too great to them But what should I talk of Princes when even those arts every day made use of have some darker parts on which reason we see some Men infinitely curious in comparison with others and that every Art has its every days improvements and to make them the more valued their first Inventers are very careful not to prostitute what has cost them a great deal of pains and study to every one that would be prying into their methods and discoveries Hence Ocellus Lucanus an old Astrologer adjures his Readers by every thing he thought mysterious in his Art to keep what he imparted to them among their most religious secrets and not communicate them to profane or illiterate persons and that they should repay their kind Instructor with that reverence he deserved Such solemn engagements Orpheus and other ancient Heathens required of those who were initiated in their mystical Theology For the religious among the Gentiles were throughly convinc'd of this that the more unintelligible the meaning of their religious rites was the greater restraint they laid on vulgar and untutour'd Souls and made them the more resolute in their superstitions Hence one concludes That those things which are easily understood are generally despis'd by the vulgar so that to make such plain things have any due effect on inferiour Souls they must be attended by somewhat of a prodigious nature Tho' the Writers from whom I alledge these things were but Heathens yet they discours'd rationally and but with too much truth For every one has seen the proof of what they assert notoriously made good It has been charged on our English Church as an unpardonable crime as a robbing Souls of that food design'd by God himself for their entertainment that they have omitted Solomon's Song a great part of Ezekiel's prophecy and the Book of the Revelation in the Lessons of their daily service It 's true they have done so the Jews did more for notwithstanding their great diligence in reading Scripture they thought it fit not to allow the reading Solomon's Song or Ecclesiastes or a good part of Ezekiel's or Daniel's Visions till they were more than thirty years of age concluding those mysterious Writings to be far above common understandings and we do not find Mens wits now adays so infinitely out-strip those of their Predecessors that every illiterate mechanick or ordinary auditor can understand them Those who complain of not having those Books read in our Service should never complain of the obscurity of rational and coherent discourses nor pretend to be most edified by the plainest things If we must judge of Peoples edifying in attendance upon Divine ordinances by their lifted Hands and Eyes by their loud sighs and seemingly passionate groans I have known them frequent in a numerous Congregation where falshood blasphemy and unintelligible non-sence has taken up the greatest part of the Preacher's discourse and I have observed the same in the wild extempore effusions of some eminent Dissenters This plainly shews that there are too many who understand not what is meant by plain preaching they call noise and earnestness a furious action and a tone sometimes melting and whining sometimes sobbing and roaring by that name which is all so far from deserving it that nothing can possibly be more offensive to Almighty God nor more destructive to the precious and immortal Soul Plain preaching consists in truth laid down in proper and significant terms urged by pertinent and solid arguments and defended by well connected reason drawn chiefly from that great Fountain of light and truth the written Word of God it teaches men who attend it with due diligence and humility a great many of those things they were utterly unacquainted with before it lays down before them the whole counsel of God which has respect to their eternal Salvation it explains God's Word where it seems obscure shews the connexion of Divine truths with one another throughout that sacred Book and not only warns men of encroaching Errors but solidly confutes them The plain Preacher supposes Christians are not always to continue in an Infant state always to stand in need of inculcating the first Elements of Religion He supposes mens younger years should be throughly season'd with those Principles that a greater age should have proportionable improvements for he 's infallibly assured that those who are always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth are neither better nor worse than vessels of wrath fitted for destruction He believes every Ambassador of Christ has reason to expect from professors of a mature age what that Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews expected from them That leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ they should go on unto perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works Hebr. 6.1 2 and of faith towards God of the Doctrine of Baptism and of laying on of hands and of the resurrection of the dead and of eternal Judgment It seems then the inspired Writer thought the preaching of faith and repentance to be so far from being the sole duty of a Preacher that he thought it unreasonable and highly reprovable that the Preacher should have any occasion to inculcate them at all to truly edifying Christians It was neither credit nor advantage to the Hebrews that they were dull of hearing Hebr. 5.11 12 13. that they were unskilful in the word of righteousness that whereas they ought to have been teachers for their time they had need to be taught again themselves Nor can the same dulness ever be commendable in others Yet every age has been unhappily furnish'd with such pretenders to Religion who talk much of it but never grow the better or the wiser for it Such our Saviour met with and such his Apostles especially that great Apostle of the Gentiles St. Paul who were full of their complaints of hard sayings such as none could bear and on that reason were always ready to follow false teachers and false Apostles The vulgar thought them much more edifying than either the Son of God himself or those whom he had peculiarly sent and fitted for the promoting of mens salvation and so they would always have thought had not they in pity to prevailing Ignorance and that it might be inexcusable done so many authentick and undeniable miracles to prove their own Divine Commission which once proved a more serious regard to what they preach'd would be acknowledged necessary and even dark parables and profound speculations about the deepest points in Divinity would appear very comfortable and instructive Our Saviour speaking in parables to the Jews reflected severely upon them in his reason for so doing I do so says He because they seeing see not Matth. 13.13 14 15. and hearing they hear not neither do they understand and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaias which saith By hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand and seeing ye shall see and shall not
Trinity where among other things quoting the words of the Prophet Hosea I will not save them by my bow nor by horses Hos 1.7 nor by horsemen but I will save them by the Lord their God He infers from thence If God promises them Salvation in their God or by him and yet saves them only by Christ why should any Man be afraid to call Christ God since he is called so by his Father in Scripture Nay if the Father saves none but by God no man can be sav'd by God the Father who does not confess Christ to be God in and by whom God promises to give salvation whosoever acknowledges him to be God shall obtain Salvation in Christ De Trinit fol. 236. who is God whosoever acknowledges him not to be God shall not be sav'd by him With a great deal more to the same purpose In conclusion he takes notice of some who in those days argued at the Socinian rate That if Christ were God and Christ suffered Death then the Deity suffered death to which he answers appositely enough That if Christ had been only God and had dyed their conclusion had been true but Christ being man as well as God his Humanity suffer'd indeed but his Divine Nature was unprejudiced untouch'd Thus have we largely and impartially examined this Father about this Doctrine of Christ's being God and his assertions are so plain and direct and the Heresies he impeach'd in his writings of such a nature that they both concur exactly in the confirmation of the same that our Saviour was truly and really God equal with his Father and the most high God We have another glorious luminary of the same Church S. Cyprian that holy Martyr of Jesus Christ and the laborious Bishop of Carthage who as he was a great admirer of the writings of Tertullian so concurred with him in the same Doctrine of the Divinity of Jesus Christ S. Cyprian then in his book of the vanity of Idols having setled that fundamental truth That there is only one God presently shews that our Saviour is God too this he would not have done had he judged the inference good that to believe Jesus Christ was God was to make two Gods He would not so soon contradict himself nor go about to set up a new Idol when he was endeavouring to exterminate the old Thus then He tells us That whereas the Jews a stubborn and rebellious people had long abus'd the Goodness of God God was resolved to call to himself from among the Gentiles a People that should shew forth better effects of his mercy than they did the Manager of this Goodness Cyprian de Idolor vanit Edit Ox. p. 15. Grace and Method was He who is the Word and Son of God who had been foretold by all the Prophets the enlightner and teacher of all Mankind This Son is the Power the Fulness the Wisdom the Glory of God He enter'd into the Virgin assumed flesh by the co-operation of the Holy Ghost God united with Man He is our God He is Christ who put on the nature of those Men whom He leads to his Father Christ would be what Man is that Man might be what Christ is In his second book of Testimonies against the Jews p. 34 35. he spends one whole chapter in heaping up such Scripture texts as before Socinian Commentaries were thought on were judg'd sufficient proofs that Christ was God In particular he insists on those passages of the 45 Psalm which are applied to our Saviour so directly by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews 1 Joh. 5.7 That famous place There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one has been much controverted it seems to be a very plain text for the Trinity and consubstantiality or equality or sameness of nature in the Father Son and Holy Ghost but Criticks observe that this verse is wanting in several Copies of considerable Antiquity and Dr. Burnet in his account of the Library in Swisserland See his Lett. takes notice of its being wanting in several Manuscripts he had purposely examined yet after all our S. Cyprian much more antient than the eldest Manuscript he or any other Critical Writerâ— have yet given us an account of in his book of Church-unity quotes it as we read it iâ— our Bibles Socinus takes it for granted thâ— passage was inserted into the Bible by somâ— zealous Trinitarian who made use of anâ— fraud to advance their own Error S. Hiâ—rome who had found it wanting in somâ— Copies in his time which was about 400 years after Christ imputes the want of it more rationally to Arrian transcribers who finding themselves pinch'd with so plain a text when they could not answer it resolved to take it quite away This he signifies in a short Epistle to Eustochium printed formerly frequently in the Latin Bibles of late omitted as is observed by the learned Dr. Fell late Bishop of Oxford in his notes on S. Cyprian S. Cyprian by quoting the verse as we have it confirms S. Jerome's opinion and renders that of Socinus ridiculous for he quoted it before the Arrian Heresie was founded and that twice in his Works therefore could he have no such design as Socinus insinuates Yet S. Cyprian's opinion is that whosoever does not believe this Unity of the Father and the Son De Vnit Ec. p. 10â— as laid down in that Text does not believe the Law of God nor hold the Faith and Truth of the Father and the Son to his Salvation The â—ame S. Cyprian recommending Patience to Christians and that in a time when the â—aging Persecution made it extremely neâ—essary he advances it by the example of Christ for says He Jesus Christ Deus Dominus noster Our God and our Lord â—as taught us this virtue not only in his Words De bono Patientiae p. 213. â—ut in his Actions which he clears as Tertullian before him by his Descent from Heaven to earth assuming our nature and â—iffering in it Again in his account of â—he Council of Carthage held about those â—ho had been baptised by Hereticks among the suffrages of the Bishops there present Fortunatus Bishop of Thuchabore declares Jesus Christus Dominus Deus noster p. 233. c. 17 Dei Patris Creatoris filius Jesus Christ our Lord and God the Son of God the Father and Creator has founded his Church not upon Heresies c. 29.235 but upon a Rock The same title is given him by Euchratius Bishop of Thenâ— the same by Venantius Bishop of Tinisa a Confessor had not this been agreeable to the common sentiments of the Church in those days it would certainly have been the occasion of some contests and others would have observed and reflected on the incautiousness of their Collegues but we meet with no differences on this occasion therefore we rightly conclude they spoke agreeably to the Catholick
which made them employ a pert smatterer in Ignorance as their Hawker to disperse their new fangled Theology about the Countrey as if it were fit one employed so much in the dispose of Publick Charity should to keep the Ballance even between Heaven and Hell while he supports their Bodies pervert and poyson the Souls of the impertinently curious unthinking and injudicious part of Mankind If they have offered any new Reasons in defence of Errors Apparent rarae nantes in gurgite vasto it 's almost lost labour to hunt for them and the Quarry scarce worth stooping for when found It may be some may think those things considerable which He has reflected upon if so it's what He wished for presuming his Reflections might pass for a sufficient Refutation at least He hopes He has placed some things in so fair a Light that others may the more easily baffle their Novelties and secure the Foundations of our Christian Profession from the insolent attacks of Libertinism and prevailing Heresie If what the Author has done may be any way acceptable to the Pious and Learned World it will encourage Him to proceed farther and in due time to vindicate every Article of our Faith from the Insults of Socinians and Atheists and to offer them somewhat else wherein the Church of England is immediately concerned and which He hopes will do her no disservice however drooping her present Looks may be Otherwise He begs Pardon for what He has done already and will for the Future either Write better or leave that Work to those who are better able to defend the Cause If He has offered any thing New or Solid in vindication of our Antient Faith it will tend extremely to his Satisfaction If He have err'd in any Matter of weight He begs his Holy Mother's Pardon to the Censure of whose Lawful Governours He humbly submits All He has written and can conclude his Preface with nothing more apposite than that Petition of our Sacred Mother in her Litany From all false Doctrine Heresie and Schism from Hardness of Heart and Contempt of thy Word and Commandment Good Lord deliver us IMPRIMATUR Guil. Lancaster R. P. D. Henrico Episc Lond. à Sacris Domesticis Octob. 17. 1691. 1 Tim. 3.16 And without controversie great is the mystery of godliness God was manifest in the flesh IT 'S our business and design for the securing of those who shall read this discourse from damnable Errors for the glory of the eternal Son of God whose Divinity we find boldly impeach'd and blasphemously deny'd by a pestilent crew of subtle and insinuating Hereticks for the confirmation of that Faith in Christ which we profess and in which we hope to dye to encounter several of those Arguments thro' God's assistance which those enemies of Christianity assault the World with To which end it will be absolutely necessary to clear the sense of these words from those artificial clouds which some have endeavour'd to obscure them with and here we find the Socinians not so much disputing about the meaning of the first assertion without controversie great is the mystery of godliness as about the connexion of these words with the particulars following For if they can prove that the Incarnation of the Son of God is no part or member of our Faith or no mystery of our Religion they deprive us of one of the best and plainest Texts of Scripture for the maintaining of his Divinity Again if they can so bafflle all mysteries in Religion that nothing must be regarded but what can easily be comprehended by weak and corrupted reason our holy Religion stands upon a lower ground than the wretched Systems of Pagan Divinity and God must stand reprov'd himself if he speak any thing by inspired Prophets which the meanest person cannot fully and clearly understand In our entrance therefore on our intended discourse we must first remove these difficulties before we speak to the particulars And here we cannot but take notice that the Socinians generally profess abundance of respect for the Scriptures and seem to take a great deal of pains to assert their authority and it is upon the pretendedly genuine explication of that Word of God they build those Heretical Opinions with which they disturb the Church Socinus makes it a strange thing that any man professing Christianity should make any doubt of the authority of the books of the Old and New Testament Vid. Socin de author Scrip. op v. 1. p. 265. especially the last since the Writers of it were men of reputation and exactly acquainted with those things they writ about since the Writers were very well known since the books themselves are not corrupted or depraved and because there are no full or clear testimonies to be found that those books deserve not that credit we commonly give them Catech. Sect. 1. c. 2. The Racovian Catechism asserts the sufficiency of Scripture to make men wise to Salvation Eousque sunt sufficientia ut in rebus ad salutem necessariis iis solis acquiescendum est they are so sufficient to that great end that we ought to depend upon them only in matters of Salvation And for their assertion they add this among other reasons That it was not likely in so large a book and where so few things were absolutely necessary to Salvation Ibid. those very few things should not be fully laid down or that in a book where God had ordered so many things unnecessary he should have forgotten any thing that was absolutely necessary to Salvation And farther they avouch the integrity of Scripture that those holy Books are not corrupted or alter'd and that principally because they say it 's inconsistent with God's Providence and goodness to permit those writings in which he had declared himself and manifested his Will and shewed the way to eternal Salvation and which as such were immediately received and approved by all good men to permit such Writings to be any way corrupted besides that there were so many Copies of those Books transcribed at first in places so far distant one from another and they were translated into so many several languages presently that if any corruption or alteration had been attempted Ibid. c. 1. it had been impossible they should all have conspired in the same reading and therefore we may observe where the least change has been made the Copies disagree In this observation we close with them and by their own rule the better answer their cavil with this Text. For they tell us that some Copies read this Text not as we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God was manifest in the flesh but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was manifest in the flesh without any mention of God at all Erasmus was the first in this observation Grotius follows him and tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is wanting in the vulgar Latin Grot. in loc the Syriac and Arabic translations and that St. Ambrose takes no notice
taken away but strongly confirm'd the necessity of obedience to God's Laws whether written or natural which was as we have before observ'd the general intent of Religion and agreeable to those notions the World commonly had of it Since for the better carrying on this end Mysteries are so very advantageous to religion as to make Men have reverend apprehensions of it upon account of its incomparable Excellencies in its causes and effects and upon account of the weakness and shallowness of their own understandings since all these particulars are true it 's likewise absolutely necessary that the Christian the onely true Holy pure Religion should be built upon such a foundation as might appear to all Men upon the strictest inquiry beyond all doubt or controversie Mysterious inexplicable incomprehensible Nor could it be an impertinent labour to clear this truth because it totally ruines all the pretences of the Socinians that after the Revelation once made of the great fundamentals of our Faith there could remain nothing of so obscure a nature but that we by the pure strength of our own reason might be able to comprehend it In short that though it be true that Scripture as sufficient for that purpose is and ought to be the sole rule of Faith yet reason ought to be the rule of Scripture Reason as it now stands loaded with all the miserable consequences of sin reason so blind as without the extraordinary light of holy Scriptures to be wholly unable to lead a Man to Eternal life it obviates their assertions that the true ancient Catholick Interpretation of this and other Texts of Scripture that speak of the eternal Divine nature of the Son of God or of that glorious Trinity subsisting in the Father Son and Holy Ghost is false and unreasonable meerly because it introduces an unintelligible incarnation and unity of the Divine and Humane nature in Christ a Mysterious co-essentiality of God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost c. notwithstanding all those glorious revelations God has made of himself in Scripture For if it be certainly true that Religion in it's general notion cannot subsist unless built upon a mystick foundation and that therefore Christian Religion in particular cannot subsist without it then it will follow that the continuing Mystick nature of the great Articles of our Faith can create no prejudice in any person whatsoever against our Religion on their account since especially it will remain impossible to draw any genuine consequences from those mysteries but what will be so far from impeaching that they will strongly confirm and re-inforce all those duties relating to God or man which are laid upon us by the natural or written Law and it will follow farther that the Socinians themselves by their endeavours to level all the Articles of our Faith the great saving principles of the Gospel to impair'd reason or by endeavouring to leave Christiany naked of all Mysteries do what in them lies to disannul all the Religion of Christians to take away all the use and advantage of the Gospel leaving the world so involv'd in Atheism or in meer Deism at this time very little to be preferr'd before the other Having done now with the positive assertion our next work is with all exactness and humility to consider the illustration of this Proposition in the severals laid down by the Apostle which altogether afford us the whole sum and substance of the Gospel for all that glad tydings sent from Heaven to Earth for the comfort of mankind consists in this That for their sakes to procure their Salvation God was manifest in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angels preach'd unto the Gentiles believ'd on in the world receiv'd up into glory all which particulars tho' the full prosecution of the first be all our present task are incomprehensible mysteries yet as well worth our enquiring into as the Apostles writing them who without doubt would never have laid the weight of piety or godliness or true Religion upon those grounds had they not been worth our looking into or their truth worth our vindicating from all the attacks of prejudiced opinionative or haeretical men It 's true a late author tells us Naked Gospel p 34. c. 1. l. 20. That to dispute concerning a Mystery and at the same time to confess it a mystery is a contradiction as great as any in the greatest mystery the expression is worth our remark for the boldness and absurdity it contains It 's bold not to say impious to insinuate so broadly in a discourse where Christianity's concern'd that all great Mysteries are made up of or at least contain contradictions what have we then nothing at all Mysterious in Scripture what 's that love between the blessed Jesus and his Spouse the Church so admirably character'd in the book of Canticles can our Author find nothing Mysterious in all those adumbrations of ineffable love or can he easily give us a Catalogue of the Contradictions there the real Contradictions I mean for things that are of no mysterious nature at all on any other account may seem to contain somewhat contradictory but seeming contradictions are not real Can he fathom every thing relating to Daniel's weeks Men of a great deal of learning industry and sobriety have taken a great deal of pains to explain the mystery of them and have scarce yet given the world satisfaction were not the Vision mysterious it would be more easily clear'd but because it is not must it therefore be contradictious to it self or to make a yet closer instance the nature of a God can He or any Socinian make it comprehensible to humane understandings or else will the very notion of a God imply a contradiction He must be a very new fangled Son of the Church of England who will assert that but why must it imply a contradiction to dispute or discourse about or to enquire into a confest mystery That God was manifest in the flesh is true we believe that every circumstance relating to his Incarnation as laid down in Scripture is true according to the genuine and common interpretation of such words whereby these circumstances are express'd we believe too That as they are true we may dispute about them and clear them from all that Sophistry whereby some subtle men would fain baffle us out of them is no uncouth or irrational opinion yet after all we take the whole account of this Incarnation as laid down in Scripture to be a very great mystery But where lyes the Contradiction either in believing it a mystery or in defending it as such This truth that God was manifest in the flesh is as before intimated that upon the literal truth of which the whole Salvation of mankind depends How he should have been so is to all mankind mysterious and incomprehensible yet may we without any contradiction explain defend prove and draw inferences from it Hear what a Bishop of our own a genuine
effectual to Gods glory and the improvers happiness Humane reason no sooner discovers the existence of God but upon a farther pursuit of that notion in enquiry after God's nature it finds it self lost in a vast abyss nothing but immense infinity being the object of a faculty unquestionably finite and limited must of consequence confound it unless there be some guide or director found out for it This made Simonides of old who was not only Poet a suavis verum etiam caeteroâ—â—â— doctus sapiensque Cicero de Nat. Deor. l. 1. p. 27. as Tully calls him a sweet Poet but a man otherwise learned and wise when Hiero King of Sicily ask'd him what God was require a days time to â—onsider of the question when the day after Hiero repeated his question he desn'd two days and when he askt still more and more time and Hiero wondring askt him the reason Quia quanto inquit diutiùs considero tanto mihi res videtur obscurior because says he the longer I consider of the matter the more obscure I find it Tully seems indeed to impute this to his general Scepticism but since he own'd a God and had no other guide but Nature it shew'd his wisdom to acknowledg the deficiency of that principle in carrying him farther It was Socrates's modesty which made him confess he had only learn'd this that he knew nothing And it was Simonides's prudence which made him own his ignorance in so mysterious a particular Reason teaches a man that has lost his eyes how great inconveniences he 's lyable to by that loss when he knows his helpless condition tho' Reason with all its arguments cannot restore his eyes reason can teach him to seek for a guide who can see and will satisfie him how far the kindness of the guide may repair his misfortune The same Reason in matters of Religion tho' it find out a God yet shews Man his natural blindness in relation to the consequences of that principle Now the Soul being always covetous of knowledge hoping â—y it â—o repair in sâ—me measure the ruines of the fâ—â— iâ— a Mâ—â— but follow its iâ—â—â—ation con◠〈…〉 to apprehend the 〈…〉 and to seek for one qu◠〈…〉 pâ—â—â—â—â—â— Here then we must own 〈◊〉 God hâ—s call'd upon mankind so earnâ—â—◠〈◊〉 â—ome to him and has promis'd that those who do so he will by no means reject and that he will assist such by the gifts of his Spirit that they may improve the farther in divine knowledge we must own that it would be inconsistent with these engagements and promises and consequently with Goâ—'s veracity if he should not be ready to rewâ—â—d with sutable assistances all such who accoâ—â—ing to their abilities diligently seek 〈◊〉 As a full proof of his readiness in the case he has imparted his Will to mankind in Scripture the reading of books is the ordinary means of attaining knowledge or at leâ—st a due converse with such who have leisure and capacity to read and understâ—â—d them such reading is useful even to inspiâ—â—d persons 1 Tim. 4.13 14. whence St. Paul advises Timothy an Evangelist to give attendance to reading as well as to exhortation and doctrine and not to neglect the gift that was in him And howsoever some may contemn thâ—â—â—â—â—â—ane learning which they cannot reach we have no reason to believe that S. Paul was prejudiced in his Apostolical abilities by having been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel or by having bestowed some time in reading the Poems of Aratus or Epimenides That God himself might comply with this ordinary means of acquiring knowledge He committed his own Will to writing and that in such a manner that the weakest might not complain the book was wholly unintelligible nor the wisest make their boast that they comprehended every thing contained there The man that seeks to improve his reason by reading in search of books must act very irrationally if he pretermit the Book of God For he that believes there is a God and takes him for a Being infinitely superiour to himself when he thinks it worth his while to converse with humane writings cannot but judge it much more so to examine a book which carries the name of God himself as its Author in the frontispiece Hee 'd read it tho' it were to no other end but to find whether it were agreeable to that august title it bore and what real characters of the Divinity were to be found in it But when such a man comes once to read it seriously tho' he 's not able to comprehend all he reads yet his rational faculty must run very low if he find not more improvements of it there than in all other writings whatsoever It 's observable of the Mariners that carried Jonah for Tarshish that when the storm sent by the God of Israel lay hard upon them the Mariners in their fear called every one upon his God they believ'd in general there was such a being but a multitude being adored by the greater part of the world instead of one every one had his particular idol to address to Jonah 1.4 5 9 10.14 15 16. But when Jonah sensible of his crime and that vengeance which pursued it had confess'd the truth and perswaded them to throw him overboard and they tho' unwillingly complyed with him they before they would do an action so severe and extraordinary applyed themselves to the true God and finding the storm to cease upon their Prayer they offered Sacrifices to him and made vows thus Pagan Mariners grew a kind of converts to true Religion So when Men in consulting Scriptures especially at first find their Souls disturb'd under a sence of former ignorance and meet with advices in that sacred book sufficient to extricate themselves out of that perplexity promises of the true God's readiness to hear and to assist those who desire to know him occur frequently too as particularly that of the Psalmist in the old Testament Ps 69.32 Your heart shall live that seek the Lord and that of Wisdome I love them that love me and they that seek me early shall find me Prov. 8.17 20 21. I lead in the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance that I may fill their treasures i. e. that I may furnish them with solid knowledge and make them rich in understanding and that more clear yet of our Saviour when the Spirit of truth is come Joh. 16.13 he will guide you into all truth The Reader of these promises though very dubious in himself before will be apt to send up his petitions to that God who made these promises who will be as ready to hear such as he was to hear the ignorant Mariners before Thus light may shine into the Souls of those who are soberly inquisitive and that so great and clear as may be very unaccountable to the receivers of it but extremely
whom we believe is the Son and Messenger of God who being the Word before had sometime appear'd in the resemblance of fire sometimes in the form of Angels now at last by the Will of God was made Man for the sake of mankind and for their sakes suffered whatsoever Jewish cruelty and malice could inflict upon him who while they own'd it was God the Creator and maker of all things who spake to Moses in the bush and yet He that there spoke was the Son the Angel the Messenger of God indeed they laid themselves open to that just reproof of our Lord that they neither knew the Father nor the Son We argue too from hence that if it were our Christ who appear'd to Moses in the Bush as Justine affirms and Scripture sufficiently evidences if it were our Christ what name soever he might be call'd by he then was pre-existent or had a real being before he was conceived in the womb of the blessed Virgin therefore he could be no meer Man unless the Socinians can find out the way to satisfie the question of Nicodemus by asserting positively that a Man a meer Man may be born when he is old that he may literally enter again into his mothers womb and be born a-new and can prove it when they have asserted it He could be no Angel that 's denyed in Scripture the Apostle assures us Heb. 2.16 He took not upon him the nature of Angels a speech very idle if he had been an Angel originally if therefore he neither was a meer Man nor a created Angel he was and must be the supreme God Again the same Justine in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew Dial. cum Tryph. Jud. p. 267. l. B. C. when Trypho urges him with his absurd assertion That Christ was God before all ages and yet had condescended to become Man Justine answers him The truth would not therefore be lost if he should fail in his proofs that Christ was the Son of the world's Creator and that he was God because however it had been foretold by the Prophets that he should be so but if I do not prove that He had a being before and then condescended to become Man and took flesh according to his Father's design and determination p. 275. dcinceps it 's only proper to conclude that I am a weak disputant not that he who bore that Character is not the Christ When Trypho afterwards bids him prove that there was or could be another God besides the maker of the Universe the Martyr stumbles not at the proposition but proceeds to prove the thing by that instance of the Lord before whom Abraham stood when the two Angels went forwards towards Sodom and falls again upon the forementioned instance of Christ speaking to Moses in the Bush by both which he proves that the Son is God as well as the Father is God and yet he asserts not two Gods but one God because if two or three Beings are partakers of one divine Nature they must of consequence be one God the divine Nature being indivisible and incapable of degrees or diminution After a large discourse with the Jew he tells him that in the several arguments he had brought he had sufficiently proved that Christ was Lord and God and the Son of God who had appear'd both as a Man p. 357. D. and as an Angel in the burning Bush and at the destruction of Sodom And Trypho all along looks upon him as engag'd in that design of proving Christ to be God not by a figure but in reality He concludes the Scriptures were very express in their evidence that that Christ who had suffered so much at the Jews hands was to be worshipped and was God had he not prov'd the last well that He was God to have asserted the first that he ought to be worshipped would have sounded very harshly in the ears of a Jew But even Trypho himself who thought it prodigious and incredible that God should be born and should condescend to become Man tho' none of the most tractable persons in the world was brought to Agrippa's condition by the zealous Martyr and almost perswaded to be a Christian About the same time lived S. Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons in France one who had been a Hearer of blessed Polycarp who had been himself an Hearer of the Apostles He had certainly the advantage of knowing what was sound and true Doctrine with relation to our Saviour and that from very authentick hands his writings were originally Greek as himself was by Birth tho' employed to preach the Gospel in the parts of France but those Originals are almost all lost and we must necessarily content our selves with their Translation This excellent Father then tells us first what the general Faith of the Church is That the Church believes in one God Iren. adv Haer. l. 1. c. 2. the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth c. and in one Jesus Christ the Son of God incarnate for our Salvation and in the Holy Ghost who among other things has taught us that according to the good pleasure of the invisible Father every knee of things in Heaven and of things on Earth and of things under the Earth should bow to Jesus Christ our Lord our God our Saviour and our King and that every tongue should confess to him and this passage we have in the genuine original and it seems satisfactory enough as to the Faith of the French Church in those days and doubtless was look'd upon by him as the Faith generally embraced by all the true professors of Christianity C. 3. and indeed so he assures us in the following chapter of the same book That the Church spread through the whole world diligently maintains this Faith and observes it as exactly as if they all inhabited in one house they believe it as if they had all one heart and one soul and with a wonderful consent preach it as it were with one mouth We then are safe enough while we believe Jesus Christ to be God since holy Martyrs nay the whole Church of God believed the same truth so long since and making it a part of their publick Creed declared their judgment that so to believe was necessary to eternal Salvation Having afterwards told us what the Apostles have preached and how they have prov'd Him true and that there was no falshood in him he proceeds in the next chapter thus Therefore neither our Lord himself nor the Holy Ghost nor the Apostles would have called any one God absolutely and definitively unless he had really been true God nor would they have called any one Lord in his own person l. 3. c. 6. but only Him who is Lord of all things God the Father and his Son and so he proceeds to enumerate several Texts wherein the name of God and Lord is indifferently given to both the Father and the Son and elsewhere he teaches us c. 18.
That our Lord is called Immanuel by the Prophet as cited by S. Matthew or God with us that we might not think he was Man only but that we might know he was God too If then Christ was God as well as Man his Divine Nature being mentioned in contradistinction to his humane Nature Irenaeus cannot mean that He who was really a Man was only metaphorically God but that he was as really and essentially God as He was Man which is what we believe With Irenaeus agrees Clemens of Alexandria who thus teaches the Gentiles in his Admonition to them We are the rational Creatures of God the Word so he calls our Saviour after the Evangelist S. John Admon ad Gent. p. 5. l. D. by whom we pretend to Antiquity because God the Word was in the beginning but because the Word was from above He was and is the divine original of all things but since He has now taken upon him the name of Christ a name suitable to his power and which was sanctified of old I call him a new song This refers to his former Allegorical discourse wherein he endeavours to describe every thing under terms proper to Harmony or Musick This Word then this Christ who was at first in God was both the cause of our original existence and of our well-being But now this Word himself has made himself manifest to men who alone is both God and Man the cause of all our good by whom we being taught to live well are sent from hence to eternal life for according to that inspired Apostle of our Lord the Grace of God hath appear'd to all men teaching them that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live godly righteously and soberly in this present world looking for the glorious coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ This is the new song that manifestation of God the Word who was in the beginning and before all things and now shines brightly out to us He appear'd but lately who was our Saviour before He who is appear'd in him who is because the Word was with God and that Word by which all things were made makes his appearance as a Master that Word which as a Creator gave us life in our first formation appearing now as a Master or Teacher has taught us to live well that hereafter as God he may bestow upon us eternal life Thus far that very learned Father and his whole discourse does so plainly teach us the Pre-existence of our Saviour before his Conception in the Womb of the blessed Virgin and consequently his Divine Nature in his eternal being with the Father that the most ignorant person in the World may plainly understand what the Faith of this Writer was Thus afterwards speaking of John Baptist the forerunner of our Saviour he tells them John taught men to be prepared for the presence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of God the Christ Afterwards speaking of that care our Saviour took to have the Gospel preached he adds The Lord did not effect so great work in so short a time without a sacred care He was despised in appearance but adored indeed being a Purifyer a Saviour and extremely kind The Divine Word being really most manifest God and put into an equal rank with the Lord of all things for as much as he was his Son and the Word was in God Ibid. p. 68. l. D. he was neither disbelieved when he was first preached nor was he unknown or unacknowledged when assuming the presence of a Man and being made flesh he managed the saving design of his assumed Humanity Again speaking to those who are blind with sin and folly under the person of Tiresias that blind Thebane Wizzard and inviting such to believe in Christ he speaks thus If thou wilt thou too shalt be initiated into these Mysteries and join in the Choir of blessed Angels about the unbegotten the never to be destroyed the only true God God the Word assisting in the same Hymn with us He is eternal the only Jesus or Saviour the great High-priest of God who is the Father p. 70. L D. he intercedes for Men and he perswades them to goodness I shall instance but in one passage more in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where having cited that of the Psalmist Who shall ascend into the Hill of the Lord or who shall stand in his holy place c. at large He thus descants upon it The Prophet says He in my opinion here briefly describes the true Gnostick or the man of true knowledge to us and by the bye David shews us that our Saviour is God for he calls him the face of the God of Jacob who brought us glad tidings and taught us of or concerning the Spirit therefore the Apostle calls the Son the Character of the glory of God Him who taught the truth concerning God and who represented to us that God and the Father was one only and Almighty whom none could know but the Son Stromat l. 7. p. 733. C. and He to whom the Son shall reveal him That God is but one appears by those who seek the face of the God of Jacob whom our God and our Saviour characterises as the only God and father of Good Here then we have the Father true and real God the Son true and real God and yet but one God and this is that Faith which we preach To Clemens I shall only add his Scholar Origen for the Greek Church a man of extraordinary eminence in his time who in his third Book against Celsus that great adversary of the Christian Religion reflecting upon the vanity of Heathen Gods and their incapacity to help those that depend on them he tells Celsus that upon this very reason because there is no help in false gods it 's a sure Rule among Christians that no man should trust in any being as God except only in Jesus Christ and a little after whereas Celsus objects against us so often that we believe Jesus consisting of a mortal body to be God and imagine our selves very pious in so thinking he answers Let those who accuse us know that He whom we know and believe to be God of old and to be the Son of God he is of himself the Word the Wisdom and the Truth and that even that mortal body and reasonable Soul which he assumed by its Communication and Unity and Mixture with the Word or with his divine nature arose to so great a height as to be God i.e. his humane and his divine nature make by a substantial or essential union one God and that I give no false interpretation to his words here will appear by what I shall allege afterwards It 's all along the humour of Celsus then when he speaks in the Person of a Jew and when he speaks in his own Name and Person to reproach the Christians with the irrationality of their Religion on that particular account that they owned Christ as
our Saviour himself He and his Father were One that it was He whom Saint Thomas upon a sufficient Conviction declared to be his Lord and his God that according to Saint Paul He is God over all blessed for ever and that according to the same Apostle He being in the Form of God thought it no Robbery to be equal with God yet took upon himself the Form of a Servant for our sakes These proofs I explain'd enlarged upon and vindicated them from their Sophistry who would have them look'd upon as proofs insufficient of the Divinity of the Son of God We prov'd the same thing then by those Actions done by himself and in his own Name during his converse upon Earth and done by his Apostles in His Name after his Ascension into Heaven For instance from his passing insensibly through the multitude who led him to the brow of an Hill designing to cast him headlong down from thence From his making the Souldiers who came with Judas to seize him to fall down with barely answering them what they desired and in the kindest and most satisfactory manner From his commanding Lazarous in his own Name to come forth of his Grave after four days burying From his Apprehension of virtue going out of him to heal the Woman with the bloody Issue tho' only touching the Hem of his Garment From his calling those that were weary and heavy laden with their sins to come to him and promising them rest for their Souls upon so doing From his Forgiving sins in an authoritative manner his searching the Heart trying the Reins and according to Saint Peter Knowing all things From his Promising and sending the Holy Ghost and giving it first of all with his Breath opening the Understanding of the Disciples and sending them abroad with a Commission equivalent to that which himself had received from his Father and in conclusion from his Disciples Baptising Preaching and doing Miracles wholly in his Name and by Faith in him From this Head we proceeded to prove our Doctrine that Christ was God equal with his Father from the Faith of the Primitive Church where we confin'd our selves in our Disquisition principally to those Fathers who wrote before the starting of the Arrian Controversie So for the Greek Church we gave you an account of what Clemens the Roman Bishop in his Epistles to the Corinthians of what Saint Ignatius Bishop of Antioch in his several Epistles of what Justine Martyr in his two Apologies and in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew and Irenaeus in his books against Heresies and Clemens Alexandrinus in his Admonition to the Gentiles and in his Stromata and what Origen in his books against Celsus furnishes us with in evidence of our Saviour's Divine Nature Then for the Latin Church we gave you the sence of what Tertullian St. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage Arnobius and Lactantius have written from whence we descended to Creeds framed by Gregory Thaumaturgus by Felix the first of that name Bishop of Rome by the First and Second Councils at Antioch summoned on the account of Paulus Samosatenus and the Circular Epistle of the Latter from the circular Letters of Alexander Bishop of Alexandria and so from the Epistle and Creed of the Nicene and Constantinopolitane general Councils with the remarkable suffrages of Constantine the Great the first Christian Emperor and Eusebius of Caesarea one much suspected of Arrianism himself but a famous Writer of Church-History Having done with this we prov'd last of all that no true Divine Worship was due to any meer Creature or could be paid to any such without Idolatry That true Divine Worship yet was paid to our blessed Lord by his Apostles and first Followers without Idolatry therefore that our Saviour in consequence could be no meer Creature Thus far we had proceeded and concluded all our works of that nature at an end and our selves at liberty to prosecute our intended discourse farther But Ill Men taking advantage of that Liberty now indulged them a Liberty always fruitful of Errors and Innovations give us yet more Work and a necessary care to prevent that Poyson they scatter from spreading too far amongst those who profess Christianity in these Nations And here we have two mighty Pretenders to Piety and Reason One of which undertakes the Patronage of long exploded Arrianism the Other of the more refined Socinianism and both with old Arguments and it may be some new Finenesses attack the Divinity of our Saviour It 's no small happiness that such Men take up such different Opinions to maintain for by that means One is somewhat of an Antidote against the Other and by these differences between themselves in so weighty a matter Wise and Considerate Christians will learn to believe neither of them As for what our Socinian pleads considering what we asserted in the beginning of our Discourse viz. That Jesus Christ our Saviour is the Son of God which We with all sound Christians understood in a natural sence and that that very Notice inferr'd a co-essentiality of the Son with the Father as it does among Men where the Son is of the same Nature with the Father which begets him we thought we had reason but the Socinians have found us out a way of Filiation or Sonship of being the begotten nay the Only begotten Son of God without any such Essential Relation thus the Racovian Catechism speaking concerning the Original of Christ's being called or being the Son of God tells us He is so First Because He was conceived of the Holy Ghost and being born of a Virgin without the concurrence of a man he had no other Father but God and this Wissowatius in his note upon that passage tells us ought to be observed as the first reason mentioned in Scripture why Christ is the Son of God in opposition to those who found that relation upon his eternal Generation of his Father Secondly Christ says the Catechism is the Son of God because as He himself teaches us He was sanctified by the Father i. e. He was separated from the rest of mankind in a singular manner and besides the perfect holiness of his Life furnished with Divine Wisdom and Power Cat. Raco sect 4. c. 1. p. 24. He was employed by the Father to execute the Office of an Ambassadour with a supreme Authority among Men Thirdly Christ was the Son of God because He was rais'd from the Dead by God and so begotten of him again by this means becoming like God in Immortality and Fourthly Christ is the Son of God because He is invested by God with supreme Authority and Command over all things Our Country man Lushington a great Patron of Socinianism in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews On the Hebrews c. 1. p. 23. reckons up the grounds of Christ's being the Son of God to the same number He 's the Son of God says He First by his Conception Secondly by his Function Thirdly by his Institution being
shall not depart from Judah Page 241 Exod. 4.16 Moses a God to Pharaoh and Aaron his Prophet Page 343 7.1 Moses a God to Pharaoh and Aaron his Prophet Page 343 14.21 They believed in the Lord and in his Servant Moses Page 329 25.22 The Propitiatory or Mercy-seat Page 721 34.7 Forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin Page 699 Levit. 16.12 13. Censer of Burning Coals in the Holiest Place Page 726 v. 16. To make an Atonement for the most Holy Place Page 725 2 Kings 3.26 27. King of Moab offering his Son Page 105 2 Chron. 30.18 19 20. Hezekiah's Prayer for the Vnprepared Page 603 Psalm 40.6 7 8. Sacrifice and Burnt-Offerings not desired Page 225 45.2 Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever Page 314 82.6 7. I have said Ye are Gods Page 342 Isaiah 9.6 Vnto us a Child is born a Son is given Page 320 Jeremiah 23.5 6. I will raise unto David a Righteous Branch Page 321 Micah 5.2 Thou Bethlehem Ephrata c. Page 323 Haggai 2.8 The Glory of the Second House greater c. Page 753 Matth. 1.23 Thou shalt call his Name Emanuel Page 325 18.23 The Parable of the Debtors to their Lord. Page 651 28.18 All Power is given to me in Heaven and Earth Page 407 v. 19. In the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Page 328 Luke 4.29 30. They led him to the Brow of the Hill Page 382 24.45 He open'd their Vnderstandings Page 395 John 1.1 In the beginning was the Word Page 332 3.13 No man hath ascended up into Heaven c. Page 337 5.23 The Father hath committed all Judgment c. Page 202 10.30 I and my Father are One. Page 354 10.34 35 36. Is it not written in your Law Page 558 17 21. That they all may be One as Thou c. Page 358 20.28 My Lord and my God Page 360 Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Page 524 Rom. 2.6 God will render to every Man c. Page 124 3.24 25 26. Justified freely by his Grace c. Page 649 703 8.19 20 21 22. The earnest Expectation of the Creature Page 490 9.5 Of whom as concerning the Flesh Christ came Page 370 10.13 Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord c. Page 203 1 Cor. 1.14 15. Lest any should say I had baptized in my own c. Page 402 10.2 All were baptized into Moses c. Page 329 15.3 Christ died for our Sins Page 693 2 Cor. 5.19 20. Reconciling the World c. Page 648 719 12.7 8 9. For this cause I besought the Lord thrice Page 527 Gal. 3.19 In the hand of a Mediator Page 711 Philip. 2.5 11. Being in the Form of God c. Page 374 Col. 1.24 What was behind of the Afflictions of Christ Page 694 1 Thess 5.17 Pray without ceasing Page 505 Heb. 1.8 9 10. c. When he bringeth his First-Begotten c. Page 314 5.5 Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Page 549 6.1 2. Leaving the Principles c. Page 184 8.4 If on Earth he should not be a Priest c. Page 733 c. 9. c. 10. Page 689 727 728. 11.1 Faith is the substance of things hoped for c. Page 87 1 Pet. 2.24 Bore our Sins in his own Body on the Cross Page 698. 3.18 He suffered for our Sins the just for the unjust Page 697 1 John 2.1 2. He is the Propitiation for our Sins Page 719 5.7 There are Three that bear Record in Heaven Page 458 v. 20. This is the True God and Eternal Life Page 205 ERRATA PAge 3. l. 5. after Salvation dele p. 5. l. 20. put a Period after Text. l. 30. after Attentatam d. ◠p. 6. l. 3. r. Wissowatius p. 130. in the Margent r. Serrarii p. 142. l. 19. r. seem'd p. 148. l. 31. r. Posterity p. 200. l. 14 r. One p. 209. l. 26. r. really and indeed p. 221. l. 7. r. Paradisiacum p. 239. r. this p. 139. l. 21. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 149. l. 21. d. And. p. 289. l. 29. r. those p. 312. l. 3. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the Margent r. Sandii Hist Eccles Enucl p. 318. l. 6. r. for p. 332. l. 16. r. those p. 336. l. 25. r. Stranger p. 364. l. 29. r. at p. 413. l. 21. r. far p. 448. l. 20. r. Libraries p. 467. l. 22. r. Separation p. 492. l. 26. d. One p. 511. l. 10. r. deliver p. 539. l. 3. r. Lazarus p. 552. l. 31. in Marg. r. Epistolarum p. 602. l. 12. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 609. l. 13. r. Sacrifices p. 666. l. 1. he be p. 690. l. 29. r. Levitical p. 700. in Marg. r. Brixian l. 3. r. curing p. 704. l. 31. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 720. l. 11. r. Catiline p. 752. l. 10. r. Administrator Several smaller Mistakes especially in the Pointing the Reader will easily observe and pass by or correct as fitting Books Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard TEN Sermons with Two Discourses of Conscience By the Lord Archbishop of York 4 to 's Sermon before the House of Lords Nov. 5. 1691. 's Sermon before the King and Queen on Christmass-Day 1691. 's Sermon before the Queen on Easter-Day 1692. Henrici Mori D. D. Opera omnia Bishop Overal's Convocation-Book 1606. concerning the Government of God's Catholick Church and the Kingdoms of the whole World 4 to Dr Falkner's Libertas Ecclesiastica 8 vo 's Vindication of Liturgies Ibid. 's Christian Loyalty Ibid. Mr. Lamb's Fresh Suit against Independency Ibid. Mr. W. Allen's Tracts Ibid. Bishop Fowler 's Libertas Evangelica Ib. Jovian or an Answer to Julian the Apostate Ibid. Animadversions on Mr. Johnson's Answer to Jovian In Three Letters to a Country Friend Ibid. Turner de Angelorum Hominum Lapsu 4 to Mr. Raymond's Pattern of Pure and Undefiled Religion 8 vo 's Exposition on the Church-Catechism Ibid. Mr. Lamb's Dialogues between a Minister and his Parishioner about the Lord's Supper Ibid. 's Sermon before the King at Windsor 's Sermon before the Lord Mayor 's Liberty of Humane Nature stated discussed and limited 's Sermon before the King and Queen Jan. 19. 1689. 's Sermon before the Queen Jan. 24. 1690. Dr Hickman's Thanksgiving-Sermon before the Honourable House of Commons Oct. 19. 1690. 's Sermon before the Queen at Whitehall Oct. 26. 1690. Dr Burnet's Theory of the Earth 2 Vol. Folio 's Answer to Mr. Warren's Exceptions against the Theory of the Earth 's Consideration of Mr. Warren's Defence 's Telluris Theoria Sacra 2 Vol. 4 to Bishop of Bath and Wells Reflections on a French Testament Printed at Bourdeaux 's Christian Sufferer supported 8 vo Dr Grove now Lord Bishop of Chichester his Sermon before the King and Queen June 1. 1690. Dr Hooper's Sermon before the Queen Jan. 24. 1690 1. Dr Pelling's Sermon before the King and Queen Dec. 8. 1689. 's Vindication of those that have taken the Oaths 4 to Dr Worthington of Resignation 8 vo 's Christian Love Ibid. Religion the Perfection of Man By Mr. Jeffery Ibid. Faith and Practice of a Church of England Man 12º The Fourth Edition Kelsey Concio de Aeterno Christi Sacerdot 's Sermon of Christ Crucified Aug. 23. 1691. Mr. Milbourn's Sermon Jan. 30. 1682. 's Sermon Sept. 9. 1683. An Answer to an Heretical Book called the Naked Gospel which was condemned and order'd to be publickly Burnt by the Convocation of the University of Oxford Aug. 19. 1690. With some Reflections on Dr Bury's new Edition of that Book to which is added a Short History of Socinianism by W. Nichols M. A. c. Two Letters of Advice I. For the Susception of Holy Orders II. For Studies Theological especially such as are Rational At the end of the former is inserted a Catalogue of the Christian Writers and Genuine Works that are Extant of the First Three Centuries By Henry Dodwell M. A. c.