errours are the snares which the Devil layes by his instruments to catch living souls How much Beza made of this Dudithius with what a Christian affection he loved him how solicitous he was to draw him from errour and to perswade him to and confirm him in the truth against those doubtings and distractions by which he was much molested between the profession of the Papists on the one side and the Socinian on the other doth appear by a large and elegant letter written to him and is to be found among the letters of Beza Zanchie also wrote to Dudithius a letter concerning the true Church being the same argument about which he had written to Beza and Wolphius a little before proposing this question to them How comes it to passe that in your Church if it be the true Church there be so many dissentions and divisions among you and that in and about the chief articles of religion This is one stone of stumbling which the Devil hath cast in the way to the profession of the truth by which he hath hindred many from walking in it or giving any credit to it But to this that good man Zanchy gives a full and a solid answer First that there are not so many nor so great contentions among us who professe the true faith as the Devil and his complices would make the World believe thereby to bring the truth into suspicion And then that those which are among us are no argument of doubting of the truth of the Church but rather of approving it For the continued and common condition of the Church of God here is militant and subject to infirmity only in Heaven it is already in part and shall be hereafter wholly triumphant Christ himself gives the Church a caution hereof Matt. 7.15 Beware of false Prophets which come to you Not to Turks not to Infidels and yet to these but not to these only but to you also to you principally and especially who have the Gospel and to whom God affords the means of Salvation The Devil is let loose for a season Rev. 20. For a season to try the faith and patience of the Church And but for a season to fortifie the courage of the Church Had it not bin that Satan hath bin busy in the obtruding of errour the Church of God had not bin so busy in searching out the truth Therefore the Church is on the getting hand hereby Had not those Arians and Sabellians at the first vexed the Church of God with their heresies which are but branches and lims of this of Socinianism the deep mysteries of the sacred Trinity had not bin so accurately cleered so strongly fortifyed to the faith and belief of men as by the Ancient Doctors then it was and this day it is among us Heresie makes men sharpen their wits the better to confute it That Absynthium that smarts the eye cleers it and we thank that pain that gives us sight Dudithius then had no reason to douht of but rather to joyne issue with that as the true Church who by the contentions that were among them got the more knowledge of and laid the faster hold upon the truth of the Gospel But he was not so happy He wrote divers Orations and political admonitions In the Bodlejan library at Oxford are to be seen divers works of his as the signification of Comets divers and they very pithy speeches which he made in the councel of Trent An Apologie to Maximilian the II. An Epistle concerning the inflicting of capital punishment upon hereticks The life of Cardinal Pool was drawn out by his artificial hand and flourished by his pen. There are divers letters also of Socinus to him by which at first he solicited and and as is to be believed gained him to his party Raemundus reporteth of him that being invited by a certain friend of his to dinner who earnestly requested his company at that time in good health free from all sense or the least suspicion of sickness much lesse of death gave the Messenger this answer his friend must have him excused for that he was at that very time to go another way and had some other business of greater consequence to do Namely to pay the last debt which he owed to nature which accordingly at that very time he did and so departed Truly this man was much to be pitied who having forsaken a bad yet chose no better a religion then which a worse could not be raked out of Hell giving himself over to the Socinian faction in whose destructive opinions as he lived So he dyed without comfort That old saying may stand us in some steed if we list to make use of it Optimum est alinâ frui insaniâ to take heed by other mens harms is experience bought at a very cheap rate and whom they teach not may want not grief but pity Franciscus Puccius Florentinus Ecclesiae Christi membrum se Puccius instat Scilicet egregâ—um Relligionis inops IF our souls were as sensible of sin as our bodies are of pain we would be mâ—re careful of our selves for â—ear of a relapse We would not willingly fall again into the same sicknesses under which we have a long time groaned and â—rom which we are for the present delivered and yet we take no care of falling into the same sins or runing into the same wayes of errour out of which God by his mercy hath luckt us like brands out of the fire when we were ready to be consumed This was verely the fault of Francis Puccius a Florentine of the noble and renowned family of the Puccij of Florence who so journing at Lyons being there about some necessary affair when as disputations about religion waxed hot and matters of moment were freely debated therein was convinced in his conscience of the vanity of the Popish religion in which he was at that time very Zealous after some debatement thereof with himself and some conference concerning it with others he utterly renounced it as tendâ—ng to the destruction both of body and soul Hereupon he came into England and first to Oxford where for some time he studied Divinity after that to London and so over to Bâ—sil where he had that disputation with Socinus which was formerly mentioned by us But where or from whom he got those whimsies and fancies of dotage with which he was possessed those wild and mad opinions which he broached and by which the Churches were very much troubled we cannot learn nor do we greatly care to know For besides those opinions which he held in common with the Socinians he maintained a certain kind of natural faith by which we mâ—ght attain to salvation as also universal redemption and other stuffe ejusdem fâ—rmae of the same batch By reason of which he was constrained to leave Basil from whence he took his course directly for England and so up to London where he began to publish his paradoxical opinions and that with such
confidence as if Orpheus like he meant to charm all to follow him that did but once vouchsafe to hear him Spiritual arrogance is so much more mischievous as the soul is beyond all earthly pelf For when we are once come to advance and admire our own judgments we are at first apt to hugge our own inventions then to esteem them too precious to be smothered within our own closets the World must know of how happy an issue we are delivered and must applaud it to or else abide a contestation So that the Wiseman well noteth Prov. 13.10 only by Pride cometh contention So Puccius grew so high in the in-step by reason of this new-light which only he had discovered and these new opinions which he broaching defended that there grew some trouble thereby in the City of London for which he as the ring-leader was clapt up into prison Out of which being again delivered and perceiving that this was not a place for his purpose he again crossed the Seas being before crossed by Land and betook himself to Bavau From hence he sent divers times to solicite Socinus to a conference about their mutual opinions certain conditions were agreed upon and Moderators appointed to that end Socinus returns answer that he was in a readinesse to make his appearance there and to accomplish whatsoever should in reason be requested or required of him But Puccius either in confidence of his own ability or else induced by some other weighty argument takes a journey on purpose by way of prevention For he which for Socinus his sake came to Basil to meet him comes now for his sake also to Cracovia in Polonia where after they had met and had had divers disputations between them and could not agree for it is next to a wonder to see hereticks though never so neerly linkt together to agree in all things unlesse it be in the opposition of truth he returning from thence became a companion of some that studied magick with whom he came to Prague and there like an Apostate as he was fell to his old superstitious devotion again of cringing and crouching to every stock and joyned in Communion with the Church of Rome whom he had openly renounced and defyed as the whore of Babylon We see here the inconstancy of mans nature even in that wherein he should be most constant and that is religion Apostacy of manners cannot but be dangerous of faith deadly together with truth it looseth shame and not seldom swells up to the sin against the Holy Ghost for which there is no forgiveness in Heaven because there can be no remorse on earth This is a most perilous effect of spiritual pride which bears such sway in the heart of man that neither he himself is nor shall the Church of God be if he can help it at any quiet through his misgrounded novelty and most dangerous heresy to which he stands extreamly affected Can it be any other then an height of pride for a man to think himself wiser then the whole Church of God upon earth wiser then the Church of God that hath bin upon earth ever since the Apostles of Christ inclusively in all successions to this present time It was this pride that undid Puccius and brought him back with shame to that religion which he had disclaimed And many such examples have we of divers who have strayed from the truth to the Samosatenian or Socinian assemblies ye tat length have foully miscarryed either returning back to Popery from whence at first they took their flight or else to Iudaisme or Turcisme which is worst of all That Spirit which beareth rule in the hearts of the Children of disobedience bringeth them about with such a giddiness of mind that without Gods special preventing grace there is no help for them And no marvel they are so ready to turn Turcks or Jews that are once entred into the Socinian Doctrines For they are so like that there is not a pin to chuse Christophorê° Ostorrodus Smiglensis caetus Minister Ecclesiae pacem quis conturbavit amaenam Ostorrodus erat Daemonis arte potens CHristopher Ostorrodus a Germane Minister of the Socinian congregation at Smiglen is another of this heretical crew who did mightily infest the Churches of God in divers parts And sure the trouble that befell his Master Socinus in the University of Cracovia where by the rising of the Students for the suppressing of his heresies he was hardly entreated insomuch that he scarce escaped from thence with life was the cause of the travail and dispersing abroad of many of his most intimate disciples and followers and the coming of Ostorrodus into Holland and Friesland Who with Andraeas Voivodius a companion of his and fellow-Socinian brought thither their Masters book de Christo Servatore printed and divers others of the same kind both manuscripts and printed books prepared and provided for that very purpose to propagate the Socinian heresie in those parts also hoping to build their nest there and to settle themselves with more quiet and advantage then they could in Polonia But their project being discovered and their close underminings of the peace and tranquillity of the Churches by Gods good providence timely detected divers copyes of their pestiferous books were taken and brought before the States General of the United Provinces by whose especial command they were exhibited to the faculty of Divines in the University of Leyden whose Rescript together with the States decree which I conceived both necessary and worthy to be inserted I have here presented to the Reader A true Copy of the Rescript REnowned Lords the Copies of those books which ye commanded to be sent unto us we have now thorrowly perused some part whereof we have seen before and have found out by diligent search divers others of the same argument That we may not be tedeous to your Lordships we judge those writings to come neer to Turcisme endeavouring to overthrow the true and eternal Deity of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God and also of the Holy Ghost the office of Christ his saving benefits satisfaction redemption justification c. the institution of Holy Baptism and our religious duty to Christ consisting in prayer and invocation which they deny to be due unto him not being God and true Creator of the World with many other grosse errours As for example in the book de Servatore are these very words That the Justice of God could not require that our sins should be punished Also that Christ by his death and sufferings did not satisfie the Justice of God for our sins yea that Christ could not satisfy Divine Justice for us by undergoing those punishments in our place and steed which by the Law of God we were liable to have undergone Lastly though there be many more to this purpose that Christ could not satisfie the Justice of God for us by performing those things in our place and stead which we by the Law were
far from agreement among our selves Some affirming our justification to be by infusion of righteousness into us for which we are accepted Others take away the imputation of Christ's righteousness from us A third sort deny the satisfaction of Christ A fourth would have the very act of beleeving accounted for righteousness One cries up this Another that as their severall humours and affections sway them So that there are almost found tot Sententiae quot capita as many different minds as men Among which I find one Gentleman the Author of the Dialogue I mean who by the fame and opinion of his learning and piety hath drawn in many professours of Religion not only to a liking but defending of his errors For with that tract of his baited with the glorious Title of the Meritorious price of Mans redemption hath he hooked in many and some no smal fools in the eye and judgement of the World The very Title page d Hedera illa quam in Dialogi sui vestibulo fronte suspensam habet vinum intus haud vendibile indicat whereof is sufficient to declare its contents to be unsound what then can be expected from the whole Indeed nothing but what is exceedingly derogatory both to the Justice of God and the Grace of Christ e Nimis extenuatur Christi gratia nisi ejus sacrificio vim expiandi placandi satisfaciendi concedimus Cal. Inst lib. 2. cap. 17. Sect. 4. which being openly published and secretly commended especially by some of repute and office in this Common-weal may contribute much to the heap of those many errors and heresies too much abounding already among us For reclaiming then of the Ignorant who are by him seduced for confounding of the Impudent who are by him perverted and for stopping the mouths of those his high Admirers who set themselves against the known Truth so long received so cleerly maintained as a Christian as a Minister though the least and most unworthy of many thousand I shall discover him to be a dangerous Socinian Sophister and his book so highly commended so much admired to be as opposite to Truth as light to darkness Christ to Belial The whole controversie between us is laid down in these four things 1. Concerning Christ's suffering the wrath of God due to the Elect for sin 2. Concerning God's imputation of sin to Christ 3. Concerning the true nature of the Mediatorial obedience of Christ c. Lastly the Justification of a sinner The two former as they are disposed in the Dialogue are a meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet we will not alter their place but take them up as they lye before us and write something briefly concerning each leaving the more particular handling thereof to some more worthy seing Reverend Mr. Norton cannot be heard or if God so please to a more large and full discourse hereafter Zanch. de Attr. And first concerning Christ's suffering the wrath * Ira Dei significat vel essentiale Dei attributum vel ejus attributi effectum i. e. poenam of God due to the Elect for sin I will pass by the impertinent and unsound exposition which he makes of that place of Moses Gen. 2.17 wherein Mr. Norton hath cleerly evicted him for saith he the sum of the sense thereof according to the Dialogue is this Christ could not sin therefore he could not suffer the punishment due to the Elect for sin as their surety which he calls and that truly a reasonlesse and sick consequence and the contrary thereof true He could not as a Mediatour and surety have suffered satisfactorily the punishment due to others for sin if he had not been himself without sin Though Christ was not a sinner inherently yet was he a sinner imputatively whereupon the substantial f Execratio quam Christus pro nobis subiit non fuit ceremonialis sed realis Sibr. Lubbus lib. 2. cap. 1. curse of the Law was justly executed upon him and what is the substantial curse of the Law but the wrath of God which he for a time endured for us that we might be freed from the weight thereof for ever That Christ did suffer this is plain from that which follows for that he should be so troubled in soul as St. John g John 12.27 declareth in so grievous an Agony as St. Luke h Luke 22.44 in such anguish of mind and deep distress as St. Mark i Mark 14.35 have his soul so invironed with sorrow and that sorrow to the death as St. Matthew k Matth. 26.38 doth set forth no manner of violence being offered to him in body no man touching him or being neer him in a cold night l For they were fain to have a fire within doors at that time of the year as Bishop Andrews observes And John 18.25 being abroad in the air and upon the cold earth to be all of a sweat and that sweat to be bloud m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken for an adverb of simitude and sometime adjuncta certitudinem indicat Joh. 1.14 Joh. 7.10 i. e. in secret and not as they call it Diaphoreticus a thin faint sweat but Grumosus of great thick drops so many so plenteous as that they went through all and streamed to the ground in great abundance do all speake aloud the greatness of his sufferings And that his most dreadful cry which at once moved all the powers of Heaven and Earth my God my God why hast thou forsaken me must needs be the voyce of some weighty anguish wherewith his soul was smitten For as that learned Prelate n Bish Andrews ser de passion pag. well observes derelinqui a Deo the body cannot feel or tell what it meaneth It is the souls complaint and therefore without all doubt Christs trouble anguish agony sorrow and deadly sorrow must needs declare unto us those spiritual and internal torments * Propter nostram justificationem sic actum est per Christum Nos enim peccatoris in ipso infernales poenas quas justè meremur exsolvimus Nicol. de Cusa exercitationum lib. 10. which he suffered in his soul out of the sense of Divine wrath hanging over him and inflicted on him by reason of the guilt of our sins which lay upon him being imputed to him Besides this he being the Son of God Lord of Heaven and Earth to be so terrifyed with the sense of a bodily death only which he was to suffer and the Dialogue endeavours to perswade as that he should for very fear thereof sweat bloud want the comfort and support of an Angel and cry out so bitterly when on the contrary we see many others not only without sorrow and fear but even with joy and rejoycing conflict with as violent a death every deal it must necessarily follow that either Christ the Son of God Lord of Heaven and Earth had lesse strength lesse courage lesse confidence
question for conscience sake But should vve be thus persvvaded by him vve might unhappily choake our selves vvith bones insteed of meat If he vvould have men neither stop nor stumble at his Doctrine he must carry the matter more cleerly or more cleanly at the least then hitherto he hath done in that which hath already past our hands or is vvilling to do for ought vve see in that vvhich yet remains to be surveighed by us not forsaking the ordinary phrase of Scrâ—pture such as hath bin in use in all ages with the Church of God and by coyning new and unusual expressions thereby as much as in him lyes to ob cure the Truth and obtrude and confirm in the room thereof his own devices yet he hovers about so long in generals as that me thinks he seems desirous that his Reader should understand more then he is willing to expresse And seeing he is so loth to tell us what this new knack is which he hath bin so long a hammering on the Socinian anvile and what he means by his Mediatorial obedience we will take the pains to sift him a little and see if we can bolt it out and here at last it comes and this it is Christs Mediatorial obedience saith he is made up of certain actions performed by him not in way of obedience to the Moral Law for all such actions he performed as a godly Jew and as man only * Rank Socinianisme The Dialogue denies the hypostical Union of the two natures in Christ which must not cannot be severed one from the other but as God-Man Mediatour unto the Law of Mediatour-ship especially after thirty years of age the Master-piece whereof was his yeelding himself up to suffer a bodily death Monstrum horrendum informe What a piece of stuffe is here yet all this thrust upon our belief if we were so mad as to receive it without any other authority to back it then a bare ipse dixit the Dialogue himself affirms it But fair play and above board will do well especially in matters of such consequence And we would have him know that in matters of faith we must embrace nothing but what we are perswaded is firmely and surely grounded on the Word of God by which when he hath proved this Mediatorial obedience which he hath here proposed to us his work is done and it shall go hard but we will get him leave to play In opposition then to this new no obedience we will put into the other scale that which we understand by the true Mediatorial obedience of Christ that so the Reader whose judgment is free may plainly discover the vanâ—ty of the one by the reality of the other It is then the whole conformity of Christ God-Man in both Natures Divine and humane to the will of his Father doing and suffering all things needfull and necessary for the satisfaction of Divine Justice freeing also thereby the Elect in whose room steed he dyed and suffered from those eternal miseries and Calamities to which they were lyable This is called the active and passive obedience of Christ which division is not allowed in respect of the several causes but the circumstances only for no obedience in respect of the cause can be said to be passive but active only Christ therefore taking upon him our person as well by doing as suffering subjected himself to the Law of God for us fulfilling the same by his most perfect obedience even to the death of the crosse by which he compleated and perfected al his other sufferings That this is so doth manifestly appear by the Apostle p Rom. 3.31 by faith saith he we establish the Law Now faith doth establish the Law these two wayes It was the first voyce of the Law in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shall dye the death after that it spake thus cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Law to do them These threatnings of the Law we establish by faith because by faith we testifie that they are not in vain and to no purpose seeing it was necessary that Christ should dye and endure the curse of the Law for us that we might be redeemed from the same Therefore first of all by faith we confirm and establish the truth of the threatnings of the Law The other voyce of the Law is he that doth these things shall live in them this also we establish by faith because we believe we are justified freely without the performance of the Law in respect of our selves but not so in respect of Christ who that he might satisfie the Law for us was lyable to the fulfilling and accomplishing thereof with most exact and perfect obedience as every way most necessary and convenient In the second place therefore we are truly said to establish the Law by faith because we believe that in Christ we have perfectly fulfilled it even with that very obedience that the Law required Also the same Apostle q Rom. 8.3 seeing we could not perform the things conteined in and commanded by the Law in or by our selves we have performed them in the person of our Mediatour who hath taken off the threatnings of the Law by satisfying the penalty of it and suffering the utmost that by the rigour thereof could be inflicted on him as also hath fulfilled the precepts of the Law by his most entire and perfect obedience to the same We stood engaged unto God by a double debt one was the strâ—ct and rigid observance of the Law every moment to fulfill the same even from that first instant wherein it pleased the Lord to kindle the light of knowledge in our hearts untill the last minute when he should be so pleased to put it out again the whole course of mans life and that both in regard of purity of nature and purity of action This debt being laid upon us in the Creation vvas severely exacted from us by the Lavv The other having failed in this is to give full and ample satisfaction to the Justice of God for the non-performance hereof Having broken this Lavv of God holy in it self and easy to be performed by us in regard of the holiness of our Creation in both these being obliged and yet neither performed vvhat can be expected by us but that we should suffer the greatest penalty that could be inflicted But Christ Jesus the beloved Son of his Father becomes our Surety and by Gods acceptance of his obedience for us made full and compleat satisfaction even to the rigour of the Law both doing and suffering vvhat was or could be according to the Justice thereof required by it For the better and more cleer concerving of this Quest 1 obedience these three questions may be demanded First when this Mediatorial obedience did begin and when it ends Answ Answ This Mediatorial obedience performed by Christ began at his Incarnation the Angels told it for joyful tidings to the Shepheards
silly shift is to no purpose Would the Dialogue bu undresse his brames take off and lay a side these and such like phanatick toyes that gingle about his understanding God might receive more glory the Church more peace himself more comfort others more benefit by or from the study and practise of those Truths which lend directly and necessarily to edification and salvation For fear this will not be we will leave wishing and woulding and return to the prosecution of the matter we have in hand We are justified by the perfect and compleat righteousness of Christ by which the Law is fulfilled the justice of God satisfied and we delivered from that wrath which we had deserved * Communis omnium nostrorum sententia neque quòd ad rem attinet quisquam è nostris aliter scripsit aut sensit all which we will wind up upon this one bottome and comprehend in this one argument By that righteousness we are justified by which the Law is fully satisfied By the righteousness of Christ the Law is fully satisfied Therefore by the righteousness of Christ are we justified For the proof of the Proposition three things are to be granted First that whosoever is justified is made just by some righteousness For to think that a man should be justified without any Justice is as absurd as to imagine a man to be clothed without rayment Secondly that all true righteousness is a conformity to the Law of God which is the perfect Rule of righteousness insomuch that what is not conformable to that Law is called and that justly to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sin Thirdly that there can be no justification without the Law be fulfilled * Christus induens nostram carnem nostro nomine perfectè praestitit legem either by our selves or some other for us For our Saviour Christ protested when he came to justifie and redeem us that he came not to break but to fulfill the Law * Tum demum redderetur inanis si illi non satisficeret vel per nos vel nostro nominae per alium atqui id per Christum est satisfactum qui non venit solvere sed implere Tossa pag. 26. and that not one jot or title of the Law should passe away without its due and true accomplishment These things thus premised being taken for granted the proposition is firm and undeniable The assumption is that by the righteousness of Christ the Law is fully satisfied For the cleering whereof we are to understand that to the full satisfying of the Law since the fall of Adam two things are necessarily required the one hath respect to the penalty to the suffering vvhereof sin hath made us lyable the other to the precept it self to the performing and compleating whereof the Law it self doth oblige us The former to free us from Hell and damnation the other to intitle us to Heaven and eternall salvation according to the Sanction of the Law if thou doest not that which is commanded thou art thereby accursed but if thou do then thou shall be saved In respect of the former the Law cannot be satisfied in the behalf of him who hath once transgressed it but by eternal punishment or that at least which is equivalent thereunto in respect of the latter it is not satisfied but by a total perfect and perpetual obedience Now our Saviour Christ hath fully satisfied the Law for all them that truly believe in him in both respects For he hath super-abundantly satisfied the penalty of the Law for us by his sufferings and death he hath likewise perfectly fulfilled the Law for us by performing all r ghteousness â—hat it even to the uttermost either did or could require So that by them both we are freely and fully justified being freed from Hell that place of torment by the one and entitled to Heaven that place of happiness by the other God in Christ esteeming and accounting a sinner as just d Deus in Christo peccatorem estimat acsi ipse omnia singula peregisset perpessus esset quae Christus utraque illâ obedientiâ suâ peregit perpessus est Bradshaw de Justific as if he had performed and endured all and every thing which Christ himself both by his active and passive obedience performed and endured The form of a sinners justification is the imputation of the righteousness of Christ because by imputing it the Lord doth justifie which was also expressed in the definition And this doth necessarily follow upon that which hath bin already said of the matter For it cannot be imagined that we should be justified by that righteousness of Christ which is out of us and in him otherwise then by imputation For as we were made sinners by Adams personal disobedience e Rom. 5.19 So are we made righteous by the obedience of Christ But how could we either be made sinners by Adams disobedience or justified by the obedience of Christ either active or passive unlesse they were communicated to us And how could that be but by imputation Downame f De Justific lib. 1. cap. 3. makes it cleer by another action not unlike unto it As when Rebeccah clothed her Son Jacob in the raiment of Esau her elder Son the matter of this action was that which did cloth him that is Esau's garment the form of that action was the applying of it unto him and the putting of it upon him So the Lord justifieth us by putting upon us the precious raiment of our elder brother Christ his righteousness in which we obtain the blessing Thus doth St. Ambrose g De Jacob vita beata also use this action for illustration of the form of our justification with divers others It is not unknown how stifly Socinus and his followers oppose this namely that imputation is the formal cause of a sinners justification and how directly they conclude against it that no imputation whatsoever Object 1 can be the form of justification and they give this for a reason because it is no righteousness whereas a form of justification must of necessity be a righteousness Righteousness imputed say they and our Dialogue is not much behind them is a righteousness but the imputation of righteousness cannot be righteousness To which we answer 1. It is true Answ righteousness must be to make one righteous but that is the matter imputation of it or it imputed is the form the introduction of this which is imputation hath the place of a form And 2. this introduction giveth denomination it is the constitution of a man righteous by applying to him that which he hath not in or of himself that is the righteousness of another Again say they if the righteousness of Christ be Object 2 the matter as we have declared and imputation thereof the form as we do affirm then one righteousness must be the form of another because the form must needs be a righteousness if the matter and
Barques upon the sands and shallows of deceit yet deeply dissembled even where they least suspected them and thought themselves most free from them For indeed who would look for so foul errour and heresy to proceed from so great and fair pretenders to Truth Or who could imagine that they who seem to advance Christ and his Gospel and do so much outwardly glory therein should so much dishonour yea so horribly blaspheme both the one and the other as the Dialogue and these Socinians commonly do I shall lay down but one argument more to prove this opinion of theirs for which as for their Helena the Dialogue and the rest do so earnestly contend to be both horribly impious and notoriously blasphemous that so all good Christians may look on it and them too as Seamen do on Rockes and Shelves on purpose to avoid them and with an holy resolution set themselves against them which argument is briefly this That opinion which is built upon an heritical and blasphemous ground and is supported and maintained by wresting wronging and putting false and unsavoury glosses upon the Scriptures whereby the very sound actions of true Religion are not only shaken but even razed and overthrown must needs be most wicked and blasphemous And such is this opinion It is built upon this blasphemous ground that God saveth sinners by such a righteousness as is no where to be found in Scripture without wresting and wringing of the same contrary to the sense and meaning of the Holy Ghost therein such a righteousness which indeed is no righteousness at all but an idle and fictitious thing and so consequently that sinners are not justified at all but left in a sad forlorne and desperate condition It blasphemously maintaineth that our sins are not imputed unto Christ and that he did not in any measure suffer the wrath of God to free the Elect from the same which by reason of their sins they had deserved and so tacitely chargeth God with injustice towards him by inflicting so grievous punishments especially in his soul sufferings upon him without a cause leaving by this means poor souls yet in the state of damnation and lyable to eternal torments for whom Christ made full and perfect satisfaction It denies that Christ's righteousness is imputed to true believers affirming that it cannot be accounted theirs by God because Christ's righteousness is the righteousness of one far different from them and God cannot in justice justifie one by the righteousness of another So denying under this the spiritual Union of the faithful with Christ For if he be one with us and we with him as we confidently believe and teach then are our sins that is the guilt of our sins transferred unto him and so made his by this Communion and in him fully satisfied as also his righteousness and satisfaction is not only made over to us but is made ours and we thereby justified pardoned and reconciled to him whom we had offended for it is not the righteousness of a stranger as they perswade who maintain this destructive and damnable opinion nor of another so different from us but that he and vve are one Spiritual body by which Union and Communion with him which may not must not be destroyed all his benefits are made ours we have right and title to them and an interest in them If for all this that hath bin declared there be any to whom this poor endeavour shall come that shall yet give heed to this opinion and to these Spirits of errour which broach and set out such opinions so as to follow or be led by them being thus forewarned they cannot be excused For who hath bewitched them that they should believe lies These are accessary to their own destruction But good Reader be not thou deceived with vain words All is not gold that glistereth Many times we see that under the greenest Grasse doth lurke the soulest Serpent Great is the mistery of Hypocrisie The Bee that hath Hony in her mouth hath a sting in her taile Loe here is Christ Loe there is Christ but what says Christ himself Believe them not If we go all by the eare the empty Barrel hath a deeper sound then the full vessel If by the eye the sowre crab hath as smooth a Coate as the sweet Pippin The search therefore just examination and strict tryall is all in all But yet this exquisite search this sound and substantial tryall is not in every mans power neither is it for every mans trade Every man may pull at a rope but the Pilot only directs the course of the ship There be some that can grease a scabbed sheep in hand that cannot judge of a great rot to ensue The Butcher that hath skill to open an Ox is to seek in the curious anatomizing and desecting of a man So that though many think themselves able enough to judge and determine of these matters yet St. Pauls question may fit every one of our mouths Qâ—is ad haec idoneus who is indeed fit for these things We had need then even such as pretend most to knowledge to be ever suspitious of our own judgment and earnest with God in prayer for our further and future illumination and instruction that we be not seduced in these dregs of time these last and worst dayes to which we are reserved And now O England England where is the glory of thy Church become those precious ornaments of piety and purity wherewith shee was so richly adorned Oh! thou once beloved spouse how hast thou turned thy self from how hast thou turn'd thy back upon thine own dear Lord and Husband who chose thee and made thee glorious above all others round about thee to follow after and prostitute thy self unto thy fond thy fained lovers What distemper doth possesse thee that thou shouldst so willingly retum to thine own so eagerly pursue so greedily lick up the vomit of other Churches To the eternal praise and glory of God above and to the high commendation of thy little Daughter * The Church of New-England abroad be it spoken more sound in her vitalls more sincere in her profession of the ancient and honourable Truth then thy self shee hath cast out the bond-Woman and her Son the Author and his Dialogue as gendering to bondage worse then Egyptian whom thou hast received into thy bosome hugging herein with the many errours and heresies of the times thine own confusion Thou even thou art become a cage of unclean birds Zum and Ochim have taken up their habitation in thee which are the very fore-runners of thy destruction and desolation Be zealous therefore and repent for behold thy beloved yet standeth at the door and knocks Cast off and cast out the unfruitful works of darkness and give seasonable entertainment to the living Lord Consider Oh! consider in time the things that pertain unto thy peace before they be hidden from thine eyes which God of his mercy grant may never be and
beastly soever it be Servetus being now a Divine in repute but a Devil in practise raketh up and reviveth many wicked and desperate opinions among the rest that damnable heresie against the blessed Trinity in which he was so deeply rooted that he left no stone unturned whither by preaching or writing to overthrow the Article of the Christian faith concerning the same invading it with many execrable blasphemies thereby endeavouring to corrupt the faith of others and divert them from the the truth The fire of dissention which had some time now laine raked up in the embers of oblivion began to break out again and to flame about the eares of the Churches in those parts which for the present was somewhat smothered but could never be wholly quenched unto this day For this Factor for Hell being taken had deserved punishment inflicted on him being publickly burnt at Geneva to the example of all those that were seduced by him But this fact was heynously token of those that were his friends and adversaries to Calvin who to work him a spIght did publish it abroad for truth that that slaughter as they called it was long before plotted and contrived by him and at last cruelty effected by his only means when as indeed the Councel of Geneva did nothing in the busines without the judgment and approbation of the Senates of Bernen Zuring Basil and Schaffuse the advise also of many Cities and Churches of Christ being required and received How ever these friends of his and adversaries of the truth have censured the fact and opened their mouths wide to condemne it yet other un-by assed men of as great ability and more integrity then they have highly approved of it Melancthon in his Epâ—stle to Bullenger writeth thus concerning it I have read saith he your answers to the blasphemies of Servetus and I Commonly your piety and judgment Also I suppose the Senate of Geneva hath done wâ—ll and performed a noble act in taking away that obstinate wretch who was resolved never to cease blaspheming so long as he had here a being But I wonder that any should accuse them of severity in inflicting just vengeance on a person guilty of so much impiety Also famous Rivet Alexander More Jacob Trigland with divers others do commend the zeale of that Senate in this very matter Yet farther to cleer Calvin from this false imputation that it was not his malice but Servetus just desert that brought him to that shameful and painful end may evidently appear by that great endeavour which he used to reduce this blasphemous monster to a better mind but when he saw it would not do nor any gentle and fair perswasions prevaile with him he sought to mitigate the rigour as he then thought of that Sentence which was past upon him And sure there was something more then ordinary in it that he who was alwayes severe towards other offenders of a far lower form should be so courteous and gentle towards such a monster of mankind so blasphemous an heretick and such a disturber of the peace both of Church and Common-weal as he declared himself to be He wrote some books but so stuft with impiety and detestable blasphemy that they are not without danger and horrour to be received and read among us Beza writing to Andrew Dudithius of whom we shall speak hereafter doth thus expostulate with him Who hath bewitched thee my dear Brother that thou shouldest take so desperate a course and be led away by such damnable opinions what hath Servetus that Arch-heretick done it Who maketh the very substance of God to be mutable and teacheth that he is part of all things who denies the eternity of the Son of God and taketh away the Hypostatical Union of the two natures in him who gain saies the substance and Divinity of the blessed Spirit of God who often terms obstupui steteranque comae c. I tremble to rehearse it the Father Son and Holy Ghost the three-headed Cerberus of Hell who affirmeth the Soul to be mortal calling Moses a ridiculous Imposter the Ancient Church of the Jews an heard of Swine maintaining Cata-baptisme denying redemption by Christ and thirty years and more hath never ceased to blaspheme the living God What wilt thou be ruled and over-ruled bâ— such an one as he Can any Christian say yet some there are that do affirm that he was burnt for Religion aâ—d not raâ—her for his horrible impiety and execrable blasphemy By the good opinion which they had of this man his piety and holiness they would fain make a Martyr of him but it will be but a stinking one when all his done Well neither better nor worse burnt he is but indeed too late who if it had bin the good pleasure of God I would had never bâ—n borne to poyson the Church and seduce so many poor Souls from the truth with his pestoferous and damnable Doctrines Calvin then whom no man was more diligent in the perusal of his blasphemous writings which he published and commended to his seduced Disciples in the confutation hereof doth testifie that in more thâ—n an 100 several places he impiously calls the Holy and ever blessed Trinity the three headed Cerberus a Diabolical phansie the monstrous Geryon of whom the Poets of old had strang fictions and by some strang mysterie of Philosâ—â—hy they feigned to have three bodies Good God! what pains did this man take to out-doe all the hereticks that went before him and to un-doe both himself and all those who by his strang delusious should follow after him or be led by him But what shall we say negamus potius horâ—emus vocem Errours that are so insolent are to be exploded not diâ—puted to be spit at rather then conâ—râ—u'd Confutatâ—on bears no rule no sway here it is Authority that must do it And therefore the State did well to rid the Church of such a violent enemy to the truth of her profession Melanchion wrote an excellent and pithy admonition to the States of Venice wherein he adviseth them to take special heed and beware of the blaspâ—mous errours and heresies of Servetus which to omit those which he had drawn out of the works of others are briefly these 1. He denied and opposed the eternity of the Son of God affirming that he might be the Son of the eternal God but not the eternal Son of God 2. He denied the power of Original sin that we are not lyable to it nor to be punished for it with divers others of the same kind Thus this wretched Man having consulted with Jews Turks with all manner of Hereticks his Predecessours was taken with their heresies and justly punished for them Valentinus Gentilis Campanus Csentinus Gentili falso nulli impietate secundo Supplicie capitis digna ruina fuit THE Church of God having by those excellent instruments of Gods glory the Senators of Geneva rid her hands of blasphemous Servetus could not rid her self of those blasphemies which were
he came to make Prosâ—lires he returned again to Gribaldus his place Where he had not long remained securely enough as he thought he was taken and cast into prison by the Governour of Guyen being advertised of the Doctrine and disposition of the man but after a few daies indurance he is freely dismist having given his faith to live peaceably and quietly so long as he stayed in their jurisdiction But he leaving them and their power to themselves and those that should have occasion to use it returned to Lyons where he was for his pestilential Doctrine which he had preached therein apprehended by the Viceroy of the City and was about fifty dayes in prison from whence he had not bin released had he not closely and cuttingly tampered with the Pontificians there to whom he promised that he would immediately enter into the lists against Calvin and would confute that Doctrine which was maintaâ—ned by him which they verily believed and so by reason of the inveterate hatred they had to Calvin without any farther scanning of the matter were easily perswaded to set the man at liberty From thence he event into Poland after he had filled Italy and France with the poysonous contagion of his damnable Doctrines whether he was sent for by Blandrata and Alciatus who had there received him before that by their joynt labours and Devilâ—sh endeavours they might trouble and infest the Churches of Poland being as yet but in their infancy with those detestable heresies whâ—ch they were now ready to publish abroad a fresh under the shadow of new truths or new lights lately discovered to them and they good men being loath the World should sit any longer in ignorance and darknes were willing to discover and impart unto others He abode here two whole years and upwards where he did having time enough to do much mischief and without question they had not removed their camp so soon had they not fallen out among themselves Blandrata turning perfect Arian of whose opinions they were ashamed and whose name they abhorred yet secretly cherished his Doctrines and embraced his heresies Alciatus becomming a Mahometan they were all by the Kings speeial proclamation commanded forthwith under the penalty of their heads to depart his Torritories whence they were forced to trudge with bagge and bagage Gentilis stricks over to Moravia where he consorted with the assembly of the Anabaptists as one who sided with them in their dirty opinion and with whom for some time he drove a great trade and might no question have longer resided with them but that there was some secret work of the Almighties hand in it From Moravia then he passed to Austria and last of all to Sabaudia And here is to be observed that which before was secret namely the just judgment of God inflicted on these heretiks For although they go from place to place and passe from Region to Region yet vengeance all the while Doggs them at the heels Ultio peccatum sequitur and are at length by a certain secret instinct brought back again to that very place where incensed justice which sleepeth not hath already prepared deserved judgment to wait for them Thus it fared with this Gentilis who having ranged thorrow whole Countries and serveral Regions doth at length hasten to that very place where some years past for his heresy and blasphemy under the power of the Common-wealth of Bernen he was cast into prison by the Governour of Gayen who now would make sure work and not suffer himself to be deluded by another escape the second time as he was before he was therefore with a sufficient guard conveighed thence to the councel of Bernen and many times by the Senate and Judges publickly examined concerning those abhominable Doctrines which he had there delivered which with all the arguments could be produced by him he endeavoured to maintain but how weakly he came off and with what disadvantage you may perceive by the sequel being also demanded by the Judges what was become of his two companions in mischief Blandrata and Alciatus answered that one was fallen away to Arianisme the other to Mahomitanisme Lastly being convicted of many notorious heresies blasphemies perjuries and seditious tumults and commotions he was condemned to loose his head that head which had plotted the ruine of many others must now stoop to the strock of Justice and so the sentence of condemnation pronounced by the Councel being put in execution he puts a period to his life and his blasphemies both together but yet witthout the least shew or visible appearance of any remorse for his sin or repentance for so foul a fact But it was just with God to deny it to him now who had so deeply dissembled with it in the counterfeiting of it before It is ill mocking either God or men Specie virtutis umbra with a shadow insteed of substance God will one day cry quit vvith such an one to his greater shame and more publick confusion Laelius Socinus Italus Sinensis Articulos fidei divini Oracula verbi Laelius humana volt ratione regi AS Affrica is ever producing some new monster So Italy is ever bringing forth and bringing up some strang heresy hence sprung Socinus both Laelius and Faustus Italians of Sienna of a family famous for their experience in the Law and as infamous for hereticks which have perverted the truth of the Gospel Marianus Socinus had two Sons Alexander and Laelius this the Uncle that the Father of Faustus Socinus whose story followes after This Laelius was a great favourer of the admired Doctrines of Servetus and took his death very heavily he was a man meerly made up of contradictions and one wvho wholly bent his studies to foment and advance those controverses in Religion which were then in question like the Salamder taking a delight to live in the fire of contention and for that purpose started such questions and held such disputes as brought great trouble and disquiet among the Professours of the truth yet all this so closely and covertly that he was not suspected to be so soul an heretick living as he was found to be when he was dead For he secretly laid the first foundations of that work whereon afterwards his Nephew Faustus reared up his glorious or rather inglorious structure Yet as it appears by an Epistle of Calvins written to him he was then somewhat high flown endeavouring to bring all the mysteries of Religion and the Articles of our faith within the graspe of natural reason whereas in secrets without bottome and such are they of which we are speaking except faith hold us up like Children we swim without bladders and must either dabble to the shore or sinke Reason hath not so much as an hand to lend us Can this Reason of theirs which they would put upon so high an enterprise comprehend matters of lesse consequence then I shall believe them in the greater Can they by the strength of their
he was called to Tubinga where he set up his profession practised the Law and in a very eminent and publique auditory read Lectures thereof for the instruction of others but at length by the prudence of Hieronymus Gerhâ—â—dus one of the privy councel to the Prince of Wertenberge he was detected of heresy but secretly made an escape being after this taken at Bernen he was again enlarged by vertue of a counterfeit abnegation which he made for he presently turned to his old byasse again so that being imprisoned he was swept away by the pestilence and so saved the Hangman a labour preventing the execution which was prepared otherwise for him Georgius Blandrata Saluciensis Medicus Hic Medicus Blandrata fuit dum corpora curat Haereseos virus mentibus ille parat GEorge Blandrata of Salucia by profession a Physician who not long after followed his companion Gentilis flying from Geneva for fear of the Magistrate who is not a terrour but to those that do evil and who as he supposed laid out for him to take him if possible conscius ipse sibi as one conscious of his own baseness but by a slight escaped he fled away no man so much as pursuing him For while he among the rest was hearing Calvin in a publick Auditory by chance espying the Magistrate or chief Judge comming in whom to avoid he cunningly clapt his hand-kerchief to his nose as if he had bin taken with a sudden bleeding and so fled out of the Church and out of the City being never afterwards seen therein During his abode at Geneva he often disputed with Calvin in whose works we may find the answers to Blandrata's questions He ingennously confesseth that he received great satisfaction from Calvin by his publick disputations and consented with him but never held to any thing so close as his pernicious errours and damnable heresies of the foulness of which notwithstanding he vvere convinced in his conscience by his ovvn confession yet such povver had the Devil over him that he was never able or willing to retract and wholly forsake them Insomuch that Calvin told him to his face thy countenance bewrayes that all is not well thou hast some detestable monster within thee which thou makest much of and lies lurking in thy very heart Ill actions are perpetual perturbations his countenance cannot be serene whose conscience is over cast with the guilt of his impiety At Ticinus escaping the hands of the Inquisitors who would willingly have gotten him into their power he went into Helvetia and so to Germany He passeth from thence to Polonia and Transylvania where he practiseth Physick and under the notion of that profession wherein he proved happy either by his ability or successe did the better obscure that heresy which he maintaâ—ned and endeavoured so much to advance by his wily whisperings and crafty distâ—lling it into the ears of those eminent persons who by reason of his practise he had to be his patients To him Faustus Socinus being now grown up write an Epistle bearing this title or Dedication To George Blandrata chief Physician to Stephen the most renowned King of Poland and one of the privy Councel his Lord and Patron most worthy to be honoured c. This man was a very great favourer and promoter of the Socinian faction and stood them in great steed both in the Court of Polonia and Transylvania where his word did bear some weight by reason of his profession and power by which also he attained to a very rich and plentiful estate But it seems towards his end he grew somewhat luke-warm in his affections to them and not so indulgent towards their affairs as they expected or desired which made them much to complaâ—n of him and insteed of titles of honour to lade him with terms of infamie and reproach However he dealt with them at the last yet sure they had never gotten so much footing in those parts had it not bin for him his secret endeavours his open and apparent writings may evidence the good will he bare unto them and therefore shall not go unpunished sometimes private punishments gripe a man within while others looking in their face discern not their hurt sometimes God punisheth openly and the offences of men meet with a Market lash thus dealt he with Blandrata he was strangled in his bed by his own Brothers Son whom he had appointed and constituted his heyr Non haec sine numine c. This was not done in a corner nor without Gods just revenge upon this wicked and ungodly wretch whom he thought fit to hurry out of the World by such an unwonted and cursed kind of death being a prime Authour of many execrable heresies in the Churches of Christ many horrible blasphemies against God and his truth many filthy and abhominable books many terrible rufflings among the Professors of the same truth of God which can never be wholly vanquished Errour and heresy may blow on it and shake it to but not overthrow it for it is founded on such Basis and hath such a sure ground-work as is subject neither to battery nor undermining The rock Christ Jesus This Blandrata with the counsel and assistance of Francis Davidis wrote a book against the blessed Trinity opposing one to whom the Church of God in those parts was very much beholding as being a notable Assertor of the Orthodox Religion that is George Major whose very Title doth declare both the Authour and the matter of the same being a certain Refutation of a writing of George Major's to be unsound and heretical wherein he endeavours to prove but out of the pit of Anti-Christ that there are not three distinct Persons and but one Essence in the Godhead We will not trouble our selves with the blasphemies against God the Calumnies and Slanders vomited out against the maintainers of the truth which are therein conteined it is sufficiently known that their whole Religion consisteth in nothing else which being if it were possible taken from them they would not have a fig-leaf left them to cover themselves withall By this book of Blandrata's we come to know who were the Authours of that most cursed pamphlet published 1567. in the name of the Ministers of the Churches agreeing together in Sarmatia and Transylvania that is to say this wicked Blandrata Francis Davidis and some others of the same stamp It is no marvel that he who laboured to stifle the honour of God in the Churches should be stifled by the hands of him who should have done honour to him We see though the wayes of vice be smooth yet are they slippery inviting by the eye but tripping up the heels to the wounding or drowning of those that take a delight to walk on them Paulus Alciatus Miles Mediolanensis Alciatus miles Blandratae fidus Achates Ecclesiam contra militat ante malâ PAulus Alciatus of Mediolanum a City in Millaâ— a Souldier and an intimate friend and Compâ—nion of Bâ—adrata's marketh up next
to fire agaiâ—st the truth But Qâ—is militis usus no need of Souldiers here I shall ever suspect that Religion which needs the hands of Souldiers to support it and is cemented with bloud In the building of the Temple at Jerusalem no Axe no hammer nor any tooâ— of iron while it was in building was heard in it and why swords nâ—w Did this Souldier think to make his Religion the more passable by cutting a way for it with his Sword or to worst the truth with his weapon The Sword may force Nature and destroy the Body bâ—t cannoâ— work upon the mind so as o perswaâ—e it to believe that good which is ill begun It suits well w th Turks and Pagans and may do as well for ought we see with the â—ocinians Yet hear what Lucan â—aith concerning such certainly either they must be very bad or elâ—e he was much out of chaâ—iâ—y with them Nulla sides Pietasque viris qui castra sequuntur Venalesque manus ibi fas ubi maxima merâ—es Nor faith nor conscience common Souldiers carry Best pay beâ—â— cause their hands are Mercenary And such an one neither better nor worse was this Alicatus while he followed the camp but forsaking that kind of life he did associate himself with these professed enemies of the truth whereby he wrought much mischief among the Professours of the same He was a special means of calling over Valentinus Gentilis into Poland to trouble and molest the Churches there with their execrable and abominable Doctrines contrary to the truth conteined in the Scriptures and delivered to us by the Prophets and Apostles and therefore hath justly merited that curse which afterwards he was an inheritour of and is denounced by St. Paul whosoever teacheth any other Gospel then what ye haâ—e received let him be accursed Calvin makes mention of him in an Epistle which he wrote concerning Blandrata but t is for no good you may be sure For he reported of us that we worshipped three Devils did we ever think that impudency or madness would have attained to such an height of blasphemy as to belch forth such horrid expressions because we worship one God in three persons yea saith he they aâ—e worse then all the Idolls of the Church of Râ—me O horrible impiety O damnable blasphemy Sure the gallows must needs groan for such a wicked wretch as this But Laesa patientia fit furor Delayed vengeance is severe in the execution And God takes a course with him whereby he exceedingly maniâ—ests his indignation towards him gives hâ—m up to hardness of heart and searedness oâ— conscience the greatest judgment on this side â—ell So that being led away with strong delusions he did believe one oâ— the grossest lies in the World namely th t the Turkish Alcaron was thâ—â— very that only rule which God had laid before us according to which he would be worshipped and served by us And therefore turned Turk was circumcised thereby denying the Lord that bought him and so brought upon himself swift destruction For having lived for some time among them and after their manner he dyed most wretchedly and desperately his very name being more vile and stinking in the nostrils of God al good men then his corrupt and rotten carcasse We may here see the issue of a mans deserting his calling be the intent never so good it will little availe us for it is the Cannon of the Apostle let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called It is no thinking that the wise and Holy God will be pleased with a well meant confusion for t is not our abilities be they never so great but our vocation that must bear us out in our undertaking Faustus Socinus Laelij nepos Fauste Redemptoris vadimonia diraque mortis Tormina peccantes absolüisse negas THat mischief which was intended by Laelius Socinus the Uncle to be brought upon the Churches of God being the result of many years study but was prevented by a sudden and unexpected death was fully accomplished by Faustus Socinus his Nephew as a man cut out of purpose for such a desperate design and that to the wonder and astonishment of divers and by the secret working of God according to that prediction of his Uncle concerning him He having recited an expresse of Laelius death hastens with al the speed that might be principally to Tigurum to sequester the movable Library of his Uncle Laelius which he had left behind him But being possessed with a panick fear lest the Tigurians should deal with Laelius as the Basilians had dealt with that arch Heretick David George as he himself confesseth in a letter to Dudithius he privately dispatched that business and so departed Faustus or rather infaustus Socinus being now according to his hearts desire made Master of his Uncles Library did afterwards become his Scholler and a true heyr of his opinions which he improved to the purpose He was at this time a yong man of three and twenty years of age and books though exceedingly coveted by him were as yet of little use or benefit to him for returning to Italy he spent twelve whole years as a Courtier under Francis the great Duke of Hetruria Being now five and thirty years old and it seems growing weary of his attendance at Court he leaves Italy and betakes himself to Germany and in Basil makes his abode where he spent three years not in hearing the Doctors not in frequenting the Schools not in consulting Authours and other authentick Writers which were sound and Orthodox but in diligent searching of his Uncles books having wholly addicted himself to the study thereof and fully given himself up to be guided and governed by them as Oracles which could not be mistaken And now disdaining the name of a disciple he took upon him to be a Doctor in Divinity whence it came to passe that he which never learned becomes now a teacher and takes upon him to be a great Master in Israel supposing no lesse then one whole Province committed to him to be instructed doth vainly arrogate it to himself But what good could be expected from this light courtly and immature kind of studies the master-ship of which he grasped and encompassed only by poring into the writings and opinions of one only man who seeth not Now Faustus begins to look big and to adventure abroad trading with his Uncles stock He forthwith began a book de Christo Servatore of Christ our Saviour disputing in it against James Covet Minister of Paris who going to Franckford by chance met together in the same Inn Wherein he shews more of hâ—s wit then of his honesty and yet not much of either stoutly denying the satisfaction of Christ nor is this all though this be very much but as the title of the book declares he opposeth many other things which by the professors of the truth and partly by others also who do not wholly assent with us in other matters
of others whom he borrowed the better to vend his false and deceitful ware by which the Church of God sustained much detriment none pleased him more then that which he wrote against Eutropius as Hieronymus Muscorovius a bird of the same feather reporteth of him as from his own mouth and lâ—kewise adds this of his own unto it that Socinus in that very work had much out-done himself But how much to be esteemed that book is or what account is to be made of his judgment who so much cryes it up may appear by the d sputation of the Trinity which is the argument of that transcendent peece of work We will not spend time to reckon up these writâ—ngs in order or to set down the number I would they had bin fewer but if any of them shall happen to come to our hands as it is much if some of hâ—s or other such Doctors do not in the perusal thereof it is very necessary to employ our greatest judgmâ—nt and utmost diligence lest when we think we are takâ—ng meat to nourish us we take in poyson to destroy us we cannot expect two contrary effects from one and the same thing So Tertullian no man can be built up by that by which he is destroyâ—d no man can be illuminated by that by which he is darkened and obscured This man now is Haereticorum Patriarcha the support of heâ—eticks and â—he prop of heresies and therefore gives denominaâ—ion to the whole Sect Of Socinus then are they called Socinians who professe any of those heresies which were either collected or broached by him And how should it be otherwise if we look upon Laelius Sociâ—us as the first Authour Faustus Socinus his Nephew as the chief amplifier and propugnator of this wretched heresy To the one is rightly referred the original of thâ—s pseudo divinity if it be considered materially to the other if we look upon it formally from him in respect of invention from this in respect of disposition from both by Divine permission To passe by all other arguments let this be sufficient that Socinus with the utmost endeavour that he could did first propagate this his heresy in Sarmatia and Transylvania where the seeds were sown partly by Laelius who about the year 1555. is said to disperse his errours in Polonia partly by his complices in Transylvania but after that of Faustus the whole heresy being compacted and neatly made up as it is at this day maintained among them was planted in these and in divers other places beside whose Doctrine although it were for somtime opposed and that in the chief heads and fâ—ndamentals as concerning the satisfaction which was made by Christ unto the Justice of God for our sins vvhich he strongly opposed as also his sacrifice compleated in Heaven and not on Earth of the Kingdome of Christ of Justification of Baptism and the like which at first suffered divers contradictâ—ons yet at last vvere embraced and accounted as the Oracles of God Insomuch that vvhole Churches and they of no small number and concernment vvere not only fallen to this heresy but vvere ready vi armis to maintain it against all opposition Neither vvas he sparing of any labour or toyle so that he mâ—ght disseminate and disperse abroad this heresy thus composed and compounded by him Witness his so many vvritings his frequenâ— letters of solicitation his private and publique disputations so many informations of those vvhom he had as interpreters of his mind and meaning his so long and tedeous journeyes from the utmâ—st confines of Silesia even into the heart of Lituania compassing Sea and Land as our blessed Saviour speaks of the Pharisees to make proselytes and to gain others to embrace their dangerous and deadly Doctrines Hence forth then we know them no more by the distinct name of Arian Ebionite Photinian Samosatenian Abailaâ—dian or Servetian but by this compound deâ—ominatiâ—n of Socinian as including and comprehending all the rest I know that there are divers causes of heresy the ambition of some the contention of others may be and many times are causes of the springing and growing up of mâ—st damnable heresies In Socinus both these did concur being both ambitious to get a name by and to give a name to this lovely babe oâ— innovation and contagion And also contentious never gâ—ving over quarrelling and contending with those that held any thing contrary to his mind or liking till he had brought them to that passe that he would have them his own wicked and desperate designs to that issue which he desired Thus l ved he to be a trouble and vexation to al the Churches in Italy his own Country Germany Polonia the great Dâ—kedome of Lituania Transâ—lvania and where not by setting up and setting forth his deadly and destructive Doctrines and qualis vita finis ita as he oppos d Christ in his liâ—e Christ must needs deny him that comfort at his death which perhaps he might expect for faith Christ he that denyeth me before men him will I alâ—o deny before my father which is in Heaven and if Christ den us who will own us but own we him and he will own and honour us before God and his Holy Angels Franciscus Davidis Superintendens Audet Franciscus superis indicere bellum De summâ Christum trudere sede suâ THE next fire-brand of sedition and broacher of this blasphemous Doctrine which the Devil cast into the Church of God by which it was enflamed and which he set on work by which it was molested is this Francis Davidis Superintendent one as it were fitted on all hands to do mischief but to do good he had little knowledge and lesse will He was Authour with Blandrata of that hellish confutation which was written against George Major fraught full of blasphemy against the sacred Trinity For although he agreed with them of the Socinian party in opposing the Trinity of the persons in the Unity of the essence as the Orthodox professe and the Deity of Jesus Christ Yet he dissented from them and went beyond them in his opinion concerning the invocation of Christ Est illud mirabile saith Athanasius cum omnes haereses invicem pugnent in falsitate omnes consentire It is greatly to be wondered at that notwithstanding all heresies jar among themselves yet they agree well enough on opposition of the truth He was with them in all the rest he out-went them in this affirming that Christ ought not to be worshipped because he was not God not true God of the same essence with his Father Hence much contention and divers hot disputations arose among them in which they seem at once both bountiful and injurious to the Lord Jesus willing to invest him with the title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but d srâ—be him of that glorious and his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 granting him a like essence with the Father but not the same equal to him in power but not eternity By
way of digression a little for satisfaction to others and confutation of this audacious Arian who dares thus undervalue the Lord of Glory might we have leave to strip one heretick to clothe another put on this what Tertullian did on Marcion we should quickly and quietly discover the truth Quid dimidiâ—s mendacio ChristuÌ„ Why doest thou thus peece-meal a Deity and half God as it werâ— the Son of the Almighâ—y Totus veritas he is the Spirit of truth and Oracle oâ— his Father the brightness of his glory in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge by whom God made the World So the Apostle 1 Cor. 1. stiles Christ the power and wisdome of God If the Son of God be the power and wisdome of God and that God was never without power and wisdome how can wee scant the Son of a co-eternity with the Father For either we must grant that there was alwayes a Son or that God had somtimes no wisdome which this Socinian in the height of his madness will be loath to affirm Ego pater unum sumus saith Christ Joh. 10. I and the Father are one uâ—um to shew he was the same thing in respect of essence and to manifest a consent both in power and eternity I often find that those of the shallowest capacities are ever most prone to dive into the deepest mysteries but I know not the reason unlesse to verifie the Proverb There 's none so bold as blind Bayard In sacred matters the most nimble Criticisms are as obnoxious to desperateness as danger to be curious here is to be quaintly mad and thus to thrust as these poor sneaks presume into the bed Chamber of the Almighty is a frantick sawciness who can unlock those coffers of omnipotency but he that breaks in peeces the gates of brass and cuts in sunder the bars of Iron Who those Cabinets of abstrufâ—r knowledge but he that gives thee the treasure of darkness and hidden riches of secret places How can our low built apprehensiâ—ns but flagg in the expression of those hidden mysteries which have transported Prophets and Apostles with wonderful admiration yet some wil venture to untwist them though to their own wrong and the confusion both of themâ—elves and others So this Davidis never dispuâ—ing but about such questions as were â—ar better to be let alâ—ne then to trouble and stagger many thousands by the starting of them He disputed much concerning this matter with Socinus who had alwayes a party of that company with whom he was ready to counter-porse him and those that stood on his side of whom was Simoâ— Budnaeus Christianus Francken and divers others There is extant an Epistle of Socinus to him wherein he answers him to those arguments by which he endeavoured to prove from that place of John 20.28 where Thomas cryes out my Lord and my God that Christ was not there called God but he had better have taken a Wolf by the ears Besides a fragment of a more smooth and placide stile being an answer to the writing of Franciscus Davidis concerning praying to or calling upon Christ in our needs and necessities remaineth among the works of Socinus where also are some of his nice and needlesse questions with the others answers thereunto He published divers Theses by which may be easily discovered what a dangerous and desperate heretick he was we find them in order thus 1. That invocation being a part of Divine worship is not any where found in Scripture to be attributed unto Christ 2. That if Christ at any time confer Grace and Peace it is so to be understood as that he shews the way and means to attain them and not that he truly and effectually confers them on us 3. That if we read in Scripture of any power ascribed unto Christ it is no otherwise to be understood then of that power which he shall assume hereafter when he shall be constituted Judge both of the quick and dead and is not to be interpreted of or applyed to any present power which he exerciseth or doth execute 4. That Christ when he was on earth was careful of his Church but being departed hence he hath committed and commended that care to the Father who shall exercise the same till the appointed time 5. That wheresoever we find any thing in Scripture concerning the Goverment of Christ and the care which he taketh of the Church it is either to be referred to the power of the ministry or is to relat to the time to come 6. That it is contrary to the truth of the Holy Scriptures that Christ can hear our prayers and knows our works 7. That when the word Saviour is appropriated to Christ it signifies that he shews us the way which leadeth to salvation and doth truly and carefully instruct us therein 8. That if we worship God in Christ we may as well worship the Sun the Moon and the Stars and so all Idolaters are hereby excused who pretend they worship God in their images 9. That that is a truth which is in the Turkish Alcaron concerning Christ that he is not able to help and succour those who bestow Divine worship on him with such others Horresco referens What a strange Gospel is here What monstrous positions are these What Devil could more bâ—aspheme the Lord of life and glory God blessed for ever Amen then this wretched caitiff hath done Whoâ—e ears do not tingle and whose hayr not stand an end to heâ—r these horrid and execrable blasphemies But opinion once seeded in errour shoots out into heresies and after some growth of time into blasphemy So that men once entred are still going on a malo ad pejuâ— â—rom bad to worâ—e till sudden destruction seize upon them and stop their course These hell-hatcht Doctrines were opposed by Socinus himself but he that hath but half an eye may discerne that he had a mind to let the matter coole in his hands For there is neither that solidity nor integrity manifested in it which was fitting and requisite for so great and weighâ—y a business And indeed how could iâ— be otherwise Could any imagine that he could with a good stomack confute thoâ—e opinions â—n another wâ—ich he was known to justify in himselfe For though they seemed to be different in some yet were they linked last tâ—gether in many of the same opinions eâ—pecially concerning the person of Christ which did much weaken if not quite overthrow the true and proper ground of giving Divine adoration to him If Christ be inferiour to his Father as â—ocinus â—eld It is ranck idolatry to give him the same worship which we give to the Father as Davidis held I cannot better compare them then to Sampsons foxes whose heads may be different but I am sure their tailes meet and with those firebrands which are between them do set the whole Church of God in an open combustion Is this the way think you to convert the Jews to
Christianisme Is it not rather a surer course to harden them in their old and unprofitable Religion and to pervert such as professe the Christian Religion to Judaisme and to bring all to confusion yet for all this our Socinian is in his pomp and flourisheth like a green bay tree but look for him anon and his place shall not be found For like the proud man in the Psalmes he stands in slippery places and with him is suddenly destroyed perished and brought to an unexpected and fearful end The sore-mentioned positions being questioned and examined the matter debated and the obstinacy of this wicked wretch observed he was by the most Illustrious Renowned Prince of Transylvania Christophorus Bathoraeus cast into prison where by the just judgment of God he who was mad for so many years before published maintained and defended against even all reason and Religion such heady and hayr-braind positions fell into a phrenzy and there and there nâ— miserably finished the course of this mortal life Anno 1580. Raemundus reporteth of him that being in prison distracted of his wits the Devils in horrid and dreadful shapes appeared to him at the sight of which be cryed out to some that were there loe saith he these are they which wait upon me as companions of my journey If God will not suffer his own Children sinning against him to go unpunished was it likely that such a desperate blasphemous wretch as this should escape Gods judgments are for the most part slow but they are sure and his hand when it strikes will give a blow to the purpose He was a man altogether unlearned obstinate foolish and besotted by the Devil in his impious and blasphemous opinions so that he neither cared for God nor man nor himself but wholly bent his purpose and made it his utmost endeavour to overthrow and exterminate all true and sincere Religion and to set up in the room thereof that which he vainly called his own which was either none at all or a Devilish one as may be gathered out of his positions of which while he lived he so much boasted that among many that had any understanding he was and that justly made ridiculous But there are some that will down with any thing be it never so grosse heynous or diabolical Otherwise it could not be expected that his damnable positions should have passed for new and undoubted Truths Franciscus Stancarus Mantuanus Mantua te genuit sed tu Stancare venenum Ex Orco petitum Spargis ubique tuum WE had to do even now with a downright mad-man and if we look well about us we would think every head frantick with a strange opinion and tâ—at some wild-fancy doth possesse all we meet with For behold here is another this Frano scus Stancarus a Mantuan cannot be quiet if the Churches of God newly setled in Polonia enjoy any peace and tranquâ—llity but must needs busy himself to supplant them i. possible even in theâ—r first planting by an upstart opinion of his own namely that Christ was our Mediatour only in or according to his humane nature and not as the reformed Churches do hold and professe according â—o both his humane and Divine hypostatically united in one person Which he urged upon this ground but God knows 't is but sand that if Christ were a Mediatour according to his Divine nature then he should be lesse then the Father which seemed to him to be meer Arianisme and therefore he durst not hold otherwise Thus poor man being ignorant of the truth he drove out one Devil by or with another the Devil of Arianisme with the Devil of Socinianisme and the latter may prove the worser This opinion Blandrata liked well and did both defend it and confirm it But reverend Calvin took great paâ—ns to stifle it if it could have bin as very obnoxious to the truth by sending over a timely admonition to the Churches wherein also he advised them as well how they might prevent and turn off the cavillations of Stancarus as also how they should avoid another errour into which they might run themselves namely to imagine a three-fold essence in God by being distinguished into three persons which was taken kindly by the Churches and for a time did some good among them But the folly of Stancarus rested not here but besides this corrupt opinion of his he laboured to confound the Doctrine of the Trinity imagining or framing out to himself which he would presse upon the belief of others that there is one God in a confused Trinity among whom the man Christ performeth the office of a Mediatour He traduced all persons and Churches which were not of his judgment as Arian as appears by the letters of the Ministers of Polonia written from the Pincovian Synode to the Divines at Strasburge to which they added an Orthodox confession of the faith fully cleering the Doctrine of the Trinity and the Deity of Christ against the Arians as they were then called subscribed among others by Georgius Paulus superintendent of the Churches in the Diocesse of Cracovia and Francis Lismanninus whom this very heresy not long after diverted from the truth Stancarus did many times offer a disputation before the Synode and was very importunate to have the grant thereof refusing none that would undertake to oppose him such was his delight in and confidence of his own abilities But the Synode wisely refused it not thinking it fit to call in question by publick disputation the common received faith of the Church to please the fancy or satisfie the humour of one turbulent and arrogant person I would al men that professe the truth would take the same course and we should quickly see errour and heresy dye of the sullen because none will trouble themselves to meddle with or take notice of them that make it their business to broach the same This Synode took rather another course with him censured him for an heretick condemned his books and committed them to the fire there to be consumed as they justly deserved He wrote something but very vainly as our Socinians use to do of the Doctrine of Justification That you may see what an arrogant Spirit he had and how highly he thought of himself as all hereticks do hear the proud vaunt he makes in his wonted manner One Doctor saith he brought up in my school is of more account or worth then an hundred Luthers then two hundred Melanchtons three hundred Bullingers four hundred Peter Martyrs and five hundred Calvins all which quoth he if any one would take the pains to beat in a mortar there could scarce begotten one ounce of Divinity from them all But that stone which slander casts at another ever in the end lights on herself and wounds herself insteed of another So Stancarus overvaluing himself and his Disciples was justly undervalued by the Professors of the Truth and lived and dyed without that reputation which he expected yea went out like the snuffe of
favour of his assistance if he do but withdraw himself or his support from us we fall away from the truth and wander up and down in the by-pathes of errour till at length we become a prey to that roaring Lyon Thus did it happen to this Adam Neuserus once one of our own as we supposed a painful and industrious preacher of the Gospel Pastor of the Church at Heidelberg and outwardly a great stickler for the truth but one that secretly harboured Arianisme in his heart as he evidently afterward declared The glosse of profession without sincerity will not last What St. Hierome said of the Scriptures we may say of Religion It is not in superficie verborum folijs sed in medullâ cordis not read in superficial leaves and letters but in the marrow and substance of the heart Christian religion is more practical then theorical rather an occupation then a meer profession which is like the Artificers wit at his fingers ends But can we taxe hereticks of idleness Me thinks they are busy enough both to their own and the ruine of those that are bewitched by them they work indeed but it is secretly and closly like Moles under ground So Neuserus having ordered all things as he thought close enough for his passage over to the Turks with whom he had before bin tampering but was taken as it were in the very act by Prince Palatine Frederick III. and cast into prison From whence by sleight or connivence he secretly stole away and went into Poland after that into Transylvania sowing still as he went the seeds of his desperate and damnable Doctrine against the blessed Trinity which became the subject of opposition to every idle and phantastick brain against the nature office and merit of Christ his satisfaction made to the justice of his Father for us together with our redemption justification c. But all this while Neuserus was not where he would be and therefore he never rested till he got over to Constantinople among those whose religion he esteemed and whose Society he affected above all other The wicked cannot be quiet till their vicious desires be accomplished they have oculos inquietos ad peccandum as Calvin renders it their meat and drink is to do their Fathers will that is Satans Ahab is sick till have Naboths Vineyard and Neuserus is ill at ease till he be with his desired companions Well among them he is But what does he there that which would make a Christians heart to tremble renounce that religion whereof he made profession while he was among us turned Turk and after their manner was circumcised and so lived among them But breve sui sceleris gaudium For God struck him with an incurable disease of which he shortly dyed and that with such horrid clamours and dreadful yellings that the very Turks themselves were astonished at it and openly confessed that they never saw any man expire in a more tragical manner than he whom therefore they called in their language Satan ogli the very Child of the Devil And this was the unhappy end of this miserable caitiffe this grand Apostate first from the true-faith to Arianisme from thence to flat Turcisme Let the fall of others be a warning to us Ioannes Sylvanus Inspector Ladenburgensis Sylvanus socius remanens in carcere vinctus Praetium persolvit proditionis ejus IT is a strange thing to see how many are taken with meer Novelties and specious pretences and how eagerly they pursue them and how madly they run after them forfeiting both reason and religion for the pleasing of a foolish humour in the enjoying of them and gaining others to bear like affection to them When we consider this we may very well doubt whom we may account free from a touch or at least the danger of this indisposition to and opposition of that which is good yea best and a promptitude and proclivity to that which is evil yea worst the blaspheming of Gods Holy name the trampling upon the bloud of the covenant and counting it an unholy thing How many opinions do we see raised every day which argue no lesse then a meer Spiritual madness such as if they should have been but mentioned some years ago which now passe uncontroverted or at least wise uncontrouled as if the sacred truth of religion could admit of change and alteration according to the times and seasons to which in mercy or judgment we are reserved the question would be out of what Bedlam they had broken loose This appears by the Story of Sylvanus which we have now in hand who was crost and troubled with such variety of distempers that he was alwayes in a doubting many times in a bad at last in a lost condition All that we can do is but to pity and bewaile such as are living and pray for their recovery and sadly lament those that are dead and gone Among which this Joannes Sylvanus may be one whose religion was like adulterated Wine you may call it what you will who loved to prey upon Novelties and absurdities as Atalanta on the golden apples though he lost the prize He was Inspector or Controuler of Ladenberge a great friend and associate with Neuserus his fellow Renegado if he had not been prevented for intending to take flight with him over to the Turks he was likewise apprehended with him and cast into prison but being not so light heeld as his fellow he was forced to abide by it to his cost Of whose Apostacie from the truth his execrable opinions against the blessed Trinity the Deity office and merit of Christ of his conspiracy and rebellion against the State Prince Palatine Frederick being by letters from the Imperial Majesty certainly â—nformed he was publickly convented legally convicted and justly adjudged to be beheaded which execution was worthily done upon him For they sin no lesse qui blasphemant Christum regnantem in caelis quam quic rucifixerunt ambulantem in terris that revile Christ reigning in Heaven then they that crucified him living on earth To hear a man blaspheme God or his truth was a kind of prodigie among the Jews This man blaspemeth say they and presently they rent their cloths should every one of us when we hear God and the Gospel blasphemed do the like we should have more rents then whole cloths and scarce a whole garment would be found among us But we are little or nothing affected herewith Gods Holy name is blasphemed his truth traduced the hearer sayes let the Magistrate look to it the Magistrate sayes let the Minister reprove it the Minister sayes let the hearers reform it they say let the offender himself answer it the offender sayes curet nemo let no man mind Thus we thrust it from one to another The Sea breaks in all the borders contend whose right it is to mend the damme but while they strive much and do nothing the Sea breaks farther in and drowns the Country That we may
Anti-christ 1 Iohn 2.22.23 1 Ioh 5.7 But the Socinians deny that Christ is come in the flesh because they deny the incarnation of the Son of God which is urged by St. Iohn 1. Epistle 4.2 and 1. of his Gospel 14. against Ebion and Cerinthus as predecessors of the Socinian heresie And although in words they confesse that Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ yet in deed they deny it both because they take away his filiation or Son-ship whereby he is the Son of God by generation of the substance of the Father and also because they overthrow the office principally designed to him by his name Christ whereby he is anointed a Priest and is the Saviour of the world when as they make void the satisfaction of Christ without which he is not properly either a Priest or Redeemer or Saviour to us but is so made or conceived metaphorically by them Therefore they are not truly Christians Lastly They which serve the creature besides God the Creator and do Religiously worship him which is not God they as such are rather Pagans and Infidels then Christians But the Socinians do serve the creature besides God the Creator and adore him with Religious worship who by nature is not God namely their false and fained Christ who they themselves say is not God yet give him divine adoration Therefore the Socinians are rather Pagans and Infidels then true Christians and are so to be accounted by us Thus my dear Country men You have seen what these men are whose damnable opinions do mislead us what in their lives what in their Doctrines why should we rake the Sinks of Italy or drain the Puddles of Germany for those Heresies which have both infested and infected the Churches of God in those parts and in diverse other places beside Let them keep their damnable opinions to themselves so we may walk the plain way to Heaven what need we seek out by-paths to our selves to bring our selves in danger thereby Let them Mahomatize Judaize or what they will it behoovs us to look wel to our selvs that we follow not or be seduced by them Let us keep our selves in that Station wherein God hath set us and perform that duty which he therein requires of us Let us seriously consider what infinite mischief hath ariâ—en to the Church of God from the presumption of ignorant and unletterd men that have taken upon them to interpret the most obscure places of Scripture and pertenaciously defended their own sense when they have done though there be neither sense in it nor reason for it How contrary is this to all practise in other vocations In the Taylors trade every man can stitch a seam yet every man cannot cut out a garment In the Sailers Art every one may be able to pull at a cable when they are wheighing but every one cannot guid the helm or direct the course when they are sailing In the Physicians profession every gossip can give some ordinary receipts upon common experience but to find the nature of the disease and to prescribe proper remedies from the just grounds of Art pertains only to the professors of that science and we think it and that justly to absurd and dangerous to allow every ignorant Mountebank to practise therein And shall we think it safe that in Divinity which is the Mistress of all Sciences and in matters which concern the eternal safety of the soul every man should take upon him to shape his own Coat to steer his own Course or to prescribe his own Dose It was an old saying among us but it seems that it is quite worn out of use That Artists were worthy to be trusted in their own Trade Wherefore hath God given men skill in Arts and Tongues Wherefore do the aptest wits spend their time and studies even from their Infancy upon these sacred Imployments if men altogether in expert in all the grounds both of Art and Language can be able to pass as sound a judgment in the depths of Theological truths as they How happy were it if we could all learn according to that word of the Apostle To keep our selves within our own lines As Christians the Scriptures are ours but to use to enjoy to read to hear to learn to meditate to practise not to wrest to our fancy or to interpret according to our private conceit for this faculty we must look out of our selves expect it some where else and from some others and the Lord himself hath taught us where we shal seek and find it too Mal. 2.7 The Priests lips shall preserve knowledge and they shall seek the Law at his mouth for he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts Let us then ever suspect our own abilities and look unto those whom God hath set as watchmen over vs yet not so as that this whole work were theirs and that God required nothing at all of us but being instructed by them let us do what is required of us in those places wherein he hath set us and leave the rest to them and Gods blessing upon them and their endeavours Let us but abate our pride that spiritual pride which lies lurking in us and our contentions and quarrels in Religion will dye alone Now the most Omnipotent and most glorious Lord God for his ineffable mercy and goodness more and more illuminate our minds with the light of his Heavenly truth encrease the gifts and graces of his holy and blessed Spirit in us recall the wandring into the way of righteousness and Salvation and confirm them and us in the true saving knowledge of Christ disperse and bring to nought the crafty sleights and wilie delusions of Errors and Sophistications root out of the Church the Spouse of thy dear Son Jesus those most destructive and hurtful divisions which do so much infest it and all the seeds of false Doctrine and Heresie which the envious man by his wicked Instruments hath sown therein and 〈…〉