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
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
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
at the presence of God the God of Israel and the very same God called Angel we have farther described by the Psalmist whom he nameth God of Gods and in the next verse Lord of Lords and in the last the God of Heaven This certainly is the true God by Nature which as expressed ver 16. Led his people thorough the wilderness and did all the great things mention'd in the other verses of that Psalm all by Stephen comprehended in one verse Acts 7.36 He brought them out after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Aegypt and in the red sea and in the wilderness fourty years This is the same Angel which appeared to Moses in the bush ver 35 38. and which spake to him in mount Sinai Now 't is unquestionably true how that first Martyr's drift was to preach Christ and not Moses to the Jews and upbraid them for murthering at his appearing in the Flesh him who had done so great and many things and wrought all those great Deliverances for their Fathers before his Incarnation who appearing unto Moses in the Bush ver 32. called himself the God of his Fathers of Abraham Isaac and Jacob this is certainly the true God of Israel whom Paul calls the Lord of glory crucified 1 Cor. 2.8 and of whom Stephen call'd the Jews Murtherers this was their God and according to Pilate's Inscription their King which to confirm more and more because Socinians obstinately deny him to be such though elsewhere I have taken notice of I shall here make use of a Prophet's Evidence by whom Christ the Messiah is call'd the King of Sion Zech. 9.9 which when the thing mention'd was actually done to the Lord Jesus the Evangelist applies it as spoken of him by the Prophet Now he who is the King of Sion is the King of Israel and he who absolutely is the King of Israel is the God of Israel so the Lord Jesus whom this is spoken of is the true God of Israel The Psalmist saith Arise O God judge the earth for thou shalt inherite all Nations This is the true God whose two Attributes to Judge the Earth and to Inherit all Nations herein expressed do belong and are proper to the Son of God the Lord Jesus So do many things more variously and abundantly written by the Prophets Isai 8.13.14 as among others is this Sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself let him be your fear and let him be your dread And to move them to 't he gives this reason c. He shall be for a sanctuary to those that sanctifie him and whose fear he is but to Transgressours and Disobedient to both houses of Israel he shall be for a stone of stumbling and rock of offence for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem This Prophecy is of Christ in both parts first a Sanctuary to those who fear him and present help and Relief suitable to their wants Joh. 7.37 chap. 6.35 therefore he crieth and saith If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink for he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst Matth. 11.28 therefore he made gracious Invitations Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest but if Men will not answer this Call he tells them but ye will not come to me that ye might have life so to those who sanctifie love and fear him he is a Rock of Defence a Sanctuary and a present help in time of trouble as for the other part he is a stumbling-stone Luk. 2.34 Rom. 9.32 33. 1 Pet. 2.5 6 7. and a Rock of Offence to those who do not fear nor believe in him Now this Prochecy is explained to be of him by Simeon to him apply'd by Paul and more at large by Peter this by the Apostles is spoken of him whom the Prophet calls the Lord of Hosts himself mark the Word himself in Person not by a Deputy or any one else that the same is the Stone of stumbling to the Jews hitherto experience hath and doth still shew it to be so The Lord of Hosts himself is certainly the true eternal God but Christ if we may believe an Evangelist and two Apostles is that Lord of Hosts himself Isa 43.10 of whom those things were foretold This one thing more I shall add how Socinians with making Christ a Metaphorical God give God himself the Lye who by the same Prophet saith Before me there was no God formed neither shall there be after me for according to them Christ was a formed and made God several Hundreds of Years after God had said so But to convince them of their abominable Errour I shall bring in the Evidence of some of their good Friends the Jews I mean The Jews specially the Masters of the first and true Cabbala do very often mention Schechina whereby they mean the Messiah Shiloh the Son of God who from the beginning of the Creation to the destruction of the first Temple in a clear and illustrious manner dwelt with those that were pious Hence it is that they made Light created on the first day Rom. 5.14 Heb. 9.9.23 1 Cor. 10.6.11 Col. 2.17 Heb. 10.1 to be the first Type of the Messiah now Types are Figures according to Scripture or Examples or Shadows now a Shadow is a dark Figure which goes before the Body when the Light is behind * Bechai p. 4. col 3. And God said Let there be Light to point at the Days of the Messiah of whom Scripture saith Arise shine for thy Light is come and the Glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee And †p. 9. col 2 Isa 10.17 John 1.9 Colos 1.12 13. Mal. 4.2 the Day wherein Light was made is called one or the first Day because Light represents one only and thou knowest that he is the King of Glory And our Saviour the Messiah is in Scripture called Light and lighteth every Man that cometh into the World And as out of the first Light the Sun that great Luminary was made and placed in the Firmament by his continual course to give the World light So is the Messiah called the Sun of Righteousness Rev. 1.13 gloriously shining in the midst of his Church And as 't is by †Aben Ezra in Psal 19. one well observed that the Light of the Sun is very wholsome so doth the Sun of Righteousness with healing in his Wings cure the Distempers of the Soul To proceed further into this Matter which I hope to make a good use of in this Cause I say how the Son of God immediately after Adam's Fall as being the Judge of the whole Earth to exert his judicial Power called him to an account for his Sin when to him he said Where art thou As if he had said What hast thou done Answer for thy self Now I say that tho' Father
Son and Holy Ghost be Jehovah yet the Jehovah or Lord who spoke to him was the Son who is the Word of the Father by whom the Father speaks As we read the People of Lystra Act. 14.12 could in their Heathenish way make a difference between Paul and Barnabas calling this last Jupiter and the first Mercury which with them were Father and Son because Paul was the chief Speaker I shall here omit what elsewhere I asserted how the Name the Word is the Son of God's proper Name to say that the Lord God the Son doth testifie of himself that 't is he who spoke in the first beginning of all Isa 52.6 Therefore my People shall know my Name therefore they shall know in that Day that I am he that doth speak behold it is I. And he further having said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Mat. 17.5 Heb. 1.6 addeth Hear ye him And Paul When he bringeth in the first begotten into the World which can be no better understood than of the sending of the Son upon Earth to preach Grace to our first Parents Gen. 3.8 John 14.9 Isa 63.9 and the Presence or Face of the Lord from which Adam and his Wife hid themselves is none but God's Son in whom the Father is seen So that 't is more than probable that here according to the Jerusalem Interpreter the Son of God the Lord commanded Adam to appear to be try'd as indeed presently after passed a Sentence upon him his Wife and the Serpent and hereunto agree some of the Rabbies for by the words the Lord walking in the Garden * Nachmanides one understands the appearing of Schechina in that place and R. Abba explains it of the withdrawing of the Schechina out of the Garden because of Adam's Sin the Son of God who at the beginning of the World in the Garden pronounced Judgment and therein acted the part of a Judge did so afterwards upon Cain for his Brother's Death of whom 't is said Gen. 4.16 that he went out from the Presence of the Lord and Bechai saith it must be from no other than from Schechina Also Enoch the seventh Man from Adam Prophesied saying Jude 14.15 Behold the Lord cometh with ten Thousands of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all which was effected when by the Flood the whole Posterity of Cain and that of Seth only eight Persons excepted Noah with his Family in the Ark were destroyed So afterwards against the Egyptians Cananeans and other wicked People and so it shall continue to the latter end of the World till the last and Universal Judgment be over After the Flood there was wickedness and cause of Judgment found in Noah's Family as appears by the Curse thundered against Canaan Ham's Son As to this Curse before I proceed farther I must take notice how it seems strange that Ham should commit the Sin yet the Curse be pronounced not against him but against his Son which to clear some think and 't is very probable that the young Man first saw his Grandfather's Nakedness and went and told his Father of it for we must believe upon that occasion Noah to have been moved by the Spirit of God for being Drunken and Asleep when he was uncovered he could not of himself know what had happened before he awoke A Curse was pronounced against Canaan and a Blessing upon Japhet and Ham where Noah said The Lord God shall dwell in the Tents of Shem. Gen. 9.26 27. This Lord God is the same who in the Garden judged our first Parents Now these words of Noah * Onkelos Jarchius Nachman Bechai several Rabbies do unanimously interpret of Schechina's dwelling in the Family and Posterity of Shem And Bechai saith something more for he adds That the Schechina dwelt not in the second Temple built by Cyrus of the Posterity of Japhet but only in the first built by Solomon who descended from Shem. Upon God's Words to Abraham Thou shalt be a Blessing Gen. 12.2 chap. 15.1 v. 5. Rakenatensis saith they relate to Schechina and after the Victory over the four Kings this same Son of God promised him his Protection and to be his exceeding great Reward a numerous Posterity the Possession of the Land of Canaan with Old Age to end in a quiet Death v. 7. And the Covenant then made with him v. 15. was a Declaration of his eternal good Pleasure that contained Promises of his future coming into the World to be a Blessing to all Nations namely Christ the Messiah which in due time were performed Luke 1.72 73. Gal. 3.16 17. v. 29. as by Zacharias 't was taken notice of so by Paul to the Heirs according to the Promise which shews that God's Covenant with Abraham contained Spiritual as well as Earthly Eternal as well as Temporal Promises and that the Law neither derogated from the Eternal Will and Testament nor disannull'd of the Promise the other Apparitions of the Schechina unto Abraham Isaac and Jacoh which make a part of what I now am upon I elsewhere sufficiently enlarged Israel upon his Death-Bed mentions him under the Name of Shiloh in that Solemn Prophecy Gen. 49.10 chap. 28.12 13. that he should be of the Tribe of Judah The Vision of Jacob's Ladder reaching both Heaven and Earth and the Angels of God ascending and descending on it is by * Rakenat in h. l. one of the famous Jewish Doctors explained of God Holy and Blessed and of his Schechina whereby indeed Heaven and Earth God and Man were joined together and as I love not to follow nice only solid Notions I shall not take notice of the Opinion of those who say there were six Steps in the Ladder whereof the three lowest signified the three degrees of his Humiliation and the three uppermost those of his Exaltation In the other Vision of Jacob Gen. 31.11 12 13. when he saw the speckled Rams 't is not said he saw rather heard for the Angel spake unto him I am the God of Bethel which †Commen in Thorah p. 41. col 1 2. Bechai doth truly interpret El the Mighty God and also Bethel the House of God that is the Son in whom the Father dwells or Schechina as * Rakenat f. 63. col 3. another hath it Scripture speaks of three Houses of God first of Solomon's Temple secondly Christ's Humane Nature thirdly the Church The same Rabbi saith That the Word Righteousness which is in the Name of Melchisedec doth relate to the Schechina whose Type we know him to have been 1 Kings 8.10.13 Zachar. 6.14 Isa 8.14 1 Tim. 3.15 p. 45. col 2 for I cannot be of the Opinion of two Eminent Modern Divines Cunaeus and Altingius who affirm Melchisedec to be the Son of God himself who at that time after the Victory appeared to Abraham in Man's Shape and blessed him For seeing by David and Paul the Office and