and by such as know the signification of words they are taken for one and the same thing and the one translated by the other but yet we may conceive them to differ thus Wherein they differ Heresy hath relation to Doctrine Sect to men or a Company of men separating themselves from others and observing one and the same customes practised and following the same opinion professed among themselves So then they are hereticks who under the name and profession of Christian Religion do wilfully hold some opinions contrary to the Christian verity and the chief heads and foundations thereof Infidels they fight against the truth But it is not under the banner of a Christian profession and therefore not so dangerous Hereticks fight under her banner and yet against her they wound truth in her own coate Those are without Turks Jews and Gentiles the Lord in due time bring them in the other are within too many in conscience the Lord in his good time drive them out against both these must Christians defend their Religion and quit themselves like men against those that they openly cut it not off against these that they secretly root it not up These are many indeed No heresy more dangerous and desperate then Socinianism but none more dangerous and deâ—perate as being farther gone from Christianism and neerer to Gentilism then this Sect of the Socinians whose Spseudo-Divinity ariseth from no other fountaine then the abuse of the principles of reason the corrupting of the words and sense of the Scriptures and the pretence of Divine revelation So that they first determine by the rule and judgment of their own reason what is and what is not to be belâ—eved and then they wrest and wring the Scriptures to make them if possible speak to their purpose if any of these fail then they fly to their last refuge they have a revelatâ—on for it and therefore it must needs be so and cannot be otherwise which being taken â—or granted what old heresies may not be revived what new ones invented and published for Doctrines of the Gospel needfull and necessary for all men to observe and by all means be obedient to But this must not be granted For if our dim understanding should search into those sacred mysteries which the Word of God doth publish to us we should certainly lose our selves in their turnings and windings there being in every one of them somethâ—ng to believe above that reason which leads us to the search Reason commands and shews the causes why Religion bids and shews not wherefore Reason gives us the Anatomy of things and illustrates to us with a great deal of plainness all the wayes that shee takes and all the business that shee undergoes but her line is too short to reach the depths of Religion Reason commands and shews the causes thereof Religion bids do a thing without any enquiry either why or wherefore and therefore procures and that justly the greater reverence For what we know not we reverently admire what we do know in in some sort subject to the triumphs of the soul because shee hath made a discovery of it besides this not knowing makes us not able to judge and so for the present have lost the use of reason and so are forced to cry out with St. Paul as in an Holy Extasie O altitudo profunditas should Reason be our purveyor in matters of Religion we might quickly find we had a fat Reason but I am sure we should have but a lean Religion Besides I should more then suspect his knavery that should set the Scripture on the tenters to make it any wider then the genuine sense will admit or should suborne it to attest any desperate opinions or heretical blasphemies which it utterly abhors As for their pretended revelations they are not to be regarded Revelation meer pretences for if they get it not by Hook they shall never have it by Crook if neither Reason can perswade it nor Religion laid down in the Scriptures prove it or allow it pretended Revelation shall never obtain it at our hands to believe their opinions so far as to be guided and ordered by them unlesse we shall by Gods permission be so much deprived of our understanding as that we shall not be able to descern between the right hand and the left in matters of Religion Nor is there a plainer presage of ruin and destruction then when God so taketh away the understanding that refusing the true sense of the Scriptures and the good councel that by them is given men betake themselves to their own inventions and imaginations or follow the brainlesse advice of others and thereby led aside after seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils When men are once at this point we may say that God is rearing of a scaffold whereon to take some exemplary punishment of them If the strict Justice of Almighty God Doth sometimes draw the wicked to the rod It first bereaves them of their understanding Then blindeth them that furious they may run then By steep down wayes devoied of stay or standing Unto that death which their lew'd courses won them This appeareth plain by these men whose head long courses in their heretical wayes brought them to finish their course with ignominie and reproach For the manifestation of the just judgment of God upon such as forsake the known truth and make it their whole employment to seduce others from the same We will not trouble our selves with any of those famous or rather infamous hereticks of former ages we have monsters enough neerer hand and of our own times to deal with nor shall we encounter with all of them but only such as have bin the chief Ring-leaders of and grand Factors for this heresy of Socinianism with which we have had to do in the former tract In which discovery we shall observe the names manners places where and means by which they have dispersed and spread abroad their desperate and damnable opinions together with a short description of the lives and a sad yet tâ—ue relation of the deaths of many yea the most of them that the Reader may know what and what manner of persons they were by whom this cursed heresy was first invented after propagated and promoted that so he may be the lesse moved by or affected with those sly and subtill Doctrines which they thrust upon the consciences of their disciples as absolutely necessary on all hands and in all points to be believed to salvation the contrary whereunto being very prejudiciall and ready at all times to bring unto eternal damnation Petrus Abailardus Parisiens Professor En Abilardus ego sum primus in ordine turmae Dogmatis inferni Dux Origo fui IN the year of Christs incarnation 1540. 1540. in France was famous Petrus Abailardus Professor at Paris a Philosopher and Divine of great name of whom Bernard in he cxc Epistle writeth thus We have here in France a new Divine
our Surety and in our steed The whole work whereof may be called if you will Mediatorial from the office of the Persoâ— obeying Legal from the Rule which was obeyed This obedience as we have said is but one which yâ—â— is constituted of these two parts First the perfect fulfilling of the Law Secondly the suffering of that punishment which the breaking thereof deserved The fulfilling of the Law is the first part of Christâ— obedience by which he performed throughout tâ—â— whole course of his life perfect obedience to the Law of God for us The enduring the punishment for our sins is the other part of his obedience taking upon him in our room that which we had justly merited by reasoâ— of our transgressions that so satisfying the severity of Gods Justice for us we might be freed from that obligation and penalty which was upon us so that Ursinus joyning both together saith * Quicquid fecit aut passus est Christus ad quod ipse tanquam justus Dei filius non fuit obligatus est satisfactio ejus quam nobis praestitit justitia quae nobis credentibus adeo gratis imputatur ea enim satisfactio aequiposset vel impletioni Legis per obedientiam velaeternae paenae propter peccatum ad quorum alterutrum Legi obligamur pag. 394. Here the Dialogue takes an occasion to what purpose I know not to quarrel with the Lutherans for an errour of theirs on the one hand unlesse it be that he may the better and sooner prevail with his over-confident Reader and so carry him into an errour on the other cunningly casting out one Devil by another and yet the latter more dangerous if not more desperate then the former For neither one drop of bloud as he chargeth them nor all the bodily sufferings of Christ as we charge him to say but the perfect fulfilling of the Law for us and the satisfying Divine Justice incensed against us even the whole obedience of Christ is that by which we are redeemed from and discharged of that debt and penalty to which we were lyable and for which we stood accountable The Dialogue auribum lupum tenet finding it too hard a matter to prove what he had undertaken that is That Christs natural or bodily death only is the meritorious price of our redemption falls strangly off and betakes himself unto an other matter For not being able to confirm by argument he will perplex with amazement his lesse attentive Reader telling him that the Jews and Romanes did not put Christ to death but that he himself seperated his soul from his body shed his own bloud and did as he expresses it actuate his own death contrary to the very letter of the Scriptures y Act. 2.23 where Peter in his Sermon chargeth them home with the cruel killing of Christ the Lord saying him have yea taken and by wicked hands have crucifyed and slain Again z Act. 3.15 and have killed the Prince of life What our blessed Saviour speaks in Iohn a Joh. 10.17 18. that he laid down his life no man taking it away from him sheweth his willingness to yeeld himself up into their hands who by the determinate councel and foreknowledge of God were to be instruments of his death We know that in respect of humane power no man could take away his life till he was willing to lay it down which he did by submitting to them when his hour was come for that very purpose We say Christ dyed willingly we cannot dare not say wilfully which he must needs do if the Language of the Dialogue may passe for currant that he shed his own bloud and did actuate his own death Christ offered himself to God his Father yet did he not kill himself The Jews killed him yet did they not offer him for indeed they could not The Priest is more worthy then the sacrifice yet here is one who was Priest Sacrifice and Altar too He was a Priest but not in respect of his Divine nature alone as the Dialogue labours to perswade For whatsoever Christ did or suffered in a Mediatorial way was done and suffered by the two natures b In exequendo Mediatoris officio utraque natura operatur rum communione alterius Leo ad Flavianum cap. 4. in him Hypostatically united and not by either alone Whole Christ is our Mediator Redeemer Priest and Prophet in both natures according to his Deity and humanity What the Dialogue would force upon our belief from that place of Iohn c Joh. 6.63 namely that the humanity of Christ which he understands by the word flesh doth not profit us is in the first place a meer contradiction to himself having altogether pleaded for the bodily sufferings of Christ hitherto then we averre that it is not to be found in or gathered from the words for the best Expositors tell us that by flesh there is meant any natural food and not the flesh of Christ giving this reason for it wheresoever say they Christ speaketh of his own flesh there is the Pronoune My added to it or else he expresseth it thus the flesh of the Son of man but there is neither the one nor the other and therefore cannot be meant of the flesh of Christ They are exceedingly mistaken says Scharpius d Errant qui hoc loco percarnis vocem humanitatem Christi distinctè consideratam Spiritum Deitatè significari volunt Syphonia in the sense and meaning of our Saviours Words who by flesh would have his humanity by Spirit his Deity to be signified or understood But should we let this passe for granted which must not be that the humanity of Christ doth not profit us must it therefore follow that his obedience to the Law doth not profit us nor his fulfilling of the same for us Did ever any that pretended the least knowledge in the Rudiments of Art fetch a conclusion so far wide of the premisses But what shall we say to these Socinians whom no rules of Art are able to keep within compasse of sound Reason nor texts of Scripture within the bounds of true Religion but that they break through and run over all to beguile us in the one and betray us in the other Plutarch makes report of a certain Woman named Phea who rob'd all passengers that came by her Pallace These these Socinians the Dialogue and his fellows are like unto her For none can escape their hands They rob God of his Justice mercy and wisdome Christ of his merit and satisfaction man of all sound and solid means of Salvation leaving him in a worse condition then the thieves left that poor man that went down from Hierusalem to Iericho not half but stark dead without any help or hope of recovery I shall bestow upon the Dialogue and his high admirers with the rest of the Socinian Brethren but this one argument and so I will conclude this part also with a friendly advice to all Christian
Barques upon the sands and shallows of deceit yet deeply dissembled even where they least suspected them and thought themselves most free from them For indeed who would look for so foul errour and heresy to proceed from so great and fair pretenders to Truth Or who could imagine that they who seem to advance Christ and his Gospel and do so much outwardly glory therein should so much dishonour yea so horribly blaspheme both the one and the other as the Dialogue and these Socinians commonly do I shall lay down but one argument more to prove this opinion of theirs for which as for their Helena the Dialogue and the rest do so earnestly contend to be both horribly impious and notoriously blasphemous that so all good Christians may look on it and them too as Seamen do on Rockes and Shelves on purpose to avoid them and with an holy resolution set themselves against them which argument is briefly this That opinion which is built upon an heritical and blasphemous ground and is supported and maintained by wresting wronging and putting false and unsavoury glosses upon the Scriptures whereby the very sound actions of true Religion are not only shaken but even razed and overthrown must needs be most wicked and blasphemous And such is this opinion It is built upon this blasphemous ground that God saveth sinners by such a righteousness as is no where to be found in Scripture without wresting and wringing of the same contrary to the sense and meaning of the Holy Ghost therein such a righteousness which indeed is no righteousness at all but an idle and fictitious thing and so consequently that sinners are not justified at all but left in a sad forlorne and desperate condition It blasphemously maintaineth that our sins are not imputed unto Christ and that he did not in any measure suffer the wrath of God to free the Elect from the same which by reason of their sins they had deserved and so tacitely chargeth God with injustice towards him by inflicting so grievous punishments especially in his soul sufferings upon him without a cause leaving by this means poor souls yet in the state of damnation and lyable to eternal torments for whom Christ made full and perfect satisfaction It denies that Christ's righteousness is imputed to true believers affirming that it cannot be accounted theirs by God because Christ's righteousness is the righteousness of one far different from them and God cannot in justice justifie one by the righteousness of another So denying under this the spiritual Union of the faithful with Christ For if he be one with us and we with him as we confidently believe and teach then are our sins that is the guilt of our sins transferred unto him and so made his by this Communion and in him fully satisfied as also his righteousness and satisfaction is not only made over to us but is made ours and we thereby justified pardoned and reconciled to him whom we had offended for it is not the righteousness of a stranger as they perswade who maintain this destructive and damnable opinion nor of another so different from us but that he and vve are one Spiritual body by which Union and Communion with him which may not must not be destroyed all his benefits are made ours we have right and title to them and an interest in them If for all this that hath bin declared there be any to whom this poor endeavour shall come that shall yet give heed to this opinion and to these Spirits of errour which broach and set out such opinions so as to follow or be led by them being thus forewarned they cannot be excused For who hath bewitched them that they should believe lies These are accessary to their own destruction But good Reader be not thou deceived with vain words All is not gold that glistereth Many times we see that under the greenest Grasse doth lurke the soulest Serpent Great is the mistery of Hypocrisie The Bee that hath Hony in her mouth hath a sting in her taile Loe here is Christ Loe there is Christ but what says Christ himself Believe them not If we go all by the eare the empty Barrel hath a deeper sound then the full vessel If by the eye the sowre crab hath as smooth a Coate as the sweet Pippin The search therefore just examination and strict tryall is all in all But yet this exquisite search this sound and substantial tryall is not in every mans power neither is it for every mans trade Every man may pull at a rope but the Pilot only directs the course of the ship There be some that can grease a scabbed sheep in hand that cannot judge of a great rot to ensue The Butcher that hath skill to open an Ox is to seek in the curious anatomizing and desecting of a man So that though many think themselves able enough to judge and determine of these matters yet St. Pauls question may fit every one of our mouths Qâ—is ad haec idoneus who is indeed fit for these things We had need then even such as pretend most to knowledge to be ever suspitious of our own judgment and earnest with God in prayer for our further and future illumination and instruction that we be not seduced in these dregs of time these last and worst dayes to which we are reserved And now O England England where is the glory of thy Church become those precious ornaments of piety and purity wherewith shee was so richly adorned Oh! thou once beloved spouse how hast thou turned thy self from how hast thou turn'd thy back upon thine own dear Lord and Husband who chose thee and made thee glorious above all others round about thee to follow after and prostitute thy self unto thy fond thy fained lovers What distemper doth possesse thee that thou shouldst so willingly retum to thine own so eagerly pursue so greedily lick up the vomit of other Churches To the eternal praise and glory of God above and to the high commendation of thy little Daughter * The Church of New-England abroad be it spoken more sound in her vitalls more sincere in her profession of the ancient and honourable Truth then thy self shee hath cast out the bond-Woman and her Son the Author and his Dialogue as gendering to bondage worse then Egyptian whom thou hast received into thy bosome hugging herein with the many errours and heresies of the times thine own confusion Thou even thou art become a cage of unclean birds Zum and Ochim have taken up their habitation in thee which are the very fore-runners of thy destruction and desolation Be zealous therefore and repent for behold thy beloved yet standeth at the door and knocks Cast off and cast out the unfruitful works of darkness and give seasonable entertainment to the living Lord Consider Oh! consider in time the things that pertain unto thy peace before they be hidden from thine eyes which God of his mercy grant may never be and
unsavoury judgements of men they are taken though mistaken to have the Spirit of Truth which indeed are but Spirits of Error And again they are esteem'd as Spirits of Error in whom the spirit of Truth doth reside and hath taken up his Habitation We had need therefore be the more careful to what and whom we do give heed so as to follow or be led by it and how we judge lest we be judged for it Now the very God of Truth by his spirit the spirit of Truth guide us into all Truth and keep us blameless therein that we waver not our selves nor give occasion to others to reproach it by our disorderly walking in the Profession of it which is the earnest Prayer and hath been the careful endeavour of May the 13. 1656. Your once well-wishing Pastor and your ever well-wishing friend N.C. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or a Cage of Unclean Birds Containing the Authors Promoters Propagators and chief Disseminators of this damnable Socinian heresie Together with a brief description of their Lives and a true relation of their Deaths I Am perswaded that it hath bin one of Satans greatest designs either to brâ—ng Religion into scorn and contempt Satans project to overthrow the practise and profession of all true Religion by prostituting it to every base and unworthy enterprise For there hath not bin any rebellion so horrid nor any stratagem so hideous which he hath not shrowded under the cloak and covert of Religion Or else to confound it by so great variety every one pretending his own to be the truest that men might not be able to discern truth from falsehood a fond fain'd and counterfeit religion the result of some Enthusiastick brain from that which is commanded and commended to us in the Word of God Indeed variety in any thing distracts the mind Variety though plâ—asing yet troublesome in Religion dangerous and leaves it in a waving and wavering condition and â—n a dubious trouble insomuch that it is then no hard matter to sway the mind to either side But among all diversities that we meet with none troubles us more and puts us to more anxious perplexity then those that are in Religion This stumbles the unsettled soul that not knowing which way to take without the danger of erring sticks to none so dies he ere he can set himself with any assurance or comfort about that for which he was made to live the service of God advancing his glory and working not with fear and trembling his own salvation and then the Devil rejoyceth as having so far as concerns this one poor soul brought his design to a desired issue And for this purpose he hath select and chosen instruments The Devils white boyes his own white boyes ready prest to raise up new or to revive some old heresies against the most absolute and substantial Articles of true Religion about which at this time and in these latter dayes they are busily employed Who can reckon up for I believe it would puzzle a good Arithmetician to number them what and how many portentous opinions he hath foisted into the World against God his Nature and Religion What horrid errours concerning God concerning Christ concerning mans redemption justification salvation and other articles of our faith are spread abroad among men and so handed from one to another that they are continued and propagated even to admiration Among the ancients we may read that Irenaeus Tertullian Epiphanius Philastrius Augustine Damascene Leontius Byzantinus with Harmenopolus and divers others have bin all occupied in confuting the several sects and heresies of their age nor have we bin by reason of the great encrease and groweth of heresies â—n our tâ—me without our moderne heretick hunters which have traced them out and pursued them to the purpose And yet for all this a man would be amazed at the multiplicity and monstrority of the blasphemous Doctrine and diabolical suggestions which are still broached by these hereticks to obscure the bright face of Religion and are delivered over for Doctrines of truth to their Disciples yea there hath not b n any thâ—ng devised be it never so enormous and detestable never so void of reason and Religion which hath not by one heretick or other bin caught up published abroad maintained and defended as some notable and transcendent truth Now heresy â—s variously described Heresy described sometimes more largly sometimes more strictly Rightly to define heresy is as I think impossible there being so many faces as it were under one hood all makâ—ng for it yet every one disclaining it or at least very difficult so though Augustine and yet in the first cap. to Honoratus he gâ—ves us his judgment concerning it in his description of an â—eretick which is saith he one who for some temporal commodity or vain-glory and desire of rule over the consciences of others doth either fondly beget or perversly and obstinately follow and maintain some strange and false Doctrines But this is somwhat to full and large That desciption of St. Hierome is more strict Whosoever understandeth and applyeth the Holy Scriptures for the maintenance of any Doctrine otherwise then the sense of the Spirit of God doth require or admit by the special direction and inspiration of whom it was first penned not withstanding he have the judgment of the Church in which he is and of which he professeth himself a member on his side yet as to be accounted an heretick especially if that Doctrine which he defends be known to be false and erroneous Papists mistake it The Papists do give us but an ill definition of heresy when they tell us that he is an heretick who in matters of Faith goes against the tenure and practise of the Church of Rome But we would teach them better could they be won to learn of us namely that it is an errour which is stiffely maintained contrary to the Articles of the Faith which are necessary to be held and defended by us I call it an errour not that every errour is a heresy though there can be no heresy without errour for errour persisted in constitutes an heresy The word being simply considered in it self hath no bad signification how Use The great Master of words doth alter and change them is another matter for according to the primitive use of it in the Schools from whence it came into the Church it did but serve to distinguish one sort or Sect of Philosophers from another or to speak more proper it signified the Election or choise or some one Sect being so distinguished in the business of Religion we now use it as an errour in matters of faith as when it is contrary to some or some one chief article of the faith then it is properly called heresy when it sets it self in opposition to all the Articles of our belief it is Apostasie Heresy and Sect neer related Heresy and Sect are so neer related that in divers places
of an old Master who in his youth did wantonize in the rules of Logick and now is mad in the interpretation of the Scriptures who bearing himself up upon the wings of his supposed great ability and trusting too much to his own sufficiency doth earnestly content to have all yea the most deep mysteries of Faith and Religion to be measured and squared out by the rule of his reason and when as he seems to be ready to render a reason of all he himself saith Bernard presumes above reasons contrary to reason yea contrary to faith it self For what is more contrary to reason they by reason to endeavour to transced reason and what more contrary to faith then to be unwilling to believe what ever cannot be comprehended within the narrow bounds strait limits of humane reason So that the Court must have the attribute of the Queen that dwells in it the Queen the name of her Court Reason hath got the attribute of Religion and Religion in exchange the attribute and property of Reason But who can tell when this exchange was made What a lamentable weakness is this in man that he should build his eternal welfare on so sandy a foundation as the approbation of weak and pur-blind reason Likewise expounding that saying of the Wiseman * Pro. He that believeth maketh not hast saith thus lightly to believe is to make use of faith before or without reason Whereas Solomon in that place intends no such thing for he speaks not of faith in God but of that mutual-credulity and trust which we have in our dealings among our selves and one with another Thus we see they erre not knowing the Scriptures He wrote a book of the blessed Trinity in which he manifestly discovers that itch of wit with which he was so much troubled and with the very conceit of which he was many times so far transported out of or beyond himself and the limits of all true Christianity that he knew not either what he did or said Hear St. Bernard what he says concerning that work so highly commended by his Disciples and followers he maketh degrees in the Trinity measures in Majesty numbers in eternity He allowes God the Father all power the Son a certain kind of power limited and circumscribed according to his fancy but as for the Holy Ghost there 's none to spare for him he hath no power at all This is to be a Son to a Father as one power is subordinate to another as the Species to the Genus as homo to animal herein he scarce shews himself to be animal rationale to be able to judge oâ— hereticks that went before him but even following such blind guides must needs fall into the dirty ditch with them for is there not more then Arius here That book of hâ—s was found to be so sound and entire that it was condemned by the Belgick councell and according to order committed to the fire by the hands of the Authour himself afterwards he was forced not for his goodnes to retire himself into some solitary place where he lived solitary enough in respect of it self and yet sufficiently freguented by the continual concourse of Students and wise ones I warrant you who flocked thirther from all parts being drawn or rather seduced by the fame of his great learning Parturiunt montes c. but being come found no such great matter of admiration in hâ—m as Fame reported This place of his abode he first called the Trinity but for what reason I could never learne then changing the name he called it the Comforter for which he giveth this reason because saith he after all my trouble and molestation I have found quiet and comfort here which name continues unto this very day the place being called the Abby of the Comforter and indeed there cannot but be a great deal of comfort found in the place there was so much in the Master of it and in the Doctrine which he professed for what true comfort can be expected but by or from the Comforter himself which he could not have being under-valued and un-Goded by him He enveighed bitterly in many of his writings against the Doctrine of our redemption by Christ and that Satisfaction which was made and performed by him in our place and steed openly denying it and often protesting against it declaring the death of Christ to be to no other purpose then an example of constancy and an argument to move us to lone and honour Christ so much the more who was pleased to go before us in so uncouth a way leaving us the print of his foot-steps that we by the same way might follow after to the same glory where he sits ready to receive us This opinion of his concerning the end of Christs comming into the World together with his death and passion he expresseth in his own words thus that the Lord of glory should wholly empty himself that he should become lesse then the Angels that he should vouchsafe to be borne of a Woman that be should be conversant in the World that he should become weak in himself should suffer many indinities and reproaches from others and lastly by that base and ignominious death of the crosse should passe from this vale of misery to his ancient seat of glory is for no other end but to deliver unto men by so living and teaching such a form of life as may be acceptable unto God by suffering and dying to bequeath unto them an example of love and charity which we ought to practise if need so require one towards another Sure he never attained to so much charity from this great example as to practise it in himself towards any other whatsoever he thought it better as most in the World do to sleep quietly if it were possible in a whole skin But if this be all the cause for which Christ dyed then are we yet in our sins and the Lord have mercy upon us there is lesse comfort in this then if he had given us a thump on the back with a stone Bernard in his cxc 11. Epistle giveth us this description of him when he speaketh of the Trinity saith he you would judge him to be an Arian when of grace a Pelagian when a the person of Christ a Nestorian to which we add when he speaketh of the redemption which Christ wrought and satisfaction he made for us we may well take him to be a Socinian though this kind of denomination had not then a being So that we see he was a meer composition of heresies a man made up of dangerous and Devilish opinions which he endeavoured with all the art he had to publish with all the dexterity he could to set forth for his greatest advantage namely to court others to a liking and embracing of them He set forth many books by which he sowed abroad many heresies and got many followers among which was Arnold of Brixia as chief whom Bernard calls Abailardus
reason shew me the height of Heaven and the depth of Hell can they number the sands of the Sea the drops of rain that fall from the skie or the hayrs that are upon their own head Could they plane me out by some perfect demonstration the truth of these things here below I should then think their reason were able to aspire to those things which are above but they have no power of compassing the one nor any possibility to atchieve the other And therefore their rational Divinity is nothing worth But to return to our purpose as this Laelius did magnifie reason on the one hand So did he vilifie and deprave true religion on the other even the most substantial and fundamental Articles thereof as the Satisfaction of Christ his death and merit our justification faith c. which depravation to what purpose it tended namely to the utter subversion and destruction of all true sound and saving Religion that holy man Calvin saw and wisely foresaw when as by a more then ordinary severe admonition or rather increpation he endeavoured at first to restrain him from this exorbitancy to which he was violently tending and to keep him within the bounds of modesty and true religion which he was heedlesly passing There is saith he no cause that you should expect an answer from me to those prodigious questions which you put forth If it be your pleasure to soar aloft through those aiery speculations suffer me I pray you an humble Disciple of Jesus Christ low and submisse in mine endeavours to meditate those things which conduce to the edification of my faith and the encrease and growth of true religion And I hope shall get that by my silence which I desire namely that you trouble me no more hereafter Yet I cannot but be grieved that you should employ that liberal wit which God hath bestowed on you not only in things of no moment and to no purpose but should take a course utterly to overthrow it and your self to by deadly and destructive figments which mischief I have openly declared before and now if not too late do admonish you of again unlesse therefore you do timely prevent this extraordinary desire and itch of searching and diving into those things which are not necessary it is to be feared that you will provoke God to hasten some judgment on you to your own misery and the example of others deterring them thereby from the like vanity If by indulgency I should nourish vice which I know to be very abnoxious to those that are addicted to it I should be false and injurious to you yea I should thereby contract a guilt upon mine own Soul which would not easily be washed off Wherefore I had rather you should now be offended a little with my austerity then being caught in an evil not by the enticing baits of curiosity be carried away past recovery There will be a time I hope wherein you wâ—ll have cause to rejoyce that ever you were so violently roused up Thus Calvin to him Hear we now what Beza saies of him He was saith he descended of an ancient and noble family sufficiently instructed bâ—th in the Greek and Hebrew tongues with other additaments of Arts necessary for his pâ—ofession and correspondent to his condition And which is much to be desired and very commendable in all especially such whose employment it is to instruct others outwâ—rdly of an unblamable life and conversition for which cause saith he I contracted with him a more then ordinary friendship and familiarily but he was a man full of errours and compacted of heresies wh ch yet for all that so artificially did he cover them and so politickly discover the judgment of others concerning them and what propensity or inclination they had towards them that he seemed never to propose any of them to me but by way of conference and only for disputation sake and often propounding questions as if he earnestly coveted instruction and satisfaction I believe that for many years together he favoured the Samosatenian heresie and perswaded many to a liking and embracing of the same he assayed me also with divers arguments and if he could have prevailed to have overwhelmed me in errour and destruction both together But through Gods mercy I did so often foil him that many times he had not a word to say for himself Learned he was and very studious but alas learning in many is a disease not a perfection yea a meer surfeit A greedy knowledge feeds not our understanding but oppresseth it and like a ravenous appetite chews more to poyson then to nourishment Were I to drink freely of what is sacred I should desire that which flows of it self rather then that which is pumped for waters that are troubled yeild mud and are oftentimes as well the bane as the comfort of the receiver A. Pioner or bold myner which diggs too far for his rich vein of Ore meets many times with a damp which choaks him And we may find some dispositions of which this mans may justly be one rather desperate then venturous discerned more by a heady resolution then a wise cautelousnesse whom we may resemble to that silly and shipwrackt Seaman who dived so long for a piece of his sunken treasure that he was at once deprived both of life and fortune So Laelius digging so deep and diving so far into these sacred mysteries by the strength of his natural reason only by which he was wholly guided that at once he lost both himself and his Religion if he ever had any to loose He hath bin so long conversant in the School of Philosophie that he hath forgotten that it is Religion with which he hath to do insomuch that turning the World upside down he makes that the Mistresse of which before was but the handmaid to Divinity And therefore might I be thought worthy of hearing or determining this matter I should count it no lesse a policy then right in such sad learning and deep mysteries to give Divinity the chair for if Arts themselves with their subtile retinue do but once invade it Sense and Reason will quickly hisse faith and Religion out of doores As we may see by woful experience in these times and among these men it is already come to passe He that trades only with the stock of reason in such weighty matters is like to make but a sorry market Those enterprizes are temerarious and over-headstrong which put on where there is not only danger but a despair of conquest How can reasonable man but lye buried under the weight of such a mysterie at which the very grand Pillars of the Church have not only shook but shrunk All reason then whatever Laelius and his sect do think is tongue-tied all apprehension non-plust all understanding darkned when we come to speak of the high and mysterious things of faith and Religion For these carry with them such an awe do bear such a Majestick port as if they
are believed and esteemed to be the saving axiomes of Christian Religion which he presumptuously takes upon him to demonstrate to be very dangerous and pernicious errours and would fain shape us out a form of Religion according to his own fancy as if the Doctrine of Christ and the true Religion stood in need of such a tricker and trimmer of it to make it saleable This disputation was after printed and published by a friend and follower of Socinus Elias Arcissevius a Polonian with the Authours name to it which was never done before in any of his other writings which is so magnified by this beastly merchant on purpose to prostitute it to every customer and of which he doth so exceedingly boast that he is not ashamed to say that there is so much knowledge of Christ and his office contained in it as could possible be desired when as on the contrary it may be more truly said of it that there is so much perversion of the Doctrine of Christ and his offices as could be imagined and more then ever was before published Before Socinus could fiâ—â—sh his book de Servatore he was interrupted with sickness and by his absence from the City for all his treasure namely the writings of his uncle Laelius out of which as himself confesseth he was principally instructed concerning the matter in controversie was conteined within the Walls of Basil from whence he was constrained to absent himself by reason of the plague vvhich vvas there begun so that he could make no progresse in his intended purpose That God which dâ—d for a time retard could have wholly hindered and prevented the comming forth of this pestiferous book but he often permitteth such things to be for the gloâ—y of hâ—s name in bringing good out of evil and that those which are stedfast might be made manifest Besides we see what a Doctor Faustus was who was able to do nothing of hâ—mself without the help and directions of his Uncles writings hâ—s confidence was more then his abâ—lity otherwise he had never waded so far into these great and mysterious matters by which he hath cast away himâ—elf and all that follow him While he remained at Tigurum he had another disputatâ—oâ— with Francis Puccius a Florentine concerning whom more hereafter of the state of the fiâ—st man wherein it was debated whether Adam in his fiâ—st estate were mortal or no What and how necessary such questions as these are to salvation let any man judge yet such curious questions as these were commonly the subject of all his disputations whereas indeed matters of a far lower straâ—n would better have sorted with the indifferency both of his arts and parts to discusse them Qâ—aeries that are too nice rather torment the understanding then inform it and are more apt to puzzle our judgment then to rectifie it Subtilty of questioâ—s I know not whether it hath more convinced or begotten errour or improved us in our knowledge or staggered us And hence I suppose was the substance of the Apostles advice to the Romans cap. 14.1 He that is weak in faith receive you but not to doubtfull disputations Curiosity of questioâ—s have ever b n the very engines and stales to heresie and therefore to be avoyed by us He wrote many and divers things and so far he went that at last he brought this heresy into a more perfect form and raised as he thought a goodly structure on that foundation which was laid by Laelius following that rule which Architecture layes before us the higher we build the deeper to lay our foundation laying the foundation of tâ—is his monstrous religion even in the depth of Hell that he might raise if possible this his Babylonical structure up to Heaven What others have done or attempted to do by peece-meale he hath effected as it were at once upon the very body of religion For there is almost no article of our religion to which he hath not offered some violence and hath as much as â—n him lay endeavoured either utterly to overthrow it or to pluck it up by the very roots thinking it worth the while by defacing or turning off the old to bring in another form of religion under his own name and according to his own liking He was a man of a crafty and quick wit but insufferably audacious and petulant specie formâ magis quà m virtute religiosus sed gloriae novitatis improbe cupidus as Ruffinus saith of Arius In vertue not so much refined as in the deporâ—ment of the outward man which promised some gravity though no truth of religion violently thâ—rsting and pursuing aâ—ter honour and novelty He was guilty oâ— very much levity being drawn partly from the nature of the Country where he was borne partly from the family out of which he sprung and partly from the Court in which he was bred Insomuch that he was constant in nothing but inconstancy which yet was not in any thing so pernicious as in those sacred mysteries with which he above measure desired to be tampering and into which diving though he drowned himself therein For he had but a light tincture of learning as the writer of his life affirms and he himself is not ashamed to confesse what exquisite judgment saith he or deep understanding in these kind of Philosophical Theological and hard disputes could be expected from me a man who neither learned Philosophy nor at any time could attain to the knowledge and understanding of that Divinity which they call Scholastick nor tasted but oâ—ly of the rudiments of Logick and that very late to And â—n his Epistles pag. 587. he complains that he spent a great part of his time in Italy his native country but yet the very seat of idleness and vaâ—ity and therefore it was no wonder if he came short in the knowledge both of humane and Divine matâ—ers So that he â—oared up to those sacred mysteries meerly upon the confidence or his own wit having not had time for the laying of any solid fâ—undation Tâ—at height of Spirit which he had either gotten or augmented while he was a Courtier he ever afterwards retained and often declared in overturning and demollishing the very foundations of all Catholick Antiquity and Christian Religion As also in curbing and subduing those which were his companions or had yeilded themselves up to be guided by his crooked direction He must be chief among them and Lord over them or else it is no bargain He was indeed very proud and high minded scorning to receive â—nstruction from any being in his own judgment inferiour to none Trimness and court-like gaudiness was strongly riveted to him and deeply rooted in him his apparel and deportment much unbeseeming such a man as he professed himself to be like unto those ancient Arians of whom Hilarie speaks that were rather Bishops of the Court then of the Church Of all those books which he wrote and truly there are many under his name and the names
favour of his assistance if he do but withdraw himself or his support from us we fall away from the truth and wander up and down in the by-pathes of errour till at length we become a prey to that roaring Lyon Thus did it happen to this Adam Neuserus once one of our own as we supposed a painful and industrious preacher of the Gospel Pastor of the Church at Heidelberg and outwardly a great stickler for the truth but one that secretly harboured Arianisme in his heart as he evidently afterward declared The glosse of profession without sincerity will not last What St. Hierome said of the Scriptures we may say of Religion It is not in superficie verborum folijs sed in medullâ cordis not read in superficial leaves and letters but in the marrow and substance of the heart Christian religion is more practical then theorical rather an occupation then a meer profession which is like the Artificers wit at his fingers ends But can we taxe hereticks of idleness Me thinks they are busy enough both to their own and the ruine of those that are bewitched by them they work indeed but it is secretly and closly like Moles under ground So Neuserus having ordered all things as he thought close enough for his passage over to the Turks with whom he had before bin tampering but was taken as it were in the very act by Prince Palatine Frederick III. and cast into prison From whence by sleight or connivence he secretly stole away and went into Poland after that into Transylvania sowing still as he went the seeds of his desperate and damnable Doctrine against the blessed Trinity which became the subject of opposition to every idle and phantastick brain against the nature office and merit of Christ his satisfaction made to the justice of his Father for us together with our redemption justification c. But all this while Neuserus was not where he would be and therefore he never rested till he got over to Constantinople among those whose religion he esteemed and whose Society he affected above all other The wicked cannot be quiet till their vicious desires be accomplished they have oculos inquietos ad peccandum as Calvin renders it their meat and drink is to do their Fathers will that is Satans Ahab is sick till have Naboths Vineyard and Neuserus is ill at ease till he be with his desired companions Well among them he is But what does he there that which would make a Christians heart to tremble renounce that religion whereof he made profession while he was among us turned Turk and after their manner was circumcised and so lived among them But breve sui sceleris gaudium For God struck him with an incurable disease of which he shortly dyed and that with such horrid clamours and dreadful yellings that the very Turks themselves were astonished at it and openly confessed that they never saw any man expire in a more tragical manner than he whom therefore they called in their language Satan ogli the very Child of the Devil And this was the unhappy end of this miserable caitiffe this grand Apostate first from the true-faith to Arianisme from thence to flat Turcisme Let the fall of others be a warning to us Ioannes Sylvanus Inspector Ladenburgensis Sylvanus socius remanens in carcere vinctus Praetium persolvit proditionis ejus IT is a strange thing to see how many are taken with meer Novelties and specious pretences and how eagerly they pursue them and how madly they run after them forfeiting both reason and religion for the pleasing of a foolish humour in the enjoying of them and gaining others to bear like affection to them When we consider this we may very well doubt whom we may account free from a touch or at least the danger of this indisposition to and opposition of that which is good yea best and a promptitude and proclivity to that which is evil yea worst the blaspheming of Gods Holy name the trampling upon the bloud of the covenant and counting it an unholy thing How many opinions do we see raised every day which argue no lesse then a meer Spiritual madness such as if they should have been but mentioned some years ago which now passe uncontroverted or at least wise uncontrouled as if the sacred truth of religion could admit of change and alteration according to the times and seasons to which in mercy or judgment we are reserved the question would be out of what Bedlam they had broken loose This appears by the Story of Sylvanus which we have now in hand who was crost and troubled with such variety of distempers that he was alwayes in a doubting many times in a bad at last in a lost condition All that we can do is but to pity and bewaile such as are living and pray for their recovery and sadly lament those that are dead and gone Among which this Joannes Sylvanus may be one whose religion was like adulterated Wine you may call it what you will who loved to prey upon Novelties and absurdities as Atalanta on the golden apples though he lost the prize He was Inspector or Controuler of Ladenberge a great friend and associate with Neuserus his fellow Renegado if he had not been prevented for intending to take flight with him over to the Turks he was likewise apprehended with him and cast into prison but being not so light heeld as his fellow he was forced to abide by it to his cost Of whose Apostacie from the truth his execrable opinions against the blessed Trinity the Deity office and merit of Christ of his conspiracy and rebellion against the State Prince Palatine Frederick being by letters from the Imperial Majesty certainly â—nformed he was publickly convented legally convicted and justly adjudged to be beheaded which execution was worthily done upon him For they sin no lesse qui blasphemant Christum regnantem in caelis quam quic rucifixerunt ambulantem in terris that revile Christ reigning in Heaven then they that crucified him living on earth To hear a man blaspheme God or his truth was a kind of prodigie among the Jews This man blaspemeth say they and presently they rent their cloths should every one of us when we hear God and the Gospel blasphemed do the like we should have more rents then whole cloths and scarce a whole garment would be found among us But we are little or nothing affected herewith Gods Holy name is blasphemed his truth traduced the hearer sayes let the Magistrate look to it the Magistrate sayes let the Minister reprove it the Minister sayes let the hearers reform it they say let the offender himself answer it the offender sayes curet nemo let no man mind Thus we thrust it from one to another The Sea breaks in all the borders contend whose right it is to mend the damme but while they strive much and do nothing the Sea breaks farther in and drowns the Country That we may
escape the like misery from an inundation of all false Doctrine and heresy Good Lord deliver us Franciscus Lismanninus Claudiopolitani caetus Pastor Se Lismanninus puteum conjecit in altum Triste erat exemplum Justitiae Domini MEn do commonly wrong themselves with a groundlesse expectation of good fore-promising to themselves all fair terms in their proceedings and all happy successe in the issue and indeed they may go on with a prosperous gale and full saile for a time but at last they fall into unexpected trouble and danger so that their former misreckoning makes their present dis-appointment so much the more grievous to them and drives them into the greater desperation This we shall find verified in Lismanninus who encouraged himself with a hope of gaining many to the embracing and following of his wicked and abominable opinions and for this purpose he thought no pains to much travelling from place to place to propagate the same It were to be desired that we that professe the truth would be but half so industrious for the converting of some and the confirming of others in the profession thereof as these instruments of the Devil these Factors for Hell are for the subverting them in or seducing them from their holy profession to their diabolical tenets and hellish devices He was one of those which that runagate Blandrata having insinuated into the favour of the most illustrious and excellent Prince of Transylvanià sent for thither to unsettle the newly setled Churches of God in those parts by sowing tares among their good corne his most pernicious heresies even then when they least suspected it But he could not go over to them as yet for having so much of the devils business to do in other places he could not at present intend to wait upon them there His expectat on was high and soaring thinking to over-run all the Churches in Italy first with his damnable Doctrines and that in a moment ere he could perform the desire of Blandrata in going into Transylvania Hear what he wrote back unto him and you see his aime Before he returned he must constitute the Churches of Bernen Lausanna and Geneva formerly visited by him and to which he was again taking his journey to observe the form of doctrine discipline and ceremonies together with the administration of the Sacraments which were in each of them and to confer and reason with the Ministers by whose help and councel he should coâ—e the better instructed and inform'd to their Church when time and opportunity served Which he performed according to his promise and by which he did very much retarde the blessed reformation which Calvin so much endeavoured to promote among those Churches For he did so exceedingly fascinate the minds of divers that they could not be restrained by the faithful admonit on s no not of Calvin himself whom they once highly esteemed and vvho much laboured in the business but vvould needs rush head-long into the dangerous pit of Arianisme or Tritheitarisme to their ovvn ruine and destruction This man vvas Pastor of the conventicle at Claudiopolis to vvhich he openly preached the Doctrine of Arius and held that Christ was a certain spiritual substance being before all others created of God who afterwards took unto him an humane body in which he performed many things for our example At last being openly confuted plainly detected and too late if God had not othervvise permitted it for the Churches good convicted either for shame of vvhat he had done or for fear of vvhat he vvas to suffer he threvv himself head-long into a vvell and so perished He that wilfully cast many others avvay doth novv desperatly cast avvay himself both body and soul Andraeas Dudithius Episcopus Quinquecclesiensis Dudithius doctus cupiens vitare Charybdim Incidit in Scyllam fata dolenda sua THis Andraeas Dudithius by nation a Hungarian Bishop of Quinquecclesiae a City in Panonia was a very learned and famous man employed in divers Embassies to Ferdinand and Maximilian Caesars being present as a Bishop in the name of the Hungarians at the Councel of Trent he there made two elegant Orations the one of the necessity of the Cummunion under both kinds the other of the lawfulness of Priests marriage both composed very eloquently and full of excellent variety yet home to the purpose for which they were intended For he was an exquisite Orator himself a great admirer and follower of the Tullian eloquence insomuch that as Thuan reporteth of him he thrice copyed out Tullies works with his own hands After all this bidding the Pope with all his shavelings adieu he marryed a wife a noble young Lady Sophia Gonicella whom he light upon by chance in the Court of the Polonian King when he was sent thither Embassador from Maximilian the Emperour For shee being extreamly taken with his discretion judgment and other good parts he with her beauty piety and perfection they mutually combined each to other in holy matrimony As for religion he was better seen in the leaving then the taking part For having forsaken popery and not having joyned himself to the reformed Churches he was a long time disquieted in mind not knowing what course to take or which way to turn himself in matters of religion He knew the Church of Rome was full of errours he saw the Churches professing the Protestant Religion to be full of dissentions and divisions which caused him to doubt and as we use to say to look before he leapt Hast makes wast is a true Proverb in the precipitant carriage of business Fair and soft goes far Not too fast for falling Stay a little and we shall have done the sooner These be the sayings of Moderation to correct and qualify the rashness of our terrene and sublunary undertakings But in our spiritual proceedings when our journey is Heaven and the end eternal salvation Delay is more dangerous then Celerity it proved so here for while he was uncertain what to do and so did nothing at all he was artificially drawn aside by Socinus and his fellows under the specious allurement of vain and doating reason he is sudainly hurryed into their mischiâ—vous heresy of denying the Trinity the merit and satisfaction of Jesus Christ for sinners with all the rest of their blasphemous opinions In defence whereof he wrote a letter to John Lasius a Polonian Knt. and an intimate friend of his which was lately published with the answer of Maresuis annexed to it As in dark nights pyrates use to kindle fires and make great lights upon the rocks and maritime coasts whether poor weather beaten Sea-men do steer in hope of harbour and there meet with wrack and ruin So these hereticks with their flourish of the Scriptures or at least with some flashes of them like false fires and deceitful lights did entice this poor soul to repair for succour but found nothing being come but pernicious and deadly errour And it is a common thing to see that dead
where having spent some time in observing the several sorts of Orders which were there he chose as being most and best affected with their manner and Discipline the order of the Fryer Dominickes according to whose rule he lived and conformed himself Yet did he not carry the matter so close nor live so regularly therein but that he gave to some it seems that had an eye over him a shrewd suspicion and jealousy of his wavering and incertainty in the faith In so much that he is delivered over to the Inquisitors and by them as who ever escaped their talons being once suspected and taken by them committed to prison out of which escaping he fled away secretly first into Germany to the Protestants with whom he lived for a time but likeâ—ng not the way of truth as children of darkness love not the light he forsook them and went into Poland to the Arians as they were then called to whose heresy he was so closely rivetted that he was never loosed from them to his dying day He that hath strayed into these thickets is so amazed with intricate circumnolutions that he can very hardly unwind himself ever after Now he passeth from thence to Moravia where he manifests his affection to these desperate opinions which he formerly entertained and digested Here he makes all ring again so that neither Scriptures Patriarchs Prophets Evangelists Apostles no nor Christ himself can be heard for him and his Socinians Pope Pius V. did his utmost endeavour to catch him in his traps which he had laid in several places and by several persons for him but while he lived he kept out of his clutches But Gregory the 13. by the means of Maximilian the 2. brought it to passe that being at dinner with some other company he was suddainly apprehended clapt up into a coach which stood ready provided for him was brought first to Vienna from thence to Rome where he was made sure enough for ever escaping again He was often examined by the Jesuites Magius and Bellarmine and being conuicted of Arianisme which it seems stuck closer to him then any other profession he was for the present doomed to the deep dungeon of the tower of Nonnana into which his hands feet and neck being laden with gyves and fetters he was miserably thrust down there to remain til farther order should be taken with him Where in the mean time he had divers exhortations and admonitions to forsake those damnable heresies into which he was fallen But continuing or rather encreasing in his former obstinacy being brought forth to the Chappel of St. John de Lateran according to the Ceremonies of the Church of Rome was first degraded then delivered over to the Secular Power and so condemned to the fire When he came to the place of execution and beheld the fire prepared for him with certain Sorcerers standing ready bound to their stakes which were to be burned with him he was so exceedingly terrified and wholly agast that he gave publick testimony of his willâ—ngness to retract and recant his errours if he might have liberty so to do Which being signified to the Pope he is repreived from the fire and brought back again In a place appointed for that purpose he makes his recantation renounces and forswears his errours and damnable heresies confessing that Jesus Christ is the very true and eternal Son of God We see that fire could extract from him a confession of that truth which before he denied The fear of death striketh us into such a dump that we are contented to do any thing rather then dye By the way what is it should make us so unwilling to dye seeing it is a debt we owe to nature and the payment thereof cannot be avoyded Is it the horrour of the pain that doth affright us Is if the fear and doubt of what shall become of us hereafter that doth terrify us Or is it the guilt of our misguided souls already condemning us by the pre-apprehension of a future punishment which waits upon us If death were alike terrible to all we might think there were something more in it then we can imagine But some men can look upon it when it comes wâ—thout any terrour at all though â—t set out in all it's pomp for to destroy them yea they long for it before it comes and sing St. Pauls cupio dissolvi desire to passe hence though it be in Elias fiery Charriot whereas others are stroke into such a tripidation with the very sight of it that they are at their wits end know not which way to turn themselves The cause of this difference is not in death but in our selves for death comes alike to all but finds not all alike when it comes Guilt of sin and fear of punishment here and hereafter may be cause why many labour to avoid it which might for the present as not being fully hardened in impiety move Palaeologus to desire mercy But now he comes to act his last part upon the Stage of this world and 't is a deadly one for remaining as yet in prison till he had given a further confirmation of his former recantation he most wretchedly hardens his heart insomuch as that God hardens it also and the Devil driving him on to a relapse into his former herisie which being openly manifested he is ipso facto condemned and by the fury of the flames wholly consumed This saith Raemundus is briefly the History of the unhappy life the heretical Religion and the deserved death of miserable Palaeologus Iâ— any man shall think the better of him or his Doctrine because he was condemned by the Church of Rome for an Heretick by whom all true Religion â—s accounted Heresie let him know 't is the cause and not the sufferings that make the Martyr though some are unjustly condemned by them yet this man for Heresie and that justly Iacobus Arminius Leydensis Professor Sampsonis vulpes Arminius atque Socinus Juncti per caudas ora diversa sua HEresie creeps in at a little hole but infects infests the whole house l ke a plague that comes in at the windows and then propagates it self beyond all measure And for that purpose the Divel raiseth up instruments in all places such who are so over-wise that the very curdle of their wit procures a breaking out into faction then grows to error and at last to some notorious and blasphemous Heresie Cum discipuli veritatis non erunt magistri erroris sunt Refusing to be schollars of Truth they become Masters of errors They must be Masters though it be of the black Art And such an one was this James Arminius once Divinity Reader in the University of Leyden who having had some familiarity either with the men of whom we have already spoken or their works did very much favour this Socinian heresie He did first secretly teach and subtilly instil it into the ears and hearts of many of his Discâ—ples and afterwards did opâ—nly pâ—ofess it as we
and erroneous doctrines of Socinus and his followers so that they may see out of what puddles they were raked and by whom they had their first rise and publication and may not give credit any longer unto those seducers which vent them as their own The bondage of this land was lamentable under the tyranny of Anti-Christ when we were driven to eat the bread of superstition and to drink the wine of fornication or fast But God hath delivered us and confirmed our deliverance for many years together if we shall now apostate and revolt from the integrity of his seruice our latter end will be worse then our beginning Insteed of Popery we shall find errour and heresie Turcisme and Devilisme til we can only say Here was once the Church of God No surer way no speedier course for the effecting of this then to be carryed away with the desperate and damnable opinions of the Socinians whom some have thought not worthy of the name of Christians and so not fit to live among us who professe the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ We will bring the matter into further question and see what may be said concerning it whether the Socinian Religion be the Christian Religion and so Socinians true Christians yea or no Socinians above others pretend to the name of Christ and boast of it for that purpose they entitle their Catechises The Institutions of Christian religion as is manifest by those of Socinus and Ostorrodus they only will have their denomination from Christ Smalcius against Franc reasoneth thus If those which do not confesse Christ are not Christians then it must needs follow that those which do confesse Christ are Christians We both by word of mouth writings and endevour do professe Christ before the whole Christian world witness so many books that are written and so many confessions that have bin made by us saith Muscorovius another of the same train Yea we are not only Christians but the only true Christians if they may be Judges in their own cause and for that purpose they argue thus Every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus is the Christ is of God But our Churches and they alone do confesse that Jesus is the Christ Therefore are they of God Seducers will say or do any thing so they may deceive Absolom what expensive bravery doth he put himselfe unto what liberal promises doth he make what courtly policie doth he use that he might seduce the hearts of the people from their due and true obedience Insomuch that the common acclamation must needs be this O courteous beauâ—eous bounteous Absolom So who can be by and hear the outside profession the seeming Christian confession which is made by these Socinians and forbear to cry out O Vertuous Pious Religious Socinian who would not take part with thee and be on thy side But O this heart of man how deceitful is it upon the weights how apt to be deceived and to deceâ—ve for do but search thâ—m sift them sound them and you shall find 't is no such matter their pure oare is but dross their sweet fruits but bitter to the tast and all this glorious boasting nothing but dissembling To stop their mouths and the mouths of all their adherents and complices we shall consider the name and appellation of Christian under this twofold Notion First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 generally or improperly Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 specially or properly We do not deny the Socinians to be called Christians in the first sense that is the general or improper signification of the word for whosoever does acknowledge that Jesus is that promised Messias and that his Doctrine is only to be embraced and obeyed by us are such Christians making a difference between them and Jews who deny that the Messias is already come and Turks who professe and follow the Doctrine of Mahomet contained in their Alchoran We give them this to distinguish them from Infidels which know not Christ and from Jews which deny Christ but we cannot give them the title of Christians in that special sense in which the Scriptures use it nor may they proudly arrogate it to themselves for they are not worthy of it And this we make good by these ensuing Arguments First Because Christians are the peculiar Disciples of Christ and his Apostles Act. 11.26 But the Socinians are not the peculiar Disciples of Christ and his Apostles seeing they dissent from the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles in very many mysteries and principal foundations of the Christian faith and do their utmost endeavour by their subtilties to overthrow them Therefore the Socinians notwithstanding their glorious outside profession are not Christians Secondly There is required to the compleating and making up of a true Christian a true and lively faith or an acknowledging and sincere profession of the true faith Rom. 10.9 1 Pet. 3.15 But they whose faith and profession concerning God and Christ is not true but false erroneous and heretical are not to be accounted for true Christians But the faith and profession of the Socinians both concerning God and Christ is false and erroneous yea and heretical too as we shall shew out of the Scriptures and shall set forth to the judgment of the whole Christian world Therefore the Socinians are not to be accounted or esteemed as true Christians Thirdly They which worship any other then the only true God are not true Christians But the Socinians worship another and not the true God for they adore not neither do they worshâ—p the holy and ever blessed Trinity the Father Son and Holy Ghost one God in Essence in three distinct persons whom the whole Christian world doth acknowledge and adore but frame another God to themselves who is only one in person and essence who is not the eternal Father nor hath he an eternal Son of the same essence with himself and so they worship an Idol devised by themselves far different from the true God of the Christians but the true God of the Christians in whom we are baptized rhe Father Son and Holy Ghost the Holy Trinity blessed for ever they provoke and revile with horrid and most execrable blasphemies Therefore they are not true Christians Fourthly They which deny the proper Essence of Christ are not to be counted Christians For as he which denyeth the Essence of Man taketh away man so he which denyeth the proper Essence of Christ taketh away Christ and so is not truly a Christian But the Socinians deny the proper Essence of Christ because they deny the Divine Nature of Christ which is his proper Essence being Jehovah Jer. 23.6 God blessed for ever Amen Rom. 9.5 For he can no more be true God without the Divine Nature then man wâ—thout his humane nature Therefore they cannot be true Christians Fiftly he which confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh or denies that Jesus is the Christ is not truly a Christian but is to be accounted as an