Guide it must be first subordinate to Revelation which is the prescribed Rule and from which it ought not to recede no more than a Judge from the Law as Paul told Ananias or else he is in danger of falling into Precipices that 's the Light it must follow and as the Soul is guided by Reason so must Reason be by Revelation neither can Reason and outward Revelation do the Work without inward Revelation whereby Reason is supernaturally endowed and this is Faith a Gift of God this is the ground of our Blessed Saviour's giving his Father thanks for revealing the Mysteries of Faith and Salvation unto Babes that is those who as yet in his Sense were not capable of Reason and plainly tells Peter that if he knew and confessed him to be the Son of the living God Flesh and Blood or his natural Reason had not revealed it unto him but his Father which is in Heaven When the Lord Jesus was upon leaving this World he promised his Disciples a Guide what their own Reason no such thing but the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Truth who should teach them all things and bring to remembrance whatsoever he had said unto them and he was to abide with them for ever this Spirit of God is the right Guide whom true Protestants own to lead and guide us in the way of Salvation and this he doth not according to human Fancies or private Inspirations but according to the Rule of the Word for saith our Saviour he shall receive of mine that is my Word and shall shew it unto you for he shall not speak of himself he teaches and applies the Word and his working is by the Apostle called the Spirit of a sound Mind which God hath given us so that a sound Mind an Orthodoxy in the Faith is an Effect of God's Gift not of our Reason or of any thing else in us wherefore David saith give me Vnderstanding according to thy Word But these things Socinians have been told over and over and in the Preface and latter end of my Book I think I said enough to satisfie unbyassed Persons so have others too this is the sure and infallible Guide which God hath given us and not any human Authority different from or contrary to it the Pope we cannot own for he is a Party and sets up for himself nor the antient Writers if they deviate from the Rule but 't is a good Argument for the things wherein they follow it Men must not be so selfish and wilful as to despise others who may have the Spirit of God as well as themselves and being Witnesses of those Times are able to inform us how things stood in their time and cannot be partial for this wherein we live The Author of the first Letter hath a touch upon the matter and that 's all 't is about the interpretation of what S. John saith the Word was made Flesh I confess there is a great difference in the interpretation we say according to the natural Signification the Word or Son of God took upon him our human Nature they say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate the Word signifies Reason rather than Word and they infer that the Reason or Wisdom of God was communicated unto Jesus Christ this is a very much forced Interpretation and fetch'd afar off for all along the Word is spoken of as a Subject and they would make a shift to turn it into the Predicate Now what shall we do of these two Opinions to find out the true one for if every Person or Party be allowed such a Latitude as to interpret things after their own Fancy there will be no end of false Glosses and wrong Interpretations how doth the Goldsmith do to know true Gold or Silver from that which is false he brings it to the Touch-stone so must we in this case between them and us is a Difference the Party must not be the Judge 't is not just they should be Judges in their own cause nor we in ours then we must agree about a Judge such as is impartial and infallible and none but God is such now God doth not immediatly speak from Heaven for he doth it in his Word that is his Will and ought to be our Law and Rule in matters of Faith I will believe no Man's Assertion except out of Scripture he proves it to me the like he may justly expect from me but in case of that Text of Scripture he and I give different Interpretations what 's to be done we ought still to keep in the same Court and wait for a Decision from the same Judge then I must prove my Interpretation by some other place of Scripture or else he must not believe me nor I him except he doth the like and if Men will but lay aside Prejudices and be acted by a real and sincere desire to find out the Truth God will not leave them but therein afford such Helps as shall answer their Good for all Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect Now let us come to our Point and reduce the Rule to a Practice the Question is Whether by the Word is meant a Person as we say or a Quality as they would have it there is a great Difference between Persons and Things now to find out the Truth this Text must be compared with others we need not to go far for in the first Verse of the Chapter we read thrice the same Name in the beginning was the Word was signifieth existed had a Being which relateth to a Person and not to a Thing the same Word was with God and was God what a Quality with God and a Thing God doth the Evangelist begin his Gospel in so high a strain only to tell us how Reason was in the beginning how Reason was with God and Reason was God or in plain Words that God was Reasonable which is a Truth known to every one so no need to tell it but he would acquaint the Readers with things before unknown to them besides doth this hold any proportion with the Nature and Excellency of the Gospel and great Tidings of Salvation this indeed is to exalt Reason and because they make a God of their Reason therefore for Name 's sake Reason must be deified then according to their Principle this Reason must be an efficient Cause of all for all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made to create and make things is the Property and Act of a Person and not of a Thing in him as in a Person and not as in a Thing was Life and the same Apostle calls him the Word of Life that Life which was manifested and that Eternal Life which was with the Father first and then was manifested unto us as if
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. Hinc Drances Thersites inde If any teach otherwise and consent not to wholsom words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Doctrine which is according to Godliness He is proud knowing nothing but doting about questions and strifes of words whereof cometh envy strife railings evil surmisings Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth supposing that gain is godliness From such withdraw thy self 1 Tim. vi 3 4 5. LONDON Printed for J. Hartley over-against Grays-Inn-Gate in Holborn 1698. AN ANSWER TO Two Letters HAving lately publish'd a Book against the present great grievance of the Nation in Matters of Religion Socinianism I mean and knowing how the Pen-men of that Party are now fallen in a course of writing from time to time against what comes out in Opposition to them I indeed looked for an Answer but thought they would have gone about to refute my Arguments as 't is the usual way of those who follow the School Rules but I therein find my self disappointed and am apt to believe that these Men do so far depend upon what their great Masters have done as to think they now may sit still under the shadow of their Works for It is plain say they that the most polite and rational Modern Sermons and other Moral Discourses are extreamly beholden to Socinus his Works Yet instead of what I expected out comes from behind the Curtain and in disguise one of those Fancies which our Ideists are so fond of under the name of An Apology for the Parliament c. and this in Two Letters by different Hands I must need fear what will become of me But Sirs it is not in you the part of generous Enemies tho' to support a weak Cause to come Two against One yet for what they have done 't is no matter for Truth and I against any two or twenty such Hands And the Truth now in question tho' they would have driven it into Corners hath gotten the upper-hand and is so strongly settled that it hath disheartened its Adversaries from making any attempt upon it and they have chosen to meddle with other things and leave that untouched This Answer no Answer this Apology or Two Letters having been sent me down into the Country I fell on perusing of them to see what they contained as to Matters in question and the Cause in hand but 't was not to be found and so I concluded it to be lost among them hardly any Steps thereof being left only instead of it I lighted upon Reflections and Invectives which that sort of Men are full of and very free to bestow against the Author of the Book they fly off from the Point and avoid coming to discuss it What Notion of theirs can this way of deciding Controversies be grounded upon No Answer in the least to any of my Arguments tho' I had given them a large Field They being a People not usually Mute may not I reasonably infer that seeing upon things in question they say nothing then they have nothing to say and so yield the Cause if not positively yet by a good Consequence thus they save me the trouble to refute any thing or to add to what I said upon the Matter tho' about it I have many more things to say The Author of the First Letter gives a convincing and short Reason why he Answers none of my Arguments I thought you an unfit Writer on behalf of the Trinity and therefore did not so much as read over your Book tho' in another place he saith I have dipp'd into it here and there and have staged it over This is magisterially enough decided but there is in such Decisions more Mercury than Salt You say I am an unfit writer upon those Matters and yet you did not so much as read over my Book this is wisely and learnedly spoken 't is an unanswerable Argument but if you had given any for me to answer I might well have desired the Reader by this Paw of yours to have judged of the Lion how great a Logician you are to draw Conclusions out of Premises But what would ye have done if there had been no Epistle nor Preface to carp at Then 't is likely you would have taken no notice of my Book or else why do ye leave the Principal for the Accessary Such a Carriage gives me cause to suspect that seeing you take no notice of it you look upon 't as a Morsel of too hard a digestion for your Stomach therefore you meddle not with it ye Answer it not but Invectives against the Author must do the work for indeed whilst in these Letters I was seeking for what I could not find I found what I was not looking for soft Words and hard Arguments from Men who would seem to have engross'd all Reason unto themselves I sought for but found very soft Arguments if any at all yet hard Words Truly Sirs to Answer in your own way I could almost say I have happen'd to tread upon a Nest of Wasps so had cause to expect some of them would come out Buzzing about my Ears that 's all the harm they can do me if they intend any thing more then I hope they lost their Point and missed their Aim I think that what I said to prove my Assertions might in some degree have been taken notice of but seeing they have no mind to meddle with nor remove the Weight there let it ly for me yet tho' as to the Matter they offer'd nothing to Answer rather than to be altogether silent we must turn to what they otherwise have started up tho' not belonging to the Subject of my Book They act like those who shot at a Man from behind a Hedge and so think they may with safety to themselves wound their Enemy who cannot well close up with them for they with being nameless and in their holes have taken sufficient care to provide against it and none can swear against them Ye are the Men However because such Men would call one dumb who should say nothing to their Imputations and Misconstructions tho' never so groundless I shall by the grace of God take notice of most things in the Letters and therein hope to clear my self of their Aspersions also to demonstrate how they are guilty of some things which they would charge me with or of the same nature and I shall examine what here and there they say about Matters in question Sometimes I shall Answer both Letters together in those things which tend to the same purpose and at other times asunder and as I shall see cause however I shall not do 't in order but here and there according as I light upon the things in the Letters which I intend to examine one after another
contrary to their Subscriptions are departed from the Doctrine I call it the true about Predestination to fall into Arminianism so they may embrace Socinianism as you say the majority now doth and so successively and by degrees pass into any other Heresie for which you give this reason Men cannot help the altering of their Minds This truly and properly is the Religion of Libertinism and Atheism is the next step So Men may plainly see what a kind of Religion you are striving for and would bring us into To what hath been said about Convocations this I shall add that though ye seem to slight a Convocation yet let me tell you either in Quality or Number 't is no despicable Body it being the Representative of a considerable part of the Nation and 't is hoped from the Piety and Wisdom of the Parliament that in Matters of Religion upon occasion they will not despise their Advice and Address In the Disputes about Socinians and us we are agreed to be judged by the Word of God yet they dislike our making use of it against them too much as they think but this Gentleman who in the beginning of his Letter complains of my numerous Quotations of Scripture Phrases as he calls it hath taken effectual care to avoid giving me cause to complain of the like against him for in the whole Letter there is but one Quotation just at the latter end of it and 't is usher'd in with this Christian Preamble ' The ill-natur'd turn of your Title-Page and the malicious and persecuting design of your Preface convinced me that if we may believe our Saviour Christ you know neither the Father nor the Son this is what we call To beat a Man with his own Weapons his own he hitherto used to little purpose at last he resolv'd to try whether the same I made use of against him would do his Work but he is so unskilful in handling of it that 't will not serve his end but is against rather than for him He saith to me If we may believe our Saviour Christ the if may well be turned against you out of another Mans Pen it were not questionable as 't is out of yours I wish you would believe him as we do when he absolutely and without any limitation doth call himself the Son of God as some times they wrest his Words so here they would make him say that I know neither the Father nor his Son whereupon he quoteth this Text They shall put you out of the Synagogues yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you shall think that he doth God service and these things will they do unto you because they have not known the father nor me But how well applyed let us see not at all to his purpose for there the Lord Jesus foretold his Disciples that for his sake and upon his account Persecutions should befall them I ask whether in earnest he looks upon himself and other Socinians to be Disciples of Christ May be such as Judas was who betrayed his Person as they do his Truth but true Disciples that cannot be for suppose that Sect were brought under the Rod it would not be for his Cause His Apostles as we read in several places of the Book of the Acts suffered Persecution for owning Christ to be the true Son of God the holy one the Prince of Life and not for affirming him to be a meer Man who had no Being before he was born of the Virgin Mary and denying him to be true Eternal God of the same Nature with the Father certainly if God should bring you to Punishment ye could not have the face to say it is for the same Cause as his Disciples suffered they suffered for giving him his due and ye for robbing him of it Therefore to retort your own Argument upon you I say ye know neither the Father nor the Son for the Father ye cannot know but in and by the Son The Son ye do not know for ye will not own him to be what he is namely true eternal God blessed for ever thus out of our Saviour's own Words I conclude against you as in this same Cause and upon the same account he did against the Jews who looked on him as a meer Man and would by no means own him truly to be God Son of God Ye neither know me nor my Father if ye had known me ye should have known my Father also Wherefore since ye know me not ye know not my Father neither This weight I farther lay upon you how as ye know not so ye have not the Father for ye deny the Son to be what he is indeed of the same Nature with the Father and the Apostle saith Whosoever denyeth the Son the same hath not the Father to deny the Son is not only to deny him to be but also to deny him to be what he is And now since I am upon this your Words If we may believe our Saviour Christ are a Motive for me to go on and to call things by their Name to say ye are a sort of Infidels for ye will not believe God tho' he speaks from Heaven not only once but twice and thrice in our Lord's Baptism in his Transfiguration and at another time when the Voice came from Heaven God the Father from Heaven proclaimed him to be his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased with a Command to hear him Hear ye him yet ye will not believe the Father nor hear the Son who appeals to that Testimony of the Father nor when he calls himself God's Son onely begotten who is One with the Father in Power equal with him For what things soever the Father doth these also doth the Son likewise that the Father sent him out of his Bosom that he came down from Heaven he proceeded and came down from God and so many more things to that purpose But now he speaks to you as once he did to the Jews Why do ye not understand my speech even because ye cannot hear my word yet him ye will not hear but mark what will become of it And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that Prophet in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you shall be destroyed among the People Ye would rob him of that Glory and Honour which he received from God the Father which not only is recorded by the Evangelist but confirmed by an Apostle with all the necessary Circumstances what where and when We were eye-witnesses of his majesty for he received from God the Father honour and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased which he affirms not by hear-say but as ear-witness for he addeth And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount But ye will hear neither Christ nor his
thing we go about we are to call upon God for his help and the gracious influence of his Holy Spirit being sure that without it we can do no good and we be sufficiently taught in Scripture to trust to no strength or abilities of our own and when in the World we meet with Men of Principles contrary to these we find it not strange for we know that there must be also Heresies among us or those called Christians that they which are approved may be made manifest among us Wherefore as long as we have about these Matters such a Foundation as Paul the great Preacher of Free Grace hath laid we need not to care for all Exceptions or Cavils of Men or Devils These are such Truths as we hope through Grace never to be ashamed or afraid to own unto the end even to lay down our Lives as he did his for so Glorious a Cause The Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and his Grace are so linked together that no Man strikes at one but the other feels it tho' may be in a different degree they have a common Enemy so he who is against one is against both which I positively affirm of Socinians Grace and Truth saith the Evangelist came by Jesus Christ who coming into the World brought Grace along with him for he is the Spring of it which he manifested in framing and redeeming of his Church the Foundation whereof and of our Christian Religion lies in this great and fundamental Truth whereof Peter made a Confession how Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God upon the verity whereof there our Saviour declared that his Church should be built and at the same time signified that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it For this is the House built upon a Rock which tho' the Rain descendeth and the Floods come and the Wind blows yet it falls not for it is founded upon a Rock In that Promise of his the Lord Jesus declares two things First The Gates that is the Power of Devils in Hell would afterwards make some attempt against that fundamental Truth of his being the Son of the living God As indeed it hath from time to time raised its strongest Batteries against it as not long after his Ascension even in the life time of his beloved Disciple and after his death the Assaults began by Simon the Sorcerer Ebion Cerinthus Menander and afterwards by other Hellish Instruments But in Arius's time great strugglings happened with so prodigious a success that all the World was said to be Arian hence came the Saying All the World against Athanasius and Athanasius against all the World so afterwards for the same Cause against our Saviour's Divinity several fought under the Banners of Hell as now tho' more cunningly Socinians do having taken up the Cudgels and as those Blasphemous Opinions were exploded out of the World so shall be in God's due time those which are raging for the present notwithstanding all the Craftiness Malice and Power of Hell and all Antichrists of Devils and Men This my so positively speaking is grounded upon Christ's Promise how the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the truth of his being the Son of the living God which his Church is built upon and this is the Second thing not only deduced from but plainly contained in those words of the Lord Jesus whose Person is a fit Object of Adoration as his Grace is of Admiration These Truths one may abundantly be satisfied with out of Scripture which I much have made use of because some places prove a Truth directly others collaterally and others are brought in to illustrate and give a light to the thing so that Scripture is of several uses nothing therein without some use 't is of it as of the Rivers in the Garden of Eden they all did not run one and the same way But now to conclude I in the first place put you in mind to Answer my Book and then take this Occasion which you give me in case ye knew it not before to acquaint you how upon those Matters I have written a Book hitherto Unanswered if you have such an aversion for them as you express do but give us in Print your Thoughts about it 't is a fair Field I offer you but be not afraid for 't is not Smithfield but if ye can defend that Cause no better than the Socinian about the Holy Trinity and Person of the Lord Jesus then it will be in you but Time and Labour lost in vain And if you go about it be more Serious in a Business of so high a nature and less Virulent and Malicious For shame leave off Jesting with Holy things and let it be without giving ill Language for therein I yield you know to do 't more than my self and write like Scholars and Gentlemen without breaking the Bonds of Humanity with Arguments as hard as ye please but softer Words and make no more haste than good speed if ye come in that way then by the Grace of God I will fairly Answer you in the like manner and tho' already there is Work enough cut for you I doubt more than ye are well able to compass yet several new Arguments I have to bring in but if in the usual Scolding Reviling way I will leave you to chew your Cud May be your Bantering way of Writing hath succeeded against some but be not mistaken with others it will never do come with good Arguments and then I am for you however come which way you will I declare I shall not in the least care whether you come asunder or both together FINIS BOOKS Printed for J. Hartley THE Blasphemous Socinian Heresie Disproved and Confuted c. With Animadversions on Mr. Toland's Christianity not Mysterious Dedicated to both Houses of Parliament By J. Gailhard Gent. Verdicts of the Learned concerning Virgil and Homer's Heroic Poems Regular and Irregular Thoughts in Poets and Orators Page 18. Page 15. Page 4. Page 3. Gal. 4. 18. Rev. 3. 15. Page 3. Luke 16. 8. pag. 59. 1 Cor. 2. 4 5. Acts 15. Eccles 4. 10. * 1 Cor. 12. 28. and Ephes 4. ii 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. 1 Cor. 12. 30. 2 Pet. 3. 16. Luke 16. 31. Luke 20. 38. 2 Cor. ii 8. 1 Cor. 2. 12 13. Ephes 1. 16 17 18. Colos 1. 9. 1 Cor. 15. 58. Coloss 2. 7. Heb. 13. 9 1 John 4. 1. 2 Pet. 3. 16. Page 8. Page 4. 16 18. 1 Cor. 7. 7. Acts 17. 2. Acts 28. 23. 1 Cor. 15. 34. Acts 1â— 24 28. Chap. 17. 11. Luke 24. 44. Ver. 45. Isa 8. 20. Matt. 7 5. Pag. 6 7. Job 13. 4. Psal 74. 22. John 20. 31. pag. 6 8 pag. 11. Acts 2â— 3. Matth. 16. 17. John 14. 16 17. Chap. 16. 13 14. 2 Tim. 1. 7. Psal 119. 169. pag. 8. 2 Tim. 3. 16. 1 John 1 2. 1 Cor. 2. 15. 1 Tim. 3 16. Gal. 4. 4. Rom. 8. 32. p. 12 13. John 10. 33 36. John 14. 10. Chap. 11. 4. Isa 42. 8. Luke 2. 49. 50. Coloss 2. 9. Prov. 28. 26. Chap. 23. 4. p. 9 10. In 1565. and 1660. pag. 39. p. 6. 13. Page 14 2 Tim. 2. 25. pag 30. John 16 2 3. Joh. 8. 19. 1 John 2. 23. Matt. 3. 17. and 17. 5. Joh. 12. 28 Joh. 5. 37. Joh. 8. 43. Acts 3. 22 23. 2 Pet. 1. 16 17 18. John 10. 3 4 5. 2 Cor. 11. 13 14. page 17. pag. 19. pag. 18. Matt. 1â— 31. Luke 22. 65. Acts 13. 33 45. 1 Tim. 1. 13. Acts 26. 11. Ephes 2. 12. Coloss 2. 9. pag. 19. Psal 53. 1. pag. 22. Heb. 12. 16. pag. 25. Rom. 12. 5. 1 Cor. 6. 15. Coloss 1. 24. Ephes 5. 23 32. Psal 111. 9. Ephes 5. 4. pag. 20. Matt. 11. 27. Rom. 1. 21 c. John 8. 55. Chap. 14. 7. 2 Cor. 4. 6. pag. 21. pag. 18. 1 Pet. 4. 18. p. 22 33. p. 33. â—9 Rev. 2. 9. 3. 9. p. 7. p. 22. pag. 33. Lev. 5. 1. Deut. 19. 21. Lev. 24. 16 23. p. 25. p. 27. p. 18. p. 4. p. 27. p. 28. p. 29. p. 30. p. 30. Num. 16. 7. p. 31. p. 28. p. 33. p. 40. Rom. 2. 1. Coloss 4. 6. 1 Pet. 3. 15. pag. 42 43. Acts 19. 19. p. 31. Gen. 16. 12. Josh 7. 2 Sam. 21. 1. Joel 2. 25. Rom. 1. 32. Monday May 17. p. 36. p. 37. p. 14. p. 37. p. 38. p. 26 29. Acts 26. 11. p. 28. p. 35. p. 33. p. 41. p. 18. Phil. 4. 5. Luke 18. 11 12 13. Prov. 3. 5. John 1. 17. Matt. 16. 18. Chap. 7. 24 25. A Plea for Free Grace against Free-will * p. 9 20 33.
of Man's Wisdom or with studied affected pompous Expressions which only bad Causes stand in need of but as our Faith doth not stand in the Wisdom of men but in the Power of God so I endeavoured with good Arguments drawn out of his Word which hitherto remain unanswered to confute Heresie and Sophistry One must not so much mind Words and Stile when the Question is about Things Those Men who mind more how they say than what they say desire their own Glory more than the Good of others In a Declamation one hath more Freedom of Stile than in difficult and deep Points of Divinity Philosophy and Mathematicks certain Matters are not adapted to a lofty Stile they that are so fond of this more than of the other are like those who prefer the Shell before the Oyster or the Stone before the Kernel Now to come to that which concerns me I say it being no evil thing to promote a good Cause by all lawful means for Right and Favour to countenance it are not incompatible not to be wanting in any thing depending upon me the Parliament then sitting and I knowing how there are several honorable and worthy Members who lay to Heart the Glory of God wherein the good of the Nation doth consist with all due Respect in an Epistle Dedicatory I humbly commended and offered it to the serious Consideration of both Houses in hope that this might happen to be a means amidst their application to the great National Concerns of another nature to draw their Eyes towards this Cause thereby to bring a Blessing of God upon their Proceedings for the greater the Emergencies and Occasions are the more need of God's Favour which may be procured no better than with doing such things as are acceptable in his sight as is the care of his Honour and Service After I had done the most and in my Book about several Points proved the Falshood of Socinianism I thought I might shew the Necessity of a Remedy and endeavour to set to work as many Hands as I could and as no Man may deny it to be the Concern of a Parliament for every new one doth appoint a Committee of Religion to look into things belonging to 't always necessary but specially when the most fundamental part of the Doctrine of the Church by Law established is daily publickly and in print stricken at so I thought I might humbly address to both Houses as the undisputably competent Judge of such things wherein I think I have done nothing contrary to the Laws of God and of the Land nor to the Rules of Charity and so deserve not the hard Names nor ill Language given me by those who have no better Argument to defend a bad Cause for all their pretended good nature and to throw Dust into Peoples Eyes only to shuffle off the matters in question The truth is that Society of Men are against all manner of restraint in matters of Religion they would have every one believe and profess what seems good in his eye and so of the Church which is the House of God to make a meer Babel and Confusion without Order and Rule which Frame will at last rend in in pieces and ruin it In the Church there must be some Authority of the Rulers of it over the Members Christ hath formed and given it a Being and left Rules for the preservation and well-being thereof the Admiministration of which he hath committed to her Governours and to what purpose should those Laws be if there was no Executive Power there is an Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction with a Coercive and Expulsive Power there are Pales and Walls to hinder Wild Boars and ranging Bears from coming in and Doors to turn out those who offend infect dishonour endanger and would undermine it And Convocations which I see they care not for are necessary from time to time to promote her good and to remedy or prevent Inconveniences chiefly those which relate to Doctrine and tho' we attribute an Infallibility to none of them as there is none upon Earth yet 't is their Province for their own Members to declare about Heresie Blasphemy and other things contrary to sound Doctrine and Piety To me there appears none more competent Judges in such things than those who have Christ's Commission to feed and to rule over his Flock and in the right administration of this Office the Civil Powers called the Nursing Fathers of the Church are bound to protect and assist them against the Enemies of the holy Trinity and of the Person of Jesus Christ such are Socinians Tho' according to Times and Places Men have different Notions of divine Truths yet a real divine Truth is such at all times and in all places 't is not the Opinion which Men have of it that makes it to be Truth or not Truth nor can the several contrary Interpretations change it so if the 39 Articles specially those that relate to Faith were true at first they must be so at last and no following Convocation can make them not to be what they are or to be what they are not 't is not the stamp of any human Authority that may make a divine Institution to be divine or not and tho a new Convocation should repeal what in Fundamentals a former one setled yet some reasons for it ought to be produced About doubtful things Advice may be asked as it was in the Dispute about Circumcision when Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem for Counsel about it nothing must be omitted that may lawfully contribute towards clearing of the matter but when after a serious Examination by the Rule of God's Word according to the true signification of the words in the Original the scope of the place and the Analogy of Faith Articles of Faith once are declared 't is fit to stand to them and the Church by which they are received is enabled to judg of what is or is not contrary thereunto and to keep from coming in those who would against her mind and turn out her own Members which hold Doctrines contrary to the Truth she professeth So the Church of England being satisfied that the Socinian Tenets are quite contrary to the 1st and 2d Articles of Faith she believes hath right to turn out Socinians that are within her Pales and hinder those who would come in from without And if she wants a sufficient Power she may very well sue for help from the Civil which is the legal way for Relief and when this takes an effectual Course about it 't is Wrong and Injury to the Right and Liberty of the Subject no more than 't is Injustice to hinder one Fellow-Subject from hurting another This is no Popish Principle nor contrary to those of Reformation But where a National Church is setled to allow every Man a liberty to frame unto himself what Notions he pleases of Religion then to promote vent and publish it to the Disturbance of what is
already setled by Law you thereby introduce Confusion into the Church which may soon become Anarchy in the Government which to prevent in my humble Address to the Parliament I thought the Laws now in being about such things might be executed and if in their Wisdom they thought fit new ones be enacted What Papists believe or do as to Authority about Interpretation of Scriptures is no Rule nor Precedent for us there is a sad Experience in the World of the nature of the Spirit which they are acted by and of the Methods they have taken to support their spiritual Tyranny over the Consciences and Souls yea Lives of Men they made themselves Parties and Judges and would admit or hear of no Reasons contrary to theirs which were grounded not upon God's Word tho' in some things they pretend it but their own Traditions and Practice to their Church Now among us you find no such thing the Law is open for you if you take Scripture to be it whereof you sadly wrest the Words contrary to their natural Sense without giving any good Reason for it and you stand by your selves in defiance and opposition of the general Consent of the Universal Church which condemned those unsound Men when they appeared against the Person of our Saviour and Lord. And here I must say we no more than you receive the Authority of Antiquity or of Fathers upon their own bottom for we agree they were fallible when they said so and so but whether in so saying they spake truth is well worth enquiry into I will compare them with Scripture and if they agree with it I will agree with them And this is to me a strengthning Evidence that I am not singular seeing others as well as I could in the Word of God find those Truths which I do believe Wo be to him that is alone abounds in his own Sense and thinks he knows more than all the World besides for the application of Scripture Truths it may be every ones Right to direct himself by his own Reason enlightned by the Spirit as to the Explication a very great care ought to be had and still according to the Rule of God's Word with all the help he can get besides but when they have Opinions which they find are generally opposed People so modest so quiet and of the Character they give of themselves not to disturb others should keep it within themselves and not be so servent as ye are to spread it abroad whether your Zeal be without or against Knowledg And if every one who pretends to be a Member of the Church be so busie as ye are to promote their Opinions and no Curb be put upon Interpretations then no end of Heresie Blasphemy or of all sorts of the worst Opinions But before I proceed I think fit to pull down that Strong-hold of theirs as they take it to be tho' rather Sandy Foundation of a free liberty for every one to make what interpretations they please and that I shall the more willingly do tho' as briefly as I can because 't is a Matter controverted between them and us which I had no occasion to meddle with in my Book To begin I say as there is a Right so there is a false Interpretation of Scripture The Right is that which gives the true sense and meaning the False on the contrary Now if every private Man might Interpret Scripture what monstrous Interpretations would there be as we see it too much in the World and this is the ground of Heresy Blasphemy and Fanaticism which to prevent the Lord Jesus as St. Paul saith in those two places where he mentions the Offices in the Church hath settled Prophets and Teachers Every private Man may Read but not Interpret Scripture which in this Case is the first thing to be known For saith the Apostle knowing this first that no Prophecy of the Scripture is of any private Interpretation so the Interpretation must come from whence the Revelation came 't is but one and the same Spring therefore in the next Verse he clears the Matter For Prophecy came not in old time by the Will of Man but holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost which doth exclude as humane private Revelation so also humane private Interpretation And herein Paul joineth with Peter when he puts this Question Do all Interpret Which contains an Exclusive how all do not no more than all are no workers of Miracles Furthermore we must know how Scripture hath a binding Power not only directive but also decisive over the Conscience so that thereby the Conscience far from having that free liberty is tied and bound to the determination of the Word or else no Man that believes an Opinion contrary to sound Doctrine and never so heretical and blasphemous could be guilty of Sin But we are assured of the contrary for they who wrest the Scriptures do so unto their own destruction tho' a man must be very cautious not to go against his Conscience yet where there is a Competition between God and Man the Word of God and the Judgment of Man when each challenge of us a Consent we must give it the Word which certainly is true and infallible preferably before the Conscience which may be seduced and erroneous which happens often when 't is guided by humane Reason In Scripture is in matters of Faith a convincing and constraining Power which in Conscience we are bound to submit to in Humane things the Judge is not properly Judge except he Judges according to the Law for he hath no power to alter or corrupt but to declare the true sense of it The Interpretation of the Divine Law which the Question is now about may happen to be mistaken but the Law never for 't is Infallible as being the Word of the True and Infallible God hence is derived its Divine and Undisputable Authority beyond that of any thing else and it should work upon men more than Miracles even than raising from the Dead which may be called the greatest of all for they that hear not Moses and the Prophets will not be perswaded tho' one rose from the Dead The reason is because therein the Spirit of God speaks and thereby leads us into all Truth And indeed if Scripture was not the end of Debates in matters of Religion our Conscience could never be settled nor quiet for that same thing no Humane Reason Power or Judgment is able to effect but we aquiesce to rest and depend upon the Word of the God of Truth and if at the Bar of Conscience there was no such binding Rule but men were left to their own private Judgment none would be bound to believe Scripture but always live amidst Doubts Difficulties and Conjectures not to say singular Notions Fancies and Dreams and so we could never be at a certainty Besides that after this there were no Sin in any man to receive any
and said what might be expected from a Member my work being to Vindicate the Honour and Right of my most blessed Lord and Saviour as far as he will be pleased to enable me and to pull off the Vizard from these falsly pretended Members of the Church In the Pamphlet are several Trifles under the Head how wide Socinianism is spread which yet in my way I shall take a short notice of not minding what he saith of my ill-natur'd and malicious Paper for by this time he hath pretty well used me to ill Language as to an idle foolish talking and which is the worst ridiculing and profaning Holy things In several Parts of Europe where I happened to meet with the dispersed Jews I sometimes took an occasion to discourse with some of them about our blessed Saviour but in them all from the highest to the lowest I found a gall and prejudice against him and have cause to think those whom we have here in England to be acted by the same Spirit and by some words heard to drop out of Manasseh Ben Israel's Mouth when in Cromwel's time he came over I perceived that if ever they were suffered to stay here they in Matters of Religion would be as ready to do us harm as themselves good in another way and I thought that I being about naming the Enemies of Christ the Jews we have here might not be omitted and I am of opinion that in case among them there be any Man of Parts Socinians would not be backward to gather out of them what Arguments they could against the Person of our blessed Lord no not from Mahometans if any were near and able to afford them and this I said in relation to Servetus one of their Ringleaders who in his Youth being in Africa among Jews and Mahometans suck'd their Blasphemies and brought them into Europe and to shew how in relation to the Principles of Religion about our Saviour's Person 't is possible for a Socinian to become a Turk I prove it by the Example of Alciati one of their Gang and Socinus's Companion who out of Poland fled into Turkey and became Mahometan Do not think I do you any wrong when speaking of Socinianism I mention Mahometanism for tho' as well as you they deny our blessed Saviour to be God yet they own him to be a great Prophet sent by God 'T is observable how Mahomet himself in that part of his Alcoran wherein he relates that notorious Imposture of his having been carry'd up into the highest Heaven there to see great and strange Mysteries whence may be you borrowed your Dream of an imaginary Ascension of our Lord and Saviour after his Baptism before he began to Teach when at his coming to the first Heaven he met with Adam in the second Noah Abraham in the third c. he saith they all one after another commended themselves to his Prayers but when he came into the seventh where he met Jesus himself he commended to Jesus's Prayers And if ye will know how in many things about the Trinity and Christ's Divinity Socinians agree with Mahometans I refer you to Hottingerus in his Histor Orient l. 2. c. 3. Yet tho' what I speak upon the Matter be words of Truth and Soberness he has as good as call'd me Mad and fell into such a long raving Fig as I think it would require a strong dose of Hellebore to purge away the Matter which caused it and that makes him so often talk of Fire and Faggot and such other things as he brings in over head and shoulders and so looks upon me as one who would see all Socinians put to death Socinianism indeed I would gladly see rooted out but to have Men put to death is neither my inclination nor my work yet as there is a Sin of concealing what one hath seen or known so I cannot but take notice of that as in the case of a false Swearer God said thine Eye shall not pity so the Blasphemer was by his immediate command put to death He would take advantage of something I said about Arminians and upon that occasion would act the States-man's part and shew I have taken wrong measures to gain my Point and so would ironically give Counsel By what they say in several places I see they are free enough to Advise tho' undesired and unfit but they should know we are not used to take the Counsel of our Enemies Men who stand for the Truth are not byassed by Worldy Considerations and Designs tho' never so plausible and specious I thank God in Matters of Religion I have no squint Eye I am neither ashamed nor afraid openly to own a Truth if I was not satisfied it is so I would not own it but it being I will do 't by the grace of God as long as I live till I see cause to the contrary Therefore 't is but time and labour lost for such Advisers their wise Counsels let them keep for themselves for some things which they call Sense and Reason others upon better grounds call Sensual Reason And here Sirs I must tell you how you talk so much of want of Learning in others as if ye were the only great Doctors of the World if as ye say I am a Mystery to you so is your Learning a Mystery to me by your Letters I cannot find where it lies nor no Man else I think But to speak confidently to lodge all Brains in the World within your own Skull to outface Men to wrest and misrepresent what others say and to set up for Judges of all good Sense Wit and Learning that indeed ye sufficiently learned and every one may well be satisfied how great proficients ye are in that kind of Learning But to take my turn to Advise you do not always trust your own Looking-glass for it doth but flatter you and represents not after Nature ye would appear unto the World as if all Wit Parts and Learning were monopolised to your selves and all besides you lying in Blindness and Ignorance That Original Sin derived from and inherent in Socinus's Family that old Leaven in you ought to be purg'd but God knows when it will be if at all for ye look very big upon all others like the proud Pharisees This people who not knoweth the Law are Cursed but we sit in Moses his Seat Matters of Grace and Providence I believe to be of the highest Importance and such as our Salvation depends upon and in my judgment I am fully satisfied Arminians to be much in the wrong but however if a Comparison be made between the Socinian and Arminian Principles no Man that is acquainted with both can but make a difference for tho' in many things they agree yet in others of the most Essential as about the Trinity and the Person of our blessed Saviour they differ from them and therein join with us against that common Enemy Socinians lay under open Blasphemy and condemned Heresie by