God in the Sanctuary Where the Prophet speaks of the Son of God Who went up before his People in the Wilderness and at whose presence the Earth shook the Heavens dropped and Sinai it self was moved The third Age of the Church is from Moses to Christ's coming which was fill'd up with variety of considerable Dispensations And this fourth which is her present Age hath been is and shall be attended with very notable Periods began at the coming in the Flesh of the Son of God and it we may call her Manhood when the Food of Milk and Ceremonial Ordinances ceased and she began to be fed with strong and substantial Meat when the Manna discontinued and the true Bread came from Heaven to nourish us the Shadows yielded the place to the true Body and all legal Stars disappear'd at the rising of the Sun of Righteousness And this Age of the Christian Church shall continue till the last Day when the fifth Age shall begin never to have an end this shall be the Age of Perfection and of Eternal Glory He who now is the Head and King of the Church was so from the beginning and shall be such for ever Now the Apostle saith that Christ is the head of the Church Eph. 5.23 and the Saviour of the body and none else and that Body which was from the beginning of the World never was without a Head for without it it could not be a Body both to animate and rule it for that is the Head's Office according to that famous Prophecy of the Meisiah's Birth Mic. 5.2 in Bethlehem Out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler of Israel To come forth Gen. 17.6 Gen. 25.25 and 38.28 signifies to be begotten and born either by the Father or by the Mother and unto me that is for me to reveal my Glory saith the Father who there speaks Now absolutely the King and Ruler of Israel is the God of Israel such is the Son I heretofore mention'd the Text in Zechariah 2.8 For thus saith the Lord of Hosts after the glory hath he sent me unto the Nations c. which affords matter of observation more than I took notice of at that time Here speaks the Lord of Hosts which is a Title never attributed to any but to the Essential Infinite and Eternal God The Lord of Hosts in the place declares he is sent a thing in Scripture never said of God the Father but in many places 't is asserted of God the Son and by the Son himself for how often doth our Saviour say that the Father sent him so that to be sent is a Property of the Son therefore the Son must be the Lord of Hosts here said to be sent And as to come answers to being sent so in consequence of that Mission the Lord saith I come Sing and rejoyce v. 10. O Daughter of Zion for lo I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee saith the Lord which was literally fulfilled after the Birth of the Son of God These words Lo I come are a confirmation and farther declaration of what David had said long before when God desired no more Sacrifice and Offering nor required Burnt-Offering Ps 40.6 7. nor Sin-Offering that is when the Ceremonial Law was drawing to an end Then said I the Son Lo I come and Christ declared He came from the Father and in the Father's Name As to the other part I will dwell in the midst of thee it was fulfilled at that time when John said of the Son The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us Joh. 1.14 Let us admire at that Holy Scripture Harmony earthly Jerusalem was the Figure of the Church whose Head King Saviour and Preserver the Lord Jesus is and ever was For I saith the Lord will be unto her a Wall of Fire round about and will be the glory in the midst of her v. 5. This coming of the Lord of Hosts shall not only be cause of Song and Joy to the Daughter of Zion but also many Nations shall be joyned unto the Lord in that Day and shall be my People and I will dwell in the midst of thee v. 11. and thou shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto thee This is a Prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles at or a little after the time when the Lord of Hosts should come to dwell in Sion which was fulfilled when after the Son of God's coming into the Flesh and his dwelling among the Jews after his Death and Resurrection the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles and the Christian Church formed Here we must take notice of how this Prophet Zechariah was one of the two whom God made use of to exhort and encourage the Children of Israel Ezr. 5.1 2. returned from the Babylonian Captivity to build the second Temple which was to stand till the coming of the Lord of Hosts and King of Zion as this Prophet calls him chap. 9.9 As also did Haggai the other Prophet who besides named him the desire of all Nations Hag. 2.7 And I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come And I will fill this House with glory saith the Lord of Hosts that is the Presence of the Messiah Son of God was to fill with Glory the second Temple which at that time they were about building upon which account the glory of that latter House was to be greater than that of the former the Lord Jesus who called it his House having with his Presence often sanctified it and been the chief glory thereof which soon after it lost by his Death when the Vail of the Temple was rent and about forty Years after the whole was quite destroyed by the Romans when according to our Blessed Saviour's Prophecy there was not one Stone left upon another that was not thrown down and what he said was attended with a Character and Evidence of his Divine Authority and infallible Truth in these Words Matth. 24.35 Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Words shall not pass away but most certainly shall be fulfilled This same Prophet in the next Chapter as indeed in many other places of his Vision doth yield Matter enough upon this point As in Job we read of Satan coming before God with malicious Insinuations against that Holy Man and to obtain leave to do him mischief so here we find the Angel of the Lord to judge between Joshua the High-priest and his Adversary Satan who appeared there to oppose and resist him This Angel of the Lord whom elsewhere I at several times have had occasion to speak of is the Lord himself for in the 2d verse 't is said And the Lord said unto Satan Zech. 3.1 2 the Lord rebuke thee O Satan Twice the Lord answers this other Expression And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 9.24 Brimstone and Fire from the Lord and certainly
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
to be possible for a Man after the knowledge of the Truth never to Sin for saith he * Resp ad frantz disp 6. de bon oper thes 43. 1 Kings 8.46 Jam. 3.2 neither Scripture nor sound Reason nor any thing else hinders but that he who Sinn'd before may come to that degree of perfection as never to Sin hereafter This is to set up a Perfection in this life and freedom from Sin whilest Scripture doth abundantly affirm that there is no Man that Sinneth not that after the knowledge of the Truth and after Conversion in many things we offend all even the best all are under Sin Rom. 3.23 and all have Sinn'd and come short of the Glory of God One said well †Remigius in Cens Act. Synod Caris c. Go. tescal vivere absque peccato c. To live without Sin in the World belongs not to the state of the present Life but to the happiness of that which is eternal during our Life some Canaanites are still left to be Thorns in our Sides and the best Men have a Thorn in the Flesh So that freedom from Sin is certainly part of the Glory of God which in this World no Man whatsoever can attain unto and to pretend to 't is the Sin of the Devil and of our first Parents namely Pride and an Ambitious desire to be like God and equal with God their steps do Socinians follow who though they would seem to be great Enemies to Popery they in matters of Grace in every thing are a bad and in some worse than Papists By this principle of theirs they also make Salvation an easy thing though the Apostle saith 1 Pet. 4.18 Jerem. 13.23 the Righteous is scarcely saved and the Prophet 't is no more possible for them to do good that are used to do evil then 't is for the Ethiopian to change his Skin or for the Leopard his Spots There is a natural impossiblity by reason of Sin reigning in every Reprobate and dwelling in every Believer 1 John 1.8 wherefore we are commanded daily to pray to God to forgive us our Trespasses for indeed if we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us The Orthodox Doctrines about the Sacraments Faith Justification and in sew words every Article of our Holy Religion they more or less do depravate thus they set up a new one of their own making as it hath plainly been demonstrated by several Protestant Divines They set up two ways of Salvation one under the Old Testament the other under the New We own there are several ways to Hell yet there is but one and that strait too Heb. 10.20 leading to Heaven which is the new and living way which he Christ hath consecrated for us thorough the Vail that is to say his Flesh This in Substance though under different Circumstances was for his People under the Old as 't is under the New Testament The whole Church of God though consisting of Jews and Gentiles is but one Church so there is but one Head Lord and Saviour and so but one way to Salvation Now that Church God Christ hath purchased with his own Blood that is by the Merits of his Death Rom. 3.25 God hath set forth the Messiah Jesus Christ to be a propitiation thorough Faith in his Blood for his People under the Old as under the New Testament and we are justified by his Blood Chap. 5.9 Ephes 1.7 Col. 1.20 Heb. 10.19 Also we have Redemption thorough his Blood the Forgiveness of Sins Withal he hath made peace thorough the Blood of his Cross And the boldness we have to enter into the Holiest it is by the Blood of Jesus So then under both Testaments Men are justified and saved by Vertue of the Death of Christ Mediator and thorough Faith in him as 't is at large expressed Heb. 11. whether to come with the Jews Acts 4.12 or already come with Christians for the Apostle's words are full plain and general neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved Yet this clear truth they will not yield to for saith * Smalc cont frantz disp 4. thes 8. one of them what Frantzius Writes that the Ancients believed in Jesus to come and thorough that Faith were justified ought to be reckon'd among the grossest errours Justification by Faith was never profered to Men before the coming of Christ neither was it promised that Man should be justified by Faith yet Abraham was justify'd by Faith Gal. 3.6 for Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness wherein did he believe God Not only in the promise that his Posterity should be very numerous but also chiefly at the promise that the Messiah should come out of his Seed Gen. 12.3 and in thee shall all the Families of the Earth be Blessed which was a renewing of the Promise made to our first Parents of the Woman's Seed which then God fixed in Abraham's Family now this Seed of his in whom all the Families of the Earth should be blessed is what Abraham believed and that Faith of his concerning it was to him accounted for Righteousness and there is no doubt to be made but that God who so familiarly conversed with him as with a Friend for so Scripture calls him Isai 41.8 in a special manner revealed to him the Mystery of his coming in the Flesh for it was the Son of God the second Person of the most holy Trinity who at several times under the name of an Angel and in the shape of a Man appeared to Abraham who as our Lord saith rejoyced to see his day with the Eye of Faith that day or time when he appeared in the Flesh which Abraham who lived so long before did see not as actually present but as to come and that Faith whereby Abraham believed in a Saviour to come he was justify'd by and as he is called the Father of all them that believe so all believers must have the same Faith which he had Ephes 4.5 for there is but one Faith and one Lord which imports one and the same object of that Faith only with this difference upon the account of time that Abraham believed in him that was to come and we in him who is already come Now to the later part of what Smalcius saith that there is no promise that Man should be justified by Faith I say if it be not by Faith it must be by Works for there is no middle but seeing St. Paul in several places of his Epistle to the Romans doth so positively exclude Works not only those of the Law but also those call'd Evangelical with the same Apostle we must conclude Man to be justified by Faith without Works but they are thorough paced Rom. 3.28 for regeneration and other good works Love Invocation Obedience Hope Charity
State in Europe Asia and Africa Also their most remarkable Embassies Speeches Antiquities c. Together with the most solemn Ceremonies us'd at the Deification of the Roman Emperors with a Character of the Ancient Britains Done from the Greek by a Gentleman at Oxford Catalogus Universalis Librorum in omni Facultate Languaque Graeca praesertim insignium rarissimorum non solum ex Catalogis Bibliothecarum Bodleianae Lugduno-Batavae Ultrajectinae Barberinae Thuanae Cordesianae Tellerianae Slusianae Heinsianae sed etiam ex omnibus fere aliis praelo impressis magno labore sumptu in usum Studiosorum collectus Cura J. H. Bibliopolae Londinensis The History and Fate of Sacrilege discover'd by Examples of Scripture of Heathens and of Christians from the beginning of the World continually to this Day By Sir Henry Spelman Kt. Wrote in the Year 1632. A Treatise omitted in the late Edition of his Posthumous Works and now publish'd for the Terror of Evil Doers To which is added An Historical Account of the beginners of a Monastick Life in Asia Africa and Europe By Sir Roger Twisden Knight and Baronet Price 4 s. â‚ There is now going to the Press and will be speedily publish'd JVSTIN's Abridgment of Trogus Pompeius's Universal History With some Geographical and Critical Annotations and a Dissertation about the Author Done into English for the Use of His Highness the Duke of Gloucester By Mr. T. Brown THE True Character OF THE Spirit and Principles OF SOCINIANISM SOme Men in the World without any ground but their own Fancy presume to make Panegyricks for themselves and Mock-Apologies for Parliaments But if such have not to say worse the Confidence which only that kind are capable of to give their Pamphlets the Titles of An Apology for the Parliament humbly representing c. I think I might upon better grounds now be allowed before these few Sheets to prefix the Name of a Panegyrick for the Parliament by reason of what that Honourable and Noble Assembly have lately done for the Cause of God in general the Interest of his Son in particular and for the Good of his Church But as I know such returns to be below their Merits and Desires and far above my Skill to do 't well as 't was not fit for every Artist only for Apelles to draw Alexander's Picture so I leave it for them who will venture upon so Noble and hard a Task For as I have a singular Veneration for the Name of a Parliament for fear of undervaluing it with not answering the Dignity of the Subject I shall content my self with mentioning the Piety of those worthy Persons who having adopted that Cause have notwithstanding all Difficulties Delays and both direct and indirect Oppositions with so much Zeal Care and Diligence carry'd it on and been instrumental in the Success for which they justly deserve the Thanks of the whole Christian Church especially of that part which is within this Kingdom But that which is most of all the great and gracious God whom no Man ever serv'd in vain will according to his Truth and Promise as I most humbly beseech him to do 't plentifully reward them for the good Service which according to their Power they have done him And as in this World there is nothing so good but it may admit of some Additional Degrees of Perfection so we hope hereafter God who when he will can easily incline the Hearts and over-rule the Counsels of Men will be pleased further to make use of them as happy Instruments in his hands to work a thorough Reformation both in Doctrines and Practices In the mean while we must not be like those who are so intent and greedy after what they desire and have not that they are unmindful to give God thanks for what they enjoy But seeing through his Mercy there is a step towards putting a Curb and Restraint upon Christ's Enemies so that we hope if a due Care be taken to execute what hath been Enacted and prevent every way the increase of Fuel both at home and from abroad Blasphemy Impiety Prophaneness and Immorality shall be compell'd to stop their mouth and hide their face Therefore for what we have for the present and hope for the future let us join our Voices in that Heavenly Consort of Angels upon the Account of our Saviour's Birth which the last Act ought to renew the Memory of Luk. 2.14 Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will towards men 'T is usual in the World sometime to be disappointed at least to fall short of one's Expectation chiefly when the things we are about do cross the Sins and Humours of the Times for by reason of a natural Antipathy between Good and Evil Truth and Falshood the best things meet often with the greatest Oppositions and upon all occasions there is between those two Extremes a Conflict till God turns the Scales which he never fails to do but will have us to wait for it and not be weary in well doing we must never be so presumptuous as to go about prefixing God a time or prescribing him Ways and Means or attempt to put him out of the Course of his wise Providence because he doth so to try the Faith and exercise the Patience of his People as he did formerly by sending false Prophets among them and thus to make them depend upon him yet in the mean time he will have them to use Means and to omit nothing that may contribute to bring to a happy end those things which belong to his Service which we ought to stick to and upon any account whatever not to suffer our selves to be moved therefrom one Beam of God's Favour is infinitely to be minded more than all the Smiles and Frowns of the World Let not Christ's Adversaries say that what is done against them is by Power for though it be by Authority still 't is according to Justice there have been Reasons and Arguments enough which yet remain unanswered offered if they had been dispos'd to receive them that Great God whose Person and Grace they despise and whose Patience they tired out hath begun to make use of that Humane Authority under him which they would have excluded from meddling with them about Matters of Religion in some degree to vindicate his Honour and assert his Truth In what follows I hope abundantly to make the Parliament's Panegyrick when I have shewed what a horrid and upon many accounts abominable Monster of complicated Heresies they fought against and wounded And herein I must before-hand prepare the pious Reader to see such things as will strike him with Horrour I am sure it hath in many places made my hair stand on end all drawn out of their own Writings and tho' I shall avoid being long in Quotations for as to that I could say much more than I do yet I shall by the Grace of God say enough to make good upon them the Charge of Blasphemy in
the highest degree and nothing in 't but what I do or can prove and leave it to be judg'd of by the Reader and withal I solemnly declare as in the Presence of God that I do not write out of any Self-end or Worldly Consideration whatsoever but meerly out of Conscience Love to the Truth for the Honour of God and the Cause of the Lord Jesus for 't is our Duty as we are Christians to abhor all that 's said or done against our Saviour and to look upon all that do so to be Enemies to God and Seducers of Souls Christ is the Object of my Faith the Ground of my Hope and the Desire of my Soul God's Nature and Essential Attributes I intend by the Grace of God to begin with which Nature is Spiritual for Joh. 4.24 saith our Blessed Saviour God is a Spirit therefore Moses gave the People this strict Warning Deuter. 4.15 Take ye therefore good heed unto your selves for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb Ex. 20.4 c. therefore make not any likeness of him of any thing that is in Heaven above in the earth below or in the water under the earth upon this Account God doth more than once expostulate thus Isa 40.18 and 46.5 To whom then will ye liken God or what likeness will ye compare unto him But against this sprung up a sort of Hereticks called Anthropomorphites because unto God they really and properly appropriated the Shape and Members of Human Body when they should know how such things are improperly spoken of him only thereby to condescend to our weak Capacities and to signifie some of his Proprieties or some special thing he doth effect as Eyes and Ears to denote his Omniscience his Hands his Power c. For all this Socinians have not been ashamed to give God a Body thus * Conrad Vorstius de Deo Attrib p. 210. one of them saith Caeterùm nihil vetat c. Nothing forbîds us to attribute a Body to God if we take the word Body in a larger Signification There hath also been another kind of Hereticks called Anthropopathites because unto God they appropriated Human Passions and thought they were really so in him a thing so much against the Analogy of Faith so absurd and unworthy of God which is to affirm there are actually in God Afflictions Disturbances and Commotions as are Anger Grief to repent c. which is improperly said to condescend to our Weakness and make us understand the Effects of Justice Power Mercy and Wisdom of God upon the Creature and not any such Affections upon him which in our Nature are Effects of Frailty and Imperfections What God speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 improperly and after the manner of Man must by us be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a manner becoming and worthy of God however one of their greatest * Crellius de Deo Attrib pag. 321 323. Men saith That the Passions in Scripture attributed unto God are certain Stirrings and Motions of his Will yet so that when he is said to be grieved angry and to repent such unpleasant things without do not so affect and trouble him but that he still continues in that Eternal Pleasure which he enjoys in himself Though he be not so brazen-fac'd as to deprive God of the Pleasure he hath in himself yet he would insinuate as if he really was moved stirred and disturbed at some things this he farther adds about Grief Est affectio c. There is in God a displeasing Sense and Affection arising out of this That his good Actions through the Fault of others have a most unworthy Success What sort of impious Notions of God are these Sometimes in Scriptures are such improper Expressions as ought not literally to be taken or else Contradictions and Absurdities would follow a thing not without Blasphemy to be thought of the Spirit of God who is the Author of infallible Truth by whose Direction they were written This I could out of the Word in several Cases give Instances of but now shall do 't only in one which is that of a Prosopopoeia or Fiction of Persons as we read in the Prophecy where here and there are several Flowers of Divine Rhetorick Hear O heavens and give ear O earth Heaven and Earth have properly no Ears Isa 1.2 so cannot hear but this is a figurative manner of speaking and as they cannot hear so one would think it to be in vain to speak to inanimate things without Soul and Understanding yet God in his infinite Wisdom thinks it fit to use that way which Men who are not wiser than God may not gainsay Also thou son of man Ezek. 36.1 saith God to his Prophet prophesie unto the mountains of Israel and say Ye mountains of Israel hear the word of the Lord and somewhat lower the word is also directed to the hills to the mountains to the rivers to the valleys ver 4. c. Certainly this is not literally to be understood no more is it when Members of the Body or Passions of the Soul are attributed unto God These Opinions of Members and Passions in God do overthrow his Simplicity which is an Essential and Incommunicable Attribute of Divine Nature whereby 't is free from all manner of real Composition which is that whereby out of several really different things a thing is really made one whereof Philosophers assign many kinds as of Matter and Form Thus a Man consists of Soul and Body Then of Subject and Accident as is Colour upon a Wall or Learning in a Man the third is of Act and Power as in every Creature which may be made what it is not and cease to be what it is Another is of the Genus and the Difference properly so called as when a generical Nature is added to a Difference which reduces it to a certain Species or Kind The last is a nice one called of Esse and Essentia or of Being and Essence when a thing is said to be by her Essence But in God are none of all these for all that is in God is God himself This making God subject to Passions doth also overthrow another Attribute of his Nature namely his Immutability for if sometimes he be pleased sometimes angry and at other times grieved he ceases to be what he was before and becomes what he was not which is to father Changeableness upon the Unchangeable God with whom is no changeableness Jam. 1.17 neither shadow of turning Who is such in his Nature which always is Immortal Eternal In his Place for ever he fills up all things and never goes out of himself But to be short these Passions in God overthrow his perfect Happiness Self-sufficiency and Independency which all are Essential Attributes of the Godhead What an Impiety then is it for Socinians to shoot at so high a Mark as God is But they
them This calling and Ordination was from hand to hand to pass to after Ages for the things that thou hast heard of me Acts 6.6 2 Tim. 2.2 1 Tim. 5.22 saith the same Apostle among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also and upon this account he gives him a Caution to lay hands suddenly on no man till after a due examination about the Doctrine whether sound and a competent knowledge to teach and a strict inquiry about Morals a Good Life and Conversation Moreover doth not the word positively affirm 1 Cor. 12.28 Ephes 4.11 that God hath set some in the Church First Apostles Prophets Teachers c. again he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers So in the Church there is a Ministry by way of Office which no Man may take upon himself but he who is lawfully call'd to 't The Church is God's House who is the God of order therefore to prevent confusion and usurpation therein he hath appointed not only the spiritual bread and food for his Children but also the Stewards and Ministers who are to distribute it And verily verily I say unto you he that enterreth not by that Door into the Sheepfold but climbeth up some other way the same is a Thief and a Robber Thus 't is visible enough how dangerous to the Church are Socinian Principles seeing they tend to ruin her Doctrine and allow every one a liberty to give God's Word what Interpretations they think fit also to set up any one for Ministers of the Gospel and thus to destroy the Order and Oeconomy which God hath setled in it whence Confusion will necessarily follow About these things and in all Disputes concerning Religion we ought to have a rule to go by and that is Scripture well explained and understood that is according to the true signification of the Words and Sense in the Original the scope of the Place and the analogy of Faith this rule must be true and certain which cannot be as long as every one is allowed to turn it to his own Sense and private Interpretation * Jonah Schlich ting in Symb. Epist ad loct p. 3. One of their Authors in his Exposition of the Creed saith that 't is most ancient and most simple and from the beginning no Man doubted but that it contained the Apostolical Doctrines But he saith not enough for that Creed must be received not only as to the words but also in the sense wherein the primitive Church took it It is very unreasonable in them to go about setting up their own private Opinions over and above and to the prejudice of the publick and universal ones 't is too much to abound in their own sense and to despise the general consent of the primitive Church as if excepting a number of Hereticks all the World had been blind and in darkness till Socinus came so before there was not nor is there now any true Church but of their own Sect they refuse to joyn with those who went before because say they they were fallible yet they would have us to joyn with them so 't is but reasonable for us to ask them to prove their infallibility it argues a great pride in them that in matters of Religion even as to the Fact which cannot be proved meerly by the light of Reason they will not in the least submit to the judgment of others who are witnesses of the times yet take upon themselves to frame a new Religion make new Articles of Faith and set up for Judges whether or not at their pleasure to receive or reject matters of Faith and the Doctrines hitherto received by the Universal Church 't is true they have been cunning enough to enlarge much the pales of their Society therein to receive more Men and of all sorts to that effect Socinus's System is compiled of a Rapsody of complicated Heresies therefore to avoid the name of Innovator he saith nullum c. †Apolog. Epist ad Martin Vadovit In my publick writings I asserted no doctrine which before my coming hither into Poland had not been owned by others in this Kingdom or elsewhere Yet his Uncle Laelius who had been his Teacher and whose Opinions he defended in the Preface of his Explication of the 1st Chap. of John's Gospel declares his Interpretation to be new the true sense whereof saith he had been mistaken by all Expositors that were before 'T is true that generally most of his Heresies were broach'd before him whereunto his Uncle and he after added some few things and thereunto gave a new form which to give a greater Authority unto he saith how * Epist ad Squarcilupum Tom. 1. p. 382. in what he had written in answer ad palaeo-logum de Magistratu he owned no other Master or Teacher but God and Scripture besides his Vncle Laelius dead long before or rather some few Writings or Annotations of his this in the same place he also extends to the universal knowledge of Divine Things And tho he owns there be still some things which he might learn yet hitherto he met with none therein able to teach him And this Man who seems to scorn to learn any thing of others hath forged and fram'd a new Body of Divinity and squeezed what he could out of his Brains that very same he publish'd and would have us to believe as Divine Truths as if to the exclusion of the whole Church he had been constituted the only true Interpreter of God's Word however this must be said that to gain more Men to himself he allowed others the same liberty he took to Interpret Scriptures as they pleased yet he insinuates how in his Interpretations are the fitter rules for them to go by and to please many Men about this they give leave to bring in commodam Interpretationem as they call it that is not the truest but most to their purpose the easiest most commodious or convenient under which cloak they wrest it to a contrary sense and in matters of Salvation Socinus is so complacent as to say that though one believeth things contrary to Scripture Tom. 1. p. 502. as to believe some things therein to be forbidden or commanded which are not he is thereby in no danger of being deprived of Salvation or excluded from Heaven Yet Men should know how the Gospel and Christian Religion is a Depositum a thing given in trust whereof the Ministers are the keepers for saith the Apostle to his Disciple 1 Tim. 6.20 O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust 't is then a thing delivered to not invented by thee not thine own but Christ's 't is not of thy contrivance but like a Steward thou hast received it and must dispose of it not according to thine own fancy but according to the rule prescribed thee without any alteration But as their Principles
thing went otherwise when Emperours and other Men of Authority in the World became Christians then they became Nursing Fathers to the Church defended and maintained it against her Enemies by Arms against those who therewith assaulted it and by Councils against those who would have undermin'd her Doctrines And so it ought now to be against those who impiously Blaspheme that God whom the Christian Church ever own'd and worship'd whereunto the Adversaries agree for saith * Tom. 1. Sol. Scrup. 30. ad eum p. 327. Socinus Constat Justinum c. It is certain that Justin and Irenaeus had a different Opinion from what we have of the Person of Christ Therefore Men who willfully recede from such Fundamental and Universal Truths and Blaspheme there-against may very well be restrain'd and punish'd and by an Argument ad Hominem here upon the matter I return Socinus's own words upon himself for saith he †Epist ad Mart. Vadovit The Heresiarcks who raise Seditions and in promoting their Heresies mind only their own conveniencies ought most severely to be used as those whose Fault and Vice lieth not in the Vnderstanding but in the Will He farther adds How the Heresiarcks whose Frailty lies only in the Mind ought to be dealt with as furious Men and out of their Senses because though they be pity-worthy yet when found to do mischief are restrain'd and though these like the others may be pity'd yet if need requires their endeavours to propagate their Doctrine ought to be suppress'd even if otherwise it cannot be done with Bonds and Imprisonment That is in plain English if they had the Power in their hand thus they would use those who differ from them and by them are call'd Hereticks so upon themselves they pass a Sentence of Condemnation This Coercive Power at several times hath by the Magisttrate been made use of it was for an instance when several Bishops of the East met together to get Paulus Samosatenus an Heresiarck well known to Socinus remov'd from bis Bishoprick of Antioch for his Heresy and addressed to the Emperour Aurelian who effected it But to go much beyond the time of Christian Emperours we have a remarkable example of what is the Duty and ought to be the Care of Princes and Governours to make use of the Power which God hath put into their hands to promote his Glory and suppress all that is contrary to it Dan. 3.29 Nebuchadnezzar's Decree which he made after Shadrach and his two Companions had miraculously been deliver'd from the fiery Furnace that every not only Person but Nation and People that should speak any thing amiss or as it is in the old Translation Blaspheme against the God of Shadrach should be cut in pieces and their houses be made a dunghill If this Heathen King would not leave Blasphemy unpunish'd but mov'd by God's Spirit made a Law and appointed a Punishment for such Transgressours much more ought all who profess the Christian Religion take care to see such Impieties suppress'd or else as their Knowledge and Charge is greater if therein they be wanting they are in danger of suffering double Punishment What Treason is in Humane things that in some kind Blasphemy is in Divine for as Treason is against the King's Person or Government so Blasphemy is against God's Nature or his Works now as Treason is justly punish'd so there is a Punishment due to Blasphemy But to come to other things I say that for all their pretences to Piety and Vertue their Principles lead quite to the contrary and what I am going to say though there was nothing else can bring it home upon them here I positively charge them by means of some of their damnable Opinions to encourage Vice Prophaneness Immorality with all manner of Wickedness and this by the Grace of God I can make good so that it shall stick and let them wash it off as they can They are for the Mortality of the Soul after Death like the Body they would have her to be uncapable of Pleasure or Pains she neither acts nor is acted by but is asleep together with the Body till the Resurrection-Day to this purpose speaks * Epist 5. ad Volk So. Epist 3. ad Dudith p. 507. Socinus which was †Def. Puccii ad Resp Soc. tom 2. Oper. Soc. p. 264.267 Fr. Puccius's Charge against him Non me latet c. saith Puccius I know that thou deniest the Immortality of the Souls of those who are not Christians in the Resurrection so with the Epicureans thou believest the Impious Doctrine that the Souls dye with the Body and are both Annihilated by Death We use to say sins are linck'd together and go by couples so one Errour draws into another thus by a good consequence they deny there is now a Triumphing Church consisting of the Souls of those who enjoy God's presence when Scripture saith Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the spirit Rev. 14.13 that they may rest from their labours Upon this Subject Calvin hath written an excellent Treatise call'd Psychopannichia about the condition of Souls after this Life to be seen at the beginning of his Opuscula's which I refer the Reader to not to trouble my self with refuting the Dream of the Soul falling asleep after Death till the Resurrection They also deny that there shall be a Hell being for a total Annihilation that is after Judgment the Wicked shall be reduc'd to nothing as if they had never been then no Torments for them to suffer upon this †Epist 3. ad Dudith nec de Immortalitate animae c. Socinus speaks plain enough I don't believe that any where in the whole Old Testament any clear mention is made either of the Immortality of the Soul or of any other Life Here is your Saducee but what 's become of the Soul after Death Solomon speaks to the purpose Then shall the dust that is the Body Eccles 12.7 return to the Earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it now in God's presence is fullness of joy and at his right-hand pleasures for evermore Psalm 16.11 Certainly the Soul when 't is with God in that special manner must feel Joy and Comfort but Socinians are of a contrary Opinion for they affirm * Smalc Err. 100. Err. 81. Err. 98. Animae Sanctorum c. The Souls of Saints after Death feel nothing and enjoy nothing Nay they deprive them of the blessed Vision of God for he adds The Souls of Saints do not see God before the Day of Judgment yet Scripture speaks of a place of Ease and Rest call'd Abraham's Bosom and though Parables be not Argumentative Luke 16.22 25. yet they are Illustrative to make us understand as far as we are able a thing that is and that same place without any Parable our Saviour calls Paradise when speaking to the repenting Malefactor
and of Athanasius c. which is plain enough against Socinians and in the beginning of the agreement at Sandomir are named Tritheists Ebionites and Ari-Anabaptiss this Universal consent of theirs was in writing presented to three of their Kings Sigismond Augustus Henry and Stephen all which Circumstances made the thing the more considerable and set the Hearts of many against Socinus upon the account of his Blasphemies in so much that in Cracow where he then resided there was a great tumult by the Scholars and others who hurried him out of his Chamber half Naked though Sick and he narrowly escaped being torn in pieces which made him leave that Town and go to Lokowicts where he died not long after To the character which elsewhere I gave of that Heresiarks Person The blasphemous Socinian Heresy 〈◊〉 I think now 't will not be amiss to add Something more and shew by what means and upon what account his Blasphemous Heresies got so much ground and as 〈…〉 the Socinian Doctrines so I hope now to discover their Spirit in their practises The Polonian Kinght who hath Written Sâ—â—inus's Life compares him to Ignatius Loyola yet whilest he doth it only upon some accounts as their good extraction pregnancy of parts c. he omits the main wherein the comparison is very fit and proper and 't is this both have been Authors of pernicious Sects whom what Augustin once said of Faustus the Manichaean that he was magnus diaboli laqueus a great snare of the Devil doth fitly belong to besides the conformity of the name for that Manichaean and this Socinus were both call'd Faustus unhappy Wretches ill meaning Men and Seducers have both ends and methods to carry on those ends different from those who follow the rules of God's Spirit these here do unto themselves propose the Glory of God and his Service in asserting his Truths wherein they are guided by his Word but the others aim at their own Vain Glory and seek themselves not the things of God or of Christ then 't is no wonder if they chuse contrary means to come to contrary ends when our Blessed Saviour came into the World his end was to save it therefore he proposed the ways conducing thereunto as is a conformity to God's Will and Nature thus because God is gracious merciful holy and pure he commanded Men to endeavour to be such if they would please God which is the ready way to happiness he went not about to suit his Rules and Doctrine with their corrupt Inclinations on the contrary he crossed them with teaching them Repentence Self-denyal to take up the Cross and follow him thorough the way of Afflictions and Tribulations things in no wise pleasing our natural Affections yet this is the way to Heaven But the Devil though he be God's Ape and would imitate him for as God hath his Church so Satan hath his Synagogue his Laws and Ministers yet instead of bringing Men to Heaven as he sometimes with his false suggestions would pretend puts them in the ready way to Hell and with his Snares doth cheat and trick them into it in order thereunto he studies the temper and constitution of those Men whom he would draw to himself and offers suitable baits and temptations to effect it Gen. 3.6 thus with the offer of a Fruit that was good for Food and pleasant to the Eye Eve was overcome by his Temptation Contrary to what our Saviour practised he doth what he can to please Man's humour and corrupt nature wherein he makes use of his Instruments thus that great Impostor Mahomet to satisfy his ambition lust and other carnal affections he knowing how much under pretence of Religion Men are apt to be misled went about to set up one whereof some things of Paganism Judaism and Christianism were the ingredients but he adapted it to the inclinations manners and customs of those whom he intended to bring into it and finding how in those Countries Men were extremely given to sensual pleasures and loved Gardens Fruits and the like he not only allowed all here but also promised after this Life those pleasures which suited with their Affections namely handsome Women fine Gardens and such other things as they in this World liked best of all Thus among Christians some wretches whom being puffed up with self-conceit and desire of vain-glory God left to themselves to fall by their own council soon fell into the Devil's Snares who gave a wrong edge to what natural parts they had and qualify'd them for his drudgery and as Self-denyal is the first thing which our Saviour prescribes his Desciples so on the contrary Satan begins with infusing and promoting Self-love his instruments do follow his steps and by all means go about to gratify it among such I reckon Socinus who to gain Proselytes first of all to make the Religion he was setting up easy prescribed very few things to believe and to do accommodated and fitted them to the natural inclination and corrupt nature of Men which are very dangerous snares withal to draw Men of all Sects and Sorts he made such a mixture that most if not every Heretick might therein find something for his Opinions he makes the way to Heaven wide and easy for a Man of any Sect without departing from his errours to come to it there is in Man a repugnancy to be gainsaid and a strong desire of liberty in our opinions of things discourses and actions accordingly Socinus allows it to the full for in his School you may believe what you please make new Arcicles of Faith reject old ones undervalue Christ and rob him of his due as much as you can and dare and have the liberty to censure the Opinion of others which is very plausible to flesh and blood Gal. 1.16 but Paul saith how after his Conversion he conferred not with flesh and blood And as to their presuming so much upon Scripture with giving their own interpretations such as they please he tells I say thorough the Grace given unto me Rom. 12.3 to every Man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every Man the measure of Faith The Old Translation hath it thus that no Man presume to understand above that which is meet to understand but that he under standâ—th according to Sobriety As when God hath a work to do he never wants Instruments for he fits them for his Work so when he hath some Judgment to execute he gives the Devil leave to prepare the evil instruments to be made use of in this bad design Socinus had suitable qualifications as being of a good Family good natural parts improved by the refined Italian Court-way especially that of Florence where he lived several years and got experience and thereby became skill'd in the way of insinuating himself into Men's Affections with his being Civil Affable and Courteous by which
the old ones After what I hitherto observed of them and of their Principles these following things I offer to the Serious consideration of the Reader but more especially to that of the Government and Magistracy which are more immediatly concern'd First That our Controversies against Socinians are not about indifferent things or few Ceremonies but concerning the most Fundamental Truths of our Holy Religion for the Doctrines of the Trinity of two Natures in Christ of his Satisfaction of the Grace and Providence of God are not Problematical nor meerly School disputes but of the necessity of Christian Faith I also affirm that Socinians are Christians only in Name not really and in Truth for they own not Christ for what he is and if the * Athan. orat 3.4 cont Arian Ancient Doctors of the Church reckoned the Arians among the Gentiles so we now may account Socinians to be Constantine the Great made an Edict forbidding the Porphyrians to be call'd Christians and that all their Books should be Burnt so this were the proper Course to suppress those of Socinians but instead of that they are suffered not only daily to Print new ones but also to Reprint old ones and thus not only here at home but also to have them from abroad Socinians do not truly confess Christ seeing they deny he hath Divine Nature and make of him but a secondary God an Idol and a Creature God then which nothing more absurd I farther say they ought not to be suffered to have Communion with the Church because they do not together with us know own and Worship the true God who is Father Son and Holy Ghost but they pretend to Worship one first God the Father and another inferiour God made such that is the Son moreover they lay another foundation than that is laid 1 Cor. 3.11 for instead of Christ who is a Divine Person with two Natures they set up another Person who is a meer Man seeing than they lay another Foundation deny Christ Son of God to be come in the Flesh and do not adore him with us for such as he is than we may have no Brotherly Communication with them than they have not with us the same washing of the Blood of Christ and do not believe therewith to be Purged and Sanctify'd for they deny his Satisfaction that he hath laid down a Price to Redeem us they farther deny or depravate the causes and means of our Salvation and are guilty of Idolatry for paying a Religious Worship to him who is not God by Nature and though they would be thought to be Disciples of Jesus Christ yet they deny his Person and betray his Truth I add they Love not Christ and against such 1 Cor. 16.22 the Apostle pronounces Anathema for they Blaspheme against him they pretend to love him only as a Creature when he should be loved as Creator then they are not Pious for such cannot be said to live piously who deprive the true God Father Son and Holy Ghost of the Honour due to him and they are highly mistaken when they would make civil honesty to be Christian Piety and the true knowledge of God and a constant profession thereof not to be a necessary part of Piety They ought not to be suffered in a Christian State so as to have liberty of Conscience with free exercise of and teaching or publishing their Blasphemous and Impious Opinions because they overthrow the foundation of Christian Religion to the dishonour of God's Holy Name seduction of Souls and disturbance of the Church and as 't is a Collection of fundamental Heresies so to tolerate Socinians is thereby to tolerate all those Heresies whereby God's Judgments are drawn upon Nations wherefore Pious Christian Emperours and Kings to promote the Glory of God ever took care to suppress Heresies and Blasphemies as the Ecclesiastical Histories do fully prove it and thereupon let Justinian's Code be consulted against the Heresies of Photinus and of Paulus Samosatenus which Socinians do openly profess Now the Churches in Poland according to the three several Protestant Confessions there will have no Communion with Socinians who at several times were thence banished by their Kings In Holland * In 1598. the States-General having about Socinus asked the Opinion of Junius Trecaltius and Gomarus three Eminent Divines at Leyden the answer was He is no Christian but half Turk for Christians do believe one God with a distinction of Persons but the Mehometan Religion is for one God without distinction of Persons so are Socinians the Judgment of these three Divines agrees †Voidov Ostorod in Apol. in 1600. not only with the truth but also with the general consent of Christians against the Order of the States-General by vertue of which their Blasphemous Books were burnt at the Hague and they Banish'd out of their Dominions they unjustly complain'd and that act they compared with the Spanish Inquisition which here is their usual Discourse and Question will ye bring an Inquisition upon us and as then so now they would plead it to be the interest of the State to tolerate them whereof the contrary I sufficiently proved besides that Religion is against it whose Voice is to be heard sooner than that of false Reason neither ought God's cause to be made a Sacrifice of to any wordly interest among the Burnt Books in Holland was Ostorodus's Manuscript against Tradelius wherein he called Christ's Satisfaction an invention of the Trinitarians according to the place of his where he calls it a false childish ridiculous and blasphemous errour like an old Womens Superstitious and Popish Fable Certainly Men who have so obstinate an hatred of the Truth such mean Thoughts of and Contempt for him who is the way the Truth and the Life Joh. 14.6 are a shame to a Nation a Reproach to a People and a Scandal to Religion also Dangerous because they lose no Opportunity of Publishing their erroneous Opinions and their being supported makes them the bolder therefore 't is wish'd as indeed there is a necessity for it to see our Springs cleared as from Idolatry so from Blasphemy Papists who are great Idolaters are I thank God by Law excluded from having any hand in the Legislative or Executive Powers and 't is but fit that Blasphemers Socinians who confidently brag of their Errours should be so too The Receiver is as bad as the Thief I remember a Blasphemer here James Naylor to stand at the Pilory have his Tongue bored thorough in the Forehead Branded with the Letter B and Condemned during Life to be in Prison without Pen Ink or Paper and though about those times unhappily sprung up several Sects yet general care was ever taken of the main and Fundamentals of Religion even in the Army where was the greatest Latitude allowed for in their Laws and Ordinances of War the first Article was against Blasphemy in these very Words First let no Man presume to Blaspheme the Holy and
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
Body he call'd by â—he name of the Temple whereby he seem'd to point at the Temple wherein God was said to dwell as if he had said this Body wherein I now dwell as formerly I did in the Temple you may and shall take and destroy as it happened when they Crucified him but this I give you for a proof of my Divinity so as to make you know who I am â—his same Body or Temple in three days I of my self and by my own Power will raise it up again that Body is â—ow Glorious in Heaven whilest there is on Earth neither Ark Tabernacle nor Temple At this time I have insisted upon the head of Visions which is one of the Classes out of which we draw Arguments for the Holy Trinity and Incarnation of the Son of God though they were more frequent under the Old Testament when those Holy Mysteries were not so plain as since they were made by the coming of our Lord and Saviour yet God in his Infinite Wisdom to confirm all that in that kind had been under the Law shew'd Abraham and his Posterity hath under the Gospel Transmitted to his Church thereby to shew an harmony between his Promises and the Execution thereof that Revelation to St. John Iown there are some proofs may be not so strong because not so plain as others for some do prove a Truth more directly and positively than others yet in the Word of God every kind of proof hath its use for God in his Infinite Wisdom hath thought fit therein to instruct us in several ways and methods if we had only Collateral and somewhat dark proofs we would not lay so great a stress thereupon but to the most positive and clear we join others to shew the excellent harmony that is in God's Word in asserting things in some places more in others less plainly for sometimes in one we find that which seem'd wanting in another but altogether they make the thing to be undisputably true This consideration moves me in the disputes we have against Socinans to draw up some Arguments which as yet I made no use of to prove and more and more demonstrate those great Truths of that kind the following is one 't is said of Moses that he esteemed the reproach of or for Christ greater Riches than the Treasures in Aegypt Heb. 11.26 How is the reproach of Christ mentioned in relation to a time that was so long before his Birth in the place the Apostle saith it was by Faith now one that is not or that is a meer Man cannot be the Object of saving Faith for we believe in God not in Man therefore we must say Christ was in Moses's time and as then he was not a Man nor an Angel he must needs be God Moses whom a while after God so clearly communicated himself to and so familiarly conversed with knew well that Angel who afterwards was with him all along in the Wilderness who to him had appeared in the Bush to be God himself Existing at that time since he was with him and who in time to come under the name of a Prophet like himself was to be manifested in the Hesh the Messiah and Christ as to his Office and at that time God by Nature we must believe that Paul on that occasion mentioning Christ had cause for so doing which can be assigned to be no other than upon the account of his Deity before he had upon him taken our Humanity This Reproach of Christ another Apostle under the name of his Sufferings mentions as having of old been under the Eye and Prospect of the Prophets who saith he 1 Pet. 1.10 11. Inquired diligently searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when it testified before hand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow all which related to a coming of his in the Flesh but lookt upon him as having then another Being and Existence for by the Testimony of the same Spirit they knew the Messiah to come in their time to be God As to the word Reproach of Christ used by the Apostle we elsewhere have it in Scripture Psal 69.9 The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me The Reproaches Revilings and Blasphemies against God by wicked Men are fallen upon Christ for not only he hath born upon him David's Adultery and Murthers the Thefts and Robberies of the repenting Malefactor the Unbelief Persecution and Blasphemy of Paul as Peter's Denying Swearing and Cursing but also the Reproaches Mockeries Revilings and Injuries which Malice and Wickedness could invent fell upon him from his Baptism to his Death especially in the High-Priest's House in the Judgment Hall and upon the Cross when Hell was quite broke loose upon him They that passed by reviled him Matth. 27.39 40 41 42 43. wagging their heads saying if thou be the Son of God come down from the cross likewise the chief Priests mocking him with the Scribes and Elders said he saved others himself he cannot save if he be the King of Israel let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him he trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him for he said I am the Son of God These last words contain the ground of all their malicious Blasphemies wherein Socinians would have joyned with the Jews and if for the Cause no doubt also for the Effect Were not these Reproaches against God whose Holy Name was Impiously made use of They Reproaching for trusting in God and for saying I am the Son of God which certainly is to reproach God but all these Blasphemies and wicked Reproaches fell upon Christ who was made the Object thereof thus was fullfill'd the Prophecy for David pointed at him when he said The Reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me There are two undisputable proofs to shew how in that place the Psalmist speaks not of himself but of our Saviour one is in the beginning of the same Verse The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up to him applied the other is ver 21. Joh. 2.17 In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink and if for this Truth we want another Evidence we have it at hand for even Christ pleased not himself but as it is written Rom. 15.3 The Reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me So then if Paul speaks truth in Moses's time there was that which may be call'd the Reproach of Christ then in some sense Christ was at that time and that might well be seeing he declared he was before Abraham Something more we must say about this the better to explain it we know Divine Nature to be impassible and out of the reach of any wrong on injury however those that impiously attempt to do 't are accounted to have effected it for what they could they have done towards it and in God's Eye are as
call'd will help to strike the Nail farther into the Head of those proud and unchristian Sisera's Unbelievers I may also call them seeing they refuse to believe the true God of Israel when he speaks of his Son who under the Name of this Angel he promised should go before them Ex. 32.34 Mine Angel shall go before thee And in the next Chapter God calls him his Presence ch 33.14 or his Face God hath many Angels but in a most special manner that he calls his but God hath not many Faces 2 Cor. 4.6 only one and that is the Face of Jesus Christ in whom only is the knowledge of the glory of God for God giveth the knowledge of his glory only in him Because he is the express Image of his Heb. 1.3 the Father's Person Those two Texts in the Old Testament compared with and explained by these two in the New shew that the Lord Jesus the proper Son of God went before and guided his People in the Wilderness so pre-existed the time of his Birth of the Virgin and that it may not be said of any Creature that the glory of God is in his Face or that he is the express Image of the Person of the Father and the brightness of his glory as the Beam is the brightness of the glory of the Sun In my way towards a Conclusion I shall by the grace of God briefly bring in some few Texts which do explain and confirm the great Truths now in question some I elsewhere have taken notice of however I now shall add something to what I then said but others I shall mention which I did not before but this I shall premise In the Apostle John's Days who lived to a very Old Age sprang up some Heresiarks as Simon the first of all Cerinthus Ebion and Menander who deny'd the Divinity of Christ as now Socinians do This moved the Apostle to assert and vindicate it as in his Gospel Epistles and Revelation he hath done so fully that if there were no other Books left of the New Testament there is in them abundantly enough to certifie and confirm that Heavenly Truth as out of several places in his Writings I sufficiently demonstrated in my Book against the Blasphemies of Socinianism which he doth so plainly and so often that we must take notice how the Holy Ghost by his Pen intended chiefly and strongly to suggest to and convince Men of the Fundamental Truth of Christian Religion namely that the Lord Jesus is the proper Son of God 1 Joh. 5.5.9 10 11 12 13 20. and to the end that great Truth may make a deep impression upon the Souls of Men in one Chapter in no less than seven Verses he emphatically calls him the Son of God and v. 10 he is twice so called so twice in the 13th and that in such a manner so sensibly and with such Circumstances as denote a true proper and natural kind of Son-ship and he is so earnest upon 't may be all that time having in his Eye the Blasphemy of those Hereticks as to charge those who deny Christ to be the Son of God and believe not in him to make God a Lyar who is the God of Truth the highest Blasphemy that the Devil can infuse into Men For saith he he that believeth on the Son of God hath the Witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a Lyar He saith wherein Because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son And what is that Record Besides his Commission in sending him into the World and the Works attended with so many Miracles and Wonders which the Father gave him to finish and to the evidence of which our Saviour did appeal we have it in his Baptism in a most eminent and special manner for the Father bare record of him when he said from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Certainly God spoke absolutely truly and properly and not Metaphorically improperly and by a Figure not my Son according to the Flesh spiritually or only in some respect but simply my Son that is begotten of my substance and of the same Nature with me as a Son ought to be and is of the same Nature with the Father Volkel l. 5. c. 12. whose only begotten he is which is the proper signification of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which a Socinian would corrupt and render by that of Most beloved to enervate the strength of it The Priests Philosophers and Poets among the Heathen either out of Noah's or Abraham's Schools or by some other way had a kind of dark knowledge of this Truth which for want of Revelation they understood not therefore did hide it under Fables and Lies as may be that of Mercury Jupiter's Son and Messenger of Pallas born out of his Head but for Socinians who have God's Word so positively affirming this Truth 't is for them the unpardonable sin of Unbelief which sinks them into Atheism for whosoever knoweth not and worshipeth not the true God he is without God and all who deny Father Son and Holy Ghost to be the true God know not the true God poor Wretches who presume with the Line of their shallow Brain and weak Reason to fathom the deep things of God which prompts them to put several impertinent rash and blasphemous Questions how short do they fall of the Modesty Sobriety and Wisdom of an Heathen Sextus the Pythagorean who said Concerning God inquire of nothing but what thou mayst lawfully say nothing of God but what thou hast learned of God 't is better for one to lose his Life than to speak an idle word of God it is better to say nothing of God than rashly to speak of him Such Men shall at the last Day rise in Judgment against Socinians Among the Greeks Pythagoras himself made all perfection to consist in the number of three or in Trinity and Plato constituted three Principles of all things Good Understanding and the Soul or Life whereby we Christians may understand Father Son and Holy Ghost who created the World But I must go on The Centurion's Words are remarkable when he said to our Saviour Matth. 8.8 Lord speak the Word only and my Servant shall be healed just as Scripture speaks in the matter of Creation Psal 33.9 He spake and it was done he commanded and it stood Such a Word of Command we read of in Jonah And the Lord spake unto the Fish Jonah 2.10 and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry Land which last words imply a special Providence and ordering of things for the Fish might have vomited him in the middle or the bottom of the Sea but because God would save him 't was upon dry Land But to return to the Centurion whose great Faith the Lord commended he believed and was not mistaken that our Saviour might as absolutely command Distempers and Health Death and Life as he
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
God himself and our Father 1 Thess 3.11 and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you here is a Prayer which is a Religious Worship directed to God himself Who this God is 't is equally said our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ equally prayed to because both equally able to perform and answer the Prayer's end so that whether the Name God himself be taken essentially then our Lord Christ is as well as the Father comprehended under it or if personally then to leave no doubt of it by way of explanation his Name is express'd as well as that of the Father and may no more than the Father be excluded from being God himself but it would be almost an endless Work if one would make use of all Texts in Scripture which either directly or indirectly by plain Assertions or good Consequences prove Christ's Divinity for one of the ends of the Gospel is to declare Christ to be properly God Joh. 20.31 Son of God These things are written that ye may believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God yet Socinians would make him to be like those false Gods whom Moses speaks of in opposition to the true God of them he gives this description Deut. 32.17 They sacrificed unto Devils not to God to Gods whom they knew not to new Gods that came newly up These upstart Gods were Devils which they worshipped no true God but what from all eternity is such by Nature now if the Lord Jesus be as they would have him a God come up within these 1700 Years whom they worship I leave them to wash off the obvious blasphemous consequence As to what they say that he is God only by Office and by vertue of his being anointed I answer Anointing was a Ceremony to make and declare a King but the Anointing made him not a Man for that he was before Thus the Lord Jesus the Son of God being Anointed and made Christ that Anointing indeed made and declared him a King a Prophet and a Priest and thereby those Offices were conferred on him but that could not make him God for he was such before Christ is a Name of Office as God is of Nature Upon every other account they are full of their Cavils thus they would have the Name Jehovah not to be an essential incommunicable Name Psal 68.4 which with that of Jah signifies his Nature and incomprehensible Majesty whereby he is declared to be the only true God of Israel in opposition to all false Gods and they would have their false Notion to stand because they pretend that most Holy Name to be attributed to Creatures as to the Ark Jerusalem c. which sufficiently * The Blasphemous Socinian Heresie Confut. p. 60. Zec. 14.20 I refuted elsewhere This only I now shall add that the Name Jehovah is no more attributed to the Ark or any Creature than that most holy Name and Holiness it self is to the Bells of Horses when 't is said In that Day shall there be upon the Bells of the Horses Holiness unto the Lord But as they strike at his Divine Nature so they do against its essential Attributes as Omniscience which I also have spoken of This I shall add That when the Prophets knew of things to come 't was by vertue of Revelation for 't is often said The Word of the Lord came to me thus things they knew from God but the Lord Jesus knew things from himself whether past or to come as among other Instances that of the Samaritan Woman can shew about her five Husbands John 4. chap. 5 6. Matt. 25. ch 17.27 ch 16.21 ch 21.38 ch 26.23 v. 34. and that of the Man who had long been sick He also knew future things thus he foretold the Destruction of Jerusalem about forty Years before it happened thus of the Fish which Peter should catch and of the piece of Money in his Mouth so he foretold his Death and the manner of that of Peter's that Judas should betray and Peter deny him and several other things Now this in God's Language proves Christ's Divinity because foretelling of things to come is given as a Character of the true God as we have it Isa 41.22 23. Shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are Gods after he in the foregoing Verse had said Let them shew us what shall happen or declare things for to come There is a considerable place to prove our Lord's Divinity which must be to the purpose seeing Paul as good an Interpreter of Scripture as any of them all makes use of it in the same sense as we do The words of the Psalm are these Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever Psal 45.6 Heb. 8. which the Apostle apply'd to the Son Jesus Christ but as they are apt to take unjust Exceptions at any thing that hits them so they do at this and would give the words only a literal sense relating to Solomon's Marriage with Pharaoh's Daughter We may own something therein to relate to Solomon but withal 't is chiefly in a spiritual way intended to represent Christ's Union with his Church and that 't is not Solomon's Epithalamy or a Psalm upon his Marriage it appears from the very first Verse My heart is inditing a good matter for certainly Marrying Pharaoh's Daughter was no good matter for absolutely God had forbidden his People to make any Marriage with other Nations Deut. 7.3 1 Kings 11.3 4. and that Wife of his was one of those who turn'd his Heart after other Gods to serve them Besides what is said therein Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever doth not belong to Solomon nor what is said The King's Daughter is all glorious within to his Wife Their distinction of most high which they would attribute only to the Father and of high God to the Son to make him a subordinate God is frivolous for in the Divinity that makes no difference The true God of Israel is sometimes call'd so in the superlative degree and at other times in the positive yet that distinction doth not make two Gods of Israel in one and the same Psalm he is called by both Titles in one Verse the most High Psal 78.56.35 And they tempted and provoked the most high God and in another before 't is said They remembered that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer so that God the high God and the most high God is but one and the same God The Record which John Baptist bare of our Saviour ought to be weighty for God sent him to the end he should bear it and also unquestionable for then he spake against himself when he gave Christ the whole preference which must be attributed only to his saying the truth John 1.15.27 30. The record is this He that comes after me is preferred before me for he was before me Which Truth is of so high a
concernment to be known that in one and the same chapter 't is thrice mentioned and in every one of those Verses 't is applied to Christ who is directly pointed at in these words This was he of whom I spake and he it is who coming after me and this is he of whom I said ver 34 Now the Testimony or Record is this is the son of God by Nature not by Grace for if only in this last relation it had been unneccessary for therein had been no preference for John was such and this is the plain Result of the Circumlocution by him used before he cometh after me and he is preferred before me of which he giveth the reason for he was before me Here is a Comparison between John and Christ wherein Christ hath the preference not because he came after but because he was before John let the Dignity be contained in the words he is preferred still the reason of it is that though he came after yet he was before him do not to come after and to be before relate to time For here the words relate to their Birth now we must believe that in these two Phrases he comes after me and he was before me there is Truth Reason good Sense and no Contradiction in the same respect he cannot be said to come after and be before but it must be in a different one which is this and if they can let them assign another he comes after me into the World as ver 10. that is he was born after me which is the plain Truth for the Angel Gabriel Luk. 1.36 six Months after Elizabeth had Conceived foretold the Virgin Mary our Saviour's Birth so that according to the usual Course of Nature the Lord Jesus was born six Months after John and in that sense he came after him But how was he Born before him seeing in relation to his Temporal Generation he was after It must be in regard of a Generation of another kind for no Man hath or can have but one Natural Generation and can be born but once what else then may it be but an Eternal one by vertue of which Christ in his time was before John For saith John he was not is before me to shew how the question is about time And if in one sense Christ had been but six Months before John as he was born six Months after then in that sense we may well conclude for hundreds and thousands of Years and so to Eternity Our blessed Lord and Saviour to give an Example and to condescend to the frailty of our Nature thereby to draw Men to himself by degrees was lowly and humble yet without any prejudice to his Right which when questioned he maintained and upon several occasions asserted though sometimes to the danger of his Life He could tell the Jews Joh. 6.38 ch 8.14.23 I came down from heaven and though I bear record of my self yet my record is true for I know whence I came and whither I go 'T is a special Prerogative of God to bear Record of himself again Ye are from beneath I am from above ye are of this world I am not of this world And as he told them ch 10.38 that if they believed not his word yet they should believe his works which were so Glorious and Miraculous and clear Demonstrations of his Divine Nature and Power he said that Lazarus's Sickness was for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby Son of God simply and absolutely is God in that case he spake of himself for by raising Lazarus as he did from the Dead he thereby was Glorified and he that was Glorified was God Son of God for as there was but one Glory so there was but one God Glorified This verse ought to be compared with the 40. where Christ said to Martha Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldst see the glory of God That is his own Glory by her Brother's Resurrection which he was just upon going to essect so in the other case of the Man that was Blind from his Birth he said to his Disciples that He was born blind chap. 9.3 that the work of God should be made manifest in him Which happened when he by his own Divine Power gave him his Sight and was thereby Glorified as God We must observe how the Son of God absolutely taken as 't is here is God as well as the Son of Man is Man And the Lord Jesus doth explain the first part for the glory of God by the last that the Son of God be glorified which shews it to be the same or equivalent Thus in another place our Saviour interprets the Phrase making himself God chap. 10.33.36 by saying I am the Son of God with calling himself Son of God in his and their Sense he certainly thereby made himself God which they called Blasphemy but he deny'd it to be so though he owned he had call'd himself God and in the very sense that they had taken it Because our Lord sometimes call'd himself Son of Man they would take advantage of it but when he did it was to point at the Promise made to our first Parents that the Woman's Seed should bruise the Serpent's Head and to teach Men how they ought to look upon him as being that same Seed who was come not to conquer Kingdoms as at that time the Jews fancied but to execute the Promise of bruising the Serpent's Head Joh. 10.36 when he called himself Son of Man he spoke the truth but he thereby denied not that he was the Son of God for sometimes he call'd himself by that Name and to confirm this great and fundamental Truth there stands upon record and shall to the Worlds end the famous Confession of Peter in his and of all the Apostles Name upon a solemn occasion Thou art the Son of the Living God a truth which came not out of his own Head or out of any humane Principle but was from Heaven immediately revealed unto him namely that Jesus Christ was by Office the Messiah and by Nature the true Son of the living God Now if he had been Son of God only by deputation there had been no need of Revelation but at that time 't was necessary to let Men know how he is such by Nature and to refute the wrong Notions which the Jews had of our Saviour God thought fit to inform them better with declaring his Divinity and this is one of those Mysteries of the Kingdom of God Luk. 8.10 which the Lord Jesus said to his Disciples It was given unto them to know wherein he plainly declared how in and after his teaching in Religion were Mysteries not to be known but by the Gift of God and Revelation And I think he was a competent Judge of such things and when he call'd himself Son of God he could also tell whether or not he was so which to