opened not his Mouth But it is never too late to mend And if he be not now Pray God he may be a good Christian before he dies For I must confess I do not think it sufficiently Evinc'd in these Sermons In the Reading of which the Character which the History of the Vnitarians gives tho' falsly of Grotius came into my Mind wherein he endeavours to make Grotius a tho'ro'-pac'd Socinian but yet to have cover'd his Meaning so craftily particularly in his Comments upon this First Chapter of St. John's Gospel whence this Author has taken his Text as not to be known to be a Socinian unless to a very discerning Reader And I must observe that this Author in the foresaid 4 Sermons tho' he seems to speak home sometimes yet has taken special Care to avoid the only Shibboleth which the Christian Church could find out to discover the several Sorts of Arian and other Hereticks who deny'd the Divinity of Christ which was Consubstantiality That God the Son was of the same Substance with his Father Several of them for there were several Subdivisions of them and of different Opinions would allow Christ to be of the like Substance with the Father That is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of the same Substance And except the single Iota which is betwixt these two Words they could swallow the whole Nicene Creed by vertue of Distinctions in which they were great Masters And it is very strange that this Author should forget this only Matterial Word which is the heart of the whole Cause and expresly asserted in the Nicene Creed especially considering that Sermon 3. p. 140 141. he quotes the words in that Creed immediately following these Being of one Substance with the Father which words he does not mention and which being own'd by him would have been a more clear and full Vindication of his Orthodoxy in this point than all these 4 Sermons And since it was impossible he should forget it he repeating the same Sentence in the Creed wherein it is contain'd we must conclude that be left it out on purpose and consequently That he does not really believe it tho' he endeavours with all his Art to cast a Mist before the Reader 's Eyes in other Expressions which to some might seem Tantamount as Arius and his Followers did Even our Modern Biddle in his Confession of Faith touching the Holy Trinity Printed in the Year 1648. and now reprinted in the Year 1691. Artic. 3. Confesses Christ to be Our Lord yea Our God and yet in the same Article asserts That he hath no other than a Human Nature But he was a Senseless Socinian tho' now much Admir'd amongst them in London and his Books carefully reprinted He Refin'd from the Socinians and added to it the Old Anthropomorphite Heresie That God was a Body of the Shape of a Man Fingers Eyes Toes c. As the Socinians refin'd from the Arians and gave the Son of God no Existence before his Birth of the Virgin and have exceedingly Entangled their Cause by it The Arians were more Subtle and Learned than any of their Folloâ—ers who have grafted upon their Stock It was hard to discover the depth of Arianism They defended themselves with Nice distinctions They would call the Son God yea Truly and Really God As this Author confesses 2 Serm. p. 123. And what plainer or fuller words could readily be desired wherein to confess the true and real Divinity of Christ in opposition to Angels and to Men who are called Gods but it is only in a Figurative and Borrowed Sense They are not truly and really God as the Arians said of Christ F. The Author in the same Sentence explains himself and those whom he calls his Adversaries whether Arians or Socinians who say that Christ is truly and really God by adding these words by Office and by Divine Appointment and Constitution C. That is a very vain Distinction For a God by Office or any other way so he be truly and really God is as great as a God by Nature because nothing can be greater than God Besides a God by Office if he be truly and really God must likewise be a God by Nature for he could not otherwise be Truly and Really God as he could not be truly and really Man who were not a Man by Nature or who did not truly and really partake of the Nature of Man And as a Consequence of all this the Author tells ibid. That our Adversaries did allow the very same Honour and Worship to be given to the Truly and Really God tho' by Office which we give to him who is God by Nature And as these Adversaries could not be found out by the word GOD which they freely allow'd to Christ no not by the words Truly and Really God So neither could the word Eternity fully discover them viz. To assert Christ to have been from Eternity We know several Adversaries to Christianity who have asserted the World to have been from Eternity and yet would not allow it to be God It is part of the Muggletonian Creed at this day that Earth and Water were from Eternity and yet not God A Book call'd The Oracles of Reason by that Execrable Char. Blount Mr. Gildon and others of Hâ—bb's wretched Disciples does argue expresly for the Eternity of the World and of Mankind too in the same State they are in now This is printed for our Instruction in the Year 1693. as one Branch of our Glorious Reformation and Christian Toleration And if these Wits allow Eternity to meer Men much less would these Socinians stick to call Christ Eternal who own him to be truly and really God For whatever is so must be Eternal Therefore as I said before there was no Shibboleth which all these our Adversaries did refuse but that of Consubstantiality and which this Author does refuse and while he does so he must still be reckoned among these Adversaries to the Christian Cathelick Faith Tho' Tho among what particular Species or Denomination of them I will not determine or whether he may not have refin'd to a degree and Peculiarity by himself for he delights in Bold Stroaks Mr. Biddle above told is own'd by the Socinians as a good and laudable Brother tho he set up the Old and Exploded Heresie of the Athropomorphites And the Arians are admitted into their Communion and as such quoted and pleaded by them against the Orthodox tho they held the Prae-Existence of Christ before his Incarnation which the Socinians have rejected Among whom some even at this day hold the Personality of the Word and Holy Ghost which others of them do absolutely deny Some of them make these to be Creatures others to be Really and Truly God and not any thing different from God Nay the Old Nazarens Ebionites c. are in the Brief Hist of the Vnitar Quoted as the Primitive Fathers of the Socinian Opinion some of whom rejected the Scriptures others
His great Proof is p. 10. The General Consent of Mankind concerning the Unity of God that the Vnity of the Divine Nature is a Notion wherein the Greatest and the Wisest part of Mankind did always agree p. 4. And yet speaking of the Heathen Idolatry which was all the rest of the World except the small Nation of the Jews he says plainly p. 9. that The generality were grosly guilty both of believing more Gods and of worshiping false Gods p. 10. And did terminate their worship there in the Idol as being the very Deity it self which was certainly says he the Case of the greatest part of the Heathen World And yet upon the Belief of this Greatest part he builds the Vnity of God when he confesses that this Greatest part did not believe the Vnity of God All the Salvo for this most palpable Contradiction is what he offers p. 9. viz. That the Vnity of the Divine Nature was the Primitive and General Belief of Mankind and that Polytheism and Idolatry were a Corruption and Degeneracy from the Original Notion which Mankind had concerning God I do not doubt but Adam worshiped the True God And it is as true that Idolatry came in very soon some say Cain introduc'd it And that there was a very great defection so quickly made that it is Recorded of the Birth of Enos That then began Men to call upon the Name of the Lord Gen. 4.29 as if they had never done it before And the Scripture tells of the General Corruption before the Flood After the Flood we know the whole World was swallow'd up in an Vniversal Idolatry except only the Family of Abraham and after him of the Jews who also were continually lapsing into it what then becomes of this Author's Greatest part of Mankind And his always That this Greatest part did always agree in the Notion of the Vnity of God Whereas he in the same place makes this Greatest part to have been always since the World was Peopled Believers and Worshipers of more Gods and false Gods in such gross Idolatry as I cannot believe ever befel one Man since Adam or that it is possible to besal any Man being so apparent a Contradiction viz. to terminate our Worship in the Image or Idol as being the very Deity it self For how can any Man believe such a thing to be the Image or Picture of another thing and yet to be that very thing of which it is the Image Or is it in any Man's power to believe that a thing can be the Image or Idol of its self Cou'd Solomon believe this Or was not he an Idolater We know whom this favours and there may be a time to Recant even our Nestrum against Transubstantion It won'd be no greater change than what has been already And there is no stop in Art nor are we ever too old to learn Thus much for his betraying the Unity of God by placing it upon a Foundation which he himself hath overthrown Next to shew that as to the Trinity of God he speak the very Socinian Language All that he says of it is in Sect. 3. p. 19 20. Because he must say something He is soon weary of it and first he gives a Broad-side against it in direct Opposition to what the Divines say of it He desires not or deserves not to be reckon'd one of the number for the Dispute is not about the words Trinity or Person but as to the Sense of these words in which they are used by Divines The Socinians own a Trinity and they have lately Re-printed and Published Bidle's Confession of Faith touching the Holy Trinity But all the matter is in what Sense the word Trinity is us'd by our Divines and by the Socinians and in this he peremptorily determines against the Sense of the Divines as Anti-Scriptural He says That neither the word Trinity nor perhaps Person in the Sense in which it is used by Divines when they treat of this Mystery are any where to â—e met with in Scripture This is directly opposing the Doctrine of the Trinity as taught by Divines Put he brings himself off thus Yet it cannot be deny'd says he but that Three are there spoken of by the Names of Father Son and Holy Ghost this no Socinian in the World denies in whose Name every Christian is Baptized this is likewise granted by the Socinians and to each of whom the highest Titles and Properties of God are in Scripture Attributed Neither does this offend the Secinians who Plead the same in answer to Jâ—hn 1.3 as you have it in the Brief Hâ—â—â—ory of the Vnitarians which solves that Text All things were made by him i. e. by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or word thus The word says he begins here to be spoken of as a Person by the the same figure of Speech That Solomon saith Wisdom hath hath builded her House and heuen out her seven Pillars Prov. 9.1 And that David calls Gods Commandments Councellours Psal 119.24 And in conclusion this Author is willing to Compound for the word Person of which we have spoke before So long says he as we mean by it neither more nor less than what the Scripture says in other words But he has told you before that there is no such thing to be found in Scripture in the sense in which it is used by Divines And what other sense he means is easie to tell For the present Controversie is only betwixt the two senses of the Divines as he calls them and the Socinians unless he means something else by the word Divines and so makes the whole a Banter upon us For he does not explain himself nor say one word more in all that Sermon touching the Blessed Trinity of the difference ' twxit the Socinians and us concerning this great Fundamental of our Faith And whether this be or whether it be not a sufficient clearing of himself as to what side he inclines when he could find no more to say against the Socinians upon this point in a Discourse which he Entitles and so would make us believe to be A Vindication of the Christian Doctrines to the Blessed Trinity against that of the Socinians I leave to the Impartial Reader And now for a Conclusion upon the whole that has been said of all his Sermons they are all the Genuine effects of Hobbism which loosens the Notions of Religion takes from it all that is Spiritual Ridicules whatever is called Supernatural it reduces God to Matter and Religion to Nature In this School Dr. T. has these many years held the First Form and now diffuses his Poyson from a high Station It is many years ago since the E. of D. one Sunday that Dr. T. Preach'd at White-Hall told K. C. 2d that Mr Hâ—bbs was got into the Pulpit his Politicks are Leviathan and his Religion is Latitudinarian which is none that is nothing that is positive but against every thing that is positive in other Religions whereby to reduce
see whether this Author gives a more favourable Character of his Disciples to make good the High Eulogiums above told Serm. 2. p. 69. speaking of Schlictingius one of the first Form in his School our Author says he carry'd himself with more Confidence but much less Decency than his Master That he spoke so Extravagantly and with so much Contempt of these Great and Venerable Names who were the chief Propagators of Christianity in the World and to whom all Ages do so justly pay a Reverence That he said those Ancient Interpreters went so far from the Apostles meaning as if they had Rav'd and been out of their Wits And the Dr. says in general of the Socinians Serm. 1st p. 39. That their Interpretations of the Holy Scriptures were strange and extravagant p. 44. did contradict not only the Ancient Fathers but the General Consent of all Christians for 1500 years together p. 61. That they avoid the plain and necessary Consequence of Holy Scriptures by strain'd and forc'd Arts of Interpretrtion p. 62. Than which nothing can be more unnatural and violent p. 65. Which I dare say no Indifferent Reader of St. John that had not been preposess'd and byas'd by some violent prejudice would ever have thought of p. 75. The plainest Text for any Article of Faith how Fundamental and Necessary sâ—ever may by the same Arts and ways of Interpretation be cluded and rendered utterly ineffectual for the establishing of it p. 92. 93. This is so Arbitrary and Precarious a supposition that I must confess my self a little out of Countenance for them that Men of so much Wit and Reason should ever be put to so sorry and pitiful a Shift p. 96. This is so Inartificial not to say Absurd a way of avoiding a Difficulty that no Man of common Ingenuity would make use of it p. 99. A Sense so very flat that I can hardly abstain from calling it Ridiculous p. 113. We may plainly see by this That they can Interpret a Text right when necessity forceth them to it and they cannot without great Inconveniency to their Cause avoid it But when Men have once resolv'd to hold fast an Opinion they have taken up it then becomes not only Convenient but Necessary to understand nothing that makes against it And this is truly the present Case But in the mean time where is Ingenuity and love of Truth p. 115. They Triumph without Modesty and without Measure p. 125. Do they see no Absurdity in all this Nothing that is contrary to Reason and Good Sense Nothing that feels like Inconsistency and Contradiction p. 129. Which way the Socinians way of dealing with them the Holy Scriptures seems to be really more Contumelious to those Holy Oracles than the down-right rejecting of their Authority And single Serm. p. 18. He that can deny this the Doctor 's Argument against the Socinians is perverse to the highest degree and I fear beyond the possibility of being Convicted p. 20. Men may generally wrangle about any thing but what a frivolous Contention what a Trifling in serious matter what Barretry in Divinity is this p. 30. So little do Men in the heat of Dispute and Opposition who are resolv'd to hold fast an Opinion in despight of Reason and Good Sense consider that they do many times in effect and by necessary Consequence grant the very thing in express terms they do so stifly and pertinaciously deny p. 32. And this for no other reason that I can imagine but because they have deny'd it so often and so long F. These so different Characters which the Dr. gives of Socinus and the Socinians may be Reconciled by saying as I suppose the Dr. means that this later Evil Character belongs to them only in this present Controversy of the Trinity the Divinity and Satisfaction of Christ But that the former High and most Extraordinarly Excellent Character is due to them in other matters of Religion as against the Church of Rome which the Dr. seems to intend 2. Serm. p. 79. where he says That the Socinian Writers have managed the Cause of the Reformation against the Innovations and Corruptions of the Church of Rome both in Doctrine and Practise with great acuteness and advantage C. And yet in the very next words he says That the Socinians have put into their the Papists hands better and sharper Weapons than ever they had before for the weakening and undermining of the Authority of the Holy Scriptures And p. 129. That nothing hath given a greater force to the Exceptions of the Church of Rome against the Holy Scriptures being a sufficient and certain Rule of Faith than the uncertainty into which they the Socinians have brought the plainest Texts imaginable for the Establishing of Doctrines of the greatest Moment in the Christian Religion by their Remote and Wrested Interpretations of them And p. 124. That to avoid the shaddow and appearance of a Plurality of Deities they ran readily into it And into downright Idolatry Now how invalidating the Holy Scriptures and introducing Idolatry is managing the Cause of the Reformation with Accuteness and Advantage against the Church of Rome I leave to the Worthy Dr. to Explain And likewise how Men can deserve such extravagant Commendations for Wit and Modesty and all Discretion and Temper in one point of Controversy and in another to be quite void of all these to fall into all Ridiculous Absurdities and Contradictions and to manage either without Reason or Modesty to be so Wedded to their own Opinion as rather to Renounce the Holy Scriptures than endure to be convinced by them in their most foolish and groundless Errors taken up against the whole Christian World since the days of Christ. Modesty and Sweetness in a-Mans Temper will shew it self in all his Actions And a strong Reason cannot overlook a Contradiction in one case more than another at least not to be obstinately so Wedded to it as to be deaf to all Conviction But we have spent too much time upon this Author's Character of these Socinians which is not material otherwise than to shew his own Unconstancy and Inconsistency with himself How unwillingly he is brought to appear against them And what Salvoes and Shifts he makes use of to make them understand him That he might not lose their Favour God grant Him and Them true Conviction and Save Unstable Souls from their Snares POSTSCRIPT SInce this was wrote the Author before spoke of Dr. T. has Printed A Sermon concerning the Vnity of the Divine Nature and the B. Trinity And here if ever we might expect full Satisfaction in this point But it is so far from it that of all the others we have consider'd this Sermon does most palpably bewray his wretched Socinianism if not something worse for he not only speaks the very Socinian Language of the Trinity but he really undermines the Vnity of God by his setting it up upon a Foundation which he himself in this same Sermon quite overthrows
Salvo to secure his secret meaning So that upon these Reasons says he and not otherwise we may well and safely determine that Christ is truly God and man and that the God-head did as really dwell in his Human Nature and became Vnited to it as our Souls dwell in our Bodies and are Vnited to them This sounds very Orthedox But it is all to be understood only upon these Reasons That is which dwindle down Personality only to a Power to Command and Govern and by Christ is God and Man he means no more than that God dwelt in that Man Christ and so He was both God and Man but not that they were one Person any otherwise than as God did Command Govern or Enliven that Man as he does all Men. Christ was truly God That is as the Cloud was Jehovah which the Dr. asserts in this same page and is one of the Premises from whence he draws this Conclusion 2. The God-head dwelt in Christ and was Vnited to him as our Souls dwell in our Bodies and are Vnited to them that is as the Dr. has Explain'd it only to Command and Govern them Thus you see what true pains is taken by these two Great Doctors to Elude and totally to Enervat the whole Christian Doctrine and all the Terms wherein for suppression of Heresies it has been conceived and delivered down to us from Christ and his Apostles through all Ages of the Catholick Church If it be not so Why are not they content to set down their Faith in the plain Terms used by the Church Why all these New and Laborious Expositions Why do they thus Intangle and Perplex Why can they not say three Persons in the Trinity as well as three differences three somewhats Why do they confound us as this Dr. p. 96. with the difference betwixt distinct and distinction viz. That by Person in the Trinity we must not mean a compleat Intelligent Being distinct from every other Being But only that every one of that Blessed Three has a peculiar distinction in Himself by which he is truly different from the other Two Different but not distinct Not distinct but that has a Distinction What is the meaning of this What is the Quarrel at the word Person O that these Dr's would speak out That they would go fair over to the Socinian side Or do they stay that they may more Effectually undermine the Christian Doctrine by distinguishing and Accommodating all to the Socinian Hypothesis And by this means draw Men Insensibly into it Therefore we must deal plainly with them and tell because they will not what they would be at Which is to make the 3 Persons of God onely 3 Manifestations of God Or the same Person of God considered under 3 different Qualifications and Respects as our Creator Redeemer Sanctifier But we must Ask if it was only a Manifestation that was made Flesh If we are Baptized into the Faith and worship of a Manifestation why but 2. or 3 Manifestations of God are there not Hundreds is God or the first Person one of his own Manifestations Why then is He reckoned as one of the Three Are these three all one and the same Person Is this then the meaning of Mat. 12.32 That whosoever speaketh against one of these One shall be forgiven but whosoever speaketh against Another of the same One shall not be forgiven That we are Baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son who is the Same person with the Father and of the Holy Ghost who is the same Person with them both or in the Name of the Father and of Himself and of Himself This is the plain Easie and Intelligible Socinian System of Divinity This is the Rational account of their Faith And this Doctors Both you must stick to or give us leave to use the word Person in the already known and Received Notion of that Term and as the Holy Catholick Church hath always understood it in Expressing the Glorious Trinity of God Dr. B. Concludes this point with referring to the four bove-said Sermons of Dr. T. and clawing him for the Grace of this Imprimatur by giving his Judgment of that work as perform'd with great Strength and clearness of Reason p. 128. Thus these two Pillars stand bound jointly and severally for one Anothers Ingenuity and Performances And that they may keep even pace Dr. B. now passes on to the other great point of Socinianism the Sacrifice and Death of Christ p. 134. Wherein he Copys after and comes up to the full of that Diabolical Heresie so bare-fac'd set up by Dr. T. against the Satisfaction of Christ which is the only Foundation for the Remission of sin He first p. 134. Endeavours to Remove the Great Ground-Work of any Satisfaction being due to Gods Justice for sin by Advancing that Notion of Justice which Dr. T. does in his Sermon of Hell He calls it onely a Right of punishing which is vested in Himself and therefore which he may either use or not use at his pleasure Upon this is grounded the precariousness of Hell that God not being Oblidg'd in his Justice to inflict Hell notwithstanding of his threatening it It is not certain whether he will do it or not Dr. B. Says that this Justice is a Right vested in God Himself and which therefore He argues God may dispense with at his pleasure So far he argues truely That God is not nor can be accountable to any other And therefore in this sense he may do in every thing as he pleases That is as to any Outward Compulsion or giving an Account of his Actions to any whatsoever But on the other hand God is as I may so say Ty'd up to his own Inherent Rectitude and all the Perfections of his Nature It is not being Ty'd up or any way Limited It is the Highest and most absolute Liberty that he can never be otherwise If he could lose his Liberty He would not be so free Thus God cannot Die cannot cease to be God Cannot make Himself not to be Eternal Infinite c. And that he cannot depart from any of his Attributes not withstanding the sound of the word Cannot is no Stinting of his Prerogative but the Height of it Now Justice is as much an Attribute of God as his Mercy He is not onely just that is has Justice or a Great deal of Justice in him but he is Justice it self Justice in the Abstract Justice is of the Nature of God And therefore He can no more depart from it than from Himself The Highest Notion of Justice as of Love or Goodness that is God it is the very Nature of God God is Love 1 John 4.8 God is likewise Justice And as all the Love or Goodness in us is but a participation of the Infinite and Eternal Goodness so all the justice all the Notion we have of Right or Wrong is but a Ray Sent down to us from the Eternal and Essential Restitude and
us And through all that and the following Homily it is insisted on as necessary to the Pardon of Sin that Christ himself should come down from Heaven be Incarnat and Dis and that no Prophet or Angel or less than the Eternal Son of God could have wrought our Deliverance And this is agreeable to the Scripture Language as before told That Christ OUGHT to have suffered that it BEHOVED Him to suffer Luke 24.26.46 That thus it MUST be Mat. 26.54.39 That it was not POSSIBLE the Cup should pass from Him if He wou'd compleat the Redemption of Man In the Homily of the Salvation of Mankind c. you have these words God sent his Son to fulfill the Law for us and by shedding his most precious Blood to make a Sacrifice and Satisfaction or as it may be called Amends to his Father for our sins And whereas iâ— lay not in us to do that he provided a Ransom for us And so the Justice of God and his Mercy did embrace together and fulfilled the Mystery of our Redemption He would not by his Mercy deliver us clearly without Justice or Payment of a Just Ransom but with his endless Mercy he joyned his most upright and equal Justice Vpon God's part his Great Mercy and Grace Vpon Christ's part Justice that is the Satisfaction of God's Justice So that in our Justification there is not only God's Mercy and Grace but also his Justice The Grace of God doth not shut out the Justice of God in our Justification And whereas all the World was not able of themselves to pay any part toward their Ransom It pleased our Heavenly Father of his Infinite Mercy without any of our desert or deserving to propare for us the most precious Jewels of Christ's Body and Blood whereby our Ransom might be fully paid the Law fulfilled and his Justice fully satisfied This Faith the Holy Scripture teaches us is the strong Rock and Foundation of Christian Religion This Doctrine all Old and Ancient Authors of Christ's Church do approve This Doctrine advanceth and setteth forth the true Glory of Christ and beateth down the vain Glory of Man this whosoever denieth is not to be accounted for a Christian Man but for an Adversary to Christ and his Gospel Yet these Adversaries Rear in the midst of our Congregations and set up their Banners for Takens O God in what a Condition is this poor Church these miserable misled People of England when such Doctrine is taught from the Throne of Canterbury When Addresses are made to the Clergy by their Bishops publickly and in Print to teach and propagate these Damnable Heresies When these Men are made Primates and Bishops of our Church whom our Homilies think not fit to be accounted as Christian Men but Adversaries to Christ and his Gospel The whole Head is sick and the whole Hears faint It is for the fins of these Nations that such Priests are sent to them according to the words of the Prophet Hos 4.9 There shall be like People like Priest 9.7 The Prophet is a Fool the Spiritual Man is Mad for the multitude of thine Iniquity and the great Hatred 8. The Prophet is a snare of a Fowler in all his ways and Hatred in the House of his God Jer. 23.9 My Heart within me is broken because of the Prophets all my Bones shake For the Land is full of Adulteries for because of SWEARING the Land mourneth 5.31 Their cause is Evil and their force is not Right A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the Land The Prophets Prophesy falsly and the Priests bear Rule by their means and my People love to have it so and what will ye do in the end thereof POSTSCRPT I Am the more encouraged in what I have here undertaken that Dr. Sherlock who formerly was so rankly Socinian as to the Doctrine of Satisfaction not only to Blaspheme but Ridicule it as Dr. S. has severely shewn from his Book of the Knowledge of Christ has now at last come off from these two Doctors and Disputed expresly against them upon this point and answered their Arguments against the Doctrine of Satisfaction in his Sermon Peached at White-Hall last Trinity Sunday 1694. which it is much desired that he would Publish tho' he could get no License from Lambeth It gave great satisfaction to many of his Auditors from some of whom I had a very good Account of it Particularly in answer to Dr. T 's main and he thinks unanswerable Objection where he Dares any Man to say that God could'not save Man otherwise than by the Death or Satisfaction of Christ. To which Dr. Sherlock Reply'd as it was Represented to me that if this was understood of any Compulsion from without God could not be Compell'd or Oblig'd in any Case But if the necessity proceeded from what is Internal and consequently Eternal in God that is his Justice it was no Imperfection to suppose such a Necessity in God of requiring Satisfaction c. But I will not Anticipate nor Prejudice the Dr. We desire it in his own words FINIS A SUPPLEMENT upon Occasion of A History of Religion lately Published supposed to be Wrote by Sir R. H d. Wherein likewise Charles Blount's GREAT DIANA is Considered And both Compar'd with Dr. TILLOTSON's Sermons READER THis comes to you upon occasion of a Book Published this year 94. since the foregoing Observations were wrote It is call'd A History of Religion And gives a like account of Religion as what I have already told out of Dr. Till but in somewhat another Form And it quotes him with great Applause in the Preface as the true Pattern of Orthodox Divinity that is such Principles as he there sets forth and so much in the Doctor 's Stile and Air that if he be not the Author it comes from some of his Disciples that have Copy'd after him very exactly He Ridicules all Reveal'd Religion and turns it into what he calls Priest-Craft This was but borrowed from a work of that Execrable Charles Blount one of the Atheistical Club and very intimate with Dr. Tillotson It was Printed in London Anno 1680. and is Intituled Great is Diana of the Ephesians Or The Original of Idolatry together with the Politick Institution of the Gentiles Sacrifices The Design and whole Import of that Book is under the Name of the Gentile Sacrifices and Religion to Blaspheme and like a Mad Dog to Curse and Reproach the whole Institution of God as well under the Law as the Gospel And he Builds upon the very same Foundation as Dr. Till in the Sermons above Quoted of Sacrifices and all the other Institutions of Revealed Religion being meerly an Invention of Men. Though he does not go the length of his Master Dr. Till to make the Sacrifice of Christ and other Institutions of the Christian Religion to be only a Complyance with the Wicked and Diabolical Fancies of Men in their Bloody Sacrifices of Beasts and Human Kind c. But
all of it but some Particular Books which pleas'd their Fancies Others own'd other Scriptures never Received by the Church and publickly allow'd and practised Altering the Holy Scriptures which they called Mending of them and some of them said that Christ was begot by Joseph like other Men Nay by their Latudinarian Principles Mahomet himself and his Alcoran must be admitted into their Confederacy who speak more honourably of Christ than the Socinians themselves and deserve the Name of Vnitarians even in their own Sense as much as they can pretend to In the Church of Rome if you will but own Expressly the Authority of their Church to the Height they Assert it you shall be own'd a good Catholick and excused by an Implicit Faith in all other Articles of the Creed tho you be never so ignorant or hold particular Opinions different from the Church So with the Socinians if you will but reject the Consulstantiality of Christ you shall have Liberty to make him a God or a Creature or what you will You may talk of his Eternity his True and Real God-Head His being God of God Light of Light c. They have distinctions for all these And tho they love not nor like the Expressions yet they can make a hard shift with them They can puzzle People's Understandings tho by very foolish and contradictory Arguments How God by his Infinit Power might have bestowed True and Real Divinity upon another and that even from Eternity for what he can do to day he might have done Yesterday and so backwards for ever But then this would have been only a voluntary Act of God and what he did he might not have done if he had so pleased and consequently that this Adopted God tho from Eternity was still a Precarious tho a True and Real God and yet not properly to be called a Creature that is like Finite Things produc'd in time But on the other hand to make another Person Consubstantial that is of the same Nature with God the Father this infers the necessity of a Plurality of Persons in the very Nature of the Godhead and so to be of the Essence of God as Faculties are of the Essence of the Soul so that it could not be a Soul without the Faculties nor a God without the Persons and tho one depends upon another and springs from another yet they are all equally Necessary Co-Eternal and Co-Equal as being all of the same Nature This grows too hard for a Distinction and our Vnitarians as they call themselves will compound for any thing so you keep off from this Consubstantiality And therefore the Christian Church could find no other Criterion to discover the subtle Heresie of these pretended Vnitarians of several Degrees and Classes who tho differing never so widely among themselves yet all join and reckon themselves as Brethren against the most Glorious and most ample Revelations of the ever Blessed Trinity Recorded in the Holy Scriptures of God And whoever refuse this Test cannot be accounted sound in the Christian Faith But where there is unwillingness it will one way or another shew it self and it is easie to distinguish betwixt those Expressions which proceed from a hearty Conviction and those which are taken up out of force and necessity to clear our selves from an Imputation which lies upon Us. This your Dr. discovers pretty plainly in the present Case for being necessitated in a Vindication of himself as to the Doctrin of the Trinity to use the Word Persons he does it as brought to it against his Will very grudgingly and slightly he does pass it over and cannot conceal his Inclination rather to the Distinction used by the Anti-Trinitarian Hereticks to elude those Texts which speak of the Trinity which is that there are three Differences in the Deity which are express'd in Scripture by the three Denominations of Father Son and Holy Ghost and which they allow are spoken of after the manner of Persons as Wisdom is said to build hee House c. But they will not allow them to be truly and properly Persons or different Subsistences but only three several acceptations of the same Person according to the different Manner of his Revealing himself upon several occasions And thus they may make as many Persons in this Sense of theirs as their Fancy pleases to suggest And in this Sense and no other the Dr. is pleased to let the word Persons pass since we must have it tho at the same time he gives it such a stab as shews that he is by no means reconciled to it But take his own words which he gives as his determination of the whole Matter and the utmost to which he will be brought Serm. 2. p. 120. Here then I fix my foot That there are three Differences in the Deity which the Scripture speaks of by the Names of Father Son and Holy Ghost and every where speaks of them as we use to do of three distinct Persons And therefore I see no reason why in this Argument we should Nicely abstain from using the word Person tho I remember that St Jerom does somewhere desire to be excused from it Thus the Dr. and according to this where he has occasion to name the Three Persons of God he adds to explain himself his own word Differences which he likes better thus p. 122. The Three Differences or Persons in the Divine Nature expressed in Scripture by the Names of Father Son and Holy Ghost c. and so in other places And here He has fixt his foot you shall have no more of him if you be not pleased with this you must let it alone and trouble him no more about Socinianism Arianism or any of these like Matters But this somewhere of St Jerome's was a strange Quotation for so Grave a Dr. to bring into the Pulpit upon so serious a Subject if he thought it so For I fancy he spoke this with a Smile saying to himself I 'll make this poor Auditory believe that I have a place of St. Jerome under my Thumb to overthrow all this business of different Persons in God which word since they force me to use I 'll be revenged on it But I will not name the Place in St. Jerome for there are Rogues will be Examining of it and put me to a great deal of trouble It will do well enough for a Squib among the Crowd But these poor hopes are vanished for this Dr. has already been taken to task and stands Corrected for this by a much more Learned Person than himself The Author of the Animadversions upon Dr. Sherlock's Book Entituled A Vindication of the Holy and ever Blessed Trinity c. Printed 1693. There Chap. 8. p. 265. This Place of St. Jerome is quoted And it is shewn that St. Jerom did not Scruple to use the word Person or desired to be excused as our Author comically words it by way of wit but on the contrary that he did use
all Religions to an uncertainty and determinable only by the Civil Power against whose Command Dr. T. does not think it lawful to Preach the Gospel Preach'd before K. C. the ad at White-Hall the 2d of April 80 upon Jâ—sh 24.15 without such extraordinary Commission as the Apostles had and that we were able to vouch it with Miracles as they did which is as much as Hobbs himself could have ask'd if he had got into the Pult it in Person and not sent his Deputy He is own'd by the Atheistical Wits of all England as their true Primate and Apostle They Glory and Rejoice in him and make their publick Boasts of him He leads them not only the length of Socinianism they are but slender Beaux have got no father than that but to call in question all Revelation to turn Genesis c. into a meer Romance to Ridicule the whole as Blunt Gildoâ— and others of the Doctor 's Disciples have done in Print They now cry there is nothing but Natural Religion All that which is called Revealed is at most but Gods Compliance with the Superstition of the vulgar and what does that concern Men of Wit and Sense Since Religion has no deeper a Root what Reverence what Veneration is due to it All the Ordinances and Constitutions of the Law and Gospel are but Politicks to secure Government and the threatenings even of Hell it self are no more and therefore there is no necessity no certainty that they will be inflicted as our Primate has boldly asserted in the very Face of the Government and his Sermon was Printed by their Majesties special Command Thus to the Deists Triumph And thus actum est dâ— Religione if none dare oppose these depths of Satan and the Spiritual wickednesses which are now set up in high places When this Sermon of Hell was first Published it was handed about among the great Debauchees and small Atheistical Wits more than any new Play ever came out He was not a Man of Fashion who wanted one of them in his Pocket ot could not draw it out at the Coffee-House and read a Lecture of the Priest-Ridden Ages who were frighted with the Eternity of Hell only to keep them in absolute subjection to the Church forsooth And then to run two or three Divisions in praise of Dr. T. as a Man of Sense and Reason and not afraid to undeceive the World and break off from a Company of formal and narrow-spirited Church-men who going on in the track of their Fathers durst not understand the Scriptures out of the ancient Roade in a Generous Latitude over the Pailes of any Church or Profession whatsoever but crept on still in their straight and narrow way to Heaven which Dr. T. like another Prómetheus having stole the Divine Secret has opened so broad and wide as to let in the Latitudinarians that is all the World and after some reasonable time even Hell it self For God has only threatened that they shall not enter into his Rest and the Dr. has determined in that Hellish Sermon p. 13. and 15. That God is not obliged to Execute his Threatenings tho' he is to perform his Promises But having spoke at large of this in a former Conversation with you I will not Repeat I am now only from the câ—nstant Tract of all his Sermons as well before as since this Revolution but now highly improved and grown bolder shewing you what a Face he puts upon Religion he gives it quite another turn from what all other Divine Ancient and Modern except those infected with Hâ—bbism have told us They make the chief business of Religion to respect another World tho' it is likewise highly useful and the most efficacious of any other means whatsoever to preserve the Peace of this But Mr. Hobbs Dr. T. c. make its chief and indeed almost onely consideration to respect the Peace and Quietness of this World Which is largely set forth in his Sermon before the House of Commons the 5th of November 1678. upon Luke 9.55 56. where as if Religion were good for nothing else but to secure Temporal Government and Peace in this World He demands Magisterially and with great vehemence in these words And for God's sake what is Religion good for but to Reform the Manners and Dispositions of Men to restrain Human Nature from Violence and Cruelty from Falshood and Treachery from Sedition and Rebellion And then In the very next words he roundly and without mincing the matter comes to the Objection That if this be all the end of Religion it were better to have no Religion at all than to disturb our outward Peace and Tranquility for it Because the End is always to be preferr'd before the Means And therefore if the End of all Religion be only to preserve the Peace of this World it follows necessarily that Religion must give place to the Peace of this World so that if both cannot stand together we must part with our Religion to preserve the Peace of this World Here the Dr. does distinguish and puts in a Salvo for his dearly beloved Natural Religion because he can make of that what he will But he plainly and in terms gives up the Cause as to all Revealed Religion That it were better have no such thing that is no Christ or Christianity rather than to disturb our Peace in this World for it Better it were says he there were no Revealed Religion and that Human Nature were left to the Conduct of its own Principles and Inclinations which are much more mild and merciful much more for the Peace and Happiness of Human Society than to be acted by a Religion that is continually supplanting Government and undermining the Wellfare of Mankind This is their outward Wellfare he is still speaking of And above in the same page aggravating the mischiefs of disturbances upon account of Religion viz. setting a keener edge upon Mens Spirits and making them more Cruel and Bitter to one another he concludes thus For let any Man say worse of Atheism and Infidelity if he can Here is a bold Challenge and the Dr. could not but foresee the Answer which would be ready in every Man's Mouth That Hell and Damnation which are threatened as the punishment to Atheism and Infidelity were much worse than any Embroylments could be in this World But he has made Hell precarious and consequently Religion to look no further than this World at least with any certainty But it is not only matters of such consequence as Government which the Dr. prefers to Revealed Religion But to shew his utmost Contempt of it he has found out so very mean a thing to compare to it and prefer before it as must surprise and astonish every Christian Reader He makes a Womans giving out her Child to Nurse to be a more heinous matter than to renounce Christ and all Revealed Religion His words are these And this says he that is a Womans Nursing her own Child