Christian World Sixthly Not only they will not confine themselves within the bounds of the received Faith by the Primitive Church but do forge new Articles of Faith and cannot forbear giving ill language revilings and lies Seventhly they despise and contemptuously reject the Testimonies and Witnesses of the Doctors of the Primitive Church against all rules of decency and modesty Eighthly they take upon themselves peremptorily and magisterially to blame and condemn all Christian Protestant Churches as if they knew nothing and were nothing which in them is an effect of rashness and pride Ninethly not only they cannot forbear opposing the fundamental Principles of Christian Religion but also will not abstain from Impieties Blasphemies and abominable Expressions against the most Holy Trinity the Divinity of the Son of God who is the God of the Christians against his Incarnation c. as it hath already been plainly demonstrated such detestable things the Apostles never did against the Idols of the Gentiles for we read how the Town-Clerk of Ephesus said to the People Acts 19.37 ye have brought hither these Men which are neither Robbers of Churches nor yet Blasphemers of your Goddess the Apostles were for destroying Idolatry but therein they behaved themselves with a Christian Prudence and Modesty though in a good cause thus Paul calmly upon the account of the Altar to the unknown God Chap. 17.23 said to the Athenians whom ye ignorantly Worship him declare I unto you disputed with good arguments not with injuries according to the rule he gives his Disciple 2 Tim. 2.24.25 the Servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all Men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves But Lastly they are Wise in their own conceit setting up for the sole competent judges of all Controversies when alass that Reason of theirs which they so much trust to doth often fail and deceive them is very uncertain and proves a blind guide whereof I shall now give a considerable instance and therein shew their unreasonableness for calling themselves Vnitarians for the oneness of God lies in the Unity of Nature not of Persons Now I come to them and say Our Doctrine consists with it self for one of the Reasons why we confess Christ to be God is because we know there is but one true God but yours contradicts it self because ye make two Gods of different Natures when there is no true God but he that is such by Nature so if there is but one God there must be only one Divine Nature and none is God but he who hath that Divine Nature and if we worship those who by Nature are not Gods we worship false Gods and are Idolaters To make Gods of several Natures is meer Polytheism and Plurality of Gods which Scripture is so much against but to have several Persons yet of one and the same Nature doth not make many Gods so that when we affirm there is but one Divine Nature we assert the Oneness of God whilst they with affirming there are two Gods of different Natures destroy that Unity which consists in the Essence or Nature and therefore the Name Vnitarians which they call themselves by is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abusively taken they make one God by Divine Nature and another with a human Nature a great Absurdity which to any rational man must appear to bring in many Gods so multiplicity of Gods which without cause they would father upon us is justly fastned upon them Besides let it be taken notice of what kind of God they would make our Saviour to be a God not born but made a God by office and favour not by nature a God who had a beginning and shall have an end and at last be stripp'd of his Divinity a God who is not the first and shall not be the last who hath not made Heaven and Earth which the Apostle after a Prophet gives as a Character of the true God a God not such by Nature Acts 17.24 Jerem. 10.11 13. which Paul opposes to the true God an improper a metaphorical a dependent and without Blasphemy let it be said a Mock-god made by degrees like the Popish Wafer-god a God of about 1700 Years standing such a God they make our Saviour to be who is over all Rom. 9.5 God blessed for ever which is to make a God no God and as much as in them lies to ridicule the Godhead a God who hath not his Being of himself and is not the Author of being to the Creature which all are absurd Contradictions But I elsewhere abundantly proved our Saviour and Lord to be of the same Nature with the Father by an eternal generation Is it not very absurd and contradictious to give one the Essential Attributes of Divine Nature yet deny him Divine Nature which is inseparable from those Attributes so that where the Nature is there the Attributes must also be and where the Attributes so must also the Nature 'T is very strange that this people look upon 't as a thing impossible for God to communicate his Nature to one whom they own to have received Divine Knowledge Wisdom Power and that Divine Worship is his due which are proper Attributes of Divine Nature not really distinct but inseparable from it When men pay honour to a Person they first of all in their mind must be satisfied how in that Person is some Excellency and Dignity which deserves it and this leads them upon this account to make their Heart and Affections willing to entertain a singular Veneration for that person Hence in the third place arises a desire and resolution by some outward acts to express the inward disposition to the Glory and Honour of that Person and to let other men see and know it Now to have first such a Notion of a meer Creature such they affirm our Lord to be then in the heart to receive such impressions of rendring honour to such a person and lastly by some outward act to declare it this I say is perfect Idolatry for 't is to do for the Creature all that can be done for the Creator who unto himself alone hath reserved that Religious Worship for 't is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Out of this it appears how their Opinion sets up Polytheism and Idolatry for to affirm two Persons of different Nature is certainly to make two different Gods and wholly to destroy the Unity of the Godhead for as they own a Plurality of Persons so they do a Plurality of Natures how then can they find the Oneness of God and wherein will they make it consist Neither can they wash off the charge of Idolatry for rendring to Christ whom they say to be a meer Man and a Creature the Worship due to the most high God which to maintain they sink deeper into the mire for by one Idolatry they would defend another and by one false
Intercession which is the other part of it and though Paul saith that Rom. 8.34 Christ is at the Right-Hand of the Father where he maketh Inetercession for us yet one without giving any reason to the contrary which is their Magisterial way of deciding Controversies saith Christ in Heaven only improperly doth intercede for us So of him they would make only an improper and figurative Intercessour But we mean not that Intercession of his to be with Tears and upon his Knees as in the Days of his Humiliation when he was upon Earth but he offers our Prayers to God and by vertue of his Merits makes them acceptable to the Father therefore our Prayers to God we offer in the Name and by the Merits and Mediation of the Lord Jesus They in every thing to shew themselves against him Joh. 2.19 and 10.17.18 though in several places he saith that he can and will raise himself and others from the Dead yet when we say he raised himself by his own Power they laugh at and ridicule it for saith Socinus * Disp de unius fil exist quid enim c. what doth more deserve to be laught at as more contrary to Truth or can seem or be so than to say * Resp ad nov Monst that he who is Dead can call himself again to Life And that wicked Scoffer his Disciple Smalcius like another Lucian doth bluntly declare It is a Fable to say that Christ manifested any Power in his Resurrection which as it is false so it destroys it self and in the †part 2. c. 21. fabula est c. p. 216. Racov. Cat. 't is thus They are extremely mistaken who say that Christ raised himself from the Dead But they think it not enough for them to strick at him in his Grave for they pursue him after his Resurrection they say * Ostorod instit c. 41. Immediately after his Resurrection his Body was not Immortal only after it was taken up into Heaven So saith Socinus himself †De stat prim Hom. c. 8. p. 203. The Body of Christ attain'd to Imortality and Glory only after it had been carried up to Heaven This is not grounded upon any Reason only screw'd out of their shallow Brains and rotten Hearts Nay they pursue him into Heaven it self and amidst his Glory they would have it to cease from being a true Humane Body for there they strip him of Flesh and Blood without which it cannot be a true Humane Body for this reason that he would be Imperfect and Defiled if he had any Blood Whereupon they would misapply the Apostles saying Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God Whereby are meant the Corrupt Affections of Humane Nature so they who therein indulge themselves are wholly govern'd by live and die in them shall not be saved As to the Body I say 't is true Corruptible Flesh and Blood as now we have shall not go into Heaven but not so when Corruption shall have put on Incorruption 't is a different Body as to the quality not as to the substance But our Saviour hath the same Body he had upon Earth in the Grave and after his Resurrection with this difference that now 't is an Immortal Incorruptible and Gloryfied Body Socinians make a Dispute about the Duration of Christ's Kingdom for they affirm it will last no longer than the World's end for saith one * Ostorod l. c. 6. n. 2. Civibus hujus Regni salutem c. Salvation Glory and Joy shall be given the Citizens of this Kingdom when this Spiritual Kingdom shall come to an end which is directly against those Texts Luk. 1.33 wherein 't is said he shall Reign over the House of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdom there shall be no end and I will Establish the Throne of his Kingdom for ever 2 Sam. 7.13 Dan. 2.44 and 7.14 again that Kingdom shall never be destroy'd further his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which shall not pass away and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroy'd As this Kingdom had no beginning so it shall have no end when I say it had no beginning I mean not as to the Administration for in that sense it had but I mean as to the Right and Title for from Eternity the Father appointed him to be a King He had a Glory before the World was he also had at that time if so we may call Eternity a People given him for in him the Father hath chosen us before the Foundation of the World and he began to exercise his Royal Authority over his Subjects as soon as they began to be So this Kingdom of his he had before he was Born of the Virgin but than that King had only Divine Nature though in that sense he was not King as God for therein he had submitted to the Father but as soon as God was made Man Humane Nature became Partner of this Royal Authority to this effect he answered Pilate's question whether he was a King thou says that I am a King to this end was I Born John 18.37 Psal 5.1 2 3 and 20 1 9. and for this cause came I into the World Under the Old Testament believers call'd him their King and their God and as such pray'd unto him and he was born King of the Jews and by the Wise Men adored for such The time of Christ's Kingdom hath three several Periods the first from Adam to Moses Second from Moses to his birth of the Virgin And the third from his birth to the World's end Matth. 2.2 Zechar. 9.9 Rev. 7.17 yet then this Kingdom shall not cease for to all Eternity he shall rule over his People in that State of Glory for the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne between the Father and the Holy Ghost shall feed them and lead them unto living Fountains of Waters The Kingdom shall be the same Rev. 7.17 but with a different administration the believers shall not then as now they are be governed by his Word no more Promises nor Threatnings no Pains nor Rewards no defending against Enemies for there shall be none As to matters of Grace though Scripture takes away from Man all Power and Disposition by Nature to do Good and what is acceptable to God yet in that State wherein he is but a slave of Satan sold under Sin who cannot cease from Sin they allo a free-will and power to fullfil the Law for they say though * Racov. Ca. p. 197. commonly in Men by Nature the strength to do what God requires be but small yet the Will to do those things is naturally in every one Farthermore †Smalc de perfect justit although by reason of the infirmity of the Flesh it be very difficult for a Man to come really to that perfection of doing what God requires yet 't is not altogether impossible But he goes further for he affirms it
the old ones After what I hitherto observed of them and of their Principles these following things I offer to the Serious consideration of the Reader but more especially to that of the Government and Magistracy which are more immediatly concern'd First That our Controversies against Socinians are not about indifferent things or few Ceremonies but concerning the most Fundamental Truths of our Holy Religion for the Doctrines of the Trinity of two Natures in Christ of his Satisfaction of the Grace and Providence of God are not Problematical nor meerly School disputes but of the necessity of Christian Faith I also affirm that Socinians are Christians only in Name not really and in Truth for they own not Christ for what he is and if the * Athan. orat 3.4 cont Arian Ancient Doctors of the Church reckoned the Arians among the Gentiles so we now may account Socinians to be Constantine the Great made an Edict forbidding the Porphyrians to be call'd Christians and that all their Books should be Burnt so this were the proper Course to suppress those of Socinians but instead of that they are suffered not only daily to Print new ones but also to Reprint old ones and thus not only here at home but also to have them from abroad Socinians do not truly confess Christ seeing they deny he hath Divine Nature and make of him but a secondary God an Idol and a Creature God then which nothing more absurd I farther say they ought not to be suffered to have Communion with the Church because they do not together with us know own and Worship the true God who is Father Son and Holy Ghost but they pretend to Worship one first God the Father and another inferiour God made such that is the Son moreover they lay another foundation than that is laid 1 Cor. 3.11 for instead of Christ who is a Divine Person with two Natures they set up another Person who is a meer Man seeing than they lay another Foundation deny Christ Son of God to be come in the Flesh and do not adore him with us for such as he is than we may have no Brotherly Communication with them than they have not with us the same washing of the Blood of Christ and do not believe therewith to be Purged and Sanctify'd for they deny his Satisfaction that he hath laid down a Price to Redeem us they farther deny or depravate the causes and means of our Salvation and are guilty of Idolatry for paying a Religious Worship to him who is not God by Nature and though they would be thought to be Disciples of Jesus Christ yet they deny his Person and betray his Truth I add they Love not Christ and against such 1 Cor. 16.22 the Apostle pronounces Anathema for they Blaspheme against him they pretend to love him only as a Creature when he should be loved as Creator then they are not Pious for such cannot be said to live piously who deprive the true God Father Son and Holy Ghost of the Honour due to him and they are highly mistaken when they would make civil honesty to be Christian Piety and the true knowledge of God and a constant profession thereof not to be a necessary part of Piety They ought not to be suffered in a Christian State so as to have liberty of Conscience with free exercise of and teaching or publishing their Blasphemous and Impious Opinions because they overthrow the foundation of Christian Religion to the dishonour of God's Holy Name seduction of Souls and disturbance of the Church and as 't is a Collection of fundamental Heresies so to tolerate Socinians is thereby to tolerate all those Heresies whereby God's Judgments are drawn upon Nations wherefore Pious Christian Emperours and Kings to promote the Glory of God ever took care to suppress Heresies and Blasphemies as the Ecclesiastical Histories do fully prove it and thereupon let Justinian's Code be consulted against the Heresies of Photinus and of Paulus Samosatenus which Socinians do openly profess Now the Churches in Poland according to the three several Protestant Confessions there will have no Communion with Socinians who at several times were thence banished by their Kings In Holland * In 1598. the States-General having about Socinus asked the Opinion of Junius Trecaltius and Gomarus three Eminent Divines at Leyden the answer was He is no Christian but half Turk for Christians do believe one God with a distinction of Persons but the Mehometan Religion is for one God without distinction of Persons so are Socinians the Judgment of these three Divines agrees †Voidov Ostorod in Apol. in 1600. not only with the truth but also with the general consent of Christians against the Order of the States-General by vertue of which their Blasphemous Books were burnt at the Hague and they Banish'd out of their Dominions they unjustly complain'd and that act they compared with the Spanish Inquisition which here is their usual Discourse and Question will ye bring an Inquisition upon us and as then so now they would plead it to be the interest of the State to tolerate them whereof the contrary I sufficiently proved besides that Religion is against it whose Voice is to be heard sooner than that of false Reason neither ought God's cause to be made a Sacrifice of to any wordly interest among the Burnt Books in Holland was Ostorodus's Manuscript against Tradelius wherein he called Christ's Satisfaction an invention of the Trinitarians according to the place of his where he calls it a false childish ridiculous and blasphemous errour like an old Womens Superstitious and Popish Fable Certainly Men who have so obstinate an hatred of the Truth such mean Thoughts of and Contempt for him who is the way the Truth and the Life Joh. 14.6 are a shame to a Nation a Reproach to a People and a Scandal to Religion also Dangerous because they lose no Opportunity of Publishing their erroneous Opinions and their being supported makes them the bolder therefore 't is wish'd as indeed there is a necessity for it to see our Springs cleared as from Idolatry so from Blasphemy Papists who are great Idolaters are I thank God by Law excluded from having any hand in the Legislative or Executive Powers and 't is but fit that Blasphemers Socinians who confidently brag of their Errours should be so too The Receiver is as bad as the Thief I remember a Blasphemer here James Naylor to stand at the Pilory have his Tongue bored thorough in the Forehead Branded with the Letter B and Condemned during Life to be in Prison without Pen Ink or Paper and though about those times unhappily sprung up several Sects yet general care was ever taken of the main and Fundamentals of Religion even in the Army where was the greatest Latitude allowed for in their Laws and Ordinances of War the first Article was against Blasphemy in these very Words First let no Man presume to Blaspheme the Holy and
his Sister Constantia upon her Death-bed had commended to his favour how Arrius had to his Imperial Majesty been mis-represented for his Opinion about those Matters was the same with the Judgment of the Council of Nice and that if he were pleased to admit him into his presence he with his own Mouth would assure him of it the Emperour who would not in the least recede from the Resolutions of the Council was upon those terms content to see him so he comes and in sound words gave him a short Confession of what he said he believed concerning those Matters afterwards Constine ask'd him whether he would subscribe to the Council's Determinations which he readily did yet the Emperour to make sure of him required him to swear to the truth of what he had subscribed which he also did thus he imposed upon the Emperour but could not upon God who as I said before found out and Punished him I am perswaded that many Socinians after the Example of this their great Ring-leader to get leave to set up Anti-Christian Conventicles will if they can impose upon the Law subscribe and swear unto any thing for they have the face to declare if we will believe them that the Vnitarians the Catholick Church the Translatour as they call one and I are at perfect Agreement but the contrary I sufficiently shewed in my Answer to their two Letters Still I am of Opinion that for their ends they will do say sign and transform themselves into any thing therefore let those who are concerned look to them when they offer to swear and subscribe Thus having taken notice of the Law I must not omit to do so of the Gospel and Address my self to the Ministers of Christ and Shepherds of his Flock whose Duty it is not only to feed but also defend it from the Wolves else in Scripture Phrase they are Idol Shepherds Zec. 11.17 and dumb Dogs Not Shepherds but Hirelings for saith the great Shepherd of all He that is an hireling Isai 56.10 11. Joh. 10.11.12 13 14. Ezeck 33. and not the Shepherd seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth and the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep Therein is Rule and Example for good Shepherds a terrible doom will attend those who herein neglect their Duty as we read in the Case of the Watchman 't is not enough for one to know but he also must do his Duty or else he shall fall into a greater Condemnation but 't will be a great Aggravation when he knows the Wolf to be within the Sheepfold and drives it not out when he can and if he wants strength let him sue for help where it may be had Certainly these are Evil Days when more than ever as 't is now out of the Heart proceed all the wicked things by our Saviour mentioned among which Blasphemy Mark 7.22 none of the least is named We hope our worthy Prelates with their Pious Care and Christian Prudence will drive out of the Precinct of their respective Jurisdictions and as far as they are able every thing else contrary to Piety and sound Doctrine this with humble Respect and Submission I bring to their Door and there leave it not doubting but that some who are sincere and zealous for the cause of God will approve themselves to be among those whom God speaks of Jer. 3.15 I will give you Pastours according to mine Heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding May God in this great Concern of his make every one in his station careful diligent and faithful to Discourse Preach Write and every other way according to their Abilities promote the Interest of Christ that we may see whatsoever is contrary to 't thereby exploded out of the Land if not out of the World or at least compelled to lurk and hide in dark places proper Holes for Works of Darkness that we may no longer hear see or be troubled therewith we may hope God will bless Joint-endeavours if every one in his way and as far as he is enabled fets his Hand to the Work among us let there be none like the Trumpets who encourage Men to Battle yet fight not themselves or as the Bells which call People to Church but they go not In my Judgment I am not against but for using first such charitable means 2 Tim. 2.25 as thereby to try if God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging the Truth specially to those who have been seduced and are misled who indeed are pity worthy but in relation to hardned Hereticks our Charity must be kept within bounds and attended with Considerations becoming Christian Zeal and Prudence 1 Cor. 13. 't is true Charity thinketh no evil without cause but she is not blind and can see when there is She beareth all things but doth not approve of or tolerate Heresie it ought not to be void of Prudence or of sincere love to Truth or of zeal for God's House so as under the Notion of Charity to bring or suffer in God's House Men infected with damnable Heresie Snakes into the Mother's Bosom or ravenous Wolves into the Sheep-fold In such things we must not mind so much what Men will say as what God will To loyal Subjects their Princes Enemies are theirs so true Christians ought to account Christ's Enemies to be theirs God forbid we should under the wrong Notion of Charity betray our Allegiance to him our Conscience or the Truth As to Socinians I wish the gentleness of the Parliament towards them may lead them to the knowledge of their detestable Errors and prove an Inducement to repent and leave them off lest their Charity being exhausted and Patience tired out in their Christian Prudence and Zeal for God seeing mild Courses cannot prevail they make use of harder ones May be some Wretches whom for being in no wise qualified for any publick Places the Penalties cannot reach shall take the liberty as Emissaries to disperse their venom and to blaspheme which Time will shew In the mean while 't is a just cause of much Grief and Sorrow for all that are for God's Glory and who love their Religion to see so many Lots and Hindrances to the sound Doctrines of the Gospel and to the Work of Piety and Reformation None here can be so blind but may perceive it if some do not I am sure others afar off to the Shame and Scandal of Religion and of the Nation do with a Witness What a stain is it to England's Honour and to the purity of our Holy Profession to find that our Enemies to both Religion and Nation throw Dirt upon 't not in private but as publickly as can be It hath been told in Gath and published in the Streets of Askelon 2 Sam. 1.20 The French Gazette and by * Flying Post of Saturday 9th of April 1698. our printed Papers here 't is mentioned in the Article from Paris saith The Bill