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
he had said the living God according to an usual way of speaking in Scripture when the Abstract is put for the Concrete thus God is called the Lord our Righteousness that same Word that was God was made Flesh and dwelt among us to dwell denotes a Person and we Beheld his Glory not the Glory of Reason or Wisdom but the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father here is a Relation of a Son to a Father and surely a Son is a Person not a Thing and of this same John bare witness of him saying this was he of whom I spake he that cometh after me is preferred before me read on till ver 19. all along the Word is spoken as of a Person and in ver 17. he declares who that Word is by a Comparison between Persons the Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ This Jesus Christ he hath been speaking of all this while and his Design is to shew that Jesus Christ is the Word so often by him mentioned and to that effect he speaks of John's Evidence about him if the Word be a Thing and not a Person Christ was so and so Moses who was a Person and Christ after he was made Flesh is compared to him O the Perverseness of some Mens Judgment who read Scripture not to find out Truth or be guided by it but out of it to wrest some things to support their Prejudices Papists to set up the Pope's Supremacy think after much seeking to have found a Text to serve their turn he that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no Man with them the Pope is that Spiritual Man the Socinians whose Design is not to set up one as Papists do but to pull down and destroy the great Work of Incarnation say because it serves their turn no Word or Divine Person but only the Reason of God was made Flesh Out of what I have said I think it plainly appears how the Scope of the Place and the Design of the Evangelist is to speak of a Person and not of a Thing But to prove our Interpretation let us further search into Scriptures Paul speaks to our purpose for as John saith the Word that was God was made Flesh so he declares that God was manifest in the Flesh which he calls the great Mystery of Godliness and the whole Verse tho in different Branches as preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory do plainly demonstrate the Lord Jesus to be that God or Person of the Godhead manifest in the Flesh and in another Place he saith when the Fulness of the time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman that Person which in another place is called God in this is called the Son of God and in another God's own Son or proper Son in these several Texts mention is made of an Incarnation or of being made Flesh manifest in the Flesh made of a Woman and God sent his own Son in the Likeness of sinful Flesh and the Subject is called the Word God Son of God God's own and proper Son is there in all this any Metaphor or any Ground to say that the Word made Flesh signifieth Reason communicated to Jesus all this proves that our Interpretation is according to the Analogy of Faith and shews a sweet Harmony of several Texts of Scripture to demonstrate the adorable Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son God Thus far we proved our Interpretation of that Text of Scripture we do not perceive they are in a Condition to do the like for theirs for if they could we should hear of it they have not one Text to do it Magister dixit is no Reason with us the Vnitarian may say but that is not enough what he saith he must prove upon true Grounds and to the purpose well for want of Scripture the Author of the Letter gives a Reason of his own which is this And we all know that Divine Wisdom may be communicated to Man without the Incarnation of God Did ever any one read such a pitiful coming off in so weighty a matter as this is how sawcy with God are some Men in the World in setting out their foolish and wandering Fancies and where is a due Respect for his Holy Word hath not God made foolish the Wisdom of these Men if ever they had any doth this Interpretation hold any proportion with that high and noble Idea which the Evangelist would give us of the Person whose History he writes first of all we defy them to shew that this is the Sense of any Text concerning this Matter Secondly suppose they could yet it being against the usual Meaning they ought to shew reason why in this place it should be taken otherwise and then must such a silly Reason weigh down the Authority of so many Texts of Scripture what will become of all the glorious Attributes and Prerogative of the Lord Jesus over Angels and Men what of that Name which is above every Name God's own only begotten Son in whom he is well pleased if all comes only to this God's Reason and Wisdom were communicated to him which God in a high degree did to Solomon and to others of his eminent Servants whereby he must make them equal with his Son and he with them we all know that God if he pleases can create another World must we conclude therefore he hath not created this God if he had pleased could have delivered his People out of Egypt otherwise than by the hand of Moses must we say therefore he delivered them not by his hand Out of what God can do we must not infer that he hath not done what he hath done because God can communicate Reason to Man therefore the Word the Son of God was not made Flesh Ye great Logicians is this a good Consequence risum teneatis I could almost say if the thing in question was not of the highest importance Before I leave this Point I shall skip over to another place of the Letter for tho' he there speaks not to me but to another whose Notions I am not concerned for yet what he saith relating to the Cause I ought to take notice of the more because it belongs to that Text of John which hitherto we were upon 't is said Tke Incarnation of God is no where expressed in Scripture it can be no more than meerly a deduction from thence 'T is well you are so kind as to grant 't is in 't in some way As to the first part if you say in so many Letters according to your cavilling way we know 't for the word Incarnation is Latin and so none of the Books of Scripture being originally written in that Language we must not think to find it in 't but we say a word altogether equivalent and which signifies the same thing is in 't Doth not to be made Flesh
sense of Scripture tho' never so contrary to the intention of God's Spirit therein and as said before never so Erroneous and Heretical only because it is according to a man 's own private Opinion and deluded Imagination which is to take away the Obligation whereby Conscience and the whole Soul are bound to believe the Truth of Scripture only and not false Interpretations Besides there is in Scripture some matters of Faith which are not so obvious to the Soul and to Reason as matters of Fact are to the Eye and Ear as also there are others not to be Interpreted according to the plain and literal sense as they seem to be Out of the number and variety of such afforded in the Word I shall bring only two Instances Can they think that this Consequence by our Saviour God is the God of the living and not of the dead therefore there shall be a resurrection of the dead is plain and obvious to any man or that this is true Paul is a robber of Churches because he said I robbed other Churches Hence appeareth the danger and inconvenience of allowing of such a particular free liberty of Interpreting Scripture seeing it can be and is so much abused We are taught in the word that we have received the Spirit of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God and which the Holy Ghost teacheth if human Reason were a sufficient Light for a Man to enable him to interpret Scriptures then Paul's Prayer that God would give the Ephesians the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledg of him the eyes of their understanding being enlightned c. The like for the Colossians were in vain for 't is frivolous to ask what one hath already and wants not at all this Liberty which they allow themselves every day to search and find out new Interpretations whereby the Minds of Men are tossed and never to be setled cannot consist with the true Faith revealed in the Word of God which we are commanded to be stedfast in and to be rooted and built up in Christ and stablished in the Faith and not carried about with divers and strange Doctrines Certainly that freedom of interpreting is herein forbidden and so are we forbidden to believe those false Glosses and Interpretations for saith the Apostle Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God the reason is this Because many false Prophets are gone out into the world who allow themselves a freedom of interpreting Scrpiture according to their own humour and fancy no ways allowed by the Laws of God and should not be by the Laws of Men a Curb ought to be put upon such wandering profane Thoughts at least upon the publishing of them The Adversaries who are so fond and conceited of their human Reason Learning and Wisdom might take notice how the Apostle hits them when he calls those who give false interpretations of and wrest Scriptures both unstable and unlearned certainly those Men are unstable who make use of a pretended Liberty ever to give Scripture new interpretations as suggested by their Reason so to day they may give one and the next another different from and contrary to it and is not this Change a Fickleness and Unstableness These unstable Men would make those different interpretations to be a part and proof of their Learning but far from that for Peter calls them unlearned whereby he gives a great blow to that Diana-Idol of theirs But as I hope hereafter by the Grace of God to have an occasion of enlarging upon this I shall for the present forbear saying any more to it What he brings in of Bonner and Latimer about the Interpretation of the Words This is my Body cannot answer his purpose that Instance indeed can shew how a Text may differently be interpreted and that one may happen wrongfully to suffer for a good Cause and how the strongest side and most supported is not always the best But this cannot prove that because one has unjustly suffered the other may not justly suffer that sort of Men who are always wholly bent to provide for their safety would infinuate how no Man should be called to account for any wresting of or putting false interpretations upon Scripture tho never so false blasphemous impious and heretical because he who doth so believeth them not to be such which is their own case it doth not follow that a Truth tho made doubtful because to day 't is supported and to morrow shall be oppressed must not be owned and a Restraint put upon those who oppose it The Merit of the Cause is impartially to be enquired into and when Truth is found out not only it must be exalted but also its contrary is to be kept under Tho Queen Mary supported a bad Cause and suppressed a good one it doth not follow but that Queen Elizabeth did well to suppress a bad Cause and support a good one Tho an innocent be brought to suffer yet the guilty must not go free for all that Because formerly innocent Blood was shed must not Justice now be executed upon Criminals 'T is not the Opinion of Men but the Truth of the Thing which makes any one guilty or innocent the Law is judge of it So in Matters of Religion 't is not the Interpretation of the Text nor the Opinion which the Interpreter hath of the Soundness of his Interpretation that makes it Orthodox and sound but the Word which explains it self for what in one place is dark is plain in some other and when some Men contrary to those Lights will set up heretical and blasphemous Opinions and therein grow obstinate only because they think to be in the right upon such account the Word of God authoriseth Men to enact such penal Laws as they shall think most conducing for the glory of God and to have them put in execution chiefly when the Parties against the known Laws of the Land do publish and in defiance of all at the Parliament Doors offer their heretical Books with words to this purpose I put a most excellent Book into your hand pray read it with attention and when you are Converted strengthen your Brethren thus profanely abusing God's most holy Word They are by no means pleased with my way of Writing but I like it the better for their disliking it They find fault first with the Matter Order and Expression secondly with my often using Scripture thirdly with my Sallying as they call it into sundry Metaphors The first of the two ironically talks of depth of Learning height of Fancy c. which is proper to Fantastical Men who would transform Fancy yea all Religion into Reason The other calls it A World of School Cant which now adays goes for deep Learning So both tho' in a different way talk of depth of Learning that People would have others like themselves to build upon
therefore they despise all Antient Doctors of the Primitive Church and I think in Tertullian's Words against Montanus we may say it to be the Socinians opinion Truth waited for their Coming without which it had been quite lost yet according to their Principles we must all be Scepticks and Pyrhonians always doubting of every thing and never sure of any then in the Word of God is no Truth that we can be certain of we know no Man hath dominion over the Faith of another nor ought to impose his Opinion upon others neither could they who went before us be Masters of our Faith nor we of the Faith of those who are to come after You see I make use of your own Expressions but withal I must tell you that if any one would in former or present times offer to force things of their own upon us to believe we would reject it by their own we mean any thing different from or contrary to the Word of God 't is not their offering to us or of us to others can bind the Consciences but the things offered do if they be the Word of God no human Authority doth per se and of it self tye my Conscience but God's Word doth therefore if any thing be proposed as an Article of Faith we must see whether it be contained in the Word of God which bears Record of it self and so stands in no need of the Testimony of Man 't is not the hand that gives Alms which can make Gold to be Gold or Silver to be Silver nor the Lawyers quoting the Law that can make it to be Law 't is so in it self so is Gospel Gospel in it self without any human help or else you make the Gloss and Interpretation more than the Text and as according to your Principles you may alter your Interpretation one to day and another different from it the next what a Confusion would you leave us in when you are so sickle and cannot agree with your own selves as indeed you make an Alteration in the Questions from what they were in Socinus's days By what they say of Doctrines which according to circumstance of times may be convenient or inconvenient I find them inclined to blame the times to excuse themselves but the Faults which too often are committed the Times are not to be accused of but the Malice or Weakness of Men there being no Season so troublesome as can keep a good Judge from doing Justice or a good Divine from giving a good Interpretation of Scripture so Mens Faults ought to be chastised and not the Times which are as Men govern themselves to be complained of but good and holy Laws ought to be enacted by those whom it belongs to having the Glory of God and the Good of the People before their Eyes new Distempers require new Remedies and new Laws are necessary against new Crimes wherefore I lay hold on this new occasion and once more make bold to both Houses of Parliament humbly to commend the Cause of God and of his Son the Lord Jesus according as I formerly besought them in my Epistle in earnest to mind it or else with David I say Arise O God plead thine own Cause However as to Faith and Practice they give a good Character of themselves as to the first they believe all the Articles of the Apostles Creed but still they reserve unto themselves to give what Interpretation they please but sure we are 't is not that contained in the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds Still there is a Jesuitical Jugling Equivocation and Mental Reservation Ask them which is the true sense of the Words in Jesus Christ his only Son they will not say 't is of his own Nature and Substance and from Eternity which Creed say they was heretofore thought a full and sufficient Summary of Faith till some Men perverted the true and Orthodox Meaning and brought false Glosses upon 't contrary to the plain and natural Interpretation received by the Universal Church then indeed to refute unsound and Anti-scriptural Expositions and wresting of the true Sense to explain and enlarge was found necessary 'T is their Principle thankfully to lay hold on the Message of Redemption by Jesus Christ This seems fair but is very defective for according to them Christ came into the World as a bare Messenger a meer Man to declare the Will of God unto us which others tho not so fully and plainly had done before to die only for our good but not in our stead nor to purchase us by the Merits of his Death So they say the Lord Jesus is God by Favour not by Nature robbing him thus of his Divinity When we seriously come to the matter they are full of Quiblings and Cavils As to the receiving the Message of Redemption 't is according to them by strength of Reason and not of Faith for no true Faith in Christ except Men believe him to be true God as well as true Man As to Practice this Character they give of themselves They fear God walk humbly before him hold no Correspondence with any known Sin c. This is well but not enough for the moral Virtues of the Heathen carryed some of them as far as this But a sound Knowledg in the Mind is required and no sound saving Knowledg of Christ except one knows him for such as he is that is God and Man or else he is but half a Christ an imperfect Mediatour whole Christ is the true Object of Faith These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God as well as the Son of Man I am glad to find something like the Matters in question in the first Letter we are told what ground they go upon concerning their Opinions Scripture they own to be the Rule of Faith but unto themselves they reserve the Interpretation which is as bad as what they condemn in Papists to depend upon the Authority of their own Interpretation and so can turn it which way they please so may every Socinian as well as every Quaker have their private Interpretation but to say that Protestants for the interpretation of Scripture do rely upon their own Reason is without warrant and doth not consist with Truth except by Protestants they mean Socinians if this were a fit place I could shew that they have not the same regard as we for Scriptures tho they assert it for they dispute the Truth and Authority thereof but I must come to human Reason which in one page is twice asserted to be the onely Guide God hath given us in matters of Religion for under that head I reduce the three he there mentioneth about Revelation but this is not the Judgment of true Protestants if a Man hath no other Guide but his own Reason 't is a blind one and very defective 't is but one part of three and the least too for to the end that human Reason may be a fit
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
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.
they are the Metaphorical Doctors of the World who make bold to turn almost the whole Scripture into Metaphors even to set up a Metaphorical God O Sirs first pull out the Beam out of your own eye and then ye shall see clearly to cast out the Mote out of your Brother's Anon we shall meet with some more Cavils of theirs They appear at the Bar whereto indeed they deserve to be called and Plead for themselves thus The first of the 39 Articles saith There is but One living and true God and in Vnity of this Godhead there be Three Persons of one Substance Power and Eternity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost As to the latter part which is the main Question they pretend to come off with mincing the matter and say by some of their late Prints meaning Socinians I perceive that they for Peace-sake submit to the Phrase of the Church and expresly own Three Persons tho' they think the word Person not so proper as another word might be The weight of the words of the Article lieth so heavy upon them that under it they must either break or bend this last they chuse to do and would seem to yield not because they believe it but only for Peace-sake Peace to themselves to avoid the Penalty They think the word Person not so proper as another might be still they reserve a Back-door why do they not name the word which is in their opinion more proper than that of Person that word remains in petto in their Breast till there be a fair occasion to declare it Their speaking of Peace is well if with it they join Truth for they ought not to be asunder no Christian is to betray Truth for Peace-sake Now if a Person of the Godhead be described as it is by an incommunicable Subsistence of the Divine Essence the Socinian shall not be acquitted as he pretends It is not my work neither is this a place to shew how frivolous that Plea would prove at the Bar of the Law but I am sure in my Book I sufficiently demonstrated it to be a vain Subterfuge and against the Gospel That trimming Spirit in them which because they have not the upper hand one may easily perceive to Rule throughout in both Letters puts me in mind of the Popish Methods in such Cases as among other Instances it appears by what passed in 1561 in that great Assembly at Poissy in France which the then French King Charles IX appointed to meet and in his Presence therein to have free Conference about Religion between some of the Popish Clergy and some of the Protestant Ministers Because as yet things were not ripe for their Designs they by means of those Conferences would try whether some way might be found out to plaister things over and for the present to compose Differences in order thereunto after some discourses about the Sacraments which between the Cardinal of Lorrain and Theodorus Beza had happened in the K. of Navarr's Chamber where they met accidentally the Popish Party being not willing to venture their Cause upon Disputes first by the Doctors of Sorbon and lastly by the Cardinal of Tournon in the name of the whole Clergy desired the King and Queen-Mother to give the Protestants no Hearing who by the Mouth of Beza had already made a Speech in the Assembly and given an account of their Confession of Faith So then these Publick Conferences not doing the work they did set up Private ones first between Two and Two then between Five and Five of both Religions and among these for the Protestants Peter Martyr was one the Point was about the Lord's Supper On the Popish side the design was not to find out the Truth but only such words as each side might Interpret on his behalf To that purpose several Formules which here I need not to insert were by the Papists offered the Protestants but being ambiguous captious and such as might be understood in a double sense Beza for Conclusion said We must say all or nothing because indeed the Mystery of that Holy Sacrament must be explained The like was practised in their Council of Trent where happened great Heats between the Dominicans and Franciscans about several Points wherein they differ but to displease neither side their Canons about those Matters before they were passed they shewed to both Parties and penn'd them in such Words and Expressions as each side might favourably Interpret for his own Opinion Thus Socinians would follow the same way and admit of such words as may be taken in their Sense and ours too yet tho' we should agree about the Terms they know we do not in the Signification they for Peace sake submit to the Phrase of the Church and own Three Persons yet Interpret it not as the Church doth Again They seem desirous to wash their hands of Socinianism yet defend it as much as they are able Vpon the prudent Explication which hath been given of some obnoxious Terms they weave the Dispute and come in as Brethren yet still believe not as the Church doth nay if we will believe them we are all of a perfect Agreement but if we examine it will be found if by these pretended last Concessions of theirs we agree 't is about some Words when the difference about Things still remains And as then Papists were only to have things quiet for the present so I perceive Socinians are now content it should be so between us to see whether Times may happen to turn for them then indeed they would declare by the word Person they mean not an Incommunicable Subsistence of the Godhead but only an Attribute as Wisdom Love that Christ is God and Son of God by Favour not by Nature and by eternal Generation But all such Trimmers to speak in Job's Words are Physicians of no value and such Remedies cannot cure the Wound but it will break out again and this I call daubing with untempered Mortar 't is not enough to ease of the Pain but the cause must be removed which is the only way to cure for certain and to prevent Relapses this I bring in to shew how Socinians are not so averse from such Popish Practices as they pretend to be and if we narrowly inquire into it we shall find they are willing to join with them in the Practice of the following Maxim where they are the weakest they first pretend for Moderation and Toleration then for an Equality afterwards struggle for Superiority and at last destroy any one that to a hairs Breadth would not come up to what they would have for as Papists brag of a Spirit of Infallibility intailed upon their Church so Socinians are of opinion that the Spirit of God if they own any such thing is departed from other Christian Societies only to be among them who look upon themselves as the only true Interpreters of God's Word as Socinus doth applaud himself in his new fangled Expositions
and to be incarnate being made Flesh and Incarnation signifie the same May be you will deny it 't is but what some of yours do in a thing of the like nature as that to make and to create the World signifie not the same thing If the Word which as S. John saith was God was made Flesh I think that according to all Rules of Logick out of those Premises we may conclude how God was incarnate or made Flesh and that Act we may well call Incarnation As to the other part that it is only by Deduction you cannot be ignorant how there are such Deductions as are equivalent or next to the Expression for when the chief Assertion contained in Scripture is true so must also be whatsoever is therein included and in the Explication of it drawn by a true and right Consequence Thus tho' in the Sixth Commandment to give one Poyson be not expressed yet by a true and certain Consequence 't is deduce out of these Words Thou shalt not kill so starving one to death is adjudged Murther and punished as such Tho Incest be not expressed in the Seventh yet none will deny it to be forbidden under these Words Thou shalt not commit Adultery so is Fornication and so of every other Precept wherein when a Sin is forbidden all of the same kind are so and also the Virtue contrary to the Sin is prescribed And tho there were some difference in the Nature of the thing yet hence we infer this certain Truth that tho some things be not expresly set down in Scripture yet are therein contained and thence deduced by a true and lawful Consequence Of this sort are the words Trinity and Incarnation and if the Names then also the Things for the Use of Words is to signifie Things As to what is added in Answer to the Assertion that the Son of God was made Man how the Vnitarian will say The Son of God doth not always signifie God 't is thereby implyed that sometimes it doth and that grants what we desire for thus we know that when it is simply and absolutely attributed to Christ which is never so to any Angel or Man we may conclude that then it necessarily signifies God As to what is answered to the other Text The Word was made Flesh that the Word doth not plainly signifie God I only say this how John saith the word was God I leave them in his hands and let them come off as they can As to the Third Text the Vnitarian will say what he said before That God may be manifest in the Flesh without being incarnate he may say what he pleases if he proves nothing nay not so much as go about it surely they claim a Priviledge to be believed in what they say upon their bare word but seeing they give no reason for what they say we may suppose those great Masters of Reason have none to give their Reason fails them and is succeeded by Passion I see they found out a short way to answer all Arguments against them either with not taking notice of them and thus they answer my Book or with denying every thing without giving any Reason for it This puts me in mind of a common Saying when I was in the Philosophy School Plus negabit asinus quà m probabit Philosophus The dullest Fellow in the World can deny more than the greatest Philosopher is able to prove do but always deny and at last the Philosopher will have nothing to say There is no arguing against those who deny Principles now this is a great one for Men to give Reason as for what they affirm so for what they deny this is the part of Rational Men We attack them out of Scripture and they ought in our way to answer us out of the same as their School-Arguments we answer in their way But to return to what the Unitarian saith that The Son of God doth not always signifie God I say 't is not always necessary to our purpose it should And to state the Question well these two things ought to be observed First The Question is not at all about Angels or Men but about the Person of the Lord Jesus The Second The Name God is not improperly taken This being premised I say how the words Son of God when spoken of Christ do signifie God which to prove out of many Texts I shall bring only two in S. John's Gospel and if in the whole Bible there was but one yet it would be sufficient for every word therein is Truth and if once the Holy Ghost therein declares the Son of God to signifie God 't is not in the power of Men or Devils to make it otherwise Besides that the two Texts are so plain that there is no ground left to Cavil The first place is about the Interpretation given some words spoken by our blessed Lord whereby said the Jews thou makest thy self God which our Saviour rendered by these I said I am the Son of God So that the words God Son of God signifie just the same The Question between our Lord and the Jews was not about the meaning of what he had said they were agreed about it but the Dispute was whether those words were Blasphemy which they affirmed and he denied Those words in question spoken by our Saviour are in ver 30. I and my Father are One which because they are most material to the Question I shall thereupon observe this How therein Christ expresses Two Persons Himself and the Father the word I he explains by the name Son I said I am the Son of God and as by the first words of the Verse he makes a distinction of Persons so by the last he affirms a Oneness between Him and the Father when he saith they are One. This Oneness cannot be of a Personality which already he hath distinguished what else then can it be but in Nature and consequently in the Attributes thereunto belonging With this Text is to be compared the other I am in the Father and the Father in me It is very idle and frivolous for them to think they are One only in Will and Consent for if our Saviour's meaning had been only so and no farther the Jews would never have branded it with Blasphemy nor offered to have stoned him for it they well knew how by their Law no Man could be guilty of Blasphemy for saying his Will and Consent was one with God's for they were commanded to conform their Will and Mind to the Will of God that thereby might be a perfect agreement between their God and them between his Law and their Obedience Therefore to make this in their opinion to be Blasphemy there must be something of another nature which they declare plainly enough because that thou being a Man makest thy self God So the Question came to this Whether the Lord Jesus was God Which the Jews denied as now Socinians do but our Lord affirmed as after him
we do whence we conclude he is because he said so which if he were not he had asserted a Lye spoken Blasphemy and the Jews had been in the Right but seeing he said he was the Son of God he spoke the Truth which Socinians denying they bring the Lye and Blasphemy upon themselves and as good as say as the Jews did to Pilate He ought to die because he made himself the Son of God John 19 7. The other Text to prove how the Name Son of God when spoken of Christ signifies God is this Lazarus's Sickness was for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby We may see how the word God is explained by that of Son of God So that whether the name God be taken Essentially or Personally still the Person of the Son is God for therein is but One Glory of God and of the Son of God the Father is glorified in the Son if they have one equal and common Glory then they have a common and equal Nature for we know the true and eternal Almighty God hath said My Glory will I not give to another In my Book I at large have asserted this Divine Filiation of the Lord Jesus with the manner of it and thereunto expected an Answer if they had been willing and able to give it That Divine and Proper Sonship and his Godhead John in several places of his Gospel and Epistles both as his own belief and in the very words of our blessed Lord in those Comparisons which he so often makes between himself and the Father lays it so clear that for an unprejudiced mind there is no ground left to doubt of it the Pronoun possessive My in the Singular number joined with Father which so frequently he makes use of doth denote the Singular Nature of his Sonship and distinguish it from every other Kind I shall mention only what when he was but Twelve Years old upon the occasion of his being found in the Temple asking the Doctors of the Law Questions and Mary having said Son why hast thou thus dealt with us He answered Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business The meaning of which they understood not as the Evangelist observes he thereby signified another kind of Filiation that what had any relation to Mary As according to the Flesh he was her true and proper Son because begotten of her own Substance so in relation to the Spirit and Deity he is God's own and proper Son because begotten of the Substance of the Father If there be any such as certainly there is and in the Chapter about his Eternal Generation I sufficiently proved it then ye Socinians cannot deny the Lord Jesus to be He and if he be not the proper Son of the Father as the Apostle affirms he is then God the Father is not properly a Father for the works of Grace do not properly make one a Father but it must be the work of Nature of Humane in Men of Divine in God Humane Nature may receive some Divine Gifts but only thus much as it is capable of within certain bounds and degrees or else it were to make Humanity to be Deity But Christ hath not the Spirit by Measure or by Grace but by Nature and Infinitely in him which no Finite being such is every Creature is capable of the reason is because in Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Thus he must necessarily be God primarily and not derivatively or in part only for Divine Nature is indivisible either wholly God with all Attributes of the Godhead or no God at all No Creature Man Angel or Arch-Angel can have all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him because none of them is the Infinite God But since all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in the Person of Christ he must needs be God Infinite for all this fulness of the Godhead is a fulness of Nature of the Essential Attributes of that same Nature of Immensity Power Eternity and of any thing else proper to that Nature If in the whole Word of God there was no other Text but this to prove the Godhead of our Saviour it were sufficient to do 't it being so positive so full and so plain All is an Absolute word to be taken without any restriction or limitation whatsoever All Fulness What more can be said Of the Godhead What more Divine and Expressive But what upon the matter remains in the same place is this Whether a God and a God and a God do not amount to more than One God To take the thing as I ought and not as some others do I say that your Arithmetick in this doth fail and deceive you wherefore believe Revelation before your Reason which indeed may tell you how in humane and finite things One One and One make Three but Revelation which contradicteth not it self calls the Father God the Son God and the Holy Ghost God the same also saith there is but One God A Divine Nature common to Three Persons doth imply Three Persons but no more than One God which is One Divine Nature subsisting in Three Persons and Three Persons existing in One Nature Must I with Scripture conclude that Father Son and Holy Ghost are but One God or with your Arithmetick and Reason that they are Three Gods make but your Reason first agree with Revelation and then you and I shall agree so that the Dispute is more between your Reason and Scripture than between you and me But surely with me Gods Word is of greater Authority than your Reason ye must not suffer your Reason that Ignis fatuus to wander from the Rule Do you know what Solomon saith He that trusteth in his own heart is a Fool if you know it not I tell you and your Partner he speaks to you when he saith Cease from thine own Wisdom or Reason Now having done with this I must go back where I left and there shall find things of another nature you call Enemies to the common Rights and Liberties of Humane Nature Those who permit not every one a free liberty to make Interpretations and Inferences for themselves from Scriptures and this you ground on a false Supposition that Both the Word of God and the best means of understanding it are Originally and Vncontroulably given to every Man For Scripture and Experience convince us that every Man hath not the Word not Means to understand it and therefore 't is neither Originally nor Uncontroulably given to every Man this is a truth which elsewhere I made good and shall by Gods grace be ready again to do upon occasion But besides that it would require some time this is no place to do 't and I ever avoid going from the Question However this I say that ye go upon a Principle destructive to Order if every one must be allowed to believe and profess what he pleases tho' never so