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
and only moving Cause of God's sending his Son into the World and therefore all that he did in the World could not be the Cause nor so much as a Means ro procure his Mercy consider'd without respect to Justice John 3. 16. For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life Mercy and Love in God as the truly Rational and Heavenly Dr. Owen hath observed being no less than God's willing good to the Creature and whoever God wills Good to they must have that Good willed to them For God's Will in this Sence must infallibly be done both in Heaven and in Earth But God will not convey Good to any Creature in a way that shall destroy a greater Good then the Salvation of all the Men and Angels in Heaven and Earth will amount unto But such is the Manifestation of the Glory of God's Justice therefore though God's loving Kindness and Mercy was from everlasting and therefore needed not a Sacrifice in time to procure it much less a propitiatory one to appease it which is a Contradiction with a Witness but this is not to be taken Notice of in Men that have ingross'd all contradiction to themselves under the specious pretence of Reason for 't is below the pretended Wits of our Day the Great Vain glorious Freemen of the Common-Wealth of Wit and Learning to prove themselves little Fools But I say Mercy will never be extended in a way that in the least derogates from the Justice and Truth of God No Justice and Truth must be equally exalted with Mercy where-ever it is extended Therefore when God proclaims his Name in Exod. 34. 6 7. he proclaims himself to be a God that will shew Mercy and yet will by no means clear the guilty This you Men of Reason are pleased to contradict and do in so many words tell us that a Debt fully paid and yet freely for given is a contradiction Nameless Author page 6. col 1. And Mr. Considerator calls it a Mock Payment pag. 13. col 1. But we know the things of God useth to be accounted Foolishness with Men but Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ we do as well know that God hath made foolish the Wisdom of this World and that the foolishness of God is Wiser then Men 1 Cor. 1. 20 21 25 26 27. But in the aforesaid Exod. 34. The Lord proclaims himself to be the Lord God merciful and Gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and Truth Pray observe goodness and Truth must go together and without Truth Goodness would cease to be so And in verse 7. He saith Keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity Transgression and sin and that will by no means clear theguilty Now Gentlemen are you not ashamed if you are not you may be to say a Debt fully paid and yet Freely forgiven is a Contradiction for do you not thereby Contradict God himself and Charge him with Folly and Falshood who saith he will pardon iniquity and forgive sin and yet will by no means clear the guilty Surely God is true and can no more Lye then he can dye or deny himself therefore his infinite wisdom hath contrived that which his Almighty Power hath effected a way to pardon sin and yet by no means clear the guilty This could not be done by offering up a Sacrifice to the Mercy of God nor was there any need of such a thing Mercy being the first moving Cause of setting infinite Wisdom to Work to find out a way to save the sinner and yet not clear the guilty and at the same time to save the Honour of Gods Law and to vindicate the immutability of his Truth to shew Mercy to the sinner and yet at the same time to magnifie his Law and make it Honourable Isa 44. 21. to magnifie his Mercy and yet at the same time and by the same way and means and with respect to the very same Persons to exalt his Justice This was a Work becoming God because no Created being had Wisdom and Power to do so and as it is wonderful in its own Nature so likewise should it be to us and Humbly and thankfully closed up with It is not to be quarrelled with but if you will reject the Counsel of God against your selves because it is Foolishness with you yet know you that to them that believe Christ is the Wisdom of God and the Power of God and they do receive this Truth with all manner of Acceptation And although it may seem to be foolishness to you wise Grecians yet to them that believe both Jews and Greeks Christ is the Wisdom of God and the Power of God hence it comes to pass that the Lord is well pleased for his Righteousness sake he thereby magnifying his Law and making it Honorable this answers the end of God both in Creation and Redemption The end of God was to manifie his own glory but for which he would not have descended into the Work of Creation nor Redemption For he bath made all things for himself even the wicked for the day of evil Prov. 16. 4. And we are Redeemed and Called for this very end that we may be to the Praise of the Glory of his Grace in Christ Jesus Eph. 1. 6 12. Yet so as that the Glory of his Justice might shine forth with equal Luster with his Mercy Rom. 3. 25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remison of sins that are past through the forbearance of God ver 26. To declare I say at this time his Righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus God doth all things becoming himself and Gods glory being the chiefest good and the manifestation thereof the Highest end God could have no Lower end than the manifestation of his own Glory as the first and chief end in the Work of our Redemption and our Salvation next thereunto A wise Man will not do great and Noble things for a base and low End how much less will God save sinners in a way that advances the Glory of one attribute to the abasement or in the least Ecclipsiing the Glory of another This would reflect on his Wisdom and Power but God will not God cannot extend Mercy in a way that may reflect on his Justice and Truth If the King pardon a Convicted Traytor he thereby extends his Mercy and shews a great deal of Pitty and Compassion and good Will to the Person of the Traytor But he cannot with respect to that Person but stop the Execution of Justice and the Law in that particular Falls to the Ground and that because he is Man and not God but not one jot nor Title of Gods Law shall Fall to the Ground neither shall Justice be in the least stopt or Suspended by Gods extending Mercy