truly since GOD hath implanted in Mens minds the power and faculty of judging there is no part of truth that better deserves the imployment of this faculty about it than that of which we cannot be ignorant without hazard of our Salvation After this whosoever inquires with a godly mind he shall not dangerously erre And where should he enquire after it but in God's most holy Word without which we cannot know whether there be either Church or Priest or any thing else wherein they would have us trust SECT XIX And refuses to be tried by Scripture IT is a manifest sign therefore of imposture that when they cannot for shame but sometimes suffer their Religion to be tried yet they will not have it tried by the holy Scriptures In the reading of which as was excellently said in the conclusion of the foregoing Books no man can be deceived but he who hath first deceived himself For the Writers of them were more faithful and fuller of Divine Inspiration than either to defraud us of any necessary part of Divine Truth or to hide it in a Cloud so that we cannot see it Why then should any body decline this way of trial unless they see themselves so manifestly condemned by the holy Scriptures that they dare not let their cause be brought into so clear a light Which hurts indeed sore eyes but comforts and delights those that are sound showing us so plainly what we are to embrace and what to refuse and being so sure and so perfect a Guide in all such matters that S. Hilary not only commends and admires the Emperor Constantius for desiring a Faith according to what was written But saith He is an Antichrist who refuses this and an Anathema that counterfeits it And thereupon calls to him in this manner O Emperour thou seekest for faith hearken to it not out of new little Papers but of the Books of God There we must seek for it if we mean to find it and if they be silent and can tell us nothing says St. Ambrose who shall dare to speak Let us not therefore bring deceitful ballances they are the words of S. Austin in his second Book of Baptism Chap. vi wherein we may weigh what we list and as we list after our own liking saying This is heavy that is light But let us bring the Divine Ballance out of the holy Scriptures as out of the Lords Treasures and in that let us weigh what is most ponderous or rather let not us weigh but acknowledge those things which are already weighed by the Lord. Yes say they of the Church of Rome we will be put into that Ballance and tryed by the Scriptures but not by them alone Which is in effect to refuse to be tried by them for they give testimony to their own fulness and perfection and plainness too in things necessary and so do all other Christian Writers that succeeded the Apostles who do not send us to turn over we know not how many other Volumes but tell us here we may be abundantly satisfied In so much that the first Christian Emperor Constantine the Father of Constantius now mentioned admonished the Bishops in the famous Council of Nice to consult with these heavenly inspired Writings as their Guide and Rule in all their Debates because they perspicuously instruct us as his very words are what to believe in divine things and therefore they ought he told them to fetch from thence the Resolution of those things which should come in question To which Cardinal Bellarmine indeed is pleased to say that Constantine truly was a Great Emperour but no great Doctor But as herein he speaks too scornfully of him so he reflects no less upon the understanding and judgment of those venerable Fathers assembled in that Council which as Theodoret tells us in his Ecclesiastical History was composed of Men excelling in Apostolical gifts and many of them carried in their bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus and were for the far greater part a Multitude of Martyrs assembled together who all consented unto and followed this wholsome counsel of the Emperour as he there testifies knowing he did but speak the sense of the truly Catholick Church Which did not meerly bid Men hear it and bring all doctrines to its touchstone but confessed plainly that even the Church it self must be tried by the Scriptures It is the express sentence of the same S. Austin in his Book of the Vnity of the Church Where in the second Chapter he saith the question then was as it is now where is the Church Now what shall we do says he seek for it in our own words or in the words of our Head our Lord Jesus Christ I think we ought to seek it rather in his words who is the Truth and best knows his own Body And in the beginning of the third Chapter thus proceeds Let us not hear thus say I and thus sayest thou but let us hear thus saith the Lord. The Lords Books there are certainly to whose authority we both consent we both believe we both yield obedience there let us seek the Church there let us discuss our cause And to name no more the Author of the imperfect work upon St. Matthew carrying the name of S. Chrysostome declares this so fully that it leaves no doubt in us what course they took for satisfaction in this business Heretofore says he there were many ways whereby one might know what was the true Church of Christ and what was Gentilism but now there is no way to know what is the true Church of Christ but by the Scriptures Why so Because all those things which belong properly to Christ in truth and reality those heresies have also in show and in appearance They have Scriptures Baptism Eucharist and all the rest even Christ himself like as we have Therefore if any one would know which is the true Church of Christ how should he know it in such a confusion of multitude but only by the Scriptures which he repeats over again a little after he therefore that would know which is the true Church of Christ how should he know it but by the Scriptures To them let us go and in them let us rest and if you are the Disciples of the Gospel may we say to the Romanists as Athanasius does to the Followers of Apolinarius in his Book about the Incarnation of Christ Do not speak unrighteously against the Lord but walk in what is written and done But if you will talk of different things from what are written why do you contend with us who dare not hear nor speak beside those things which are written Our Lord telling us if you abide in the word even in my word you shall be free indeed What immodest frenzy is this to speak things which are not written and to devise things which are strangers to piety To which if we faithfully adhere there is this to be added for our incouragement that though we
from hence also that in the Conclusion of this Work of the Truth of Christian Religion he doth not interpret those words i. Hebr. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the present tense making a purgation or expiating our sins as Socinus doth but in the past time expiatis peccatis nostris having expiated or purged away our sins How they come to be otherwise Translated in his Annotations on that place put forth since his death I can give no Account And in like manner I suppose he satisfied another doubt about a passage in this Book which Sarravius desired him to resolve though I cannot find his Answer to it For he gives a punctual Answer afterward to a Question propounded by a Minister of Rouen who askt him where he had that of Rabbi Nechumias who made that publick Declaration mentioned in the Fifth Book Sect. 14. concerning the appearing of Christ 50. Years before our Saviour to this effect That the time which Daniel had prefixed for the coming of the Messiah could not be prolonged above those Fifty Years Which he tells Sarravius * Epist Claud. Sarrav p. 52. is to be found in the Talmud in the Title Sanhedrin as he remembred and he thought also in Abenada upon Daniel This was in the Year 1640. when he first put out this Book with Annotations containing the Testimonies of those Authors in words at length whom he had alledged but had forgotten it seems to set down where he had this passage of Rabbi Nechumias Nor is it now to be found among the Annotations and therefore they that next Print the Book so inlarged will do well to supply it from hence out of Sarravius Who was the first Person * Epist ad Gallos p. 460. to whom he made a present of it after it came out with the Addition of Testimonies desiring to be admonished by him if in the midst of much business any thing had escaped him which was less exactly spoken while he studied to serve the Christian cause To which He replies immediately That as he could not but esteem it a very great honour to be acknowledged and beloved by the Coryphaeus of all Learning both Sacred and profane so he esteemed this as a Golden Book wherein Grotius had joyned Learning together with Piety consulting that is the Disease of the Age to whose Palate Piety of it self had little savour And as for the immense collection of Testimonies then added he made it appear by them that in all his studies the glory of Christ had alway been before his eyes his holy diligence and industry having discovered so many and such things which had escaped the sagacious eyes of others And not long after he propounded some doubts according to his own desire and mentioned some exceptions as was noted before which some who had no good will to him took at this Golden Book as he again calls it and notwithstanding the harsh censures of some Learned Men this excellent Person still persisted in his high esteem of the worth of this Author and believed all unprejudiced Men would ever look upon him with great Veneration So he tells Salmasius Five Years after * Epist Claud. Sarrav p. 146. 1645 Whether they will or no Grotius will alway be accounted a great Man by you and me and by all that love Equity and Goodness for he is full of envy who denies due praises to such a Hero And a little while after hearing of the news of his death he most sadly bewails it * Ib. p. 171. as the extinction of the bright Star of that Age whose Name would be great as long as either Books or Learning were in honour And while he had breath he saith he would glory in this that he once had familiar acquaintance with a Man who was re nomine Magnus no less great indeed than his Name imported This affection he seems to have carried with him to his Grave and honoured his Memory at such a rate that in the Year 1648. he still says he was proud of the Friendship of that Man by whom to have been known was glorious and who would be reverenced in all future Ages In conclusion he calls him that Blessed Soul even after he himself had pronounced this sentence against Grotius * Ib. p. 196. that he favoured the Papists and not only yielded too much to them in his later Writings but expressed too much disaffection to the reformed in those Countries All this he candidly passed over with this censure * Ib. p. 146. He is the best Man who hath fewest faults for there is no body to be found without some And the same favourable judgment I suppose all serious and considering men will pass upon him now and not be hindred by any prejudices which may have been taken up against him among our selves from reaping that benefit which they may receive by reading this excellent Book Which I present again to the view of the English World and have in a manner made a new Translation of it the former which came out near 50. Years ago being so defective that there were few Paragraphs in it which stood not in need of some amendment and in a great number the sense was quite mistaken Who the Translator was I am ignorant but it is certain he either did not understand the Latine Tongue or did not attend to what he was about as appears by innumerable Instances But one may suffice in the Third Book Sect. 3. where he Translates altera Petri the one Epistle of Peter Besides there is plain Arianism in his Translation Book V. Sect. 21. for he says the Son was not uncreate as the Father is when in Grotius the words are the Son is not ingenitus unbegotten as the Father is Yet where the Translation was passable I have let it go as it was that I might not seem to be too curious a Censurer of other Mens labours And I have added such passages as were not there the Book it self having been inlarged by Grotius since that old English Translation I know not how necessary it might be at that time when it was first put into our Language but now I think nothing can be more And to make it of larger use I have added also a Seventh Book of my own In which out of those Principles chiefly which Grotius builds upon in his Six Books I have shown that Christian Religion hath suffered very much by the Church of Rome and that we need not go thither to be assured of the Truth of that Religion but shall be better informed in our own Church by the Holy Scriptures and such works as these I have not quoted all my Authors no more than Grotius did in the first Editions of his Book And it would have made the Work also too long I thought to Translate his Testimonies and add the like of my own Nor would it have been so useful to common Readers who do but perplex themselves
For this is confuted first by such a vast multitude of Men who wanted no wit learning or wisdom as have followed the authority of these Books ever since the first times And then all those things which were shown in the first Book to be consonant to right reason for instance that there is one God who alone is absolutely perfect infinite in virtue life wisdom and goodness of whom all things that have any being were made whose care and providence reacheth over all his works especially unto Men and who can after this life bountifully reward all them that obey him and that we ought to bridle our sensual appetites that amongst Men there is kinred and alliance and therefore they ought to love one another with sincere affection All these you shall find most plainly delivered in these Books But to assert any thing for certain beyond these either about the nature of God or about his will by the mere conduct of humane reason the contrary resolutions not only of the Schools among themselves but of particular Philosophers may teach us how unsafe and fallacious it is And it is no marvel for if Men do so far disagree in their opinions when they dispute about the nature of their own Soul then they must needs much more dissent when they go about to determine any thing not revealed concerning the highest mind and the most supreme Spirit which so far transcends our weak apprehension If as prudent Men are wont to say to enquire into the Counsels of Kings be dangerous and not to be attempted or attained by us who then is there so sagacious that he should hope to be able by his own conjecture to find out what God's will is in those things which he may will freely as he pleases Wherefore Plato said very well that none of these hidden mysteries could be known without an Oracle Now there can no Oracle be proved to be an Oracle indeed by any clearer testimonies than those that are contained in the said Books of the new covenant It is so far from being proved that it is not so much as asserted that God did ever reveal any thing to Men concerning his nature which was repugnant to these Books nor can there any later signification of his will which is credible be produced For if there was any thing otherwise commanded or permitted before the times of Christ in such matters as are either plainly indifferent or not at all in themselves due nor plainly dishonest it makes nothing against these Books since that in such matters the later Laws annul the former SECT XIII Answer to an Objection that some of these Books are repugnant to the other THERE are those who are wont further to object against these Books that there is sometime a certain disagreement in their sense But quite contrary whosoever will judge of this matter with an indifferent mind shall find this also may be added to the arguments for the authority of these Books that they do most manifestly and apparently agree about such things as concern any weighty point of doctrine or history Which consent and accord cannot else-where be found among any other Writers that are of one and the same sect or profession whether we consider the Jews or the Greek Philosophers the Physicians or the Roman Lawyers All which do not only differ much among themselves yea even those that are of the same sect as Plato and Xenophon but oftentimes one shall find the same Writer to affirm now one thing then another as if he were forgetful of himself or knew not what to resolve upon But these Writers of whom we speak do inculcate and express the same points of faith they deliver the same Commandments and as for their narration of the life and death and resurrection of Christ the Sum and substance in them all is the very same As touching some small circumstances which make nothing to the main matter they might happily have admitted a very easie reconciliation though we now do not know it because of the likeness of things done at divers times the ambiguity of names or more names than one of the same Man or place and such like things Nay this very thing ought to vindicate and free these Writers from all suspicion of falshood it being usual with those that would have lies and untruths credited to relate all circumstances by compact and agreement so as there shall not appear any colour or shew of difference Or if it be so that for any small difference which cannot so exactly be reconciled a whole Book shall lose its credit then we must believe no Books at all specially those of history yet we see that Polybius Halicarnassensis Livy and Plutarch for the substance of them are esteemed authentical and true though in some circumstances they do not agree Which makes it the more equal and just that no such thing should destroy their credit who we see by their very Writings were always most studious of Piety and Truth SECT XIV Answer to an Objection taken from outward Testimonies which make more for these Books THERE remains another way of overthrowing a Testimony which is by producing contrary Testimonies out of other Authors But I dare boldly say that there are no such testimonies to be found unless a Man will produce the sayings of them that were born a long time after and of such also as did so openly profess enmity against Christianity that they could be no fit Witnesses in this matter Nay on the contrary if need were we could alledge many testimonies to confirm divers parts of the history which is delivered in the said Books Thus both Hebrews and Pagans report that Jesus was crucified and that sundry miracles were done by him and his Disciples Those most famous Books of Josephus which were set forth about Forty Years after Christ's Ascension do make mention of Herod Pilat Festus Felix John the Baptist Gamaliel and of the destruction of Hierusalem at large Herewithal agree that which the Authors of the Talmud have recorded concerning those times Tacitus relates how cruelly Nero used the Christians And anciently there were certain Books extant not only of private Men as of Phlegon and others but also some publick Acts whereunto the Christians appealed for that in them there was mention made of the Star that appeared at Christ's Nativity and also of the Earthquake and Eclipse of the Sun against the course of Nature it being then full Moon at the time of Christ's Passion upon the Cross SECT XV. Answer to the Objection that the Scriptures were changed NOW what can be farther objected against these Books I see not unless it be said that they remained not altogether the same that they were from the beginning And indeed it must be granted that what is common to other Books might happen nay did happen to those namely that by the carelesness or the perverse care of the Transcribers some Letters syllables or words might be changed left
were blasted with the spirit of giddiness are fallen away to filthy fables and doctrines very ridiculous wherewith the books of the Talmud do abound which they are bold to call the law given by word of mouth and are wont to equal or prefer to that which was written by Moses For such things as are therein to be read concerning God's weeping and lamenting because he had suffered the City to be destroyed of his daily care and diligence in reading the Law of Behemoth and Leviathan and many other matters are so absurd that it would be irksome even to repeat them Howbeit the Jews in all this time have neither turned to the worship of false Gods as they did in times past neither have they defiled themselves with bloudy murders nor are they accused of adulteries But by prayers and fastings they labour to appease God's wrath and yet are not heard Which things being so one of these two must needs be granted namely that either the covenant that was given by Moses is quite abolished or the whole body of the Jewish Nation lies under the guilt of some notorious crime which hath continued for so many Ages together which what it is let themselves speak or if they cannot tell then let them believe us that this sin is no other but the contempt of the Messias who was come before that these evils began to fall upon them SECT XVII Jesus is proved to be the Messias by those things which were foretold concerning the Messias BY this which hath been spoken it is manifest that the Messias came many Ages ago we add further that he is no other but Jesus For what other persons soever either were or would have been accounted the Messias they have left no Sect behind them to uphold and maintain that opinion There are not any at this day that profess themselves to be followers either of Herod or of Judas Gaulonita or of that great Impostor Barchochebas who living in the times of Adrian said that he was the Messias and deceived some even of the most learned But those that profess the name of Jesus have continued from the time that he lived upon Earth even until this day and are still not a few only in this or that Countrey but very many dispersed as far as the World extendeth I could alledge many other testimonies anciently foretold or believed concerning the Messias which we believe were accomplished in Jesus since they are not so much as affirmed of any other as namely that he came of the posterity of David and was born of a Virgin which was divinely revealed to him that married that Virgin when he would have put her away supposing she had been got with child by another Also that this Messias was born at Bethlehem and began first to publish his doctrine in Galilee healing all kinds of Diseases giving sight to the blind and making the lame to walk but this one may suffice for many the effect of which continues unto this day It is most manifest by the Prophecies of David Isaiah Zachariah and Hosea that the Messias was to be an Instructor not only of the Jews but also of the Gentiles that by him the worship of false Gods should fall to the ground and a huge multitude of aliens and strangers should be brought to the worship of the only true God Before Jesus his coming almost the whole World was overspread with false worships and religions which afterward by little and little began to vanish away and not only single persons but both People and Kings were converted unto the worship and service of one God This was not owing to the Jewish Rabbins but to the Disciples of Jesus and their Successors Thus they were made the people of God that before were not the people of God and the saying of old Jacob Gen. 49. was fulfilled That before all civil Authority should be taken from Judah Shilo should come Which the Chaldee and other Interpreters expound of the Messias to whom even foreign Nations should be obedient SECT XVIII Answer to that which is objected of some things that are not fulfilled THE Jews usually object that some things were foretold concerning the times of the Messias which are not yet fulfilled But for answer those matters which they alledge are obscure and admit of divers significations wherefore we ought not because of them to forsake those things that are manifest Such as the holiness of the commandments of Jesus the excellency of the reward and the perspicuous language wherein it is propounded to which if we add the testimony of his miracles these ought to be sufficient inducements to the receiving of his doctrine As for those Prophecies which go under the name of a shut or clasped Book oftentimes for the right understanding thereof there is requisite some divine helps and assistances which they are worthily deprived of that neglect manifest truths The places of Scripture which they object are diversly expounded as themselves cannot deny And if any Men please to compare either the ancient Interpreters which lived when the People were led captive into Babylon or such as lived about Christ's time with those that writ after that Christianity began to be hateful and odious unto the Jews he shall find new expositions purposely invented to cross those former that well agreed with the sense of Christians They know well enough that there are many things in the holy Scriptures which must be understood by a figure and not in propriety of speech as when God is said to have descended and to have a mouth ears eyes and nosthrils And why may not we likewise expound divers things that are spoken of the times of the Messias after the same manner as that the Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lion and the fatling together and the sucking child shall play with the Serpents and the mountain of the Lord shall be exalted above other mountains whither strangers shall come and worship There are some things promised which by antecedent or consequent words or by the very sense imply a tacite condition in them Thus God promised many things unto the Hebrews upon condition they would receive the Messias that was sent and obey him which same things if they come not to pass accordingly then may they blame themselves that are the cause thereof Again other matters were promised determinedly and without all condition which if they be not already accomplished yet may be hoped for hereafter For it is evident even among the Jews that the time or Kingdom of the Messias must endure unto the end of the World SECT XIX And to that which is objected of the mean condition and death of Jesus MANY do take exception at the low and mean condition of Jesus but unjustly because in sacred Writ it is often said that God will exalt the humble but cast down the proud Jacob when he passed
which are plainly and perspicuously enough set down in the Scriptures without the help and assistance of the Churches infallible authority which the Scriptures cannot be supposed to teach but by places far more doubtful SECT XXII It is our Wisdom therefore to adhere to the Scriptures TO this Rule then let us stick keeping those words of our Saviour always in mind iii. Joh. 21 22. He that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved But he that doth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Let that be his Guide who would not go astray in dangerous Paths into which he cannot fall who keeps close to the directions of the Holy Books wherein all necessary Truth being set down as the most ancient and best Doctors unanimously agree we are certain every way by believing them to believe all necessary Truth and if our lives be accordingly without which they tell us our belief will be vain it is impossible we should fail of everlasting Salvation To these alone as St. Austin speaks for himself in his Book of Nature and Grace we owe an absolute consent without refusing any thing they propound to us Whatsoever it be as his words are in his CXII Epistle that is confirmed by the perspicuous authority of the divine Scriptures those viz. which are canonical in the Church it must be believed without any doubting But as for any other witnesses or testimonies to which thou art perswaded to give credit thou mayest believe them or not believe them according as thou perceivest them to deserve or not deserve to be relied on A great reverence is due to the Church and its testimony though less to the present Church of Rome than others because it hath so grosly abused the World by false records and forged Miracles and such like things yet only as to an humane Testimony which cannot equal that of the Holy Scriptures SECT XXIII Which have more manifest notes of certainty than the Church FOR if we take their own way and method to assure our minds that we follow an infallible Guide there is no note which they give of the true Church which they say ought to be our Guide but pleads far more strongly for the Holy Scriptures that we should rather follow them and give an undoubted credit to them I shall not run over all those Notes nor examine the certainty of them but only briefly name some of them and show that if they prove any thing it is the Authority of the Scriptures above the Church First they say the very name of the Catholick Church is venerable and ought to be regarded But as that Name is not proper to them alone so if there be any power in Names to make us respect any thing what more awful than the Name of the Word of God and the Sacred Scriptures which were always given to these Books to which we advise all Christians to adhere The next Note which is Antiquity is on the side of the Scriptures also which more justly claim to be ancienter than all other Books which pretend to any Divinity than the Catholick Church can claim to be ancienter than all other Societies which call themselves by the Name of a Church Nay the Doctrine contained therein must be supposed as I have shown to be before the Church which is made by belief and profession of that Doctrine and the Old Testament certainly written long before the Church was made Catholick As for unity in that the Church is not comparable to the Scriptures whose agreement and consent of parts is admirable And if we speak of the surest bond of true Catholick Vnity it is as manifest as the Sun that the Holy Scriptures lay the foundation of it and preserve us in it if we adhere to them by keeping us close to one Lord one Faith one Baptism but the Church of Rome which hath usurped the Name of Catholick makes this blessed Unity impossible For there being but two ways to it either that we all agree in our Opinions about Religion or that while we differ it be no hinderance to Communion they have made the latter as impossible as the former because they make it absolutely necessary to communion and salvation to believe in every thing as they do The like might be said of Holiness and efficacy of Doctrine which depends upon the Churches speaking according to the Scriptures sanctity of the authors of our Religion which cannot be known but out of the Scriptures the glory of Miracles the light of Prophecy and all the rest but I shall only touch upon one more the Amplitude and Universality of the Church in which they make their boast But herein the Scriptures most evidently excel their Authority being there sacred where the Church of Rome whose Notes these are is not known or not regarded For all Christians in the World of whatsoever Sect they be believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God whereas they alone say that they are the only true Church of God All Christians besides who know any thing of this pretence of theirs absolutely deny it and maintain the Divinity and Authority of the Scriptures against all their Cavils SECT XXIV The great incouragement we have to do so BY following the Scriptures then we follow the surest Guide by their own confession For first by following the Scriptures we are certainly led by God but by following the Church we are only led by Men. And consequently the Faith we build upon the Scriptures is a Divine Faith but the Faith we build upon the authority of the Church meerly can be no more than humane For the Scriptures are fully and amply proved to be of Divine Authority by all those Arguments which are alledged in the Third Book of this Work the like to which cannot be produced to prove the infallible authority of the Church Which cannot so much as pretend that God hath bid us believe it but by sending us to the Holy Scriptures from whence it derives all its Authority Which is the second thing to be considered and here I will take the liberty to transcribe part of the discourse of a great Man on this Subject with some Additions that by following the Scriptures we follow that which they themselves are forced to follow as was noted before and on which they intirely depend for the proof of their own authority on which they would have us intirely depend Who have reason rather to rely on that which they rely and in so doing tacitely confess the Scriptures are of greatest authority and that they are surer of their Truth than of the Churches Infallibility And Thirdly by following the Scriptures we follow that which must be true if their Church which they would have us follow have any truth in it for their Church cannot but give attestation to them whereas if we follow their Church we must follow that which
more easily imprinted on the memory but touching the affections more powerfully and to the very quick than when otherwise spoken at large And therefore the publick Laws were in the most ancient times thus written as Aristotle informs us and that true Religion might be more easily conveyed into Peoples minds and fixed there Apolinarius translated all the Books of Moses as Sozomen tells us L. vi cap. 18. and the rest of the History of the Bible as far as the reign of Saul into Heroick verse in imitation of Homer's Poems Suidas says he put the whole old Testament into such Verse and it is not improbable for what he did upon the Psalms is still remaining If it were my present business I could trace this way of Instruction down to our own times and through our own Nation in which it hath been very effectual as the story of Aldelmus sufficiently informs us Who first brought in the composition of Latine verse among the English a little before Edward the Confessors time and by his excellent faculty in singing wrought such wonderful effects upon the People for the civilizing of their manners and for their instruction in the duties of Religion that Lanfrank by his own Authority thought good to make him a Saint The very same charms Grotius hoped would have the same effect upon the rude Seamen of his Country into whom he desired by his Rymes not only to instil a sense of piety but to inable them to convey it to other Nations with whom they traded And it seems this work was so much famed that it moved the curiosity of a great man in France into which Grotius went after his wonderful escape 1621. out of that Prison or rather Sepulchre as he calls it in a Letter to a Friend wherein it was first projected to ask him very often what the Contents of that Book were which he had written in Dutch upon this subject of Religion Whom he satisfied by translating the sense of it into the Latine Tongue in the Year 1628. and addressing it unto that excellent Person who made the inquiry viz. Hieronymus Bignonius Who together with Grotius and Salmasius the famous Cardinal Richlieu a notable Judge of Wits was wont to say * Epist Cl. Sarravii p. 146. were the only Persons of that Age whom he lookt upon as arrived to the highest pitch of Learning In which Translation he tells Sarravius in a Letter to him that Year he should find if nothing else that he had at least indeavoured brevity with perspicuity Which made it so acceptable every where though no longer in Verse but now in Prose that in the Year 1632. I find he tells Cordesius another Learned Man in France * Epist ad Gallos p. 331. 417. it was gone the third time to the Press with some Additions But not with so many it seems as some desired for there were those who wished he would have answered a Book of Bodins which seemed to impugn it This he thought a needless pains for whatsoever it is saith he in a Letter to the same person * Ib. pag. 407. that seems to shake the foundations I have laid upon which the Christian Faith relies I have already obviated it as far as is necessary to perswade a Reader that is not pertinacious As for those Opinions which are commonly received in Christianity but without the exact knowledge of which we may be Christians they do not belong to my Argument In the same Year also 1632 I find it Translated here into the English Language Which He himself afterwards takes notice of in a Letter to Gerrard Vossius 1638 * Inter Epist praestant virorum p. 748. Where he tells him that there were beside the English two High-Dutch Translations of this Book one French and that the English Embassador's Chaplain was turning it into Greek and the Romanists themselves into the Persian Tongue that by God's blessing it might convert the Mahometans None of these could see any Socinianism or other dangerous heresie in it which some of the duller sort of learned Men were forward to charge it with all because he doth not directly prove in this Book the Doctrine of the blessed Trinity Of which he gives this account in the forenamed Letter that he heard a great Man who was Franc. Junius as I take it condemn du Plessis and others for endeavouring to prove that Mystery by reasons fetcht from Nature and by Platonical Testimonies sometimes not very pertinent which ought not to came into a Disputation with Atheists Pagans Jews and Mahometans who must all be first drawn to believe the holy Scriptures that from thence they may learn such things as cannot be known but by Divine Revelation This was the Reason he medled not with the Doctrine of the Trinity directly But if any body doubted of his Orthodoxy in this Point They might see he tells him in another Letter what his opinion was in his Poems then newly come forth and the larger explication of it he reserved to his Notes And for the same cause he did not distinctly treat of some other things particularly about the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Satisfaction for which omission this Book was blamed as Sarravius writes to him by some who had nothing else to do but to find fault with the labours of others To which Grotius returned such an Answer as not only gave him he tells us most full satisfaction in those two Points but inabled him to silence those accusers He doth not intimate indeed what that reply was but as to the former Point it is apparent from his Annotations that he believed our Saviour to be indeed God of God And that passage in the Conclusion of the xxi Section of the fifth Book concerning the Messias being called in the holy Scriptures by the Name of God and Lord I should have translated thus The Messias is called by that august Name of God Jehovah and also of Lord viz. ELOHIM and ADONAI For so he explains himself I have since taken notice in his Annotations and adds this observation that the Talmud in Taanith says that when the time shall come spoken of xxv Isa 8 9. i. e. of the Messiah Jehovah shall be shown as we say with the finger that is Men shall be able to point others to him saying Lo there is Jehovah And as for the other thing it is possible his Answer might be to the same purpose with what he writ to * Epist praestant Viror p. 747. Vossius In which he tells him that if any one desired to know as he had already signified in a Letter to one that said he was accused of Socinianism what his opinion was in the business of Christ's satisfaction even since Crellius had written against him it would appear plainly enough out of his Translation of the LIII of Isaiah in his Disputation against the Jews which you may find here in the V. Book Sect. 19. and