a vain Conversation and to have a Witness within us even the Spirit to bear Witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God and shew out of a good Conversation the Virtues of him that hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light Proving that the Grace of God that hath appeared to us hath Effectually Taught us to deny all ungodliness and Worldly Lust and to live Godlily and Righteously and soberly in this present evil World And that we do not only look to the Blood of Christ to deliver us from the guilt of sin but we do also Live by Faith on him and do find his Blood Effectual to Cleanse us from the Filth of Sin 1 Joh. 1. 7. so should we in our inquiry after this Mighty Saviour be Serious and Humble Resolving to guide our Reason by the Word of God Subjecting all the Powers and Faculties of our Souls thereunto Humbly imploring the Spirits aid and special assistance without which we cannot discern the things of God because they are Spiritually discerned And surely this mighty Salvation can be wrought out by no other then an Almighty Saviour whom we Read of in Isa 63. 1. One that speaks in Righteousness that hath dyed Garments and therefore Travielleth in the greatness of his strength and is mighty to save and therefore this mighty deliverer must be no other then God's fellow which no Created being can be spoken of Zacha. 13. 7. And this is evident from the Nature of the Work which hath been already proved he was to do which was to bring in an Everlasting Righteousness and to make an Attonement for sin Dan. 9. 24. Which no Created Being could do for no Man nor Angel nor any Created Being whatsoever can be Profitable to God as he that is wise can be Profitable to himself Job 22. 2. And not only are Christ's Disciples but all Created beings are unprofitable Servants Job 4. 18. Behold he puteth no trust in his servants and he chargeth his Angels with folly None can do any more then their duty therefore none can come in as Mediators between God and sinful Creatures none have any Excellency but what they have received from God Therefore it is but their duty to return all back again to him from whom they received their Beings and all the Excellency thereof and the more any Creature receives the more is he in Debt to the Giver So that it is utterly impossible for a Creature to interpose between the offended Justice of God and a guilty Sinner the Nature of a Created being will not cannot admit of such a thing Therefore seeing our Lord Jesus Christ did interpose between God and Sinners he must be such a days Man as could lay his hand both on God and Man and therefore must be that Child given to us whose name is called Wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the Everlasting Father spoken of in Isa 9. 6. And indeed were he not so we could have no Comfort here nor happiness hereafter by all that he did or Suffered For First What comfort could we have here or Expectation of happiness hereafter from what he did if he were but a Man or any Created being only If he were but a Creature though such an imaginary One as Mr. Considerator speaks of in Page 57. 1. and Colum 1. 2. Created before God Created the Heavens and the Earth yet he being but a Creature could merit nothing for us that Command to Love the Lord with all the heart and all the might and all the strength makes it the indispensable duty of every Created Being to do all that they are Capable of doing in Obedience to God And in so doing they do but their own duty which is but their Reasonable Service The Nature of a Created Being if we could suppose such a One as might be Ten Thousand times more Glorious and Excellent then the most Glorious Angel in Heaven yet being but a Creature it ows its being and all that it is Capable of doing to its Creator It can pay no more then its own Just Debt And the more Excellent it is the more it is obliged to God to pay the same So that it is utterly impossible to find Works of Superrogation in any Created being so then if Christ were not the true God he could Merit nothing for us by all that he did for If you tell me there have been some Men such as Abraham and David and the like for whose sake God saith he will do good to their Posterity I Answer such Expressions are always to be taken Figuratively as they were Types of Christ or as Declarations of Gods Faithfulness in keeping Covenant with Abraham and his Seed for ever But all those Men had a Mediator to take away there own Guilt for it is Written there is none good no not one Therefore they being saved by the Mercy of God conveyed to them through the Merrits of Christ it is impossible that they could do any thing for the sake of which God should shew Mercy to their Posterity For if an inocent Creature can do but its duty how much less can a sinful Man though renewed by Grace do any thing to Merit for another And here both Mr. Considerator and our Nameless Author may take an Answer to their Babels-Tower that they have thought to build so High as to reach Heaven by their following Christ Example concerning which I shall only ask these Gentlemen Two or Three Queries First Whether they think the Law of God was not a perfect Rule of Righteousness though our Lord had never come into the World Secondly If it was necessary that our Lord should come into the World to give us an Example only or chiefly what should be the Reason why he was not sent as soon or before Sin entered into the World Thirdly If we are saved by following Christ's Example what is become of Abraham David and all the Old Testament Saints that lived and dyed before he gave this Example Fourthly I would ask Mr. Considerator himself and my Nameless Author whether they do not think in their Consciences if God should enter into Judgment with them and deal with them according to their following or not following Christ's Example they must not unavoidably perish without any hope of Mercy Perhaps these Gentlemens Ignorance both of God the Law and of Sin which is a transgression of the same may furnish them with a ready Answer to the last Query the same that one of their Tribe gave me above twenty years agoe to a Question of the like Nature namely that he did not know whether a vain Thought were a Sin or no But whatever their Answer may be to the aforesaid Queries I am taught by the Word of God and sound Reason drawn from the same to believe that it is these Gentlemens Ignorance of God of his Law and of themselves that first laid the Foundation of this Antichristian Fabrick in their Hearts and is
Sufficient All-sufficient being without beginning Now though Reason rightly Arguing from the Effects to the Cause may find out the Eternal Power and God-head as the Apostle speaks that is know that God is an Eternal being Yet all the Doctors of Reason can never shew how it can be so any more than they can shew how the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost can be One God And I do hereby promise not to trouble the Learned about such impossiblities as either of these are that on the same Day in the Morning of which our Doctors of Reason shall give me a reasonable Demonstration how a being can be without a-beginning I will in the Afternoon of that same day before the Sun goes down give them as Reasonable a Demonstration how the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost are one God For when you have Magnified your Reason as far as you will or can you have but two ways to Work it by either you must argue from the Cause to the Effect or from the Effect to the Cause Not from the Cause to the Efect for the very Supposition of a Cause destroys the Nature of a Being without a Beginning nor can you find it out by arguing from the Effect to the Cause for where there is no Cause all Effects must cease So that the Argument is very Rational both against you that will not believe God to be as he is because your Reason cannot comprehend him Whereas if you could he must cease to be God for an Infinite and Eternal Being cannot be comprehended by a Finite Foolish Man As also against the greater Atheist who deny the being of God because they say there can be no being without a Beginning but that God is all his wondrous Works declâ—re for there could be no Effects If there were not a first Cause to Produce those Effects and he himself must be without a Cause or else he must be but an Effect of some other Cause and that destroys his Eternal Power and Godhead So that as the Works of God do clearly shew that he is and that he is and Eternal Being yet all the Reason in Man by the utmost searching can never find out the Almighty so to perfection as to give a Demonstration how he can be so So that however these Gentlemen of Reason cry out against Misteries yet this one Attribute of Gods Eternity is such a Mistery as all the Worshippers in Heaven both Angels and Men shall adore and admire God for as well as for his other excellencies and perfections even to Eternity And it is observable that in Rev. 4. ver 8. There the four Beasts that stood round about the Throne adore God for his Eternity and they rest not day and night saing Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come those Blessed Creatures adore and believe what they could not give a Reason for and for that very Reason they admire and adore God so much the more Whereas if they could have told how God was they would have declared it and not Ananias and Saphira like have kept back any part of their knowledge For we find in all their Thanksgivings they go as far as they can in Rev. 5. ver 9. in their new Song which they Sing they say the Lamb is worthy to take the Book and open the Seals thereof and when they Praise him for Redeeming them and making them Kings and Priests they rest not there but go as far as they can even to the Foundation of all saying who hath Loved us and washed us in his blood and thereby made us Kings and Priests unto our God Where by the way we may observe that all Gods Kings and Priests are made so by being washed in Christ Blood and not by their imperfect following Christ Example of which more in due place Upon the whole matter let our Men of Reason make never so much Noise and Clamor against the Doctrine of the Trinity as being contrary to Reason and after they have darkned Counsel by Multitudes of Words without Knowledge yet it is evident that all their Reasons may be reduced to one which lyes with equal force against the very being of God that is their Reason cannot comprehend how three can be One And I will for once venture to assert not knowing any Law nor Reason against it that their Reason can as little comprehend and their understanding is as much at a Loss to know how a being can be without a beginning So that notwithstanding their pretentions to Christianity they are but Factors to Atheism for if the Atheist can but prove that every Mans Reason is his sufficient Rule for what he ought to believe and Practice he will gain a great Point and the greatest Fools will never want Arguments to justifie their Foolish Notions and Practices For if the worst of Fools an Atheist come and say there is no God he will pretend Reason for it Though it be the most irrational thing that a Reasonable being can be guilty of For there can be no beings that we see but either made themselves or were produced by some other Cause or sprang out of nothing or else it is Eternal without beginning or Cause Surely we our Selves did not make our Selves nor could something of it self spring out of nothing much less could nothing produce somthing Therefore the Heavens and the Earth could not make themselves neither could such a Fabrick of it self arise out of nothing therefore it must have a Creator that by an Almighty Power could speak things into being without matter to Work upon Or else the Heavens and the Earth must be Eternal without Beginning or Cause and then they yield their Argument and contradict themselves If they say the Heavens and the Earth did by Chance jumble into the order in which they now are out of a confus'd Chaos of matter pre existant to the Heavens and the Earth to say nothing of the strangeness that it should not jumble back again into the same Confus'd Chaos by the same Chance before this time of day I Demand how this confus'd Chaos or disorderly matter came into being out of which this Heaven and Earth Chopt into into such an orderly Frame If they tell me that this confus'd matter was Eternal I answer That this is so sottish and blockish that none but Madmen or Fools can be guilty of it for who but those that have no reason or having had it have now lost it will deny an Infinite Eternal Being and yet attribute these Perfections to nothing or confused Matter which is worse than nothing But these are not the Fools I am concerned with I am treating with Gentlemen a Title too good and too great for the greatest Atheist in the World however they may assume it to themselves or their flattering Trencher dependants may as treacherously as well as cowardly give it unto them But the Gentlemen I am concerned with are Men of
11th page not only denies it but also acknowledges if he be so he must be the Living and True God because it is an incommunicable Attribute of God Now we have our Lor'ds Words for it over and over again that he will be with his People in all places in the World Now whether Mr. Considerator will believe our Lord's Words or give him the Lye or whether his Reason hath taught him that the Humane Nature of Jesus Christ is bodily present with his People in all places and at all times and if so he gives himself the Lye Or whether he will believe that he is the Living and True God and fills Heaven and Earth with his Presence Let him choose I am not to be accountable for his Faith But the Considerator goes on in his 11th page and tells us some of their Number think Our Lord Jesus Christ may be invocated in Prayer not because he is omnipresent or omniscient but because it pleased the Father to reveal to him our Prayers And quotes Revelation 1. 1. He might as well have quoted Mark 13. 32. For neither of those Texts speak of Prayer but of the Humane Nature of Jesus Christ and if he had been writing to those that deny his Humane Nature they had been to his purpose But Christians that believe him to be Godman are confirm'd in their Faith by these Texts as by several other in Revelations and elsewhere He being that wonderful Person who is the First and Last who was dead and is alive But if some of your Number scruple praying to him I do not know any of the Number of Christ's Disciples that make any scruple of it Stephen the first Christian Martyr dyed calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Acts 7. 5. But pray Sir sometimes you pretend to be a Man of Reason but as is your Reason so is your Divinity The Scriptures speak every where of coming to the Father by the Son not to the Son by the Father Ephes 2. 18. Through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father Neither can any man come to the Father but by the Son John 14. 6. But if the Father reveal our Wants to him and he cannot know them by his own Omnisciency then we are necessitated to come to the Son by the Father and instead of Jesus Christ spreading our Wants and offering our Prayers to the Father with his own Incense the Father must offer up our Prayers to the Son It is not for Mechanicks to call the Learned Blockheads nor will I presume to determine whether it be a Common or a Strange Thing to find such a Monster as a Learned Dunce among the Schoolmen But I must needs say this Sir that notwithstanding your great Boasting in your 44th page of your being free of the Common-Wealth of Wit and Learning though I will not question the Copy of your Freedom of the City of Learning And yet we Mechanicks have so high an Esteem for the Noble City of Learning that we cannot think such Jolts could ever attain the Honour of being free of that City But that we are inform'd that it is the Custom of that City confirm'd by a Law made by a Common Council of the same for the Encouragement of Strangers to send their Children thither that after seven years Service every Tutor shall be obliged to make all his Dunces free But notwithstanding all this Sir I think it is a Reproach to the States of the Common-Wealth of Sound Reason to naturalize such Gentlemen as you are among them Yet I would not reflect on the Proceedings and Conduct of that Sereen Republick And therefore I do freely acknowledge that it is very probable that we Mechanicks may not understand the Meaning of some of those Learned Words that flow so naturally from such great Criticks as you are we having not the Gift of divers kinds of Tongues And therefore it is probable that by Wit and Learning you mean only the Den of Subtilty and Cunning Sophistry whereby you are enabled to devise cunning Fables to deceive us Laymen if God do not give us more Grace and Sound Reason to withstand you And so you may notwithstanding all this foolish Flourish pag. 44. be Strangers and Alliens from the Common-wealth of Sound Reason And truly you have little Reason to Glory in your being free of the Den of Subtilty and Cunning for when you have done all you can the Old Serpent will outdo you in that kind of Learning and Logick But I think it is almost time for me to take my leave of Mr. Considerator for although I promised my self great Improvements of my Reason when I first saw his Title Page and no doubt but much might have been learn'd from him had his Book been as rational as his Attempt is daring and bold And yet upon a Close View I do not find his Reasons are any other that what are contained or may be reduc'd to what I find in my short Accountant save only that his great Learning hath puft him up with so much Vanity that he is not ashamed to speak evil of Dignities But Mr. Considerator goes on in his 11th page from denying the Omnipresence of Christ to deny the Satisfaction of Christ's Death And in page 12. colum 1. he saith The end of Christ's Death was to recommend Mankind to the Mercy Forgiveness and Favour of God And again Col. 2. he saith He suffered to recommend us unto the Mercy of God And in page 32. colum 1. he saith Though he would willingly give it us in the Lord Bishop of Sarum's Words and doth indeed no less than charge his Lordship with a Dissent from the Catholick Church in his 1st colum page 31. But in page 32. colum 1. he saith The Sacrifice of Christ was not tendered to the Justice of God as an equivalent Amends or Reparation but to his mercy as a Supplication and as such accepted And this he saith the Socinians contend for but pray Sir let us reason the Case a little about this Account that you give of the End of Christ's Death But first let it be remembred that you grant that Christ died to expiate the Sins of Mankind page 31. col 2. This expiation was not offered to the Justice of God you say but to his Mercy and to his Mercy not as an Expiation of Guilt but as a Supplication for Mercy This is a double Contradiction I see the Gentleman will not prove himself a small Fool for first you set the Cause in the place of the Effect and the Effect in the place of the Cause And in the second place you destroy the very Nature of Mercy and make it no other than Justice it self in that an expiatory and propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of Mankind must be offered up thereunto First You make the Effect to be the Cause of that which it is but the Effect of For the Mercy and Love of God was the first