THE TRUE CHARACTER OF THE Spirit and Principles OF SOCINIANISM Drawn out of their Writings WITH Some Additional PROOFS of the Most Holy Trinity of our Lord's and of the Holy Ghost's Divinity By J. GAILHARD Gent. They changed the Truth of God into a Lye Rom. 1.25 Therefore Give them O Lord What will thou give Give them a Miscarrying Womb and dry Breasts Hos 9.14 LONDON Printed for J. Hartley over-against Grays-Inn in Holborn MDCXCIX THE PREFACE TO THE Christian READER ALL Prayers and Endeavours against the Abominations of the Times have not altogether been in vain a kind of Curb having by the late Act been put upon it and if the Offenders be strictly punish'd through God's Blessing we may hope to see the Sins really suppressed the Law if not well kept is but a dead Letter and becomes contemptible but a strict Execution makes it useful and effectual which we promise our selves to see by the Pious Care of a Prince whose Chief and most Glorious Title is Defender of the True Christian Faith whilst Violent and Cruel Persecutions are raging abroad and sad Anti-christian Impieties at home who knoweth whether he be come to the Kingdom for such a Time as this to be an Eminent Instrument in God's Hands to do that Work God in an extraordinary manner hath raised him upon the Throne of these Three Kingdoms and as he doth nothing in vain so we may well conceive it to be for some extraordinary Ends. Therefore I now upon my Knees do most humbly beseech Him by whom Kings Reign in a plentiful measure to give the King the Spirit of Wisdom Knowledge and Vnderstanding and of the Fear of his Name that he may truly know what God after the great things he hath done for him doth now expect from him and to guide direct and with his helping Hand support Him in bringing those Great Ends about HIS MAJESTY hath given us Peace with Men and we now humbly desire he would endeavour to procure it with God and cause the War we are at against Heaven to cease which we cannot so much as hope for as long as God's Great Name is Prophaned his Son Dishonoured his Holy Spirit Blasphemed his Word wrested and Impiously ridiculed by a sort of Men in the World who not only in private but openly with Tongue and Pen go about to pull our Holy Religion up by the very Root and to overthrow the Fundamentals of Christianity who not only proudly despise the Judgment of the whole Primitive Church but that which is infinitely worse through their Impieties and Blasphemies they Crucifie again the Lord of Glory make the Wounds of Christ to bleed afresh and who to speak in the Apostle's Words Have trodden under Foot the Son of God and counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith we are Sanctified an Unholy thing and have done Despite unto the Spirit of Grace That Holy Blood which at other times speaks better things than that of Abel's doth now upon this Occasion cry loud for Vengeance because 't is abominably prophaned and by the denial of the Causes and Effects of its being shed undervalued We thank God for the Prospect we have to see the Evil remedied through His Majesty's wholsome Influences The Life of our Laws without which they are insignificant we hope to see derived from him and if I may be allowed to make a Comparison in a thing which admits of none as the Spirit of God moved upon the Face of the Waters to quicken and make them fruitful so the Breathings from the Throne and the Motions of the Royal Authority can infuse an effective Vertue into our Acts of Parliament For as of a Bill to make a Law the King's Assent is necessary without which 't is but a dead Lump without Form and signifies nothing so when 't is passed the Executive Power Originally in the King is that which gives it Life and Strength or else 't is dormant and languisheth Now upon the present Account far be it from us to think that for want of commanding a due execution of the Laws His Majesty will ever suffer Blasphemy Idolatry Prophaneness and Immorality to be Blots and Stains in his Reign His Majesty's Word we have for and may depend upon 't insomuch that in case the Act doth not produce it 's due Effect as considering the Spirit of that Odious Sect some are of Opinion it will not no doubt but that His Majesty without being prompted to 't will of himself be pleased to mind the Honour of God and of Religion The Ground of our Hope and Confidence is this At the opening of the last Session of Parliament the King in his Speech to both Houses promised to take care to suppress Prophaneness and Immorality which afforded the Honourable House of Commons an Occasion to Address to His Majesty concerning it and His Majesty's Answer when 't was presented deserves to be written in Letters of Gold Thus it was Gentlemen I cannot but be very well pleased with an Address of this Nature and will give immediately Directions in the several Particulars you desire But I could wish some more effectual Provision were made for the suppressing those pernicious Books and Pamphlets your Address takes notice of The Work of Reformation is great but the time short so it 's necessary to begin it betimes and follow it close No Man as our Saviour saith having put his Hand to the Plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God Therefore no one that in his Station hath concern'd himself in this good and just Cause must draw back but within the Sphere of his Activity must go on to promote it and not be weary in well doing Before Men engage in a Matter they ought to know why and upon what Grounds But once being satisfy'd with its Justice and Goodness notwithstanding Difficulties and Oppositions they are bound to continue for and not forsake it for God in his due time will bring all to a happy end Men either must not believe or else must own what they believe and profess what they own He that comes with God's Word in his Mouth needs not be ashamed or afraid For my part with the Royal Prophet I may say I will speak of thy Testimonies also before Kings and will not be ashamed Books Printed for and sold by John Hartley over-against Grays-Inn in Holborn THE Blasphemous Socinian Heresie disprov'd and confuted Wherein the Doctrinal and Controversial parts of those Points are handled and the Adversaries Scripture and School-Arguments answered With Animadversions upon a late Book call'd Christianity not Mysterious Humbly dedicated to both Houses of Parliament By J. Gailhard Gent. 8 vo Price 3 s. 6 d. The Epistle and Preface to the Book against the Blasphemous Socinian Heresie vindicated and the Charge therein against Socinianism made good In Answer to two Letters By J. Gailhard Gent. Price 1 s. Herodian's History of the Roman Emperors containing many Strange and Wonderful Revolutions of
go further and blasphemously deny God's Omnipresence and consequently his Infiniteness and Immensity Now God is present every where first by his Essence 1 Kings 8.27 for thereby he fills up all things the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him And whither shall I go from thy spirit Psal 139.7 8 9 10. or whither shall I flee from thy presence c. God is also every where by his Knowledge Heb. 4.13 for nothing is hidden from it for all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do God is also every where by his Power and Operation 1 Cor. 12.6 for he worketh all in all Yet for all these a Socinian * Crellius de Deo p. 278. Author denies God to be every where for he would not have him to be amidst filthy and defiled things as if his Holiness was thereby in danger of being defiled But I ask is the Sun less pure or is it stain'd for shining upon Filth and Dunghills or is it thereby infected God they would confine in Heaven which indeed is the Chief Seat of his Glory and as the Word saith Is his Throne and the Earth is his Footstool And as God in his Glory is in Heaven Isa 66.1 in his terrible Justice is in Hell so in Earth he is both in his Mercy and Justice Thus he is every where God's Eternity they dare not openly to deny but the Nature of it they very much corrupt for God's Eternity is his own Existence which is necessary and by reason of most supreme Perfection cannot not be Vorstius in not ad Thes 7. disp de Deo therefore what one of the worst of Men writes is false Inanis Logomachia c. It is an idle dispute about words for any one to deny Eternity to be the same with eternal time for Time is a Contingent and Duration but Eternity doth denote a necessary and unmeasur'd Duration therefore Crellius runs upon as bad ground when he saith That God's Eternity hath Parts when it is altogether indivisible and seeing God's Eternity is God himself Eternal it admits of no Accident and therein is no Priority nor Posteriority as 't is in time As to God's Omniscience they would confine it within certain Bounds for saith one of them * Crellius cap. 24. p. 202. 't is not extended unto things which cannot be known by Nature So he denies the Determination of future Contingents And †Praelect Theol. p. 547. alibi Socinus though he owns a Divine Prediction of some things to come yet will not attribute it to God's Prescience but only to a Divine Decree But their abominable Impieties about these Matters are plainly and abundantly to be seen in * Protest Anti-Vorst pag. 361 362. one of their Authors whose Book King James caused to be burnt here by the Hangman Against the Author and Book he published something of his own and did write to the States General to turn him out of his Place of Divinity-Professour at Leyden and to banish him for he knew it to be the Duty of Princes to suppress Blasphemy and punish Blasphemers He made an Extract written with his own Hand of some of this Man 's blasphemous Impieties and sent it to his then Ambassador in Holland by him to be presented to the said States-General Vorstius p. 112. as we find them among his Works one of which is his giving God a Body as already mention'd The 2d is this Non satis igitur p. 232. c. They who affirm God both in Essence and Will wholly to be unchangeable want a due circumspection Further p. 237. nusquam Scriptum legimus c. We read no where God's Substance to be simply Insinite but many things there are which seem to have a contrary sense Another is this Magnitudo nulla c. No Magnitude is actually infinite therefore God himself is not There are three things more of the same Stamp observed by that King p. 308 441 171. one about the Determination of future Contingents from Eternity Another for a general Science of God without the special one of things to come And the last is That many things may happen in the World without God's Fore-knowledge Thus those Wretches do meddle not only against the Persons of the Godhead but also against the Nature and Attributes of it But the Orthodox and Learned King James to suppress Blasphemy and Heresie burnt the Books that contain'd it for besides that of Vorstius he caused that of Bertius for the Apostasie of Saints also to be burnt whence we may infer That if the Authors had been within his Dominions he would have punish'd them And some Years after the Racovian Catechism which is the Socinian Gospel was by the Parliament condemn'd to be burnt They write and act against the Three Persons both singly and jointly first against the Father with denying him to have been such from Eternity for they affirm he had no Son from Eternity without which he could not properly nor actually be a Father thus by a new Relation of Paternity in time he was made that which he had not been from Eternity Secondly against the Son by denying his Divinity and Eternal Generation which is the Foundation of Christian Religion 1 Cor. 3.11 and other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Not that he is a meer Man for the Church of God is not built upon Man Matt. 16.18 but that He is the Son of the living God For upon that Truth which Peter made solemn Confession of he said Vpon this rock that I truly and properly am the Son of the Living God I will build my Church wherefore the Apostle calls him the chief corner-stone 1 Pet. 2.6 Thirdly Against the Holy Ghost whose Divinity and Personality they also deny tho' Scripture appropriates to him as I shew'd elsewhere and somewhat lower shall speak of the Names Attributes Works and Worship proper to the only True God We know that in Scripture the Name Holy Ghost and Spirit of God are sometimes improperly taken for the Gifts of the Holy Ghost or for the Vertue of God but withal when 't is properly spoken which happens often then it signifies the Third Person of the most Holy Trinity therefore he is represented as the Father's and Son's Ambassadour whose secret Councils he knows and by whom he is said to be sent and so Faithful one that he speaks not of himself but what he hears that he speaks and he is called the Comforter Paraclete and Advocate to signify a Person and not a Vertue But as those Blasphemers are not satisfied to prevaricate against every Person of the most Holy Trinity separately they also do 't together and jointly against the Three for though the Word of God affirms that in the Unity of Nature there are Three Named the Father the Word and Holy Ghost where
Blessed Trinity God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost nor the known Articles of our Christian Faith upon pain to have his Tongue bored with a Red-Hot Iron and in the Humble Petition and Address of the Officers of the Army to the Parliament signed on Thursday May 12. 1659 and presented by Eighteen of the Chief of them though at that time they were grown High and Sawcy yet in their Petitioning for Liberty of Conscience they excluded those that were against the most Holy Trinity and the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as 't is in the 6th Article thus That all Persons who Profess Faith in God the Father and in Jesus Christ his Eternal Son the true God and in the Holy Spirit God Co-equal with the Father and the Son one God Blessed for ever And do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the Revealed or Written Word or Will of God shall not be restrained from their Profession c. Which plainly imports that those who deny the Holy Trinity c. should be restrained in the same Article they also exclude from that Liberty Popery or any that held forth Licentiousness or Prophaness under the Profession of Religion These things not usual to come from an Army were very good Also the late Act of Toleration which in the latter part of this Discourse I shall have occasion to make use of excludes all Anti-Trinitarians from the benefit of it And Hobb's Leviathan was in October 1666. Condemned by the Parliament in their Bill against Atheism and Prophaneness And both that and his Book de Cive by the Convocation in July 21. 1683. all this shews how from time to time and upon occasion here care hath been taken justly to punish Blasphemers that they might learn not to Blaspheme and be made an example to others for they are a publick raging Plague destructive wheresoever they be not to be suffered to profess and publish their Blasphemies in any Christian State or Society When God's time is come and he will be pleased to incline the Hearts and over-rule the Councils of Men to stand against Blasphemy Prophaneness and Immorality which all except Blasphemers Prophane and Immoral Livers will do then the nature of them that are guilty thereof and whom we do and shall complain against till there be a relief must well be considered to make the remedy effectual experience shews them to be proud willful obstinate and insolent strong mouthed therefore require strong curbs and to be hard bound in order to it 't is humbly conceived and with possible respect submitted to the judgment of Superiours how the words of a new Law when enacted ought to be full and plain that when it comes to be executed there be no ground left for difficulties and exceptions so that therein the end of the Law be sufficiently express'd and the things 't is intend against clearly set down 't is but to dally with and flatter the distemper not to lay strict and sensible penalties upon all that speak writ or otherwise directly or indirectly do oppose the Truth and appear for the Sin First the Authors Abettors Fomenters Printers or other Publishers ought to feel the severity of the Law not only in a privative way as to be made incapable of any publick charge or office whatsoever in Church or State but also to strike a terrour and come nearer home to inflict Money penalties and the like for the fear of a pecuniary mulct will work upon some Men whether Author's Printers or Publishers but as 't is not enough to punish the Persons but also the things must be suppress'd thereupon a Prohibition to Print any more New Pamphlets and Books tending to Propagate Heresy and Blasphemy is as necessary as the Burning or otherwise Destroying those which already are abroad no Bookseller under such a Penalty should be allowed to have any in his Shop not to distribute any either publickly or in private those that are abroad should be called in and Publickly Burnt and none few excepted be allowed to keep any no more than they are to have Treasonable Books and against the State This would make People have a care how they meddle with such things Lastly to make a Law more Effectual it requires great and severe penalties against those who are to execute the Law as Justices of the Peace Constables and others concern'd if they neglect it the executive part is the Life and Soul of the Law without which 't is insignificant we already have several Laws in force against Blasphemy Prophaneness and immorality whereof an abstract was publish'd not long ago 't is both pity and a shame they are not put in execution and no body punish'd for want of it a good new Act to revive them all would much tend to the Glory of God the Church's Good the Honour and Happiness of the Nation to encourage Piety and Vertue and to suppress all manner of Sin whether in Doctrine or Practice We read of the ten Plagues of Egypt and we complain of the like number of the Adversaries evil Practices which in matters controverted between them and us they plague the World with as since their beginning they ever did and now continue to do there is hardly any prospect to hope that in time to come they will alter for thorough a long custom they in their Hearts where the plague lyeth have turn'd it into an habit they want Sincerity and deal not fairly thus to make them appear in their own colours and shew how much they prevaricate we charge them with the ten following things First they wrest God's Word to confirm their Doctrines instead of examining their Doctrines by that word according to the Analogy of Faith and the general consent of the Christian Church Secondly they introduce strange perverse unheard of and condemn'd Senses and Interpretations contrary to the usual signification of the words and phrases of Scripture and to the Scope of the Texts Thirdly they take the liberty at their pleasure to alter and change the full stops Commas Colons Letters Syllables and whole words and this to set up their Doctrines and false Interpretations as also at sometimes they add at others they take away to serve their ends which in maters of Religion is what in civil ones we call to forge and falsify deeds a very infamous thing but worse in matters of Religion because to the falsehood are join'd Impiety and Sacrilege Fourthly to the light of Revelation they oppose that of Human Reason which is dark weak deceitful and fallible as by experience we find in Humane and Natural Things but the other is clear certain infallible and leading us to the knowledge of the Truth Points of Faith must not be examined by Humane Reason which is often contrary to it Fifthly they digg up out of their Graves ancient and condemn'd Heresies to revive them like a new Plague to be spread again over the
Why hath Satan fill'd thine heart to lye to the Holy Ghost in the next verse it 's said Thou hast not ly'd unto Men but unto God These last Words explain the first how to lye to the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 3.16 is to lye to God Paul is another Evidence when he saith Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you That Spirit which dwelleth in them is the same true God whose Temple they are farther as God is every where Psal 139.7 so is the Holy Ghost Whither shall I go from thy Spirit saith David which comes to this I can go no where but there he is so the Holy Ghost is Infinite and none but God is such Rom. 8.9 and the Spirit of God dwells in you as he doth in every Believer and as there are Believers of all Nations Ages Sexes Qualities c. in the World so the Holy Ghost who is in them all is all the World over and so God absolute Eternity belongs to God and the Holy Ghost is Eternal too as we have it thus Heb. 9.14 1 Cor. 2.10 Christ through the Eternal Spirit offered himself and who but God can know all things whether of Men or of God But the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God The Work of the Creation is proper to God and incommunicable to the Creature which cannot be both Creator and Creature to Create imports in him that doth an infinite Power to fill up an infinite Space between a nothing and something which no Creature is capable of he who is to all others the Author of their Beings must need have his own of himself and that is God for he that built all things is God Psal 33.6 Job 26.13 now the Holy Ghost made the World for as By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made so all the Host of them by the breath Spirit of his Mouth to this purpose 't is said by his Spirit he hath garnish'd the Heavens And in the History of the Creation Gen. 1.2 we read how that same Spirit moved upon the face of the Waters to give Life Motion and make them Fruitful besides none but God can bestow the Spiritual and Heavenly gifts of Grace but the Holy Ghost is the Distributer of them for he divideth to every Man severally as he will 1 Cor. 12.4 11. that is independently as of his own and without giving any Accounts farthermore the Ruling of the Church appointing of Apostles and other Ministers and accordingly he endu'd the Apostles and on the Day of Pentecost filled them with Gifts to qualifie them for their work and the Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have call'd them Acts. 13.2 'T was God's work and 't was God who appointed them so he not only gave them Commission to go but also appointed them the Field where to sow the Seed of the Word Chap. 16.6 7. for the Holy Ghost did forbid them to preach the word in Asia tho' they had a mind to it then they would have gone to Bithynia but the Spirit suffer'd them not again Paul tells the Elders of the Church of Ephesus that The Holy Ghost had made them Overseers over that Flock Chap. 20.28 In sew Words all Offices and Gifts in the Church he absolutely disposes of as to him seems good Besides we must take notice of the Glorious Titles given him in Scripture applyable to no Creature as are the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of Adoption John 15.26 Rom. 8.15 Chap. 1.4 Tit. 3.5 Matth. 12.28 Rom. 9.1 Matth. 18.9 2 Cor. 13 14. John 5.7 Matth. 12.31 the Spirit of Sanctification and the Spirit of Renewing or Regeneration and by whom Miracles as Casting out of Devils are wrought furthermore how Divine Worship Honour and Prayer is due and render'd unto the Holy Ghost thus Paul calls upon him as he who knew the Hearts And in the Form of Baptism in the Apostolical Blessing he is equally call'd upon with the Father and the Son and equally concern'd with them in bearing Record in Heaven besides the Holy Ghost must be God seeing The Sin of Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven being the most Abominable and Damnable of all hence I conclude the Holy Ghost equally to be God with the Father and with the Son Their second Error is to deny the Holy Ghost to be a Person but seeing as we already prov'd he is God of the same Nature with the Father and the Son he must be a Person as indeed the Proprieties of a Person are Attributed unto him for in our Saviour's Conception he Acted and Sanctifi'd the Virgins Womb in his Baptism he appear'd in the visible shape of a Dove and of cloven Tongues in the Day of Pentecost in his name we are equally Baptiz'd with the Father's and the Son 's He sent the Apostles Rom. 8.26 He maketh intercession for us besides that he doth create and work Miracles and to none but a Person it doth belong and is proper so to act and so to do Of this Error of theirs there is another branch for they would not have the Holy Ghost to be a Person of the Godhead distinct from the Father and from the Son but the contrary doth appear John 15.26 for in Scripture he is call'd the Spirit of the Father and of the Son he is sent by the Father and by the Son he is distinguish'd from the Father and from the Son by a personal Property to proceed as he is expresly call'd another from the Father and from the Son The Father will give you another Comforter Chap. 14.16 Saith our Saviour that is another from the Father and from me The Heretick Macedonius deny'd the Divinity and Personality of the Holy Ghost and affirm'd it to be only a Vertu and Power whereby the * Smalc Exam. Err. 157. Err. 132. and 137. Father and the Son do work which Fundamental Error Socinians borrow'd of him Spiritum Sanctum c. saith one of them The Holy Ghost is in God a Propriety or Attribute as are Wisdom and Justice Furthermore The Holy Ghost is not one but many of inequal Dignity because there are different Gifts he would set up different Spirits 1 Cor. 12.4 tho' the Apostle saith positively There are diversity of Gifts but the same Spirit We own as we did before how according to an unusual improper and figurative way sometimes the word Spirit signifies the Gift and Workings of the Holy Ghost but when 't is properly taken then it signifies the third Person in order of the Godhead partaker of the Nature therefore call'd God as prov'd Another Socinian calls the Holy Ghost Virtutem illam c †Schlichting in Simbol p. 99. That Virtue whereby God particularly sanctifies those Men which are dear to him And so all along he runs on
upon that perversly contriv'd Notion Their third Error about the Holy Ghost is to deny him to be the only sufficient cause of our Conversion and Regeneration tho' as said before he be call'd the Spirit of Regeneration John 3.5 and our Regeneration is by our Saviour call'd to be born of the Spirit but Socinians who mostly cross Scriptural Truths are of another mind for saith one quod c What Frantzius saith * Smalc cont Frantz disp 8. that the Holy Ghost alone by his Virtue and Operation doth all these viz. the inward assent to God's Word our Conversion to God the knowledge of Christ and Faith in him is false How easily do that People give one the lye that same saith that our Regeneration may not be call'd the work of God alone but it depends upon Man's Will and Acting So that great work of Conversion is divided between God and Man whereof all the advantage is made to be on Man's side for Man hath the Negative Vote he may receive or reject but God not so thus Man's Salvation is at his own command Thus far we have spoken of the Nature †Volkel de Creat Morosov cont Smiglec Attributes and Persons of the Godhead now as to God's Works Him they deny to have made the World out of nothing but of a Matter without Form which is to bring into Divinity the Materia prima of Philosophers but I ask did that Matter exist before the Creation of the World If so then it was from Eternity for in Scripture to be before the World and to be from Eternity are Synonimous and signifie the same and this is to joyn in Opinion with those who hold the World to have been Eternal which is a parte ante to match God's Eternity and also to make it Eternal a parte post This also strikes at his Almightiness as if he could not have made something out of nothing which properly is Creation I elsewhere discoursed abundantly against their over boldly presuming upon God's Word with submitting it to their Fancies by them mis-called Reason When they consult it 't is not with an intent thereby to be guided and submit their Judgment to its Decision but only with wresting it and forcing unusual and not natural Senses to make of it a Stalking-horse and to serve their wrong Ends and herein they are so self-conceited and so much abound in their own sense as to reject the help of other Mens Learning Labour and Industry For saith their * Socin Tom. 1. p. 344. Master Non attendendum est c. We must not mind what Men teach and believe or what heretofore they taught and believed whatsoever or how many soever they are or have been What a pride is this Neither Prophets nor Apostles or Evangelists excepted though immediately inspired of God and elsewhere he would scorn to own any Judge of Controversies whether single Man or such a body of Men as the Church is which certainly God in these Matters hath left some Authority with according unto his Word but he is of another mind when he saith Quod quaeris c. †Epist 3. ad And. Dudith To what you ask who is to be the Judge of Controversies about Holy Things I answer without us there is no need of another Judge than God and Christ This in plain terms is to make themselves the sole Judges for God and Christ speak to us by the Prophets and Apostles Their Endeavours of reconciling Jews Mahometans and other Anti-Trinitarians to the Christian Religion with removing what therein gives them offence tho' never so much to the Overthrowing of the Fouudation thereof is a clear Evidence of their setting up themselves as Judges in those Matters If they had gone about to convert them it had been very well and Christian-worthy but not so when for sinister Ends of their own they would only mince and trim with them Scripture we Christians call the Infallible Rule of Faith and Practice Now in Obedience and Regard to God and according unto sound Reason to the directive and decisive Authority of this Rule we who are so fallible ought to submit our Judgments to and yield Obedience of Faith 'T is very unreasonable to make every one's Reason a Judge in Matters of Religion thus there shall be so many Men so many Judges yet in the World are so many ignorant unlearned carnal prepossess'd with Prejudices blind wordly obstinate wicked and deprived of the Spirit of God here is a great Number and Diversity of Judges but how can they be Judges of things which they do not understand about these Matters another Errour of theirs is That they would not have the Doctrines of Faith to be drawn by Consequences out of Scripture for say they it requires Reason which all are not capable of therefore say I we do not allow every one to draw those Consequences Neither is their Argument good because though Reason be necessary to Knowledge yet 't is not as if it were the Foundation but as 't is the Instrument of knowledge therefore the Word is not Preach'd to Children to meer Naturals and Mad People besides that the Light not of Nature but of Grace is the Principle of this Knowledge of Divine Matters which the Unlearn'd as well as the Learned do Understand not by the Light of Natural Reason but of Divine Revelation Now I say that a Conclusion well deduced from premises is also true because virtually contained in the premises and 't is most certain that in the Word several great Truths are proved by deduced Consequences as is one of the Fundamental Articles of our Faith Matth. 22.31 32. Out of Exod. 3.6 Matth. 22 44 45. Out of Psal 110.1 1 Cor. 2.13 the Resurrection of the Dead so our Saviour proves his Divinity so doth Paul and many more such things and Scripture we must compare with Scripture for according to the saying quae non prosunt singula juncta juvant for that which is darker or seems so in one place will appear clearer and plainer in another comparing saith Paul of himself spiritual things with spiritual But here upon the point of Holy Scripture I must not omit to take Notice of the Blasphemous expressions of one of their great Men and a stiff stickler for his Master Socinus's Opinions * Smalc Exam. 100. Err. err 16. Christians ought little to care what the Prophets say of the Worship of one God according to this we must not mind what Prophets say though never so Important as is the thing in question the Worship of one God so there is a door made open for Idolatry and a breach of the first precept of the Law but those setters forth of strange Gods affirm we may Worship one who by Nature is not God not supreme nor independent but I intend by the Grace of God to speak more at large of this in another place of my discourse but the Man would not have us
Greek nor Hebrew so could make no such Quotations and Observations as we read therein There he questions the Text of 1 John 4.3 Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is not of God where he adds a Parenthesis when there is none thereby to exclude the words Jesus Christ is come in the flesh from being in the Original farther he saith in Jude 4. where are these words denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ The word God is not in the Alexandrine Manuscript this tends as they think fit to make Scripture subservient to their ends and to make things therein doubtful by adding taking away Rev. 22.18.19 1 John 5.7 or altering whereupon I give him warning to mind what is said in the word But because the Text of John about the three in Heaven is what he most insists upon though I elsewhere have spoken of it here I shall again say something about it although many Learned Men before have so examined the place See my Book again Socin p. 273. and my answer to the I. letter p. 36. that hardly any thing can be added to what hath been said They argue the Verse is not in some Antient Greek Manuscripts nor in the Syriac but this is not Argumentative for though it be not in some it is in others and if we should go only upon that bottom the reason is equally as good for us as for them * De Vnitate Eccles Cyprian who lived about the middle of the third Century made use of the Text and Jerome or the Vulgata hath it Erasmus upon better Thoughts and after a more mature Deliberation had it in his new Edition of the New Testament and at this day the Greeks have it in their book call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which must needs be in Conformity to some Antient Greek Copies If it be not in some of the Antient Copies we may well suspect some Anti-Trinitarians of those times according to the usual way of Hereticks who went about corrupting by Additions Diminutions or Alterations those Texts which hit them to the quick to have expunged and taken it out it might also happen through the mistake of the Copist for whom as at this time 't is found by experience 't was not impossible through carelessness or unfaithfulness to leave out a whole Verse and there is a particular Reason why it may be so in this for there are two Verses one after another 7 and 8. which begin with the same words There are three which bear record in c. which might easily cause a mistake in the Copist and take the last Verse for the first and so omitting one to go on in the other besides that the Sense leads us to see there must be such a Verse to make three in Heaven answer three upon Earth without which there would be a breach left in the place and something defective to answer the Apostles design who already in Verse 5 and 6. hath mention'd the three for he saith Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believes that Jesus is the son of God That is of God the Father so here are two of the three Persons and in the next Verse the third Person namely the Holy Ghost is named It is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is truth So that this Verse 7. is a deduction of what hath been said in the foregoing and the expression beareth witness used in the Verse in question confirms it as the Spirit is one of the Witnesses so are the Father and the Son besides that as the beginning of Verse 7. contains a Reason of what is said in Verse 6. how the Spirit beareth witness which is expressed thus For there are three c. so the Copulative Particle and which is the first word in Verse 8. joyns and makes it answer the foregoing But because I find the Man makes use of Simon Crit. v. t. c. 2. the Oratorian's Critick a Man who of his own Head in several things speaks over-boldly and who seems to be of his Opinion he should know that his Writings are by Protestants to be read with Caution for in all those kinds of things especially in this case he goes upon his Popish bottom how the Authority of Scripture depends upon the Testimony of the Church so that nothing is Canonical and to be believed as such but what the Church saith to be so therefore upon that account they believe the Apocrypha and their Traditions to be of an equal Authority with the Canonical Books thus all such Papists according to their Principles will say ye must believe that Verse to be in because the Church saith it But to come to * Simon 's Critick upon 1. John 5.7 p. 8. Simon he mentions some Manuscripts he hath seen in the French King's and Colbert's Librarys which saith he have not the Verse in question not in the body of the Book but in the Margin they have Yet mark what he writes The writing of the Addition appears to be no less Antient than that of the Text the like he saith there of some Manuscripts in the Benedictines Library of St. Germain's Abby and the Addition therein is as old therein as the Text it self since the Additions in the Margin are as old as the Text it self there is ground left to believe that they were at or about the same time when the body of the Copy was and that the Copist saw he had forgotten it and having no room left to insert it in he did it in the Margin but Father Simon hath omitted a very material thing for he ought to have said whether the Copy and the Addition in the Margin appeared to be written by the same Hand for if so then the Copist intended thereby to mend his Omission In matter of Manuscripts some things must be observed like as we do in the case of Medals for both relate to Antiquity we go by some certain Rules to find whether or not the Medal be true or false stampt or cast and the time when it was so we have Coins of Roman Emperours of Kings of Macedonia Syria c. which though of a good Workmanship yet we value them not because posteriour to the time when such an Emperour and such a King lived and this we know by the nature of the Metal the edges of the Piece the form and disposition of the Letter how round how long and how close one with another for all those differences we find in Medals which to learn requires indeed much Experience for want whereof some Men who have a great Erudition about those things and are excellent in the Theorical part of that noble curiosity yet when it comes to the Practical they easily are imposed upon and cannot discern the Genuine from the Counterfeit Nay about these things there is sometimes such a Dexterity used by those who make a Trade of it
went with Moses and led the People through the Wilderness but the Angel of his face or presence Isai 63.9 2 Cor. 4.6 whom I elsewhere fully proved to be the Son of God Jesus Christ in whose face as the Apostle saith We behold the glory of God The word to shine which is in the Verse doth signifie a property of the Son Mal. 4.2 1 John 1.16 ver 17. 1 Cor. 16.33 Gal. 6.18 Phil. 4.23 1 Thess 5.28 2 Thess 3.18 Philemon 25. for the Son is call'd the Son of righteousness the latter part the Lord be gracious unto thee doth plainly relate to the Son Jesus Christ who is the Fountain of Grace for of his fulness have we all received and grace for grace no true Grace to be had but only in him for saith the Evangelist Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ after this Form of Blessing it is that Paul doth conclude several of his Epistles as a Prayer to God for those whom he did write to or as a Blessing of God upon them The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all The 3 Verse hath things specially attributed unto the Holy Ghost as To lift up his countenance upon and give them peace It seems as if David pointed at this when he saith Lift up the light of thy countenance upon us Now to enlighten encourage countenance quicken and strengthen Men Psalm 4.6 is the proper work of the Holy Ghost so is to give peace therefore he is call'd the Comforter who gives us inward joy assurance and peace of Conscience and unto our Souls he applys the benefits of all that Christ hath done and suffered for us the better to understand this let us compâ—re these 3 verses of Numbers 6. with Paul's words which are an Explanation thereof The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 13.14 and the love of God the Father and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all This shews a Conformity in the Form of Blessing under the Old and New Testaments the like we find in Jude ver 20 21. where the three Persons are distinctly set down This I shall conclude with the following Observation how St. John explains Moses's words in the beginning John 1.1 and that the word Bara Created in Hebrew consists of three Letters for though there be four yet one being twice in there are but three different and these three begin each the Hebrew words signifying Father Son and Holy Ghost as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aleph begins the name Abba Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth the second Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet as Aleph is the first begins the word Ben or Son and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resh begins Ruach Spirit Hachodesh which signifie the Holy Ghost now must we proceed to other things We know it to have been the practice of all Hereticks who would not downright deny Scriptures but keep an outward shew as if they own'd them to come in and by a side Wind to corrupt the Truths therein contained and no Sect went on in that way more cunningly presumptuously and obstinately than Socinians who would make of it a tool with wresting and falsifying them to serve their ends and though they so highly pretend to an unreconcilableness with the Romish Church yet therein they follow their Methods and have taken great and unhappy pains in corrupting both the word of God and the Writings of Men but God who is and loves truth in his infinite Wisdom to the confusion of the Authors of such Works of Darkness brings them to light the World hath been acquainted with the notorious Cheat of the Jesuits of Mentz who with the leave of the then Prince Elector Palatine borrow'd of the Library Keeper of Heidelberg the Manuscript of Anastasius about the Lives of the Popes which they offer'd to get Printed at their own Charges and after they had given good Security that the Manuscript should be return'd they had it upon this Condition that every thing therein should be printed and nothing left out which Condition was put in in relation to the History of Pope Joan that was in 't But mark the Trick the Jesuits got it Printed and in one Book only which they were engaged to put in the Palsgrave's Library all was according to the Manuscript but that which related to Pope Joan was left out in every other Book Which Cheat of theirs the Library-Keeper having afterwards found out he about it publish'd his Complaint to the World That Manuscript is now in the Vatican among the rest of the Heidelberg Library but though when I was in Rome I several times used means to see it I could never obtain it nor in Milan neither where another Manuscript of the same is said to be in the Ambrosian Library 't was own'd to me that there is one but when I desired to see it which I did more than once with one pretence or other 't was ever put off Such are the shifts by Papists used to conceal the proofs of a Woman having been a Pope and an infallible Head of their Church Thus Socinians are glad of any pretence which to the utmost of their power they would improve to have the 7th Ver. of the 5th Chap. of 1 John expunged because it lies so heavy upon them but the consideration of such Practices affords an occasion to admire and adore God's wise and infinite Providence with great Mercy to his Church that notwithstanding the malice and craftiness of Hell and its Instruments wholly or in part to suppress Holy Scripture yet such hath been his Divine Care of it having given his People that Holy Word of his never to fail to the Worlds end that he hath blasted the wicked Endeavours of all who would have depriv'd the Church of that Heavenly Bread but through so many Ages and amidst so many various Dispensations of his Providence hath to this day continued whole and in its Purity for the Good and Benefit of his People Thus in the days of Josiah was by Hilkiah the High Priest 1 Kings 22.8 found the book of the law in the House of the Lord which was the Copy that Moses left with them as it appears out of 2 Chron. 34.14 which either by the Negligence of the Priests had been lost or by the wickedness of Idolatrous Kings had been rejected and in some kind abolish'd The like care God was pleased to use at the Taking and Burning of Jerusalem and of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar though 't is not express'd how for we must not mind the Jewish Fabulous Stories about it yet so it was as we gather out of Artaxerxes's words to Ezra Ezra 7.14 Thou art sent of the King and of his seven Counsellors to enquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand Thus God hath rescu'd his Holy Word of the New Testament from the Rage and Malice of the Jews of
prove further I shall go on And with the Apostle say Heb. 3.4 He that made all things is God that is truly and properly God of himself now in several places Scripture saith All things were made by the Word which Name John usually calls Christ by John 1.3.10 Colos 1.16 Heb. 1.2 The World was made by him which him or that Person Paul in two places speaking of this same point of Creation calls the Son of God by whom all things were made and by whom he made the Worlds and so all things therein for by the Expression All things in Heaven c. are understood all the Works of Nature the whole Work of the Creation But to elude the weight of the Argument which lies heavy upon them sometimes for they are apt to change and diversifie their Notions and are constant only in unhappy Contrivances how to wrest Scripture they say that the name Word signifies Reason and not the Person of Christ which Notion I * Answer to Lett. I. p. 29 30. elsewhere have spoken against but at other times when they are press'd and cannot deny it to belong to Christ then to shift it off they say the name Word is taken for his Prophetical Office but the Evangelist gives it for Christ's proper and personal Name for that very name is given him upon another account and in a different occasion when he was seen in his Glory and Majesty as a King at the Head of Heavenly Armies going to fight there 't is said his name is called the Word of God Rev. 19.13 ver 16. and in that place he is styled King of kings and Lord of Lords So 't is not in relation to his Prophetical Office for the state wherein he then appeared had been very improper he was a horse-back not to speak and teach but to fight so then the name is not given him upon the account of his Prophetical Office If this be a name of Office what 's the reason why none of the Prophets or Apostles who taught and preach'd God's Word were never call'd by the name the Word 't is often said that the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and other Prophets but never that Isaiah or any of them was the Word of the Lord and this Word now in question was the Son of God 2 Pet. 1.21 1 Pet. 1.11 Rom. 1.25 who came to and spoke by the Prophets for they saith an Apostle spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost who by the same is called The spirit of Christ which was in them I love to make use of Scripture when I answer the Devil and refute his Lies and of those who as Paul saith change the truth of God into a lie After our blessed Saviour's Example I say it is written We must not wonder if some Men go about to impose upon others their Lies for Truths seeing Satan whose Children Liars are had the face to lie to him whom he knew to be God Son of God when he said Luke 4.6 The power of all the kingdoms of the World is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will I give it So we may say of his Children They bend their tongues like their bow for lies Jer. 9.3 but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth But to go on I must observe how the Lord absolutely and subjectively taken doth in Paul's stile ever imply the Person of the Lord Jesus So in John's stile the Name Word used in the same manner doth always signifie the same Person And our Saviour the Eternal Son of God call'd by the Names of Jehovah Lord God Son of God who at several times was in Human Shape seen by the Patriarchs and spoken of by the Prophets is the same who in the fulness of the Times was made Man in the Virgins Womb his Body by the Operation of the Holy Ghost having out of her Substance been therein form'd and preserved from natural human Corruption not that he was transubstantiated into Flesh for what is changed into another ceases to be what he was and begins to be what he was not but God can never cease to be what he is nor become what he was not But to return to the Name the Word when the words are the same and about the same Subject we may believe the Thoughts and the sense to be the same for the meaning is express'd by words In the first Chapter of John the Name God is eleven times in a true and proper sense made use of and in that whole Gospel nor in the whole New Testament can any instance be given that the absolute word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God in the Singular be improperly taken but always properly so we must take the word in the usual and natural sense of the Scripture rather than in the improper and metaphorical of Socinians So when John saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word was God we must properly understand the Names Word and God the first of the Person the second of the Nature Here they would cavil with saying God is the Subject the Word the Predicate but certainly there being the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyned to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and none to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sheweth the contrary but indeed the Exception is frivolous because essentialia praedicata sunt reciproca the essential Predicates are convertible if God be the Word the Word must be God Take notice how as by the Word God the true God is to be understood so when 't is said the Word was God 't is meant the Word was the true God They object he that is with one is not the same whom he is with so the Word must needs be one and God another but they will not take notice how the Evangelist saith not only that the Word was with God but also in the same Verse that the Word was God which is so plain as to need no Interpretation But to answer in the School way I say he is not the same formalitèr sub eodem conceptu formally and under the same Notion but in a different here are two Persons he who is and he whom he is with we confound not but distinguish the Persons the Word is essentially God tho' not relatively the Person of the Father They move every Stone if possible to serve their turn therefore as they would rob the Lord Jesus of having created the World so they go about to deprive him of preserving and upholding it for what is said of God's upholding all things by the Word of his Power Heb. 1.3 Colos 1.17 which in another place is thus By him all things consist which means thè same as the other yet the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original rendered by to uphold they would Translate to govern which is an idle nicety he that governs well doth uphold what he governs so that provided the thing remains we will not stand
When he had made a Scourge of small Cords he drove them all out of the Temple And 't is observable John 2.15 that what he said in John Make not my Father's House a House of Merchandise In two other Evangelists 't is said My House is the House of Prayer Mat. 21.13 Luke 19.45 so his Father's House and his is the same And John mentions that his Disciples remembred that it was written The Zeal of thine House hath eaten me up Here is a Precedent for all in Authority that love Religion and the Honour of God to be zealous to suppress and punish those who Prophane and Blaspheme it and I must own it to be sad Times when no restraint or curb is set upon them It hath formerly been made a Question which of these two is the worse either when every thing is lawful or when nothing is lawful Tho' both be extremes which commonly are vicious yet the first I reckon to be the worse of the two for I had rather to be deprived of some kind of Liberty than to see others with trespassing upon that Liberty to do and say what they list I can in Temporals be content to part with some Liberty rather than to see others in Spirituals to take a Liberty of Blaspheming and Prophaning God's Holy Name and Religion Yet I would not have a sort of People in the World to take an Advantage of this so as to deprive me of a just and honest Liberty under the Notion of restraining others from an unlawful Freedom in indifferent and circumstantial Matters Liberty may be allowed when it must not be in necessary and Fundamentals That busie and restless Spirit of Socinianism doth upon all occasions discover it self whereof we have a late instance in what happened at Canterbury which is to huff and defie our Church in the very Face of the Primate 'T is a shame that some few Foreigners Tradesmen and others corrupted by their own Natural Confidence and tho' encouragement they here meet with should be suffered to mock our Holy Religion and in spight of our Laws after Tricks Shufflings and such Circumstances as make the thing the more odious to set up Antichristian Meetings as those who are informed of the Matter well know They have the Face to pretend to the benefit of the Toleration Act passed in the first Year of William and Mary but by a Clause in the same they are not qualified for it except they declare their Approbation of and subscribe the 39 Articles very few excepted which relate to the Church Government and Ceremonies for the Act is intended for the Ease and Liberty only of those who differ in Circumstantials or at most those who overthrow not the Fundamentals which they who do are unworthy of or else it were by Law to allow of Impiety Blasphemy Idolatry or any Heresie and in that part of the Act relating to Quakers a Sect very unsound in the Faith there is a great tie upon them for 't is said they shall subscribe a Profession of their Faith in these Words I A. B. profess Faith in God the Father and in Jesus Christ his Eternal Son the true God and in the Holy Spirit one God blessed for evermore and do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine Inspiration Here is a Test for Socinians wherein is asserted the first of the 39 Articles of one God in three Persons so they declare they believe the Holy Trinity and the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as also the Divine Authority of Scripture Now I say that tho' this be expressed only in that part of the Act which relates to Quakers yet we must take it to be the Intention of the Law to reach every one that comes under the benefit of the Act and this is so plain that about the latter end of the same all Anti-Trinitarians such are the Vnitarians are excluded from the benefit of it the words are plain Provided always and be it farther Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that neither this Act nor any Clause Article or any thing herein contained shall extend or be construed to extend to give any ease benefit or advantage to any Papist or Popish Recusant whatsoever or any Person that shall deny in his Preaching or Writing the Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity as are declared in the aforesaid Articles of Religion After this we may well wonder at any one who will say there is any benefit by this Act intended for Socinians it appearing so much to the contrary that there is no Toleration allowed them By what I said out of the Act it sufficiently appears how binding it is against those who deny the Holy Trinity as Socinians For they who pretend to the benefit of it to qualifie themselves must not only take the Oath to the Government but also subscribe to every Doctrinal Article of the 39 in the first and second whereof chiefly the Anti-Trinitarian detestable Heresie is fully Condemned This as to the Letter of the Law but herein according to the Gospel there is a Christian Prudence to be used Socinians as well as Jesuits have Equivocations and mental Reservations They sometimes to serve their turn subscribe things which as some of them have been heard to say either they do not understand or else have within themselves a particular meaning thereof Now upon such occasions the Officers concerned to tender the Oaths and receive Subscriptions ought to be Cautious how they admit some Men to 't In a Tract I have written concerning Oaths I mentioned several necessary things upon this matter only this I shall say for the present that when there is no ground of Suspicion nor any thing to create doubts of the Sincerity of him or them that are to Swear and Subscribe then the Oath and Subscription to end the business may be admitted leaving it for God to judge of the Truth and Reality of the Party concerned But it should be otherwise when there is cause to doubt of a Man's sincerity for fear of being Instrumental in his Ruin and Damnation I would not easily believe a Man whom I have ground to suspect he is a Lyar nor tender an Oath to one whom I hear to be apt to forswear I do not say a Man may absolutely refuse to put him to his Oath but not to be accessary to his Perjury I would be very wary and cautious and endeavour to find out whether he be real or comes with an ill design Why should I put a Dagger or a Cup of Poison into the hand of one who may happen not to be sound in his Mind and not Compos Mentis therewith to Stab and Poison himself or others in this case of Heresie we have a considerable instance in the Person of Arrius whom we heard of when I spake of the Council of Nice 't is thus The Emperour Constantine upon the suggestions of an Arrian Priest whom