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A38061
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A preservative against Socinianism. The first part shewing the direct and plain opposition between it, and the religion revealed by God in the Holy Scriptures / by Jonath. Edwards.
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Edwards, Jonathan, 1629-1712.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing E217; ESTC R24310
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65,484
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89
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obligation and that both his veracity and faithfulness engage him to make them good But it is as evident on the other hand that here he supposes the contrary and that his Argument proceeds upon that supposition But by this time I hope the Reader will not be much surprised to find Socinians contradicting themselves and he need not be concerned at it for I can assure him whether he will or no they will take the liberty of so doing And hereby we find the observation which we a little before made concerning them confirmed viz. that in their disputations and writings they care not what they say having no regard to the honour of God or Religion being only concerned for their own reputation and to defend and maintain their own loose and unwarrantable Opinions 2 ly But let us admit that God by his promises puts himself under an obligation to men so that he cannot go from his word but is obliged to make it good yet he may be at greater liberty as to his threatnings Indeed these as the Gospel represents them to us are very terrible whether we consider the punishments threatned either as to their Intensive pain or as to the extent of their duration for we are told that the wicked shall go into everlasting punishment that the worm that gnaws their Conscience shall not dye and the fire that torments them shall never be extinguished This is indeed enough to make the sinner look pale and to fright him either out of his wits or out of his wicked course of living But for all this he need not despair of Mercy for tho God hath threatned severely yet no man living can absolutely tell us if we believe Socinus whether he is resolved to execute his threatnings For as at first God might either not have punished the Sinner at all or not with eternal death so now tho he hath declared by his solemn Edict that he will do so yet for all that he may if he pleases not inflict the punishment Deus potuisset idque jure homines licet peccantes morti aeternae non mancipare sic postquam eos morti aeternae edicto suo mancipavit ex illius imperio eximere potest Socin de Christo Serv. Lib. 1. p. 124. Eximere potest saith Socinus he may exempt the Sinner notwithstanding his Decree of punishing him and why may not he hope that he will the bare threatnings according to Socinus do not oblige God to execute them and the consideration of Gods Mercy and Justice to which the Torments of Hell as he may imagine can scarce be reconciled may upon that score afford him some ground to hope that he doth not design to do so We know sinners are apt to allow themselves as too great liberty in sinning so to flatter themselves with too great hopes of Impunity and if they meet with any such compassionate Casuists as Socinus who will afford them any encouragement they are presently apt to run away with it and never look back to see that vengeance which pursues and will at length certainly overtake them But how comes this man to know any thing of God besides what he hath revealed of himself in his word must we have recourse to that exploded distinction of the Calvinists and for which they have bin so much railed at by their adversaries concerning the revealed and the secret will of God For tho the question in the case may seem to be about the power of God yet really and in truth it is about his will forasmuch as God cannot do what he hath solemnly declared he will not do and that for this plain and irrefragable reason because God cannot deny himself And now have we not reason to put the question and enquire whither went the Spirit of God from the Inspired writers to rest upon the head of this Impostor who makes his exceptions to what they have declared as the peremtory and unalterable decree of God Nay who boldly ventures to affirm that which Balaam could not be hired to utter tho tempted to it by the wages of unrighteousness but makes that pious acknowledgement Numb 23. God is not a man that he should lie nor the son of man that he should repent hath he said and shall he not do it hath he spoken and shall he not make it good Now if it be Impossible for God to lie then it is not possible for him to alter the sentence concerning the final state of men which is delivered in Scripture in such terms as plainly evince it to be his peremptory and irrevocable decree The happiness of the Righteous and the punishments of the wicked as to the extent of their duration being expressed in the same words and in the same sentence and if it be possible to know any thing of the Absolute and Immutable pleasure of God the wit of man could not contrive any plainer words then what the wisdom of God hath already made use of to declare his final and unalterable intentions concerning the everlasting punishment of the wicked Besides it deserves to be considered that this Declaration is not only delivered in the manner of a threatning but likewise by way of prediction in the fulfilling of which the veracity of God may seem to be more particularly concerned than in the execution of a bare Threatning delivered in a Sermon or Exhortation or the like Now in those glorious visions which were communicated to St. John which he stiles the word of God the Testimony and Revelation of Jesus Christ concerning the things which were and which should be hereafter Rev. 1. v. 1 2 19. which are styled the true sayings of God chap. 19. v. 9. the words that are faithful and true ch 21. v. 5. I say in these visions are contained as the state and events of the Church till the final dissolution of all things so likewise the condition and fate of the Righteous and Wicked after the judgment of the last day Ch. 20. 21. he tells us that he saw the dead both small and great stand before God and they were all judged according to their works and whoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of fire ver 15. called ver 10. the lake of fire and brimstone where the Devil and the Beast and the false Prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever And what is said in general of the wicked we are assured shall betide the fearful and unbelievers and the abominable and murderers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars who shall have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 21. 8. this is that Furnace of fire which our blessed Saviour so often mentioneth Mat. 13. 42. 50. that everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his Angels Mat. 25. 41. That fire which again and again he assures us Mark 9. shall not be quenched no less then five times within the compass of six verses 43 44
Imprimatur Henr. Aldrich VICE-CAN OXON July 10. 1693. A PRESERVATIVE AGAINST SOCINIANISM SHEWING The Direct and Plain opposition between It and the Religion Revealed by God in the Holy SCRIPTURES THE FIRST PART By JONATH EDWARDS D. D. and Principal of Jesus Coll. OXON The Second Edition OXON Printed at the THEATER for Henry Clements MDCXCIII THE PREFACE THO Custome hath in some sort made it necessary to entertain the Reader with a Preface before he enters upon the perusal of a Book shewing the design and the occasion of Writing of it yet in this case I hope there will be no need either to Court his Favour or Mollifie his Displeasure for undertaking the Defence of Christianity against the great and dangerous opposers of it For this being the common cause in which every man who is called by the name of Christ hath an Interest he may I hope without begging pardon or if he please without shewing any Reason engage in maintenance of our holy Religion embraced by the whole Church of God as well as by that of which he is a Member against all such who shall either openly oppose or secretly endeavour to undermine it Here every man is a Souldier and by his Baptismal Vow having bin listed under Christs Banner is obliged to fight under it against all the Enemies of his Savior and such are the pernicious Opinions here represented which carry in their forehead an open and declared Hostility and direct opposition to the Divinity and the Cross of Christ The adversaries of our Holy Religion have taken the Confidence to publish their Impious Opinions not only without Leave but in Opposition to the just Authority and the known and standing Laws of this Nation they have revived the Opinions reprinted the Books of some former Socinian Writers which had almost bin forgotten but they have taken care to refresh our memories and all this hath bin done in defyance to the Government as well as in the Face of it It hath bin as the occasion of trouble to all Good men so likewise matter of Wonder and Enquiry to all Considering men to find the Nation pester'd with such numbers of Socinian Books which have swarm'd all upon a suddain and have bin industriously dispersed thro' all parts of the Kingdom whereby many weak and unstable Souls have bin beguiled and their minds corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ Who they are who have bin the secret abettors and promoters of these Antichristian Doctrines as it is variously discoursed so I shall not Curiously Enquire least by Roaving and uncertain Conjectures the Innocent may be mistaken for the Criminals Only this I think is so evident that it may be taken for granted That since there have bin no considerable numbers of men formerly that we know of who have openly and avowedly professed the Impious tenents of Socinus They must have lain lurking under some other outward name and profession watching the first and most convenient opportunity to divulge their Opinions which for some just and weighty reasons no doubt they thought fit for some time to stifle and conceal I think there are scarce any among us so foolish as to imagine that like Cadmus his Off-Spring tho' without doubt the Old Serpent hath had no small hand in this Affair these men should spring out of the Ground or as some have fancyed of Woodcocks that they have dropped out of the Clouds among us it is therefore beyond all doubt that they have lain hid and disguised under the denomination of some other Sect or Party and Profession But among other persons or parties concerned in this Affair it would be a Miracle greater than any of late years pretended to be wrought in France for the Conversion of the poor Hugonots there if the Papists should not be engaged in it who never as yet have stood by as unconcerned Spectators when any mischief was in contrivance against our Church But have always watched and laid hold on the fittest Opportunity of Sowing and Increasing Divisions among us and who have by a late Experiment sufficiently convinced the World that they have a much better Knack at Unsetling and Disturbing our Religion than in Establishing and Defending their own No question it must afford matter of no small Sport and Entertainment to them to find a Generation of Men or Vipers rather shall I call them risen up in their stead who may tho' by different methods at length perfect that design which they have bin long since projecting viz. the Ruine of this poor Church and the destruction of that Holy and Excellent Religion which by Gods Right Hand hath bin Established and hitherto wonderfully preserved among us But whatever the Causes have bin of this suddain Appearance of Socinianism or whoever were the Authors that have secretly and in masquerade abetted and encouraged it much of which lies as yet in the dark the pernicious effects of it have bin and are at this day too Visible The minds of men as we said before throughout the Nation being strangely corrupted Infidelity and Scepticism universally prevailing Some deriding all Religion which they either laugh at as the effect of Folly and Superstition or detest as a meer Cheat and Contrivance of some Cunning and designing men Others profess themselves Enemies to Revealed Religion speak opprobriously of the Holy Scriptures deride the Sacred Pen-men of them and make but a jest of any thing that is said in vindication of their Authority and Inspiration A Third sort seem to own and profess to believe the Bible yet oppose nay not only so but Ridicule all the Great Mysteries of our Religion such as are the Doctrines concerning the Blessed Trinity the Incarnation of the Son of God the Redemtion of the World by the Merit of his Death and Sufferings the belief of which have bin hitherto looked upon to be the Badge and Mark whereby Christians have bin distinguished from Jews and Mahometans Lastly a Fourth sort there are for you must know there are several Ranks and Orders of these Enemies of our Religion who receive the Holy Scriptures as we do and Believe at least they tell us they do so all the Great Mysteries of our Faith contained there but yet at the same time they take care to let us know that the belief of these is not necessary So that whether you are a Believer or an Infidel in these matters it makes no great difference forasmuch as the Honour of God the Welfare of Religion and the Salvation of your own Soul is not concerned either one way or other And if so I am sure no wise man ought to trouble himself much less to give others any Trouble about such Trifling and Inconsiderable Opinions And these I look upon to be the greatest and most dangerous of all the forementioned Enemies forasmuch as by the Observation of all Ages it hath bin found a much surer and speedier way to ruin any cause by betraying than opposing it and that