the other wherefore we must explaine one Place of Scripture by another And we are to consider that St. John is writing the History of the Gospel of Christ We may therefore be sure that by the beginning here spoken of is meant the beginning of the New Dispensation that succeeded the Mosaical Oeconomy and that that New Dispensation began by the Preaching of the immediate Forerunner of the Saviour of the World For we see St. Mark calls that the beginning of the Gospel And thus 't is evident St. John begins his History by our Saviour's Instalment or his Entering into his Office which was at that time when John the Baptist was Baptizing and when our Saviour being Thirty Years Old was Baptized of him The Word The same term often denotes several things By the Spirit for instance several things are signified In like manner by the Word several things may be implied What here may be particularly meant thereby we are carefully to consiâ—er If every thing be duly weigh'd it will appear that our Evangelist to go on with his Allusion calls the Author of the New Creation by the Name of the Instrumental Cause to which the Old is attributed Heaven and Earth being represented in the First Chapter of Genesis as created by the Word of God And he had warrant enough to extend the Allusion so far and to bestow that Title to our Saviour seeing it was not unusual to give it to the Chief Officers of Princes See Grotius De Jure Belli et Pacis Lib. 2. Cap. 8. § 5. and seeing the Heavenly Messengers of God sent to execute his Commandments upon Earth were known to the Jews under the Name of his Word Ps 107.20 Wisd 18.15 16. Which last is the Angel by whom God smote the First-born of Egypt and who is call'd the Destroyer Exod. 12.23 which Name appears to be the Designation of the Office of an Angel 1 Chron. 21.12 The Author of the Wisdom of Solomon calls him the Almighty Word of God according to his most eloquent and figurative Stile not only to denote the Eminency of that Angel who was one of them that stand before the Divine Throne but also to declare his Swiftness and Ability in the executing his Commission and to illustrate the Fierceness of his Errand Philo calls the Angels Logous the Words of God as Dr. Allix himself observes There is nothing more common in Scripture than to put the Abstract for the Concrete as we see our Lord Jesus Christ constantly calls himself the Way the Truth the Life meaning that He shews the Way to Salvation that He teaches the Truth that He procures Eternal Life to all them that will obey Him By the same Figure He is call'd the Word that being as much as to say that He is He who brings the Word of God concerning the Eternal Gospel and who is commissionated to do and to declare the Will of God with respect to the Reconciliation of Fallen Mankind Thus Origen in Joh. 1. interprets it Seeing Christ is call'd the Light by reason of his Enlightning the World it is plain He is call'd the Word upon the Account of his Office c. See the Accounts why Christ is called the Word judiciously given by Pasor in his Manuale upon the word Logos and by Beza in his Annotations on this First Verse of the First Chapter of St. John's Gospel where he observes that Nazianzen and dustin give the same Reason with Origen why Christ is called the Word or God's Word-Bearer by excellency or the most Eminent Minister and Executor of God's Commands Was. The Word was in the beginning of the New Oeconomy That is to say While John the Baptist was Preaching to the Jews Christ was then in the World and was then the Person whom God intended and took for his Chief Word-Bearer And the Word was with God This design'd Embassador of God and Interpreter of the whole Will of God in whom the Divine Wisdom and Authority did most Eminently reside and most Conspicuously shine who was all his Life-time most Extraordinarily Inspir'd and Assisted of the Holy-Ghost and of whom it was foretold before his Nativity that He should be a Prince and a Saviour that He should Save his People from their Sins and that of his Kingdom there should be no End the World having been created for him that thereby God might be glorifiedâ— this most Illustrious Person was upon the Entering on his Office caught up to the Highest Heaven that He might behold the Glory to which he was called that He might converse with God in the eminentest Place and with the brightest Circumstances of Glory that He might there be most Solemnly endued with the Divine Wisdom and Power and that He might there have the Honour to receive immediately from God his Commission and to be most particularly taught by God Himself what he was to do and suffer and how much reason there was for him constantly to undergo and perform all this See John 12.49 50. John 8.38 John 6.51 c. Thus In the beginning the Word was with God whether both in his Body and Soul or with his Soul only it matters not for the Mind properly is the Man The Spirit of the Holy Jesus was then taken up into the Highest Heaven For he sais himself expresly John 3.13 that no Man before Ascended up to that Heaven but He who came down from thence even the Son of Man by excellency who was in Heaven or had been caught up into Heaven For every one that understands the Original knows that the Participle which here our Version hath Translated is may as well be Translated was And accordingly it is thus Translated by Beza Erasmus Camerarius and others on the Place John 3.13 And the Word was God And this Holy and Immaculate Person that was to be the Great Messenger of the Gospel and the Author and Procurer of Salvation was then Installed in his Office He was then Ordained and Sanctified and Sent into the World He was Solemnly constituted the Messiah He was appointed the Chief of the Chief of the Arch-angels as well as of the rest of the Angels He was made partaker as much as possible of the Divine Nature and particularly of the Divine Wisdom and Divine Power on certain conditions only his fuller communicating to others the Divine Spirit was reserv'd to his actual Reigning in Heaven after his Resurrection and most Glorious Ascension In a word He was declared to be upon the performing of his Undertaking the Heir and Lord of every Creature He was then on these Terms Proclaim'd God's First Minister He was thus even then made a Prince a Lord a Sovereign acting for God and by God's Commission And that is what the term God often signifies in Scripture That most Noble and Glorious Name is there given to Persons commissionated by God in most eminent Stations not only because they are God's Chief Ministers but because acting for and as it were
the Face of Religion but could never be prevail'd with to examin themselves the Merit of the Cause witness Theodosius the Great Thus Prejudice and Inconsideration being armâ—d with the utmost or most obstinate Cruelty 't is no wonder if Error spread By the like Means the Truth of the Reformation in these late Ages has been wholly extirpated in Bohemia and Spain and is now at the last gasp in France Nevertheless as Sandius has shewn there have been all along many Vnitarians in several Parts of the World And there are still to this Day many Vnitarian Churches in the Mahometan and Pagan Dominions and some in Transilvania Hungaria Sclavonia and Illyricum The very Nestorian Churches in Asia and Africa are so numerous that it is thought the Nestorians are more in Number than all the Protestants in the World or than all the Members of the Church of Rome Now even the Nestorians are reputed to be a Branch of the Arians or the Ebionites or near akin to them See Sandii Nucl p. 118. 119. and Jurieu's Pastor Let. Vol. 1. p. 157. But particularly see what Sandius notes of the Christians of St. Bartholomew and of those of St. Thomas and of St. James so called because originally converted to Christianity by those Apostles and of the Abyssins the Armenians Maronites Copts c. who are Vnitarians or agree with the Arians and are reck'ned to be in greater Number even than the Nestorians Howbeit these Considerations are not absolutely essential to the Matter in hand For 8. The Prevalency in general of an Opinion is no Argument that it is agreable to Truth and acceptable to God Witness the Universal Prevalency of Heathenism of old and even the great Prevalency of Mahometism Which shews that God will try but not force Men. If you ask then the Vnitarians where are their Churches and where they were in such or such an Age they need not reply otherwise than by asking again these Questions Where were the Churches of the true Religionists in the times of Noah of Thara and his Son Abraham of Elias and of the general Degeneracy of the Children of Israel and all the while that the generality of Christians incontestably and even according to the Sentiment of Protestants were defiled with many Corruptions and Superstitions and Idolatries The true and pure Church of God Protestants must own was at those times in a manner Invisible shut up within the Walls of a few Private Families exiled out of the Places of great Concourse and driven into the Wilderness The People of God then indeed was but a little Flock And why might it not likewise be so when the Vnitarians were oppressed were but few in number and were reduc'd to great extremities A Thousand Years in the sight of God is but as one Day God may think fit to permit the Wicked and Violent to persecute his People for many Days Hereby he tries his Elect he punishes their Sins he trains them up for Heaven thro' the suffering of Affliction and Contempt he blinds a vicious World but at last he will shew that he can draw Light out of Darkness and that the Strength of Hell shall not be able to prevail finally against his Church for God in his own time may call her from her Exile may redeem her from her Captivity and make her shine as the Sun and then the Earth shall be full of the Knowledge of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea And it is certain there is and can be no Prescription against the Truth The Prevalency then of the Trinitarian Sentiment for any of the past Ages since the Apostles can be no Argument against the Vnitarians We read in the Second Chapter of Judges at the 7th 10th 11th and 12th Verses that the People of Israel served the Lord all the Days of Joshuah and all the Days of the Elders who out-lived Joshuah and who had seen all the great Works of the Lord that he did for Israel but that when all that Generation was gathered unto their Fathers the next Generation knew not the Lord and the Children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served other Gods and provoked the Lord to anger And why could not a like Defection happen immediately or soon after the Decease of the Apostles Even in the time of the Apostles there were Heresies And we see it is the Complaint of the earliest Doctors that the Apostles were no sooner departed but Christians corrupted themselves apace And if it was so that ought afterwards to be no Prejudice against the Truth As Bishop Taylor well observes in his 22d Sermon When a Truth returns from Banishment by a Pestliminium if it was from the first tho' the holy Fire has been buried or the River ran under ground yet we do not call that new since Newness is not to be accounted of by a proportion to our short lived Memories or to the broken Records and Fragments of Story left after the Inundation of Barbarism and War and Change of Kingdoms and Corruption of Authors but by its relation to the Fountain of our Truths c. Thus it is evident that the Objection of the Trinitarians founded upon the pretended Antiquity and Vniversality of their Sentiment is absolutely Vnreasonable And therefore We must conclude that Controversy with this Consideration Viz. 9. The only Authority that We can and ought to rely upon is that of the Bible As Mr. Chillingworth excellently well says the BIBLE only is the Religion of Protestants I see plainly says he Fathers against Fathers Popes against Popes the same Fathers against themselves Councils against Councils c. What Method then to judge of the Truth can We take but that which even St. Austin proposes Contr. Maxim L. 3. C. 14. We ought not says he to object to one another either the Council of Nice or that of Rimini but We are to consider the Matter by the Scripture it self Dalaeus in the first Chapter of his first Book De usu Patrum quotes a Passage out of St. Cyprian importing that when the Channels or Streams of the Ecclesiastical Tradition seem confuse or broken and corrupted we must have recourse to the Spring or Fountain's Head Every Mans Reason that considers will tell him that there are no other Measures then to be taken there being no later Prescription to be taken against the Truth And God himself expresly sends us thither Isa 8.20 To the Law or the Divine Testimony If they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no Light in them But as for the Fathers it is evident that no stress can be laid on their Authority for as the learned Daleus shews in his Book of the Vse of the Fathers they all had Errors and differed from one another in several weighty Particulars and often differed from their own selves being unsetled and inconstant in their Notions not knowing their own Mind one day holding one thing and another time asserting
THE SCRIPTURE-TERMS OF CHURCH-UNION With respect to the Doctrin of the TRINITY CONFIRMED By the Vnitarian Explications of the Beginning of St. John 's Gospel Together with the Answers of the Unitarians to the Chief Objections made against them Whereby it appears that Men may be Vnitarians and Sincere and Inquisitive and that they ought not to be excluded out of the Church-Communion WITH A POST-SCRIPT Wherein the Divinity of Christ and of the Holy Ghost according to the Generality of the Terms of Scripture is shewn not to be Inconsistent with the Vnitarian Systems Most Earnestly and Humbly Offered to the Consideration of those on whom 't is most particularly incumbent to examin these Matters By A. L. Author of the Irenicum Magnum c. LONDON Printed as abovementioned to be communicated to learned and inquisitive Persons and those who are most obliged to inquire into these Points Some TEXTS Authorising the Subject of this Writing PRove all things 1 Thess 5.21 Be ready to give an Answer to every Man that asketh you a Reason c 1 Pet. 3.15 Whereto we have attained let us walk by the same Rule Phil. 3.16 To the Law and to the Testimony c. Isa 8.20 Search the Scriptures John 5.39 Let us follow after the things which make for Peace Rom. 14.19 That I might by all means Save some 1 Cor. 9.22 Let us not therefore judge one another any more Rom. 14.13 What I tell you in Darkness that speak you in Light and what ye hear in the Ear that Preach ye upon the House tops Matt. 10.27 Overcome Evil with Good Rom. 12.21 To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is Sin Jam. 4.17 Who hold the Truth in Vnrighteousness Rom. 1.18 Whosoevâ—â— shall be ashamed of Me and of my Words of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when 〈◊〉 â—â—â—eth in the Glory of his Father Mark 8.38 They are the Enemies of the Cross of Christ Phil. 3.18 Is a Candle to be put under a Bushel Mark 4.21 Relieve the Oppressed Isa 1.17 We ought to obey God Acts 5.29 Chusing rather to suffer affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasuâ—â—â— of Sin for a season Hebr. 11.25 If the Blind lead the Blind both shall fall into the Ditch Matt. 15.14 In Vnderstanding be Men 1 Cor. 14.20 They began to make excuse Luk. 14.18 Wherefore when I came was there no Man Isa 50.2 They came not to the Help of the Lord Judg. 5.23 I pray God that it may not be laid to their Charge 2 Tim. 4.16 God has chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise 1 Cor. 1.27 Truth faileth and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a Prey And the Lord saw it and it dâ—spleased him that there was no Judgment And he saw that there was no Man and wondered that there was no Intercessour Isa 59.15.16 Whosoever shall not hear your words verily I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for the Land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the Day of Judgment than for them Matt 10.14 15. Now they have no Cloak for their Sin John 15.22 Let us therefore fear lest a Promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it Hebr. 4.1 I speak as to wise Men 1 Cor. 10.15 Whether in pretence or in truth Christ is Preached Phil. 1.18 He therefore that despiseth despiseth not Man but God 1 Thess 4.8 O that the Salvation were come to Israel Ps 14.7 We hid our Faces from him Isa 53.3 Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord. Ps 118.26 God has made him both Lord and Christ Acts 2.36 The Son can do nothing of himself John 5.19 The Father loveth the Son and has given all things into his hand John 3.35 That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow to the Glory of the Father Phil. 2.10 11. The TITLES of the CHAPTERS I. THE Occasion and Design of this Paper Page 1. II. The Socinian Explication of the Beginning of St. John's Gospel p. 3. III. A Continuation of the Socinian Explication of the Beginning of St. John's Gospel p. 10. IV. The Arian System p. 15. V. The Answers of the Unitarians to the Chief Objections commonly made against their Expositions in general and first the Answer to the Objected Antiquity and Vniversality of the Trinitarian Sentiment p. 18. VI. A Continuation of the Answer to the first Objection p. 25. VII A Farther Continuation of the Answer to the first Objection p. 31. VIII The Conclusion of the Answer to the first Objection p. 46. IX A Second general Objection against the Unitarian System Answered p. 50. X. A Third general Objection stated consisting of Four Branches p. 60. XI An Answer to the first Branch of the Objection p. 65. XII An Answer to the second Branch of the Objection p. 69. XIII An Answer to the third Branch of the Objection p. 79. XIV An Answer to the fourth Branch of the Objection p. 88. XV. The Inferences most incontestably following from the whole foregoing Discourse and the Gospel-Terms of Communion p. 96. A Post-Script p. 104. A Table of the Chief Matters Treated of in each Chapter In CHAPTER I. THAT the Design of this Book is not to set up the Unitarian Sentiment but to vindicate and assert the Generality or Latitude of the Scripture Terms of Church-Communion with respect to such most intricate Points of Speculation p. 1. That there are some things exprest in a great Generality and left extremely Obscure in Scripture on purpose to try both our Industry and Sincerity and our Charity Christian Prudence and Moderation p. 1. 2. That the Unitarian Controversy is of that Nature that Men may be Unitarians and sincere and inquisitive and that the Unitarians therefore ought not to be excluded out of the Church-Communion p. 2. 3. In CHAP. II. In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God explain'd p. 3. 4. 5. The reason of Christ's being called the Word p. 5. In what sense Christ the Word is called God or a God p. 6. c. In CHAP. III. The Creation by this Word explained p. 11. 12. The Word was Flesh explained p. 12. 13. The remaining Verses explained p 14. 15. In CHAP. IV. The Proofs of the Arian System p. 15. The Arian Notion of the Word viz. That thereby is meant the Chief Officer or Minister of God the first and most excellent Creature a most sublime Spirit in some respect like the Holy Spirits or Holy Angels and Archangels but yet of another kind than they and surpassing in excellency all other created Spirits being extraordinarily united to and assisted by the Divine Wisdom and the whole God-head that this Divine Spirit is as it were the Mouth of God or his Word-bearer and that in process of time taking Flesh of the Virgin Mary by the Power of God it became the Soul of the Messiah p.
in the aforementioned Irenicum Magnum and it's Apology If it be ask'd how it shall be known who are sincere and inquisitive Persons or what Points are so abstruse and intricate I answer that must be judg'd of by the Arguments of the different Parties And hereby I infer that Trinitarians and Vnitarians ought to bear with one another and so to order their Terms of Church-Communion as not to be a Stumbling-Block to or as not to fright away either of them because actually both of them bring so considerable Arguments in behalf of their Opinions that t is obvious sincere and considering Persons may not always be able to satisfy themselves which Side is most infallibly or most credibly Certain and after all when God is worshipped all is incontestably ador'd that is the Object of Divine Worship We are expresly commanded but to Pray directly to God in the Name or as the Disciples of Christ who hope to be heard for the sake of Christ and thro' his most acceptable Intercession and certainly as for Christ's Humanity it being a Creature and the Mediator between God and Men it is to be honour'd with a Mediatory or Inferior Honour As for the rest which then if rightly taken would be but a Speculative Difference the Trinitarians with seeming good cause are persuaded that their Reasons are not despicable And in the Apologia pro Irenico Magno it is shewn that the Vnitarian Arguments are far from being inconsidorable I do therefore conclude for Mutual Forbearance and Vnion upon the General Terms aforesaid For upon the Evidence of both Sides I conceive that this is a Controversy in which Men without being Faulty may mistake But against this my Sentiment some Object that that cannot be because some Texts of Scripture seem most Express against the Vnitarians and particularly the Beginning of St. John's Gospel It is therefore very just to consider what the Unitarians say to those Texts I might content my self to refer the Reader to their Brief History a Shilling Book to be had at most Booksellers wherein the several Texts of Scripture Objected to them are Explain'd from Genesis to the Revelation But in farther Vindication of my Proposal of the Scripture-Method of Church Vnion I am willing to give here an Ensample of the Vnitarian Explications to shew what they Answer in general to the Objection from this Topic. And because the Beginning of the Gospel of St. John is commonly reckoned to be most Decisive against them I have particularly pitched upon that to represent most evidently that even here they want not somthing to say for themselves that is probable enough tho it be not pretended that the Controversy is thereby wholly clear'd from all manner of Difficulty They that approve not that things be thus offer'd to be consider'd run to the implicit and slavish Faith of the Romanists and take away that Liberty which not only the Principles of Protestants allow of and recommend but which is necessary to debate and examine difficult Matters and to attain with rational assurance to the Truth CHAP. II. The Socinian Explication of the Beginning of St. John's Gospel ST John begins thus his Gospel In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God c. The Socinians esteem that the Primitive Christians understood these terms according to this System Verse 1. In the Beginning The Christian Oeconomy being founded upon the Mediation of Christ on the account of his being appointed thereunto and of his being a Man perfectly Innocent and Obedient even unto Death and not only Fallen Men being granted to the Messiah but all Creatures in Heaven and Earth being subjected unto him upon the Conditions of his Undertaking the Reformation or New-Modelling of things by that Illustrious Dispensation is compared to the Old Creation described in the 1st Chapter of Genesis If God had not resolved to have sent a Redeemer and if the New Covenant had not taken place of the First Establishment the Race of Mankind had perished Therefore the Saving it is figuratively represented as Creating of it anew by the glorious Performance of the Blessed Jesus the Lamb in God's Prescience and Fore-ordination Slain from the Foundation of the World For when Adam fell God made a Resolution to send a new Man assisted of the Spirit without measure directed in all points by the Eternal Wisdom what to do and suffer to make a Reparation to the Divine Authority and to obtain the chief place in God's Favour and on consideration of his perfect Obedience and undeserved Sufferings constituted the King of Men and Angels and exalted to a Participation of the Divine Power always ready to work for him at his holy Request that he might be enabled to Save to the uttermost those that truely Repent and Turn unto God Wherefore God made a Gracious Promise to our First Parents and from that moment admitted them to Repentance But tho' these were the Effects of God's Resolution of sending Christ into the World and even then the Gospel began in some measure to dawn nevertheless the grand Operation and Manifestation of it was not then made Christ was not yet Born and consequently not Personally entered upon his Office The First Age of the World therefore tho' it was the beginning of the New Covenant granted upon Christ's account yet is not expresly reckon'd here as the beginning of Christ's Oeconomy That is taken properly to commence many Ages after when the Saviour of the World was come in Person to do the will of God and to Reform and New-model all things Then it is that there is represented as it were a New Creation made Our Evangelist sais at the 3d. Ver. of this Chap. that all things were made by Jesus Christ VVhich the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews thus expresses By his Son God made the Worlds Heb. 1 2. And in the 5th Verse of the 2d Chapter of the same Epistle as in all the four Gospels it is declared what those VVorlds were and what that Creation was Seeing then that the Christian Oeconomy is ushered in under the Image of a Creation it is no wonder that the Evangelist alluding to the History of the Old Creation begins his Gospel as Moses doth his First Chapter of the Genesis by these VVords In the beginning But it incontestably appears by the 1st and 2d Verses of the 1st Chapter of St. Mark 's Gospel what that beginning was Namely the beginning of Christ's Dispensation which is there shewn to have begun when the Messiah was introduced into the World by his immediate Harbinger John the Baptist The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God As it is written in the Prophets Behoâ—d I send my Messenger before thy Face c. Besides that our Evangelist had seen St. Mark 's Gospel as well as those of St. Matthew and St. Luke we know the same Holy Spirit that dictated to the one inspir'd also
Psalms wrote from the beginning by the Brethren which speak of Christ as the Word of God and attribute to him Divinity Upon this Famous Passage these Remarks may be made 1. Whereas these Ancient rigid Vnitarians said that the Primitive Doctrin was adulterated in the Times of Victor their Meaning without doubt was not that before him there was never a Platonick Christian but only that the Platonick Christians then prevailed and grew violent and began to discountenance the Truth 2. All those Writers whom this Author or Answerer and Antagonist of the rigid Vnitarians mentions as the Ancientest Assertors of the Divinity of the Word after the Platonick System were except Justin but Contemporaries to Victor and Zepherin or after them As for those Hymns which he speaks of we shall see that no stress can be laid on them or that they conclude nothing against the Vnitarians Hereby then the Novelty of the Platonick Christianity appears seeing no vouchers for it can be produced before Justin Martyr and it is therefore evident that what the Vnitarians said could not be disproved that the Times of Victor and Zepherin were the Fatal Epoche of the violent Opposition and Oppression of Vnitarianism seeing that the Crowd of fierce Antagonists then began and it cannot be shewn that the Vnitarian Doctrin was before then persecuted and discountenanced or that it was not during all the first Century the current Doctrin of the generality of Christians 3. It is probable that some of the Writers whom that Author opposes to the Vnitarians were but of that Sentiment which was afterwards so unjustly condemned in Arius Why else had their Writings been suppressed by the Platonists Perhaps also by the Word and the Spirit they understood two Divine Powers or Influences which God communicates in divers manners and degrees It was easy for the philosophizing Doctors following Plato's Notions and accommodating them to the Expressions of Scripture by those two Powers or Influences to understand so many Persons or Hypostases and so to alter insensibly the Primitive Doctrin which if they had not done they would not have suppressed the Writings of their Predecessors but they judg'd that to be the only way effectually to compass their design 4. As to those Hymns or Psalms in question which he says spake of Christ as the Word of God and which attributed to him Divinity nothing can from thence be concluded against the Vnitarians for the following reasons First taking those terms in a right sense the Vnitarians will by no means deny that Christ is the Word of God and that Divinity may be attributed to him We have seen that very eminent Doctors among the Primitive Christians called the Angels Gods much more then might they give that Name to Christ It would indeed have been somthing to the purpose if that Author could have pleaded that those Psalms of which he speaks ascribed to Christ the same or an equal Divinity with that of the Father or expressed that he was absolutely Eternal and of himself Omniscient like the Father But merely in general their attributing Divinity to Christ decides nothing not only considering the improper way of speaking of those tho' so early Times after the Apostles but also considering that the Scripture gives the Name of God to some Creatures And in Ch. 5th we observed the Vnitarians ever thought it their Duty to Sing Hymns in Honour to Christ Howbeit Secondly that Author produces no grounds for the Authority of those Psalms which he mentions He only affirms that they were wrote from the beginning by the Brethren but that is precariously said without any Proofs If he had had any evidence for his assertion no doubt he would have offered it and would thereby if that could have done it have convinced or confounded the Vnitarians But surely it was not fit for them to take things upon trust Satan then chiefly made it his particular business by his Emissaries to bring in what confusion he could by forg'd Writings If those Psalms had not been spurious and counterfeit the Authors or Primitive Abettors of them had been named It is probable that these were the Psalms that were censured by the Church of Antioch as new and dangerous See Eusebius's Eccles Hist. L. 7. C. 29. 5. The Assertion of the Unitarians that Victor and Zepherin were the first Oppressors of Vnitarianism is undeniably confirm'd by this consideration that the Platonists before those Popes looked even on the most rigid sorts of Vnitarians as their Brethren suffered those among them and owned them as Christians who not only believed Christ not to have pre-existed before his Conception in his Mothers Womb but who also held that he was a mere Man begotten like other Men and that Joseph was truly his Father God as they thought having only removed for that once some Obstacles which hindred the Virgin from being a Mother Notwithstanding the reputed grosness of this Error we see that Justin Martyr the Patriarch of the Platonists acknowledges that it is not destructive of Christianity For he thus argues with Trypho the Jew If I do not demonstrate that Jesus did pre-exist and according to the Counsel of the Father endured to be Born a Man of like Affections with us being endued with Flesh it is just and fit to say that I am mistaken in this only and not to deny that he is the Christ if he appear to be a Man born of Men and to have become the Christ by Election For there are some of our kind who confess him to be the Christ yet hold him to be a Man born of Men. To whom I assent not no not tho' very many of the same Opinion with me should speak it c. Col. cum Tryphon Jud. P. 207. One may perceive how wary or artificial Justin here is in his Expressions as if most Christians in his time were already Platonists It is credible that they were not the greatest number who held that Jesus was Josephs Son 't is certain many of the Ebionites were of another Opinion Euseb L. 3. C. 24. most probably the generality of Christians believed like our Socinians and the rest of the present Christians that Christ had no other Father but God and if that was the Apostles Sentiment which Arius afterwards defended at least we may imagin that it did then still prevail with many But Justin as we have seen seems to have held somthing more than this tho' very different from the Nicene or Post-Nicene Platonists and it is not impossible not only that his Sentiment was confounded or generally taken for much the same with that which afterwards Arius was of the which it is credible was then in Justin's time the most current Standard of Orthodoxy but also that several others Platonized then like him a little above Arianism Nevertheless Justin dares not be too positive for his Opinion he proposes it only as probable and he insinuates that very many were not of his Sentiment which one would be
apt to think implies that most Christians differed from him or that he somewhat differed from them for it seems he speaks like one whose Party is not most prevailing We may refer it to the present Trinitarians whether they do talk at that rate He owns not merely the Arians but the very Mineans for his Fellow Christians And indeed he doth like those who complain that their Sentiment is not generally followed he appeals to the Rule To whom says he I assent not tho' very many should speak it for we are commanded by Christ himself not to hearken to the Doctrines of Men but to such things as are taught by the Sacred Writers Yet as I have said probably there were still many Arians and I do also believe several others besides Justin probably began then with him to Platonize but it is not doubted but that he was the highest Christian Platonist of that time if he went beyond Arianism which even some take to be Platonism and the top of it but that is commonly rejected as undervaluing the Platonick Mysteries Howbeit there is not the least appearance that any Platonick Christians went then any further than what we call Semi-Arianism It cannot be but that the Vnitarians knew and own'd that Justin and some others then were of that Opinion if it was indeed so And truly it matters not how many then sided therein with Justin For howsoever that be it suffices us that the strictest Vnitarianism was not then condemned as intolerable in the Church or as inconsistent with Christianity And that appears incontestably from Justin's Words Therefore the Vnitarians might well say that the Truth was not yet publickly adulterated in that it was not yet magisterially condemned which we do not see it was before the prevailing and violent Semi-Arian Popes Victor and Zepherin according to the Plea of the Vnitarians And indeed they might have added that the Semi-Arians themselves were but a kind of Vnitarians All the Authority then in fine that remains for our Author to have recourse to is that of the Holy Scripture And there the Vnitarians are ready to join issue with him as shall be shewn It were now needless to add any thing more to what has here been said to shew that the generality of the Ante-nicene Writers as much as may be gathered by the Writings of them that have been thought fit to be preserved or that have been permitted to come to our hands were at most but Semi-Arians if not Arians or stricter Vnitarians as incontestably many of them were Eusebius himself will generally pass for a kind of Vnitarian whatever be said or pretended to the contrary If the Reader desires to see further Proofs of these Points I refer him to Gilbert Clerk's Ante-Nicenismus and the two other Tracts annexed to it But this truth is so notorious that it even forces an acknowledgement from the generality of the learnedest Trinitarian Criticks such as Erasmus Dalaeus Petavius Huetius c. These Learned Men manifestly shew that Arius was not the Author of the Sentiment which he defended against Alexander and his Party at the Council of Nice but that it was much the same or exactly the same with what the generality of the Ante-nicene Doctors had taught See for instance what Sandius in his Nucleus or Hist Eccl. enucleata quotes on that Subject out of Petavius the Place may be found in looking Petavius in the Index So that it is certainly a true remark that when Alexander and some of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Doctors call Arianism an unheard of or new Doctrin they speak it oratorio more et per exaggerationem as Petavius expresses it that is by way of exaggeration and after the manner of Orators whose Figures by being too lofty somtimes decline from the Truth We have seen in our 6th Chapter by a Quotation of Dalaeus out of St. Jerom that the good Fathers who are so much admir'd and whom some would take for their Rule were not wholly exempt from such Figures And therefore that they might call Arianism a new and strange Doctrin it was enough that themselves and some of their Party had been taught Semi-Arianism or one Step farther by their Platonick Tutors It appears then that if we will follow in this Matter Vincentius Lirinensis his Rule we must be content to stick to the Generality of the Apostles Creed For besides the Generality of the Scripture it self the Apostles Creed which incontestably was given for the Rule of Vnion as well as for the Summary of Religion which every one is oblig'd to endeavour to understand aright to the best of his Power as he shall answer it to God is as to these Matters the only Standard which all Christians have always agreed in As Bishop Taylor observes in his 2d Sermon on Tit. 2.7 The Catholick Church has been too much and too soon divided Yet in things simply Necessary God has preserved us still unbroken For all Nations and all Ages have received the Apostles Creed All Christian People then in all Ages having only agreed as I said in the Generality or the Expressions themselves of the Apostles Creed that must needs therefore be sufficient if God has preserv'd us unbroken in things simply Necessary or if nothing is to be judg'd absolutely Necessary but what all have always agreed in Quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus Is it not indeed sufficient to the great Purposes of Christian Religion to know concerning God that He is All-Wise All-Just All Good Almighty to know that Christ is his Son and the H. Ghost his Spirit by way of eminency and to know that Christ died to Redeem us and turn us away from our Sins that it is the H. Spirit of God that Suggests good Motions to us that all those Societies where the Institutions of Christ are observ'd and celebrated and where the pure Word of God is Preach'd are true Parts of the Vniversal Church that we shall all Rise from the Dead and that God will reward all Men according to their Works Is not this to know God and Christ And have all Christians always agreed in the Super-induced Platonism Even Monsieur Jurien owns and indeed who can deny it that will deal sincerely and has inquir'd into the Matter that the Ante-nicene Fathers held not the Son 's Eternal Personality nor his Equality to the Father Lettr. Pastor Vol. 3. Let. 6. After-Ages then which broached these Tenets can no more plead Tradition than they can reasonably be suppos'd to have infallibly mended the Primitive Faith And this leads us to the next thing to be spoken to CHAP. VIII The Conclusion of the Answer to the First Objection 1. THE prevailing Sentiment of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Doctors is of no weight against the Vnitarians And that particularly for these Reasons 1. The Men that followed the Sentiment then prevailing differed from the Doctrin even of the foregoing Platonists as well as the rigid Vnitarians as appears