Heretical and to the disturbance of a Settlement made by a Lawful Authority and to promote it in Discourse Conversation Printing Publishing and such other ways as ye Gentlemen Socinians are forward to do what security for the Articles of our Religion as by Law established We must be governed by an uncertain Tide this Year of one Mind and Religion the next as occasion is offered of another and those who now are the undermost in Power and so much plead for a freedom of Opinions and Religion in the greatest latitude if once they had the upper-hand they would alter their Tune and turn Blasphemy and Idolatry upon the Orthodox for setting up a meer Man for a God and worshipping him As long as they want Power they are for Moderation but ye are ruled by a Spirit which might soon happen to make you turn Moderation into Persecution as all Enemies to Christ are apt to do Socinians were not twice banished out of Poland where they were grown strong and turned out of other places for nothing 't is but prudence to tie your Hands and bind you to your good Behaviour if ye are so busie when not supported by the Magistrates what would ye be if once you had gotten the Power in your own hand unruly Horses must have Curbs put upon them Will not a general Toleration and for every Man in the Land about Religion introduce Confusion That must not be if it were only for Order sake for as the greatest part of the World is the worst of it so Idolatry Blasphemy and all manner of Heresy must be look'd for at one time or other and are ye not of opinion that Confusion in Church might pass into the State for ye would not be bound with any thing No doubt ye would be very angry if the Parliament would either revive old or enact new Penal Laws against you How far you would give the Magistrate leave to meddle in Matters of Religion we cannot well tell tho' by thet Title of the Book you commend to our reading about the Power of the Magistrate and the Rights of Mankind in Matters of Religion which I being in the Country cannot see for the present yet we must suppose it to favour your Principles or else you would not commend it as you do And as you would not have the Magistrates to meddle far in Matters of Religion nor to punish Hereticks which was one of Donatus his Errors so by what you say you have no very good opinion of a Convocation which yet we look upon to be the most competent Judge we have about those Matters We agree with you how the Convocation which made the Articles Service-Book and Homilies was an Assembly of Doctors and Clergy-men that were Fallible but for all that Fallibility many of them were Men of great Piety and Parts and as no Infallibility is to be found in this World next to that I think the Nation was happy at that time to have Persons so well qualified for the Work And ye are much mistaken to say they enacted their Opinions into Articles for the Articles of our Faith are not Mans Opinions they extracted them out of the Word of God which supplied them with the Materials only they disposed it into the best Order they thought fit as God enabled them After this rate you attempt to give our Religion a fatal blow you would have us to pin our Faith on Mens Sleeves and Opinions so they might lawfully be repealed this Year the next or at any time Thus if Popery under King James had prevailed we had quite been at a loss our Articles had been declared Heretical tho' if we measure them according to the Rule of God's Word they are as sound as any can be and our Religion in some sense had been lost and we put to seek for and set up another But I say that tho' the whole Popish false Christian and Mahometan World should condemn them yet still they would be True and Orthodox not because they were formed by a Convocation but because they are collected out of God's Word the Rule of Truth Suppose Socinians here had the upper hand which I hope I shall never live to see then they would get a Convocation of their own to wrest and turn our Articles into their Channel and for all their plea for a private Interpretation they would set up a publick one of their own and like another Council of Arimini which revoked what that of Nice had done before against Arians have an Assembly to Condemn or at least to give our said Articles their Socinian Interpretation As to what you say that a future Clergy may repeal and declare against the present Articles I answer God forbid that ever he should be so angry against the Nation as to suffer such a thing to be brought upon the Stage but in case it was I say it might happen that such a Convocation could repeal that is have a Power but it might not that is should have no right to do 't I can but may not kill a Man I shall not trouble my self with discovering the Rottenness of your Principles about these things for that you do your selves when you say that People may alter their minds and so their Religion so one to day a Socinian may if he thinks fit to morrow be a true Christian and you give this for a reason A Man cannot foresee what will come to pass and so a Doctrine which at one time may be convenient may be otherwise when Circumstances of Time shall alter So now when Socinians are undisturbed it is convenient for them to be what they are but if the Circumstances of Time should alter then for Conveniency sake they might alter too to avoid Fire and Faggot if they were in danger of it This Policy never enter'd into the Heart of Martyrs but after this Principle yours is a time-serving and unstable Religion one may alter from the worse to the better 't is well and good and happy ye If God peradventure will give you repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth of Christ and not holding it in Unrighteousness This Principle of yours for Fickleness and Changeableness in Religion you would demonstrate and may be justifie out of what you say All the Subscription of the Clergy to the Predestinarian-Doctrine contained in the Articles and Homilies hath not preserved them from contrary Sentiments such as when Van Harman first broached them were universally judged to be contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of England I like in a thing that cannot be denyed to see you own the Truth how Arminianism is contrary to the Articles Homilies and Doctrine of the Church of England Thus Habemus fatentem reum why then ye who pretend to be Members of the Church do you profess Doctrines contrary to hers and all along declare for them I see you will not stop there but infer that as the Clergy of the Church
I said the Enemy and Plague of Socinianism was gotten into the Bowels of the Church the more the Pity and therefore seeing they will not hide themselves for shame here I do humbly desire the Heads and Governours of it to take notice of Socinians boasting to be Members of the Church and care to weed them out Good Lord Men who overthrow the first Article of our Religion of one God in three Persons and the second of two Natures in one Person besides others the Athanasian Creed the the first part of the Litany with several others of the Service Book yet they have the face to call themselves Members of the Church However 't is worth the inquiring into what they ground upon their calling themselves Members of the Church we already have taken notice of one place wherein speaking of themselves in the third Person they say For Peace sake they submit to the Phrase of the Church and own three Persons so they seem not to be much concerned for the Truth to know whether what they or we say be true but they take care of their Safety being as they pretend alarm'd with fear of Fire and Faggot and to save their Bacon therefore I am apt to believe that what they say in relation to this is more out of fear of Punishment than of love for Truth however for Peace sake they are Members of the Church but to dive into the bottom of this Title of theirs of being Members of the Church two Places I am to look into the first is this As for those late English Writers sometimes called Unitarians and very injuriosly termed Socinians they seem desirous to wash their hand of it and their disputing some of the Articles of our Church hath proceeded chiefly from their Apprehension that it would be Idolatry to admit them Thus still under disguise and of a third Person they are those late English Writers who call themselves Vnitarians who seem desirous to wash their hand of Socinianism so 't is only seemingly and in appearance for else what could make them tooth and nail concern themselves so much for Socinians let it be taken notice of how these pretended Members of the Church confess that they disputed some of the Articles of it and these are none of the less fundamental which they suspected as leading into Idolatry and therefore they would not admit them See what Members of the Church these are who publickly and in Print own that some of the Articles of the Church do tend to Idolatry doth not this very thing deserve Punishment according to Law and to justifie their disputing of some of the Articles they would infinuate as if the Church or some part of it had owned they were in the right Therefore upon the prudent Explication which hath been given he doth not name by whom of some obnoxious Terms they wave the Dispute and come in as Brethren This is as good as to say that in our Articles those that are the most Fundamental are in terms justly obnoxious that is to their Cavils And to shew they had cause to take Exceptions an Interpretation hath according to their Sense been given those Articles and so upon their own Terms they are come in as Brethren if they are come in then they were out before and so no Members Thus it seems they had Correspondency in the Church with some who as they term it prudently made way for them to come in Now doth not this Confession justifie what in my Epistle I said Socinianism is gotten into the Church and consequently shew a necessity to turn it out Thus having as he thinks twisted Socinians with the Church he most judiciously draws this Inference and Ironically bids me defiance I hope Mr. Gailhard will not in anger against them impute Idolatry to our Church as by Law established Can any thing in relation to the Church be spoken more insolently in the face of the whole Nation A strange thing indeed tho' nothing may seem strange from Men whose Principles allow them to say and make themselves any thing Like the grievous Wolves which in Sheeps Clothing enter in among the Flock not to feed but to tare it to deceive the blind they come in with Esau's Hands but the Voice is Jacob's yet being known should bring a Curse upon themselves But 't will be strange indeed if such ones be once found out having under the cloak of taking Care of Souls Poisoned them be not cast out by Suspension or Deprivation according to the severity of the Penal or at least of the Ecclesiastical Laws Upon this occasion the Eyes of the whole Nation are fixed upon my Lords the Bishops The other Place which I must take into consideration is this He tells us speaking of me that to deny the Trinity and our Saviours Divinity is as much as in a Man lieth to pull our Religion up by the very roots and quite to overthrow it which saith he that the Socinians do he takes it for granted That they deny the Trinity and Christ's Deity 't is done in the face of the Sun and that these Points are the Foundation of Christian Religion no true Christian will deny and my Inference is good that pulling down the Foundation the Building doth necessarily fall Yet according to the usual way he would mince the matter thus Yet those who are injuriously called Socinians declare that they only dispute some unscriptural Terms with us but are well satisfied with the Sense put upon those Terms and Explications which a considerable majority seem to be agreed in They cannot leave off the ridiculous juggling in their change of Persons for they are those called Socinians who dispute with us that is with themselves so they act both parts put the Question and answer it be the Socinian and Church-men too but the worst is they want Sincerity that whilst they indeed are the Socinian yet would pass for the Church-men Besides they would have the Dispute to be only about Words and so of no Importance thus whether there be Three Persons in the most adorable Trinity and whether the Lord Jesus and the Holy Ghost be truly God they make it to be a Dispute only about a Word and a Trifle What a Confidence is it for such Men so publickly to vent their Impieties Thereupon they declare to be satisfied upon this ground that a considerable Majority of the Church seem to be agreed with them in their Sense so according to this a considerable Majority of the Church is become Socinian Let him that can believe this for my own part I am not so Credulous however I humbly desire of the Church especially of that lesser part which this Man owneth not to be Socinian to mind what he saith so openly and to take it into their serious Consideration I bring it to their Door and there leave it They are highly concerned to take in hand their own Cause as 't is now become I have done
of Man's Wisdom or with studied affected pompous Expressions which only bad Causes stand in need of but as our Faith doth not stand in the Wisdom of men but in the Power of God so I endeavoured with good Arguments drawn out of his Word which hitherto remain unanswered to confute Heresie and Sophistry One must not so much mind Words and Stile when the Question is about Things Those Men who mind more how they say than what they say desire their own Glory more than the Good of others In a Declamation one hath more Freedom of Stile than in difficult and deep Points of Divinity Philosophy and Mathematicks certain Matters are not adapted to a lofty Stile they that are so fond of this more than of the other are like those who prefer the Shell before the Oyster or the Stone before the Kernel Now to come to that which concerns me I say it being no evil thing to promote a good Cause by all lawful means for Right and Favour to countenance it are not incompatible not to be wanting in any thing depending upon me the Parliament then sitting and I knowing how there are several honorable and worthy Members who lay to Heart the Glory of God wherein the good of the Nation doth consist with all due Respect in an Epistle Dedicatory I humbly commended and offered it to the serious Consideration of both Houses in hope that this might happen to be a means amidst their application to the great National Concerns of another nature to draw their Eyes towards this Cause thereby to bring a Blessing of God upon their Proceedings for the greater the Emergencies and Occasions are the more need of God's Favour which may be procured no better than with doing such things as are acceptable in his sight as is the care of his Honour and Service After I had done the most and in my Book about several Points proved the Falshood of Socinianism I thought I might shew the Necessity of a Remedy and endeavour to set to work as many Hands as I could and as no Man may deny it to be the Concern of a Parliament for every new one doth appoint a Committee of Religion to look into things belonging to 't always necessary but specially when the most fundamental part of the Doctrine of the Church by Law established is daily publickly and in print stricken at so I thought I might humbly address to both Houses as the undisputably competent Judge of such things wherein I think I have done nothing contrary to the Laws of God and of the Land nor to the Rules of Charity and so deserve not the hard Names nor ill Language given me by those who have no better Argument to defend a bad Cause for all their pretended good nature and to throw Dust into Peoples Eyes only to shuffle off the matters in question The truth is that Society of Men are against all manner of restraint in matters of Religion they would have every one believe and profess what seems good in his eye and so of the Church which is the House of God to make a meer Babel and Confusion without Order and Rule which Frame will at last rend in in pieces and ruin it In the Church there must be some Authority of the Rulers of it over the Members Christ hath formed and given it a Being and left Rules for the preservation and well-being thereof the Admiministration of which he hath committed to her Governours and to what purpose should those Laws be if there was no Executive Power there is an Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction with a Coercive and Expulsive Power there are Pales and Walls to hinder Wild Boars and ranging Bears from coming in and Doors to turn out those who offend infect dishonour endanger and would undermine it And Convocations which I see they care not for are necessary from time to time to promote her good and to remedy or prevent Inconveniences chiefly those which relate to Doctrine and tho' we attribute an Infallibility to none of them as there is none upon Earth yet 't is their Province for their own Members to declare about Heresie Blasphemy and other things contrary to sound Doctrine and Piety To me there appears none more competent Judges in such things than those who have Christ's Commission to feed and to rule over his Flock and in the right administration of this Office the Civil Powers called the Nursing Fathers of the Church are bound to protect and assist them against the Enemies of the holy Trinity and of the Person of Jesus Christ such are Socinians Tho' according to Times and Places Men have different Notions of divine Truths yet a real divine Truth is such at all times and in all places 't is not the Opinion which Men have of it that makes it to be Truth or not Truth nor can the several contrary Interpretations change it so if the 39 Articles specially those that relate to Faith were true at first they must be so at last and no following Convocation can make them not to be what they are or to be what they are not 't is not the stamp of any human Authority that may make a divine Institution to be divine or not and tho a new Convocation should repeal what in Fundamentals a former one setled yet some reasons for it ought to be produced About doubtful things Advice may be asked as it was in the Dispute about Circumcision when Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem for Counsel about it nothing must be omitted that may lawfully contribute towards clearing of the matter but when after a serious Examination by the Rule of God's Word according to the true signification of the words in the Original the scope of the place and the Analogy of Faith Articles of Faith once are declared 't is fit to stand to them and the Church by which they are received is enabled to judg of what is or is not contrary thereunto and to keep from coming in those who would against her mind and turn out her own Members which hold Doctrines contrary to the Truth she professeth So the Church of England being satisfied that the Socinian Tenets are quite contrary to the 1st and 2d Articles of Faith she believes hath right to turn out Socinians that are within her Pales and hinder those who would come in from without And if she wants a sufficient Power she may very well sue for help from the Civil which is the legal way for Relief and when this takes an effectual Course about it 't is Wrong and Injury to the Right and Liberty of the Subject no more than 't is Injustice to hinder one Fellow-Subject from hurting another This is no Popish Principle nor contrary to those of Reformation But where a National Church is setled to allow every Man a liberty to frame unto himself what Notions he pleases of Religion then to promote vent and publish it to the Disturbance of what is
foregoing things are serious and of moment and the better to set out that Buffoon's Trick of his he goes backward to the Dissenters of the last Age who saith he baited the Word unmercifully I see as to Time we must help his Mâ—mory for that which was about between 40 and 50 years ago within this same Century he calls the last age then he omits the chief ground of Exception against it which was an Oath in the case Men were made to swear to an c. but here his righteous Conscience as he calls my Soul is not put to the Rack but seeing he presses me to declare what I meant by c. after Atheism Deism Profaneness Immorality Idolatry whereby I also pointed at Popery I now fill it up with Davidism whereunto I might add Ebionism Cerinthism Arianism Photinianism Sabellianism Samosatenianism Macedonianism Pelagianism Donatism ye see how big-bellied was my c. to contain so many things and more too for Socinianism I look upon as a Sink into which fall all virulent Humours against the Person and Grace of our blessed Lord and Saviour as in the Body a diseased and infected Place draws most if not all corrupted Humours to it self and as your Religion is a kind of Confusion and ye are great Latitudinarians so to strengthen your selves you reject none but receive all Comers into your Communion which you would set up for the only School of Wit Parts and Learning and this in part was my Meaning when I said how to promote your Cause you would be ready to admit among you not only all Excrements of Christian Religion but even Jews and Mahometans for you think the way to Heaven broad and easie there being as ye say but very few things necessary to Salvation to be done and believed contrary to what our Saviour said Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leads unto Life and his Apostle saith the Righteous is scarcely saved By what I said it may appear whether my Charge was disagreeing false and incredible or whether the Attendance I gave Socinianism doth not belong to it Now I come to the two ways whereby you think Socinianism may get clear of the Charge of Idolatry the first you say is by the help of her own Logick the second by virtue of the Authority of the Church its Logick is refined enough according to this World as far as Mode and Figure can stretch you will if Barbara cannot do may be Celarent Cesare Festino or some Bocardo will all these are at the command of your Logicians then Sophism as Sorites or the like will come in apace and in course and when an Argument in its own Mode and Figure cannot do then you will be mincing for out of your own Letters I find ye are excellent in that Art now your Logick is this if nothing else can serve you will say ye are no Socinians ye take it an Injury to be so called for ye say ye are very injuriously termed Socinians yea twice in the same Page so ye positively deny your selves to be Socinians do ye say so out of shame or out of fear one would think there is cause for both Men who call themselves and pretend to be Christians should indeed be ashamed to go about robbing Christ of his due and afraid of Punishment if not from Men yet at last from God the Avenger of his Honour not only if we may believe him he is no Socinian but saith he if there be any in England 't is more than I know sometimes some Men in the World know not themselves however they will not confirm their Denyal with an Oath They will not be Socinians yet when they are charged with a Denyal of Revealed Religion they appeal to the Racovian Catechism which is the Summary of Socinianism this playing fast and loose in matters of Religion is not to be endured however they are brought to deny themselves and so they may be allowed to deny their Master Socinus but why do ye engage in a Cause if you are ashamed to own it hereupon to them we may put the Question which upon the account of the most holy Trinity they put to us a thing is or is not ye are Socinians or ye are not if ye be why are ye such Hypocrites as to deny it if not why do you concern your selves for them let them maintain their own Quarrel and defend their own Cause and why do ye take up the Cudgels for them why in their Defence contrary to good Nature Breeding and Moderation do ye write so passionatly and angrily that one would think your Letters to be dated from Billingsgate if ye be Davidians ye are Socinians still and the worst of them too Sirs 't is not the Change of Name that can alter the thing if ye hold Socinus his damnable Opinions ye are Socinians call your selves never so much by the Name of Vnitarians or what other ye please so this Sophistical Logick of denying your selves to be Socinians cannot do the Work Let us see whether the other which you brag of the Authority of the Church will do 't these Men make use of a great Name with a Design to shelter themselves under it one of them falsly chargeth me with making as he calls it an impudent Reflection but here upon good grounds in his own coin I might turn it upon him and say 't is a piece of transcendent Impudence for such Cattel to call themselves Members of the Church which this doth in as plain Words as can be For I am no Socinian but a Member of the Church of England by Law established So formerly some called themselves the Church which were the Synagogue of Satan and as our glorified Saviour knew them so he knows these I know saith he the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not but do lye and are the Synagogue of Satan he knows them to be Blasphemers Socinians Members of the Church of England then Satan is an Angel of Light for sometimes transforming himself into one those who are a scandal to the Christian Name and would prove a shame to any Church but their own to be Members of our Church then such Members as are rotten and gangreened ought to be cut off and spued out of the Church in case they be in as they pretend they are Members of the Church are her Sons but these can be no natural lawfully begotten but Bastards who are in only to watch an opportunity and time to bring in Thieves and Enemies unnatural Sons who rend their Mother and care not if she were torn in pieces such Sons to the Mother as the Harlot was Mother to the Child whom she pretended to be Mother to tho she was not content she was that the Child should be divided and cut to pieces I hear indeed how some of them are in Orders and actually in the Service of the Church and this I meant when
Mr. Toland and his Book him he calls the Learned and Ingenious Author and of the Book he saith I do not perceive to speak truly but that Book still stands in its full strength and not only so but if we believe him it hath also acquired a farther reputation by what hath been written against it which that great Master of Learning doth despisingly call an unsuccessful nibling at it But this kind of comparison between two so highly different Persons is odious for it carries along with it a great disparagement to one of them against whom is given the preference and is an invincible proof of want of judgment in such Men as pretend to make it but the commendation or discommendation of that sort of People being so misapply'd are insignificant and it would be no Credit rather the contrary for an Orthodox Person to be commended by them But to carry on their Confidence to the utmost they challenge the Lord Bishop to answer the Reasons in their own Books against the Trinity Yet for all this and after their great Commendation of Mr. T 's Book those wise and cautious Men being afraid of any thing that smells of the Fire as that Book doth they declare about it in which and for which we are not in the least concern'd But I think they were for one which somewhile ago was burnt whilst many more of theirs which now are abroad deserve the same Fate But as we must not expect they will follow the Example of those who brought in their Books among which we may well think were no worse than some of the Socinians are and burnt them which these will not themselves do of theirs for indeed 't is the proper work of the common Executioner far from it they set them out and commend as much as they can nay they are so bold as to let the World know there were such Books of theirs abroad and we find it many times witness Mr. T 's Apology among the Advertisements in the Post-Boy and such printed Papers and this in defiance of Laws and Parliaments whose Authority in Matters of Religion as observed before they deny So that it were but fit that on this occasion that Illustrious Body would be pleased to assert and vindicate their Right For that sort of Men if they had Power would in the denial of this Authority soon pass from Religious to Civil Matters wherefore 't is the Interest of Church and State to support one another for they are like the Twain Children born and bred together between which was such a sympathy that when one was Well Sick or Strong the other was so too and as they were born so they died together He who but a little before said that the Socinians will agree to the disputed Article if they may explain it meant after their own way is such a stranger to Scripture that if it be not the Printer's fault I am apt to believe because in the Margin I quoted not the place he knew not whom I meant when to Socinians I apply'd the Character which Scripture gives of Ishmael whose hand was against every man and every man's hand against him for instead of Ishmaels the word Infidels is in Tho' I do not mind the nauseous stuff wherewith he hath fill'd up the rest of that Page and the following yet I well know and take notice how he is not satisfied to misrepresent me to the Lords Bishops but most maliciously would traduce me as one who makes impudent Reflections on the King and Parliament thereby to make me obnoxious To be Impudent were an invasion upon his Property which I never was nor shall be guilty of Here I might claim the Law of Retaliation he cannot defend his Cause therefore he would throw his Venom upon me Si non marte tamen arte Now this Calumny of his he doth ground upon these words of mine That to the Toleration of those two transcendent Wickednesses Blasphemy and Idolatry we may chiefly attribute the cause of the Chastisements which make the Nation uneasie I hope none will deny that Sins bring God's Judgements upon Nations and when we feel them 't is our duty to speak the Truth our Sins are the cause of this Afflictions do not arise out of the Dust but if we must believe Scripture Chastisements or Punishments of Nations Families and Persons come from the hand of God for as he is most Just so leaves nothing unrewarded if in the World there was any Person free from Sin that very same should also be free from all manner of Pains but Punishment is tyed to the tail of Sin and when we feel God's Chastisements and we know they are inflicted for Sin then the most notorious the greatest and most frequent Sins are obvious to our Eyes as the two in question must needs be and thereupon we should say Lord we have sinned against Heaven and against thee About this Point I shall out of Scripture bring a Precedent of what must be done in such Cases The Israelites are smitten at Ai whereupon Joshua rent his Cloths and fell upon his Face and God said unto him Israel hath sinned I will be no more with you except ye destroy the accursed from among you the Accursed both Person and Thing at that time were destroyed and now if not the Persons at least the Thing should be if we will have God among us and what things in the World more accursed than Blasphemy and Idolatry wherefore I then did and now do conclude that all Christian and prudent care ought to be used to remove Blasphemy and Idolatry out of the Kingdom but how to effect it 't is to be left to those whom it belongs to but still the thing ought to be done Now I ask Is this to make an impudent Reflection against King and Parliament But they make a real one for under the notion that he is no Persecutor they would proclaim his Majesty and the Parliament to favour and protect Blasphemy and Heresie that is Socinianism But this Gentleman according to the Spirit which they all are originally acted by would profanely ridicule the dispensations of God's special Providence and divest that infinite Majesty of his being the just Judge of the World who doth execute Justice and Judgment After this rate the Old World was Drowned by Chance tho' the Flood had been foretold 120 Years before Thus Sodom and Gomorrah were consumed by Accident and without God's special Appointment tho' he out of Heaven rained Fire and Brimstone So by Hazard Nadah and Abihu were consumed tho' Scripture saith There went out Fire from the Lord and devoured them Likewise without a special Providence the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed up Korah Dathan and Abiram tho' it was a special Judgment of God as was that of the 14700 Men who for their murmuring against Moses and Aaron as we read in the same Chapter died of the Plague In the like manner after their
thing we go about we are to call upon God for his help and the gracious influence of his Holy Spirit being sure that without it we can do no good and we be sufficiently taught in Scripture to trust to no strength or abilities of our own and when in the World we meet with Men of Principles contrary to these we find it not strange for we know that there must be also Heresies among us or those called Christians that they which are approved may be made manifest among us Wherefore as long as we have about these Matters such a Foundation as Paul the great Preacher of Free Grace hath laid we need not to care for all Exceptions or Cavils of Men or Devils These are such Truths as we hope through Grace never to be ashamed or afraid to own unto the end even to lay down our Lives as he did his for so Glorious a Cause The Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and his Grace are so linked together that no Man strikes at one but the other feels it tho' may be in a different degree they have a common Enemy so he who is against one is against both which I positively affirm of Socinians Grace and Truth saith the Evangelist came by Jesus Christ who coming into the World brought Grace along with him for he is the Spring of it which he manifested in framing and redeeming of his Church the Foundation whereof and of our Christian Religion lies in this great and fundamental Truth whereof Peter made a Confession how Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God upon the verity whereof there our Saviour declared that his Church should be built and at the same time signified that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it For this is the House built upon a Rock which tho' the Rain descendeth and the Floods come and the Wind blows yet it falls not for it is founded upon a Rock In that Promise of his the Lord Jesus declares two things First The Gates that is the Power of Devils in Hell would afterwards make some attempt against that fundamental Truth of his being the Son of the living God As indeed it hath from time to time raised its strongest Batteries against it as not long after his Ascension even in the life time of his beloved Disciple and after his death the Assaults began by Simon the Sorcerer Ebion Cerinthus Menander and afterwards by other Hellish Instruments But in Arius's time great strugglings happened with so prodigious a success that all the World was said to be Arian hence came the Saying All the World against Athanasius and Athanasius against all the World so afterwards for the same Cause against our Saviour's Divinity several fought under the Banners of Hell as now tho' more cunningly Socinians do having taken up the Cudgels and as those Blasphemous Opinions were exploded out of the World so shall be in God's due time those which are raging for the present notwithstanding all the Craftiness Malice and Power of Hell and all Antichrists of Devils and Men This my so positively speaking is grounded upon Christ's Promise how the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the truth of his being the Son of the living God which his Church is built upon and this is the Second thing not only deduced from but plainly contained in those words of the Lord Jesus whose Person is a fit Object of Adoration as his Grace is of Admiration These Truths one may abundantly be satisfied with out of Scripture which I much have made use of because some places prove a Truth directly others collaterally and others are brought in to illustrate and give a light to the thing so that Scripture is of several uses nothing therein without some use 't is of it as of the Rivers in the Garden of Eden they all did not run one and the same way But now to conclude I in the first place put you in mind to Answer my Book and then take this Occasion which you give me in case ye knew it not before to acquaint you how upon those Matters I have written a Book hitherto Unanswered if you have such an aversion for them as you express do but give us in Print your Thoughts about it 't is a fair Field I offer you but be not afraid for 't is not Smithfield but if ye can defend that Cause no better than the Socinian about the Holy Trinity and Person of the Lord Jesus then it will be in you but Time and Labour lost in vain And if you go about it be more Serious in a Business of so high a nature and less Virulent and Malicious For shame leave off Jesting with Holy things and let it be without giving ill Language for therein I yield you know to do 't more than my self and write like Scholars and Gentlemen without breaking the Bonds of Humanity with Arguments as hard as ye please but softer Words and make no more haste than good speed if ye come in that way then by the Grace of God I will fairly Answer you in the like manner and tho' already there is Work enough cut for you I doubt more than ye are well able to compass yet several new Arguments I have to bring in but if in the usual Scolding Reviling way I will leave you to chew your Cud May be your Bantering way of Writing hath succeeded against some but be not mistaken with others it will never do come with good Arguments and then I am for you however come which way you will I declare I shall not in the least care whether you come asunder or both together FINIS BOOKS Printed for J. Hartley THE Blasphemous Socinian Heresie Disproved and Confuted c. With Animadversions on Mr. Toland's Christianity not Mysterious Dedicated to both Houses of Parliament By J. Gailhard Gent. Verdicts of the Learned concerning Virgil and Homer's Heroic Poems Regular and Irregular Thoughts in Poets and Orators Page 18. Page 15. Page 4. Page 3. Gal. 4. 18. Rev. 3. 15. Page 3. Luke 16. 8. pag. 59. 1 Cor. 2. 4 5. Acts 15. Eccles 4. 10. * 1 Cor. 12. 28. and Ephes 4. ii 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. 1 Cor. 12. 30. 2 Pet. 3. 16. Luke 16. 31. Luke 20. 38. 2 Cor. ii 8. 1 Cor. 2. 12 13. Ephes 1. 16 17 18. Colos 1. 9. 1 Cor. 15. 58. Coloss 2. 7. Heb. 13. 9 1 John 4. 1. 2 Pet. 3. 16. Page 8. Page 4. 16 18. 1 Cor. 7. 7. Acts 17. 2. Acts 28. 23. 1 Cor. 15. 34. Acts 1â— 24 28. Chap. 17. 11. Luke 24. 44. Ver. 45. Isa 8. 20. Matt. 7 5. Pag. 6 7. Job 13. 4. Psal 74. 22. John 20. 31. pag. 6 8 pag. 11. Acts 2â— 3. Matth. 16. 17. John 14. 16 17. Chap. 16. 13 14. 2 Tim. 1. 7. Psal 119. 169. pag. 8. 2 Tim. 3. 16. 1 John 1 2. 1 Cor. 2. 15. 1 Tim. 3 16. Gal. 4. 4. Rom. 8. 32. p. 12 13. John 10. 33 36. John 14. 10. Chap. 11. 4. Isa 42. 8. Luke 2. 49. 50. Coloss 2. 9. Prov. 28. 26. Chap. 23. 4. p. 9 10. In 1565. and 1660. pag. 39. p. 6. 13. Page 14 2 Tim. 2. 25. pag 30. John 16 2 3. Joh. 8. 19. 1 John 2. 23. Matt. 3. 17. and 17. 5. Joh. 12. 28 Joh. 5. 37. Joh. 8. 43. Acts 3. 22 23. 2 Pet. 1. 16 17 18. John 10. 3 4 5. 2 Cor. 11. 13 14. page 17. pag. 19. pag. 18. Matt. 1â— 31. Luke 22. 65. Acts 13. 33 45. 1 Tim. 1. 13. Acts 26. 11. Ephes 2. 12. Coloss 2. 9. pag. 19. Psal 53. 1. pag. 22. Heb. 12. 16. pag. 25. Rom. 12. 5. 1 Cor. 6. 15. Coloss 1. 24. Ephes 5. 23 32. Psal 111. 9. Ephes 5. 4. pag. 20. Matt. 11. 27. Rom. 1. 21 c. John 8. 55. Chap. 14. 7. 2 Cor. 4. 6. pag. 21. pag. 18. 1 Pet. 4. 18. p. 22 33. p. 33. â—9 Rev. 2. 9. 3. 9. p. 7. p. 22. pag. 33. Lev. 5. 1. Deut. 19. 21. Lev. 24. 16 23. p. 25. p. 27. p. 18. p. 4. p. 27. p. 28. p. 29. p. 30. p. 30. Num. 16. 7. p. 31. p. 28. p. 33. p. 40. Rom. 2. 1. Coloss 4. 6. 1 Pet. 3. 15. pag. 42 43. Acts 19. 19. p. 31. Gen. 16. 12. Josh 7. 2 Sam. 21. 1. Joel 2. 25. Rom. 1. 32. Monday May 17. p. 36. p. 37. p. 14. p. 37. p. 38. p. 26 29. Acts 26. 11. p. 28. p. 35. p. 33. p. 41. p. 18. Phil. 4. 5. Luke 18. 11 12 13. Prov. 3. 5. John 1. 17. Matt. 16. 18. Chap. 7. 24 25. A Plea for Free Grace against Free-will * p. 9 20 33.