Blessed Trinity God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost nor the known Articles of our Christian Faith upon pain to have his Tongue bored with a Red-Hot Iron and in the Humble Petition and Address of the Officers of the Army to the Parliament signed on Thursday May 12. 1659 and presented by Eighteen of the Chief of them though at that time they were grown High and Sawcy yet in their Petitioning for Liberty of Conscience they excluded those that were against the most Holy Trinity and the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as 't is in the 6th Article thus That all Persons who Profess Faith in God the Father and in Jesus Christ his Eternal Son the true God and in the Holy Spirit God Co-equal with the Father and the Son one God Blessed for ever And do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the Revealed or Written Word or Will of God shall not be restrained from their Profession c. Which plainly imports that those who deny the Holy Trinity c. should be restrained in the same Article they also exclude from that Liberty Popery or any that held forth Licentiousness or Prophaness under the Profession of Religion These things not usual to come from an Army were very good Also the late Act of Toleration which in the latter part of this Discourse I shall have occasion to make use of excludes all Anti-Trinitarians from the benefit of it And Hobb's Leviathan was in October 1666. Condemned by the Parliament in their Bill against Atheism and Prophaneness And both that and his Book de Cive by the Convocation in July 21. 1683. all this shews how from time to time and upon occasion here care hath been taken justly to punish Blasphemers that they might learn not to Blaspheme and be made an example to others for they are a publick raging Plague destructive wheresoever they be not to be suffered to profess and publish their Blasphemies in any Christian State or Society When God's time is come and he will be pleased to incline the Hearts and over-rule the Councils of Men to stand against Blasphemy Prophaneness and Immorality which all except Blasphemers Prophane and Immoral Livers will do then the nature of them that are guilty thereof and whom we do and shall complain against till there be a relief must well be considered to make the remedy effectual experience shews them to be proud willful obstinate and insolent strong mouthed therefore require strong curbs and to be hard bound in order to it 't is humbly conceived and with possible respect submitted to the judgment of Superiours how the words of a new Law when enacted ought to be full and plain that when it comes to be executed there be no ground left for difficulties and exceptions so that therein the end of the Law be sufficiently express'd and the things 't is intend against clearly set down 't is but to dally with and flatter the distemper not to lay strict and sensible penalties upon all that speak writ or otherwise directly or indirectly do oppose the Truth and appear for the Sin First the Authors Abettors Fomenters Printers or other Publishers ought to feel the severity of the Law not only in a privative way as to be made incapable of any publick charge or office whatsoever in Church or State but also to strike a terrour and come nearer home to inflict Money penalties and the like for the fear of a pecuniary mulct will work upon some Men whether Author's Printers or Publishers but as 't is not enough to punish the Persons but also the things must be suppress'd thereupon a Prohibition to Print any more New Pamphlets and Books tending to Propagate Heresy and Blasphemy is as necessary as the Burning or otherwise Destroying those which already are abroad no Bookseller under such a Penalty should be allowed to have any in his Shop not to distribute any either publickly or in private those that are abroad should be called in and Publickly Burnt and none few excepted be allowed to keep any no more than they are to have Treasonable Books and against the State This would make People have a care how they meddle with such things Lastly to make a Law more Effectual it requires great and severe penalties against those who are to execute the Law as Justices of the Peace Constables and others concern'd if they neglect it the executive part is the Life and Soul of the Law without which 't is insignificant we already have several Laws in force against Blasphemy Prophaneness and immorality whereof an abstract was publish'd not long ago 't is both pity and a shame they are not put in execution and no body punish'd for want of it a good new Act to revive them all would much tend to the Glory of God the Church's Good the Honour and Happiness of the Nation to encourage Piety and Vertue and to suppress all manner of Sin whether in Doctrine or Practice We read of the ten Plagues of Egypt and we complain of the like number of the Adversaries evil Practices which in matters controverted between them and us they plague the World with as since their beginning they ever did and now continue to do there is hardly any prospect to hope that in time to come they will alter for thorough a long custom they in their Hearts where the plague lyeth have turn'd it into an habit they want Sincerity and deal not fairly thus to make them appear in their own colours and shew how much they prevaricate we charge them with the ten following things First they wrest God's Word to confirm their Doctrines instead of examining their Doctrines by that word according to the Analogy of Faith and the general consent of the Christian Church Secondly they introduce strange perverse unheard of and condemn'd Senses and Interpretations contrary to the usual signification of the words and phrases of Scripture and to the Scope of the Texts Thirdly they take the liberty at their pleasure to alter and change the full stops Commas Colons Letters Syllables and whole words and this to set up their Doctrines and false Interpretations as also at sometimes they add at others they take away to serve their ends which in maters of Religion is what in civil ones we call to forge and falsify deeds a very infamous thing but worse in matters of Religion because to the falsehood are join'd Impiety and Sacrilege Fourthly to the light of Revelation they oppose that of Human Reason which is dark weak deceitful and fallible as by experience we find in Humane and Natural Things but the other is clear certain infallible and leading us to the knowledge of the Truth Points of Faith must not be examined by Humane Reason which is often contrary to it Fifthly they digg up out of their Graves ancient and condemn'd Heresies to revive them like a new Plague to be spread again over the
When he had made a Scourge of small Cords he drove them all out of the Temple And 't is observable John 2.15 that what he said in John Make not my Father's House a House of Merchandise In two other Evangelists 't is said My House is the House of Prayer Mat. 21.13 Luke 19.45 so his Father's House and his is the same And John mentions that his Disciples remembred that it was written The Zeal of thine House hath eaten me up Here is a Precedent for all in Authority that love Religion and the Honour of God to be zealous to suppress and punish those who Prophane and Blaspheme it and I must own it to be sad Times when no restraint or curb is set upon them It hath formerly been made a Question which of these two is the worse either when every thing is lawful or when nothing is lawful Tho' both be extremes which commonly are vicious yet the first I reckon to be the worse of the two for I had rather to be deprived of some kind of Liberty than to see others with trespassing upon that Liberty to do and say what they list I can in Temporals be content to part with some Liberty rather than to see others in Spirituals to take a Liberty of Blaspheming and Prophaning God's Holy Name and Religion Yet I would not have a sort of People in the World to take an Advantage of this so as to deprive me of a just and honest Liberty under the Notion of restraining others from an unlawful Freedom in indifferent and circumstantial Matters Liberty may be allowed when it must not be in necessary and Fundamentals That busie and restless Spirit of Socinianism doth upon all occasions discover it self whereof we have a late instance in what happened at Canterbury which is to huff and defie our Church in the very Face of the Primate 'T is a shame that some few Foreigners Tradesmen and others corrupted by their own Natural Confidence and tho' encouragement they here meet with should be suffered to mock our Holy Religion and in spight of our Laws after Tricks Shufflings and such Circumstances as make the thing the more odious to set up Antichristian Meetings as those who are informed of the Matter well know They have the Face to pretend to the benefit of the Toleration Act passed in the first Year of William and Mary but by a Clause in the same they are not qualified for it except they declare their Approbation of and subscribe the 39 Articles very few excepted which relate to the Church Government and Ceremonies for the Act is intended for the Ease and Liberty only of those who differ in Circumstantials or at most those who overthrow not the Fundamentals which they who do are unworthy of or else it were by Law to allow of Impiety Blasphemy Idolatry or any Heresie and in that part of the Act relating to Quakers a Sect very unsound in the Faith there is a great tie upon them for 't is said they shall subscribe a Profession of their Faith in these Words I A. B. profess Faith in God the Father and in Jesus Christ his Eternal Son the true God and in the Holy Spirit one God blessed for evermore and do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine Inspiration Here is a Test for Socinians wherein is asserted the first of the 39 Articles of one God in three Persons so they declare they believe the Holy Trinity and the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as also the Divine Authority of Scripture Now I say that tho' this be expressed only in that part of the Act which relates to Quakers yet we must take it to be the Intention of the Law to reach every one that comes under the benefit of the Act and this is so plain that about the latter end of the same all Anti-Trinitarians such are the Vnitarians are excluded from the benefit of it the words are plain Provided always and be it farther Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that neither this Act nor any Clause Article or any thing herein contained shall extend or be construed to extend to give any ease benefit or advantage to any Papist or Popish Recusant whatsoever or any Person that shall deny in his Preaching or Writing the Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity as are declared in the aforesaid Articles of Religion After this we may well wonder at any one who will say there is any benefit by this Act intended for Socinians it appearing so much to the contrary that there is no Toleration allowed them By what I said out of the Act it sufficiently appears how binding it is against those who deny the Holy Trinity as Socinians For they who pretend to the benefit of it to qualifie themselves must not only take the Oath to the Government but also subscribe to every Doctrinal Article of the 39 in the first and second whereof chiefly the Anti-Trinitarian detestable Heresie is fully Condemned This as to the Letter of the Law but herein according to the Gospel there is a Christian Prudence to be used Socinians as well as Jesuits have Equivocations and mental Reservations They sometimes to serve their turn subscribe things which as some of them have been heard to say either they do not understand or else have within themselves a particular meaning thereof Now upon such occasions the Officers concerned to tender the Oaths and receive Subscriptions ought to be Cautious how they admit some Men to 't In a Tract I have written concerning Oaths I mentioned several necessary things upon this matter only this I shall say for the present that when there is no ground of Suspicion nor any thing to create doubts of the Sincerity of him or them that are to Swear and Subscribe then the Oath and Subscription to end the business may be admitted leaving it for God to judge of the Truth and Reality of the Party concerned But it should be otherwise when there is cause to doubt of a Man's sincerity for fear of being Instrumental in his Ruin and Damnation I would not easily believe a Man whom I have ground to suspect he is a Lyar nor tender an Oath to one whom I hear to be apt to forswear I do not say a Man may absolutely refuse to put him to his Oath but not to be accessary to his Perjury I would be very wary and cautious and endeavour to find out whether he be real or comes with an ill design Why should I put a Dagger or a Cup of Poison into the hand of one who may happen not to be sound in his Mind and not Compos Mentis therewith to Stab and Poison himself or others in this case of Heresie we have a considerable instance in the Person of Arrius whom we heard of when I spake of the Council of Nice 't is thus The Emperour Constantine upon the suggestions of an Arrian Priest whom
upon that perversly contriv'd Notion Their third Error about the Holy Ghost is to deny him to be the only sufficient cause of our Conversion and Regeneration tho' as said before he be call'd the Spirit of Regeneration John 3.5 and our Regeneration is by our Saviour call'd to be born of the Spirit but Socinians who mostly cross Scriptural Truths are of another mind for saith one quod c What Frantzius saith * Smalc cont Frantz disp 8. that the Holy Ghost alone by his Virtue and Operation doth all these viz. the inward assent to God's Word our Conversion to God the knowledge of Christ and Faith in him is false How easily do that People give one the lye that same saith that our Regeneration may not be call'd the work of God alone but it depends upon Man's Will and Acting So that great work of Conversion is divided between God and Man whereof all the advantage is made to be on Man's side for Man hath the Negative Vote he may receive or reject but God not so thus Man's Salvation is at his own command Thus far we have spoken of the Nature †Volkel de Creat Morosov cont Smiglec Attributes and Persons of the Godhead now as to God's Works Him they deny to have made the World out of nothing but of a Matter without Form which is to bring into Divinity the Materia prima of Philosophers but I ask did that Matter exist before the Creation of the World If so then it was from Eternity for in Scripture to be before the World and to be from Eternity are Synonimous and signifie the same and this is to joyn in Opinion with those who hold the World to have been Eternal which is a parte ante to match God's Eternity and also to make it Eternal a parte post This also strikes at his Almightiness as if he could not have made something out of nothing which properly is Creation I elsewhere discoursed abundantly against their over boldly presuming upon God's Word with submitting it to their Fancies by them mis-called Reason When they consult it 't is not with an intent thereby to be guided and submit their Judgment to its Decision but only with wresting it and forcing unusual and not natural Senses to make of it a Stalking-horse and to serve their wrong Ends and herein they are so self-conceited and so much abound in their own sense as to reject the help of other Mens Learning Labour and Industry For saith their * Socin Tom. 1. p. 344. Master Non attendendum est c. We must not mind what Men teach and believe or what heretofore they taught and believed whatsoever or how many soever they are or have been What a pride is this Neither Prophets nor Apostles or Evangelists excepted though immediately inspired of God and elsewhere he would scorn to own any Judge of Controversies whether single Man or such a body of Men as the Church is which certainly God in these Matters hath left some Authority with according unto his Word but he is of another mind when he saith Quod quaeris c. †Epist 3. ad And. Dudith To what you ask who is to be the Judge of Controversies about Holy Things I answer without us there is no need of another Judge than God and Christ This in plain terms is to make themselves the sole Judges for God and Christ speak to us by the Prophets and Apostles Their Endeavours of reconciling Jews Mahometans and other Anti-Trinitarians to the Christian Religion with removing what therein gives them offence tho' never so much to the Overthrowing of the Fouudation thereof is a clear Evidence of their setting up themselves as Judges in those Matters If they had gone about to convert them it had been very well and Christian-worthy but not so when for sinister Ends of their own they would only mince and trim with them Scripture we Christians call the Infallible Rule of Faith and Practice Now in Obedience and Regard to God and according unto sound Reason to the directive and decisive Authority of this Rule we who are so fallible ought to submit our Judgments to and yield Obedience of Faith 'T is very unreasonable to make every one's Reason a Judge in Matters of Religion thus there shall be so many Men so many Judges yet in the World are so many ignorant unlearned carnal prepossess'd with Prejudices blind wordly obstinate wicked and deprived of the Spirit of God here is a great Number and Diversity of Judges but how can they be Judges of things which they do not understand about these Matters another Errour of theirs is That they would not have the Doctrines of Faith to be drawn by Consequences out of Scripture for say they it requires Reason which all are not capable of therefore say I we do not allow every one to draw those Consequences Neither is their Argument good because though Reason be necessary to Knowledge yet 't is not as if it were the Foundation but as 't is the Instrument of knowledge therefore the Word is not Preach'd to Children to meer Naturals and Mad People besides that the Light not of Nature but of Grace is the Principle of this Knowledge of Divine Matters which the Unlearn'd as well as the Learned do Understand not by the Light of Natural Reason but of Divine Revelation Now I say that a Conclusion well deduced from premises is also true because virtually contained in the premises and 't is most certain that in the Word several great Truths are proved by deduced Consequences as is one of the Fundamental Articles of our Faith Matth. 22.31 32. Out of Exod. 3.6 Matth. 22 44 45. Out of Psal 110.1 1 Cor. 2.13 the Resurrection of the Dead so our Saviour proves his Divinity so doth Paul and many more such things and Scripture we must compare with Scripture for according to the saying quae non prosunt singula juncta juvant for that which is darker or seems so in one place will appear clearer and plainer in another comparing saith Paul of himself spiritual things with spiritual But here upon the point of Holy Scripture I must not omit to take Notice of the Blasphemous expressions of one of their great Men and a stiff stickler for his Master Socinus's Opinions * Smalc Exam. 100. Err. err 16. Christians ought little to care what the Prophets say of the Worship of one God according to this we must not mind what Prophets say though never so Important as is the thing in question the Worship of one God so there is a door made open for Idolatry and a breach of the first precept of the Law but those setters forth of strange Gods affirm we may Worship one who by Nature is not God not supreme nor independent but I intend by the Grace of God to speak more at large of this in another place of my discourse but the Man would not have us
to be possible for a Man after the knowledge of the Truth never to Sin for saith he * Resp ad frantz disp 6. de bon oper thes 43. 1 Kings 8.46 Jam. 3.2 neither Scripture nor sound Reason nor any thing else hinders but that he who Sinn'd before may come to that degree of perfection as never to Sin hereafter This is to set up a Perfection in this life and freedom from Sin whilest Scripture doth abundantly affirm that there is no Man that Sinneth not that after the knowledge of the Truth and after Conversion in many things we offend all even the best all are under Sin Rom. 3.23 and all have Sinn'd and come short of the Glory of God One said well †Remigius in Cens Act. Synod Caris c. Go. tescal vivere absque peccato c. To live without Sin in the World belongs not to the state of the present Life but to the happiness of that which is eternal during our Life some Canaanites are still left to be Thorns in our Sides and the best Men have a Thorn in the Flesh So that freedom from Sin is certainly part of the Glory of God which in this World no Man whatsoever can attain unto and to pretend to 't is the Sin of the Devil and of our first Parents namely Pride and an Ambitious desire to be like God and equal with God their steps do Socinians follow who though they would seem to be great Enemies to Popery they in matters of Grace in every thing are a bad and in some worse than Papists By this principle of theirs they also make Salvation an easy thing though the Apostle saith 1 Pet. 4.18 Jerem. 13.23 the Righteous is scarcely saved and the Prophet 't is no more possible for them to do good that are used to do evil then 't is for the Ethiopian to change his Skin or for the Leopard his Spots There is a natural impossiblity by reason of Sin reigning in every Reprobate and dwelling in every Believer 1 John 1.8 wherefore we are commanded daily to pray to God to forgive us our Trespasses for indeed if we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us The Orthodox Doctrines about the Sacraments Faith Justification and in sew words every Article of our Holy Religion they more or less do depravate thus they set up a new one of their own making as it hath plainly been demonstrated by several Protestant Divines They set up two ways of Salvation one under the Old Testament the other under the New We own there are several ways to Hell yet there is but one and that strait too Heb. 10.20 leading to Heaven which is the new and living way which he Christ hath consecrated for us thorough the Vail that is to say his Flesh This in Substance though under different Circumstances was for his People under the Old as 't is under the New Testament The whole Church of God though consisting of Jews and Gentiles is but one Church so there is but one Head Lord and Saviour and so but one way to Salvation Now that Church God Christ hath purchased with his own Blood that is by the Merits of his Death Rom. 3.25 God hath set forth the Messiah Jesus Christ to be a propitiation thorough Faith in his Blood for his People under the Old as under the New Testament and we are justified by his Blood Chap. 5.9 Ephes 1.7 Col. 1.20 Heb. 10.19 Also we have Redemption thorough his Blood the Forgiveness of Sins Withal he hath made peace thorough the Blood of his Cross And the boldness we have to enter into the Holiest it is by the Blood of Jesus So then under both Testaments Men are justified and saved by Vertue of the Death of Christ Mediator and thorough Faith in him as 't is at large expressed Heb. 11. whether to come with the Jews Acts 4.12 or already come with Christians for the Apostle's words are full plain and general neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved Yet this clear truth they will not yield to for saith * Smalc cont frantz disp 4. thes 8. one of them what Frantzius Writes that the Ancients believed in Jesus to come and thorough that Faith were justified ought to be reckon'd among the grossest errours Justification by Faith was never profered to Men before the coming of Christ neither was it promised that Man should be justified by Faith yet Abraham was justify'd by Faith Gal. 3.6 for Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness wherein did he believe God Not only in the promise that his Posterity should be very numerous but also chiefly at the promise that the Messiah should come out of his Seed Gen. 12.3 and in thee shall all the Families of the Earth be Blessed which was a renewing of the Promise made to our first Parents of the Woman's Seed which then God fixed in Abraham's Family now this Seed of his in whom all the Families of the Earth should be blessed is what Abraham believed and that Faith of his concerning it was to him accounted for Righteousness and there is no doubt to be made but that God who so familiarly conversed with him as with a Friend for so Scripture calls him Isai 41.8 in a special manner revealed to him the Mystery of his coming in the Flesh for it was the Son of God the second Person of the most holy Trinity who at several times under the name of an Angel and in the shape of a Man appeared to Abraham who as our Lord saith rejoyced to see his day with the Eye of Faith that day or time when he appeared in the Flesh which Abraham who lived so long before did see not as actually present but as to come and that Faith whereby Abraham believed in a Saviour to come he was justify'd by and as he is called the Father of all them that believe so all believers must have the same Faith which he had Ephes 4.5 for there is but one Faith and one Lord which imports one and the same object of that Faith only with this difference upon the account of time that Abraham believed in him that was to come and we in him who is already come Now to the later part of what Smalcius saith that there is no promise that Man should be justified by Faith I say if it be not by Faith it must be by Works for there is no middle but seeing St. Paul in several places of his Epistle to the Romans doth so positively exclude Works not only those of the Law but also those call'd Evangelical with the same Apostle we must conclude Man to be justified by Faith without Works but they are thorough paced Rom. 3.28 for regeneration and other good works Love Invocation Obedience Hope Charity
To believe is what the Gospel requires of us thus Christ said to Jairus believe only In Matters of Salvation is on our part required an Obedience of Faith for as the Apostle saith We walk not by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 Col. 2.2 4.3 or by senses but by faith So when Scripture saith We must acknowledge the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ we ought to believe there is such a Mystery for so Paul calls it after the Revelation of Christ and of the Gospel and 't is a damnable Presumption to bring these Truths of God under the Scrutiny of human Reason and submit them to it and reject them when that poor blind corrupt and unsound Reason cannot understand them 't is a most false Inference to say I understand neither the Trinity nor the Incarnation therefore there is no such thing as if I should say I cannot understand what God is therefore there is no God my Reason cannot understand the Infiniteness and Eternity of God therefore God is neither Infinite nor Eternal I do not apprehend the design of God's Wisdom therefore no such thing in him He permits Evil and because I cannot comprehend his Reason for it must I blasphemously say he is wicked These are such impertinent Conclusions that any Novice in the Philosophy or Divinity Schools would hiss out I would hear by what Authority I may set up my Reason as Judge over that which is so much above it and which I do not well know All these Wanderings of Men I say can conclude nothing except they prove their Understanding to be infallible and infinite What to fathom these great Depths of God with the very short Line of humane Reason this is an intolerable Self-conceitedness If at first when Watches were made one who never saw one neither understood the Watch-Maker's design seeing the several Pieces asunder upon a Table would have said This is of no use and good for nothing had not such a one deserv'd to be laugh'd at as a shallow Pate void of good Sense and Reason Yet 't is transcendently more foolish for any one to say his Reason must judge whether what God hath revealed be true or not O the nonsensical silly shallow Brains of some Men As in another place of this Discourse 't is observed how God said that he would dwell in the thick darkness Ps 97.2 and that clouds and darkness are round about him so 't is to shew how Men must not attempt to pry into 't for they cannot see the great dark mysterious and incomprehensible things of God 1 Sam. 6.19 Let the dreadful Punishment inflicted upon the Bethshemites for looking into the Ark of the Lord serve for a Warning to all who make themselves guilty of the like Attempts 'T is also faid That God dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto 1 Tim. 6.16 which tends to keep men from meddling too far and presumptuously attempting to look into the secret and glorious things of God beyond what he hath revealed But Socinians pretend to be clear-sighted enough to see through that thick darkness and to be strong-sighted enough with the Eye of their humane Reason stedfastly to look on the Infinite Glorious and Unaccessible Majesty of God and as it were to stare him in the face but they should know how in this sense no man shall see his face and live After this rate these all-knowing Men may happen to attempt giving a Description of Heaven which according to their Principles is a thing not above their Reason to do or beyond the reach of their Capacity so no Mystery to them Thus they shall go beyond Paul and know more than he who though he was caught up to the third heaven into Paradise yet saith 2 Cor. 12.2 3 4. whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell and there he heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter We would desire Socinians whom as they say nothing in Religion is a Mystery unto and who think their Reason can and may know that which others say they neither can nor may know because they are Mysteries I say we would desire them to give the World an account of what that Paradise is and what are the unspeakable words which Paul hearâ— there and which it was not lawful for such a Man as St. Paul to utter But once for all to come to the Jugulum Causae to the very heart of the point in all Matters ' of Religion we must have a fixed Law and Rule to be guided and judg'd by which Rule must be backt by an infallible or Divine Authority to stand to which is our Case against Papists who would have the Authority or the Reason of the Church to be that same Rule as Socinians more unreasonably would have every private Man's Reason to be it which as occasion shall serve can by Fancy or Interest under the name of Reason be wrested and by assed so that Reason so apt to be blinded and imposed upon cannot be the Law for there is no reason why one Man should be guided and directed by the Opinion of another if he hath no Commission from God proved by Miracles for the wisest of Men may happen to be blinded by Ignorance as the best corrupted by Interest and Lust After this Men will never stand to any thing but will quickly run into thousands of Confusion Superstition and Idolatry both in respect of God and of his Worship Without a true Divine Rule and that 's only God's Word no certainty of the true Knowledge of God and of his Worship for all the Precepts of Nature are doubtful and uncertain for they must be drawn from long Observations of Nature it self great strength of Reasoning deep skill in Philosophy and so many other dependencies and circumstances that 't is almost impossible to find a Man endow'd with all such necessary Qualifications So then to depend upon one's natural Reason as a Guide to Salvation is to trust upon a bruised Reed on which if a Man lean it will go into his hand and pierce it but if we trust in God's Word which is the Word of Truth the Holy Ghost will thereby in order to Salvation make all safe and sure to us whilst he leaves those who abound in their own sense to do so still and those who will not understand what they will not believe to continue in their Ignorance Unbelief and Wilfulness as for us Scripture is our Rule Now Scripture speaks of the Son of God long before his Incarnation as of a Person Acting Punishing Delivering c. an unanswerable proof that he then Existed or else he would not have acted for Modum essendi sequitur modus operandi none can Act except he be which as observed could not be in his Humane Nature Now in the Word of God we read no such thing of the greatest and best Men as Moses Elias John