go further and blasphemously deny God's Omnipresence and consequently his Infiniteness and Immensity Now God is present every where first by his Essence 1 Kings 8.27 for thereby he fills up all things the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him And whither shall I go from thy spirit Psal 139.7 8 9 10. or whither shall I flee from thy presence c. God is also every where by his Knowledge Heb. 4.13 for nothing is hidden from it for all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do God is also every where by his Power and Operation 1 Cor. 12.6 for he worketh all in all Yet for all these a Socinian * Crellius de Deo p. 278. Author denies God to be every where for he would not have him to be amidst filthy and defiled things as if his Holiness was thereby in danger of being defiled But I ask is the Sun less pure or is it stain'd for shining upon Filth and Dunghills or is it thereby infected God they would confine in Heaven which indeed is the Chief Seat of his Glory and as the Word saith Is his Throne and the Earth is his Footstool And as God in his Glory is in Heaven Isa 66.1 in his terrible Justice is in Hell so in Earth he is both in his Mercy and Justice Thus he is every where God's Eternity they dare not openly to deny but the Nature of it they very much corrupt for God's Eternity is his own Existence which is necessary and by reason of most supreme Perfection cannot not be Vorstius in not ad Thes 7. disp de Deo therefore what one of the worst of Men writes is false Inanis Logomachia c. It is an idle dispute about words for any one to deny Eternity to be the same with eternal time for Time is a Contingent and Duration but Eternity doth denote a necessary and unmeasur'd Duration therefore Crellius runs upon as bad ground when he saith That God's Eternity hath Parts when it is altogether indivisible and seeing God's Eternity is God himself Eternal it admits of no Accident and therein is no Priority nor Posteriority as 't is in time As to God's Omniscience they would confine it within certain Bounds for saith one of them * Crellius cap. 24. p. 202. 't is not extended unto things which cannot be known by Nature So he denies the Determination of future Contingents And †Praelect Theol. p. 547. alibi Socinus though he owns a Divine Prediction of some things to come yet will not attribute it to God's Prescience but only to a Divine Decree But their abominable Impieties about these Matters are plainly and abundantly to be seen in * Protest Anti-Vorst pag. 361 362. one of their Authors whose Book King James caused to be burnt here by the Hangman Against the Author and Book he published something of his own and did write to the States General to turn him out of his Place of Divinity-Professour at Leyden and to banish him for he knew it to be the Duty of Princes to suppress Blasphemy and punish Blasphemers He made an Extract written with his own Hand of some of this Man 's blasphemous Impieties and sent it to his then Ambassador in Holland by him to be presented to the said States-General Vorstius p. 112. as we find them among his Works one of which is his giving God a Body as already mention'd The 2d is this Non satis igitur p. 232. c. They who affirm God both in Essence and Will wholly to be unchangeable want a due circumspection Further p. 237. nusquam Scriptum legimus c. We read no where God's Substance to be simply Insinite but many things there are which seem to have a contrary sense Another is this Magnitudo nulla c. No Magnitude is actually infinite therefore God himself is not There are three things more of the same Stamp observed by that King p. 308 441 171. one about the Determination of future Contingents from Eternity Another for a general Science of God without the special one of things to come And the last is That many things may happen in the World without God's Fore-knowledge Thus those Wretches do meddle not only against the Persons of the Godhead but also against the Nature and Attributes of it But the Orthodox and Learned King James to suppress Blasphemy and Heresie burnt the Books that contain'd it for besides that of Vorstius he caused that of Bertius for the Apostasie of Saints also to be burnt whence we may infer That if the Authors had been within his Dominions he would have punish'd them And some Years after the Racovian Catechism which is the Socinian Gospel was by the Parliament condemn'd to be burnt They write and act against the Three Persons both singly and jointly first against the Father with denying him to have been such from Eternity for they affirm he had no Son from Eternity without which he could not properly nor actually be a Father thus by a new Relation of Paternity in time he was made that which he had not been from Eternity Secondly against the Son by denying his Divinity and Eternal Generation which is the Foundation of Christian Religion 1 Cor. 3.11 and other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Not that he is a meer Man for the Church of God is not built upon Man Matt. 16.18 but that He is the Son of the living God For upon that Truth which Peter made solemn Confession of he said Vpon this rock that I truly and properly am the Son of the Living God I will build my Church wherefore the Apostle calls him the chief corner-stone 1 Pet. 2.6 Thirdly Against the Holy Ghost whose Divinity and Personality they also deny tho' Scripture appropriates to him as I shew'd elsewhere and somewhat lower shall speak of the Names Attributes Works and Worship proper to the only True God We know that in Scripture the Name Holy Ghost and Spirit of God are sometimes improperly taken for the Gifts of the Holy Ghost or for the Vertue of God but withal when 't is properly spoken which happens often then it signifies the Third Person of the most Holy Trinity therefore he is represented as the Father's and Son's Ambassadour whose secret Councils he knows and by whom he is said to be sent and so Faithful one that he speaks not of himself but what he hears that he speaks and he is called the Comforter Paraclete and Advocate to signify a Person and not a Vertue But as those Blasphemers are not satisfied to prevaricate against every Person of the most Holy Trinity separately they also do 't together and jointly against the Three for though the Word of God affirms that in the Unity of Nature there are Three Named the Father the Word and Holy Ghost where
by the Word John 5.7 the Son must be Understood for Father and Son are relatives and as the Father is a Person so must the Son so must the Holy Ghost yet they deny the most Holy Trinity asserted in Scriptures and confirm'd to have been the belief of the Whole Primitive Church as contained in the Apostolical Nicene and Athanasian Creeds and in the Constantinopolitan wherein the others were Comprehended and owned in the Confession of Faith of all Christian Churches in the World which was and is still made the first Article of Faith of One God in Three Persons yet against these great Lights they impiously say * Catech. Racov. Sententiam eorum c. the Opinion of these who do Attribute Divine Nature unto Christ is contrary not only to sound Reason but also to the Word of God and they do grosly err who affirm that not only the Father but also the Son and the Holy Ghost are Persons in one Godhead and †Vorstius one saith the Arguments by the Ancient Fathers and Modern Divines made use of for the Eternal Generation of Christ are either Fallacious or Frivolous and * Smalcius ad nov monst part 2. c. 22. p. 198. another calls them Ratiunculae Nugatoriae Trifling words the same in another place affirms that †Exam. 100. Errâ—r Er. 26. Christ before his Resurrection was not perfectly Christ or Son of God or God And elsewhere that Christ's Divinity consists in his sitting at the Right Hand of the Father Sessio Christi ad dextram Dei est Christi divinitas I begin to tremble when I think of what I am just now entring upon but 't is fit they should be known in their own Colours Here with Horror read how Blasphemonsly those Hellish and Abominable Monsters as are Servetus Dudithius Socinus himself and several others of those wicked Men so much admir'd by Vnitarians writ of the most Holy and most Blessed Trinity they call it Monstrum Tricipitem Cerberum Tricorporem Gerionem Deum fictitium ac Sophisticum Idolum novum Fabulosam Chymeram humanum Commentum Diabolicam Idaeam Babelis Turrim of many more I shall add the following which makes the Pen drop out of my Hand The most adorable Trinity is call'd Blasphemum dogma ex imô orcô per Filium perditionis virtute Satanae gentium Ecclesiis obtrusum I am at a stand whether or not to put this in English which though it makes my Heart ake and defiles my Pen yet to the end every one which understands no Latin may abhor such transcendent Blasphemies I say The most Holy Trinity they call a Monster a three Headed Cerberus a Geryon with three Bodies a Forged and Sophistical God a new Idol a Fabulous Chymera a Human Invention a Devilish Idea a Tower of Babel a Blaspemous Doctrine by the Son of Perdition and power of Satan drawn out of the very bottom of Hell and obtruded upon the Church of the Gentiles After this Socinians must not find it strange if I who through God's Grace am a Christian do abhor and detest those Principles which do overthrow the Christian Religion to set up a new one of their own and if I cannot be much in Charity with those who are for such Impieties and Blasphemies Tho' what I have already said be too much yet to shew how they break all Rules and do more and more sink into the Mire and if not worse yet are as bad as the Devil himself for Non audet Stygius Pluio tentare quod audet Effraenis Socinus there they will not stop for he must run fast whom the Devil drives I shall upon the matter add one thing or two more out of their Hellish Writings one of them writing against one of his Adversaries takes an occasion to fall upon Austin * Dudiâ—h Epist ad Bezam in Socin Oper. Tom. 1. p. 525. Tuum tibi Augustinum c. I shall speak to thee of thy Austin For having said many things quite contrary to the Gospel he also hath Publish'd this Eostatical Fancy of three Gods they the first drunk of this Wine afterwards they made others drunken with it so to them is happen'd what usually befals Men who when their sight is troubl'd instead of one they see three or more The same in another place saith †Epist ad Petrum Carol p. 538. Tricipitem Ter geminum c. The Apostles never knew this three Headed and threefold God nor the whole Orthodox Church this is impudently to tell this lye who can without Indignation read such things Do such Miscreants deserve to breath God's Air What that Man saith * Socin Animadv 10. in assert Theol. Coll. posnan Socinus Subscribes to when he saith Deum quidem c. The whole Vniversal Church owns that there is one God but that it doth reverence Vnity in Trinity and Trinity in Vnity no Church of God may by any means own seeing 't is altogether a Humane Invention which Divine Truth doth every way speak against After this ever since our Saviour's days the Church hath been in Ignorance and Darkness nay in a great and damnable Error about these Fundamentals of our Religion but this is not all For as to our Blessed Saviour's Incarnation or the Son of God being made Flesh they impiously Ridicule and Revile it * Ostorod Instit c. 17. p. 96. One calls it Purum c. A meer Porgery of Superstitious Men. Then the Evangelists and Apostles by whose means the Holy Ghost convey'd those Divine Truths to us were Forgers of Lyes thus they set Hand and Seal to what said that Impious Pope Leon X. the Fable about Jesus Christ hath procur'd the Church great Riches Another calls that high and adorable Mystery †Smalc Refut Graveri de Incarnâ—t Dogma c. A most Monstrous Doctrine unworthy to be receiv'd by the Christian Church And the same in a direct opposition to what St. John saith The Word was made Flesh hath this * Exam. 100 Err. Err. 49. Verbum non est Caro factum the Word was not made Flesh and to say the contrary is an Error and that vile Man thinks he can say any thing against Christ and in opposition to Scripture for in the same Book he adds Christus c. Christ from his Birth was not full of Grace and Truth Again Christ at his Death ceased to be Son of God Error 50. and therein he calls it a Fable Tanta est Fabula c. So great is this Fable of the Vnion of two Natures also a Dream of old Women Somnium anile many more such Impieties I could quote but it makes my Heart sick and amaz'd thereat strikes me with Horror and makes the Pen drop out of my Hand About the Holy Ghost they hold three Fundamental Errors First They deny him to be God though in several places Scripture simply and absolutly calls him so Acts. 5.3 4. Peter said to Ananias
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
Why hath Satan fill'd thine heart to lye to the Holy Ghost in the next verse it 's said Thou hast not ly'd unto Men but unto God These last Words explain the first how to lye to the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 3.16 is to lye to God Paul is another Evidence when he saith Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you That Spirit which dwelleth in them is the same true God whose Temple they are farther as God is every where Psal 139.7 so is the Holy Ghost Whither shall I go from thy Spirit saith David which comes to this I can go no where but there he is so the Holy Ghost is Infinite and none but God is such Rom. 8.9 and the Spirit of God dwells in you as he doth in every Believer and as there are Believers of all Nations Ages Sexes Qualities c. in the World so the Holy Ghost who is in them all is all the World over and so God absolute Eternity belongs to God and the Holy Ghost is Eternal too as we have it thus Heb. 9.14 1 Cor. 2.10 Christ through the Eternal Spirit offered himself and who but God can know all things whether of Men or of God But the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God The Work of the Creation is proper to God and incommunicable to the Creature which cannot be both Creator and Creature to Create imports in him that doth an infinite Power to fill up an infinite Space between a nothing and something which no Creature is capable of he who is to all others the Author of their Beings must need have his own of himself and that is God for he that built all things is God Psal 33.6 Job 26.13 now the Holy Ghost made the World for as By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made so all the Host of them by the breath Spirit of his Mouth to this purpose 't is said by his Spirit he hath garnish'd the Heavens And in the History of the Creation Gen. 1.2 we read how that same Spirit moved upon the face of the Waters to give Life Motion and make them Fruitful besides none but God can bestow the Spiritual and Heavenly gifts of Grace but the Holy Ghost is the Distributer of them for he divideth to every Man severally as he will 1 Cor. 12.4 11. that is independently as of his own and without giving any Accounts farthermore the Ruling of the Church appointing of Apostles and other Ministers and accordingly he endu'd the Apostles and on the Day of Pentecost filled them with Gifts to qualifie them for their work and the Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have call'd them Acts. 13.2 'T was God's work and 't was God who appointed them so he not only gave them Commission to go but also appointed them the Field where to sow the Seed of the Word Chap. 16.6 7. for the Holy Ghost did forbid them to preach the word in Asia tho' they had a mind to it then they would have gone to Bithynia but the Spirit suffer'd them not again Paul tells the Elders of the Church of Ephesus that The Holy Ghost had made them Overseers over that Flock Chap. 20.28 In sew Words all Offices and Gifts in the Church he absolutely disposes of as to him seems good Besides we must take notice of the Glorious Titles given him in Scripture applyable to no Creature as are the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of Adoption John 15.26 Rom. 8.15 Chap. 1.4 Tit. 3.5 Matth. 12.28 Rom. 9.1 Matth. 18.9 2 Cor. 13 14. John 5.7 Matth. 12.31 the Spirit of Sanctification and the Spirit of Renewing or Regeneration and by whom Miracles as Casting out of Devils are wrought furthermore how Divine Worship Honour and Prayer is due and render'd unto the Holy Ghost thus Paul calls upon him as he who knew the Hearts And in the Form of Baptism in the Apostolical Blessing he is equally call'd upon with the Father and the Son and equally concern'd with them in bearing Record in Heaven besides the Holy Ghost must be God seeing The Sin of Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven being the most Abominable and Damnable of all hence I conclude the Holy Ghost equally to be God with the Father and with the Son Their second Error is to deny the Holy Ghost to be a Person but seeing as we already prov'd he is God of the same Nature with the Father and the Son he must be a Person as indeed the Proprieties of a Person are Attributed unto him for in our Saviour's Conception he Acted and Sanctifi'd the Virgins Womb in his Baptism he appear'd in the visible shape of a Dove and of cloven Tongues in the Day of Pentecost in his name we are equally Baptiz'd with the Father's and the Son 's He sent the Apostles Rom. 8.26 He maketh intercession for us besides that he doth create and work Miracles and to none but a Person it doth belong and is proper so to act and so to do Of this Error of theirs there is another branch for they would not have the Holy Ghost to be a Person of the Godhead distinct from the Father and from the Son but the contrary doth appear John 15.26 for in Scripture he is call'd the Spirit of the Father and of the Son he is sent by the Father and by the Son he is distinguish'd from the Father and from the Son by a personal Property to proceed as he is expresly call'd another from the Father and from the Son The Father will give you another Comforter Chap. 14.16 Saith our Saviour that is another from the Father and from me The Heretick Macedonius deny'd the Divinity and Personality of the Holy Ghost and affirm'd it to be only a Vertu and Power whereby the * Smalc Exam. Err. 157. Err. 132. and 137. Father and the Son do work which Fundamental Error Socinians borrow'd of him Spiritum Sanctum c. saith one of them The Holy Ghost is in God a Propriety or Attribute as are Wisdom and Justice Furthermore The Holy Ghost is not one but many of inequal Dignity because there are different Gifts he would set up different Spirits 1 Cor. 12.4 tho' the Apostle saith positively There are diversity of Gifts but the same Spirit We own as we did before how according to an unusual improper and figurative way sometimes the word Spirit signifies the Gift and Workings of the Holy Ghost but when 't is properly taken then it signifies the third Person in order of the Godhead partaker of the Nature therefore call'd God as prov'd Another Socinian calls the Holy Ghost Virtutem illam c †Schlichting in Simbol p. 99. That Virtue whereby God particularly sanctifies those Men which are dear to him And so all along he runs on
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
Baptist no mention at all of them till after their Birth only John Baptist's was foretold not long before but not a word of any thing he did before he was Born 1 Cor. 10.4.9 as we read of Christ that He was the Rock that follow'd the People in the Wilderness that he was tempted by them c. And in what the Angel said to Zacharias of the Birth of a Son mention is made of our Saviour Luk. 1.16 by the name of the Lord God of the Children of Israel many of the Children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God and who this Lord God is 't is imply'd in these words He shall go before him that is the Lord their God in the spirit and power of Elias Now that John Baptist went before the Lord Jesus To prepare the way of the Lord and make straight the way for our God that is the God of Israel it appears out of Isaiah Isai 40.3 compar'd with Malachy 4.6 fulfilled Matth. 3.3 Mark 1.3 Luke 3.4 John 1.23 Wherein we see how the four Evangelists take notice of the Prophecy and fullfilling thereof in relation to our blessed Saviour all which proves him to be true God by Nature and consequently that he had a Being before he was Born of the Virgin Upon this point the Harmony of two Prophets with the Evangelist is so considerable that some things more I must observe about it The true God of Israel speaks by Malachy chap. 3.1.7 10 11 12 14. c. and in a Chapter which is much to our purpose at several times calls himself The Lord of Hosts who is the same that ver 1. saith Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me This is a Prophecy about John Baptist Messenger to the Lord of Hosts before whom he was to prepare the way observe first he that speaks and will send is the Lord of Hosts he that is to be sent is his Messenger and he that is to come is the Lord of Hosts who speaks and will send his Messenger before me in Person not by Proxy We know John Baptist prepared the way not before God the Father of whom in Scripture we never read that he was to come into the World but before the Lord Jesus Christ his Son whose fore-runner he was therefore Jesus Christ is plainly the Lord of Hosts who is the true Eternal God who under the name of Shiloh and Messiah was to come and actually did few Months after John Baptist's Birth chap. 4.2 In the last Chap. is renew'd the promise of Christ's coming under the name of the Sun of Righteousness that should arise with healing in his wings and of John Baptist under the name of Elijah ver 5. Matth. 17.12 13. Luk. 1.16 before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the Lord that is of Christ who call'd John by the name of Elias because said the Angel he shall go before him that is in the foregoing Verse The Lord God of Israel spoken of Christ whom John went before in the spirit and power of Elias that is with the same fervent Zeal which Elias was acted by and in that Spirit saith the Prophet He shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children Mal. 4.6 Which are the very words by the Angel spoken to Zacharias Malachy calls Christ who was to come Luk. 1.17 The Lord the Lord of Hosts a peculiar and proper Attribute of the Almighty and Eternal God and the Angel names him the Lord God of Israel Let to this the other Prophet's Testimony be joyn'd Isai 40.3.4 5. The voice of him that cryeth in the Wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord c. which is Parallel to the other and by which John Baptist is design'd for unto himself he apply'd it he whose way he was to prepare Joh. 1.23 is call'd the Lord and our God that is of Israel at whose coming the glory of the Lord shall be revealed The Lord God of Israel was to come himself and when he was come his Glory was reveal'd the Son of God under the name of Jesus Christ came himself and when he came the Glory was reveal'd therefore Jesus Christ was the true God of Israel this Truth depends upon the Evidence of two Prophets and of an Angel as related by an Evangelist whereunto is joyned the Testimony of Zacharias who at that time as express'd was filled with the Holy Ghost out of all this it will appear that no Person was ever better designed nor his Titles more plainly describ'd than is in those places the coming in the Flesh of Christ the true Son of God and who he was Another place which I think doth Evidence Christ's Divinity Jo. 10.15 is this As the Father knows me even so know I the Father There is a great Emphasis in the words as and even which implies in the same manner nature and degree the comparison shews a parity in Persons or else it had been enough to have said the Father knows me and I know the Father If the Son knows the Father only in part then the Father knows the Son but in part which to assert is Impiety but if the Father knows the Son perfectly so the Son also knows the Father perfectly and as no finite Creature can perfectly know the infinite God so he that perfectly knows the infinite God must himself be infinite God such is the Lord Jesus his own Son When Thomas answered Jo. 20.28 My Lord and my God he answer'd him who spake to him that is Christ so then Thomas owned him for his Lord and his God he knew out of the Law and by what Christ had taught him that there is but one God Matth. 8.2 and 9.18 and 14.33 and 15.25 and 20.20 and 28.17 therefore he would not have called him his God and worshipped him as such if he had not believed him to be the true God of Israel To this I shall add that our Saviour who was no Friend to Idolatry suffered himself at several times as may be seen in the Margin to be Religiously worshipped that is as God and never hindred any from it but if he had not been God he would never have permitted any one to worship him as such So under the shape of a Man he had been by Abraham very long before Gen. 18.1 for we read how the Lord or Jehovah appeared to him in the plains of Mamre in ver 1. 't is positively said Jehovah but in 2 we read three men stood by him whereof one was the Lord attended by two Angels at which sight that Father of Believers bowed himself towards the ground and addressed his Speech only to one My Lord saith he if I have found favour in thy sight c. and by the Discourse that afterwards happened it plainly appears the same was the true Eternal God who promised Sarah should have a Son
blessed saviour call'd an High-Priest in one Epistle And in his kind of Priest-Hood he was as much a Priest as ever Aaron was in his and he offered himself as really as ever any expiatory and propitiatory Sacrifice were offer'd under the Law therefore his pretious Blood which was shed upon the Cross till Death intervened is so often mention'd in Scripture chap. 9.12 ver 14. By his own Blood he entered in once c. and the Blood of Christ which through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God even to Death Again Now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself ver 16. ver 26. Ephes 5.25 Acts. 20.28 thereby to save and sanctifie his Church for he loved it and gave himself for it and so hath purchased it with his own Blood which could not be done without a Sacrifice and a Priest there 's no true proper and real Effect without a true proper and real Cause As the Article of Christ's Satisfaction is one of if not the most Fundamental of our Salvation so the Holy Ghost hath in Scripture taken special care to confirm it in both Testaments Isaiah 53.10 read the whole chap. His Soul was made an Offering for sin saith Isaiah and the Lord hath laid on him the Iniquities of us all thereby the Prophet alluding to the Ceremony of the scape Goat Asasel Levit. 16.21 1 Joh. 2.2 1 Pet 2.24 which was loaded with the Sins of the People so in several places of the Psalms c. in the New Testament he is said to be the Propitiation for our sins and who his own self bare our sins in his Body on the Tree with several others to the same Effect full and plain enough 2 Cor. 4.4 except to those in whom the God of this World hath blinded the Minds Yet Smalcius as if once had not been enough * Exam. 100 Err. Err. 57.66 said elsewhere That Christ is Metaphorically and improperly called a Priest and that he never offered a true but only a metaphorical sacrifice Again 't is false that Christ upon Earth purged our sins therefore they utterly deny the Merit of our Saviour's Death and thus impiously would overthrow the Foundation of our Salvation whilest St. Paul in several places of his Epistle to the Hebrews doth plainly demonstrate the Necessity Excellency and Efficacy of our Saviour's Sacrifice of himself for our Deliverance from God's Wrath the Curse of the Law and from Sin and Death Here I may shew an instance how far in an Impious way Men can go when God hath left them unto themselves These are the Words Et si nunc Vulgo c. * Racov. Cat. p. 177. And though now it be the Common Opinion of Christians that Christ by his Death hath deserved Salvation for us and fully satisfied for our sins yet that Opinion is Deceitful Erroneous and very Pernicious Where is that Fear of God Modesty Soundness and Humility which that worst sort of Men would in their Opinions and Expressions seem to pretend to But to omit so many other Evidences of their Blasphemous Writings I shall only add some Words of the same Smalcius †Exam. Err. 47.72 Christum nobis c. Christ hath not reconciled God to us nor when offended appeased him towards us God of himself and of his own Will is become favourable to Men without any ones Reconciliation Christ hath not obtain'd the Forgiveness of our sins by the shedding of his Blood for us So then with Paul we may say the Preaching of the Gospel is vain 1 Cor. 15.14.15.17 our Faith is also vain we are yet in our sins and the Apostles are found false Witnesses of God at one blow they with denying Christ's Satisfaction for us to Divine Justice would blast our whole Joy Comfort and Assurance in this Life and hope of Happiness in that which is to come 'T is certain that in the Work of Redemption to give and receive are Relatives for as a Man cannot properly be said to receive a thing except it be given him by another so no Man can properly be said to give except there be another to receive Thus in the Work of Redemption the price which Christ gives the Father receives it as Scripture saith Rev. 5.9 Ephes 5.2 Heb. 10.5.7.10 1 Pet. 1.18.19 Thou hast Redeemed us unto God through thy Blood and Christ hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor Again Ye know that ye were not Redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold But with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot The Blood of Christ and his Death by the Sacrifice of himself is the Meritorious Cause of our Redemption and Salvation This Gospel-Doctrine should not be scoffed at by Men who would pass for Christians yet thereby make Heathens of themselves in joyning with Heathens to mock God's Institutions of the Ceremonial Law which represented Christ's Sacrifice upon the Cross let an Heathen who knew no better say †Cat. Distich de Morib l. 4. Stultitia est morte alterius Sperare Salutem 'T is a Folly to look for Salvation by another Man's Death but no Christian should say so I am apt to believe that Roman was not a meer stranger to the Custom of the Jews but as well as Ovid he might have read Moses's Books whereof the Translation by the Septuagint was then Extant and long before for by what that other in his Metamorphoses saith of the Flood of the Tower of Babel represented by the Gyants attempting to scale up to Heaven and some such other things we have ground to believe that he had read the Book of Genesis so might also Cato who though accounted a Wise Man by the World if he by the Verse of his already Quoted intended any thing against the Ceremonies of the Law about Sacrifices which represented that of the Messiah's Death whereby Salvation to Mankind was to be purchased according to the Prophecies of David Isaiah Daniel c. then we may reckon him to have been one of those whom Paul speaks of who professing themselves to be Wise became Fools Rom. 1.22 1 Cor. 1.23 24. so we may all others of his Opinion because as the Doctrine of the Messiah or Christ was to the Jews a stumbling Block so to the Greeks or Gentiles it was Foolishness but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ is the power of God and the Wisdom of God but we find Socinians to take part with those who barely are Jews and Greeks but not with them which are called so are more unexcusable than Cato and other Heathens who never had the Gospel-Light shining upon them as they have As they deny Christ's Satisfaction so wholly to deprive him of his Priestly Office they also would take away his
c. far from being the effects of Justification that without them there can be no Justification that is they are the cause of it as * Smalc ibid. one of them is not ashamed to write Tho Scripture in so many places saith that Christ's passive obedience was for us is imputed to us and we thereby are justified Isa 53.5 6. 1 John 1.7 Rom. 3.24 25. and 5.19 Galat. 3.13 for he was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities the Chastisement of our Peace was upon him and with his Stripes we are healed Also the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin so in other Texts quoted in the Margin Yet for all this these Wretches with a brazen-face do thunder against this Holy Doctrine as †Socin de servat l. 4. absurd impious forged and contrary to Divine and Human Reason yea so filthy and execrable that he believes since the beginning of the World there was not a more pernicious errour And that Man's †Socin de justif p. 77. Ephes 2.8 Ibid. Heb. 2.10 Chap. 12.2 Disciple impiously calls it an Imposture of Satan But they go further and say God justifieth Man for his Obedience and own Righteousness for saith the * Smalc Heresiark to be justified of God is nothing else but to be declared just which must necessarily be when the Precepts whatsoever they be of the Law he hath given are kept Thus Men need not seek in God for what they have in themselves for which they would make him accountable to them but they sink deeper and deeper into the mire for Faith which the Apostle calls the Gift of God with an exclusion and that not of your selves they affirm God not to be the only cause of seeing Man of himself by strength of his own Will may receive it for thus he goes on out of what hath been said it appears what is in Man the cause and foundation of his Faith namely the love and desire to do Good and to avoid Evil And as they overturn all Divine Means of our Salvation so that pernicious Man would strike hard as the Captain of it and the Author and Finisher of our Faith Isa 63.3 And in that great Work which he alone hath effected for he hath troden the Wine-Press alone and of the People there was none with him yet blasphemously he would therein make a Tool and Instrument of him for he saith †Socin cont Wiekum c. 4. 1 Cor. 1.3 Heb. 5.9 1 Cor. 6.20 and 7.23 1 Tim. 2.6 Matth. 20.28 Ephes 5.2 but we must not so trust in Christ Man as if he were the Author of our Happiness that is the first and only cause but only as in the second and instrumental so not the principal efficient meritorious cause yet Paul in his Epistles wishes equally Grace and Peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ whom all other inferiour causes do depend upon For he became the Author of eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him all this confirm'd by the many Glorious Titles given him in Scripture and in plain words we by Paul twice in the same words are said to be Bought with a Price which Christ himself paid for he gave himself a ransom for all whom he laid down his Life for and that was the end of his coming into the World he came to give his Life a Ransom for many and he hath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God Several other things in the word there are to this purpose but this is full and plain enough When according to several places in Scripture we say we are justified by Faith laying hold upon Christ and thereby applying his Merits unto us that wise modest and humble Man calls it merum humanum commentum c. * Socin de Serv. part 4. c. 11. Esphes 2.8.9 Socin de Serv. part 4. c. 12. a meer invention of Men and a most vain dream this and many more things he saith but proves none no Scripture to confirm what he saith What the word doth attribute only to God's Mercy to his free gift Faith and not to Works least any Man should boast he doth to Man's honesty ex probitate 't is Man's probity that makes him believe the Gospel but to shew how they stumble at nothing they say that an unbeliever and unregenerate Man can do good Works which positively they affirm certum est c. †Smalc cont frantz disp 1. de bon Oper. 't is certain that an unregenerate man by nature and his reason can do good works but how can they be good except there be a good Principle a good Matter a Right manner and a good End which are the four necessary Circumstances to denominate a good Act if but one of these be wanting it may not be called a good Work besides that every one of these parts must be within a due degree whereof the want makes the Action defective and so hinders the goodness and perfection of it besides that what good of any kind is in us it comes from God for saith the Apostle God worketh in us both to will and to do of his good Pleasure how can an unregenerate and unbeliever do good works and acceptable to God seeing Scripture assures how without faith it is impossible to please him Heb. 11.6 they also would have our Conversion and Regeneration which is God's proper Work to be in Man's Power when alas the second Creation is no more than the first that is not at all within the Sphere of any Man's Activity for 't is altogether incommunicable to the Creature As they meddle with every material thing in Religion so they spared not the Sacraments whereof first and in general they deny the necessity of Precept and as of means which God hath appointed to convey divine Graces to us which to affirm saith †cont frantz disp 9. p. 422. Smalcius is fabulous and worse in another place per sacramenta c. to say * Exam. 100. Err. err 93. that by the Sacraments grace is convey'd to men is next degree to Blasphemy How soon would they turn Blasphemy upon us if ever they had the upper hand In particular of Baptism they say that the Doctrine of Baptism is not a fundamental or necessary article of Faith but such as Christian piety may consist without and concerning which every one may abound in his own sense †Socin disp de bapt c. 17. nay ipsissimam falsitatem c. * Smalc exam err 100. Err. 9. 'T is falshood it self to say that Christ hath under pain of losing Eternal Life tyed men to the use of them we do not say they are absolutely necessary for God is not tyed to means but they are Ordinances of God's own Appointment which he hath tyed us to as means conducing to bring us to the end of our Salvation and is it not a
nothing and the like according to that Spirit they little care what interpretations they make of God's Word which thus they impiously make a stalking Horse of to their wandring Thoughts and for sinister ends of their own namely as they and our modern Socinians here say to improve theit Parts promote Learning and make 〈◊〉 discoveries that is in plain English they may be prophane at God's own cost if they have a mind to improve their parts let them make choice of other matters as Philosophy Mathematicks and of what other humane Arts and Sciences they please and not for their Pride and Vain Glory to prophane God's Field and therein sow their own Tares and to make Religion and the Church subservient to their Evil intents and purposes Another thing they do as may be seen in most of their late Pamphlets which indeed is neither fit nor decent is often to commend themselves and bring in others who speak well of them but it had been much better not to have brought themselves under a necessity to need Begging or Borrowing such Certificates of their good behaviour This puts me in mind of what our Saviour said to the Pharisees ye are they who justify yourselves before Men but God knoweth your Hearts Luke 16.15 'T is true there hath been some who may be out of a Principle of Charity and a Spirit of meekness would have invited them out of their Errours but these are so far gone in that way as to stand in need to make some kind of Apology for themselves yet that method of gentleness is ill bestowed upon Men of an obstinate and stubborn Spirit and hitherto hath proved uneffectual for by the abuse of the thing they are grown Haughtier and Prouder so that sometimes they make their own Panegyrick as I * P. 27. observed in the Vindication of the Epistle and preface to my Book And in a place of the mock Apology against me one of them saith one †P. 20 21. of our Learn'd Bishops doth not think the Vnitarians would dishonour Christ only they think that to make him equal with the Father is a disparagement to Almighty God Such a passage may be though I do not remember to have read it yet I am apt to believe with passing thorough their hands it hath gotten a tincture of Socinianism but what makes those Men so busy as to decide that to make the Son equal with the Father is a disparagement to God Almighty when the same in several Texts of Scripture quoted elsewhere makes him his equal Zech. 13.7 and in one place calls him my fellow and in many Texts of the New Testament Christ makes himself equal with the Father But let me warn those who have a favourable Opinion of them to have a care of what they Write for thereby we see how apt they are to take Advantage of any thing so every stroke of a Charitable Pen they would use as an Argument of their good and sincere intentions and of their being in the Right for as they make of it a Trade to wrest Scriptures so they do the Writings of others which I have a particular cause to take Notice of because I said that some Arminians went Hand in Hand with Socinians presently as well observed by * In his Letter to Dr. Edwards Mr. Lobb and in the †P. 12. remarks on a Paper sent by some Eminent Presbyterians to the Congregational c. They lookt upon 't with a multiplying Glass and would bring under their Banners not only almost all the Church but half of the Presbyterians c. Which in my Answer to the two Letters I take Notice of as of their want of sincerity and to speak plainly I now may call it one of their Tricks which they are so full of As indeed in their whole Carriage one may easily perceive it for it hangs altogether and in the bottom it appears in their Doctrines and Practices so contrary to Faith and to the Rules of the Universal Church besides the Self-Conceitedness and Pride of their Pen-Men who despise all that are not of their Mind and with Blasphemy deride true Religion and to that purpose make use of lies and Calumnies but when hard press'd are reduced to pityful shifts their zeal for Christ and Gospel Truths which as much as they are able they pervert may be look'd upon as meer Hypocrisy and in defence of their Errours they shew a great hardness of Heart and disingenuity and as they betray the Truth so spare not those who defend it against them and load them with invectives full of gall and bitterness which is an effect of Passion so contrary to the Meekness and Moderation which they would seem to pretend to as we find Socinus doing against Puccius whom he sharply upbraids * Epist 〈…〉 â—â—lith 〈◊〉 1. P. 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 much relying upon his Opinions which exactly was Socinus's Original and inherent Sin the extraordinary care also which he took to publish and every where to disperse his Works argues in him no small Vanity and Ambition as for his Passion when he disputed which then he could not command so well as at other times we have the Evidence of a familiar Friend of his in these words * Squarcial Epist ad Socin Scio non suspicor c. I do not guess at but know thine immoderate hate in dispute how often have I warned thee when thou wast about disputing or wrangling concerning light matters and disturbing all things with the greatest Clamourousness This Man who against the proper and natural sense of Scriptures would force his own upon them †Assert posnan 10. in oper Soc. p. 510. to fill up his measure doth scornfully speak of the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds received by the Universal Church but what need we go so far backward as Socinus's time for these things when now among us we have a fresh Evidence of that Spirit of theirs in a late * The Charitable Samar Pamphlet how unworthily doth that Scribler speak of the Council of Nice which saith he was principally Composed of a pack of wrangling contentious Grecians Men bred up in Controversy all their Life and perpetually quarrelling one with another all this he saith gratis and as his own deluded Opinion that among them there might have been some such ones I will not dispute but he cannot say all were so that Council was summon'd by a great and Christian Emperour Constantine who was present and upon that account things must be thought to have been managed with good order besides that what he saith is not to be purpose the question being not about their Temper but about the Matters lying before them Acts 15.39 a cause is never the worse in it self for the frailties of those that own it may any one disparage the Gospel preach'd by Paul and Barnabas because they fell out and parted about a thing of no moment whether or not they
as at one time to take off every Letter of the Inscription at another only some and make new ones in the place and many more such things which those who are skill'd in the Art know that thereby Men who somewhat understand those things are often cheated the like may be said concerning Manuscripts several either wholly or in part are Spurious therefore several things ought to be observ'd and a great care used when we examine them wherein also are some certain Rules but not known to every one that goes about it and even some who know these Rules may happen to be grosly mistaken when they come to the Application these Truths known to those whose Genius and Practice hath qualified them to enter upon such Matters if at leisure I could enlarge upon but as there are so many particular cases which would require several instances for brevity sake I now shall forbear saying any more to 't and return to the point But suppose the Text was not in the Original as it is Socinians would not thereby get so great an advantage as they imagine if we had only that Text to prove the Holy Trinity they might boast indeed but we have others besides which were never questioned in the least as are that of our Saviour's Baptism where from Heaven the Father calls Jesus Christ his beloved Son and at the same time the Holy Ghost appeared in the shape of a Dove and can any thing in the World be more formal plain and positive than these words of our Saviour to his Apostles Matth. 28.19 To Baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Certainly he who therein cannot read the Trinity must be desperately blind but I †The Blasphemous Socin Heresie Confuted elsewhere have given Reasons enough out of the Old and New Testaments to prove that Fundamental Article of our Religion about the most Holy Trinity which all the wicked endeavours of Hell and its Instruments cannot prejudice but the more to confirm what I already said upon the point I shall add what follows a place is remarkable Hear O Israel Deut. 6.4 the Lord our God is one Lord. Or as in the Original Jehovah our God Jehovah is one Twice the Lord and once our God the word our is joyn'd neither to the first the Father nor to the third the Holy Ghost but to the second Person our God who is become ours by taking our Humane Nature upon him and thus God is become Man may be in that prospect God said Gen. 3.22 Man is become as one of us That is as he of us who is to be Man or the Son as indeed the second Person is the Angel who went with and led them thro' the Wilderness that was made man this is not as some would have it to be understood as a distinction of the God of the Jews from the false Gods of the Gentiles for if this had been all therein intended the name of Jehovah needed not to have been repeated a second time and the words Jehovah our God is one had fully expressed the impiety of the Heathen for making themselves many Gods but this was to shew three Persons in that one Godhead for he that was the God of the Jews is as truly the God of the Gentiles so of both Jews and Gentiles therefore saith the Apostle Is he the God of the Jews only Rom. 3.29 Mark 12.26 out of Exod. 3.6 Is he not also of the Gentiles yea of the Gentiles also This manner of speech is by our Saviour used I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. The name God is thrice in one God who Created Redeemed and Sanctified which Works of Creation Redemption and Sanctification are in Scripture in a special manner attributed the first to the Father the second to the Son and the third to the Holy Ghost Withall seeing the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob are not three but one and the same God something seeing Scripture saith nothing in vain must thereby be intended if it had been in relation to the Father Son and Grand-Son it would sufficiently have been express'd with once naming God as the God of Abraham of Isaac and Jacob but God being named thrice yet there being but one God it must needs relate to some Trinity therein which being not in the Nature can be Relative only to the three Persons of the Godhead For a greater confirmation of this let us read that Blessing which by God's immediate command Moses in God's own words appointed Aaron and his Sons to pronounce to the People Numb 6.24 25 26. we have it thus The Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace The Lord or Jehovah is thrice named yet Jehovah being an Essential name of God in that sense there can be but one Jehovah seeing there is but one God yet since God saith and doth nothing in vain some reason there must be why in this place 't is thrice mention'd which we may find if with attention we read the Text the first Verse doth contain Attributes properly belonging to the Father as to bless and keep 't is proper for the Father to bless his Children and God the Father is specially call'd the Maker and Preserver of the Creatures as being chiefly stiled the Creatour therefore we read God created man Gen. 1.27 28. male and female and blessed them and said unto them be fruitful and multiply here the Blessing answers Aaron's Prayer that God would bless so to be fruitful and multiply them what Aaron pronounc'd that God would keep and preserve them both generally and individually Besides that the Greek Etymology of the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Father from the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I keep or preserve shews plainly how a Father is he who preserves those whose Father he is so a Father of a Family keeps his whole Family and he who takes care of all is a common Father to all therefore the blessing The Lord bless and keep thee doth specially and properly belong to God the Father though it excludes none of the other two Persons of the most Holy Trinity The second Verse contains that which is particularly attributed to the Son as to make his face shine upon and be gracious unto them Exod. 33.14 The Face is a part of Humane Body but none of the Persons of the most Holy Trinity only the Son hath a Humane Body so 't is proper to the Son Now the Son is the Face and Image of the Father in whom only God is seen and visible we must remember how God said to Moses my face for so 't is i◠the Original shall go with thee and who is he that
Son and Holy Ghost be Jehovah yet the Jehovah or Lord who spoke to him was the Son who is the Word of the Father by whom the Father speaks As we read the People of Lystra Act. 14.12 could in their Heathenish way make a difference between Paul and Barnabas calling this last Jupiter and the first Mercury which with them were Father and Son because Paul was the chief Speaker I shall here omit what elsewhere I asserted how the Name the Word is the Son of God's proper Name to say that the Lord God the Son doth testifie of himself that 't is he who spoke in the first beginning of all Isa 52.6 Therefore my People shall know my Name therefore they shall know in that Day that I am he that doth speak behold it is I. And he further having said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Mat. 17.5 Heb. 1.6 addeth Hear ye him And Paul When he bringeth in the first begotten into the World which can be no better understood than of the sending of the Son upon Earth to preach Grace to our first Parents Gen. 3.8 John 14.9 Isa 63.9 and the Presence or Face of the Lord from which Adam and his Wife hid themselves is none but God's Son in whom the Father is seen So that 't is more than probable that here according to the Jerusalem Interpreter the Son of God the Lord commanded Adam to appear to be try'd as indeed presently after passed a Sentence upon him his Wife and the Serpent and hereunto agree some of the Rabbies for by the words the Lord walking in the Garden * Nachmanides one understands the appearing of Schechina in that place and R. Abba explains it of the withdrawing of the Schechina out of the Garden because of Adam's Sin the Son of God who at the beginning of the World in the Garden pronounced Judgment and therein acted the part of a Judge did so afterwards upon Cain for his Brother's Death of whom 't is said Gen. 4.16 that he went out from the Presence of the Lord and Bechai saith it must be from no other than from Schechina Also Enoch the seventh Man from Adam Prophesied saying Jude 14.15 Behold the Lord cometh with ten Thousands of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all which was effected when by the Flood the whole Posterity of Cain and that of Seth only eight Persons excepted Noah with his Family in the Ark were destroyed So afterwards against the Egyptians Cananeans and other wicked People and so it shall continue to the latter end of the World till the last and Universal Judgment be over After the Flood there was wickedness and cause of Judgment found in Noah's Family as appears by the Curse thundered against Canaan Ham's Son As to this Curse before I proceed farther I must take notice how it seems strange that Ham should commit the Sin yet the Curse be pronounced not against him but against his Son which to clear some think and 't is very probable that the young Man first saw his Grandfather's Nakedness and went and told his Father of it for we must believe upon that occasion Noah to have been moved by the Spirit of God for being Drunken and Asleep when he was uncovered he could not of himself know what had happened before he awoke A Curse was pronounced against Canaan and a Blessing upon Japhet and Ham where Noah said The Lord God shall dwell in the Tents of Shem. Gen. 9.26 27. This Lord God is the same who in the Garden judged our first Parents Now these words of Noah * Onkelos Jarchius Nachman Bechai several Rabbies do unanimously interpret of Schechina's dwelling in the Family and Posterity of Shem And Bechai saith something more for he adds That the Schechina dwelt not in the second Temple built by Cyrus of the Posterity of Japhet but only in the first built by Solomon who descended from Shem. Upon God's Words to Abraham Thou shalt be a Blessing Gen. 12.2 chap. 15.1 v. 5. Rakenatensis saith they relate to Schechina and after the Victory over the four Kings this same Son of God promised him his Protection and to be his exceeding great Reward a numerous Posterity the Possession of the Land of Canaan with Old Age to end in a quiet Death v. 7. And the Covenant then made with him v. 15. was a Declaration of his eternal good Pleasure that contained Promises of his future coming into the World to be a Blessing to all Nations namely Christ the Messiah which in due time were performed Luke 1.72 73. Gal. 3.16 17. v. 29. as by Zacharias 't was taken notice of so by Paul to the Heirs according to the Promise which shews that God's Covenant with Abraham contained Spiritual as well as Earthly Eternal as well as Temporal Promises and that the Law neither derogated from the Eternal Will and Testament nor disannull'd of the Promise the other Apparitions of the Schechina unto Abraham Isaac and Jacoh which make a part of what I now am upon I elsewhere sufficiently enlarged Israel upon his Death-Bed mentions him under the Name of Shiloh in that Solemn Prophecy Gen. 49.10 chap. 28.12 13. that he should be of the Tribe of Judah The Vision of Jacob's Ladder reaching both Heaven and Earth and the Angels of God ascending and descending on it is by * Rakenat in h. l. one of the famous Jewish Doctors explained of God Holy and Blessed and of his Schechina whereby indeed Heaven and Earth God and Man were joined together and as I love not to follow nice only solid Notions I shall not take notice of the Opinion of those who say there were six Steps in the Ladder whereof the three lowest signified the three degrees of his Humiliation and the three uppermost those of his Exaltation In the other Vision of Jacob Gen. 31.11 12 13. when he saw the speckled Rams 't is not said he saw rather heard for the Angel spake unto him I am the God of Bethel which †Commen in Thorah p. 41. col 1 2. Bechai doth truly interpret El the Mighty God and also Bethel the House of God that is the Son in whom the Father dwells or Schechina as * Rakenat f. 63. col 3. another hath it Scripture speaks of three Houses of God first of Solomon's Temple secondly Christ's Humane Nature thirdly the Church The same Rabbi saith That the Word Righteousness which is in the Name of Melchisedec doth relate to the Schechina whose Type we know him to have been 1 Kings 8.10.13 Zachar. 6.14 Isa 8.14 1 Tim. 3.15 p. 45. col 2 for I cannot be of the Opinion of two Eminent Modern Divines Cunaeus and Altingius who affirm Melchisedec to be the Son of God himself who at that time after the Victory appeared to Abraham in Man's Shape and blessed him For seeing by David and Paul the Office and
Person of the Messiah are compared with the Office and Person of Melchisedec it denotes a difference between them for that which is like is not the same with that which 't is like unto The ancient Jews believed R. Menahem that by reason of the Wickedness of the first World Schechina with Enoch was returned up to Heaven whereby they own he was come down from thence as afterwards our Saviour himself declared it John 6. Gen. 12.7 As to Jehovah who in Canaan appeared unto Abraham according to the constant Tradition of the Jews it was Schechina for * Rakenat p. 43. col 4 Acts 7.2 1 Cor. 2.8 one saith it him Stephen call'd the God of Glory and Paul the Lord of Glory †Nachm in Gen. 15. Menahem in Thor. p. 16. Some of the Rabbies say this Apparition in Canaan to have been in the Night but the other after the Victory over the Kings happened certainly in the Day They § Menah and Nachmanid in Gen. 17.22 also say that the Lord who in Gen. 17. appeared to Abraham and instituted Circumcision did in his sight return up into Heaven this they * Bechai p. 89. call the Glory of God by the Name whereby they usually denote the Son of God Elsewhere I observed how the Son of God constituted the Judge of the World executed upon Sodom that terrible Judgment which †Rakenat f. 51. c. 4. one attributeth to Schechina Hereupon the 14th Canon of the Council of Syrmium called by Constantine is very considerable the Words are these Si quis illud quod c. If any one saith that what is written The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah Brimstone and Fire from the Lord out of Heaven is not to be understood of the Father and of the Son but affirms that he rained himself from himself let him be Anathema for the Lord the Son rained from the Lord the Father This Lord Jehovah the Son is the same who dwelt in the Ark between the Cherubims above the Mercy-seat Exod. 25.22 whence God communed with Moses but in the way of Mercy God never communes with Men but in and through his Beloved Son the Lord Jesus who as in the Old Testament was called Jehovah so in the New is simply and absolutely called Lord which is equivalent to the other for the Septuagint rendered the Hebrew Word Jehovah by the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord so that under the New Testament he had the same Name as under the Old 1 Chron. 13.6 hence it is that the Ark was called the Ark of the Lord or Jehovah This namely that Schechina dwelt in the Ark * Bechai in Thor. p. 9. c. 3 4. Numb 24.17 the Jews owned Balaam's Prophecy of the Messiah There shall come a Star out of Jacob c. Onkelos Jonathan Ben Vziel and Nachmanides explain it of the Schechina and Aben Ezra owns it to be the Opinion of many and tho' this be a Prophecy of what was to come yet still 't is of the same which was before in the Garden of Eden as already observed The clear Prophecy by Haggai of the Messiah's coming into the second Temple ch 2.7 8. or whilst the second Temple was yet standing I elsewhere enlarged upon which as we read in Drusius R. Akiba hath explained it of Christ and Jarchius hath said ch 12.1 that all should see Schechina conversing in the second Temple In Daniel mention is made of Michael the Great Prince understood of Christ and to be compared with Rev. 12.7 in whom is God's Name indeed for it signifies who is like unto thee thou mighty God which the wisest * Menah in Thor. p. 34. c. 2. Nachman in Exod. 3.2 and l. c. Rakenat p. 80. c. 2. Gen. 14.19 20. among the Jews do rightly interpret to be the Angel Revenger and Deliverer the Angel of God's Presence and in some place Nachmanides calls †Nachm in Exod. 14.19 Gen. 19.20 it the Glory of Schechina and speaking of the Angel of the Lord who went before the Camp of Israel and removed behind to be between them and the Egyptians whom he drowned he saith is the great Prince This is the same who having before appeared to Moses in the Bush was afterwards pleased to speak to him upon the Mount and the Words are remarkable The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai that is from Heaven whence afterwards to be made Flesh he came upon Earth in Judea which coming our Saviour doth mention at several times tho' one of these Jewish Doctors thought that the Angel of whom God said I send an Angel before thee c. was a created one and not the same Angel of the Covenant of whom when he was well pleased he said My Presence shall go with thee yet he owns that the Angel of God's Face had been with him but saith * Rakenat p. 120. c. 1. The glorious Presence of God Schechina was withdrawn for he thought God was still angry but Moses had already appeased him The Jews hold that the Law was given by the Mouth of Schechina upon Mount Sinai for as he brought the People out of Egypt which yet excludeth not the Father who brought them out by his Son so in the Wilderness he often spake to them chiefly upon this solemn Occasion The Truth is confirmed by Scripture Deut. 33.2 3. compared with Habak 3.3 Levit. 26.11 12. The Lord came from Sinai saith Moses and rose up from Seir unto them he shined from Mount Paran and he came with ten Thousands of Saints From his right Hand went a fiery Law for them And to shew him to be their Law-giver Prophet and Teacher he adds Yea he loved ihe People all the Saints are in thy Hand and they sat down at thy Feet every one shall receive of thy words compared with another place Levit. 26.11 12. And I will set my Tabernacle among you and I will walk among you and will be your God and ye shall be my People To shew his gracious condescension and how familiarly he would converse with them now this was a Prophecy for he spake in the future of things to come and this seems to relate only to the Jews but thanks be to God that now we may speak of it in the Preter-tense of a thing fulfilled on the behalf of Gentiles as well as of Jews which I affirm not out of my own Head but out of the Word of God And I heard a great Voice out of Heaven Rev. 21.3 behold the Tabernacle of God is with Men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his People and God himself shall be with them and be their God Here is the Prophecy fulfilled in the very Words he who promised it in the Old Testament hath made it good in the New he is the same in both not in person in the Old and only by proxy in the New for here 't is said
God in the Sanctuary Where the Prophet speaks of the Son of God Who went up before his People in the Wilderness and at whose presence the Earth shook the Heavens dropped and Sinai it self was moved The third Age of the Church is from Moses to Christ's coming which was fill'd up with variety of considerable Dispensations And this fourth which is her present Age hath been is and shall be attended with very notable Periods began at the coming in the Flesh of the Son of God and it we may call her Manhood when the Food of Milk and Ceremonial Ordinances ceased and she began to be fed with strong and substantial Meat when the Manna discontinued and the true Bread came from Heaven to nourish us the Shadows yielded the place to the true Body and all legal Stars disappear'd at the rising of the Sun of Righteousness And this Age of the Christian Church shall continue till the last Day when the fifth Age shall begin never to have an end this shall be the Age of Perfection and of Eternal Glory He who now is the Head and King of the Church was so from the beginning and shall be such for ever Now the Apostle saith that Christ is the head of the Church Eph. 5.23 and the Saviour of the body and none else and that Body which was from the beginning of the World never was without a Head for without it it could not be a Body both to animate and rule it for that is the Head's Office according to that famous Prophecy of the Meisiah's Birth Mic. 5.2 in Bethlehem Out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler of Israel To come forth Gen. 17.6 Gen. 25.25 and 38.28 signifies to be begotten and born either by the Father or by the Mother and unto me that is for me to reveal my Glory saith the Father who there speaks Now absolutely the King and Ruler of Israel is the God of Israel such is the Son I heretofore mention'd the Text in Zechariah 2.8 For thus saith the Lord of Hosts after the glory hath he sent me unto the Nations c. which affords matter of observation more than I took notice of at that time Here speaks the Lord of Hosts which is a Title never attributed to any but to the Essential Infinite and Eternal God The Lord of Hosts in the place declares he is sent a thing in Scripture never said of God the Father but in many places 't is asserted of God the Son and by the Son himself for how often doth our Saviour say that the Father sent him so that to be sent is a Property of the Son therefore the Son must be the Lord of Hosts here said to be sent And as to come answers to being sent so in consequence of that Mission the Lord saith I come Sing and rejoyce v. 10. O Daughter of Zion for lo I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee saith the Lord which was literally fulfilled after the Birth of the Son of God These words Lo I come are a confirmation and farther declaration of what David had said long before when God desired no more Sacrifice and Offering nor required Burnt-Offering Ps 40.6 7. nor Sin-Offering that is when the Ceremonial Law was drawing to an end Then said I the Son Lo I come and Christ declared He came from the Father and in the Father's Name As to the other part I will dwell in the midst of thee it was fulfilled at that time when John said of the Son The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us Joh. 1.14 Let us admire at that Holy Scripture Harmony earthly Jerusalem was the Figure of the Church whose Head King Saviour and Preserver the Lord Jesus is and ever was For I saith the Lord will be unto her a Wall of Fire round about and will be the glory in the midst of her v. 5. This coming of the Lord of Hosts shall not only be cause of Song and Joy to the Daughter of Zion but also many Nations shall be joyned unto the Lord in that Day and shall be my People and I will dwell in the midst of thee v. 11. and thou shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto thee This is a Prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles at or a little after the time when the Lord of Hosts should come to dwell in Sion which was fulfilled when after the Son of God's coming into the Flesh and his dwelling among the Jews after his Death and Resurrection the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles and the Christian Church formed Here we must take notice of how this Prophet Zechariah was one of the two whom God made use of to exhort and encourage the Children of Israel Ezr. 5.1 2. returned from the Babylonian Captivity to build the second Temple which was to stand till the coming of the Lord of Hosts and King of Zion as this Prophet calls him chap. 9.9 As also did Haggai the other Prophet who besides named him the desire of all Nations Hag. 2.7 And I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come And I will fill this House with glory saith the Lord of Hosts that is the Presence of the Messiah Son of God was to fill with Glory the second Temple which at that time they were about building upon which account the glory of that latter House was to be greater than that of the former the Lord Jesus who called it his House having with his Presence often sanctified it and been the chief glory thereof which soon after it lost by his Death when the Vail of the Temple was rent and about forty Years after the whole was quite destroyed by the Romans when according to our Blessed Saviour's Prophecy there was not one Stone left upon another that was not thrown down and what he said was attended with a Character and Evidence of his Divine Authority and infallible Truth in these Words Matth. 24.35 Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Words shall not pass away but most certainly shall be fulfilled This same Prophet in the next Chapter as indeed in many other places of his Vision doth yield Matter enough upon this point As in Job we read of Satan coming before God with malicious Insinuations against that Holy Man and to obtain leave to do him mischief so here we find the Angel of the Lord to judge between Joshua the High-priest and his Adversary Satan who appeared there to oppose and resist him This Angel of the Lord whom elsewhere I at several times have had occasion to speak of is the Lord himself for in the 2d verse 't is said And the Lord said unto Satan Zech. 3.1 2 the Lord rebuke thee O Satan Twice the Lord answers this other Expression And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 9.24 Brimstone and Fire from the Lord and certainly
took on him the seed of Abraham The following Argument is also in mode and figure 't is thus all Goodness is Essentially in God alone but Jesus Christ is Essentially good therefore he is Essentially God The Major Proposition I thus explain by Essentially is meant Primarily Originally and in its Nature God is Independently sole good in and of himself and is the Author of all Goodness Metaphysicians among the Proprieties entis of a Being which by a Virtual Reciprocration do result from and are converted with the ens or being reckon three by them called Incomplexe or spoken without disjunction to distiguish them from the Complexe which are attended with a disjunction The three are Vnum one which implies a Negation of a Division for ens when multiplied ceases to be one Verum true is the second which imports a relation to the Mind as Bonum good which is the third doth to the Will Now if according to this every created Being is one true and good in its self how much more transcendently must it be so with the ens entium Being of Beings as the Philosopher calls the first Cause of all that is God infinite who is Essentially One True and Good But because the question is now about the last and that Goodness of his is so fully and universally known in this place I shall say no more to demonstrate it Therefore I come to the proof of my Major namely That all Goodness is Essentially in God alone and to be short out of so many Texts of Scripture I shall bring but one which is home and to the purpose the words are our Saviour's Matth. 19.17 There is none good but one that is God Essentially and absolutely meant what goodness there is in the Creature being all derived from him This I take for granted and so come to prove my assumption how Christ is Essentially Good If all things that the Father hath be his as he saith they are then certainly that Divine Attribute Essential Goodness is included and as he hath the Nature so the inseparable Attribute of that Nature è converso if the Attribute then the Nature Of Divine Goodness there are two Proprieties one that it is diffusive and communicative of it self the other that 't is most desirable In two ways God doth communicate his Goodness first inwardly which Communication is natural and necessary whereby God the Father hath from all Eternity by Generation communicated his Nature and manner of Subsisting unto his Son and both to the Holy Ghost by spiration The Second way is Free and Voluntary whereby God hath communicated his Goodness unto his Creatures which makes David to say Psal 119.68 Acts 10.38 Thou art good and doest good Thus Peter observes about our Saviour that he went about doing good Now this Goodness of God hath in several ways been communicated to his Creatures as in the Creation and Preservation of the World in the work of Incarnation Adoption and Eternal Happiness in every one of which relating to Salvation our Saviour hath been an Efficient and Meritorious Cause and hath together with the Father communicated his Natural Divine Goodness in these several branches or kinds thereof first in Grace whereby God in himself is altogether lovely and therein doth favour and benefit his Creatures The second is Love whereby God takes pleasure in what he likes doth it good and unites it unto himself this love the word speaks of Joh. 3.16 when it saith God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son And doth not Scripture say also that his Son Ephes 5.25 Ephes 3.19 Jo. 15.13 1 Joh. 4.8 gave himself for us and this love of his for us is so great that the Apostle saith It passeth all knowledge and greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends In few words God is love Furthermore Mercifulness is another branch of God's Goodness exalted in so many places of Scripture that I take it to be unnecessary to insist upon 't And was not Christ all along full of tender Mercies and Compassions towards poor sinners which among his own unbelieving Nation got him the Name of a Compassionate and merciful Nature and all the rich Graces of the Father as Paul calls them are conveyed to us in by and with Christ Lastly God's Patience is another part of his Goodness which is highly commended in Scripture and O the wonderful Meekness Forbearance and Patience of Christ who by the Preaching of his Gospel doth invite sinners to Repentance and as it were doth beseech them to be reconciled unto God and though by too many he be slighted and rejected yet he still waiteth That same in several places of Scripture is the Character given of him and in part for that Meekness Gentleness and Patience he is called a Lamb. But to come to the second Attribute of Goodness 't is what in its Nature is appetibile desirable or what all desire We know the Summum bonum the supreme good is Summoperè appetibile Supremely desirable but can any in Heaven or Earth be more desirable than the Lord Jesus who is the chiefest among ten thousand Songs 5.10 ver 16. Hagg. 2.7 and altogether lovely called the desire of all Nations This demonstrates him Essentially to have in him that Divine Goodness which is inherent to and inseparable from Divine Nature and consequently to be Essentially God Before I leave off this I must answer an Objection which might happen to be made against this great Truth of Christ's being essentially good 't is drawn out of the same Chapter which already I have made use of wherein the Lord speaks to one who came to him for Counsel about his Salvation and by him as a Prophet to be taught the way to Heaven Good Master said he What good thing shall I do that I may have Eternal Life The first part of our Saviour's Answer was Why callest thou me good As if he disproved his calling him so but that was not the Lord 's Meaning who denies not himself to be good for he saith not I am not good or thou art mistaken to call me so but he lays hold upon that occasion to teach the Man that he is God As if he had said Thou ownest me to be good and so I am but that 's not enough thou must also believe me to be God because there is none good but one that is God the meaning is essentially good and of himself and seeing in that sense Christ is good he must needs be God and that 's the same Argument which here I prosecute thus it runneth Thou shouldest not call me good except also thou be perswaded that I am God These two Propositions are convertible God is essentially good and he who is essentially good is God So if in that sense Christ be good then he is God The Hammer of the Word Jer. 23.29 for so 't is
call'd will help to strike the Nail farther into the Head of those proud and unchristian Sisera's Unbelievers I may also call them seeing they refuse to believe the true God of Israel when he speaks of his Son who under the Name of this Angel he promised should go before them Ex. 32.34 Mine Angel shall go before thee And in the next Chapter God calls him his Presence ch 33.14 or his Face God hath many Angels but in a most special manner that he calls his but God hath not many Faces 2 Cor. 4.6 only one and that is the Face of Jesus Christ in whom only is the knowledge of the glory of God for God giveth the knowledge of his glory only in him Because he is the express Image of his Heb. 1.3 the Father's Person Those two Texts in the Old Testament compared with and explained by these two in the New shew that the Lord Jesus the proper Son of God went before and guided his People in the Wilderness so pre-existed the time of his Birth of the Virgin and that it may not be said of any Creature that the glory of God is in his Face or that he is the express Image of the Person of the Father and the brightness of his glory as the Beam is the brightness of the glory of the Sun In my way towards a Conclusion I shall by the grace of God briefly bring in some few Texts which do explain and confirm the great Truths now in question some I elsewhere have taken notice of however I now shall add something to what I then said but others I shall mention which I did not before but this I shall premise In the Apostle John's Days who lived to a very Old Age sprang up some Heresiarks as Simon the first of all Cerinthus Ebion and Menander who deny'd the Divinity of Christ as now Socinians do This moved the Apostle to assert and vindicate it as in his Gospel Epistles and Revelation he hath done so fully that if there were no other Books left of the New Testament there is in them abundantly enough to certifie and confirm that Heavenly Truth as out of several places in his Writings I sufficiently demonstrated in my Book against the Blasphemies of Socinianism which he doth so plainly and so often that we must take notice how the Holy Ghost by his Pen intended chiefly and strongly to suggest to and convince Men of the Fundamental Truth of Christian Religion namely that the Lord Jesus is the proper Son of God 1 Joh. 5.5.9 10 11 12 13 20. and to the end that great Truth may make a deep impression upon the Souls of Men in one Chapter in no less than seven Verses he emphatically calls him the Son of God and v. 10 he is twice so called so twice in the 13th and that in such a manner so sensibly and with such Circumstances as denote a true proper and natural kind of Son-ship and he is so earnest upon 't may be all that time having in his Eye the Blasphemy of those Hereticks as to charge those who deny Christ to be the Son of God and believe not in him to make God a Lyar who is the God of Truth the highest Blasphemy that the Devil can infuse into Men For saith he he that believeth on the Son of God hath the Witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a Lyar He saith wherein Because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son And what is that Record Besides his Commission in sending him into the World and the Works attended with so many Miracles and Wonders which the Father gave him to finish and to the evidence of which our Saviour did appeal we have it in his Baptism in a most eminent and special manner for the Father bare record of him when he said from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Certainly God spoke absolutely truly and properly and not Metaphorically improperly and by a Figure not my Son according to the Flesh spiritually or only in some respect but simply my Son that is begotten of my substance and of the same Nature with me as a Son ought to be and is of the same Nature with the Father Volkel l. 5. c. 12. whose only begotten he is which is the proper signification of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which a Socinian would corrupt and render by that of Most beloved to enervate the strength of it The Priests Philosophers and Poets among the Heathen either out of Noah's or Abraham's Schools or by some other way had a kind of dark knowledge of this Truth which for want of Revelation they understood not therefore did hide it under Fables and Lies as may be that of Mercury Jupiter's Son and Messenger of Pallas born out of his Head but for Socinians who have God's Word so positively affirming this Truth 't is for them the unpardonable sin of Unbelief which sinks them into Atheism for whosoever knoweth not and worshipeth not the true God he is without God and all who deny Father Son and Holy Ghost to be the true God know not the true God poor Wretches who presume with the Line of their shallow Brain and weak Reason to fathom the deep things of God which prompts them to put several impertinent rash and blasphemous Questions how short do they fall of the Modesty Sobriety and Wisdom of an Heathen Sextus the Pythagorean who said Concerning God inquire of nothing but what thou mayst lawfully say nothing of God but what thou hast learned of God 't is better for one to lose his Life than to speak an idle word of God it is better to say nothing of God than rashly to speak of him Such Men shall at the last Day rise in Judgment against Socinians Among the Greeks Pythagoras himself made all perfection to consist in the number of three or in Trinity and Plato constituted three Principles of all things Good Understanding and the Soul or Life whereby we Christians may understand Father Son and Holy Ghost who created the World But I must go on The Centurion's Words are remarkable when he said to our Saviour Matth. 8.8 Lord speak the Word only and my Servant shall be healed just as Scripture speaks in the matter of Creation Psal 33.9 He spake and it was done he commanded and it stood Such a Word of Command we read of in Jonah And the Lord spake unto the Fish Jonah 2.10 and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry Land which last words imply a special Providence and ordering of things for the Fish might have vomited him in the middle or the bottom of the Sea but because God would save him 't was upon dry Land But to return to the Centurion whose great Faith the Lord commended he believed and was not mistaken that our Saviour might as absolutely command Distempers and Health Death and Life as he
God himself and our Father 1 Thess 3.11 and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you here is a Prayer which is a Religious Worship directed to God himself Who this God is 't is equally said our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ equally prayed to because both equally able to perform and answer the Prayer's end so that whether the Name God himself be taken essentially then our Lord Christ is as well as the Father comprehended under it or if personally then to leave no doubt of it by way of explanation his Name is express'd as well as that of the Father and may no more than the Father be excluded from being God himself but it would be almost an endless Work if one would make use of all Texts in Scripture which either directly or indirectly by plain Assertions or good Consequences prove Christ's Divinity for one of the ends of the Gospel is to declare Christ to be properly God Joh. 20.31 Son of God These things are written that ye may believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God yet Socinians would make him to be like those false Gods whom Moses speaks of in opposition to the true God of them he gives this description Deut. 32.17 They sacrificed unto Devils not to God to Gods whom they knew not to new Gods that came newly up These upstart Gods were Devils which they worshipped no true God but what from all eternity is such by Nature now if the Lord Jesus be as they would have him a God come up within these 1700 Years whom they worship I leave them to wash off the obvious blasphemous consequence As to what they say that he is God only by Office and by vertue of his being anointed I answer Anointing was a Ceremony to make and declare a King but the Anointing made him not a Man for that he was before Thus the Lord Jesus the Son of God being Anointed and made Christ that Anointing indeed made and declared him a King a Prophet and a Priest and thereby those Offices were conferred on him but that could not make him God for he was such before Christ is a Name of Office as God is of Nature Upon every other account they are full of their Cavils thus they would have the Name Jehovah not to be an essential incommunicable Name Psal 68.4 which with that of Jah signifies his Nature and incomprehensible Majesty whereby he is declared to be the only true God of Israel in opposition to all false Gods and they would have their false Notion to stand because they pretend that most Holy Name to be attributed to Creatures as to the Ark Jerusalem c. which sufficiently * The Blasphemous Socinian Heresie Confut. p. 60. Zec. 14.20 I refuted elsewhere This only I now shall add that the Name Jehovah is no more attributed to the Ark or any Creature than that most holy Name and Holiness it self is to the Bells of Horses when 't is said In that Day shall there be upon the Bells of the Horses Holiness unto the Lord But as they strike at his Divine Nature so they do against its essential Attributes as Omniscience which I also have spoken of This I shall add That when the Prophets knew of things to come 't was by vertue of Revelation for 't is often said The Word of the Lord came to me thus things they knew from God but the Lord Jesus knew things from himself whether past or to come as among other Instances that of the Samaritan Woman can shew about her five Husbands John 4. chap. 5 6. Matt. 25. ch 17.27 ch 16.21 ch 21.38 ch 26.23 v. 34. and that of the Man who had long been sick He also knew future things thus he foretold the Destruction of Jerusalem about forty Years before it happened thus of the Fish which Peter should catch and of the piece of Money in his Mouth so he foretold his Death and the manner of that of Peter's that Judas should betray and Peter deny him and several other things Now this in God's Language proves Christ's Divinity because foretelling of things to come is given as a Character of the true God as we have it Isa 41.22 23. Shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are Gods after he in the foregoing Verse had said Let them shew us what shall happen or declare things for to come There is a considerable place to prove our Lord's Divinity which must be to the purpose seeing Paul as good an Interpreter of Scripture as any of them all makes use of it in the same sense as we do The words of the Psalm are these Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever Psal 45.6 Heb. 8. which the Apostle apply'd to the Son Jesus Christ but as they are apt to take unjust Exceptions at any thing that hits them so they do at this and would give the words only a literal sense relating to Solomon's Marriage with Pharaoh's Daughter We may own something therein to relate to Solomon but withal 't is chiefly in a spiritual way intended to represent Christ's Union with his Church and that 't is not Solomon's Epithalamy or a Psalm upon his Marriage it appears from the very first Verse My heart is inditing a good matter for certainly Marrying Pharaoh's Daughter was no good matter for absolutely God had forbidden his People to make any Marriage with other Nations Deut. 7.3 1 Kings 11.3 4. and that Wife of his was one of those who turn'd his Heart after other Gods to serve them Besides what is said therein Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever doth not belong to Solomon nor what is said The King's Daughter is all glorious within to his Wife Their distinction of most high which they would attribute only to the Father and of high God to the Son to make him a subordinate God is frivolous for in the Divinity that makes no difference The true God of Israel is sometimes call'd so in the superlative degree and at other times in the positive yet that distinction doth not make two Gods of Israel in one and the same Psalm he is called by both Titles in one Verse the most High Psal 78.56.35 And they tempted and provoked the most high God and in another before 't is said They remembered that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer so that God the high God and the most high God is but one and the same God The Record which John Baptist bare of our Saviour ought to be weighty for God sent him to the end he should bear it and also unquestionable for then he spake against himself when he gave Christ the whole preference which must be attributed only to his saying the truth John 1.15.27 30. The record is this He that comes after me is preferred before me for he was before me Which Truth is of so high a