fine pretended that it seems marvellous that a Creature should be named before and should be said to have the preheminence over the Power of God by the Holy Ghost understanding the Influence of the Divine Power and Divine Inspiration it must be remembred both that by the Divine Inspiration or Influence of the Divine Power the Vnitarians do not understand a Person but a Property or an Act and that agreeably to the express Doctrine of Scripture they hold that Christ is made partaker of the Fulness of the Godhead in the manner we have spoken of before and just now have further specified so that for Desiring the Father he may at any time Dispose of the Divine Power and Inspiration and doth actually dispose thereof as is said according to what he pleases to ask it of God and therefore the Holy Spirit is represented as proceeding from the Father by the Son and the Holy Spirit is said to be Christ's Now it is not strange that the Disposer should be mentioned before the thing disposed of as it is in the Form of Baptism There is then no need to insist any longer upon this And so we have don with the second Particular importing that the Assertions of the Vnitarians are not uncredible and that their Interpretations are rational and agreeable to the stile and current of Scripture and therefore natural and obvious enough And this together with the following Particular being considered the Trinitarian Sentiment will appear to be wholly groundless and incontestably therefore altogether incredible For indeed is it likely that Christianity for many Ages having been altered in many weighty Points the present Trinitarian at least seemingly impossible and contradictory System has all this while remained the same that it was from the beginning and by the hands of the Platonists and Scholasticks has passed pure and undefiled In Summ. When some Texts seem susceptible of two Senses the one more literal but expresly irrational or contradictory impossible manifestly inconsistent with other Passages and the Current of Scripture and the other more strained or figurative but agreeable to the Scripture-Stile and reconcileable with Reason which of the two Senses do the generality of Christians and in particular Protestants commonly prefer in their Interpretations They unanimously hold as a standing Rule by which the Scripture is to be interpreted that it may be rightly understood as was shewn in the last Chapter That We are to reject that Sense which is manifestly absurd and inconsistent with express Texts and are then to hold by that which is reconcileable to Reason and Scripture tho' somwhat more remote from the Sound of the Words And indeed it would evidently be most unreasonable to follow other Measures We ought then most incontestably constantly to prefer that Interpretation which is consistent with Scripture and Reason before that which is inconsistent with both And this Consideration leads Us to the next Particular CHAP. XIII An Answer to the third Branch of the Objection 3. IT is possible and easy and warrantable to understand in an Vnitarian Sense all the Texts which the Trinitarians alledge for their Sentiment To evince the truth of which Proposition we shall consider those Texts which are mentioned in the Objection and instanced in as the strongest for the Anti-Vnitarian Cause and as for the others we shall refer the Reader to the Brief History of the Vnitarians or even to Grotius his Annotations but especially to the Works of the Fratres Poloni The Texts instanced in for the purpose aforesaid are those which either call Christ the Son of God by way of eminency or shew that Christ may and is to be Pray'd to and declare that God will have Men honour the Son even as they honour the Father As to the Texts which call Christ the Son of God by way of eminency an Observation of Dr. Sherlocks will go a great way to give a light into that Matter These are his words at Pages 71st and 72d of his Book against the Bishop of Gloucester That which entitles Creatures to the natural relation of Sonship to God is to receive their being from God in the likeness and resemblance of his own Nature Thus Angels are called the Sons of God and so is Adam who was immediately formed by God in his own Image and Likeness And thus som think that Christ who was as immediately formed by a Divine Power in the Womb of the Virgin as Adam was of the Dust of the Earth is for this reason called the Son of God See Luk. 1.35 where that reason is expresly given of Christ's being call'd the Son of God The Vnitarians to this Observation will in particular add that no Creature was ever made in so great a Likeness and Resemblance of the Divine Nature nor designed to so high a Dignity as Christ was and that this particularly is the reason why Christ is called the Son of God by way of eminency besides that He is actually God's Only-Begotten Son as we did observe from Luk. 1.35 This is a plain and a rational and after all an unexceptionable account of the Matter and therefore what Dr. Sherlock adds thereupon serves only to shew that the Scholastick or Platonick Trinitarian Sentiment of Christ's Sonship is impossible For this is certain and undeniable and yet if the Platonick or Scholastick Sentiment were true this could not be allowed of according to that System for he says that System implies that there being but one Son in Christ it is Heresy to hold that Christ is the Son of God in any other sense than by an Eternal Generation Christ as we have seen is called the Only-Begotten Son of God because he is the only Person whom God caused to be born of a Woman without the help of Man And in that sense he is God's Only Son as well as in this respect that he is the only Lord whom God has placed at the head of the Vniverse and to whom he has subjected all Creatures For Soveraigns and Kings are called the Sons of God Luk. 1.32 John 1.49 c. as is shewn in the Introduction of Dr. Patrick's Witnesses of Christianity and this is the Only Soveraign and King who is constituted the Lord of all other created Lords and Kings in which respect he is like to God which we have not well translated equal to God as also in respect of the exercise of the Divine Power in working the greatest Miracles whenever be pleased and whenever he will Som People are apt to imagin that even God being called the Father is a valid Proof of more Persons than One in the Divine Nature But seriously do they think that the Samaritan Women and common Soldiers were acquainted with the Scholastick or Platonick Trinity Yet these speak of a Son of God Mat. 27.54 and to the other our Saviour speaks of the Father as of Somwhat intelligible to them John 4.21 Conclude we then that by the Father we must understand God the
know his Benefactor and that he should be in a hearty disposition to express his Gratitude for the Benefit to the best of his power according to the Knowledge he can get thereof In the Revelations 19 12 We find it is said that our Saviour has a Name which no Man understands but He Himself Why then should We be so Decisive Magisterial and Imposing as if We certainly and infallibly understood all these Mysteries As we cannot reasonably imagin that we infallibly understand the most difficult things we ought not in reason to pretend to determine and judge for other Men in the most abstruse and intricate Matters Howbeit it seems the Semi-Arian System is much the same with or not essentially different from this of the Father or God and his two Powers and Influences or Acts. And it seems this is reconcileable with Scripture and Reason God grant Us all to do our Duty in this Inquiry and in all respects that We may discern and follow the things absolutely Necessary to Peace and Salvation A POST-SCRIPT Wherein it is farther consider'd That the Arguments for the Divinity of Christ and of the Holy Ghost at most seem not to be inconsistent with the Unitarian System or to destroy the Necessity of keeping with relation to this Doctrin to the Generality of the Expressions of Scripture for Terms of Church-Communion Wherein also it is inquir'd Whether the Unitarians may with a good Conscience joyn in Communion with a Trinitarian Church Of the Reasons of both Sides of which Query the Governors of the Church are humbly desir'd to give their Opinion FROM the whole it seems that these three Points deserve a particular Consideration I. It should be considered that the Arguments for the Divinity of Christ and of the Holy Ghost seem not inconsistent with the Vnitarian System II. It should be inquired Whether the Vnitarians may joyn in Communion with the Trinitarian Church III. We should consider that what is inferred from the Vnitarian Arguments remains in force and that it is an indispensable Duty to profess and establish the Gospel-Terms of Communion and to keep to the seeming or apparent Generality of the Expressions of Scripture for Terms of Church-Union tho' the Trinitarians and some Vnitarians should opine that the Vnitarians may with a good Conscience joyn in Communion with the Trinitarians and even tho' there were in God what might truely be called Three Persons I. It should be considered that the Arguments for the Divinity of Christ and of the Holy Ghost seem not inconsistent with Vnitarianism For tho' by the Holy Ghost and the Word the Divine Nature be taken to be implied yet it follows not that the Father is not the whole God-head Nay the Scholastick Trinitarians themselves acknowledge that the Father implies the whole Divine Nature Consequently whatsoever is properly and literally Divine belongs to the Father and is a Property or Act of his Essence seeing that it belongs to the Divine Nature and 't is own'd the Father implies the whole Divine Nature St. Basil agreably to this Tom. 1. Pag. 778. Paris 1638. calls the Divine Word and Spirit the two Hands of God founding that Expression on Ps 19.1 and 102.25 compar'd with Ps 33.6 Hands or Arms are the same speaking of a Spirit And we see mention made of the Arms of God Deuter. 33.27 Jâ—b 40.9 Ps 98.1 Isa 51.5 c. Howbeit in speaking of God who is a Spirit or a Spiritual Being it is evident it must be own'd thas these Expressions are but Figurative All then that the Arms or Hands of God can imply must be some Powers Properties or Acts Influences that belong to God Now by God the Scholastick Trinitarians themselves understand the Father or Him whom the Scriptures and particularly the Books of the New Testament ordinarily or frequently stile our Father as well as in general the Father meaning the Common Parent of Men more particularly the Father of Christians most especially the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as all agree And then as was observed the Scholastick Trinitarians acknowledge that the Father implies the whole God head Our Saviour is express that the Father dwells in him and doth the Works in him Joh. 14.10 And the Apostle teaches us that Christ is to be honoured to the Glory of the Father Phil. 2.11 All therefore that is meant and that appears can be meant by the Divinity of Christ or the Hypostatick Union is that the Divine Nature is so intimately united with the Soul of the Man Jesus Christ as the Human Soul is with the Body that the Divine Influence or Divine Indwelling in him and particularly the Divine Wisdom constantly illuminate conduct and assist Christ so as to enable him to represent God at the Head of the Universe to perform all the things necessary for such a Representative of God to do so that what belongs to God may be said to be Christ's all in kind tho' not all in all degrees who sees honours Christ may be said to see honour God what God doth at Christ's desire may be said to be done by Christ who procures it to be done by the God-head dwelling in him as a Human Soul simply and meerly by desiring procures of the Body with which she is united to do many Actions that she willeth that God has subjected to the Soul's Will and Power Holding then that some Texts of Scripture in some sense import the Supreme Divinity of Christ yet it can never be prov'd or with any colour of reason pretended that they necessarily imply any more than this For there are invincible Arguments against the being of more than one real Person in God by a Figure common in Scripture in all Languages Personal Acts may reasonably be attributed to Divine Wisdom or to a Divine Influence tho' it be not a distinct Person but a Property or an Act of the Father Even Charity is represented as a Person 1 Cor. 13.1 And God is said to send forth his Mercy Ps 57.3 Supposing then that by the Word in the beginning of St. John's Gospel be meant the Divine Wisdom produc'd forth and shewn in the Old and New Creation as it is even interpreted in the Brief History in that case it must necessarily be suppos'd to be said by a Figure to be incarnate meaning that it rested upon in an extraordinary most ample manner or most intimately dwelt with and constantly assisted and illuminated the Man Jesus Christ as if it had become Part of him or were his own Soul Christ then the Son of God is a Divine Person in that he is a Man assisted and inhabited by a Divine Influence or Divine Virtue And holding that some Texts of Scripture assert the Supreme Divinity of the Holy Ghost it doth not follow that thereby is meant any thing else than the Divine Inspiration or an Influence of the Divine Power either Directing or Wonder-Working that is commonly annexed to
and so communicated to Men by the Chief Arch-angel and under him some Select Angels or the whole Body of Holy Angels as a healing Virtue was sometimes annexed to and communicated by the Waters of Jordan c. 2 Kings 5 14 13 21. John 9.6 Acts 19.12 Now then tho' the Divine Wisdom and Power be God himself that doth not destroy the Vnitarian System or necessarily imply more than one real Person in God For if the Holy Spirit is also a Person it is as it implies an Angel assisted by the Divine Power as the Divine Word is a Person meaning thereby the Man Jesus Christ inhabited by the Divine Nature We have seen that the Vnitarians themselves in that Sense acknowledge the Supreme Divinity of Christ and of the H. Ghost by the Divine H. Ghost meaning the Divine Inspiration annexed to communicated by the Angels by the Supreme God-head of Christ meaning in particular the Divine Wisdom and Soveraign Authority Influence of the Divine Power dwelling acting in and with Christ From which it doth not follow that the Vnitarians make the Angels or some Angel to be God tho' Christ be For they do not hold that the God-head in any respect is most intimately United with any Angel or that the Dignity Majesty Authority and Wisdom as well as Power that is the Fulness of the God-head dwells in any Angel so as that God be in an Angel to be therein Worshipped as in a Schechina or appointed Token and Symbol of the Divine Presence no Angel being constituted to represent God at the Head of the Universe as Christ is nor what belongs to God being said to belong to any Angel who is but a Servant as it is to Christ who is made the Lord of all No Angel then can be said to be God tho' Christ may as the Vnitarians acknowledge And yet they hold that as was said the Divine Power as well as the Divine Wisdom may be said to be God Now is it not the Safest here to stick to that which is Incontestable and Sufficient And is it not Sufficient to acknowledge that by the Divine Word may be understood a Divine Power Virtue or Influence of the Father that the Divine Spirit likewise is another Influence or Virtue of the Father that the Divine Word is most intimately Vnited with the First-born the Word-bearer or Soul of the Messiah that this Virtue of the Father is so much made Christ's own enjoying it as much as his own Soul or his own Reason Power that it may be look'd upon as Part of his Being as always having been even from the Beginning of the World Part of his Being so that the Messias may be said to have made all things inasmuch as all things were made by that Divine Virtue of the Father which from the beginning as was said was most intimately United to the Soul of the Messiah that the Messiah is to be honoured as the Mediator of the New Covenant exalted to the Government of the Universe under God and as the most Glorious Schechinah in whom the Father most intimately dwels by an ineffable tho' not visibly impossible Virtue or Influence in whom the Father is thus willing to be Worshipped that the Divine Spirit whether or no residing in or accompanying some Archangel or any Angels tho' incontestably not requiring to be Worshipped in any of the Angels nor devolving any kind of Divine Worship to any Angels as to the Soveraigns of the Universe nor making a Schechinah of any of the Angels is that Mitacle-Working or Sanctifying Virtue of the Father which dwells in Christians as its Temple or the Father's Temple whose Virtue the Spirit is and which with the Divine Word was instrumental to the Father in making all things as Fire is instrumental to the Apothecary in the preparing of all the Compositions in his Shop or as Heat and Light are the Instruments by which the Sun operates all things and benefits all the World If the Father implies the whole God-head as the Trinitarians unanimously own it cannot then bedenied but that the Vnitarians acknowledge worship the whole God-head And as I conceive it the Vnitarians assert that they worship Christ so much upon the account of the Divine Nature Dwelling in and most intimately United with him that otherwise they would not altogether â—â—â—ship him as they do It follows therefore that on the Vnitarian part the Difference cannot be thought to be essential or fundamental or that the Vnitarians cannot truly be said to deny the Divinity of Christ or of the Holy Ghost For as touching the Holy Ghost it cannot be denied but that a Divine Virtue Inspiration may be meant thereby And as concerning what the Scholastick Trinitarians mean by or assert of the Divinity of Christ the Vnitarians own that that Divine Nature which is most intimately United with our Lord Jesus Christ doth truly belong to the Eternal and Almighty Being so that in that sense Christ may be said to be God tho' properly the title Christ denotes the Man that was born of the Virgin Mary as Grotius shews on Col. 1.16 and Math. 1.16 The Difference then here is only a Verbal Difference the Meaning of both Parties at the bottom being in this respect the same for when the Trinitarians say that Christ is Almighty God they do not mean that the Man is literally the Almighty but that the Divine is most strictly Vnited with the Human Nature And this the Vnitarians will not deny 'T is certain the Primitive Vnitarians did not deny it as was before said Then II. We are to inquire Whether the Vnitarians may not joyn in Communion with the Trinitarian Church By three Persons in one God which term Persons the Trinitarians themselves own to be here not only unscriptural but even very improper may not the Vnitarians mean as some do three Considerations of the Divine Nature for instance Divine Mind Divine Wisdom Divine Power which are a kind of Modal Persons which may be in the same Subject as Tully says that a Man may sustain divers Persons The Reason for the Affirmative is that for Peace-sake We must be made all things to all Men so far as there is no Divine Law or Prohibition against that which We condescend to Ephes 4 3 and that there is no Law against the terming the Divine Wisdom and Power Persons meaning Modal Persons The Reasons for the Negative are these particularly Not only by the three Persons the Trinitarians generally mean not such Modal but rather Real Persons so that to mean such suppos'd or pretended Modal Persons would be a piece of Dissimulation but even this term disguises the Christian Religion and is contrary to the Gravity and Solemnity of the Divine Worship c. The Scripture no where enjoyns us to address Prayers to God the Inspiration or to assert a Divine Person by the Name of God the Holy Ghost Tho' the Holy Ghost be taken to imply an Influence of the Divine Virtue yet God the Holy Ghost and the Inspiration a Divine Person certainly are not Scriptural Terms And the Vnitarians generally believe that in such intricate Matters and particularly concerning the Object of Worship and the making Something distinctly an Object of Worship We must not go beyond express Injunctions According to Scripture they worship Christ to the Glory of the Father as was said And in particular they ultimately worship the Father for his giving the Divine Inspiration The
THE SCRIPTURE-TERMS OF CHURCH-UNION With respect to the Doctrin of the TRINITY CONFIRMED By the Vnitarian Explications of the Beginning of St. John 's Gospel Together with the Answers of the Unitarians to the Chief Objections made against them Whereby it appears that Men may be Vnitarians and Sincere and Inquisitive and that they ought not to be excluded out of the Church-Communion WITH A POST-SCRIPT Wherein the Divinity of Christ and of the Holy Ghost according to the Generality of the Terms of Scripture is shewn not to be Inconsistent with the Vnitarian Systems Most Earnestly and Humbly Offered to the Consideration of those on whom 't is most particularly incumbent to examin these Matters By A. L. Author of the Irenicum Magnum c. LONDON Printed as abovementioned to be communicated to learned and inquisitive Persons and those who are most obliged to inquire into these Points Some TEXTS Authorising the Subject of this Writing PRove all things 1 Thess 5.21 Be ready to give an Answer to every Man that asketh you a Reason c 1 Pet. 3.15 Whereto we have attained let us walk by the same Rule Phil. 3.16 To the Law and to the Testimony c. Isa 8.20 Search the Scriptures John 5.39 Let us follow after the things which make for Peace Rom. 14.19 That I might by all means Save some 1 Cor. 9.22 Let us not therefore judge one another any more Rom. 14.13 What I tell you in Darkness that speak you in Light and what ye hear in the Ear that Preach ye upon the House tops Matt. 10.27 Overcome Evil with Good Rom. 12.21 To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is Sin Jam. 4.17 Who hold the Truth in Vnrighteousness Rom. 1.18 Whosoevâ—â— shall be ashamed of Me and of my Words of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when 〈◊〉 â—â—â—eth in the Glory of his Father Mark 8.38 They are the Enemies of the Cross of Christ Phil. 3.18 Is a Candle to be put under a Bushel Mark 4.21 Relieve the Oppressed Isa 1.17 We ought to obey God Acts 5.29 Chusing rather to suffer affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasuâ—â—â— of Sin for a season Hebr. 11.25 If the Blind lead the Blind both shall fall into the Ditch Matt. 15.14 In Vnderstanding be Men 1 Cor. 14.20 They began to make excuse Luk. 14.18 Wherefore when I came was there no Man Isa 50.2 They came not to the Help of the Lord Judg. 5.23 I pray God that it may not be laid to their Charge 2 Tim. 4.16 God has chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise 1 Cor. 1.27 Truth faileth and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a Prey And the Lord saw it and it dâ—spleased him that there was no Judgment And he saw that there was no Man and wondered that there was no Intercessour Isa 59.15.16 Whosoever shall not hear your words verily I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for the Land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the Day of Judgment than for them Matt 10.14 15. Now they have no Cloak for their Sin John 15.22 Let us therefore fear lest a Promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it Hebr. 4.1 I speak as to wise Men 1 Cor. 10.15 Whether in pretence or in truth Christ is Preached Phil. 1.18 He therefore that despiseth despiseth not Man but God 1 Thess 4.8 O that the Salvation were come to Israel Ps 14.7 We hid our Faces from him Isa 53.3 Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord. Ps 118.26 God has made him both Lord and Christ Acts 2.36 The Son can do nothing of himself John 5.19 The Father loveth the Son and has given all things into his hand John 3.35 That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow to the Glory of the Father Phil. 2.10 11. The TITLES of the CHAPTERS I. THE Occasion and Design of this Paper Page 1. II. The Socinian Explication of the Beginning of St. John's Gospel p. 3. III. A Continuation of the Socinian Explication of the Beginning of St. John's Gospel p. 10. IV. The Arian System p. 15. V. The Answers of the Unitarians to the Chief Objections commonly made against their Expositions in general and first the Answer to the Objected Antiquity and Vniversality of the Trinitarian Sentiment p. 18. VI. A Continuation of the Answer to the first Objection p. 25. VII A Farther Continuation of the Answer to the first Objection p. 31. VIII The Conclusion of the Answer to the first Objection p. 46. IX A Second general Objection against the Unitarian System Answered p. 50. X. A Third general Objection stated consisting of Four Branches p. 60. XI An Answer to the first Branch of the Objection p. 65. XII An Answer to the second Branch of the Objection p. 69. XIII An Answer to the third Branch of the Objection p. 79. XIV An Answer to the fourth Branch of the Objection p. 88. XV. The Inferences most incontestably following from the whole foregoing Discourse and the Gospel-Terms of Communion p. 96. A Post-Script p. 104. A Table of the Chief Matters Treated of in each Chapter In CHAPTER I. THAT the Design of this Book is not to set up the Unitarian Sentiment but to vindicate and assert the Generality or Latitude of the Scripture Terms of Church-Communion with respect to such most intricate Points of Speculation p. 1. That there are some things exprest in a great Generality and left extremely Obscure in Scripture on purpose to try both our Industry and Sincerity and our Charity Christian Prudence and Moderation p. 1. 2. That the Unitarian Controversy is of that Nature that Men may be Unitarians and sincere and inquisitive and that the Unitarians therefore ought not to be excluded out of the Church-Communion p. 2. 3. In CHAP. II. In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God explain'd p. 3. 4. 5. The reason of Christ's being called the Word p. 5. In what sense Christ the Word is called God or a God p. 6. c. In CHAP. III. The Creation by this Word explained p. 11. 12. The Word was Flesh explained p. 12. 13. The remaining Verses explained p 14. 15. In CHAP. IV. The Proofs of the Arian System p. 15. The Arian Notion of the Word viz. That thereby is meant the Chief Officer or Minister of God the first and most excellent Creature a most sublime Spirit in some respect like the Holy Spirits or Holy Angels and Archangels but yet of another kind than they and surpassing in excellency all other created Spirits being extraordinarily united to and assisted by the Divine Wisdom and the whole God-head that this Divine Spirit is as it were the Mouth of God or his Word-bearer and that in process of time taking Flesh of the Virgin Mary by the Power of God it became the Soul of the Messiah p.
Angels in their several stations to work upon it and He directed and enabled them to concur with Him in the disposing and setting of it into a regular frame and beautiful and convenient order It is now the constant course of Nature that Creatures produce other Creatures A like Power then in an incomparably higher degree might undoubtedly be given by God to incomparably more excellent Beings It may be said that by the Sun all things in the World live and grow and that without him no living thing subsists or can subsist And could God create no intelligent spiritual and invisible Beings Superior to the Sun in Power and Vertue Why should we think the Material Sun to be God's Ne plus ultra or his powerfulest and excellentest Creature possible Thus then the Holy Spirits of God and among the rest and in the Chiefest Place that Most Excellent Spirit which afterwards took Flesh of the Virgin Maâ—y and was the Soul of the ever Blessed Jesus and next after him that Holy Spirit who is the Chief of the Angels or the select Angels sate and moved upon the Face of the Waters and helped to give the Chaos a Motion and to hatch it into a World It is certain that God alone might as easily have done all this as with the concurrent Assistance of his Son or Chief Minister and of his Angels But it may be He had a mind thereby to exercise their Talents and to try their Obedience Assiduity Diligence and Faithfulness in his Service Probably it adds to the Happiness of vertuous and holy Spirits to be doing somthing in the service of God It is also possible God would cause them to have a hand in that Work to endear the whole Creation to them and them to all rational Creatures according to the natural Duties of Gratitude What has cost us some labor we commonly have a great affection for witness the love of Mothers to their Children It cannot then but be a great satisfaction to the Holy Spirits to look upon Men as in some measure their Production as well as their Pupils That will naturally give them an extraordinary tenderness for Mankind Now there is a Pleasure in Love and in doing good And that the Holy Angels might not want that rational solid and durable Pleasure God according to this System thought good to employ them in his Works It is then no Argument that God could not employ them therein because He is himself All-sufficient thereto being Almighty Tho' God can easily do all things alone and is properly the only Creator yet we daily see that He makes use of Instruments or Means and Second Causes We have then no reason to stagger at that assertion of the Scripture that by and with that Holy Spirit that was born of the Virgin Mary God had made the World or drawn Order out of the Chaos and dispos'd all the Parts of the Universe in their due Places and Frame Tho' that Holy Spirit was the First born of every Creature and a most excellent Image of God yet immediatly after that he was produced before the being of Time or the Production of Angels and of the Material Creation it may be that God created many more Spirits of almost a like Kind and Dignity or incomparably above the Angelical Nature and that the Soul of the Messiah had then no Superiority besides that of Order over them but these were in a manner or in other respects equals subject only to God and equally Superior to the Holy Angels an equal number of the Angels and inferior Spirits being put when created as they were afterwards under those principal Lords or Gods according to the Scripture-stile But when the Lord Jesus was become Man and especially after He had shed his Blood upon the Cross and was risen from the Dead and ascended again into Heaven then He was made the Prince and Sovereign under Almighty God of all Archangels as well as of all Angels and of all other Creatures It seems necessary to suppose that then began his Superiority over all the sublimest Angels and all Creatures because the Scripture represents that as the Reward of his Obedience and of the constant and faithful Performance of his Undertaking So that if there were no created Spirits of almost the like Excellency with him yet from the very beginning that there were Angels there might be many Archangels which were not wholly subjected to him tho' of a nature very much inferior to his but had like him an immediate access to God and were then accountable to God alone altho' at the first at their Creation God had left it to the First-born to appoint to each of them their Office and Station Perhaps the Socinian Exposition is here to take place as to the Creation of Dominions and Powers by our Lord Jesus Christ and the First-born inherited not the Dominion till after the Performance of his Undertaking for Mankind And perhaps the Eternal Continuation of Glory was the Reward proposed to Christ These things may exactly be some of these ways for ought any body knows And there is no reason to look upon the Arian System as incredible upon the account that during the Agony which our Blessed Saviour underwent a little before his Passion an Angel was sent to strengthen him Creatures may sometime need to be put in mind of those things which they already know We daily see that good Men are much comforted and edified by the Exhortations of other Men like themselves and somtimes inferior to themselves Our Saviour was become a Man and was then under such streights as are most dreadful to Human Nature He wanted therefore external Assistances the Powers of his Spirit being depressed to the Measure of a Human Soul at its Incarnation But it was afterwards raised above its former Grandeur being exalted to Sir at the right hand of God The first Verses of St. John's Gospel and the other Texts relating to our Lord Jesus Christ are very easy and intelligible being taken in a Sense agreable to this System But as to the Holy Spirit it may be the Scripture means chiefly thereby the Holy Inspiration and an Influence of the Power of God CHAP. V. The Answers of the Unitarians to the Chief Objections commonly made against their Expositions in General and First the Answer to the Objected Antiquity and Vniversality of the Trinitarian Sentiment THE Trinitarians urge that all the Vnitarian Expositions may in general and all at once be confuted by this one consideration That theirs is the old prevailing Sentiment To evince which besides the Writings of the Fathers since the Council of Nice and some Passages out of the Ante-nicene they quote Pliny's Letter to Trajan wherein he acquaints him that Christians Sang Hymns to Christ as to a God and Lucian's Philopatris where mention is made of the God of Christians his being one in three and three in one Now say the Trinitarians it hereby appears that ours is the
Governors of the Church are humbly desir'd to give Publickly their Opinion of these the like aforementioned Reasons this undoubtedly being a Subject that deserves all the illustration that according to the Obligations of Christian Charity they can give to it Tho' all that is possible ought to be done for Peace-sake yet on the other hand nothing ought to be done against Conscience and tho' some of the Vnitarians might condescend to most of the Scholastick Trinitarian Expressions yet they cannot generally approve them III. What is inferr'd from the Vnitarian Arguments remains in force so that it is an indispensible Duty to profess and establish the Gospel-Terms of Communion and to keep to the seeming and most manifest and apparent Generality of the Expressions of Scripture for Terms of Church-Vnion tho' the Trinitarians and some Vnitarians should opine that the Vnitarians may with a good Conscience joyn in Communion with the Trinitarians and even tho' there were in God what might truly be call'd three Persons For 1. If there be Somewhats in God that may be call'd three Persons which yet indeed seems absolutely both impossible in it self and not expresly implied in Scripture but contrary to many Texts yet not only that Doctrine seems absolutely unintelligible but certainly it is most obscurely revealed and but drawn from most intricate and uncertain Deductions and on the other hand the Vnitarian Arguments against the calling any thing in God three Persons are incontestably such that Men may be sincerely inquisitive and really think them to be solid Upon such most abstruse Difficulties We ought not to act rashly and condemn or reject sincere and inquisitive Persons God cannot be supposed indispensibly to require of every one to believe explicitely what he has left so difficult and obscure nor consequently to have allow'd any one to determine this Point Magisterially so as to make the Determination of it a necessary Term of Church-Communion Then it follows it is God's Will that as has been said in Terms and Acts of Church Union we should content our selves with the Expressions and Generality of Scripture And so the Human Imposition of the Athanasian and Nicene Creeds and of Publickly Praying to the Holy Ghost and in Publick Assemblies and Church-Service using the term three Persons is a piece of Presumption and Spiritual Tyranny and Oppression The Scripture says not expresly that the Son and Spirit are equal to the Father c. 2. The Generality of the Scripture-Terms as was shewn is undoubtedly sufficient For tho' God might be said to be three Persons yet not only it cannot be thought as has been remarked that under the benign Oeconomy of the Gospel God has made that indispensibly Necessary which at least seems so intricate and obscure and about which sincere and inquisitive Persons may mistake but besides as was also before observ'd when God is worshipped is not all ador'd that is the Object of Divine Worship The Trinitarians own that the unscriptural term Persons is us'd so improperly of God that what is meant thereby is most unaccountable perfectly incomprehensible Now that is an invincible Argument that that term is not necessary The Vnitarians do not deny the Incomprehensibility of the Divine Nature Supposing then that by the Divine Word and Spirit be meant Somewhats more then Wisdom and Inspiration as the Vnitarians who are not for determining in such obscure Matters will not contradict but that it may be so yet seeing that that whatever it be is absolutely unknown unintelligible it concerns Us not to ascribe Names to it cannot be indeed the Subject of our disquisition Howbeit at least we should take care not to advance any thing concerning these Matters that appears inconsistent with any Text but should rather stick to that which is safe and sufficient And it is certain the Scripture no where says we should Pray to the Holy Spirit in particular and it expresly sets forth Christ as the Mediator betwixt God and Men so that it is incontestably sufficient to come to God thro' the Mediation of Christ and to honour Christ as the Mediatory King under God tho' united to God as intimately as possible as was said For tho' all things are subjected to Christ yet it is to the Glory of God the Father and to the end that God may be most glorified and may most universally and illustriously reign in and by and thro' Christ So that in making Christ the King of Kings or the Universal King under God and the Head of the Church God did not abdicate the Government or divest himself of his Majesty but still remained ever the Most Supreme and reserved to himself to direct Christ and to favour his Intercession and to receive thro' him the Homages of Men Christ doing all in the Name of God And accordingly the Apostles directed their Prayers to God Acts 4 24 c. and commanded the Faithful to address themselves to him Phil. 4 6 thro' Jesus Christ as it is in the following Verse Phil. 4 7 that in his Name and thro' his Mediation they might obtain their Requests of the Father according to Christ's Promise John 14 13 John 16 23 that what they should pray for to the Father in his Name he would second by his Intercession so would do it for them that the Father might be glorified in the Son For our Saviour says expresly in John 16.23 Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name He will give it you 3. The Arguments for the Scripture-Terms of Church Vnion with respect to such most intricate and abstruse Matters as the Platonick or Scholastick Speculations concerning the Doctrin of the Holy Trinity are evermore solid and invincible and as was observed a contrary Method is wholly inconsistent with the Principles of Protestants which import That the Scripture is a sufficient and the only Rule That there is no living Magisterial Judge of Controversies That Particular Christians are in such a case to examin and judge for themselves c. 4. Many sincere and inquisitive Persons may scruple other Terms than these which are incontestably good sufficient and the only warrantable ones for Terms of Church-Communion in such abstruse and intricate Matters And as was shewn it is certain the term three Persons is unscriptural and consequently cannot be absolutely necessary Wherefore surely Christian Charity obliges us not to hazard unnecessarily in such difficult Matters the Destruction of those Souls for which
the contrary This may be a Sign that they searched after the Truth like other Men as well as they could which is very commendable and is every ones indispensible Duty But it is not the Character of those who are infallible and who must implicitely and absolately be followed as our Rule CHAP. IX A Second General Objection against the Unitarian System Answered THE next Objection on which the Trinitarians commonly lay great stress is That the Work of Redemption and what the Scripture ascribes to our Saviour is above the Capacity of a Man it being impossible for a Creature to become the Object of Worship and hear the Prayers of Men to make Satisfaction for Sins or reconcile God to these that have forfeited his Favour to know the Hearts to forgive Sins to govern the Vniverse to raise the Dead to judge the World and do whatsoever the Father doth In answering this this Reflection cannot but be premised that it is lamentable Men are usually so careless as not to inform themselves rightly of the Sentiment of those whom they condemn or are so unsincere as not fairly to represent it But most certainly this is the Case here As for my part I absolutely take party neither with the Socinians nor with the Arians but think it presumptuous to determine expresly a Mystery which the Scripture has left in a great Generality Howbeit I see plainly and am fully persuaded that the present Objection is wholly groundless and doth not in the least invalidate either of those Systems for it is founded on an either wilfully or otherwise erroneous and mistaken Supposition as if the Arians or Socinians held our Saviour to be a mere Creature or a mere Man Surely it is a Point of Justice and a Duty of Christian Charity not to misrepresent the Cause of any Party but to endeavour to take it in the best Sense and put upon it the favourablest Construction possible But the quite contrary is done in this Objection The Vnitarians therefore answer it thus According to our Sentiment Christ in the business of Salvation or Redemption is not left to work with the bare Strength and Capacity of a Man but is commissionated of God and by him constituted in Authority constantly enlightened and influenced by the Holy Spirit and directed and assisted by the Divine Wisdom and Power dwelling in him For we hold agreably to the Scripture that the Father assisting acting and dwelling in his Son by his Inspiration and the Influences of his Power and Wisdom the Fulness of the God-head inhabiting in him by its constant concurrence enables him to perform all that he is appointed to do Christ therefore in the Execution of his Office is not to be considered as a mere Creature but as a Creature in and by which God works and which acts for God and most eminently represents God and is most intimately possible one with God There is no Vnitarian but holds all this believing that by the said Means there is as strict an Union betwixt the God-head and Christ as there can be betwixt God and a Creature This is particularly what the Arians mean in giving the title of God to our Lord Jesus Christ And this especially is what the Socinians intimate by their seemingly strange Saying that Christ was made God Homo Deus factus What Advantage then over the Vnitarians have the Trinitarians by their Notion of the Incarnation of a supposed Second Divine Person Can any thing be done by a Man supposed Hypostatically or Personally United with a Second Divine Person that cannot be performed by a Man in whom the Fulness of the God-head dwells in the manner aforesaid Since it is the God-head dwelling in Christ that doth the Marvellous Works can he not do whatsoever God pleases and whatsoever God can do And indeed what can the Trinitarians mean by their Term of the Hypostatical Vnion of a Divine Person with Christ's Human Nature but this In-dwelling of the God-head in the Man Christ Jesus Dr. Sherlock at the 210th and 211th Pages of his Answer to the Bishop of Gloucester's Book gives the true Description of the Trinitarian Notion of the Incarnation in these Words The perfect Wisdom and Goodness of our Saviour was not mere Human Nature tho' as innocent and perfect as Human Nature can be in this World but the Divinity dwelling and acting in Human Nature influencing and guiding all its Motions as the Soul governs the Body for this is a true Notion of a God Incarnate that God lives and acts in Human Nature and is the Principle of all its Actions and Motions And is there any thing here that the Vnitarians do not hold Do they assert that Christ did any thing without the Divine Motions or without God's Guidance and Acting in him They firmly believe that the Man Christ Jesus readily and willingly assented to the whole Will of God and that God constantly assisted him and thus wrought in and by him all the Super-natural Works that Christ did What colour of reason then have the Trinitarians to pretend that the Work of Redemption surpasses the Capacity which the Vnitarians ascribe to Christ It is plain that since the Vnitarians assert that God constantly influences and guides assists and acts in and by Christ which it seems is the Summ of what the Trinitarians themselves hold which expresly is all that the Scripture teaches of the Union between God and Christ and which most certainly suffices to impower Christ to do whatsoever God can do the Dispute and Quarrel here of the Trinitarians with the Vnitarians is altogether groundless and unwarrantable We have all the reason imaginable to love God with all our Soul and to be eternally thankful to his Divine Majesty for thus addressing himself to us miserable Sinners wonderfully speaking and acting in and by his Son Christ Jesus to reconcile the World unto himself and enabling him to Save to the uttermost all those that come to God thro' him As was said this is all that the Scripture expresly teaches us concerning this Matter The Scripture represents God doing all things for Christ upon his request The Trinitarians therefore cannot justly find fault with the Doctrin of the Vnitarians concerning our Saviour's Person But the Vnitarians are bound to reject what the Trinitarians add thereto not only without express Authority of Scripture but contrary to the clearest Light of Scripture and Reason Altho' God by the Influence of his Divine Wisdom and Power dwells in Christ and is represented as constantly assisting him and acting in and by him yet the Scripture no where says that God or the Father and Christ make but one Person It cannot be imagined and the Trinitarians themselves do not assert that by God's dwelling in Christ is meant any more than God's constant guiding and assisting him Now it no way follows that because a Son willeth all that his Father willeth and the Father constantly guides and assists his Son therefore the Father and