Pietatis exercitia auâ—â—oâ—os Mores conferret plurimi fecit To adorn the Memory of such a Man as T. H. what is it but to provide that the Corps of one that dyed of the Plague may lye in state that People coming to behold it may contract the Infection If this Author go on to publish any more Books to as ill purposes as he has done this whatever height of Learning and Eloquence he may attain unto by the continuance of his Studies he will certainly deserve no better Character than that which was given by Velleius Paterculus to C. Curio Hist. lib. 2. Homo Ingeniosissimè Nequam Facundus Malo Publico Most just is the severity of the Censure past upon this most Infamous Writer by the most Reverend Archbishop of Armagh The catching of the Leviathan Chap. 1. Thus we have seen how the Hobbian Principles do destroy the Existence the Simplicity the Ubiquity Eternity and Infiniteness of God the Doctrin of the Blessed Trinity the Hypostatical Union the Kingly Sacerdotal and Prophetical Offices of Christ the Being and Operation of the Holy Ghost Heaven Hell Angels Devils the Immortality of the Soul the Catholick and all National Churches the Holy Scriptures Holy Orders the Holy Sacraments the whole Frame of Religion and the Worship of God the Laws of Nature the Reality of Goodness Justice Piety Honesty Conscience and all that is sacred I shall most earnestly entreat those young Students in Divinity who shall cast an Eye on these Papers that they would read all that has been written against T. H. by this most Renowned Archbishop and hy the Right Reverend Father in God the late Bishop of Salisbury and by the Reverend and Learned Dr. H. More Dr. Sharrock and Dr. Cumberland Other excellent Men have abundantly confuted his Wicked Errors but I have been chiefly conversant in the Writings of those I have here mention'd I cannot but recite a few Lines of my Lord Bishop of Salisbury's excellent Sermon concerning the Sinfulness Danger and Remedies of Infidelity which T. H. would not acknowledg to be a Sin The Author of the Leviathan Cap. 41. p. 286. tells us in plain terms That we do not read any where in the Scriptures that they which received not the Doctrin of Christ did therein sin And again That the Injunctions of Christ and his Apostles Men might refufe without Sin Now concerning this Assertion I cannot chuse but say that had I not been acquainted with the Works of that Author especially those relating to Religion I should exceedingly wonder at iâ— because it supposes Men never to look into their Bibles which is the thing it would perswade In the 21st of Matthew our Saviour asks the Iews this Question Did ye never read in the Scriptures such a thing A Question which I must repeat to the Asserters of this Doctrin Did they never read in the Scriptures the Sinfulness the Danger the Hainousness of Infidelity Surely he that runs may read it His Lordship 's Exercitatio in Thomae Hobbii Philosophiam printed at Oxford 1656. prov'd a most effectual Antidote against the Plague of the Hobbian Errors which at that time began to spread most dreadfully Since I had fitted these Animadversions for the Press there came to my Hands a Book entituled An Answer to a late Book publisht by Dr. Bramhal late Bishop of Derry called The Catching of the Leviathan I wish some Learned Man would publish a Reply to it to vindicate the Honour of that most renowned Prelate If the Charge I have brought against T. H. in these Animadversions be true that Monument of his Reputation which some may conceit to have been erected in this Book will most certainly in the Judgment of all Men fall to the Ground the weakness whereof in one particular I shall here demonstrate He affirms That Atheism is a Sin of Ignorance and he conceits that he sufficiently exposes the most Reverend Archbishop by this pitiful Sophism If it be not a Sin of Ignorance it must be a Sin of Malice Can a Man malice that which he thinks has no Being Answ. To have an Aversion to the Notion or Conception of a Being Infinite in all Perfection is to Malice or Hate GOD And such an Aversion is the grossest Atheism T. H. supposes that there is a GOD and from this Supposition it must needs follow whether he would have it so or no that all Rational Creatures are capable of the foresaid Notion So that an Aversion to it can proceed from no other Cause but only the Pravity of the Will perverting the Undertaking T. H. pretends to Believe the Holy Scriptures Now it is written This is the True Light that enlightneth every man that cometh into the World The True Light is GOD It is written God is Light If the True Light enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World Atheism is not only the Not Seeing of Him but an Aversion to Him no Sin of Ignorance but of Malice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall not make any other Apology for the sharpness of my Stile but this That it is not enough not to Consent to the Hobbian Errors but we must Hate them with a perfect Hatred I have no more to do at present but only to recite those words of the blessed Psalmist with reference to every one of the Disciples of this most Impious Sophister which I us'd in public with reference to him not long before his death Arise O God maintain thine own cause remember how the foolish men blasphemeth thee daily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 EPITAPHIUM R. SH LL. Doctoris Hic Iacent Reliquiae Viri Incomparabilis Roberti Sharrock Qui Iacentem Suscitavit Philosophiam Practicam Atheismum Triumphantem Debellavit HOBBII SPINOSAe caeterorum Ejusdem furfuris homuncionum Placita Specie quâdam Eruditionis insignis ostentata Quam sint Stolida quam Improba Clarissime Demonstravit Virtutum Vitiorum omnium Veras ac Vivas Effigies depingens Horum Odia Illarum Amores In Animis Prudentium Lectorum Flagrantissimos Accendit Striptis Varii Argumenti Elaboratissimis Usque ad Consummationem Seculi Apud Doctos Pios permansuris Famae Suae Exegit Monumentum Aere perennius Clarissimi Viri Domini GEORGII MACKENZI Epitaphium A. D. 1691. Ingenio Magno ac Verâ Pietate refulget Illius Egregii Candida Fama Viri Cum nihil Hic fuerit Quo se ingens flamma foveret Ignea Mens Terras linquit Astra Petit. A LETTER to the Author of a Pamphlet Entituled The Doctrine of the Trinity Placed in its due Light Non eloquimur magna sed vivimus SIR THO I acknowledge That you deserve the Character of a Person Ingenious and Learned yet since you deny the Catholic Faith whilst you pretend to be a True Son of the Church of England I must say you do not deserve the Name of an Honest Man I doubt not but any Learned and Impartial Reader that believes the Holy Scriptures were written by Divine Inspiration will readily grant that in two or three Lines I destroy your Hypothesis viz. That there is no other Difference or Distinction betwixt the Father Son and Holy Ghost than there is betwixt Infinite Goodness Wisdom and Power It is most agreeable to the Holy Scriptures to
cannot we prefix set times to pray outwardly so as to lay a necessity to speak words at such and such times whether we feel this Heavenly Influence and Assistance or no for that we judge were a tempting of God and a coming before him without due preparation To this I answer That whatever feeling we have or have not in the Sensitive Powers or Faculties of our Souls if our Heart our Will or Spiritual Appetite be rightly affected towards God our Prayers will most certainly be acceptable unto Him And His Holy Spirit is always ready to assist every man that believeth in Iesus so to order and dispose his own Spirit that it may comply with the Will of God in all things It cannot be a Tempting of God to depend upon him for his gracious Assistance to do his Will And it is his Will that in our Religious Assemblies we should use Words in Prayer When ye pray say Our Father c. Luk. 11. 2. p. 268. To desire a man to fall to Prayer e're the Spirit in some measure less or more move him thereunto is to desire a man to see before he open his Eyes That is an irreverent Expression To fall to Prayer but most certainly it is our Duty to call upon all men who profess Christianity to observe the Times of the Public Worship of Almighty God and to testifie to them that if they will sincerely trust in God for Christ's sake to assist them by his holy Spirit they shall never fail of his gracious Assistance He will help their Infirmities and enable them to cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 15 26. P. 275. As for the formal customary way of Singing it hath in Scripture no foundation nor any ground in true Christianity yea besides c. Answ. If by the formal customary way of Singing he mean that way of Singing Psalms in Metre or the reading of them in prose which the Church of England is accustomed unto It is a gross Errour to say there is no foundation for it in the Scripture Have we not received a Precept from our Blessed Lord by his Apostle to sing and make melody in our Hearts to the Lord And can there be any better means to do this than what the Apostle prescribes in these words Speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs Can there be any better Psalms c. than those which were most certainly and unquestionably compos'd by Divine Inspiration Yea says he besides all the Abuses incident to Prayer and Preaching it hath this more peculiar That oftentimes great and horrid Lyes are said in the sight of God for all manner of wicked prophane People take upon them to personate the Experiences and Conditions of blessed David which are not only false as to them but also as to some of more Sobriety who utter them forth as where they will Sing sometimes Psal. 22. 14. My heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowels Ver. 15. My strength is dryed up like a potsheard and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws and thou hast brought me into the dust of death And Psal. 6. 6. I am weary with my groaning all the night make I my bed to swim I water my couch with my tears And many more which those that speak know to be false as to them To this I answer That all the Prayers of wicked prophane People that is of those who persist in their Wickedness whatever words they use in Prayer are an abomination to the Lord. What then Must they be forbid to pray No surely But in Praying they must cease to be wicked And indeed it is impossible that any wicked man should cease to be wicked before he begins to pray Prayer has always that Priority to ceasing to be wicked which Logicians call Priority of Nature Before any man can be justly esteemed to be a Member of any Christian Assembly or Congregation he must profess that he believes the Holy Scriptures were written by Divine Inspiration and consequently that they contain nothing but Truth And also that he resolves by the help of God to take the Truth therein contained to be the Rule of his Life and Conversation If he be Sincere in this Profession and God only can judge whether he be so or no unless he violate his Profession by some notorious contrary Practice then most certainly he has in his Heart those Holy Desires which are exprest in the Lord's Prayer And as for the Psalms I pray God to make all the Adversaries of the Church of England duly sensible of this most important Truth That though indeed there are many Passages in them which none of us can apply to himself as to the Particularity of his own Person yet there is not one Passage in the whole Book but what every true Christian may and ought to apply to himself upon account of the Communion of Saints of the relation He has to the Head and to every Member of the Holy Catholick Church which is in Heaven or in Earth So that every Expression in the Book of Psalms every sincere Christian so far as it is intelligible unto him may use as the Means to stir him up to Sing and make Melody in his Heart to the Lord to form such Thoughts and Affections as shall be most acceptable to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly every Man that is confirm'd to the Image of the Son of God who was all his days here upon Earth A man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief I say every Sincere Christian does most certainly pour out his Soul before the Lord in such Affections as are here exprest in the words of the Psalmist My heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowels c. I am highly delighted with many Passages in Robert Barclay's Apology particularly with this p. 370. It is plain that men that are taken with Love whether it be of a Woman or any other thing if it hath taken a deep place in the Heart and possess the Mind it will be hard for the man so in Love to drive out of his Mind the person or thing so loved Yea in his eating drinking and sleeping his Mind will always have a tendency that way and in Business or Recreations however intent he be in it there will but a very short time be permitted to pass but the Mind will let some Ejaculations forth towards its Beloved And albeit such a one must be conversant in those things that the Care of this Body and such-like things call for yet will he avoid as Death it self to do those things that may offend the Party so beloved or cross his Design in obtaining the thing so earnestly desired tho' there may be some small use in them The great Design which is chiefly in his Eye will so balance him that he will easily look over and dispense with such petty Necessities rather than endanger the loss of the greater by them Now That
I have demonstrated in my Latin Papers against Iansenius and Calvin whose Followers I hope will for the future be the more enclin'd to relinquish those wretched Opinions seeing them in the company of so many Hellish Conceits of that most horrid Monster the Father of the Leviathan By his saying That Men can have no Passion nor Appetite to any thing of which Appetite God's Will is not the Cause Chap. 21. he plainly gives the greatest Encouragement to the Workers of Iniquity to entertain a favourable conceit of the grossest Enormities of their wicked Lives Chap. 34. He talks perfectly like one in Bethlehem Apparitions quoth he though no real Substances but Accidents of the Brain yet when God raiseth them supernaturally to signifie his Will they are not unproperly term'd God's Messengers that is to say his Angels What does he think of the Angel we read of 2 Kin. 19. 35. And it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand and when they arose early in the morning behold they were all dead corps This was a pretty stout Accident of the Brain that could slay in one night 185000 Men. No doubt there was an Angel an Evil one in the Brain of T. H. without such an Assistant he could hardly have hammer'd out so many Diabolical Imaginations Near the Conclusion of this Chapter he has a Lucid Interval But says he the many places of the New Testament and our Saviour's own words and in such Texts wherein is no suspicion of corruption of the Scripture have extorted from my feeble Reason an Acknowledgment and Belief that there be also Angels substantial and permanent I pray Reader observe these words Have extorted from my feeble Reason see how he discovers his Cross Humour and Averseness from a due compliance with the Judgment of the Church of God He reproaches his Reason for falling under the power of a Great Truth which he had such a mind to oppose By these words in the same Chapter Where by the Spirit of God is meant God himself he provides a Sophistical Evasion for himself and his Disciples in case he or they shall be charged with the Macedonian Heresie That young Students may not be impos'd on by persons more likely to deceive them than T. H. by their perverse Interpretations of Texts of Scripture wherein there is express mention of the Spirit of God I shall most earnestly beseech them to peruse these Books of the admirable Saint Basil viz. Adversus Eunomium Lib. de Spiritu Sancto And I desire that in all their Discourses concerning the Nature and Operation of the Holy Ghost they would be ever mindful of those words with which he concludes his third Book against Eunomius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. As for that wicked stuff which he delivers Chap. 42. in a pretended defence of his cursed Assertion That we ought to deny our Saviour before Men if we be commanded by our Lawful Prince it has such a smell of Brimstone that I abhor to recite it or say a word to any one that undertakes to vindicate him herein But the Lord rebuke thee His calumniating of the Holy Martyrs makes their Wounds as it were to bleed afresh and this will make his Memory to look horrid and ghastly to Posterity To his wicked Paradoxes concerning the word Church and Power Ecclesiastical I shall oppose these words of the most Learned and Pious Mr. Herbert Thorndike in his Review of his Discourse of the Right of the Church in a Christian state p. 40. Seeing that the Church is a Society Community Corporation or Spiritual Common-wealth subsisting by the immediate Revelation and Appointment of God without dependance upon those Christian States wherein it is harbour'd as to the Right by which it subsisteth and the matter wherein it communicateth it followeth of necessity that it is endowed with Rights correspondent to those wherein the Soveraignty of States consisteth The Power of the Sword is the Principal of Rights into which the rest are resolv'd when they are enforc'd to have recourse unto it for the execution of that which becomes requisite to make them available And the Church hath the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God which is used two manner of ways as the Sword is either to subdue Strangers or to cut off Malefactors Chap. 34. T. H. has these Mad Expressions Substance and Body signifie the same thing and therefore Substance incorporeal are words which when they are joyned together destroy one another as if a Man should say an incorporeal Body But Chap. 25. he has a Lucid Interval To worship God says he as inanimating or inhabiting such an Image or Place that is to say an Infinite Substance in a Finite Place is Idolatry Here he acknowledges that God is a Substance Infinite and consequently Incorporeal This Acknowledgment the force of so great a Truth to use his own words extorted from his feeble Reason Haec est summa delicti nolentium recognoscere quem ignorare non possunt Tert. Apol. Chap. 46. He puts Hell and Purgatory together as if the Existence of one were no more credible than of the other What is all the Legend says he of Fictitious Miracles in the Lives of the Saints and all the Histories of Apparitions and Ghosts alledg'd by the Doctors of the Church of Rome to make good their Doctrine of Hell and Purgatory the power of Exorcism and other Doctrines which have no warrant neither in Reason nor Scripture In the 44th Chapter he has provided a comfortable state for the Reprobate after the Resurrection instead of that state of ineffable Torments which all true Christians acknowledge to be signified by the Torments of Hell The Reprobate says he shall be in the estate that Adam and his Posterity were in after the Sin committed The Wicked says he in the same Chapter being left in the estate they were in after Adam's Sin may at the Resurrection live as they did Marry and give in Marriage and have gross and corruptible Bodies as all Mankind now have and consequently may engender perpetually after the Resurrection as they did before Are not these pleasant Conceits for that sort of Men who would fain have the Fear of Hell removed out of the way whilst they turn every one to his course as the Horse rusheth into the Battel But the fear of Death and Hell they shall never be able to shake off let them do what they can Haeret lateri lethalis arundo And now I doubt not but the ingenuous Reader will concurr with me in the Indignation I conceive against the most intolerable Impudence of a late Writer who pretends to set forth an History of the Life of T. H. He tells us we are all mistaken the Black-Moor is exceeding White Controversias quidem The logicas says he p. 167. maximè aversatus est Quicquid autem ad
est ut Auctoritati in Universum semper Refragetur praesertim Ecclesiasticae Degeneres Animos arguit homines Generosos Dignitate aliqua Saeculari praeditos vel quoslibet Ingenio secundum suam opinionem praestantes atque Artium Politicarum studiosos licet è Faece Plebis oriundos degeneres animos arguit istiusmodi Viros agnoscere Ecclesiasticos auctoritatem aliquam seu potestatem habere At at veniet profectò Tempus citò veniet quo omnibus Adami Filiis clarissime innotescet haec Veritas Quicquid Agunt homines Quicquid aliqua ratione extat in Tota Rerum Natura Nihil esse aestimandum nisi in quantum spectat ad Ecclesiam Qui Gubernant Ecclesiam in auctoritate exercenda humilitatem Vere Christianam maximè conspicuam exhibeant ad reprimendam hujus Saeculi superbiam Certè auctoritatis à Christo derivatae nunquam poterint plenam exerere Efficaciam nisi cum seipsos Ostenderint MAGISTRI OPT. MAX. Sequaces Qui dicit Si quis vult post Me venire Abdicet semetipsum attollat Crucem suam quotidie sequatur Me. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 D. BLONDELLUS in Apologiâ pro Sententià Hieronymi de Episcopis Presbyteris p. 3. haec verba habet COnsuetudo illa non ex quo primum inter Corinthios auditum fuit go sum Pauli c. sed paulatim invaluit Quod adversus eos diligentius notandum venit quos Hieronymianae phraseâ—s nudo cortici eo sine inhaerere mordicus juvat quo liberius à clarissimi scriptoris mente aberrare sinantur Resp. Eundem esse Sensum quem nos asseremus Hieronymianae phraseâ—s extra omnem controversiam ponitur per haec ipsa Hieronymi verba in eadem Epistola ad Evagrium in qua phrasis ista occurrit Ut sciamus Traditiones Apostolicas sumptas de Vetere Testamento quod Aaron Filii Ejus atque Levitae in Templo fuerunt hoc sibi Episcopi Presbyteri Diaconi vendicent in Ecclesia P. 4. Quoscunque Spiritus Sanctus Episcopos pascere Ecclesiam attendere gregi c. Ii veri nominis ac dicti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Episcopi consendi sunt quid enim aliud praestare suum putent quos nunc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Episcopos vocamus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Episcopi est ut sit in potestate Ordinandi constitutus quod ne quaquam Commune est illi cum aliis Presbyteris P. 8. Nihil Hieronymi seculo fecit Episcopus excepta ordinatione quod non faceret Presbyter Manifestum est Sanctum Hieronymum in hisce verbis Excepta Ordinatione non sua tantum Tempora respexisse sed etiam Apostolica namque asserit secundum Traditiones Apostolicas ut constat ex verbis supra recitatis in Ecclesia Episcopum tam certò fuisse Presbytero Superiorem quà m in Templo Aaronem Filiis suis Levitis P. 57. Licet Ecclesiastico jure non omnis Presbyter Episcopus sit Episcopi Presbyteri una ordinatio est adeóque idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sive enim per ordinationem consecrationis ritum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sive munus ipsum ad quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 destinatur consecratus intelligere placeat perinde est siquidem quorum eadem est generatio seu actus quo forma introducitur eorum eadem est forma quae dat esse rei quorum eadem est functio eorum eadem est potestas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à forma manans Resp. Quanquam isto respectu Episcopi Presbyteri eadem Ordinatio est quod in Ordinatione Episcopi includatur Presbyteri Ordinatio adeo ut in eum qui in Ordine Episcopali est constitutus collata sit Potestas ea omnia faciendi quae Presbyter faciat hoc tamen respectu Diversa est eorum Ordinatio quod per Ordinationem Presbyteri non sit in ipsum collata Potestas alios Ordinandi quae soli reservatur Episcopo semper excipienda ab ea Potestate quaecunque Presbytero tribuitur Proculdubio quorum eadem est Functio eorum eadem est Potestas sed pernegamus eandem esse ex omni parte Episcopi Presbyteri Functionem P. 66. Interiacens Aetate Sua inter Sacerdotes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostomus ob oculos habebat Resp. S. Chrysostomus hanc reddidi rationem cur Paulus Apostolus in Epistola ad Timotheum nullam faceret mentionem simplicium Presbyterorum sed immediatè Transiret ab Episcopis ad Diaconos nempe quia non alio dignitatis Discrimine Episcopi Distabant à Presbyteris nisi Sola Ordinandi Potestate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 istiusmodi Sophistae qui Audet asserere S. Chrysostomum hoc in loco suam tantum non Apostolorum aetatem respexisse Ejusdem farinae sunt ea omnia quae Ostentator iste Multifariae Immensae Lectionis ad Lassandum potius quam Satiandum lectoris studium exprompsit Scilicet is speciem ingentis literaturae non falsam praefertur in opinionem falsam inducat quà m plurimos eorum qui solent in famam Scriptoris potius quam in ipsam Rem Scriptam inquirere praesertim si Valdè Velint id Verum haberi cui speciem Veritatis affingunt celeberrimi Scriptores Cum igitur in nullo versemur dubio quin plurimos eorum qui aussi sint asserere Presbyteros Potestatem habere Presbyteros Ordinandi in errorem istum potius induxerint Perversae Voluntatis indomitae Vires qnam aliqua imbecillitas Intellectus non tam opus est Verbis ut cum iis apud Homines Disputemus quam perpetua ac ferventissima apud Deum Oratione ut istiusmodi hominum pectoribus suavitatem illam Non-Ennarrabilem infundat quae non est aliunde percipienda nisi e Gustatis Fructibus Christianae Humilitatis atque obedientiae propter Christum istis Hominibus praestandae quibus ille aliquam in Nos Regendos Potestatem Dedit PATER NOSTER QUI ES IN COELIS VENIAT REGNUM TUUM A Letter to Mons. Dela Crose together with some Reflections on the Letter to Charles Blount Esq concerning Natural Religion as oppos'd to Divine Revelation And also on that Infamous Book entituled The Naked Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SIR I AM heartily sorry that you have given so great Scandal not only to the Socinians by asserting that most detestable Conceit of the Three Infinite Spirits but also to the Deists by denying that Six of their Seven Propositions may be known without external Revelation whereas it is most certain that they are all implied in the True Notion or Idea of God whose Existence you grant may be known without such a Revelation I assert That the principal Motive that any man can have to believe that the Holy Scriptures were written by Divine Inspiration is That the sence of them is so agreeable to that which the Only wise God hath written in the Hearts of all Men. The Lord give you Understanding in all things
So prayeth for you and for all Men as he desires that all Sincere Christians should pray for him Your faithful Servant in the love of the Truth Edmund Elys Tho' I grant that the Truth of those Seven Propositions may be known without external Revelation yet I assert That 't is Ten thousand times more casie to come to that Knowledge by the Revelation which Almighty God has given us in the Holy Scriptures than without it And therefore we ought to give continual Thanks to the God of Truth for vouchsafing to us so great a Blessing The Seventh Proposition is this That when we err from the Rules of our Duty we ought to repent and trust in God's Mercy for Pardon What it is to Repent no Man shall ever practically or effectually understand unless he be taught of GOD And 't is Ten thousand times more likely that such a Man will be taught of God who with an honest Heart reads or hears the Holy Scriptures than he who is altogether ignorant of them or who having read them will not believe that they were written by Divine Inspiration To Repent is to cease to live unto our selves and to live unto Him that dy'd for us and arose again of which Repentance we become capable only by the Death of Christ whom the Holy Scriptures call the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World The Apostle says expresly 2 Cor. 5. 15. That he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him that died for them and rose again In the Ninth Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews are these words If the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered up himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the livingood From this Concession of the Deists That God is infinitely just and insinitely merciful I infer That His Hatred to Sin and his Love to Sinners are both Infinite I suppose they will grant that He is Infinite in Goodness in Wisdom in Power and in all Perfection From hence I infer That in His Infinite Wisdom he hath-contriv'd some way by his Infinite Power to make a demonstration to Sinners of his Infinite Love Benevolence or Communicativeness of the True Good even to them so far as they are capable of it But it implies a contradiction that they should be capable of or in a power to receive the True Good or Intellectual Satisfaction but only by Repentance or turning of their Will or Intellectual Appetite to God as to its principal or ultimate Object It implies a contradiction to say That Infinite Wisdom could contrive a better way than this to bring Sinners to Repentance viz. to demonstrate to them that tho' the Hatred which the great and good God has to every Sin is Infinite nevertheless his Love to every Sinner capable of Repentance is also Infinite And this demonstration of the Infinite Justice and Infinite Mercy and Goodness of God those that believe the Gospel clearly perceive in the sacrifice of the Death of Christ. Whatsoever we find in the Holy Scriptures concerning the Death of Christ and the Benefits which we receiue thereby is most perfectly agreeable to all those notions of the Divine Justice and Mercy which are suggested unto us by the Innate Idea of God to the contemplation whereof I earnestly exhort all those Men who call themselves Deists beseeching Almighty God the Father of Mercies and God of all Consolation to lift up the light of his countenance upon them to give them the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. I declare to all the World that I have not such Indignation to these Open Enemies as I have to such Traytors to the Church of Christ as the Author of that most execrable Pamphlet entituled The Naked Gospel I shall here impart to the candid Reader some of my Reflections on that Infamous Scribler tho' it has been already sufficiently confuted I consider that Saying of the Wise Man Prov. 10. 19. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin And therefore I would rather chuse to be blamed by my best Friends for using so few words in any Theological Controversie than be ever guilty of publishing of any one Assertion especially concerning the Doctrin of the holy blessed and glorious Trinity which I should not be able to vindicate against a more subtile Sophister than Socinus himself A strange Confidence it is in this Anti-trinitarian to scoff at us for saying That the Doctrin of the Trinity is a Mystery Does not the holy Apostle say expresly 1 Tim. 3. 16. Without controversie great is the mystery of godliness God was manifest in the Flesh c. Is not the Nature of God incomprehensible to any Finite Understanding And shall any Man undertake to determine how GOD could be made Man how the Creator could assume a Created Nature But that Christ is GOD and Man is a Truth as certain and unquestionable as it is that these Texts of Scripture were written by Divine Inspiration Iohn 1. 1 2 3. Col. 1. 16 17. Acts 20. 28. I shall here recite some of the words of this Antitrinitarian whom surely we may most justly call Anti-christian P. 48. To this Objection of the Romanists and to others of the Unitarians we have found an Answer That we must not infer from our own Nature to God's for that ours is Finite and Gods is Infinite Three Persons among Us are three Men because they agree in one common nature but the Divine Nature is not a common one but a singular and therefore three Persons do not make three Gods If you understand not this you must not wonder at least you must not gainsay it for it is a Mystery which Reason may not presume to fathom Is there any thing more reasonable than to conceive that in God the One Infinite Essence there may be a certain Trinity which cannot in any wise appertain to any Three Persons of a Finite Nature Can there ever be a more impious Absurdity than this to deny the Truth of that which the Almighty and Incomprehensible GOD Father Son and Holy Ghost in whose Name we are baptised has reveal'd unto us concerning Himself because we cannot find any thing perfectly like it even amongst the best of his Creatures To say That we ought not to believe any thing but what our Reason can fathom or comprehend is in effect to say We ought not to believe there is a God it being Essential to the Deity to be infinitely beyond the comprehension of our Reason P. 40. The great Question concerning the Godhead of Christ is impertinent to our Lord's Design 2. Fruitless to the Contemplator's own purpose 3. Dangerous P. 53. There is danger of Blasphemy in examining the silly Question concerning
say That Infinite Goodness is Infinite Wisdom and Power and that Infinite Wisdom is Infinite Goodness and Power and that Infinite Power is Infinite Goodness and Wisdom But it is most contrary to the Holy Scriptures to say That the Father is the Son and the Holy Ghost and that the Son is the Father and the Holy Ghost and that the Holy Ghost is the Father and the Son Your ridiculing the Heavenly Senniments of St. Augustin concerning the Divine Beauty is such an Abomination that I cannot recite it without an Horresco Referens as a Preface to the Recitation of such a Blasphemous Harangue P. 4. Let us seriously consider How could Epicurus more Graphically describe his Idle Voluptuous Deity than by comparing him to a Beautiful Lady pleasing her self with the Image of her fair Face reflected in a bright smooth Glass or How could he give a better Account of his regardlesness of the World than by saying his Life his Glory and his Pleasure are all his Interest and and these are determined to one another Now I pray thee Reader what is all this to thee or me but a Discouragement from hoping any good from such a God and consequently from paying him any Love or Service Be the Lady never so perfect in Beauty her Glass never so exactly clear her Delight in it never so ravishing what is this to the well-ordering of her Family but an hindrance A Noble Eloquent and Judicious Writer in his Advice to a Daughter telleth her That her Servants will more value her House-keeper than her Ladyship if they find she takes no care of them And some will say It is not so unreasonable to Worship the Sun who is the World 's great Benefactor as that Sun ' s Creator if he leaves them without farther regard to their happiness Now I pray thee Reader What is all this to thee or me Is it nothing to me that my God is the Infinity of True Beauty that He is all that I can desire all that deserves my Love The Divine Beauty implies the Glory of infinite Goodness Wisdom and Power and is all this nothing to me It implies the Glory of the Justice of the Divine Vengeance on Impenitent Sinners as they are Impenitent and the Glory of Infinite Mercy towards Sinners that repent or such who tho they do not truly repent have not so hardened their hearts but that they are capable of Repentance And is all this nothing to me Is it nothing to me that the Divine Beauty being Infinite is in all Things and Events Sin only excepted so that whilst I sincerely believe in IESUS all the Objects of my Thoughts are Matter of Joy and Satisfaction unto me The King of Terrors ceases to be terrible and becomes a most useful Subject to those that obey the Royal Law of Liberty and so become Kings and More than Conquerors over all their Enemies This Happiness they attain unto by a true Sense or Practical Knowledge of the Divine Beauty the Infinity of Light and Love And is all this nothing to me Certainly the Divine Beauty is All Things to me One Glympse of it is enough to quench all such burning desires which torment the Souls of Covetous Ambitious and Voluptuous Men. This Beauty do I see in the Image of the Invisible God the Brightness of the Glory of the Father of Lights and the Express Image of his Person Your kind Reflexion upon the Mahometans p. 19. puts me in mind of that most Remarkable Passage in a Learned Book Entituled A Discourse of Natural and Reveal'd Religion Chap. 26. Before 〈◊〉 take my leave of Mahomet it will not be amiss to Advertise my Reader if he be a Christian of the Danger both he and all other Christian are in of being reduc'd under the Slavery of this Mortal and Common Enemy so that how prosperous soever the Christian Arms are or have been we are still in greater danger than ever of being ruin'd by the Legions of these Infidels not those of their Spahi's or Ianizaries but by those of another Order far more mischievous forasmuch as they fight under our Colours and pretend to be of our Party such Enemies are ever look'd upon as the most dangerous for they are rarely discovered till they have given the Mortal Blow Now these are the Socinians which tho exploded the World above a Thousand Years ago under the Appellation of Arians are in these our days risen again from the Grave and like Spectrums appear every where in the dark P. 29. You say That St. Gregory Nazianzen in his 35th Oration maketh the Unity no other than pâ—cifical wherein he agreeth with his great Friend St. Basil as appeareth by the Letter sent him expresly upon this Subject by that great Father Have you any Fear of God or Shame of the World who have the Impudence to publish so Notorious a Lye These are St. Gregory Nazianzen's Words in his 38th Oration and there is nothing in his 35th but what is fully agreeable to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the first Verse of one of his Hymns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Unity cannot be Specifical or under any Genus which is above all being Absolutely Infinite There is not one Word in any one of St. Basil's Epistle to St. Gregory Nazianzen that might give any Man an Occasion to conceit That he thought the Unity no other then Specifical Blush and be confounded at the reading of these Words of that Holy Father wherein he expresses his Sense of the Divine Unity De Spiritu Sancto Cap. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where the Unity is Specifical there are Actually or Potentially more than one of the same Kind I shall now give you some of my Reflections upon the Conclusion of your Sophistical Essay Some I hope say you will find satisfaction in the very Doctrine as now stated Those that cannot fully grant their Assent and Consent to the Doctrine for its own sake may find some Ease if not full Cure of their Scruples when they Conform to our Establish'd Worship for Peace sake The former indeed is the best Fruit but the later is not contemptible If I obtain either of them I have already a sufficient Reward Yet I hope for a greater from that Lord whom I have thus endeavoured to serve and who hath said Blessed are the Peace-makers Here you plainly discover your Develish Design to bring the Socinians into the Communion of the Church of England and consequently to Corrupt and Destroy Her I grant That an Unlawful Petition in the Public Prayers is no sufficient Cause for any Man to separate himself from such a Religious Assembly which otherwise he should he obliged