Author whom I cited was unmindful oâ—… that in his hot pursuit after his Lordship of Worcester and by the ambiguous matching of Self-existent with Unoriginated labours to fetch his Lordship into the noose which he thought he had prepar'd for him But because this Modern Racovian may make some shew of evading my Charge by pretending his Words were spoken in another's Person and not his own I will not any further insist upon it because the Reader shall thereby be made apprehensive that I am averse from contending in any dubious matter I proceed therefore to the next Attribute viz. the Spirituality of God the denial of which I tax'd the Racovians with And here I will first prove the Charge and then briefly represent the Unreasonableness and Absurdity of this notion which the Socinians frame of God For the sake of the English Reader I will translate out of the Latin the very Words of one of their Principal Authors When we saith he name a Spirit we understand a Substance void of all Grossness such as we behold in visible bodies Thus we say that Angels are SPIRITS and so we call our Diviner Part which Philosophers rather call a SOUL and the Air though it lie open to some of our Senses as the Touch and other bodies like to this Every one of which hath so much the more this name viz. SPIRIT allotted to it by how much it is the more subtile Again he expresses it thus Spirit or Spiritual Essence is that which is opposed to that Essence which is Corporeal that is which is Crass viz. of such things which we behold with our Eyes especially of those that are Terrene And a third time he vouches this for he reckons God and Angels and the Souls of Men in the same rank with Air and Subtile Bodies telling us that these are Spirits in the proper and strict sense Our Home-Socinians think and speak the same as is apparent from J. Bidle who openly declares that God is of a Visible and Corporeal Shape Thus it is plain that the Immaterial Nature of the Deity is discarded by them and the best Notion that they can frame of him is that he is a Thin Airy Body Which how disparaging it is to the Divine Being cannot but be conceiv'd by every Serious Thinking Man For let Matter be never so fine and subtile yet still it is Matter The Animal Spirits as they are generally call'd are bodies as well as any others and when they are never so Agile and Brisk they have still a Corporeal Nature and being such they are Finite and Circumscribable which is unworthy of the Nature of the Supreme Being Therefore this was the rational dictate of Improv'd Minds that God is Incorporeal this was the sense of Plato as Tully tells us and of the all Ancient Philosophers by whom he was acknowledg'd to be an Incorporeal and Infinite Mind Again all Matter of it self is Unactive and Dull because it hath no inward Principle to act and inform it Whatever motion and agitation it hath is from without first of all all its Influence is put into it by another Which to conceive of God is the greatest Blasphemy as well as Absurdity Further all Matter or mere Body is in its own Nature void of Sense and Perception and it is not the Fineness and Agility of it that will make it Think and Apprehend The reason is because Cogitation or Apprehension is another distinct thing and quite different from a Material Being and therefore it is ridiculous to imagine that what is merely Corporeal hath a faculty of Thinking or Conceiving of Understanding or Willing To be Cogitative is far different from being Divisible or Extended and the notion of Cogitation doth not in the least involve in it the notion of Division There is such a disparity between the Ideas of these things that no rational man can bring it into his thoughts that Matter is capable of Perceiving or Performing the acts of the Mind There is an absolute necessity therefore of asserting God to be Incorporeal we must be forced to subscribe to what our Infallible Instructer who was also God himself hath taught us that God is a Spirit John 4. 24. Which Words it is observable Socinus most grosly depraves merely to avoid the acknowledgment of this Attribute Because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not in the Greek he makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Accusative Case and will have it refer to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the foregoing verse as much as to say Goâ—… seeks a Spirit This extravagant work doth he make although the words are a plain Proposition and the Grammer of them is easie and obvious But I have already taken notice of these mens palpable Abusing of Scripture for their own Ends. The next Attribute of God which Socinus's Scholars disallow of is his Omnipresence I had leisure only just to mention this before now I will produce some Evidence of what I said It is not necessary to believe that the Essence of God is Immense saith their Great Patriarch And he hath these strange words in a Fragment of his Catechism Though God's power and wisdom be not circumscribed by any limits yet it follows not thence that his Essence is infinite as if his Essence and Attributes were not alike as to Infinity He hath more of this nature in another place of his Catechism and in other parts of his Writings Smalcius and Crellius two of his fast Friends deny that God is present every where by his Nature and Essence Vorstius limits the presence of God by absolutely denying the Ubiquity of his Essence And Episcopius who is to be taken into the number of the Racovians as I observ'd before from their own words enclines this way telling us that it is not necessary to believe that God is present every where as to his substance and entity and he proceeds to bring Arguments such as they are to maintain what he saith And other Authors not excepting the Moderns might be alledged to the same purpose but I think it will not be required because their Opinion in this case is so well known But how derogatory is it to the Excellent and Perfect Nature of the Deity It is no other than limiting and confining the Divine Being and making that Finite which is Infinite If God's Ubiquity be denied his Infiniteness must be so too And yet which shews the Absurdity and Inconsistency of their notions these foresaid Writers pretend to acknowledg that his Wisdom and Power are infinite as if Infinite Perfections could be seated in a finite subject Or rather these Perfections may be said to be God Himself and therefore if they be Infinite the Nature of God must needs be such His Transcendent Nature is of that kind that it hath no bounds no dimensions and what is so is Every where and in all places though not circumscribed by any But they have such
nothing is rais'd but what fell or was laid down for Rising answers to these but that Matter which is supposed to be substituted in the room of our bodies did not fall was not laid down therefore it cannot Rise and consequently there is no Rising again at all This Argument is thus represented by a Great Man The Identity of the body rais'd from death is so necessary that the very name of the Resurrection doth include or suppose it so that when I say there shall be a Resurrection of the dead I must intend thus much that the bodies of Men which lived and are dead shall revive and rise again For at the death of man nothing falleth but his Body the spirit goeth upward and no other body falleth but his own and therefore the body and no other but that body must rise again to make a Resurrection So that it follows hence that those who disbelieve the Resurrection of the same body in effect deny the Article of the Resurrection of the body for the same body must rise or none at all This is evident from 2 Cor. 5. 10. We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body The same individual body that died must revive that the same bodies wherein sin was committed may be punished for sinning And who can resist the force of those plain words Rev. 20. 13. which are spoken of the general Resurrection at the last day The sea shall give up the dead that are in it and death and the grave deliver up the dead which are in them What means this giving and delivering up the dead in those places unless the very same bodies that fell are to rise For bodies might be made and shaped out of matter in any other Places if the dead were not to appear at the day of Judgment in their own bodies in the very bodies they laid down in the grave or in the sea or any other Place It is true they shall not be the same as to their condition and quality for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal immortality but their identity shall be preserv'd in respect of their nature and substance these being the same that they were at their fall This doctrine saith that Excellent Writer before named is most agreeable to the language of the Scriptures to the Principles of Religion to the constant Profession of the Church And being so it is no wonder that it is disrelish'd by the Persons I am speaking of who are wont to disregard the Sacred Writings to subvert the Principles of Christianity and to slight the suffrage of the Universal Church In all which they manifest an Irreligious temper and more especially in disbelieving and opposing this Explication of the Article of the Creed they have shew'd an Atheistical Spirit which always disgusts that Truth which flows from the Scriptures and is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit in them for herein they let us see that they are backward to give credit to the Supreme Truth God himself And besides there is a farther Tang of Impiety in this Opinion of theirs because it bereaves God of the Glory of his Infinite Power in reuniting the same bodies to the same souls at the last day it eclipses the honour of his Mercy in rewarding believers in the same flesh wherein they serv'd and worship'd him in this life it obscures his Justice in punishing sinners in those very fleshly Vehicles which they had here on earth and wherein they did so much mischief in the world And lastly it being such a Diminishment of the doctrine of the Resurrection it is to be fear'd it will have too great an influence on the lives and conversations of men They being dissetled as to the full belief of this they will waver in their Faith of the Future State they will be regardless of that Mighty Concern and they will be backward to fit themselves for it Thus the Racovian doctrine is an impediment to Religion and a nourisher of Vice and Ungodliness CHAP. V. Their false apprehensions concerning the Last Judgment are detected They are not consentaneous to the design of that Great Transaction They are contrary to that Description which is given of it in Scripture They are a gratification to Atheists It is their belief and profession that the Ungodly after the Resurrection shall not suffer Torment but shall be Annihilated This is disproved from Luk. 10. 14. Mat. 18. 8. Mark 9. 44. 2 Cor. 5. 10. An Objection answered The Perniciousness of this doctrine and its tendendency to Atheism on several accounts Iâ—… is no wonder that Socinianism for the sake of this doctrine is plausible Nevertheless the doctrine is irrational and groundless and exploded by some of the Wisest Pagans THIS will be further discover'd in their notion concerning the Last Judgment which say they consists not in any Trial or Judging of the World in any calling them to Account but only in assigning them their different lots and conditions To be judg'd saith Slichtingius is to be rewarded or punish'd Volkelius makes no distinction between the Judging and Punishing of the wicked The Judg knows who are to be saved and who to be damn'd and therefore need not use any Formal Citation or lay open mens lives But those who talk thus should remember that human actions are to be exposed at that day not because God hath not a perfect knowledg of them but because it is his Pleasure that Men should be acquainted with them that the Good Actions of the righteous may be applauded and that the Evil ones of the unrighteous may be condemned in the face of the whole World That this is the will of God we learn from the Sacred Writ and where can it be learnt but there Therefore for these men to Argue and reason the matter notwithstanding the express will and appointment of God is a sign of a very perverse and irreligious frame of mind Is not the Transaction of the Last day represented to us as a Formal Judiciary Process Doth not the Scripture speak of the Judg Acts 10. 42. 2 Tim. 4. 8. Heb. 12. 23. Jam. 5. 9. of the Judgment-seat Rom. 14. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 10. or the Throne or Tribunal for Judgment Rev. 20. 11 and yet will there be no Judging Is it not said with particular respect to that day that God will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts 1 Cor. 4. 5. Is it not said he will bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil Eccl. 12. 14. And do we question then whether there will be this Judicial Action which we properly call Judging or Trying Iâ—… there shall be this Manifestation of the Hearts and Actions of Men can we imagine that rewarding and punishing at that day are the very same with Judging Further
though of a different perswasion from the Church of England hath observed In pursuit saith he of the same Principles with those of the men of this way not a few begin absolutely to submit the Scripture and every thing contain'd in it to the judgment and sentence of their own Reason which is the true Form and Spirit of Socinianism visibly acting it self with some more than ordinary confidence What is suited unto their Reason they will receive and what is not so let it be affirmed an hundred times in the Scripture they will reject with the same ease and confidence as if they were Imaginations of men like themselves Both books that are written to this purpose and the common discourses of many do fully testifie this advance of the Pride of the minds of men And he is careless about these things who seeth not that the next Stage is downright Atheism This is that Dunghil which such blazing exhalations of Pride at last fall into It seems there are Others besides me that have had an apprehension that Socinianism tends directly to Atheism But see the mighty Prevalency of Truth It will forcibly make its way even from the mouths of its professed Adversaries The Old and New Socinians as you heard before agreed in this that Reason is the sole Judg in matters of Faith and that what is above Reason is not the object of our belief And yet both these sorts of men at other times abjure these Propositions as false and erroneous and thereby palpaby contradict themselves Smalcius expresly avers that Faith is above though not contrary to Reason And in his Catechism he lets us know the knowledg of the way to immortal life and happiness far exceeds humane Reason and he quotes 1 Cor. 2. 14. for it Again he grants that there are things which we ought to believe though we cannot render any reasons of them And in the Margin things expresly written are to be believed although the reasons of them appear not And more fully yet in the name of the Racovian Brethren he makes this Confession We freely acknowledg that there are many things in the Christian Religion which surpass Reason but yet they are of necessity to be believ'd by us on this very consideration that though they exceed Reason yet they are deliver'd in Sacred Scripture and they are very agreeable to that Reason which they exceed But how do our late Penmen approve of this Very well for they declare that Revelation is to be preferred before the clearest Demonstration of our Reason Whence it appears that the Unitarians deny what they have in other places affirm'd they disown what at other times they assert And so they betray their own Cause and patronize ours so Truth discovers and defends it self though for a while stifled or disguised And thus it is manifest that We are in the right even our Enemies themselves being judges Only here it is worth observing how fliâ—…ting how shifting how changeable Sozzo's Pupils are Are they not to be deem'd very slippery Gentlemen when they thus say and unsay They have alter'd the Racovian Catechism more than once and they may do it again when they see occasion And it is visible how our English Socinians vary their Note and affect to differ from themselves Whereby they let us know that they are unmindful of the Jewish Proverb When occasion serves we may gainsay others but at no time must a man contradict himself The Third Beloved Conceit of theirs concerning Christianity is that there are no Mysteries in it Which indeed follows upon the former Opinion for if nothing is to be believ'd in the Christian Religion but what is made out by Exact Reason then there is nothing Mystical and Obscure in it This is a Point mightily urg'd of late by our homebred Racovians and their Adherents who have publish'd a small Essay entituled An Impartial Account of the word Mystery as it is taken in the Holy Scripture where they cantingly tell us that MYSTERY is the Tutelar God of the New Systems framed by Worldly Christians and it is the Vail of Absurdities and such like foolish representations they make of it and think themselves very Witty and Piquant when they call the Trinitarians Mystery-men as doth the Examiner of the Exceptions against Mr. L's Reasonableness c. But which is far worse they pervert the meaning of the Sacred Writ and wilfully I fear represent the word Mystery otherwise than it is used in the New Testament of which I hope to give the Reader an account some other time and to settle the true sense and import of the word as it is applyed in those Holy Writings All that I will say at present is that True and Substantial Reason informs us if we attend to it that God's bare Word is sufficient to determine our assent and belief and the Holy Scriptures acquaint us that there are Unsearchable Mysteries in the Christian Religion that there is hidden wisdom 1 Cor. 2. 7. that there are deep things of God v. 10. that there are things hard to be understood 2 Pet. 3. 16. that we know in part and see through a glass darkly 1 Cor. 13. All which and many other passages in Sacred Writ assure us that there are Unfathomable Depths Unconceivable Abstrusities in Christianity and that it is out of our ken and reach to apprehend them Therefore we are obliged to believe some things which are unaccountable to our knowledg and reason Yea indeed the proper matter of Faith are those things which we cannot have any notice of by the mere natural exercise of our faculties Revelation here is enough as was said before and we ought and that with the greatest Reason to depend upon it entirely because we know it is Infallible But because I intend at another time to insist particularly on the proof of this Proposition that Christianity not only was but is a Great Mystery I will not prevent my self here Let it only suffice at present that I have caution'd the Reader against our Adversary's groundless Assertion that there is nothing dark and obscure in the Christian doctrines that there is no such thing as Mystery in any of the Articles belonging to this Holy Institution They pretend to oblige the world by divulging and laying all open to the Vulgar Others are dark intricate perplex'd and muddy but they only are the Authors that are Clear and Bright and write with shining Japan Ink. In brief they and the Deists talk much of the Oracles of Reason and brag of their making all things out by these though generally they prove as vain and idle as the Reasons of Etymologists and the common Rationale's of the Roman Service and Rites But here perhaps it will be Objected that I have in this and the foregoing particular misrepresented these men for it will be said that in one of their Writings it is positively asserted that there are some Mysteries and incomprehensible
being a Sacrifice and thereby making an Atonement unto God for us upon earth which destroys that Senseless Fiction of theirs that he was not a Priest till he came to Heaven This is undeniable that where the Oblation of the Sacrifice is there is the Priest now it was here upon Earth that he was a Sacrifice he offer'd his own blood upon the Cross and therefore he was a Priest upon Earth Therefore it is said When he had by himself purged our sins viz. here by his blood he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 1. 3. He first offer'd himself a Propitiatory Sacrifice for us and then appear'd in glory and triumph in heaven Other Texts speak of Christ's ransoming us Mat. 20. 28. 1 Tim. 2. 6. and of redeeming us Rom. 3. 24. 1 Cor. 1. 30. And this Redemption was by his Blood Eph. 1. 17. 1 Pet. 1. 18. call'd the Blood of God Acts 20. 28. This was the Price that was paid for us and so it was a Proper Redemption This Price was paid to God's Justice to free us from the Penalty which was due by the Law to rescue us from eternal wrath and misery This is the doctrine which the Holy Scripture teacheth us and this is the faith of all who rightly understand those Writings viz. that Christ suffer'd and died to satisfie the Divine Justice in our stead and thereby to expiate for our sins and to redeem us from death and hell and to purchase life and salvation for us The Socinians deny this and thereby subvert the whole Gospel turn Christianity upside down ruine the very foundations of our Religion and pluck it up by the roots According to the doctrine of these Men we are yet in our sins for there is no True Expiation for them we are in a State of Misery we are overwhelm'd with our own Guilt we are hopeless helpless creatures and our condition is deplorate for there is no Satisfaction made to God for our transgressions Nay they are not content barely to renounce the contrary doctrine but they explode it with great derision and reproach First as to Christ's Merits we are told by Smalcius that it was taught by Socinus and Ostorodus that the opinion of those is false absurd and pernicious who have invented and feigned that there is any such thing as Merit in Christ. And Smalcius himself is bold to call it the Fictitious Merit of Christ and in another place that Dream of Merit Then as to the Satisfaction it self he is not afraid to stile it a Fiction that hath its rise from the brains of curious men And in his Catechism he hath these reproachful words Though now it is vulgarly thought by Christians that Christ by his death merited Salvation for us and fully satisfied for our sins yet it is a deceitful opinion erroneous and very pernicious Yea this doctrine of Christ's Satisfaction is termed Absurd and Impious by Socinus I appeal now to the Reader whether I need prove that those who use such language deserve the last of these Epithets themselves But are the English and Modern Gentlemen of the same opinion Yes as you may see in Mr. Bidle's Scripture Catechism as he calls it but very unjustly Chap. 12. where he shamefully corrupts the sense of Scripture to render his Opinion plausible If you consult one of their Later Writers you will find him in a deriding manner thus representing the doctrine of the Trinitarians viz. that God the Son being incarnate in our nature fulfill'd for us all obedience by his active righteousness and by his passive one he more than exhausted all that Punishment that is or can be due to Sin Whatever he did was for us and what he suffer'd was in our stead and one drop of his blood was sufficient to ransom a thousand worlds from the demerit of their Sins And then they labour to shew that the belief of such doctrine is of very ill consequence it 〈◊〉 the cause of the decay of Piety and it is thaâ—… which bolsters men up in their wicked courses Afterwards in way of derision they thus express the doctrine of Christ's Satisfaction Because they i. e. the Trinitarians pretend that God was incarnate and suffer'd in our stead they are forced to this conclusion that God hatâ—… freely pardon'd and yet was infinitely overpaid for all our transgressions and sins that of his mere Grace the abundance and riches of his grace forsooth he will pardon and save the penitenâ—… because he hath received for them 〈◊〉 you 'll believe it a price of Redemption c. These Tenents they scoff at aâ—… branches growing upon the Trinitarian Stock these they brand as scandalous absurd and heretical doctrines p. 11. 12 14. Iâ—… an other place they declare that the Oblation which Christ made of himself was not made to the Justice of God or by way of a full reparation to it but as all other Sacrifices of beasts formerly were an oblation or application to the mercy of God and as 't is added by way of humble suit In the same place they represent Christ's Satisfaction as a Monster and scoffingly call it the Trinitarians Fetch-back though presently after they seem to retract this Jargon In a pretended Letter to the Clergy of both Universities these New Racovians again ridicule this doctrine and so they do in some others of their late Pamphlets which makes their Character very wretched and dismal and to be abhorr'd by all Good Men and sincere Lovers of Christianity for it is too manifest that they tread under foot the Son of God and count the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing and do despite unto the Spirit of grace Thus you see how the doctrine of Socinianism as it respects God in general and more particularly the Persons of the Godhead and in a more especial manner the Second Person or Lord Christ Jesus and his Undertakings you see I say how extremely vitiated it is and fitted to the conceptions and notions of Prophane and Atheistical Spirits CHAP. IV. They maintain that the First Man was not created in a State of Uprightness notwithstanding the Writings of the Old and New Testament expresly assert the contrary Original Sin though attested in the same Holy Writings is pronounced a Fable by them Their groundless notion concerning the Spirit and Divine Assistance With the Pelagians they hold that Man 's Natural Strength is sufficient in order to faith and obedience What are vain and lying words according to Slichtingius Their strange conceptions concerning the Future State It is their opinion that the Souls of the deceased are void of all Perception and Sense that they Live not yea that they Exist not Which notions are proved to be contrary to Scripture and Reason The Immortality of humane Souls is shock'd by these Men. Which shews their Irreligious and Atheistical Propension Some of them disbelieve the Resurrection of the Wicked
in the writings of the New Testament first the Gospel secondly a firm and certain hope of eternal life This is the only acception of the word Spirit in the New Testament so far as we that are under the present dispensation of the Gospel are concern'd As for the former all Christians enjoy it as to the latter it is given only to those that believe and obey the Gospel whence it necessarily follows that it is not requisite before our belief or obedience There is no such thing as the Spirit in order to these i. e. in order to the producing of them in our hearts and lives But though they thus in plain terms renounce the Spirit is there not some Divine Help necessarily requisite for the begetting of faith and holiness in us Yes they grant there is an Outward Help vouchsafed viz. the Promises and Threatnings in the Scripture And there is an Inward one but what is that It is no other than this God's sealing what he hath promised in the hearts of those that obey him which is the same with what was mentioned before viz. a certain hope of eternal life and this is wrought in those that already believe and obey So that it is manifest when they speak of the Spirit and Divine help they mean no previous assistance or operation in order to believing and obeying These spiritual acts according to them are not the product of Divine Grace and the Help of the Spirit for they do not follow these but go before them This is the exact account of the Racovian Perswasion concerning this matter The present Set of Unitarians hold the same they scoff at the particular aids and efficacy of the Spirit in order to Conversion they mock at the inward word which God speaks to the heart whereby the word written or preach'd is rendred effectual whereby Sinners are first convinc'd and then reclaim'd They with Nicodemus profess that they know nothing of this marvellous doctrine they can't imagine what kind of thing this inward word is They will not by any means allow that all is done in Religion by the Grace of God and the assistance of the Spirit beginning continuing and perfecting good actions in us This was the very Heresie of Pelagiâ—…s he and his abettors held it was in every man's natural power to believe and repent without any inward operation of the Grace of God or influence of the Holy Ghost In this the Socinians agree with the Old Pelagians if the Writers of those times give us a true account of them These let us know that it was confidently affirmed by them that it is in the power of man to choose spiritual good without the special assistance of God yea that it is possible to keep the Commandments so strictly and exactly that they shall not stand in need of Pardon that they may arrive to such a Perfection in this life that they shall be able to live without sin as St. Jerom and St. Augustin who narrowly inquir'd into the Sentiments of these men expresly inform us That the Socinians have a Touch of this last to say no more might easily be proved from what is said by Smalcius and Crellius and Bidle and others of them and indeed it partly follows from the abovesaid Principle But the falseness and impiety of it are discernible by those who regulate their thoughts and apprehensions by the Holy Scriptures and who attend to that Article of our Church The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works to faith and calling upon God Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God without the grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have that good will There is nothing plainer and clearer in the New Testament than this that man can do nothing without the particular assistance of God that will be available to his Salvation And if any man asserts the contrary he makes void the Undertakings of Jesus Christ for he came to redeem us and save us because we were not able of our selves to effect any such thing Wherefore to say we that can of our selves and by our own natural strength do the things that are acceptable to God and will be conducible to our Eternal Salvation is to render the Redemption of Christ useless and unnecessary And this is that which the persons I am speaking of drive at and thereby undermine Christianity it self In brief judg of the Doctrines of the Socinians from what we find in one of the Heartiest Souls of them all who in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians reckons these following Particulars among Vain and Lying Words i. e. Groundless and False Doctrines viz. Justification by the grace of God and not by good works Christ's Obedience and his dying for our sins Faith in Christ Confession Repentance Remission of Sins Baptism and the other Sacrament Also he reckons up among these the Fall of Adam Divine Predestination and Election and afterwards false opinions concerning God and Christ and the Holy Spirit i. e. according to his meaning the believing of the Sacred Trinity Need I now come with my old Charge Do not these men talk like Infidels Fourthly I proceed to display their strange conceptions concerning the Future State and those things which relate to it and to examine whether upon that account they deserve the Character that was given them I will reduce all to these Four Heads viz. their perswasions concerning the Souls of the deceased concerning the General Resurrection concerning the Last Judgment and concerning the Punishment that follows it And the Reader will soon perceive that their apprehensions about all these speak them to be Irreligiously disposed Nay it will be as plain and evident as any Demonstration in Mathematicks that these Writers promote the Cause of Atheists in the world First As to the Souls of those that are dead Socinus holds that till the Resurrection they are devoid of all perception and sensation In these formal words he speaks The Soul of Man after this life doth not so subsist of it self as that it is sensible of any rewards or pains or that it is capable of feeling them And he adds that this is his firm opinion And that we may not mistake him he adjoyns this It sufficiently appears that my sentiment is this viz. that the soul of man doth not so live after his death as that of it self it is capable of rewards and punishments His friend Smalcius is more positive and down-right for these are his words We firmly believe that the deceased Saints exist not for as he explains himself the body perishes and the soul hath no life and perception therefore it may be said that the Saints exist not at all nullâ—… modo In
by steps That is the reason they have not in their Writings touch'd upon some of the foresaid Opinions But it is not to be question'd but that they have a good esteem of them and will in time when they have dispatch'd their Main Business betake themselves to the hearty defence of them But fourthly if I were to give a Scheme of the Roman or Popish Religion should I not discharge that Province sufficiently if I gave a true account of it from the Writings of the generality of Divines of that Communion and Profession in other Countries though I had not consulted every individual Papist in England about the Points Yes surely And so it is here Socinianism was not begot in Britain it is of Foreign Breed and therefore the Writings of those Foreigners who were profess'd Socinians are to be consulted and produced when we are to give a True Pourtraiture of Socinianism and accordingly this Method I have taken It was not necessary to ask every Little Pretender or Retainer to it in every corner of this Countrey whether he was exactly of the same Cut with the Outlandish Writers in every thing as if Socinianism were to be measured altogether by their sentiments and perswasions No Socinianism is not to be defined by what one or two Upstart Writers dictate this as Popery is to be judged and estimated according to the Generality of the persons that profess it And that is it which I have been doing I have been giving an estimation of it according to the Greatest Numbers of those who own themselves to be Socinians In this I have dealt fairly and no man can blame me for it Nay fifthly I have decipher'd Socinianism not only according to the judgment of the Most who own and profess it but of the Chiefest and Learnedest I have not only brought upon the Stage the Opinions which are held by the Main Body of them but I have consulted the Choicest Writers on the several subjects There are other Socinian Writers whom I have not mention'd as Goslavius Voidovius Gittichius c. but I chose out those that are renowned among them I could have produced the Assertions which are to be found in Servetus Valentinus Gentilis Bernardinus Ochinus Franciscus Davidis Sommerus Georgius Blandrata who made way for the reception of Socinus's doctrine against the Holy Trinity I could have quoted a later Author one Prâ—…ovius who in his Writings hath said something concerning most of the Points before mentioned Yea this Volume of his is order'd by the Party to be adjoyn'd to the Bibliotheca Patrum Polonorum And besides the Reprinting of it in the year 1692 shews that it is Authentick among the Modern Socinians But I have omitted this Polonian Knight for such they tell us he was he being not so well known to the world as the rest that I have named I chose rather to make use of those Names which are of general Repute and Credit among the Unitarians and whose Writings they have a great and universal regard for so great and universal that they take all they say from them If I had always listned to the Majority of Voices to only what the Biggest part of them say though that were sufficient it is likely they would have blamed me but now seeing I have likewise attended to the determination of those who are reckon'd the most Eminent among them I 'm sure they can have nothing to object against me They must not think to shuffle us off by saying the Foreign and English Unitarians are not the same for you see that these latter are included in the former and both of them make up One Body of Men who are known by the name of Socinians and who are all of them profess'd and sworn Opposers of the Sacred Trinity Thus I suppose I have fully answer'd what was Objected and it is manifest that our own Countreymen no less than Foreigners are concern'd in the Character which I have given of these men CHAP. X. The Author concludes with Inferences from the whole viz. 1. Socinianism is a Complication of Old and New Errors Quakers and Muggletonians sprang thence 2. It is strange boldness in the Socinians to pretend to ground their Opinions on Scripture 3. What hath been said gives us a right Idea of these persons It appears they are no Christians but great favourers of Judaism and Turcism especially of the latter 4. We must entertain none of their Principles 5. We are to take notice of the tendency of them to Irreligion and Atheism Socinians and Atheists at this day friendly agree Yet the former have the confidence to charge the Trinitarians with Idolatry and Atheism The Author writes nothing in way of Recrimination but from a sense of the Reality of the things themselves He appeals to the judgment of the Sober and Religious He thinks not himself concern'd to take notice of every scurrilous or trifling Opponent NOw from the whole I will make some brief Remarks and Reflections and so conclude First see how faulty how erroneous how dangerous how pernicious the Theology of the Socinians is It fails not in one or two Points only but in a vast number as I have let you see It is patch'd up of several different Opinions fetch'd from sundry quarters it is a Fardle of mix'd and disagreeing Notions it is a Nest of Heterodoxies a Gallimafrey of Old and New Errors a Medley of Heresies taken from Ebion and Cerintâ—…us the Sabellians Samosatenians Arians Photinians Macedonians who corrupted the doctrine of the Holy Trinity They joyn with Jews Pagans and Mahometans in disowning and denying this Great Mystery of Religion Other false opinions they have borrow'd from the Pelagians a sort of Antient Hereticks concerning Adam's fall and the Effect of it and man's Natural strength and ability in spiritual matters so that these men deal in Brokers ware Old Opinions trimmed up anew Again They comply with the Papists as I have shew'd in several of their sentiments and perswasions and if there be any Idolatry in the Church of Rome it is certain the Socinians cannot clear themselves of that crime They tread in the steps of the Old Sadducees and of the Epicureans and of several Antient and Modern Libertines about the nature of Spirits of Separate Souls of the Resurrection of humane bodies of the Last Judgment and of Hell They espouse the cause of Anabaptists they follow those Enthusiasts who disallow of the solemnizing of any special Time particularly the Lord's day who disbelieve the benefit and use of the Sacraments and deride the Office and Call of Ministers in the Church It is observable that in their late Pamphlets they with great rudeness and incivility speak of Preaching In one place I remember School-boys and Preachers Rhetorick are joyn'd together by them and in five or six other places they have a fling at the Pulpit which they mention with great disdain It seems the Profess'd Instructors of the people are very much
out of their favour They laugh at the Orthodox as they call them for thundring it from their Pulpits that matters of Faith are above Reason So the Letter to the Clergy of both Universities chap. 10. And those that will not reject the Trinity and other doctrines exploded by the Socinians are Priest-ridden Letter of Resolution p. 19. They adhere to other Enthusiastick Spirits as to their mistaken conceits concerning Magistracy and the Secular Sword They perfectly accord with the Quakers in their opinions about the Trinity Christ's Satisfaction Original Corruption concerning the Ministerial Function and Mission concerning Infant-Baptism the Observation of the Christian Sabbath going to War c. So that any considerate man may observe that Quakerism is the spawn of Socinianism Nay they seem to have given rise to the wild Sect of Muggletonians who from them have learnt to hold but One Person in the Godhead viz. God the Father and to call the Trinity or a God of Three Persons as they speak a Monster as our Gentlemen are pleas'd also to express themselves They have been taught from them to renounce the Power of the Christian Magistrate and the Office of a Christian Minister they are instructed by them in their Tenents concerning the Spirits or Souls of men viz. that they can't act without the body and that therefore they are extinct as soon as they are separated from it They are the very words of this late Party and they are taken from the Racovians An other detachment is that the Bodies of the deceased wherein they lived and died shall not rise again shall not appear any more This is their language whence it is evident that Reeve and Muggleton suck'd their Principle from Faustus Socinus and his Adherents And thus you see that as the Socinians borrow from several Sects so they set up others they receive and distribute Poison and thereby doubly endanger mankind Lastly it is apparent that they borrow from Deists and Atheists and thereby yet further bring mischief upon the world And from the whole it is evident that these persons are corrupted not only in some matters of lesser moment but in those that are of the highest concern not only in merely Speculative doctrines but such as immediately relate to Practise not only in some Principles that respect the Circumstances of Christianity but in those that are Substantial and Fundamental those that are of the very Essence of the Christian Faith Let this be seriously thought of that we may have a true apprehension of the mischief of Socinianism Secondly Observe the strange boldness as well as falshood of these men They are often in their Writings insinuating into their Readers that they build all their Assertions on the Scriptures and thence they require their assent to what they deliver But from the several Particulars which I have insisted upon it is clear that they have no ground to require or claim it upon that account for I have manifestly discover'd the opposition of their Tenents to the plain dictates of the Holy Spirit in the Bible There they are condemned as spurious and adulterate Notions there they are rejected as Pernicious and Poisonous doctrines And yet they have the confidence to ground these on the authority of the Inspired Writings the Sacred Oracles of Truth yea One of them tells the world that he was brought to these Perswasions by reading the Scripture that hereby they may the more effectually impose upon the minds of men who they think will be ready to attend to that which they pretend is bottom'd on the Word of God Thirdly These things which have been suggested may be serviceable to give us a Right Idea of the persons I have been dealing with Surely those who have thus mangled and abused Religion cannot be thought to have a Good Intention in the work which they are about at this day yea they must be thought to have a very Bad one We may argue thus It is no wonder that they that pervert and deprave so many doctrines of Religion do more especially enervate the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity If it were only on the account of all their other wild notions we might have reason to suspect yea to condemn their blasphemous Opinion concerning our Lord Jesus Christ viz. their flat denial of his Godhead and of his Satisfaction c. It is not to be marvel'd at that they proceed thus far having done so much besides having in other Points of Christianity shew'd what a faculty they have of perverting and distorting the Truths of the Gospel What I have said therefore will be useful to enlighten the Reader that he may understand what manner of persons these are that to speak plainly he may be convinced that they are no Christians Whatever pretences they make to that Title it is impossible they should with reason lay claim to it for they neither are baptised into the Christian Faith nor do they make Profession of it as you have heard but on the contrary they subvert Christianity it self and deny the Divine Author of it How then can these men challenge the name of Christians Nay I could observe that they industriously comply with Jews and Turks in opposition to and defiance of all Sober Christians To gratifie the former they think fit to renounce the avowed Principles of the latter Herein they follow their Old Friend Servetus who had convers'd a long time with Jews and Mahometans and had espoused many of their Opinions and was a great Admirer of them Especially he declar'd his approbation of the Alcoran and thought it reconcileable with the New Testament if the doctrine of the Trinity were laid aside It is often mention'd by Socinus and other Racovian Writers that this doctrine and that of the Incarnation hinders Jews and Turks from embracing the Christian Religion And even the late Socinian Penmen in their New Tractates talk much of this that the doctrine of the Trinity puts a stop to the conversion of Jews Mahometans and Heathens and thereupon they are very earnest with their Readers to abandon this Great Point of Christianity in mere complacency with those Infidels And more particularly it is observable how favourably they speak of Mahometism or Turcism they profess themselves forward to believe that Mahomet had no other design in pretending himself to be a Prophet but to restore the belief of the Unity of God which at that time was extirpated among the Eastern Christians by the doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation Mahomet meant not his Religion should be esteemed a New Religion but only the Restitution of the true Intent of the Christian Religion Therefore the Mahometan Learned men call themselves the True Disciples of the Messias They further in the same place insinuate their approbation of the Mahometan Religion above that of Christianity they magnifie the Alcoran and the more plausible Sect of Mahomet as the Saracens call'd it and at the same time they represent the
They deny that the dead shall rise with the same Bodies It is unreasonable to deny this merely because of some Difficulties that attend it Though we should suppose an Annihilation of humanâ—… bodies yet God can raise them the same Much more may we conceive the same bodies to be rais'd out of something The very notion of Resurrection implies the rising again of the same Individual Body This doctrine is founded on the evidenâ—… testimony of Scripture It is shew'd iâ—… what respects the contrary opinion is an argument of Impiety THirdly I proceed to consider the Groundless and Irreligious Sentiments of these Men concerning the First Man and the State he was in at his first Creation They all agree in this thaâ—… though Adam had a natural ability to do what God enjoyn'd him yet he was not created in a State of Uprightness He is said to be made upright Eccl. 7. 29. because he was not created depraved but if we speak properly he had no Natural Rectitude or Righteousness So Socinus And therefore he gives us his judgment very decisively thus Let us conclude that Adam even before he transgressed the commandment of God was not truly Just. Ostorodus hath the very same thoughts of him and another Warm Gentleman who is much applauded and admired by the Party tells us plainly but in no very clean language that it is an old stinking Fable that the first Man was adorn'd from his very creation with holiness and supernatural gifts But what if this Fable be in Scripture Yes most certainly that which he in such vile terms represents as such is the doctrine of the Old and New Testament God created man in his own image Gen. 1. 27. And that we may be more ascertain'd of it it is repeated in the very same place in the image of God created he him And that this Image consists in Holiness and Righteousness is clear from Eph. 4. 24. and Col. 3. 10. where the Apostle speaking of the Image of God in which man was at first created places it in Righteousness and true holiness as well as knowledg How then can it be said by these Writers that the Image of God wherein our first Parents were created did not consist in Sanctity and Righteousness how can it with truth be said by them that there was no Positive Moral Goodness and Rectitude in them This is directly contrary to what the Inspired Writers deliver concerning them Let the Reader now judg on which side the Fable is and at the same time let him judg how impiously the foresaid Writer represents the Word of God as an Old stinking Fable To proceed There being according to these New Theologists no Original Righteousness in the first Man his posterity can't be deprived of it and accordingly they deny Original Sin i. e. though they hold man's nature is corrupted and depraved yet they say it was not at all derived from our First Parents there is no defect blemish or depravity propagated to their posterity Socinus frequently vouches this and so do several of his Partizans who appear in great throngs upon this occasion and with one consent profess that by Adam's Apostacy the nature of man is not depraved men are not born with a propension and inclination to that which is Vitious by reason of that First Defection The contrary opinion is according to Socinus an arrant Cheat and Imposture for these are his own words Whatever evil effects in mankind the EVANGELICKS i. e. the Protestants and PAPISTS attribute to the first sin of our First Parent it must needs be that they are Vain Fictions and Dreams of men Whatever Divines dispute about Original Sin it is all of it clearly to be reckon'd as the mere invention and forgery of humane wit And then he pretends in another place to trace its Pedegree and to give you the Rise of it That Device of Original Sin is a Jewish Fable and brought into the Church from Antichrist If this be true then St. Paul's doctrine is fabulous By one man sin enter'd into the world Rom. 5. 12. By one man's disobedidience many were made Sinners v. 19. And this Great and Infallible Apostle himself must be reputed Judaical and Antichristian when he adds that death enter'd by sin i. e. by that One Man's Sin spoken of before and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned viz. in that first Man And again v. 17. By one man's offence death reigned by one Hence it is evident that Adam and his race became Mortal because of this First Transgression But Socinus is of another opinion for it is the first thing you meet with in his Prâ—…lections that the first man before his fâ—… was by nature mortal Smalcius will by no means grant that Adam was created in a state of Immortality but that he was naturally Mortal and though he had not sinn'd yet he should have died With whom agrees Volkelius confidently asserting that Mortality is not the effect and punishment of the Fall And the rest of them hold that Adam's Sin endamaged himself but no body else his posterity suffer'd not they derived no Infection no Stain no Depravity from him But are the English Socinians of this mind Yes for the Effects and Consequences which we ascribe to Adam's Fall are flatly denied by Bidle in his Scripture-Catechism chap. 3. And in one of their late Prints the Natural Depravity of man i. e. his propensity to evil and his aversness to good are represented as false and absurd And a little before they peremptorily deny that Adam's race have any sin derived much less imputed to them and that they are punish'd for it God cannot possibly do this they say yea they have the confidence to add these horrid words that this is the just character of an Almighty Devil Accordingly they cry down Original Sin as a mere Sham and Imposture And hence issue a great many Unsound Assertions which are in great vogue with all Socinians If there be no Corruption convey'd to Adam's race if they receiv'd no hurt by his Fall then they have as he had a natural power to do all that God requires of them They still have an ability by nature to imbrace all good and to avoid all evil which are the express terms used by their Writers And hear what their Catechism saith Qu. Is there not need of the inward gift of the Holy Spirit that we may believe the Gospel A. Not at all And the reason is assigned afterwards namely because this is a gift that is confer'd upon such as already believe the Gospel Here you see what is the Racovian Divinity It is not the Spirit of God that enlightens mens minds and enables them to receive the Truth the Spirit of God is not the original of all Grace in us This is clear from that notion which they form concerning the Holy Spirit by which is meant say they