Greek nor Hebrew so could make no such Quotations and Observations as we read therein There he questions the Text of 1 John 4.3 Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is not of God where he adds a Parenthesis when there is none thereby to exclude the words Jesus Christ is come in the flesh from being in the Original farther he saith in Jude 4. where are these words denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ The word God is not in the Alexandrine Manuscript this tends as they think fit to make Scripture subservient to their ends and to make things therein doubtful by adding taking away Rev. 22.18.19 1 John 5.7 or altering whereupon I give him warning to mind what is said in the word But because the Text of John about the three in Heaven is what he most insists upon though I elsewhere have spoken of it here I shall again say something about it although many Learned Men before have so examined the place See my Book again Socin p. 273. and my answer to the I. letter p. 36. that hardly any thing can be added to what hath been said They argue the Verse is not in some Antient Greek Manuscripts nor in the Syriac but this is not Argumentative for though it be not in some it is in others and if we should go only upon that bottom the reason is equally as good for us as for them * De Vnitate Eccles Cyprian who lived about the middle of the third Century made use of the Text and Jerome or the Vulgata hath it Erasmus upon better Thoughts and after a more mature Deliberation had it in his new Edition of the New Testament and at this day the Greeks have it in their book call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which must needs be in Conformity to some Antient Greek Copies If it be not in some of the Antient Copies we may well suspect some Anti-Trinitarians of those times according to the usual way of Hereticks who went about corrupting by Additions Diminutions or Alterations those Texts which hit them to the quick to have expunged and taken it out it might also happen through the mistake of the Copist for whom as at this time 't is found by experience 't was not impossible through carelessness or unfaithfulness to leave out a whole Verse and there is a particular Reason why it may be so in this for there are two Verses one after another 7 and 8. which begin with the same words There are three which bear record in c. which might easily cause a mistake in the Copist and take the last Verse for the first and so omitting one to go on in the other besides that the Sense leads us to see there must be such a Verse to make three in Heaven answer three upon Earth without which there would be a breach left in the place and something defective to answer the Apostles design who already in Verse 5 and 6. hath mention'd the three for he saith Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believes that Jesus is the son of God That is of God the Father so here are two of the three Persons and in the next Verse the third Person namely the Holy Ghost is named It is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is truth So that this Verse 7. is a deduction of what hath been said in the foregoing and the expression beareth witness used in the Verse in question confirms it as the Spirit is one of the Witnesses so are the Father and the Son besides that as the beginning of Verse 7. contains a Reason of what is said in Verse 6. how the Spirit beareth witness which is expressed thus For there are three c. so the Copulative Particle and which is the first word in Verse 8. joyns and makes it answer the foregoing But because I find the Man makes use of Simon Crit. v. t. c. 2. the Oratorian's Critick a Man who of his own Head in several things speaks over-boldly and who seems to be of his Opinion he should know that his Writings are by Protestants to be read with Caution for in all those kinds of things especially in this case he goes upon his Popish bottom how the Authority of Scripture depends upon the Testimony of the Church so that nothing is Canonical and to be believed as such but what the Church saith to be so therefore upon that account they believe the Apocrypha and their Traditions to be of an equal Authority with the Canonical Books thus all such Papists according to their Principles will say ye must believe that Verse to be in because the Church saith it But to come to * Simon 's Critick upon 1. John 5.7 p. 8. Simon he mentions some Manuscripts he hath seen in the French King's and Colbert's Librarys which saith he have not the Verse in question not in the body of the Book but in the Margin they have Yet mark what he writes The writing of the Addition appears to be no less Antient than that of the Text the like he saith there of some Manuscripts in the Benedictines Library of St. Germain's Abby and the Addition therein is as old therein as the Text it self since the Additions in the Margin are as old as the Text it self there is ground left to believe that they were at or about the same time when the body of the Copy was and that the Copist saw he had forgotten it and having no room left to insert it in he did it in the Margin but Father Simon hath omitted a very material thing for he ought to have said whether the Copy and the Addition in the Margin appeared to be written by the same Hand for if so then the Copist intended thereby to mend his Omission In matter of Manuscripts some things must be observed like as we do in the case of Medals for both relate to Antiquity we go by some certain Rules to find whether or not the Medal be true or false stampt or cast and the time when it was so we have Coins of Roman Emperours of Kings of Macedonia Syria c. which though of a good Workmanship yet we value them not because posteriour to the time when such an Emperour and such a King lived and this we know by the nature of the Metal the edges of the Piece the form and disposition of the Letter how round how long and how close one with another for all those differences we find in Medals which to learn requires indeed much Experience for want whereof some Men who have a great Erudition about those things and are excellent in the Theorical part of that noble curiosity yet when it comes to the Practical they easily are imposed upon and cannot discern the Genuine from the Counterfeit Nay about these things there is sometimes such a Dexterity used by those who make a Trade of it
call'd will help to strike the Nail farther into the Head of those proud and unchristian Sisera's Unbelievers I may also call them seeing they refuse to believe the true God of Israel when he speaks of his Son who under the Name of this Angel he promised should go before them Ex. 32.34 Mine Angel shall go before thee And in the next Chapter God calls him his Presence ch 33.14 or his Face God hath many Angels but in a most special manner that he calls his but God hath not many Faces 2 Cor. 4.6 only one and that is the Face of Jesus Christ in whom only is the knowledge of the glory of God for God giveth the knowledge of his glory only in him Because he is the express Image of his Heb. 1.3 the Father's Person Those two Texts in the Old Testament compared with and explained by these two in the New shew that the Lord Jesus the proper Son of God went before and guided his People in the Wilderness so pre-existed the time of his Birth of the Virgin and that it may not be said of any Creature that the glory of God is in his Face or that he is the express Image of the Person of the Father and the brightness of his glory as the Beam is the brightness of the glory of the Sun In my way towards a Conclusion I shall by the grace of God briefly bring in some few Texts which do explain and confirm the great Truths now in question some I elsewhere have taken notice of however I now shall add something to what I then said but others I shall mention which I did not before but this I shall premise In the Apostle John's Days who lived to a very Old Age sprang up some Heresiarks as Simon the first of all Cerinthus Ebion and Menander who deny'd the Divinity of Christ as now Socinians do This moved the Apostle to assert and vindicate it as in his Gospel Epistles and Revelation he hath done so fully that if there were no other Books left of the New Testament there is in them abundantly enough to certifie and confirm that Heavenly Truth as out of several places in his Writings I sufficiently demonstrated in my Book against the Blasphemies of Socinianism which he doth so plainly and so often that we must take notice how the Holy Ghost by his Pen intended chiefly and strongly to suggest to and convince Men of the Fundamental Truth of Christian Religion namely that the Lord Jesus is the proper Son of God 1 Joh. 5.5.9 10 11 12 13 20. and to the end that great Truth may make a deep impression upon the Souls of Men in one Chapter in no less than seven Verses he emphatically calls him the Son of God and v. 10 he is twice so called so twice in the 13th and that in such a manner so sensibly and with such Circumstances as denote a true proper and natural kind of Son-ship and he is so earnest upon 't may be all that time having in his Eye the Blasphemy of those Hereticks as to charge those who deny Christ to be the Son of God and believe not in him to make God a Lyar who is the God of Truth the highest Blasphemy that the Devil can infuse into Men For saith he he that believeth on the Son of God hath the Witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a Lyar He saith wherein Because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son And what is that Record Besides his Commission in sending him into the World and the Works attended with so many Miracles and Wonders which the Father gave him to finish and to the evidence of which our Saviour did appeal we have it in his Baptism in a most eminent and special manner for the Father bare record of him when he said from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Certainly God spoke absolutely truly and properly and not Metaphorically improperly and by a Figure not my Son according to the Flesh spiritually or only in some respect but simply my Son that is begotten of my substance and of the same Nature with me as a Son ought to be and is of the same Nature with the Father Volkel l. 5. c. 12. whose only begotten he is which is the proper signification of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which a Socinian would corrupt and render by that of Most beloved to enervate the strength of it The Priests Philosophers and Poets among the Heathen either out of Noah's or Abraham's Schools or by some other way had a kind of dark knowledge of this Truth which for want of Revelation they understood not therefore did hide it under Fables and Lies as may be that of Mercury Jupiter's Son and Messenger of Pallas born out of his Head but for Socinians who have God's Word so positively affirming this Truth 't is for them the unpardonable sin of Unbelief which sinks them into Atheism for whosoever knoweth not and worshipeth not the true God he is without God and all who deny Father Son and Holy Ghost to be the true God know not the true God poor Wretches who presume with the Line of their shallow Brain and weak Reason to fathom the deep things of God which prompts them to put several impertinent rash and blasphemous Questions how short do they fall of the Modesty Sobriety and Wisdom of an Heathen Sextus the Pythagorean who said Concerning God inquire of nothing but what thou mayst lawfully say nothing of God but what thou hast learned of God 't is better for one to lose his Life than to speak an idle word of God it is better to say nothing of God than rashly to speak of him Such Men shall at the last Day rise in Judgment against Socinians Among the Greeks Pythagoras himself made all perfection to consist in the number of three or in Trinity and Plato constituted three Principles of all things Good Understanding and the Soul or Life whereby we Christians may understand Father Son and Holy Ghost who created the World But I must go on The Centurion's Words are remarkable when he said to our Saviour Matth. 8.8 Lord speak the Word only and my Servant shall be healed just as Scripture speaks in the matter of Creation Psal 33.9 He spake and it was done he commanded and it stood Such a Word of Command we read of in Jonah And the Lord spake unto the Fish Jonah 2.10 and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry Land which last words imply a special Providence and ordering of things for the Fish might have vomited him in the middle or the bottom of the Sea but because God would save him 't was upon dry Land But to return to the Centurion whose great Faith the Lord commended he believed and was not mistaken that our Saviour might as absolutely command Distempers and Health Death and Life as he
To believe is what the Gospel requires of us thus Christ said to Jairus believe only In Matters of Salvation is on our part required an Obedience of Faith for as the Apostle saith We walk not by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 Col. 2.2 4.3 or by senses but by faith So when Scripture saith We must acknowledge the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ we ought to believe there is such a Mystery for so Paul calls it after the Revelation of Christ and of the Gospel and 't is a damnable Presumption to bring these Truths of God under the Scrutiny of human Reason and submit them to it and reject them when that poor blind corrupt and unsound Reason cannot understand them 't is a most false Inference to say I understand neither the Trinity nor the Incarnation therefore there is no such thing as if I should say I cannot understand what God is therefore there is no God my Reason cannot understand the Infiniteness and Eternity of God therefore God is neither Infinite nor Eternal I do not apprehend the design of God's Wisdom therefore no such thing in him He permits Evil and because I cannot comprehend his Reason for it must I blasphemously say he is wicked These are such impertinent Conclusions that any Novice in the Philosophy or Divinity Schools would hiss out I would hear by what Authority I may set up my Reason as Judge over that which is so much above it and which I do not well know All these Wanderings of Men I say can conclude nothing except they prove their Understanding to be infallible and infinite What to fathom these great Depths of God with the very short Line of humane Reason this is an intolerable Self-conceitedness If at first when Watches were made one who never saw one neither understood the Watch-Maker's design seeing the several Pieces asunder upon a Table would have said This is of no use and good for nothing had not such a one deserv'd to be laugh'd at as a shallow Pate void of good Sense and Reason Yet 't is transcendently more foolish for any one to say his Reason must judge whether what God hath revealed be true or not O the nonsensical silly shallow Brains of some Men As in another place of this Discourse 't is observed how God said that he would dwell in the thick darkness Ps 97.2 and that clouds and darkness are round about him so 't is to shew how Men must not attempt to pry into 't for they cannot see the great dark mysterious and incomprehensible things of God 1 Sam. 6.19 Let the dreadful Punishment inflicted upon the Bethshemites for looking into the Ark of the Lord serve for a Warning to all who make themselves guilty of the like Attempts 'T is also faid That God dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto 1 Tim. 6.16 which tends to keep men from meddling too far and presumptuously attempting to look into the secret and glorious things of God beyond what he hath revealed But Socinians pretend to be clear-sighted enough to see through that thick darkness and to be strong-sighted enough with the Eye of their humane Reason stedfastly to look on the Infinite Glorious and Unaccessible Majesty of God and as it were to stare him in the face but they should know how in this sense no man shall see his face and live After this rate these all-knowing Men may happen to attempt giving a Description of Heaven which according to their Principles is a thing not above their Reason to do or beyond the reach of their Capacity so no Mystery to them Thus they shall go beyond Paul and know more than he who though he was caught up to the third heaven into Paradise yet saith 2 Cor. 12.2 3 4. whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell and there he heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter We would desire Socinians whom as they say nothing in Religion is a Mystery unto and who think their Reason can and may know that which others say they neither can nor may know because they are Mysteries I say we would desire them to give the World an account of what that Paradise is and what are the unspeakable words which Paul hearâ— there and which it was not lawful for such a Man as St. Paul to utter But once for all to come to the Jugulum Causae to the very heart of the point in all Matters ' of Religion we must have a fixed Law and Rule to be guided and judg'd by which Rule must be backt by an infallible or Divine Authority to stand to which is our Case against Papists who would have the Authority or the Reason of the Church to be that same Rule as Socinians more unreasonably would have every private Man's Reason to be it which as occasion shall serve can by Fancy or Interest under the name of Reason be wrested and by assed so that Reason so apt to be blinded and imposed upon cannot be the Law for there is no reason why one Man should be guided and directed by the Opinion of another if he hath no Commission from God proved by Miracles for the wisest of Men may happen to be blinded by Ignorance as the best corrupted by Interest and Lust After this Men will never stand to any thing but will quickly run into thousands of Confusion Superstition and Idolatry both in respect of God and of his Worship Without a true Divine Rule and that 's only God's Word no certainty of the true Knowledge of God and of his Worship for all the Precepts of Nature are doubtful and uncertain for they must be drawn from long Observations of Nature it self great strength of Reasoning deep skill in Philosophy and so many other dependencies and circumstances that 't is almost impossible to find a Man endow'd with all such necessary Qualifications So then to depend upon one's natural Reason as a Guide to Salvation is to trust upon a bruised Reed on which if a Man lean it will go into his hand and pierce it but if we trust in God's Word which is the Word of Truth the Holy Ghost will thereby in order to Salvation make all safe and sure to us whilst he leaves those who abound in their own sense to do so still and those who will not understand what they will not believe to continue in their Ignorance Unbelief and Wilfulness as for us Scripture is our Rule Now Scripture speaks of the Son of God long before his Incarnation as of a Person Acting Punishing Delivering c. an unanswerable proof that he then Existed or else he would not have acted for Modum essendi sequitur modus operandi none can Act except he be which as observed could not be in his Humane Nature Now in the Word of God we read no such thing of the greatest and best Men as Moses Elias John
this is the same who in the Chap. before had appeared unto him made a Covenant with him appointed Circumcision for the Seal of it and also had at that time promised Sarah should have a Son and there he called himself the Almighty God without question chap. 17.1 this was the true God by Nature for none is Almighty but he who if such for the words are convertible Almighty and True naturally eternal God he who is the one is the other too Now 't is very observable how he who in the first Book of the Old Testament proclaim'd himself the Almighty doth in the last of the New declare himself to be the Almighty and as there is but one Almighty Rev. 1.8 so in these two several places 't is but one and the same that speaks Now John saith it plainly enough that the Lord Jesus is the Almighty as in another place I heretofore sufficiently evidenced which to strengthen this I shall add that as Christ our Lord in the 1 Chap. of that Book calls himself Simply and absolutely the Almighty so towards the latter end of the same chap. 16.14 he is called God Almighty and that this is spoken of him the beginning of the verse clears it when it saith They are the spirits of devils which go forth unto the kings of the earth to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty For a greater Confirmation let this be compared with another Chapter chap. 19. from ver 11 to the end wherein mention is made of that Battle and its Success there is as true a Description of Christ in the Person of the General of the Army as can be he is called faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge and make war his eyes were as a flame of fire c. and his name is called the word of God and lower King of Kings and Lord of Lords and the great God If after these positive plain and full Evidences the Lord Jesus be not the true essential Almighty God then there is no truth in Scripture whose main design is to declare him to be the Son of the living God who from Heaven and out of the Father's Bosom came into the World to save us from Sin Death and Hell Of this the Deliverance out of Aegypt was a Type and both Deliverances have one and the same Author I find much to our purpose contained in that place where the Prophet speaking of the People of Israel saith of God He was their Saviour in all their affliction he was afflicted Isai 63.8 9. and the Angel of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed them Which place seems to relate to what the Lord said to Moses out of the midst of the Bush Exod. 3.7 I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt which is as if in the manner of speaking of men he had said I have seen and considered of my Peoples Affliction and for it have pity and compassion on them It is observable how he who in that place appeared unto Moses is there called by several Names first The angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire ver 2. and in the fourth he is called both Lord and God When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see God called unto him And ver 6. he is again called God and ver 7. the Lord. Under these several Names of Angel of the Lord God and the Lord in the different things by him spoken is designed the true God of Israel which I here take notice of because it being compared with this Text of Isaiah we now are upon it helps toward a better undestanding thereof Here 't is said of the true God he was their Saviour then 't is added the Angel of his presence saved them both these are absolutely expressed and absolutely there can be but one Saviour who is God so the Angel who saved them must needs be God and 't is to be taken notice of how he who here is called the Angel of his presence Exod. 33.14 is elsewhere called God's presence my presence shall go with thee to shew how God's Presence and the Angel of his Presence is one and the same God and he who led the People through the Wilderness is in another place also called Angel ch 23.20 21. I send an Angel before thee but such a one as his name was in him that is All I have revealed of my self is in him and this very same who saved them is in the same Verse said to have redeemed them .. Can any one deny the Names Saviour and Redeemer properly and personally to belong to Jesus Christ the Son of God who from the very first verse of the Chapter is pointed at and in ver 7. the Prophet saith of him I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord who bare them and carried them his people all the days of old in the Wilderness surely he who had done all these great things for them was their God so didst thou lead thy people to make thy self a glorious and everlasting name v. 12 14. God's people is Christ's people All the Father hath is mine saith he so he must needs be God such to the Jews he at several times asserted himself to be which truth is not at all prejudiced by his not suffering the Devils to publish who he was namely the holy one of God the Son of God the Son of the most high God which they never said to Paul or any other Apostle when they cast them out in the name of Jesus Christ Now our Saviour's reason to forbid them is this the Devil is known to be a Lyar and a truth out of a Lyar's mouth is suspected therefore to hinder its being questioned he suffered them not to speak it for he knew how ready his Enemies would be to take all advantage against him for they said He casteth out Devils by Beelzebub the prince of the Devils which he did as God and by his own Divine Power but the LXX said the Devils are subject to us through thy name Luke 10.17 This truth can be found out no better than with comparing Scripture with Scripture in order to 't without repeating what I said before of the Angel promised to go before the People in the Wilderness whom God called his presence I shall proceed to new matter Exod. 23. and take notice how that very same who went before the People and was called Angel if we may believe David was God the God of Israel chap. 33.14 at whose presenceâ— the earth shook the heavens also dropped even Sinai it self was moved and this is remarkable that the same word which God used my presence shall go is also twice made use of by David Psal 68.7.8 Psal 136.2 3 26. the Heavens dropped at the presonce of God Sinai was moved
Person of the Messiah are compared with the Office and Person of Melchisedec it denotes a difference between them for that which is like is not the same with that which 't is like unto The ancient Jews believed R. Menahem that by reason of the Wickedness of the first World Schechina with Enoch was returned up to Heaven whereby they own he was come down from thence as afterwards our Saviour himself declared it John 6. Gen. 12.7 As to Jehovah who in Canaan appeared unto Abraham according to the constant Tradition of the Jews it was Schechina for * Rakenat p. 43. col 4 Acts 7.2 1 Cor. 2.8 one saith it him Stephen call'd the God of Glory and Paul the Lord of Glory †Nachm in Gen. 15. Menahem in Thor. p. 16. Some of the Rabbies say this Apparition in Canaan to have been in the Night but the other after the Victory over the Kings happened certainly in the Day They § Menah and Nachmanid in Gen. 17.22 also say that the Lord who in Gen. 17. appeared to Abraham and instituted Circumcision did in his sight return up into Heaven this they * Bechai p. 89. call the Glory of God by the Name whereby they usually denote the Son of God Elsewhere I observed how the Son of God constituted the Judge of the World executed upon Sodom that terrible Judgment which †Rakenat f. 51. c. 4. one attributeth to Schechina Hereupon the 14th Canon of the Council of Syrmium called by Constantine is very considerable the Words are these Si quis illud quod c. If any one saith that what is written The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah Brimstone and Fire from the Lord out of Heaven is not to be understood of the Father and of the Son but affirms that he rained himself from himself let him be Anathema for the Lord the Son rained from the Lord the Father This Lord Jehovah the Son is the same who dwelt in the Ark between the Cherubims above the Mercy-seat Exod. 25.22 whence God communed with Moses but in the way of Mercy God never communes with Men but in and through his Beloved Son the Lord Jesus who as in the Old Testament was called Jehovah so in the New is simply and absolutely called Lord which is equivalent to the other for the Septuagint rendered the Hebrew Word Jehovah by the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord so that under the New Testament he had the same Name as under the Old 1 Chron. 13.6 hence it is that the Ark was called the Ark of the Lord or Jehovah This namely that Schechina dwelt in the Ark * Bechai in Thor. p. 9. c. 3 4. Numb 24.17 the Jews owned Balaam's Prophecy of the Messiah There shall come a Star out of Jacob c. Onkelos Jonathan Ben Vziel and Nachmanides explain it of the Schechina and Aben Ezra owns it to be the Opinion of many and tho' this be a Prophecy of what was to come yet still 't is of the same which was before in the Garden of Eden as already observed The clear Prophecy by Haggai of the Messiah's coming into the second Temple ch 2.7 8. or whilst the second Temple was yet standing I elsewhere enlarged upon which as we read in Drusius R. Akiba hath explained it of Christ and Jarchius hath said ch 12.1 that all should see Schechina conversing in the second Temple In Daniel mention is made of Michael the Great Prince understood of Christ and to be compared with Rev. 12.7 in whom is God's Name indeed for it signifies who is like unto thee thou mighty God which the wisest * Menah in Thor. p. 34. c. 2. Nachman in Exod. 3.2 and l. c. Rakenat p. 80. c. 2. Gen. 14.19 20. among the Jews do rightly interpret to be the Angel Revenger and Deliverer the Angel of God's Presence and in some place Nachmanides calls †Nachm in Exod. 14.19 Gen. 19.20 it the Glory of Schechina and speaking of the Angel of the Lord who went before the Camp of Israel and removed behind to be between them and the Egyptians whom he drowned he saith is the great Prince This is the same who having before appeared to Moses in the Bush was afterwards pleased to speak to him upon the Mount and the Words are remarkable The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai that is from Heaven whence afterwards to be made Flesh he came upon Earth in Judea which coming our Saviour doth mention at several times tho' one of these Jewish Doctors thought that the Angel of whom God said I send an Angel before thee c. was a created one and not the same Angel of the Covenant of whom when he was well pleased he said My Presence shall go with thee yet he owns that the Angel of God's Face had been with him but saith * Rakenat p. 120. c. 1. The glorious Presence of God Schechina was withdrawn for he thought God was still angry but Moses had already appeased him The Jews hold that the Law was given by the Mouth of Schechina upon Mount Sinai for as he brought the People out of Egypt which yet excludeth not the Father who brought them out by his Son so in the Wilderness he often spake to them chiefly upon this solemn Occasion The Truth is confirmed by Scripture Deut. 33.2 3. compared with Habak 3.3 Levit. 26.11 12. The Lord came from Sinai saith Moses and rose up from Seir unto them he shined from Mount Paran and he came with ten Thousands of Saints From his right Hand went a fiery Law for them And to shew him to be their Law-giver Prophet and Teacher he adds Yea he loved ihe People all the Saints are in thy Hand and they sat down at thy Feet every one shall receive of thy words compared with another place Levit. 26.11 12. And I will set my Tabernacle among you and I will walk among you and will be your God and ye shall be my People To shew his gracious condescension and how familiarly he would converse with them now this was a Prophecy for he spake in the future of things to come and this seems to relate only to the Jews but thanks be to God that now we may speak of it in the Preter-tense of a thing fulfilled on the behalf of Gentiles as well as of Jews which I affirm not out of my own Head but out of the Word of God And I heard a great Voice out of Heaven Rev. 21.3 behold the Tabernacle of God is with Men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his People and God himself shall be with them and be their God Here is the Prophecy fulfilled in the very Words he who promised it in the Old Testament hath made it good in the New he is the same in both not in person in the Old and only by proxy in the New for here 't is said
upon the word only they ought to take notice of a thing material to our purpose how their Notion doth not consist with the scope of the place for there the Apostle speaks not of Christ's Kingdom but of his Person call'd the brightness of the Glory and the express Image of the Father's Person Colos 1.19 so in that other A pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell 't is not spoken of the Doctrine but of the Person of Christ That sort of Men first do what they can to wrest God's Word which abominably they generally do in the Texts about Christ's Satisfaction and almost in every other Point but when they see that cannot do they fly in the Face of Holy Writers Thus * Schlichtingius one of them upon the words But a Body hast thou prepared me saith how these words the Apostle quoted not to his purpose Non necesse c. 'T is not necessary to believe that the Author in his quotation of the words had any regard unto their proper sense but had quoted them only because they were joined with others that were to his purpose Which in him is not only an ignorance of the Scope of the place but also a Reflection upon the Apostle as if he had not well known what he said and wherefore as if he at that time had not been Inspired of God which is both Prophaneness and Impiety However they cannot deny him to have been a very Rational Man but they will be for Deism or Natural Religion in opposition to Revelation If seriously and impartially we look upon Socinians we may about the things in question well compare them with the Scribes Pharisees and Sadducees that were in our Saviour's and his Apostles days as being acted by the same Evil Spirit as they were and equally full of Gall and Bitterness against the Person Honour and Doctrine of our Lord whom upon all occasions these do as the others did undervalue taking him for a meer Man and consequently for a Lyar and Impostour when he called himself true God Son of God in Power equal with the Father and one with him Thus Impiously the Jews call'd him a Samaritan who had a Devil a Seducer a Deceiver a Malefactor and a Blasphemer The Pharisees were full of Pride and Self-Conceit would pass for the only Good Knowing Wise Men in the World sat in Moses's Chair nam'd themselves his Disciples said of those who were not of their Opinion about Jesus Christ This People who knows not the law are cursed How did they use the blind-born Man when to them he spoke good Sense and Reason Thou wast altogether born in sin Joh. 9.34 and doest thou teach us Implying as if they were not born in sin but were Pure and Holy Likewise Socinians pretend to a Pharisaical Righteousness they were not born in sin for they say there is in them no Original Sin and they pretend they can in this World attain to such a Perfection as not to Sin also with the Sadducees they deny the Resurrection of the Dead at least of the Wicked so of the Good too as to the Body The Scribes and Pharisees could not deny the mighty and miraculous Works of our blessed Lord for they were Matters of Fact done not in a Corner but in many several places and in the presence of Thousands of People nay in their Council they confess'd it and said What do we For this man doth many miracles John 11.47 They could not deny their Senses but were in their Judgments convinc'd of it yet their Hearts would not be wrought upon by reason of a desperate Obstinacy but it was prepossess'd with Rage and Malice and would not yield to the Truth nor give Glory to God This is the very Case of Socinians they cannot deny the Supreme Divine Power which the Lord Jesus exerted in so many of his Actions nor absolutely deny him to be God they cannot convince him of Lye nor of any Sin They cannot be ignorant of the Testimony which more than once from Heaven the Father gave of him neither the Record which John bare of him nor that which upon several occasions he gave of himself as to his Divine Nature and Power this they cannot deny but will not confess it and hold the Truth of God in Unrighteousness whereupon we must say they are worse than the Rulers Elders Scribes Pharisees and Sadducees who upon the account of a Miracle done by Peter and John by the Power of our Saviour and in his Name said we cannot deny it Joh. 4.16.14 and they could say nothing against it but Socinians speak against it and the Truth Satan hath so filled the Heart of some of them that though they cannot deny God's Essential Names and Attributes Divine Works and Worship to belong to him yet will not own him to be true God and by Nature which is the only true God in opposition to Idols and Creatures which by Nature are not God's Gal. 4.8 But their Hearts are so perverse and set against him that notwithstanding those lights of the Truth they will not be convinced They cannot deny that Christ did cast out Devils but rather that to give him Glory for it with the Jews they wiâ—â— forge in their Heads and Impiously say he cast them out by Beelzebub for such Cavils and Wrestings they never want which helps them to speak and write against the known Truths Julian being over taken with a signal Judgment could in 't perceive Christ'â— Hand which made him cry out Thou hast overcome 〈◊〉 Galilean Though his rage could not suffer him to own he had been in the wrong and will Socinians waiâ— till they feel such a stroke of Christ's avenging Hand aâ— did the Apostate and some of their Ring-Leaders Out of these and many things more it appears how to Socinians chiefly belongs the Apostle's Saying of those who wrest some things in Paul's Epistles 2 Pet. 3.16 as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction The serious consideration of this engages the same Apostle to give those whom he writes to this necessary warning Ye therefore beloved v. 17. seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the Errors of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness A most seasonable Caution in these as well as in those Times The Society of such which too often proves an occasion of falling into their abominable Heresies we also ought to avoid and this I speak not of my self but have an Apostle's Warrant for it and such a one as made it his chief business plainly and fully to assert the Divinity of the Son of God Jesus Christ our Lord 2 John 10.11 If there come any unto you and bring not this Doctrine receive him not into your House neither bid him God speed for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds 2 Cor. 5.11 And Paul forbids us