erred concerning the Resurrection saying it was already past and no doubt but it was a start of Wisdom and Affectation of extraordinary Reach that first form'd this into a Heresie For Example Some of the Heathen Philosophers who were grown to dress up their Doctrines for Ostentation and not so much to instruct as to surprize and make themselves admired Had pronounc'd of Vertue That it was a sufficient Reward to it self and that a good Man was Happy enough in being Good and leading a Life according to Reason altho' there were no Expectations of a future Recompense Whereupon some Christian Proselytes pleasing themselves with the vain Glory of this Notion adopted it into Christianity and held that it was a Poor and Mercenary thing to practise Godliness for the Expectation of another World And that therefore altho' God had in the Gospel declared a Resurrection yet this Resurrection was to be understood in a Figurative and Moral Sense i. e. to import no more than a rising from the State of Sin to the State of Righteousness And that the Christian Vertue would then be more glorious and more worthy of God when it shall appear that he obeys for God's sake rather than for his own Thus those of the Anti-Anastasie were pleased by dint of Wisdom to void the Promises of Heaven which wild Conclusion we may wonder at the less since the wise Socinians have at this day with no less contradiction to Scripture been pleased to void the Threatnings of Hell We are told of another Sect in that Age who erred concerning the Condition of the Gospel-Covenant Resting upon a naked Faith as the entire Qualification and thereby voiding the Law vilifying Obedience and turning the Grace of God into Wantonness One would not think indeed that Wisdom could have much of pretence towards this Project and yet it had The Antinomians alledg'd That whereas it was the peculiarGlory of God to be infinitely Merciful and the Glory of Christ's Satisfaction to be infinitely Valuable The more Guilt Men had the more abundant opportunity they gave to God to discover the Riches of his Pardon and the more Men were in Debt the greater appeared to be both the Value of their Ransom and the Credit of their Redeemer No doubt but this Arguing seemed Wise to them that used it And at least we have this to alledge for the support of its pretence That the Antinomians were not more extravagant in asserting that Christ's Satisfaction was sufficient to save without the care of Good Living than the Socinians are in asserting that the Care of Good Living is sufficient to save without the Satisfaction of Christ For so their Scheme runs That Christ neither made nor intended any Satisfaction at all and yet every Impartial Man may convince himself That it is not more evident in Scripture That God requires us to be Holy than that Christ shed his Blood for our Redemption Redemption I say not in the Exemplary but in the Expiatory Sense We have another Mass of Heretical Corruption spoken of by our Apostle 2 Thess. 2. not indeed as then reigning but rather foretold as that it should reign through occasion of a Certain Man of Sin sitting as God in the Temple of God Even The Papists allowing that the Scene of this grand Corruption of Faith is Rome and we may without prejudice affirm it to be Popery it self Now to see how Wisdom has contributed to bring this Mass of abuses into that Church Let us but consider this single One which we may look upon as the most Charactistical viz. The setting up of a Human Infallible Guide Whereby every Bishop of that See seems to effect the pretence of Montanus and would be held for a Holy Ghost Incarnate And what can come nearer to one sitting as God in the Temple of God What hand Wisdom had in hatching this Conceit we may learn from the wisest of that Communion when they alledge that the Belief of This is the sure and onely Method to end all Controversies and establish that Peace and Union which all good Christians desire And as for the Means made use of to bring this Conceit into Credit they have carried in them the most pompous Semblance of Wisdom Imaginable While its particular Champions the Jesuits the Artificial Petavius and others have contriv'd with elaborate Pains and Study to weaken the Authority of the Scriptures as being of Uncertain Interpretation and of Uncertain Reception and to puzzle the Sense of all the distinguishing Articles of Christianity by alledging the Opposition of Hereticks and the difference of Conciliary Decrees and by raking up all the Dissonancies of Expressions that are to be met with in the Writings of the Ancients As indeed how can the same Truth be delivered without Dissonancies of Expression supposing it to be delivered upon different Occasions and for different Respects Let the Expressions of St. Paul and St. James upon the Article of Justification pass for an Instance of Appeal In the mean time the Wisdom of the Church of Rome thought fit to do all this Insidiously and with purpose to Deceive so they might serve this Important End viz. To make Christians believe that they must needs be bewildred while they were under such an unstable Conduct as that of the Scriptures Councils and Fathers and therefore to conclude themselves obliged to repair to the standing Infallible Guide Ask the Socinians themselves Whether there were not admirable Wisdom in this Contrivance For even they themselves make use of the same Means and borrow their boasted Armes of Learning from the Jesuit's Shop not indeed to the same End in Form but to the same in Mischief Not to establish the Pope for an Infallible Guide but to establish Reason for an Infallible Guide which in effect is to set up as many Popes in the World as there are Men of an assuming Imagination What I have said hitherto has been in order to evince the Truth of my first Proposition viz. That Wisdom is a dangerous Guide in Matters of Religion I offer'd a Second viz. That God has vouchsafed Faith as a necessary Expedient both to make and to keep Men Wise Which I reserve for the Subject of another Discourse SERMON II. ROM i. 22. Professing themselves to be Wise they became Fools FRom these Words consider'd together with their Occasion I have before inferr'd these Two Heads of Discourse I. That Human Wisdom or Reason is a dangerous Guide in Matters of Religion And this I have proved already by shewing How strangely Wisdom has fail'd in all her Conduct about such Matters The Second is II. That God has ordained Faith as a Necessary Expedient both to Make and to Keep Men Wise. The Proof whereof I am now to pursue I suppose there is no Man in the World of what Perswasion soever but will be ready to grant That what God vouchsafes to reveal must be abler to make us Wise than what we can conceive of our selves Nor in
Incuriousness in them was necessary to their own Happiness and Quiet But neither could this Notion work far because it seem'd to the Generality as absurd and more affronting to the Divine Nature to believe that God was Indifferent and Regardless than to believe there was no God at all And of this Doctrine the Psalmist gives us Intimation Psal. 94. 7. A Third and that the strongest Barrier against such ill Bodings was drawn from the Philosophy of our Constitution whereby the Soul was represented as necessarily Mortal as the Body and thereupon secure against all future Accounts Of which Doctrine Solomon gives us a large Notice Wisdom chap. 2. Perhaps I had been more in the Mode had I mention'd Greece for the School of these Doctrines and Diagoras Protagoras and Epicurus for the Doctors But I am sensible what great Disrespect has been shewn to the Holy Scriptures by this Affectation In which Scriptures during the Period they pretend to which is much above half of that Time the World has hitherto lasted we meet with the best Account of all things even Civil as well as Sacred And how absurd would it be for me in this particular Matter to ascribe the Fortuitous Being and the Perishable State of the Soul and the Regardlesness of the Deity to Epicurus when we find these Notions recorded in Holy Writ as espous'd long before Greece had ever opened a School to any of this vain Philosophy But these Circumstantials set aside my main Point was to shew That these several Arguments had not power to shelter the Heathen World from frightful apprehensions concerning the future ill consequences of Sin They still doubted that forasmuch as their Souls had a Notion of Eternity they had likewise an Essential Relation to Eternity And therefore they thought that their own inward Hopes and Fears spoke better Sense about the issues of such a Duration than they could meet with from the Reasonings of those that pretended to be wiser And here the Heathens were forc'd to stop and tho' their Wit and Will were heartily joyn'd to serve the cause of Vice as far as they could yet they could never remove this awful Barrier Whereas in a more Illuminated time as we must allow that of the Gospel to be The most Illuminated of that time as they would have us allow the Socinians to be have with great Ostentation and as great Applause of their Wisdom done the cause of Vice more effectual Service than ever could be done it before Abating the Outrage they have done the Scripture about which they are not very Sollicitous they have made their Hypothesis Plausible as well as Grateful They speak respectfully of God and not disrespectfully of the Soul They determine not How or of What it is made but they determine that as it is a Creature of Gods so it is either Mortal or Immortal at his discretion And thereupon to reward the Pious with Eternal Happiness is what well suits with Gods Goodness and Benignity But it would not do so to punish the Sinful with Eternal Torments That could neither suit with Goodness nor Justice it self Because that between Temporal Guilt and Eternal Punishment there is no Proportion And therefore all that the sinful Soul may fear from God is a Declaration of its Incapacity for Heaven and a Sentence for its extinction and loss of Being Never such an Amulet as this was offer'd to quiet all the bodings of Conscience Never did Sin sleep upon so soft a Pillow as is made up of this Hypothesis which carries careless Souls beyond all former Hope ev'n into the Lap of their own Wish which is Never to be acquainted with Eternity so they may undisturbedly enjoy their present Inclinations Juvenal the Poet speaking of that Notion that the Heathens had form'd of a future State That there was a Boat and a Ferryman and a black Lake and frightful Frogs in it which careless Souls were to pass over to a miserable Abode Cries out Quis puer hoc credat i. e. In Hypothesi in it's circumstantial Dress It were Childish to believe this But adds in Thesi At tu vera puta Do thou who ever thou art believe This at least something like this to be true And who can say but Juvenal was a wise Man in this Reflection But then is it not surprizingly strange that a more elevated Wisdom should set it self to prove That nothing like This ought to be believ'd And that all fears of Futurity are Groundless except that of being made Insensible It was Wisdom to believe Hell Torments in those that neither knew God nor his Revelation And can it be Wisdom too for any not to believe Hell Torments who are sure that God has revealed them And is it not farther surprizingly strange that those Men who pretend their Zeal for Morality is above that of all others should open such a Sluice to the Flood of Immorality Alas what a Contradictory thing is professed Wisdom when once it affects to lead in Matters of Faith It is much more both absurd and mischievous than confessed Folly Thus much for the second Charge of Wisdom viz. That it brought Sin into the World The last I proposed to warn us against fondness for its Guidance is This viz. That it first corrupted Faith and brought all Heresies into the Church Suitably to this It is commonly observed of that sect of Men who in the earliest days of Christianity invented so many various Corruptions of Faith that they hardly left room for the Invention of subsequent Ages to find out any New That they affected for a distinguishing Name to be call'd Gnostici i. e. the Knowers or such as understood more than their Neighbours And we cannot doubt but that our Apostle had an Eye to some of these and their wild Opinions as well as the Principle that occasion'd them 1 Tim. 6. 20. where charging Timothy to stand firm in the Faith and to keep that Depositum i. e. that Scheme of Christian Doctrine which had been deliver'd prescribes to him this Means as necessary to his purpose viz. That he should avoid the opposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Science or Wisdom falsly so call'd which some professing have erred concerning the Faith We know the Scripture meddles not with the Impeachment of any Science or with calling it false but barely as it intrenches upon Faith and opposes that which it ought to follow And therefore this Science is here specifi'd by it's Opposition i. e. it 's Inclination to oppose the Faith commonly receiv'd accounting it a restraint as I have intimated already to think or believe with the Vulgar And to evidence that this Kind of Science did make Men erre concerning the Faith as the Text alledgeth Let us but consider those Heresies that are mentioned in Scripture as first obtaining in the Church and we shall soon see how they took their Rise at least all their Pretence from this very Principle Some there were we know who
consequence will any deny That Faith to what is Revealed is a Due which we owe not only to God for the Honour of his Truth but likewise to our selves for the sake of our safe Conduct And therefore there is like to be no Dispute whether Faith in general can make Men Wise The Dispute is only upon this Point What kind of Faith in particular it must be that makes Men Wise And we shall find that the Judgment of Mankind lies under a common Prejudice against what is true in reference to this Point For we may observe it to obtain in the World That the Faith adapted to make a Wise Man must be a Cautious and Reserved Faith because all Forwardness in Believing exposes Men to be deceived And yet in Holy Scripture we are taught clean contrary That God is only pleased with an Humble and Ready Faith and every Abatement of Forwardness is a Diminution of its Value Our Saviour in his Walk to Emmaus calls his Disciples Fools because they were slow of Heart to Believe And soon after he tells Thomas That the Tardiness of his Faith had robb'd it of its Blessing For Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed And because I am falln upon the mention of this Apostle I will choose to insist a little upon his Character which may serve both for an Example and an Illustration of the matter I am upon Thomas as far as we may learn by all the mentions made of him in Holy Writ was a Man Bold in Reasoning and extreamly Nice in Believing Which is a Character that by the standard of the present Age has Licence to pass for an Indication of Wisdom Joh. 14. 2 3 4. We have a Passage of Discourse wherein this Apostle was wholly concern'd There our Saviour says very obligingly to those about him In my Father's House are many Mansions I go to prepare a place for you And whither I go you know and the way you know To this obliging Declaration Thomas answers very peremptorily Lord we know not whither thou goest and how should we know the Way We see the Answer is directly contradicting to that which our Saviour alledged and yet no doubt but the Apostle thought himself to have Reason on his side for making such an Answer Let us imagine what that Reason might be 'T is possible he might form his arguing on this manner Lord Thou sayest Thou art going to thy Father's House to provide Mansions for us Now we know thy Father's House according to natural Generation is that of Joseph and Mary in which many Mansions are not to be had But if thou meanest a Father by any other kind of Generation or any other Inheritance which thou hast a Title to recommend us to This is what we do not understand and what we do not understand it is impossible for us to Believe And therefore say to us something that we may believe or in the mean time permit us to be Incredulous and to say We know not whither thou goest If I have in this Form Argu'd any thing contrary to the Sentiments of the Apostle I have whereof to Retract in reverence to his subsequent better Understanding But I fear I have said nothing that the present Age will require me to Apologize for Because they who set up for a leading Genius please themselves to argue in the very same Method to justifie a like Incredulity Thus runs the common Argument We cannot believe what we please we must comprehend both the Matter and its Credibility or else it were Rash and Foolish to believe it Joh. 11. We have another Passage wherein Thomas was wholly concern'd There verse 14. our Saviour says to his Disciples Our Friend Lazarus is Dead and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent you may believe This we see our Saviour urged expresly for an Encouragment of their Faith and yet Thomas his Reasoning turned it immediately into an Argument of Distrust As is apparent from what he said to his Fellow Disciples upon this Occasion verse 16. Let us also go That we may Dye with him The Key of his meaning in this Sentence we may take from the Narration in the beginning of the Chapter Where 't is sai'd That our Saviour being then in Galilee upon the News of Lazarus his Sickness proposed to go into Judea to visit him Whereupon the Disciples answer'd V. 8. Master the Jews of late sought to Stone thee and goest thou thither again Now this Thought made a deep Impression upon the wary Imagination of Thomas and therefore when he saw his Master resolved to go he wound up all into this sort of Reasoning Despair Lazarus is Dead and all his Pains and Fears are over and better it were for us if ours were so too The Jews Malice is bent upon the Destruction of us all and if our Master could not save his principal Friend from Death what hopes is there of his saving us Let us go then and meet our Doom as patiently as we can This is the natural Paraphrase of what Thomas meant by that Sentence Let us also go that we may Die with him And altho' nothing could be more contrary to the Faith he ow'd his Master or more affronting to the importance of what he had then said yet still he lookt upon this as sound Reasoning And indeed it was as sound as any other Man's is and brought forth as good Fruits as any other Man's does when it once takes Licence to Scruple what it ought to believe The last mention of this Apostle is in the Instance of the Resurrection He had been told that our Saviour was Risen from the Dead and the truth of it had been attested to him by Evidences beyond Exception Several Companies who had seen him and converst with him several times to whom he had expos'd the sight and feeling of his Wounds to whom he had Expounded the Scriptures concerning himself with whom he had broken the Sacramental Bread and conferr'd on them the operative Benediction of Receive ye the Holy Ghost All these with all these convincing Tokens had told Thomas that Christ was Risen But yet Thomas in pure Wisdom would not believe He was also called Didymus says the Text And I think that Allegation how casual soever it may seem is Argumentative to my purpose viz. Thomas had a Greek Name as well as a Hebrew one which is a probable Argument that he had had a Conversation with the Greeks and perhaps had learnt from them That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Have a care of being Credulous was the grand Advice of one of their Sages and thereupon he resolved not to believe without farther Conviction than all this And no doubt but he conceiv'd Reason to be on his side for all this Behaviour Reason suggested that a wise Man ought to be cautious to the utmost least he be impos'd upon Reason suggested that when he had his Choice of several
his Spirit should lead them into all Truth and yet for such a Tract of time the whole multitude of Christians should account it impious to believe That which now the Polish Catechism says It is damnable not to believe when it is propos'd So that if Christians were saved before that time in the Common Faith it was from the Apology of their Ignorance as their Ignorance was because they had not a Socinus to instruct them Say rather why the Deists may not as colourably Reject the Scriptures as the Socinians Own them with so many contradictions to God's Truth and Goodness In due Reverence to both these Attributes of God we are obliged to affirm that the Sense as well as the Letter of the Scripture in all Matters necessary either to be done or believed hath been the Depositum of the Church and Faithfully Preserv'd under it's Keeping That the whole Faith which as the Apostle says was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at once delivered unto the Saints had at the same time its Meaning delivered which from them has been derived by indubitable Testimony as the Matter of our uniform Belief That the different Opinions Sects and Factions in the World are no Argument against This Because as St. Peter has warn'd us They who diversifie the Common Faith do not Interpret but Wrest the Scriptures and as St. Paul has observ'd Divisions and Heresies spring not from Ignorance but from Carnality not from want of Light but want of Love Pride and Envy and Contention and Vanity and such contrarious Passions have in all Ages not been at a Loss for Truth but have been contriving and setting up somewhat they liked better And let us see in the next place what it was that the particular Affections of Socinus liked better than the received Interpretations He and his Party are pleas'd to take offence that there are any Mysteries in Religion They will have nothing for the Object of our Faith but what is plain to our Understanding and easy to our apprehension and altho' they will not affirm that Reason has the Measure of what is or what may be yet they resolve Reason to have the Measure of what ought to be believed Which I think is Absurdity sufficient They conclude thereupon that the Doctrine of the Incarnation that is of God Taking our Flesh and dwelling among us must not be believed because it is Irrational And as for the Doctrine of the Trinity it would be offensive to pious Ears to repeat those expressions of Reproach with which they load it They say that these Doctrines do justly scandalize Jews and Turks and hinder them from coming in to our Religion But as it is no Office of Civility to complement away our Faith so neither is it any Office of Charity in the Socinians to go off from the Foundation to meet Jews and Turks and to turn Half-Infidels that They may turn Half-Christians But after all when by the grossest wresting of Words and abuse of plain Sense they have shewed themselves as much Friends to Fancy as they are Enemies to Faith after that they have interpreted all Mysteries out of Religion and so made their new Hypothesis familiar and inoffensive and therefore Credible as they would have us imagine We must pronounce upon it what Minucius sometimes did in the like Case In Incredibili Verum in Credibili Mendacium Truth still lies on the Incredible and Falshood on the Credible side And to justifie this Censure let us confider That the Mystery of any thing or what is all one The Abstruse or Incomprehensible Nature of any thing is no Argument against our believing it This is a Rule I am sure that holds true in Nature and then with what Face can we deny it to hold true in Religion We surrender our Faith to the state of all Visible things without comprehending them and what Obstinacy is it then to refuse our Faith to the Things of God under the same Condition It would be an affront and calumny to Nature to affirm that Those things which are before us those Works of God which lie every Moment under our Senses are simply Credible that is such as our Reason would Perswade us could be if we had not seen them to be How short is our Plummet from Fathoming the Essence Mode Powers Operations Productions of the most common Beings Undoubtedly had we the Knowledge of this World we live in as we have that of its Maker only from a Book I say had we the Knowledge of this World we live in only from a Book we should be Tempted to treat that Book with as little Reverence as the Socinians or Deists have done the Holy Scriptures And conclude that most of the things that are in it were as Incomprehensible Impossible and therefore Incredible as they fancy any thing to be that God has revealed concerning himself Let me produce an Instance or two and those out of the Holy Scriptures to inculcate by the way That the Philosophical Truths we meet with there are Venerable as well as the Divine In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth says the Sacred History Where the Word Created is interpreted by all to mean That God made the World without any Pre-existent Matter to make it of Now this Production of the World we believe from the Authority of the Report and likewise because of the Absurdities that necessarily follow from the Supposal of the contrary And yet Human Reason could never form any Idea whereby to conceive the Possibility of such a Production And let any one say whether it be harder to believe That the Divine Essence did from everlasting emanate or flow into Three Social and Co-eternal Subsistences than to believe That in the Beginning of Time All things were made out of Nothing Or whether-Reason has more Arguments to plead for the One than for the Other Holy Job to exemplifie the Power of God pitches upon this Instance ch 26. 7. He hangeth the Earth upon Nothing or as his Expression points elsewhere He maketh it stand firm without a Foundation Now when we find it impossible for the utmost Art of Man to make a small Clod of Earth hang in the Air It is naturally Impossible for Man to conceive how the whole Mass should hang in the Air T is true when we see how things are we Pride our selves in assigning of Reasons why they must be so but all fall short of solving the Difficulty Center or Magnetism or whatever Notions have been espoused will not Solve it in the present Instance No Cause could make the Earth hang upon Nothing but the Omnipotence of that Will that ordered it to be so Nor could we ever believe it but from a Submission of our Faith to that Omnipotence Or from a Submission to our Senses even while they control and muzzle the Reluctancy of our Reason For another Instance of the Incomprehensible Works of God The Sea is alledg'd in the same Book cap.
38. Of which t is said That God has establisht its place by his Decree and set Barrs and Doors before it and said to it Hitherto shall thy proud Waves come and no farther Which Observation is founded upon the convexity or roundness of the Surface of those Waters in respect of which as the Psalmist naturally expresses it They stand upon a heap A heap as miraculous were it not more common as That the Israelites past thro' in the Red Sea For in this heap the Waters are bound up that as the Psalmist expresses it They turn not again to cover the Earth which by the common Laws of Motion they otherwise must necessarily do and pour in upon every Shore a Deluge instead of a Tide Reason uninform'd by Experience of this state of things could not possibly believe it and yet how wild would the Man be thought that should not believe it Once more The Psalmist for an Instance of the same kind takes it from the frame of our own Being I am fearfully and wonderfully made To consider the Curiousness of our Frame is amazing and to reflect upon the Power that orders it to be so is no less than Tremendous Let me instance but in one Particular whereof I will borrow the Hint from Solomon in his description of old Age Eccl. 12. 6. Or ever the Wheel be broken at the Cistern Which Expression cannot be interpreted so Genuinly of any thing as of that Spring and Pulse in the Heart which begins the Circular Motion of our Blood Let us consider in this Instance How our Blood a ponderous Body contrary to the Laws of common Nature ascends without reluctancy and descends without Precipitation is of so many different Colours under so many Forms of digestion moves so many Years without any influence of our Thought or Reflection and when it ceases takes Life away with it self Let any weigh these Circumstances and he may well cry out with the same Holy Writer Such Knowledge is too Great and Excellent for me I cannot attain unto it And yet none of this Mystery is an Argument against believing it I need Instance no farther Nature is full of Mysteries and Incomprehensible Things and may we think then that the Nature or Subsistence of God can be Reveal'd to us and not admit a Mystery We account those Israelites were very gross Logicians who thus argu'd Psal. 78. He smote the stony Rock indeed that the Waters gushed forth But can he give Bread also and provide Flesh for his People That is although we acknowledge that God has done this Miracle we will not believe he can do another But it is yet more gross arguing for any one to say I believe the Works of God altho ' they are Incomprehensible But I will not believe any thing of God himself unless I comprehend it 'T is true we believe these Incredible things in Nature because we see them But then may not our Ears bring in as good Evidence as our Eyes Certainly we are less obnoxious to Deception in hearing what God speaks than we are in seeing what Nature exhibits But this still is the Question which the Socinians will not suffer to be begg'd They affirm that God has not spoken any Mysteries concerning either himself or his Methods of our Redemption They say our Interpreters have coin'd these Mysteries Whereas Their Interpretation has voided them and made them all plain And here I confess again Reason has a proper Province to act in For altho' Reason is not to prescribe the Matter of our Belief Revelation is to do That yet Reason is a proper Judge whether such or such a Matter is Revealed or no For this consists only in apprehending the Sense of plain Words which every Man's understanding has an equal Right to pretend to Whereas therefore Socinus says he had a favourable regard to Jews and Turks in his Interpretation of the Scripture let them fairly be call'd in and suffered to Interpret for themselves They are Scandaliz'd at the Belief of a Trinity Be it so But when they see in the Scriptures That there are Three to whom we are devoted in our Baptismal Covenant Three in whom we must believe To whom we must pray By whom we must bless to whom we must give Worship and Glory Undoubtedly they will believe a Trinity as soon as they will believe that the Scriptures do not Teach One They are averse from believing that Jesus was God Be it so But when they see it express in Scripture That he who in time was Jesus was God from everlasting that when he took our Flesh upon him He thought it no Robbery to be equal with the Father That He it is who in the beginning laid the Foundations of the Earth and the Heavens are the work of his hands Undoubtedly they will as soon believe that Jesus is Truely God as they will believe that the Scriptures do not say he is Let them see How when our Blessed Lord was charged with Blasphemy for making himself Equal with God he denyed not the matter but only absolved it from the Crime How at his most Solemn Devotion when about to leave the World he prayed on this manner And now O Father Glorifie me with the Glory which I had with thee before the World was Undoubtedly they will conclude That if what the Socinians say be True viz. That he was not God Neither was he a Good Man For all this deportment can imply no less than that he affected to be accounted God and so he was ambitious ev'n sacrilegiously ambitious of that Honour to which he had no Title and this no Good man could be In fine Let Jews and Turks be admitted of the Jury and they will undoubtedly give Verdict That if we are deceived in our Common Faith that Spirit that dictated the Scriptures could design no less than that we should be deceived Let those who have given occasion to such Reflections as these find out a Reply whereby to stave off their Reproach In the mean time I may observe that the Socinians have been Unlucky in the execution of their main design For they have not purged Mystery out of the Scripture They have only changed its Place They have taken Mystery out of the Doctrine of the Scripture Where it was Venerable and Worthy the Majesty of God and they have placed it in the phrase of the Scripture where it is opprobrious and repugnant to God's Sincerity For Example Expounding Joh. 1. 1. They say That In the beginning was the Word signifies no more than that Christ was when he was born That The Word was with God signifies nothing else but That Christ was taken up into Heaven to receive Instructions for his subsequent Errand That The Word was God signifies no more than That he was God's Messenger That All things were made by him and without him nothing was made that was made signifies only That he was to preach the Gospel by Virtue whereof Men were to