Jesus Himself that the Belief of his being God Equal with the Father is so necessary that without it we can't be pronounced Believers The Holy Evangelist in the Account he gives of the Discourse that was between Christ and the Jews expresly declares that the Jews sought to kill Jesus because he said that God was his Father making Himself equal with God Notwithstanding which the Lord Jesus went on to the Proofs assuring them that His doing the same Works which the Father doth doth evince him to be God equal with the Father adding that the Father hath so committed all Judgment unto the Son that all Men should Honour the Son even as they Honour the Father That is with the same Honour Worship and Adoration For he that Honoureth not the Son Honoureth not the Father which has sent him which Words do plainly shew that 't is the Will of the Father That we believe his Son Jesus to be God equal with himself For a rendring the same Honour to the Son which is due unto the Father carrieth in it an Ascription of those Essential Perfections of God to him which make him to be God equal with the Father which cannot be lawfully done by any but such as believe him to be so as appears not only from the Nature of the thing but from Rom. 10.14 where it 's said that we can't call or give Divine Honour to him in whom we have not believed If then Honouring the Son as we Honour the Father be so necessary a Duty that they who neglect it do not Honour the Father a believing the Son to be God in the same Sense the Father is God is so necessary as a believing the Father to be God which is so very necessary that on the Disbelief of it Men were pronounced Unbelievers This is I confess a Parting Point between Orthodox Christians on the one Hand and the Mahometans and English Socinians on the other For if Assent to this Doctrine viz. That Jesus Christ is God equal with the Father be so necessary that without it we can't be pronounced Believers they who disbelieve it cannot be Christians whence it is that the Mahometans and English Socinians denying the Divinity of Christ and the lawfulness of rendring to him Divine Worship are for the same Reason linkâ—d together as Enemies to the Christian Religion The most learned and sober amongst Foreign Socinians being aware of this tho' they denied Christ's Deity yet urged the giving Divine Worship unto Christ as necessary to the distinguishing themselves from the Mahometans and proving themselves to be good Christians But the English Socinians falling in with Franciscus Davidis and that Party in Poland are of opinion that they must be guilty of Idolatry if they give Divine Worship to him that is but a Creature and to escape Idolatry refuse to give to the Son Divine Worship and so put it out of their Power to prove themselves to be better Christians than the Turks are or to plead their own Cause without defending the Mahometans which as I take it is the true Reason why the more Learned amongst them do write so Respectfully and Charitably of these Ishmaelites and do not only speak Honourably of the Impostor Mahomet's Design as if it had been only to reform the Christian Religion but assign the Reason of the Propagation of that Religion not to the Sword but to their Denial of the Blessed Trinity And yet it is most manifest that Mahomet a very vicious Man being under the Conduct of Sergius a Nestorian did by his Assistance invent a Religion with a Design if possible to please the Pagan Jew and Christian and considering the Ignorance and Debauchery of the People amongst whom he was He prepar'd such a Heav'n for them who observed his Alcoran as mostly suited their sensual and voluptuous Dispositions And being himself a most lascivious Wretch whilst he would by his Alcoran restrain others pretends to have an Indulgence from Heaven for the Gratification of his own Lusts Thus the Amorous Prophet being taken with the Beauty of his Slave Zeid's Wife obliged Zeid to Repudiate her bringing in the one God Chap. 33. saying When Zeid did Repudiate his Wife we married thee to her to the End there might remain no Errour among the True Believers The Prophet sins not in doing what God has permitted O Prophet we permit thee to know the Women to whom thou hast given Dowry the Women slaves which God hath given thee the Daughters of thine Uncles and of thine Aunts that have abandon'd with thee the Company of the Wicked Thou shalt retain whom of thy Wives thou shalt desire to retain and shalt repudiate such as thou shalt desire to repudiate and shalt lie with them that shall please thee Thus much out of the Alcoran where t is also said that amongst his Slaves which were many he might if their Beauty pleased him make exchanges and least his lascivious Practices should encourage his Wives to do the like with True Believers He charges his Believers not to come into his Houses without Permission and when permitted not to tarry long for that molesteth the Prophet and modest Man he is ashamed to bid them be gone The Wives of the Prophet shall have their Faces covered when they speak unto 'em they ought not to importune the Prophet of God neither to know his Wives this would be a most Enormous Sin Besides Mahomet did constantly Preach that God had sent him to confirm his Law by Force of Arms and not by Miracles This is so notoriously true that it cannot but amaze the least acquainted with the Turkish Stories to hear any Pretender to Learning affirm that Mahomet was against forcing any to a Closure with his Blasphemies Though they proclaimed Liberty to all that would submit to their Alcoran yet so far resolv'd on the propagating their Religion by Force that no Truce could prevent their using violent Methods when they had a Tendency to promote their Design whence it is that in the Alcoran the ninth Chapter entituled by the Mahometan Doctors the chapter of Punishment but by Mahomet the Chapter of Conversion beginneth not as the rest with these Words in the Name of God Gracious and Merciful because these are Words of Peace and Salvation and Mahomet in this Chapter commands to break Truce with his Enemies To kill them where-ever they shall meet them take them Slaves detain them Prisoners and observe where they pass to lay Ambush for them But if they be converted if they pray at tâ—me Appointed and pay Tithes leave them in Quiet God is merciful to them that repent Whether the lascivious and bloody Mindedness of this Mahomet and his Partizans be some of the Trifles of whom Sandius speaks who after he had given the fairest Representation of the Faith and Morals of the Turks adds Caetera quae in Alcorano invenimus sunt merae nugae I submit to the Reader it being to me very clear that they who
wrong Sense on Orthodox Terms and Phrases To clear this I will only observe That as they will have the Term Instrument when spoken of Faith in Justification to signifie the same with Condition whereby there is a great Turn made in Controverse as the Arminians Improve it so they impose on the Phrases Vice nostra Loco nostro a Sense most contrary to their ancient and constant Meaning It's well known that Socinus Crellius and their nearest Followers did concur with the Orthodox about what was the Genuine Imports of those Phrases holding that they signified a Proper Surrogation where one is put into the Place State or Condition of another sustaining his Person and one with him In conspectu fori Sabrogatam sapit naturam ejus in cujus Locum Sabrogatur These Phrases taken in this Sense the Socinians stoutly opposed loading the Orthodox with all the horrid Consequences which slow only from an Assertion that Christ did take on him the Condition of the Sinner in every little Circumstance or Accident But my Lord Bishop of Worcester hath cleared the Maxim of Surrogation from the least Pretence of such a Charge by distinguishing Inter Naturam Primordialem Accidentalem and proving that Sarrogatum sapit tantum naturam Primordialem non Accidentalem That in this Sense the Orthodox Universally understand these Phrases Vice nostra Loco nostro is so manifest that whoever is acquainted with their Writings can't but acknowledge it And it 's no less Evident from the Scriptures That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for when it 's said Christ Suffered for us signifieth a Proper Surrogation which is Essential unto Satisfaction made to Punitive or Vindictive Justice However there are a set of Men of the Arminian Tang who will have it That Vice nostra or Loco nostro signifie no more than nostro â—â—co that when it 's said Christ dyed in our stead the meaning is Christ dyed to besâ—â—â—ad us and only that the Blessed Effect of his Death might be made ours Another expresseth it thus If Christ dyed for our Benefit so as some way or other by Virtue of his Death and Sufferings to save us from the Wrath of God this for ought he knows is All that any body means by his dying in our stead By such Practices as these it is that many are unawares ensnared into divers Pernicious and hurtful Errors First to the entertaining corrupt Apprehensions about Christâ—s Satisfaction and then to a downright denyal of it whence it is apparent that the Arminian Errors lead the way to the Socinian as the Socinian do to the Abomination of the Deist Thus much may suffice touching the Methods taken by Forreign Socinians and the Arminians to instill and propagate their Doctrines I will go on in the next place to consider what Arts are used by our English Socinians to spread their Heresies CHAP. IV. Some of the Various Methods taken by the English Socinians to Insinuate and spread their Errors Detected SECT I. The English Socinians can't agree in any one Particular Formula of Faith or Catechism Sundry Differences amongst themselves in Matters of Importance Their Unanimity in taring up the Foundations and commonly received Systems of Divinity IT being the Expectation of our English Socinians that Consid â—n the explic of the Trin. p. 32. if we attack the Doctrine of their Books or describe their Opinions we do it out of their own Writings not from the Books of Forreigners I will confine my self in the Account I give of them to their own Prints First then it must be observed That the English Socinians have not made such Advances in their New Divinity as to be able to give a distinct Idea of what it is they do Believe The Reason is Obvious To Invent 〈◊〉 Improve a New Religion which they who Reject the Old must do if they will have any is not Easy Nor is there a Man amongst them Great enough to Prescribe to the Party And the Fondness Hereticks have for their own Particular Notions is such as will not suffer them to Part with any thing of their Own for the sake of a Scheme or System of anothers Composure Though Mr. Biddle did some Years ago Emit a Confession Reprinted 1691. and a Catechisme yet I cannot find that the English Socinians do Adhere thereunto any more than the Followers of Socinus beyond the Sea's have done to the Racovian Catechisme which as My Lord of Worcester Observes was so far from Pleasing all that the New Editions were with some Important Alterations And whoever will Consult what hath been Written by our Gentlemen since 1690 will see that they Pretend not to give a Particular Summary of the Positive Parts of their Religion 'T is true they Generally Profess a Zeal for the Apostles Creed One of 'em tells us That he Resolves his System into the Creed of the Vniversal Church Some Thought supâ—â— Dr. Stel. Vindic. p. â—8 which by Reason of it's Antiquity but especially of the Authority of its Doctrines is Rightly called the Apostles Creed and Admitted of all Christians notwithstanding their Implacable Hatreds and Divisions Thus they Confining themselves to Generals leave us in the Darkâ— about the Particular Articles of their Faith besides their Presences about the ANTIQUITY of this Creed are as hath been Unanswerably Proved by the Learned Vossius most Weak and without the least Shaddow of Reason and their Sense of it if in favour of their Anti-Trinitarianism Contrary to that Received in the Churches ever since its first Composure whereby we are as much at a loss touching the System of their Faith as if they had said nothing at all of it We will therefore Look into the Brief Hystory of these Vnitarians Letter 1. p. 3. as they call themselves and see what they say there Sir In Answer to Yours Demanding a Brief Account of the Vnitarians called also Socinians also their Doctrine concerning GOD in which only they differ from other Christians the Remonstrants PROFESSEDLY Agreeing with them in other Points of Faith and Doctriney and the Defence they usually make of their Haeresie They Affirm GOD IS ONLY ONE PERSON not THREE They make our Lord Christ to be the Messenger Minister Servant and Creature of GOD They Confess He is also the Son of GOD because He was Begotten on Blessed Mary by the Spirit or Power of GOD Luke 1.35 But they Deny that He or any other Person but the Father is GOD Almighty and Eternal The Holy Ghost or Spirit according to them is the Power and Inspiration of GOD Luke 1.35 Tho' we might Reasonably Expect a very Particular and Exact Account in this History of what they hold yet they stick in Generals Referring Us to the Remonstrants for a Catalogue of all besides their Renouncing the Blessed Loctrine of the Trinity so that we are still where we were before we saw this History For as the Remonstrants do not PROFESSEDLY Agree with them in the other Points of
look to themselves SECT IV. The Difference there is between the English and Foreign Socinians The Foreign Socinians Represent the Principles Embraced by the Generality of the English to be Heretical tending to Mahometanism and Judaism THE English Socinians do not make us so bad but Socinus and his Partizans abroad are even with them making their Case the same with the worst of Hereticks Mahometans and Jews To clear thus much I must show what the Foreign Socinians hold touching Christ's Divinity and the Worship due unto him together with the Representation given of such as do herein differ from them When Vujekus charged the Socinians with Mahometanism Socinus in his Answer declares Resp ad Praef. Vujek p. 8. Ed. A. D. 1624. That they held Jesus Christ to be that Man who was by the Holy Ghost Conceived in the Womb of the Virgin Mary and Born of her that this Man is the only begotten Son of God whom the Holy Scriptures Recommend unto us nor is there any other besides or before him To this Man is given by God the Father such a Divine Power and Authority that the Name of God and Divine Worship is Deservedly and Necessarily perse given unto him This is their Doctrine the Foundation of their Religion the Great and Glorious Mystery of their Gospel without the Belief of which no Salvation can be had Although say they Christ never Expresly said He was the true God Sâ—â—in ubi sâ—p p. 19. yet from what he has oft declared it may Easily yea Necessarily be inferred that He is that is to say as he is really and truly Invested with Divine Power and Authority And there are several Texts in the Holy Scriptures which make it most clear that not only the One God p. 26. but that Jesus Christ also as he is distinguished from that One God is to be Adored with Divine Worship Time would fail me to enumerate the many Texts that are not only in the New Testament but also in the Old for the Worshipping Jesus Christ as distinguished from that One God with Divine Adoration They then ubi sup p. 27. who deny it to be Lawful to give Divine Worship to Two Gods whereof One is Subordinate unto the Other and wholly depends on him may as well deny the Sun shines in the clearest Day and do moreover discover their Ignorance of the Greatest Mystery of Christian Religion and if Treated with Rigor must be Deprived of the very Name of Christians That they who are against rendring unto Christ Divine Worship or oppose the Invocating him are to be Condemned for Hereticks yea for worse than Hereticks in that truly they deny unto him the Care of the Church which is the same with their Denying him to be Christ This is the Notion they have Espoused of Jesus Christ They Affirm him to be a True God a True Subordinate God entirely depending on that One Most High God A True God because this One God hath given to him Divine Power and Authority or as they sometimes Express it because God hath by his Inhabiting Word or Power given to the Lord Christ a Faculty of Knowing all things and an Ability to Relieve all Wants This Divinity in Christ they make to be the Ground and Reason of their Adoration and Invocation They do also make God's dwelling in Christ by his Spirit a Ground of Worship Socinus in the Defence of his Animadversions on the Theological Assertions of the Posnan College Cap. 8. p. 250 251. Ed. A. D. 1618. against Gabriel Eutropius tells us To justify our Adoring Christ it 's sufficient that God doth in an Eminent manner by his Spirit dwell in him speak in him give Answers whence he is called the Image of the Invisible God and they who have seen Christ are said to have seen the Father and they who Adore him do in him Adore the Father If then the Israelites who Worshiped before the Ark of the Covenant because God shewed himself in it present to them and as from his proper and peculiar Place There gave Answers and after a sort There dwelt were free from the Guilt of Idolatry much more may we be so tho' we Worship Christ of whom the Ark was but a Type or Shadow and infinitly below him This way of Arguing tho' used by a Man of Note amongst our selves was so turn'd by Vujekus and Bellarmine two Jesuits against Socinus as to Confound him That Christ is worthy of Divine Worship say they because God dwells in him Res ad Vujek p. 418. is by no means to be Allowed For then 't would follow that the whole World may be Worshiped especially the Angels and â—oly Men in whom God doth in a more peculiar manner dwell And as the Socinians do make this sort of Divinity the Reason of their giving Divine Worship unto Christ even so their Ascribing this Divinity and giving Divine Worship unto him makes the Discriminating Character Animadv in Assert p. 49. by which alone they hope to clear themselves from being of the Religion Invented by Mahomet which doth not Invocate nor Worship him No One saith Socinus who is in his Wits will affirm that False Notion Mahomet had of Jesus of Nazareth Vid. Defens Animadv p. 373. is what Paulus Samosatenus held For Samosatenus acknowledged Jesus Christ to be the True and only Begotten Son of God and our Lord affirming that he ought to be Worshiped c. which things Mahomet denyed They insist so very much on the Adoration of Christ that they esteem those who are against it to be such Hereticks as subvert the very Foundations of Christianity and deserve not the Name of Christians I do not saith Socinus see any thing throughout the whole Christian Religion of more Importance to be Published De Invocat Christ ex Epist ad Quend Tom. I. p. 353. than a Demonstration that Invocation Adoration or Divine Worship belongs to Christ altho' he is a Creature If this be but once fully proved all the strong holds of the Trinitarians will fail them For they lean on this one Foundation viz. That that Adoration and Invocation which is due only to the Most High God must be given unto Christ And on the other hand the True Power and Majesty of Christ will hereby be cleared and firmly fixt in the minds of all whereas without the Knowledge of it neither God himself nor any thing Divine can be Rightly Understood nor the way of our Salvation clearly Known but what is said in the Holy Scriptures of the Expiation of our Sins by Christ will be strangely mistaken the whole of Christian Religion brought into Doubt or at least be expos'd to a sudden Change if not to utter Ruin and the Chiefest and most Principal Foundations of our Hope and Trust in God destroyed And elsewhere he saith Socin Christ Rel. Instit Tom. I. p. 656. That they who are against the Worship of Christ cannot be Christians because in
Account thereof The Ministers and Elders of the Church at Vilna were much movâ—d at Calvin's writing against him and therefore after they had reprovâ—d him do advise him to reconcile himself unto Blandrata who was to their Knowledge Ubi sup 258. a most sincere Man free from the least Suspicion of Errors For they believed not a word of what Calvin had said to the contrary However Calvin persists in the Opinion he had of Blandrata and can by no means be taken off from exposing his Heresies and evil Practices expressing his Trouble to observe him by his crafty method to get such an Interest in the favour of so eminent a Person as his Anonymous Friend was In his Letter to Stanislaus saith he I cannot but observe how all men in a manner as if they had been under a Fascination admire Blandrata 't is you alone who begin to suspect the Truth of what is said of him but that you may obtain a more certain Knowledge of him I must tell you that Valentinus Gentilis whose wild Notions I have confuted is of the same Faction and another Blandrata altho the one will not give place unto the other If his Frauds his Ensnaring and crafty Courses had not been taken notice of in Poland it might have been more tolerable but I am amaz'd to think that a Man who hath nothing else but Pride and Ostentation to recommend him should get such a Reputation amongst you as to be esteemed the Atlas that bears the Church on his Shoulders In his Answer to Felix Cruciger and his Collegues and other faithful Pastors and Ministers in Lesser Poland There is oâ—e thing I cannot but suggest unto you saith he that they who did with so much Humanity and Respect entertain Blandrata were not so cautiâ—ns and wary nor did they consult your Reputation as they should have done and am more surprized that some of the Chiefest Rank are greatly offended because I did as it became me discover the Man I beseech you not to believe that I have hastily taken up any Reports I have written a Narrative which will clear the Truth of Matter of Fact And to the Ministers and Elders of the Church at Vilna Tho you saith he have no Suspicion touching Blandrata his Errors and Practices yet with me he is clearly convicted and so he is before this Church Ye believe not what I say why then should I believe what you say You have much time to spare to call Synods about such Tristes You admire him as if he had been an Angel dropt down from Heaven but he is in other Nations a Man of no Account A brief History of him I will give you and lest you should have no regard to what I say it is attested by the Elders of the Italian Church with us and by the Renowned Peter Martyr The History they give of him is to this purpose 〈◊〉 â—â—orge Blandrata a Physician demeanâ—d himself amongst us for some time very peaceably and with much Temper desirous of Instruction so that we innocently receivâ—d him into our Number At length he began to talk as if he designed to call in question the Article of Christ's Divinity and privately spread this Notion amongst the more ignorant Then would he weary Calvin with his Enquiries and seem abundantly satisfy'd with his Answers but carry'd it so that at last Calvin discover'd his persidious and deceitful Courses and his Carriage to be such as made it necessary for the Senate to deal with hâ—m where altho he was convicted of notorious Falshoods against Calvin yet never blush'd His intimate Friend and Companion was Johannes Paulus Alciatus who said that we worship three Devils much worse than all the Popish Idols because we hold Three Persons There arose a fresh Complaint of the Italian Church against him for using Clandestine Arts to ensnare the Vulgar to a Closure with his Dotages Thus this Man a real Enemy to the Fundamental Doctrines of Christian Religion the great Patron of Socinus and his Partizans to the end he might the more effectually propagate his Errors pretends a Zeal for the Truth joyns himself to the Orthodox subscribes sound Confessions gains a Reputation amongst the châ—efest of the Orthodox for being sound and sincere This deceitful Method of â—landrata hath been exactly observ'd as by many of the same Principles abroad so by the Socinians in our Country who notwithstanding the Contradiction there is in the Doctrines by Law established to their Tenents and the strict Subscriptions required of all that enter into the Ministry get into the Church and fix their Communion there That they may pave the way for the Consciences of others their Attempts are to make the Subscription to the Thâ—rty-nine Articles to signify nothing The Belief of the Athanasian Creed not requiâ—ed by the Châ—ef Eng. p. 2. Those Thirty-nine Articles say they are not Articles of Faith but Peace As several of her most learned Bishops have declared and in a word the Title of the Articles says as much and the Preface before them And yet in the Title 't is declared that these Articles were agreed upon for the avoiding Diversities of Opinion and for the Establishing of Consent touching true Religion And in the Preface 't is declared That the Articles do Contain the True Doctrine of the Church of England agreeable to Gods word And the Charge his Majesty gives is That no Man shall either Print or Preach to draw the Article aside any way but shall submit to it in the Plain and full meaning thereof And shall not put his own sense or Comment to be the Meaning of the Article but shall take it in the Literal or Grammatical Sense So that whatever any Bishops have declared The Import of the Title and Preface is That the Subscribers Agree in Believing the Doctrines contained in the Articles to be True that the Articles taken in the Literal and Grammatical Sense are agreeable to God's word How can a Socinian then subscribe the first Article where 't is said There is but One Living and True God and in Unity of this Godhead there be Three Persons of one Substance Power and Eternity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Doth this Article contain in it the Truth If it doth the Socinian Principle is False If it doth not they subscribe to a Lye And tho' the Church did not Require the Belief of the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity as delâ—vered in the Athanasian Creed as Necessary to Salvation Yet seeing it Requires the Belief of this Doctrine as True they who deny this Doctrine can't without being guâ—lty of grossest Hypocrisy subscribe it But what can't a designing English Socinian do Thus you see that tho' the Thirty-nine Articles are as expressly against the Dogmata of our â—nglish Socinians as words can make them yet can they not keep an English Socinian out of the Church And having broken their Subscriptions they go on to tell us Trinitar Scheme
be not Infinite t is only Finite if but Finite how can his Power be Infinite can a Finite Essence be the subject of an Infinite Perfection Or can a Finite Being be from it self or be self-Originated Or can any one Finite Essence be so Great that another cannot be as Great After this manner we may have Twenty or Thirty Thousand Gods as well as One. But a Million of these put together cannot make One Infinite God Thus by denying the Divine Essence to be Infinite they Oppose God's Immensity and do their Part to give up the Cause to the Atheist Secondly They deny also God's Omniscience which necessarily follows from the other it being impossible for the Knowledge of a Finite Being to be Infinite After Socinus had discoursed very largely of Divine Prescience he Ushers in his Conclusion thus Seeing therefore there is no Reason Praebâ—c Theol. c. 11. P. 549. nor One Text of Scripture from which it can be clearly inferrâ—d that God knoweth all things which â—re done before they come to pass We must Conclude that we may in no wise Assert his Divine Prescience especially considering there are Reasons not a few as well as sundry Testimonies in Holy Writ from whence it plainly appears that we ought to deny it Smalcius and Crellius say the same And Episcopius himself would have fall'n in with 'em had it not been that all Prophecies must then have been destroyed From this Notion of theirs in the first place Revealed Religion receives a Wound for if God doth not know Future Contingents how can he Foretell them And if he can't Foretell them of what Use is the Prophetiacal Part of the Holy Scriptures And if they must be rejected as useless will not the Deists be Abundantly Gratified Or if it be yielded that God doth not foreknow Future Contingents 't will necessarily follow that his Knowledge is not Infinite and he can't be God These few amongst many Instances may suffice to Convince us that the Socinians whatever their Boasts are have no Reason for the exposing the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity as they have done nor for their Railing at Gospel-Mysteries as if they had been full of Monstrous Contradictions For you see that they have their Trinity too a Trinity throughout Mysterious for as they make the Holy Ghost an Increate Omnipotent Spirit but not God and Jesus Christ to be but a Creature and yet a God a True tho' but a Subordinate God so God the Father the most High God is left by them destitute of Infinite Perfections His Essence is but Finite and therefore without a Contradiction cannot be infinitely Perfect Their Trinity you see is a most Mysterious one and their Vnitarianism lyeth in the Belief of Two distinct Gods a Greater and a Lesser to wit the Father and his Son Jesus Christ which issues in the Denyal of an Infinite God For which Reason amongst others Mr. Edwards hath very justly charged their Principles for being Atheistical as Bisterfield accuses them for their Tendency unto Paganism Adversari is merito exprobramus quod unum verum Deum agnoscere nolunt Duos Deos in Ecclesiam introducant ficque si id omne credeâ—dum esset quod ex ipsorum Opinione necessario sequitur Paganismum revocent ac stabiliant ipsomet Paganismi non accusamus speramus enim quod non videant absurdissima hac dogmata ex ipsorum Doctrina necessaria sequi c. Bisterfield contra Crel de Uno Deo Lib. 1. sect 2. cap. 18. whilst He is so Charitable as to hope they see it not Much more might be said of our Socinians but being Apprehensive that what I have Remark'd is sufficient to move such as are ensnared by their Crafty and Deceitful Guides to consider how much they are Concern'd to take heed to themselves I will at this time forbear SECT X. The Agreement between the English Socinians and the Mahometans Detected They both Believe Jesus the Son of Mary to be the Messiah Sundry other Instances wherein they are Agreed They both Deny Christ's Divinity and the giving to him Divine Adoration The Impostor Mahomet a Lascivious Wretch who Propagated his Religion by Force of Arms. THe Good Opinion our English Socinians have of the Turkish Religion whose Embracers they place in a nearer Proximity to Salvation than Orthodox Christians moved me to Enquire whether they had according to their own Principles any Reason for theâ—r Charity towards a People whose Religion is as full of Blasphemy as their Souls are of Rancour against us Christians And after the most Free and Impartial Disquisition it appeared unto me that the Principles which themselves Affirm to be most Important are so very much the same That our Socinians may be justly styled English Turks and the Turks English Soâ—inianized Christians I do not say That every English Socinian doth understand the Principal Articles of his own or of the Mahometan Religion much less that they Design to Introduce Mahometanism There are I am Confident many amongst us who Love the Socinians but know very little of their Socinianism They are startled at the Noise raised against the Orthodox their Systematical Niceties and Obscurities their Mysteries and Contradictions and the like but hereby they are more set against the Truth than disposed to close with their Errors and are so far from taking in the whole of their new Scheme that did they but see what it is and what are its Tendencies they would Abhor it For the sake of these I will shew what Arts are used by their Leaders in the Representations they make of the Mahometans which they must be esteemed to do either with a Design to give such an Advantage to the Papists against Protestants now as the Socinians gave heretofore unto Reynolds and Gifford to write their Calvino-Turcismus or to bring in the Turkish Religion amongst us or rather knowing how False the Popish and how Ridiculous as well as Blasphemous the Mahometan Religion is to take the People off from all Religion that they may the more easily take up with Deism or Atheism Thus one speaks as I have already noted so Honourably of Mahomet and so much of the Future Happiness of the Mahometans and another whom I cannot but Respect for his learning hath in his Reasonableness of Christianity reduced the Vital Principles of our Holy Religion to what is receiv'd into the Alcoran This was saith the Author of this Discourse the Great Proposition that was controverted concerning Jesus of Nazareth Reason ab of Christi p. 26. c. whether He was the Messiah or no And the Assent to that was that which distinguished Believers from Unbelievers That this is the sole Doctrine Pressed and Required to be Believ'd in the whole Terour of our Saviours and his Apostles Preaching we have shewed through the whole History of the Evangelists and the Acts. And I Challenge them saith he to shew that there was any other Doctrine upon their Assent to which or
would be Advocates for Mahomet or his Religion have very little Reason for their Pretences to Sobriety or Liberty of Conscience which is no otherwise granted by them than as it's subservient to their secular Interests And touching that ingenious Gentleman who under the plausible Covert of the Reasonableness of Christianity hath lopt off so many of the most Essential Parts of Christ's Religion as to defend no more of it than that Grand Impostor Mahomet would have done he has I think done no service at all to Christianity and it must be acknowledged that those English Socinians who write so Honourably of Mahomet his Design and Religion may be more justly look'd on as Pensioners of the Great Turk than the learned Opposers of Socinian Heresies can be represented as the Grand Pensioner of the World The CONCLVSION THESE are some of those Methods which the Arminians the Foreign and English Socinians have taken to Instill and Propagate their Errours which for the Help of the less studied I will reduce to the Following Heads Sect. I. These Gentlemen not being able to comprehend some of the most Important Points of Christian Religion because of their Mysteriousness do reject them as Contradictious and Unreasonable On this Ground the Socinians Explode the Doctrines of the Blessed Trinity and Incarnation Christ's Satisfaction and that Mystical Vnion which is betwixt Him and Believers And the Arminians Oppugn the Absolute and Eternal Decrees together with the Irresistible Operations of Grace in the Conversion of Sinners But that they may the more consistently Prosecute their Design they find themselves necessitated to Frame such an Idea of God as comes short of a Being Infinitely Perfect and thus lead their Followers into Atheism Chap. 1. Sect. II. The Erroneous finding in their corrupt Hearts an Innate Antipathy against Justification by the Righteousness of another do endeavour to establish a Righteousness of their own To compass thus much the more Learned knowing that there is an Eternal Law of Right of which no one Precept or Rule is or can be Abrogated or Repealed whilst God is an Holy Just and Righteous God and Man a rational Creature do hold that this is the Law by which all Men shall be judged at the last day Only those who have believed Jesus to be the Messiah and have taken Him to be their King with a sincere Endeavour after Righteousness in obeying his Law shall have their past Sins not imputed to them And shall have that Faith taken instead of Obedience that is their Faith shall be taken for a Compleat Performance of this Law where by Imperfection is stretched to the utmost length of Perfection But the more unlearned to escape this Rock have vacated the Penal Sanction of the old Law and erected a New which threatens no Sins but final Unbelief and Impenitence with Eternal Death who must hold that no other Sins but Unbelief and Impenitence are in their own Nature mortal and deadly deserving everlasting Misery or at least by setting up this New Law to the End imperfect Obedience may answer their New Rule they must make all their Deficiencies which by the Eternal Law were Sins to be no Sins at all and thus framing their Rule to our Imperfections instead of Christ's Righteousness they constitute one of their own for Justification And to make out these things they give us a New Scheme of Divinity more suited to the Socinian than Gospel Rule though it must be acknowledged that these Gentlemen and some others nearly allâ—ed unto 'em by Principles observing â—ow unsuccessful the Candour and Sincerity of Foreign Socinians hath been in owning the Genuine Import of some Phrases which because expressive of what they approved not they rejected these Gentlemen have imposed a wrong sense on em and in the Controversies about Christ's Satisfaction retained their Use and pervert the Truth in this important Article of our Holy Religion Cap. 2. Cap. 3. Sect. 8. Pag. 82 c. Sect. IV. That the Foreign Socinians and Arminians might the more easily propagate their Errors they did at first appear under the Character of Men found in the Faith using Orthodox Terms and Phrases and subscribing the commonly received Catechisms and Confessions of Faith whereby they gain'd great Reputation amongst the Orthodox Thus was Blandrata who as Calvin saith had nothing but Pride and Ostentation to recommend him esteemed by Men of Eminence and Soundness in the Faith as the Atlas that bears the Church on his Shoulders And thus other Men also of little Learning great Industry instigated by greater Pride have by their Flatteries and deceitful Subscriptions to Orthodox Confessions insinuated themselves into the Hearts of well-meaning People and lead 'em into Errors of a most pernicious â—â—endency as hath been cleared in sundry Instances throughout Chap. 3. Chap. 4. Sect. 7. Sect. V. The English Socinian wanting both the Learning and Candour of their Brethren beyond the Seas are not willing to abide by their Confessions or Catechisms nor are they prepared to emit any of their own Composure and therefore they do studiously labour to conceal what it is they are for and bend their strength against the Truth and turn themselves into any shape may they thereby advance their Designs If it be their Interest to profess they are of the Church of England or to plead the Cause of Mahomet and reduce the Christian Religion to one Article found in the Turkish Alcoran they do it And it must be confessed that by their refusing to give Divine Worship to Jesus Christ they have put it out of their Power to prove themselves to be better Christians than the Mahometans are no wonder then that they are sometimes for acting the Part of a Quaker and again for pleading the Cause of the Papists but any thing every thing rather than an Orthodox Christian For as they cannot be held by Subscriptions neither are the Blessed Sacraments sacred enough to bring 'em under Obligation These are with them but Incantations Charms Spells Norman Knots c. and seeing no spiritual Blessing is in their Opinion annexed to the Right partaking of a Sacrament it cannot in any Christian Kingdom whatever be a Test to keep them out of the Government so wisely have they ordered their Affairs in matters Religious that however it goeth with them in the next World it may be well with them in This. See how these things are cleared Chap. 4. Sect. 1 2.4.10 Sect. VI. And that they may the more easily impose their Dotages upon the Vnlearned They represent the Principles believed by the Orthodox to worse than Judaism or Mahometanism and as bad as Egyptian and Roman Paganism Crying down Learning and a learned Ministry and most bitterly reviling their Judicious Adversaries How virulently have they treated the Reformed Divines in France and Holland And with what Contempt and Scorn have they fall'n upon the Learned Clergy not only Dr. Bull but amongst many others on my Lord of Worcester who may be justly styled Malleus Socinianorum And when this Art fails 'em they tack about and on a sudden pretend a Zeal for Learning claiming a Right in the Anti-Nicene Fathers and the first Reformers such as Luther and Calvin and will have it that the Great Hugo Grotius is theirs But their pretence are without the least shadow of Reason Vid. Ch. 4. Sect. 3.5 6 and such as are neglected by the more Learned of their own Way Sect. VII To the End they may prepare a Place for their Dagon their Care is to cast what Reproach they can on the Blessed Trinity which they can't more effectually do than by pleading for a Trinity of Essences or a Plurality of Gods which was the Master-piece of the Italian Combination What Pranks these prevaticating Hereticks played I have briefly intimated a Conspiracy which in its Tendency was not very different from that entred into by Vaninus and twelve more who went into divers Parts of the World on purpose to propagate Atheism as Gualterius the Jesuit as I have some-where Read doth in his Cronological Tables report That there is a Combination of the same Nature with the Old Italians entred into by the English Socinians who-ever will consult their Writings will see but little Reason to doubt of it And when I come to shew what Methods have been taken to corrupt and subvert the Doctrine of Christ's Satisfaction I hope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to show that some have as industriously acted their Part as if they had been in a Combination to bring that blessed Doctrine into doubt which was a Branch of the Contrivance of Laelius Socinus Paruta Ochinus and their Partizans Chap. 4. Sect. 8. There is one thing more to be observed it is this Sect. VIII That notwithstanding their grievous out-cries against the Gospel of our Lord Christ because of the Mysteries which are in it they have their Trinity and Mysteries too Only they are not so sublime nor so clearly revealed in Scripture as what we believe and tho' full of Contradictions yet without Scruple received by ' em 'T is true they strugled hard to bury in an Eternal Oblivion the Terms Trinity Incarnation c. because as they said not found in the Letter of the Sacred Text which if they could have done we should have heard nothing of their Trinity But failing of Success here as they retained the Term Trinity so they substituted in the Place of a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead a Trinity of Somewhats of their own Invention Ch. 4. Sect. 9. I shall trespass no further on my Reader in the Repetition of what is done and as for what else I have more to do if God permit and Prudence directs I shall take my Time FINIS