Neighbour's House is on Fire or the Air infected with the Pestilence and the Enemies of God and his Servants are in a Combination and lie in wait to deceive the Ignorant and Vwary it 's every Man's Duty to extinguish the Flame c. This is very true and the Unitarians have a good Title to these Considerations But what has any Athanasian or Tritheistic Writer to do with ' em The Fire and Pestilence and Craft of Athanasius have done too too much Injury to the Christian Faith already and has deceiv'd this very unwary Writer and all his Elect if any one can truly be said to be deceiv'd by another who imposes upon himself by such inconsiderable Sophistry as runs through bis whole inconsiderable Pamphlet He first takes it for granted that by the Holy Ghost we are to understand a single intelligent Being or Subsistence distinct from the Father the most High God and then takes upon him to prove that this Being is the most High God too We will be so civil to him for once as to admit the first to be true but the Holy Scriptures and the reason of all Mankind will never admit the second to be so too for if they are not one but two distinct individual Beings they cannot both be the most High God Yes replies the Socinian Slain that must be granted me too as I will make it appear by twenty demonstrative Arguments Twenty Demonstrations is a round number but one good Demonstration is as good as a thousand and I can produce a thousand at any time of the day out of the 1st and 2d Book of Chronicles as good and as conclusive as any of the 20 in the Socinian Slain but then I must expose my self and the Holy Scripture too as the Socinian Slain hath done but God forbid I should be guilty of his Faults But the Socinian Slain p. 3. tells you The Holy Ghost made the Heavens and the Earth and cites for a Proof Gen. 1.2 Who I pray is this Holy Ghost a 3d Divine Being distinct in Number Will and Understanding i. e. distinct in Person from the Father and the Son If so then we have three Creators three Gods three distinct Beings of infinite Wisdom and Power which is two too many for Divine Revelation and the most evident Reason of Mankind No matter for that the Socinian Slain will rather choose to have it so than have his Arguments exploded as absurd And therefore on he goes right or wrong with his wonderful and surprizing Proofs and tells you in the next place that P. 4. The Holy Ghost is omniscient and therefore c. And 1st He is so because he knows all the deep things of God and 2ly because he knows all the deep things of Man The latter of these two may be known without being omniscient and the former are known to God alone Infinite Mind can only know what is in infinite Mind but then that infinite Mind is but one If he believes the Holy Ghost is one infinite Mind or Understanding distinct from another infinite Mind and yet knows all that the other Infinite can comprehend then this Author's Faith is condemn'd by the Universal Church the late Oxford-Decree and by the Holy Scriptures but if he believes God to be one infinite Mind and Being who alone is conscious to his own Thoughts and no other Being besides him is privy to 'em as every Man knows his own Mind and no other Man can know what 's in his Mind till he reveal it to him which is the true Sense of 1 Cor. 2. 10 11. we are agreed for undoubtedly God knows all that he knows The rest of his Arguments are all of a piece till you come to the 18th unless you will except the eleventh where he tells you The Holy Ghost is the most High God because Sin and Blasphemy against him are unpardonable Now this seems the most concluding and decisive Proof of all the 20 Demonstrations nay as the Author manages it it will prove more a great deal than ever he design'd it should For if the Holy Ghost be God because Sin and Blasphemy against him are unpardonable then the Father and Son cannot be so because all manner of Sins and Blasphemies against them will be forgiven Mat. 11.31 And now let this Writer consider if he has not finely prov'd the Deity of the Holy Ghost and excluded the other two Divine Persons from the most sacred Order of his most high Gods He has given the 3d a greater Prerogative than the 1st and 2d Persons and so instead of proving him God equal to the Father and the Son has prov'd him God superiour in this respect to both which is such a way of proving he never had been guilty of had he but consulted his own Reason or a good Commentator and if he did it knowingly 't is very likely to be an unpardonable Sin The Socinian Slain has but one Argument more that merits a Remark and that 's his eighteenth The Holy Ghost says he P. 21. is one God with the Father and Son and therefore is the most High God I mean with respect to his Essence since every Body will grant that the Father is so What dos this Author mean by one God with the Father and Son one Being with the Father and Son or that the Father Son and Holy Ghost are but one single Being If this be his meaning tho it be not well expressed yet it looks more like a Divine Unity and is indeed the nominal Trinity and not the Tritheistic against which I write Or dos he mean by one God with the Father and Son that the Holy Ghost is a God of the same Divine Kind with the Father and the Son If this be his Sense as some other Passages seem to countenance then without breach of Charity I must charge him tho I am sorry for it with down-right Tritheism or Polytheism which I take to be a much heavier Accusation than any he can charge or has fairly brought against his real Well-wishers the Unitarians But the Author has another ambiguous Phrase in his Proof and that is That the Holy Ghost is most High God with respect to his Essence What is he not so then with respect to his Person if he be not so in Person I don't see how he can be so at all for what he is not as a Person he is mot any other way for all he is is Person No no the Socinian Slain can find out a way wherein he is the most High God tho he be not so in Person How I pray not by Proxy certainly No but in Essence Now I would fain know of the Author of the Socinian Slain what Essence signifies in this place and in other Passages of his Book for he seems to use it in no certain Sense which is unfair The Schoolmen have us'd a Term in their Metaphysical Writings 1. For common Nature or kind of Being 2. For particular Nature or
single Being And 3. For essential Properties of Being Will this Author be understood in any or none of these Senses If he mean by Essence common Nature or kind of Being then Father Son and Holy Ghost are three individual Gods numerically distinct in their Beings but of the same sort or Species of Divine Nature this I think bids fairest for his Sense Or dos he mean by Essence single Being then Father Son and Holy Ghost are but three Names for one single Almighty Being and the proper Notion of Persons in the Godhead will be lost in this Sense yet this sometimes must be his meaning or what he says can have no meaning And I suppose he does net understand the Father Son and Holy Ghost to be three Properties of one Deity But let the Author or any one for him once ascertain the Sense of this term Essence and the Controversy will soon determine it self but he and his Authors too are unwilling to be plain in this matter lest the Mystery vanishes and Truth should stare 'em in the Face Yet after all methinks the Author of the Socinian Slain has in some Passages expounded his meaning and plainly owns a plurality of Gods and if the Reader considers what he says and how he speaks in some places he will see there is no Reason to doubt of it I will grant that he sometimes forgets himself and speaks of Almighty God as one single Being but his whole Book will correct that meaning for he contends throughout that religious Worship and Adoration are equally due and to be paid to the Father Son and Holy Ghost and in all places speaks of these three as three distinct individual Beings For instance in his 30th page he stiles the Father Son and Holy Ghost Intelligent Almighty Principles of Operation who created the Heavens and the Earth In Page 31 32 33 36. these three are spoken of as so many distinct Beings in as plain terms as the Wit of Man can express it and how wary soever other Writers have been the Socinian Slain will not and cannot but be understood in every Page of his Book discoursing of the Holy Ghost as a real proper and absolute Person in the Deity really and intirely distinct from the Persons of the Father and the Son in as true and proper a sense as the Person of Peter is complete in it self and numerically distinguish'd from the Persons of James and John And if you would know of him how these three intelligent Beings the Father Son and Holy Ghost are one he frequently inculcates this Answer That they are one in Essence and one in Nature or of one Divine Essence and of one Divine Nature which is just the same reply that every Body makes to this Question In what sense may Peter James and John three distinct intelligent Beings be said to be one Why the Answer is They are one in Essence or they are one in Nature or they are of one human Essence and of one human Nature Now 't is plain that Divine Essence and Nature as well as human Essence and Nature are abstract Terms in such Passages as these and signify common Nature or sort of Being comprehending divers particulars or several Individuals under it The Soc. Slain therefore and all his Party are for a Specific Trinity of three Formal Individual Intelligent Almighty Beings or Principles contain'd under one common Nature or of one divine sort or kind of Being And can any thing be more formal and palpable Tritheism than this He disputes for a numerical Distinction of these three and asserts only a specifical Unity nay he asserts the equality of these three Almighty Beings and maintains an equal Right that all the Divine Three or the three coequal Gods have to our religious Worship and Adoration p. 19 30 36. ad finem And when this is the Sense and Language of all his Book can he with any reason take it unkindly if he be understood to teach and maintain the Doctrine of three Almighty Gods In short if that be not his Sense all he writes and says must be Nonsense how orthodox soever it may be thought by his Favourers And whatever may be the Issue of some Mens Doctrines unfairly represented P. 53. and the Tendency of some Mens Opinions untruly and disingenuously stated 't is as evident as any thing can be that this Writer's Doctrines and Opinions are in themselves and in their own nature Heretical Antichristian Polytheistical and Basphemous The Unitarians are charg'd without Reason and without Scripture by their Adversaries with teaching Doctrines that lead to Infidelity and Atheism Would to God this detestable Charge were no more true when brought against the Socinian Slain and his Tritheistic Brethren But whilst they continue to hold and profess that there are three infinite Minds three eternal Principles three Almighty Creators three distinct individual most perfect Beings three coequal Divine Persons or Deities to whom they pay distinctly Divine Honours and religious Adoration and anathematize and persecute to the death when the State permits 'em all others of a different Opinion They must excuse all the thinking and considerate part of Mankind from embracing their Faith and believing their Contradictions And the Tritheists must pardon the Vnitarians who heartily love their Persons but detest their Errors if they are compell'd to declare that Tritheism or the Doctrine Belief and Worship of 3 infinite Beings Minds or Gods with distinct and coequal Veneration is no Scripture-Doctrine no Scripture-Faith no Scripture-worship but a horrible abuse of the true Christian Religion a violation of the Law of Nature a stumbling-block to the Jews and Mahometans and a revival of Polytheism or a plurality of Gods And 't is in vain for the most learned Tritheists and much more vain for these illiterate Tritheists to set about the confuting us with one Book and Pamphlet after another We know what they can say and what they dare not say We see what they drive at and guess at their Designs but till these equivocal Terms in their Books viz. Nature Essence Person Subsistence Hypostasis and the like are better explain'd and set in their true light we defy our Tritheistic Adversaries with all their craft and subtilty to purge themselves and their Writings from Sophistry and Equivocation And until they confess one infinite Mind or intelligent Being even the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to be the most High God and that no other Being is to be compar'd or equally ador'd with him because all other Beings are from Him and he is from none because all other Beings besides him have a Father Cause or Author of their Beings and he has none but by the Confession of our Tritheistic Opposers and all the Tritheistic Creeds is the Fountain and Origin of all Beings Until they will acknowledge this first of Beings to be the most High and Supreme God or God in the chiefest Sense and give Him peculiar Honour and
Antichristian Enquirer and his Abbadie who insinuates a Charge of Idolatry against the Christian Religion upon account of the Honour therein given to Christ Even those Christians who are for a co-equal Adoration of three co-equal co-eternal Beings abhor the charging Idolatry upon the Christian Religion much less will they or can they be thought to countenance so detestable an Accusation who declare for the supreme Honour and Adoration of one single Infinite All-sufficient Being who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ He proceeds in his detestable Inferences and asserts p. 16. That the Worship of Jesus Christ is Idolatry if he is not God How dares the Enquirer assert that to honour him whom God the Father has honour'd 2 Pet. 1.17 and highly exalted is Idolatry that to give him a Name above every Name and confess him Lord to the Glory of God the Father is Idolatry Phil. 2.9 10 11. see Joh. 5.22 23. What Notion I wonder has this hasty Enquirer of Worship and of Idolatry I dare be his Security that he is a perfect Stranger to the true Notion of either of 'em how loudly soever he may declaim with the dreadful Charge of Idolatry for I would demand of this bold Enquirer where is the Idolatry if the Holy Jesus have all the honour and veneration paid him but that alone which he himself gave to his Father and our Father and to his God and our God to whom he ascended Yet this Bold Enquirer p. 16. takes a fresh start from this very Charge too too like a good Mussulman to extol his holy Prophet Mahomet for a very considerable Teacher and a great Reformer of Mankind How deplorable a Case is it that some Men write just as they have liv'd like true Mahometans and have presented the World with a fair occasion to conclude they would be extreamly gratify'd if their Arabian Prophet's Religion were establish'd in England for a good Mussulman may keep a good Conscience and a brace of Concubines at the same time for they are not incommunicable The Enquirer p. 16. to shew you his good liking of Mahomet and his Doctrine insists upon it in a large Vindication and Encomium on both How can we but have a great opinion of Mahomet He hath taught Men so and so c. What can bespeak a Man more inspired of God Surely he was a very great Prophet and all he hath taught ought to be own'd as Divine P. 17 18. He is a greater Prophet than all under the Law yea preferable to Christ himself which says he p. 19. will appear if you consider his Doctrine or the success of his Ministry He hath establish'd his Religion upon firm Foundations and taken wiser Methods and was much wiser and better than Christ he had greater Candour Truth and Charity greater care of and zeal for the Glory of God than Jesus Christ who makes himself one with the most High God P. 21. If Christ was not God Mahomet spoke more truly and plainly than Christ had more Wisdom and took more care not to entangle the Souls of Men. P. 22. Nay if Christ was not true God he was an Impostor and his Disciples Deceivers and the Christian Religion is a Cheat Superstition and Idolatry What a terrible Outrage is here upon the Christian Religion These are the execrable Consequences the confident Enquirer presumes to draw from his obscure equivocal and unexpounded Premises and has taken a scandalous liberty of publishing this Raillery upon the Christian Religion in a Chistian Nation and with his own name in the Title Page Are these the Fruits of his Zeal and his Orthodoxy Must Christianity it self be decry'd and vilify'd if it be not the thing he mistakes it to be Is this the rare Method of confuting the Vnitarians this will rather serve to confirm 'em in this Truth That they and the Christian Religion must stand and fall together and he that designs to confute them and what they maintain does in effect undertake nothing less than a Confutation of Jesus Christ and the Divine Writings of the New Testament What this Enquirer is maintaining in the remainder of his Book is a full and complete instance of this for he produces Text upon Text and one Scripture upon another to shew that another distinct Being is a most High God beside him who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and unless you will grant him this Sense and admit this Proof to be sufficient he 'll reject the H. Scriptures and give the preference to his beloved Alchoran for that teaches as he informs you That none other but the eternal Father is God p. 21. whereas he looks upon it as certain and evident that Jesus Christ and his Apostles taught that another nay a third distinct Being are truly and properly Gods coequal in Nature and Perfection and have equal right to Divine Honour and Adoration P. 24 25 26. That Jesus Christ is God in the highest and chiefest sense he begins to prove from the Names the incommunicable Names of God ascribed to him Yet Jesus Christ no where once stiles himself God or ascribes to himself the nature of God and God has no incommunicable Name that I could ever meet with no Name but what is given to other Beings besides himself If the giving the Names of God to any Being besides him be Blasphemy J. T. I doubt will renounce his Bible as well as Christ and embrace the Doctrine of the Alchoran which some affirm best suits with his Life and good Opinion He finds in his Bible the Names of God given to Angels good and evil to Princes and Prophets nay he himself takes all the pains he can to prove that the Names the incommunicable Names of God are given to Jesus Christ Now if the Man Christ Jesus be not God then Mr. Taylor has prov'd that the Names of God are not incommunicable for he proves that they are given to Christ so that it must follow either that the Names may be given to different Beings in a different Sense or that God and Jesus Christ are but one Being or that the Scripture-phrases are misapplied which it may be he will rather incline to believe But he goes on to inform you p. 25. That Jehovah is a Name only belongs to the most High God Psal 83.18 Thou whose Name alone is Jehovah This is a very pleasant Proof for if there be another Person or Being besides the Father of whom it may be said Thou whose Name is Jehovah then the Father's Name alone is not Jehovah for J. T. says it belongs to another Person or Being who is a Son and not a Father so that this proof destroys it self for if the Father's Name alone be Jehovah so as that Name is not to be given to any other besides him then Jesus Christ who is another Person or Being besides him has not and cannot have that Name given or ascribed to him but if Jesus Christ has that name