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
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
to mind what the Prophets or what God saith by the Prophets this is a bold stroak of a pen against the Old Testament he that is so sawcy with the Old can soon be so with the New and so against all Revealed Religion but because 't is fit for me to shew upon what occasion he saith it I must pass to another point and say few Words to it the more because this hits our Socinians who call themselves Vnitarians in that place the question is between the strict Socinians and the sect of Davidians whether or not Christ should be Worship'd and Pray'd to which Socinus was for though indeed to little purpose only as a Medium as †Tom. 2. p. 772. he saith and in Relation to God but Francis David against now Socinus and his Adherents were very strict and positive for their Opinion such as it is * Epist 3. ad Radecium Tom. 1. p. 391. he himself is large upon it and there saith de re omnium maxima c. 't is the greatest point of all in our Religion and somewhat lower he adds noli igitur rogo obsecro c. do not I beseech you oppose a most clear Truth but own the most excellent Mystery and foundation of Christian Religion here by the by take Notice how contrary to some of the Gang he calls Mystery something in our Religion and †Epist ad Synod Waegrov elsewhere to an Assembly of Antitrinitarians he saith they ought in their Churches to maintain the Adoration and Invocation of Christ for saith he if it be despised Judaism nor Epicurism or Atheism cannot be kept out and their * Catec Racov p. 115. eos prorsus non esse Christianos Catechism saith of those Men who pray not to Christ and hold he must not be adored they are no Christians at all seeing they really have not Christ whom they deny in deed though dare not do 't in Words This hits home the Vnitarians let them Answear it as they can But to say all tho' Socinus had as you read so strongly pressed that point yet †Epist ad Enjedin Tom. 1. p. 485. elsewhere he reckons it among indifferent things such as God in his Word hath neither commanded nor forbidden and so not altogether necessary It is very strange how one can be for the Adoration of Christ yet Blasphemously to call him * Smalc exam err 100. a made God or a deisied man a God of the second order a God subordinate to the supreme One but after what he saith in the same Book we must wonder at nothing from him †Err. 8. non est certum c. 't is not certain that God is precisely to be adored for his Divine Nature and elsewhere * Err. 15. non est certum c. to Worship one Onely God who is supreme God by Nature and independent is somewhat to Judaize and deny the Christian Religion nay he goes further and saith †Err. 17. Angelis qui sunt dij c. No man may deny that Divine Worship may be and hath under the Old Testament really been rendered to Angels which are heavenly Gods After this distinction there are also hellish Gods Further God may Command that every Angel be Worshiped for a God but I am sure God never will for he never contradicts himself is not this perfect Idolatry which we charge Socinianism with but I must get out of this stinking Blasphemous and Idolatrous dunghill the Devil John 8.44 saith the Lord is a lyar and his Children are liars and this Man is such one with a Witness for he gives God the lie But before I leave off this point to come closer upon some of our Socinians here I must with a stroak of my Pen hit their great Master Francis David who to shew his want of sincerity and his perverseness of Heart doth so wretchedly wrest the Protomartyr's Prayer to the Lord Jesus when being stoned to death he said Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit which with his ignorant and unsound Interpretation the Heretick would thus depravate O God the Father who art the Lord of Jesus receive my Soul Did any wretch ever screw up his hellish brains to force such a sense upon Words so plain without the least shaddow or appearance of ground for it only because he would have him by no means called upon was ever any Text worse mangled than this by the Additions of that Wicked Man This is the Spirit of those who call themselves Vnitarians and I Socinian-Davidians but to the thing There is a phrase which answers this Chap. 9.14 viz. All that call on thy Name which can admit of no such sense as the Heretick would force upon the other for there Ananias speaks to the Lord Jesus of those who pray'd to and believed in him there is besides a prayer of St. John to our Blessed Lord which leaves not in the least place to quibble or cavil at Amen even so come Lord Jesus Rev. 22.20 which as to the Object fully and plainly answers that of Stephen Lord Jesus receive my Spirit when Paul besought the Lord thrice he certainly thereby pray'd to him who answered and said my grace is sufficient unto thee and that this was the Grace of Christ who thus answered his prayer in plain Words he declared it 2. Cor. 12.9 I will Glory in my Insirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me so that the Divinity and Invocation of our Blessed Saviour is clear enough out of Scripture so 't is out of the Faith and Practice of the Christian Church at all times That by the Primitive Christians he was believed to be true Consubstantial God and adored as such it appears not only out of the Writings of the Doctors of the Church both before and after the Nicene Council who Condemn'd as Hereticks all that did speak or writ against it but also by the Testimony of their Heathen Enemies as Pliny in what he did write to the Emperour Trajan about the Christians who gave of them this Character that they owned Christ to be God and as such Sung hymns in his Praise Now we must go on and speak of other things concerning Adam they hold many bad and dangerous Errours as Scripture saith Gen. 1.27 he was Created in God's own Image which consisted not in one but in many things in Soul and Body and in the Union of both in his Person the Soul is in the Image of God First As to her Nature which is Spiritual and Immortal Secondly As to the Faculties namely the Understanding and Will Thirdly As to the habits of those Faculties that is in Wisdom and Righteousness for as God is Spiritual and Immortal so is the Soul as to Understand and to Will are Proprieties of God so he endued Man's Soul with an Understanding and a Will as to the Body though there be less of God's Image in it than
of Blood Thirsty Had I any hand in his Condemnation and Execution No doubt there is a great deal of Sincerity and Truth in such a charge against me Fy for shame leave off such lying tricks which can do your cause not a straw worth of good and answer my Arguments 't is a general accusation they have against every one that is no Socinian when I say I could wish to see by lawful authority and means that Blasphemous Heresy of theirs suppress'd they presently say you would bring an Inquisition upon us Socinians they blunder out that scare-crow word Psal 9.12 but extremely misapply it Inquisition is a good word if Men do but make a right use of the thing it signifies David calls God an Inquisitor for he makes Iuquisition for Blood So he doth for Blasphemy as in the cases of * Irenaeus lib. 3. c. 3. Euseb Eccles Hist l. 4. c. 14. Corinthus and of Arius forequoted So for Idolatry and after this patern why should not Magistrates who make Inquisition for Blood make it also for Blasphemy and Idolatry God standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty he judgeth among the Gods Psal 82.1 That is if Princes and Judges do not their duty God whose Authority is above theirs will take Vengeance of them In the second place I am mention'd with a witness Pag. 30. The Religious Frenzies of Mr. Gailhard which have been so well chastised by two honest Gentlemen By this stile one may easily know that meek modest moderate and Christian as they would be call'd sort of Men but a Zeal for the Honour of God and Interest of Christ is no Frenzy I am very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts saith Elijah 1 Kings 19.10 14. if this Man had lived in his time he would not have spared him but taxed him with Frenzy though I make no comparison between the Persons yet the cause is the same but such Men should know how a weak fainting and languishing Spirit is no fit nor proper frame in God's Service I find with him the word Religious is a Saddle for any Horse Legat's perswasion was Religious so are my Frenzies when will that evil Spirit depart from them when will they cease to give People ill language however those Frenzies of mine have been well chastised how well let the vindication of my Epistle demonstrate but these two chastisers or slanderers are two honest Gentlemen how can it be otherwise if they be Socinians For Honesty is their Essential Quality but they are a greedy sort of People who would suck in to themselves all Religion Piety Vertue and Honesty In the third place he saith Pag. 52. Mr. Gailhard and the growth of Errour have already declared open war against all Church-Men of the Arminian perswasion The more Enemies we have among ourselves the better for them who are the common Enemy but I find they always are ready to embroil things if they can thereby to fish in troubled Water and may be hence it comes I mean out of their Den that of late we have seen Pamphlets come abroad to revive old and for the present unnecessary Disputes But Sirs what need ye talk of a dispute between Me and my Neighbour whilest there is one depending between you and me let us first of all decide the difference that is between us and then we may talk of that between my Neighbour and Me In the mean while I find they throw their Foam about upon others as well as upon me for the Man saith * P. 50. but as for such furious Inquisitours as Mr. Edwards and Mr. Peter Brown I reckon they are so very Passionate that they are utterly incapable of attending to sober Reasoning from plain Christian Principles better for them to Answer our Books than to give us ill Language Nay like a distempered Man he strikes on all sides for to attain to the end of undermining the Church which they all aim at he spares not the most Eminent Men we have in 't for thus he saith †P. 23. Vnitarians are no Deists much less Atheists or as a Reverend Father out of the abundance of his Charity Complements them irreligious profligate Villains but it is to be hoped that he will recal those bitter words at least for his own sake for I am told they are resolved plainly to make it appear to the World that his Lordship's Doctrine in some of his Books accords as much with the Racovian Catechism as theirs But that Reverend Father knows well what he saith and none of them all can Teach him how to speak but as they presume to Wrest the Word of God so they think they may do with the Writings of any Man but that Eminent Person being well able to Vindicate himself it were in me a presumption to attempt it but how can we believe Men who say * P. 31. the sentiments of the Vnitarians set down in the agreement no one that I know of hath undertaken to refute or charge with Heresy Suppose their Opinions have not been refuted or charged with Heresy as contained in the particular Book he names can he deny it to have been so by several Eminent Authors in their Works but these Modern Socinians would bis coctam nobis apponere Crambem bring the same thing over and over again would not they also against the known Truth make the World believe that †P. 29. the Vnitarians have no particular private Opinions about matters commonly held necessary to Salvation different from the Church of England that is if the Bishops and chief Doctors of the Church know what the Church means Here is Pride he must teach the Bishops and Doctors of the Church what it is that they believe as if they believed they know not what yet that being so notorious and palpable an untruth he sometimes pulls in his horns I do confess saith he * P. 29.30 that I much fear the Vnitarians may have private Opinions about Articles commonly held necessary to Salvation different from the Opinions of the Compilers of the Thirty Nine Articles and from the Grammatical literal sense of those Articles for thorough them as thorough our Homilies there runs a vain of that Scheme which at this day is called Calvinism there he owns they have not Cranmer Latimer and Ridley on their side let him if he can clear these two things from Contradiction What he saith * P. 31. that the difference is only about words elsewhere I sufficiently Answered sure I am we much differ in what he saith †P. 28. that what Christanity teaches beyond that which natural reason dictates hath not the efficacy to prevent Atheism which natural reason hath is not this if by Christianity he means Christian Religion which is the natural signification of word and thing to prefer Human Reason before Reveal'd Religion or Scripture and out of this must not we own those modern Socinians to be as bad as
thing another as falfe They say that before the coming of Christ such * Wolzog. in Matt. 4.10 p. 189. Worship was lawfully and justly rendered to Angels who represented God's Person but that Worship was rendred only to one Angel no created one whom in my former Book I sufficiently proved to be the Son of God The same Author affirms * In Joh. 5.23 That every Man that is sent representing the Person of him who sent him ought to receive that honour due to him that sent After this the Prophets and Apostles sent by God and by Christ ought to have been Worshiped with the same Worship due to the most high God which cannot be deny'd to be Idolatry yet these People would pretend to abhor Papists for their Idolatry which is properly when the Worship due to God alone is paid to the Creature whereby one God is divided into many and as Papists to excuse their Idolatry towards Saints and Images idly distinguish the manner of it under different Names according to the different Objects so do Socinians with their Relative Notions of dependent and independent of high and most high God what by them is mention'd of John's falling before the Angel to Worship him we may look upon 't as a Flaw in him as the denial of Christ was in Peter therein to forbid us the Worship of Angels for we read how the Angel surpris'd at it with a sudden as it were Exclamation as happens at a great trouble of Mind rejected it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See thou do it not Now as this Opinion of the Socinians doth agree with that of Papists who say they worship not the Saint or Image but Relatively to God or God in 't so Socinians say the Adoration is due to Christ not of it self but by accident not terminatively but transittively the Worship passes from him to the Father whom they Worship in Christ just as Papists do God and the Saint in the Image This Opinion of Socinians doth also agree with that of the Heathens about their half or Semi-Gods Gods of an inferiour Orb for besides those made Gods they owned a supreme one and above all the rest Thus the Socinian Divinity agrees with that of Pagans and Gentiles as if I had time I might easily demonstrate not only out of Cicero Seneca Lucian Celsus c. but also out of Lactantius Augustin and other Christian Writers This Opinion of theirs doth also overthrow the Christian Faith for what is to embrace the Christian Faith 1 Thess 1.9 but to be turn'd to God from Idols to serve the living and true God The Gospel which Paul and Barnabas preached to the People of Lystra is this We preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God Acts. 14.15 which made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are therein which they say Christ made not Mark here the Question was about the worship which those Heathens would have rendered to the Apostles Farther Socinian Idolatry is directly opposed to the first Precept Matth. 6.24 chap. 2.16.17 Thou shalt have no other Gods before me And induces Men to serve two Lords and two Masters which Scripture saith no Man can do In Hosea we read that God said Thou shalt call me Ishi my Husband and no more Baali my Lord though a fit and proper name to call God by who is Lord and Master over all for his absolute Dominion is extended over all his Works The Reason why he would no more be call'd by that name is because it had been abused and prophaned being given to Creatures and attributed to Idols for our Lord is a jealous God and will not have his Name and Glory communicated to Creatures which he abhorr'd therefore he declar'd in that same place And I will take the names of Baalim out of her mouth Before I leave off this point I shall in a few Words take notice how nice in the Primitive Church Men were about the Unity of Essence and Trinity of Persons When the Heresies there against appeared abroad this very thing about Arrius's time was like to have made a great breach between the Greek and Latin Churches which through Athanasius's Piety Care and Prudence was prevented The Controversie was about the Greek word Hypostasis and the Latin one Persona The Latins suspected the Greek word might signifie Essence and Substance which had brought in the Heresie of the Tritheists of three Gods for thus three Essences had made three Gods on the other side the Greeks thought by the Latin word to be meant only a Relation and Office and not truly a Person which had been a meer Relative distinction but nothing real in 't thus the Doctrine of the Trinity had been overthrown and so Sabellianism which saith that the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are but one Person had been brought in but in the Synod of Alexandria Athanasius having to remove all suspicion from both sides proposed that the words Hypostasis and Persona might indifferently be used in both Churches it was agreed unto and Peace settled thereby God grant we may here see the like upon the Foundation of Truth to the Confusion of Heresie that with a bare face now walks up and down which in the Prophets words we may say to Thou hast a whore's Forehead thou refusedst to be ashamed Jer. 3.3 but God in his due time will make it so and explode it hence out of what Solomon saith Pride goes before destruction Prov. 16.18 and a haughty Spirit before a fall we may modestly infer that if not a whole downfal at least a fall of that Sect is near at hand towards which we hope there is some steps for never more proud injurious and vile Language than what we read in their former and latter Books the same Spirit from first to last reigning therein Nay when the Parliament was about setting a Curb upon and restraining them still they went on and Published their Pamphlets and had the confidence to have their Socinian Notions in Print distributed among the Honourable Members at the Door of the House of Commons to whom therein they would have prescrib'd how to draw up their Bills and that most impertinently in Scriptural Phrases Did any one ever see Bills and Acts of Parliament drawn up so This is a perfect mixture of Socinianism and Quakerism which tended as I think to get opportunities thereby to wrest our Laws as they do God's Word Here again I must take notice of the * Charitable Samaritan late Pamphlet wherein one may see confirm'd what I said before about their endeavouring to wrest Scriptures for from p. 16 to 22 the Author's aim is to make them uncertain and dubious in all the Texts therein mention'd so when it shall serve their turn they will of any one else He there brings it in p. 20. as being his Friend Mr. Firmin's Opinion who understood neither
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
Baptist no mention at all of them till after their Birth only John Baptist's was foretold not long before but not a word of any thing he did before he was Born 1 Cor. 10.4.9 as we read of Christ that He was the Rock that follow'd the People in the Wilderness that he was tempted by them c. And in what the Angel said to Zacharias of the Birth of a Son mention is made of our Saviour Luk. 1.16 by the name of the Lord God of the Children of Israel many of the Children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God and who this Lord God is 't is imply'd in these words He shall go before him that is the Lord their God in the spirit and power of Elias Now that John Baptist went before the Lord Jesus To prepare the way of the Lord and make straight the way for our God that is the God of Israel it appears out of Isaiah Isai 40.3 compar'd with Malachy 4.6 fulfilled Matth. 3.3 Mark 1.3 Luke 3.4 John 1.23 Wherein we see how the four Evangelists take notice of the Prophecy and fullfilling thereof in relation to our blessed Saviour all which proves him to be true God by Nature and consequently that he had a Being before he was Born of the Virgin Upon this point the Harmony of two Prophets with the Evangelist is so considerable that some things more I must observe about it The true God of Israel speaks by Malachy chap. 3.1.7 10 11 12 14. c. and in a Chapter which is much to our purpose at several times calls himself The Lord of Hosts who is the same that ver 1. saith Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me This is a Prophecy about John Baptist Messenger to the Lord of Hosts before whom he was to prepare the way observe first he that speaks and will send is the Lord of Hosts he that is to be sent is his Messenger and he that is to come is the Lord of Hosts who speaks and will send his Messenger before me in Person not by Proxy We know John Baptist prepared the way not before God the Father of whom in Scripture we never read that he was to come into the World but before the Lord Jesus Christ his Son whose fore-runner he was therefore Jesus Christ is plainly the Lord of Hosts who is the true Eternal God who under the name of Shiloh and Messiah was to come and actually did few Months after John Baptist's Birth chap. 4.2 In the last Chap. is renew'd the promise of Christ's coming under the name of the Sun of Righteousness that should arise with healing in his wings and of John Baptist under the name of Elijah ver 5. Matth. 17.12 13. Luk. 1.16 before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the Lord that is of Christ who call'd John by the name of Elias because said the Angel he shall go before him that is in the foregoing Verse The Lord God of Israel spoken of Christ whom John went before in the spirit and power of Elias that is with the same fervent Zeal which Elias was acted by and in that Spirit saith the Prophet He shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children Mal. 4.6 Which are the very words by the Angel spoken to Zacharias Malachy calls Christ who was to come Luk. 1.17 The Lord the Lord of Hosts a peculiar and proper Attribute of the Almighty and Eternal God and the Angel names him the Lord God of Israel Let to this the other Prophet's Testimony be joyn'd Isai 40.3.4 5. The voice of him that cryeth in the Wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord c. which is Parallel to the other and by which John Baptist is design'd for unto himself he apply'd it he whose way he was to prepare Joh. 1.23 is call'd the Lord and our God that is of Israel at whose coming the glory of the Lord shall be revealed The Lord God of Israel was to come himself and when he was come his Glory was reveal'd the Son of God under the name of Jesus Christ came himself and when he came the Glory was reveal'd therefore Jesus Christ was the true God of Israel this Truth depends upon the Evidence of two Prophets and of an Angel as related by an Evangelist whereunto is joyned the Testimony of Zacharias who at that time as express'd was filled with the Holy Ghost out of all this it will appear that no Person was ever better designed nor his Titles more plainly describ'd than is in those places the coming in the Flesh of Christ the true Son of God and who he was Another place which I think doth Evidence Christ's Divinity Jo. 10.15 is this As the Father knows me even so know I the Father There is a great Emphasis in the words as and even which implies in the same manner nature and degree the comparison shews a parity in Persons or else it had been enough to have said the Father knows me and I know the Father If the Son knows the Father only in part then the Father knows the Son but in part which to assert is Impiety but if the Father knows the Son perfectly so the Son also knows the Father perfectly and as no finite Creature can perfectly know the infinite God so he that perfectly knows the infinite God must himself be infinite God such is the Lord Jesus his own Son When Thomas answered Jo. 20.28 My Lord and my God he answer'd him who spake to him that is Christ so then Thomas owned him for his Lord and his God he knew out of the Law and by what Christ had taught him that there is but one God Matth. 8.2 and 9.18 and 14.33 and 15.25 and 20.20 and 28.17 therefore he would not have called him his God and worshipped him as such if he had not believed him to be the true God of Israel To this I shall add that our Saviour who was no Friend to Idolatry suffered himself at several times as may be seen in the Margin to be Religiously worshipped that is as God and never hindred any from it but if he had not been God he would never have permitted any one to worship him as such So under the shape of a Man he had been by Abraham very long before Gen. 18.1 for we read how the Lord or Jehovah appeared to him in the plains of Mamre in ver 1. 't is positively said Jehovah but in 2 we read three men stood by him whereof one was the Lord attended by two Angels at which sight that Father of Believers bowed himself towards the ground and addressed his Speech only to one My Lord saith he if I have found favour in thy sight c. and by the Discourse that afterwards happened it plainly appears the same was the true Eternal God who promised Sarah should have a Son
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
in England against Blasphemy and Prophaneness or as he calls it Impiety and Debauchery hath met with great opposition And here 't is known how that Intelligence was too true tho' 't is very sad that two such abominable things as are Blasphemy and Prophaneness should find Friends to favour and support them which none but those who are guilty thereof either directly or by a side-wind will offer to do and it is too true that whilst some good and worthy Persons used their Endeavours to promote the Cause of God others as bad as these are good with their utmost power opposed it And as in the Body when there is a weak and infected part all bad Humours fall in with it so in this case we find a Combination against the Truth not only of the Jews our Saviour's sworn Enemies and of their Friends but also of the worst Sects or Excrements of Christianity so that with the Psalmist we may say Edom Ishmael Psalm 83.5 6 7 8 9. Moab Gebal Ammon Amalek the Philistines c. have consulted together with one consent and are confederate against it Among others for Socinians appeared the Quakers who with them agree in many things as against Revelation and the Word of God which they subject one to their Spirit and Light within the other to their Reason Upon reasonable Grounds it may be question'd Whether Men who own no other Christ but that which they say to be within them who never were Baptized in his Name own in the Church no Ministery by way of Office and receive no Sacraments of Christ's Institution may be called Christians as for Socinians tho' they call themselves so yet are only in Name nor really such but rather Enemies to his Person and his Cross whose Dignity and Merits for all their fair pretences they strive and intend if they can to pull down to that effect they use all they think may conduce to 't but let them design it never so much I can upon certain Grounds assure them they shall never execute it because God's Word we have for it Something else there is which I must take notice of the more because in relation to Laws and Penalties they keep a pother about that Party doth sound a general Alarm and would make many more afraid besides themselves as if they were all concerned for a common Cause but I think none but the guilty ought to fear God forbid the Innocent should suffer with the Guilty but withal the Guilty must not escape with the Innocent for both he that justifieth the Guilty Prov. 17.15 and he that condemneth the Innocent are abomination to the Lord I cannot blame Men for being cautious how to prevent Inconveniencies as much as 't is possible lest the harmless should be involved in the same Condemnation with the mischievous Man which hath sometimes happened and so may again but for Men without a just and visible cause to be over fearful it argues either a faintedness in the Heart or a guilt in the Conscience however let a due Prudence be made use of both in fixing the Guilt and inflicting the Punishment upon the Guilty As 't is necessary and just that Men should plainly know what they are forbidden and must avoid so out of Christian Prudence there ought a difference to be made between the seducer and seduced the obstinate and ignorant the leader and the mis-led Deut. 22.19 29. 'T is to be taken notice of how under the Law there were Fines and Money-penalties laid upon Offenders which may be a warning for these times Now as to the distinction to be made of Persons about the Jews for whom a great regard hath been had of late a necessary care ought to be taken to prevent their spreading abroad their Blasphemies against our Lord and to confine them within their Synagogue for matters of Religion nor suffer them to go about seducing of Souls they should consider here they stand upon no Act of Parliament only upon Connivence Thus we shall pity their Hardness and Unbelief Rom. 11.33 thorough the unsearchable judgments of God which is a continuation of that which their Fore-fathers had from the beginning But Socinians we may look upon with a different eye for they are Apostatized from the Truth which the Jews never professed and continuing obstinate in their Blasphemies they deserve to be delivered unto Satan 1 Tim. 1.20 that they may learn not to blaspheme This is St. Paul's Direction and Practice VVhen a Law is to be made to prevent its becoming a snare it ought to be worded in as plain full and clear Terms as possibly may be though for all that at one time or other some out of perverseness of Nature will study how to wrest it And no wonder seeing they attempt to put false Glosses upon God's Word even in those places which are as plain as can be But from a general Rule to come to a particular one which is what I now purpose I shall now reduce it to the case of Blasphemy about which the Controversie is between the Orthodox and Socinians The occasion of my coming to this when I was just upon concluding this Discourse is given me a sheet of Paper under the Name of a Caution about passing the Bill against Blasphemy whereof the Author goes upon two Heads the first VVhat Blasphemy is in it self the second How far the Civil Authority may go to suppress it This Paper tends to what most of their others do to make all Dissenters even the best sort to think that there is a design to disquiet them but the cloven Foot cannot be hidden for all that own the Doctrinal part of the Thirty nine Articles are not affected only those that be Blasphemers and prophane Men and 't is what they are afraid of 'T is very reasonable and just to make a difference between Ceremonial and Doctrinal Circumstantial and Essential to cut a little Bough is one thing but to lay the Axe at the Root of the Tree is much another The Definition or Description therein given of Blasphemy namely A speaking evil of God is not full and comprehensive enough but in the next Page he adds something as an irreligious and scornful treating of the Divine Majesty in his Nature and Attributes but still this is defective for Blasphemy is not only against the Nature and Attributes but also against the Persons of the Godhead and against the Word and Works of God For Scripture doth plainly speak of Blasphemy against the Son of God Jesus Christ and against the Holy Ghost by Name as elsewhere I gave some Instances of so 't is Blasphemy to speak against what is clearly said in God's Word for herein men give God the lye and make a Lyar of the God of Truth 'T is also Blasphemy to say that all that God made was not good and that in all his VVorkings he is not just and wise Again we Christians own the Knowledge and Belief of
as if done to himself and consequently will punish the Magistrate for hindring them from worshipping those false Gods when they believe them to be true ones Good God! What Times are we come to that such things are suffered to be Printed and go unpunish'd The Magistrate may not punish those who dishonour the true God when they ought to punish those who dishonour false Gods Thus Papists do well to punish those who despise their Wafer-God but those who despise and blaspheme the true Son of God the Lord Jesus must not be meddled with These abominable Lines of Idolatrous Theology I read a second nay a third time thinking I had been mistaken at the first reading A Man who dares to write such things will say any thing else In another place he denies or at least doubts of God's care of his Church or of his power to defend it For he saith pag. 61. If the Pagan Emperours had been for promoting by force what according to their Sentiments was the true Religion they had utterly extirpated the very Name of a Christian A great mistake in him for several of them as Maxentius Diocletianus and many before and Julian the Apostate through cruel Persecutions did all they could towards it but God suffered them not and he never will for our Saviour hath promised Matth. 16.18 The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church Thus they make little of the Church if at Man's pleasure it may utterly be destroy'd whereunto answers their making Religion to be meerly a Priest-craft as they term it also the Author makes no difference between acting for a good or for a bad Cause and so alters the Question which is not Whether every Magistrate may in matter of Religion punish every Opinion contrary to his own But whether a true Christian Magistrate be bound to suppress what overthrows the Fundamentals of true Christian Religion pag. 81. Therefore his Instances of Gallio of the Town-Clerk of Ephesus and of Felix are not to the purpose I suppose he will own the Christian Religion to be now the true one in opposition to the Pagan or to the Jewish in as much as relateth to the coming of the Messiah that one must oppose not Truth but what is contrary to 't therefore the Persons named are not fit Patterns to be imitated by Christian Magistrates Gallio was a Deputy of Achaia Acts 18.12 17. there to maintain the Roman Authority wherefore he prudently would not meddle nor trouble himself with a Difference about Religion among the Jews which was not his business A Town-clerk wisely took care to avoid giving the Romans cause to say that in a tumultuous and seditious way chap. 19. without a just cause they had gathered together to disturb the Government which thereupon might have call'd them in question As for Felix he was the Roman Governour who minded to enrich himself and not to decide Matters of Controversie about Religion among the Jews a Covetous Man who hoped that Money should have been given him of Paul ch 24.26 So these Examples hold no proportion with the Duty of a Christian Magistrate to act against those who would overthrow Christianity And why should not the Magistrate take care of the good of the Souls as well as of that of the Body of the Subjects and punish Soul-destroying Errors and Practices Among the Jews a stubborn Son upon this Accusation by the Parents before the Elders how that he was a Glutton and a Drunkard Deut. 21.20 was stoned to Death and shall they who among Christians Blaspheme God be unpunished Of two contrary Propositions if one be true necessarily the other must be false 't is so of two Opinions in Religion if the Doctrine for the Most Holy Trinity and Divinity of Christ be true as it is then its contrary must be false And do not God's Laws bid us to follow adhere unto and be for the truth so as to promote it Every one in his Station ought to be against what is contrary to 't And to say the truth as this is the interest of Religion so 't is become the Magistrates concern to mind it upon his own account for that sort of Men with open Mouth and plainly tell him he hath nothing to do to meddle with their Religion whether true or false nor tho' Blasphemous and Idolatrous And on the other side this Author would influence the Members of Parliament who are for Penal Laws against their Blasphemies with suggesting that thereby they may happen to act against themselves which cannot be except they were of the same Principles with them thus he speaks pag. 43. Therefore it shews the greatest Indiscretion in those who tho' they have a share in the Legislature yet are subject to the Laws themselves to consent to any persecuting ones because they cannot be sure but that they are contriving Rods for their own Backs They cannot forbear ever calling Persecution any thing tending to restrain them the cause must be examined to find out the true Name of the thing 't is not the manner but the cause of Death that denominates one a Martyr 't is Justice not Persecution to punish Idolatry and Blasphemy and make use of a restraining Power Herein the Protestant Maxims differ from the Popish that these require a blind Obedience and will not admit others to speak for themselves but Protestants do We cannot approve the Socinians Latitude in advising and encouraging every one to read all manner of Books stuffed with Heresies and Blasphemies pag. 119. which is as dangerous as to put a Cup full of Poison into a Child's Hand or of one who knows not what it is Must every Ploughman or other Ignorant Person who neither knows nor understands the things of himself explain matters of Salvation or be Judge thereof In God's Name let every one read Scripture for all therein is excellent and good no Poison therein as in some Mens Books and therein let them be instructed and when Difficulties occur advised and directed by sound and knowing Men But chiefly upon the reading of the Word let them often be upon their Knees to beg of God to guide them by his Holy Spirit Some are not able to discern a Fish from a Serpent which commonly lies hidden in those unsound Books and by reason of natural corruption some would be apt to choose the worse I know that when the necessary means prescribed in God's Word to inform and make us understand have been used then every one must apply it to himself not of himself for that application is the Work of God's Spirit every one is not able to understand only those whom from above 't is given to pag. 120. 'T is not out of any mistrust of the Goodness and Truth of our Cause as he seems to insinuate that we would not have those that are not sufficiently instructed in the Grounds of it Converse either with the Heretick Persons or
is this Let their table become a snare befor them Ps 69.22 and for welfare a trap in English the Sense is lame in the latter part of the Verse therefore 't was necessary thus to supply it and that which should have been for their Welfare let it become a Trap. The other Text is this For my love they are my adversaries but I give my self unto prayer Ps 109.4 in the latter part of the Verse the words give my self unto are not in the Hebrew only but I prayer which is no sense in English David is not Prayer nor an Iniquity the Judge therefore it should be supplied which the Translatours have well done Now to be even with this Author these two things I leave for him to prove first That this is not the Idiom of the Hebrew Language the second That the Words supplied to make out the Sense in these places are against the Analogy of Faith or the Scope of God's Spirit therein and I give him a long time to consider upon 't But enough of this As to their politick Reasons against the Magistrate's Authority in point of Religion and for a general Naturalization whereby they at once would blow up an English Birth-Right with the Seven Years Apprentiship and bring in all Foreigners to engross the English Trade unto themselves and sow the pernicious Tares of Heresie Blasphemy c. among us with more liberty for they are also for a general Toleration in all these I say their Policy is no better than their Divinity as might easily be demonstrated Indeed to Tolerate some Opinions about indifferent Circumstantial Things can contribute towards Peace and Union do much Good and no Harm but 't would be very pernicious concerning Fundamental Errours God Christ and Religion must not be sacrificed to Interest and other Worldly Considerations Yet if Pagans and Mahommetans would not disturb the Government they would be content to bring them in as already we have the unbelieving Jews whose Conversion I earnestly pray for whom upon the account of Trade and of something else they are so fond of that a great Care must be had to give them no Distaste for fear they would be gone when they are as glad to stay here as some seem afraid lest they should go as if here they were the Pillars of Trade but some think there is cause to believe the contrary I can remember how in Cromwell's time they sent over Manasseh Ben-Israel to get leave to come and settle here he offered 200000 l whereupon Cromwell call'd some Divines for Advice Whether in Conscience he might Receive and Tolerate those that disown and are professed Enemies to Christ They answered He might because it might afford some occasion for their Conversion Then he sent for Lawyers to know because long before they had been Banish'd whether according to Law he might do 't The Answer was He might as long as he and the Parliament who are the Legislative Power were agreed But last of all he summon'd some of the chief Merchants to have their Opinion about it in relation to Trade but these broke the Neck of the Business for they represented how that Nation being cunning would to the prejudice of the English by crafty means engross Trade wholly unto themselves whereupon there was an end And it must be owned that Cromwell and his Counsel understood well enough the Nations Interest in point of Trade neither doth it appear why the same Reasons should not be now as good as they were at that time since 't is the same People which still follows the same steps as any one may see that will take notice of it But enough of these Human Considerations I wish every Man would seriously lay Hand upon his Conscience and in earnest mind what account they can give God who certainly soon or late will call them to 't of the Talents he hath committed and of the Authority he hath put into their Hands what good they have done and what evil prevented or punish'd to answer the Giver's Ends I say my Horse is to carry me my Oxe to Plough my Ground and my Dog to watch about my House or to follow me all these answer my Ends or else I put them off and may not every one else as well as I reasonably put this Question to himself For what End hath God brought me into the World Certainly not to please my own Fancy follow my own Humour or satisfie my own Lust and Passion but in my station to honour and serve him that 's the Work and the one needful thing For saith our Saviour Luke 10.42 Mat. 6.33 Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all things shall be added unto you God is the good Master who will take care of our Concerns if we neglect not his but do follow the Apostle's Rule to do all things for the Glory of God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. The same Apostle saith to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 10.9 Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them the Jews in the Wilderness also tempted so I say let none of us tempt Christ as did the Jews in his time who still asked for a Sign after he had given them several Must he every Day give them new Signs and work new Miracles to prove himself to be the true and proper Son of God That unbelieving Nation in the highest degree tempted him when they said Matth. 27. If he be the Son of God let him now come down from the Cross and we will believe him to be the Son of God But he to prove himself to be the Son of God did more and a greater thing than they desired for after Death to raise himself as he did out of the Grave was more than if he had come down from the Cross when alive Was not our Blessed Redeemer sufficiently tempted upon Earth by the Jews that he must be tempted again now when he is in Heaven The Jews tempted him in his State of Humiliation and now Socinians do when he is Glorified The Jews would then have had him to come down from the Cross and now the Socinians would have him to come down from Heaven to prove himself to be the Son of God yet against them he hath from Heaven provided a Witness since his Ascension I mean Paul as we read Acts 22.14 15. Before I make an end I neither can nor must forbear to say how it affords too much matter of sad Thoughts in those who are concern'd for the Cause and Interest of the Eternal Son of God and of the Protestant Religion to see here Heresie Blasphemy and Idolatry as good as Tolerated and Unpunish'd and abroad the Professors of the true Christian Religion unjustly and cruelly persecuted In France against all Edicts Engagements and Promises in their Lives Liberties and Fortunes most barbarously in the Valleys of Piedmont the Vaudois which we may well call that Mother Church