A DEFENCE OF THE Brief HISTORY OF THE UNITARIANS Against Dr. SHERLOCK'S ANSWER IN HIS VINDICATION OF THE Holy Trinity LONDON Printed in the Year M. DC XCI OBSERVATIONS On Dr. SHERLOCK'S ANSWER TO THE Brief HISTORY OF THE UNITARIANS CHAP. I. Containing some General Observations WHen I see Men arguing against the Trinity methinks I hear a Papist inveighing against Luther or Calvin for questioning the Truth of Transubstantiation Indeed it appears to me very strange that Protestants should stand to the Principles of the Reformation only when they serve their turn and that they should be ready to part with them when they are not otherways able to defend a particular Opinion It cannot be denied that the Christian Church in succeeding Ages fell short of her first Purity in respect of Doctrine as well as Manners Now what other Remedy could be applied to such a Depravation than a sincere and careful Examination of the Points suspected of Falshood according to Reason and Scripture This proved so effectual a Course that Transubstantiation and some other Canonized Opinions were found to be meer Human Inventions and accordingly were rejected as contrary to the two above-mentioned Rules And who can assure us that the Reformation left no Error behind and that the Trinity is such an Opinion as ought neither to be doubted of nor to be reformed Shall we trust Men barely on their Word Or was it impossible that the Trinity should creep into the Church as well as several other false Opinions Our Principles therefore allow us to examine it and to inquire whether it be founded on undeniable Arguments especially being of such a nature that it contradicts Reason and by confession of all Trinitarians is no where set down in Holy Scripture in express Words Why should Men call us Hereticks and Libertines because we inquire after Truth and will have our Faith built upon a solid Foundation Was the Reformation so proper to Luther and Calvin c. that it ought no more to be thought of Or were those Reformers so infallible that they purged the Church from all Errors This I think would be an hard matter to prove Let therefore no Protestant be scandalized if having some Scruples about the Trinity we endeavour to free our selves from them by a sincere inquiry into the Grounds of it I begin with Reason and find that the belief of a Trinity does contradict it as much as Transubstantiation According to Transubstantiation the same Numerical Body may be in a Million of different places at the same time According to the Trinity three Divine Persons that is to say three Intelligent Infinite Beings each of which is God make but one God I cannot believe the First because Reason teaches me that one Numerical Body can occupy or be in but one place at one time I cannot believe the other because Reason tells me that Three are Three and not One and that it implies no less a Contradiction that Three Divine Persons should be but One God than that one Body be a Million Now who should not scruple an Opinion perfectly parallel with Transubstantiation and equally fruitful in Incongruities and Contradictions I come in the second place to examine Whether the Trinity be well grounded in Scripture Indeed Three are there mentioned the Father Son and Holy Ghost but how came Men to fancy that they Three are but One God Who taught 'em so Does the Holy Scripture plainly say that there is but one God yet there are Three Persons Father Son and Holy Spirit in the Godhead One would think indeed that such a Mystery and so necessary in order to Salvation were set down in Scripture in plain or express Words But the Scripture is perfectly silent about it there is not a Word to be found in the Bible of Three Hypostases or Persons in the Godhead The Father is in a thousand places called God distinctly from the Son nay the only true God The Holy Ghost is no where stiled God And the Son is so called in a few places as it were by the way and in such manner as plainly shows that the Title God is bestowed on him upon the same account as upon Moses even because of the Dignity and Power to which he was exalted by the Father's Liberality Indeed it can have no other meaning The Holy Scripture teaches us that there is but one God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ But if so How can the Son be that one God the Father Of this we are sure by the whole tenor of the Gospel that Christ was a Man The Gospel is nothing else but the History of Christ's Birth Life Death Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven Who would have thought that a Man should be accounted the Supream God without any such intimation from Scripture nay against the whole current of it We find in the Gospel that there is one God the Father of our Lord Christ one Son of God sent into the World to be the Revealer of his Father's Will and a Mediator between God and Man even Christ and one Holy Ghost who distributes and works all sorts of Miraculous Gifts for the confirmation of the Gospel The Father of Christ is the One true God Christ is only his Minister and Interpreter the Holy Ghost whether it be God's Power or his ministring Angel or Angels the Instrument which he makes use of to work Miracles None certainly but Men blinded or prejudiced could think that God's Minister and Ambassador were God himself and that two so opposite Beings as God and Christ should be one and the same Thing It is just as if one should say there is one King William and one Vice-Roy in Ireland the Lord Sidney and the Vice-Roy is that one King William Indeed this is a Doctrine so unreasonable and contradictions and so opposite to Holy Scripture that I think had there been no such thing as Platonick Philosophy the Trinity should never have been heard of I desire therefore the Trinitarians to abate a little of their Confidence Let them examine with an unprejudiced Mind upon what Foundations they build the belief of a Trinity and they will soon perceive how weak and frail it is Let them at last confess that the Scripture does not threaten eternal Damnation to those who disbelieve a Trinity And then if themselves won't part with their darling Opinion let them abstain from persecuting others Thirdly Trinitarians lay so much stress upon the Tradition of the Church concerning the Trinity that I think it worth while to undeceive them by shewing that there never was so great a Variation in the Church as about this Point I shall divide into three Periods all the Ages of the Church The First reaches to the Council of Nice The Second from the Council of Nice to the Schoolmen And the Third from the Schoolmen to our time And one that is never so little acquainted with the Writings of the Fathers of the three first Centuries cannot deny
chief of the Orthodox Interpreters have thus explained this Context of the Colossians Among the Ancients St. Cyril Fulgentius Procopius Gazeus and even Athanasius himself Of the Moderns Salmero Montanus Grotius and many more Before I put an end to this I must observe that our Author is greatly mistaken in his Explication of Col. 1. 18. The Apostle says he proceeds from Christ's Creation of the natural World to his Mediatory Kingdom Which proves that He did not speak of that before I see the Author does not observe his own rule p. 146. To consider in expounding Scripture what goes before and what follows It was no hard matter to see that the Apostle at Ver. 16. speaks First in the general of Things that are in Heaven and that are in Earth Visible and Invisible but then afterwards he explains what he meant by the Things that are in Heaven viz. all the Orders of Angels this he doth in the latter part of the same Verse and what he means by Things that are on Earth He tells us fully at Ver. 18. viz. the Church The 18th Verse being an Explication of some part of Ver. 16. it appears not to have been Paul's Design to proceed from Christ's Creation of the World to his Mediatory Kingdom Thus I have done with the famous Context of Col. 1. 15 16 c. The Author of the Brief History had proved that Christ was God's Minister and Servant because He was appointed or made by God the Apostle and High-Priest of our Profession To this the Author I am now considering Answers But here is a Restriction to his being High-Priest and therefore no danger of Blasphemy tho He be God For we may observe that thô the Jewish High-Priest was but a Man yet he was a type of an High-Priest who is more than Man even the eternal Son or Word of God as some of the Learned Jews acknowledge This is indeed an admirable Answer Christ has been appointed by God an High-Priest which seems to prove that Himself is not God No says the Doctor you are mistaken for thô the Jewish High-Priest was but a Man yet He was a Type of an High-Priest more than Man of an High-Priest who is the eternal Son of God How does he prove it As some says he of the Learned Jews acknowledge And what then if some Learned Jews have spoken non-sense must we speak non-sense too One would expect the Author should prove by Scripture and not by Jewish Writers that the Jewish High-Priest was a type of an High Priest who is the eternal Son and Word of God The Jewish High-Priest being a Type of Christ was a Type of an High-Priest more eminent and greater than Himself in all respects thô he were not God He goes on For the Son of God is the only proper Mediator and Advocate with the Father If you ask him why he will answer Philo Judaeus who often calls the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Word the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or High-Priest says so and shows that the Garments of the High-Priest were Figures of Heaven and Earth Which seems to signify that the eternal Word which made the World is the true High-Priest Here comes upon the stage one of his Learned Jews Philo by whose Testimony he proves that the second Person of the Trinity is the only proper Mediator and Advocate with the Father But Philo being Plato's Follower did not believe such a Trinity as the Doctor teaches Sure there is a great difference between Plato's three Principles and the Doctor 's Trinity But if there were not must we believe Philo Judaeus rather than St. Paul who plainly tells us in direct opposition to Philo that as there is One God so there is One Mediator between God and Men the MAN Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. As for the Garments of the High-Priest which Philo will have to be a Figure of Heaven and Earth and our Author's Story about Jaddus both which our Author alledges as Arguments at least as Congruities whereby to prove the Divinity of Christ I shall so far trust the Judgment of the meanest Reader as to take no notice of them That which follows is no less ridiculous I am sure says the Author the Apostle distinguishes Christ from High-Priests taken from among Men and makes his Sonship the Foundation of his Priesthood Heb. 5. 1 6. The contrary to both these is true and evident also in the Text he cites The Priesthood is the Foundation of the Sonship and Aaron and Christ are there made Instances of High-Priests taken from among Men. The Objection therefore remains still that Christ being an High-Priest appointed and made by God cannot Himself be God He goes on As for his next Objection from 1 Cor. 3. 23. Christ is God's I know not what he means by it for there is no doubt but Christ is God's Son God's Christ God's High-Priest serves the Ends and Designs of God's Glory and what then Therefore he is not God by no means he may conclude that He is not God the Father because He acta subordinately not that therefore He is not God the Son The Author of the Brief History meant I suppose this that as you are Christ's in that Text signifies Men are subject to Christ so Christ is God's must signify Christ is subjected to God and therefore not Himself God This I think is good Sonse and a good Argument But can it be said that the second Person of the Trinity who is the supream God nay One God with the First is God's Son God's Christ God's High Priest serves the Ends and Designs of God's Glory All these Titles denote a dependance upon the Father and a real subjection to Him which cannot agree to any Person who is indeed Himself a Supream God Here is another sensless Answer to a good and strong Objection P. 158. His next proof is That God calls Christ his Servant in the Prophet Isaiah But it is his Servant in whom his Soul was pleased which is the peculiar Character of his Son and is that very Testimony which God gave to Christ at his Baptism This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased I desire here the Reader to observe the Doctor 's accurate way of reasoning This is the Objection Christ is called God's Servant therefore He is not God No this is a mistake says He for Christ is God's beloved Servant P. 159. He says in answer to the Objection from Phil. 2. 8 9. Because He voluntarily condescends below the Dignity of his Nature does He forfeit the Dignity of his Nature But I ask can it be said of the Supream God with whom is no Variableness neither Shadow of turning that He has condescended below the Dignity of his Nature P. 159 160. He goes on in a florid way of Speech to show how inconsistent it is that Christ were He a meer Creature should be advanced to that Power and Authority whereunto He has been promoted Hereupon I observe
Christ And if this be so to be baptized into John 's Baptism must also signify to be baptized in the Name of John John indeed made Proselytes to the Messias but he preached the Doctrine of Repentance and he who was baptized by him was baptized into the Profession of the Doctrine taught by him and therefore whoever profest in his Baptism to follow the Doctrine of John might be said to be baptized to the Doctrine of John or in the Name of John Lastly He asks Whether it be not very absurd that the Power or Inspiration of God which is not a Person should be joined in the same Form with the Father and Son who are Persons I answer I see no absurdity in being baptized into the Profession of a Doctrine which not only comes originally from God the Father and is revealed by his Son but is confirmed by the Power or Spirit of God The next and last Place of the New Testament which our Auther considers is the first Chapter of St. John's Gospel Which says he pag. 215. gives a glorious Testimony to the Divinity of Christ and a plain Demonstration of the incurable Perverseness of Hereticks I will examine this High Pretence and shew these three Things 1. The Absurdity of the Author's Explication of this Chapter 2. The Inconsistency of the Trinitarian Hypothesis with the Context 3. The true sense and meaning of this so much controverted Place 1. The Historian said that the Trinitarian Exposition of this Chapter is absurd and contradictious and that it is this In the Beginning i. e. from all Eternity But How saith the Historian can in the Beginning be from all Eternity From all Eternity is before the Beginning or without Beginning not in the Beginning To this our Author replies That No Man expounds in the beginning of Eternity But he should not be so bold in his Assertions for Mr. Calvin expounds it so He adds When St. John tells us In the Beginning was the Word we say this proves the Eternity of the Word for that which was when all things began which had a beginning was it self before the beginning and without beginning I answer had the Evangelist designed to teach us the Eternity of the Word he would undoubtedly have done it by the same Characters that are used in Scripture to express the Eternity of God Now this Expression in the Beginning is so far from denoting Eternity that it is never applied to God in that Sense We read in Scripture That In the Beginning God created Heaven and Earth Gen. 1. 1. Heb. 1. 10. a plain Demonstration that In the beginning cannot be applied to him that is God but only to Creatures and as plain a Demonstration that God himself is from all Eternity for he who created all things must needs be not only before all things but from Eternity But we never read God was in the Beginning in all the Descriptions which the Scriptures afford us of his Eternity nay they rather declare it or describe it by Before the beginning Psal 90. 2. Before the Mountains were brought forth even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God Here Eternity is described by before the beginning This is the Scripture-Notion of Eternity therefore if St. John had intended to shew the Eternity of the Word he should not have said In the beginning was the Word but as 't is said of God In the beginning the Word created the Heaven and the Earth Nor will it avail any thing to say The Word was so in the beginning that all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made For as the foregoing Words In the beginning was the Word are no true Description of Eternity in Scripture so neither are these All things were made by him c. the Scripture-Description of the Creation There is no mention here made either of the Heaven or the Earth or the Sea which are never omitted in the Descriptions we have in Scripture of the first and true Creation a I shewed before and therefore there is no need to insist longer on this Phrase in this place The Historian goes on Was the Word i. e. was God the Son But where in Scripture says he is the Word called God the the Son Our Author replies This Word indeed is God the Son but we do not paraphrase it so in this place In the beginning was God the Son but In the beginning was that Divine Person who is called the Word But I pray what is the meaning of this For if the Word is indeed God the Son one may paraphrase it here In the beginning was God the Son as well as In the beginning was that Divine Person called the Word the one is as fit and as good Sense as the other But it seems our Author is asham'd to paraphrase the Word by God the Son this is a Modesty in him which is but seldom found in his Book Histor The Word was God i. e. The Son was with the Father Answ It seems then that God in this Clause is the Father But was not the Son also with the Holy Ghost and is not he too according to Trinitarians God or a God If he is why does St. John only say the Son was with the Father and how comes the Father to ingross here the Title of God to the exclusion of the Holy Ghost To avoid the strength of this Argument our Author replies By God the Apostle here means that Original Mind and Wisdom that Supream and Soveraign Being whom all Men called God without making a Distinction of Persons in the Godhead But if God in this place does not signify the Father only but the Three Persons of the Trinity he should not tell us that the Apostle here means that Original Mind and Wisdom but those Three Minds whom all Men called God for we are taught all over his Book that God is Three infinite Minds and consequently Three Wisdoms for an infinite Mind cannot be without Wisdom Neither should he say That Supream and Soveraign Being whom all Men call God but those Three Supream and Soveraign Beings for he often tells us that God is Three infinite and substantial Beings therefore he is Three Supream and Soveraign Beings It is a plain Contradiction to say in one place God is Three Minds and Three Beings and in another that he is but one Mind and one Being Furthermore when the Evangelist says The Word was with God if by God he means not the Father only but the Three Persons who are that God this will make a very trifling sense For then the Word was with God must signify thē second Person of the Trinity was with the Three Persons of the Trinity and consequently with himself which is not only trifling but ridiculous The Apostle adds And the Word was God Our Author to serve his Hypothesis puts here another or a new sense on the word God for he saw it was inconsistent with
his Opinion that in this Clause God should be interpreted as it was in the foregoing Indeed it would be strange Non-sense for then the Word was God should signify the second Person of the Trinity was with the Three Persons of the Trinity Therefore in his Hypothesis the Word was God signifies the Word was a Divine Person in the Godhead pag. 216. But this Interpretation is no less absurd than the other for by the Word he understands a Divine Person who is called the Word and by God too he means a Divine Person in the Godhead Therefore his Interpretation of these Words the Word was God amounts only to this the Divine Person who is called the Word was a Divine Person But to give us a right and full understanding of this place he thought sit to paraphrase it thus In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God that is In the Beginning of all Things was the Divine Person whose Name and Character is the Word this Word was inseparably united to that Supream Being whom we call God and was himself God a Divine Person subsisting in the Unity of the Godhead not a Power and Faculty as Reason is in Man I hope the Author will not take it ill if I paraphrase his Paraphrase to make it clearer to vulgar Understandings In the Beginning of all Things was the second Divine Person of the Trinity whose Name and Character is the Word this second Divine Person of the Trinity was inseparably united with the Three Persons of the Trinity whom we call God and consequently with himself and this second Person was a Divine Person not a Power and Faculty as Reason is in Man Our Author was so taken with this sense of the Words of St. John that he could not for bear breaking out into these Words Can any thing be more easy and obvious and more agreeable to the Doctrine of the Trinity I confess 't is very agreeable to the Doctrine of the Trinity 2. Thô I have shown already the inconsistency of the Trinitarian Hypothesis with the First Chapter of St. John's Gospel by confuting the Author's Explication yet I intend to make it appear farther by these few Considerations 1. That to be in the Beginning cannot here signify to be from all Eternity has been proved already because the Scripture does never describe Eternity by such an Expression nor does the Expression in its own Nature denote Eternity St. John would not have expressed so great a Mystery and so necessary to be believed by All in improper and unsuitable Words 2. For the Word to be with God and to be God can never bear the sense which the Trinitarians put upon it When John says the Word was with God if by God we must understand the Three Persons of the Trinity and by the Word a Divine Person in that Trinity this Interpretation makes as I have shewed this absurd sense The second Divine Person of the Trinity was with the Three Persons of the Trinity and consequently with himself But if by God we must understand the Father only why does St. John omit the Holy Ghost who is God as well as the Father and with whom the Son was no less than with the Father In a word as the Historian speaks How comes the Father to ingross here the Title of God to the exclusion of the Holy Ghost 3. The Word was God must signify in this Hypothesis That Divine Person who is called the Word was a Divine Person 4. All Trinitarians confess that St. John in the Beginning of his Gospel speaks of the New Creation wrought by the Gospel as well as of the Old and thô they do not agree among themselves about the place where he begins to treat of this New Creation or Regeneration yet they do all grant that he discourses of it before Ver. 14. And the Word was made Flesh They all take those words He came unto his own Ver. 11. to be meant of Christ's conversing among Men and teaching them the way of Salvation But if the Word was made Flesh at Ver. 14. signifies Christ's Incarnation as Trinitarians pretend it is unaccountable that St. John writing the History of Christ's Life should first tell us what Christ Incarnate has done and then that He was Incarnate This is just as if one writing the Life of Alexander should say he overcame Darius and then that he was begotten by Philip King of Macedon Or that Christ was tempted of the Devil and then that he was conceived by the Holy Ghost Indeed it cannot be denied that the Evangelists do not very much observe the order of time in relating several Discourses and Miracles of Christ but this is of no great moment and does not destroy the proper and essential order of History The former has been done by the Evangelists as well as by other Historians but never the latter They never tell us that Christ went about to preach the Gospel and then that he was born or that he was raised from the dead and then that he died This would be to invert the true order of History and make Non-sense of it And therefore it sufficiently proves that these words The Word was made Flesh coming after He came unto his own cannot be meant of Christ's Incarnation Thus Ver. 6 7. John is said to bear witness of Christ and then that he was Incarnate The like we may observe on Ver. 10. He was in the World and the World was made by him if those Words The World was made by him are to be understood in a proper sense of Creation the Apostle should have said first that the World was made by him and then that He was in the World 5. This Evangelist plainly tells us Chap. 20. Ver. 21. the design he aimed at when he wrote his Gospel These Things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have Life thrô his Name It was not therefore to teach the Divinity and Consubstantiality of Christ as Trinitarians pretend He wrote that we might be sure that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God not that he was God How comes he then to forget the most essential Thing which induced him to write and publish his Gospel viz. the asserting of Christ's Divinity No no it is plain he only designed to teach and prove that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God And the Son of God can no more be God than a Son can be his Father Thus I think it appears clearly that this Beginning of St. John's Gospel does not favour the Trinitarian Opinion but from Ver. 1 to Ver. 15. is only an Abridgment of his whole Book Were the Trinitarian Hypothesis clearly set down in other places of Scripture I would not wonder to see Men lay so much stress upon this place but since the Scriptures throughout teach us that Christ was but a Man it stands to reason
and an Holy Spirit different from both Nay we must not think that the very express Words at Mat. 24. 36. the Father only do indeed signify the Father only but the Father the Son and another Person even thô the Son is there expresly said not to know the Day and Hour of Judgment and that the Father only knows it These are some of the Illuminations with which our Author and his Party has blest the World He goes on and says the Dispute must end here whether the Scripture does teach the Divinity of the Son and Holy Ghost for if so when the Father is said to be the only true God and the one God the Son and Holy Spirit are not hereby excluded from the Unity of the same Godhead I answer the Dispute may be soon ended for when the Father is called the one God and the only true God even in those places where the Son is mentioned This alone is a clear Demonstration that the Scripture does not teach the Divinity of the Son and Holy Ghost Were the Son and Holy Ghost God with the Father the Prayer of our Lord at John 17. 1 2 3 c. must have been thus framed This is Life Eternal to know Thee Father and Me and the Holy Ghost to be the only true God And Paul to the Corinthians should have said But to us there is but one God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost But this is the Language of Scripture no where Pag. 186. His other Texts saith our Author prove no more but that the Father of Christ is God not that Christ is not one God with the Father Let us hear the Texts themselves 1 Cor. 15. 24. Then cometh the end when he shall deliver up the Kingdom to God even the Father James 3. 9. Therewith bless we God even the Father Rom. 15. 6. That ye may with one Mind and one Mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is an affected blindness and perverseness not to discern and own that in these Texts God even the Father is as much as to say God that is to say the Father No plainer or more express Words could be used by a Socinian or other Vnitarian to declare his Notion of the Unity of God What hope is there of convincing those with whom the Father only shall not signify the Father only And again God that is to say the Father shall be two others besides the Father CHAP. V. THE next Argument If Christ were indeed God as well as Man or as Trinitarians speak God the Son Incarnate it had been altogether superfluous to give the Holy Spirit to his said Human Nature as a Director and Guide for what other help could that Nature need which was one Person with as they speak God the Son and in which God the Son did Personally dwell To this he answers The account of this is plain and short for the whole Trinity is but one Energy and Power and the Divine Persons cannot act separately ad extra what the Father does that the Son does and that the Holy Ghost does by one Individual Act. But the Sanctification of all Creatures and such is the Human Nature of Christ is peculiarly attributed to the Holy Spirit But if the whole Trinity is but one Energy and Power the Sanctification of Christ's Human Nature or of any other Creature can by no means be peculiarly attributed to the Holy Ghost why to the Holy Ghost rather than to the Father or than to the Divine Word or Son dwelling as they say after a peculiar manner in Christ But the matter is plain the Holy Ghost is the Power of God of which Christ stood in need for performing the Will and Works of the Father and which God bestowed on him for that very end but if Christ had been indeed God there had been no need he should receive any such Gift for as God he would have had it in his own Person Our Author adds He might as well have asked why the Sanctification of the Church is ascribed to the Spirit But the Historian had no reason to ask such a Question for no one pretends that the Church is God or is Personally united either to the Father or Son as Trinitarians say the Human Nature of Christ is It is after the same slight and insignificant manner that he answers the next Argument even this The Miracles of Christ are attributed always either to the Father or the Holy Spirit dwelling in him He answers pag. 188. Father Son and Holy Spirit act together I say now supposing this which he says yet if Christ were God why should we never ascribe his Miracles to himself why always to the Father or to the Holy Spirit which is the Power of the Father why has he concealed a matter of so great importance to be known Or why do we seek to make him greater than he ever said he was Besides in the very Texts in which he ascribes the Miracles he did to the Father or the Spirit and Power of the Father dwelling in him I say in those very Texts he denies that he doth them himself which is directly contrary to what our Author affirms that the pretended three Divine Persons have but one Energy and act by one Individual Act. If that were so our Saviour could not have said John 5. 30. I can do nothing of my self John 14. 10. The Father that dwelleth in me he doeth the works Let us hear the account which St. Peter gives Acts 10. 38. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with Power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed with the Devil for God was with him Here St. Peter teaches that Christ wrought all sorts of Miracles not because as Trinitarians say he was God but because God was with him i. e. God helped and assisted him by anointing him with the Holy Ghost and with Power The next Argument is Had our Lord Christ been more than a Man the Prophecies of the Old Testament in which he is promised would not describe him barely as the Seed of the Woman the Seed of Abraham a Prophet like unto Moses the Servant and Missionary of God on whom God's Spirit should rest The Historian by a particular Induction of Texts shews this to be the Character of Christ in the Prophecies of the Old Testament Our Author thinks fit to answer this Objection in another place I come now to his Answers which he makes to the Arguments against the Divinity of the Holy Ghost The First Argument in the History is this The Holy Ghost or Spirit and the Power of God are in Scripture spoken of as one and the same thing Our Author answers at pag. 189. It is as easy to prove that the Father and Son are no Persons as that the Holy Spirit is none But if he can make good this Assertion erit mihi magnus Apollo The Father has in the New Testament
if he be but sincere that those Fathers follow the Ideas of Plato concerning the three Principles and therefore speak rather like Arians than Orthodox They tell us that the Son and Holy Ghost have each of them his own Nature and Essence whereby they are distinguish'd from each other and that the Son is subordinate and inferior to the Father both in Nature and Power as likewise the Holy Ghost is subordinate to the Son If any one desires to see some undeniable Proofs of what I assert I refer him to the Quaternio of Curcellaeus whereby he will be fully satisfied The succeeding Fathers finding fault with this Notion brought into the World a new Interpretation of the three Principles They won't have them to be subordinate but equal both in Nature and Power However they acknowledg them to be three Essences or Collateral Beings If you ask them how they can avoid admitting a Plurality of Gods They will answer That those three Beings are but one God as Peter James and John are but one Man If you deny that Peter James and John are but one Man they will tell you that you are mistaken because in Propriety of Speech this term Man ought not to signify an Individual as Peter or James or John but a specifical Nature common to them all so that thô they be three Individuals or three Persons yet they are but one Man being Partakers of the same specifical common Nature This they apply to their three Principles They are indeed say they three Hypostases or Persons yet they are but one God This term God denoting not an Individual Hypostasis but a Nature common to the three Persons of the Trinity whereby thô they are three yet they are said to be but one God Thus they made shift as well as they could It was indeed a very unsufficient way of explaining the Unity of God and did by no means resolve the difficulty They made an abstract specifical God as the Heathens might equally have done but there were still three Individual or Numerical Gods as Peter James and John may be said to be by Abstraction one specifical Man because they have the same specifical Nature but however they are still three Individual Numerical Men. Therefore the Schoolmen disliking this Notion as favouring Polytheism found out a new one more agreeable as they thought to the Unity of God They won't have the three Persons of the Trinity to have each of them his own Essence and Nature No this too plainly destroys the Unity of God There is say they but one Divine Essence Right but then they must not part with three Persons of the Trinity Therefore what are those three Persons They are Three Subsistences Three Modes Three Relations Three I know not what 's This is meer Nonsense for a Person is an Intelligent Being and Three Persons must needs be Three Intelligent Beings So true it is that whosoever acknowledges Three Persons in the Godhead if he takes the Word in its proper sense must admit Three Gods Which the Learned Doctor cannot avoid who says they are Three distinct Minds Three substantial Beings Three intelligent Beings therefore unavoidably Three Gods Now is it fair to boast so much of the Tradition concerning the Trinity as if it had been constant and unalterable in all the Ages of the Church when the contrary appears to any sincere Reader The Fathers who lived before the Council of Nice speak like Platonic Philosophers and Arians the Nicene Fathers like Tritheists and the School-men like Mad-men Where now is that unchangeable Tradition so much cried up Considering the ridiculousness of those Men who in their respective Ages set up new Notions of the Trinity I am apt to say contrary to Averroes his Wish Let not my Soul be with the Philosophers To conclude this Chapter those great Boasters of the pretended Tradition should do well to apply themselves to the confuting the Quaternio of Curcellaeus before mentioned which when they have fully and truly performed we may perhaps begin to think of parting with Tradition which indeed is not the Foundation whereon we build our Faith Knowing only the Scriptures which are able to make wise unto Salvation CHAP. II. Containing an Examination of the Doctor 's Answers to the Arguments against the Trinity in the History of the Unitarians HAving premised this general Observation I come to examine what Answer the Doctor returns to the Arguments alledged against the Trinity by the Author of the Brief History of the Vnitarians But I must first consider his Reflections concerning the use of Reason in expounding Scripture This is saith he an Impudent Argument which brings Revelation down in such sublime Mysteries to the level of our Understandings to say such a Doctrine cannot be contained in Scripture because it implies a Contradiction whereas a modest Man would first inquire whether it be in Scripture or not and if it he plainly contained there he would conclude how Vnintelligible soever it appeared to him that yet there is no Contradiction in it because it is taught in Scripture p. 141. But is this Impudence to say Transubstantiation cannot be contained in Scripture because it implies a Contradiction I hope not Well then if the Trinity implies no less Contradiction than Transubstantiation why can't we say that it cannot be contained in Scripture We say Transubstantiation cannot be found in Scripture because it is a plain Contradiction to our Reason but if the Trinity be also a plain Contradiction to our Reason why shan't we be allowed to say that it cannot be contained in Scripture I think both Consequences are right But saith the Author A modest Man would first inquire whether it be in Scripture or not But we have already made such an Inquiry and cannot find the Trinity in Scripture We never could read there that there are Three Persons in one Numerical God Indeed how could we We might as well find there that the Bread of the Sacrament is Transubstantiated into Christ's Body But he goes on And if it be plainly contained there he should conclude how Vnintelligible soever it appeared to him that yet there is no Contradiction in it because it is taught in Scripture I beg the Author's pardon there is a vast difference between Vnintelligible and Contradictions He should not have said How Unintelligible soever but how Contradictions soever And thus his Words ought to run He should conclude how Contradictions soever it appeared to him that yet there is no Contradiction in it because it is taught by Scripture I perceive the Author found it too harsh to say that how Contradictions soever a thing appears to be that yet there is no Contradiction in it because it is taught by Scripture and therefore he puts the word Vnintelligible instead of the word Contradictions In effect we do not say that every Unintelligible Thing contained in Scripture is a Contradiction We acknowledg the Resurrection plainly set down in Scripture does imply no Contradiction
Doctor answers this Objection Now saith he this Argument is fallacious for tho Christ be God himself yet if there be Three Persons in the God-head the Equality and Sameness of Nature does not destroy the Subordination of the Persons A Son is Equal to his Father by Nature but Inferior to him as his Son Now where is the Fallacy but in the Author's Answer His Comparison of a Father with his Son is short of his purpose for tho a Son be equal to his Father by Nature yet he is not equal to him in Authority and Power and therefore a Father is truly greater than his Son is his Head and can command him This is not meerly a Subordination of Order but of Power and Authority also But it is not so with the Father and Son in the Trinity they are not only equal by Nature in the Author's Hypothesis but in Power and Authority as they have the same Nature so they have the same Attributes whereby they are equal to one another in all Things Now if it be so how can the Father be said to be greater than the Son who is as great as himself How can he be called his Head which imports some Authority over Christ As appears from 1 Cor. 11. 3. But I would have you know that the Head of every Man is Christ and the Head of the Woman is the Man and the Head of Christ is God It appears by this place that God is the Head of Christ as Christ is the Head of every Man and the Man the Head of the Woman Now Christ's being the Head of every Man imports some Power and Authority over every Man as the Man's being Head of the Woman imports a Power and Authority over the Woman and consequently God's being the Head of Christ must import an Authority and Power over Christ else the Comparison would be unreasonable fallacious and impertinent But I say how can God be called the Head of Christ in such a Sense if Christ be as Great and have as great Power and Authority as God has how can God be called his God To be ones God is as much as to be his Benefactor and his Protector according to the stile of Scripture but Christ being All-mighty and self-sufficient how can the Father be stiled his God that is his Benefactor and Protector I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God John 20. 17. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Mat. 27. 46. How could Christ say these things on the Doctor 's Hypothesis for being God as well as the Father He must no less forsake himself than the Father forsook him and he might as well call himself his own God and complain of himself that he had forsaken himself Nay being himself Almighty God as well as the Father and being able to comfort himself in his Sufferings how comes he to invoke the Father or to call him his God for those Words plainly shew that He expected and desired from the Father the Assistance which He could not perform to Himself Furthermore how can we forbear conceiving Two Gods according to this Hypothesis Christ who invokes the Father is God the Father whom He invokes is God also consequently there are Two distinct Gods Can he that invokes and he that is invoked be one and the same Being I always thought that this supposed two several Beings Lastly If our Lord Christ were himself God how could any command him He has all the Power and all the Authority that the Father has He is no more subject to the Father than the Father to him nay the Father and He are but One God The Author goes on If the Father as I have explained it be original Mind and Wisdom the Son a Personal subsisting but reflex Image of the Father's Wisdom thô their Eternal Wisdom be equal and the same yet the Original is Superiour to the Image the Father to the Son And therefore thô I know such Texts as he alledges My Father is greater than I The Head of Christ is God I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God are both by Ancient and Modern Expositors applied to Christ's humane Nature yet I see no Inconvenience in owning this to be true with respect to his Divine Person and his Relation to the Father For the Father is the Head and Fountain of the Deity and therefore the Father may be called his God Let us consider this Paragraph The Son is a Personal Subsisting but Reflex Image of his Father's Wisdom What Gibberish is this Has the Doctor found any where in Scripture that the Son is a Personal Subsisting but Reflex Image of his Father's Wisdom Why does he not speak the Language of Scripture If his Words have any Sense he means that the Father reflects upon his own Knowledge and Wisdom but how comes he to fancy that a reflected Wisdom or to reflect on ones own Wisdom is a Divine Person and an Intelligent Being One would think it only an Act of God to reflect upon his own Knowledg or other Perfections without dreaming of a Divine Person but Metaphysicians it seems have a clearer Sight than other People what is to others only an Act of God the Metaphysician discerns to be a Divine Person 2. The Original saith the Author is Superiour to the Image the Father to the Son But the Superiority in the Trinity is only a Superiority of Order which can admit of no such Expressions as Greater than Christ the Head of Christ the God of Christ as I shewed before He sees he saith no Inconvenience in owning this to be true with respect to Christ's Divine Person and his Relation to his Father because the Father is the Head and Fountain of the Deity I will shew more particularly the ridiculousness of this Assertion by insisting upon the first of the Passages before cited as I have done upon the two others Our Saviour seeing his Disciples sorrowful because He had told them that He was going to his Father and being willing to comfort them and to lessen their Sadness tells them John 14. 18. If ye loved me ye would rejoyce because I said I go unto the Father For my Father is greater than I. One would think that Christ's meaning is That the Disciples should be glad to hear that he leaves the World to go to his Father because his Father being greater than He would undoubtedly crown his Obedience with an immortal Glory and a Name which is above every Name But this Author has found out another Sense which is worth the observing If ye loved me ye would rejoyce because I said I go to the Father for the Father is greater than I that is to say the Father is the Head and Fountain of the Deity This would have been a very unsignificant Comfort Be not sorrowful for my leaving this World and going to the Father For the Father is the first Person of the Trinity Yet
1. The Dignity conferred upon Christ ought not to be called the Supream Government of the World as this Author has stiled it For He acts and governs in Subordination to his Father 2. When the Scripture speaks of this Advancement of Christ it extends it especially over Angels and Men. 3. It is no Indignity to Angels as our Author pretends to be ruled and governed by a Man whom God has exalted above them Angels indeed have some natural Prerogatives above Men whereby they are more excellent Creatures than Men but if it pleases God of his free Gift to invest a Man with greater Dignity Power and all other Excellence than any Angel has why can't He be set over them as their Lord and Ruler in Subordination to God There is no Incongruity in it 4. That contrary to the Author's Assertion a meer Creature may be a fit Lieutenant or Representative of God in Personal and Prerogative Acts of Government or Power Thus Saul and David were set over the Israelites to govern and rule over them by God's Appointment in Subordination to him Nay we do commonly say That the King is the Lieutenant and Representative of God 5. God communicated to Christ such Wisdom and Power as is necessary to enable him to exercise the Dignity conferred on him In all this there is not the least Inconsistency But notwithstanding his foregoing Objections he confesses the Difficulty remains P. 161. If He be by Nature the Son of God and Natural Lord of the World how is He said to be exalted by God and to receive a Kingdom from him as the reward of his Righteousness and Sufferings He was before possessed of it ever since the Foundation of the World being natural Lord of all his Creatures He had no need to receive that which was his own or purchase what was his natural Right by such mean and vile Condescension as suffering Death on the Cross Now to reconcile this he makes a long Discourse concerning the Mediatory Kingdom of Christ which saith he hath been bestowed on the second Person of the Trinity and is peculiar to Him and distinguished from the Natural Government of the World which He has in Conjunction with the Father This Chimerical System I may overthrow I think by that single Text of St. Paul already cited There is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the MAN Christ Jesus If Christ is a Mediator and has the Mediatory Kingdom as He is the second Person of the Trinity that is as He is God why does the Apostle tell us that He is a Mediator bearly as He is Man At least he should have told us that the Mediator is the God-Man Jesus Christ It is unaccountable that the Apostle who in all his Epistles sets forth the Excellency and Glory of Christ in the most expressive Terms should tell us that the MAN Christ Jesus is the Mediator between God and Men if the Mediatory Kingdom is exercised by the Divine Person or Nature and if not Christ Man but Christ God is the Mediator But let us examine the Grounds our Author goes on He tells us ibid. A Mediatory Kingdom was necessary to reconcile God and Men to restore Man to the Integrity of his Nature and this Power and Dignity God bestowed on his own Son who had the most Right to it and was the best qualified for it being the begotten Word and Wisdom of the Father Now one would expect he should cite some Texts of Scripture to prove this Assertion but he could find no place to rely on But Christ must says he first become Man and perform the whole Will of God and then He shall be exalted Whereupon he makes this Observation pag. 162. All the Power Christ is invested with is as Head of the Church God has put all Things under his Feet and given him to be Head over all Things to the Church which is his Body the Fulness of him that filleth all Things Eph. 1. 22 23. That is saith he God has made him Governour of the World as Head of the Church I observe two Things upon this place 1. That this Text is not well interpreted The first part of it relates to the foregoing Verse and ought to be explained by it God saith the Apostle at Ver. 21. Set Christ at his own Right-Hand in the Heavenly Places far above all Principality and Power and every Name that is named not only in this World but in that which is to come Ver. 23. And hath put all Things under his Feet What Things Those that are before mentioned all the Orders of Angels and all Earthly Powers And then follows And gave him to be Head c. This is the sense not that Christ was made Governour of the whole World as Head of the Church 2. But what if all the Power Christ is invested with is as Head of the Church Will it not follow that all the Power He is invested with is as a Man not as God And this also I prove by Col. 1. 18. And He is the Head of the Body the Church who is the Beginning the First-born from the Dead He who is the First-born from the Dead can be no other but the MAN Jesus Christ but He who is the First-born from the Dead is the Head of the Church as that Text expresly saith therefore the MAN Christ Jesus is the Head of the Church Thus the Apostle very plainly telling us that the Mediator and Head of the Church is the Man Christ Jesus destroys our Author's Notion of Christ's Mediatory Kingdom or that it is grounded on and exercised by his Divine Nature or Person Further if Christ God is the Mediator if the Mediatory Kingdom belongs to and is managed by the second Person of the supposed Trinity I don't see how the Government of Israel can be a Type of this Kingdom as this Author says at p. 162 163. For the King of the Israelites was between God and his People and was really diverse from both but Christ in our Author's Hypothesis is God himself One with the Father and the Holy Ghost so that he must be a Mediator between himself and Men which besides that it is contrary to the Notion of a Mediator does wholly destroy the Parallel He says at pag. 164 165. that We certainly know from the Expositions of Christ and his Apostles that the Prophets spake of Christ under the Names of Lord God and Jehovah But I desire him to reconcile these Texts with his Opinion Heb. 1. 1 2. God who at sundry Times and in divers Manners spake in times past to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these Last Days spoken unto us by his Son Heb. 2. 2 3. For if the Word spoken by Angels was stedfast How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord Gal. 3. 19. The Law was ordained by Angels in the Hand of a Mediator i. e. by the Intervention
all Men grant Let the Author abate a little of his Confidence Is an Ironical Answer sufficient to confute a good and a strong Argument This is a wonderful Argument says he to prove that Christ is not God When St. Paul says in his Salutations Grace be to you and Peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ who would guess that Jesus Christ is God as well as the Father he nor any other sacred Writer ever says that there are Three Persons in the Godhead Father Son and Holy Ghost he calls only the Father God and distinguishes the Lord Christ from him If the Lord Christ is God as well as the Father the Apostle should have framed his Salutation thus Grace be to you and Peace from God the Father and from the God Man Jesus Christ But according to the Language of Scripture says he God signifies God the Father when he is distinguished from the Son and Holy Spirit I answer that is a Demonstration that the Father only is God else the Title God could not be appropriated to him when he is distinguished from the Son and Spirit And to discern so much a Man can lack nothing but common Sense But I observe farther to this Answer that supposing Christ were but a Man the Apostle could have expressed himself no otherways from whence it follows that either the Apostle did indeed so think and so teach or this Author must charge him as not knowing how to speak correctly and properly 'T is impossible saith the Brief History that the Son or Image of the One true God should himself be that One true God as impossible as that the Son should be the Father or the Image that very Thing whose Image it is This is meer Sophistry saith our Author for if the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost be the One true God they are the same One true God and yet the Father is not the Son nor the Son the Father I appeal to the Reader whether this be not a mear denial of the Difficulty not an Explication or a Solution of it The Son saith the Historian can't be the One true God because he is the Son and Image of the One true God for the Son cannot be the Father nor the Image the very Thing whose Image it is Yes says our Answerer God and the Image of God are the same One true God The next Argument of the History is that Many Texts expresly declare That only the Father is God In answer to this says our Author This would be a Demonstration could he produce any one Text which asserts that only the Father in opposition to the Son and Holy Ghost is God for then the Father must signify the Person of the Father in opposition to the Person of the Son and the Person of the Holy Ghost But has not the Historian produced such a Text John 17. 3. Father this is Life Eternal to know Thee the ONLY true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Or Jesus Christ thy Messenger Here the Father to whom the Son directs his Prayer as appears by Ver. 1. is called the only true God and the Son Jesus Christ whom he hath sent or his Messenger Here the Father as the Sender is opposed to the Son as the Messenger and the First called the ONLY true God the Other an Apostle or Messenger Our Author adds But when the Father is called the only true God only in opposition to all the false Gods which the World then worshipped there Father does not signify Personally but that one Godhead or Divinity of which the Father is the Source the Fountain and the Original So soon has this Author forgot his own Observation and Rule of Interpretation that according to Scripture God signifies God the Father whenever he is distinguished from the Son or Spirit Is not he to whom Christ here directs his Prayer called God and is he not distinguished from the Son who is called the Messenger why then should he not signify here Personally God the Father as well as in other places why must Father here signify not the Father but one Godhead of which the Father is the Source Thus either his Observation is false and then he is overthrown by the Texts to which he opposes it or it is true and then in this Text the only true God is affirmed by our Saviour himself to be the Father only in opposition to all other Persons whomsoever I cannot but admire this Author's way of expounding Scripture One while he founds Christ's Sonship on his eternal Generation so that the title Son denotes begotten Wisdom the second Person of the Trinity as soon as this notion will not serve the turn as when the Son is in St. Matthew and St. Mark denied to know the Day and Hour of Judgment then the Son shall signify Christ Man Again when God is distinguished from the Son and Holy Spirit he signifies Personally God the Father this Notion shall serve us against many Socinian sayings of Scripture against all the Texts in the seventh Argument of the History But when John 17. 1 3. and the like Texts are urged then on the contrary God the Father must not signify the Father Personally but one Godhead or Divinity of which the Father is the Source Certainly were his Hypothesis true there would be no need he should thus turn himself into all Shapes to defend it When the Father is called the one God and the only true God in opposition to all false Gods is he not so called in opposition to the Son also Most certainly he is In these two Texts John 17. 3. 1 Cor. 8. 6. we have no warrant from Reason or Scripture to understand by the Father Three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost Is it not absurd and senseless to say That the Father signifies also the Son and Holy Ghost in those very Texts where he is distinguished from them I always thought the Father signified the Father only and the Son the Son only and Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost only I always thought that the Language of Scripture was agreeable to the Language of Men because otherways it cannot be understood by Men and therefore that Father must not be understood to be Father and Son and a third Person distinct from both But Trinitarians better sighted than other People have found it may When we read in Scripture 1 Cor. 8. 6. To us there is but one God the Father It sounds as if the Apostle had said There is but one numerical infinite Being the Father of Jesus Christ and of all the World because this is the natural Idea we have of one God the Father But this Author tells us we are grosly mistaken for one God signifies three infinite Minds three substantial intellectual Beings or Persons Again we should think that the Father here signifies the Father only but this is it seems another foul Mistake for it signifies besides the Father a Son
out into all the Earth and their Words into the ends of the World which every one knows and confesses are meant at Psal 19. 4. of the Heavens and other Works of God which as it were preach his Wisdom and Power and Goodness to all Nations And thus St. Matthew at Mat. 13. 35. puts a Trick upon us when he applies to Christ the Words of Psal 78. 2. I will open my Mouth in Parables Which the Psalmist speaks of himself not of Christ Is our Author so little acquainted with the Writers of the New Testament as to be ignorant that they very often cite the Texts of the Old not as Testimonies and Proofs of what they say but by way of Allusion and Accommodation Such is the place in question the Apostle thought fit to accommodate the words of the Psalm to the matter he was treating of which was an elegant way of writing and very much practised by the Antient Jews as may be seen both in the Talmud and Rabbins Let us hear J. Calvin on this place Lastly says he we must not be too scrupulous about the Literal Sense of this Psalm seeing the Apostle only alludes to the Psalmist's words even as he applies a place of Moses to the matter in hand at Rom. 10. 6. God himself can be no Type says our Author pag. 203. for the Type is always less perfect than the Anti-type and therefore whatsoever is said of God must belong to his Person and cannot belong to any other But what then We do not say that God is a Type of any other in this Text nor did the Apostle cite the Words as such we only say that what is spoken of God in the Psalm is by the Apostle applied to Christ by way of Accommodation as several other Passages of the Old Testament are both by him and other sacred Writers as is confest by all Interpreters The next Place is Heb. 1. 6. When he bringeth the First-begotten into the World he says and let all the Angels of God worship him Which last Words are commonly thought to be quoted out of Psal 97. 7. To this Allegation the Socinian Historian answers The Apostle does not quote the Words of the Psalmist as if they were spoken of Christ but only declareth the Decree of God known to him by the Spirit for subjecting the Angels to Christ in the same Words that the Psalmist had used on another Occasion This is a very sound and judicious Answer yet our Author cannot rest satisfied with it for he answers But he proves this Decree of God by no other Revelation but the Words of the Psalmist nor pretends any other and if that don't prove it we have no other Yes we have for we know from Christ himself that all Power is given to him both in Heaven and Earth and consequently that he is exalted above all the Orders of Angels this the Scriptures often teach and it was believed by all Christians in the time of the Apostles So that when this sacred Writer sets before the Hebrews the eminent Glory of Christ he does it only to keep them in mind of it and to perswade them never to depart from the Doctrine of so great and glorious a Master As if he should have said You are not ignorant of the Glory Christ now injoys in Heaven how Thrones Powers Dominions c. are subjected to him for when God brought his First-born and beloved Son into the Heavenly World he said concerning him what had been said upon another Occasion Let all the Angels of God worship him let them honour serve and be subject to him This is the true and natural Sense of this Place to which I must add what has been already observed by others that it is probable this Place is quoted out of Deut. 32. 43. according to the Lxx and not out of Psal 97. For there we find the very Words of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And let all the Angels of God worship him But in Psal 97. we find only Worship him all ye Gods If this be true as I think it is our Author's Objection will fall of it self For those Words in Deut. are not spoken of God but of God's People the Israelites And if this can be said of God's People I hope it may be said of Christ too without concluding from thence that he is the Supream God The next Place is Isa 45. 23. I have sworn by my self Vnto me every Knee shall bow Which Words of God are applied to Christ at Rom. 14. 10 11. We shall all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ for it is written Every Knee shall bow to me and every Tongue shall confess to God To this the Historian answers In bowing and confessing to Christ at the last Judgment we are said to bow and confess to God not because Christ is God but because Christ then and there holds the place of God representeth him and acteth by his Commission So Men are said to appear before our Soraign Lord the King when they appear at the Bar of his Judges because the Judges act in the King's stead and by his Commission To this our Author replies But why does he confine this bowing the Knee to the last Judgment St. Paul indeed gives this as one Instance but does not confine it to this but in the Epistle to the Philippians makes it as large as the Exaltation of our Saviour Wherefore God hath highly exalted him c. And one may plainly see that the Historian does not confine the bowing of the Knee to the last Judgment He only explains the Words of the Apostle which relate to it But what then The Apostle makes the bowing of the Knee as large as Christ's Exaltation Phil. 2. What follows from thence That Christ is God! By no means It follows only that we ought to pay Christ an Honour proportionable to the Dignity bestowed on him in a word that every Tongue confess that he is Lord to the Glory of God the Father In which Words the Apostle plainly teaches us that the Honour we pay to Christ is subordinate to God and designed to promote God's Glory If then says he we must bow to the Person of Christ and confess him to be the Lord and this can be an Accomplishment of God's Oath Vnto me every Knee shall bow and every Tongue shall swear then Christ is that God who in the Prophet Isaiah swore That every Knee should bow to him This is just as if one should say If then the Irish must how to the Person of the Vice-Roy in Ireland and confess him to be the Lord and this be the Accomplishment of the King's Will Vnto me all the Irish shall bow and swear Allegiance then the Vice-Roy is that King who will have all the Irish to swear Allegiance to him This is a ridiculous Argument for as the Irish may bow to the Person of the Vice-Roy and look upon him as a Lord established by the King
this Belief that he was sent from God and had his Doctrine from him and by such an Acknowledgment he profest at the same time that God bare testimony to this Doctrine by the plentiful effusion of the Holy Ghost So that to be Baptized in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and to be Baptized only in the Name of the Son are one and the same thing I shall conclude this with the Words of the Learned Mr. Limborck Theol. Christ pag. 645. Dominus Jesus ritui c. In English thus To this Rite before practised by John Baptist the Lord Jesus added another Signification viz. the Profession of his Name and the Publick Reception of the Doctrine he had preached Therefore he ordered that Baptism should be administred in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Mat. 28. 19. That those who should receive the Rite of Baptism might thereby give up themselves to the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and profess themselves Disciples of that Doctrine which is originally derived from the Father revealed and preached by the Son and confirmed by the Holy Ghost with divers Miracles Signs Prodigies and Distributions of Gifts So that the Reception of Baptism was a publick Profession of the Doctrine of Christ Therefore it is that the Faithful are said every where to be Baptized in the Name of Christ that is to profess by their being Baptized that they receive his Doctrine as Divine and will be called by his Name as being their heavenly Master and only Saviour The Historian adds that 'T is in vain not to say ridiculously pretended that a Person or thing is God because we are Baptized unto it or in the Name of it For then Moses and St. John Baptist also would be Gods 1 Cor. 10. 1 2. Our Fathers were all Baptized unto Moses Acts 19. 3. Vnto what then were ye baptized And they said unto John 's Baptism that is say the Generality of Interpreters unto John and the Doctrine by him delivered He replies pag. 212. I confess he had answered this Argument could he have shewn us that the Jews were baptized in the Name of God and in the Name of Moses for that had joined Moses with God as our Saviour joins the Son and Holy Ghost with the Father in the form of Baptism But if the Jews were baptized in the Name of Moses who can doubt that they were baptized in the Name of God too as those who are baptized in the Name of Jesus are thereby baptized also in the Name of God as has been before shewed It is plain the Apostle compares Moses with Christ and tells the Corinthians that as they were baptized in the Name of Jesus the Son and Messenger of God so the Fathers had been baptized in the Name of Moses the Servant of God But we can afford the Author some places of Scripture wherein Creatures are joined with God Thus Exod. 14. 31. it is said And the People feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his Servant Moses In the Hebrew 'tis in the Lord and in Moses his Servant Here Moses the Man is joined with God and the Jews are said to believe in him as they believed in God So 1 Tim. 5. 21. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect Angels that thou observe these things c. Here elect Angels thô Creatures are ranked with God in so great and important a Matter and act of Religion as an Obtestation Again Rev. 1. 4. Grace be to you and Peace from him which is and which was and which is to come and from the seven Spirits which are before his Throne If Moses and Angels may be joined with God in Acts of Faith of Obtestation and of Benediction why not the Son and Spirit in Baptism thô neither of them is God himself We plainly see by St. Paul's Words to the Corinthians that to be baptized in the Name of One does not import that he is God 1 Cor. 1. 14 15. I thank God says he I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius lest any should say that I had baptized in my own Name He plainly intimates that a meer Man may baptize in his own Name and if any of the Corinthians had thought so of the Apostle I hope they would not have concluded from thence that he was God or made himself God He adds It is plain that to baptize unto Moses is a Figurative and Allusive Expression and does not and cannot signify that they were baptized in the Name of Moses because it is not true Indeed the Jews were not baptized as Christians are but still they were baptized Let the Author call it a Figurative and Mystical Baptism or what else he pleases it was still a Baptism as St. Paul assures us And to be baptized into Moses is the same with being baptized in the Name of Moses as in the New Testament to be baptized into or unto Christ is the same with being baptized in the Name of Christ This was rightly understood by Vorstius who paraphrases this place thus Scitis etiam c. i. e. You know also that they were all baptized in the Doctrine of Moses as the Messenger of God as the Cloud and the Passage thrô the Red-Sea were designed for a Confirmation of the Ministry of Moses But he denies that to be baptized into Christ and baptized in the Name of Christ signify the same thing But he mistakes as grosly as he uses to do for any one may observe it that compares the Texts where these Phrases are used Thus John 3. 18. He that believeth on him in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in or into or unto him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God So at Rom. 6. 3. and Gal. 3. 27. to be baptized into Christ and at Acts 2. 38. and 8. 16. to be baptized in the Name of Christ are used as equivalent terms Indeed the plain meaning of Rom. 6. 3. is this Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized in the Name of Christ and profest to obey his Doctrine lay thereby under an Obligation of a Spiritual Conformity to his Death in dying to Sin as he is dead and living to God as he is raised from the dead and lives with God So that the first words contrary to our Author's Assertion relate to the form of administring Baptism in the Name of Jesus and the latter to the effect of it This we may apply also to Gal. 3. 27. He further denies That to be baptized unto or into John 's Baptism signifies to be baptized in the Name of John for says he John did not baptize in his own Name but made Proselytes to the Messias But I hope he will not deny that to be baptized into Christ's Baptism is all one with being baptized in the Name of
that we should explain one obscure place by a thousand that are plain and easy 3. I come now to assign the true Sense of this famous Context Vers 1 2. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God The same was in the beginning with God PARAPHRASE When Jesus who is called the Word because he was the Messenger and Preacher of God's Will and Word and as it were the Mouth by which God pronounced his Oracles began to preach the Gospel he was intimate to the most secret Counsels of God like one who is in the very Bosom of his Father and he was in the form of God and like God by reason of the Glory and Majesty that did shine in him 1. That the Man Jesus may be called the Word or the Word of God no Body will deny who reads Rev. 19. 13. where Jesus is thus described He was clothed with a Vesture dipt in Blood and his Name is called The Word of God He who is here called the Word of God who is clothed with a Vesture dipt in Blood must be the Man Jesus Our Lord calls himself the Way because he teaches us the way to Salvation and the Light in this very Chapter because he is the bringer of it therefore why not also the Word of God because he was the Revealer Bringer and first Preacher of it 2. It appears by the second Verse that the Evangelist did not design to make a real Distinction between to be in the beginning and to be with God for what was distinctly spoken in the first Verse is put together in the second thus The same was in the beginning with God In effect the meaning of the Apostle is not that Christ was when he began to enter upon his Prophetick Office this would be no great wonder but that when he began to preach the Doctrine of the Gospel he was admitted into the most intimate Counsels of God or made partaker of his most secret Will This I think to be the reason of the Repetition contained in the second Verse besides that we may observe that Repetitions are very frequent throughout the whole Gospel of St. John and more used in that Book than in any other of the New Testament Thus when the same Apostle says 1 John 1. 1. That which was from the beginning which we have heard c. he does not pretend really to distinguish those two things and to say that the Gospel was in the beginning of the Gospel but that what he had seen and heard of the Gospel from the beginning of it that he declared unto Men. 3. I have proved before that In the beginning cannot signify the beginning of the World but that it is here used for the beginning of the Gospel the place last quoted and several others do sufficiently prove 4. To be with God and to be in the Bosom of the Father at ver 18. are equivalent Terms If therefore we know the true Sense of the latter Expression we shall have a right understanding of the former The Words at ver 18. run thus No Man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the Bosom of the Father he has declared him Now to see God in St. John's Stile is to know the Decrees and Will of God concerning the Dispensation of the Gospel Those words therefore ought to be thus paraphrased No Man knew at any time the Will and Decrees of God concerning the Dispensation of the Gospel the beloved Son of God who was admitted into his most secret Counsels has fully discovered them to us The Word Only-begotten is put here for Beloved by way of Excellence and so it is used very often both in Profane and Sacred Authors And to be in the Bosom of the Father is not here an Interpretation of Only-begotten that is Best-Beloved but it is brought in as the reason of the full knowledg that Christ had of God's Will and of the discovery he made of it Christ saith our Evangelist here has fully declared the Will and Counsels of God to us How so Because he was intimate and admitted to the most secret and hidden Counsels of God which he expresses by the Son 's being in the Bosom of the Father This is then the true Sense of this Phrase The Word was with God viz. God discovered to him the whole extent of his Will he kept nothing secret from him he filled him up with the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg 5. We may easily understand the true meaning of the Word was God if we compare them with Phil. 2. 6. where Christ is said to be in the form of God and equal with God or rather like God as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought to be rendred Christ was in the form of God and like God by reason of the Power and Authority bestowed upon him whereby he wrought all sorts of Miracles raising the Dead curing the Lame restoring sight to the Blind stilling the Winds and the Sea c. This we may apply to the words of St. John Jesus was not only in the Bosom of God Partaker of his most secret Counsels but he was besides invested with such Authority and Power as made him like God So that Christ is by St. John called God or rather a God by reason of that Power and Authortiy whereby he became in some manner like unto the true and most High God But this Appellation does no more prove him to be the true and most High God than Solomon or the Judges in the Psalms will be the True God because this Name God is given to them Psal 82. 6. and 45. 6. Ver. 3. All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made PARAPHRASE All things necessary to the Propagation of the Gospel were performed by him the Author and first Preacher of it And without his Direction there was not any thing performed that was performed That this relates not to the Creation of the World but to the Dispensation of the Gospel is very plain from the following words In him was Life and the Life was the Light of Men c. In these words the Evangelist teaches us how all things were made by Christ because in him was the Life and Light of Men which all Men may discern to be spoken of the Gospel by him taught which is the Light of Men and their Life as it leads them to Eternal Life Ver. 10 11. He was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not He came unto his own and his own received him not PARAPHRASE He was conversing among Men to teach them the way to Salvation some of them were reclaimed by him but the greater part rejected him He was sent to his own Brethren but most of them would not receive him It does sufficiently appear by these words and the World knew him not that the Apostle speaks only of
Men who only are capable of knowing not of this visible World As indeed the 11th Verse is a plain Explication of Verse 10. St. John expresses in this Chapter the same thing several ways He was in the World He came unto his own The Light shined in Darkness these are equivalent Expressions So also The World knew him not His own received him not the Darkness comprehended it not signify one and the same thing Thus the World was made by him is explained at Ver. 12. thus But as many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God and by Verse 4 and 9. So that in all this there was no Intention to saythat the Old Creation was the work of Je sus Christ CHAP. VIII HIS second Charge is That Socinianism makes the Jewish Oeconomy very unreasonable and unaccountable pag. 231. because if Christ were no more than a meer Man the Anti-type should fall very short of the Types contained in the Old Testament The Tabernacle and Temple says he was God's House where he chose to dwell by the visible Symbols of his Presence and was so contrived as to be the Figure both of Heaven and Earth for so the Apostle to the Hebrews expresly tells us the Holy of Holies was a Figure of Heaven But we must all confess that this was a very unaccountable and insignificant Ceremony for God who fills Heaven and Earth with his Presence to dwell in an House made with Hands had it not prefigured something more Divine and Mysterious The Temple then was a Figure and we must inquire what it was the Figure of Now a Typical Presence can be a Figure of nothing but a real Presence and God's Personal dwelling among Men for Presence and Habitation can signify nothing but Presence and a Figure must be a Figure of some thing that is real and nothing can answer to a figurative visible Presence of God but a personal visible Presence He goes on and applies this to Christ who at John 2. 19. calls his Body a Temple which says our Author was that in Truth and Reality which the Temple was but a Figure of that is God's Presence on Earth which he explains of his being personally united to Christ's Humane Nature But if Christ be not Incarnate adds he if the Divine Word be not personally united to the Humane Nature the Body of Christ is but a figurative Temple as the Temple at Jerusalem was and then one Figure is made a Type of another which is as great an Absurdity in Types as a Metaphor of a Metaphor in speech I do not remember I ever saw so much trifling so seriously urged in a weighty Question but I have undertaken the drudgery of making Reflections on it and therefore will consider what he has offered 1. That the Temple was a Figure both of Heaven and Earth I am content to admit the Apostle to the Hebrews may be interpreted to that purpose But that it was also a Type of Christ's Body we have no colour from Scripture to affirm it and the Author has offer'd no other ground for it but his own wandring Fancy The Author to the Hebrews who inlarges upon the Temple does not give the least Intimation of this why then should we contrive Types and Figures of our own without any reason for it If this be allowed we may make Types of any thing and increase Figures to an infinite Number If the Author is in love with cold and groundless Allegories every Body is not of his Mind and therefore he should keep them to himself But why should the Temple be a Figure of Christ's Body rather than the Ark God is said all over the Old Testament to dwell between the Cherubims it was the proper Seat of God where he gave forth his Oracles and made his Glory to appear by affording sensible Signs of his Presence If therefore such Allegories had any Signification of future Times and Things it would be more probable that the Ark was a Type of Christ's Body than the Temple the rather because we know already by a Divine Testimony that the Temple was a Figure of some-thing else But he will say that Christ calls his Body a Temple What then so St. Paul calls the Corinthians Ye are says he the Temple of God Was the Temple at Jerusalem a Figure or Type of the Bodies of the Corinthians Or does our Saviour say that he calls his Body a Temple because it was the Anti-type of the Temple of the Jews 2. Tho the Temple were not a Figure of Christ's Body yet it would be no unaccountable and insignificant Ceremony for God to dwell in an House made with Hands to appoint this the place of his Worship c. which our Author thinks to be inexplicable without admitting his Doctrine of the Trinity Who knows not that the Israelites were given to Idolatry and that the pompous way of Worship used among the neighbouring Nations agreed so much to their Fancies that it was necessary to comply with them in this thing that they might be kept from worshipping other Gods and the current of Idolatry be restrained Thus God in his infinite Wisdom thought fit to set up among his People a carnal and sensible Worship and to appoint an House where he would dwell after a particular Manner and afford visible Symbols of his Presence All this he did to accommodate himself to the gross genius of the Israelites and to perswade them to forsake Idols and to acknowledg no other God but himself This was the true reason of the Temple of God's dwelling there and the Glory with which it was sometimes filled and to affirm that all was done to prefigure Christ's Body is a Fancy which the Author might better have kept to himself 3. But suppose the Temple was a Type of Christ's Body yet there is no need God should be incarnate in Christ's Body to answer that Type The Scriptures tell us God was with Christ and in Christ which I hope might be done without an Incarnation or Personal Union as he was in the Temple As God spake in the Temple so he spake in and by Christ But besides all this Christ was greater than the Temple because God was always present with him which cannot be said of the Temple where the Signs of God's Presence were not always visible God's Dwelling in Christ was always conspicuous by the Oracles which he delivered and the Miracles he wrought But he objects a place of Scripture To this says he St. John plainly alludes The Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only-begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tabernacled amongst us fulfilled that Type of God's dwelling in the Tabernacle and Temple at Jerusalem by his dwelling Personally in Humane Nature This Argument or rather Congruity is grounded on two false Suppositions The first is that The Word was made Flesh
did not give any Son he had before but made an excellent Man whom he was pleased to call his only begotten Son When our Saviour says God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. I desire our Author to tell me what is meant by the Word God Whether the whole Trinity or the Father only If the whole Trinity the Sense will come to this The Father the Son and the Holy Ghost so loved the World that they gave their only begotten Son Which is false for in the Trinitarian Hypothesis the Son is not the Son of the Second or Third Persons in the Trinity If by God be meant the Father only How comes the Father to ingross here the Title of God to the Exclusion of the Son and the Holy Ghost How is he only said to love the World for the Son and Holy Ghost love it as well as the Father Thus they are not the Socinians but the Trinitarians that ridicule the Christian Religion by putting on it an absurd and unnatural Sense But says he God's Love in giving his only-begotten Son for our Redemption which our Saviour fixes on as the great Demonstration of God's Love is not so wonderful if this giving his Son signifies no more than making a Man on purpose to be our Saviour What then Does it follow from thence that the Socinian Doctrine ridicules the Christian Religion It only follows that the Socinian Doctrine makes the Love of God less wonderful than the Trinitarian For in it self it is a wonderful Love that God should raise up a Saviour to Apostate and Rebel Mankind tho this Saviour was not God himself But why should we call a Chimera a more wonderful Love for the Son of God cannot be God himself and therefore God could not shew his Love by giving such a Son To conclude as the Love of God in redeeming Offenders is wonderful be the means what they will So his Love in giving for them his Beloved Son tho but a Man cannot without Impiety be denied to be wonderful to a Miracle The ridiculing is only on the side of our Author not on the Vnitarian and I am apt to think that if I were not an Vnitarian already his Book made up of bold Charges inconsequent Reasonings and arrogant Definings of what he understands not would make me one In the next place says he at pag. 239. the Apostles mightily insist on the great Love of Christ in dying for us and his great Humility in submitting to the condition of Human Nature and suffering a shameful and accursed Death even the Death of the Cross He cites 2 Cor. 8. 9. and 5. 14. and Phil. 2. 5 6 7 8. And goes on thus Supposing Christ to be but a meer Man who had no being before he was born of the Virgin who knew nothing of his own coming into the World or for what end he came whose Undertaking was not his own voluntary choice but God's appointment Where is the great Love where is the great Humility of this The meaning of all this is that were not Christ the Supream God whatever he has done on our behalf would be no great Argument of his Love or his Humility If Codrus and Decius devoting themselves to Death for the Good of their respective Countries have been accounted by all Men great Lovers of their Countries Shall not Christ's dying for the Eternal Salvation of Mankind pass for an Argument of wonderful Love Is it nothing for Christ to lead a wandring poor and miserable Life to expose himself to all the Injuries and Fury of Implacable Adversaries to undergo a painful and infamous Death and all this to make Men partakers of everlasting Life Must all this be accounted nothing unless the Person so doing be the Supream God How did he become Poor says he who was never Rich But I ask him How the Supream God can become Poor How God can make himself of no Reputation or humble himself and become obedient unto Death all which things he imputeth to a Person who is God I would know How it comes that Christ's Love and Humility is described by such Characters as can only be applied to a Man if we must not be allowed to believe that the Love of Christ-Man was wonderful He insists much on 2 Cor. 8. 9. where our Translation says Christ became Poor But he might know that the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does not signify to become Poor but to be Poor and so Castalio renders it So the Sense of that place is this Tho Christ was Rich and Glorious by reason of the Authority and Power conferred on him yet he was willing to lead a poor Life that by his Poverty as by one means we might obtain Eternal Riches and Glory The Historian explains being in the Form of God at Phil. 1. 6. by being made Like to God by a Communication to him of Divine and Miraculous Power over Diseases Devils the Grave the Winds the Seas c. To this our Author replies This dwindles the Form of God into just nothing for according to them he had no power to do this but God did it at his Word as he did for other Prophets And therefore this is no Form of God no likeness at all For Christ did not work Miracles as God does by an inherent Power but God wrought Miracles for him Christ indeed could not work Miracles by an inherent or proper Power of his own since he was not God but to conclude that therefore there was no form or likeness of God at all in him is a very bad Consequence When we say that Christ was in the form or likeness of God we exclude thereby an equality with God and we mean only that he was in a manner like God This may be explained by a Comparison It may be said that a Vice-Roy is like a King but this does not signify that he is the King himself or is equal to the King but only that by reason of the Power and Authority conferred on him he is in a manner like the King So that thô he does not act by a Power of his own yet he may be truly said to act like a King To conclude from hence that this dwindles the likeness of the Vice-Roy with the King into just nothing would be meer Impertinence for then a Porter would be as like a King as the Vice-Roy himself which no Man in his Senses will affirm When therefore Christ by the Power bestowed upon him cast out Devils cured all sorts of Diseases raised the Dead commanded the Winds and the Seas He was indeed in the likeness of God and it was a great Humility in him that he was so far from making an ostentation of his Glory and Greatness that he became like a Servant humbled himself and underwent all sorts of Sufferings even the Death of the Cross But says the Author pag. 241. How did he take this Form upon him which signifies his own