SECT. X.-ART. XVIII.

OF OBTAINING ETERNAL SALVATION BY THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST.

They also are to be held 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 nature. For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved.

This Article is not pointed against any particular sect, neither does it confine salvation to one; but it is directed against those that believed that all religions were equally pleasing in the sight of Heaven, and provided that men observed their rules, would be equally effectual to salvation. For this strikes at the root, and undermines the truth of all revealed religion. The Article has no reference to the divisions amongst those who believe in Christ's atonement. It says, " By the law of the sect," in opposition to the merits of Christ. Now we read that "there is none other name under Heaven whereby men may be saved," than the name of Jesus Christ. If God has therefore declared his will, we are not at liberty to obey or reject it as we please. The Jews themselves, though worshippers of the one true God, were punished for rejecting the Messias. Christ

tells us,
that believeth not, shall be damned *.'

"He that believeth shall be saved, but he

These words, however, cannot apply to those who have had no opportunity of hearing the Gospel; in this case we find, that "in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him:" for as St. Paul says, "how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard + ?” Those Gentiles, therefore, who, not having heard of Christ, have been a law to themselves," may partake of the blessings purchased by him who "died for the sins of the whole world ." It is the Christian, however, only, who having a fœderal promise, enjoys this blessed hope of life, on sure and certain grounds. Nor is it certain that the Heathen will enjoy equal happiness with the Christian, amongst the different degrees of it which exist in the many mansions of Heaven.

*Mark xvi. 16.

† Romans x. 14.

Burnet here makes a distinction between the phrases being saved" by the law," and "in the law." He says, no man can be saved by the law of his sect, because if he be saved, he is only saved by Christ; but he may be saved in the law of his sect, (if he has had no opportunity of knowing the true law,) by virtue of God's compassion extending to him.

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE LAST TWENTY-ONE ARTICLES; CONCERNING CHRISTIANS, AS A SOCIETY.

SECT. I.-ART. XIX.

OF THE CHURCH.

The Visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of faithful men, in the which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly administered, according to Christ's Ordinance, in all those things that are of necessity requisite to the same.

As the Church of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch have erred; » also the Church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and maxner of ceremonies, but also in matters of Faith.

THIS article relates to one of the fundamental dif ferences between us and the Church of Rome, which holds that we should judge of doctrines according to the decisions of the Church; whereas we contend that we should judge of the purity of a Church by that of its doctrines.

If infallibility existed in a Church, there must be some plain and certain marks and proofs of it; as of a succession of miracles expressly adapted to confirm it; or of positive declarations of Scripture asserting it so that men might at once resign the

CHAP. IV. BRIEF EXPOSITION OF ARTICLE XIX. 379

faculty of their reason and private judgment to its decisions, in security from error by following them. There is nothing of this kind to establish the Roman Catholic pretension. On the contrary, the whole tenor of Scripture shews, that God deals with us as with reasonable creatures; both Christ and His Apostles argued with, and appealed to, the understanding of their hearers; and bade them search the Scriptures for themselves, to see if those things were so as they taught. Moreover, the claim to infallibility may be disproved, by the very doubts of those who asserted it, as to the person in whom it was vested; some contending for the Pope, and others for General Councils. These latter are considered in the next article; and the contradictory decisions of the former, is a sufficient refutation of their pretensions.

We may, therefore, proceed to observe, that the Visible Church is defined in this article, to be " a congregation of men in which true doctrine is preached, and the Sacraments rightly administered." The term is used in contradistinction to the invisible or mystical Church, in which all faithful Christians of all times are included*; and which is so called,

* On this point see Part III, Chap. 9, Sect. 1.

because all its members are not now upon earth; and because the qualities which entitle them to be in it, were never objects of sense, being the dispositions of the heart and mind. Hence, the visible Church may, in the general sense of the word, imply all outward professing Christians whatever; and in this sense it is used, when Christ says, "the kingdom of heaven (i. e. the Christian dispensation,) is as a net, which enclosed good and bad fishes." In this article, however, the term is confined to the Christians of one country, city, or persuasion; as for instance, the Church of Antioch, of Rome, of England, &c. Now that the word Church is used in a more or less extensive sense, in Scripture, is evident; e. g. "On this rock I will build my Church;" "the Lord added to the Church daily :" in these passages it means the Church, in its most extensive sense. Again, "The Church of God which is at Corinth;" "the Churches in Asia;" "the Church which is in Philemon's house;"—all imply a particular set of Christians, assembled together in a particular country, or at a particular place.

In this latter sense we use the word Church, to signify any congregation, in which the pure word of God is preached, and the Sacraments rightly admi