THE TRUE CHARACTER OF THE Spirit and Principles OF SOCINIANISM Drawn out of their Writings WITH Some Additional PROOFS of the Most Holy Trinity of our Lord's and of the Holy Ghost's Divinity By J. GAILHARD Gent. They changed the Truth of God into a Lye Rom. 1.25 Therefore Give them O Lord What will thou give Give them a Miscarrying Womb and dry Breasts Hos 9.14 LONDON Printed for J. Hartley over-against Grays-Inn in Holborn MDCXCIX THE PREFACE TO THE Christian READER ALL Prayers and Endeavours against the Abominations of the Times have not altogether been in vain a kind of Curb having by the late Act been put upon it and if the Offenders be strictly punish'd through God's Blessing we may hope to see the Sins really suppressed the Law if not well kept is but a dead Letter and becomes contemptible but a strict Execution makes it useful and effectual which we promise our selves to see by the Pious Care of a Prince whose Chief and most Glorious Title is Defender of the True Christian Faith whilst Violent and Cruel Persecutions are raging abroad and sad Anti-christian Impieties at home who knoweth whether he be come to the Kingdom for such a Time as this to be an Eminent Instrument in God's Hands to do that Work God in an extraordinary manner hath raised him upon the Throne of these Three Kingdoms and as he doth nothing in vain so we may well conceive it to be for some extraordinary Ends. Therefore I now upon my Knees do most humbly beseech Him by whom Kings Reign in a plentiful measure to give the King the Spirit of Wisdom Knowledge and Vnderstanding and of the Fear of his Name that he may truly know what God after the great things he hath done for him doth now expect from him and to guide direct and with his helping Hand support Him in bringing those Great Ends about HIS MAJESTY hath given us Peace with Men and we now humbly desire he would endeavour to procure it with God and cause the War we are at against Heaven to cease which we cannot so much as hope for as long as God's Great Name is Prophaned his Son Dishonoured his Holy Spirit Blasphemed his Word wrested and Impiously ridiculed by a sort of Men in the World who not only in private but openly with Tongue and Pen go about to pull our Holy Religion up by the very Root and to overthrow the Fundamentals of Christianity who not only proudly despise the Judgment of the whole Primitive Church but that which is infinitely worse through their Impieties and Blasphemies they Crucifie again the Lord of Glory make the Wounds of Christ to bleed afresh and who to speak in the Apostle's Words Have trodden under Foot the Son of God and counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith we are Sanctified an Unholy thing and have done Despite unto the Spirit of Grace That Holy Blood which at other times speaks better things than that of Abel's doth now upon this Occasion cry loud for Vengeance because 't is abominably prophaned and by the denial of the Causes and Effects of its being shed undervalued We thank God for the Prospect we have to see the Evil remedied through His Majesty's wholsome Influences The Life of our Laws without which they are insignificant we hope to see derived from him and if I may be allowed to make a Comparison in a thing which admits of none as the Spirit of God moved upon the Face of the Waters to quicken and make them fruitful so the Breathings from the Throne and the Motions of the Royal Authority can infuse an effective Vertue into our Acts of Parliament For as of a Bill to make a Law the King's Assent is necessary without which 't is but a dead Lump without Form and signifies nothing so when 't is passed the Executive Power Originally in the King is that which gives it Life and Strength or else 't is dormant and languisheth Now upon the present Account far be it from us to think that for want of commanding a due execution of the Laws His Majesty will ever suffer Blasphemy Idolatry Prophaneness and Immorality to be Blots and Stains in his Reign His Majesty's Word we have for and may depend upon 't insomuch that in case the Act doth not produce it 's due Effect as considering the Spirit of that Odious Sect some are of Opinion it will not no doubt but that His Majesty without being prompted to 't will of himself be pleased to mind the Honour of God and of Religion The Ground of our Hope and Confidence is this At the opening of the last Session of Parliament the King in his Speech to both Houses promised to take care to suppress Prophaneness and Immorality which afforded the Honourable House of Commons an Occasion to Address to His Majesty concerning it and His Majesty's Answer when 't was presented deserves to be written in Letters of Gold Thus it was Gentlemen I cannot but be very well pleased with an Address of this Nature and will give immediately Directions in the several Particulars you desire But I could wish some more effectual Provision were made for the suppressing those pernicious Books and Pamphlets your Address takes notice of The Work of Reformation is great but the time short so it 's necessary to begin it betimes and follow it close No Man as our Saviour saith having put his Hand to the Plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God Therefore no one that in his Station hath concern'd himself in this good and just Cause must draw back but within the Sphere of his Activity must go on to promote it and not be weary in well doing Before Men engage in a Matter they ought to know why and upon what Grounds But once being satisfy'd with its Justice and Goodness notwithstanding Difficulties and Oppositions they are bound to continue for and not forsake it for God in his due time will bring all to a happy end Men either must not believe or else must own what they believe and profess what they own He that comes with God's Word in his Mouth needs not be ashamed or afraid For my part with the Royal Prophet I may say I will speak of thy Testimonies also before Kings and will not be ashamed Books Printed for and sold by John Hartley over-against Grays-Inn in Holborn THE Blasphemous Socinian Heresie disprov'd and confuted Wherein the Doctrinal and Controversial parts of those Points are handled and the Adversaries Scripture and School-Arguments answered With Animadversions upon a late Book call'd Christianity not Mysterious Humbly dedicated to both Houses of Parliament By J. Gailhard Gent. 8 vo Price 3 s. 6 d. The Epistle and Preface to the Book against the Blasphemous Socinian Heresie vindicated and the Charge therein against Socinianism made good In Answer to two Letters By J. Gailhard Gent. Price 1 s. Herodian's History of the Roman Emperors containing many Strange and Wonderful Revolutions of
Why hath Satan fill'd thine heart to lye to the Holy Ghost in the next verse it 's said Thou hast not ly'd unto Men but unto God These last Words explain the first how to lye to the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 3.16 is to lye to God Paul is another Evidence when he saith Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you That Spirit which dwelleth in them is the same true God whose Temple they are farther as God is every where Psal 139.7 so is the Holy Ghost Whither shall I go from thy Spirit saith David which comes to this I can go no where but there he is so the Holy Ghost is Infinite and none but God is such Rom. 8.9 and the Spirit of God dwells in you as he doth in every Believer and as there are Believers of all Nations Ages Sexes Qualities c. in the World so the Holy Ghost who is in them all is all the World over and so God absolute Eternity belongs to God and the Holy Ghost is Eternal too as we have it thus Heb. 9.14 1 Cor. 2.10 Christ through the Eternal Spirit offered himself and who but God can know all things whether of Men or of God But the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God The Work of the Creation is proper to God and incommunicable to the Creature which cannot be both Creator and Creature to Create imports in him that doth an infinite Power to fill up an infinite Space between a nothing and something which no Creature is capable of he who is to all others the Author of their Beings must need have his own of himself and that is God for he that built all things is God Psal 33.6 Job 26.13 now the Holy Ghost made the World for as By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made so all the Host of them by the breath Spirit of his Mouth to this purpose 't is said by his Spirit he hath garnish'd the Heavens And in the History of the Creation Gen. 1.2 we read how that same Spirit moved upon the face of the Waters to give Life Motion and make them Fruitful besides none but God can bestow the Spiritual and Heavenly gifts of Grace but the Holy Ghost is the Distributer of them for he divideth to every Man severally as he will 1 Cor. 12.4 11. that is independently as of his own and without giving any Accounts farthermore the Ruling of the Church appointing of Apostles and other Ministers and accordingly he endu'd the Apostles and on the Day of Pentecost filled them with Gifts to qualifie them for their work and the Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have call'd them Acts. 13.2 'T was God's work and 't was God who appointed them so he not only gave them Commission to go but also appointed them the Field where to sow the Seed of the Word Chap. 16.6 7. for the Holy Ghost did forbid them to preach the word in Asia tho' they had a mind to it then they would have gone to Bithynia but the Spirit suffer'd them not again Paul tells the Elders of the Church of Ephesus that The Holy Ghost had made them Overseers over that Flock Chap. 20.28 In sew Words all Offices and Gifts in the Church he absolutely disposes of as to him seems good Besides we must take notice of the Glorious Titles given him in Scripture applyable to no Creature as are the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of Adoption John 15.26 Rom. 8.15 Chap. 1.4 Tit. 3.5 Matth. 12.28 Rom. 9.1 Matth. 18.9 2 Cor. 13 14. John 5.7 Matth. 12.31 the Spirit of Sanctification and the Spirit of Renewing or Regeneration and by whom Miracles as Casting out of Devils are wrought furthermore how Divine Worship Honour and Prayer is due and render'd unto the Holy Ghost thus Paul calls upon him as he who knew the Hearts And in the Form of Baptism in the Apostolical Blessing he is equally call'd upon with the Father and the Son and equally concern'd with them in bearing Record in Heaven besides the Holy Ghost must be God seeing The Sin of Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven being the most Abominable and Damnable of all hence I conclude the Holy Ghost equally to be God with the Father and with the Son Their second Error is to deny the Holy Ghost to be a Person but seeing as we already prov'd he is God of the same Nature with the Father and the Son he must be a Person as indeed the Proprieties of a Person are Attributed unto him for in our Saviour's Conception he Acted and Sanctifi'd the Virgins Womb in his Baptism he appear'd in the visible shape of a Dove and of cloven Tongues in the Day of Pentecost in his name we are equally Baptiz'd with the Father's and the Son 's He sent the Apostles Rom. 8.26 He maketh intercession for us besides that he doth create and work Miracles and to none but a Person it doth belong and is proper so to act and so to do Of this Error of theirs there is another branch for they would not have the Holy Ghost to be a Person of the Godhead distinct from the Father and from the Son but the contrary doth appear John 15.26 for in Scripture he is call'd the Spirit of the Father and of the Son he is sent by the Father and by the Son he is distinguish'd from the Father and from the Son by a personal Property to proceed as he is expresly call'd another from the Father and from the Son The Father will give you another Comforter Chap. 14.16 Saith our Saviour that is another from the Father and from me The Heretick Macedonius deny'd the Divinity and Personality of the Holy Ghost and affirm'd it to be only a Vertu and Power whereby the * Smalc Exam. Err. 157. Err. 132. and 137. Father and the Son do work which Fundamental Error Socinians borrow'd of him Spiritum Sanctum c. saith one of them The Holy Ghost is in God a Propriety or Attribute as are Wisdom and Justice Furthermore The Holy Ghost is not one but many of inequal Dignity because there are different Gifts he would set up different Spirits 1 Cor. 12.4 tho' the Apostle saith positively There are diversity of Gifts but the same Spirit We own as we did before how according to an unusual improper and figurative way sometimes the word Spirit signifies the Gift and Workings of the Holy Ghost but when 't is properly taken then it signifies the third Person in order of the Godhead partaker of the Nature therefore call'd God as prov'd Another Socinian calls the Holy Ghost Virtutem illam c †Schlichting in Simbol p. 99. That Virtue whereby God particularly sanctifies those Men which are dear to him And so all along he runs on
upon that perversly contriv'd Notion Their third Error about the Holy Ghost is to deny him to be the only sufficient cause of our Conversion and Regeneration tho' as said before he be call'd the Spirit of Regeneration John 3.5 and our Regeneration is by our Saviour call'd to be born of the Spirit but Socinians who mostly cross Scriptural Truths are of another mind for saith one quod c What Frantzius saith * Smalc cont Frantz disp 8. that the Holy Ghost alone by his Virtue and Operation doth all these viz. the inward assent to God's Word our Conversion to God the knowledge of Christ and Faith in him is false How easily do that People give one the lye that same saith that our Regeneration may not be call'd the work of God alone but it depends upon Man's Will and Acting So that great work of Conversion is divided between God and Man whereof all the advantage is made to be on Man's side for Man hath the Negative Vote he may receive or reject but God not so thus Man's Salvation is at his own command Thus far we have spoken of the Nature †Volkel de Creat Morosov cont Smiglec Attributes and Persons of the Godhead now as to God's Works Him they deny to have made the World out of nothing but of a Matter without Form which is to bring into Divinity the Materia prima of Philosophers but I ask did that Matter exist before the Creation of the World If so then it was from Eternity for in Scripture to be before the World and to be from Eternity are Synonimous and signifie the same and this is to joyn in Opinion with those who hold the World to have been Eternal which is a parte ante to match God's Eternity and also to make it Eternal a parte post This also strikes at his Almightiness as if he could not have made something out of nothing which properly is Creation I elsewhere discoursed abundantly against their over boldly presuming upon God's Word with submitting it to their Fancies by them mis-called Reason When they consult it 't is not with an intent thereby to be guided and submit their Judgment to its Decision but only with wresting it and forcing unusual and not natural Senses to make of it a Stalking-horse and to serve their wrong Ends and herein they are so self-conceited and so much abound in their own sense as to reject the help of other Mens Learning Labour and Industry For saith their * Socin Tom. 1. p. 344. Master Non attendendum est c. We must not mind what Men teach and believe or what heretofore they taught and believed whatsoever or how many soever they are or have been What a pride is this Neither Prophets nor Apostles or Evangelists excepted though immediately inspired of God and elsewhere he would scorn to own any Judge of Controversies whether single Man or such a body of Men as the Church is which certainly God in these Matters hath left some Authority with according unto his Word but he is of another mind when he saith Quod quaeris c. †Epist 3. ad And. Dudith To what you ask who is to be the Judge of Controversies about Holy Things I answer without us there is no need of another Judge than God and Christ This in plain terms is to make themselves the sole Judges for God and Christ speak to us by the Prophets and Apostles Their Endeavours of reconciling Jews Mahometans and other Anti-Trinitarians to the Christian Religion with removing what therein gives them offence tho' never so much to the Overthrowing of the Fouudation thereof is a clear Evidence of their setting up themselves as Judges in those Matters If they had gone about to convert them it had been very well and Christian-worthy but not so when for sinister Ends of their own they would only mince and trim with them Scripture we Christians call the Infallible Rule of Faith and Practice Now in Obedience and Regard to God and according unto sound Reason to the directive and decisive Authority of this Rule we who are so fallible ought to submit our Judgments to and yield Obedience of Faith 'T is very unreasonable to make every one's Reason a Judge in Matters of Religion thus there shall be so many Men so many Judges yet in the World are so many ignorant unlearned carnal prepossess'd with Prejudices blind wordly obstinate wicked and deprived of the Spirit of God here is a great Number and Diversity of Judges but how can they be Judges of things which they do not understand about these Matters another Errour of theirs is That they would not have the Doctrines of Faith to be drawn by Consequences out of Scripture for say they it requires Reason which all are not capable of therefore say I we do not allow every one to draw those Consequences Neither is their Argument good because though Reason be necessary to Knowledge yet 't is not as if it were the Foundation but as 't is the Instrument of knowledge therefore the Word is not Preach'd to Children to meer Naturals and Mad People besides that the Light not of Nature but of Grace is the Principle of this Knowledge of Divine Matters which the Unlearn'd as well as the Learned do Understand not by the Light of Natural Reason but of Divine Revelation Now I say that a Conclusion well deduced from premises is also true because virtually contained in the premises and 't is most certain that in the Word several great Truths are proved by deduced Consequences as is one of the Fundamental Articles of our Faith Matth. 22.31 32. Out of Exod. 3.6 Matth. 22 44 45. Out of Psal 110.1 1 Cor. 2.13 the Resurrection of the Dead so our Saviour proves his Divinity so doth Paul and many more such things and Scripture we must compare with Scripture for according to the saying quae non prosunt singula juncta juvant for that which is darker or seems so in one place will appear clearer and plainer in another comparing saith Paul of himself spiritual things with spiritual But here upon the point of Holy Scripture I must not omit to take Notice of the Blasphemous expressions of one of their great Men and a stiff stickler for his Master Socinus's Opinions * Smalc Exam. 100. Err. err 16. Christians ought little to care what the Prophets say of the Worship of one God according to this we must not mind what Prophets say though never so Important as is the thing in question the Worship of one God so there is a door made open for Idolatry and a breach of the first precept of the Law but those setters forth of strange Gods affirm we may Worship one who by Nature is not God not supreme nor independent but I intend by the Grace of God to speak more at large of this in another place of my discourse but the Man would not have us
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
went with Moses and led the People through the Wilderness but the Angel of his face or presence Isai 63.9 2 Cor. 4.6 whom I elsewhere fully proved to be the Son of God Jesus Christ in whose face as the Apostle saith We behold the glory of God The word to shine which is in the Verse doth signifie a property of the Son Mal. 4.2 1 John 1.16 ver 17. 1 Cor. 16.33 Gal. 6.18 Phil. 4.23 1 Thess 5.28 2 Thess 3.18 Philemon 25. for the Son is call'd the Son of righteousness the latter part the Lord be gracious unto thee doth plainly relate to the Son Jesus Christ who is the Fountain of Grace for of his fulness have we all received and grace for grace no true Grace to be had but only in him for saith the Evangelist Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ after this Form of Blessing it is that Paul doth conclude several of his Epistles as a Prayer to God for those whom he did write to or as a Blessing of God upon them The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all The 3 Verse hath things specially attributed unto the Holy Ghost as To lift up his countenance upon and give them peace It seems as if David pointed at this when he saith Lift up the light of thy countenance upon us Now to enlighten encourage countenance quicken and strengthen Men Psalm 4.6 is the proper work of the Holy Ghost so is to give peace therefore he is call'd the Comforter who gives us inward joy assurance and peace of Conscience and unto our Souls he applys the benefits of all that Christ hath done and suffered for us the better to understand this let us compâ—re these 3 verses of Numbers 6. with Paul's words which are an Explanation thereof The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 13.14 and the love of God the Father and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all This shews a Conformity in the Form of Blessing under the Old and New Testaments the like we find in Jude ver 20 21. where the three Persons are distinctly set down This I shall conclude with the following Observation how St. John explains Moses's words in the beginning John 1.1 and that the word Bara Created in Hebrew consists of three Letters for though there be four yet one being twice in there are but three different and these three begin each the Hebrew words signifying Father Son and Holy Ghost as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aleph begins the name Abba Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth the second Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet as Aleph is the first begins the word Ben or Son and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resh begins Ruach Spirit Hachodesh which signifie the Holy Ghost now must we proceed to other things We know it to have been the practice of all Hereticks who would not downright deny Scriptures but keep an outward shew as if they own'd them to come in and by a side Wind to corrupt the Truths therein contained and no Sect went on in that way more cunningly presumptuously and obstinately than Socinians who would make of it a tool with wresting and falsifying them to serve their ends and though they so highly pretend to an unreconcilableness with the Romish Church yet therein they follow their Methods and have taken great and unhappy pains in corrupting both the word of God and the Writings of Men but God who is and loves truth in his infinite Wisdom to the confusion of the Authors of such Works of Darkness brings them to light the World hath been acquainted with the notorious Cheat of the Jesuits of Mentz who with the leave of the then Prince Elector Palatine borrow'd of the Library Keeper of Heidelberg the Manuscript of Anastasius about the Lives of the Popes which they offer'd to get Printed at their own Charges and after they had given good Security that the Manuscript should be return'd they had it upon this Condition that every thing therein should be printed and nothing left out which Condition was put in in relation to the History of Pope Joan that was in 't But mark the Trick the Jesuits got it Printed and in one Book only which they were engaged to put in the Palsgrave's Library all was according to the Manuscript but that which related to Pope Joan was left out in every other Book Which Cheat of theirs the Library-Keeper having afterwards found out he about it publish'd his Complaint to the World That Manuscript is now in the Vatican among the rest of the Heidelberg Library but though when I was in Rome I several times used means to see it I could never obtain it nor in Milan neither where another Manuscript of the same is said to be in the Ambrosian Library 't was own'd to me that there is one but when I desired to see it which I did more than once with one pretence or other 't was ever put off Such are the shifts by Papists used to conceal the proofs of a Woman having been a Pope and an infallible Head of their Church Thus Socinians are glad of any pretence which to the utmost of their power they would improve to have the 7th Ver. of the 5th Chap. of 1 John expunged because it lies so heavy upon them but the consideration of such Practices affords an occasion to admire and adore God's wise and infinite Providence with great Mercy to his Church that notwithstanding the malice and craftiness of Hell and its Instruments wholly or in part to suppress Holy Scripture yet such hath been his Divine Care of it having given his People that Holy Word of his never to fail to the Worlds end that he hath blasted the wicked Endeavours of all who would have depriv'd the Church of that Heavenly Bread but through so many Ages and amidst so many various Dispensations of his Providence hath to this day continued whole and in its Purity for the Good and Benefit of his People Thus in the days of Josiah was by Hilkiah the High Priest 1 Kings 22.8 found the book of the law in the House of the Lord which was the Copy that Moses left with them as it appears out of 2 Chron. 34.14 which either by the Negligence of the Priests had been lost or by the wickedness of Idolatrous Kings had been rejected and in some kind abolish'd The like care God was pleased to use at the Taking and Burning of Jerusalem and of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar though 't is not express'd how for we must not mind the Jewish Fabulous Stories about it yet so it was as we gather out of Artaxerxes's words to Ezra Ezra 7.14 Thou art sent of the King and of his seven Counsellors to enquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand Thus God hath rescu'd his Holy Word of the New Testament from the Rage and Malice of the Jews of
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
prove further I shall go on And with the Apostle say Heb. 3.4 He that made all things is God that is truly and properly God of himself now in several places Scripture saith All things were made by the Word which Name John usually calls Christ by John 1.3.10 Colos 1.16 Heb. 1.2 The World was made by him which him or that Person Paul in two places speaking of this same point of Creation calls the Son of God by whom all things were made and by whom he made the Worlds and so all things therein for by the Expression All things in Heaven c. are understood all the Works of Nature the whole Work of the Creation But to elude the weight of the Argument which lies heavy upon them sometimes for they are apt to change and diversifie their Notions and are constant only in unhappy Contrivances how to wrest Scripture they say that the name Word signifies Reason and not the Person of Christ which Notion I * Answer to Lett. I. p. 29 30. elsewhere have spoken against but at other times when they are press'd and cannot deny it to belong to Christ then to shift it off they say the name Word is taken for his Prophetical Office but the Evangelist gives it for Christ's proper and personal Name for that very name is given him upon another account and in a different occasion when he was seen in his Glory and Majesty as a King at the Head of Heavenly Armies going to fight there 't is said his name is called the Word of God Rev. 19.13 ver 16. and in that place he is styled King of kings and Lord of Lords So 't is not in relation to his Prophetical Office for the state wherein he then appeared had been very improper he was a horse-back not to speak and teach but to fight so then the name is not given him upon the account of his Prophetical Office If this be a name of Office what 's the reason why none of the Prophets or Apostles who taught and preach'd God's Word were never call'd by the name the Word 't is often said that the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and other Prophets but never that Isaiah or any of them was the Word of the Lord and this Word now in question was the Son of God 2 Pet. 1.21 1 Pet. 1.11 Rom. 1.25 who came to and spoke by the Prophets for they saith an Apostle spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost who by the same is called The spirit of Christ which was in them I love to make use of Scripture when I answer the Devil and refute his Lies and of those who as Paul saith change the truth of God into a lie After our blessed Saviour's Example I say it is written We must not wonder if some Men go about to impose upon others their Lies for Truths seeing Satan whose Children Liars are had the face to lie to him whom he knew to be God Son of God when he said Luke 4.6 The power of all the kingdoms of the World is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will I give it So we may say of his Children They bend their tongues like their bow for lies Jer. 9.3 but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth But to go on I must observe how the Lord absolutely and subjectively taken doth in Paul's stile ever imply the Person of the Lord Jesus So in John's stile the Name Word used in the same manner doth always signifie the same Person And our Saviour the Eternal Son of God call'd by the Names of Jehovah Lord God Son of God who at several times was in Human Shape seen by the Patriarchs and spoken of by the Prophets is the same who in the fulness of the Times was made Man in the Virgins Womb his Body by the Operation of the Holy Ghost having out of her Substance been therein form'd and preserved from natural human Corruption not that he was transubstantiated into Flesh for what is changed into another ceases to be what he was and begins to be what he was not but God can never cease to be what he is nor become what he was not But to return to the Name the Word when the words are the same and about the same Subject we may believe the Thoughts and the sense to be the same for the meaning is express'd by words In the first Chapter of John the Name God is eleven times in a true and proper sense made use of and in that whole Gospel nor in the whole New Testament can any instance be given that the absolute word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God in the Singular be improperly taken but always properly so we must take the word in the usual and natural sense of the Scripture rather than in the improper and metaphorical of Socinians So when John saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word was God we must properly understand the Names Word and God the first of the Person the second of the Nature Here they would cavil with saying God is the Subject the Word the Predicate but certainly there being the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyned to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and none to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sheweth the contrary but indeed the Exception is frivolous because essentialia praedicata sunt reciproca the essential Predicates are convertible if God be the Word the Word must be God Take notice how as by the Word God the true God is to be understood so when 't is said the Word was God 't is meant the Word was the true God They object he that is with one is not the same whom he is with so the Word must needs be one and God another but they will not take notice how the Evangelist saith not only that the Word was with God but also in the same Verse that the Word was God which is so plain as to need no Interpretation But to answer in the School way I say he is not the same formalitèr sub eodem conceptu formally and under the same Notion but in a different here are two Persons he who is and he whom he is with we confound not but distinguish the Persons the Word is essentially God tho' not relatively the Person of the Father They move every Stone if possible to serve their turn therefore as they would rob the Lord Jesus of having created the World so they go about to deprive him of preserving and upholding it for what is said of God's upholding all things by the Word of his Power Heb. 1.3 Colos 1.17 which in another place is thus By him all things consist which means thè same as the other yet the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original rendered by to uphold they would Translate to govern which is an idle nicety he that governs well doth uphold what he governs so that provided the thing remains we will not stand
by the Word John 5.7 the Son must be Understood for Father and Son are relatives and as the Father is a Person so must the Son so must the Holy Ghost yet they deny the most Holy Trinity asserted in Scriptures and confirm'd to have been the belief of the Whole Primitive Church as contained in the Apostolical Nicene and Athanasian Creeds and in the Constantinopolitan wherein the others were Comprehended and owned in the Confession of Faith of all Christian Churches in the World which was and is still made the first Article of Faith of One God in Three Persons yet against these great Lights they impiously say * Catech. Racov. Sententiam eorum c. the Opinion of these who do Attribute Divine Nature unto Christ is contrary not only to sound Reason but also to the Word of God and they do grosly err who affirm that not only the Father but also the Son and the Holy Ghost are Persons in one Godhead and †Vorstius one saith the Arguments by the Ancient Fathers and Modern Divines made use of for the Eternal Generation of Christ are either Fallacious or Frivolous and * Smalcius ad nov monst part 2. c. 22. p. 198. another calls them Ratiunculae Nugatoriae Trifling words the same in another place affirms that †Exam. 100. Errâ—r Er. 26. Christ before his Resurrection was not perfectly Christ or Son of God or God And elsewhere that Christ's Divinity consists in his sitting at the Right Hand of the Father Sessio Christi ad dextram Dei est Christi divinitas I begin to tremble when I think of what I am just now entring upon but 't is fit they should be known in their own Colours Here with Horror read how Blasphemonsly those Hellish and Abominable Monsters as are Servetus Dudithius Socinus himself and several others of those wicked Men so much admir'd by Vnitarians writ of the most Holy and most Blessed Trinity they call it Monstrum Tricipitem Cerberum Tricorporem Gerionem Deum fictitium ac Sophisticum Idolum novum Fabulosam Chymeram humanum Commentum Diabolicam Idaeam Babelis Turrim of many more I shall add the following which makes the Pen drop out of my Hand The most adorable Trinity is call'd Blasphemum dogma ex imô orcô per Filium perditionis virtute Satanae gentium Ecclesiis obtrusum I am at a stand whether or not to put this in English which though it makes my Heart ake and defiles my Pen yet to the end every one which understands no Latin may abhor such transcendent Blasphemies I say The most Holy Trinity they call a Monster a three Headed Cerberus a Geryon with three Bodies a Forged and Sophistical God a new Idol a Fabulous Chymera a Human Invention a Devilish Idea a Tower of Babel a Blaspemous Doctrine by the Son of Perdition and power of Satan drawn out of the very bottom of Hell and obtruded upon the Church of the Gentiles After this Socinians must not find it strange if I who through God's Grace am a Christian do abhor and detest those Principles which do overthrow the Christian Religion to set up a new one of their own and if I cannot be much in Charity with those who are for such Impieties and Blasphemies Tho' what I have already said be too much yet to shew how they break all Rules and do more and more sink into the Mire and if not worse yet are as bad as the Devil himself for Non audet Stygius Pluio tentare quod audet Effraenis Socinus there they will not stop for he must run fast whom the Devil drives I shall upon the matter add one thing or two more out of their Hellish Writings one of them writing against one of his Adversaries takes an occasion to fall upon Austin * Dudiâ—h Epist ad Bezam in Socin Oper. Tom. 1. p. 525. Tuum tibi Augustinum c. I shall speak to thee of thy Austin For having said many things quite contrary to the Gospel he also hath Publish'd this Eostatical Fancy of three Gods they the first drunk of this Wine afterwards they made others drunken with it so to them is happen'd what usually befals Men who when their sight is troubl'd instead of one they see three or more The same in another place saith †Epist ad Petrum Carol p. 538. Tricipitem Ter geminum c. The Apostles never knew this three Headed and threefold God nor the whole Orthodox Church this is impudently to tell this lye who can without Indignation read such things Do such Miscreants deserve to breath God's Air What that Man saith * Socin Animadv 10. in assert Theol. Coll. posnan Socinus Subscribes to when he saith Deum quidem c. The whole Vniversal Church owns that there is one God but that it doth reverence Vnity in Trinity and Trinity in Vnity no Church of God may by any means own seeing 't is altogether a Humane Invention which Divine Truth doth every way speak against After this ever since our Saviour's days the Church hath been in Ignorance and Darkness nay in a great and damnable Error about these Fundamentals of our Religion but this is not all For as to our Blessed Saviour's Incarnation or the Son of God being made Flesh they impiously Ridicule and Revile it * Ostorod Instit c. 17. p. 96. One calls it Purum c. A meer Porgery of Superstitious Men. Then the Evangelists and Apostles by whose means the Holy Ghost convey'd those Divine Truths to us were Forgers of Lyes thus they set Hand and Seal to what said that Impious Pope Leon X. the Fable about Jesus Christ hath procur'd the Church great Riches Another calls that high and adorable Mystery †Smalc Refut Graveri de Incarnâ—t Dogma c. A most Monstrous Doctrine unworthy to be receiv'd by the Christian Church And the same in a direct opposition to what St. John saith The Word was made Flesh hath this * Exam. 100 Err. Err. 49. Verbum non est Caro factum the Word was not made Flesh and to say the contrary is an Error and that vile Man thinks he can say any thing against Christ and in opposition to Scripture for in the same Book he adds Christus c. Christ from his Birth was not full of Grace and Truth Again Christ at his Death ceased to be Son of God Error 50. and therein he calls it a Fable Tanta est Fabula c. So great is this Fable of the Vnion of two Natures also a Dream of old Women Somnium anile many more such Impieties I could quote but it makes my Heart sick and amaz'd thereat strikes me with Horror and makes the Pen drop out of my Hand About the Holy Ghost they hold three Fundamental Errors First They deny him to be God though in several places Scripture simply and absolutly calls him so Acts. 5.3 4. Peter said to Ananias
the old ones After what I hitherto observed of them and of their Principles these following things I offer to the Serious consideration of the Reader but more especially to that of the Government and Magistracy which are more immediatly concern'd First That our Controversies against Socinians are not about indifferent things or few Ceremonies but concerning the most Fundamental Truths of our Holy Religion for the Doctrines of the Trinity of two Natures in Christ of his Satisfaction of the Grace and Providence of God are not Problematical nor meerly School disputes but of the necessity of Christian Faith I also affirm that Socinians are Christians only in Name not really and in Truth for they own not Christ for what he is and if the * Athan. orat 3.4 cont Arian Ancient Doctors of the Church reckoned the Arians among the Gentiles so we now may account Socinians to be Constantine the Great made an Edict forbidding the Porphyrians to be call'd Christians and that all their Books should be Burnt so this were the proper Course to suppress those of Socinians but instead of that they are suffered not only daily to Print new ones but also to Reprint old ones and thus not only here at home but also to have them from abroad Socinians do not truly confess Christ seeing they deny he hath Divine Nature and make of him but a secondary God an Idol and a Creature God then which nothing more absurd I farther say they ought not to be suffered to have Communion with the Church because they do not together with us know own and Worship the true God who is Father Son and Holy Ghost but they pretend to Worship one first God the Father and another inferiour God made such that is the Son moreover they lay another foundation than that is laid 1 Cor. 3.11 for instead of Christ who is a Divine Person with two Natures they set up another Person who is a meer Man seeing than they lay another Foundation deny Christ Son of God to be come in the Flesh and do not adore him with us for such as he is than we may have no Brotherly Communication with them than they have not with us the same washing of the Blood of Christ and do not believe therewith to be Purged and Sanctify'd for they deny his Satisfaction that he hath laid down a Price to Redeem us they farther deny or depravate the causes and means of our Salvation and are guilty of Idolatry for paying a Religious Worship to him who is not God by Nature and though they would be thought to be Disciples of Jesus Christ yet they deny his Person and betray his Truth I add they Love not Christ and against such 1 Cor. 16.22 the Apostle pronounces Anathema for they Blaspheme against him they pretend to love him only as a Creature when he should be loved as Creator then they are not Pious for such cannot be said to live piously who deprive the true God Father Son and Holy Ghost of the Honour due to him and they are highly mistaken when they would make civil honesty to be Christian Piety and the true knowledge of God and a constant profession thereof not to be a necessary part of Piety They ought not to be suffered in a Christian State so as to have liberty of Conscience with free exercise of and teaching or publishing their Blasphemous and Impious Opinions because they overthrow the foundation of Christian Religion to the dishonour of God's Holy Name seduction of Souls and disturbance of the Church and as 't is a Collection of fundamental Heresies so to tolerate Socinians is thereby to tolerate all those Heresies whereby God's Judgments are drawn upon Nations wherefore Pious Christian Emperours and Kings to promote the Glory of God ever took care to suppress Heresies and Blasphemies as the Ecclesiastical Histories do fully prove it and thereupon let Justinian's Code be consulted against the Heresies of Photinus and of Paulus Samosatenus which Socinians do openly profess Now the Churches in Poland according to the three several Protestant Confessions there will have no Communion with Socinians who at several times were thence banished by their Kings In Holland * In 1598. the States-General having about Socinus asked the Opinion of Junius Trecaltius and Gomarus three Eminent Divines at Leyden the answer was He is no Christian but half Turk for Christians do believe one God with a distinction of Persons but the Mehometan Religion is for one God without distinction of Persons so are Socinians the Judgment of these three Divines agrees †Voidov Ostorod in Apol. in 1600. not only with the truth but also with the general consent of Christians against the Order of the States-General by vertue of which their Blasphemous Books were burnt at the Hague and they Banish'd out of their Dominions they unjustly complain'd and that act they compared with the Spanish Inquisition which here is their usual Discourse and Question will ye bring an Inquisition upon us and as then so now they would plead it to be the interest of the State to tolerate them whereof the contrary I sufficiently proved besides that Religion is against it whose Voice is to be heard sooner than that of false Reason neither ought God's cause to be made a Sacrifice of to any wordly interest among the Burnt Books in Holland was Ostorodus's Manuscript against Tradelius wherein he called Christ's Satisfaction an invention of the Trinitarians according to the place of his where he calls it a false childish ridiculous and blasphemous errour like an old Womens Superstitious and Popish Fable Certainly Men who have so obstinate an hatred of the Truth such mean Thoughts of and Contempt for him who is the way the Truth and the Life Joh. 14.6 are a shame to a Nation a Reproach to a People and a Scandal to Religion also Dangerous because they lose no Opportunity of Publishing their erroneous Opinions and their being supported makes them the bolder therefore 't is wish'd as indeed there is a necessity for it to see our Springs cleared as from Idolatry so from Blasphemy Papists who are great Idolaters are I thank God by Law excluded from having any hand in the Legislative or Executive Powers and 't is but fit that Blasphemers Socinians who confidently brag of their Errours should be so too The Receiver is as bad as the Thief I remember a Blasphemer here James Naylor to stand at the Pilory have his Tongue bored thorough in the Forehead Branded with the Letter B and Condemned during Life to be in Prison without Pen Ink or Paper and though about those times unhappily sprung up several Sects yet general care was ever taken of the main and Fundamentals of Religion even in the Army where was the greatest Latitude allowed for in their Laws and Ordinances of War the first Article was against Blasphemy in these very Words First let no Man presume to Blaspheme the Holy and
in England against Blasphemy and Prophaneness or as he calls it Impiety and Debauchery hath met with great opposition And here 't is known how that Intelligence was too true tho' 't is very sad that two such abominable things as are Blasphemy and Prophaneness should find Friends to favour and support them which none but those who are guilty thereof either directly or by a side-wind will offer to do and it is too true that whilst some good and worthy Persons used their Endeavours to promote the Cause of God others as bad as these are good with their utmost power opposed it And as in the Body when there is a weak and infected part all bad Humours fall in with it so in this case we find a Combination against the Truth not only of the Jews our Saviour's sworn Enemies and of their Friends but also of the worst Sects or Excrements of Christianity so that with the Psalmist we may say Edom Ishmael Psalm 83.5 6 7 8 9. Moab Gebal Ammon Amalek the Philistines c. have consulted together with one consent and are confederate against it Among others for Socinians appeared the Quakers who with them agree in many things as against Revelation and the Word of God which they subject one to their Spirit and Light within the other to their Reason Upon reasonable Grounds it may be question'd Whether Men who own no other Christ but that which they say to be within them who never were Baptized in his Name own in the Church no Ministery by way of Office and receive no Sacraments of Christ's Institution may be called Christians as for Socinians tho' they call themselves so yet are only in Name nor really such but rather Enemies to his Person and his Cross whose Dignity and Merits for all their fair pretences they strive and intend if they can to pull down to that effect they use all they think may conduce to 't but let them design it never so much I can upon certain Grounds assure them they shall never execute it because God's Word we have for it Something else there is which I must take notice of the more because in relation to Laws and Penalties they keep a pother about that Party doth sound a general Alarm and would make many more afraid besides themselves as if they were all concerned for a common Cause but I think none but the guilty ought to fear God forbid the Innocent should suffer with the Guilty but withal the Guilty must not escape with the Innocent for both he that justifieth the Guilty Prov. 17.15 and he that condemneth the Innocent are abomination to the Lord I cannot blame Men for being cautious how to prevent Inconveniencies as much as 't is possible lest the harmless should be involved in the same Condemnation with the mischievous Man which hath sometimes happened and so may again but for Men without a just and visible cause to be over fearful it argues either a faintedness in the Heart or a guilt in the Conscience however let a due Prudence be made use of both in fixing the Guilt and inflicting the Punishment upon the Guilty As 't is necessary and just that Men should plainly know what they are forbidden and must avoid so out of Christian Prudence there ought a difference to be made between the seducer and seduced the obstinate and ignorant the leader and the mis-led Deut. 22.19 29. 'T is to be taken notice of how under the Law there were Fines and Money-penalties laid upon Offenders which may be a warning for these times Now as to the distinction to be made of Persons about the Jews for whom a great regard hath been had of late a necessary care ought to be taken to prevent their spreading abroad their Blasphemies against our Lord and to confine them within their Synagogue for matters of Religion nor suffer them to go about seducing of Souls they should consider here they stand upon no Act of Parliament only upon Connivence Thus we shall pity their Hardness and Unbelief Rom. 11.33 thorough the unsearchable judgments of God which is a continuation of that which their Fore-fathers had from the beginning But Socinians we may look upon with a different eye for they are Apostatized from the Truth which the Jews never professed and continuing obstinate in their Blasphemies they deserve to be delivered unto Satan 1 Tim. 1.20 that they may learn not to blaspheme This is St. Paul's Direction and Practice VVhen a Law is to be made to prevent its becoming a snare it ought to be worded in as plain full and clear Terms as possibly may be though for all that at one time or other some out of perverseness of Nature will study how to wrest it And no wonder seeing they attempt to put false Glosses upon God's Word even in those places which are as plain as can be But from a general Rule to come to a particular one which is what I now purpose I shall now reduce it to the case of Blasphemy about which the Controversie is between the Orthodox and Socinians The occasion of my coming to this when I was just upon concluding this Discourse is given me a sheet of Paper under the Name of a Caution about passing the Bill against Blasphemy whereof the Author goes upon two Heads the first VVhat Blasphemy is in it self the second How far the Civil Authority may go to suppress it This Paper tends to what most of their others do to make all Dissenters even the best sort to think that there is a design to disquiet them but the cloven Foot cannot be hidden for all that own the Doctrinal part of the Thirty nine Articles are not affected only those that be Blasphemers and prophane Men and 't is what they are afraid of 'T is very reasonable and just to make a difference between Ceremonial and Doctrinal Circumstantial and Essential to cut a little Bough is one thing but to lay the Axe at the Root of the Tree is much another The Definition or Description therein given of Blasphemy namely A speaking evil of God is not full and comprehensive enough but in the next Page he adds something as an irreligious and scornful treating of the Divine Majesty in his Nature and Attributes but still this is defective for Blasphemy is not only against the Nature and Attributes but also against the Persons of the Godhead and against the Word and Works of God For Scripture doth plainly speak of Blasphemy against the Son of God Jesus Christ and against the Holy Ghost by Name as elsewhere I gave some Instances of so 't is Blasphemy to speak against what is clearly said in God's Word for herein men give God the lye and make a Lyar of the God of Truth 'T is also Blasphemy to say that all that God made was not good and that in all his VVorkings he is not just and wise Again we Christians own the Knowledge and Belief of
as if done to himself and consequently will punish the Magistrate for hindring them from worshipping those false Gods when they believe them to be true ones Good God! What Times are we come to that such things are suffered to be Printed and go unpunish'd The Magistrate may not punish those who dishonour the true God when they ought to punish those who dishonour false Gods Thus Papists do well to punish those who despise their Wafer-God but those who despise and blaspheme the true Son of God the Lord Jesus must not be meddled with These abominable Lines of Idolatrous Theology I read a second nay a third time thinking I had been mistaken at the first reading A Man who dares to write such things will say any thing else In another place he denies or at least doubts of God's care of his Church or of his power to defend it For he saith pag. 61. If the Pagan Emperours had been for promoting by force what according to their Sentiments was the true Religion they had utterly extirpated the very Name of a Christian A great mistake in him for several of them as Maxentius Diocletianus and many before and Julian the Apostate through cruel Persecutions did all they could towards it but God suffered them not and he never will for our Saviour hath promised Matth. 16.18 The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church Thus they make little of the Church if at Man's pleasure it may utterly be destroy'd whereunto answers their making Religion to be meerly a Priest-craft as they term it also the Author makes no difference between acting for a good or for a bad Cause and so alters the Question which is not Whether every Magistrate may in matter of Religion punish every Opinion contrary to his own But whether a true Christian Magistrate be bound to suppress what overthrows the Fundamentals of true Christian Religion pag. 81. Therefore his Instances of Gallio of the Town-Clerk of Ephesus and of Felix are not to the purpose I suppose he will own the Christian Religion to be now the true one in opposition to the Pagan or to the Jewish in as much as relateth to the coming of the Messiah that one must oppose not Truth but what is contrary to 't therefore the Persons named are not fit Patterns to be imitated by Christian Magistrates Gallio was a Deputy of Achaia Acts 18.12 17. there to maintain the Roman Authority wherefore he prudently would not meddle nor trouble himself with a Difference about Religion among the Jews which was not his business A Town-clerk wisely took care to avoid giving the Romans cause to say that in a tumultuous and seditious way chap. 19. without a just cause they had gathered together to disturb the Government which thereupon might have call'd them in question As for Felix he was the Roman Governour who minded to enrich himself and not to decide Matters of Controversie about Religion among the Jews a Covetous Man who hoped that Money should have been given him of Paul ch 24.26 So these Examples hold no proportion with the Duty of a Christian Magistrate to act against those who would overthrow Christianity And why should not the Magistrate take care of the good of the Souls as well as of that of the Body of the Subjects and punish Soul-destroying Errors and Practices Among the Jews a stubborn Son upon this Accusation by the Parents before the Elders how that he was a Glutton and a Drunkard Deut. 21.20 was stoned to Death and shall they who among Christians Blaspheme God be unpunished Of two contrary Propositions if one be true necessarily the other must be false 't is so of two Opinions in Religion if the Doctrine for the Most Holy Trinity and Divinity of Christ be true as it is then its contrary must be false And do not God's Laws bid us to follow adhere unto and be for the truth so as to promote it Every one in his Station ought to be against what is contrary to 't And to say the truth as this is the interest of Religion so 't is become the Magistrates concern to mind it upon his own account for that sort of Men with open Mouth and plainly tell him he hath nothing to do to meddle with their Religion whether true or false nor tho' Blasphemous and Idolatrous And on the other side this Author would influence the Members of Parliament who are for Penal Laws against their Blasphemies with suggesting that thereby they may happen to act against themselves which cannot be except they were of the same Principles with them thus he speaks pag. 43. Therefore it shews the greatest Indiscretion in those who tho' they have a share in the Legislature yet are subject to the Laws themselves to consent to any persecuting ones because they cannot be sure but that they are contriving Rods for their own Backs They cannot forbear ever calling Persecution any thing tending to restrain them the cause must be examined to find out the true Name of the thing 't is not the manner but the cause of Death that denominates one a Martyr 't is Justice not Persecution to punish Idolatry and Blasphemy and make use of a restraining Power Herein the Protestant Maxims differ from the Popish that these require a blind Obedience and will not admit others to speak for themselves but Protestants do We cannot approve the Socinians Latitude in advising and encouraging every one to read all manner of Books stuffed with Heresies and Blasphemies pag. 119. which is as dangerous as to put a Cup full of Poison into a Child's Hand or of one who knows not what it is Must every Ploughman or other Ignorant Person who neither knows nor understands the things of himself explain matters of Salvation or be Judge thereof In God's Name let every one read Scripture for all therein is excellent and good no Poison therein as in some Mens Books and therein let them be instructed and when Difficulties occur advised and directed by sound and knowing Men But chiefly upon the reading of the Word let them often be upon their Knees to beg of God to guide them by his Holy Spirit Some are not able to discern a Fish from a Serpent which commonly lies hidden in those unsound Books and by reason of natural corruption some would be apt to choose the worse I know that when the necessary means prescribed in God's Word to inform and make us understand have been used then every one must apply it to himself not of himself for that application is the Work of God's Spirit every one is not able to understand only those whom from above 't is given to pag. 120. 'T is not out of any mistrust of the Goodness and Truth of our Cause as he seems to insinuate that we would not have those that are not sufficiently instructed in the Grounds of it Converse either with the Heretick Persons or