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
in the Soul because God is a Spirit without Body yet some Conformity there is for it affords some Organs which are subservient to the Actions of the Soul and so the Body is in its manner an Image of Divine Perfection it doth hear and see and is a Symbol and Instrument of the Perfections of the Soul and of the Maker for the Wisdom Power and other Attributes of God are commonly represented by the Members as the Eyes Ears Mouth and Hands of the Body Lastly The Image of God did consist in the whole Person in Relation to the dominion which God gave Adam over all other Worldly Creatures also as to Happiness and Immortality for as God is Lord over the whole Work of Creation and Enjoys a Supreme Felicity so he constituted him Lord of other Creatures and placed him in a State of happy Immortality But several of these they deny or have corrupted they would not have God's Image to have consisted in Immortality and Righteousness for they affirm Adam to have been created Mortal and that he had died though he had not sinn'd but if so then God's Threatning his Disobedience with Death had been in vain and to no purpose if he had died whether or not he had sinned then Death had been no Punishment for his Sin yet the Apostle saith Rom. 6.23 Chap. 5.12 the Wages of Sin is Death he said before By one Man Sin entered into the World and Death by Sin Though his Body was made of a frail matter yet thorough God's Gift it might have been Immortal as it shall be after the Resurrection that Immortality of our first Parents we call a power and faculty of not dying which to them was Natural for if they had continued in their integrity they had not died and in that State 't was as Natural not to die as not to Sin Death necessarily follows Sin and no Sin no Death as to that holiness and Righteousness wherein chiefly consisted the Image of God in which they were created the Apostle speaks of it when he saith Epes 4.24 that ye put on the new Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true holiness which in the verse before he called to be renewed in the Spirit of your mind which implies that once in us there was such a thing but was since decay'd and lost in Adam we had and lost it in him but in Christ were restored thereunto but Socinians who pretend to a right of making all things to be as they would laugh at it primum c. to affirm saith one * Smalc exam Err. err 104. That the first Man received in his Creation holiness and supernatural gifts is an Old and stinking Fable They also would have the pains which Adam and Eve underwent to have been natural Gen. 3.16 17 18 19. Chap. 1.31 Chap. 2.17 V. 20. when we read they were a Punishment for their Sin this in them imports a reflection upon God their Maker and 't is to give Scripture the lie when it saith and God saw that every thing he had made was very good and also when God said to Adam in the day that thou Eatest thereof thou shalt surely Die. They say farther that he had not the excellent and certain Knowledge of the Creator nor of the rest of the Creatures which if true then he had been an imperfect Work of God but seeing God who was a competent Judge of the thing left it for him to give names to all Cattel and to the Fowl of the Air and to every Beast of the field which God approved of we must believe he had that certain Knowledge †Se statu prim hom c. 6. v. 23. though Smalcius be of a different Opinion and we also read he knew his Wife to be bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh Now when I am upon this point about Knowledge I shall pass to another which they oppose 't is this That there is a Natural Knowledge of God whereby we mean that Men who have the use of Natural Reason may without special Revelation by the consideration of God's Works in the World know that there is a God a first Cause of all who hath his being of himself and hath given all things theirs but they being used to gainsay Scripture affirm that by the light of nature Men cannot know that there is a God though Paul saith that which may be known of God is manifest in Men Rom. 1.19 20 21 28. for God hath shewed it unto them and it may more appear in the Verses quoted in the Margin and this knowledge is such as to leave them without excuse and this carries them so far as that by nature they do the things contain'd in the law which shew the work of the law written in their hearts Chap. 2.14 15. their Conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another an evil Conscience attended with terrours for fear of punishment and a good one with joy do demonstrate there is a God revenger for evil and rewarder of good but what 's that to them let Scripture speak never so positively and plainly things must be as they will have them to be The next thing is about Original Sin that is the stain and corruption which we bring into the World and as it is in humane nature 't is so call'd because it hath it's spring and origine from Adam and also because 't is originally and naturally from the Womb in every Man Woman and Child it consists in the privation of that original righteousness wherein the first Man was created and in the corruption inherent in our nature whereby we are averse from good and inclined to evil which Socinians who are a line of the generation spoken of Prov. 30.12 Isa 65.5 that are pure in their own eyes even from the Womb and so being righteous in their own conceit think they may say to others come not near to me stand by thy self for I am holier than thou yet 't is said they are not wash'd from their filthiness of this Sin there are two parts the imputation and the inherency as to the first Adam was a publick Person the representative of all Mankind which was in his Loyns as Levi was in Abraham's when to Melchisedec he paid the tenth part of all Heb. 7.9 upon which account as the Apostle observes Levi paid Tithes in Abraham by the same reason whole Mankind which were in Adam's Loyns when he sinn'd are accounted to have sinn'd in him God's Promises and Threatnings were not confin'd in him but extended to his whole Posterity which would have enjoyed the benefit of his Obedience if he had continued in his integrity as they have smarted for his Disobedience as 't is usual among Men to see the Blood and Family of Traytors to suffer for the Crimes of Parents and thereby to forfeit Estates and Dignities this imputation
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
thing went otherwise when Emperours and other Men of Authority in the World became Christians then they became Nursing Fathers to the Church defended and maintained it against her Enemies by Arms against those who therewith assaulted it and by Councils against those who would have undermin'd her Doctrines And so it ought now to be against those who impiously Blaspheme that God whom the Christian Church ever own'd and worship'd whereunto the Adversaries agree for saith * Tom. 1. Sol. Scrup. 30. ad eum p. 327. Socinus Constat Justinum c. It is certain that Justin and Irenaeus had a different Opinion from what we have of the Person of Christ Therefore Men who willfully recede from such Fundamental and Universal Truths and Blaspheme there-against may very well be restrain'd and punish'd and by an Argument ad Hominem here upon the matter I return Socinus's own words upon himself for saith he †Epist ad Mart. Vadovit The Heresiarcks who raise Seditions and in promoting their Heresies mind only their own conveniencies ought most severely to be used as those whose Fault and Vice lieth not in the Vnderstanding but in the Will He farther adds How the Heresiarcks whose Frailty lies only in the Mind ought to be dealt with as furious Men and out of their Senses because though they be pity-worthy yet when found to do mischief are restrain'd and though these like the others may be pity'd yet if need requires their endeavours to propagate their Doctrine ought to be suppress'd even if otherwise it cannot be done with Bonds and Imprisonment That is in plain English if they had the Power in their hand thus they would use those who differ from them and by them are call'd Hereticks so upon themselves they pass a Sentence of Condemnation This Coercive Power at several times hath by the Magisttrate been made use of it was for an instance when several Bishops of the East met together to get Paulus Samosatenus an Heresiarck well known to Socinus remov'd from bis Bishoprick of Antioch for his Heresy and addressed to the Emperour Aurelian who effected it But to go much beyond the time of Christian Emperours we have a remarkable example of what is the Duty and ought to be the Care of Princes and Governours to make use of the Power which God hath put into their hands to promote his Glory and suppress all that is contrary to it Dan. 3.29 Nebuchadnezzar's Decree which he made after Shadrach and his two Companions had miraculously been deliver'd from the fiery Furnace that every not only Person but Nation and People that should speak any thing amiss or as it is in the old Translation Blaspheme against the God of Shadrach should be cut in pieces and their houses be made a dunghill If this Heathen King would not leave Blasphemy unpunish'd but mov'd by God's Spirit made a Law and appointed a Punishment for such Transgressours much more ought all who profess the Christian Religion take care to see such Impieties suppress'd or else as their Knowledge and Charge is greater if therein they be wanting they are in danger of suffering double Punishment What Treason is in Humane things that in some kind Blasphemy is in Divine for as Treason is against the King's Person or Government so Blasphemy is against God's Nature or his Works now as Treason is justly punish'd so there is a Punishment due to Blasphemy But to come to other things I say that for all their pretences to Piety and Vertue their Principles lead quite to the contrary and what I am going to say though there was nothing else can bring it home upon them here I positively charge them by means of some of their damnable Opinions to encourage Vice Prophaneness Immorality with all manner of Wickedness and this by the Grace of God I can make good so that it shall stick and let them wash it off as they can They are for the Mortality of the Soul after Death like the Body they would have her to be uncapable of Pleasure or Pains she neither acts nor is acted by but is asleep together with the Body till the Resurrection-Day to this purpose speaks * Epist 5. ad Volk So. Epist 3. ad Dudith p. 507. Socinus which was †Def. Puccii ad Resp Soc. tom 2. Oper. Soc. p. 264.267 Fr. Puccius's Charge against him Non me latet c. saith Puccius I know that thou deniest the Immortality of the Souls of those who are not Christians in the Resurrection so with the Epicureans thou believest the Impious Doctrine that the Souls dye with the Body and are both Annihilated by Death We use to say sins are linck'd together and go by couples so one Errour draws into another thus by a good consequence they deny there is now a Triumphing Church consisting of the Souls of those who enjoy God's presence when Scripture saith Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the spirit Rev. 14.13 that they may rest from their labours Upon this Subject Calvin hath written an excellent Treatise call'd Psychopannichia about the condition of Souls after this Life to be seen at the beginning of his Opuscula's which I refer the Reader to not to trouble my self with refuting the Dream of the Soul falling asleep after Death till the Resurrection They also deny that there shall be a Hell being for a total Annihilation that is after Judgment the Wicked shall be reduc'd to nothing as if they had never been then no Torments for them to suffer upon this †Epist 3. ad Dudith nec de Immortalitate animae c. Socinus speaks plain enough I don't believe that any where in the whole Old Testament any clear mention is made either of the Immortality of the Soul or of any other Life Here is your Saducee but what 's become of the Soul after Death Solomon speaks to the purpose Then shall the dust that is the Body Eccles 12.7 return to the Earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it now in God's presence is fullness of joy and at his right-hand pleasures for evermore Psalm 16.11 Certainly the Soul when 't is with God in that special manner must feel Joy and Comfort but Socinians are of a contrary Opinion for they affirm * Smalc Err. 100. Err. 81. Err. 98. Animae Sanctorum c. The Souls of Saints after Death feel nothing and enjoy nothing Nay they deprive them of the blessed Vision of God for he adds The Souls of Saints do not see God before the Day of Judgment yet Scripture speaks of a place of Ease and Rest call'd Abraham's Bosom and though Parables be not Argumentative Luke 16.22 25. yet they are Illustrative to make us understand as far as we are able a thing that is and that same place without any Parable our Saviour calls Paradise when speaking to the repenting Malefactor
chap. 23.43 with a strong Asseveration he saith Verily to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Which is evidence of his commanding Power there hereupon the words of an antient Doctor are remarkable * Hilar. lib. de Trin. p. 77. Habes conquerentem ad Mortem Relictum se esse quia Homo est Habes eum qui moritur profitentem se in Paradiso Regnare quia Deus est Thou hast him complaining to be forsaken at his Death because he is Man thou hast him who dying declares he Reigns in Paradise because he is God for none but God the King of Heaven hath Right and Power to dispose of places in Paradise When Paul saith He hath a desire to depart and to be with Christ He therein declares Phil. 1.23 how when God's Servants are departed this Life they are with Christ in Heaven a place of Joy and Comfort That there is a Hell we by the Grace of God shall prove it out of Scripture but before I must follow the charge how to make the Soul insensible after Death and the total Annihilation which is plain denial of Hell do take out of most part of the World all manner of Vertue and open a wide Door to all sort of Licentiousness Immorality and Wickedness for if the greater part of the World be as they are contain'd in their Duty more out of Fear of Punishment than love to Vertue what then will not the Covetous Ambitious Unclean Revengeful c. Men and Women dare to do to satisfie their several Passions if once they are persuaded that after this Life no Punishment shall be inflicted upon them for all their Wickednesses Are not Thoughts of Impunity an encouragment for them to commit Crimes For the fear of a Judgment and Torments to come are a Curb upon and Terror to the Wicked as we read that Paul's reasoning of Judgment to come made Felix tremble Acts. 24.25 After this rate they will fear nothing from God after Death and being free from the terrors of Hell's Torments their only care shall be how to avoid the Justice of Men which they can more easily do than that of God who cannot be imposed upon as Men are if they can but hide themselves from Man's Eye they will think they are safe enough 1 Cor. 15.32 and say Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die However let them do what they can to free Men from the Thoughs of Hell yet I defie them to free them from the Terrors of an Evil Conscience Such false Teachers who would persuade others that there shall be no Hell can hardly be able to persuade themselves of it no doubt but they wish it were so neither God nor Hell Acts. 24.15 Scripture saith There shall be a resurrection of the dead both of the just and unjust After Resurrection shall follow Judgment for the Dead shall rise to come to Judgment which shall pass upon all both Just and Unjust certainly that Judgment and Sentence shall be executed upon both and as for some it will be Eternal Life so by the Rule of Contrarles for others 't will be Eternal Death for as Felicity shall be Eternal so shall Misery be The Word of God speaks of Hell and of Heaven of Goats and Sheep Reprobate and Elect as we read in the description of that Judgment made by our Saviour where mention is made of an everlasting fire and the Eternity of those Torments for Soul and Body Matth. 25.41 Mark 9.45 46. Matth. 13.42 chap. 25.41 are expressed by a worm that never dieth and a fire that never shall be quench'd and a furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth Hence we see First there are after this Life Torments prepared for the Wicked for the Devil and his Angels for his Children Secondly those Torments are great being represented by what can be conceived and expressed to be most painful as is Fire with a mixture of Combustible Matters to make it more fierce therefore call'd Rev. 19.20 A lake of fire burning with brimstone which the beast and false Prophets were cast alive into Whether it will be a material Fire we may not well determine for we must not presume beyond what is written but a fire it is for in many places God's word calls it so Matth. 18.8 Thirdly Those Torments shall be eternal for Scripture saith it and we must not pretend to be wiser and know more or better than God who in the fore-quoted places calls it An everlasting fire that shall never be quenched Jude 7. 't is elsewhere call'd eternal Fire suffering the vengeance of eternal Fire otherwise called Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his power and 't is to last to all Eternity for 't is said that the beast and the false prophet with the wicked shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever which latter words plainly shew the continuation without intermission of those Torments and besides Scripture we have reason for it if the joys of Heaven be Everlasting so must the Torments of Hell be now both the justice and Truth of God which are two unshaken Pillars require that there be a continuation not annihilation of the wicked for is it not just that the Soul and Body which together sinn'd against God should also together suffer the pains due to Sin there must be an adequate punishment for offences against an infinite Eternal Majesty but the finite Creature cannot intensively suffer an infinite Torment therefore must extensively that is of an infinite duration and whether or not the fire be Material the wrath and curse of God can supply it with Fewel for ever and ever now that there is a judgment to pass and be executed upon all I am sure it is the Apostles doctrine when he saith for we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5.10 that every one may receive the things done in his Body whether it be good or bad the same Reason there is for bad as for good and our Saviour speaks home when upon account of the Resurrection of the last day he saith they that have done good shall out of their graves come forth to the Resurrection of Life and they that have done Evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation but damnation is not Annihilation John 5.28 29 and can men be so impious as to think that the threatning of Hell is but a scare Crow a forged Tale or the Man in Clouts Another errour of theirs about Resurrection is this that the same Bodies which are buried shall not raise the question is not about the quality but about the Substance which shall be the same but of different quality God say they will give Spiritual ones instead of those we had here which is a forgery wholly destructive to the Resurrection of the dead one of the Articles of our Faith for if there be
new ones 'tis no Resurrection of the old ones but a Creation of new ones * Smalc exam 100 Err. Err. 88.89 Corpora haec c. said one these bodies which now we have we do not believe they shall rise from the dead but that God will give us others Which make him add that †Exam. 157. err Err. 103. after the Resurrection we shall be like unto God Job 19.25 26 27.1 Cor. 15.53 54. V. 43. as to the Bodies but Job whom I will believe sooner than him saith though Worms destroy his body yet in his flesh he shall see God and his Eyes shall behold and not another and Paul affirms this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortallity The same body that was buried shall rise again for in the fore quoted place the Apostle saith it is Sown in dishonour it is raised in Glory it is sown in weakness it is raised in power so he still speaks of the same and as the bodies that shall be alive at the coming of our Saviour shall be changed only as to the quality in substance remaining the same as express'd in the word 2 Cor. 5.1.4 so shall the Bodies at that time lying in their graves c. thus we see it shall be the same in substance only a change in the quality for 't is just that the same Body which for the cause of Christ was upon Earth exposed to ignominy Phil. 3.21 should with him be glorified in Heaven 2 Thes 1.5 6 7. and that the bodies of Wicked men who sinn'd against God and deserv'd Punishment should suffer it according to what the Apostle saith But take notice of the Blasphemy in the Acts M. S. of their Racovian Assembly Conference animadvertendum est c. men must take notice how Christ and his Apostles were in some manner forced to comply with the Opinions of men which then were prevailing as it appears plainly enough by the parable of the rich Man and of Lazarus for to be tormented in hell or be in Abraham's Bosom are only fictions like those which the Poets writ of Ixion Sysiphus and Tantalus as if Christ and his Apostles had brought upon us as Truths of the Gospel The Fables of the Heathen Poets that only the pious are to live forever Smalc disp de baptism is it not drawn out of Scriptures which do comfort only Believers with the Promises of Eternal Life Now if hence we infer that the wicked shall not live forever 't is not to be attributed unto us but to Holy Scripture the like of the Death and Destruction of Devils cannot we hence well conclude that they shall be reduced to nothing but how this is to be therein in our judgment every one may abound in his own sense the like must be said of the Torments of Devils and Wicked Men we know that Eternal Life promised the Godly is a Blessed Life which alone is worthy to be called Life whilst the Pains and Torments that take away the Happiness of Life both in this World and that which is to come are in several places of Scripture well known call'd Death comparatively They farther teach that the pious men who died before Moses knew neither †Catech. Rac. c. 11. de proph munere Christ Christ nor * Volkel l. 4. c. 3. and l. 3. c. 11 his Salvation that indeed †Crell de deo God forgave their Sins and gave them Eternal Life * Rac. c. 5. q. vi volk 1.3 c. 11. yet without any promise thus according to them men were saved without a Saviour and without Faith for no promise no Faith furthermore they say that †Racov. c. 5. q. 3. and c. 19. sub sin Heb. 11.8 9 14 15 16. Eternal Life and the Holy Ghost were unknown to Moses's Law thus they were without Faith without hopes of a better Life and without inward joy and assurance in the Holy Ghost yet the law contained promises of a Messiah to come not only Temporal but also Spiritual and Eternal the Seed of Abraham especially that according to the promise had a share in the promises made to him renewed to * Socin l c. ad quest utrum fides ista c. Isaac and Jacob heirs with him of the same promise now they had Faith and thereby desired a better Country than that they came from that is as the Apostle calls it an heavenly one They farther say that by the Covenant of Moses neither was the Messiah promised nor were they commanded to believe in Christ to come But let this chiesly be taken notice of * multa poterant many things might be said by the prophets which the people was not bound to believe there are too many more such erroneous things which it would prove too tedious to relate and upon occasion I could abundantly produce but they are nauseous and so for the present shall say no more about it Thus far have I Characterized the Socinian spirit and drawn it in its own Colours which I hope may thorough God's Blessing open the Eyes of People to see the cloven foot and make men with just indignation to abhor the Devil and his Works yet after all this 't is wonderful to find how a number of People have been so bewitched as to receive for doctrines such impieties and blasphemies but sometimes in his just judgment God as the Apostle saith doth send a strong delusion that men should believe a lye 2 Thess 2.10.11 however there was a great opposition against this Sect when at first it began to appear especially after Socinus's publishing his wicked Book de Servatore one Covet a Protestant Minister in Paris was the first that answered it in and about Poland where he went to settle Zarnovecius Volanus and others in those parts and elsewhere did write against him The assertions of the Colledge of Posen de Trino uno Deo compiled by Eutropius came out in opposition to his Heresies but that which is very remarkable is this that in Poland all the reformed Churches of three several Confessions namely the Bohemian Helvetick and Augustan or Lutheran Unanimously joined together and declared against those damnable Heresies and in the year 1570. came to that famous agreement called of Sandomir from the place where it was transacted and afterwards confirm'd in several other Synods of theirs as at Posen in the same year at the general one at Cracow in 1573. in the particular one of Xansens and of Wlodislaw afterwards in the general of Petricovia in 1578. in the general of Wlodislaw in 1583. and at Thorn in 1595. in the Preface before the Articles of those several Synods are these expressions * Syntagmaa Confes fidei p. 283. Nos qui in Poloniae regno c. We who in the Kingdom of Poland have rejected the Idolatry of Anti-Christ and all Heresies contrary to the Apostical Creed and to those of Nice