as at one time to take off every Letter of the Inscription at another only some and make new ones in the place and many more such things which those who are skill'd in the Art know that thereby Men who somewhat understand those things are often cheated the like may be said concerning Manuscripts several either wholly or in part are Spurious therefore several things ought to be observ'd and a great care used when we examine them wherein also are some certain Rules but not known to every one that goes about it and even some who know these Rules may happen to be grosly mistaken when they come to the Application these Truths known to those whose Genius and Practice hath qualified them to enter upon such Matters if at leisure I could enlarge upon but as there are so many particular cases which would require several instances for brevity sake I now shall forbear saying any more to 't and return to the point But suppose the Text was not in the Original as it is Socinians would not thereby get so great an advantage as they imagine if we had only that Text to prove the Holy Trinity they might boast indeed but we have others besides which were never questioned in the least as are that of our Saviour's Baptism where from Heaven the Father calls Jesus Christ his beloved Son and at the same time the Holy Ghost appeared in the shape of a Dove and can any thing in the World be more formal plain and positive than these words of our Saviour to his Apostles Matth. 28.19 To Baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Certainly he who therein cannot read the Trinity must be desperately blind but I †The Blasphemous Socin Heresie Confuted elsewhere have given Reasons enough out of the Old and New Testaments to prove that Fundamental Article of our Religion about the most Holy Trinity which all the wicked endeavours of Hell and its Instruments cannot prejudice but the more to confirm what I already said upon the point I shall add what follows a place is remarkable Hear O Israel Deut. 6.4 the Lord our God is one Lord. Or as in the Original Jehovah our God Jehovah is one Twice the Lord and once our God the word our is joyn'd neither to the first the Father nor to the third the Holy Ghost but to the second Person our God who is become ours by taking our Humane Nature upon him and thus God is become Man may be in that prospect God said Gen. 3.22 Man is become as one of us That is as he of us who is to be Man or the Son as indeed the second Person is the Angel who went with and led them thro' the Wilderness that was made man this is not as some would have it to be understood as a distinction of the God of the Jews from the false Gods of the Gentiles for if this had been all therein intended the name of Jehovah needed not to have been repeated a second time and the words Jehovah our God is one had fully expressed the impiety of the Heathen for making themselves many Gods but this was to shew three Persons in that one Godhead for he that was the God of the Jews is as truly the God of the Gentiles so of both Jews and Gentiles therefore saith the Apostle Is he the God of the Jews only Rom. 3.29 Mark 12.26 out of Exod. 3.6 Is he not also of the Gentiles yea of the Gentiles also This manner of speech is by our Saviour used I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. The name God is thrice in one God who Created Redeemed and Sanctified which Works of Creation Redemption and Sanctification are in Scripture in a special manner attributed the first to the Father the second to the Son and the third to the Holy Ghost Withall seeing the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob are not three but one and the same God something seeing Scripture saith nothing in vain must thereby be intended if it had been in relation to the Father Son and Grand-Son it would sufficiently have been express'd with once naming God as the God of Abraham of Isaac and Jacob but God being named thrice yet there being but one God it must needs relate to some Trinity therein which being not in the Nature can be Relative only to the three Persons of the Godhead For a greater confirmation of this let us read that Blessing which by God's immediate command Moses in God's own words appointed Aaron and his Sons to pronounce to the People Numb 6.24 25 26. we have it thus The Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace The Lord or Jehovah is thrice named yet Jehovah being an Essential name of God in that sense there can be but one Jehovah seeing there is but one God yet since God saith and doth nothing in vain some reason there must be why in this place 't is thrice mention'd which we may find if with attention we read the Text the first Verse doth contain Attributes properly belonging to the Father as to bless and keep 't is proper for the Father to bless his Children and God the Father is specially call'd the Maker and Preserver of the Creatures as being chiefly stiled the Creatour therefore we read God created man Gen. 1.27 28. male and female and blessed them and said unto them be fruitful and multiply here the Blessing answers Aaron's Prayer that God would bless so to be fruitful and multiply them what Aaron pronounc'd that God would keep and preserve them both generally and individually Besides that the Greek Etymology of the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Father from the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I keep or preserve shews plainly how a Father is he who preserves those whose Father he is so a Father of a Family keeps his whole Family and he who takes care of all is a common Father to all therefore the blessing The Lord bless and keep thee doth specially and properly belong to God the Father though it excludes none of the other two Persons of the most Holy Trinity The second Verse contains that which is particularly attributed to the Son as to make his face shine upon and be gracious unto them Exod. 33.14 The Face is a part of Humane Body but none of the Persons of the most Holy Trinity only the Son hath a Humane Body so 't is proper to the Son Now the Son is the Face and Image of the Father in whom only God is seen and visible we must remember how God said to Moses my face for so 't is i◠the Original shall go with thee and who is he that
call'd will help to strike the Nail farther into the Head of those proud and unchristian Sisera's Unbelievers I may also call them seeing they refuse to believe the true God of Israel when he speaks of his Son who under the Name of this Angel he promised should go before them Ex. 32.34 Mine Angel shall go before thee And in the next Chapter God calls him his Presence ch 33.14 or his Face God hath many Angels but in a most special manner that he calls his but God hath not many Faces 2 Cor. 4.6 only one and that is the Face of Jesus Christ in whom only is the knowledge of the glory of God for God giveth the knowledge of his glory only in him Because he is the express Image of his Heb. 1.3 the Father's Person Those two Texts in the Old Testament compared with and explained by these two in the New shew that the Lord Jesus the proper Son of God went before and guided his People in the Wilderness so pre-existed the time of his Birth of the Virgin and that it may not be said of any Creature that the glory of God is in his Face or that he is the express Image of the Person of the Father and the brightness of his glory as the Beam is the brightness of the glory of the Sun In my way towards a Conclusion I shall by the grace of God briefly bring in some few Texts which do explain and confirm the great Truths now in question some I elsewhere have taken notice of however I now shall add something to what I then said but others I shall mention which I did not before but this I shall premise In the Apostle John's Days who lived to a very Old Age sprang up some Heresiarks as Simon the first of all Cerinthus Ebion and Menander who deny'd the Divinity of Christ as now Socinians do This moved the Apostle to assert and vindicate it as in his Gospel Epistles and Revelation he hath done so fully that if there were no other Books left of the New Testament there is in them abundantly enough to certifie and confirm that Heavenly Truth as out of several places in his Writings I sufficiently demonstrated in my Book against the Blasphemies of Socinianism which he doth so plainly and so often that we must take notice how the Holy Ghost by his Pen intended chiefly and strongly to suggest to and convince Men of the Fundamental Truth of Christian Religion namely that the Lord Jesus is the proper Son of God 1 Joh. 5.5.9 10 11 12 13 20. and to the end that great Truth may make a deep impression upon the Souls of Men in one Chapter in no less than seven Verses he emphatically calls him the Son of God and v. 10 he is twice so called so twice in the 13th and that in such a manner so sensibly and with such Circumstances as denote a true proper and natural kind of Son-ship and he is so earnest upon 't may be all that time having in his Eye the Blasphemy of those Hereticks as to charge those who deny Christ to be the Son of God and believe not in him to make God a Lyar who is the God of Truth the highest Blasphemy that the Devil can infuse into Men For saith he he that believeth on the Son of God hath the Witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a Lyar He saith wherein Because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son And what is that Record Besides his Commission in sending him into the World and the Works attended with so many Miracles and Wonders which the Father gave him to finish and to the evidence of which our Saviour did appeal we have it in his Baptism in a most eminent and special manner for the Father bare record of him when he said from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Certainly God spoke absolutely truly and properly and not Metaphorically improperly and by a Figure not my Son according to the Flesh spiritually or only in some respect but simply my Son that is begotten of my substance and of the same Nature with me as a Son ought to be and is of the same Nature with the Father Volkel l. 5. c. 12. whose only begotten he is which is the proper signification of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which a Socinian would corrupt and render by that of Most beloved to enervate the strength of it The Priests Philosophers and Poets among the Heathen either out of Noah's or Abraham's Schools or by some other way had a kind of dark knowledge of this Truth which for want of Revelation they understood not therefore did hide it under Fables and Lies as may be that of Mercury Jupiter's Son and Messenger of Pallas born out of his Head but for Socinians who have God's Word so positively affirming this Truth 't is for them the unpardonable sin of Unbelief which sinks them into Atheism for whosoever knoweth not and worshipeth not the true God he is without God and all who deny Father Son and Holy Ghost to be the true God know not the true God poor Wretches who presume with the Line of their shallow Brain and weak Reason to fathom the deep things of God which prompts them to put several impertinent rash and blasphemous Questions how short do they fall of the Modesty Sobriety and Wisdom of an Heathen Sextus the Pythagorean who said Concerning God inquire of nothing but what thou mayst lawfully say nothing of God but what thou hast learned of God 't is better for one to lose his Life than to speak an idle word of God it is better to say nothing of God than rashly to speak of him Such Men shall at the last Day rise in Judgment against Socinians Among the Greeks Pythagoras himself made all perfection to consist in the number of three or in Trinity and Plato constituted three Principles of all things Good Understanding and the Soul or Life whereby we Christians may understand Father Son and Holy Ghost who created the World But I must go on The Centurion's Words are remarkable when he said to our Saviour Matth. 8.8 Lord speak the Word only and my Servant shall be healed just as Scripture speaks in the matter of Creation Psal 33.9 He spake and it was done he commanded and it stood Such a Word of Command we read of in Jonah And the Lord spake unto the Fish Jonah 2.10 and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry Land which last words imply a special Providence and ordering of things for the Fish might have vomited him in the middle or the bottom of the Sea but because God would save him 't was upon dry Land But to return to the Centurion whose great Faith the Lord commended he believed and was not mistaken that our Saviour might as absolutely command Distempers and Health Death and Life as he
to leave others in the natural State of sin And as in the Work of Creation so in that of Redemption the Three Persons of the most Holy Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost agreed about the Means conducing to that End The Father was to send his Son Jesus Christ Epes 3.4 in whom he hath chosen us before the foundation of the World The Son to come purchase and work Salvation for us and the Holy Ghost to apply that Purchase and make it effectual In order to this the whole Administration of this great and Glorious Work was committed to the Son Acts 10.36 Heb. 1.2 Matt. 28.18 Joh. 5.19 who thereby was made King and Lord of all and Heir of all things so all power was given him in Heaven and in Earth Hence it is that what things soever the Father doth those also doth the Son likewise Nay in this he is so fully and absolutely Plenipotentiary that the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son This Office of Mediatour and Saviour he from the Creation of the World began to administer it in the Royal part as executing Judgment upon the Wicked and saving his People sometimes by Angels at other times by himself in the shape of a Man Also his Prophetical Office even before the Flood 2 Pet. 2.5 1 Pet. 1.11 by Noah called a Preacher of Righteousness and afterwards by all the Prophets in whom his spirit was Thus from the beginning of the World he hath every where from Abel to Abraham and in Egypt the Wilderness c. been Ordering Ruling and Governing his Church and the whole World which he continues to do and will till after the last Judgment Day when having gotten all his Elect together he will introduce them into everlasting Glory all this by his own Power And this is such a work as infinitely exceedeth all Humane and Angelical Strength and Wisdom so that none but a Divine Power can perform it therefore he that doth it till all his Enemies be brought under his Feet and fully overcome must need be true Essential and Eternal God Who but he who is the true God by Nature can Baptize with the Holy Ghost John 6.33 But John Baptist according to the Testimony he had from Heaven bare witness that Christ doth as he actually did his Apostles according to the promise he made to them And in the same place John Baptist bare record that this is the Son of God Acts 2. chap. 1.5 John 1.33.34 Luk. 7.28 John 1.27 and 3.30.31 Why to call him thus if he was not really such Hereby he shews that vast difference between the Lord and himself of whom our Saviour said Among those that are born of Women there is not a greater Prophet than John the Baptist who in several places made himself a meer nothing in comparison of the Lord Jesus and here by the name Son of God he is distinguished from all Men John never call'd himself nor no Man else Son of God only this Jesus Christ and none else is the Son of God with the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a but the Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsemet this very same which that he is is so certain a truth that our Lord owned it before the Council of the Chief Priests and Scribes who were not so blind as Socinians are or would seem to be for though our Saviour had spoken to them not so plainly Luke 22.69 yet this meaning they understood well Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God Though he called himself Son of Man yet the last words made them to conclude that he made himself the Son of God and consequently God for none but the proper Son of God can sit on the right hand of the Power of God therefore they all presently asked him Art thou then the Son of God which was a Natural Consequence of what he had said and the Particle then is a Note of inference which our Saviour owned in these words ye say that I am That is plainly I am and ye are not mistaken which they call'd Blasphemy so would Socinians have said if they had been there for now they do so set their Hand and Seal Mark 14.64 to his Condemnation for Blasphemy and consequently that he was justly put to Death for it when truely properly and in the sense which the Jews took it he made himself Son of God which as much as in them lies is To crucifie the son of God a-fresh Heb. 6.6 and put him to an open shame Hitherto though I had occasion to do 't I have taken no notice of the Opinion of those who say St. John's Gospel to have been written by Cerinthus for 't is such a nonsensical untruth and so absurd a Forgery that I ever thought it not worth minding In John's time the Heresiark Cerinthus denyed our Saviour's Divinity which that Gospel proves as often fully and plainly as any Book whatsoever in the the New Testament as indeed that Apostle did write it a purpose to prove it and thereby to confute the Impious Heresie of that Instrument of Satan as he declares it when he saith These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God Joh. 20.3 and that ye might have life through his name To say a proof is against a thing when 't is visibly for it gives a just cause to put the question whether he or they who said so knew what they said But Drowning Men will lay hold on any thing that comes into their Hand Besides 't is a great Impiety to make a Blasphemous Heretick Author of an Holy Gospel generally owned to be Canonical and Inspired by the Holy Ghost This Holy Gospel doth confound the Enemies of our blessed Lord and Saviour's Divinity therefore they so often would have been nibbling at it not one chapter but affords strong proofs of it For not to mention here those several places out of which we have drawn strong Arguments for it How many things to confirm it did the Lord Jesus speak therein from the time of his eating the Passover till he was taken that was but short which he took to prepare his Disciples for that separation which by his Death was to follow comforting them with telling what he would and could do for them I shall take notice of that only wherein he speaks of that high point of his Divine Glory by a mutual Glorification between the Father and him Joh. 13.31 32. Now is the Son of man glorified and God is glorified in him but this is not all for if God be glorified in him God shall also glorifie him in himself This indeed were a Blasphemy for a meer Creature to speak after this manner here is a perfect Equality of Glory they glorifie one another and are glorified one in another God shall glorifie him not without but
THE TRUE CHARACTER OF THE Spirit and Principles OF SOCINIANISM Drawn out of their Writings WITH Some Additional PROOFS of the Most Holy Trinity of our Lord's and of the Holy Ghost's Divinity By J. GAILHARD Gent. They changed the Truth of God into a Lye Rom. 1.25 Therefore Give them O Lord What will thou give Give them a Miscarrying Womb and dry Breasts Hos 9.14 LONDON Printed for J. Hartley over-against Grays-Inn in Holborn MDCXCIX THE PREFACE TO THE Christian READER ALL Prayers and Endeavours against the Abominations of the Times have not altogether been in vain a kind of Curb having by the late Act been put upon it and if the Offenders be strictly punish'd through God's Blessing we may hope to see the Sins really suppressed the Law if not well kept is but a dead Letter and becomes contemptible but a strict Execution makes it useful and effectual which we promise our selves to see by the Pious Care of a Prince whose Chief and most Glorious Title is Defender of the True Christian Faith whilst Violent and Cruel Persecutions are raging abroad and sad Anti-christian Impieties at home who knoweth whether he be come to the Kingdom for such a Time as this to be an Eminent Instrument in God's Hands to do that Work God in an extraordinary manner hath raised him upon the Throne of these Three Kingdoms and as he doth nothing in vain so we may well conceive it to be for some extraordinary Ends. Therefore I now upon my Knees do most humbly beseech Him by whom Kings Reign in a plentiful measure to give the King the Spirit of Wisdom Knowledge and Vnderstanding and of the Fear of his Name that he may truly know what God after the great things he hath done for him doth now expect from him and to guide direct and with his helping Hand support Him in bringing those Great Ends about HIS MAJESTY hath given us Peace with Men and we now humbly desire he would endeavour to procure it with God and cause the War we are at against Heaven to cease which we cannot so much as hope for as long as God's Great Name is Prophaned his Son Dishonoured his Holy Spirit Blasphemed his Word wrested and Impiously ridiculed by a sort of Men in the World who not only in private but openly with Tongue and Pen go about to pull our Holy Religion up by the very Root and to overthrow the Fundamentals of Christianity who not only proudly despise the Judgment of the whole Primitive Church but that which is infinitely worse through their Impieties and Blasphemies they Crucifie again the Lord of Glory make the Wounds of Christ to bleed afresh and who to speak in the Apostle's Words Have trodden under Foot the Son of God and counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith we are Sanctified an Unholy thing and have done Despite unto the Spirit of Grace That Holy Blood which at other times speaks better things than that of Abel's doth now upon this Occasion cry loud for Vengeance because 't is abominably prophaned and by the denial of the Causes and Effects of its being shed undervalued We thank God for the Prospect we have to see the Evil remedied through His Majesty's wholsome Influences The Life of our Laws without which they are insignificant we hope to see derived from him and if I may be allowed to make a Comparison in a thing which admits of none as the Spirit of God moved upon the Face of the Waters to quicken and make them fruitful so the Breathings from the Throne and the Motions of the Royal Authority can infuse an effective Vertue into our Acts of Parliament For as of a Bill to make a Law the King's Assent is necessary without which 't is but a dead Lump without Form and signifies nothing so when 't is passed the Executive Power Originally in the King is that which gives it Life and Strength or else 't is dormant and languisheth Now upon the present Account far be it from us to think that for want of commanding a due execution of the Laws His Majesty will ever suffer Blasphemy Idolatry Prophaneness and Immorality to be Blots and Stains in his Reign His Majesty's Word we have for and may depend upon 't insomuch that in case the Act doth not produce it 's due Effect as considering the Spirit of that Odious Sect some are of Opinion it will not no doubt but that His Majesty without being prompted to 't will of himself be pleased to mind the Honour of God and of Religion The Ground of our Hope and Confidence is this At the opening of the last Session of Parliament the King in his Speech to both Houses promised to take care to suppress Prophaneness and Immorality which afforded the Honourable House of Commons an Occasion to Address to His Majesty concerning it and His Majesty's Answer when 't was presented deserves to be written in Letters of Gold Thus it was Gentlemen I cannot but be very well pleased with an Address of this Nature and will give immediately Directions in the several Particulars you desire But I could wish some more effectual Provision were made for the suppressing those pernicious Books and Pamphlets your Address takes notice of The Work of Reformation is great but the time short so it 's necessary to begin it betimes and follow it close No Man as our Saviour saith having put his Hand to the Plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God Therefore no one that in his Station hath concern'd himself in this good and just Cause must draw back but within the Sphere of his Activity must go on to promote it and not be weary in well doing Before Men engage in a Matter they ought to know why and upon what Grounds But once being satisfy'd with its Justice and Goodness notwithstanding Difficulties and Oppositions they are bound to continue for and not forsake it for God in his due time will bring all to a happy end Men either must not believe or else must own what they believe and profess what they own He that comes with God's Word in his Mouth needs not be ashamed or afraid For my part with the Royal Prophet I may say I will speak of thy Testimonies also before Kings and will not be ashamed Books Printed for and sold by John Hartley over-against Grays-Inn in Holborn THE Blasphemous Socinian Heresie disprov'd and confuted Wherein the Doctrinal and Controversial parts of those Points are handled and the Adversaries Scripture and School-Arguments answered With Animadversions upon a late Book call'd Christianity not Mysterious Humbly dedicated to both Houses of Parliament By J. Gailhard Gent. 8 vo Price 3 s. 6 d. The Epistle and Preface to the Book against the Blasphemous Socinian Heresie vindicated and the Charge therein against Socinianism made good In Answer to two Letters By J. Gailhard Gent. Price 1 s. Herodian's History of the Roman Emperors containing many Strange and Wonderful Revolutions of
guilty as if they had done it Now in Moses's time the Son of God in his human Nature either in Soul or Body could not be sensible of any Reproaches for he then had it not actually but according to Scripture there are two Bodies of Christ his Natural which he took long after and the Mystical which at that time was in being the Church is this Mystical Body From Eternity the Son of God had his Commission to be Head of the Church thereby to bring many Sons into Glory this Commission after the beginning of the World he began to execute in the Exercise of his Royal and Prophetical Offices with ruling and disposing things for the good of his Church the Father having put into his hands and made over to him the whole Administration of that Occumenical Kingdom he is the King spoken of Psal 2.6 set upon the holy hill of Sion who rules over and preserves his People from the Attempts of their Enemies and taught them by the Prophets in whom his Spirit was and this mediately and actually till the time came when himself was to perform the Work of Mediation and Redemption in the passive part thereof which was his Priestly Office in offering himself a Sacrifice and shedding his precious Blood for a proper satisfaction to Divine Justice and Remission of Sins This was the part of human Nature to suffer but all the while before the Work was going on not by means of human Soul and Body which at that time he had not how then could the Mystical Body the Church live and be acted if there had been no Head and how there be a Head if there had been no Being Seeing then there could be no such Body without a Head and that no Man nor Angel could be that Head who then but a God could be it Therefore all the while before the Incarnation Divine Nature in the Second Person of the most Holy Trinity was acting in the ordering and delivering his People out of the Flood out of Sodom out of Egypt and punishing their Enemies as we see them opposed in the Persons of Abel and Cain of Noah and his Family to the rest of the World of Shem and Ham of Lot and those of Sodom and in this Text of his Church under the Name of People of God in opposition to the Egyptians as the Apostle opposes the afflictions of the people of God unto the pleasures of sin in Egypt which Moses might have enjoyed when called Son of Pharaoh's Daughter and the Reproach of Christ to the Treasures in Egypt Scripture doth in several places certifie That Christ is the Head of the Church Eph. 5.23 but he who now is the Head of the Church was ever so before or else there would have been two Heads of the Church which is as absurd as 't is monstrous to talk of a Body with two Heads Therefore as there was a Body of the Church from the beginning of the World so from that time hath Christ been the Head of that Body and at that time he was as sensible of Injuries done to his Members as we read he was after his Ascension when he from Heaven said to Saul Acts 9.4 5. why persecutest thou me that is the Members of his Mystical Body for his Natural one was far enough out of his reach Here with a sad heart I must say how since the Lord Jesus's Ascension he never was more reproached or suffered more than now we have a Generation of Men who with the Rebels spoken of in the Gospel say Luke 19.14 Ps 22.6 We will not have this man to reign over us as much as in them lies they would make him a reproach of men and despised of the people and would as the Prophet speaks make him again a man of sorrow acquainted with grief Isa 53.3 despised and rejected of men The Jews when upon Earth depriv'd him of his Life and Socinians now when he is in Heaven would strip him of the Dignity of his Person that chiefly consists in his Divinity which they would rob him of and because they cannot understand that high Mystery they will not believe it so against what the Apostle saith they walk by sense not by faith 2 Cor. 5.7 Is it a reasonable Consequence to say a thing is not because they cannot comprehend it as if because I am not able to know well how Bread which hath neither Life Heat or Motion can preserve my Life and Vital Faculties procure heat and enable me to move I should cast it off They also attempt to reproach Christ in his Person so in his Offices of Mediator he came to destroy sin and save Sinners to seek and save that which was lost he came to destroy the Devil's Work Heb. 7.27 9.14 2 Cor. 5.21 Rom. 4.25 Gal. 2.20 and that 's Sin this hath been the Way and Means to save Sinners which was effected as Scripture saith by making himself an offering for sin by being made sin for us though he knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him with being deliverd for our offences with loving us and giving himself for us Yet all this they daily speak and blaspheme against as already we have abundantly demonstrated Before I proceed farther to what I formerly said against their denying that there are any Mysteries in Religion or above the reach of human Reason this I shall add That there are Mysteries in the Work of Creation as we read in the 37 38 39 40 and 41 Chapters of Job how many intricate and mysterious things therein which Job a knowing Man and who had his Reason about him could not answer and calls them things too wonderful for him Job 42.3 which he knew not And chap. 5.9 't is said of God which doth great things and unsearchable And chap. 9.10 which doth great things past finding out yet presumptuously these Men will be searching into those unsearchable things and pretend they can find those things that are past finding out But if there be unknown Mysteries in the Creation of the World why then should there be none of the Wisdom of God in the Redemption of it There are in Nature such mysterious Puzlings as can sometimes as much stagger some Mens Faith of God's creating the World as that of the most Holy Trinity and Incarnation can shake the Faith of others about the Redeeming it yet 't is as certain that God redeemed the World as that he created it And as God hath let us see so much of the Creation as to convince us he made us of nothing and when we were nothing so in the Work of Redemption he hath shewed us he redeemed us when we were lost with clear and sufficient Evidences of his Power Wisdom and Mercy and what therein he hath revealed we ought to believe as our Saviour said to Thomas about his Resurrection Be not faithless Joh. 20.27 Luk. 8.50 but believing
by the Word John 5.7 the Son must be Understood for Father and Son are relatives and as the Father is a Person so must the Son so must the Holy Ghost yet they deny the most Holy Trinity asserted in Scriptures and confirm'd to have been the belief of the Whole Primitive Church as contained in the Apostolical Nicene and Athanasian Creeds and in the Constantinopolitan wherein the others were Comprehended and owned in the Confession of Faith of all Christian Churches in the World which was and is still made the first Article of Faith of One God in Three Persons yet against these great Lights they impiously say * Catech. Racov. Sententiam eorum c. the Opinion of these who do Attribute Divine Nature unto Christ is contrary not only to sound Reason but also to the Word of God and they do grosly err who affirm that not only the Father but also the Son and the Holy Ghost are Persons in one Godhead and †Vorstius one saith the Arguments by the Ancient Fathers and Modern Divines made use of for the Eternal Generation of Christ are either Fallacious or Frivolous and * Smalcius ad nov monst part 2. c. 22. p. 198. another calls them Ratiunculae Nugatoriae Trifling words the same in another place affirms that †Exam. 100. Errâ—r Er. 26. Christ before his Resurrection was not perfectly Christ or Son of God or God And elsewhere that Christ's Divinity consists in his sitting at the Right Hand of the Father Sessio Christi ad dextram Dei est Christi divinitas I begin to tremble when I think of what I am just now entring upon but 't is fit they should be known in their own Colours Here with Horror read how Blasphemonsly those Hellish and Abominable Monsters as are Servetus Dudithius Socinus himself and several others of those wicked Men so much admir'd by Vnitarians writ of the most Holy and most Blessed Trinity they call it Monstrum Tricipitem Cerberum Tricorporem Gerionem Deum fictitium ac Sophisticum Idolum novum Fabulosam Chymeram humanum Commentum Diabolicam Idaeam Babelis Turrim of many more I shall add the following which makes the Pen drop out of my Hand The most adorable Trinity is call'd Blasphemum dogma ex imô orcô per Filium perditionis virtute Satanae gentium Ecclesiis obtrusum I am at a stand whether or not to put this in English which though it makes my Heart ake and defiles my Pen yet to the end every one which understands no Latin may abhor such transcendent Blasphemies I say The most Holy Trinity they call a Monster a three Headed Cerberus a Geryon with three Bodies a Forged and Sophistical God a new Idol a Fabulous Chymera a Human Invention a Devilish Idea a Tower of Babel a Blaspemous Doctrine by the Son of Perdition and power of Satan drawn out of the very bottom of Hell and obtruded upon the Church of the Gentiles After this Socinians must not find it strange if I who through God's Grace am a Christian do abhor and detest those Principles which do overthrow the Christian Religion to set up a new one of their own and if I cannot be much in Charity with those who are for such Impieties and Blasphemies Tho' what I have already said be too much yet to shew how they break all Rules and do more and more sink into the Mire and if not worse yet are as bad as the Devil himself for Non audet Stygius Pluio tentare quod audet Effraenis Socinus there they will not stop for he must run fast whom the Devil drives I shall upon the matter add one thing or two more out of their Hellish Writings one of them writing against one of his Adversaries takes an occasion to fall upon Austin * Dudiâ—h Epist ad Bezam in Socin Oper. Tom. 1. p. 525. Tuum tibi Augustinum c. I shall speak to thee of thy Austin For having said many things quite contrary to the Gospel he also hath Publish'd this Eostatical Fancy of three Gods they the first drunk of this Wine afterwards they made others drunken with it so to them is happen'd what usually befals Men who when their sight is troubl'd instead of one they see three or more The same in another place saith †Epist ad Petrum Carol p. 538. Tricipitem Ter geminum c. The Apostles never knew this three Headed and threefold God nor the whole Orthodox Church this is impudently to tell this lye who can without Indignation read such things Do such Miscreants deserve to breath God's Air What that Man saith * Socin Animadv 10. in assert Theol. Coll. posnan Socinus Subscribes to when he saith Deum quidem c. The whole Vniversal Church owns that there is one God but that it doth reverence Vnity in Trinity and Trinity in Vnity no Church of God may by any means own seeing 't is altogether a Humane Invention which Divine Truth doth every way speak against After this ever since our Saviour's days the Church hath been in Ignorance and Darkness nay in a great and damnable Error about these Fundamentals of our Religion but this is not all For as to our Blessed Saviour's Incarnation or the Son of God being made Flesh they impiously Ridicule and Revile it * Ostorod Instit c. 17. p. 96. One calls it Purum c. A meer Porgery of Superstitious Men. Then the Evangelists and Apostles by whose means the Holy Ghost convey'd those Divine Truths to us were Forgers of Lyes thus they set Hand and Seal to what said that Impious Pope Leon X. the Fable about Jesus Christ hath procur'd the Church great Riches Another calls that high and adorable Mystery †Smalc Refut Graveri de Incarnâ—t Dogma c. A most Monstrous Doctrine unworthy to be receiv'd by the Christian Church And the same in a direct opposition to what St. John saith The Word was made Flesh hath this * Exam. 100 Err. Err. 49. Verbum non est Caro factum the Word was not made Flesh and to say the contrary is an Error and that vile Man thinks he can say any thing against Christ and in opposition to Scripture for in the same Book he adds Christus c. Christ from his Birth was not full of Grace and Truth Again Christ at his Death ceased to be Son of God Error 50. and therein he calls it a Fable Tanta est Fabula c. So great is this Fable of the Vnion of two Natures also a Dream of old Women Somnium anile many more such Impieties I could quote but it makes my Heart sick and amaz'd thereat strikes me with Horror and makes the Pen drop out of my Hand About the Holy Ghost they hold three Fundamental Errors First They deny him to be God though in several places Scripture simply and absolutly calls him so Acts. 5.3 4. Peter said to Ananias
Why hath Satan fill'd thine heart to lye to the Holy Ghost in the next verse it 's said Thou hast not ly'd unto Men but unto God These last Words explain the first how to lye to the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 3.16 is to lye to God Paul is another Evidence when he saith Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you That Spirit which dwelleth in them is the same true God whose Temple they are farther as God is every where Psal 139.7 so is the Holy Ghost Whither shall I go from thy Spirit saith David which comes to this I can go no where but there he is so the Holy Ghost is Infinite and none but God is such Rom. 8.9 and the Spirit of God dwells in you as he doth in every Believer and as there are Believers of all Nations Ages Sexes Qualities c. in the World so the Holy Ghost who is in them all is all the World over and so God absolute Eternity belongs to God and the Holy Ghost is Eternal too as we have it thus Heb. 9.14 1 Cor. 2.10 Christ through the Eternal Spirit offered himself and who but God can know all things whether of Men or of God But the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God The Work of the Creation is proper to God and incommunicable to the Creature which cannot be both Creator and Creature to Create imports in him that doth an infinite Power to fill up an infinite Space between a nothing and something which no Creature is capable of he who is to all others the Author of their Beings must need have his own of himself and that is God for he that built all things is God Psal 33.6 Job 26.13 now the Holy Ghost made the World for as By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made so all the Host of them by the breath Spirit of his Mouth to this purpose 't is said by his Spirit he hath garnish'd the Heavens And in the History of the Creation Gen. 1.2 we read how that same Spirit moved upon the face of the Waters to give Life Motion and make them Fruitful besides none but God can bestow the Spiritual and Heavenly gifts of Grace but the Holy Ghost is the Distributer of them for he divideth to every Man severally as he will 1 Cor. 12.4 11. that is independently as of his own and without giving any Accounts farthermore the Ruling of the Church appointing of Apostles and other Ministers and accordingly he endu'd the Apostles and on the Day of Pentecost filled them with Gifts to qualifie them for their work and the Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have call'd them Acts. 13.2 'T was God's work and 't was God who appointed them so he not only gave them Commission to go but also appointed them the Field where to sow the Seed of the Word Chap. 16.6 7. for the Holy Ghost did forbid them to preach the word in Asia tho' they had a mind to it then they would have gone to Bithynia but the Spirit suffer'd them not again Paul tells the Elders of the Church of Ephesus that The Holy Ghost had made them Overseers over that Flock Chap. 20.28 In sew Words all Offices and Gifts in the Church he absolutely disposes of as to him seems good Besides we must take notice of the Glorious Titles given him in Scripture applyable to no Creature as are the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of Adoption John 15.26 Rom. 8.15 Chap. 1.4 Tit. 3.5 Matth. 12.28 Rom. 9.1 Matth. 18.9 2 Cor. 13 14. John 5.7 Matth. 12.31 the Spirit of Sanctification and the Spirit of Renewing or Regeneration and by whom Miracles as Casting out of Devils are wrought furthermore how Divine Worship Honour and Prayer is due and render'd unto the Holy Ghost thus Paul calls upon him as he who knew the Hearts And in the Form of Baptism in the Apostolical Blessing he is equally call'd upon with the Father and the Son and equally concern'd with them in bearing Record in Heaven besides the Holy Ghost must be God seeing The Sin of Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven being the most Abominable and Damnable of all hence I conclude the Holy Ghost equally to be God with the Father and with the Son Their second Error is to deny the Holy Ghost to be a Person but seeing as we already prov'd he is God of the same Nature with the Father and the Son he must be a Person as indeed the Proprieties of a Person are Attributed unto him for in our Saviour's Conception he Acted and Sanctifi'd the Virgins Womb in his Baptism he appear'd in the visible shape of a Dove and of cloven Tongues in the Day of Pentecost in his name we are equally Baptiz'd with the Father's and the Son 's He sent the Apostles Rom. 8.26 He maketh intercession for us besides that he doth create and work Miracles and to none but a Person it doth belong and is proper so to act and so to do Of this Error of theirs there is another branch for they would not have the Holy Ghost to be a Person of the Godhead distinct from the Father and from the Son but the contrary doth appear John 15.26 for in Scripture he is call'd the Spirit of the Father and of the Son he is sent by the Father and by the Son he is distinguish'd from the Father and from the Son by a personal Property to proceed as he is expresly call'd another from the Father and from the Son The Father will give you another Comforter Chap. 14.16 Saith our Saviour that is another from the Father and from me The Heretick Macedonius deny'd the Divinity and Personality of the Holy Ghost and affirm'd it to be only a Vertu and Power whereby the * Smalc Exam. Err. 157. Err. 132. and 137. Father and the Son do work which Fundamental Error Socinians borrow'd of him Spiritum Sanctum c. saith one of them The Holy Ghost is in God a Propriety or Attribute as are Wisdom and Justice Furthermore The Holy Ghost is not one but many of inequal Dignity because there are different Gifts he would set up different Spirits 1 Cor. 12.4 tho' the Apostle saith positively There are diversity of Gifts but the same Spirit We own as we did before how according to an unusual improper and figurative way sometimes the word Spirit signifies the Gift and Workings of the Holy Ghost but when 't is properly taken then it signifies the third Person in order of the Godhead partaker of the Nature therefore call'd God as prov'd Another Socinian calls the Holy Ghost Virtutem illam c †Schlichting in Simbol p. 99. That Virtue whereby God particularly sanctifies those Men which are dear to him And so all along he runs on
c. far from being the effects of Justification that without them there can be no Justification that is they are the cause of it as * Smalc ibid. one of them is not ashamed to write Tho Scripture in so many places saith that Christ's passive obedience was for us is imputed to us and we thereby are justified Isa 53.5 6. 1 John 1.7 Rom. 3.24 25. and 5.19 Galat. 3.13 for he was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities the Chastisement of our Peace was upon him and with his Stripes we are healed Also the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin so in other Texts quoted in the Margin Yet for all this these Wretches with a brazen-face do thunder against this Holy Doctrine as †Socin de servat l. 4. absurd impious forged and contrary to Divine and Human Reason yea so filthy and execrable that he believes since the beginning of the World there was not a more pernicious errour And that Man's †Socin de justif p. 77. Ephes 2.8 Ibid. Heb. 2.10 Chap. 12.2 Disciple impiously calls it an Imposture of Satan But they go further and say God justifieth Man for his Obedience and own Righteousness for saith the * Smalc Heresiark to be justified of God is nothing else but to be declared just which must necessarily be when the Precepts whatsoever they be of the Law he hath given are kept Thus Men need not seek in God for what they have in themselves for which they would make him accountable to them but they sink deeper and deeper into the mire for Faith which the Apostle calls the Gift of God with an exclusion and that not of your selves they affirm God not to be the only cause of seeing Man of himself by strength of his own Will may receive it for thus he goes on out of what hath been said it appears what is in Man the cause and foundation of his Faith namely the love and desire to do Good and to avoid Evil And as they overturn all Divine Means of our Salvation so that pernicious Man would strike hard as the Captain of it and the Author and Finisher of our Faith Isa 63.3 And in that great Work which he alone hath effected for he hath troden the Wine-Press alone and of the People there was none with him yet blasphemously he would therein make a Tool and Instrument of him for he saith †Socin cont Wiekum c. 4. 1 Cor. 1.3 Heb. 5.9 1 Cor. 6.20 and 7.23 1 Tim. 2.6 Matth. 20.28 Ephes 5.2 but we must not so trust in Christ Man as if he were the Author of our Happiness that is the first and only cause but only as in the second and instrumental so not the principal efficient meritorious cause yet Paul in his Epistles wishes equally Grace and Peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ whom all other inferiour causes do depend upon For he became the Author of eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him all this confirm'd by the many Glorious Titles given him in Scripture and in plain words we by Paul twice in the same words are said to be Bought with a Price which Christ himself paid for he gave himself a ransom for all whom he laid down his Life for and that was the end of his coming into the World he came to give his Life a Ransom for many and he hath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God Several other things in the word there are to this purpose but this is full and plain enough When according to several places in Scripture we say we are justified by Faith laying hold upon Christ and thereby applying his Merits unto us that wise modest and humble Man calls it merum humanum commentum c. * Socin de Serv. part 4. c. 11. Esphes 2.8.9 Socin de Serv. part 4. c. 12. a meer invention of Men and a most vain dream this and many more things he saith but proves none no Scripture to confirm what he saith What the word doth attribute only to God's Mercy to his free gift Faith and not to Works least any Man should boast he doth to Man's honesty ex probitate 't is Man's probity that makes him believe the Gospel but to shew how they stumble at nothing they say that an unbeliever and unregenerate Man can do good Works which positively they affirm certum est c. †Smalc cont frantz disp 1. de bon Oper. 't is certain that an unregenerate man by nature and his reason can do good works but how can they be good except there be a good Principle a good Matter a Right manner and a good End which are the four necessary Circumstances to denominate a good Act if but one of these be wanting it may not be called a good Work besides that every one of these parts must be within a due degree whereof the want makes the Action defective and so hinders the goodness and perfection of it besides that what good of any kind is in us it comes from God for saith the Apostle God worketh in us both to will and to do of his good Pleasure how can an unregenerate and unbeliever do good works and acceptable to God seeing Scripture assures how without faith it is impossible to please him Heb. 11.6 they also would have our Conversion and Regeneration which is God's proper Work to be in Man's Power when alas the second Creation is no more than the first that is not at all within the Sphere of any Man's Activity for 't is altogether incommunicable to the Creature As they meddle with every material thing in Religion so they spared not the Sacraments whereof first and in general they deny the necessity of Precept and as of means which God hath appointed to convey divine Graces to us which to affirm saith †cont frantz disp 9. p. 422. Smalcius is fabulous and worse in another place per sacramenta c. to say * Exam. 100. Err. err 93. that by the Sacraments grace is convey'd to men is next degree to Blasphemy How soon would they turn Blasphemy upon us if ever they had the upper hand In particular of Baptism they say that the Doctrine of Baptism is not a fundamental or necessary article of Faith but such as Christian piety may consist without and concerning which every one may abound in his own sense †Socin disp de bapt c. 17. nay ipsissimam falsitatem c. * Smalc exam err 100. Err. 9. 'T is falshood it self to say that Christ hath under pain of losing Eternal Life tyed men to the use of them we do not say they are absolutely necessary for God is not tyed to means but they are Ordinances of God's own Appointment which he hath tyed us to as means conducing to bring us to the end of our Salvation and is it not a
went with Moses and led the People through the Wilderness but the Angel of his face or presence Isai 63.9 2 Cor. 4.6 whom I elsewhere fully proved to be the Son of God Jesus Christ in whose face as the Apostle saith We behold the glory of God The word to shine which is in the Verse doth signifie a property of the Son Mal. 4.2 1 John 1.16 ver 17. 1 Cor. 16.33 Gal. 6.18 Phil. 4.23 1 Thess 5.28 2 Thess 3.18 Philemon 25. for the Son is call'd the Son of righteousness the latter part the Lord be gracious unto thee doth plainly relate to the Son Jesus Christ who is the Fountain of Grace for of his fulness have we all received and grace for grace no true Grace to be had but only in him for saith the Evangelist Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ after this Form of Blessing it is that Paul doth conclude several of his Epistles as a Prayer to God for those whom he did write to or as a Blessing of God upon them The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all The 3 Verse hath things specially attributed unto the Holy Ghost as To lift up his countenance upon and give them peace It seems as if David pointed at this when he saith Lift up the light of thy countenance upon us Now to enlighten encourage countenance quicken and strengthen Men Psalm 4.6 is the proper work of the Holy Ghost so is to give peace therefore he is call'd the Comforter who gives us inward joy assurance and peace of Conscience and unto our Souls he applys the benefits of all that Christ hath done and suffered for us the better to understand this let us compâ—re these 3 verses of Numbers 6. with Paul's words which are an Explanation thereof The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 13.14 and the love of God the Father and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all This shews a Conformity in the Form of Blessing under the Old and New Testaments the like we find in Jude ver 20 21. where the three Persons are distinctly set down This I shall conclude with the following Observation how St. John explains Moses's words in the beginning John 1.1 and that the word Bara Created in Hebrew consists of three Letters for though there be four yet one being twice in there are but three different and these three begin each the Hebrew words signifying Father Son and Holy Ghost as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aleph begins the name Abba Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth the second Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet as Aleph is the first begins the word Ben or Son and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resh begins Ruach Spirit Hachodesh which signifie the Holy Ghost now must we proceed to other things We know it to have been the practice of all Hereticks who would not downright deny Scriptures but keep an outward shew as if they own'd them to come in and by a side Wind to corrupt the Truths therein contained and no Sect went on in that way more cunningly presumptuously and obstinately than Socinians who would make of it a tool with wresting and falsifying them to serve their ends and though they so highly pretend to an unreconcilableness with the Romish Church yet therein they follow their Methods and have taken great and unhappy pains in corrupting both the word of God and the Writings of Men but God who is and loves truth in his infinite Wisdom to the confusion of the Authors of such Works of Darkness brings them to light the World hath been acquainted with the notorious Cheat of the Jesuits of Mentz who with the leave of the then Prince Elector Palatine borrow'd of the Library Keeper of Heidelberg the Manuscript of Anastasius about the Lives of the Popes which they offer'd to get Printed at their own Charges and after they had given good Security that the Manuscript should be return'd they had it upon this Condition that every thing therein should be printed and nothing left out which Condition was put in in relation to the History of Pope Joan that was in 't But mark the Trick the Jesuits got it Printed and in one Book only which they were engaged to put in the Palsgrave's Library all was according to the Manuscript but that which related to Pope Joan was left out in every other Book Which Cheat of theirs the Library-Keeper having afterwards found out he about it publish'd his Complaint to the World That Manuscript is now in the Vatican among the rest of the Heidelberg Library but though when I was in Rome I several times used means to see it I could never obtain it nor in Milan neither where another Manuscript of the same is said to be in the Ambrosian Library 't was own'd to me that there is one but when I desired to see it which I did more than once with one pretence or other 't was ever put off Such are the shifts by Papists used to conceal the proofs of a Woman having been a Pope and an infallible Head of their Church Thus Socinians are glad of any pretence which to the utmost of their power they would improve to have the 7th Ver. of the 5th Chap. of 1 John expunged because it lies so heavy upon them but the consideration of such Practices affords an occasion to admire and adore God's wise and infinite Providence with great Mercy to his Church that notwithstanding the malice and craftiness of Hell and its Instruments wholly or in part to suppress Holy Scripture yet such hath been his Divine Care of it having given his People that Holy Word of his never to fail to the Worlds end that he hath blasted the wicked Endeavours of all who would have depriv'd the Church of that Heavenly Bread but through so many Ages and amidst so many various Dispensations of his Providence hath to this day continued whole and in its Purity for the Good and Benefit of his People Thus in the days of Josiah was by Hilkiah the High Priest 1 Kings 22.8 found the book of the law in the House of the Lord which was the Copy that Moses left with them as it appears out of 2 Chron. 34.14 which either by the Negligence of the Priests had been lost or by the wickedness of Idolatrous Kings had been rejected and in some kind abolish'd The like care God was pleased to use at the Taking and Burning of Jerusalem and of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar though 't is not express'd how for we must not mind the Jewish Fabulous Stories about it yet so it was as we gather out of Artaxerxes's words to Ezra Ezra 7.14 Thou art sent of the King and of his seven Counsellors to enquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand Thus God hath rescu'd his Holy Word of the New Testament from the Rage and Malice of the Jews of
upon the word only they ought to take notice of a thing material to our purpose how their Notion doth not consist with the scope of the place for there the Apostle speaks not of Christ's Kingdom but of his Person call'd the brightness of the Glory and the express Image of the Father's Person Colos 1.19 so in that other A pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell 't is not spoken of the Doctrine but of the Person of Christ That sort of Men first do what they can to wrest God's Word which abominably they generally do in the Texts about Christ's Satisfaction and almost in every other Point but when they see that cannot do they fly in the Face of Holy Writers Thus * Schlichtingius one of them upon the words But a Body hast thou prepared me saith how these words the Apostle quoted not to his purpose Non necesse c. 'T is not necessary to believe that the Author in his quotation of the words had any regard unto their proper sense but had quoted them only because they were joined with others that were to his purpose Which in him is not only an ignorance of the Scope of the place but also a Reflection upon the Apostle as if he had not well known what he said and wherefore as if he at that time had not been Inspired of God which is both Prophaneness and Impiety However they cannot deny him to have been a very Rational Man but they will be for Deism or Natural Religion in opposition to Revelation If seriously and impartially we look upon Socinians we may about the things in question well compare them with the Scribes Pharisees and Sadducees that were in our Saviour's and his Apostles days as being acted by the same Evil Spirit as they were and equally full of Gall and Bitterness against the Person Honour and Doctrine of our Lord whom upon all occasions these do as the others did undervalue taking him for a meer Man and consequently for a Lyar and Impostour when he called himself true God Son of God in Power equal with the Father and one with him Thus Impiously the Jews call'd him a Samaritan who had a Devil a Seducer a Deceiver a Malefactor and a Blasphemer The Pharisees were full of Pride and Self-Conceit would pass for the only Good Knowing Wise Men in the World sat in Moses's Chair nam'd themselves his Disciples said of those who were not of their Opinion about Jesus Christ This People who knows not the law are cursed How did they use the blind-born Man when to them he spoke good Sense and Reason Thou wast altogether born in sin Joh. 9.34 and doest thou teach us Implying as if they were not born in sin but were Pure and Holy Likewise Socinians pretend to a Pharisaical Righteousness they were not born in sin for they say there is in them no Original Sin and they pretend they can in this World attain to such a Perfection as not to Sin also with the Sadducees they deny the Resurrection of the Dead at least of the Wicked so of the Good too as to the Body The Scribes and Pharisees could not deny the mighty and miraculous Works of our blessed Lord for they were Matters of Fact done not in a Corner but in many several places and in the presence of Thousands of People nay in their Council they confess'd it and said What do we For this man doth many miracles John 11.47 They could not deny their Senses but were in their Judgments convinc'd of it yet their Hearts would not be wrought upon by reason of a desperate Obstinacy but it was prepossess'd with Rage and Malice and would not yield to the Truth nor give Glory to God This is the very Case of Socinians they cannot deny the Supreme Divine Power which the Lord Jesus exerted in so many of his Actions nor absolutely deny him to be God they cannot convince him of Lye nor of any Sin They cannot be ignorant of the Testimony which more than once from Heaven the Father gave of him neither the Record which John bare of him nor that which upon several occasions he gave of himself as to his Divine Nature and Power this they cannot deny but will not confess it and hold the Truth of God in Unrighteousness whereupon we must say they are worse than the Rulers Elders Scribes Pharisees and Sadducees who upon the account of a Miracle done by Peter and John by the Power of our Saviour and in his Name said we cannot deny it Joh. 4.16.14 and they could say nothing against it but Socinians speak against it and the Truth Satan hath so filled the Heart of some of them that though they cannot deny God's Essential Names and Attributes Divine Works and Worship to belong to him yet will not own him to be true God and by Nature which is the only true God in opposition to Idols and Creatures which by Nature are not God's Gal. 4.8 But their Hearts are so perverse and set against him that notwithstanding those lights of the Truth they will not be convinced They cannot deny that Christ did cast out Devils but rather that to give him Glory for it with the Jews they wiâ—â— forge in their Heads and Impiously say he cast them out by Beelzebub for such Cavils and Wrestings they never want which helps them to speak and write against the known Truths Julian being over taken with a signal Judgment could in 't perceive Christ'â— Hand which made him cry out Thou hast overcome 〈◊〉 Galilean Though his rage could not suffer him to own he had been in the wrong and will Socinians waiâ— till they feel such a stroke of Christ's avenging Hand aâ— did the Apostate and some of their Ring-Leaders Out of these and many things more it appears how to Socinians chiefly belongs the Apostle's Saying of those who wrest some things in Paul's Epistles 2 Pet. 3.16 as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction The serious consideration of this engages the same Apostle to give those whom he writes to this necessary warning Ye therefore beloved v. 17. seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the Errors of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness A most seasonable Caution in these as well as in those Times The Society of such which too often proves an occasion of falling into their abominable Heresies we also ought to avoid and this I speak not of my self but have an Apostle's Warrant for it and such a one as made it his chief business plainly and fully to assert the Divinity of the Son of God Jesus Christ our Lord 2 John 10.11 If there come any unto you and bring not this Doctrine receive him not into your House neither bid him God speed for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds 2 Cor. 5.11 And Paul forbids us
When he had made a Scourge of small Cords he drove them all out of the Temple And 't is observable John 2.15 that what he said in John Make not my Father's House a House of Merchandise In two other Evangelists 't is said My House is the House of Prayer Mat. 21.13 Luke 19.45 so his Father's House and his is the same And John mentions that his Disciples remembred that it was written The Zeal of thine House hath eaten me up Here is a Precedent for all in Authority that love Religion and the Honour of God to be zealous to suppress and punish those who Prophane and Blaspheme it and I must own it to be sad Times when no restraint or curb is set upon them It hath formerly been made a Question which of these two is the worse either when every thing is lawful or when nothing is lawful Tho' both be extremes which commonly are vicious yet the first I reckon to be the worse of the two for I had rather to be deprived of some kind of Liberty than to see others with trespassing upon that Liberty to do and say what they list I can in Temporals be content to part with some Liberty rather than to see others in Spirituals to take a Liberty of Blaspheming and Prophaning God's Holy Name and Religion Yet I would not have a sort of People in the World to take an Advantage of this so as to deprive me of a just and honest Liberty under the Notion of restraining others from an unlawful Freedom in indifferent and circumstantial Matters Liberty may be allowed when it must not be in necessary and Fundamentals That busie and restless Spirit of Socinianism doth upon all occasions discover it self whereof we have a late instance in what happened at Canterbury which is to huff and defie our Church in the very Face of the Primate 'T is a shame that some few Foreigners Tradesmen and others corrupted by their own Natural Confidence and tho' encouragement they here meet with should be suffered to mock our Holy Religion and in spight of our Laws after Tricks Shufflings and such Circumstances as make the thing the more odious to set up Antichristian Meetings as those who are informed of the Matter well know They have the Face to pretend to the benefit of the Toleration Act passed in the first Year of William and Mary but by a Clause in the same they are not qualified for it except they declare their Approbation of and subscribe the 39 Articles very few excepted which relate to the Church Government and Ceremonies for the Act is intended for the Ease and Liberty only of those who differ in Circumstantials or at most those who overthrow not the Fundamentals which they who do are unworthy of or else it were by Law to allow of Impiety Blasphemy Idolatry or any Heresie and in that part of the Act relating to Quakers a Sect very unsound in the Faith there is a great tie upon them for 't is said they shall subscribe a Profession of their Faith in these Words I A. B. profess Faith in God the Father and in Jesus Christ his Eternal Son the true God and in the Holy Spirit one God blessed for evermore and do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine Inspiration Here is a Test for Socinians wherein is asserted the first of the 39 Articles of one God in three Persons so they declare they believe the Holy Trinity and the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as also the Divine Authority of Scripture Now I say that tho' this be expressed only in that part of the Act which relates to Quakers yet we must take it to be the Intention of the Law to reach every one that comes under the benefit of the Act and this is so plain that about the latter end of the same all Anti-Trinitarians such are the Vnitarians are excluded from the benefit of it the words are plain Provided always and be it farther Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that neither this Act nor any Clause Article or any thing herein contained shall extend or be construed to extend to give any ease benefit or advantage to any Papist or Popish Recusant whatsoever or any Person that shall deny in his Preaching or Writing the Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity as are declared in the aforesaid Articles of Religion After this we may well wonder at any one who will say there is any benefit by this Act intended for Socinians it appearing so much to the contrary that there is no Toleration allowed them By what I said out of the Act it sufficiently appears how binding it is against those who deny the Holy Trinity as Socinians For they who pretend to the benefit of it to qualifie themselves must not only take the Oath to the Government but also subscribe to every Doctrinal Article of the 39 in the first and second whereof chiefly the Anti-Trinitarian detestable Heresie is fully Condemned This as to the Letter of the Law but herein according to the Gospel there is a Christian Prudence to be used Socinians as well as Jesuits have Equivocations and mental Reservations They sometimes to serve their turn subscribe things which as some of them have been heard to say either they do not understand or else have within themselves a particular meaning thereof Now upon such occasions the Officers concerned to tender the Oaths and receive Subscriptions ought to be Cautious how they admit some Men to 't In a Tract I have written concerning Oaths I mentioned several necessary things upon this matter only this I shall say for the present that when there is no ground of Suspicion nor any thing to create doubts of the Sincerity of him or them that are to Swear and Subscribe then the Oath and Subscription to end the business may be admitted leaving it for God to judge of the Truth and Reality of the Party concerned But it should be otherwise when there is cause to doubt of a Man's sincerity for fear of being Instrumental in his Ruin and Damnation I would not easily believe a Man whom I have ground to suspect he is a Lyar nor tender an Oath to one whom I hear to be apt to forswear I do not say a Man may absolutely refuse to put him to his Oath but not to be accessary to his Perjury I would be very wary and cautious and endeavour to find out whether he be real or comes with an ill design Why should I put a Dagger or a Cup of Poison into the hand of one who may happen not to be sound in his Mind and not Compos Mentis therewith to Stab and Poison himself or others in this case of Heresie we have a considerable instance in the Person of Arrius whom we heard of when I spake of the Council of Nice 't is thus The Emperour Constantine upon the suggestions of an Arrian Priest whom
who in trivial Matters cannot to a Hairs breadth come to what is required is Persecution but not to restrain from Blasphemy and Idolatry which are against the Fundamentals the Cause makes the difference between what is Persecution and what is not in this as in other things names happen to be misapply'd which should not be for the Hanging of a Murtherer which is a due Execution of Justice may not be call'd Cruelty or Injustice neither Punishing and Suppressing of Blasphemy Persecution But in the Book in question the Author runs upon many wrong Notions vain Reasons and of dangerous Consequence for Church and State that deserve to be answered otherwise than with Pen and Ink which I leave for those to do that are more concern'd than I there being some words and things in 't which I think he deserves to be made to eat up As to the Topicks of their Policy about Magistrates I shall not meddle with for all the many flaws therein only some few things relating to Religion I will take notice of as first he denyeth the necessity of a Judge in Religious as 't is in Civil Matters which he calls Ridiculous as well as Unjust yet in page 19. he affirms pag. 20. 21 22. in Matters meerly Religious Reason to be the Judge for he saith there is no other judge on earth but every one 's own reason Which sometimes may judge of things whether true or false good or evil but which Reason not Natural but Supernaturally endowed and how not of its self and own Authority but only according to the Rule which God hath given in his Word thus when our Reason takes upon her self to Judge of Religious Things it may no more depart from the Rule and Authority of Scripture then a Judge upon the Bench from the Law therefore when any such thing is attributed to Reason it ought to be understood of Reason guided by Scripture We agree that God hath reserved Matters of Religion for his own Tribunal to a final Judgment at the last Day so he hath Civil ones too yet this doth not hinder but that in the mean while the Magistrate may decide Civil Matters and punish Transgressours so he must for those about Religion the punishment here relates to the present time but that of God shall be for Eternity Therein the Magistrate doth not as he would have it invade God's Jurisdiction which his is Subordinate unto and from which there is an Appeal and then there shall be the Decisive and Final Judgment God being the Supreme Judge of all by whom shall many Sentences be Reversed the Judgment which he speaks of is about Indifferent and Circumstantial things as are Meat and keeping of some Days of a very different Nature pag. 75. of those in question against Socinians which are Essential We confess 't is not well to molest Men about nice Controversies as he calls it and meerly speculative Points bare Ceremonies and outward Forms of Worship but between them and us this is not the case except they will call so the Funmentals of Religion as are the Holy Trinity Divinity of Christ and of the Holy Ghost God's Providence over the World c. these being controverted between us pag. 64. we must think he means when he saith They neither tend to the Honour of God nor the Good of Man and at the best are but Appendices to Religion and withall so Perplext Mysterious and Vncertain that Men of the greatest Learning Judgment and Probity are strangely divided in their Opinions about them and he is strangely mistaken in his Opinion of them He saith pag. 33. God hath given all Men sufficient means to make themselves happy Which must be false seeing all are not so for none but would be Happy if he could but there are a false and a true Happiness which last all Men have not means sufficient to attain to and their Natural Reason which they would have to be those sufficient Means is commonly and of it self a blind Guide in Matters of Salvation and when 't is it leads them into Fundamental Heresie and Blasphemy and then 't is but resonable they should be made sensible of their Errors which without reaching their Lives Magistrates have several ways to effect as to get them Instructed by Arguments Convinced so with several others which in their Wisdom may be Suggested and Restrain'd if nothing else can serve in another place he would bring in Will-worship which ever God abhorred for he saith by Nature all Men are equal p. 39. and have an equal and natural Right of Serving God as they think best The Consequence from Nature to Grace is not good and this introduces a Natural Religion to the prejudice of that which is Revealed 't is Grace that distinguisheth Men and as the Apostle saith makes them to differ one from another thus by this Assertion they with Pelagius confound Nature with Grace give Natural Reason the preference before Revelation and whilest God will have no other Worship but what himself hath Instituted they leave it for Man to bring in that which he thinks best Thus Worshipping God under the shape of a Golden Calf was what that People thought best at that time of Idolatry so according to them under the Figures of the Idols of the Nations they served God thus they thought to do when They sacrificed their sons and daughters unto Devils Psal 106.36 37. for they served God as they thought best see what service Men render unto God when left to their own choice they call persecution of Men for expressing their Love and Zeal for the Honour of God as he terms it by worshipping him not according to Rules but according to their Consciences and as they think best Thus all God's Judgments and the Punishments by Men inflicted upon the Jewish Idolaters were Persecutions and Murthers because they worshipped God as they thought best Yet I am most sure Idolatry and Blasphemy are allowed in the New Testament no more than they were under the Old But what need we to quote the Writings of former Socinians to make them appear to be Advocates and to plead for Idolatry as for Blasphemy seeing this same Man here doth it with a wide Mouth and justifies my Charge of Idolatry upon Socinianism p. 79. when he saith If Men out of Conscience worship false Gods and are thereby guilty of what is called material Blasphemy the reason for punishing them wholly ceaseth that is they ought not to be punished for their Idolatry Therefore the Magistrate is so far from having a Right to hinder them from honouring those false Gods that he ought to punish those who whilst they pretend to worship them do dishonour them by Blasphemy Perjury or any other Contempt Thus the Magistrate who according to them may not punish the Blasphemers of God is bound to do the Drudgery and punish those who dishonour false Gods Nay God himself will punish such Contempts