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
of Man's Wisdom or with studied affected pompous Expressions which only bad Causes stand in need of but as our Faith doth not stand in the Wisdom of men but in the Power of God so I endeavoured with good Arguments drawn out of his Word which hitherto remain unanswered to confute Heresie and Sophistry One must not so much mind Words and Stile when the Question is about Things Those Men who mind more how they say than what they say desire their own Glory more than the Good of others In a Declamation one hath more Freedom of Stile than in difficult and deep Points of Divinity Philosophy and Mathematicks certain Matters are not adapted to a lofty Stile they that are so fond of this more than of the other are like those who prefer the Shell before the Oyster or the Stone before the Kernel Now to come to that which concerns me I say it being no evil thing to promote a good Cause by all lawful means for Right and Favour to countenance it are not incompatible not to be wanting in any thing depending upon me the Parliament then sitting and I knowing how there are several honorable and worthy Members who lay to Heart the Glory of God wherein the good of the Nation doth consist with all due Respect in an Epistle Dedicatory I humbly commended and offered it to the serious Consideration of both Houses in hope that this might happen to be a means amidst their application to the great National Concerns of another nature to draw their Eyes towards this Cause thereby to bring a Blessing of God upon their Proceedings for the greater the Emergencies and Occasions are the more need of God's Favour which may be procured no better than with doing such things as are acceptable in his sight as is the care of his Honour and Service After I had done the most and in my Book about several Points proved the Falshood of Socinianism I thought I might shew the Necessity of a Remedy and endeavour to set to work as many Hands as I could and as no Man may deny it to be the Concern of a Parliament for every new one doth appoint a Committee of Religion to look into things belonging to 't always necessary but specially when the most fundamental part of the Doctrine of the Church by Law established is daily publickly and in print stricken at so I thought I might humbly address to both Houses as the undisputably competent Judge of such things wherein I think I have done nothing contrary to the Laws of God and of the Land nor to the Rules of Charity and so deserve not the hard Names nor ill Language given me by those who have no better Argument to defend a bad Cause for all their pretended good nature and to throw Dust into Peoples Eyes only to shuffle off the matters in question The truth is that Society of Men are against all manner of restraint in matters of Religion they would have every one believe and profess what seems good in his eye and so of the Church which is the House of God to make a meer Babel and Confusion without Order and Rule which Frame will at last rend in in pieces and ruin it In the Church there must be some Authority of the Rulers of it over the Members Christ hath formed and given it a Being and left Rules for the preservation and well-being thereof the Admiministration of which he hath committed to her Governours and to what purpose should those Laws be if there was no Executive Power there is an Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction with a Coercive and Expulsive Power there are Pales and Walls to hinder Wild Boars and ranging Bears from coming in and Doors to turn out those who offend infect dishonour endanger and would undermine it And Convocations which I see they care not for are necessary from time to time to promote her good and to remedy or prevent Inconveniences chiefly those which relate to Doctrine and tho' we attribute an Infallibility to none of them as there is none upon Earth yet 't is their Province for their own Members to declare about Heresie Blasphemy and other things contrary to sound Doctrine and Piety To me there appears none more competent Judges in such things than those who have Christ's Commission to feed and to rule over his Flock and in the right administration of this Office the Civil Powers called the Nursing Fathers of the Church are bound to protect and assist them against the Enemies of the holy Trinity and of the Person of Jesus Christ such are Socinians Tho' according to Times and Places Men have different Notions of divine Truths yet a real divine Truth is such at all times and in all places 't is not the Opinion which Men have of it that makes it to be Truth or not Truth nor can the several contrary Interpretations change it so if the 39 Articles specially those that relate to Faith were true at first they must be so at last and no following Convocation can make them not to be what they are or to be what they are not 't is not the stamp of any human Authority that may make a divine Institution to be divine or not and tho a new Convocation should repeal what in Fundamentals a former one setled yet some reasons for it ought to be produced About doubtful things Advice may be asked as it was in the Dispute about Circumcision when Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem for Counsel about it nothing must be omitted that may lawfully contribute towards clearing of the matter but when after a serious Examination by the Rule of God's Word according to the true signification of the words in the Original the scope of the place and the Analogy of Faith Articles of Faith once are declared 't is fit to stand to them and the Church by which they are received is enabled to judg of what is or is not contrary thereunto and to keep from coming in those who would against her mind and turn out her own Members which hold Doctrines contrary to the Truth she professeth So the Church of England being satisfied that the Socinian Tenets are quite contrary to the 1st and 2d Articles of Faith she believes hath right to turn out Socinians that are within her Pales and hinder those who would come in from without And if she wants a sufficient Power she may very well sue for help from the Civil which is the legal way for Relief and when this takes an effectual Course about it 't is Wrong and Injury to the Right and Liberty of the Subject no more than 't is Injustice to hinder one Fellow-Subject from hurting another This is no Popish Principle nor contrary to those of Reformation But where a National Church is setled to allow every Man a liberty to frame unto himself what Notions he pleases of Religion then to promote vent and publish it to the Disturbance of what is