CERTAIN POSITIONS CONCERNING The Fundamentals OF CHRISTIANITY, Which brings SALVATION to all that entertain them.   printer's or publisher's device 
London, Printed for Richard Woodnothe next Door to the Golden Heart in Leaden Hall Street, 1657.   

The Preface.  
THE end for which these Positions are thus put forth is this; that the Godly wise in the Nation may be pleased to take them into their serious consideration, and weigh these four Queries.  
1 Whether therebe any untruths in any of these Positions, yea or no?  
2 Whether they be all fundamental truths in Christianity, yea or no?  
That is such truths as bring Salvation to the souls of those, that receive them so, as is hereafter explained.  
3 Whether in Reference to the Salvation of our souls any of these truths be superfluous, yea or no? that is, needless, or useless to build up a soul upon the foundation unto Salvation.  
4 And lastly all these Positions being found to be truths and fundamental truths, and none of them useless to build up a soul unto Salvation; the Question will be, whether they all as taken jointly in their coherence be deficient to bring a soul unto Salvation, or are not sufficient to fit it to have communion with God, yea or no?  
If any that is Godly will without partiality show his sense of these Positions, in reference to any or all of these Queries, he will do a very acceptable service, and obliging work of Love to many of God's people, Chief if it be showed wherein they are deficient, either in the truth or in the fundamentalitie of things useful or necessary unto Salvation, and if he will address his meaning touching this matter to Mr. Samuel Hartlieb, dwelling near Charring Cross, over against Angel-court in Westminster it will come to be made use of for God's Glory. But if these Positions shall be found sufficient, and no ways deficient in that which is requisite to fit a penitent and believing soul to have communion with God, than the further Question will be.  
5 Whether it be not incumbent as a duty upon all those, who by these truths, or by the chief of them, have communion, or pretend to have communion with God, to have communion also one with another, by making open profession according to God's appointment of their joint dependence upon him.  
6 And if any doth conceive, that this is no duty, it is earnestly desired that the reasons why it is not acknowledged to be a duty, may be alleged from God word.  
7 But if it cannot be denied to be a duty, and a great and fundamental duty in the profession of Christianity, then let these Questions be seriously and conscionably laid to heart. What the cause is why it is not practised? and how that cause may be removed?  
Now to avoid mistakes concerning the different Notions which may be had concerning a foundation, and concerning Salvation; the sense wherein they are here taken is to be noted to be this.  
1 By a foundation, is meant in this place some truth, upon which all other truths are to be raised; to build up the souls of men to become an habitation of God through the spirit: for the Christian Religion is that knowledge and practice by which the souls of men are fitted to have fellowship with God, and become a tabernacle of him through the spirit. Now the truth upon which all other truths are to be raised, which build up the soul to this state, is none other but this: That Jesus of Nazareth who is of the seed of David according to the flesh, is the Christ, and the only begotten Son of God, the Saviour of the world, to be believed in according to the Testimony of the Apostles and Prophets in the Scriptures, and to be followed.  
This one truth is explicitly to be believed, and upon it all other truths necessary or useful to build up the soul to Salvation, may be raised, and without the explicit assent unto the truth thereof, no other truth fitting the soul to have communion with God, can savingly be received.  
2 The Notion of Salvation is here taken, as it is expressed by Christ unto Paul, when he sends him to the Gentiles to preach unto them the Gospel, Acts 26.18. I send thee (saith the Lord) To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sancrified by Faith, which is in me. Whence I gather, that the soul whose understanding is opened and freed from natural Ignorance to see the light of life, and is no more a Slave to Satan & sin by Lust, but redeemed by the pardon of sins, and set at liberty to serve the Lord by the free gift of Faith & Holiness, and thereby is fitted to receive the inheritance of Glory: I say, that such a soul is saved, and that Salvation in this life is nothing else, but such a qualification of the souls of men which is wrought in them by the word, and preaching of Faith and Repentance in the Gospel, whereof the following truths are the fundamentals in the sense, which in the close is explained.   

Fundamental Truths.  
1 WHosoever doth believe in God through the Gospel, and doth repent from dead works, he shall be saved.  
2 No man can be saved, except he repent from dead works, and believe in God through the Gospel.  

Of Faith.  
1 NO man can believe in God through the Gospel; except by the Gospel he know him to be the only true God, and ●esus Christ whom he hath sent.  
2 No man can know God to be the only true God, except he believe him to be a spirit alone before all things from everlasting; and above all things the absolute supreme Being to everlasting: from whom, and according to whose will all true being is in every thing; whose perfection in all goodness, in all power, in all knowledge, in all truth and faithfulness, in all justice and Mercy, in all glory, happiness, & Holiness, is infinite.  
3 And no man doth believe these things of God truly, who doth not also acknowledge him to be in respect of his being incommunicable to all creatures, and unchangeably all-sufficient in himself: and in respect of his power the all-present Govenor of all his creatures at all times; and the, altogether  and  Judge of all the world, which he hath created.  
4 No man can know God to be the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, except he believe him to be the Father of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ to be his only begotten Son, who came forth from the Father, as sent into this world to manifest the Love of God to mankind.  
5 No man can know the Father, or come to the Father, but by the Son; and whosoever doth seek to come to the Father, or to know him any otherway, cannot attain to Salvation.  
6 No man can know the Father and the Son to Salvation, except the spirit of the Father and of the Son be given him & he reveal them to him.  
7 No man can receive the spirit of the Father and of the Son, without the Testimony of the word of God received by Faith.  
8 The Testimony of the word of God is not where delivered to us infallibly, or received by us savingly to beget Faith; but as it cometh from the truth expressed in the Scriptures of the old and new Testament.  
9 The Scriptures of the old and new Testament are the oracles of God, the rule of our Faith and Obedience, by which all spirits are to be tried, whether they be of God or no?  
10 If any man will know the true meaning of the Scriptures, he must do the will of God, whose oracles they are; & no man can truly know him, and the meaning of his oracles, except he keep his Commandments.  
11 No man doth know Jesus Christ according to the Testimony of the Scriptures, who doth not believe him to be of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, made of a woman, and made like unto us in all things, sin excepted; and who doth not also believe, that he is the true God over all blessed for ever Amen, whose out-going being from everlasting, he is still yesterday, to day and for ever the same.  
12 No man can know Jesus Christ according to the Testimony of the Scriptures, who doth not believe, that he is the Mediator of the new Covenant, the great Prophet, the High Priest of the true Tabernacle, and the King of Saints.  
13 No man can know Jesus Christ to be the Mediator of the new Covenant, who hath not learned the tenor of the Covenant from the truth expressed in Scriptures; and who doth not believe, that according to the Covenant God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, and not imputing unto them their trespasses.  
14 No man knoweth Jesus Christ to be the great Prophet, who doth not hearken to him to be taught by him of the Father, and to refer the voice of all the Prophets unto him.  
15 No man knoweth Jesus Christ to be the Highpriest of the true Tabernacle, who doth not believe, that God anointed him with the oil of Gladness above his fellows, that he should be a Saviour of his People: and who doth not take notice, that he gave himself on the cross to be an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling Savour of atonement, and a ransom for all through Faith in his blood; that justification and remission of sins might be obtained freely through the Grace of Faith in his Name, and not by works; & that now the man Jesus is the alone Advocate and Intercessor appearing in Heaven for his Elect.  
16 No man knoweth Christ to be the King of Saints, who doth not believe him (the man Jesus of Nazareth) to be exalted at the right hand of the throne of Majesty on high, to possess all power both in Heaven and Earth, and to be over the Church as the head thereof, distinct in his person from all his members, and set above every name, that is named not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.  
17 No man knoweth Jesus to be sent of the Father to be the Saviour of the world, who doth not believe, that he (being a man) died for the life of the world, and was buried and risen again from the dead, and ascended up into Heaven; & from thence shall come again to Judge the quick & the dead.  
18 No man receiveth the Holy Ghost, who doth not believe, that he is the sanctifier of mankind, and the Author of the New-birth, without which no man can enter into the Kingdom of God; and the distributer of all the graces of God unto the members of Christ in the Church, according to his own will.  
19 No man knoweth Christ to be the head of the Church, who doth not believe that Christ hath a Church in the world, whose members are united to him, and to one another by one common spirit.  
20 If any man acknowledge not that there shall be a Resurrection of the dead at the last day, and an everlasting Judgement of the just and unjust, whereby the Godly shall be received into everlasting joy and glory in Heaven; and the wicked condemned unto everlasting torments with the Devils and his Angels in Hell, this man's Faith and Hope is in vain,   

Of Repentance.  
1 No man can repent from dead works, except he know, that the works which he doth by himself as in his own strength, are dead and destitute of the life of God.  
2 No man doth truly repent, who doth not deny himself in all his own ways and abilities, and turning to God in Christ, doth cast himself only upon his mercy.  
3 No man can deny himself, and cast himself only upon God's mercy, except he acknowledge himself before God a sinner, and guilty of death and wrath for sin.  
4 No man can acknowledge himself before God a sinner, except he know what the Law and will of God is; and that all whatsoever is not conformable to the Law & will of God is sin.  
5 No man can know what the Law and will of God is, except he be taught it by the truth, as it is revealed in the Holy Scriptures.  
6 No man can know himself to be a sinner, except he call his conscience to an account of his intentions and actions, and make a Judgement thereof according to the Law of God.  
7 No man doth truly turn to God in Christ, who doth not resign his will to the will of God, through the love of Christ; & whosoever doth not love God in Christ more than his own life, and more than all things in the world besides, is not truly turned to him.  
8 No man doth love God in Christ, who doth not love his brother also for Christ's sake.  
9 No man is truly turned unto God in Christ, who doth not walk out of this evil world after Christ in all God's commandments.  
10 No man doth walk after Christ out of this evil world, except he follow him in godly simplicity by his grace, and not by worldly wisdom.  
11 No man doth partake of the joy of God's Salvation in the peace of a good conscience, who doth not walk in Simplicity by the grace of God.  
12 No man is truly turned unto God, who hath not from his heart and in his outward conversation denied ungodliness and worldly lust, to live soberly, righteously and Godly in this present world.  
13 No man doth deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, who doth allow himself to live in any known sin whatsoever.  
14 No man doth live soberly, who doth not mortify the deeds of the Body, to bring it and keep it into subjection by the spirit.  
15 No man doth live soberly, who takes care to far deliciously every day, and to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the desires thereof.  
16 No man doth live Righteously, who doth not love his neighbour as himself, by doing to him that which he would have done to himself in the like case.  
17 No man doth live Godly in this present world, who doth not worship God in spirit and truth, according to his revealed will,  
18 No man doth worship God according to his revealed will, who doth not call upon him, and give him praises and thanks only in the name of Christ Jesus, and for his sake.  
19 No man doth partake of Christ in truth, who doth not persesere patiently unto the end in well doing,  
20 No man shall receive the Crown of life, who is not faithful unto death.   

In what sense these truths are said to be fundamentals.  
THese truths are said to be fundamentals of Salvation, not as if it were absolutely necessary, to be in any favour, or any acceptance with God here, or admitted unto life and glory hereafter; that every one should explicitly know and understand the depth of all these truths, or be able distinctly and knowingly to reflect upon himself in reference to all the duties, so as to discern the power to practise the same effectually wrought in his soul; I say this is not the meaning of denominating these truths to be fundamentals of Salvation, but they are said to be such implicitly, that is, by a material and inward reference to the foundation, which is Christ Jesus, to be believed and followed according to the Scriptures.  
The meaning than is this, that all these truths have a direct relation and connection to that main & only fundamental truth, Christ Jesus, to bring the soul that believeth in him & doth follow him, unto that state of life in him, by which it is set free from the bondage of corruption, which is in the world through lust, & made partaker of the divine nature in a true conformity unto his Image, that so far as any is made able through grace to know these truths, & to practise these duties, he is certainly thereby built up proportionally upon the true foundation, & consequently made capable to have an entrance into the Kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost; & so far as any is not made able to know & practise these truths, he is by that disability at a distance from the foundation, & proportionally made incapable of entrance into the kingdom of God aforenamed. As for the things, which are so necessary to be known explicitly & practised so, that without a full assent thereunto, no man can be in a capacity to be built up in any degree unto Salvation, or freed from the guilt of death eternal; it is conceived, that they are herewith expressed in the Bulck, and perhaps cannot be precisely reckoned up & distinguished, because of the different measures of conscientious capacities, which God hath given to the several understandings of men, which not being discernible by us, it is not in the power of any man to say, what the measure of explicit knowledge is which is requisite for the conversion of all souls to God.  
But if we shall suppose the least capacity that may be in any, than so much knowledge as doth make the soul truly sensible, that there is a God, & that he through love to mankind hath appointed Jesus Christ a Saviour of all the souls that fly unto him for refuge in their misery; if they love God for Christ his sake, & believing in him are willing to obey his commandments, & do call upon his name; I say, so much knowledge as doth make out these truths unto the meanest capacities, although it be not received immediately from the Scriptures, but from a secondary Testimony, yet being explicitly & distinctly believed & obeyed, may suffice to bring a soul unto that state of Salvation, although it may be ignorant of all the other fundamentals, which I gather from the promise of God in Joel 2.32. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, as it is confirmed & applied Act. 2.21, 23. Rom. 10.12, 13, 14. So that, if, the Lord and his name as a Saviour be known & called upon, it may suffice.   
FINIS.