is truly God is him only who is the Father of Jesus Christ 'T is undeniably evident from the Old Testament that the God of Israel or the Lord of Hosts is the only true God for thus it is written Thou art God and thou alone of all the Kingdoms of the Earth 2 Kings 19. 15. There is none like thee neither is there any God besides thee 2 Chron. 17. 20. Thou art God alone Psal 86. 10. Besides me there is no God Isa 44. 6. I am God and there is none else Isa 46. 9. Thou shalt know no other God but me Hos 13. 4. Now as this is plain beyond Contradiction so do all Christians generally acknowledg that the God here mentioned was him only who afterwards was called the Father of Jesus Christ And in the New Testament no Truth is more fully and plainly express'd than this is thus says our Lord himself Father This is Life Eternal to know thee the only true God Joh. 17. 1 3. The same do his Apostles affirm Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 1. 3. With one Mind and one Mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 15. 6. We give Thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Col. 1. 3. He shall deliver up the Kingdom to God even the Father 1 Cor. 15. 24. Therewith bless we God even the Father Jam. 3. 9. To us there is but one God the Father 1 Cor. 8. 6. Now it is impossible that any one Article of the Christian Faith can be more fully and plainly express'd in Scripture than this is the Words can be understood in no other Sense than what at the first sight they do plainly signify and they give the most satisfying Answer that can be given to any one that shall ask who God is namely that he is only that most Divine Person who is the Father of Jesus Christ And if in this case plain Scripture is not to be relied on I see not of what great Use our Bibles can be to us Yet this so plain and evident Truth is commonly denied For a very great Number of professed Christians do notwithstanding believe that in the Godhead there be indeed more Persons than only one and that Jesus Christ the Son of God is God also as well as his Father But of this Error the former Arguments are sufficient to convince them for if none be God but the Father of Christ then cannot the Son be truly God also since he in no Sense whatever can be said to be the Father of Christ that is of himself And certainly if Men would resolve faithfully to make use but of common Sense and common Honesty they could not but be convinced of the Absurdity of this Opinion by only reading so often as they do in the New Testament of Jesus Christ his being the Son of God for how can he be God himself who truly is no other than the Son of God If he be the Son only then 't is plain that he is not the Father also who alone is God for 't is impossible according to the Notion we have of Sons for any Being whatever to be the Son of himself No understanding Man when at any time he hears mention made of the Son of a King is so idle in his Imagination as to believe that thereby is meant the King who is his Father he certainly then must be very sensless who can think that by the Son of God is any ways meant God that is God most high Christ not the true God because he himself has a God above him 'T is also evident beyond Contradiction that our blessed Lord cannot be truly God since both he himself and his Apostles do very plainly acknowledg that he has a God above him for instance My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Mat. 27. 46. I ascend to my God and to your God Joh. 20. 17. Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God Rev. 3. 12. The Head of every Man is Christ and the Head of Christ is God 1 Cor. 11. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 1. 3. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ knows I lie not 2 Cor. 11. 31. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ may give you the Spirit Eph. 1. 17. Therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the Oil of Gladness above thy Fellows Heb. 1. 8 9. These Texts are very plain and need no Interpretation to make them be understood Now if our Lord Christ have thus a God above him then 't is evident if any thing in the World be so that he himself is not God most high Christ not God because what he does is by a Power received from God This Truth Christ himself does plainly declare I can saith he of my own self do nothing Joh. 5. 30. All Power is given unto me both in Heaven and in Earth Mat. 28. 18. When the Multitude saw his Miracles they marvelled and glorified God who had given such Power unto Men Mat. 9. 8. Now these things can in no tolerable Sense be said of him that is truly God for he that is God most High hath essentially in himself all kind of Divine Dignity and Excellency and cannot without the highest of Blasphemies be in any Sense said to receive them of another But of our Lord it is recorded that he neither said nor did any thing especially in the Work of our Redemption but what he was commanded to say and do by his Father I have not spoken of my self saith he but the Father which sent me he gave me a Commandment what I should say and what I should speak Joh. 12. 49. Is he able to save the World To this Power he was raised by God Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour Acts 5. 31. Can he give Power to Believers to become the Sons of God This Power he also has received Thou hast given him Power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him Joh. 17. 2. Has he Power to raise from the dead Even this Power also he did receive As the Father hath Life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have Life in himself Joh. 5. 26. Has he Power to judg the World 'T is God that does enable him to do this This is he that was ordained of God to be Judg of Quick and Dead Acts 10. 42. I can do nothing of my self as I hear I judg Joh. 5. 30. Moreover 't is thus said The Glory which thou hast given me I have given them Joh. 17. 22. I appoint unto you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me Luke 22. 29. The God of our Lord Jesus Christ hath put all things under his Feet Eph. 1. 17.
Now they must impose strangely upon their own Understandings that can unrequired by the Gospel believe him to be truly God even Infinite in all Perfection of whom 't is said so plainly that whatever Power and Dignity he has is given him by another Christ not God because God and He are plainly distinguished This Consideration alone of it self is a very strong Argument to prove our Lord Christ not to be really and truly God since he is every where spoken of as a Person that differs as much from God as a noble Subject differs from his Prince or King Thus 't is said of him that God anointed him Acts 10. 38. That he offered himself up to God Heb. 9. 14. That God raised him from the Dead Acts 2. 24. That he was exalted by God Acts 2. 33. That he ascended to God Joh. 20. 17. That he sits at God's right Hand Acts 7. 56. That God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us Eph. 4. 32. That he hath redeemed us unto God by his Blood Rev. 5. 9. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ hath put all things under his Feet Eph. 1. 22. I might collect a very great Number of other Places that speak to the very same purpose all which do evidently demonstrate that the true God is not Jesus Christ for if Jesus were sent of God and raised up from the Dead by God and sits now at God's right Hand c. then 't is plain that there is as great a Difference between the true God and him as there is between a Prince and him whom he is said to honour or imploy 'T would be strangely absurd for a Man to affirm that God can be sent of God that God can pray to God that God can ascend to God that God can sit at God's right Hand and that God shall deliver up the Kingdom to God that God may be all in all He that can believe this possible is fitted for the Reception of the most ridiculous and absurd Errors that were ever found in the World Of that Account which the Scriptures give of the Person of Christ As from what has been said before it appears very plainly what kind of Person Christ our Lord is not so 't will be likewise necessary to shew what the Scriptures do declare concerning him as to what he is Now if we consider well the general Scope and Tendency of those sacred Writings we shall perceive very plainly that Christ or the Messiah according to the Promises was really to be of the same Nature with them which he came to redeem that as by Man came Death so by Man might come also the Resurrection of the Dead 1 Cor. 15. 'T was by the Seed of the Woman that the Serpent's Head was bruised Gen. 3. 15. To Abraham the Promise was made that in him and in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed Gen. 28. 14. Moses tells the Children of Israel that the Lord their God should raise up unto them a Prophet like unto him Deut. 8. 15. Of this Man's Seed namely David 's saith St. Paul hath God raised up unto Israel a Saviour Jesus Acts 13. 23. In the Fulness of time God sent forth his Son made of a Woman Gal. 4. 4. From all which Places 't is manifest that as to the personal Nature of Christ he is the same as were those humane Ancestors from whom he did lineally descend In all things he was like unto his Brethren except in being a Sinner Heb. 2. 17. Heb. 4. 15. And accordingly we find him almost every where mentioned by that plain Denomination and Term of A MAN Ye seek saith he himself to kill me A MAN who hath told you the Truth which I have heard of God Joh. 8. 40. After me cometh A MAN that is preferred before me Joh. 1. 30. Jesus of Nazareth A MAN approved of God by Wonders and Signs which God did by him Acts 13. 38. He hath appointed a Day in the which he will judg the World in Righteousness by THAT MAN whom he hath ordained Acts 17. 31. There is one God and one Mediator between God and Men THE MAN Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. But THIS MAN because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood Heb. 2. 7. But THIS MAN after he had once offered one Sacrifice for Sins for ever sat down at the right Hand of God Heb. 10. 12. I could name a Multitude of others but I think it is needless Now to me 't is strange that any should so much as imagine that the believing and asserting of Christ to be truly an humane Person should derogate from his true Honour and Dignity when the Gospel does so frequently assert him to be such whereas on the contrary 't is not said so much as once that he is God most high or that he is one of that sacred Three which do constitute or make up the true Godhead These Unscriptural Titles are derived only from the meer Opinions and Traditions of either deceived or deceiving Men whose Eyes the God of this World hath blinded so that they cannot see or discern the Truth The Primitive Confessions concerning Christ were Not that Jesus our Lord was God equal to the Father in all kind of Divine Perfections nor that he was God of the Substance of his Father as he was Man of the Substance of his Mother as some have taught in after-times All that those first Confessions do contain was this that he was the Christ the Son of God and the Saviour of the World This was the Faith of Martha She said unto him Yea Lord I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of God that should come into the World John 11. 27. This was St. Peter 's Faith Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Mat. 16. 16. This was the Eunuch's Faith I believe that Christ is the Son of God Acts 8. 37. This was the Faith of the Mariners Of a Truth thou art the Son of God Mat. 14. 33. And the Faith of Nicodemus was We know thou art a Teacher come from God for no Man can do these Miracles that thou dost except God be with him John 3. 2. St. Paul is also said to preach Christ in the Synagogues that he was the Son of God Acts 9. 20. He is said also to testify to the Jews not that Jesus was God but that Jesus was the Christ Acts 18. 5. We have seen and do testify saith St. John that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the World 1 Joh. 4. 14. Here 's no Trinity in Unity nor God-man nor Hypostatical Union so much as mentioned nor any other of those hard and cramping Names with which the Church of God has been since perplex'd The undoubted Faith on which the Salvation of all Christians does depend Is no other than this These things saith St. John are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that believing ye might
24 25 28. Answers to the principal Objections made against the Vnitarian Doctrine AND now tho from what has been already said no Man whose Understanding is not inslaved by the Tyranny either of Self-conceit Interest or Education can doubt of so great a Truth as this is namely that no personal Being whatever besides the Father of Christ is God most High as also that other Branch thereof that Jesus our Lord as to his Nature is the same with them whom he came to redeem Yet since there have been many Objections raised against it I will endeavour as briefly as I can to give them such reasonable Answers as shall make these Truths beyond Exception Of the Names of God given to Christ Some object that Christ of necessity must be God since in several Places of Scripture he is expresly called by the Name of God I answer a God he undoubtedly is and a mighty God too according to the way of Expression used in those antient times in which those were called Gods who either represented God's Person or acted in his Name and by his Authority but he is not God Almighty When the Jews did accuse him for making himself God he thus vindicates his Innocence If saith he they are called Gods to whom the Word of God came Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the World Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God John 10. 35 36. Christ had as good a Right to this Title as any of the rest if not a better and therefore it could be no Blasphemy to appropriate the same to himself had he done so but they lied for he did not do it he only said that he was the Son of God calling God his Father Of the Mediation of Jesus Christ Others object that if Christ were not God as well as Man he could not have been a fit Mediator between God and Man since in such a Case say they he ought no way to be exactly the Person concern'd A fit Mediator between God and Man must neither be only God nor only Man but one who by Nature is between these two even God as well as Man I answer 'T is not necessary that a Mediator should be of such a middle Nature nor does the Scripture any where assert it There is always supposed in the Work of Reconciliation one offended another offending and a third not concern'd in the Quarrel interposing to make Peace between them Now in this Sense Christ though but a Man was a very fit and proper Mediator Had he been God he had been the Party offended had he been a sinful Man he had been one of that Party that gave the Offence but being a Man perfectly righteous he therefore was fit to intercede between God and Sinners That Christ is our Mediator is plain and evident and 't is as plain that he is only a Man and not both God and Man as some assert There is saith the Scripture one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 2. 5. And 't is most wonderful that in a Matter so manifestly evident Men should dare to impose upon the World another Faith or be induc'd to believe contrary to so plain and evident a part of God's Word Of the Oneness of God and Christ Others object that Christ Jesus must needs be God because 't is said I and my Father are one John 10. 30. And again There be three that bear Record and these three are one 1 Joh. 5. 7. To these I answer that though 't is said they are one yet 't is not said what one they are 't is not said they are one God This is only the ungrounded Assertion either of some easy-minded or else of some heedlesly bold and daring Men. Doubtless by that Passage 1 John 5. 7. is meant that these three are one as to the Record which they are there said to bear they perfectly agree in that Witness which they give concerning Jesus his being truly the Christ as the foregoing Verses do plainly intimate As for that other Passage John 10. 30. 't is plain that the Oneness there meant is a Mystical or Moral and not a Natural Oneness And 't is doubtless explained by John 17. 11. where our Saviour prays that his Disciples might be one as he and his Father were one that they saith he may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they may be one in us v. 21. which denotes an Oneness only in the same mutual Affection for Believers can be one in no other Sense but this and look what Oneness there ought to be between one true Believer and another the same Oneness there is between Christ and God an inward Intimacy like that between real Friends of whom 't is usual to say they are all one one in Heart and one in Mind as those in Acts 4. 32. are said to be Of the Equality of God and Christ Some object that Christ must be God as well as his Father because 't is said that he thought it no Robbery to be equal with God Phil. 2. 6. To this I answer that Christ himself hath told us that his Father is greater than he John 14. 28. Hence 't is plain that if the Son be any ways equal to the Father yet 't is really but in some Particulars for were the Son equal to the Father in every Respect then 't were impossible for the Father to be greater than he Whence 't is clear that the Son cannot be equal to the Father in all things though in some things he may For instance as God can save Believers so this also Christ can do but this Power of Christ is not an essential but a derived Power Thou hast given him Power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him John 17. 2. These are our Saviour's own Words and 't is plain that he from whom he receives the Power must in Power be superiour unto him he is not therefore Almighty and so by Consequence not God most High as the Objection would suppose Of Christ's being the Maker of the World Some object that Christ is said to be the Maker of the Worlds Heb. 1. 2. and that all things were made by him Joh. 1. 3. and therefore say they he of necessity must be God Eternal I answer many things are spoken of Christ figuratively as he is called a Way a Door a Vine and the Bread in the Sacrament is said to be his Body Now these as those likewise which affirm him to be the Maker of the World are Figurative or Mystical Expressions in which one thing is said to signify another as the Old Creation to set forth the New There are in the Scripture many dark and difficult Passages hard to be understood as St. Peter expresses it 2 Epist 3. 16. which are doubtless true in some Sense or other could we be so
God is in every Respect yet at the same time we may know certainly what indeed he is not we know certainly that he is not a Man or that he was made of a Woman as Christ was We know certainly that he is not mortal or that he cannot die as Christ did and we know certainly that he has not a God above him as Christ had and we know certainly that he has not received any kind of Power from another as Christ Jesus is said to do And as one Truth naturally infers another so we do from hence assuredly conclude that the Person of Jesus our Lord is not truly God for he was made of a Woman Gal. 4. 4. He died to redeem us 2 Cor. 5. 14. He had a God above him 1 Cor. 11. 3. And he did receive all the Power he had of another Joh. 5. 30. Mat. 28. 18. We also know certainly that if the Divine Godhead did consist of three Persons that then neither of the three Persons singly can be God If all three be but that one God together as the Trinitarians assert then no one of them can be the true God by himself for the same Denomination cannot properly fit each Person singly as does fit them when conjoined in one mutual Relation for then they might be said to be indeed three supreme Godheads which is utterly impossible We also know certainly that if any of the three Persons said to be in the Godhead be God by himself as we have proved God the Father undoubtedly is then all the rest are but superfluous and unnecessary as to the Constitution of a Godhead for one Infinite Almighty and most Wise Person is as sufficient to all the Purposes of a Godhead as ten thousand Deities but if three be but the one true God together then no one of them can be that one true God by himself alone Lastly we may be infallibly certain that if Doctrines grounded on so many numerous and great Evidences both of Scripture and self-evident Reason as these are That God is but one in Person That the Person who is truly God is no other than the Father of Jesus Christ and that the most excellent of Men even Jesus Christ was only a Man be false Then we cannot be certain of the Truth of any other Principle in Religion If the Evidences here collected do deceive us 't is in vain to hope by any other Methods to find the Truth Of the Coming down of Christ from Heaven Some as a Proof of our Saviour's Godhead urge those Texts of Scripture where 't is said He came down from Heaven came forth from the Father and ascended up where he was before To which I answer that these prove not that for which they are intended since 't is plainly inferred from other Scriptures that Christ some time before he was sent to declare the Glad-tidings of the Gospel was assumed or taken up from the Earth into his Father's more immediate Presence as St. Paul was some time after into the third Heaven there to be instructed in the Mind and Will of God and to be invested with that great Dignity and Power of being a Prince and a Saviour To this the Prophet Daniel's Vision plainly alludes I saw saith he in the Night Visions and behold one like the Son of Man came to the Antient of Days and they brought him before him and there was given him Dominion and Glory and a Kingdom that all People and Nations and Languages should serve him Dan. 7. 13. And from the Words of our Saviour himself 't is plain that he ascended up into Heaven before he came down to declare his Father's Will to Men No Man saith he hath ascended into Heaven but he that came down from Heaven Joh. 3. 13. But no Man but Christ ever came down from thence which he never could have done had he not first ascended up thither And that he was taken up to be instructed in the Doctrine he was to publish to the World is plain also The Father saith he that sent me he gave me a Commandment what I should say and what I should speak Joh. 12. 49. The Redemption or Restoration of Mankind was a Work of prodigious Difficulty and God who had fore-ordained our Saviour for the Performance thereof did for his greater Incouragement present to his View the Glories which before the World was Joh. 17. 5. he had designed as a Reward for his Son the Messiah and 't was doubtless this Fore-taste of the Divine and Heavenly Happiness that animated him with Courage and Fortitude to encounter all the Difficulties that stood in his way Hence 't is said that he for the Joy that was set before him did endure the Cross and despise the Shame Heb. 12. 2. Of the Eternity of Christ Some object that Christ is said to be before Abraham before all things and that he had Glory with God before the World was This say they proves him to be Eternal and by Consequence God I answer 't is impossible that Christ can be the true and living God since 't is plain from what has been said in the former part of this Work that no Person is truly God but the Father of Christ and that Christ has a God above him 'T is impossible for Christ to be Eternal for if God be his Father as all acknowledg then there was a time when the Son had not a Being for to be a Son and to be equal in Duration with his Eternal Father that begot him is undoubtedly impossible Besides we are told plainly that the Son was first fore-ordained before he came to have a Being in these latter times 1. Pet. 1. 20. Now no fore-ordained Being can possibly be Eternal since he that did ordain his Being must be before him of Necessity and none but the very first of all Beings can be truly Eternal How could he have a Being before Abraham since 't is declared he was of the Seed of Abraham How could he be before David when 't was out of David's Posterity that God raised up Jesus according to his Promise And since Jesus the Son of God was made of a Woman Gal. 4. 4. he could not be more antient in time than his Mother that bare him If follows then that these Scriptures on which the Objection depends are purely figurative and are not to be understood in their literal Sense and Meaning They declare indeed that Christ in some Sense or other was before all things before Abraham and had Glory before the World was but not in that Sense which the Objectors suppose For 't is not reasonable they should be understood in such a Sense as contradicts both common Understanding and the greatest and plainest part of all the Bible they are Places of the same Nature with those which St. Peter affirms are hard to be understood 2 Pet. 3. 16. and for that Reason must by Interpretation be brought to such a Sense as is agreeable to the
A DESIGNED END TO THE Socinian Controversy Or a Rational and Plain DISCOURSE To Prove That no other Person but the Father of Christ is God most High By JOHN SMITH Father This is Life Eternal to know thee the only true God John 17. 3. LONDON Printed in the Year MDCXCV AN ADVERTISEMENT THE Reader is desired to take notice that these Papers were written at different times as Matter did offer it self to the Author's Mind and for that Reason some Particulars are therein touch'd upon more than once for which 't is hoped however that there will need little Excuse since in relation to the whole Design it may be pertinent enough The Method also for that Reason is somewhat unusual but I have ventur'd however to let it pass as it is since not Method but Matter in such Cases is chiefly to be minded and I doubt not but that in one Part or other thereof every Part of the Controversy will be found to be both fully and fairly discuss'd And I wish none that read it may be of that evil Temper as to forbear the Acknowledgment of that Truth which yet in Conscience they dare not deny like those Jews of old who though they believed in Christ yet did not confess him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue Joh. 12. 42. A DESIGNED END TO THE Socinian Controversy That there is a God THAT there is such a Being as God by which is meant one Eternal Mind Essence or spiritual Power who is the Original and first Cause of all other Beings besides is manifest for 't is not possible that any other Being whatsoever could give a Being to it self Certainly nothing can be more absurd than to imagine that a thing can act any ways towards its own Production before it is Hence it follows that every one of these Beings is but the real Effect of this first Cause that had a Being before it and this first Cause of necessity must have been Eternal and without Beginning since had there been once no kind of Being at all there then could never have been such a Being as God no nor any other Being besides for doubtless of nothing nothing can be produc'd That this God is but one in Nature or Essence And as 't is thus plain that there is a God so 't is utterly impossible that there can be any more than one God for whoever is truly God must be absolutely Infinite or Immense that is His Divine Essence must be boundless and fill all that endless and inconceivable Space that is without or beyond the Limits of this World as well as this World For 't is impossible that any Being whatever can in any respect be greater than God is or contain him for then he himself could not be truly Infinite nor excel in all Perfections The Nature or Essence therefore of God is Infinite and in Extent is without Bounds and 't is self-evidently impossible for two or more infinitely extended Beings to subsist together which demonstrates by Consequence that God can be but one as to his Divine Essence or Nature And as right Reason does plainly teach this Truth so do the Scriptures as evidently declare the same to instance in a few The Lord he is God there is none else besides him Deut. 4. 35. See now that I even I am he and there is no God with me Deut. 32. 39. There is none like thee neither is there any God besides thee 1 Chron. 17. 20. I am the first and I am the last and besides methere is no God Isa 44. 6. We know that an Idol is nothing in the World and that there is none other God but one 1 Cor. 8. 4. To us there is but one God 1 Cor. 8. 6. I might add a great Number of other Texts that speak to the very same purpose but I think 't is needless in a Case so plain That this one true God is but one in Person Now as 't is thus plain that God is but one as to his Nature or Essence so 't is evident likewise that he can in no Sense be any more than one in Person for if as some affirm the Divine Nature did contain in it several Persons as does the humane Nature then each of those must be truly Immense truly Almighty and truly most Wise else they could not each of them be truly God as some have unwarily asserted and the Trinitarian Notion supposes for whoever is truly God must be every way thus qualified in all Respects For if that Person that is supposed to be God be not truly immense then some other Being of necessity must be greater than he for whoever is not Infinite must be bounded by some other Being which in that respect does truly surpass that bounded Being in Greatness But as I said before nothing can in any kind or respect whatsoever be greater than God is or contain him and by Consequence he alone is truly Immense The Person that is truly God must be also Almighty that is he must be able to do more than any or than all other Beings together can do for doubtless none is the most High but he that in Might and Strength does transcend all others Touching the Almighty says Job he excels in Power ch 37. 28. The Person also that is truly God must be most wise and knowing 'T is doubtless a Property essential to the true God to know more than any other Being besides can know Of that Day and Hour saith our Saviour knoweth no Man no not the Angels which are in Heaven neither the Son but the Father only Matth. 24. 36. Mar. 13. 32. Now if that Person who is truly God must be thus Immense in his Person Almighty in his Power and most Wise in his Knowledg then it follows by direct Consequence that 't is impossible for more than one Person to be truly God for nothing can be more absurd than to believe or affirm that two or three distinct Beings such as all personal Beings are can be each of them unlimited as to the extent of their personal Beings can be each of them able to do more than the rest can do or that each of them can know more than the others know Suppose for Instance two such Beings as A and B Now if the Person of A can do more than the Person of B then the Person of B cannot do more than the Person of A for if he could then would not A be able to do more than B and by Consequence he could not be Almighty Again if the Person of A be most wise and knows more than the Person of B then B cannot know more than A for if he did then would not A know more than B and so by Consequence would not be most wise which evidently demonstrates that no more than one Person can be truly God since no more than one can be truly Infinite in all these afore-mentioned Divine Perfections That this one Person who
of a Trinity make me a more merciful and righteous Man than I shall be if I did profess the contrary Will it make me love and honour God better Will it make the Service which I render to his Divine Majesty a more reasonable Service And if on serious Consideration you find it will not then 't is plain that the Unitarian Faith which denies a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead is much to be preferr'd since 't is not perplex'd with such Contradictions to humane Understanding but depends on more plain and noble Evidences and does also in all Respects whatsoever effectually secure a good Life which when all is done is the very Soul and Life of Religion and will stand by a Man when Hypostatical Vnions and Mutual Consciousness and Somewhats will prove but poor things to depend upon for Salvation There can be no Danger of Damnation for not assenting to such mysterious Notions as Men can at no tolerable rate understand such as is that of the Doctrine of a Trinity which makes the Divine Power of the Godhead to reside in three distinct Persons whose Constitution is like that of a free State rather than the more Divine Government of a single Monarchy if in the mean time they believe heartily the plain Doctrine revealed in God's Word and live up truly to the undoubted Precepts which the Christian Religion commands which I am certain does no where say that unless ye believe that three Persons are truly God ye shall certainly be damn'd Salvation and the Belief of the Trinity not inconsistent 'T is objected as dangerous to believe the Doctrine of God's being but one in Person because we should hereby as much as in us lies exclude from Salvation all those pious and just Men who in former Ages have liv'd and died in the Belief of a Trinity I answer The Wisdom of the Unitarian Doctrine never was so uncharitable as to suppose this yet doubtless the Belief of a Trinity must needs much lessen their future Happiness though not wholly debar them of Salvation And therefore to persist therein after due Admonition especially is very imprudent and dangerous 'T is plain that though those who believe a Trinity do believe more than either God or Christ do require as necessary to Salvation yet together or therewith many Persons do also believe all the chief Fundamentals in Religion that are requisite to save them and therefore their Hope and Trust in God's Mercy on one Hand may out-ballance their Error on the other If God winked at the Ignorance of the vertuous Gentiles how can we imagine that he should not be gracious to the heedless and unwitting Errors of the humble and contrite-hearted Christian If any Man saith the Apostle build on the Foundation Hay and Straw and Stubble that is Doctrine that will not stand the Test of Truth he shall suffer Loss yet he himself shall be saved but so as by Fire 1 Cor. 3. 15. that is with great Difficulty he shall escape Damnation If God should be extream to mark what is done amiss no Man could stand in Judgment before him as it is in Psal 143. 2. 130. 3. All Salvation is of the free Grace and Mercy of God who pardons Iniquity Transgression and Sin Exod. 34. 7. A good Life will make great Abatements upon the account of a bad Faith Mercy rejoiceth against Judgment Jam. 2. 13. and Charity shall cover a multitude of Sins 1 Pet. 4. 8. But though 't is possible for a Man to be saved in this Faith who otherwise has lived well yet 't will doubtless much lessen his future Happiness for Error of any kind is the fruitful Parent of many Mischiefs it betrays us into Absurdities and involves us in many unwarrantable Words and Actions As our Faith is so will our Practice be apt to be and consequently Error in one respect or other will be apt to make Mens Lives less innocent and the less innocent our Actions are the less doubtless will our Reward hereafter be For the eternal Glories compar'd to that of the Sun and Moon and Stars 1 Cor. 15. will be in proportion to the Degrees of our Christian Perfection They therefore whose Religion is such only as will but just preserve them from Damnation must not expect so large a share of the Divine Recompences as by God's Grace is due to the inlarged Capacity of the more exactly knowing and undefiled Soul But notwithstanding what has been said on the Behalf of those otherwise good Livers who have not been ignorant of the Truth merely out of Malice and Design I add that in case Men of false Principles are told plainly that they are in the wrong and yet they still do obstinately persist therein and refuse to consider seriously the Arguments both of Scripture and Reason that are offered to convince them I see not how in any case 't is possible for such to be saved for this is truly and plainly to reject the Counsel of God and to do Despite to the Spirit of Grace By what Nature the World was redeemed When Men have argued whatever they can about the Necessity of Christ his being truly God that so the Sacrifice he offered might be of Merit sufficient to answer the Demands of God's most Infinite Justice yet after all it must be acknowledged that our Peace was made with God only by the holy Life and Death of an humane Person for nothing that is truly God can die or shed Blood but 't is by Blood even the Blood of a dying Jesus that we are cleansed from all Sin 1 Joh. 1. 7. And this his Death for our Redemption is an undeniable Instance to prove that his Person was truly humane Christ Jesus our Lord was undoubtedly filled with the Divine Spirit for in him dwelt the Fulness of the Godhead but this did not make him God any more than a Believer shall be made God by receiving of his Fulness Joh. 1. 16. or by being Partaker of the Divine Nature promised to such 2 Pet. 1. 4. It only fitted him for the Work of Redemption he by that eminent Inhabitation of the Divine Spirit became able to surmount all Temptations to Sin and 't was only the underfiled Obedience of his Life even unto Death that made the Sacrifice which he offered unto God acceptable The Blood that was shed to manifest the intire Obedience of Jesus unto God was no other than the Blood of a most holy and excellent Man 't was not the Blood of God as some Men rashly do affirm On the Cross he that thus died cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Now for him to be God that thus prayed to God is I think impossible Wherefore 't is evident that he who thus died was not a true Deity and yet 't was by him that died that the World was redeemed for which blessed be the Lord God of Israel who hath thus visited and redeemed his People and hath raised up a
mighty Salvation for us out of the House of his Servant David Luke 1. 68 69. A general Rule for answering all Objections Having considered and answered the principal Objections urged in favour of the Doctrine which asserts Jesus Christ to be truly God in opposition to that of his being only the Man who is the Mediator between God and Men 1 Tim. 2. 5. or that which asserts that none is God but the Father of Christ 't will be needless to confute those other little Objections which still remain since when the chiefest Strength that does uphold an Error is overthrown 't is not in the Power of some little Props to maintain and support it nevertheless lest the Minds of some should thereby be perplex'd I here lay down one general Rule by which all other Objections may be easily refuted and that is this If any Principle in Religion be true by the greater and by the plainer Number of Evidences it can never be false by a few in number or by them that are dark and doubtful If then the Arguments to prove the true God to be only the Father of Jesus Christ are more in number and plainer to be understood than those are which are objected in favour of the contrary you need then only to reply thus that the Proofs that make for it are more both in Number and Weight than those that are against it and that therefore 't would be unpardonable to suffer such Trifles to unsettle and shake your Faith Suppose a Man objects against the Doctrine of God's being but one in Person this Text Let us make Man Gen. 1. 26. and endeavour to prove from thence that God is more than one in Person is it reasonable to suffer this to alter your Judgment when for that one Passage Vs urged in favour of the Belief of more Persons than one you have ten thousand that mention God to be but only one in such Terms as these I thou me he his And as for the Terms of we they them c. they are not mentioned in Scripture so much as once as applied to God alone If every single Objection that is started should be admitted to be of Authority sufficient to invalidate the best and clearest Proofs or if every hard and doubtful Passage in Scripture were enough to overthrow all them that are clear and plain then all true Religion would soon be at an end for some plausible Exceptions may be made against the chiefest and plainest Truths in Religion otherwise so many false and erroneous Opinions would not have obtained that Authority that they have in the World Indeed when we are told plainly that we are in an Error and Arguments truly considerable are at the same time offered to undeceive us we ought then to suffer our selves to be convinc'd for if what is thus urged carries with it so much clear Evidence as makes it undoubted the changing then of our Opinions will not only be reasonable but very honourable too since nothing is more ignoble and base than to be a Slave to Error from which not any thing in this World but Truth can free us Of the true Notion of the Holy Ghost 'T is plain from the general Analogy of true Faith grounded on Scripture-Evidence that the Holy Ghost is no distinct Person subsisting of himself for then 't is clear that our Lord could not be the Son of him who is now called God the Father or the first Person in the supposed Trinity since 't is plain that the Virgin Mary's Conception was occasioned by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost Luke 1. 35. which all Trinitarians acknowledg to be the third Person and not the first 'T is expresly said that that which was conceived in her was of the Holy Ghost Mat. 1. 20. And that she was with Child by him Mat. 1. 18. Wherefore 't is evident from these additional Words and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee Luke 1. 35. that the Holy Ghost is only that Divine and Invisible Power of God by which he works his Will and Pleasure in the World and by Consequence that God and the Spirit of God are no more two distinct Persons than Man and the Spirit of Man are for to the one the other is compared in the sacred Scripture 1 Cor. 2. 11. And as the Members of Man's Body do secretly and wonderfully obey the Dictates of his Will or Mind so and much more so do all Creatures act and are commanded by the Almighty Power of God's Divine and most Wise Will and Pleasure When therefore all the elect People of God are said to be sanctified by the Holy Ghost it must be understood of that new Temper and Inclination of Mind which God by his Divine and Invisible Power does work or cause in Men. When he powerfully raises up in them holy Thoughts and excites in their Minds new Desires he is then truly said to sanctify them by his Spirit And when Men wilfully reject those Motions to Goodness which God by his Power does raise up in them they are then truly said to resist and grieve and quench his Spirit And whereas the Spirit is said to receive and to be sent from whence some would infer its distinct Personality 't is replied that these are but improper Expressions such as are before noted to be spoken of God and Christ they are Words fitted to our dull Apprehensions rather than to the true Nature of the Spirit it self even as God is represented as having the Actions and Passions of a Man and to come down from Heaven when yet we know that he is already every where though our mortal Eyes have not Powers fitted to perceive him He that filleth all things can no ways be capable of moving out of his Place Such Expressions as these therefore are plainly improper and must not be understood literally or as at first sight they seem to express The CONCLVSION TO what has been said on this Subject I will only add this one solemn Protestation that as what I here offer is grounded on the Dictates only of plain and positive Scripture and the most evident and perfect Reason as I humbly judg So the Design of this its Publication is the alone Glory of God Almighty and the Church's Peace which no ways can be establish'd firmly but on the Foundations of Truth And though I am sensible the Work is not perform'd with that Exactness as to be in every part without Reproof yet I am satisfied that in the main I have therein managed the true Cause of God and Religion Nevertheless I have a secret Distrust within me that what I here offer will not be kindly received for my best Indeavours must not expect to find better Success than did those of my blessed Lord and Master who though he spake as never Man spake and confirmed his Doctrine with such Miracles as did demonstrate him to be a Teacher sent of God yet was believed on but by a few The Praise of Men was then generally much more belov'd than the Praise of God Joh. 12. 43. And I doubt the Case is still the same Men now seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ Phil. 2. 21. They that love Riches will hardly run the hazard of losing any temporal Preferment for the sake of Truth Others will be averse from acknowledging themselves in a Mistake who before have been honoured with the Repute both of Orthodox and Learned Men and those who have been long prepossess'd with the contrary Perswasion will hardly relinquish it though the best of Reasons be offered to convince them of their Error In short the Religion of Mankind generally is but a Self-righteousness a Law rather of their own making than of God's appointing There are but very few that in all things do either live or believe as the Gospel directs them the whole World does for the most part prefer some senseless Humour before sacred Truth and that immortal Bliss to which it would conduct them THE END