than to take Errours and Hercsies for granted Consider Sir Churches have err'd and may err yea in Matters of Faith too if so who is to be blam'd he that by Reasoning seeks for Liberty or he that unjustly with-holds it thro' Imposition Did we seek to impose our Hypothesis's on the World we were as much to be blam'd as you but if we only set up ours to confute the Uncharitableness of yours wherein do we trespass You say we are Hereticks and have no Understanding And whence come you to judge thus freely of us and not we of you So you say we blaspheme but pray is not your Charge precarious and if retorted falls it not as heavy on your self If we err indeed we blaspheme the Son and Holy Ghost which we hope we do not but if you err do not you both blaspheme and commit Idolatry in worshipping them as coequal to the Father But Sir we desire to have a Charity for your Misconstructions and will give it you where possible if so pray at least return our love you see we stoop to make the first offer charge us not therefore that we are only eminent for Blasphemy and Nonsence for surely you may add in the other scale that we have a courageable good will to Truth are some of us perverse or do some of us revile and what are such Men wanting quite on your side REFLECTIONS If therefore you leave us but room to advise you as much as the Great Moses left Jethro let us beg you for Christ's sake to cut off all these Offences remember 't is not Generous much less Christianly to discountenance a weaker Brother But what you believe not me yet at least believe my Truths for surely Christ's own Argument will hold you Can you expect Peace in Christ's Church whilst you thus allarum and startle Mens Consciences by so great and grievous Impositions Or what do you expect Men should have no Conscience or Resentment for Truth If you do not do not fetter them thus you know 't is no Argument of Errour to be singular nay I am sure you know very well that Truth is rarely popular but rather suppressed and stifled through Mens Lusts Let us learn therefore to let Natural Religion lead our Revelation else the Curse of the Holy Ghost will fall upon us and tho' we have eyes we shall not be able to see nor were we Turks should we be capable of being converted indeed when we are bewitch'd to the fury of a prepossess'd Zeal will not all Men say we rather bafle than love or scearch for Truth when we argue Excuse me Sir that I am thus free with you which I should not have been had it not been in Justice to my Cause but I durst not let these prepossessions ensnare my Reader and yet not that I think so heinously of you for them neither for many that have wrote much worse then your self on the Subject have been more confident and I could wish myself as well as you out of harms way of Error indeed could I have had a fair Hearing without I had been very easily otherwise satisfied PRECOGNITA I shall now only present you with a few Precognita to state duly the true Idea of the Controversie between the Trinitarians and the Arrians and I shall then proceed to a particular Answer and I hope you shall see too to your satisfaction and without the least needless Cavil or Objection whatever The Trinitarian believes That there is One God but that he Exists in Three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost and that these Three Persons are co-equal and co-eternal and by a Joynt Power created the Heavens and Earth Men and Angels and all things else that any way exist They believe this Trin-unity even now continues to Rule the World by a Joynt Providence but that for Orders-sake they have distributed their Dominions into several and subordinate Personal Offices thus they make the Father alone to personate the True God the Son to become Incarnate to redeem us to his Mercy and the Holy Ghost under the Son to assist us through Grace in his Trials The Arrian believes That there is but One God and that he Exists but in One Person that the Son and Holy Ghost are neither co-equal nor coeternal with him that he first made the Son and through him fram'd the Holy Ghost and Angels that some of the Angels falling with Lucifer He through the Son and by the Holy Ghost fram'd this World and Man within it They believe there is no co-equal Trinity to Rule the World through a Joint Providence but that their Dominions are subordinate and adequate to their Powers thus that the Father alone is the True God that the Son became Incarnate to satisfie God's Justice to redeem his Creation and to destroy the Devils Malice in Adam that the Son has deputed the Holy Ghost to assist us through his Grace in our Trials By this Sir I hope I have given you a fair Breviate of the two Hypothesis's I shall only beg your Patience whilst I add two or three Principles to illustrate the Controversie and then after a few Reflections on them I shall desist my Precognita and proceed PRINCIPLES 1. Nothing is more manifest than that the Jews in the Idea of their First Commandment conceiv'd but One Person to be in their One God. 2. Could the Jews or Judas have charg'd Christ with pretending himself to be the Supream God which the Gospel tells us the False Witnesses principally labour'd after they would not only have made their Acclamation We have no King but Caesar and their Inscription on his Cross Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews John 19. but they would have added No God no False God too 3. Lastly 'T was near 300 Years after Christ e're Tradition and Scripture-Interpretation were so much as urg'd to explain and bring forth a Trinity My Reflections upon these Principles shall be only Two and they are as follows First That the Doctrine of the Trinity has alter'd the first and greatest Commandment as it were by chance and whereas the Goodness of God in such a Case would certainly allow us a solemn Repeal the Athanasian Creed is so far from such Mercy that it makes this very catch poenal of Salvation and that very Trinity that without doubt received their Honour jointly before can now be admitted on no pretence to receive it otherwise than severally Secondly You see hereby this Great Mystery is not purposely requir'd but accidentally enforc'd so that whether this inscrutable Mystery and incomprehensible Hypothesis be a Divine Truth or not yet at least this is plain the means of knowing it are Humane and consequently the whole Mystery itsself disputable and left to the Understanding of Man to examine Now whether the little grounds Men pretend to for the support of this Mystery be sufficient or not is what I have undertaken to disprove in answer to you by this following Treatise
so that tho' there be but One Supream God the Father yet he has constituted the Son and Holy Ghost two Deputies under him calling the Son an Angel in this deputation in the Old Testament And on this Foundation stand those Expressions Let us make Man c. And thus through the Son it is that we are said to have Access by one Spirit to the Father and thus it is that the Holy Ghost and Sâ—tan the Eâ—â—l God are in us like two contrary prompting and ruling powers Thus it is that the Son as Governour under the Father of these two lesser Gods administers the Gifts of the One and restrains the temptations of the other whilst they are in a perpetual War in us that is all Mankind at once one helping us the other tempting us one comforting us and the other accusing us one having seven the Number of Perfection attributed to him as likewise has the other And thus you are to understand the Texts of a universal good Angel and a universal evil one and tho' some have thought both Satan and the Holy Ghost rather Names of Orders of Spirits than God-Angels citing for it yet 't is plain by the whole course of Scripture that those places more rationally ought to be understood that those Gods have Principalities and Angels c. which are sometimes employ'd by them in Offices under them If you desire to see this Matter more amply argued you must read Mr. Bidell's Twelve Arguments of the Holy Ghost who when he had made the Holy Ghost so considerable as he did I wonder how he could continue a Socinian longer for the Scriptures so plainly set the Son above the Holy Ghost and tell us That all Power is given to the Son both in Heaven and Earth which he cannot possibly otherwise manage that I admire he did not turn Arrian through-out But to return this Order of God's Administration through the Son and by the Holy Ghost appears more plainly when we consider their gradative Stiles in Scripture and the Apostles Creed thus the Father only is called God in our Creed as only being so the Son called Lord as he only really is so under him 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. and the Holy Ghost or Spirit only stiled Holy in opposition to the Evil One. And thus the Divine Benefits we receive as from the Father are called Love and Operation from the Son Grace and Administration but from the Holy Ghost and lesser Power only Gift and Fellowship 1 Cor. 12. 4 5 6. 2 Cor. 13. 14. and hence it was that all Communication between the Father and Holy Ghost being through the Son Prophecies ceas'd while the Son was Incarnate Next unto these as I have said succeed Principalities Powers and Dominions Now these by their very Names shew themselves to be as lesser Deputies that is as Governours of Provinces and Kingdoms under the Gods of the World the Holy Ghost and Satan and for these and their Offices you may see Dan. 10. 12 13 20 21 12. 1. Acts 16. 9. Lastly As for Angels I need say nothing of them seeing their Names declare their Offices and the Scriptures abound with Examples of their performing them thus an Angel came to the Virgin Mary to Cornelius and several others so that of this enough And if any thing remain it must be to explain the reasonableness of there Hierarchy REFLECTIONS I say therefore when we think to reason of Spirits we must freely allow our selves an open and generous source of Thought for as the Air and much more they are too fine for the gross Casements of our Eyes so if we design duly to examine their Nature we must be able to walk without Sence a little and not think to grope grosly after them as if we would feel them First then I lay it down as a Rule That Spirits are Immortal and have no need of any nourishment nor do nor need we doubt this when we consider even how the Sun has subsisted how his unwearied Rays impair him not and how so many Thousand Years has not exhausted his Source of glowing Fuel 2 ly To this I must add that I cannot but believe that like unto Clouds in the Air they gradually subsist in each other by the proportional Purity of each others Substances nor need this be strange to us for this is evident that God at least exists in all of them and rules them as easily as they by his permission can us and if so what hinders but that he may have Deputy-Gods to do the like under him Nor can it well be otherwise than that they should rule one another thus through their gradual Purity and Inexistency for when we consider that Devils are entirely wicked and are not to be ruled otherwise than through a real force there remains no doubt but that as they are in subjection to one another so it is through such a real force as this that neither Art nor Conspiracy can destroy But yet after all this methinks I hear hear you object that this is difficult to conceive that any Creature should be of so extensive a Power And yet why so Does not the Sun do the same thing in the Sensible and Vegetable World And shall we think as general a power in a Spirit that as easily pierce the thickest Bodies as he does the Air impossible nay or so much as difficult in the rational World But what We know not how it is done no more we know not how God and our own Spirit exist within us To conclude I shall only add that this being once granted there remains no difficulty to imagine how all our Spiritual Actions are perform'd and how we are tempted thus only the Supream God and his Son possibly may see our Thoughts the lesser Gods the Holy Ghost and Satan may only have power of Imagery and prompting us while Potentates and Angels may only have power to rule and converse us But of this enough and I shall now proceed to handle those particular Texts that you and others have cited against us Particular TEXTS John 1. 1. Page 216 you tell us In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God And what Sir can be more agreeable to an Hypothesis than this to ours May I tell you more agreeable than the Trinitarian for here is no mention of a Union of these two but that in the beginning of all Things there was a God which we beheld as the Word on the Earth that Existed with the Supream God that as his Instrument made all things and that coming to his own to redeem them they knew him not And here Sir your Charges against the Socinians not only vanish to Air but turn against you when us'd by the Arrians Now that you may not take our Idea of the Son to be groundless I shall give it you thus from Scripture itsself He is the
his Minister whereof he is the Head to the Worship Honour and Glory of God And what Sir will you interpret against Scripture And this consider'd where stands any room for your Calumnies page 27 210 211 212 213 214. Is not the whole Foundation of your Argument rotten Does Baptism shew Worship And if not how can it be an open and barefac'd Idolatry What may not there be a Ceremony in it to shew us who under God are our Spiritual Governour as well as by Water to imitate the cleansing of Regeneration If so why may not my Construction of it agreeable to Scripture-Interpretation be as good as yours I protest before God did not my Hypothesis not only want Absurdity but suit most rationally yea most naturally to Truth and the Scriptures I would sooner dye than adhere to it Lastly Sir to put your Union in your Hypothesis beyond all doubt the Scriptures have plainly shewn us that these Three Persons have various and distinct Intellectual Powers John 16. 13 14 15 16. Mark 13. 32. John 12. 49. And indeed we might rationally have collected as much from their being given and sent did not our Mysteries quite shut our Eyes against Reason The FATHER Nor do the Scriptures cited of the Son and Three Persons only agree to strengthen our Hypothesis and destroy yours but even those that relate to the Father and Holy Ghost likewise I shall give you short Specimens of both beginning with the first first and then proceeding to the other and after that I shall conclude my Scripture-proofs in this and proceed Know then that the Scriptures plainly tell us that the Father is the One only true God only Good only wise greater than the Son only sitting on the Throne the Son and Holy Ghost being as his Attendants and his Name is I am in opposition to α and ω the First and the Last One signifying a pure and infinite Being the other the first and great Creature Rev. 3. 14. Further the Scriptures shew us it is not agreeable with a due reverence that we should confound the Titles of the Father with others thus Christ gives us a particular charge to remember not only that there is but One God but that we have but one Father and one Master Mat. 23. 8 9. and St. Paul 1 Cor. 8. 4 5 6. tells us That in truth there is but One God and One Lord to wit the Father and his Son Christ Jesus according to Phil. 2. 11. So they say the Father is the Supream Lord of all and greater than the Son and really his God too and that he is the Fountain of Grace and only invisible whereas the Son and Holy Ghost have been often seen so he is only reveal'd by the Son But what need I repeat more of these proofs The Scriptures are full of them and were not Men blinded as they are with the Epicicles of their Two Natures in Christ and Mediatory Offices c. whereby they beg the thing in dispute and anticipate all Proofs they would see the Sun is not clearer than the Proofs I have given them hereafter I believe Men will admire at our blindness as much as we do at the Papists now but I see the Hand of God is upon us we are cursed to it and only Prayers can remove it Of the Holy Ghost I come now to speak of the Holy Ghost to shew you how much in every Point your Hypothesis straggles and how you dissent from Scripture in every step you have made in your Mystery while the Arrian answers it may I say to the most exact Truth and keeps a due mean between your coequal Gods and the Socinians no less absurd meer Man and power of God. Know then the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Truth called so in opposition to Satan the lying Spirit is a great God or Principally and Christ's Universal Deputy and as so the Giver of all good Gifts Yet so as he is subject to the Son and receives his Authority from him and thence I believe it peremptory to blaspheme his Evidence for to lie to him is to lie to God that is through him though he be but in reality an Angel Rev. 2. 1. 2. 11. compar'd to Acts 22 34. Luke 3. 21 22. where he made the like Visions and indeed Blasphemy against him otherwise were absurd it should rather be against the Father and Son especially the Father as Fons Deitatis and whom the Jews reverenc'd when they knew not the Holy Ghost Further as God made the Son his Instrument in the Angelical Creation so he sub-deputed the Holy Ghost in the Formation of Man and of the Earth and upon this account the Spirit is called Eminenter the Spirit of God that is the greatest next to God the Father and the Lord Christ and the most extraordinary Gift of God in his assistance But yet he is absolutely Christ's Deputy and sent by the Son from the Father that till Christ went he could not come and yet 't is he that under Christ bestows all variety of Spiritual Gists that dwells in us that spake by the Prophets that helps our Prayers and indeed that assists our ordinary Discourse by his Grace or holy anointing But to shut up all he is in no place of the whole Scripture either direâ—tly called God or order'd to be worship'd which last thing you are so modest as to grant page 194 195 so that upon the whole matter to Idea him in coequality to the Father as you see were so plain a violence to the Scripture he not having so much Honour allow'd him as even the Son has that I declare I admire it And by this time I hope Sir you see plainly that your reasoning about the Holy Ghost page 179 193 are meer shuffles and that your Texts 1 Cor. 2. 10. quoted by you page 53. That the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God has no other sence than that the Holy Ghost co-operating with our Spirit reveals us the greatest knowledge we attain and that is what agrees with the Context and the Text you cite in the next Page but if it does with your Hypothesis I am mistaken As for your other Reasons page 54 55. and 64 65. brought to prove the self-consciousness of the Father and Holy Ghost they are as groundless as the rest of your Mystery and therefore I shall only shew you I take notice of them indeed if the Holy Ghost knew all things thus of himself what need the Son shew them him REFLECTION Sir I hope by this time I have given you as ample satisfaction in your Scripture-proof as you can desire you cannot but be so ingenious as to grant that you have had all the advantages that a Succession of Commentators can give you whereas I you see for all that can heap you up the