nothing and the like according to that Spirit they little care what interpretations they make of God's Word which thus they impiously make a stalking Horse of to their wandring Thoughts and for sinister ends of their own namely as they and our modern Socinians here say to improve theit Parts promote Learning and make 〈◊〉 discoveries that is in plain English they may be prophane at God's own cost if they have a mind to improve their parts let them make choice of other matters as Philosophy Mathematicks and of what other humane Arts and Sciences they please and not for their Pride and Vain Glory to prophane God's Field and therein sow their own Tares and to make Religion and the Church subservient to their Evil intents and purposes Another thing they do as may be seen in most of their late Pamphlets which indeed is neither fit nor decent is often to commend themselves and bring in others who speak well of them but it had been much better not to have brought themselves under a necessity to need Begging or Borrowing such Certificates of their good behaviour This puts me in mind of what our Saviour said to the Pharisees ye are they who justify yourselves before Men but God knoweth your Hearts Luke 16.15 'T is true there hath been some who may be out of a Principle of Charity and a Spirit of meekness would have invited them out of their Errours but these are so far gone in that way as to stand in need to make some kind of Apology for themselves yet that method of gentleness is ill bestowed upon Men of an obstinate and stubborn Spirit and hitherto hath proved uneffectual for by the abuse of the thing they are grown Haughtier and Prouder so that sometimes they make their own Panegyrick as I * P. 27. observed in the Vindication of the Epistle and preface to my Book And in a place of the mock Apology against me one of them saith one †P. 20 21. of our Learn'd Bishops doth not think the Vnitarians would dishonour Christ only they think that to make him equal with the Father is a disparagement to Almighty God Such a passage may be though I do not remember to have read it yet I am apt to believe with passing thorough their hands it hath gotten a tincture of Socinianism but what makes those Men so busy as to decide that to make the Son equal with the Father is a disparagement to God Almighty when the same in several Texts of Scripture quoted elsewhere makes him his equal Zech. 13.7 and in one place calls him my fellow and in many Texts of the New Testament Christ makes himself equal with the Father But let me warn those who have a favourable Opinion of them to have a care of what they Write for thereby we see how apt they are to take Advantage of any thing so every stroke of a Charitable Pen they would use as an Argument of their good and sincere intentions and of their being in the Right for as they make of it a Trade to wrest Scriptures so they do the Writings of others which I have a particular cause to take Notice of because I said that some Arminians went Hand in Hand with Socinians presently as well observed by * In his Letter to Dr. Edwards Mr. Lobb and in the †P. 12. remarks on a Paper sent by some Eminent Presbyterians to the Congregational c. They lookt upon 't with a multiplying Glass and would bring under their Banners not only almost all the Church but half of the Presbyterians c. Which in my Answer to the two Letters I take Notice of as of their want of sincerity and to speak plainly I now may call it one of their Tricks which they are so full of As indeed in their whole Carriage one may easily perceive it for it hangs altogether and in the bottom it appears in their Doctrines and Practices so contrary to Faith and to the Rules of the Universal Church besides the Self-Conceitedness and Pride of their Pen-Men who despise all that are not of their Mind and with Blasphemy deride true Religion and to that purpose make use of lies and Calumnies but when hard press'd are reduced to pityful shifts their zeal for Christ and Gospel Truths which as much as they are able they pervert may be look'd upon as meer Hypocrisy and in defence of their Errours they shew a great hardness of Heart and disingenuity and as they betray the Truth so spare not those who defend it against them and load them with invectives full of gall and bitterness which is an effect of Passion so contrary to the Meekness and Moderation which they would seem to pretend to as we find Socinus doing against Puccius whom he sharply upbraids * Epist 〈…〉 â—â—lith 〈◊〉 1. P. 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 much relying upon his Opinions which exactly was Socinus's Original and inherent Sin the extraordinary care also which he took to publish and every where to disperse his Works argues in him no small Vanity and Ambition as for his Passion when he disputed which then he could not command so well as at other times we have the Evidence of a familiar Friend of his in these words * Squarcial Epist ad Socin Scio non suspicor c. I do not guess at but know thine immoderate hate in dispute how often have I warned thee when thou wast about disputing or wrangling concerning light matters and disturbing all things with the greatest Clamourousness This Man who against the proper and natural sense of Scriptures would force his own upon them †Assert posnan 10. in oper Soc. p. 510. to fill up his measure doth scornfully speak of the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds received by the Universal Church but what need we go so far backward as Socinus's time for these things when now among us we have a fresh Evidence of that Spirit of theirs in a late * The Charitable Samar Pamphlet how unworthily doth that Scribler speak of the Council of Nice which saith he was principally Composed of a pack of wrangling contentious Grecians Men bred up in Controversy all their Life and perpetually quarrelling one with another all this he saith gratis and as his own deluded Opinion that among them there might have been some such ones I will not dispute but he cannot say all were so that Council was summon'd by a great and Christian Emperour Constantine who was present and upon that account things must be thought to have been managed with good order besides that what he saith is not to be purpose the question being not about their Temper but about the Matters lying before them Acts 15.39 a cause is never the worse in it self for the frailties of those that own it may any one disparage the Gospel preach'd by Paul and Barnabas because they fell out and parted about a thing of no moment whether or not they
his Sister Constantia upon her Death-bed had commended to his favour how Arrius had to his Imperial Majesty been mis-represented for his Opinion about those Matters was the same with the Judgment of the Council of Nice and that if he were pleased to admit him into his presence he with his own Mouth would assure him of it the Emperour who would not in the least recede from the Resolutions of the Council was upon those terms content to see him so he comes and in sound words gave him a short Confession of what he said he believed concerning those Matters afterwards Constine ask'd him whether he would subscribe to the Council's Determinations which he readily did yet the Emperour to make sure of him required him to swear to the truth of what he had subscribed which he also did thus he imposed upon the Emperour but could not upon God who as I said before found out and Punished him I am perswaded that many Socinians after the Example of this their great Ring-leader to get leave to set up Anti-Christian Conventicles will if they can impose upon the Law subscribe and swear unto any thing for they have the face to declare if we will believe them that the Vnitarians the Catholick Church the Translatour as they call one and I are at perfect Agreement but the contrary I sufficiently shewed in my Answer to their two Letters Still I am of Opinion that for their ends they will do say sign and transform themselves into any thing therefore let those who are concerned look to them when they offer to swear and subscribe Thus having taken notice of the Law I must not omit to do so of the Gospel and Address my self to the Ministers of Christ and Shepherds of his Flock whose Duty it is not only to feed but also defend it from the Wolves else in Scripture Phrase they are Idol Shepherds Zec. 11.17 and dumb Dogs Not Shepherds but Hirelings for saith the great Shepherd of all He that is an hireling Isai 56.10 11. Joh. 10.11.12 13 14. Ezeck 33. and not the Shepherd seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth and the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep Therein is Rule and Example for good Shepherds a terrible doom will attend those who herein neglect their Duty as we read in the Case of the Watchman 't is not enough for one to know but he also must do his Duty or else he shall fall into a greater Condemnation but 't will be a great Aggravation when he knows the Wolf to be within the Sheepfold and drives it not out when he can and if he wants strength let him sue for help where it may be had Certainly these are Evil Days when more than ever as 't is now out of the Heart proceed all the wicked things by our Saviour mentioned among which Blasphemy Mark 7.22 none of the least is named We hope our worthy Prelates with their Pious Care and Christian Prudence will drive out of the Precinct of their respective Jurisdictions and as far as they are able every thing else contrary to Piety and sound Doctrine this with humble Respect and Submission I bring to their Door and there leave it not doubting but that some who are sincere and zealous for the cause of God will approve themselves to be among those whom God speaks of Jer. 3.15 I will give you Pastours according to mine Heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding May God in this great Concern of his make every one in his station careful diligent and faithful to Discourse Preach Write and every other way according to their Abilities promote the Interest of Christ that we may see whatsoever is contrary to 't thereby exploded out of the Land if not out of the World or at least compelled to lurk and hide in dark places proper Holes for Works of Darkness that we may no longer hear see or be troubled therewith we may hope God will bless Joint-endeavours if every one in his way and as far as he is enabled fets his Hand to the Work among us let there be none like the Trumpets who encourage Men to Battle yet fight not themselves or as the Bells which call People to Church but they go not In my Judgment I am not against but for using first such charitable means 2 Tim. 2.25 as thereby to try if God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging the Truth specially to those who have been seduced and are misled who indeed are pity worthy but in relation to hardned Hereticks our Charity must be kept within bounds and attended with Considerations becoming Christian Zeal and Prudence 1 Cor. 13. 't is true Charity thinketh no evil without cause but she is not blind and can see when there is She beareth all things but doth not approve of or tolerate Heresie it ought not to be void of Prudence or of sincere love to Truth or of zeal for God's House so as under the Notion of Charity to bring or suffer in God's House Men infected with damnable Heresie Snakes into the Mother's Bosom or ravenous Wolves into the Sheep-fold In such things we must not mind so much what Men will say as what God will To loyal Subjects their Princes Enemies are theirs so true Christians ought to account Christ's Enemies to be theirs God forbid we should under the wrong Notion of Charity betray our Allegiance to him our Conscience or the Truth As to Socinians I wish the gentleness of the Parliament towards them may lead them to the knowledge of their detestable Errors and prove an Inducement to repent and leave them off lest their Charity being exhausted and Patience tired out in their Christian Prudence and Zeal for God seeing mild Courses cannot prevail they make use of harder ones May be some Wretches whom for being in no wise qualified for any publick Places the Penalties cannot reach shall take the liberty as Emissaries to disperse their venom and to blaspheme which Time will shew In the mean while 't is a just cause of much Grief and Sorrow for all that are for God's Glory and who love their Religion to see so many Lots and Hindrances to the sound Doctrines of the Gospel and to the Work of Piety and Reformation None here can be so blind but may perceive it if some do not I am sure others afar off to the Shame and Scandal of Religion and of the Nation do with a Witness What a stain is it to England's Honour and to the purity of our Holy Profession to find that our Enemies to both Religion and Nation throw Dirt upon 't not in private but as publickly as can be It hath been told in Gath and published in the Streets of Askelon 2 Sam. 1.20 The French Gazette and by * Flying Post of Saturday 9th of April 1698. our printed Papers here 't is mentioned in the Article from Paris saith The Bill
as if done to himself and consequently will punish the Magistrate for hindring them from worshipping those false Gods when they believe them to be true ones Good God! What Times are we come to that such things are suffered to be Printed and go unpunish'd The Magistrate may not punish those who dishonour the true God when they ought to punish those who dishonour false Gods Thus Papists do well to punish those who despise their Wafer-God but those who despise and blaspheme the true Son of God the Lord Jesus must not be meddled with These abominable Lines of Idolatrous Theology I read a second nay a third time thinking I had been mistaken at the first reading A Man who dares to write such things will say any thing else In another place he denies or at least doubts of God's care of his Church or of his power to defend it For he saith pag. 61. If the Pagan Emperours had been for promoting by force what according to their Sentiments was the true Religion they had utterly extirpated the very Name of a Christian A great mistake in him for several of them as Maxentius Diocletianus and many before and Julian the Apostate through cruel Persecutions did all they could towards it but God suffered them not and he never will for our Saviour hath promised Matth. 16.18 The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church Thus they make little of the Church if at Man's pleasure it may utterly be destroy'd whereunto answers their making Religion to be meerly a Priest-craft as they term it also the Author makes no difference between acting for a good or for a bad Cause and so alters the Question which is not Whether every Magistrate may in matter of Religion punish every Opinion contrary to his own But whether a true Christian Magistrate be bound to suppress what overthrows the Fundamentals of true Christian Religion pag. 81. Therefore his Instances of Gallio of the Town-Clerk of Ephesus and of Felix are not to the purpose I suppose he will own the Christian Religion to be now the true one in opposition to the Pagan or to the Jewish in as much as relateth to the coming of the Messiah that one must oppose not Truth but what is contrary to 't therefore the Persons named are not fit Patterns to be imitated by Christian Magistrates Gallio was a Deputy of Achaia Acts 18.12 17. there to maintain the Roman Authority wherefore he prudently would not meddle nor trouble himself with a Difference about Religion among the Jews which was not his business A Town-clerk wisely took care to avoid giving the Romans cause to say that in a tumultuous and seditious way chap. 19. without a just cause they had gathered together to disturb the Government which thereupon might have call'd them in question As for Felix he was the Roman Governour who minded to enrich himself and not to decide Matters of Controversie about Religion among the Jews a Covetous Man who hoped that Money should have been given him of Paul ch 24.26 So these Examples hold no proportion with the Duty of a Christian Magistrate to act against those who would overthrow Christianity And why should not the Magistrate take care of the good of the Souls as well as of that of the Body of the Subjects and punish Soul-destroying Errors and Practices Among the Jews a stubborn Son upon this Accusation by the Parents before the Elders how that he was a Glutton and a Drunkard Deut. 21.20 was stoned to Death and shall they who among Christians Blaspheme God be unpunished Of two contrary Propositions if one be true necessarily the other must be false 't is so of two Opinions in Religion if the Doctrine for the Most Holy Trinity and Divinity of Christ be true as it is then its contrary must be false And do not God's Laws bid us to follow adhere unto and be for the truth so as to promote it Every one in his Station ought to be against what is contrary to 't And to say the truth as this is the interest of Religion so 't is become the Magistrates concern to mind it upon his own account for that sort of Men with open Mouth and plainly tell him he hath nothing to do to meddle with their Religion whether true or false nor tho' Blasphemous and Idolatrous And on the other side this Author would influence the Members of Parliament who are for Penal Laws against their Blasphemies with suggesting that thereby they may happen to act against themselves which cannot be except they were of the same Principles with them thus he speaks pag. 43. Therefore it shews the greatest Indiscretion in those who tho' they have a share in the Legislature yet are subject to the Laws themselves to consent to any persecuting ones because they cannot be sure but that they are contriving Rods for their own Backs They cannot forbear ever calling Persecution any thing tending to restrain them the cause must be examined to find out the true Name of the thing 't is not the manner but the cause of Death that denominates one a Martyr 't is Justice not Persecution to punish Idolatry and Blasphemy and make use of a restraining Power Herein the Protestant Maxims differ from the Popish that these require a blind Obedience and will not admit others to speak for themselves but Protestants do We cannot approve the Socinians Latitude in advising and encouraging every one to read all manner of Books stuffed with Heresies and Blasphemies pag. 119. which is as dangerous as to put a Cup full of Poison into a Child's Hand or of one who knows not what it is Must every Ploughman or other Ignorant Person who neither knows nor understands the things of himself explain matters of Salvation or be Judge thereof In God's Name let every one read Scripture for all therein is excellent and good no Poison therein as in some Mens Books and therein let them be instructed and when Difficulties occur advised and directed by sound and knowing Men But chiefly upon the reading of the Word let them often be upon their Knees to beg of God to guide them by his Holy Spirit Some are not able to discern a Fish from a Serpent which commonly lies hidden in those unsound Books and by reason of natural corruption some would be apt to choose the worse I know that when the necessary means prescribed in God's Word to inform and make us understand have been used then every one must apply it to himself not of himself for that application is the Work of God's Spirit every one is not able to understand only those whom from above 't is given to pag. 120. 'T is not out of any mistrust of the Goodness and Truth of our Cause as he seems to insinuate that we would not have those that are not sufficiently instructed in the Grounds of it Converse either with the Heretick Persons or
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
go further and blasphemously deny God's Omnipresence and consequently his Infiniteness and Immensity Now God is present every where first by his Essence 1 Kings 8.27 for thereby he fills up all things the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him And whither shall I go from thy spirit Psal 139.7 8 9 10. or whither shall I flee from thy presence c. God is also every where by his Knowledge Heb. 4.13 for nothing is hidden from it for all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do God is also every where by his Power and Operation 1 Cor. 12.6 for he worketh all in all Yet for all these a Socinian * Crellius de Deo p. 278. Author denies God to be every where for he would not have him to be amidst filthy and defiled things as if his Holiness was thereby in danger of being defiled But I ask is the Sun less pure or is it stain'd for shining upon Filth and Dunghills or is it thereby infected God they would confine in Heaven which indeed is the Chief Seat of his Glory and as the Word saith Is his Throne and the Earth is his Footstool And as God in his Glory is in Heaven Isa 66.1 in his terrible Justice is in Hell so in Earth he is both in his Mercy and Justice Thus he is every where God's Eternity they dare not openly to deny but the Nature of it they very much corrupt for God's Eternity is his own Existence which is necessary and by reason of most supreme Perfection cannot not be Vorstius in not ad Thes 7. disp de Deo therefore what one of the worst of Men writes is false Inanis Logomachia c. It is an idle dispute about words for any one to deny Eternity to be the same with eternal time for Time is a Contingent and Duration but Eternity doth denote a necessary and unmeasur'd Duration therefore Crellius runs upon as bad ground when he saith That God's Eternity hath Parts when it is altogether indivisible and seeing God's Eternity is God himself Eternal it admits of no Accident and therein is no Priority nor Posteriority as 't is in time As to God's Omniscience they would confine it within certain Bounds for saith one of them * Crellius cap. 24. p. 202. 't is not extended unto things which cannot be known by Nature So he denies the Determination of future Contingents And †Praelect Theol. p. 547. alibi Socinus though he owns a Divine Prediction of some things to come yet will not attribute it to God's Prescience but only to a Divine Decree But their abominable Impieties about these Matters are plainly and abundantly to be seen in * Protest Anti-Vorst pag. 361 362. one of their Authors whose Book King James caused to be burnt here by the Hangman Against the Author and Book he published something of his own and did write to the States General to turn him out of his Place of Divinity-Professour at Leyden and to banish him for he knew it to be the Duty of Princes to suppress Blasphemy and punish Blasphemers He made an Extract written with his own Hand of some of this Man 's blasphemous Impieties and sent it to his then Ambassador in Holland by him to be presented to the said States-General Vorstius p. 112. as we find them among his Works one of which is his giving God a Body as already mention'd The 2d is this Non satis igitur p. 232. c. They who affirm God both in Essence and Will wholly to be unchangeable want a due circumspection Further p. 237. nusquam Scriptum legimus c. We read no where God's Substance to be simply Insinite but many things there are which seem to have a contrary sense Another is this Magnitudo nulla c. No Magnitude is actually infinite therefore God himself is not There are three things more of the same Stamp observed by that King p. 308 441 171. one about the Determination of future Contingents from Eternity Another for a general Science of God without the special one of things to come And the last is That many things may happen in the World without God's Fore-knowledge Thus those Wretches do meddle not only against the Persons of the Godhead but also against the Nature and Attributes of it But the Orthodox and Learned King James to suppress Blasphemy and Heresie burnt the Books that contain'd it for besides that of Vorstius he caused that of Bertius for the Apostasie of Saints also to be burnt whence we may infer That if the Authors had been within his Dominions he would have punish'd them And some Years after the Racovian Catechism which is the Socinian Gospel was by the Parliament condemn'd to be burnt They write and act against the Three Persons both singly and jointly first against the Father with denying him to have been such from Eternity for they affirm he had no Son from Eternity without which he could not properly nor actually be a Father thus by a new Relation of Paternity in time he was made that which he had not been from Eternity Secondly against the Son by denying his Divinity and Eternal Generation which is the Foundation of Christian Religion 1 Cor. 3.11 and other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Not that he is a meer Man for the Church of God is not built upon Man Matt. 16.18 but that He is the Son of the living God For upon that Truth which Peter made solemn Confession of he said Vpon this rock that I truly and properly am the Son of the Living God I will build my Church wherefore the Apostle calls him the chief corner-stone 1 Pet. 2.6 Thirdly Against the Holy Ghost whose Divinity and Personality they also deny tho' Scripture appropriates to him as I shew'd elsewhere and somewhat lower shall speak of the Names Attributes Works and Worship proper to the only True God We know that in Scripture the Name Holy Ghost and Spirit of God are sometimes improperly taken for the Gifts of the Holy Ghost or for the Vertue of God but withal when 't is properly spoken which happens often then it signifies the Third Person of the most Holy Trinity therefore he is represented as the Father's and Son's Ambassadour whose secret Councils he knows and by whom he is said to be sent and so Faithful one that he speaks not of himself but what he hears that he speaks and he is called the Comforter Paraclete and Advocate to signify a Person and not a Vertue But as those Blasphemers are not satisfied to prevaricate against every Person of the most Holy Trinity separately they also do 't together and jointly against the Three for though the Word of God affirms that in the Unity of Nature there are Three Named the Father the Word and Holy Ghost where
by the Word John 5.7 the Son must be Understood for Father and Son are relatives and as the Father is a Person so must the Son so must the Holy Ghost yet they deny the most Holy Trinity asserted in Scriptures and confirm'd to have been the belief of the Whole Primitive Church as contained in the Apostolical Nicene and Athanasian Creeds and in the Constantinopolitan wherein the others were Comprehended and owned in the Confession of Faith of all Christian Churches in the World which was and is still made the first Article of Faith of One God in Three Persons yet against these great Lights they impiously say * Catech. Racov. Sententiam eorum c. the Opinion of these who do Attribute Divine Nature unto Christ is contrary not only to sound Reason but also to the Word of God and they do grosly err who affirm that not only the Father but also the Son and the Holy Ghost are Persons in one Godhead and †Vorstius one saith the Arguments by the Ancient Fathers and Modern Divines made use of for the Eternal Generation of Christ are either Fallacious or Frivolous and * Smalcius ad nov monst part 2. c. 22. p. 198. another calls them Ratiunculae Nugatoriae Trifling words the same in another place affirms that †Exam. 100. Errâ—r Er. 26. Christ before his Resurrection was not perfectly Christ or Son of God or God And elsewhere that Christ's Divinity consists in his sitting at the Right Hand of the Father Sessio Christi ad dextram Dei est Christi divinitas I begin to tremble when I think of what I am just now entring upon but 't is fit they should be known in their own Colours Here with Horror read how Blasphemonsly those Hellish and Abominable Monsters as are Servetus Dudithius Socinus himself and several others of those wicked Men so much admir'd by Vnitarians writ of the most Holy and most Blessed Trinity they call it Monstrum Tricipitem Cerberum Tricorporem Gerionem Deum fictitium ac Sophisticum Idolum novum Fabulosam Chymeram humanum Commentum Diabolicam Idaeam Babelis Turrim of many more I shall add the following which makes the Pen drop out of my Hand The most adorable Trinity is call'd Blasphemum dogma ex imô orcô per Filium perditionis virtute Satanae gentium Ecclesiis obtrusum I am at a stand whether or not to put this in English which though it makes my Heart ake and defiles my Pen yet to the end every one which understands no Latin may abhor such transcendent Blasphemies I say The most Holy Trinity they call a Monster a three Headed Cerberus a Geryon with three Bodies a Forged and Sophistical God a new Idol a Fabulous Chymera a Human Invention a Devilish Idea a Tower of Babel a Blaspemous Doctrine by the Son of Perdition and power of Satan drawn out of the very bottom of Hell and obtruded upon the Church of the Gentiles After this Socinians must not find it strange if I who through God's Grace am a Christian do abhor and detest those Principles which do overthrow the Christian Religion to set up a new one of their own and if I cannot be much in Charity with those who are for such Impieties and Blasphemies Tho' what I have already said be too much yet to shew how they break all Rules and do more and more sink into the Mire and if not worse yet are as bad as the Devil himself for Non audet Stygius Pluio tentare quod audet Effraenis Socinus there they will not stop for he must run fast whom the Devil drives I shall upon the matter add one thing or two more out of their Hellish Writings one of them writing against one of his Adversaries takes an occasion to fall upon Austin * Dudiâ—h Epist ad Bezam in Socin Oper. Tom. 1. p. 525. Tuum tibi Augustinum c. I shall speak to thee of thy Austin For having said many things quite contrary to the Gospel he also hath Publish'd this Eostatical Fancy of three Gods they the first drunk of this Wine afterwards they made others drunken with it so to them is happen'd what usually befals Men who when their sight is troubl'd instead of one they see three or more The same in another place saith †Epist ad Petrum Carol p. 538. Tricipitem Ter geminum c. The Apostles never knew this three Headed and threefold God nor the whole Orthodox Church this is impudently to tell this lye who can without Indignation read such things Do such Miscreants deserve to breath God's Air What that Man saith * Socin Animadv 10. in assert Theol. Coll. posnan Socinus Subscribes to when he saith Deum quidem c. The whole Vniversal Church owns that there is one God but that it doth reverence Vnity in Trinity and Trinity in Vnity no Church of God may by any means own seeing 't is altogether a Humane Invention which Divine Truth doth every way speak against After this ever since our Saviour's days the Church hath been in Ignorance and Darkness nay in a great and damnable Error about these Fundamentals of our Religion but this is not all For as to our Blessed Saviour's Incarnation or the Son of God being made Flesh they impiously Ridicule and Revile it * Ostorod Instit c. 17. p. 96. One calls it Purum c. A meer Porgery of Superstitious Men. Then the Evangelists and Apostles by whose means the Holy Ghost convey'd those Divine Truths to us were Forgers of Lyes thus they set Hand and Seal to what said that Impious Pope Leon X. the Fable about Jesus Christ hath procur'd the Church great Riches Another calls that high and adorable Mystery †Smalc Refut Graveri de Incarnâ—t Dogma c. A most Monstrous Doctrine unworthy to be receiv'd by the Christian Church And the same in a direct opposition to what St. John saith The Word was made Flesh hath this * Exam. 100 Err. Err. 49. Verbum non est Caro factum the Word was not made Flesh and to say the contrary is an Error and that vile Man thinks he can say any thing against Christ and in opposition to Scripture for in the same Book he adds Christus c. Christ from his Birth was not full of Grace and Truth Again Christ at his Death ceased to be Son of God Error 50. and therein he calls it a Fable Tanta est Fabula c. So great is this Fable of the Vnion of two Natures also a Dream of old Women Somnium anile many more such Impieties I could quote but it makes my Heart sick and amaz'd thereat strikes me with Horror and makes the Pen drop out of my Hand About the Holy Ghost they hold three Fundamental Errors First They deny him to be God though in several places Scripture simply and absolutly calls him so Acts. 5.3 4. Peter said to Ananias
Why hath Satan fill'd thine heart to lye to the Holy Ghost in the next verse it 's said Thou hast not ly'd unto Men but unto God These last Words explain the first how to lye to the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 3.16 is to lye to God Paul is another Evidence when he saith Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you That Spirit which dwelleth in them is the same true God whose Temple they are farther as God is every where Psal 139.7 so is the Holy Ghost Whither shall I go from thy Spirit saith David which comes to this I can go no where but there he is so the Holy Ghost is Infinite and none but God is such Rom. 8.9 and the Spirit of God dwells in you as he doth in every Believer and as there are Believers of all Nations Ages Sexes Qualities c. in the World so the Holy Ghost who is in them all is all the World over and so God absolute Eternity belongs to God and the Holy Ghost is Eternal too as we have it thus Heb. 9.14 1 Cor. 2.10 Christ through the Eternal Spirit offered himself and who but God can know all things whether of Men or of God But the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God The Work of the Creation is proper to God and incommunicable to the Creature which cannot be both Creator and Creature to Create imports in him that doth an infinite Power to fill up an infinite Space between a nothing and something which no Creature is capable of he who is to all others the Author of their Beings must need have his own of himself and that is God for he that built all things is God Psal 33.6 Job 26.13 now the Holy Ghost made the World for as By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made so all the Host of them by the breath Spirit of his Mouth to this purpose 't is said by his Spirit he hath garnish'd the Heavens And in the History of the Creation Gen. 1.2 we read how that same Spirit moved upon the face of the Waters to give Life Motion and make them Fruitful besides none but God can bestow the Spiritual and Heavenly gifts of Grace but the Holy Ghost is the Distributer of them for he divideth to every Man severally as he will 1 Cor. 12.4 11. that is independently as of his own and without giving any Accounts farthermore the Ruling of the Church appointing of Apostles and other Ministers and accordingly he endu'd the Apostles and on the Day of Pentecost filled them with Gifts to qualifie them for their work and the Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have call'd them Acts. 13.2 'T was God's work and 't was God who appointed them so he not only gave them Commission to go but also appointed them the Field where to sow the Seed of the Word Chap. 16.6 7. for the Holy Ghost did forbid them to preach the word in Asia tho' they had a mind to it then they would have gone to Bithynia but the Spirit suffer'd them not again Paul tells the Elders of the Church of Ephesus that The Holy Ghost had made them Overseers over that Flock Chap. 20.28 In sew Words all Offices and Gifts in the Church he absolutely disposes of as to him seems good Besides we must take notice of the Glorious Titles given him in Scripture applyable to no Creature as are the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of Adoption John 15.26 Rom. 8.15 Chap. 1.4 Tit. 3.5 Matth. 12.28 Rom. 9.1 Matth. 18.9 2 Cor. 13 14. John 5.7 Matth. 12.31 the Spirit of Sanctification and the Spirit of Renewing or Regeneration and by whom Miracles as Casting out of Devils are wrought furthermore how Divine Worship Honour and Prayer is due and render'd unto the Holy Ghost thus Paul calls upon him as he who knew the Hearts And in the Form of Baptism in the Apostolical Blessing he is equally call'd upon with the Father and the Son and equally concern'd with them in bearing Record in Heaven besides the Holy Ghost must be God seeing The Sin of Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven being the most Abominable and Damnable of all hence I conclude the Holy Ghost equally to be God with the Father and with the Son Their second Error is to deny the Holy Ghost to be a Person but seeing as we already prov'd he is God of the same Nature with the Father and the Son he must be a Person as indeed the Proprieties of a Person are Attributed unto him for in our Saviour's Conception he Acted and Sanctifi'd the Virgins Womb in his Baptism he appear'd in the visible shape of a Dove and of cloven Tongues in the Day of Pentecost in his name we are equally Baptiz'd with the Father's and the Son 's He sent the Apostles Rom. 8.26 He maketh intercession for us besides that he doth create and work Miracles and to none but a Person it doth belong and is proper so to act and so to do Of this Error of theirs there is another branch for they would not have the Holy Ghost to be a Person of the Godhead distinct from the Father and from the Son but the contrary doth appear John 15.26 for in Scripture he is call'd the Spirit of the Father and of the Son he is sent by the Father and by the Son he is distinguish'd from the Father and from the Son by a personal Property to proceed as he is expresly call'd another from the Father and from the Son The Father will give you another Comforter Chap. 14.16 Saith our Saviour that is another from the Father and from me The Heretick Macedonius deny'd the Divinity and Personality of the Holy Ghost and affirm'd it to be only a Vertu and Power whereby the * Smalc Exam. Err. 157. Err. 132. and 137. Father and the Son do work which Fundamental Error Socinians borrow'd of him Spiritum Sanctum c. saith one of them The Holy Ghost is in God a Propriety or Attribute as are Wisdom and Justice Furthermore The Holy Ghost is not one but many of inequal Dignity because there are different Gifts he would set up different Spirits 1 Cor. 12.4 tho' the Apostle saith positively There are diversity of Gifts but the same Spirit We own as we did before how according to an unusual improper and figurative way sometimes the word Spirit signifies the Gift and Workings of the Holy Ghost but when 't is properly taken then it signifies the third Person in order of the Godhead partaker of the Nature therefore call'd God as prov'd Another Socinian calls the Holy Ghost Virtutem illam c †Schlichting in Simbol p. 99. That Virtue whereby God particularly sanctifies those Men which are dear to him And so all along he runs on
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 another as falfe They say that before the coming of Christ such * Wolzog. in Matt. 4.10 p. 189. Worship was lawfully and justly rendered to Angels who represented God's Person but that Worship was rendred only to one Angel no created one whom in my former Book I sufficiently proved to be the Son of God The same Author affirms * In Joh. 5.23 That every Man that is sent representing the Person of him who sent him ought to receive that honour due to him that sent After this the Prophets and Apostles sent by God and by Christ ought to have been Worshiped with the same Worship due to the most high God which cannot be deny'd to be Idolatry yet these People would pretend to abhor Papists for their Idolatry which is properly when the Worship due to God alone is paid to the Creature whereby one God is divided into many and as Papists to excuse their Idolatry towards Saints and Images idly distinguish the manner of it under different Names according to the different Objects so do Socinians with their Relative Notions of dependent and independent of high and most high God what by them is mention'd of John's falling before the Angel to Worship him we may look upon 't as a Flaw in him as the denial of Christ was in Peter therein to forbid us the Worship of Angels for we read how the Angel surpris'd at it with a sudden as it were Exclamation as happens at a great trouble of Mind rejected it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See thou do it not Now as this Opinion of the Socinians doth agree with that of Papists who say they worship not the Saint or Image but Relatively to God or God in 't so Socinians say the Adoration is due to Christ not of it self but by accident not terminatively but transittively the Worship passes from him to the Father whom they Worship in Christ just as Papists do God and the Saint in the Image This Opinion of Socinians doth also agree with that of the Heathens about their half or Semi-Gods Gods of an inferiour Orb for besides those made Gods they owned a supreme one and above all the rest Thus the Socinian Divinity agrees with that of Pagans and Gentiles as if I had time I might easily demonstrate not only out of Cicero Seneca Lucian Celsus c. but also out of Lactantius Augustin and other Christian Writers This Opinion of theirs doth also overthrow the Christian Faith for what is to embrace the Christian Faith 1 Thess 1.9 but to be turn'd to God from Idols to serve the living and true God The Gospel which Paul and Barnabas preached to the People of Lystra is this We preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God Acts. 14.15 which made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are therein which they say Christ made not Mark here the Question was about the worship which those Heathens would have rendered to the Apostles Farther Socinian Idolatry is directly opposed to the first Precept Matth. 6.24 chap. 2.16.17 Thou shalt have no other Gods before me And induces Men to serve two Lords and two Masters which Scripture saith no Man can do In Hosea we read that God said Thou shalt call me Ishi my Husband and no more Baali my Lord though a fit and proper name to call God by who is Lord and Master over all for his absolute Dominion is extended over all his Works The Reason why he would no more be call'd by that name is because it had been abused and prophaned being given to Creatures and attributed to Idols for our Lord is a jealous God and will not have his Name and Glory communicated to Creatures which he abhorr'd therefore he declar'd in that same place And I will take the names of Baalim out of her mouth Before I leave off this point I shall in a few Words take notice how nice in the Primitive Church Men were about the Unity of Essence and Trinity of Persons When the Heresies there against appeared abroad this very thing about Arrius's time was like to have made a great breach between the Greek and Latin Churches which through Athanasius's Piety Care and Prudence was prevented The Controversie was about the Greek word Hypostasis and the Latin one Persona The Latins suspected the Greek word might signifie Essence and Substance which had brought in the Heresie of the Tritheists of three Gods for thus three Essences had made three Gods on the other side the Greeks thought by the Latin word to be meant only a Relation and Office and not truly a Person which had been a meer Relative distinction but nothing real in 't thus the Doctrine of the Trinity had been overthrown and so Sabellianism which saith that the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are but one Person had been brought in but in the Synod of Alexandria Athanasius having to remove all suspicion from both sides proposed that the words Hypostasis and Persona might indifferently be used in both Churches it was agreed unto and Peace settled thereby God grant we may here see the like upon the Foundation of Truth to the Confusion of Heresie that with a bare face now walks up and down which in the Prophets words we may say to Thou hast a whore's Forehead thou refusedst to be ashamed Jer. 3.3 but God in his due time will make it so and explode it hence out of what Solomon saith Pride goes before destruction Prov. 16.18 and a haughty Spirit before a fall we may modestly infer that if not a whole downfal at least a fall of that Sect is near at hand towards which we hope there is some steps for never more proud injurious and vile Language than what we read in their former and latter Books the same Spirit from first to last reigning therein Nay when the Parliament was about setting a Curb upon and restraining them still they went on and Published their Pamphlets and had the confidence to have their Socinian Notions in Print distributed among the Honourable Members at the Door of the House of Commons to whom therein they would have prescrib'd how to draw up their Bills and that most impertinently in Scriptural Phrases Did any one ever see Bills and Acts of Parliament drawn up so This is a perfect mixture of Socinianism and Quakerism which tended as I think to get opportunities thereby to wrest our Laws as they do God's Word Here again I must take notice of the * Charitable Samaritan late Pamphlet wherein one may see confirm'd what I said before about their endeavouring to wrest Scriptures for from p. 16 to 22 the Author's aim is to make them uncertain and dubious in all the Texts therein mention'd so when it shall serve their turn they will of any one else He there brings it in p. 20. as being his Friend Mr. Firmin's Opinion who understood neither
went with Moses and led the People through the Wilderness but the Angel of his face or presence Isai 63.9 2 Cor. 4.6 whom I elsewhere fully proved to be the Son of God Jesus Christ in whose face as the Apostle saith We behold the glory of God The word to shine which is in the Verse doth signifie a property of the Son Mal. 4.2 1 John 1.16 ver 17. 1 Cor. 16.33 Gal. 6.18 Phil. 4.23 1 Thess 5.28 2 Thess 3.18 Philemon 25. for the Son is call'd the Son of righteousness the latter part the Lord be gracious unto thee doth plainly relate to the Son Jesus Christ who is the Fountain of Grace for of his fulness have we all received and grace for grace no true Grace to be had but only in him for saith the Evangelist Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ after this Form of Blessing it is that Paul doth conclude several of his Epistles as a Prayer to God for those whom he did write to or as a Blessing of God upon them The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all The 3 Verse hath things specially attributed unto the Holy Ghost as To lift up his countenance upon and give them peace It seems as if David pointed at this when he saith Lift up the light of thy countenance upon us Now to enlighten encourage countenance quicken and strengthen Men Psalm 4.6 is the proper work of the Holy Ghost so is to give peace therefore he is call'd the Comforter who gives us inward joy assurance and peace of Conscience and unto our Souls he applys the benefits of all that Christ hath done and suffered for us the better to understand this let us compâ—re these 3 verses of Numbers 6. with Paul's words which are an Explanation thereof The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 13.14 and the love of God the Father and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all This shews a Conformity in the Form of Blessing under the Old and New Testaments the like we find in Jude ver 20 21. where the three Persons are distinctly set down This I shall conclude with the following Observation how St. John explains Moses's words in the beginning John 1.1 and that the word Bara Created in Hebrew consists of three Letters for though there be four yet one being twice in there are but three different and these three begin each the Hebrew words signifying Father Son and Holy Ghost as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aleph begins the name Abba Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth the second Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet as Aleph is the first begins the word Ben or Son and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resh begins Ruach Spirit Hachodesh which signifie the Holy Ghost now must we proceed to other things We know it to have been the practice of all Hereticks who would not downright deny Scriptures but keep an outward shew as if they own'd them to come in and by a side Wind to corrupt the Truths therein contained and no Sect went on in that way more cunningly presumptuously and obstinately than Socinians who would make of it a tool with wresting and falsifying them to serve their ends and though they so highly pretend to an unreconcilableness with the Romish Church yet therein they follow their Methods and have taken great and unhappy pains in corrupting both the word of God and the Writings of Men but God who is and loves truth in his infinite Wisdom to the confusion of the Authors of such Works of Darkness brings them to light the World hath been acquainted with the notorious Cheat of the Jesuits of Mentz who with the leave of the then Prince Elector Palatine borrow'd of the Library Keeper of Heidelberg the Manuscript of Anastasius about the Lives of the Popes which they offer'd to get Printed at their own Charges and after they had given good Security that the Manuscript should be return'd they had it upon this Condition that every thing therein should be printed and nothing left out which Condition was put in in relation to the History of Pope Joan that was in 't But mark the Trick the Jesuits got it Printed and in one Book only which they were engaged to put in the Palsgrave's Library all was according to the Manuscript but that which related to Pope Joan was left out in every other Book Which Cheat of theirs the Library-Keeper having afterwards found out he about it publish'd his Complaint to the World That Manuscript is now in the Vatican among the rest of the Heidelberg Library but though when I was in Rome I several times used means to see it I could never obtain it nor in Milan neither where another Manuscript of the same is said to be in the Ambrosian Library 't was own'd to me that there is one but when I desired to see it which I did more than once with one pretence or other 't was ever put off Such are the shifts by Papists used to conceal the proofs of a Woman having been a Pope and an infallible Head of their Church Thus Socinians are glad of any pretence which to the utmost of their power they would improve to have the 7th Ver. of the 5th Chap. of 1 John expunged because it lies so heavy upon them but the consideration of such Practices affords an occasion to admire and adore God's wise and infinite Providence with great Mercy to his Church that notwithstanding the malice and craftiness of Hell and its Instruments wholly or in part to suppress Holy Scripture yet such hath been his Divine Care of it having given his People that Holy Word of his never to fail to the Worlds end that he hath blasted the wicked Endeavours of all who would have depriv'd the Church of that Heavenly Bread but through so many Ages and amidst so many various Dispensations of his Providence hath to this day continued whole and in its Purity for the Good and Benefit of his People Thus in the days of Josiah was by Hilkiah the High Priest 1 Kings 22.8 found the book of the law in the House of the Lord which was the Copy that Moses left with them as it appears out of 2 Chron. 34.14 which either by the Negligence of the Priests had been lost or by the wickedness of Idolatrous Kings had been rejected and in some kind abolish'd The like care God was pleased to use at the Taking and Burning of Jerusalem and of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar though 't is not express'd how for we must not mind the Jewish Fabulous Stories about it yet so it was as we gather out of Artaxerxes's words to Ezra Ezra 7.14 Thou art sent of the King and of his seven Counsellors to enquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand Thus God hath rescu'd his Holy Word of the New Testament from the Rage and Malice of the Jews of
made Man 't was very proper for him to appear in that Figure even before he was manifest in the flesh for though at that time he was not actually so yet was accounted to be such because in time to come he was so to be made Man according to the first promise after the fall Gen. 3.15 the Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents head not the Seed of Man immediately though called Abraham's and David's Seed but mediately in the Womans Seed immediately for he was made a Man by the Womans not by the Mans Seed his Body was formed our of her Substance without the help of any Man so that she might properly according to the Flesh be call'd his Mother but no Man might properly be named his Father for in that respect he had none Luke 3.23 for Joseph was but a supposed Father to him and David was his Father only in her who had been derived from him he hath a Father namely God but upon the account of another Generation and God the Father in a most authentick way from Heaven more than once hath declared and owned him to be his Son that is as he came from Heaven there lies the ground of that Sonship God the Father never call'd him Son of Man but his own beloved only begotten Son in whom he is well pleased Now in the manifestation of his Glory because Divine Nature hath in the Person of the Son mediately been united with humane Nature and so God in the Person of the Son appearing like Man he appears in a Nature which is his own because the Son assumed it and God whether essentially taken or for the Person of the Father never did or doth in the way of Mercy and Favour manifest himself but in the face of Jesus Christ Mediatour God and Man as there is no access unto God but in and thorough him and as 't is now so it was ever from the very beginning wherefore he is call'd the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World Rev. 13.8 and this is the reason why God manifested himself under the shape of a Man to shew how in the Person of the Son who took upon him that Nature he is reconciled to Mankind and of old the Son appeared in that likeness to signify how in that Nature he would make our peace with and reconcile us 〈◊〉 God the Apostle speaking of Christ's Incarnation â—alls it he was made like unto Men the word like there denotes truly and really a Man Philip. 2.7 this is to prove his Humanity but how much stronger terms doth he use to prove his Divinity when he saith who heing in the form of God the form is the Nature whether of a Person or of a Thing for 't is that which gives it a Being so that expression signifies that Christ is and was such as God himself and therefore God for there is none in all parts like to God but God himself but what he adds in the same verse doth highly confirm the truth he thought it not robbery to be equal with God his being equal with God not by robbery demonstrates it was his due and own right Now this point we intend to conclude with John's Vision for if the former Visions agree with this and if this relates to the Son of God who was God and before his Incarnation appeared in his Divine Glory in the likeness of a Man then with him we may well affirm he had a Being and a Glory with the Father before the World was That Christ the eternal Son of God and Redeemer of the World is that Glorious God and Person who shewed his beloved Disciple this Vision in the Isle of Patmos where he had by the Emperour Domitian been confin'd as he saith for the Word of God and for the Testimony of Jesus Christ Rev. 1.9 is so clear that I think the adversaries themselves being the judges there is no ground left to doubt of it to what I already said about it I shall add what followeth This revelation is of Jesus Christ as we learn it out of the first line of the first Chapter it being as the Title of the Book that is the Lord Jesus revealed it unto John V. 13.14 who gives a glorious description of him I saw one like unto the Son of Man clothed with a Garment down to the Foot and girt about the Paps with a Golden Girdle his Head and his Hairs were white like Wool as white as Snow and his Eyes were as a Flame of Fire These last words of the description are almost the same but altogether to the same purpose with what we read of the Ancient of days who did sit Dan. 7.9 whose Garment was white as Snow and the Hair of his Head like the pure Wool his Throne was like the fiery Flame now the adversaries cannot deny but that by the ancient of days is mean'd the true eternal God so he whose description St. John makes with the same attributes as Daniel gives of him must needs be the same but the Apostle continues the description thus V. 13.15 and his Feet like unto fine Brass as if they had burned in a Furnace and his Voice as the sound of many Waters again let this latter and first part of the description about the clothing and girdle of Gold be compared with Daniel's Vision already quoted and by this comparing Scripture with Scripture we shall find out the truth how in both places the same is described and so if Daniel saw the God of Israel the true God by nature he whom John saw is such which we shall know better and better if we read in the last Verse of Chap. 4. what the four Beasts and twenty four Elders said to him that sat upon the Throne thou art worthy to receive Glory and Honour and Power And if that Verse we compare with the 12. of 5. Chap. which is the following we shall find these words worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing So that we must conclude the Lamb to be the same Lord spoken of before I mean the same in nature and to the Lamb is rendered the same Honour and Worship as is to the Lord with the same Attributes which is expressed with some enlargement and in more words than in the foregoing Chapter but by whom is this Divine Honour rendered unto the Lamb 't is expressed in the foregoing Verse Rev. 5.11 and I beheld and I heard the Voice of many Angels round about the Throne and the Beasts and the Elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands which last words seem to be taken out of Daniel's Vision Dan. 7.10 to shew how all this was rendered to one and the same and I say that the sameness of Worship doth argue for the sameness of Nature we find the
Lord Jesus by reason of his priestly Office which is one of the three belonging to his Mediatorship to be call'd the Lamb Rev. 7.17 Chap. 22.1 3. now this Lamb is in â—he midst of the Throne which is the proper Seat for Almighty God then God and the Lamb sit together upon â—he same Throne so there is but one Throne for God â—nd the Lamb but God is jealous of his Glory which â—e hath solemnly declared he never will communicate â—o another who is not God or to a meer Creature Isai 42.8 between them that are inequal the Throne is excepted â—hough Pharaoh was willing to raise Joseph to the greatest Honour above any one in his Kingdom over the which â—e made him absolute Ruler yet he made this exception between him and Joseph only in the Throne will I be greater â—han thou if Christ be not God Gen. 41.40 there would be an infinitely greater difference between the Father and him â—han there was between Pharaoh and Joseph and God is â—o less jealous of his Honour than Pharaoh was of his But to return to John Rev. 1.17 he in his Vision knew â—he Son of God therefore when he saw him in â—hat Glorious and dreadful sight amidst Fire and â—lame he fell at his Feet as dead and the Lord himself to confirm him in his Opinion and that he was not mistaken when he thought he knew him said I am he that liveth and was dead so all the Glorious things spoken of and perform'd in the Book are rendered to him who liveth and was dead the true Son of God who sent Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel and all the Prophets who being subordinate to him as the Head and great one received â—ll their Commissions from him and were all Acted and moved by that Holy Spirit of his for as after his Ascension he sent the Comforter the Holy Spirit to his Apostles so before his Incarnation as well as now he Administred his Office of Mediator Ruled and Govern'd his Church which he could not have done except he had had a Being and Existed before he was Born of the Blessed Virgin Mary Hereupon our Litigious Adversaries may happen to Cavil and say such great and Fundamental Truths as these ought not to be grounded upon Visions and Prophecies I consess if we had no other proofs I in some degree would allow of the Objection but they know we have so many plain and clear of another kind that these we make use of not for want of others but bring them in as over and above the full measure my inclination leads me far enough from being one of those who would dive into the Secret things of God which I know belong nâ—â— to us but those that are Revealed do I own that oâ—â— must be endued with the Spirit of a Prophet before he caâ— understand a Prophecy till it be accomplish'd but wheâ— it is fulfilled though but in part then it becomes a History if not wholly yet in part and that part helps towards knowing what remains 't is an intolerable presumption in some which we hear of too often to dispoâ—â— of those times and seasons which God reserves in his owâ— Hand whereby they would Limitate the Holy one 〈◊〉 Israel when to a certain Year and time they pretenâ—â— rashly to fix very great and considerable Events which God twice complains of by his Prophet Jer. 49.19 and 50 44. who will appoint 〈◊〉 the time I think they have enough to study in the Revealed Will of God without diving into his Secret one bâ—â— what I have done is of a quite different Nature and 't is most certain how all Types and Prophecies relating 〈◊〉 the first coming and Sufferings of Christ the Messiah 〈◊〉 we consult Scriptures we shall find to be fulfilled he saiâ— unto his Disciples Luke 22.37 Jo. 19.30 the things concerning me have an end and upon the Cross he declared it is finished Now the Prophets out of what they heard and saw having foretoâ—â— who the Messiah that should come was what he wouâ—â— do and Suffer and for what end we ought to neglect nothing that may clear up to us that whole important maâ—ter As under the Law there were Prophecies and Vision about these high and adorable Mysteries so there weâ—â— Types and Figures of the same of which I formerly mention'd some and shall now add one thing more of Godâ—â— Son's Incarnation God was in the Cloud in the Tabernacle and in the Temple thus God's Dwelling in theâ—â— sented his Dwelling with us in our Human Nature upon which account the Prophet calls him Immanuel or Goâ— with us no doubt but that the Infinitely Wise God whâ— doth nothing in vain had some special meaning when hâ—â— chose to Dwell in the Cloud which as we read 1 Kings 8.10 11 12. filled thâ— House of the Lord so that the Priests could not stand to Minster because of the Cloud for the Glory of the Lord fill'd thâ— House of the Lord and in that place Solomon took Notiâ—â— how the Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness a God full of Infinite Light Brightness Majesty and Glory to dwell in thick darkness I see no Reason whâ— the same may not Dwell in a Humane Body especially â—eing it is written a body hath thou prepared me and also 〈◊〉 Tabernacle of God is with men Rev. 21.3 alluding to the Tabernaâ—â— wherein he dwelt and farther the Lord Jesus's Flesh 〈◊〉 Humane Body is by the Apostle call'd the Vail Heb. 10.20 Exod. 34.30 33. which â—â—aceal'd and if I may so say contain'd his Divine Perâ—â— and Nature wherein the Apostle alludeth to the Vail 〈◊〉 Moses when he came down from the Mountain he put a â—â—il on his Face for the People could not look upon the â—â—ightness of it but were afraid to come nigh him If â—â—en could not behold the Glory of God only in some â—eams of reflection upon Moses's Face for having been â—while with him upon the Mount and having seen only God's Back parts not his Face his Goodness not his Glory â—uch less could the World have look'd upon that Divine â—ssential Glory of his Son come out of his own Bosom â—od having a mind to Communicate and Converse with â—ankind it had been impossible for Men to behold that Glory in open Face and not Die therefore God out of â—is Infinite Mercy to condescend to our Weakness did as it â—ere conceal it in a Body and put on the Vail that is his â—Resh to this purpose the Apostle saith Colos 2.9 in him dwelleth â—â—l the fulness of the Godhead bodily or in his Body but â—aving spoken of the Cloud and of the Tabernacle we â—ust say these few words about the Temple when our â—aviour said to the Jews John 2.19 21. destroy this Temple and in three â—ays I will raise it up again the Evangelist observes that â—e spake of the Temple of his Body so his
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
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
upon the word only they ought to take notice of a thing material to our purpose how their Notion doth not consist with the scope of the place for there the Apostle speaks not of Christ's Kingdom but of his Person call'd the brightness of the Glory and the express Image of the Father's Person Colos 1.19 so in that other A pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell 't is not spoken of the Doctrine but of the Person of Christ That sort of Men first do what they can to wrest God's Word which abominably they generally do in the Texts about Christ's Satisfaction and almost in every other Point but when they see that cannot do they fly in the Face of Holy Writers Thus * Schlichtingius one of them upon the words But a Body hast thou prepared me saith how these words the Apostle quoted not to his purpose Non necesse c. 'T is not necessary to believe that the Author in his quotation of the words had any regard unto their proper sense but had quoted them only because they were joined with others that were to his purpose Which in him is not only an ignorance of the Scope of the place but also a Reflection upon the Apostle as if he had not well known what he said and wherefore as if he at that time had not been Inspired of God which is both Prophaneness and Impiety However they cannot deny him to have been a very Rational Man but they will be for Deism or Natural Religion in opposition to Revelation If seriously and impartially we look upon Socinians we may about the things in question well compare them with the Scribes Pharisees and Sadducees that were in our Saviour's and his Apostles days as being acted by the same Evil Spirit as they were and equally full of Gall and Bitterness against the Person Honour and Doctrine of our Lord whom upon all occasions these do as the others did undervalue taking him for a meer Man and consequently for a Lyar and Impostour when he called himself true God Son of God in Power equal with the Father and one with him Thus Impiously the Jews call'd him a Samaritan who had a Devil a Seducer a Deceiver a Malefactor and a Blasphemer The Pharisees were full of Pride and Self-Conceit would pass for the only Good Knowing Wise Men in the World sat in Moses's Chair nam'd themselves his Disciples said of those who were not of their Opinion about Jesus Christ This People who knows not the law are cursed How did they use the blind-born Man when to them he spoke good Sense and Reason Thou wast altogether born in sin Joh. 9.34 and doest thou teach us Implying as if they were not born in sin but were Pure and Holy Likewise Socinians pretend to a Pharisaical Righteousness they were not born in sin for they say there is in them no Original Sin and they pretend they can in this World attain to such a Perfection as not to Sin also with the Sadducees they deny the Resurrection of the Dead at least of the Wicked so of the Good too as to the Body The Scribes and Pharisees could not deny the mighty and miraculous Works of our blessed Lord for they were Matters of Fact done not in a Corner but in many several places and in the presence of Thousands of People nay in their Council they confess'd it and said What do we For this man doth many miracles John 11.47 They could not deny their Senses but were in their Judgments convinc'd of it yet their Hearts would not be wrought upon by reason of a desperate Obstinacy but it was prepossess'd with Rage and Malice and would not yield to the Truth nor give Glory to God This is the very Case of Socinians they cannot deny the Supreme Divine Power which the Lord Jesus exerted in so many of his Actions nor absolutely deny him to be God they cannot convince him of Lye nor of any Sin They cannot be ignorant of the Testimony which more than once from Heaven the Father gave of him neither the Record which John bare of him nor that which upon several occasions he gave of himself as to his Divine Nature and Power this they cannot deny but will not confess it and hold the Truth of God in Unrighteousness whereupon we must say they are worse than the Rulers Elders Scribes Pharisees and Sadducees who upon the account of a Miracle done by Peter and John by the Power of our Saviour and in his Name said we cannot deny it Joh. 4.16.14 and they could say nothing against it but Socinians speak against it and the Truth Satan hath so filled the Heart of some of them that though they cannot deny God's Essential Names and Attributes Divine Works and Worship to belong to him yet will not own him to be true God and by Nature which is the only true God in opposition to Idols and Creatures which by Nature are not God's Gal. 4.8 But their Hearts are so perverse and set against him that notwithstanding those lights of the Truth they will not be convinced They cannot deny that Christ did cast out Devils but rather that to give him Glory for it with the Jews they wiâ—â— forge in their Heads and Impiously say he cast them out by Beelzebub for such Cavils and Wrestings they never want which helps them to speak and write against the known Truths Julian being over taken with a signal Judgment could in 't perceive Christ'â— Hand which made him cry out Thou hast overcome 〈◊〉 Galilean Though his rage could not suffer him to own he had been in the wrong and will Socinians waiâ— till they feel such a stroke of Christ's avenging Hand aâ— did the Apostate and some of their Ring-Leaders Out of these and many things more it appears how to Socinians chiefly belongs the Apostle's Saying of those who wrest some things in Paul's Epistles 2 Pet. 3.16 as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction The serious consideration of this engages the same Apostle to give those whom he writes to this necessary warning Ye therefore beloved v. 17. seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the Errors of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness A most seasonable Caution in these as well as in those Times The Society of such which too often proves an occasion of falling into their abominable Heresies we also ought to avoid and this I speak not of my self but have an Apostle's Warrant for it and such a one as made it his chief business plainly and fully to assert the Divinity of the Son of God Jesus Christ our Lord 2 John 10.11 If there come any unto you and bring not this Doctrine receive him not into your House neither bid him God speed for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds 2 Cor. 5.11 And Paul forbids us