to the Sinner because the Lord is God and not Man Therefore we Read that Mercy and Truth are met together Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other Psal 85. 10. God is as Just in Justifiing him that Believeth in Jesus as he is in Condemning the Unbeliever Rom. 8. 26. So that it as clear as the Sun shining at Noon day that as Mercy was the first and only moving Cause of Gods sending his Son into the World to save Sinners and therefore there was no need of his coming to procure Mercy his coming being the greatest Demonstration of Mercy and Love Joh. 3. 16. So likewise is it a Demonstration that all he did and especially what he Suffered was with respect to Justice The determinate Counsels of the Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost the one Eternal God had first if we may to help the weakness of our understanding use such an expression as First or Second concerning the decrees of God I say the First thing God had in his Eye in saving Sinners by sending his Son into the World was the Manifestation of his own Glory This being the best good must be the First Cause and Last End of all Gods Works and in Subordination thereunto Gods Mercy and great Love wherewith he Loved us was the moving Cause of sending his Son into the World with respect to God himself the Manifestation of his own Glory was the Cause and must be the Effect and last End thereof with respect to us Love Pity and Compassion and Mercy was the First moving Cause and our Eternal Salvation the last End so then if Christ came to Expiate sin or to take away sin it must be to bear the punishment due to sin or to the Sinner for sin to take away the guilt of sin which cannot be done but by bearing the punishment due for sin the guilt must be taken away For God will by no means therefore not by Mercy it self clear the guilty Therefore the guilt must be taken away that Mercy may flow in with all its Blessed effects upon the Sinner therefore the Fathers sending his Son was the Highest Act of Mercy in the Father and the Sons coming and dying in our Nature was the highest Act of Love in the Son The thing it Self was all Mercy with respect to us and the doing of it was with respect to the Honour of Gods Law and and the Manifestation of his Justice and Truth Therefore Christ did not offer himself up as a Supplication to the Mercy of God but as an expiatory Sacrifice to his Justice and not as a partial expiating of sin for that would but in part take away guilt but all guilt must be taken away or else the sinner will remain guilty and God will by no means clear the guilty Hence we read of Gods forgiving for Christs sake Eph. 4. 32. and of Redemption through his Blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his Grace Here is Redemption but at no less Price than the Blood of Ghrist here is the forgiveness of sins but it is through the Blood of Christ for we are not Redeemed with Corruptible things but by the precious Blood of Christ Peter 1. 18 19. All which shews that we are freely Forgiven and yet Justice is fully satisfied God having no Motive nor was it possible he should to concern himself about our Salvation but his own Soveraign good Will and good Pleasure he will have Mercy because he will have Mercy This makes the difference between Man and Man and this makes the difference between Man and Devil he took not upon him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham And what ever Reasons may be given for this by those wise Criticks that will vainly intrude into those things that they have not seen yet they must at last all Center in this Even so O Father because it pleaseth thee It was the good pleasure of God to save his Elect therefore Christ did not come to purchase this good pleasure but to Execute it by taking away sin both in its guilt and filth and to bring in an Everlasting Righteousness Therefore we read the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand Isa 53. 10. Dan. 9. 24. And our Lord doth so often declare that he came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him that is needless to mention particular Scriptures to prove it All which shows that Christ offering himself up by the Eternal Spirit as a Sacrifice to God was to take away sin both in the guilt and filth of it and had respect to the Justice and Holiness of God to Vindicate his Truth and the Honour of his Law in shewing Mercy to the Sinner Therefore it is said he was made sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him and in respect to Mercy and Love our Lord tells us At that day ye shall ask in my name and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you For the Father himself loveth you Joh. 16. 26. Yet if any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous 1 Epist of Joh. 2. 1. And he tells us again At that day ye shall ask in my name and I say unto you that I will pray the Father for you and in Joh. 16. ver 23. Verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you Which compared with Joh. 14. 13. 14. shews that the Father and the Son are One for saith he Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son And again in the next Verse If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it All which shews that Christ did not purchase nor doth he interceed for the Fathers Love and Mercy but interceeds as an Advocate pleading his own merrit in taking away sin and bringing in an Everlasting Righteousness so that is for Gods glory the Honour of his Law the strickness of his Justice to shew Mercy to the Sinner Therefore he saith I will do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son And indeed it is little less then the Blasphemy to say that the Fathers Love and Mercy is not so great or was not so early as the Sons for God is of one Mind and who can turn him Having thus proved that Christ offered himself up as a Sacrifice to the Justice of God to make an Attouement for Transgression It will be necessary to enquire what kind of Priest and Sacrifice this must be what mighty Mediator this must be that interposeth between the Justice of God and the guilty Sinner Aand as the Doctrine of Satisfaction ought to be received with all Humility and Thankfulness with all Care and Watchfulness to prove our selves to be of the number of those that are Redeemed from
but the Spirit of God and he to whom he reveals him Why then it must pass through the strict Inquisition of the Doctor of Reasons Queries as First How can these things be Secondly How can this Man give us his Flesh to eat Joh. 6. 52. These are hard sayings who can hear them ver 60. Or Thirdly Thou art not yet fifty Years old and hast thou seen our Father Abraham And if our Lord stand to it and assert his Divine Nature by saying before Abraham was I am they will will be ready to Stone him for a Blasphemer because they knew his Mother and his supposed Father according to the Flesh therefore he cannot speak the Truth it will not pass with Doctor Reason Therefore Gods Truth must be condemned for Folly and Nonsense But woe unto those Men that will call evil good or good evil or truth error or error truth when God riseth up to contend with those Men he will make them know he is not such a one as themselves But our Accountant after all his Pains to build a Babel's Tower undermines it all at once in the winding up of his Reasons For he saith in his Tenth Reason and his last but one That the ascribing the Divine Natures incommunicable Perfections and worship to one and another or a third Person or self necessarily infers a Plurality of Gods and is a breach of the First Commandment hath many evil tendencies and is the Ground of all the Idolatry Antichristianism and Paganism This is a high kick indeed for here our Accountant charges the Angels with Folly and not only so but all the blessed Company in Heaven Nay that is not all but rather then not do his own business effectually he will enter into Judgment with God himself Well however B. R. S. or any under his care may slight him or his Book as thinking neither worth Answering yet I must needs say he is a stout bold Fellow for he dares to charge God himself with contradiction and with being accessary to the Breach of his own first Command For according to our Accountants Reason he suffers the Worship and Worshippers in Heaven to infer a Plurality of Gods and to lay a Foundation for all Idolatry Antichristianism and Paganism For in Revelations 5. we have an Account of the Worship of Heaven and in the 11 12 13. Verses we have an Account of the Angels and the Beasts and Elders giving Blessing Honour Glory and Power to him that sitteth upon the Throne and untothe Lamb for ever and ever ver 14. and the 4 beasts say Amen to all this and the 24 Elders fall down and Worship him that liveth for ever and ever Here is Divine honour and Worship Given to him that sitteth on the Throne and the same in the same breath given unto another to use my Authors own Words Even to the Lamb for ever and ever And yet God doth not charge them with Idolatry nor making to themselves another God No this is the Worship of Heaven and must continue so for ever and ever Sure if our Accountant had any good hope of Worshipping with this blessed Company in Heaven he would endeavour to imitate them while here on Earth A Man had need have a good Stock of Patience as also of Faith and every Grace of the Holy Spirit to live in a continual dependancy on him that gives Wisdom to such simple Ones as he pleaseth and understanding to as many of them as have no knowledge as seemeth good to Soveraign pleasure as also humbly to remember that the Ostrich hideth her Eggs in the Sand and forgetteth that the Wild Beast may crush them because God hath deprived her of Wisdom Or else a Man indu'd but with an Ordinary measure of Reason and not Balast'd with the aforesaid Graces of Gods Holy Spirit could not forbear the resenting this unreasonable assertion so as to give my Accountant a Character much below that of Master of Reason But I may not give ill Language having not so Learned Christ Neither is it fit for a Man of a mean capacity to say to such a Learned Gentleman thou art a blockhead nor shall I say any thing of the Impudency that there is in bringing in an Impeachment and Charge of the highest Treason and Idolatry that Can be against the whole Court of Heaven the Blessed Him that sitteth upon the Throne and the Lamb who is worthy of all blessing Honour Power and Glory not being exempted This is such a peice of Fool hardiness as none but those that dare Run upon the thick bosses of Gods Buckler can be guilty of I hope our Accountant will not discover so much Folly as to attempt to excuse himself of an error in this by Quoting 1 Chron. 29. 20. Where it is said All the Congregation blessed the Lord God of their Fathers and bowing their heads Worshipped the Lord and the King That being but an External or Civil Worship which the People paid to the King or that is due from Inferiours to Superiours And our Accountant himself tells me he could not bear the ascribing the same Glory to Christ in Prayer which is due to the Father whereby he publickly enters his dissent and protest against the Worship and Worshippers and Worshipped also in Heaven For the Truth is what ever Worship Kings and such may receive from their Subjects in this World yet there never was nor shall be any King Lord or Potentate that shall receive Honour Glory Blessing and Praise from all the Worshippers both Angels and Men that are in Heaven for ever and ever but he who is the only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Jesus Christ who is the true God and Eternal Life 1 Joh. 5. 20. It is strange that there should not be one Doctor of Reason among all this Blessed Company to imitate Athaliah in crying out Treason Treason Idolatry Idolatry contradiction Nonsence because the right Heir is Crowned and receives the Glory of the Kingdom But upon Second thoughts it will not appear so strange as true for God hath not chosen many wise Men of this world and those few that are chosen from among them must first become Fools that they may be truly Wise For God hath chosen the Foolish things of this World to confound the wise 1 Cor. 20 27 to the end Thus we see the Scriptures made good The wisdom of this World is Foolishness with God For it is Written he taketh the Wise in their own Craftiness 1 Cor. 3. 18. There is yet another thing which our Accountant will needs call his Eleventh Reason or Stone in this Babel Building and his last But whether it may be called his Top Stone or Bottom no matter for that such as it is take it word for word Page 5th that it is saith he Great folly and boldness to affirm any thing Concerning God which is unreasonable or absurd yea which we do not understand to be true Surely what ever mistakes
A Reasonable Word TO THE Doctors of Reason BEING Some Remarks on a Nameless Author in his Pamphlet Entituled The Divine Vnity asserted AND Some Observations upon a Short-Account of the Proceedings of R. S. Bishop of a Dissenting Congregation in London with some of the Brethren against a Member of that Church as an Heretick Shewing the Vnreasonableness of those Pretended Reasons that are offered for Denying our Lord Jesus Christ to be over All God blessed for evermore And Proving by the Word of God and Sound Reason drawn from the same That Jesus Christ is the True God and Eternal Life 1 John V. 20. ALSO A Reasonable Reprimand to Mr. Considerator for his foolish Boasting in his Letter to H. H. as if He and Those of his Tribe were the only Freemen of the Common-Wealth of Wit and Learning By N. Goldham a Lover of Truth and Sound Reason LONDON Printed by K. Astwood for the Author 1699. To the Right Worshipful Sir William Ashhurst Knight Alderman AND One of the Honourable REPRESENTATIVES of the City of LONDON in PARLIAMENT May it please your Worship THE Ensuing Sheets being the Work of some spare Hours last Winter Mornings redeemed not from my Employment or particular Calling but from my Rest and Sleep I know not unto whom of Right it doth more properly belong than to your Worship knowing that as you are my Governour my Person is under your Protection and my Manners fall under your Inspection I thought it meet therefore that a Work of this Nature coming from me should make its Acknowledgments to your Worship and I do hereby Humbly submit both the Work and the Author of it to your Worships Impartial Judgment and Censure And in doing this I know not how to give your Worship flattering Titles not only though chiefly because in so doing my Maker would be offended but also because I have Reason to believe that your Worship is so Noble and so truly Great that 't is as much below your Worship to receive them as it is Breach of Duty in me to give them Nor shall I with a Pretended shew of Humility the worst of all Pride make any Apology with a pretended Humble Petition for a Pardon for doing thus not only because in so doing I should be guilty of a Contradiction having already as in Reason I ought submitted both the Work and my Self to your Worships Impartial Judgment and Censure And knowing also such is the Gentleness and Candor of your Government that Sins of Ignorance and Infirmity are discountenanc'd and suppress'd with Admonition and Reproof or elfe punish'd with such Gentle and Fatherly Chastifement as may serve only for an Effectual Admonition to future Reformation And I can assure your Worship our Lord Jesus Christ who knoweth all things bearing me witness I lye not that at first and all the while I employ'd my Thoughts about the VVork it self and of submitting the same to your Worships most solid and penetrating Judgment I could not entertain one Thought of abusing Good Nature and a Gentle Governour at such an Unreasonable Wicked Rate as sinning wilfully in Hope of a Pardon will amount unto I am very sensible your Worship is called by the Good Providence of God and the Voice of this City to Much and Great Business in Publick Affairs both in this City and for this City and Nation among the Chief of our English Tribes the Heads of their Fathers Houses Men of Renown who have been and are to Assemble together in Parliament to Enquire and Determine what our English Israel ought to do That our Lord Jesus Christ may direct your Counsels and bless your Resolves is and ought to be the Prayer of every true English Christian I shall not therefore presume to detain your Worship with a Long Entry to a small Cottage yet I think my Self obliged to render to your Worship a Reason for my doing thus and among others this is one There is a Generation arisen up among us who call themselves Wits Freemen as they say of the Common-wealth of Learning but they prove themselves to be no other than a Select Number of Conceited Dunces who are far enough from being Freemen of the Common-wealth of Sound Reason And there is indeed no such thing as the Common-wealth of Learning that being a good Gift of God bestow'd but upon some but Reason is given by the same Author of every Good and Perfect Gift to Men as such yet neither is this universal in common to all Men in any great measures thereof witness our Pretenders thereunto And yet so vain are these Conceited Ones and of all Fools they are the worst that they not only say they are Freemen of the Common-wealth of Wit and Learning but they will needs make themselves as Usurpers in all cases do Masters and Magistrates of that which is Superiour to both viz. The Common-wealth of Sound Reason Hence it comes to pass that so many Nameless Letters have been sent to our Noble Senators with bold and presumptuous Exhortations to make Use of their Reason as if Christianity were an Enemy to Humanity Or as if Faith destroyed Reason charging all the Laity as well the Nobility and Gentry as the Commonality and more inferiour Mechanicks to be no better than Biggots to the Clergy And the Clergy no better than Arbitrary Imposers of Idolatrous Doctrines Since therefore these Bold Invaders on the Rights of Mankind in point of Reason as if they had ingross'd it all into their own Hands are grown so Vain and Insolent as to set Bounds not only to God's Word but to God himself they not having the Fear of God before their Eyes form an Idea of God according to the Dictates of their own Foolish Brains And whatever God saith of himself yet he must be no other than what they say he is and in all Probability the next Step will be to say he is not I therefore look'd for some Answers to those Unreasonable as well as Unscriptural Pamphlets from our Reverend Divines but finding these Pretenders had this Shift to put off what the Clergy had said And to amuse their Readers viz. That the Laity and efpecially the more inferiour Sort take those things upon Trust and are led by the Nose by the Clergy To Convince therefore these Gainsayers and to Honour our Lord Jesus Christ and to let those Gentlemen know that we Lay-men do see with our own Eyes and that every true Christian tho' the meanest of Mechanicks is not taught by the Clergy only but by the express Word of God to Honour the Son even as we Honour the Father For these Reasons have I thus employed those Redeemed Hours and forasmuch as your Worship hath an Undoubted Right to judge both the Author and his Work so I Humbly take Leave to cast both at your Worships Feet and Subscribe my Self as I am Your Worships Most Humble Servant Nathanael Goldham To the Rational READER IT is to be Lamented but not to be
the one cannot be enlarg'd nor the other enlightned are there not ten thousand things which your reason doth not understand which are certain Truths for all that and is not God able to enlarge your Capacity and your Understanding and make that appear to be truly reasonable which now by reason of your Ignorance you can see no reason for except you will say that you have attain'd to the highest pitch of Reason and Understanding that God can give you and consequently that you are infallible in all matters of Faith and in the very Nature and Being of God And if so you would do well to turn out that doating Fool at Rome and place a wiser in the Chair and lay aside the Scriptures and Simon Magus like set up for some great one in the World I still see reason to guide my Reason by the Scriptures and therefore I believe when I see a Man wise in his own Conceit I may have more hope of a Fool than of him Now though I have reason to believe that our short Accountant and our nameless Author are Brethren in this unreasonable Work of denying that Jesus Christ is the living and true God as much as Simon and Levy were in their unreasonable Zeal Yet if my Reason fail not I think they contradict each other For our nameless Author tells us pag. 5. colume 1. that Reason is a Power or Faculty of encreasing our Knowledge by Industry whereby if we rightly proceed we may come to an absolute certainty in many things So then Reason is capable of being encreas'd and growing by Industry Hence it follows that small measures of Reason can give a Man but small Certainty in many things if in any thing how contrary is this to my Accountants third Reason whose Capacity is not to be enlarg'd nor can any thing be true that is contrary to his present Understanding but when Reason is thus improv'd my Author himself tells me and I have Reason to believe him that it is but a certainty in many things so that some things are still exempted from a certain Knowledge of by Reason according to my Doctor of Reason his own Argument And if any thing be exempted surely Reason would inform a Man that the things of God should be some of those things especially those things that concern his very Being and Nature But to return to our short Accountants Third Reason for I would not hide any of his most comely Parts nor diminish any of his strongest Reasons he proceeds in his aforesaid pretended Reason and tells us Though he is bound to believe whatever God saith is True yet it is because I have Reason so to do But saith he I cannot believe the thing God saith till I know what he saith You are very right Mr. Doctor the Devil will tell the truth sometimes but he adds nor well believe pray Mark nor well believe God saith so and so till by Reason I am assured it is true Reason can never assent to that which appears unreasonable nor can I otherwise than by Reason assure my self that the Scripture is a Divine Revelation These are his very words for as I said before I will not hide his strong Reasons The first part of this Third Reason I have Answered already but he cannot well believe God saith so and so till by Reason he is perswaded it is true If Abraham had had such a Conceit of his Reason he might have Lived and Dyed in Unbelief for ought I know to the Contrary For what Reason had he to believe he should have a Son when his own Body was as good as Dead and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of Women but the revealed Word of God and he did not say this is according to my Reason therefore I will believe what God saith no he Argued quite otherwise and said though I see no Reason for this but a great deal against it as much as ever our Accountant can pretend to be Master of Yet because it is told me by that God that cannot Lye and Almighty power being ingaged to perform it therefore I do believe it and therefore it is said Rom. 4. 18. he believed against hope and therefore against reason but he would have had hope if he had had Reason for Hope will follow Reason and it would be an unreasonable peice of Nonsence and a contradiction for a Man to say I have Reason to believe I shall have such a thing but I have no hopes of it Rom. 4. 18. Yet our Accountant will needs set up for a Master of Reason though he knows not what he speaks nor where of he doth affirm Besides in this my Accountant gives no more Honour and Glory to God by believing then he or any Man else may give to the Devil For when the Father of Lyes speaks truth and that you know he will do sometimes then you may believe him if by Reason you are assur'd it is true but God is to be Believed on the Authority of his own Word It is no wonder that Men discover themselves to be Fools when no less Folly will satisfie them then to kick against him in whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge Colos 2. 3. But I pass to my Accountants Fourth Reason in the aforesaid Third Page By Revelation saith he we are taught and it is no way contrary to Reason that this one God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is this one God Joh. 17. 1. Very true and how forcible are right Words but what doth your Arguing either prove or reprove from this We are Taught by the Scriptures of truth that Jesus Christ is the True God and Eternal Life and that the true God is Jesus Christ 1 Ep. John 5. 20. and John 17. 1. Titus 2. 13. Now whether this be contrary to my Accountants Reason or no it is nevertheless true for all that but I see no Reason to deny the Father to be God for all this and if I should yet my Reason and the Inference would be as Justifiable as his in denying the Son to be God His Fifth Reason you have in his aforesaid Third Page for you must know they being small will lye in a little room Whenever God the Father and Christ his Son are spoken of in Scripture they are spoken of as two distinct Persons and Beings as Joh. 7. 16. It 's certain they are so as the Scripture declares them to be yet the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost are but one God for all that And he adds Though they are said to be One in some Sense yet never but in such a Sense as God and others may be said to be One viz. in Love Agreement and Will One would wonder that a Man pretending to Reason and Religion should not be ashamed to tell the World such an unreasonable untruth as this what is Christ and God the
Reason only their great Learning hath so stuft their Heads and Memories that they have almost forgot what sound Reason is as hath been already seen in examining the Stuff they call Reason It is to be lamented that one good Gift of God should fall upon such bad Ground as to drive out another but so it is what else is the meaning of that Word Let not the Wise Man glory in his Wisdom nor the Rich Man glory in his Riches c. But to shew that as the glorying in these things robs the Giver of his Due so it makes the Receiver become a poor weak Fool Jer. 9. 23. And indeed it is very unreasonable to think it can be otherwise for if every good and perfect Gift comes down from the Father of Lights and is dispensed to us through the Son by the Holy Spirit what can those Gentlemen do otherwise but discover themselves to be as they are who shall deny our Lord Jesus Christ to be as he is over all God blessed for evermore and thereby deny to live by Faith upon him and as much as in them lies cut themselves off from him in whom dwelleth the Fulness of the Godhead Col. 2. 9. But if Reason fail these Gentlemen say they will remove the Cause to the Scriptures of Truth most gladly therefore with them to the Scriptures I will go and guide and subject my Reason thereunto And indeed it is impossible for us to have a true Knowledge of God without the Revelation that he gives of himself by his Word and Spirit And here I cannot but take Notice of the foolish as well as slanderous Report that my nameless Author in his Divine Vnity asserted pag. 6. Col. 2. as well as the Considerator in his 19th and 20th pages of his Answer to the Bishop of Sarum gives to the Christian Divines saying That were it not for Church Awes and for fear of losing their Stipends they would deny the Doctrine of the Trinity themselves I thank God I lye under no Temptation of being byass'd by the Churches Smiles or Frowns I being no Clergy-Man nor the Son of a Clergy-Man and therefore my Judgment cannot be bribed with the hope os getting or fear of losing any Benefice But God having given me an Immortal Soul it becomes me and it is but my reasonable Duty as well as Interest to be as much concerned about the Eternal Salvation thereof as any of those whose Business it is being called of God as Aaron to serve at the Altar by preaching the unsearchable Riches of Christ and the great Mysteries of the Gospel and Godliness God manifested in the flesh Eph. 3. 8. 1 Tim. 3. 16. And here I must take leave to tell our Doctors of Reason that if the Scriptures tell me that Jesus Christ is the true God and Eternal Life as I find it doth 1 John 5. 20. Tit. 2. 13. I must therefore believe this Truth because I find it Testified in the Scriptures of Truth although thereby I should practically give those Gentlemen â—he Lye who say he is but a Man and although to prove their Sayings they tell me their great Reason and Learning hath taught them so to say and believe therefore to do them right I do freely acknowledge that they have a just right to lay claim to the Title that the Apostle gives to those simple Gentlemen spoken of in the 2 Tim. 3. 7. Who were ever learning and never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth And yet it is evident that these were no small Fools in their own Conceit for in the next Verse the Apostle compares them to Jannes and Jambres whose Ignorance and Folly was over-laid with such a stock of Impudence that they had Confidence enough to resist Moses though he was one of the greatest Men that ever lived upon the Earth And there were such pretended Wits in the Apostles days Men of corrupt Minds resisting the Truth concerning the Faith reprobate But their Folly was made manifest as the Unreasonableness of our pretended Men of Reason at this day is But let us see how these Men reconcile Scripture to their Reason or rather pervert it for my Author in his 16th page colume 1. argues that because we are to love God with all our Hearts therefore the Son is not God for then our Love would be divided Which argues strongly that he is God because we are commanded to love and honour him as the Father as hath been proved by Scripture Command and the Example of the Worshippers in Heaven And also is an undeniable Argument that the Father and the Son are one whether my Author will receive it or can understand it or no. The next Scripture that I find Our Author mentions in particular after he had mentioned several to prove God is one which signifies no more to his Cause then if a Man pretending to prove there is no Night in our Climate should tell us when we see the Sun shine we may be sure it is day For all true Christians believe God is one and that the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost is this One God But the Text which he mentions and recites at Large is in his 18th Page 1 Colume Phil. 2. 6. where the Apostle speaking of Christ saith who being in the Form of God thought it not Robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no Reputation and took one him the Form of a Servant My Author saith the reconciling Sense is that is to there Foolish Reason that he thought of no such Robbery as being equal with God It is very strange that the Servant should so much excel the Master when the Devil himself transformed himself into an Angel of Light he did not Quote Scripture so Falsly nor pervert it so palpably as this amounts to when he Brought Scripture to Tempt our Lord to cast himself down from the Pinacle of the Temple as any Christian may see by comparing the 4th of Matthew and 6th with the 91st Psal ver 11. But Let us Consider what the Holy Ghost was pressing on Christians in the Context that we may not Charge him with Contradiction and Nonsence how bold so ever we may be with his Disciples and here we find he speaks of some Person or being that was in the Form of God and therefore the other assertion that he thought it no Robbery to be equal with God was a necessary Consequence of the Former and to take it as my Author doth is but to give the Lye to the Holy Ghost or to Charge him with Contradiction let him choose whether Besides the 7th and 8th verses make it clear that the Apostle was speaking of some Person or Being distinct and infinitely superiour to Humane Nature and therefore speaks of his Condescension in taking on him the Form of a Servant and being found in the Fashion of a Man Whereas were this this He the Apostle speaks of no other but a Man the Apostle
the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift Destruction Will you add so much Pride to your Folly as to say concerning your self as our Lord did that because I was in the Decree of God and prophesied of therefore 1600 Years before born I am Besides I Am is a peculiar Title to God signifying his Self-existence and Self-sufficiency which no created Being can take to himself without Blasphemy Well but after all the Considerator is resolved to be a good Champion for a bad Cause who will loose his Ground Inch by Inch And therefore he saith in his 57th page first colume That notwithstanding all this we must be Socinians or Arrians for Christians we may not be No by no means if the Considerator can but jump into the infallible Chair and prescribe a Religion for us Thus it is and thus it will be as the truly Rational and Learned as well as Pious Doctor Owen hath observed Truth will not please the Devil will subscribe to any Creed but that which God gives of himself in his Word But good Sir why must we be Arrians Why because Christ though he did exist before the World was made yet he was but a Creature for all that but the first that ever God made But neither will this shift enable you to overthrow the Christian Religion nor shall you thereby rob the Author of it of his Divine Nature who is the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us Titus 2. 13 14. For hereby you do but tread in your old Steps by resisting and contradicting the Holy Ghost as your Predecessors did in Acts 7. 51. For in Revelation 1. the 8th and 11th Verses our Lord saith he is the First and the Last And to put the Matter out of Doubt that it is Jesus Christ there speaks the 12th Verse to the End of the Chapter makes it evident he being in the Likeness of the Son of Man And in the 17th Verse he saith again I am the first and the last And in the 18th I am he that was dead and am alive All which shews that this was Jesus Christ and that this Jesus Christ is Godman for he being the first God the Father was not before him then he could not be first and he being the last End of all things all things must end and terminate in his Glory For God's Glory is the highest and chiefest Good and therefore must be the ultimate and last End of all things and that this was no other than Jesus Christ is evident in that he saith I am he that liveth and was dead Surely God cannot dye therefore this must be that mighty Child that was given to us who also was the everlasting Father spoken of in Isa 44 6. and Isa 9. 6. Godman God with us in our Nature And therefore he may well be called wonderful because he is Godman in one Person God he must be else he could not be the first nor last neither for God only is the last End as well as the first Cause of all things Man he must be else he could not dye and God he must be else he could not have power to raise himself again as he tells you he had John 10. 18. No man taketh it from me saith he but I lay it down of my self and I have power to take it up again And this compared with the next Verse together with Acts 20. 24. proves the Father and him to be one as he saith of himself in ver 30. of this 10th Chapter I and my Father are one Besides in the first Chapter of Gonesis it is said In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth Why then will you impose Arrianism upon us and contradict the Spirit of God by telling us that God created before the Beginning or before he created the Heavens and the Earth The Considerator therefore shall never impose his School-Divinity upon me of one Senior and two Junior Gods for unto me and unto us Christians there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him 1 Cor. 8. 6. And indeed here lies these Gentlemens Mistake they find the Scriptures in many places speak of Jesus Christ as Man Therefore say they he cannot be God as my Accountant pag. 4. but as hath been observed we do not say that Man is God or that the Humane Nature is the Divine or that those two Natures are confounded but we believe according to the Scriptures of Truth that God took upon him our Nature Heb. 2. 16. and united that Holy Thing that by the over-shaddowing of the Holy Ghost was conceived and born of the Virgin So that it did not subsist nor was it a distinct being of it self but was united into a personal Union with God the Son and thus he continues to be two Natures in one Person for ever If you ask me how these things can be I answer such Knowledge is as much too wonderful for the Angels for ought I know as to know how God was and therefore neither you nor I must pretend to it It is enough these are the true Sayings of God and therefore it is to the Peril of those that will not believe it If you say it is impossible I answer with Men it may appear so and really be so but with God all things are possible If you say it is Nonsence and Contradiction I Answer it is the highest impiety and greatest impudence that a Man professing to believe there is a God can be guilty of to say that any thing that God reveals concerning himself or us is impossible or contradictory to it self And therefore after all the Considerators glorying of his own and the rest of his Brethrens Honour and Dignity as being Freemen of the Common-wealth of Wit and Learning Page 44. both Collums And after he hath spoken very Contumeliously of the Dignities of the Church and given himself a good Word as a Person fit for Preferment If the Honours and Profits of the Church were bestowed as they were at first designed upon Persons of Wit Learning and Merrit no doubt but he might come in for an Arch-Bishop And yet in all this glorying I do not find him mention one thing that Paul a Minister of Jesus Christ made any reckoning of his Study and glorying being to know Jesus Christ and him Crucified No the Considerator doth not speak one Word of this in all his own Letter of Recommendation though both Colums Pag. 44. be taken up about it yet there is not one word of Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ spoken of as being of any Concernment in a Minister of Jesus Christ And therefore seeing he hath such a conceit of his own Merits without those accounted unnecessary things I would advise him to step Over to Rome for if he make good Friends those things are not much
3 4. where he tells the Corinthians that though he is absent in Body yet he as present in Spirit had Judged already as though he were present concerning him that hath so done this Deed And in the next verse tells them what they should do wehen they wre gathered together and my Spirit with the Power of our Lord Jesus Christ Colo. 2 5. to the same purpose but were not Mr. Considerator one of the best or rather the worst at perverting of Scripture and one of the greatest reproachers of sound Reason under the greatest pretentions to it I should not have mentioned these Scriptures as having the least shew of Reason in them to invalidate the Truth of our Lords Promise or that he will not be with his People and that really present with them to the end of the World in all Places and in all Conditions according to that gracious Promise in Isa 43. 2. When thou passest through the fire I will be with thee and the waters shall not overflow thee If you tell me this Promise in Isaiah must be understood of God the Father I answer if it be so it doth but confirm our Lords Deity the Promise being no more then what he Promiseth his Disciples which clearly proves our Lord Jesus Christ to be the Omnipresent God that fills Heaven and Earth with his presence for what Paul said to the Corinthians and Colossians is no more then what we may all say to one another when we are desirous to have a good Work carried on by the Church or any other Civil Society at which we have a right to be present as Member tho' we are else where detained yet approving the Work we say our Heart is with them our Mind and Spirit is in the Work But will Mr. Considerator say this is all the comfort our Lord promises his Disciples Mat. 28. Truly if so they might say of him as Job said of his Friends miserable comforters have ye been but our Lord cannot deceive any more then he can be deceived and therefore he will come unto his People and will take up his abode with them according to his gracious Promise in Joh. 14. 23. Jesus answered and said if a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Here the Son is to come and be as much present with his Disciples as the Father And in ver 16. of the same Chapter our Lord saith I will pray the Father and he shall send you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever All which with many other Texts of Scripture not only prove the Son to be Omnipresent but also the Unity of the Divine being and the Trinity of that Unity and doth undeniably prove to all sincere unbyast Christians the Divine authority and Truth of that Word in Joh. 5. 7. which Mr. Considerator and the rest of his Tribe do so much Bark at but they shall never be able to Bite it out of Gods Bible as long as the Sun and Moon indure nor can they though in Conjunction with the Gates of Hell be able to Rob the People of God of the comfort and Consolation that they enjoy by Communion with the real though Spiritual and Divine presence of Jesus Christ For when the Atheist and Deist and Mr. Considerator himself have Mock'd and Scoff'd at Communion with God as much as their Elder Brother Ishmael himself did at the Son of the Promise yet know ye there are that know their Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ Joh. 1. 3. And yet Mr. Considerator to shew what a Doctor in Capernaum and Nicodemus's Divinity he is proves himself as good an Advocate for the abomination of Transubstantion as Belarmine himself or any Cardinal of them all could do Yet is he no Papist but any thing so he can but do some thing against the Truth for in Page 21. Colum 2. and 22. He labours all be can to make the abomination of Transubstantiation to be a small sin if any which he calls a folly or a mistake it is not an impiety he saith but a Philosophical Error Colum 2. Page 21. and hath mis-represented that abomination that he might redicule the Truth For he saith it is not pretended by the Papist that the bread and Wine have received any the least change Where as this is the very thing they have burn'd many a Christian for because they would not believe that the Bread and Wine were changed or Transubstanstiated into the very Body and blood of Christ And as for his Body being present in a Spiritual manner it was the Doctrine of the Lutherans and not of the Papists And in his 20th Page Colum he saith himself the Papists say the words of our Lord import that the Bread of the Sacrament is really and verily made to be the Substance of Christ's body in which he was Crucified But in his Page 21. Colum 2. He tells us they are of another Mind and that they do not pretend that the bread and Wine have received the least change in what is an Object of Sense Why good Sir is not the very Substance of Bread an Object of Sense Perhaps this Gentleman may pretend a License to Contradict himself but the Trinitarians must have a care of saying any thing contrary to the dictates of Mr. Considerators foolish Reason for fear of being Guilty of the unpardonable sin of Contradicton But the Gentleman was labouring to Contradict Christ and to Charge him with Folly and Falshood therefore no wonder if he Contradict himself for our Lord hath promised to be with his People to be really present with them in this World This Mr. Considerator see would prove him to be God the only true God therefore he will Give our Saviour the Lye and say he neither is nor can be Omnipresent Page 11. Colum 2. But our Lord saith Mat. 18. 20. that where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them And that the will be with his People to the end of the World Mat. 28. 20. Yet Mr. Considerator is pleased to say the Doctrine of Christ real presence is worse then the abomination of Transubstantiation But that his Fables may pass with some Colour he thinks it meet to colour his Charge with Falshood and tells us of some whom he saith ought not to call themselves the Reformed who believe the real Presence of Christ's Body in the Sacrament pag. 20. colume 2. But I know none of that Belief except the Papist nor the Considerator neither I believe but the Gentleman's Design was to deny the Real Divine Presence of Christ But that being too great a Truth to be beat out of the Scripture of Truth he contents himself in that place in denying his bodily Presence I have insisted the more on the Omnipresence of Christ because Mr. Considerator in his