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A27348 A letter to a friend with remarks upon two pamphlets lately published, in defence of tritheism viz. A brief enquiry by J. T. and The Socinian slain by J.H. A. B. 1700 (1700) Wing B18; ESTC R2798 16,001 16

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A Letter to a Friend WITH REMARKS Upon two Pamphlets lately published In Defence of TRITHEISM VIZ. A BRIEF ENQUIRY By J. T. And THE SOCINIAN SLAIN By J. H. In malâ causâ non possunt aliter at causam Malam quis coégit eos habere August LONDON Printed Anno Domini M.DCC. SIR I Have at your request read over two little Books you were pleas'd to put into my hands viz. The Brief Enquiry which I find was written by J. T. and The Socinian Slain written as 't is reported by one J. H. And really Sir when I have perus'd such Discourses written with an Air of Candour and Sincerity and when I see the Authors so very zealous in defending their own Mistakes and find them loading with heavy Aggravations the Opinions of others I cannot but extreamly regret the ill usage of those important Truths they undertake to confute and I assure you am at the same time no less concern'd that so much Zeal as these two Writers have express'd should be mispent in a wrong Cause and not barely so but in opposition to the most Natural and most Scriptural Notion that the best of Men and the best of Christians have ever had of the Deity How unhappily have these Men and a great many others who have earnestly contended in these Controversies in conclusion prov'd nothing so effectually as this That Education and Interest are irresistable that they will put such a biass upon a wise Man's Judgment and manner of reasoning which without extraordinary Care and divine Assistance will become almost insuperable to him I say almost and not altogether insuperable because I 'm perswaded there is no Man so much under the power of Mistake in the common necessary Points of Religion but may be undeceiv'd if he makes his Enquiries with any tolerable degree of Candour and Ingenuity But when a man sets up for absolute Certainty in a controverted Point and speaks and dictates like an inspired Writer there remains no remedy for his Errors till he is cur'd of his Infallibility What opinion these two Persons have of their own Performances is certainly known to God and their own Consciences alone but they give abundant satisfaction to the World that they are Men who have not temper enough for any Contronversy nor skill enough to manage this The late Bp of Worcester Bp Chichester Bp Sarum Bp Glocester Mr. How The most eminent Writers both for Learning and Dignity have written against us with the Decency of Gentlemen and the Temper of good Christians they make it appear that they can be candid and charitable to an Adversary and how warmly soever they are engag'd in the Debate yet they keep within the bounds of Religion and good Breeding And tho the Cause they engaged in was never to be confuted yet 't is own'd if it could have been they certainly had done it But this Brace of Writers have taken up the Dispute when the field was quitted by the most sober and most learned of our Opponents and when the most celebrated University of Oxon had decreed in our favour and condemn'd the vulgar Tritheistic Trinity and the Rev. Dean of Paul's had in his State of the Socinian Controversy with a Modesty that became a Man of his Dignity and Learning handsomely retracted or at least prudently soften'd whatever had the countenance and appearance of Tritheism in his former Writings With what good Grace then can these two Writers of the lowest Class who it may be were never taught in any Class undertake to revive the Debate that was given over by the best and wisest Gentlemen of the Tritheistic Party Do they think they can say somewhat better than any that have written before them sure they are too modest to be of that opinion or is it because they will say and argue as no body would besides them this may be true enough indeed for they both of them argue and prove in that unusual Method that one may see at the first blush that they understand not what they say nor whereof they affirm They knew certainly when they began to write that this Controversy whatever others might be was terra incognita to 'em both and yet which is very much to be admir'd they are as positive and as decretory as if they acted by Legantine Authority from the Holy See and came not to debate but decide this controverted Point The Brief Enquiry Pref. tells his Readers with very great gravity Gentlemen pray take notice I write only for Truth but I remember the time when he durst not dispute for it and made an honest and true confession that he could not And he adds ibid. That Christian Charity must not be abus'd towards those who root up the Foundations of Religion no nor must it be abus'd towards any Persons whatever nor on any account whatever To abuse Christian Charity would be a great abuse indeed but to abuse it for the sake of ill Men would still be a much greater abuse But I suppose he would insinuate that the Vnitarians root up the Foundations of Religion and that to treat 'em charitably would be to abuse Christian Charity which ought not to be done God forgive him for his uncharitable Insinuation and we will too but let him remember there is not a more scurvy abuse of the Christian nor of any Religion indeed than to affirm that it teaches us not to exercise Charity towards Men of a different Opinion But tho the Brief Enquirer be so very wary how he abuses Christian Charity yet to the great scandal of all pious Christians he cares not what abuses he flings at Christ and the Christian Religion provided he can expose the Vnitarians for abating a few pages a good part of his Book consists in odious Comparisons of Christianity with Mahometanism and Christ with Mahomet and if Christ be not the Supreme God and of the same Essence with the Father he wickedly infers to the just abhorrence of all that love the Lord Jesus in truth and sincerity P. 14 and 51. That Christ was an Impostor and Deceiver that the Jews justly sentenc'd him to death for Blasphemy and rejected his Apostles that the Christian Religion is Idolatry and Superstition and the Messiah is not yet come c. And these terrible Inferences are not made en passant and by the by but he continues to copy Monsieur Abbadie's rude scandalous and impious Expressions for several pages together If says he p. 15. Jesus Christ is not true God of the same Essence with the Father the Mahometan Religion is preferable to the Christian and Mahomet a greater Prophet than Christ because the Christian Religion brings in Idolatry and the Mahometan abolishes it c. How gladly would the Brief Enquirer prove the Mahometan to be the better Religion why else dos he take that for granted to prove it which every Body denys viz. That the Christian Religion brings in Idolatry for there is no Christian but the
given or ascrib'd to him which is also given to his Father another distinct Being then the Psalmist must be mistaken in saying of the Father Thou whose Name alone is Jehovah and the Name is no proper Name for one Being but is only a proper Name in that Sense that the name John is which belonged John the Baptist and John the Evangelist and still belongs to divers particular Men. P. 26 27. The Enquirer proceeds from several divine Perfections to prove That Jesus Christ was truly God from eternity how well he has done this is not worth while to examine others having done it to good purpose and I may consider 'em elsewhere tho it may be truly said of his Proofs in general that they prove one God too many for the Christian Religion if they prove Jesus Christ to be a most High God from Eternity for if Jesus Christ was truly so from Eternity that Jesus Christ who was so was not that very God who was his Father and the Fountain and Origin of his Being but an eternal God derived originated and begotten by another eternal God even the Father who is an underiv'd originated and unbegotten God and so even in the Nicene nay in the Athanasian Sense God the Father was the first the Supreme and the most Divine Being or Person in the vulgar Sense And in this all the Books that have been or can be publish'd on this Subject must of necessity center at last viz. That Jesus Christ one distinct individual Being or Person is an eternal God because the Descriptions and Characters of another divine Person to wit the Father who is on all hands granted to be an eternal God are as some suppose frequently given to him so that rather than they will admit Words and Phrases to have a different Sense according to the different Objects whereof they are spoken they choose to lay down Premises that necessarily and unavoidably infer that there are two or three coeternal and coequal Beings or Persons of the same sort or kind of Divinity And as the Enquirer says in another Case p. 29. We may as soon deny the light at Noon-day as the clearness of this Evidence After this he proceeds to cite Scripture by wholesale and to interpret Texts in that manner as if he were resolv'd to fulfil those words of St. Peter 2 Pet. 3.10 which the ignorant and unstable wrest as they do the rest of the Scriptures to their own destruction How bold he makes with the Prophet Isaiah and St. Paul is almost a scandal to relate for he proves St. Paul to contradict the Prophet in express terms P. 32. St. Paul says he knew that Isaiah had asserted there was none to be likened or compar'd to him i. e. to God and yet St. Paul with the greatest assurance asserts that Jesus Christ was in the form of God and was equal to him i. e. What Isaiah expresly denys St. Paul as expresly affirms that there was one who might be compared to God because he was absolutely equal to God that is in plain English there are two coequal Gods really distinct Beings but of equal and like Perfections The Enquirer had neither Skill nor Judgment to examine the great number of Texts he has cited but thinks to gain the point by a Poll he has press'd all the Texts he could meet with into his Service and hopes I suppose that some amongst the crowd will pass for good Testimony and so they do in the opinion of the Crowd But for the Trinitarian Gentlemen that are Men of Learning and Reading they have with great candour and sincerity acknowledged that most if not all the Texts produced by this unstudied Preacher are no good Proofs of the matter for which they are alledg'd some I am certain are as much to the purpose as Pharaoh's Dreams or the renown'd Ecce duos gladios And I don't see but ecce duos gladios is as good and Catholick Proof for two distinct Gods as it passes for in the Church of Rome for two distinct Jurisdictions P. 46. But the Enquirer will have the Disciples of Christ to be the worst of Men for applying Texts which speak of God in the Old Testament to Jesus Christ in the New if he was not of the same Essence with the Father God forbid it But does he not impose upon himself and his Readers by the terms same Essence for they may signify either one Being or one kind of Being if the former then Jesus Christ will be the Father and his own Father if the latter then the Father is one most High Being and Jesus Christ another of the same kind and the Holy Ghost a Third and so we shall have three distinct most High Gods But the Enquirer in p. 48 49. falls upon the odious Proof of Jesus Christ being guilty of Blasphemy and fixes the Jewish Calumny in the strictest Sense upon him That he made himself equal with God i. e. that he made himself another God for equality necessarily requires two at least or that Jesus Christ made himself equal to the Father whom the Jews ●s our blessed Saviour assures us look'd upon to be the only true God John 8. ●4 How ready is the Enquirer to join hands with the Jews in an unjust Accusation against our B. Saviour for he tells you p. 49. These are the things they alledg in their defence for crucifying Jesus Christ and we demand says the Enquirer how any Man or Company of Men that deny his Divinity can take off the force of ' em So that J. T. has made good the Accusation against Christ and by an abominable and wicked way of reasoning he will put a Dilemma upon his Saviour and prove him and God as Dr. A x somewhere stiles him or guilty of Blasphemy for which the Jews unjustly condemn'd him In P. 52 and 53. he launches out into a new Subject and tells you The Elements in the Eucharist represent Jesus Christ to the Trinitarians giving up himself a Sacrifice and Satisfaction to divine Justice but to the Socinians as a meer example of patience and submission i. e. the Elements represent God the eternal Son offering himself to God the eternal Father to satisfy the Father's Justice the Son having none it seems to satisfy How strange a Representation is this of Christ's Death and Sufferings yet a very familiar one with the Solifidians Let me desire the Gentlemen who are Favourers of his Book to reflect a little upon the Character and Quality of this pious and zealous Defender of Tritheism and I 'm much mistaken if they don't acknowledg that so lascivious a Vindicator is a very improper Champion for their beloved Tritheism that admirable and wonderful Mystery For if the Unitarians are attack'd and their Doctrines exploded by Men of such a profligate Life and flagitious Crimes as the Brief Enquirer has led and committed in the face of the World they will have very little reason to fear their cause tho
Antichristian Enquirer and his Abbadie who insinuates a Charge of Idolatry against the Christian Religion upon account of the Honour therein given to Christ Even those Christians who are for a co-equal Adoration of three co-equal co-eternal Beings abhor the charging Idolatry upon the Christian Religion much less will they or can they be thought to countenance so detestable an Accusation who declare for the supreme Honour and Adoration of one single Infinite All-sufficient Being who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ He proceeds in his detestable Inferences and asserts p. 16. That the Worship of Jesus Christ is Idolatry if he is not God How dares the Enquirer assert that to honour him whom God the Father has honour'd 2 Pet. 1.17 and highly exalted is Idolatry that to give him a Name above every Name and confess him Lord to the Glory of God the Father is Idolatry Phil. 2.9 10 11. see Joh. 5.22 23. What Notion I wonder has this hasty Enquirer of Worship and of Idolatry I dare be his Security that he is a perfect Stranger to the true Notion of either of 'em how loudly soever he may declaim with the dreadful Charge of Idolatry for I would demand of this bold Enquirer where is the Idolatry if the Holy Jesus have all the honour and veneration paid him but that alone which he himself gave to his Father and our Father and to his God and our God to whom he ascended Yet this Bold Enquirer p. 16. takes a fresh start from this very Charge too too like a good Mussulman to extol his holy Prophet Mahomet for a very considerable Teacher and a great Reformer of Mankind How deplorable a Case is it that some Men write just as they have liv'd like true Mahometans and have presented the World with a fair occasion to conclude they would be extreamly gratify'd if their Arabian Prophet's Religion were establish'd in England for a good Mussulman may keep a good Conscience and a brace of Concubines at the same time for they are not incommunicable The Enquirer p. 16. to shew you his good liking of Mahomet and his Doctrine insists upon it in a large Vindication and Encomium on both How can we but have a great opinion of Mahomet He hath taught Men so and so c. What can bespeak a Man more inspired of God Surely he was a very great Prophet and all he hath taught ought to be own'd as Divine P. 17 18. He is a greater Prophet than all under the Law yea preferable to Christ himself which says he p. 19. will appear if you consider his Doctrine or the success of his Ministry He hath establish'd his Religion upon firm Foundations and taken wiser Methods and was much wiser and better than Christ he had greater Candour Truth and Charity greater care of and zeal for the Glory of God than Jesus Christ who makes himself one with the most High God P. 21. If Christ was not God Mahomet spoke more truly and plainly than Christ had more Wisdom and took more care not to entangle the Souls of Men. P. 22. Nay if Christ was not true God he was an Impostor and his Disciples Deceivers and the Christian Religion is a Cheat Superstition and Idolatry What a terrible Outrage is here upon the Christian Religion These are the execrable Consequences the confident Enquirer presumes to draw from his obscure equivocal and unexpounded Premises and has taken a scandalous liberty of publishing this Raillery upon the Christian Religion in a Chistian Nation and with his own name in the Title Page Are these the Fruits of his Zeal and his Orthodoxy Must Christianity it self be decry'd and vilify'd if it be not the thing he mistakes it to be Is this the rare Method of confuting the Vnitarians this will rather serve to confirm 'em in this Truth That they and the Christian Religion must stand and fall together and he that designs to confute them and what they maintain does in effect undertake nothing less than a Confutation of Jesus Christ and the Divine Writings of the New Testament What this Enquirer is maintaining in the remainder of his Book is a full and complete instance of this for he produces Text upon Text and one Scripture upon another to shew that another distinct Being is a most High God beside him who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and unless you will grant him this Sense and admit this Proof to be sufficient he 'll reject the H. Scriptures and give the preference to his beloved Alchoran for that teaches as he informs you That none other but the eternal Father is God p. 21. whereas he looks upon it as certain and evident that Jesus Christ and his Apostles taught that another nay a third distinct Being are truly and properly Gods coequal in Nature and Perfection and have equal right to Divine Honour and Adoration P. 24 25 26. That Jesus Christ is God in the highest and chiefest sense he begins to prove from the Names the incommunicable Names of God ascribed to him Yet Jesus Christ no where once stiles himself God or ascribes to himself the nature of God and God has no incommunicable Name that I could ever meet with no Name but what is given to other Beings besides himself If the giving the Names of God to any Being besides him be Blasphemy J. T. I doubt will renounce his Bible as well as Christ and embrace the Doctrine of the Alchoran which some affirm best suits with his Life and good Opinion He finds in his Bible the Names of God given to Angels good and evil to Princes and Prophets nay he himself takes all the pains he can to prove that the Names the incommunicable Names of God are given to Jesus Christ Now if the Man Christ Jesus be not God then Mr. Taylor has prov'd that the Names of God are not incommunicable for he proves that they are given to Christ so that it must follow either that the Names may be given to different Beings in a different Sense or that God and Jesus Christ are but one Being or that the Scripture-phrases are misapplied which it may be he will rather incline to believe But he goes on to inform you p. 25. That Jehovah is a Name only belongs to the most High God Psal 83.18 Thou whose Name alone is Jehovah This is a very pleasant Proof for if there be another Person or Being besides the Father of whom it may be said Thou whose Name is Jehovah then the Father's Name alone is not Jehovah for J. T. says it belongs to another Person or Being who is a Son and not a Father so that this proof destroys it self for if the Father's Name alone be Jehovah so as that Name is not to be given to any other besides him then Jesus Christ who is another Person or Being besides him has not and cannot have that Name given or ascribed to him but if Jesus Christ has that name
both Unitarians and Tritheists too have great cause to be asham'd of such a scandalous Author whom in his 55th Page you 'll find very busy a proving the poor Vnitarians Hereticks and their Doctrine Heresy and thinks no doubt he has prov'd the point as fully as bis own People prov'd him an Adulterer and his Grimes Adultery I should be sorry I confess if the former were as true as the latter but should have been very glad for J. T 's sake if the latter were no truer than the former But I would feign know of the Enquirer and all his Abettors which is the greater Heresy to assert as the Tritheists do That there are three eternal most perfect coequal Beings or to maintain as the Unitarians do that there is and can be but one supreme most perfect Being who has no equal and with whom no other Being is to be compar'd If I must be an Heretick for my part I would choose for my opinion the latter of these two Heresies But the Enquirer is clearly for the first yet he owns P. 59. There are few who are capable of understanding so great a Mystery So say the most considerable Defenders of the Mystery both English and Foreigners But the Unitarians say and can prove as they have often done that 't is a Mystery of Human Invention and not of Divine Revelation and by the way 't is such a Mystery that the Enquirer one of the meanest of its Defenders could not say one wise word in vindication of it at a publick Dispute And how could he help it the Mystery being incomprehensible But he assures you P. 69. that The common People firmly believe the Mystery tho they can't comprehend the manner of it I answer The Faith of the common People is a gross Tritheistic Faith like that of the common Preachers of which no wise Man nor thinking Christian can be very fond I 'm sure the Learned Dr. S th and the most Celebrated University of Oxford have no value for it but have solemnly condemn'd it Nov. 25. 1695. But the Enquirer has now done with his Proofs and begins his Remarks upon the Unitarians who are said to be P. 60 Men of holy and pious Lives c which many Trinitarians are not the Enquirer for one and therefore is so ready to ingage St. Paul to condemn Heresy in the Faith more than Impiety in the Morals How gladly would some Men have their pretended Orthodoxy atone for their real Immorality and be accounted good Christians for a mysterious Faith without Charity and good Life The Enquirer admits the Unitarians to be Men of pious lives but what then Will that alone qualify 'em for Church-Communion No by no means P. 62. If after all means used they persist in their Heresies they are to he rejected let their Lives and Conversations be never so exact they are be to rejected by the Church which shews they are not good Christians and that their Piety is but seeming not real Let me recommend for once to all and singular of his Reader or Readers this elaborate Lipotiwhichet as one of his Masterpieces and I challenge 'em to match it in all the Sayings of all the Seven Wise Masters in Christendom Bevis of Southampton Crispin or King Pharamond For I 'm sure that this is true Mother-Wit and a perfect Original of his own Understanding But what if one should argue The Enquirer is really immoral and but seemingly Orthodox therefore he ought to be cast out of the Church Would not this look with a far better Grace than his Argument viz. You ought to be cast out of the Church ergo you are but seemingly pious and good Christians No no the Enquirer will reply By no means You ought to be cast out of the Church is a stanch Reason at all times to prove Heresy and Impiety and when all other Arguments fail this will do for whoever ought to be cast out of the Church can neither be a good Man nor a true Christian The Enquirer and all his Friends are agreed that the Unitarians ought to be cast out of the Church and then to be sure they are no good Christians But what if the Unitarians should think the Enquirer ought to be cast out of the Church Would not this prove him no Christian too Yes certainly if his own Argument be a good one but his Congregation I hear have done him that piece of Justice already and the zealous Excluder is himself excluded and declar'd in his own Stile Incommunicable which seems to be a remarkable instance of Divine Vengeance upon him for vilifying his Maker reproaching his Saviour extolling Mahomet decrying the Christian which is the best Religion and the Vnitarians the truest Professors of it He who wrote to encourage Schism and Division has his own Church first broken and divided and then himself upon full evidence sentenc'd and declared incommunicable by that very dividing Party who were his unwary Admirers How righteous are thy Judgments O God! Psal 73.25 Whom have we in Heaven but Thee and whom is there on Earth that we ought to esteem or adore in comparison with thee God grant him repentance unto life he is at present in the gall of bitterness and bond of Iniquity for that reason under the Church's righteous Anathema his pretended Orthodoxy could not rescue him from the Censure and without a solemn Renunciation of his former Life of whatever stamp his religious Opinions are he must unavoidably fall under the Maranatha of an affronted Deity Thus Sir I think without a Spirit of Prophecy I may foretel the unrepenting Enquirer's Doom but I am yet to tell you the Fate both of the Arguments and the Author of the Socinian Slain P. 1. who talks so much of his Weapons that I am tempted to think him rather a Master of the noble Science of Defence than a Master of Arts. Whoever and whatever this Writer is I wish he had been inspir'd with a Spirit of Meekness and Humility before he had undertaken this Task and then we had met with more Charity and Modesty in his Discourse and I heartily wish he had taken the Spirit of Truth for his Guide and then he had made a better use of the Sword of the Spirit than he has now done with the Arm of Flesh But alas for him he knows not what Spirit he is of tho his Readers may easily see that he has a Spirit of Envy and Uncharitableness and that he has not the Civility of a Gentleman or the Temper of a Christian by his ill Language and abusive Reflections in the 2d 38th 48th 52d 53d pages But the Unitarians must be decry'd at any rate and so that be done it matters not what the Arguments are He would not t●ouble himself to stand to pick and choose or if he did make a choice he has taken the most inconclusive and the most ill-natur'd he could light upon Socin Slain p. 2. When says the Socinian Slain a
single Being And 3. For essential Properties of Being Will this Author be understood in any or none of these Senses If he mean by Essence common Nature or kind of Being then Father Son and Holy Ghost are three individual Gods numerically distinct in their Beings but of the same sort or Species of Divine Nature this I think bids fairest for his Sense Or dos he mean by Essence single Being then Father Son and Holy Ghost are but three Names for one single Almighty Being and the proper Notion of Persons in the Godhead will be lost in this Sense yet this sometimes must be his meaning or what he says can have no meaning And I suppose he does net understand the Father Son and Holy Ghost to be three Properties of one Deity But let the Author or any one for him once ascertain the Sense of this term Essence and the Controversy will soon determine it self but he and his Authors too are unwilling to be plain in this matter lest the Mystery vanishes and Truth should stare 'em in the Face Yet after all methinks the Author of the Socinian Slain has in some Passages expounded his meaning and plainly owns a plurality of Gods and if the Reader considers what he says and how he speaks in some places he will see there is no Reason to doubt of it I will grant that he sometimes forgets himself and speaks of Almighty God as one single Being but his whole Book will correct that meaning for he contends throughout that religious Worship and Adoration are equally due and to be paid to the Father Son and Holy Ghost and in all places speaks of these three as three distinct individual Beings For instance in his 30th page he stiles the Father Son and Holy Ghost Intelligent Almighty Principles of Operation who created the Heavens and the Earth In Page 31 32 33 36. these three are spoken of as so many distinct Beings in as plain terms as the Wit of Man can express it and how wary soever other Writers have been the Socinian Slain will not and cannot but be understood in every Page of his Book discoursing of the Holy Ghost as a real proper and absolute Person in the Deity really and intirely distinct from the Persons of the Father and the Son in as true and proper a sense as the Person of Peter is complete in it self and numerically distinguish'd from the Persons of James and John And if you would know of him how these three intelligent Beings the Father Son and Holy Ghost are one he frequently inculcates this Answer That they are one in Essence and one in Nature or of one Divine Essence and of one Divine Nature which is just the same reply that every Body makes to this Question In what sense may Peter James and John three distinct intelligent Beings be said to be one Why the Answer is They are one in Essence or they are one in Nature or they are of one human Essence and of one human Nature Now 't is plain that Divine Essence and Nature as well as human Essence and Nature are abstract Terms in such Passages as these and signify common Nature or sort of Being comprehending divers particulars or several Individuals under it The Soc. Slain therefore and all his Party are for a Specific Trinity of three Formal Individual Intelligent Almighty Beings or Principles contain'd under one common Nature or of one divine sort or kind of Being And can any thing be more formal and palpable Tritheism than this He disputes for a numerical Distinction of these three and asserts only a specifical Unity nay he asserts the equality of these three Almighty Beings and maintains an equal Right that all the Divine Three or the three coequal Gods have to our religious Worship and Adoration p. 19 30 36. ad finem And when this is the Sense and Language of all his Book can he with any reason take it unkindly if he be understood to teach and maintain the Doctrine of three Almighty Gods In short if that be not his Sense all he writes and says must be Nonsense how orthodox soever it may be thought by his Favourers And whatever may be the Issue of some Mens Doctrines unfairly represented P. 53. and the Tendency of some Mens Opinions untruly and disingenuously stated 't is as evident as any thing can be that this Writer's Doctrines and Opinions are in themselves and in their own nature Heretical Antichristian Polytheistical and Basphemous The Unitarians are charg'd without Reason and without Scripture by their Adversaries with teaching Doctrines that lead to Infidelity and Atheism Would to God this detestable Charge were no more true when brought against the Socinian Slain and his Tritheistic Brethren But whilst they continue to hold and profess that there are three infinite Minds three eternal Principles three Almighty Creators three distinct individual most perfect Beings three coequal Divine Persons or Deities to whom they pay distinctly Divine Honours and religious Adoration and anathematize and persecute to the death when the State permits 'em all others of a different Opinion They must excuse all the thinking and considerate part of Mankind from embracing their Faith and believing their Contradictions And the Tritheists must pardon the Vnitarians who heartily love their Persons but detest their Errors if they are compell'd to declare that Tritheism or the Doctrine Belief and Worship of 3 infinite Beings Minds or Gods with distinct and coequal Veneration is no Scripture-Doctrine no Scripture-Faith no Scripture-worship but a horrible abuse of the true Christian Religion a violation of the Law of Nature a stumbling-block to the Jews and Mahometans and a revival of Polytheism or a plurality of Gods And 't is in vain for the most learned Tritheists and much more vain for these illiterate Tritheists to set about the confuting us with one Book and Pamphlet after another We know what they can say and what they dare not say We see what they drive at and guess at their Designs but till these equivocal Terms in their Books viz. Nature Essence Person Subsistence Hypostasis and the like are better explain'd and set in their true light we defy our Tritheistic Adversaries with all their craft and subtilty to purge themselves and their Writings from Sophistry and Equivocation And until they confess one infinite Mind or intelligent Being even the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to be the most High God and that no other Being is to be compar'd or equally ador'd with him because all other Beings are from Him and he is from none because all other Beings besides him have a Father Cause or Author of their Beings and he has none but by the Confession of our Tritheistic Opposers and all the Tritheistic Creeds is the Fountain and Origin of all Beings Until they will acknowledge this first of Beings to be the most High and Supreme God or God in the chiefest Sense and give Him peculiar Honour and