Mr. Toland and his Book him he calls the Learned and Ingenious Author and of the Book he saith I do not perceive to speak truly but that Book still stands in its full strength and not only so but if we believe him it hath also acquired a farther reputation by what hath been written against it which that great Master of Learning doth despisingly call an unsuccessful nibling at it But this kind of comparison between two so highly different Persons is odious for it carries along with it a great disparagement to one of them against whom is given the preference and is an invincible proof of want of judgment in such Men as pretend to make it but the commendation or discommendation of that sort of People being so misapply'd are insignificant and it would be no Credit rather the contrary for an Orthodox Person to be commended by them But to carry on their Confidence to the utmost they challenge the Lord Bishop to answer the Reasons in their own Books against the Trinity Yet for all this and after their great Commendation of Mr. T 's Book those wise and cautious Men being afraid of any thing that smells of the Fire as that Book doth they declare about it in which and for which we are not in the least concern'd But I think they were for one which somewhile ago was burnt whilst many more of theirs which now are abroad deserve the same Fate But as we must not expect they will follow the Example of those who brought in their Books among which we may well think were no worse than some of the Socinians are and burnt them which these will not themselves do of theirs for indeed 't is the proper work of the common Executioner far from it they set them out and commend as much as they can nay they are so bold as to let the World know there were such Books of theirs abroad and we find it many times witness Mr. T 's Apology among the Advertisements in the Post-Boy and such printed Papers and this in defiance of Laws and Parliaments whose Authority in Matters of Religion as observed before they deny So that it were but fit that on this occasion that Illustrious Body would be pleased to assert and vindicate their Right For that sort of Men if they had Power would in the denial of this Authority soon pass from Religious to Civil Matters wherefore 't is the Interest of Church and State to support one another for they are like the Twain Children born and bred together between which was such a sympathy that when one was Well Sick or Strong the other was so too and as they were born so they died together He who but a little before said that the Socinians will agree to the disputed Article if they may explain it meant after their own way is such a stranger to Scripture that if it be not the Printer's fault I am apt to believe because in the Margin I quoted not the place he knew not whom I meant when to Socinians I apply'd the Character which Scripture gives of Ishmael whose hand was against every man and every man's hand against him for instead of Ishmaels the word Infidels is in Tho' I do not mind the nauseous stuff wherewith he hath fill'd up the rest of that Page and the following yet I well know and take notice how he is not satisfied to misrepresent me to the Lords Bishops but most maliciously would traduce me as one who makes impudent Reflections on the King and Parliament thereby to make me obnoxious To be Impudent were an invasion upon his Property which I never was nor shall be guilty of Here I might claim the Law of Retaliation he cannot defend his Cause therefore he would throw his Venom upon me Si non marte tamen arte Now this Calumny of his he doth ground upon these words of mine That to the Toleration of those two transcendent Wickednesses Blasphemy and Idolatry we may chiefly attribute the cause of the Chastisements which make the Nation uneasie I hope none will deny that Sins bring God's Judgements upon Nations and when we feel them 't is our duty to speak the Truth our Sins are the cause of this Afflictions do not arise out of the Dust but if we must believe Scripture Chastisements or Punishments of Nations Families and Persons come from the hand of God for as he is most Just so leaves nothing unrewarded if in the World there was any Person free from Sin that very same should also be free from all manner of Pains but Punishment is tyed to the tail of Sin and when we feel God's Chastisements and we know they are inflicted for Sin then the most notorious the greatest and most frequent Sins are obvious to our Eyes as the two in question must needs be and thereupon we should say Lord we have sinned against Heaven and against thee About this Point I shall out of Scripture bring a Precedent of what must be done in such Cases The Israelites are smitten at Ai whereupon Joshua rent his Cloths and fell upon his Face and God said unto him Israel hath sinned I will be no more with you except ye destroy the accursed from among you the Accursed both Person and Thing at that time were destroyed and now if not the Persons at least the Thing should be if we will have God among us and what things in the World more accursed than Blasphemy and Idolatry wherefore I then did and now do conclude that all Christian and prudent care ought to be used to remove Blasphemy and Idolatry out of the Kingdom but how to effect it 't is to be left to those whom it belongs to but still the thing ought to be done Now I ask Is this to make an impudent Reflection against King and Parliament But they make a real one for under the notion that he is no Persecutor they would proclaim his Majesty and the Parliament to favour and protect Blasphemy and Heresie that is Socinianism But this Gentleman according to the Spirit which they all are originally acted by would profanely ridicule the dispensations of God's special Providence and divest that infinite Majesty of his being the just Judge of the World who doth execute Justice and Judgment After this rate the Old World was Drowned by Chance tho' the Flood had been foretold 120 Years before Thus Sodom and Gomorrah were consumed by Accident and without God's special Appointment tho' he out of Heaven rained Fire and Brimstone So by Hazard Nadah and Abihu were consumed tho' Scripture saith There went out Fire from the Lord and devoured them Likewise without a special Providence the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed up Korah Dathan and Abiram tho' it was a special Judgment of God as was that of the 14700 Men who for their murmuring against Moses and Aaron as we read in the same Chapter died of the Plague In the like manner after their
the first Oecumenick Council and others following the Arminians not so I mean not Worstius and the like but such as in comparison of others are Moderate But still I say that the Cause against Socinians cannot so effectually be handled upon Arminian Principles for in some things their Bounds are so near and undiscernable that sometimes a Man cannot fall upon one but he must tread upon the other and one blow sometimes hits them both so sometimes the Arminian doth not strike home upon the Socinian for fear of hurting himself However to shew you what a difference we ought to make between Adversaries and Adversaries we have some Disputes both against Lutherans and Papists yet much more and greater against the last than against the first certainly we will not carry our selves equally towards both for there is cause to make a great distinction between them which to shew upon occasion we keep Communion with Lutherans when we may not with Papists yet the former are in a gross errour to think the Substance of the glorified Body of Christ which is now in Heaven and shall be until he comes to Judge the Quick and the Dead to be included in with and under the Bread and Wine yet because they declare they adore not the Bread nor the Wine we do not look upon them as Idolaters as we take Papists to be for they adore a Wafer under the notion that it is turned into the Substance of the Body of Christ and we are forbidden to have Communion with Idolaters Thus we ought to make a difference between Lutherans and Papists so we must between those who would destroy the Grace of God in Christ which is very ill and those who impiously fly against his Person as ye do nay I say Socinians in some things are worse than Papists who own the Article of the Trinity of Persons in the Unity of Divine Nature and the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost which ye deny Ye are the worst of all Christian Societies which Name ye are unworthy of because ye reject despise and undervalue the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ from whom we are called Christians and will not take his Word nor God the Father's when he is by him and by himself called Son of God This Man as well as his Partner will make use of his Arithmetick and because I complain'd of the increase and number of Socinians he makes a pother about almost all the Church a moiety of the Presbyterians Nine parts in Ten of the Quakers like a Squirrel in a Cage which turns again and again but never the farther on in his way always within the Circle so he which way soever he turns himself is ever upon his Dunghil As to the Number of Socinians tho' it was never so inconsiderable comparatively yet 't is ever too great tho' never so few yet still too many One Wolf in a Sheepfold can do Havock enough only one that hath the Plague can infect a whole Town always Vermin multiplieth too fast wherefore to prevent the Growth and Increase of it 't is necessary a sufficient care be taken by those who are concern'd especially those whose Diocess is much infected with and made the center of that Vermine whom David a great King and Judge of Israel and a Prophet too gives this Charge unto Be Wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth Psal 2. Dignity calls for and commands Duty and to whom much is given of them much shall be required Not only a Disposition but also a Resolution in Magistrates is necessary for 't is that which helps to put Life into those Laws which otherwise languish for want of due and discreet Execution wherein one is to go to the root of the Evil if he will extirpate it In some Distempers the Dose must not be weak else it will but stir the Humours and not remove them But what is it that David would have Kings and Judges of the Earth to learn and be instructed in in the next Verse he saith it to serve the Lord with fear in their station to defend his Cause and maintain his Concerns is part of the Service required here But whom is this Service due to to Christ the Messiah to whom the Lord hath said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee to whom the Heathen are given for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his possession whom he shall break with a Rod of Iron and dash them in pieces like a Potters Vessel Certainly such a Potent Lord Son of God deserves to be served with fear by all Kings and Judges of the Earth and 't is his Cause not Man's which now is under debate his Right and Title being questioned which if Men in Places and Power do not as they are bound Assert and Vindicate to speak in Mordecai's words to Esther Deliverance shall arise from another place some others will do God's Work but thou and thy Father's House shall be destroyed For the Lord Jesus himself will in his due time not only do 't but also require it at the hands of those who neglected it which is a most abominable Crime no less than as much as in them lieth to set their hands to his Condemnation and suffer him again to be Crucified for pretended Blasphemy for affirming himself to be the Son of God which the Jews did well call making himself God For the Names God Son of God simply properly and absolutely taken imply Divine Nature as Man Son of Man do Humane therefore said the Jews to Pilate By our Law that is of Blasphemy he ought to die for he made himself the Son of God which if he was not then without Blasphemy let it be spoken and the thoughts make my Hair stand on end he had been a Blasphemer a Lyar and an Impostor and such the Socinian Principles impiously make him to be And because I said it had been well if at first that necessary care had been taken especially by those that are most concern'd to prevent it thence he doth infer that tho' not indeed in plain words but intelligibly enough I said it had not been done which after his usual calm and Christian-spirited way he calls a meer Story my own pure Invention and a notorious Slander and to prove it so in his Head he frames an Idea of an Hurly burly and Confusion in opposing of Socinianism and this he would make a Play of and without any distinction ridicule all that appear'd against it The Opposers saith he did but scuffle tumultuously with they knew not whom nor what and in the event it appeared they were more afraid than hurt and to ridicule it the more he saith This zealous Leader would scower through the dark Vales of Antient Fathers and General Councils that learned Author would bustle in the thorny Thickets of the School-men here indeed is to be found the flourish of wild
With an idle and ridiculous Fancy of an Apology they would bring me under a necessity of making my own Fervency of Zeal for the Glory of God is the first thing and in the first Line laid to my charge but this Paul brings me off when he said It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing And that the thing in question which I appear for is Good very Good I appeal not only to Scripture but also to the Testimony of the whole Primitive Church of all Christian Protestant Churches specially of our Church in this Kingdom and if according to their Principles of a private Judge I must have it within me I want it not for in my Conscience I am so fully satisfied it is Good that thorough God's Grace strengthning me I am ready to lay down my Life and that 's for the same Cause for which my blessed Saviour laid down his and so many more after him namely that he was truly that is in a true and proper sense God's own and only begotten Son and when upon this Cause of his Men are neither cold nor hot he spueth them out of his mouth After this out comes a volley of Trash the product of an elevated Fancy and inflamed Imagination whereby things of Moment are wrested and ridiculed tho' may be the Party takes it for a great piece of Wit and whether I will or not he would make me to say that which I never so much as thought upon and because he would make of it a Stage-Play tho' very insipid and profane he brings me in as Postponing the Glory of God as he saith to Temporal Concerns how this can agree with what he said just before of my fervent Zeal for that Glory let him declare I think by means of the word Postpone I may understand something of the Writers meaning and I believe some among them could tell News how it came to pass that my Book which was intended to have been published by Candlemas Term for all the endeavours used to hasten it out came forth only the day before the Prorogation I have cause to suspect there was some tampering by a sort of Men diligent in their Concerns and of unwearied Endeavours to promote their Cause for the Children of this World are in their generation wiser than the Children of Light I doubt some of them plowed with my Heifer however let none boast before the time for thorough God's direction that which last Year was not done as indeed for that reason it could not be may happen to be done this however to God we leave the Success Yet as in my Preface I gave an account of the effectual Care which the Parliament of Scotland had taken to put a stop to your damnable Heresies in that Kingdom so now I must tell that which ye know well enough but may be every one else doth not how in Ireland about the beginning of September last the Committee for Religion having examined the Carriage of one of your Gang M. Toland who no doubt was gone over to promote the Cause and made their Report to the House immediately they passed a Vote that his Book should be burnt by the hand of the Executioner and his Person taken into Custody to be proceeded against but he finding the Place too hot for him made a shift to escape and come over or else he had been laid up but we hope here he shall either be followed by divine Mercy or meet with human Justice for we have ground to think that the Parliament of England with as much Zeal as those of Scotland and of Ireland will appear for the Cause and Honour of God and as one of the Wolves hath been unkennel'd in Ireland so that same and others shall here be so too and 't is but what all obstinate Leaders of such miserable wretches who deny the Lord that bought them do justly deserve to be branded with B that every one might know them for Blasphemers by reason of the blasphemous heretical and impious Opinions which those despisers of God with impunity whereat they grow bolder do daily publish and spread abroad and that in so bold and licentious a manner as was hardly ever allowed in any Christian State The Emperor Theodosius left a Precedent in such cases for by a Law he ordered the fifteen Volumes which impious Porphiry had written against the Christian Religion every where to be burnt and destroyed And indeed 't is but what the Anti-Christian Writings of such Miscreants as were Celsus Porphyrius Julian the Apostate and the like deserve to be their Works were levelled against the true God in the most Holy Trinity and against the Person and Divinity chiefly of our blessed Lord and Saviour and are not the Socinian Books so too The like Crime deserves the like Punishment this I speak in commendation of the Zeal and Justice of the House of Commons in Ireland Something more I must say and tho' I am sure to be disowned by Socinians and Socinianizers yet I hope not so by those who are really concern'd for the Honour of the glorious Trinity and for their Religion 't is this It were but Justice and Christian Prudence if the Pen-men of the Antitrinitarian and Antichristian Doctrines were burnt at the Fingers end to disable them from dropping their Poison upon Paper if only paring their Nails could do 't it would be well but I am of opinion that alone will not do 't nor Gospel-Arguments but the Authority of the Law must and this the Parliament of Ireland in their Wisdom have found necessary and being satisfied how things of that nature come within the compass of their Jurisdiction tho' M. Toland in his Letter to a Member of the House of Commons there pag. 32. declares he is a perfect stranger to any such Power claim'd by that Honourable Body tho' in himself he was conscious he might not say so in the Original Copy and his Apologist is of the same opinion tho' he more cunningly meddles with it and brings it in as the Judgment as he saith of several Members of the Committee pag. 23. Which are but Reflections insinuated against the Right of Parliaments in general and so reaches every Parliament wheresover But there are several Flaws in that Apology Here I meet with some Apologist whom I know well by the Stile tho' others of the kind make use of the same Ink such are in jest Apologists for Parliaments but in earnest against indeed I think that to study that common place and to erect themselves into Apologists consists with their own Interest for on their side there is more need of Apologies than of Panegyricks But I must speak of other things Both Writers come upon me with a Charge indeed I am a Sanguinary Man a Brother to Papists a Bonner a Persecutor a bloody-minded Believer and such other words to the same purpose I shall not say this is much Dust but
great Thunder-claps which shall end like crackling of Thorns under the Pot. The ground of all this is my Humble Address to both Houses of Parliament that they would be pleased to take some care of the Cause of Christ and to put a curb upon his Enemies such I call those who would rob him of his Divine Nature and Attributes and attempt to overthrow the first Article of our Faith of One God in Three Persons There are some Men in the World that if one doth but look them in the Face they are apt to cry out Murther whether or not at that time a guilty Conscience flies into their Faces God knows That same may happen sometimes to disturb them so far as to make them grosly mistake in their Judgment as about Things so about Persons as they are very much in me who in my Heart and Opinion am as much against Persecution upon account of Religion and for a due regard to tender Consciences as any Man in the World When the Question is about indifferent and not very material things then for Peace and Charity 's sake Gentleness and Meekness ought to prevail but it must be otherwise when Fundamentals are not only shaken but overturned and when Religion it self is pulled up by the very root as 't is when humane Reason is made a standing Rule whereby to judge of Revelation when the Doctrines of the most Holy Trinity of the Satisfaction which the Lord Jesus hath by the Sacrifice of himself made for our Sins with other things thereupon depending and what Scriptures with the received Creeds of the Primitive Church do affirm about it and what our Church believes I say it ought to be otherwise when all these lie at stake and are blown up at oncâ— then or never 't is high time to speak out especially when we see how boldly and openly these things are carried on We use to say There is a difference between mad and stark staring mad People distemper'd in their Minds are dealt withal according unto the nature and degree of their Distemper some confin'd to their Chambers others to their Beds others bound and chained up The like we observe in the Distempers of the Politick Body he who rashly speaks ill of the Government deserves some Punishment but not so great as he who violently attempts to overthrow it or to destroy the Persons in whose hands God hath lodged the Power so it must be in spiritual Diseases which affect the Body of the Church and these several ways I mean when I speak of a true and proper Remedy whereof the applying depends upon the Skill of the Physician 't is not any effect of Cruelty to make Incisions and cut off dead Flesh out of a Wound to prevent a Gangrene nor to restrain People that have the Plague from coming among those that are free from it for fear of infecting them So 't is no Persecution to take care that Hereticks such all Orthodox Christian Churches take Socinians to be do not come in among those that are sound in the Faith This great Danger may in a due respect and humble way be represented to the superiour Power whose Office is to prevent and remedy Inconveniences This I humbly conceive to be a Branch of the Right of the Subject and it may not be called To prescribe them what to do they cannot be every where nor know every thing therefore stand in need of being informed this is the usual course of Justice for no Redress when no Complaint is made and I was so far from presuming to prescribe therein that in my Epistle pag. 18. I declare against it All that are no Socinians are agreed how their Tenets about the most holy Trinity are heretical and consequently contrary to the Doctrine of the Church as by Law established Now the Laws of the Land do forbid any thing to be published that is contrary to it it is known to all how Socinians do in Print and otherwise daily publish their blasphemous and heretical Opinions whereby they break the Law the Consequence is good to say they deserve to be punished as do all Law-Breakers and I hope they cannot pretend to come in within the Act of Indulgence tho they deny their Opinions to be heretical yet that 's not enough for them to be accounted innocent for 't is very rare to see a guilty Man when he is lyable to and sure of Punishment to confess his own Guilt yet his bare denyal doth not free him from it for if to deny was enough to clear no Man could be found guilty Both Authors of the Letters are very angry and much cry out against what I said about a Field of Honour which is in relation to the Cause to be defended against its Enemies and not to any capital Punishment which had been an imprudent thing of me and contrato my inclination to have suggested against Hereticks but these Gentlemen who often call me hot and fiery hastily skipp'd from the Second Page of my Epistle to the Seventeenth of the same to make the Field of Honour to be Smithfield These two things are written too far asunder to be joyned together as indeed there was in my thoughts nothing like Smithfield when I was insinuating that as God's Work is glorious so the occasion offer'd to promote it is as a Field of Honour as expressed in the place and what there I mentioned of one who for Socinianism suffered in Smithfield was not of my own but in consequence of a Citation out of Sir Thomas Ridley ' s View of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws where he saith Against such is provided Sentence of Death and there I gave two Instances how what he said had been executed Let any impartial Man peruse the places and they shall find it to be as I say and then may take notice how rash hasty and unjust are these Men who pretend to so much Calmness and Meekness of Spirit in making Reflections upon others who through God's Grace have a more Christian charitable frame of Spirit than themselves We indeed hate abominable Blasphemies and Heresies but neither Blasphemers nor Hereticks for some of them God if he pleases may shew Mercy and give Repentance unto their Conversion not their Ruin is wish'd for and also Endeavours are used to preserve others from being infected The true and short account of the business is this Things being in the state and condition as I represent in my Epistle and Preface I looked upon it as a Duty incumbent upon me as a Christian with what little strength God hath given me to lay it out in the Defence of the most just and best Cause in the World namely the due Honour of the most holy and adorable Trinity and the Divinity of our blessed Lord and Saviour and of the Holy Ghost which so many Legions of Martyrs have freely shed their Blood and gloriously laid down their Lives for I went not about to support it with enticing Words
therefore they despise all Antient Doctors of the Primitive Church and I think in Tertullian's Words against Montanus we may say it to be the Socinians opinion Truth waited for their Coming without which it had been quite lost yet according to their Principles we must all be Scepticks and Pyrhonians always doubting of every thing and never sure of any then in the Word of God is no Truth that we can be certain of we know no Man hath dominion over the Faith of another nor ought to impose his Opinion upon others neither could they who went before us be Masters of our Faith nor we of the Faith of those who are to come after You see I make use of your own Expressions but withal I must tell you that if any one would in former or present times offer to force things of their own upon us to believe we would reject it by their own we mean any thing different from or contrary to the Word of God 't is not their offering to us or of us to others can bind the Consciences but the things offered do if they be the Word of God no human Authority doth per se and of it self tye my Conscience but God's Word doth therefore if any thing be proposed as an Article of Faith we must see whether it be contained in the Word of God which bears Record of it self and so stands in no need of the Testimony of Man 't is not the hand that gives Alms which can make Gold to be Gold or Silver to be Silver nor the Lawyers quoting the Law that can make it to be Law 't is so in it self so is Gospel Gospel in it self without any human help or else you make the Gloss and Interpretation more than the Text and as according to your Principles you may alter your Interpretation one to day and another different from it the next what a Confusion would you leave us in when you are so sickle and cannot agree with your own selves as indeed you make an Alteration in the Questions from what they were in Socinus's days By what they say of Doctrines which according to circumstance of times may be convenient or inconvenient I find them inclined to blame the times to excuse themselves but the Faults which too often are committed the Times are not to be accused of but the Malice or Weakness of Men there being no Season so troublesome as can keep a good Judge from doing Justice or a good Divine from giving a good Interpretation of Scripture so Mens Faults ought to be chastised and not the Times which are as Men govern themselves to be complained of but good and holy Laws ought to be enacted by those whom it belongs to having the Glory of God and the Good of the People before their Eyes new Distempers require new Remedies and new Laws are necessary against new Crimes wherefore I lay hold on this new occasion and once more make bold to both Houses of Parliament humbly to commend the Cause of God and of his Son the Lord Jesus according as I formerly besought them in my Epistle in earnest to mind it or else with David I say Arise O God plead thine own Cause However as to Faith and Practice they give a good Character of themselves as to the first they believe all the Articles of the Apostles Creed but still they reserve unto themselves to give what Interpretation they please but sure we are 't is not that contained in the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds Still there is a Jesuitical Jugling Equivocation and Mental Reservation Ask them which is the true sense of the Words in Jesus Christ his only Son they will not say 't is of his own Nature and Substance and from Eternity which Creed say they was heretofore thought a full and sufficient Summary of Faith till some Men perverted the true and Orthodox Meaning and brought false Glosses upon 't contrary to the plain and natural Interpretation received by the Universal Church then indeed to refute unsound and Anti-scriptural Expositions and wresting of the true Sense to explain and enlarge was found necessary 'T is their Principle thankfully to lay hold on the Message of Redemption by Jesus Christ This seems fair but is very defective for according to them Christ came into the World as a bare Messenger a meer Man to declare the Will of God unto us which others tho not so fully and plainly had done before to die only for our good but not in our stead nor to purchase us by the Merits of his Death So they say the Lord Jesus is God by Favour not by Nature robbing him thus of his Divinity When we seriously come to the matter they are full of Quiblings and Cavils As to the receiving the Message of Redemption 't is according to them by strength of Reason and not of Faith for no true Faith in Christ except Men believe him to be true God as well as true Man As to Practice this Character they give of themselves They fear God walk humbly before him hold no Correspondence with any known Sin c. This is well but not enough for the moral Virtues of the Heathen carryed some of them as far as this But a sound Knowledg in the Mind is required and no sound saving Knowledg of Christ except one knows him for such as he is that is God and Man or else he is but half a Christ an imperfect Mediatour whole Christ is the true Object of Faith These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God as well as the Son of Man I am glad to find something like the Matters in question in the first Letter we are told what ground they go upon concerning their Opinions Scripture they own to be the Rule of Faith but unto themselves they reserve the Interpretation which is as bad as what they condemn in Papists to depend upon the Authority of their own Interpretation and so can turn it which way they please so may every Socinian as well as every Quaker have their private Interpretation but to say that Protestants for the interpretation of Scripture do rely upon their own Reason is without warrant and doth not consist with Truth except by Protestants they mean Socinians if this were a fit place I could shew that they have not the same regard as we for Scriptures tho they assert it for they dispute the Truth and Authority thereof but I must come to human Reason which in one page is twice asserted to be the onely Guide God hath given us in matters of Religion for under that head I reduce the three he there mentioneth about Revelation but this is not the Judgment of true Protestants if a Man hath no other Guide but his own Reason 't is a blind one and very defective 't is but one part of three and the least too for to the end that human Reason may be a fit
Rhetorick sallying into sundry Metaphors as he speaks of and he adds One or two now and then with wondrous Confidence and manly Resolution would bolt out upon the open Plains of Natural Reason but they were quickly forced to shelter not being able to bear the brightness and warmth of the Meridian Sun which illuminates and gives light to those Plains these are high Fancies and true Bombast if any thing be so surely the Man hath read Don Quixot This People who condemn in others something of Metaphors allow it to the full themselves as being privileged Persons who may say and do what they please and all is well But alas all these opposers of Socinianism were but Fools for their pains especially those who would talk of Reason with them who are the great Masters of it and could not stand before them but-were sent to School with a Rod upon their Back and all this depth of Learning height of Fancy closeness of Reasoning brightness of Eloquence and clearness of Stile are set in form of a Triumphal Cant yet for all this for greater security he still runs under the shelter for after he hath talk'd of some of our old School Terms of which we had no great opinion our selves whether we will or not this Man is always among us and kept them only because we could get no better but then the wisest of our Doctors explained them to a very honest Sense Speak said one formerly that I may know thee so this People are known by their talk but still I say our Man runs to the shelter when he saith Oxthodox with us who are the majority of the Church which if it was true as 't is not would be but to follow the Multitude to believe and do Evil. Something he would be picking out against my Citation out of the Book of The Reformation of Ecclesiastical Laws wherein without passing Sentence as he pretends I do I humbly offer a Precedent of what was formerly done in like cases And suppose the Book had been written before Socinus was born yet it may reach him and his Opinions as for instance when a Law is enacted it doth reach those who break it tho' born never so long after and we know a Law can be broken in several ways nay sometimes Laws are made not only to restrain present Crimes but also to prevent others to come for 't is the prudence of the Law-giver not only to punish Evils in being but also to prepare a remedy against those which may happen therefore if Socinians in the Land do any thing forbidden by some Law tho' never so old if unrepealed they are liable to the Penalty of it The Law doth more directly regard Things than Persons When the Law makes a thing to be Treason which was not so before yet whosoever hereafter tho' unborn when the Law was enacted commits it is no doubt by that Law guilty of Treason this truth one may know without Prophetick Inspiration As to what I add out of King Edward's Letter to Archbishop Cranmer c. how according to the Power Form and Effect of a certain Act of Parliament in the Third Year of his Reign he had appointed them to compile his Ecclesiastical Laws his wresting and unfaithfully representing the thing is clear and palpable for he would make my Observation thereupon how in those Laws there is something of a Parliamentary Authority because he saith he hath chosen them by virtue of an Act of Parliament in the Third Year of his Reign to be gainsaid by my next words by him misquoted thus That something wants a Parliamentary Stamp when they are thus and if there be any thing wanting it lieth in your power to set a Parliamentary Stamp upon 't he relates them Absolutely and I Conditionally with an if I take it to be good Sense to say There is already something of a Parliaments Authority and in case there be any thing wanting this present Parliament may supply it if they please It is great pity that this spoils his Witty Jest in that place of a Something that 's just as good as Nothing I shall have a farther tryal of their misrepresenting things I find they are not so much concerned as to what the Gospel saith about Matters in dispute as they are about what the Law saith when it reaches their Persons threaten them with a Parliament and they are more concern'd than if you would set the whole Bible in order against them Therefore they are nettled with the Fourth Canon directly pointed at them by name of the Ecclesiastical Constitutions by both Convocations in 1640 and by King Charles the First straightly enjoyned and commanded to be diligently observed and executed The King is Supreme Head of the Church within his Dominions by virtue of that Supremacy King Charles of his own voluntary Act and without any violence or compulsion set upon them his Royal Authority and his Memory is not become so odious and contemptible and in that particular so slighted that no regard at all should be had for it and tho' Socinians despise the Authority of those who went before I dare say in the Nation there be some who are not of their mind and as we know the Legislative Power to be lodged in Kings Lords and Commons so we hope they will agree in things which tend to the Glory of God the good of the Nation and that upon occasion none of the three through God's influence will as I said before give the Convocation any Repulse about things within their Sphere when represented in Parliament But I find you are as Angry Hot and Fiery I make use of your own words against Convocations as against Calvinism for you speak of the Ceremonial or Sanguinary Rules and Orders Canons and Constitutions of the Convocational Clergy and let me say how in the same Page you give the Clergy some other Lashes which is not Brotherly done but I hope you will give me leave to think if not to say that you or your Partner may be of the Tribe if so then in Moses's Words let me tell you Ye take too much upon you ye Sons of Levi. The Man seeing he is unable to defend his own Cause would be suing for help in order to 't he maliciously and fasly would suggest that I have slurred the Honour of my Lords the Bishops when I no where have named or so much as pointed at them only in a place of my Epistle where it was unavoidable 't is upon the occasion of a Quotation out a Book call'd The Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Laws my words are these According to this Bishops are to take cognizance inquire into and declare whether or not the Person or Persons be guilty of Blasphemy which being clear he or they according to that Law are to be delivered into the Civil Magistrate's hand but if through neglect or otherwise any of the Bishops happen not to act their
Principles the Famine in David's days of three Years Year after Year came meerly according to a general course of Nature without a particular Cause and special Providence certainly when David inquired about it the Lord assigned the particul Cause and answered It is for Saul and his bloody House because he slew the Gibeonites The Sin with the Punishment and by whom inflicted were all named and expressed yet against all Right and Reason they would not have this Case to be a special Providence for they say there is no such thing in the World But why should I bring a Candle to light the Sun and in a thing which God's Word doth so plainly and fully demonstrate how to punish National Family and Personal Sins God sends the Plague Famine the Sword venomous Beasts the Locust the Canker-Worm the Catterpillar and the Palmer-Worm which the Lord calls his great Army which I sent among you Did the Plagues of Egypt come at a venture or were they inflicted by God to punish that Nation for their Sins God threatned the Children of Israel for their Disobedience to send upon them Cursing Vexation and Rebuke the Pestilence a Consumption a Fever an Inflamation an extreme Burning the Sword Blasting Mildew the both of Egypt the Emerods with Scabs and Itch Madness Blindness Astonishment of heart c. as expressed in Deut. 28. Are not all these Judgments of God upon Men for their Sins Have I then spoken any harm that you should Cavil at what I say that to the Toleration of Blasphemy and Idolatry we may chiefly attribute the cause of the Chastisments which make the Nation uneasie through losses by Sea by Land by Fire or any other way you named or can name Blasphemy and Idolatry 't is a sad truth do abound in the Land and a flood of all Evil in Doctrine and Practise hath overflowed it and tho' it be against Gospel and Law yet no visible effectual care is taken to suppress it Can we be unconcerned when we hear God by his Prophet speaking thus Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord shall not I be avenged on such a Nation as this Jer. 5. 29. With such a Warrant in my hand I am neither ashamed nor afraid openly to declare that winking at Blasphemy and Idolatry we may well reckon among the chief Causes which have drawn God's Rod upon the back of the Nation and the more because the Sins which there move God to speak by his Prophet are against Men but these we now complain against are directly against God And if God be angry for their not judging for Men will he not be so if Men neglect to Judge for him Do but read the last Verse of the same Chapter where mention is made of Distempers if not exactly the same in relation to Persons yet in Nature much like ours and take notice of God's Expostulation there What will ye do in the end thereof Now the Misdemeanour they would wrongfully charge me with I may justly retort upon them With all due Respect I addressed to both Houses and humbly represented things as 't is usual in points of Grievances whereof some are of a Spiritual as others of a Temporal nature I then said and now say it again that according to Divine and Humane Laws Blasphemy should be rooted out and Blasphemers punished To ask for Justice is not to prescribe the Judges any thing what they ought to do and there is nothing like this in my whole Epistle as these words of mine which the Author of the Letter hath taken notice of do evidence Thus having laid open the Disease I leave it for your Piety and Christian Wisdom to find out and apply the true and proper Remedy We know 't is for the Supreme Judges to do Justice in what manner and degree they please no Man of sense will deny it to be in the power of and to belong to the Magistrates Office to punish Delinquents against God as well as those against Men of the first as well as of the second Table Blasphemers Idolaters Profaners of God's Holy Name as well as Murtherers Adulterers and Thieves S. Paul was no sanguinary Man yet in one place after an enumeration of several things whereof some are less grievous than Blasphemy concludeth That they which commit such things are worthy of death For my part I neither in my Epistle nor in the Preface have said or designed to say so yet if I had without being a Sanguinary Man I here have a Warrant for it But having spoken of my self I now must come to you and say Ye both have been much wanting in your due respect for that Illustrious Assembly of Parliament For one humbly to Address or Petition the Supreme Judges to redress things which are amiss is no disrespect but to pretend to be their Apologist and make use of their Name in an Ironical way as ye I may say saucily have done in the Title of your Pamphlet is certainly to want a due respect and to deserve Punishment To call a Libel against the Doctrine of the Religion by Law established by the name of An Apology for the Parliament most humbly representing c. is a great Abuse and a piece of high Impudence in you which hangs together with your whole Carriage for contrary to the known Laws of the Land and in defiance of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions you do print publish and most insolently go about to Vindicate your Heretical and Blasphemous Opinions in opposition to and the disturbance of the Church by Law established And when ye are not able to defend your bad Cause to give the thing a wrong side the Superior Power to be your drudges must by you be brought in but 't is in you a high presumption to think you can impose upon them Now for my part I must tell you that when I am engaged in any Controversie I stick to the Point beg for no Foreign help and Answer not with Injuries but with good Arguments ye do the contrary But over and above what I have said to shew how with humbly Addressing my self to the Parliament to ask Justice against you and towards preventing the growth of Socinianism I did nothing but what is according to Law I here lay down an undeniable proof of it with a Copy of the Presentment of the Grand Jury of Middlesex on the last day of the last Easter Term 1697 and this according to directions given by the Judges who must know the Law The Names of the worthy Persons that were of it do for their Piety and Zeal deserve to be recorded in Letters of Gold and 't is hoped this may be a Precedent for others to do the like in other parts of the Kingdom A Copy of the Presentment of the Grand Jury of Middlesex the last day of the Term at Westminster viz. WE the Jurors sworn to enquire on the behalf of our Sovereign Lord the King
thing we go about we are to call upon God for his help and the gracious influence of his Holy Spirit being sure that without it we can do no good and we be sufficiently taught in Scripture to trust to no strength or abilities of our own and when in the World we meet with Men of Principles contrary to these we find it not strange for we know that there must be also Heresies among us or those called Christians that they which are approved may be made manifest among us Wherefore as long as we have about these Matters such a Foundation as Paul the great Preacher of Free Grace hath laid we need not to care for all Exceptions or Cavils of Men or Devils These are such Truths as we hope through Grace never to be ashamed or afraid to own unto the end even to lay down our Lives as he did his for so Glorious a Cause The Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and his Grace are so linked together that no Man strikes at one but the other feels it tho' may be in a different degree they have a common Enemy so he who is against one is against both which I positively affirm of Socinians Grace and Truth saith the Evangelist came by Jesus Christ who coming into the World brought Grace along with him for he is the Spring of it which he manifested in framing and redeeming of his Church the Foundation whereof and of our Christian Religion lies in this great and fundamental Truth whereof Peter made a Confession how Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God upon the verity whereof there our Saviour declared that his Church should be built and at the same time signified that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it For this is the House built upon a Rock which tho' the Rain descendeth and the Floods come and the Wind blows yet it falls not for it is founded upon a Rock In that Promise of his the Lord Jesus declares two things First The Gates that is the Power of Devils in Hell would afterwards make some attempt against that fundamental Truth of his being the Son of the living God As indeed it hath from time to time raised its strongest Batteries against it as not long after his Ascension even in the life time of his beloved Disciple and after his death the Assaults began by Simon the Sorcerer Ebion Cerinthus Menander and afterwards by other Hellish Instruments But in Arius's time great strugglings happened with so prodigious a success that all the World was said to be Arian hence came the Saying All the World against Athanasius and Athanasius against all the World so afterwards for the same Cause against our Saviour's Divinity several fought under the Banners of Hell as now tho' more cunningly Socinians do having taken up the Cudgels and as those Blasphemous Opinions were exploded out of the World so shall be in God's due time those which are raging for the present notwithstanding all the Craftiness Malice and Power of Hell and all Antichrists of Devils and Men This my so positively speaking is grounded upon Christ's Promise how the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the truth of his being the Son of the living God which his Church is built upon and this is the Second thing not only deduced from but plainly contained in those words of the Lord Jesus whose Person is a fit Object of Adoration as his Grace is of Admiration These Truths one may abundantly be satisfied with out of Scripture which I much have made use of because some places prove a Truth directly others collaterally and others are brought in to illustrate and give a light to the thing so that Scripture is of several uses nothing therein without some use 't is of it as of the Rivers in the Garden of Eden they all did not run one and the same way But now to conclude I in the first place put you in mind to Answer my Book and then take this Occasion which you give me in case ye knew it not before to acquaint you how upon those Matters I have written a Book hitherto Unanswered if you have such an aversion for them as you express do but give us in Print your Thoughts about it 't is a fair Field I offer you but be not afraid for 't is not Smithfield but if ye can defend that Cause no better than the Socinian about the Holy Trinity and Person of the Lord Jesus then it will be in you but Time and Labour lost in vain And if you go about it be more Serious in a Business of so high a nature and less Virulent and Malicious For shame leave off Jesting with Holy things and let it be without giving ill Language for therein I yield you know to do 't more than my self and write like Scholars and Gentlemen without breaking the Bonds of Humanity with Arguments as hard as ye please but softer Words and make no more haste than good speed if ye come in that way then by the Grace of God I will fairly Answer you in the like manner and tho' already there is Work enough cut for you I doubt more than ye are well able to compass yet several new Arguments I have to bring in but if in the usual Scolding Reviling way I will leave you to chew your Cud May be your Bantering way of Writing hath succeeded against some but be not mistaken with others it will never do come with good Arguments and then I am for you however come which way you will I declare I shall not in the least care whether you come asunder or both together FINIS BOOKS Printed for J. Hartley THE Blasphemous Socinian Heresie Disproved and Confuted c. With Animadversions on Mr. Toland's Christianity not Mysterious Dedicated to both Houses of Parliament By J. Gailhard Gent. Verdicts of the Learned concerning Virgil and Homer's Heroic Poems Regular and Irregular Thoughts in Poets and Orators Page 18. Page 15. Page 4. Page 3. Gal. 4. 18. Rev. 3. 15. Page 3. Luke 16. 8. pag. 59. 1 Cor. 2. 4 5. Acts 15. Eccles 4. 10. * 1 Cor. 12. 28. and Ephes 4. ii 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. 1 Cor. 12. 30. 2 Pet. 3. 16. Luke 16. 31. Luke 20. 38. 2 Cor. ii 8. 1 Cor. 2. 12 13. Ephes 1. 16 17 18. Colos 1. 9. 1 Cor. 15. 58. Coloss 2. 7. Heb. 13. 9 1 John 4. 1. 2 Pet. 3. 16. Page 8. Page 4. 16 18. 1 Cor. 7. 7. Acts 17. 2. Acts 28. 23. 1 Cor. 15. 34. Acts 1â— 24 28. Chap. 17. 11. Luke 24. 44. Ver. 45. Isa 8. 20. Matt. 7 5. Pag. 6 7. Job 13. 4. Psal 74. 22. John 20. 31. pag. 6 8 pag. 11. Acts 2â— 3. Matth. 16. 17. John 14. 16 17. Chap. 16. 13 14. 2 Tim. 1. 7. Psal 119. 169. pag. 8. 2 Tim. 3. 16. 1 John 1 2. 1 Cor. 2. 15. 1 Tim. 3 16. Gal. 4. 4. Rom. 8. 32. p. 12 13. John 10. 33 36. John 14. 10. Chap. 11. 4. Isa 42. 8. Luke 2. 49. 50. Coloss 2. 9. Prov. 28. 26. Chap. 23. 4. p. 9 10. In 1565. and 1660. pag. 39. p. 6. 13. Page 14 2 Tim. 2. 25. pag 30. John 16 2 3. Joh. 8. 19. 1 John 2. 23. Matt. 3. 17. and 17. 5. Joh. 12. 28 Joh. 5. 37. Joh. 8. 43. Acts 3. 22 23. 2 Pet. 1. 16 17 18. John 10. 3 4 5. 2 Cor. 11. 13 14. page 17. pag. 19. pag. 18. Matt. 1â— 31. Luke 22. 65. Acts 13. 33 45. 1 Tim. 1. 13. Acts 26. 11. Ephes 2. 12. Coloss 2. 9. pag. 19. Psal 53. 1. pag. 22. Heb. 12. 16. pag. 25. Rom. 12. 5. 1 Cor. 6. 15. Coloss 1. 24. Ephes 5. 23 32. Psal 111. 9. Ephes 5. 4. pag. 20. Matt. 11. 27. Rom. 1. 21 c. John 8. 55. Chap. 14. 7. 2 Cor. 4. 6. pag. 21. pag. 18. 1 Pet. 4. 18. p. 22 33. p. 33. â—9 Rev. 2. 9. 3. 9. p. 7. p. 22. pag. 33. Lev. 5. 1. Deut. 19. 21. Lev. 24. 16 23. p. 25. p. 27. p. 18. p. 4. p. 27. p. 28. p. 29. p. 30. p. 30. Num. 16. 7. p. 31. p. 28. p. 33. p. 40. Rom. 2. 1. Coloss 4. 6. 1 Pet. 3. 15. pag. 42 43. Acts 19. 19. p. 31. Gen. 16. 12. Josh 7. 2 Sam. 21. 1. Joel 2. 25. Rom. 1. 32. Monday May 17. p. 36. p. 37. p. 14. p. 37. p. 38. p. 26 29. Acts 26. 11. p. 28. p. 35. p. 33. p. 41. p. 18. Phil. 4. 5. Luke 18. 11 12 13. Prov. 3. 5. John 1. 17. Matt. 16. 18. Chap. 7. 24 25. A Plea for Free Grace against Free-will * p. 9 20 33.
I said the Enemy and Plague of Socinianism was gotten into the Bowels of the Church the more the Pity and therefore seeing they will not hide themselves for shame here I do humbly desire the Heads and Governours of it to take notice of Socinians boasting to be Members of the Church and care to weed them out Good Lord Men who overthrow the first Article of our Religion of one God in three Persons and the second of two Natures in one Person besides others the Athanasian Creed the the first part of the Litany with several others of the Service Book yet they have the face to call themselves Members of the Church However 't is worth the inquiring into what they ground upon their calling themselves Members of the Church we already have taken notice of one place wherein speaking of themselves in the third Person they say For Peace sake they submit to the Phrase of the Church and own three Persons so they seem not to be much concerned for the Truth to know whether what they or we say be true but they take care of their Safety being as they pretend alarm'd with fear of Fire and Faggot and to save their Bacon therefore I am apt to believe that what they say in relation to this is more out of fear of Punishment than of love for Truth however for Peace sake they are Members of the Church but to dive into the bottom of this Title of theirs of being Members of the Church two Places I am to look into the first is this As for those late English Writers sometimes called Unitarians and very injuriosly termed Socinians they seem desirous to wash their hand of it and their disputing some of the Articles of our Church hath proceeded chiefly from their Apprehension that it would be Idolatry to admit them Thus still under disguise and of a third Person they are those late English Writers who call themselves Vnitarians who seem desirous to wash their hand of Socinianism so 't is only seemingly and in appearance for else what could make them tooth and nail concern themselves so much for Socinians let it be taken notice of how these pretended Members of the Church confess that they disputed some of the Articles of it and these are none of the less fundamental which they suspected as leading into Idolatry and therefore they would not admit them See what Members of the Church these are who publickly and in Print own that some of the Articles of the Church do tend to Idolatry doth not this very thing deserve Punishment according to Law and to justifie their disputing of some of the Articles they would infinuate as if the Church or some part of it had owned they were in the right Therefore upon the prudent Explication which hath been given he doth not name by whom of some obnoxious Terms they wave the Dispute and come in as Brethren This is as good as to say that in our Articles those that are the most Fundamental are in terms justly obnoxious that is to their Cavils And to shew they had cause to take Exceptions an Interpretation hath according to their Sense been given those Articles and so upon their own Terms they are come in as Brethren if they are come in then they were out before and so no Members Thus it seems they had Correspondency in the Church with some who as they term it prudently made way for them to come in Now doth not this Confession justifie what in my Epistle I said Socinianism is gotten into the Church and consequently shew a necessity to turn it out Thus having as he thinks twisted Socinians with the Church he most judiciously draws this Inference and Ironically bids me defiance I hope Mr. Gailhard will not in anger against them impute Idolatry to our Church as by Law established Can any thing in relation to the Church be spoken more insolently in the face of the whole Nation A strange thing indeed tho' nothing may seem strange from Men whose Principles allow them to say and make themselves any thing Like the grievous Wolves which in Sheeps Clothing enter in among the Flock not to feed but to tare it to deceive the blind they come in with Esau's Hands but the Voice is Jacob's yet being known should bring a Curse upon themselves But 't will be strange indeed if such ones be once found out having under the cloak of taking Care of Souls Poisoned them be not cast out by Suspension or Deprivation according to the severity of the Penal or at least of the Ecclesiastical Laws Upon this occasion the Eyes of the whole Nation are fixed upon my Lords the Bishops The other Place which I must take into consideration is this He tells us speaking of me that to deny the Trinity and our Saviours Divinity is as much as in a Man lieth to pull our Religion up by the very roots and quite to overthrow it which saith he that the Socinians do he takes it for granted That they deny the Trinity and Christ's Deity 't is done in the face of the Sun and that these Points are the Foundation of Christian Religion no true Christian will deny and my Inference is good that pulling down the Foundation the Building doth necessarily fall Yet according to the usual way he would mince the matter thus Yet those who are injuriously called Socinians declare that they only dispute some unscriptural Terms with us but are well satisfied with the Sense put upon those Terms and Explications which a considerable majority seem to be agreed in They cannot leave off the ridiculous juggling in their change of Persons for they are those called Socinians who dispute with us that is with themselves so they act both parts put the Question and answer it be the Socinian and Church-men too but the worst is they want Sincerity that whilst they indeed are the Socinian yet would pass for the Church-men Besides they would have the Dispute to be only about Words and so of no Importance thus whether there be Three Persons in the most adorable Trinity and whether the Lord Jesus and the Holy Ghost be truly God they make it to be a Dispute only about a Word and a Trifle What a Confidence is it for such Men so publickly to vent their Impieties Thereupon they declare to be satisfied upon this ground that a considerable Majority of the Church seem to be agreed with them in their Sense so according to this a considerable Majority of the Church is become Socinian Let him that can believe this for my own part I am not so Credulous however I humbly desire of the Church especially of that lesser part which this Man owneth not to be Socinian to mind what he saith so openly and to take it into their serious Consideration I bring it to their Door and there leave it They are highly concerned to take in hand their own Cause as 't is now become I have done
and said what might be expected from a Member my work being to Vindicate the Honour and Right of my most blessed Lord and Saviour as far as he will be pleased to enable me and to pull off the Vizard from these falsly pretended Members of the Church In the Pamphlet are several Trifles under the Head how wide Socinianism is spread which yet in my way I shall take a short notice of not minding what he saith of my ill-natur'd and malicious Paper for by this time he hath pretty well used me to ill Language as to an idle foolish talking and which is the worst ridiculing and profaning Holy things In several Parts of Europe where I happened to meet with the dispersed Jews I sometimes took an occasion to discourse with some of them about our blessed Saviour but in them all from the highest to the lowest I found a gall and prejudice against him and have cause to think those whom we have here in England to be acted by the same Spirit and by some words heard to drop out of Manasseh Ben Israel's Mouth when in Cromwel's time he came over I perceived that if ever they were suffered to stay here they in Matters of Religion would be as ready to do us harm as themselves good in another way and I thought that I being about naming the Enemies of Christ the Jews we have here might not be omitted and I am of opinion that in case among them there be any Man of Parts Socinians would not be backward to gather out of them what Arguments they could against the Person of our blessed Lord no not from Mahometans if any were near and able to afford them and this I said in relation to Servetus one of their Ringleaders who in his Youth being in Africa among Jews and Mahometans suck'd their Blasphemies and brought them into Europe and to shew how in relation to the Principles of Religion about our Saviour's Person 't is possible for a Socinian to become a Turk I prove it by the Example of Alciati one of their Gang and Socinus's Companion who out of Poland fled into Turkey and became Mahometan Do not think I do you any wrong when speaking of Socinianism I mention Mahometanism for tho' as well as you they deny our blessed Saviour to be God yet they own him to be a great Prophet sent by God 'T is observable how Mahomet himself in that part of his Alcoran wherein he relates that notorious Imposture of his having been carry'd up into the highest Heaven there to see great and strange Mysteries whence may be you borrowed your Dream of an imaginary Ascension of our Lord and Saviour after his Baptism before he began to Teach when at his coming to the first Heaven he met with Adam in the second Noah Abraham in the third c. he saith they all one after another commended themselves to his Prayers but when he came into the seventh where he met Jesus himself he commended to Jesus's Prayers And if ye will know how in many things about the Trinity and Christ's Divinity Socinians agree with Mahometans I refer you to Hottingerus in his Histor Orient l. 2. c. 3. Yet tho' what I speak upon the Matter be words of Truth and Soberness he has as good as call'd me Mad and fell into such a long raving Fig as I think it would require a strong dose of Hellebore to purge away the Matter which caused it and that makes him so often talk of Fire and Faggot and such other things as he brings in over head and shoulders and so looks upon me as one who would see all Socinians put to death Socinianism indeed I would gladly see rooted out but to have Men put to death is neither my inclination nor my work yet as there is a Sin of concealing what one hath seen or known so I cannot but take notice of that as in the case of a false Swearer God said thine Eye shall not pity so the Blasphemer was by his immediate command put to death He would take advantage of something I said about Arminians and upon that occasion would act the States-man's part and shew I have taken wrong measures to gain my Point and so would ironically give Counsel By what they say in several places I see they are free enough to Advise tho' undesired and unfit but they should know we are not used to take the Counsel of our Enemies Men who stand for the Truth are not byassed by Worldy Considerations and Designs tho' never so plausible and specious I thank God in Matters of Religion I have no squint Eye I am neither ashamed nor afraid openly to own a Truth if I was not satisfied it is so I would not own it but it being I will do 't by the grace of God as long as I live till I see cause to the contrary Therefore 't is but time and labour lost for such Advisers their wise Counsels let them keep for themselves for some things which they call Sense and Reason others upon better grounds call Sensual Reason And here Sirs I must tell you how you talk so much of want of Learning in others as if ye were the only great Doctors of the World if as ye say I am a Mystery to you so is your Learning a Mystery to me by your Letters I cannot find where it lies nor no Man else I think But to speak confidently to lodge all Brains in the World within your own Skull to outface Men to wrest and misrepresent what others say and to set up for Judges of all good Sense Wit and Learning that indeed ye sufficiently learned and every one may well be satisfied how great proficients ye are in that kind of Learning But to take my turn to Advise you do not always trust your own Looking-glass for it doth but flatter you and represents not after Nature ye would appear unto the World as if all Wit Parts and Learning were monopolised to your selves and all besides you lying in Blindness and Ignorance That Original Sin derived from and inherent in Socinus's Family that old Leaven in you ought to be purg'd but God knows when it will be if at all for ye look very big upon all others like the proud Pharisees This people who not knoweth the Law are Cursed but we sit in Moses his Seat Matters of Grace and Providence I believe to be of the highest Importance and such as our Salvation depends upon and in my judgment I am fully satisfied Arminians to be much in the wrong but however if a Comparison be made between the Socinian and Arminian Principles no Man that is acquainted with both can but make a difference for tho' in many things they agree yet in others of the most Essential as about the Trinity and the Person of our blessed Saviour they differ from them and therein join with us against that common Enemy Socinians lay under open Blasphemy and condemned Heresie by