belief of the Heavenly Revelation as to a known starting-hole As if it had been long since granted that this were a Doctrine delivered by God and not the very Doctrine it self were then most called into question By this means whilest Uncertain Reason fetcheth unseasonable help from Suspected Revelation Suspected Revelation from Uncertain Reason neither of them is found to have any stability Last of all there are in the Scriptures so many and so clear testimonies of the contrary opinion that neither can those paradoxes consist with the safety of them nor the authority of Holy writ remain safe if they be called into question And therefore no Christian dares to make a scruple concerning either the certainty or sense of those testimonies only it is urged that they are maimed and defective and consequently have need of something added to them from abroad for the full knowledge of Divine things And indeed let us herein grant their request so that they abuse not this liberty of adding to undermine those things which they promised to supply But what if they produce such additions as quite overthrow the certainty and reason of those things to which they are added This certainly is not to be endured inasmuch as they had promised to supply our testimonies and not to abolish them But they fetch those supplements out of the Sacred Oracles by whose rule they would have their other testimonies tryed Truly we deny not that the Scripture is the most faithful interpreter of it self But first we must consider with what fidelity they draw that from some places of the Scripture which is repugnant to the open sense thereof elsewhere Next we must demand of them with what forehead they require that those places concerning whose meaning by reason of the open evidence they do in a manner agree with the Adversaryes should be explained by others concerning whose exposition there is the greatest controversie What perverse and preposterous order of knowledge is that to illustrate the light by darkness As if this were the way to perceive the most known things even to be blind in such as are unknown How great support therefore in the Divine Oracles those opinions have which are otherwise repugnant unto reason and how justly they implore the help of Faith is evident from those things which we have discoursed But to what purpose is all this if notwithstanding the greatest part of men are perswaded that it very much concerneth the Christian Religion that so incredible things be believed Neither is this the only point wherein the truth of so Divine Faith is traduced What should I here mention that sink of most filthy errors wherewith the most pure doctrine of the Gospel hath been over-flowed There was heretofore none so profane an opinion none so silly a dotage none so ridiculous a superstition which by the great injustice of men did not only find place therein but also esteem I omit the portentous opinions touching Transubstantiation touching the infinite Power of the Priests and the Pope and touching the worship of Images I omit the fables fetched out of the Academy touching Limbus and Purgatory I omit so many bug-bear-apparitions so many marts of absolutions and sales of sins so many strange rites and forren ceremonies and sundry other things which either the Greek also or the Latin Church only hath not blushed so long to propose for the main pillars of the Faith For whatsoever either abhorrent from all reason or repugnant to the Holy Scripture hath for so many ages been obtruded on the Generality of Christians all that hath redounded to the disgrace of our Religion and Faith since neither could the inbred light of our mind be extinguished by any means nor the authority of the Scripture be overthrown as long as our Faith remained safe But let that pass for the deplorable calamity of the world faln in barbarism now that the light of a happier age is risen and the world beginneth to come out of that thick darkness it is a great indignity that being now awakened and stirring it should again be pothered in the same or a worse fogge For whereunto tendeth the unavoidable condition of Divine Destination whereunto the most unjust necessity of Fate far more silly and barbarous then the dreams of the Ancients which doth not prescribe such a law of life as is equal and common unto all but a fixed decree concerning the inmutable state of every particular man which finally thinketh this only worthy of immense rewards or direful torments that men though they be never so willing are not able to resist the will of God Whereunto I say tendeth so cruel and sinister an opinion but to enwrap in fable darkeness the reason both of Gods Empire and Man's Obedience What also meaneth that peculiar opinion of some touching the pravity of good works or that other more common opinion touching our propriety and possession of anothers holiness Besides the darkning of our mind are we not averted from the study of true piety by the strange mixture of repugnant things if when we do never so well we are frighted with the conscience of our good deeds and when we live never so ill we have the confidence of anothers merit What should I commemorate the price properly paid for our free impunity and that it is enjoyned us by the law of a most equal severity to do impossibilities and that the will that is the freedome of man is servile All these opinions can no more be reconciled with a sincere endeavour to live piously then with themselves For who would with the loss of those things that are most dear to him seek to attain such a reward as he thinketh to be already purchased at anothers cost and without any pains of his who would press towards a place through rough and craggy wayes when in the mean time he is perswaded not only that he cannot get thither but also cannot so much as will to go I know I have touched those points of the Reformed Doctrine as they call it which like the ulcers of a most delicate part cannot be handled without an exquisite sense of pain Wherefore I will add no more for neither can those things be comprehended in a compendium of words whose number cannot easily be reckoned up in the mind Besides I know right well that some one having read those few words will fly-out and chase as if he were pricked on a sudden although I endeavour so to moderate my stile that none may justly take offence For the Christian world sleepeth quietly in his sins being bolstered up with those opinions so that if any one attempt to draw away the pillow from his delicate neck the inflamed faction of Divines falls presently a raging worse then a tyger robbed of her whelps and crying-out that Faith and Religion lye at stake when in the mean time onely the private credit of certain men or the publike allurement of sinning is brought into danger They
ignorant thereof which the very Observers of the Mosaick Law could only sometimes sent-out by a very slender ghess but never openly detect and which finally having been discovered by Christ and the Apostles but shortly after covered with the thorns of errors springing-up and hidden with a dismal vail of darkness is now again detected and restored by the mercy of God who hath cut down the thorny brake of fables and caused the light of the truth to arise For the assenting unto which truth so bright and shining the whole Christian world had need only to behold it once without prejudice but ere it will be brought thereunto it must unless I be mistaken in the temper of the present age be rouzed up with the blood of the innocent and with new Martyrdomes FINIS AN ELOGY Of the Writings of SOCINUS Out of BODECHERUS THe truth is to be acknowledged everywhere For neither doth she receive her value from any person but give it to him Nor can we in this place forbear to give this testimony unto Socinus where he agreeth with the Orthodox let the Christian world hear if it please He disputeth with the thrust granteth to the adversary whatsoever he may without prejudice to the truth and his cause where the adversary is to be pressed there he maketh a stand and argueth the conscience contendeth rather with Scriptures then with suppositions and with reasons not with prejudices as the School of Calvin is for the most part wont to do he sheltereth not himself amidst certain nice captions he seeketh not starting-holes but hits the very throat of the cause ◠In him Atheists Jews Gentiles Papists find matter of employment otherwise then in the writings of the Calvinists A CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS OF SOCINUS AN Explication of the former part of the first Chapter of John Touching the state of the first man before the fall a Disputation against Franciscus Puccius Touching the Saviour a disputation against Jacobus Covetus Touching the Invocation of Christ a Disputation against Franciscus Davidis Touching the Adoration of Christ a Disputation against Chrstianus Franken together with the Fragments of a larger Answer which Socinus did provide against Franciscus Davidis Touching the Existence of the onely-begotten Son of God a Disputation against Erasmus Joannis Touching the Nature or Essence of Jesus Christ the Son of God and also touching the Expiation of sins by him a Disputation against Andreas Volanus Touching the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Spirit an Answer to Wuiekus Animadversions on the Assertions of the Posnanian Colledge touching the Trinune God against the new Samosatenians A Defense of those Animadversions against Gabriel Eutropius An Answer to a book of Jacobus Palaeologus entituled A Defense of the true Opinion concerning the Civil Magistrate Sacred Lectures wherein the authority of the Holy Scriptures especially of the New Covenant is asserted Theological Prelections An Explication of the seventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans A Defence of that Explication An Exposition of Christ's Sermon in the fifth sixth and seventh of Matthew Touching the errors of the Gospellers or Calvinists Touching Justification The Fragments of two writings touching the Nature of Christ and the Trinity Epistles written to sundry friends Epistles written to Andreas Dudidithius Sophistical Elenchs A brief Discourse touching the Cause of Faith Touching the Lord's Supper Touching Water-baptism whether a Christian may be without it Touching the Church An Institution of Christian Religion Certain brief Treatises touching divers subjects pertaining to the Christian Religion FINIS In Paules Church Yard Att The ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ Richard ☽
narration almost exceeds belief The son of this Marianus was Alexander the elder the grandchild Marianus the yonger the Great-grandchildren Alexander and Laelius the one as we said the father the other the Unkle of our Faustus Both of them for greatness of wit and endowments of Learning exceeding famous but to whom that of the Poet may justly be applyed These to the earth the Fates will only show Causing them presently away to go For Alexander having a marvellous sharpness of wit together with a Divine memory and excellent Eloquence had scarce fulfilled the one and thirtieth yeer of his age but he was suddenly snatched away to the great grief of all Italy And Laelius having in a short race of life performed very great matters exceeded not the seven and thirtieth yeer of his age The memory of this man I judge worthy to be exceedingly admired by posterity who in so short a space as he lived not only smelt-out so many grievous errors which had privily crept into the Church but pulling them out of their very holes first shewed the way how to kill them He being by his Father Marianus put upon that study which was hereditary to his name thought that the knowledge of humane Laws was to be setched out of the very fountains of Gods Law To which purpose whilst he diligently turned-over the sacred volumes he without difficulty found that very many of those Doctrines of the Church which are commonly received are quite opposite to the Divine Testimonies And that so much the more easily because most of them are also repugnant to Reason and such principles as Nature it self hath implanted in us Inasmuch therefore as the height of his excellent wit and sharpness of his judgement was accompanyed with a singular probity of mind having detected the errors of the Church he did not as the greatest part do abuse them to the contempt of the Scripture and Religion but rather used the authority of the Scripture and of the Christian Religion to heal the diseases of the Church which could not be cured unless the errors were detected Wherefore in that study to which his sublime and pious mind was carryed with inflamed speed a great light not without the Divine Assistance suddenly brake out unto him especially because to fetch out the senses of the Scripture he brought with him the knowledge of the Oriental Tongues the Hebrew and Greek chiefly and also the Arabick Whether therefore it were for fear of danger as it is likely or that he might more exactly study purer Divinity and the Tongues he soon passed out of Italy into Switzerland and Germany He left his country very young not being above one and twenty yeeers old In the next four yeers having travelled over France Britanny Belgium all Germany and Poland he took up his dwelling at Zurich Whereupon although he were often drawn away with publicke and private affairs yet did he spend the chiefest part of his exile there being endeared to sundry Princes in all parts and favoured also by certain Kings There was not a noted Scholar in that time then which none ever abounded more with learned men but he had by his carriage won not onely his friendship but his samiliarity also Whereby it came to pass that the inbred goodness of his judgement was accompanyed with a singular prudence and sweetness of behaviour Which endowments are acknowledged in him as by very many other famous men so chiefly by Philip Melanchton in his commendatory Letters which he wrote to him as he was departing And indeed what correspondence was between him and the most renowned men of that age chiefly Calvin Melanchthon Bullinger Brentius Musculus Munster Zanchius Vergerius Castellio Beza Martyr Ochinus Coeleus and sundry others their frequent Letters unto him do testifie the coppies whereof in a great number have come to our hands He did not more desire to enjoy their friendship for the safe-guard of his fortune then to make use of the same to the benefit of the Church Wherefore he did by his questions much urge and exercise those redoubted Doctors of then-flourishing Divinty I have a Letter written with Calvins own hand wherein he openly professeth that he was put into choler by him and in stead of an answer sends him back a check and threatning It is not fit saith he that you should expect untill I answer those portentous questions which you object If you are disposed to fly through those aiery speculations I beseech you suffer me an bumble Disciple of Christ to meditate on such things as tend to the edification of my faith And indeed I will by my silence gain what I desire namâ—ly that you be not henceforth troublesome to me Now that so gallant a wit as the Lord hath bestowed on you should not only be unprofitably taken-up with slight matters but also corrupted with pernicious figments is a very great grief What I not long since testified I again seriously warn you of that if you do not timously correct this itch of enquiring it is to be feared you will draw on your self great torments Should I under a shew of indulgence cherish such a vice as I know to be very hurtful I should be perfidious and cruel towards you Wherefore I had either you should be a little offended with my roughness then be drawn away with the sweet allurements of curiosity beyond all recovery The time will come I hope when you will rejoyce that you were so boisterously awakened Jan. 1. 1552. Yours John Calvin Neither was the truth of his threatning either uncertain or contemptible For in the moneth of October the next yeer Servetus was burned at Geneva Nevertheless the gravity of Laelius and his incredible modesty in the greatest endowments of learning and wit together with his dexterity of carriage had so disarmed the anger of those that were in a chafe that they did not endure to hate the man although otherwise they could not brook his freedome Which thing may teach them whom over-much freedom of truth betrayeth into needless dangers that that very Truth which they maintain is more secured by the circumspect mildness of prudence then by unbridled zeal So that they who of their own accord meet dangers seem to make greater hast to their own praise then to the advancement of the publike good And certainly if there be any this is the place where the simplicity of the Dove is to be mingled with the subtilty of the Serpent unless we suspect the counsel of our Saviour condemning their unadvised rashness who oftentimes have very bad success in casting-down their pearles where they cannot be estimated according to their worth The truth is Laelius remained entire and inviolate amongst the capital enemies of his opinion Yet did he not suffer the sense of his judgement to perish within the closet of his conscience Wherefore to those whom he liked he feared not to entrust the things that had been discovered to him by God But
judgment of the most acute philosopher He did what he was able and drew the lineaments of happness how great soever might heretofore be hoped-for in this life What is he to blame if it be not attainable by every ones industry If there be something in it which you suppose to be neither firm nor stable In short if it do not satiate the greediness of mans mind For whatsoever that felicity was which might be hoped for in this life it laboured with great and manifold defect For first in that there was no passage to it but by vertue and it had not a certain reward and such as was worthy of it those complexions that were unhappily disposed by nature were quite excluded therefrom And for the same cause even nobler dispositions could not aspire to the highest pitch of vertue Again if any man had by a more happy genius arrived through much difficulty to some praise of vertue Good Fortune which was no less a deaf then blind Goddess was to be entreated that she would either become or remain propitious without whose most uncertain help none could by meer vertue maintain the state of his happiness Finally though some man were so highly favoured both by Vertue and Fortune that they conspired together to make him happy even unto envy nevertheless he could not be void of trepidation whilst an inevitable necessity of dying hung over his head Which was so far from being mitigated with the solace of the felicity which he enjoyed that the more happily a man lived the more unwilling was he to depart from his happiness and in the greater affluence of good things he had the juster cause of fear and sorrow How hard therefore was the condition of mortality which though advanced to so rare a state as few could wish-for was notwithstanding unsecure from so great sorrow and anxiety To finde an issue of these evils and miseries and so tend directly towards sincere happiness did as we before hinted exceed the power of man That glory was reserved for the bounty of the Most high God who only by his Son discovered that Secret of Eternity that there was a reward worthy of vertue besides it self He first by exceeding-great promises erected the desires of men to true Happiness and gave not only the pleasing overture of so incredible a wish but the undoubted pledges of the hope it self We have the Son for an hostage of the Father's faithfulness the purity and holiness of whose Doctrine doth sufficiently plead for it self without Advocates and Patronage whose innocency of life confirms his Doctrine whose stupendious miracles assert not only his Doctrine but his innocency also Whose death as undergone for the testimony of his Doctrine argueth his sincerity as overcome sheweth the truth of his undoubted testimony Whose resurrection from death setteth before our eyes a pattern of his sublime promise whose exaltation and empire shew the certitude thereof In a word are the things which he performed by the Apostles and the admirable operations of the Holy Spirit who without arms subdued the armed world and without blandishments allured so many nations to the hardship of vertue to be esteemed slight proofs both of his Divine Empire and our hope Is it credible that any men would heretofore in this world have undergone a huge deal of pains not only without any reward but with apparent ruine had they not been emboldened with a hope of something after this life Could even a strong faith whilest the memory of things was yet fresh afford so great a proof of it self had there been any solid or just ground of distrust Wherefore the first attempt was to draw the whole world to the belief of those things which a few very simple men had in the beginning seen with their eyes So many cities and empires so many nations and peoples so many Iles and utmost borders of the earth although in other things for the most part at variance amongst themselves do yet agree in the belief of those things which the Christian Religion holdeth forth How happy was mankind which having been before drowned in profound darkness was suddenly environed with so great a light How blessed was the condition of men to whom the way of heaven and immortality was not only shewn in a friendly manner but levelled and prepared for them This is that true felicity which lyeth open unto every one that seriously desires it and cannot be taken away from a man against his will Neither fortune nor the fabulous necessity of fate nor the silly distaff of the destinies hath any power over it As for the right which God himself had over it he hath resigned the same up to those who believe his promises in Christ and remember the covenant which he hath made with us whom he bought with the precious blood of his Son In the last place whatsoever things did heretofore disturb or delay the prosperity of men in this life are removed far away from this happiness So great rewards are in it proposed unto vertue that all men have an access to the top thereof so great helps and supports are added that neither an untoward disposition nor bad education nor dulness of wit nor ignorance of learning nor weakness of sex nor meanness of birth nor poverty nor employment of life nor any other thing but voluntary wickedness can hinder a man from enjoying it After that the Christian Religion had drenched so many nations in heavenly cares no longer was vertue suppliant unto fortune that she would not disturb her course with sad disasters nor interrupt her solid joyes with humane terrors and lamentations Then did she begin to despise that blind Goddess without pride and provoke her without rashness being as secure of her own safety as of victory For God would not suffer fortune to have greater power over vertue in this present life then suited with the indulgence of a kind father towards his children And though her threatened blows be not disappointed yet iâ— it serviceable to our glory and the encrease of our happiness when having surmounted all difficulties we enjoy the glad and glorious memory of our labours In short that very invincible necessity of dying which waiting on the rear of our life did blast its accumulated joyes afar off with terror and neer at hand with sad destruction hath long since submitted her conquered neck to vertue and faith Nor is it an impeachment hereunto that this enemy seemeth not as yet to have cast away his weapons for his chiefest blade is dulled in that death was long since weakened by the resurrection of Christ O happy and more then Saturnian age wherein so pleasing a glance did first shine-forth to the world It was an easie thing for mankind in so saving a light to pass roundly on to immortality but I know not by what injury of vicissitude they could not long sincerely enjoy so great a happiness Whether it were some malignant Spirit or the very world
impute this zeal to the honour and glory of God and Christ as if God and Christ liked such Doctrines as utterly root out of the minds of men the true worship and observance of his Divine Majesty consisting in Obedience Every one thinketh that he ought to endeavour according to his ability that no low opinion creep in concerning the Essence Person Benefit and in a word the Glory of God and Christ Nor do I therein blame them But tell me good Sir why do you give fair titles to foul vices Is it your desire truly and magnificently to assert the glory of God then use all disigence that the light of your vertues may shine before all men Which that you may the more readily perform discard all portentous opinions that may hinder you in the course of true piety Unless you use such industry about Divine Things you must of necessity be very ignorant of them For it is a most vain hope of yours to think to win the favour of God and Christ by flattery whereas it is to be acquired only by obedience Christ will scorn blandishmenâ—s and titles which have been hitherto a cloke for the disobedience of his commandments A saving light shined-forth to the world but men rather loved darkness because they are enamoured on their pleasing Wickedness What wonder therefore is it that doctrines so absurd so contradictious so distant and abhorrent from all reason have been obtruded on their heedless mindes All those tenets crept on them in the dismal time of night and darkness whilest men buried in the sweet sleep of their sins observe not the blind and secret snares laid for them But above all as we formerly hinted the credit of the Christian Religion was impeached when once men began to be perswaded that it could not stand without such rotten and weak props Which are justly excepted against not only for suspicion of most evident falshood but also because they pull the stock of vertue out of the hearts of men by the very roots whereas our mind though she turn her self every way is never able to condemne vertue as also other common notions Thus our Religion being called into question by means of so many inextricable wayes of error how small a number is there even of Christians that I may not speak of others that hath been able to preserve the confidence of their hope untouched and unstained amidst so many and so grievous suspicions Hence at length it came to pass according to our third proposal that after our faith and hope which only was able to keep us in the obedience of Christ had been hindered the very obedience it self was also hindered and consequently the ready way to thâ— felicity hoped-for For all kinds of crimes and vices brake into the Church in great throngs The whole body of the Church is full of so many corruptions in manners so many diseases and ulcers that it is a tedious work to prosecute every one in particular Innumerable errors produced infinite abuses Wherefore omitting the rest which raign everywhere to the infamy of Religion I will commemorate but twain whereof not only the impurity was permitted but the impiety also was enjoyned For first of all the worship of the Supreme Power being turned aside from a spiritual and heavenly maner to ugly rites and ceremonies a sad and shameful kind of Idolatry was introduced And as if there were a danger lest men if not commanded thereunto should more timerously trample under foot the express commandments of God by the publick sanctions and decrees of the Church it was almost in very terms enjoyned that the first and chiefest precept of God should be violated and the second be expunged out of the number of the other ten Furthermore that New and Royal Law of Christ which amongst others hath the preheminence not onely as the complement and top of perfection but as the ordinary badge of his peculiar people the Law I say of Love was publickly abrogated by the vilest customes and institutions I omit other things which are practised to the prejudice thereof not by clandestine infirmity or private attempt but by publick Advice That one thing is sufficient which hath for many ages to the shameful discredit of the Churches of Christ been a received practise namely that those men who have entrusted themselves their hopes and fortunes to Jesus of Nazareth acknowledged to be the Christ of God and who are reckoned in his family and listed in his service and whom none who thinketh not himself exempted from the Laws of Christ may so much as hate should notwithstanding on no other ground then because they dissent in something be by their fellow-servants and souldiers not only abused with most bitter hatred disgraces and injuries but also killed with exquisite tortures and with cruel and horrid kinds of punishment This is not a spot of private cruelty so dire and detestable acts as these are perpetrated in the name of the Church For many ages since amongst the people of Christ a prophane and cruel faction hath prevailed which making havock of the Church of Christ with fire and sword doth notwithstanding arrogate â—o her self the name of the Church excluding others from the participation thereof This is she which hath by the slaughter and wounds of the innocent most infamously polluted her self with blood this is she which hath by so many doleful fires and dismal flames branded her self with this indeleble mark with these prints to her everlasting infamy this is she who quaking and sliding no less in the durt of vices then in the blood of the innocent is by the Ghosts of the oppressed drawn to the tribunal of the soveraign Judge In fine this is the faction which imposed such a Prince on the Commonwealth and the Church whose power lately resting on the lap of Europe made the Christian world grone and now puts it in a fright lest it should rest upon 't the second time For the most merciful God taking pity on the hardship wherewith we were oppressed did cast this yoke from off our necks And now the darkness of base servitude being dispelled a most pleasant light of liberty shined-forth when on the sudden tempestuous clouds arising threaten a more dismal night then the former What is it but our ingratitude that usually causeth God to repent of his benefits Before the rising of the light he sent the pleasant glimmering of the morning but we contenting our selves with the twilight have shut our eyes against the very beams of the Sun that we might with more modesty sin in the dark He began to restore liberty but we rather chose servitude For the same domination that others exercised over us have we suffered to be exercised over the weaker sort to the end it might plainly appear that we were not so much displeased with our servitude as with our master Why therefore should we accuse God for thrusting us again into most horrid darkness when we so
basely do despise the light Why should we complain that we are again enslaved to the Pope when we by a shameful kind of vassalage perform homage to ignobler Masters If we list to become servants there is some choice in taking a more honourable master What then shall we invite all to take up the yoke again which they had heretofore thrown off their necks At no hand For though the new servitude be a grief and shame to us yet do we justly congratulate the expulsion of Idolatry together with the old Tyranny We also rejoyce that in many other things the feature of the Church is restored to her But above all we acknowledge it for a special gift of God that the due authority and reverence of the Holy Scripture is vindicated So that the foundations of a very excellent hope are already laid it remaineth that as we have expelled Idolatry so we restore charity which cannot be done but by the banishment not only of cruelty but also of all tyranny and iniquity And let us use the autority guidance of the Holy Scripture which we have asserted to chase away the relicks of darkness which have hitherto no less weakened the hope of salvation then disfigured the faith and beauty of our Religion Why do we linger any longer why do wâ— expect the sharper goads of God to prick us forward Certainly in this juncture of time there is something greater then the mouth of man that thunders out We are not now admonished of our duty by a humane voice but by the dreadful rebuke of the Divine Judgements God applyeth a sad but wholesome remedy to our sickness Too much felicity had corrupted us and we had openly loosed the reins to our lusts amidst the blandishments of prosperity Such of us as have not been carryed away with the force of sin or improbity to a cruel hatred of austere truth have yet by some love or fear of earthly things been detained in their pleasing errors with soft and gentle fetters The impiety of the former required punishment the weakness of the latter craved help And therefore Providence dispenseth unto both his proper remedy Such minds as are overwhelmed with vices pay for their hatred and contempt of the truth by being again involved in darkness But such hearts as are honest yet bound with a teather of earthly things are by the Divine Goodness set at liberty Certainly it had been better in the midst of prosperity to have embraced the offer of truth But the most merciful God did herein also take care for honest hearts in that he removed the allurements and encumbrances wherewith they were kept from the knowledge of truth Wherefore God doth now openly in the view of the world make tryal with what sincerity every one of us hath departed from the society of Antichrist If either the conspiracy of faction or love of parties or any other humane consideration whatsoever hath hitherto detained any in the warfare of Christ they may retire and betake themselves thither where there is an offer of greater present advantage But ye that have trusted the Captain of your faith with the pay of your deferred reward be not discouraged in so great a storm of adverse fortune This is the means whereby God exerciseth and tryeth them that are his Vertue and truth have in all ages been educated with these hardships and grown to maturity by these tryalls With these evils Christ himself and the Apostles as also the Martyrs and Confessors of the Primitive Church have conflicted Finally with these arms the world alwayes rageth against good men by these mines the Tyranny of Antichrist hath now many ages since crept-in with such practises as these a great part of those Fathers whom ye Idolize did drive-on furiously by these arts were those Councels which ye as yet adore upheld and maintained whilest in Synods controversies were decided with violent factions and autority and the decrees of Synods ratified by Imperial power with fines disgraces banishments and at length with blood it self and extreme punishments God would have you tast the equity and nature of such arts to the end ye might understand what ye ought to judge of that autority which grew and was established by the like means and practises Wherefore rejecting those prophane and justly-suspected prejudices of ages and autorities implore the only aid of the Sacred Oracles and under their patronage seek both the way of finding-out the truth and of defending it being found Only bring sincere minds and such as are desirous of the truth and since the whole truth may in a maner cost you no more charge and damage then hitherto a portion of it did be bold to receive it with both your arms whilest it is freely offered to you and without danger By this means it will come to pass that your hope and faith bâ—ing underset with better props will more readily erect it self to the true worship and obedience of God and abide more constantly in the same For facilitating of which work ye and all the Church are very much beholding to Socinus a man ennobled by his parentage vertue and the monuments of his wit and who when the heat of envy shall evaporate together with the ignorance of the age will be far more ennobled amongst Posterity The praises of which man it is better to pass-over in silence then meanly to prosecute Especially because they are in some measure attested and blazoned by his Life perfixed before this Discourse but abundantly by the issue of his sublime wit and the genius of his writings He was the man that stretched the sinnews of his most sharp judgement to remove from the Church of Christ whatsoever he deemed prejudicial either to the Glory of God or to the dignity of Religion or finally to the sincereness of piety So that the Reader shall in his writings find first most of those Engines taken away wherewith the hope of that happiness to which we aspire was together with the Honor of Almighty God undermined He shall find the dignity of our whole Religion maintained and its reputation vindicated and asserted from those absurd monstrous opinions which have a long time caused it most injuriously to be traduced among them that are without Finally he shall find all the impediments taken away wherewith men were letted not only from hoping-for but also entering on the inheritance of the Heavenly Patrimony and which they being weary of the piety enjoyned had procured to themselves For not only the study of universal sanctity was extinguished with fawning pernicious opinions but also licence given to manifest offences against the Law of God or the desire of them enflamed or also the necessity of them imposed These barricadoes being removed he shall finde the way to the utmost happiness of the largest wish fitted and prepared by the incredible bounty of God Which happiness for many thousand yeers before the coming of Christ mankind had still desired but was still