had contradicted himself and his Argument would have been meer Nonsence and would have run thus a Man humbled himself and took on him the form and fashion of a Man Besides it is a Contradiction in the Nature of the thing it self and is no better Sence than to say a Man made himself a Man It may seem strange that Men should be so blind but how can it be otherwise when they will needs war against him who is the Light and Life of Men. I always thought that my Author was endu'd with a considerable stock of Learning only it look'd like a Jewel set in Lead for want of sound Reason and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ to manage it until I met with his reconciling Faculty in his aforesaid 18th page and that brought to my Mind what the Apostle Peter saith 2 Pet. 3. 15 16. where speaking of some of Paul's Epistles of which this to the Philippians and that to the Hebrews are some He saith There are some things hard to be understood which the unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also other Scriptures to their own Destruction And when I read these things I cannot for my Life forbear thinking on my Nameless Author For besides the flat Contradiction he gives the Holy Ghost it is directly contrary to the Scope of the Apostle which was to move them to Humility and Condescension one to another from Christ's Example But if he were a Man only to say nothing of the Nonsence that there is in saying a Man humbled himself to become a Man the Man Jesus considered as a Man only was highly honoured in his being conceived and brought forth of a Virgin in such a Miracnlous Manner So that consider the Text which way you will either with respect to the Words themselves or with respect to the Context we are bound to believe the Truth as it is revealed that He thought it no Robbery to be equal with God There is nothing more material in my Author which I have not taken Notice of and shewed how unreasonable it is especially where he pretends Scripture for his cunningly devised Fables And the Truth is those Gentlemen would make much surer Work in their Babel Building if they could but race out the Scriptures from among us than ever they will be able to do by wresting them one by one to speak according to their foolish Reason And indeed the Considerator in his Answer to his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury bids fair for it for though he had tryed in vain by false and absurd Glosses to make the first Chapter of John and many other Texts mentioned by his Lordship to speak according to his own and his Master Socinus his foolish Reason or rather corrupt Mind Yet he flies at first to his best shift though for Subtilty sake somewhat indirectly to except against the Gospel of St. John the three Epistles and the Revelations and would impose upon us that they were counterfeited by one Cerinthus in John's Name And therein he hath not only secur'd his own Cause but greatly oblig'd the Papists a piece of Wickedness they never had the Impudence to attempt though they kept them lock'd up in an Unknown Tongue Yes but the Considerator tells us that the Revelations of St. John were denied and writ against by some of the Papists as being no part of Divine Writ Well be it so every Body knows for what Cause we have it recorded in Acts 6. 10. because they were not able to resist the Holy Ghost that speaks therein and at the same time others of them are striving with all the might they have to ward off the Blow that the Spirit gives to that Interest in wresting it to any sence that may secure their Popish and Foppish Cause In like manner doth the Considerator not only with the Revelations but with the Gospel of St. John and his three Epistles and scarce any Text that is urg'd against them but they say either it is not right translated or it is no Scripture or else they manifestly wrest it from the plain Sence and Meaning of the Holy Ghost There in one Instance among many we have in the Gospel of John Chap. 8. v. 58. where our Lord saith Before Abraham was I am Considerator pag. 57. colume 1. that is saith he In the Decree and Counsel of God Why good Mr. Considerator what a great Secret have you found out now are not all God's Works known to him from Eternity were not you and I and all the Men that shall be in the World to the end thereof in the Counsel and Decree of God from Eternity Surely God is not like Man to determine and purpose one thing yesterday and another to day But pray Sir be pleased to take a View of your own Learned Countenance in your 6th page colume 1st and 2d There you give several Arguments to prove a thing cannot be possess'd before it is in being and in particular you instance the Day of Judgment which is not yet come and therefore not possess'd I hope you will not say it is not or that it was not in the Decree of God when and before he made the World Therefore your Saying after Grotius that a Man descending from Abraham could not be any otherwise before Abraham than in Divine Purpose and Decree is very true and turns the Argument against you Besides Abraham was in the Decree of God as soon as any Man Therefore you must own that our Lord did exist before he was born of the Virgin or that he spoke Nonsence for they themselves knew that the Decrees of God were Eternal and our Lord had not given them an Answer to their Question which was whether he had seen Abraham he being not fifty years old Besides our Lord had told a plain direct Lye if he had said he was in the Decree of God before Abraham For Abraham was in God's Decree as soon as Adam and therefore no Man descending from Abraham could be in God's Decree before him But the Considerator goes a little further and saith our Lord did exist in the Promise of God before Abraham which is very true also for he was promised the same day of the Fall but neither will this do the Business nor discharge our Considerator from charging our Lord with Folly or Nonsence or both For it was promised presently after the Flood long before Abraham that God should perswade Japhet to dwell in the Tents of Shem and yet the Gentiles the Seed of Japhet did not receive the Gospel till since our Lord 's coming in the Flesh So likewise was it prophesied of Josiah an hundred years before he was born could he therefore say before I was born I am Nay is not Mr. Considerator himself and the rest of his Learned Brethren prophesied of by Name in 2 Pet. 2. 1. where the Holy Ghost tells us there shall be false Teachers among Christians who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies denying
the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift Destruction Will you add so much Pride to your Folly as to say concerning your self as our Lord did that because I was in the Decree of God and prophesied of therefore 1600 Years before born I am Besides I Am is a peculiar Title to God signifying his Self-existence and Self-sufficiency which no created Being can take to himself without Blasphemy Well but after all the Considerator is resolved to be a good Champion for a bad Cause who will loose his Ground Inch by Inch And therefore he saith in his 57th page first colume That notwithstanding all this we must be Socinians or Arrians for Christians we may not be No by no means if the Considerator can but jump into the infallible Chair and prescribe a Religion for us Thus it is and thus it will be as the truly Rational and Learned as well as Pious Doctor Owen hath observed Truth will not please the Devil will subscribe to any Creed but that which God gives of himself in his Word But good Sir why must we be Arrians Why because Christ though he did exist before the World was made yet he was but a Creature for all that but the first that ever God made But neither will this shift enable you to overthrow the Christian Religion nor shall you thereby rob the Author of it of his Divine Nature who is the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us Titus 2. 13 14. For hereby you do but tread in your old Steps by resisting and contradicting the Holy Ghost as your Predecessors did in Acts 7. 51. For in Revelation 1. the 8th and 11th Verses our Lord saith he is the First and the Last And to put the Matter out of Doubt that it is Jesus Christ there speaks the 12th Verse to the End of the Chapter makes it evident he being in the Likeness of the Son of Man And in the 17th Verse he saith again I am the first and the last And in the 18th I am he that was dead and am alive All which shews that this was Jesus Christ and that this Jesus Christ is Godman for he being the first God the Father was not before him then he could not be first and he being the last End of all things all things must end and terminate in his Glory For God's Glory is the highest and chiefest Good and therefore must be the ultimate and last End of all things and that this was no other than Jesus Christ is evident in that he saith I am he that liveth and was dead Surely God cannot dye therefore this must be that mighty Child that was given to us who also was the everlasting Father spoken of in Isa 44 6. and Isa 9. 6. Godman God with us in our Nature And therefore he may well be called wonderful because he is Godman in one Person God he must be else he could not be the first nor last neither for God only is the last End as well as the first Cause of all things Man he must be else he could not dye and God he must be else he could not have power to raise himself again as he tells you he had John 10. 18. No man taketh it from me saith he but I lay it down of my self and I have power to take it up again And this compared with the next Verse together with Acts 20. 24. proves the Father and him to be one as he saith of himself in ver 30. of this 10th Chapter I and my Father are one Besides in the first Chapter of Gonesis it is said In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth Why then will you impose Arrianism upon us and contradict the Spirit of God by telling us that God created before the Beginning or before he created the Heavens and the Earth The Considerator therefore shall never impose his School-Divinity upon me of one Senior and two Junior Gods for unto me and unto us Christians there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him 1 Cor. 8. 6. And indeed here lies these Gentlemens Mistake they find the Scriptures in many places speak of Jesus Christ as Man Therefore say they he cannot be God as my Accountant pag. 4. but as hath been observed we do not say that Man is God or that the Humane Nature is the Divine or that those two Natures are confounded but we believe according to the Scriptures of Truth that God took upon him our Nature Heb. 2. 16. and united that Holy Thing that by the over-shaddowing of the Holy Ghost was conceived and born of the Virgin So that it did not subsist nor was it a distinct being of it self but was united into a personal Union with God the Son and thus he continues to be two Natures in one Person for ever If you ask me how these things can be I answer such Knowledge is as much too wonderful for the Angels for ought I know as to know how God was and therefore neither you nor I must pretend to it It is enough these are the true Sayings of God and therefore it is to the Peril of those that will not believe it If you say it is impossible I answer with Men it may appear so and really be so but with God all things are possible If you say it is Nonsence and Contradiction I Answer it is the highest impiety and greatest impudence that a Man professing to believe there is a God can be guilty of to say that any thing that God reveals concerning himself or us is impossible or contradictory to it self And therefore after all the Considerators glorying of his own and the rest of his Brethrens Honour and Dignity as being Freemen of the Common-wealth of Wit and Learning Page 44. both Collums And after he hath spoken very Contumeliously of the Dignities of the Church and given himself a good Word as a Person fit for Preferment If the Honours and Profits of the Church were bestowed as they were at first designed upon Persons of Wit Learning and Merrit no doubt but he might come in for an Arch-Bishop And yet in all this glorying I do not find him mention one thing that Paul a Minister of Jesus Christ made any reckoning of his Study and glorying being to know Jesus Christ and him Crucified No the Considerator doth not speak one Word of this in all his own Letter of Recommendation though both Colums Pag. 44. be taken up about it yet there is not one word of Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ spoken of as being of any Concernment in a Minister of Jesus Christ And therefore seeing he hath such a conceit of his own Merits without those accounted unnecessary things I would advise him to step Over to Rome for if he make good Friends those things are not much
still the Principal Matter and Stuff by which this Babel Tower is carried on and supported But let us next consider what Comfort here or Happiness hereafter we could expect from our Redeemers Suffering if he were but a Man or any Created Being whatsoever And here it may be remembred that it hath been already proved that no Creature can merit any thing from God by doing but may not an innocent Creature 's Suffering merit something at the Hands of God for others To this I answer there are but three Accounts or Reasons for which we can suppose God should afflict or punish his Creatures 1. His own absolute Sovereignty and unaccountable Dominion that God hath over all his Creatures and whatever he doth on this Account We all know he can do no Injustice Or 2. God punishes the Creature for its own Sin or Guilt Or 3. For the Guilt of some other But our Lord Jesus Christ did not suffer for himself for though the Messiah was cut off it was not for himself but for his People Dan. 9. 16. For He had no Sin nor was guile found in his Mouth And it hath been proved by Gods own Proclamation in Exod. 34. 6 7. that Guilt must be taken away or else the guilty Sinner cannot be cleared and so will remain under the Law and under the Curse Now Guilt cannot be taken away without suffering the Punishment that Guilt bound the Sinner over to this could not be done by a Man only or any limited Power whatsoever This Mr. Considerator not only owns in pag. 31 and 32. but also denies that the Acts of Christ though they were of an infinite Value which yet he will not own they were but if they were he argues against the Satisfaction of Justice thereby because he saith One infinlte Satisfaction is not equivalent to all those Guilts and Punishments each of which is infinite And this he calls a Reasoning or Computation which is self-evident but why doth not Mr. Considerator see that his Arguing is self-contradictory one while he will not own our Lord Jesus Christ to be God because he saith it implies more infinites than one Which he saith is impossible Now to render him an insufficient Saviour he tells us of a great many infinite Guilts which one infinite Saviour is not able to grapple with What Pains doth this Gentleman take to prove that he is not of Paul's Mind and Faith who saith Christ loved him and gave hsmself for him And that he is not concern'd to be one of that Number spoken of in Isa 53. 3 4 5. where 't is said he bare our Iniquities Griefs Sorrows Chastisements and by his Stripes we are healed And if he bare our Sins or Punishments as the Scripture doth so often declare he either bare all that was due from Divine Justice or he bare but a part If he bare but a part we are but partly cleared he is but a part Saviour Guilt is but in part removed and finally we can be but partly saved which is to be fully condemned for God will by no means clear the guilty And whereas Mr. Considerator speaks of a great many infinite Sins and Guilts yet it is certain that Sin neither is nor can in its own Nature be infinite though as it is committed against Infinite Justice and Goodness it hath a kind of infinite Evil in it but properly it is not nor can be infinite For as there is but one Good that is God so there is but one Infinite that is God And indeed Mr. Considerator should have considered that as he argues in his 33d page he makes it as possible for Sin to destroy the very being of God as to overthrow the Satisfaction of Christ For Sin is Enmity against God and if it had power it would destroy God but as great and as exceeding sinful as sin is yet the Power of God is able to subdue it and the Goodness of God is able to overcome it and the Sufrings of Christ are able to take away the Guilt of it And whereas he saith that one supposed infinite Satisfaction is not equivalent to a great many infinite guilts I have already proved that our Lords Satisfaction was not supposed but really such as Answred Divine Justice by taking away all guilt from all his Elect else they could not be cleared and consequently not saved And as for his setting many infinites of guilt and sin against one infinite satisfaction if it had pleased God to endue him but with half so much sound Reason as he hath bestowed on many of the Common People of whom Mr. Considerator hath Prophesied in his Pag. 30. Colum 1. That they shall turn Divines and raze the very Foundation of Babylon I say had Mr. Considerator been a Legal Freeman of the Common-wealth of sound Reason as he Boasts Pag. 44. Colum 1. he would have easily seen that his Argument is every Whit as strong for the destroying of God himself and Causing him to cease to be as against the satisfaction of Christ For if there be a great many infinite sins and guilts and therefore one infinite satisfaction cannot Answer them because many to one is odds By the same Reason there being a great many infinite Evils and but one infinite good many to one being odds the many infinite Evils must destroy the one infinite good Thus we see God confounds the Wisdom of the Wise and makes their Knowledge foolishness and it is a thing to be much observed that there is scarce any one Argument that our pretenders to Reason make use of against our Lord Jesus Christ But when it is lookt into a Man may see that an Atheist may with as much Reason urge the same against the very being of God The Wisdom and Justice and Soveraginty of God herein is to be humbly and thankfully adored in that he is pleased to hide those things from the wise and prudent and to reveal them to Babes even so O Father because it pleaseth thee This should teach all both learned and unlearned to believe God to be as he himself reveals himself in his Word to be least while we proudly go about to make God like our Selves we provoke him to Leave us to our Selves and then Wisdom must perish from the Wise and understanding from the prudent and in denying God to be as he is we shall proceed to deny him to be And indeed as great Charnock hath well observed of the two it is a greater evil to deny him to be as he is then to deny him to be Let every sincere Christian therefore make it his dayly Prayer to Almighty God to give him an understanding that he may know him that is true and also know that he is in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal Life 1 Joh. 5. 20. and let us one and all with Heart and Voice yield Obedience to the will and Command of God Joh. 5. in honouring the Son even as we honour the Father Joyning with those Blessed Ones we Read of Rev. 5. 9 10 11 12 13. Singing Songs of Praise and Thanksgiving to the Lamb who hath redeemed us by his blood and made us Kings and Priests unto our God Saying Blessing and Honour Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever And let all that Love our Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity say A men and Amen FINIS * See Sir Francis Bacons Confession of Faith