Secrets in Religion To which I answer This Author explains his meaning afterwards and thereby shews what he holds for this is one of his Propositions that we must not give the name of Mystery to those doctrines which are contrary to the light of Nature or Reason and he means by these doctrines all those Divine Truths in the Gospel which are above our Natural Reason and which we cannot comprehend and discern by the light of Nature and so it appears that this Writer though he seems to allow of Mysteries yet in reality he disowns them which is no infrequent thing with them But it will be said that another of their Authors is of opinion that there are some things to be believed which we cannot comprehend I answer 1. Whatever he and some of late assert it is certain that it was a receiv'd and acknowledg'd opinion among the Socinians heretofore that nothing is to be believed but what we can comprehend It was a Standing Principle with them all Not to admit any Article into their Creed but what they could make out by exact Reason and therefore it is well known that they rejected the doctrine of the Trinity and other Great Articles of the Christian Faith because they could not fathom them by Reason This was the approved Notion in Socinus's days and in Crellius's as hath been shew'd in another place 2. I answer that this very Author himself in that place where he throws off this Old Socinian doctrine takes it up again and falls to proving that there is nothing in Religion be it never so high but may be comprehended he is so bold and confident as to say that we have as clear distinct and adequate a conception of what is Infinite and Unbounded as of a spire of Grass and that the nature of one is as comprehensible as the other 3. I add this that though this Writer and some others of the Party endeavour at other times to shift off that foresaid Principle yet it is plain that it is Good Socinianism at this very day as I have proved from some express quotations out of the Writings of the New English Racovians But it will be said again that the same Author tells us that the men of his Party deny the Articles of the Trinity and Incarnation of Christ c. not because they are Mysteries or because they do not comprehend them but because they are Contradictions Impossibilities and pure Non-sense But who sees not that Mysteries and Contradictions c. are the same with these persons and that therefore they call them by that former name because as they would make us believe they can't comprehend them they have no idea no notion of them as they speak at other times and what is this but to say They are Mysteries only they choose to cloth it in a more bold and prophane sort of language calling them Non-sense Contradictions c. Thus it is evident that they impose upon the world and whilst they cry out of Contradictions are guilty of them themselves and whilst they make a shew of believing some things above Reason are really of another perswasion It is plain then that it is their business to lift up Reason so as to depress Christianity it is to be fear'd that some of them are very eager against Mysteries thereby to extirpate that which is deservedly stiled by the Apostle the Mystery of Godliness especially they are inraged against the main branch of it God manifest in the flesh One who is no Over-valuer of Mysteries no not of that he treats of tells us that he hath no small reason to believe there are several who strike at Christianity it self under the pretence of bringing down the value of Mysteries much more than by the downright denying of all Mysteries in Christianity By this Polonian Stratagem they undermine all Religion yea the Being Nature and Attributes of God himself which contain great Abstrusities depths and mysteries in them and so in the sequel of this their Opinion which they so warmly defend and stickle for there is a strong biass to Atheism CHAP. VII The Foreign Unitarians hold that Divine Worship may be given to a Creature The English ones do in effect assert the same though they pretend the contrary Reason and Scripture are against them They can't blame either Pagan or Popish Idolatry being Idolaters themselves Their Idolatry is absurd and contradictious They deny Prayer to have been a part of God's Worship commanded under the Old Testament The contrary proved from the Writings of the Old Testament Their Evasions and Objections particularly answered and found to savour of Impiety The Observation of the Lord's day is held by them to be a Ceremonious Rite and therefore abolish'd And yet they allow of the keeping it as lawful The observing of the Seventh day is in some respect Moral The Lord's day is of Evangelical Institution and therefore we are obliged to celebrate it The Sacraments were appointed to be Signs and Helps of some spiritual good things The Socinians oppose this and most Abusively treat those Sacred Ordinances Whence we are not to wonder at their deriding and renouncing of other parts of Christianity Water-Baptism as they call it is voted by them to be unlawful Yet they hold it not unlawful to retain the practice of it in the Church This argues a Double Irreligion AND now I come to the next General Head of this present Discourse viz. to give an account of the Socinian Worship We found their Doctrines to be very bad I believe I shall make it appear that they are as faulty as to their apprehension concerning Religious Service and Adoration For they deny the Divinity of Christ and yet they assert that he is to have the same Honour and Worship given to him that ought to be given to the Father the Eternal Allmighty All-Wise and Infinite God It is said in the Brief History of the Unitarians that the Socinians generally not only grant but earnestly contend that Christ is to be worship'd and pray'd to The Polonian Unitarians were so zealous in this matter that they excommunicated and deposed from their Ministry such of their own party as denied that Christ might be prayed to and worship'd with divine worship Socinus de Invocatione Christi peremptorily asserts the Invoking and Worshiping of Christ though he be a created thing as he speaks In an other place he largely defends the lawfulness and necessity of it And so he doth more amply yet in his Answer to Francis David's Defence of the contrary opinion In one of his Epistles he contends that our Saviour should be worship'd with Divine and Religious Worship and that for this Reason because such Worship may be given to an other besides God Nay not only to an other Person but to an other Thing for his opinion is that God may command a Log or a Stone to be worship'd if he pleases and if he commands
that they lately presented the world with a Paper entituled The Trinitarian Scheme of Religion and now I hope they will not be offended I am sure they ought not when I publish the Anti-Trinitarian Scheme of Religion if I may so call it or rather to speak plainly and impartially of their Irreligious Opinions and Placits They had no Credible Authors to vouch their Scheme but fill'd it up with what they thought fit But I have taken another course and have all along annex'd the Particular Authors whose Assertions I mention and I have set down the particular places in their Writings I have been very exact and faithful in rehearsing their words that I might neither wrong them nor the Truth And in order to this I have perused the Authors themselves and have taken nothing on trust Nor have I gather'd their Opinions from some few or dubious expressions in their Writings or from some Scraps and Sentences but from the plain Tenour and Scope of what they write So that the Reader may absolutely depend upon what I offer to him concerning their Sentiments All the Socinian Writings till some few of late being in Latin the Learned can consult the places which I have cited when they please and bear witness to my faithfulness in alledging them But I knew it would be of no use to the mere English Reader to transcribe the quotations in that Language wherefore I chose rather to give him them in his own Tongue And besides it is to be supposed that the Learned are not unacquainted with these things but because Others who are the greatest numbers are in great measure ignorant of them I thought it requisite to publish them to the world that it may be known what are the Wild and extravagant Notions which are wafted over to us from Racovia If I had not read their Books I might peradventure have entertain'd a more favourable opinion of them than I now have saith the Excellent Bishop before mention'd And so without doubt many others would have entertain'd a tolerable opinion of these Gentlemen if they had not perused their Writings and found what a numerous train of Unsound Propositions are there upheld and if they had not observ'd that pernicious tendency and drift of them People hear Socinianism much talk'd of of late and one or two of the most Vulgar Points of it are partly known to them and they are sollicited perhaps to give their assent to them But if they had a discovery of all the rest of their Opinions it is probable they would be moved by them to disapprove of those others Most men may think perhaps that the Socinians fail only in their disbelief of the Trinity and particularly their disowning the Deity of the Son of God but that as to other Principles of Christianity they believe and profess the same Divine Truths which are embraced by the generality of Christians For as in the late Reign Popery was misrepresented all its Doctrines were dress'd up in a very specious and plausible garb by the Bishops of Meaux and Condom and other dexterous Penmen in so much that it did not seem to be what it was said to be before for they knew that Popery truly represented would never go down with us therefore when the Roman Catholicks had hopes of gaining this Nation once again to their Church it was thought requisite to set their Religion before us in a wrong posture so hath it fared lately with Socinianism the English Racovians have given us such a Character of it that it appears to be quite different from what it was yea and what it really is they have given it such a gloss and varnish that many are thence perswaded to have a good opinion of it for they were sensible that if it were set forth and known in its true nature few Wise and Considerate persons would imbrace it therefore they found it necessary to give us a False Account of it to render it if possible plausible and acceptable But if we narrowly look into it we shall find it to be another thing than it is pretended to be we shall see that it is a Dreadful Compound of Errors and Heterodoxies a Detestable Farce of Exploded Heresies a Horrid Perverting of the Christian Faith and the Nurse of Irreligion and Prophaness To be plainer yet he that hath any close thoughts and remarks of things at this day must needs be sensible that the great Indifferency and Scepticism which reign among us have open'd a door to Socinianism which is a sure Project for Deism and this for Atheism For it is apparent that the Atheists of our times politickly make use of this Engine to compass their designs that is to banish the Deity and Religion out of the world and to introduce universal Licentiousness Immorality and Debauchery I appeal to any Thoughtful Serious and Observing Man whether this be not a true and right View of our present affairs with relation to the matter in hand I apprehended therefore it would be good service to my Countreymen to represent this Monster to them in its true and genuine Colours in its native and proper features which will certainly acquaint them with its Deformity and as the effect of that render it Loathsome and Abominable as it ought to be to all that are concerned for Religion This is the design of the following Discourse and the Holy and Blessed Trinity whose Cause I defend knoweth that herein I intend not the aspersing of any sort of men I aim not at the exposing of or reflecting upon any Party but my whole business is to assert and vindicate the Truth which hath been owned by the Catholick Church in all ages of Christianity and to obviate the growing Evil and Mischief of Socinianism In undertaking of this I will suggest nothing out of heat and passion I will labour to refute not to reproach our Adversaries I will endeavour to approve my self an Advocate for Truth without being an Enemy to Civility and Candour But yet I shall by the Divine Aid which most heartily I implore and beg the Reader to joyn his earnest Devotions with mine use that Freedom and Plainness which become the Truth and an Unprejudic'd Asserter of it My faults in my former book it seems were Wit and Eloquence if he who wrote the Vindication of the late Treatise concerning the Reasonableness of Christianity be a Judg of either Now I hope I have mended these faults or chang'd them for two others viz. Argument and Down-right Language which yet will be as much disliked by that Gentleman and his Partisans However I will venture it and perhaps this Free and Open dealing may have some good effect even upon the minds of our Adversaries at least on some of those that are in part tinctur'd with their Opinions especially when they shall see that it is not my intention to represent the Disciples of Socinus worse than they are which as to some things can hardly be
done but to give an Impartial Account of them in such Particulars wherein it is plain and evident that they swerve from the Truth and profess such doctrines as have a direct tendency to Irreligion and Impiety Nor do I comprehend all Socinianized persons in this Character I entertain some hope that there are some Innocent and Well-meaning people among them who being inveigled by the plausible pretences of their Leaders have taken up some of their Notions but are ready upon a discovery of the Falshood and Perniciousness of them to lay them down and wholly to abandon them Those that are of this sober disposition will I question not find this Present Undertaking beneficial to them and will be so far from censuring them that they will thankfully acknowledg my setting them Right in Perswasions of so great moment and importance such as are either of the Foundation of Religion or have a near alliance to it or have a necessary influence on our Christian Practice In short when Principles and Truths of the Highest Nature are struck at by bold Assailants when the Main Doctrines of Religion are depraved and perverted and when Christianity it self is endanger'd shall we sit still and not be concern'd * If these foundations be destroy'd if these Forts these Bulwarks these Strong-holds as some render the word be demolish'd what can the righteous do if these Fundamental Principles be overthrown what a wretched state will Religion and the Professors of it be reduced to Which is the very thing which we may justly fear at this time when we behold such a great and signal Defection from the Truths of Christianity from the Faith of the Gospel even in the Christian World How few are there at this day that can endure sound doctrine how many are there that call themselves Protestants and yet grow weary of those Main Articles of Religion which have been owned ever since the Reformation and have been defended and vindicated by the Pens of the Religious and Learned And shall we silently and tamely permit this No certainly That Charity which beareth all things endureth all things cannot suffer this Yea it is the highest Charity in such a dangerous juncture to acquaint persons with the true State of affairs to discover the Methods and Artifices of Seducers to lay open before the world their Cheats and Delusions and to shew what Errors they substitute in the place of Truth And this is that which is design'd in my present Performance wherein I have all along discover'd the Poyson of our Adversaries Doctrines in the first place and then I have been careful to administer an Antidote ERRATA PAge 6. line 1. before is insert it p. 29. l. penult for to the first of r. first to p. 35. l. 10. place ‖ before Episcopius p. 95. l. 13. f. of r. or p. 103. l. 7. r. needs p. 108. l. 13. r. deletion p. 123. l. 14. r. strange p. 125. l. 3. before it insert in p. 126. l. 6. before And begin the parenthesis p. 183. l. 5. f. professed r. pretended p. 184. l. 24. f. this r. that p. 197. l. 16. after as insert to p. 214. l. 13. r. Looks p. 243. l. 5. after it make THE TENDENCY OF THE Socinian Doctrines TO Irreligion Atheism CHAP. I. There is an obligation on the Author to give the World an account of the Irreligious Sentiments of the Socinians Their Abusing of the Holy Scriptures is a proof of their Prophane genius They hold there are Mistakes and Errors in the Bible as to lesser matters They disparage the Books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Writings of St. John They are wild and extravagant though very crafty and subtile in their interpreting and expounding of Scripture A particular instance of it in their interpretation of I John 1 2. Other instances of their false and perverse dealing Their notion of a Double Ascension of Christ confuted and the Texts which they alledge for it explain'd Their vilisying wresting and perverting of Scripture are tokens of their Irreligion I Am obliged to let the World see that I did not reproach and injure the Socinians when I laid to their charge the favouring and promoting of Atheism and consequently that what I said of them was not as they have suggested hastily and rashly spoken or written without due premeditation And thence it will appear that I am not to be represented as a Censorious or Uncharitable person which are imputations which I always abhorr'd and have carefully laboured to avoid Thus then I make good what I said Some of this sort of men cannot well be thought to have any true and right Sense of God and Religion especially the Christian because they have in their Publick Writings renounced some of the most Considerable things relating to Doctrine Worship Discipline and Practise in the Church of Christ. These are the four General Heads of my following Discourse I begin with the First As to the Doctrinal part of Religion these men are very faulty and upon examination will be found to be favourers of very Irreligious and Prophane Opinions And here I will reduce what I have to say unto these five Particulars viz. Their Notions concerning the Scriptures concerning God concerning the First Man concerning the Future State and concerning Christianity it self First It is no mean proof of their Prophane genius that they delight to vilifie and abuse the Holy Scriptures As to some lesser matters and such as are of small moment the Bible hath Repugnancies and Mistakes saith the Great Founder of Socinianism i. e. He from whom it takes its denomination And herein he is follow'd by Volkelius another Great and Admired Writer among those of the Racovian perswasion Smalcius grants some depravation in Scripture as to things of no great moment Episcopius who is owned to be a Socinian by the Party themselves tells us that the Penmen of the Scriptures were left to their own humane frailty in delivering those things which appertain to circumstances of Fact as time and place and the like And in the same place he attributes these Mistakes and Errors in the Bible to the want of Knowledge or weakness of Memory in the Writers Where then is their Infallibility which hath been owned by all Christian Churches Or can they be Infallible and yet Err What is the difference between these Writers and others but this that they were Immediately Inspired by the Holy Ghost and consequently are not liable in the least to Mistakes and Misapprehensions Those then that deny this must needs deny the Writers of the Holy Scripture to have been Inspired and to have been Infallible yea they must say that they were like other men faulty and erroneous in their Writings This you will say and that justly is an Ill Beginning here is a Bad specimen of their Sentiments concerning the Doctrinal part of Religion of which our Right Conceptions concerning the Holy
Particular I propounded to speak of It is true some of them in their Writings have laudably asserted and maintain'd the Being of a God Crellius is the only man among them that hath professedly and designedly undertaken this task and he hath done it learnedly and substantially and I verily believe heartily for I count it an Injury to detract even from an Adversary But there is another sort of men who act under a Disguise and cunningly undermine that Cause which they seem to promote An example of this was Vaninus who was an arrant Atheist and was burnt for being so and yet writ for the Existence of a God declaim'd against the most Pestilent Sect of Atheism as he calls it in his Amphitheatrum Divinae Providentiae Machiavel often hints that there is a God he talks very favourably in behalf of Religion he makes it the very basis and foundation of all Civil Government and the cause of all that Success and Prosperity which attend Commonwealths Where Religion is saith he there good laws and good discipline take place from whence the fortunate and happy Events of things especially in Warlike Expeditions proceed As on the contrary if you take away Religion the Commonwealth must needs sink for where the fear of God is taken away there follows Impiety and from that the ruine of Governments And afterwards he professedly shews that it is necessary for the preservation and flourishing of Kingdoms and Common-wealths that Religion and the Worship of God should be maintain'd And yet hear what the foresaid Crellius saith of this man It appears from many passages in his Writings that notwithstanding what he seems to say sometimes for it was necessary to cover his Atheism in some manner he did not acknowledg any Religion at all And again afterwards thus He plainly enough shews that he really acknowledges that there is no God and notwithstanding this that he hath no excuse to alledg why he doth not acknowledg a God If a Socinian Author and one of the Learnedest and Ablest of them thus censures this Writer then there may be ground to suspect that some of those of the Party who defend the Being of a God are not sincere in doing so but make that a Pretext and Shew to disguise the Badness of their other Opinions and it may be thought that as Machiavel and Socinus were Countrymen so in other respects they are more nearly allied The Racovians will patiently suffer a man to dissent or seem to dissent from them in many things if they know him to be right as to the main They will permit him to use his Pen against some of their Beloved Doctrines and yet at the same time they will own him as theirs There is a plain proof of this in those two Eminent Persons Grotius and Episcopius The former seem'd to be a great Abhorrer of Socinianism as appears from an Oration which he pronounced before the States of Holland where he calls it the Poison of the Church and the Worst of Heresies at the mentioning of which all pious men are horribly afraid And it is well known that he defended the Satisfaction of Christ and yet he is reckon'd and acknowledg'd by the Socinians to be of their Perswasion The latter hath in his Writings seemingly oppos'd some of the Points which Socinus's followers adhere to at least he doth not throughly comply with them and yet our Modern Undertakers for the Cause put him into the Catalogue of their Writers Whence we may infer that the Party have a Licence to Dissemble their Words and Profession do not always correspond with their Apprehensions and consequently when some of them assert a Divine Being we cannot thence conclude their real Belief of it or when they seem to confute the contrary opinion we can't certainly infer that they are in good earnest Wierus some say was too well acquainted with Diabolical Magick though he writes against it and defies it Our Hopkins the Witch-finder some think was vers'd in the Black Art himself and practis'd it I would offer it to the consideration of Wise and Discerning Men whether Socinus hath not gratified the Atheists not to say that he hath shew'd his own inclination to be one when he not only tells us that there is no proof of a God from any innate apprehensions of his being and nature The notion of God saith he is not written in mens hearts there is no inward principle in their breasts whereby they can by the use of Reason come to the knowledg of God But adds likewise that he cannot be proved from without that is from any of the Works of the Creation though these have been always voted by the Wisest Men both Pagans and Christians to be a Sufficient Topick whence we may argue a Deity Yet he stiffly denies it and will not admit of the Argument nay though his denial be a direct opposing of St. Pauls words Rom. 1. 20. The invisible things of God from the creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and godhead The Being and Attributes of God though they are Invisible are understood and as it were seen by the visible things of the Creation This is the plain meaning of the Text and yet he will not by any means acknowledg it but by an unaccountable forcing of the words labours to pervert the Sense of them against all the evidence of Grammar Criticism Reason the Context c. This looks very ill that we have no notice of a Divine Being from our own Natural Reasons nor from the Make and Structure of the World Who but Faustus Socinus would have believ'd this and who but a Well-willer to Atheism would have broach'd it Especially seeing it is so groundless and senseless an Opinion and so easily to be confuted for if there be no inward impressions of the being of God on Mens Minds and no arguing from the outward and visible works of the Creation then it is certain no Pagans could have arrived to the notion of a God which yet we see they have and there is no Man denies it Wherefore one would suspect that the foresaid Gentleman had a great Mind to maintain and divulge a Paradox which he could not but be sensible would be very grateful to the worst sort of Men if Atheists are such But I wave this and will consider the Socinian Opinions concerning God with respect to the first of his Properties and Attributes and after that to the Trinity of Persons and then particularly to the Godhead of Christ. I taxed these Meâ—… in my Discourse concerning the Causes 〈◊〉 Occasions of Atheism with denying of the Self-existence Spirituality Omnipresence and Omniscience of God As to the first I know very well the Disciplâ—… of Socinus generally uphold the Self-existence of the Deity chiefly to make usâ—… of it for forming of an Argument against the Divinity of our Saviour but the
these to be worship'd he is ready to do it He defends this again with great zeal and earnestness against his Adversaries that wrote against this doctrine And to render this the more plausible he blesses the world with this strange notion that the First Commandment concerning Worshiping of God and him alone doth not take away from God the Power of commanding us to worship some other besides himself but it only forbids us to do so of our own heads And again in the same place he hath the confidence to aver that the Commandment concerning worshiping of God only was Temporary and belong'd only to the times of the Old Testament This is the summ of Socinus's Divinity concerning Divine Worship and certainly it cannot but create Astonishment in any sober Reader Volkelius agrees with him in both the latter Propositions but a Man may from that as well as from other Passages in his Book gather that he had little cause to entitle that Book Of the True Religion An other of Socinus's Abettors tells us that he may be worship'd for a God i. e. with divine worship who by nature or Essence is not God and particularly that God can command that any man even Socinus himself shall be acknowledg'd as God and worship'd as such And he adds that such a one is a True God He largely insists on this that there may be more Gods worship'd than One. And at an other time he undertakes the Defence of this again Nay he advances thus far It is possible for a created being to be equal to God nor doth it imply any contradiction and absurdity yea it is most worthy of God and consequently the power of a created thing may be equal to that of God and so there is no infinite disproportion between the power of God and the power of a creature These are the Extravagancies he runs himself into And this he and others of the Party are forced to do that they may maintain their worshiping of Christ notwithstanding he is but a Creature It is true one of the Modern Prints saith They have not these seven years in any book professed that the like or the same honour is to be given to Christ as to God But this New Gang of Unitarians is not the Standard of Socinianism There 's no reason to listen to these Upstart Pretenders in this present case for we know that all the Arians and all the followers of Socinus have held it lawful nay necessary to worship Christ with Divine Worship Nay the Gentleman himself whom I have quoted soon after confesses that there is a Classis of Unitarians at this day who pay Divine Honour to our Saviour who put up their Prayers to him and Prayer is a signal act of Divine Worship And a late Writer who very well knows what the Socinians are and what they hold finds fault with them for this at least that they worship a Creature-God which he condemns and that justly as not reconcileable to Reason And hear what a profess'd Unitarian of this Age writ about two or three years ago That our Lord Christ is to be worship'd was never made a question by the Unitarians The question is concerning the kind or sort of Worship Trinitarians say he is to be worship'd as God we say he is to be worship'd as one whom God hath exalted to be a Priest and a Saviour one whom God hath given to be head over all things to the Church This distinction is to no purpose for even the New Socinians hold that Christ is God and they will not stick to say truly God as he is thus exalted and as he is the Head over all things therefore according to them he is to be worship'd as he is truly God This is very plain and though they may make use of their shifts and subterfuges to evade it yet any Discerning Man may discover the vanity of their attempt An other of their late Writers asserts the Worshiping of Christ with Religious Worship and particularly tells us that the Father hath given Christ authority and dominion which makes him a fit object of worship This is the same that the other Gentleman said he is made a God by his being exalted by his being Head over all things he is constituted a God and is truly so and as such is to be worship'd by all Christian Men. Thus the Old and New Socinians agree though these latter pretend to dissent from the former about this Point I will here add what an other of their Moderns saith Christ is our God by reason of his Divine Sovereignty over us and Worship due to such Sovereignty They are the very words of one of the late Prints which was first extant in the year 1648 but was reprinted in 1691 and therefore vouch'd by this present Set of Socinians Their reprinting it is a plain owning of it and yet they say they have not been of this Opinion these seven years It seems these men are not acquainted with their own Authors and know not what their own People say It was unadvisedly said that they had not for so long a time professed a Parity of Worship due to the Father and the Son for it is evident that they in effect own it But from that saying of theirs they would hint this that once in seven years or thereabouts Socinianism changes and we must expect some new discoveries This is to prepare us against the next Climacterical Year of it when it is likely they will agree to present us with more refined notion concerning the Worshiping of Christ. For truly this which comes down from the Old Unitarians is very gross and inconsistent It is very strange and surprizing that Persons who lay claim to a greater share of Reason than the rest of mankind should assert that a Creature is the proper object of Divine Adoration that Christ is to be worship'd with Sacred and Religious Worship and yet that he is not a God These are unaccountable Positions and such as destroy the very nature of the Deity for God is to be worship'd because of his Transcendent Nature which is such that no Creature no Finite being hath it communicated to it This makes God the sole object of Divine Worship according to what we read Mat. 4. 10. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve It is express'd exclusively therefore a mere man cannot be exalted to the honour and worship which are due only to God And consequently the foregoing Assertions null the nature of God and make the Creatures equal with him We find that when Cornelius fell down at Peter's feet and worship'd him Peter took him up saying Stand up I my self also am a Man Acts 10. 25 26. Which one place vacates all their Adoration of Christ for if Peter would not let Cornelius worship him because he was but a Man as himself was then neither ought any
they shall not be Tried or Judged Only they shall be Punished and their Punishment is this To utterly eease and perish for ever the Unquenchable Fire is nothing but Annihilation I believe as to Christianity it self that every thing in it is to be submitted to the dictates of Humane Reason and what cannot be explain'd and made out by this is no part of the Christian Religion and consequently that there are no doctrines appertaining to it which are Mysterious and Superiour to our Reason I believe as to Divine Worship that it may be given to another besides God that a Creature may if God thinks fit be the object of Adoration and consequently Christ who is but a Creature may be worship'd with Divine Worship even the same that is paid to God the Father I believe that Prayer as eminent an act of Worship as it is was not required in the Old Testament for God's people had no need of Praying then they were able to do all that was commanded them in their Religion without the Divine Assistance and therefore the Invoking of God became not a Duty till Christ's time I believe the Lord's day commonly so call'd is a Ceremonious Observance and abolish'd by the Gospel which takes away all Choice of Days I believe that there is no Spiritual Blessing convey'd or conferr'd in the use of the Sacraments and particularly that Baptism is an useless Rite which the Christian Church under the Gospel hath nothing to do with but more especially the Baptizing of Children is insignificant vain and childish and hath neither Precept nor Example to commend it to us I believe there is no Distinct Function or Office of Ministers in the Christian Church and that the Lord's Supper it self may be administred by any private Christian or Brother As to Moral Points I believe that Officious Lies are lawful that the Motions of Concupiscence are not Vitious that idle or obscene words gluttony drunkenness riot luxury and all impure desires and lusts were not forbidden till Christ's time and consequently were no Sins I believe concerning Magistrates that they have no power of Life and Death it is not lawful for them now under the Gospel to inflict Capital Punishments on any Offenders or Malefactors no not Murderers and Cut-throats Concerning some other Articles I believe as the Church believes I mean the Church of Rome for we symbolize with them in several points of doctrine Lastly after all I believe that though the foresaid Articles are necessary to make a man a Socinian yet the belief of only One is enough to make a Man a Christian and that One Article is that Jesus is the Messias in which it is not included whether he be God or Man whether he satisfied the Divine Justice for our sins and by vertue of his Death purchas'd Life for us But when I say I believe Jesus is the Messiah I mean only this that such a Man of Nazareth was Anointed Ordain'd and Sent of God to be a Saviour and that this is He who was foretold and promis'd to be sent by God This is all I believe and there is no Necessity of believing any thing more This is the Socinian Creed and I have faithfully drawn it up out of their own Admired and Applauded Writers I know it will be said here that some besides professed Socinians hold some of these things To which I answer I made it not my present business to observe what Others say but to represent what that body of men who are known by the name of Socinians profess and own Again it is not one of these Opinions alone excepting that concerning the Blessed Trinity which can give the denomination of Socinian it is the Complication of them that must do it Therefore Iinsist not on any one Single Opinion of lesser importance Those that bear upon them the General and Complex Characters which I have layd down in the preceding Discourse are the Persons that I design'd In short I write not and never will by God's assistance to humour and gratifie any Party of Men but to assert and vindicate the Truth which is pleasing to all Good Men. And therefore if any sort of persons shall censure my freedom I shall have recourse to my own Innocence and Integrity that is my hearty designs and indeavours to advance that Cause which I verily believe hath Truth on its side because it hath the Scriptures on its side If they shall say and what will they not say that the English Socinians give not their suffrage to all these Particulars which I have produced and named and therefore my Charge against the Foreigners doth not reach them I desire these following things may be considered and then this Evasion will be found to be very weak and useless and nothing to their purpose and it will appear that this Scheme of Socinianism belongs to them as well as to the rest First we are not sure that some of those who go under the name of English Socinians are not Foreigners Is not Crellius's Stock somewhere harbour'd among them Have there not been seen strange Outlandish Books at the Press of late May we not suspect some Transylvanians and Polanders employ'd in the work lately Are we not sure that there are some Irish as well as English ingaged in the service Why then are we nice in distinguishing when they are not differenc'd as to their work and design Secondly as for our very English and Native Socinians they borrow'd their Opinions from those Foreigners they fetch'd them from those Writers and they maintain them by the same Arguments that they did They use the very same Texts and urge them after the same manner they follow them step by step vouch their Reasonings applaud their Discoursings only they dress up their notions in an English garb and give them a more Modish Turn than they had before That 's all the difference between those Authors and these of late in England Thirdly though some of the Moderns are so politick as to be silent about some of the Points that I have mention'd yet we have no reason to gather thence that they are not inclin'd to imbrace them It is a remarkable hint of a very Observing Person There is reason to suspect saith he that the Socinians have some other odd Tenents which they think fit rather to conceal than to deny For we must consider this that they would first gain their Main Point the overthrow of the Trinity and all the Maxims that relate to that This is the Leading Card with them and therefore they chiefly insist on this intending we may suppose to urge the rest afterwards For it would be too much to undertake at one time to defend all the other doctrines And besides it would be too odious to reject so many receiv'd Propositions at once Therefore they go not this way to work lest they should be universally cried down It is their cunning to proceed gradually and to undermine Christianity