe Scripture, is every way supernatural; supernatural in its Principle, & supernatural in its Object: Supernatural in its Principle, it is called, faith of the operation of God, Gal. 2.12. It is not of our selves, but it is the gift of God, Eph. 2.8. Not a natural gift, but a gift of mere Grace: unto you it is given to believe, saith the Apostle, Phil. 1.29. [Greek or Hebrew], it is freely graciously given to you to believe, it ⟨p. 343⟩is [Greek or Hebrew], a good grace divinely given. Hence the second Arausican Council, expressly tells us, that our believing is per infusionem & inspirationem spiritûs Sancti, Can. 6. Nay, the very Council of Trent pronounces an Anathema on those that say, that a man may believe without the inspiration of the holy Spirit: And Faith is also supernatural in its Object, it is a thing above the [Greek or Hebrew], above mere natural Theology: It is fixed in a God in Covenant, and in his free Grace, it hangs upon Christ, and his sweet-smelling Sacrifice; it embraces the promises of Grace and Remission, and all these are supernatural only: As in the Authors Natural Faith, there is nothing but Nature; So in the true justifying Faith, there is nothing but supernatural Grace: But the Author gives us an instance of natural Faith in Abel and Enoch, who believed the principles of natural Religion, who believed that God is, and that he is the rewarder of them that seek him: And had Abel and Enoch only a natural Faith? Did they not believe in a Messiah? Was that first precious promise,