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

Abel justum, & Noah, & Abraham, & Isaac, & Jacob, & omnem antiquorum Sanctorum multitudinem, illam praeclaram fidem, quam in ipsorum laudem praedicat Apostolus Paulus, non per bonum naturae, sed per gratiam Dei credimus fuisse collatam: You see, they allow no natural Faith: Our Church, reckoning up Abel, and the rest of the Worthies, Heb. 11. saith, They did not only know God to be the Maker and Governor of the World; ¹but they had a special confidence and trust, that he would be their God, although they were not named Christian men; yet was it a Christian Faith that they had; for they looked for all benefits of God the Father, through the merits of his Son Jesus Christ, as we now do: And in the eighteenth Article, our Church saith, They are to be had accursed, that presume to say, that every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth; so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that Law, and the light of ⟨p. 347⟩Nature: For holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the name of Jesus Christ, by which men must be saved. And what can be more full or zealous than these passages? I shall only more add the judgement of Bishop Wren; Abelem, qui per propterque fidem Messiae defunctus est, etiamnum celebrari à nobis Christianis, atque in Ecclesiae Christi Martyrologiis (quae [Greek or Hebrew], ritè appellantur, Heb. 12.1.) locum habere: Thus much touching natural Faith. The second sort of Faith mentioned by the Author, is of particular Revelations made to Noah, Abraham, and others, whereby they were justified: Observe, the Author saith, That in the Eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews, there are mentioned two kinds of Faith; that is, natural Faith, and Faith of particular Revelations: So that it seems in this Chapter (which reaches down from Abel to the Maccabees, Nay, I suppose after them, to the Incarnation of Christ) there is no Faith in Christ at all to be thought of: But Noah and the rest had not only a Faith of particular promises, but a Faith in the Messiah too, which was that which made it justifying, Abraham rejoiced to see Christ's day: And that was the joy of Faith, Joh. 8.56. ⟨p. 348⟩