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
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
God himself Psal 68.8 David witnesseth that Mount Sinai was moved or trembled at the presence of the God of Israel now certainly the Son is the Presence or Face of the God of Israel Heb. 12.26 v. 18. and he whose Voice then shook the Earth This is the same to whom in the same Psalm he saith Thow hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for Men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them which being compar'd with Ephes 4.8 shews it to have been spoken of Christ Now in the Tabernacle which was set up for the glory of God Schechina or the Son of God not only appeared sometimes but continually dwelt therein Levit. 9.23 24. chap. 1.1 Num. 1.1 Ex. 25.22 upon all occasions manifesting his Glory thence he rendered his Oracles and called unto Moses to speak unto him so that whensoever God spake unto Moses Aaron and their Successors ever it was from that place according to his own appointment R. Kimhi saith that according to the Psalm 82.1 God standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty Schechina is always in the midst of the Congregation of Israel The Inscription over the Ark was this The Name of the Lord of Hosts sitteth among the Cherubims they call'd it the Glory of Israel Psal 4.22 therefore after it had been taken by the Philistines 't was said The Glory is departed from Israel Now by the Glory and Name of the Lord the * Bechai in Leg. p. 88 89. Masters of the Cabbala always understand the Messiah who is God the Face of God King David and the Mouth of Jehovah which to apply we must take notice of what John saith And we beheld his glory Joh. 1.14 the glory as of the only begotten of the Father chiefly in his Transfiguration He as said before Acts 7.2 1 Cor. 2.8 Hebr. 1.3 Matth. 19.28 25.31 is the God of Glory and the Lord of Glory also the brightness of the glory of the Father he hath in Heaven the Throne of his Glory By vertue of the Covenant made in Sinai between God and the People God in a most eminent way between the Cherubims dwelt among them as he continued to do after the Ark was lodged in the Temple he taught them either immediately by himself or by his Prophets provided for an delivered them from their Enemies and it hath been the constant Tradition of the understanding Jews †Bechai in Thor. p. 88 c. 4. that the Name of the God who dwelt in the Temple was the Schechina and as he ever was with Moses upon all occasions to help and strengthen him So after his Death he said to Joshua Josh 1.5 As I was with Moses so I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee as both a Prophet to guide and direct and as a King by his power to defend him If we may look back to the ground of this series of Divine Dispensations we must know that from Eternity God Father Son and Holy Ghost decreed to bring many Sons unto glory Heb. 2.10 as the Apostle calls it which the Son undertook to execute and so under the Old Testament he at several times and to several Persons declared and revealed this Will and Pleasure of God made and renewed the Promises but as the chief part of that great and glorious Design which all other means were to depend upon was the satisfaction to be given Divine Justice by the Death of the Mediator so other things before were only preparations and dispositions in order to 't to which purpose the Mosaical Law was instituted therefore as the execution was only at and after the Death of the Testator till which the Testament is of no force ch 9.9 10. so before that time under the Law was shed the Blood of Calves Goats Lambs c. instead of the Testator's till the fulness of the appointed time when that precious Blood was shed upon the Cross This I shall add how God's Covenant was for Glory and Eternity but the Law was a Medium or means as the Deliverance out of Aegypt to bring them into a Land where God in a most eminent and excellent way might dwell among teach and make himself well known to them in and by the Son who is the Wisdom and the Power of God about this the Psalmist well observes Ps 147.20 He hath not dealt so with any Nation As indeed he through the Spirit of God was so exact an observer of things relating to the Messiah whom according to God's promise he knew should come out of his Family that our blessed Saviour after his Resurrection referred his Disciples not only to the Law of Moses◠and to the Prophets but also to the Psalms Luke 24.44 to know the things concerning him for therein are spoken of his God-head Eternal Generation Covenant with the Father his Humanity Sufferings Death Resurrection Ascension into Heaven distribution of gifts among Men his Kingly Prophetical and Priestly Offices and his Victory over his Enemies All this I brought in to shew how according to the Doctrine of the Antient Jews the Schechina or Meniah was the Son of God had a Being and acted from the beginning not of the Gospel but of the World and thus in the Godhead they made a distinction of Persons And if Socinians will own the Lord Jesus to be the Christ then either with the antient Jews they must own him to have been and acted from the beginning of the Creation and so to have had a Being long before his Birth of the Virgin or else they must joyn with the Modern Jews deny him to be the Messiah and thus proclaim themselves to be no Christians nay Idolaters and such as neither know nor worship the true God for he that owns not and worshippeth not Father Son and Holy Ghost doth not own nor worship the true God but they plainly deny the Holy Ghost and in effect deny the Son which is very hard and unworthy Because the Son of God for our sake was pleased to take upon him our Humane Nature some Men unthankfully and impiously go about to strip him of his Divine On our behalf he humbled himself and for that some Men undervalue him as if their Eye was Evil because he is good We reckon several Ages of the Church whereof every one affords Demonstrations of the Son of God her Head's Presence and Actings for her The first is of her Birth and Childhood from the Creation to the Flood the second her first Infancy from the Flood to Moses when she began to gather a Youthful Strength by means of God's special Favour to and Presence among them in that signal and eminent way of the Son of God's dwelling in the Sanctuary which David calls Goings and Actings when he saith Ps 68.24 v. 7 8. They have seen thy goings O God even the goings of my