principal Criticks in such manner as Socinians and Unitarians interpret them What is this but to say that is an express Revelation which is only an harsh and doubtful Consequence framed by themselves and that is a clear Revelation for these Doctrines which the best and most knowing of their own Party interpret to a contrary Sense Perhaps Sir you may be a little surprised at what I here affirm but so it is and I make challenge to any of our Opposers to convict me of Falshood that there is no Text of Holy Scripture alledged for the Trinity or Incarnation which all the Catholick Doctors and some or other of the most discerning and eminent Interpreters and Criticks of the Protestants have not acknowledged that 't is not to the purpose of the Trinity or Incarnation The Texts that are cited for the Trinity or Incarnation are either out of the Old Testament or out of the New As to the Texts of the Old Testament the Learned among our Opposers of all Persuasions laugh at those that pretend to find the Trinity or the Incarnation in the Books of the Old Testament 'T is universally agreed among the more Learned Trinitarians that to use the Words of an Author and Book licensed by the famous Faculty of the Sorbon Ex veteri Testamento nihil praeter umbras i. e. There is nothing urged for the Trinity out of any Book or Books of the Old Testament but mere Umbrages and Shadows J. Salabert Haeres domitae par 2 dâ Then for the New Testament all the Catholick Doctors own what D. Petavius the most learned Writer of the most learned Order among them has thought fit to express in these Words They that would prove the Trinity out of only the Words of Scripture without taking to their Aid the Churches Interpretation and Authority Sudant plus satis suo artificio vincuntur i. e. They sweat to no purpose and are beaten at their own Weapon Scripture by their Adversaries the Socinians and Arians D. Petav. de Trin. l. 3. c. 11. s 9. Protestants indeed have been somewhat more careful of such free and general Acknowledgmets because they know there is no trusting to Tradition and the Authority of the Fathers on which the Catholicks so called wholly relie in these Questions Notwithstanding even Protestants have among them given up to us all their Scripture-Strengths That Text cannot be named which some or other of the Learnedest Protestants have not either interpreted as 't is interpreted by Socinians and Arians or expresly said 't was not intended by the inspired Author concerning the Incarnation or Trinity or any Person therein I demand such a Text of our Opposers and do here profess that if they name it not 't is because they cannot I will leave it here with you Sir Whether this first be not a just Exception to these Doctrines even this that they have no sufficient Foundation in Holy Scripture by Confession of the most and the learnedest of our Opposers and that being evidently false in Reason they cannot possibly be true in Divine Revelation or Scripture Our Second Reason against them is There has never yet been any Apology or Defence made nor can be for the confess'd Inconsistency of these Doctrines with Reason but what is equally applicable to the Transubstantiation or any other absurd and impossible Doctrine Our Opposers being sensible how great a Prejudice 't is to their Cause that their Doctrines are so directly contrary to Reason so utterly inconsistent with our natural Knowledg and congenit Notions which were given us by GOD to be Tests or Touch-stones whereby to discern Truth from Falshood they have therefore turned themselves all ways to find a Remedy for this Evil. The Sum and Force of what they have been observed to say either in their Books or Sermons is as follows The Trinity and Incarnation are indeed incomprehensible Mysteries but Almighty God hath a Right to require of us to believe on his Word what we do not comprehend or understand He has already posed us with divers Mysteries and seeming Contradictions to our Reason and Capacities in finite visible and ordinary Objects thereby to prepare and dispose us to receive with an humble Faith what he shall please to reveal in his Word concerning Objects invisible and infinite Whatsoever is matter of pure and mere Revelation is not to be judged by either Reason or Sense concerning such things there is a Necessity to acquiesce in Revelation only how unaccountable and wonderful soever they may seem And if Revelation is so express and clear concerning them that we would believe were it not for their supposed Contradiction to Reason in that case Reason must submit to Revelation else we fall into the horrible both Impiety and Foolery of giving the Lie to God and preferring our Knowledg before his What is the Union of the Soul with the Body how do the Parts of Matter hold together are Bodies made up of divisible Parts or of indivisible If we cannot answer these and divers such like Questions without involving our selves in great Difficulties and even in Contradictions Why do we wonder that there may be some seeming Contradictions in what we are taught about the Divine Nature or GOD Which of the Attributes of GOD is not as incomprehensible as the Trinity or the Incarnation Do we comprehend GOD's Eternity by which he possesses eternal Life all at once or his Immensity by which he is whole and all present in every Point of Space Can a finite Mind comprehend Infinite Wisdom Infinite Justice Infinite Power or ought else that is infinite How many have been as confident that the very Notion of a Spirit implies a Contradiction and that 't is not possible there should be Antipodes as any Unitarian can be that the Trinity is a Contradiction to Reason and the Incarnation impossible This should make us cautious and modest it should serve to instruct us that 't is easy for us to mistake our own Shallowness and our Errors for Impossibilities and Contradictions to true Reason Finally As hot as the Unitarians are against Mysteries and incomprehensible things themselves for all that advance as many and as great as those which they oppose You know Sir that I have elsewhere answer'd particularly and severally to all the Parts of this Defence but here I will be content to answer in general that what will prove every thing will prove nothing This Defence or Proof will serve as well for the Transubstantiation or any other absurd and impossible Doctrine as for the Trinity or Incarnation I am resolved to keep close to clear and express Revelation therefore our Saviour himself having said expresly that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the true Vine John 15.1 I maintain that as 't was certain by Sense to those who conversed with him that he was a true and very Man so 't is certain by Revelation that he was also a true and very Vine That any Person should
be a true Man and yet a true Vine is indeed an incomprehensible Mystery but Almighty God hath a Right to require of us to believe on his Word what we cannot comprehend or understand He hath already posed us with divers Mysteries and seeming Contradictions in visible and ordinary Objects both of Sense and Reason thereby to prepare and dispose us to receive with an humble Faith what himself should reveal in his Word That the Lord Christ is a true Man and at the same time a true and very Vine is a Point of pure and mere Revelation and no way knowable by Sense or Reason therefore as to his Viney Nature we ought to acquiesce in Revelation without further Scruple or Inquiry The Revelation concerning it is so clear and express I am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the true Vine that to quarrel with this Doctrine is to give the Lie to God and prefer our Knowledg before his What is the Union of the Soul with the Body How do the Parts of Matter hold together Are Bodies made up of divisible Parts or of indivisible If we cannot answer to these and such like Questions without involving our selves in great Difficulties and even in Contradictions Why do we admire that there may be some seeming Contradictions in our Lord Christ's being both a Man and a Vine Do we better comprehend how GOD possesses eternal Life all at once or how he is whole and all present to every several Point of Space than we apprehend how the Lord Christ may be both a Man and a Vine Who can comprehend infinite Wisdom infinite Justice or ought else that is infinite but if we do not comprehend those Attributes why do we pretend to comprehend the Extent of infinite Power or to say of it Hitherto shalt thou come and no further thou canst make a Man or a Vine but canst not make an humane Vine or a Viney Man How many have been as confident that the very Notion of a Spirit implies a Contradiction to our Reason and that there can possibly be no Antipodes as any Anti-Scripturist and Idolater of Reason can be that 't is a Contradiction and impossible that a Man should be a true Vine and a Vine a true Man This should make us cautious and modest it should serve to instruct us that 't is easy for us to mistake our own Shallowness and Errors for Impossibilities and Contradictions to true Reason And as hot as some many perchance be against this Scripture-Mystery that a Man is both a Man and a Vine themselves find greater Mysteries in the same Holy Scripture 'T is for Example a greater Leap from Finite to Infinite and from Man to God than from Man to Vine downwards or from Vine to Man upwards whatever Explication will make the former of these but possible will make either of the other two easy We shall have no Difficulty in apprehending that a Man may be a Vine and a Vine a Man if we can get but the Glimpse of a Conception how a Man may be GOD or GOD a Man or how there can be such a Person as GOD-MAN If you tell me Sir that this Parallel is somewhat too light in so serious and grave a Question as that depending between as and the Trinitarians I must intreat you to show me where I have made a false Step for if I have made none I must take leave to tell you the Parallel is no more light than the Doctrines which gave occasion to it Mean and childish Errors are never so effectually and successfully detected as by the most familiar and easy Parallels and he that makes the Comparison is not to be blamed but he or they that gave the Occasion of it I think the Parallel I have made serves to show that we are never to talk of clear Revelation or express Revelation in Excuse or Defence of absurd Doctrines but that 't is necessary to interpret all both Speech and Writing in Consistence with common Sense and our natural Knowledg In fine it serves to establish this Rule if the Person speaking or writing is fallible we must try the Truth of what is said or written by Reason but if he is infallible 't is always his meaning that we should interpret what he hath said or written by that Reason and according to those natural Notions which he hath bestowed on us chiefly for that purpose I pass to our Third Reason or third Exception against these Doctrines These Doctrines are as little consistant with Piety toward GOD as they are with Reason and with natural Knowledge Piety in proper Speaking is that part of the Christians Duty which he owes to GOD. And though the Goodness of GOD had divers other Ends Ends respecting the Comfort and Good of his Creatures why he was pleased to make what he hath made yet it becomes us to esteem and regard Piety or our Duty and Service to GOD as the great End that we ought to pursue The chief Parts or Branches of Piety are Praise Love Faith Devotion Obedience Let us see what Agreement these or any of these have with the Doctrines of which we are discoursing 1. The respectful and thankful Recognition both in our Minds and by our Words of the Works of God and of his Divine Attributes is what all Men call the Praise of GOD. But doth he or she thus praise GOD who ascribe his Works Creation Conservation Miracles all providential Acts to any other Person or Persons besides him who is indeed the Author of them But when besides this we give to the Gods of our own devising the Glory of all the incommunicable Attributes even infinite and underived Wisdom Justice Power and Goodness when we affirm that in all these Properties they are equal to the supream Father and GOD of Gods what farther Detraction from his Praise can be conceived but absolute Atheism 2. For the LOVE of GOD. How can we love the true God in such manner as he requires with all the Heart and all the Soul and all the Mind if we have and profess also to have as much Love for two other Persons as for him who is the only true and legitimate Object of our highest Love If we consider that Love which we owe to GOD in its Causes they are his supream Excellence and his Merit and Desert towards us if in its Effects they are a Conformity to his Will a Readiness Proneness and Desire to suffer the extremest Evils for his Sake and Service If therefore this Love be transferred if it be communicated to other Objects besides that one to which we owe it We do thereby and therein ascribe to them his Excellence we impute to them his Merit we pay to them his Dues Is it no Impiety or rather is it not a deadly Wound to true Piety thus to misplace the Propensions of our Minds the Affections of our Hearts the Use and Service of our whole Man 3. I do not say How lame but what a
Monster is that Faith that is made up of contradictory Parts of Propositions that destroy one another of such Inconsistencies that in saying and affirming one you either expresly or implicitly deny the other In their Doctrine of the Incarnation they tell us an infinite Person is whole and all united to a finite Man Is not this a contradictory Faith doth it not confound Infinite with Finite and make them to be all one doth it not destroy all the Demonstrations of Geometry and thereby contradict both our rational Faculties and our Senses Their Doctrine of the Trinity is in short this There are three Infinite Almighty All-wise Persons three eternal Beings three absolutely-perfect Spirits and yet but one GOD. Is not this a contradictory Faith Doth it not destroy our natural Ideas our congenit Notions For what are three Gods but three such Persons and what is the Idea Notion or Conception of but one God which is natural and congenit to every Man but one Infinite Almighty All-wise Person one eternal Being one absolutely perfect Spirit As to the late Attempts of some to satisfy in part these Difficulties you know Sir how vain and fruitless they have been Dr. Wallis saith the three Divine Persons are only three Modes that is three Qualifications or three Respects of GOD towards his Creatures and they make one GOD as Vnderstanding Will and Memory make one Soul But this saith Dr. Sherlock is both Non-sense and Heresy How doth Dr. Sherlock mend the matter Why he hath advanced an Explication of the Trinity which Dr. Wallis and other Orthodox Men have in Print condemned as Tritheism that is as introducing three Gods a far worse Heresy than Socinianism And thereupon they tell Dr. Sherlock in Print also That though he hath not been counted a Fool yet it may become a wise Man to change his Opinion In a Word they have in civil Language invited him to a Recantation 4. How is DEVOTION another principal Instance of Piety disturbed by such a strange and unaccountable Object of it Devotion is senseless and irrational if the Object to be adored and worshipped be not conceived by it But such of Necessity must be the Worship and Devotion of Trinitarians if in their Prayers they keep to their Belief For they may talk of a Trinity but themselves will not pretend that they can think it they can have no Conception of it no more than of Words without Sense We have seen very lately that those who have indeavoured to make Sense of this as they call it Mystery or to represent it as a possible and intelligible thing not only accuse one another of Heresy and demand a Recantation but are generally disclaimed by their own Party The Party it self if you mean thereby the general Body of Trinitarians are for a Trinity which no Man understands or ought to pretend to give other Account of it than that 't is an incomprehensible Mystery and this Trinity they call their GOD. And thus by their own Confession that Blame and Reprimand which our Saviour gives to the Samaritans is equally applicable to them and what he saith of himself and the Jews is verified in the Unitarians Ye worship ye know not what we know what we worship John 4.22 5. As to Obedience the last part of our Piety towards GOD and the most necessary the Obligation to it and all occasion for it is wholly taken away by the Doctrine of the Incarnation and the Superstruction which Trinitarians build thereon They say GOD the Son being incarnate in our Nature did by his active Righteousness fulfil for us all Obedience By his Sufferings in this Life his Death and Descent into Hell which things they call his Passive Righteousness He more than exhausted all that Punishment that is or can be due to Sin Whatsoever he did was they say for us and his Righteousness was meritorious of Heaven for never so many Sinners and what he suffered was in our stead also and one Drop of his Blood was sufficient to ransom and thousand Worlds from the Demerit of their Sins that is from Hell and all other Punishments The manifest Consequences of these Doctrines are these 1. Gospel-Obedience good Works or a good Life are in us unnecessary and superfluous some of them have said hurtful and dangerous to Justification and Salvation 2. Heaven is so much every Sinner's just Due and Debt from GOD without any Amendment or Newness of Life on their Parts that GOD would be unjust in giving them no more if more could be given 3. GOD should be unrighteous if he punish'd Men for Sin though unrepented of because we have in Christ our Representative both fulfilled all Righteousness and suffered and paid a more than sufficient Price of Redemption The notorious Decay of Christian Piety in all Places and Ages since these Doctrines have prevailed plainly shows That these are not speculative Consequences only but such real Consequences as do much influence the Practice of most Men. One may know and be assured that 't is these Consequences and this Belief which bolsters Men up in their wicked Courses because these are the things that comfort and support such at their Deaths The greatest of Sinners go away with Peace of Mind on the Reflection and Consideration of the infinite Merits and Satisfaction of GOD their Redeemer They have not nor can out-sin his Satisfaction and Deserts and applying both to themselves by believing in him that is by believing he merited and suffered for them in particular therefore they depart assuredly expecting of GOD the Rewards that are appointed to only Innocence and Well-doing I pray Sir desire your Friends who find Fault with us for reviving as they say unnecessary Questions to take it into serious and impartial Consideration Whether Doctrines that have these Consequences and also are such Hindrances of the other Branches of Piety ought not to be again and again examined whether they are or can be true The Fourth Reason against them is this They have crumbled the Christian Church into innumerable and unreconcilable Factions and Parries so that there is no possible way of restoring Peace but by returning to the Belief and Profession of the Unity of God Next to Godliness or Piety the Peace of the Christian Churches should be the Wish and Indeavour of every Christian Man But the Doctrines under Consideration have so divided the Churches called after the Name of Christ that there is no Agreement but among those Professors who believe there is but one GOD or but one who is God The Orthodox as they call themselves are so multifariously divided that they are not perhaps ten of them in a Party The whole Mobile indeed of them go under the common Name of Trinitarians and the Trinity and Incarnation are the general Tests of Orthodoxy among them but this is an Orthodoxy only of Names and Words for in interpreting those Words and Names I doubt very much whether there are ten of them that