c. far from being the effects of Justification that without them there can be no Justification that is they are the cause of it as * Smalc ibid. one of them is not ashamed to write Tho Scripture in so many places saith that Christ's passive obedience was for us is imputed to us and we thereby are justified Isa 53.5 6. 1 John 1.7 Rom. 3.24 25. and 5.19 Galat. 3.13 for he was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities the Chastisement of our Peace was upon him and with his Stripes we are healed Also the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin so in other Texts quoted in the Margin Yet for all this these Wretches with a brazen-face do thunder against this Holy Doctrine as †Socin de servat l. 4. absurd impious forged and contrary to Divine and Human Reason yea so filthy and execrable that he believes since the beginning of the World there was not a more pernicious errour And that Man's †Socin de justif p. 77. Ephes 2.8 Ibid. Heb. 2.10 Chap. 12.2 Disciple impiously calls it an Imposture of Satan But they go further and say God justifieth Man for his Obedience and own Righteousness for saith the * Smalc Heresiark to be justified of God is nothing else but to be declared just which must necessarily be when the Precepts whatsoever they be of the Law he hath given are kept Thus Men need not seek in God for what they have in themselves for which they would make him accountable to them but they sink deeper and deeper into the mire for Faith which the Apostle calls the Gift of God with an exclusion and that not of your selves they affirm God not to be the only cause of seeing Man of himself by strength of his own Will may receive it for thus he goes on out of what hath been said it appears what is in Man the cause and foundation of his Faith namely the love and desire to do Good and to avoid Evil And as they overturn all Divine Means of our Salvation so that pernicious Man would strike hard as the Captain of it and the Author and Finisher of our Faith Isa 63.3 And in that great Work which he alone hath effected for he hath troden the Wine-Press alone and of the People there was none with him yet blasphemously he would therein make a Tool and Instrument of him for he saith †Socin cont Wiekum c. 4. 1 Cor. 1.3 Heb. 5.9 1 Cor. 6.20 and 7.23 1 Tim. 2.6 Matth. 20.28 Ephes 5.2 but we must not so trust in Christ Man as if he were the Author of our Happiness that is the first and only cause but only as in the second and instrumental so not the principal efficient meritorious cause yet Paul in his Epistles wishes equally Grace and Peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ whom all other inferiour causes do depend upon For he became the Author of eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him all this confirm'd by the many Glorious Titles given him in Scripture and in plain words we by Paul twice in the same words are said to be Bought with a Price which Christ himself paid for he gave himself a ransom for all whom he laid down his Life for and that was the end of his coming into the World he came to give his Life a Ransom for many and he hath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God Several other things in the word there are to this purpose but this is full and plain enough When according to several places in Scripture we say we are justified by Faith laying hold upon Christ and thereby applying his Merits unto us that wise modest and humble Man calls it merum humanum commentum c. * Socin de Serv. part 4. c. 11. Esphes 2.8.9 Socin de Serv. part 4. c. 12. a meer invention of Men and a most vain dream this and many more things he saith but proves none no Scripture to confirm what he saith What the word doth attribute only to God's Mercy to his free gift Faith and not to Works least any Man should boast he doth to Man's honesty ex probitate 't is Man's probity that makes him believe the Gospel but to shew how they stumble at nothing they say that an unbeliever and unregenerate Man can do good Works which positively they affirm certum est c. †Smalc cont frantz disp 1. de bon Oper. 't is certain that an unregenerate man by nature and his reason can do good works but how can they be good except there be a good Principle a good Matter a Right manner and a good End which are the four necessary Circumstances to denominate a good Act if but one of these be wanting it may not be called a good Work besides that every one of these parts must be within a due degree whereof the want makes the Action defective and so hinders the goodness and perfection of it besides that what good of any kind is in us it comes from God for saith the Apostle God worketh in us both to will and to do of his good Pleasure how can an unregenerate and unbeliever do good works and acceptable to God seeing Scripture assures how without faith it is impossible to please him Heb. 11.6 they also would have our Conversion and Regeneration which is God's proper Work to be in Man's Power when alas the second Creation is no more than the first that is not at all within the Sphere of any Man's Activity for 't is altogether incommunicable to the Creature As they meddle with every material thing in Religion so they spared not the Sacraments whereof first and in general they deny the necessity of Precept and as of means which God hath appointed to convey divine Graces to us which to affirm saith †cont frantz disp 9. p. 422. Smalcius is fabulous and worse in another place per sacramenta c. to say * Exam. 100. Err. err 93. that by the Sacraments grace is convey'd to men is next degree to Blasphemy How soon would they turn Blasphemy upon us if ever they had the upper hand In particular of Baptism they say that the Doctrine of Baptism is not a fundamental or necessary article of Faith but such as Christian piety may consist without and concerning which every one may abound in his own sense †Socin disp de bapt c. 17. nay ipsissimam falsitatem c. * Smalc exam err 100. Err. 9. 'T is falshood it self to say that Christ hath under pain of losing Eternal Life tyed men to the use of them we do not say they are absolutely necessary for God is not tyed to means but they are Ordinances of God's own Appointment which he hath tyed us to as means conducing to bring us to the end of our Salvation and is it not a
work the Tabernacle the Sanctuary and all things thereunto belonging which was the place where till the Building of the Temple all those Levical Ceremonies were perform'd so this Ceremonial Service was no Priest-craft as most wickedly called but a most Wise Divine Institution Nay all the Pins of the Tabernacle and of the Court round about which seem the least things about it as before observed were of God's own immediate Appointment and Direction Exodus 27.19 as executed chap. 38.20 31. The Apostle saith Col. 2.16 all these Ceremonies were a shadow of things to come but the Body of Christ Therefore no vain nor idle things but Types and Figures as were Gideon's Fleece and the Brazen Serpent which contain'd much of Gospel in it Paul in the case of some Legal Ceremonies saith that thereby the Holy Ghost signified things Heb. 9.8 and if in that case we may well conclude in others too whereof in that same Epistle chap. 13.11 is one That the Bodies of those Beasts whose blood was brought into the sanctuary were burnt without the Camp One would think there had been no meaning in it but in the following verse the Apostle saith the contrary Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctisie the People with his own Blood suffered without the Gate So without the Gate and without the Camp answered one another as the Antitype and the Type and 't is so certain that Moses received those Laws from God himself that by the last of the Prophets he own'd it and put them in mind to observe it as his own Mal. 4.4 Remember the Law of Moses my servant which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments The Apostle Paul who had been brought up in Jerusalem at the Feet of Gamaâ—iel a great Doctor of the Law and who better than any Socinian understood the nature use and end of the Ceremonial Laws declareth how The Priests that offered gifts according to the Law Heb. 4.5 6. served unto the example and shadow of heavenly things which are no vain things nor Moses's Invention for 't is added As Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the Tabernacle for see saith he that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount So 't is no less than Blasphemy to say God's Institution is Man's Invention but what care they for't Blasphemy is their Element which they cannot live without This Samaritan hath led us somewhat out of our way therefore we must return where we left about the Imputation and Inherency of Original Sin But against this truth sprung up as detestable an Heresie as ever was broached by Man for Pelagius said All the harm which thereby befel Mankind was only an ill Example given so that Nature is as whole and sound as ever whereby the excellency and necessity of Grace is wholly annulled and to what purpose a Saviour and Mediatour for where is no Distemper there needs no Remedy and if there be no Original Sin yet Death is an effect of Sin how is it then that Children dye though they committed no actual Sin Now Socinans have espoused that Cause and value nothing of what Scripture can say or Arguments thence deduced conclude Socinus in his Exposition of Rom. 5.12 saith * De stratu primaevi Homin Apostolus nequaqam c. The Apostle doth not in the least affirm that all have sinned in Adam which is the very thing that there Paul doth affirm but Socinus makes nothing of that Sin for he saith †Praelect c. 4. in c. 10. p. 195. Vnum illud peccatum c. That one sin had no power within its self to corrupt Adam himself much less all his Posterity To the same purpose speaks the Racovian Catechism and in the last quoted place of Socinus he confidently saith * Peccat Origin nullum prorsus est c. Ex peccatô c. From that sin of our first Parents there is no necessity that any stain or pravity should have been propagated in whole Mankind To this we joyn what the Racovian saith in the fore-quoted place Original sin is nothing at all therefore it could not hurt free-will neither doth scripture teach that Adam's fall was a punishment imputed either to him or his Posterity But as I shew'd Scripture abounds in proofs to the contrary That Heresiarck denies also †Socin praelect c. 4. non fuisse c. Original Righteousness to have been in the first Man which is as positive as are the Words by another used to maintain that Humane Nature was not in the least Prejudiced or Corrupted through Adam 's first sin But one carries on the thing farther saying * Smale contr 〈…〉 206. Illum ab omni c. To say that God for that first sin of Adam punish'd all his Posterity whilest then they were Innocent is very far from Equity and Justice therefore it cannot without Blasphemy be attributed to God Here they challenge God's Justice as elsewhere they have his other Attributes and they slight one of the most important things in our Religion As they sacrilegiously presume upon the Nature and Person of our blessed Saviour so they do upon his Office of Mediator and would Rob us of the Advantages and Benefits which he thereby purchased for us And indeed they go about to corrupt the whole work of our Redemption and overthrow our Deliverance from Sin and Death for to omit here what they 〈◊〉 against his Royal and Prophetical Offices which â— mention'd elsewhere I shall take notice how they 〈◊〉 either wholly deny or partly corrupt what Scriptuâ—â— saith about his Propitiatory Sacrifice his Priesthood Merits Death Resurrection Glorification sitting at the Right-Hand of the Father and his Intercession for his Church His Sacrifice they deny to be true and real only allow it to be Metaphorical thus as they make of him a Metaphorical God so he must be only a Metaphorical Mediator or Saviour and Priest Christus c. saith one * Smale resp ad nâ—va Monst par 2. c. 3. p. 129. Christ our High-Priest was appointed to make an Offering improperly so called and he is improperly Metaphorically and Allegorically called by the name of Priest Thus after this we are Improperly and Metaphorically saved which is a strange sort of Salvation Paul calls Christ proprerly A Priest for ever Heb. 5.6 Psal 110.4 after the Order of Melchisedeck So had David long before the Lord hath not barely said but sworn thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedeck To be a Priest after an Order is really and properly to be a Priest yet let David and Paul say what they please Smalcius is of another Opinion when he saith †Err. 57.65 Heb. 3.1 4.14 15 5.5.10 c. He is not a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedeck shall we believe David and Paul or Smalcius How often is our
blessed saviour call'd an High-Priest in one Epistle And in his kind of Priest-Hood he was as much a Priest as ever Aaron was in his and he offered himself as really as ever any expiatory and propitiatory Sacrifice were offer'd under the Law therefore his pretious Blood which was shed upon the Cross till Death intervened is so often mention'd in Scripture chap. 9.12 ver 14. By his own Blood he entered in once c. and the Blood of Christ which through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God even to Death Again Now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself ver 16. ver 26. Ephes 5.25 Acts. 20.28 thereby to save and sanctifie his Church for he loved it and gave himself for it and so hath purchased it with his own Blood which could not be done without a Sacrifice and a Priest there 's no true proper and real Effect without a true proper and real Cause As the Article of Christ's Satisfaction is one of if not the most Fundamental of our Salvation so the Holy Ghost hath in Scripture taken special care to confirm it in both Testaments Isaiah 53.10 read the whole chap. His Soul was made an Offering for sin saith Isaiah and the Lord hath laid on him the Iniquities of us all thereby the Prophet alluding to the Ceremony of the scape Goat Asasel Levit. 16.21 1 Joh. 2.2 1 Pet 2.24 which was loaded with the Sins of the People so in several places of the Psalms c. in the New Testament he is said to be the Propitiation for our sins and who his own self bare our sins in his Body on the Tree with several others to the same Effect full and plain enough 2 Cor. 4.4 except to those in whom the God of this World hath blinded the Minds Yet Smalcius as if once had not been enough * Exam. 100 Err. Err. 57.66 said elsewhere That Christ is Metaphorically and improperly called a Priest and that he never offered a true but only a metaphorical sacrifice Again 't is false that Christ upon Earth purged our sins therefore they utterly deny the Merit of our Saviour's Death and thus impiously would overthrow the Foundation of our Salvation whilest St. Paul in several places of his Epistle to the Hebrews doth plainly demonstrate the Necessity Excellency and Efficacy of our Saviour's Sacrifice of himself for our Deliverance from God's Wrath the Curse of the Law and from Sin and Death Here I may shew an instance how far in an Impious way Men can go when God hath left them unto themselves These are the Words Et si nunc Vulgo c. * Racov. Cat. p. 177. And though now it be the Common Opinion of Christians that Christ by his Death hath deserved Salvation for us and fully satisfied for our sins yet that Opinion is Deceitful Erroneous and very Pernicious Where is that Fear of God Modesty Soundness and Humility which that worst sort of Men would in their Opinions and Expressions seem to pretend to But to omit so many other Evidences of their Blasphemous Writings I shall only add some Words of the same Smalcius †Exam. Err. 47.72 Christum nobis c. Christ hath not reconciled God to us nor when offended appeased him towards us God of himself and of his own Will is become favourable to Men without any ones Reconciliation Christ hath not obtain'd the Forgiveness of our sins by the shedding of his Blood for us So then with Paul we may say the Preaching of the Gospel is vain 1 Cor. 15.14.15.17 our Faith is also vain we are yet in our sins and the Apostles are found false Witnesses of God at one blow they with denying Christ's Satisfaction for us to Divine Justice would blast our whole Joy Comfort and Assurance in this Life and hope of Happiness in that which is to come 'T is certain that in the Work of Redemption to give and receive are Relatives for as a Man cannot properly be said to receive a thing except it be given him by another so no Man can properly be said to give except there be another to receive Thus in the Work of Redemption the price which Christ gives the Father receives it as Scripture saith Rev. 5.9 Ephes 5.2 Heb. 10.5.7.10 1 Pet. 1.18.19 Thou hast Redeemed us unto God through thy Blood and Christ hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor Again Ye know that ye were not Redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold But with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot The Blood of Christ and his Death by the Sacrifice of himself is the Meritorious Cause of our Redemption and Salvation This Gospel-Doctrine should not be scoffed at by Men who would pass for Christians yet thereby make Heathens of themselves in joyning with Heathens to mock God's Institutions of the Ceremonial Law which represented Christ's Sacrifice upon the Cross let an Heathen who knew no better say †Cat. Distich de Morib l. 4. Stultitia est morte alterius Sperare Salutem 'T is a Folly to look for Salvation by another Man's Death but no Christian should say so I am apt to believe that Roman was not a meer stranger to the Custom of the Jews but as well as Ovid he might have read Moses's Books whereof the Translation by the Septuagint was then Extant and long before for by what that other in his Metamorphoses saith of the Flood of the Tower of Babel represented by the Gyants attempting to scale up to Heaven and some such other things we have ground to believe that he had read the Book of Genesis so might also Cato who though accounted a Wise Man by the World if he by the Verse of his already Quoted intended any thing against the Ceremonies of the Law about Sacrifices which represented that of the Messiah's Death whereby Salvation to Mankind was to be purchased according to the Prophecies of David Isaiah Daniel c. then we may reckon him to have been one of those whom Paul speaks of who professing themselves to be Wise became Fools Rom. 1.22 1 Cor. 1.23 24. so we may all others of his Opinion because as the Doctrine of the Messiah or Christ was to the Jews a stumbling Block so to the Greeks or Gentiles it was Foolishness but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ is the power of God and the Wisdom of God but we find Socinians to take part with those who barely are Jews and Greeks but not with them which are called so are more unexcusable than Cato and other Heathens who never had the Gospel-Light shining upon them as they have As they deny Christ's Satisfaction so wholly to deprive him of his Priestly Office they also would take away his
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
means he in Poland where that cunning and craftiness are more strangers than in Italy which is I may say the chief center of it endeared himself to the friendship of some great Men in that Kingdom who by their example and authority spread and propagated his Errours also by the help of whether natural or counterfeit Patience Meekness and other affected Vertues which all are dangerous qualifications when made use of for bad ends Satan is never so dangerous as when transform'd into an Angel of Light so his Ministers ought carefully to be avoided when in Sheep's Clothing and when they have a shew of Innocency and Candour for then occasions are offered them to execute their woolvish ravenousness to tear and devour the Sheep but though God suffered this impious blasphemer to do a great deal of mischief as to admiration in his just judgment he did Mahomet with his absurd nonsensical and extravagant impostures yet by raising oppositions against him he would not permit him to do all the evil he intended for several pull'd off his Vizard and made him appear in his own Colours In some of his Writings disputes and discourses tho' naturally hot enough yet he seem'd mild patient and moderate knowing how our nature can more easily be enticed and gently drawn then forced by which crafty means the Poison of his Errours more easily crept in and was by him insinuated into the Minds of Men as formerly the Pelagians and other cunning Hereticks had done before him such Men as the Apostle saith by good Words and fair Speeches deceive the Hearts of the simple and as said in the same place Rom. 16.18 do not serve the Lord Jesus but their Belly now such as cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which we have learned we ought diligently to mark and avoid them Hereupon we must take God's warning to the Prophet Jerem. 12.6 believe them not though they speak fair words unto thee which we ought the more to mind because Socinians by means of deceitful words were first admitted and received here when all Europe as Switzerland Geneva Germany c. proved too hot for them and being turned out of Poland then they sent hither to supplicate in the name of poor persecuted Prostants upon which account they were pityed and coming over some of them thorough Holland where they met with too many Friends they unhappily were here received for such as they had represented themselves to be though when in time they came to be known they cunningly held their pace because they were watched But of late upon what encouragement God knows they are broken loose upon us both at home and from abroad whence some of that outlandish cursed stock are come in and now live here till God be pleased to disperse and suppress them in the mean while they are like so many Vipers in the bosom of the Nation upon this account we may observe two things which usually happen and are the effects of a Corrupt nature the first that men in a wrong way are more diligent careful and industrious to promote those hurtful ends of theirs than others who are for a good cause and which may do good are to forward it commonly one in a evil way will go farther than another in a good one the Truth is he must go fast whom the Devil drives The second thing is the general disposition in men to fall into those snares and contrary to the dictates of Truth and sound Reason to entertain false Notions because they seem left to their choice to the prejudice of those Truths which have along with them a Command over our consent and belief thorough such pretences and outward appearances of Modesty Humility desire of rhe Truth and the like dephts and devices of Satan which the Apostle saith we are not ignorant of and by these shares of the Devil Rev. 2.24 Cor. 2.11.2 Tim. 2. Men are by him taken captive at his will A thing which very much help'd Socinus to set up his errours is this when he came into Poland he found that Country rent in pieces by several Factions and Sects of Antitrinitarians who were more intent to destroy the Opinions of their Antagonists than to confirm their own so he being a subtle and Crafty Italian newly come among them acted his part so Cunningly as to get himself to be the head wherein he was favoured by the State and Constitution of that Kingdom where great Men have much Power and great Influences that Nation being stiled Martialis ferox upon the account of the fierce and Arbitrary Spirit of Men of Quality and the ordinary people very much kept under by them not daring to oppose he being there to strenghten himself made a Rapsody of most Heresies before him and of others then on Foot in those parts which he would never have attempted in Italy for fear of Fire and Fagot nor in Switzerland whence he was forced to fly away and to please Heterodox Men of all sorts he therewith compiled that unhappy System of his wholly or in part to engage greater Numbers of Men to defend it At that time Poland abounded in Monstrous Opinions which he cemented and join'd together and notwithstanding some divisions did set up for head of all this Man from his Youth began to be fitted to produce Monstrous things for besides his Uncles Directions he being born within the State of Toscany which generally brings forth the most refin'd Wits of all Italy and so I may say of Europe had working brains of his own which prompted him to new things and as Italians are very apt to indulge their natural Genius which by experience I know in these late times commonly to lead them to mischief as we have a late instance in the person of Borri who among other Extravagant alterations which he made in some Articles of the Popish Religion for which he was in the Inquisition and is now if not lately dead under confinement during Life in the Castle San Angelo in Rome he made the Virgin a Goddess of the same Nature with God so Socinus had several Contemporaries and Compatriots whom I named elsewhere who with him acted their parts upon the same Stage Now I say Socinus being a busy Man of an active and stirring Spirit and in his time matters of Religion being the general discourse of the World he apply'd his Wits that way and though may be at first he was not altogether so bad as he proved at last he began by degrees so publish'd with a disguised name Castellio's Pelagian Dialogues afterwards his Book de Christo Servatore as when an Enemy goes about to besiege a place he begins with the outworks and so by degrees comes to the Body thus Christ's Enemies begin with acting against his Grace and at last do attack his Person He and his followers use to slight and unconcernedly to speak of Holy things and of Religion thus it seems to me I see
to be possible for a Man after the knowledge of the Truth never to Sin for saith he * Resp ad frantz disp 6. de bon oper thes 43. 1 Kings 8.46 Jam. 3.2 neither Scripture nor sound Reason nor any thing else hinders but that he who Sinn'd before may come to that degree of perfection as never to Sin hereafter This is to set up a Perfection in this life and freedom from Sin whilest Scripture doth abundantly affirm that there is no Man that Sinneth not that after the knowledge of the Truth and after Conversion in many things we offend all even the best all are under Sin Rom. 3.23 and all have Sinn'd and come short of the Glory of God One said well †Remigius in Cens Act. Synod Caris c. Go. tescal vivere absque peccato c. To live without Sin in the World belongs not to the state of the present Life but to the happiness of that which is eternal during our Life some Canaanites are still left to be Thorns in our Sides and the best Men have a Thorn in the Flesh So that freedom from Sin is certainly part of the Glory of God which in this World no Man whatsoever can attain unto and to pretend to 't is the Sin of the Devil and of our first Parents namely Pride and an Ambitious desire to be like God and equal with God their steps do Socinians follow who though they would seem to be great Enemies to Popery they in matters of Grace in every thing are a bad and in some worse than Papists By this principle of theirs they also make Salvation an easy thing though the Apostle saith 1 Pet. 4.18 Jerem. 13.23 the Righteous is scarcely saved and the Prophet 't is no more possible for them to do good that are used to do evil then 't is for the Ethiopian to change his Skin or for the Leopard his Spots There is a natural impossiblity by reason of Sin reigning in every Reprobate and dwelling in every Believer 1 John 1.8 wherefore we are commanded daily to pray to God to forgive us our Trespasses for indeed if we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us The Orthodox Doctrines about the Sacraments Faith Justification and in sew words every Article of our Holy Religion they more or less do depravate thus they set up a new one of their own making as it hath plainly been demonstrated by several Protestant Divines They set up two ways of Salvation one under the Old Testament the other under the New We own there are several ways to Hell yet there is but one and that strait too Heb. 10.20 leading to Heaven which is the new and living way which he Christ hath consecrated for us thorough the Vail that is to say his Flesh This in Substance though under different Circumstances was for his People under the Old as 't is under the New Testament The whole Church of God though consisting of Jews and Gentiles is but one Church so there is but one Head Lord and Saviour and so but one way to Salvation Now that Church God Christ hath purchased with his own Blood that is by the Merits of his Death Rom. 3.25 God hath set forth the Messiah Jesus Christ to be a propitiation thorough Faith in his Blood for his People under the Old as under the New Testament and we are justified by his Blood Chap. 5.9 Ephes 1.7 Col. 1.20 Heb. 10.19 Also we have Redemption thorough his Blood the Forgiveness of Sins Withal he hath made peace thorough the Blood of his Cross And the boldness we have to enter into the Holiest it is by the Blood of Jesus So then under both Testaments Men are justified and saved by Vertue of the Death of Christ Mediator and thorough Faith in him as 't is at large expressed Heb. 11. whether to come with the Jews Acts 4.12 or already come with Christians for the Apostle's words are full plain and general neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved Yet this clear truth they will not yield to for saith * Smalc cont frantz disp 4. thes 8. one of them what Frantzius Writes that the Ancients believed in Jesus to come and thorough that Faith were justified ought to be reckon'd among the grossest errours Justification by Faith was never profered to Men before the coming of Christ neither was it promised that Man should be justified by Faith yet Abraham was justify'd by Faith Gal. 3.6 for Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness wherein did he believe God Not only in the promise that his Posterity should be very numerous but also chiefly at the promise that the Messiah should come out of his Seed Gen. 12.3 and in thee shall all the Families of the Earth be Blessed which was a renewing of the Promise made to our first Parents of the Woman's Seed which then God fixed in Abraham's Family now this Seed of his in whom all the Families of the Earth should be blessed is what Abraham believed and that Faith of his concerning it was to him accounted for Righteousness and there is no doubt to be made but that God who so familiarly conversed with him as with a Friend for so Scripture calls him Isai 41.8 in a special manner revealed to him the Mystery of his coming in the Flesh for it was the Son of God the second Person of the most holy Trinity who at several times under the name of an Angel and in the shape of a Man appeared to Abraham who as our Lord saith rejoyced to see his day with the Eye of Faith that day or time when he appeared in the Flesh which Abraham who lived so long before did see not as actually present but as to come and that Faith whereby Abraham believed in a Saviour to come he was justify'd by and as he is called the Father of all them that believe so all believers must have the same Faith which he had Ephes 4.5 for there is but one Faith and one Lord which imports one and the same object of that Faith only with this difference upon the account of time that Abraham believed in him that was to come and we in him who is already come Now to the later part of what Smalcius saith that there is no promise that Man should be justified by Faith I say if it be not by Faith it must be by Works for there is no middle but seeing St. Paul in several places of his Epistle to the Romans doth so positively exclude Works not only those of the Law but also those call'd Evangelical with the same Apostle we must conclude Man to be justified by Faith without Works but they are thorough paced Rom. 3.28 for regeneration and other good works Love Invocation Obedience Hope Charity