principal Criticks in such manner as Socinians and Unitarians interpret them What is this but to say that is an express Revelation which is only an harsh and doubtful Consequence framed by themselves and that is a clear Revelation for these Doctrines which the best and most knowing of their own Party interpret to a contrary Sense Perhaps Sir you may be a little surprised at what I here affirm but so it is and I make challenge to any of our Opposers to convict me of Falshood that there is no Text of Holy Scripture alledged for the Trinity or Incarnation which all the Catholick Doctors and some or other of the most discerning and eminent Interpreters and Criticks of the Protestants have not acknowledged that 't is not to the purpose of the Trinity or Incarnation The Texts that are cited for the Trinity or Incarnation are either out of the Old Testament or out of the New As to the Texts of the Old Testament the Learned among our Opposers of all Persuasions laugh at those that pretend to find the Trinity or the Incarnation in the Books of the Old Testament 'T is universally agreed among the more Learned Trinitarians that to use the Words of an Author and Book licensed by the famous Faculty of the Sorbon Ex veteri Testamento nihil praeter umbras i. e. There is nothing urged for the Trinity out of any Book or Books of the Old Testament but mere Umbrages and Shadows J. Salabert Haeres domitae par 2 dâ Then for the New Testament all the Catholick Doctors own what D. Petavius the most learned Writer of the most learned Order among them has thought fit to express in these Words They that would prove the Trinity out of only the Words of Scripture without taking to their Aid the Churches Interpretation and Authority Sudant plus satis suo artificio vincuntur i. e. They sweat to no purpose and are beaten at their own Weapon Scripture by their Adversaries the Socinians and Arians D. Petav. de Trin. l. 3. c. 11. s 9. Protestants indeed have been somewhat more careful of such free and general Acknowledgmets because they know there is no trusting to Tradition and the Authority of the Fathers on which the Catholicks so called wholly relie in these Questions Notwithstanding even Protestants have among them given up to us all their Scripture-Strengths That Text cannot be named which some or other of the Learnedest Protestants have not either interpreted as 't is interpreted by Socinians and Arians or expresly said 't was not intended by the inspired Author concerning the Incarnation or Trinity or any Person therein I demand such a Text of our Opposers and do here profess that if they name it not 't is because they cannot I will leave it here with you Sir Whether this first be not a just Exception to these Doctrines even this that they have no sufficient Foundation in Holy Scripture by Confession of the most and the learnedest of our Opposers and that being evidently false in Reason they cannot possibly be true in Divine Revelation or Scripture Our Second Reason against them is There has never yet been any Apology or Defence made nor can be for the confess'd Inconsistency of these Doctrines with Reason but what is equally applicable to the Transubstantiation or any other absurd and impossible Doctrine Our Opposers being sensible how great a Prejudice 't is to their Cause that their Doctrines are so directly contrary to Reason so utterly inconsistent with our natural Knowledg and congenit Notions which were given us by GOD to be Tests or Touch-stones whereby to discern Truth from Falshood they have therefore turned themselves all ways to find a Remedy for this Evil. The Sum and Force of what they have been observed to say either in their Books or Sermons is as follows The Trinity and Incarnation are indeed incomprehensible Mysteries but Almighty God hath a Right to require of us to believe on his Word what we do not comprehend or understand He has already posed us with divers Mysteries and seeming Contradictions to our Reason and Capacities in finite visible and ordinary Objects thereby to prepare and dispose us to receive with an humble Faith what he shall please to reveal in his Word concerning Objects invisible and infinite Whatsoever is matter of pure and mere Revelation is not to be judged by either Reason or Sense concerning such things there is a Necessity to acquiesce in Revelation only how unaccountable and wonderful soever they may seem And if Revelation is so express and clear concerning them that we would believe were it not for their supposed Contradiction to Reason in that case Reason must submit to Revelation else we fall into the horrible both Impiety and Foolery of giving the Lie to God and preferring our Knowledg before his What is the Union of the Soul with the Body how do the Parts of Matter hold together are Bodies made up of divisible Parts or of indivisible If we cannot answer these and divers such like Questions without involving our selves in great Difficulties and even in Contradictions Why do we wonder that there may be some seeming Contradictions in what we are taught about the Divine Nature or GOD Which of the Attributes of GOD is not as incomprehensible as the Trinity or the Incarnation Do we comprehend GOD's Eternity by which he possesses eternal Life all at once or his Immensity by which he is whole and all present in every Point of Space Can a finite Mind comprehend Infinite Wisdom Infinite Justice Infinite Power or ought else that is infinite How many have been as confident that the very Notion of a Spirit implies a Contradiction and that 't is not possible there should be Antipodes as any Unitarian can be that the Trinity is a Contradiction to Reason and the Incarnation impossible This should make us cautious and modest it should serve to instruct us that 't is easy for us to mistake our own Shallowness and our Errors for Impossibilities and Contradictions to true Reason Finally As hot as the Unitarians are against Mysteries and incomprehensible things themselves for all that advance as many and as great as those which they oppose You know Sir that I have elsewhere answer'd particularly and severally to all the Parts of this Defence but here I will be content to answer in general that what will prove every thing will prove nothing This Defence or Proof will serve as well for the Transubstantiation or any other absurd and impossible Doctrine as for the Trinity or Incarnation I am resolved to keep close to clear and express Revelation therefore our Saviour himself having said expresly that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the true Vine John 15.1 I maintain that as 't was certain by Sense to those who conversed with him that he was a true and very Man so 't is certain by Revelation that he was also a true and very Vine That any Person should
Mary is the Mother of GOD so that Conclusion was the Cause of the idololatrical Worship and Invocation of her by the far greater part of Christians even by all Catholicks so called and by the whole Eastern Church 3. After Mary was worshipp'd and prayed to it soon became the Custom to pray also to the Apostles and Martyrs and afterwards to other Saints and reputed Saints For if Mary who confessedly was but a Woman and a Saint though she was Mother of GOD can help us by her Intercession Why may not others who were perhaps as great Saints as she 4. The Practice of worshipping Holy Mary and other Saints had been but a little while received in the Churches but it occasioned the Worship of their Images and Pictures For if the Saints are to be worshipp'd then so too are their Images and Pictures with a relative Worship that is for the sake of those whom they represent and so that the Worship ultimately terminates not in the Image but in the Saint Even as the Royal Chair or Throne is worshipp'd for the King's sake though he be absent 5. The Question about the Worship of Images was long contested in the Church Those that stood for that Worship thought it a very heinous Disrespect to our Saviour that no Honour should be shown to his Picture or Image no more than if it were the Image or Picture of an Heathen God And this was a very common Argument and Allegation against the Opposers of Image-Worship In answer to this the Fathers of the 7th General Council anno 754 said There is but one Image or Representation of the Lord Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bread given to us in the Sacrament This Council consisted of 380 Fathers But the contrary Party at length prevailed and it was concluded both for the having and worshipping of Images and by way of Support thereto that the Sacrament is not the Sign Image or Representation of Christ but true and very Christ the Bread and Wine after the Words of the Consecration though they agree not which are the Words of Consecration being turned into the the real Body and Blood of Christ 'T is true the Greeks used not the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Transubstantiation till within this 300 Years but they used equivalent words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and such like If any Wonder that such absurd and contradictory Doctrines as the Transubstantiation and the real Presence met with so little Opposition in the Greek and Latin Churches such an one may make these two Reflections First that those Churches were led as it were by the Hand to those Doctrines by certain Consequences from the Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation thus There is a Trinity of Divine Persons one of these was incarnate in the Womb of the Virgin she is thereupon the Mother of GOD if the Son of GOD is undoubtedly to be worshipp'd then so too is the Mother of GOD if Holy Mary then others who were as much Saints as she if Christ and the Saints then for their Sakes their Images also which are Signs of them But Christ hath appointed the Sacramental Elements as the only Signs of his Body This is a Difficulty indeed Therefore to defend Image-Worship we will say the Sacrament is not the Sign but the very Body of Christ GOD-MAN Secondly it may be farther considered that these Churches having already swallowed so many palpable Contradictions to Reason Scripture and first Antiquity in the Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation they now stuck at nothing It became now the Note and Mark of an Heretick to talk of Absurdities and Contradictions in any Doctrine whatsoever and the Character of a Catholick or Orthodox Person if one had no regard at all to such things but only to help forward the Humour and Current of Superstition that is to believe incredible Tales about the Saints and monstrous Opinions concerning GOD and the Sacraments of the Church 6. That the Holy Scriptures are not a a compleat Rule not sufficient to direct our Faith and Practice without the Aid and Help of the Churches Tradition all know is one of the Errors of the Roman Catholicks and which they could never yet be perswaded to give up Ask them what ground they have for such an Opinion They answer as one Man 'T is notorious and undeniable that the principal Articles of the Christian Faith the Trinity and Incarnation cannot be proved by only Scripture They profess openly and ingenuously that the Vnitarians have certainly beaten all their Opposers at those two Weapons mere Scripture and Reason 7. Another Birth of the Trinitarian Doctrines is the Papal Indulgences with all that Merchandize of Souls that has followed upon them First and by way of Foundation it is supposed that the Lord Christ is GOD as well as Man and that he being GOD incarnate in our Nature his Righteousness and Sufferings must needs be of infinite Value Next it is held that the Sufferings of Christ who is GOD-MAN and of the Saints are the Treasure which he hath given to the Church which Treasure is to be dispensed by his Vicar even the Pope or Bishop of Rome The Dispensations of this Treasure to particular Persons by the Pope himself or those who are by him authorized are called Indulgences and have been bought at mighty Rates by those who thought they had need of them either for themselves or their dead Friends 8. The last of their Paradoxes which I shall now mention and which is common to all Trinitarians and is by their own Confession a necessary Consequence of the Incarnation is their Doctrine of the Satisfaction The Holy Scriptures say Almighty God of his Grace and Goodness doth pardon our Sins on the Conditions of Faith and Repentance on our Parts The Scriptures are so express in ascribing our Pardon and Deliverance from Hell and Damnation to the Mercy and Grace of GOD forgiving us that Trinitarians dare not directly deny it so to be but then because they pretend that GOD was incarnate and suffered in our stead they are forced to this Conclusion That God hath freely pardoned and yet was infinitely overpaid for all our Transgressions and Sins That of his mere Grace the Abundance and Riches of his Grace he will pardon and save the Penitent because he hath received for them a Price of Redemption able to redeem as many Worlds as he is pleased to pardon or save particular Sinners These are the Branches growing upon the Trinitarian Stock these the Fruits of that Tree But such as the Fruits or Consequences of these Doctrines have been such also was their Original and Extraction as we shall see in the next which is our sixth Reason or Exception against them They are of Paganick or Heathen Descent and Original and were introduced into the Church by the Platonick Philosophers when they came over to Christianity One of our Disputes with the Trinitarians is concerning the Original of these Doctrines from
A Letter of Resolution concerning the Doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation YOU are pleased Sir to demand of me the general Reasons why the Vnitarians or as others now call us the Socinians have departed from the Catholick Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation in which all other Sects and Denominations of Christians do agree and contend also for them as Fundamental Doctrines 'T is true Sir that we are alone in our Belief or Opinion of but one GOD or what is the same but one who is GOD even the GOD and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ And as we are alone so we are a little Flock If our Reasons were no more considerable than our Number we should be very contemptible to our Opposers The Case was once otherwise there is no Ecclesiastical Historian but has noted the time when All the World was against Athanasius and Athanasius against all the World But it avails very little that we can say Fuimus Trees suit Ilium And that which you have demanded of me is What are our Reasons not how it has come to pass or by what Persecutions we have been reduced to so small a Number I answer therefore Our first Reason is The Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation have no solid or good Foundation in Revelation or Holy Scripture A Stranger in this Controversy who hears the Sermons or reads the Books of some of our Opposers would think that the Question between us and the Trinitarians is on their side as clear in Revelation as 't is confess'd to be on ours in Point of Reason for this is the Fault with which they continually charge us that we exalt Reason above Revelation and that we pretend that a Force how great soever is to be put upon the Words of Revelation rather than we will admit of any Doctrine which is contrary to Reason Now First 'T is not true that we prefer our Reason before Revelation On the contrary Revelation being what GOD himself hath said either immediately or by inspired Persons 't is to be preferred before the clearest Demonstration of our Reason But because we cannot suppose without Disrespect and Injury to GOD to his Goodness and Veracity that he has so made us that our Faculties should be deceived in what they clearly and distinctly perceive and because GOD hath in Revelation frequently appealed to our Faculties to our Understanding and Reason therefore we conclude that what is clearly and distinctly discerned by Reason as true or false is so And from thence we infer that what is false in Reason can never be true in Revelation or by Revelation So that whatsoever in Revelation doth seem to contradict Reason can be nothing but our Blunder our unskilful injudicious and too close Adherence to the mere Letter and Words of Revelation 'T is so true that we ought to interpret the most clear Revelation so as not to contradict evident Reason that if we neglect this Rule we shall oft times make Revelation contrary to and inconsistent with it self as well as to or with Reason We shall be forced for Instance to say the Lord Christ is a Rock a Way a true Vine a Door and twenty more such different and contrary things because Revelation has clearly and expresly called him all these I desire therefore to know Why our Opposers take care not to make themselves contemptible by maintaining 'tis a Scripture-Doctrine that the Lord Christ is a Rock a Way a true Vine a Door on the Account that such a Doctrine though founded on the express Words of Holy Scripture is contrary to Reason and yet have no regard to avoid the Imputation of Folly Incogitance and Inadvertence by contending this is a Scripture-Doctrine which is no less contrary to Reason and natural Light even this that there are three Almighty and Infinite Persons and yet but one GOD. No Man ever had by Nature or Reason nor can have any other Notion of Three Gods but only this Three Infinite and Almighty Persons Is it supposable that GOD should give forth contrary Manifestations of himself that he should teach us by Nature and Reason to apprehend one GOD as but one Almighty and Infinite Person and yet command us by Revelation to believe one GOD is Three such Persons Or can we our selves obey contrary Commands or believe contrary Manifestations concerning the same thing at the same time This Foundation being laid we say Three Divine Persons an Almighty Father an Almighty Son and an Almighty Spirit distinct from both being in Reason and common Sense but the Periphrasis and Circumlocution for Three Gods so that we can have no other Conception of Three Gods but only Three such Persons that Revelation which by Confession of all Parties obliges me to believe but one GOD can never be supposed to require me to believe Three Almighty Persons So also Reason assuring me that the Disproportion between Infinite and Finite is such that they can never be commensurate or made one and the same That Revelation or Holy Scripture which tells me GOD is infinite that the Heaven of Heavens contains him not cannot be interpreted or understood as bidding me believe that a Person who is GOD or an Infinite Person and such they say every Person of the Trinity is can be Whole and All Incarnate that is united and commensurate to a finite Man We abide Sir by this Argument here we fix our Foot never to be removed that the Inconsistence of the Trinity and the Incarnation with Reason and natural Knowledg being undeniably evident therefore those Doctrines can have no real Foundation in Divine Revelation that is to say in Holy Scripture But Secondly As we consider that though Revelation is to be preferred before Reason and always interpreted by Reason for the Causes already given so we cannot but profess our selves surprized that any should have the Confidence to pretend that there is clear and express Revelation on behalf of the Trinity and Incarnation In the Name of Wonder what do these Gentlemen mean by express and clear Revelation do they mean that they have found out some Texts which directly and expresly say There is a Trinity of Divine Persons who are but one GOD or which say The Son or second Person of the Trinity was incarnate If they have any such Texts to produce we shall grant them they have an express Revelation for those Doctrines But in very Deed they mean no such thing but by clear and express Revelation they mean what was never meant by any but themselves nor by themselves in any other Case or Question but this of the Trinity They mean the Trinity and Incarnation are provable by certain most remote and strained Consequences from some such Texts of Revelation or Scripture as either are of suspected Authority and Credit in the Original among the Learned of their own Party or are denied by the Learnedest of their own side to be truly translated or finally are interpreted by their own