purpose The Church says he dispersed thro' the whole World has both from the Apostles and their Disciples received that Faith which is in one God the Father Almighty and in one Jesus Christ the Son of God incarnated for our Salvation and in one Holy Spirit who by the Prophets published the Dispensations of God Jesus Christ is our Lord and God and Saviour and King according to the good Pleasure of the Invisible Father advers haeres L. 1. C. 2. He who has no other God above him is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Ib. C. 19. And in speaking of that Saying of Christ that he knew not the Day and Hour of Judgment he says The Father is above all things for the Father says Christ is greater than I Wherefore in knowledge also the Father is declared to have the Preeminence Ib. L. 2. C. 49. The Apostles would not call any one of his own Persor Lord but him that exerciseth Lordship over all even God the Father and his Son who has received from the Father the Lordship of all the Creation Ib. L. 3. C. 6. The Apostles confessed the Father and Son to be God and Lord but neither named any other God nor confessed any other to be Lord. Ib. C. 9. I invocate thee O Lord the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who art the only true God above whom there is no other God who rulest over all and dost in domination besides our Lord Jesus Christ rule also over the Holy Spirit Ib. C. 6. By these Passages it appears that Irenaeus held the Father alone to be God in the most eminent sense of that word and the Son to be Lord and God under the Father but the Holy Spirit to be neither Lord nor God Yet he might hold the Holy Spirit to be above the Angels and 't is probable he understood thereby what the Vnitarians do These Matters being left in a great Generality in Scripture the Fathers explained them as they thought best That liberty of inquiry and examination must be allowed of so those explications and interpretations be but offer'd as Opinions and Conjectures but be not Magisterially imposed by any Man on other Men. For to follow the Design and Intention of Scripture Christians must Unite in the Generality of the Terms of Scripture as we see it in the Apostles Creed If these Measures had always been observed Platonism had done but little harm It seems that Platonism made the Platonizing Fathers differ from the strict Vnitarians and Arians I mean the Ancient and Primitive Christians that held the Sentiment that Arius revived or improved For it seems he believed after them that the Word like other Creatures was made out of Nothing But it seems Plato as after him his Christian Disciples of the Number of whom Irenaeus seems to be taught that the Word was created out of the Substance of God Dalaeus observes in the last quoted Place of his aforesaid Book that Tertullian tho' the most thorow-stitcht Platonist of his time had much the same Thoughts and held that God the Father produced the Word out of himself and made him his Son but that the Father is the whole Substance and the Son a Portion and Derivation of that whole In another Place the same Tertullian says expresly that there was a time when the Son was not Adv. Hermogen C. 3. and it seems that by the Holy Spirit-he means only the Vertue and Power of God De Praescript C. 13. Novatian says that the Holy Spirit is less than Christ De Trin. C. 24. moreover that once the Son was not and that before him was nothing besides the Father C. 11. Whereby he positively asserts that the Father alone is from all Eternity and consequently that the Father alone is God in the eminent Sense of that word Which is very different from the Sentiment of the rigid Platonists and the present Trinitarians who hold the Son and Holy Spirit to be from all Eternity as well as the Father and to be equal among themselves and co-equal with him as it is in the Creed of Athanasius Now those that do not assert the Son and Spirit to be eternal and consequently not to have a necessary Existence nor unlimited Perfections nor unborrowed Powers or Powers that they have not received freely from another may very well pass for Vnitarians seeing they make not the Son and Spirit to be God like the Father but the Father's Creatures Dalaeus in the Place we last quoted remarks that those expressions which afterwards were so much found sault with in Arius were used by these Antenicene be mentions Dionysius Arexandrinus who expresly calls the Son the Father's Workmanship which is the same as to say the Father's Creature They expresly say that the Father Made the Son and they even use the very term that the Father Created him Nay Dalaeus in the same Place forgets not to take notice that the 80 Platonick Bishops who at the latter end of the 3d. Century so violently condemned the famous Patriarch of Antioch yet at the same time did expresly declare that the Son is not of the same Essence with the Father Now therefore by the Acknowledgement of the Trinitarians themselves the Post-Nicene Trinitarians cannot with any Modesty pretend that the Ancients were of the same Opinion with them and consequently there can be nothing more vain than for them to plead Antiquity Origen like the foregoing Authors not only called the Son a Second God Contr. Cel. L. 5. p. 258. but a Creature and the oldest of the Creatures Ib. p. 257. And in his First and Second Books concerning Prayer he has so many Arguments against Praying to any but the Father and so blames those that would also direct their Prayers to the Son plainly calling them Fools for so doing that it clearly appears that according to him the Supreme or true Divinity belong'd to the Father only This is so notorious that many have believed that Origen was of the same Opinion that Arius afterwards was of and Epiphanius did well observe that in many Places Origen makes the Son and Holy Spirit to be of another kind of God-head or of another Nature and Essence than that of the Father Epiphan adv Haer. L. 2. T. 1. p. 531. Now since so antient so renowned and learned a Doctor as Origen was of this Sentiment that alone is a sufficient Argument that the Notion of the present Trinitarians was not then known to be the Apostolick Doctrin that at least the Tradition about that Point is uncertain and consequently that the Determination thereof ought not to be sought for by this Means Indeed in reason so Abstruse and Intricate a Matter ought to be Magisterially determined by no Means if they are not attended with greater evidence but every one must be allowed to judge the best he can for himself and Men must Unite in the use of the terms and expressions themselves of Scripture if they appear to be susceptible of a
sides of which Query the Governors of the Church are humbly desir'd to give their Opinion p. 107. III. That what is inâ—eâ—r'd from the Unitarian Arguments remains in force and that it is an indispensible Dâ—â—â— to proâ—â—ss and establish the Gospel Terms of Communion and to keep to the seeming Generality of Scripture for Terms of Church Union with relation to this Doctria tho' the Trinitarians and some Unitarians should opine that the Unitarians may with a good Conscience joyn in Communion with the Trinitarians and even tho' there were in God what might truely be called three Persons p. 108. Some Extracts out of Bishop Taylor 's Liberty of Prophesying p. 111. The End of the Table Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be World without end Amen The ERRATA And some few ADDITIONS PAGE 14. Line 43. after Mysteries add or designedly intricate Texts which either are sufficiently illustrated elsewhere or the exact and full knowledge whereof in all particulars is not indispensibly necessary P. 24. L. 32. after understanding it add Perhaps by the Divine Word and Spirit many Christians then understood the Influences of two Divine Powers P. 25. L. 33. for those read these P. 31. L 29. f. admited r. admited P. 32. L. 10. f. to be Christ r. to be the Christ. P. 34. L. 33. after implying add as the said Doctors imagined who as was noted in the 26th Page held the Trinity of Plato and that of the Gospel to be the same P. 34. L. 43. after seeming add to them P. 35. L. 10. after peculiarly add and virtually P. 35. L. 19. after and add as was said P. 47. L. 14. f. anther r. another P. 74. L. 2. after things add Whatever Iniquity is committed in the World it is thro' the Suggestion of the Devils Yet there is more Evildone in the World than Good tho' undoubtedly there is a greater Number of good than of bad Angels Then surely at least all the Holy Angels may suffice to suggest the good Motions that are necessary in order to the Good that is done upon Earth P. 83. L. 43. after said add In Summ. If the Scripture says in one Place that Christ is our Mediator and exalted by God and made Lord and in another that his Name is to be called upon is it not evident that joyning those Places together the result thereof is that We are to call upon Christ as upon our Mediator exalted by God and made Lord Acts 2.36 P. 85. L. 18. after observes add many of P. 103. L. 41. after Reason add But if Semi-Arianism be taken to differ essentially from THIS System it will appear to be encumbred with insuperable Difficulties and if it absolutely exacts the Use of the Scholastick Trinitarian Terms it will as much as the Scholastick System be contrary to the Generality of the Terms of Scripture P. 107. L. 32. after c. add Doth it not seem contrary to the due Seriousness of Prayer to address distinctly to the Divine Wisdom as to a distinct Person in these terms O GOD the SON as if the Divine Wisdom were the SON of another Divine Person THE SCRIPTURE-TERMS OF CHURCH-UNION c. CHAPTER I. The Occasion and Design of this Paper THE Apostle's Injunction alone of Proving all things doth Apologize for and Justify the following Undertaking The Design whereof as will appear is not to set up the Socinian or Arian Sentiments but further to Vindicate what on an unshakable Foundation I have heretofore asserted concerning the Necessity of Moderation with respect to these most Intricate Controversies and to confirm the Scripture-Method of Union which I have Pleaded for in the Apology for the Irenicum Magnum No Man can say that there are no Difficulties in the Holy Scriptures or that there are there no Articles obscurely deliver'd For who is he that will pretend he Infallibly understands every thing spoken of in the Bible If any should ask to what purpose the Scripture should make mention of such Matters as are suppos'd so very Obscure and Difficult that it is not safe nor prudent Magisterially to make express Determinations concerning them I have answer'd that probably it is to prove our Sincerity and Industry to try whether we will take the Pains seriously and diligently to consider what Measures in reason are here best to be followed in such Intricate Cases and so to exercise our Humility and our Moderation Undoubtedly these Obscure Matters will be more fully discover'd hereafter and it seems God judgeth it will suffice that we be then most clearly inform'd of them It is an ancient Saying that the Holy Scripture is like a River which a Lamb may wade and wherein Elephants may somtimes be forced to swim That is to say Those that desire no other but to work out their Salvation as the case is with men of ordinary Capacities may compass their design in the use of God's Word for they will find therein very clearly whatsoever is absolutely Necessary for them But the greatest Scholars that would fain know every thing and that are bound to inquire as far as they can will often be at a loss and shall not find themselves able to dive to the bottom of several Particulars tho' they be Men of the sharpest Wit as well as of the deepest Learning witness especially many Passages in the Apocalyps or Revelations Wherefore 't is evident such difficult Matters ought not to be Magisterially determin'd not tho' in their true Sense The taking of them determinately in such a Sense ought not to be impos'd or made part of the Terms of Communion For these things being so very Difficult Sincere and Inquisitive Men may mistake and differ about 'em what seems then sufficiently clear to one sometimes seeming otherwise to another and no one having right to decide Magisterially in such Cases more than another and it is credible if the explicit knowledg and belief of these things had been Indispensibly and Universally necessary God would have reveal'd them more distinctly and expresly The Apostle has this Expression tho I understood all Mysteries Which is an evident Argument that there are Mysteries in Religion which the eminentest Christians may misunderstand or not know how to determine And in the 14th of the Romans the same Apostle shews that good Men may doubt and be of different Sentiments in some Cases Now what do I propose as then fit to be done but what the Apostle there expresly enjoins and is manifestly agreable to the charitable and moderate Temper of Christianity and to the essential and avow'd Principles of Protestants I say that in most abstruse and intricate Points about which sincere and inquisitive Persons may mistake and differ we must not judge and reject one another but must unite in the utmost Generality of the very Expressions of Scripture The Reasonableness and Necessity of which Method of Vnion I have evinced
of him that is spoken to and so a Supreme or Eternal and Infinite God has a God that is his Superior or which implies the same thing has a God that is his God and that confers Honours and Benefits upon him which is an Absurdity no less than that of supposing two absolutely Supreme or Essential Gods Besides a God in the most eminent Sense of the word cannot be said to be anointed For either his Deity is not true or not truely perfect in it self and so not absolutely divine or else it is all-sufficient and can need no anointing Even a Man Personally-United with God if that were possible cannot be supposed to be anointed with the Assisting Spirit seeing he cannot need it for such a Person must needs have in himself all that is Great and Necessary Howbeit it is the God that is here spoken to Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever c. And God in fine has no Fellows Nor even has a God-Man Fellows except there be more God-Men as there were more Kings Sons besides Solomon For all these reasons therefore those words of this Psalm cannot be understood as the Adversaries of the Vnitarians would understand them and it doth then appear that another is called God besides the Supreme God And so it is to no purpose here to Object that we do not read of any Children by Pharaoh's Daughter and that the Kingdom was not of long continuance in Solomon's Family as we suppose is here promised First these might be the Psalmists Wishes which were very natural on that Occasion and seemed requisite ex Epithalamii lege says Rivetus But besides that there are frequently in Scripture Conditional Promises even when the Condition is but Tacitely understood and not expressed And thus it might be promised to Solomon that his Throne would be for ever or that the Kingdom would be of a very long Continuance in his Family in Case he and his Children remained true to their Duty Ps 132.13 In like manner Pharaohs Daughter might here be promised many Children who would have been accounted Great Lords and Princes in all the Land of Judea and in all the Coasts of Israel And the Reason why that Promise took no effect might be because she revolted to the Idolatry which undoubtedly she had abjured at her Marriage At the 10th and 11th Verses the Psalmist addresses himself thus to the Queen Hearken O Daughter forget thine own People and thy Fathers House so shall the King greatly desire thy Beauty Doth not this Exhortation appear very Suitable to a Princess come out of an Idolatrous Family And at the same time doth it not hereby appear that She is Married to a Prince in whose Country Idolatry was not the National Religion What Country that was is evident And it is added in the following Verse that the City of Tyre famous for her Rich Trading would bring Presents to the Queen Which Suits well with Solomens prosperous Reign It must then be Unreasonable to suppose that this Psalm has not a literal Sense or that that is not the literal Sense thereof which so well Suits with it and which as was observed has always been reputed to be its primary meaning by the Generality of the best and most learned Interpreters in all Parties There is therefore visibly all the Reason in the World to believe that it is Solomon that is here called God And why should any tho' but the least number among the Trinitarians be so averse to own it or what need is there to be at so much pains to put that matter out of doubt Are not Great Men in other Places of Scripture said to be Gods I have said ye are Gods Ps 82.6 Ps 138.1 and 4. c. Why then should not Solomon here be called God that is a Sovereign Prince acting for God by Gods express Commission to that purpose and so in some measure or in some respects representing God Have we not seen that our Saviour himself observed it that they are called Gods unto whom the Word of God came John 10.35 And at what occasion did our Saviour make that Observation That also to the purpose before us is well worth the being noted It was when the Jews reproached to him that he Equalled himself to God and as they judged made himself the Most High God And now what doth he Answer to that Charge Doth he say that he was literally the Eternal God and that a Second Divine Person was incarnate in him or doth he leave any Room for any such conceit or rather do's he not expresly obviate and refute it This is manifestly the whole meaning of his Answer Why should you think that I make my self the Most High God Is it because I am called God or the Son of God And don't you know that in your own Law it is written of some Great Men I have said ye are Gods and the Sons of the Highest Were those Men therefore to be reputed Homousian Sons of God or of the same Essence with the Father No. Neither am I therefore any more to be thought so If we take not that Answer and Reasoning of our Saviour's in this Sense it seems we make of it a mere Shuffling and an Equivocating Discourse nothing to the purpose and absolutely unworthy the Gravity of the Speaker as seems obvious upon an impartial Reading of the Text. (*) John 10.33 34 35 36. The Jews answered him Saying For a good Work we Stone thee not but for Blasphemy and because that thou being a Man makest thy self God Jesus answered them Is it not Written in your Law I said Ye are Gods If He called them Gods unto whom the Word of God came and the Scripture cannot be Broken Say ye of Him whom the Father has Sanctified and Sent into the World Thou Blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God Howbeit it doth here suffice us that we see there is no necessity to take always the term God in the most eminent Sense seeing that some Men in the Scripture stile are called Gods For if we can take that term in an inferior sense when applied to Men we can shew that there is a great deal of Reason to understand it in that sense when appropriated to our Saviour who is the Word or High Officer of God and Chief Interpreter of the Divine Will and who as to his Person and Being and Constitution was in all things like unto us yet without Sin Heb. 2.17 and 4.15 It is to no purpose therefore for the Trinitarians to alledge any Text where they think Christ is called God unless they can expresly shew that he is the Supreme God actually equal to and of the same Essence with the eternal God and that the Father is not greater than he I shall only add concerning the aforesaid Answer of our Saviour's that if he had been the Most High God it seems he dissembled it at an occasion that required the speaking it out
great Generality and perhaps designedly indeterminable and if there lie invincible Difficulties and unanswerable Arguments not to say Demonstrations against the Platonick Trinitarian System Howbeit as we shall further see the Scripture must be own'd to be the only Rule herein to be sought to besides the clear and incontestable Dictates of Reason and the Trinitarians if they be sincere must acknowledge that their Plea of Antiquity is vain and frivolous None but Quacks can talk at Dr. Sherlock's rate that the whole Catholick Church in all Ages has been of his Sentiment or of the Sentiment of the present Trinitarians and that the Vnitarian Controversy may be decided by the Judgment of the ancient Ante-nicene Authors whose Writings have in part been suffered to come to our Hands It appears evidently that the Ante-nicene were not of the Opinion that is now termed Orthodox To evince which Position of ours it is indeed superfluous to add many more Proofs after what we have alledged out of these most ancient and famous Authors I shall therefore only add two or three Passages out of the following Writers which tho' not altogether so ancient as the foregoing yet come not so much short of it as to deserve to be wholly unregarded They were very eminent and learned Men. It cannot be doubted but that they knew what Doctrin in as well as somtime before their time was held as Orthodox and was requir'd in that rigorous Age to be held as such And it is credible they would not have publickly asserted any thing in these Matters that would then have drawn upon them the Censures of the Church in the Communion of which they flourished and in which they were desirous to be in great esteem Nevertheless it doth appear their Opinion as well as that of the afore-quoted Authors is very different from that of the present Platonick or Scholastick Trinitarians For instance then Arnobius declared in the Treatise he wrote to inform the Gentiles with the Truths of Christianity that Christians did indeed hold Christ to be a God but inferior to the Father and a lesser God than He who alone is the Almighty God Christ says he is a God who in the form of a Man spake to the World by the Command of the Principal God Adv. Gent. L. 2. p. 106. The Almighty God who is the only God at length sent out Christ Ib. p. 120. How could he have taught more plainly or more expresly that the Father alone is the Almighty God and the only God or the only Person that is God in the eminent sense of that word Not but that he might hold both Christ and the Holy Spirit to be also Divine Persons But 't is evident he reckons them to be of an inferior kind seeing he denies them to be the Almighty the Principal and Only God He makes them therefore Creatures tho' created Gods whether or no created out of the very Substance of the Almighty God He comes then very near to Arianism if he be not altogether Arian He looks upon the Almighty Father as the only Fountain of all Being and Perfection and as able not only to produce other Beings but to communicate to whom he will immense or vast Perfections and a Divine Nature tho' inferior to his because there can be but one Infinite and Almighty Being Wherefore all Creatures tho' never so Divine and Excellent can have but limited Perfections and must ever remain subject to the Almighty Now who doth not see that this is to assert but one God properly so called or but one who is the Almighty God the Principal or Supreme God and the Only God And is not that Vnitarianism Besides tho' Justin Martyr said that in the 2d Century the Holy Angels were worshipped particularly it may be by some Platonists Arnobius declares that in his time Christians thought it sufficient to worship God even God the Father the Principal God Howbeit says he to discharge the Worship of Divinity the Chief God is sufficient for us I say the Chief God the Father and Lord of all Things In him we worship whatsoever is to be worshipped For we have in him the very Head of Divinity from whence the Divinity of all Divine Things whatsoever is derived If the Platonick Trinitarians had always kept strictly to this Generality in their Terms of Communion there needed have been no Disagreement nor Division It is evident that in the second and third Centuries after that Justin Martyr and the other converted Philosophers had introduced their Platonism in the Christian Religion the Primitive Vnitarians were indeed commonly vilisied and opposed but yet the Platonists kept not all alike at the same distance from these but somewhat differed among themselves and allowed of that difference not being then agreed how much justly of Platonism was to be admitted or held necessary nor knowing how to determine a Matter that seemed so obscure and abstruse The Nature of the H. Ghost especially was then left undetermined The generality not only of the old Christians but even of the new Platonick Doctors own'd him to be but the Power and Inspiration of God or else took him for an Archangel and a created Spirit like the other Angels but above all the Angels And therefore if there were at those times any rigid Platonists that had much the same Notion that the present Trinitarians have of the H. Spirit they contented themselves covertly or modestly to assert or intimate their Opinion but durst not and could not attempt imperiously to condemn those that were not of their Sentiment We see the generality of the Ante-nicene agree that the H. Ghost is not God tho' some call him a Divine Person but none of them would have made difficulty so to have called any Angel those that called him the Power of God as Irenaeus and others yet expresly affirmed that he was not God and so it seems took him not to be a real Divine Person or a real Divine Being but an Act or an Influence and Inspiration of the the Divin Power or an Archangel or both or they knew not what And those that positively called him a Creature were not censuredeven by the highest Platonists of those times And as touching the Nature of the Son or Word of God it seems that then Semi-Arianism did most prevail among the Doctors even perhaps from the 2d Century but yet till the Council of Nice the suppos'd ancient Doctrin afterwards called Arianism was allowed of in the Church at least in a great measure and generally for a good while approved before For most probably many of those ancient Writings that were supressed after the Council of Nice as containing a Doctrin that was then in a great measure grown out of Date tho' the avowed Works of the most excellent learned Bishops of the Church asserted the Scriptural Sentiment for it seems at least the like to which Arius was condemn'd at Nice And we see that several of those Ante-nicene that
the contrary This may be a Sign that they searched after the Truth like other Men as well as they could which is very commendable and is every ones indispensible Duty But it is not the Character of those who are infallible and who must implicitely and absolately be followed as our Rule CHAP. IX A Second General Objection against the Unitarian System Answered THE next Objection on which the Trinitarians commonly lay great stress is That the Work of Redemption and what the Scripture ascribes to our Saviour is above the Capacity of a Man it being impossible for a Creature to become the Object of Worship and hear the Prayers of Men to make Satisfaction for Sins or reconcile God to these that have forfeited his Favour to know the Hearts to forgive Sins to govern the Vniverse to raise the Dead to judge the World and do whatsoever the Father doth In answering this this Reflection cannot but be premised that it is lamentable Men are usually so careless as not to inform themselves rightly of the Sentiment of those whom they condemn or are so unsincere as not fairly to represent it But most certainly this is the Case here As for my part I absolutely take party neither with the Socinians nor with the Arians but think it presumptuous to determine expresly a Mystery which the Scripture has left in a great Generality Howbeit I see plainly and am fully persuaded that the present Objection is wholly groundless and doth not in the least invalidate either of those Systems for it is founded on an either wilfully or otherwise erroneous and mistaken Supposition as if the Arians or Socinians held our Saviour to be a mere Creature or a mere Man Surely it is a Point of Justice and a Duty of Christian Charity not to misrepresent the Cause of any Party but to endeavour to take it in the best Sense and put upon it the favourablest Construction possible But the quite contrary is done in this Objection The Vnitarians therefore answer it thus According to our Sentiment Christ in the business of Salvation or Redemption is not left to work with the bare Strength and Capacity of a Man but is commissionated of God and by him constituted in Authority constantly enlightened and influenced by the Holy Spirit and directed and assisted by the Divine Wisdom and Power dwelling in him For we hold agreably to the Scripture that the Father assisting acting and dwelling in his Son by his Inspiration and the Influences of his Power and Wisdom the Fulness of the God-head inhabiting in him by its constant concurrence enables him to perform all that he is appointed to do Christ therefore in the Execution of his Office is not to be considered as a mere Creature but as a Creature in and by which God works and which acts for God and most eminently represents God and is most intimately possible one with God There is no Vnitarian but holds all this believing that by the said Means there is as strict an Union betwixt the God-head and Christ as there can be betwixt God and a Creature This is particularly what the Arians mean in giving the title of God to our Lord Jesus Christ And this especially is what the Socinians intimate by their seemingly strange Saying that Christ was made God Homo Deus factus What Advantage then over the Vnitarians have the Trinitarians by their Notion of the Incarnation of a supposed Second Divine Person Can any thing be done by a Man supposed Hypostatically or Personally United with a Second Divine Person that cannot be performed by a Man in whom the Fulness of the God-head dwells in the manner aforesaid Since it is the God-head dwelling in Christ that doth the Marvellous Works can he not do whatsoever God pleases and whatsoever God can do And indeed what can the Trinitarians mean by their Term of the Hypostatical Vnion of a Divine Person with Christ's Human Nature but this In-dwelling of the God-head in the Man Christ Jesus Dr. Sherlock at the 210th and 211th Pages of his Answer to the Bishop of Gloucester's Book gives the true Description of the Trinitarian Notion of the Incarnation in these Words The perfect Wisdom and Goodness of our Saviour was not mere Human Nature tho' as innocent and perfect as Human Nature can be in this World but the Divinity dwelling and acting in Human Nature influencing and guiding all its Motions as the Soul governs the Body for this is a true Notion of a God Incarnate that God lives and acts in Human Nature and is the Principle of all its Actions and Motions And is there any thing here that the Vnitarians do not hold Do they assert that Christ did any thing without the Divine Motions or without God's Guidance and Acting in him They firmly believe that the Man Christ Jesus readily and willingly assented to the whole Will of God and that God constantly assisted him and thus wrought in and by him all the Super-natural Works that Christ did What colour of reason then have the Trinitarians to pretend that the Work of Redemption surpasses the Capacity which the Vnitarians ascribe to Christ It is plain that since the Vnitarians assert that God constantly influences and guides assists and acts in and by Christ which it seems is the Summ of what the Trinitarians themselves hold which expresly is all that the Scripture teaches of the Union between God and Christ and which most certainly suffices to impower Christ to do whatsoever God can do the Dispute and Quarrel here of the Trinitarians with the Vnitarians is altogether groundless and unwarrantable We have all the reason imaginable to love God with all our Soul and to be eternally thankful to his Divine Majesty for thus addressing himself to us miserable Sinners wonderfully speaking and acting in and by his Son Christ Jesus to reconcile the World unto himself and enabling him to Save to the uttermost all those that come to God thro' him As was said this is all that the Scripture expresly teaches us concerning this Matter The Scripture represents God doing all things for Christ upon his request The Trinitarians therefore cannot justly find fault with the Doctrin of the Vnitarians concerning our Saviour's Person But the Vnitarians are bound to reject what the Trinitarians add thereto not only without express Authority of Scripture but contrary to the clearest Light of Scripture and Reason Altho' God by the Influence of his Divine Wisdom and Power dwells in Christ and is represented as constantly assisting him and acting in and by him yet the Scripture no where says that God or the Father and Christ make but one Person It cannot be imagined and the Trinitarians themselves do not assert that by God's dwelling in Christ is meant any more than God's constant guiding and assisting him Now it no way follows that because a Son willeth all that his Father willeth and the Father constantly guides and assists his Son therefore the Father and
not to believe him Our own Reason in such a Case shews us that seeing we are credibly assured he knows these things not only better than We but perfectly well it is reasonable to submit all our Difficulties to his Testimony It is then most evident that in some Cases the most express Contradictions ought not in Reason to hinder our belief For We believe that Matter either is Divisible infinitely or is not Divisible infinitely tho' it is well known there are manifest Demonstrations against either of those Systems We firmly believe there is such a thing as Eternity tho' which way imaginable soever We conceive it to be We find therein unavoidable Contradictions We believe that either there is a Vacuum or no Vacuum tho' either seem absolutely Impossible And if We knew an infallible Judge in these Matters We would believe him and should think We ought in Reason to believe him whether he told Us there is a Vacuum or told Us there is no Vacuum c. It appears therefore that not only We are ready to believe but even that we actually believe in some Cases what evidently seems to Us to be contradictory and impossible Not that what is truely contradictory can be supposed to be possible But We must own some things may seem to Us to be truely contradictory which really are not so And therefore if a Judge credibly known to be infallible should tell us that that is not contradictory which seems to be so to Us We ought in reason to believe him Now wherein is it likely We may sooner be puzled with seeming Contradictions than in the most sublime and incomprehensible Subject the eternal the infinite the necessary and divine Being And who in reason can be thought a more credible and competent Judge of these things than Almighty God Himself We are sensible that in some Cases We must believe some things to be true which yet after all our best reasonings and inquiries exprefly seem contradictory and impossible And shall We not believe the Trinitarian System because of some seeming Contradictions tho' God Almighty should assure Us it is true What reason can there be for such a Dealing or how can We reconcile it with our own avow'd and incontestable Measures in many instances The Rule of Reason then undoubtedly implies that We are to follow what after the best search We are capable of appears the most evident notwithstanding all the Difficulties which otherwise the greatest Credibility may seem to be attended with and that there can be nothing more credible and no greater or surer Evidence than the assured Testimony of the Infallible God Thus We may reconcile together those excellent Directions of Holy Scripture in Vnderstanding to be Men to prove all things and to judge 1 Cor. 10.15 1 Thess 5.21 1 Cor. 14.20 and yet not to lean to our own Vnderstanding Prov. 3.5 That is not to stick to our own imperfect Imaginations but to consider most exactly what Right Reason after the most sincere and careful atention leads Us to and inviolably to follow that The Vnitarians therefore are unreasonable to seek any excuse not to believe the Trinitarian System if it be taught in the Word of God And those Trinitarians take more trouble than needs or than can be effectual who content not themselves to prove the Doctrin of the Trinity out of the Scripture but attempt to reconcile it to Reason There can be nothing more reasonable than to believe when God speaks whatever Difficulties our own weak and shallow Imaginations may find in the Subject-Matter of the otherwise credibly attested Divine Revelation But some Trinitarians as well as the Vnitarians seem to labour under this Prepossession that Men are to believe nothing of what God tells Us unless it can be shewn to be free from all Difficulties or unless all the Objections be answered that Human Reason can make against it Let it but be proved that God has said a thing and then tho' it be attended with never so great and many seeming Contradictions and Impossibilities it suffices Us to hold that it is a Mystery which We are to believe so far as We can find that God has revealed it Here it is most evidently our reasonable Service to sacrifice our Human Understanding to Divine Faith But this is a Point which the Vnitarians seem not to have duely considered Yet they might easily observe that God has sown Difficulties in most things in this State of Imperfection and Probation to make Men both humble and diligent or religiously industrious and to try or manifest who will be sincere and careful in the Momentous Inquiry and Search after the Truth which incontestably is of the greatest Concernment to Us to weigh as it deserves The not attending to the right use of Reason herein is what makes Men not only Vnitarians but Deists and even Atheists Some will believe no Spirit because it seems a Contradiction that what is not Material should act upon Matter They believe no God but hold the World to be of itself because they do not conceive that Something can be made out of Nothing nor are able to imagine how it is possible that what is absolutely Immaterial should produce Matter and because they do not see or understand with what Tools as well as with what Materials God made the World And some reject Revelation on pretence that there are Prophecies in Scripture and God is in it represented as Concerning himself with Men whereas if he did so they think he would not permit Evil if he could hinder it and it seems to them to be a Contradiction to fore-see certainly Future Contingencies This shews Us that We ought to be truely humble and not wise in our own conceits and that if We will not expose our selves to Error concerning Sublime Matters We are not rashly to determine those things to be impossible which to our Reason seem most strange and wonderful This is the First Branch of the Trinitarian Argument The Second is 2. That the Vnitarian Interpretations imply some most unlikely Assertions and are besides that forced and unnatural and so remote from the obvious Import of the Words that 't is not to be conceiv'd the generality of Christians can understand the Scripture in that Sense The Vnitarians to avoid the Difficulties of the Trinitarian System run to other seemingly as great Difficulties What can for instance seem more impossible than those Assertions that a Creature can perform the Office of a Creator which at least one would think is to set up two Gods one Superior and one Inferior besides the Holy Ghost or that the most excellent Creature as like God as possible and in whom the Fulness of the God-head dwells can ever need the Assistance and Ministry of Angels by the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God meaning both the Chief and under him the whole Body of Angels or that by the Spirit understanding the Divine Power and the essential Virtue and as
it were a Property or a Faculty of God Christ a Man and a Creature should have the Preheminence over it and be named before it and be honour'd above it If these things are unaccountable what do the Vnitarians get by their differing from the Trinitarians Then the remoteness of the Vnitarian Interpretations may in particular be argued by these Instances When the generality of Christians read these Texts that the Word is God and that by him all things whether in Heaven or Earth were made and created is it likely that it will come into their minds that thereby is meant that all things were New-modelled by Christ or that supposing that all things were created by him yet he is but a Creature that bears the Name of God If these Senses are so far from being obvious that we may imagine they can scarce so much as enter into the thoughts of any ordinary Christians is it credible that they are the true Meaning of those Texts For can We think the Holy Writers have so expressed themselves as that it should not be possible for the greatest part of Men to understand them We may then be confident 3. That several Texts of Scripture whether put together or taken asunder amount to a firm Evidence of the Trinitarian Sentiment Besides those aforementioned these seem express which call Christ by way of eminency the Son of God and which not only shew that Christ may and is to be Pray'd to but declare that God will have Men Honour the Son even as they Honour the Father Which it seems after all that the Vnitarians have said concerning the Worship of the Man Jesus Christ is an invincible Demonstration that the Son is God like the Father In fine the Trinitarians esteem all these Arguments may also be strength'ned by the following and last proposed Consideration 4. That it seems there is no express Text for the Vnitarian Doctrin or against the Trinitarians If the Vnitarians will confute the Trinitarian System let them produce any decisive Text for their Sentiment thereby they will incontestably shew that all the Texts which the Trinitarians alledge must be understood in the Vnitarian Sense but this the Trinitarians do defy the Vnitarians to do This is so weighty a Consideration that Dr. Sherlock thinks sit to inculcate and repeat it a great many times in his last Book intituled The Scripture-Proofs of our Saviour's Divinity explain'd c. To this purpose for instance Page 47. How harsh and unusual soever the Expositions of the Vnitarians might appear I should allow them to be very Reasonable had they first well prov'd that Christ is but a Creature that is in the Vnitarian Sense and not the eternal and almighty God himself for that alone would be reason enough to attribute nothing to him which cannot belong to a Creature Page 50. We must understand Words in a proper and natural Sense where there is no apparent reason for a Figure and here is none to take figuratively as the Vnitarians do these words God and Son of God when applied to Christ unless they think fit to assign his being a mere Creature Which indeed would be a very good reason could they prove that Christ is but a Creature Page 55. Could any Text be produced that proves Christ to be but a Creature that is the Dr. must mean as was before remark'd but such a Creature as the Vnitarians hold as most eminently acts for God represents God and is assisted of and united to God according to the Vnitarian System it would put an end to this Controversy and either excuse or justify all their other Interpretations of Scripture how harsh soever they might otherwise appear Page 58. The whole Controversy may be put upon this Issue if they can confute ours or establish their own Interpretations of Scripture so as to prove ours to be necessarily false and theirs consequently necessarily true c. CHAP. XI An Answer to the First Branch of the Objection TO the Four Branches of the foregoing Argument the Vnitarians answer in these Four Particulars 1. The Vnitarians do not lay the whole stress of their Cause upon Arguments drawn from Reason yet very justly on the other hand they think like all Protestants that Reason ought not wholly to be Slighted 2. They maintain that none of their Assertions are uncredible and that their Interpretations are rational and agreeable to the stile and current of Scripture and therefore natural and obvious enough 3. It is possible and easy and warrantable to understand in an Vnitarian Sense all the Texts which the Trinitarians alledge for their Sentiment 4. The Vnitarians produce several Texts of Scripture which seem express and most evident for the Vnitarian System it manifestly appearing that they are not susceptible of any other tolerable Sense or that they cannot tolerably be reconciled to the Trinitarian Sentiment so that if Men do not own and discern the force of them it seems it must be either because they make no attention to them or because they are moved and acted by Passion blinded by Prejudice and Partiality and resolved not to acknowledge the Truth 1. The Vnitarians do not lay the whole stress of their Cause upon Arguments drawn from Reason yet very justly on the other hand they think like all Protestants that Reason ought not wholly to be Slighted If this Subject be duly consider'd it will be found that Protestants and Vnitarians do not differ in Principles concerning this Question What Vse of Reason ought to be allowed in Matters of Religion Now if it be so there can be nothing less pertinent than to make a Dispute about it or to pretend a Difference where there is none It is as if a Papist should make long Harangues to Protestants to prove that Scripture is the Word of God that God cannot be suppos'd willing to deceive Men and that therefore we must heartily assent to and firmly believe whatsoever is contain'd in the Bible Why Man What Protestant is there that knows not this or that denies it Protestants profess to believe the Holy Scripture as much to the full as any Member of the Church of Rome doth Pretty then make no Controversy about that Matter But if thou wilt do any thing to the purpose shew that Protestants reject some Doctrines certainly taught in God's Word In like manner Vnitarians maintain that a Protestant is out of the way who Quarrels with them about the Vse of Reason and they challenge him to shew that they make any other Use of it than Protestants themselves make in Matters of Religion So that whenever Protestants Quarrel with the Vnitarian Principles with relation to this Point they deviate from their own Rule and accuse their own Measures than which nothing can be more unreasonable and unwarrantable Either make not Use of the Principle or Quarrel not at a like Use of it If after all you think that Vnitarians make a different Use of Reason I say a different Use in
to our Decisions and profess the eternal Generation three Persons in one God-head and the Equality of the Son and Spirit with the Father which is to judge for others in a most abstruse and obscure Subject and to require of them as Terms of Union to act against their Conscience as the generality of them believe and be hypocrites and utter lies and grosly equivocate in the greatest Solemnities of Religion whereby many Souls may be caused to perish for whom Christ died See The Consequences of the Modalists System The Athanasian and Nicene Creeds are too express or particular and magisterial for so subling Speculations left in so great a Generality as we see these are in Scripture We have no right therefore to set up such magisterial imperious Terms of Communion according to the Protestant Principles as it appears from what has been said but We are necessarily oblig'd to keep to the Terms of Church-Vnion that we have here described seeing it appears that We are to receive the Vnitarians and not to drive them away out of our Communion it being incontestable upon impartial consideration that the Vnitarian Controversy is of that nature that Men may be Vnitarians and be very sincere and inquisitive and consequently not to be rejected and it being to be remarked that the Generality of the Scripture-Terms is sufficient and safe from the whole it being necessarily to be inferred in the last place IV. That this Generality in Terms of Church-Vnion is a safe Method in so intricate a Matter and is incontestably sufficient all being certainly worshipped when God in general is directly and ultimately Prayed to that is to be adored with Supreme Worship and the Mediatory Honour due to our Saviour being paid him when our Petitions are put up in the Name of Christ as our Intercessor and Redeemer most beloved of God and exalted at God's Right Hand and so is addressed to as the Mediator of the New Covenant as was said In most intricate Matters that certainly cannot but be most safe which is subject to the least Inconveniencies and which is in some measure sufficient And incontestably it is sufficient to worship God with Supreme Worship for all that is God is Worshipped when God in general is Worshipped Wherefore the generality of the Reformed Churches content themselves to address their Prayers in general to God And some of the most Learned Trinitarians maintain that it is not lawful to do otherwise but that formal Addresses to different Most Supreme Persons in Divine Worship set up different Objects of Supreme Worship For the same reasons in the Publick Terms of Vnion a general Profession of the Doctrine of the Trinity in the general Expressions of Scripture is both the safest and is certainly sufficient And all this doth even necessarily follow from the 1st and 2d Inferences For there it appears that God absolutely requires no more for Terms of Vnion What God therefore is content with to that end is to that end incontestably safest as well as sufficient so that if Men instead of taking upon them to be Magisterial Judges would have stuck to the Latitude and Generality of Scripture for Terms of Agreement and Union all had been well We must needs then own that the Scripture-Expressions to be adhered to in Terms of Church-Vnion at least will suffice to all the indispensibly necessary ends of Salvation and that consequently it is sufficient in general to know and believe that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit and Inspiration and Power of God and that Christ is the Only-Begotten Son of God in whom the Fulness of the God-head that may be communicated and that is an Influence of all the Divine Perfections most intimately dwells and that he is in some sense God It is evident that this System furnishes the same Motives to love God and Christ and to practise the Precepts of the Gospel that the other System doth For if one Divine Person with the Influences and Assistances of his Wisdom and Power be suppos'd to do together with Christ all that belongs to our Salvation have we the less reason to be thankful to God and Christ and to hearken to the Gospel-Injunctions than if we suppos'd three Divine Persons or called God three Persons It is as effectual therefore to the ends of Christianity to hold that the Spirit is the Power of God and that Christ most eminently acts for God and is most intimately united with God by the means of the Divine Influence dwelling in him so that when Christ is obey'd and lov'd thereby God is actually lov'd and obey'd Christ being thus lookt upon both as most excellently and most extraordinarily representing God and as being in some sense God Many Trinitarians do expresly assert that the Second Person is but a continual Acting of the Father Why may not the same be said of the Holy Spirit and Inspiration Or why may not the Word and the Spirit be stiled Influences as well as Acts of the Father Howbeit We may certainly very fitly conclude this Subject with the Words of the late Dr. Sherlock at the 7th Page of that Book of his intituled The Present State of the Socinian Controversy where concerning the human and unscriptural Expressions three Persons Of the same Substance Essence and the like he has this judicious remark The Catholick Faith does not depend upon the use of these terms for it was before them Now this is all that I plead for that these and the like unscriptural terms be not lookt upon as necessary for Christian-Communion but that Christians may be so reasonable and just as to Vnite in the Generality of the Expressions of Scripture which it is evident God has judg'd sufficient since He thought fit to use them as He has done that is in the Generality of which they appear susceptible Incontestably then 't is neither Necessary nor indeed consequently Safe nor Just in such most Intricate Matters to go beyond the very express Words of Scripture in Terms and Acts of Church-Communion Besides Are not the Tares as well as Wheat to be suffered in the Church by Christ's Order Math. 13.30 The Scripture-Latitude must needs therefore be THE TERMS OF UNION We need not and ought not to be more express or determining and imposing than the Scripture Tho' the Person of Christ were not fully known yet notwithstanding that there is no other Name by which Penitent Men are Saved He may be the Saviour of all them in every Nation who do righteousness and for his Sake God may accept of their sincere Repentance and Obedience As Amyraldus judiciously observed if a Prince has been graciously pleased to ransom a Captive or pay the Debts of a Poor Prisoner that Redeemed one is not the less ransomed and made free tho' he do not perfectly or exactly know all that belongs to the Person by whom he is redeemed all that is reasonably and indispensably requisite being that he should do what he can to
THE SCRIPTURE-TERMS OF CHURCH-UNION With respect to the Doctrin of the TRINITY CONFIRMED By the Vnitarian Explications of the Beginning of St. John 's Gospel Together with the Answers of the Unitarians to the Chief Objections made against them Whereby it appears that Men may be Vnitarians and Sincere and Inquisitive and that they ought not to be excluded out of the Church-Communion WITH A POST-SCRIPT Wherein the Divinity of Christ and of the Holy Ghost according to the Generality of the Terms of Scripture is shewn not to be Inconsistent with the Vnitarian Systems Most Earnestly and Humbly Offered to the Consideration of those on whom 't is most particularly incumbent to examin these Matters By A. L. Author of the Irenicum Magnum c. LONDON Printed as abovementioned to be communicated to learned and inquisitive Persons and those who are most obliged to inquire into these Points Some TEXTS Authorising the Subject of this Writing PRove all things 1 Thess 5.21 Be ready to give an Answer to every Man that asketh you a Reason c 1 Pet. 3.15 Whereto we have attained let us walk by the same Rule Phil. 3.16 To the Law and to the Testimony c. Isa 8.20 Search the Scriptures John 5.39 Let us follow after the things which make for Peace Rom. 14.19 That I might by all means Save some 1 Cor. 9.22 Let us not therefore judge one another any more Rom. 14.13 What I tell you in Darkness that speak you in Light and what ye hear in the Ear that Preach ye upon the House tops Matt. 10.27 Overcome Evil with Good Rom. 12.21 To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is Sin Jam. 4.17 Who hold the Truth in Vnrighteousness Rom. 1.18 Whosoevâ—â— shall be ashamed of Me and of my Words of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when 〈◊〉 â—â—â—eth in the Glory of his Father Mark 8.38 They are the Enemies of the Cross of Christ Phil. 3.18 Is a Candle to be put under a Bushel Mark 4.21 Relieve the Oppressed Isa 1.17 We ought to obey God Acts 5.29 Chusing rather to suffer affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasuâ—â—â— of Sin for a season Hebr. 11.25 If the Blind lead the Blind both shall fall into the Ditch Matt. 15.14 In Vnderstanding be Men 1 Cor. 14.20 They began to make excuse Luk. 14.18 Wherefore when I came was there no Man Isa 50.2 They came not to the Help of the Lord Judg. 5.23 I pray God that it may not be laid to their Charge 2 Tim. 4.16 God has chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise 1 Cor. 1.27 Truth faileth and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a Prey And the Lord saw it and it dâ—spleased him that there was no Judgment And he saw that there was no Man and wondered that there was no Intercessour Isa 59.15.16 Whosoever shall not hear your words verily I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for the Land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the Day of Judgment than for them Matt 10.14 15. Now they have no Cloak for their Sin John 15.22 Let us therefore fear lest a Promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it Hebr. 4.1 I speak as to wise Men 1 Cor. 10.15 Whether in pretence or in truth Christ is Preached Phil. 1.18 He therefore that despiseth despiseth not Man but God 1 Thess 4.8 O that the Salvation were come to Israel Ps 14.7 We hid our Faces from him Isa 53.3 Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord. Ps 118.26 God has made him both Lord and Christ Acts 2.36 The Son can do nothing of himself John 5.19 The Father loveth the Son and has given all things into his hand John 3.35 That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow to the Glory of the Father Phil. 2.10 11. The TITLES of the CHAPTERS I. THE Occasion and Design of this Paper Page 1. II. The Socinian Explication of the Beginning of St. John's Gospel p. 3. III. A Continuation of the Socinian Explication of the Beginning of St. John's Gospel p. 10. IV. The Arian System p. 15. V. The Answers of the Unitarians to the Chief Objections commonly made against their Expositions in general and first the Answer to the Objected Antiquity and Vniversality of the Trinitarian Sentiment p. 18. VI. A Continuation of the Answer to the first Objection p. 25. VII A Farther Continuation of the Answer to the first Objection p. 31. VIII The Conclusion of the Answer to the first Objection p. 46. IX A Second general Objection against the Unitarian System Answered p. 50. X. A Third general Objection stated consisting of Four Branches p. 60. XI An Answer to the first Branch of the Objection p. 65. XII An Answer to the second Branch of the Objection p. 69. XIII An Answer to the third Branch of the Objection p. 79. XIV An Answer to the fourth Branch of the Objection p. 88. XV. The Inferences most incontestably following from the whole foregoing Discourse and the Gospel-Terms of Communion p. 96. A Post-Script p. 104. A Table of the Chief Matters Treated of in each Chapter In CHAPTER I. THAT the Design of this Book is not to set up the Unitarian Sentiment but to vindicate and assert the Generality or Latitude of the Scripture Terms of Church-Communion with respect to such most intricate Points of Speculation p. 1. That there are some things exprest in a great Generality and left extremely Obscure in Scripture on purpose to try both our Industry and Sincerity and our Charity Christian Prudence and Moderation p. 1. 2. That the Unitarian Controversy is of that Nature that Men may be Unitarians and sincere and inquisitive and that the Unitarians therefore ought not to be excluded out of the Church-Communion p. 2. 3. In CHAP. II. In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God explain'd p. 3. 4. 5. The reason of Christ's being called the Word p. 5. In what sense Christ the Word is called God or a God p. 6. c. In CHAP. III. The Creation by this Word explained p. 11. 12. The Word was Flesh explained p. 12. 13. The remaining Verses explained p 14. 15. In CHAP. IV. The Proofs of the Arian System p. 15. The Arian Notion of the Word viz. That thereby is meant the Chief Officer or Minister of God the first and most excellent Creature a most sublime Spirit in some respect like the Holy Spirits or Holy Angels and Archangels but yet of another kind than they and surpassing in excellency all other created Spirits being extraordinarily united to and assisted by the Divine Wisdom and the whole God-head that this Divine Spirit is as it were the Mouth of God or his Word-bearer and that in process of time taking Flesh of the Virgin Mary by the Power of God it became the Soul of the Messiah p.
the other wherefore we must explaine one Place of Scripture by another And we are to consider that St. John is writing the History of the Gospel of Christ We may therefore be sure that by the beginning here spoken of is meant the beginning of the New Dispensation that succeeded the Mosaical Oeconomy and that that New Dispensation began by the Preaching of the immediate Forerunner of the Saviour of the World For we see St. Mark calls that the beginning of the Gospel And thus 't is evident St. John begins his History by our Saviour's Instalment or his Entering into his Office which was at that time when John the Baptist was Baptizing and when our Saviour being Thirty Years Old was Baptized of him The Word The same term often denotes several things By the Spirit for instance several things are signified In like manner by the Word several things may be implied What here may be particularly meant thereby we are carefully to consiâ—er If every thing be duly weigh'd it will appear that our Evangelist to go on with his Allusion calls the Author of the New Creation by the Name of the Instrumental Cause to which the Old is attributed Heaven and Earth being represented in the First Chapter of Genesis as created by the Word of God And he had warrant enough to extend the Allusion so far and to bestow that Title to our Saviour seeing it was not unusual to give it to the Chief Officers of Princes See Grotius De Jure Belli et Pacis Lib. 2. Cap. 8. § 5. and seeing the Heavenly Messengers of God sent to execute his Commandments upon Earth were known to the Jews under the Name of his Word Ps 107.20 Wisd 18.15 16. Which last is the Angel by whom God smote the First-born of Egypt and who is call'd the Destroyer Exod. 12.23 which Name appears to be the Designation of the Office of an Angel 1 Chron. 21.12 The Author of the Wisdom of Solomon calls him the Almighty Word of God according to his most eloquent and figurative Stile not only to denote the Eminency of that Angel who was one of them that stand before the Divine Throne but also to declare his Swiftness and Ability in the executing his Commission and to illustrate the Fierceness of his Errand Philo calls the Angels Logous the Words of God as Dr. Allix himself observes There is nothing more common in Scripture than to put the Abstract for the Concrete as we see our Lord Jesus Christ constantly calls himself the Way the Truth the Life meaning that He shews the Way to Salvation that He teaches the Truth that He procures Eternal Life to all them that will obey Him By the same Figure He is call'd the Word that being as much as to say that He is He who brings the Word of God concerning the Eternal Gospel and who is commissionated to do and to declare the Will of God with respect to the Reconciliation of Fallen Mankind Thus Origen in Joh. 1. interprets it Seeing Christ is call'd the Light by reason of his Enlightning the World it is plain He is call'd the Word upon the Account of his Office c. See the Accounts why Christ is called the Word judiciously given by Pasor in his Manuale upon the word Logos and by Beza in his Annotations on this First Verse of the First Chapter of St. John's Gospel where he observes that Nazianzen and dustin give the same Reason with Origen why Christ is called the Word or God's Word-Bearer by excellency or the most Eminent Minister and Executor of God's Commands Was. The Word was in the beginning of the New Oeconomy That is to say While John the Baptist was Preaching to the Jews Christ was then in the World and was then the Person whom God intended and took for his Chief Word-Bearer And the Word was with God This design'd Embassador of God and Interpreter of the whole Will of God in whom the Divine Wisdom and Authority did most Eminently reside and most Conspicuously shine who was all his Life-time most Extraordinarily Inspir'd and Assisted of the Holy-Ghost and of whom it was foretold before his Nativity that He should be a Prince and a Saviour that He should Save his People from their Sins and that of his Kingdom there should be no End the World having been created for him that thereby God might be glorifiedâ— this most Illustrious Person was upon the Entering on his Office caught up to the Highest Heaven that He might behold the Glory to which he was called that He might converse with God in the eminentest Place and with the brightest Circumstances of Glory that He might there be most Solemnly endued with the Divine Wisdom and Power and that He might there have the Honour to receive immediately from God his Commission and to be most particularly taught by God Himself what he was to do and suffer and how much reason there was for him constantly to undergo and perform all this See John 12.49 50. John 8.38 John 6.51 c. Thus In the beginning the Word was with God whether both in his Body and Soul or with his Soul only it matters not for the Mind properly is the Man The Spirit of the Holy Jesus was then taken up into the Highest Heaven For he sais himself expresly John 3.13 that no Man before Ascended up to that Heaven but He who came down from thence even the Son of Man by excellency who was in Heaven or had been caught up into Heaven For every one that understands the Original knows that the Participle which here our Version hath Translated is may as well be Translated was And accordingly it is thus Translated by Beza Erasmus Camerarius and others on the Place John 3.13 And the Word was God And this Holy and Immaculate Person that was to be the Great Messenger of the Gospel and the Author and Procurer of Salvation was then Installed in his Office He was then Ordained and Sanctified and Sent into the World He was Solemnly constituted the Messiah He was appointed the Chief of the Chief of the Arch-angels as well as of the rest of the Angels He was made partaker as much as possible of the Divine Nature and particularly of the Divine Wisdom and Divine Power on certain conditions only his fuller communicating to others the Divine Spirit was reserv'd to his actual Reigning in Heaven after his Resurrection and most Glorious Ascension In a word He was declared to be upon the performing of his Undertaking the Heir and Lord of every Creature He was then on these Terms Proclaim'd God's First Minister He was thus even then made a Prince a Lord a Sovereign acting for God and by God's Commission And that is what the term God often signifies in Scripture That most Noble and Glorious Name is there given to Persons commissionated by God in most eminent Stations not only because they are God's Chief Ministers but because acting for and as it were
probably Ireneus was an Arian or at most a Semi-Arian What Grotius says of the Occasion of St. John's writting this Gospel may be seen in his Annotations The Vnitarians consistently to their System may hold all that he there says of the Word Verse 15. John the Baptist bare witness of him saying This is he of whom I spake He that cometh after me is preferred before me for he is before me As if the Baptist had said Tho' then this Man as it is at the 30th Verse that cometh after me enters upon his Office but when I have almost done mine yet he is called to an Higher Office and Dignity than mine for he is my Superior my Lord and my Prince he is the Messiah the Saviour of the World a most Holy Man the Son of God the designed Sovereign of the Universe and I am but his Servant and Harbinger Whereas the Vulgate has translated This WAS he of whom I spake Beza shews there is no reason but that it may be rendred This IS he In like manner we need not read he WAS before me but he IS Thus it runs more naturally This is he of whom I spake or said He that cometh after me is preferred before me for he is before me Is preferred before me That is then is preferred to an Higher Office and Dignity than mine Which saying the Baptist explains tho' somewhat obscurely as are expressed all the like Mysteries on the infallible understanding of which most credibly Salvation depends not and which seem intended to try our Humility and Moderation as well as our Attention and Industry by adding For he is before me Before me Or as it is in the Original Protos mou Princeps meus My Primate the designed Head and Saviour of the Church and Lord of Men and Angels And this explains and particularizes or intimates how Christ's Office is greater than that of the Baptist's See Erasmus and Grotius upon the Place Verse 18. Which is in the Bosom of the Father Or which WAS or has been namely when immediately before his entering on his Office Christ was taken up into the Highest Heavens See John 3.13 Sometimes that Phrase to be in the bosom signifies to be most Dear See Numb 11.12 Deut. 13.6 By these remarks and hypotheses the Socinians conceive the beginning of St. John's Gospel is made plain and intelligible And they believe that by the same means by using the like care and attention all the other Texts which the Trinitarians object may also be made to appear consistent with the Unity of God with the whole Scripture and with Reason CHAP. IV. The ARIAN System THE Arians do not much dislike the foregoing Exposition excepting that they are persuaded it is short as to these Particulars in that the Socinians do not hold our Saviour's Soul to have prae-existed before its Conception and consequently do not admit it to have been an Instrument in the first Creation of the World But the Arians maintain both these Points It is true say they the Word the Son of God by excellency is a Creature tho' most intimately assisted of God which the Socinians do not deny Christ is a true Man made up of a Body and Soul only and not of an absolutely eternal Hypostasis also or infinite Person of the same numerical Essence with the Father But then say they this Man's Soul was not only before Abraham but even was the first Created Spirit John 17.5 For so the Scripture calls him expresly the First-born of every Creature or the Beginning of the Creation of God and terms him by eminency the Image of the invisible God Col. 1.15 Revel 3.14 c. Moreover it is asserted that by him God made the Worlds Heb. 1.2 And St. John says positively that without him was not any thing made that was made John 1.3 Which expressions seem too extensive to be restrained to the New-Creation only All things then were made by him And therefore the First-born of every Creature must be so transcendently Excellent as incomparably farther to surpass originally all Men and Angels in Excellency of Nature Wisdom and Power than they surpass the meanest of the Brute Beasts In a word the Arians believe that that Holy Spirit whom the Scripture calls the First-Born and who in process of time was made the Soul of the Messiah is originally as Perfect a Being and as like unto God as Divine and Almighty Power could produce and as can possibly be imagined salving the Unity of God seeing it is said he had a Part in the Creation of the World in which God most efficaciously assisted him and it is represented as the highest Liberality to Mankind that God gave his Son to Redeem Men. The Arians then say that the First-Bern is Omâ—â—â—ousian or as like the Divine Essence beside that he is as much assisted by the Divine Nature as it is possible for a Creature to be And they believe he was produced in the Duration of Eternity and before Time that is to say before the Creation of the World And in that sense like the Semi-Arians they will not scruple to say that the First-born is Eternal so it be remembred that he was made and that he is not an uncreated Being it being impossible there should be two uncreated Beings or two Gods in the proper sense of the word But the First-born is a God next to God and as Eternal as it is possible for the Excellentest Creature to be If it be asked how the First-born could be Instrumental in the making of Angels 〈◊〉 may be answered that a Part might be assigned to him therein that we know not 〈…〉 has been held by many that the Souls of Men are produced by the Parents Iâ— so it cannot be thought impossible but that God might have endued the most excellent created Spirit with Power to Produce other Spirits But perhaps Angels have fine Vehicles which are Part of their Being as a Human Body is Part of a Man And then the First-born might be assisting in the preparing of these Vehicles when God had Created the Substance thereof When the First-born was created then was also another eminent Spirit or other eminent Spirits according to some Modern Arians produced but inferior to him and called in Scripture the Holy Spirit Thus far the Arians hold It may be that by this or these last not only an Archangel or the Archangels 1. Tim. 5.21 but the whole Body of Angels is to be understood for they often seem to be meant when the Scripture speaks of the Holy Spirit And if so they also were instrumental in the Creation of the World as well as the First-born tho' not so eminently as he but under him Which doth not import that the Angels or the First-born produced Creatures into being out of Nothing But the Chaos being created or prepared by Almighty God then for reasons not perfectly known to us God thought good to set the First born and the Holy
God as well as Solomon Ps 45. and with much greater reason We cannot better conclude this Article than with two Observations in Dr. Bull 's Book Judicium Ecclesiae In the first Ages of Christianity it was a great Controversy between some Christians and the Jews whether the Messias according to the descriptions given of him in the Old Testament is to be God or a Man only Those Christians believed He is represented in the Old Testament as God or a God the Jews as a mere Man Judic Eccl. p. 15 16. And at p. 21. the Dr. adds Our Saviour puts this Question to the Pharisees Whose Son is Christ They answered says the Text the Son of David But if Christ says our Saviour again is the Son of David why then doth David call him Lord The Evangelist remarks hereupon they were not able to answer him a word But had they known any thing of the Divinity of the Messias the Solution of the proposed Difficulty had been most easy and obvious to ' em We may then conclude the Jews believed only that the Christ was to be a Great King in this World but not a Great King in the next and much less did they imagin He should be God in a Superior Sense than this whether in the Arian or Tritheistick Sense So that the Generality of the Jews were as certainly Vnitarians as the Generality of the Heathens were Polytheists And as for the Conceits of the objected Philosophers we have seen that their Speculations are of as little Importance and Authority as they are mysterious and uncertain obscure and unintelligible 2. The Passages in Pliny's Letter and in the Dialogue intituled Philopatris are incontestably invalid Arguments The Passage in Pliny's Letter so much objected to the Vnitarians is that he says Christians in their Meetings Sang Hymns to Christ ut Deo as being a God To this the Vnitarians give the following answers First it is probable that Passage is corrupted and instead of ut Deo we should read et Deo for so it was in the Copies in Tertullian's time Tertul. Apol. adv Gentes C. 3. And then the Meaning being that Christians Sang Hymns to Christ AND to God that is so far from implying that they held Christ to be God Almighty himself that it shews the contrary Christ being there distinguished from God And his being joyned with God in Hymns Sang to both their Praise argues no more his being God himself than it would argue that Jael is God because she is blessed as well as God in the same Psalm of Praise Judg. 5.2 Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel And at the 24th Verse Blessed above Women shall Jael be Deborah also her self the Composer of this Hymn and Barack the Governors of Israel and the Princes of Issachar are praised at the 7th 9th 12th and 15th Verses Thus in the 5th Chapter of the Revelations Men and Angels are represented Singing Hymns both to God and Christ saying Blessing Honor Glory and Power be unto Him that siteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever Worthy is the Lamb that was Slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honor and Glory and Blessing And the four and twenty Elders said Worthy is the Lamb for he was Slain and has redeemed us to God by his Blood c. Which by the way it may be observed shews what incontestably Christians ought to do viz. tho' not to address direct and ultimate Prayers yet to Sing Hymns in Honor to Christ which may be lookt upon as the true Interpretation of Ps 72.15 spiritually accommodated to Christ besides that there is no doubt but that the Angels and the Holy Spirits in Heaven may daily present Requests and Petitions to Christ concerning particular Men and Churches and when Christ is seen he is to be addressed unto by Men as their Saviour and their Sovereign under God Moreover the generality of the Vnitarians ever held that Christ is to be Worshipped and Prayed to as the Mediator of the New-Covenant and the Vicegerent of the Universe constantly assisted with the Divin Wisdom and Power to the Glory of the Father according to God's appointment Secondly reading Vt Deo that may signify either as being God or as being a God and as if he were God that is were held God or a God If the former that might be Pliny's own mistaken Conjecture that because he understood Christians Sang Christ's Praises he therefore imagin'd they took him for the Supreme God But indeed 't is most unlikely that this was Pliny's Meaning for being used himself according to the Heathen Rites to Sing Hymns to others besides the Supreme God or suppos'd Supreme Gods it seems he could not upon this account conclude that Christians believed Christ to be God Almighty himself It seems therefore he could only mean that Christians Sang Hymns in Praise of Christ as believing him to be A GOD. By which Phrase the Heathens themselves knew 't was not necessary to understand the Supreme God For as the Scripture calls some Creatures Gods so the Heathens tho' groundlesly yet often gave that Title to several whom they knew and owned to be Created Beings And in Chap. 2d we have seen that Christians in those times made no difficulty to do the like where whether now right or wrong is another Question they thought they had warrant from Scripture to give that Appellation to some glorified Creatures and therefore there is no doubt but that since many of them gave it to Angels in an inferior Sense they much more gave it to Christ the Sovereign of all Angels as well as Men tho' they believed him to be but such a dignified Creature If Pliny's Meaning was as 't is not impossible but that the Expression may import that Christians Sang to Christ as if he were held God or a God that is quite contrary to what Trinitarians would have him to attest For then 't is as if he had said that Christians Sang to Christ as if they had believed him to be God or a God which yet according to this it should seem they believed not But most probably not this but the foregoing was Pliny's Sense if we must read VT Deo namely as to a God or as to one whom they held for a God As for the Dialogue intituled Philopatris wherein mention is made of the God who is Three and One One and Three the best Criticks own it not to be a Dialogue of Lucian's as the Translators themselves observe We have many instances of several Treatises joyned either by chance or out of design to some Authors Works that yet belong not to that Author It may then very well be that that Dialogue is much later than Lucian But if it were Lucian's what could the Trinitarians infer from thence but that there were then some Christians that believed a Platonick Trinity and that Lucian was acquainted with some of them or had confusedly
is to know them to know the Father will do them for him and to desire them of the Father For tho' it be said that Christ did and is to do most wonderful Works yet the Scripture is very far from saying that he doth them of Himself or by his own Power Himself says the quite contrary John 5.19 The Son can do nothing of himself John 14. â—0 The Father that dwelleth in me He doth the Works Matth. 12.28 I cast out Devils by the Spirit of God And John 11.41 42. Father I thank thee that thou Hearest me always How could Christ have declared more expresly that he doth not the Supernatural Works by his own Power but by the Means which have been said Namely By knowing that the Father will do them for him and By desiring the Father to do them by his Divine Power and by what Means He pleases to use Seeing that the Father has promised our Saviour to hear him always he may truly say that all things which the Father has are his And therefore it is certain that not only there never was such another Prophet as Christ but also that he is the most Excellent and most Dignified Creature that can be But yet we see it doth not follow that because he doth what none but God can do he is therefore hypostatically united with a Divine Person and that distinct from the Father The Scripture shews us How Christ doth all Supernatural Things he himself tells us he desires the Father to do them and the Father always grants his requests and doth what he desires and he desires nothing but what he knows the Father will grant and the Father has promis'd and constantly gives him whatsoever is necessary for the Discharge of his Office Christ then may truly say that as the Father has Life in himself or at his disposal so has he given to the Son to have Life in himself For as the Father doth all things by Willing them so Christ doth all things by Desiring them As God has put Power in the Natural Sun to vivify all Seeds in the Earth so he has in an infinitely more excellent way invested Christ the Sun of Righteousness with Power to quicken the Dead But still the Power of the Lord Jesus is the Divine Power And we see that as we have said God makes Christ to be Partaker thereof So that as the Father has Divine Power in him so has He given to the Son to have Divine Power in him insomuch that when the Father has shewn him a Miraculous Thing the Son can do the same likewise by the Assistance of the Divine Power which dwells in him and which he constantly has the use of by Willing and Asking or affectionately Desiring Thus Christ knows the Hearts by the same Means by the Divine Power that is in him or annexed to him and that reveals them to him See the Brief History of the Vnitarians on John 2.25 and Revel 2.23 So that as Dr. Sherlock himself says at the top of the 196th Page of his last Book the Knowledg of Christ is from the Father's dwelling in him And by that Means Christ Governs the Vniverse and will Judge the World As to Christ's Efficacy in obtaining Forgiveness for all those Sinners whom he persuades and excites to forsake their Sins and to become Obedient and New Creatures it is the strangest thing in the World to imagin that God cannot grant that which is altogether agreable to the Propensions of his own Nature to his most beloved Son even upon that Act and Submission of his which argues the most perfect Obedience and makes the most solemn Reparation to the Divine Justice and Authority As Dr. Whichcot expresses himself upon this Subject Pages 62 d and 63 d of his Select Sermons We are in the hands of him that is Primarily and Originally Good And He will certainly commiserate every Case so far as it is compassionable Now the Case of a Sinner is compassionable if he be Penitent God might then surely accept of Christ's Sacrifice as as sufficient Attonement seeing that it so fully confirms God's Hatred to Sin and his Good Will to those that Obey him and is consequently the powerfullest Motive and the likeliest Means to engage those for whom that Sacrifice is offered and who are not yet incorrigible to forsake their evil Ways to accept the Offers of Grace and to be reconciled to God Christ's Death is the fullest Confirmation of God's Good Will to those that obey him seeing that upon the account of his Son 's perfect Obedience He has exalted him to the highest Glory even of being Partaker of the Divine Nature and Power And it is also the fullest Confirmation of God's absolute Hatred to Sin seeing He would not pardon the Sins of Men without this Consideration Condition that he who was Innocent the most Perfect Excellent Creature pleaded for the Fallen Race of Mankind should as their Advocate suffer in their stead expiate their Sins with his Blood and thus exhibit a most solemn Demonstration of the Demerit of Sin But this no where is represented in Scripture as a perfectly equivalent Satisfaction in the most rigorous sense And neither Scripture nor Reason shew that God can Pardon but upon such Terms See the aforesaid Sermons of Dr. Whichcot Pag. 301 c. on Act. 13.38 As the Bishop of Gloucester observes at the 85th and following Pages of his aforesaid Reflections on the Book of Dr. Sherlock against him Christ's meriting of God the Father cannot be understood in the highest sense of meriting as we may merit of one another that is by doing acts of Kindness and Beneficeace from mere Good Will or no antecedent Obligation to the Person to whom the Kindness is shewn 'T is nothing but the wretched Popish Doctrin of Merit that has made it an offensive word in relation to God But taking Meritum and Mereri in the Fathers sense there is no offence to be taken at it as respecting God For they meant no more than having a right to be rewarded by him from the performance of that Obedience or Service to which he has annexed the reward by a most gracious Promise But as it is impossible to do God Almighty a Kindness or Benefit so I cannot understand how the Son of God himself could in this sense merit of his Father the Redemption of Mankind since he did or suffered by vertue of the Union nothing but what the Will of his Father obliged him unto Lo I come said he to do thy Will O God And his perfectly complying with this Will was his meriting our Redemption of his Father as He willed to make him the Author thereof upon that Condition And therefore Mr. Calvin says well Totum Meritum Christi pendet à Voluntate Divina Now will any Man say that Christ as Man did not thus merit Then by the most wonderful Submission and Self-Resignation of the Man Christ Jesus who was most
Innocent to the dreadful and undeserved Death of the Cross God's absolute Authority over his Creatures was most highly vindicated after Adam and his apostate Off-spring had wofully eclipsed the Glory of his Soveraignty and the Authority of his Laws This Second Adam by the sinless and most perfect Obedience of his Life was an high Vindicator thereof but his enduring most inexpressible Torments which he did as Man and dying the most cursed Death of the Cross as our Sacrifice did God the Father as high Honor in the Face of the Sun as all the Sins of Mankind put together could do him Dishonor And by this means this Sacrifice became Satisfactory so as that God would for the sake thereof grant Terms of Pardon and Reconciliation to Fallen Mankind since He now saw it most agreable to all his Attributes to do so Thus far this Learned Prelate In Summ in Answer to the whole Objection Christ is the Excellentest Creature possible and the most like unto God and the fittest to be an Instrument in the Hand of God and God entirely loves him and continually communicates to him the Use of the Divine Power and the Assistance of the Divine Wisdom and the Fulness of the God-head constantly dwells in him and in his State of Humiliatiâ—n he received the Holy Spirit without measure and not in small portions and by intervals like the Prophets and all the Angels and Archangels are wholly subjected to him as their Prince and incessantly attend his Orders God being willing to make him as Great as a Creature can be made and God in fine is as much Vnited to him as it is possible for God to be United with a Creature God remaining still a distinct Being and the Creature a distinct Person And the Vnitarians hold that such an excellent and dignified Creature as this can obtain of God and can perform any thing that is to be perform'd or obtain'd and they do not conceive what more than this the Trinitarians can reasonably think to be requisite It may be observed that according to the Vnitarian System our Lord Jesus Christ is a more precious and worthy Being than all other Creatures together that yet not only the word Satisfaction is no where in Scripture but also that it is not the Notion of Sacrifices and Attonements to make a full Compensation that under the Gospel the Acts of Piety and Obedience which are most acceptable to God are figuratively called Attonements or Sacrifices as Alms-giving Praying with fervour Mortifying carnal Affections which is termed the offering our Bodies in Sacrifice to God and that by many Places of Scripture it appears that this expression to redeem signifies to deliver from some Evil and to put into a better State See Exod. 6.6 and 15.13 Luke 1.68 Ps 49.7 8 15. and 111.9 Luke 2.38 c. An Appendix to the IXth Chapter THERE remains but one Article to be here considered to give a particular and full Answer to every Branch of the Objection mention'd in the beginning of this Chapter It is this that according to the Ideas which the Vnitarian System gives of Christ it seems he cannot be supposed to be able to hear the Prayers of Men or to be a proper Object of Worship But this will particularly appear to be a groundless and unnecessary piece of Wrangling if these Considerations be duely weighed 1. There are divers Kinds of Worship according to the Nature of the Subject to whom it is to be paid See Grotius on Revel 19.10 All that the Trinitarians can ascribe to Christ in following the Scripture consists in reverencing him to the Honour of the Father as the Mediator of the New Covenant and under God the Universal Monarch acting for the Father in whom the Father dwells whom the Father most extraordinarily assists with his Divine Wisdom and Power to enable him in his Mediatory Kingdom to govern the Universe and save to the uttermost those that come to God thro' him and with whom consequently the Divine Nature is as intimately United as possible The Trinitarians acknowledge that the whole Person of Christ is the Mediator of the New Covenant and consequently it seems incontestable that the whole Person of Christ is to be honoured as Mediator or with Mediatory and Subordinate Honour having receiv'd Kingdom Power and Godhead from the Father and acting for the Father Now thus and according to all these and the like respects the Vnitarians worship the Lord Jesus Christ and no otherwise even as one who is appointed to be honoured to the Glory of the Father as one who is exalted to the highest Dignity in the Universe and as one with whom the Divine Nature is as intimately united as possible so as that he is inlightned with the Divine Wisdom and he disposes of the Divine Power and Inspiration as of his own it being made his by his Union to the Divine Nature and by the Father his dwelling in him or by the Divine Assistance and Inspiration without measure attending him always conducting and illuminating him and thereby exalting his Spirit to the highest Pitch of Grandeur Wisdom and Power and making him in the most eminent manner possible one with God 2. The Vnitarians thus holding the Lord Jesus Christ United and Assisted with the Divine Nature the Trinitarians cannot justly pretend that the Vnitarian System represents him as unable to perform any thing which by the Trinitarian Notion of the Incarnation he may be suppos'd to be capable of seeing the Vnitarians hold that he without measure according to the Scripture Phrase is illuminated with the Divine Wisdom and disposes of and is assisted by and enjoys the Divine Power as his own so that he may hear Men and succor them It appears nevertheless as was said incontestable that his Kingdom as was observed being but a Mediatory Kingdom or his Reign being but a Government under God subject to and directed by the Father so that the Father is still to be considered not barely as jointly ruling but as literally the Supreme Ruler the Lord Jesus Christ cannot reasonably be addressed to but as Mediator or as the Vicegerent of the Universe and consequently is to be worshipped but with a Mediatory or a Subordinate Worship Wherefore the Body of the Prayers ought not to be addressed to him as they are in the Litany but the Father generally is to be Pray'd to in the Name or thro' the Mediation of the Son And some Ejaculations and particularly at the end or beginning of the Service a short Address may be offered to the Son to beseech him to Intercede for us to have Mercy upon us and to assist us with his Grace And according to the Vnitarian System the Lord Jesus Christ can be thus addressed to and worshipped This Subject concerning the Worship of Christ as Mediator or as a Man exalted to the High Honor with which it has pleased God to dignify him is fully treated of by Limborch in his Theologia Christiana Lib.
And therefore Christ being but one Person and being known to be a Human Person or a Man cannot in reason be imagined to be the Most High God And there cannot be more than one Person in God for God is always spoken of and to in the Singular Number by Pronouns that imply a Person c. Now the Scripture speaks to us as to Men who are bound to make use of their Sense and Reason and for a trial thereof Figurative Expressions are sometimes employed But besides all the Considerations flowing from the Tâ—pick of Reason the Vnitarians as is to be observed in the Fourth Particular shew by divers unanswerable and express Arguments taken out of Scripture that Christ is a Creature and is not literally the God Almighty himself but only his Chief Minister and Representative and the most excellent and most dignified Creature in whom God most extraordinarily and most intimately dwells and in and by whom God most wonderfully works And therefore if by the Word in the beginning of St. John's Gospel should literally be understood God himself or some Influence of the Divine Nature as it were incarnated with or constantly dwelling in and assisting the Man Christ Jesus it would not follow that Christ is literally the Supreme God himself or that there are more Persons than one in the God head As to the Creation attributed to Christ it is sufficiently evident it must be understood of such a Creation as a Creature is capable of if Christ appear to be a Creature Prophets God's Creatures and Ministers are said to do Super-natural Works and raise the Dead tho' it be not they properly that do such things but God by them at their presence at their streching out of their hand at their word or request and the like They do not the Miraculous Work by their mere Strength or by their own Power but by a Divine Power thus inherent in them or annexed to them accompanying and assisting them and working at their desire and yet they themselves are said to do the Work For instance in Mat. 10.8 Our Saviour bids his Disciples Heal the Sick Cleanse the Lepers Raise the Dead and in John 14.12 he tells them that they should do most wonderful Works now incontestably that signifies that God would do those Works by them or that they should do 'em by God's Assistance or with the concurrence of the Divine Power working at their desire In like manner the First-born might Create the World or might be said to Create the World and God might be said to Create the World by him as it is said that by the Hands of the Apostles were many Signs and Wonders wrought Acts 5.12 God was pleas'd to work by those Hands which of themselves were not able to do these Miracles but were enabled to do them by the concurring Assistance of the Power of God annexed to them or accompanying them To Raise the Dead or Cure the Blind is as well above Natural Power as to Create the World tho' to Create the World be more than to Cure the Blind and tho' a Creature which Creates the World or which may be said to Create the World has a greater Concurrence of the Divine Power annexed or united to him than one that only Cures the Blind Howbeit certainly a Creature which so represents God as to be Worshipped with God tho' but as the most highly dignified Creature possible must undoubtedly be infinitely more united to the God-head than one which only doth some Miracles or than any Prophet or Apostle before whom 't is not lawful to bow the Knee or on whose Name 't is not lawful to call Moreover we must consider it is undoubted and most obvious that often in Scripture by Creating is only meant disposing or modelling fashioning and setting in order Ephes 2.10 and 4.24 c. There is then not only no reason why the Creation attributed to Christ even if it were the First Creation should not be taken in that Sense but there may be an absolute necessity it should be so understood if Christ appear to be a Creature tho' never so intimately united to the God head And so that is then obvious enough to those who will diligently attend to the Stile of the Scripture and it is not God's intendment that any others should come to the true knowledge of it See Bishop Taylor 's 2d Sermon on Tit. 2.7 He that will understand God's Meaning must look above and below and round about c. The Secret of the Lord is with them who fear him and who consequently do what they can to know exactly his Law and reveal'd Will. Will any say that there are not some Expressions in Scripture to be understood in as seemingly a far-fetch'd Sense as any given by the Vnitarians If Men mistake when they have done what they well can in their circumstances to be informed aright it is credible that God will judge that a pitiable Case so they be humble and moderate and be not violent magisterial and imperious and do not pretend to impose their Sentiment on others but be willing in abstruse Matters to unite in the Generality of the Terms of Scripture In that manner the most ignorant not being so thro' their fault may be safe But God has not left the Scripture into tho hands only of unlearned and unthinking Men immersed in and mostly taken up with the concerns and businesses of this Life Tho' all Christians are bound in some measure to search and meditate upon the Scriptures God has set up an Order of Men whose particular Vocation is to assist other Men as much as possible in the right understanding of the Divine Revelation And surely no possible Means ought to be neglected which are Subservient to that great end And if these Means were freely calmly and impartially us'd which would be if Ministers were fairly to represent the Reasons Pro and Con in Difficult Matters without deciding condemning and imposing then all necessary Truths would soon be discern'd and it would therefore easily be made to appear to all Christians what may be meant by the Creation attributed to Christ in Scripture or how far the understanding of that Point is necessary and in what Generality this and the like ought to be lest The Chief Instances then which the Trinitarians give of the pretended incredible Assertions implied in the Vnitarian Expositions are these That a Creature could perform the Office of a Creator And then That one in whom the Fulness of the God-head dwells should need the Assistance of Angels and on the other hand That a Creature should be more honourable than and should have the preheminence over and be named before the Power of God by the Holy Ghost understanding an Influence of the Divine Power or the Divine Inspiration That a Creature could perform the Office of a Creatour Even at most upon as good grounds the Trinitarians might make the same Difficulty against Men producing other Men or the
them and concurrs with them at their Working and which properly doth the Wonders or the Chiefest Part of them in the effecting of Super-natural Works They are as it were but the Bearers of the Divine Virtue or the Disposers of it which God entrusts to them because in that Employment they reap the glory delight of Serving God and of being Instrumental in the good of Others They dispose therefore of that Portion of Divine Power as they dispose of their own Faculties That which was alloted to a Prophet was called his Spirit 2 Kings 2 15. and 5.26 1 Cor. 5.3 4. But the Word especially since his Exaltation has the Disposition of the Divine Power as was said of all the Holy Angels whom he sends whensoever he will on Errands to do what He pleases and so he is said to have received the Spirit without Measure whereas no Prophet before him had and that but at sometimes the Share but of an Angel or at most the Assistance it may be of two or three Angels and the Power accompanying them or annexed to them That by the Holy Spirit something like this Viz some Angel or Angels together with a certain Concurrence of God's Acting or a certain Influence of the Divine Power is to be understood and not altogether and expresly God himself or a literally and properly Divine Person is evinced by the Vnitarian Arguments in the Brief History in the Apology for the Irenicum Magnum and in Crell's Book Of one God the Father It is certain that in Job 32.8 the Spirit and the Divine Inspiration are manifestly put as Synonyma or as Terms that imply and explain one the other the Original Words Rouak in the Hebrew and Pneuma in the Greek being undoubtedly susceptible of that Sense not only signifying Spirit but properly signifying Breath or Breathing which is likewise the import of Afflatus the Expression Metaphorically also us'd in Latin to imply Inspiration which is represented as a Spiritual Breathing or a certain Acting of the Divine Power figured by Breathing And on the other hand in John 1.32 compared with John 1.51 Acts. 8.26.29.39 Revel 8.3 compared with Rom. 8.26 and several other Places the Spirit and an Angel or the Angels John 1.51 Hebr. 1.7 compared with Acts 2.3 4. are also put as the same or synonymous terms From whence it seems it follows that by the Spirit we must understand the Divine Inspiration carried and communicated by the Means of a Holy Spirit or Holy Angel that is to say an Acting and Influence of the Divine Power communicated to or performed on some Men at the Presence and Acting of an Angel or which is the same a Holy Angel acting according to the Direction of the Divine Inspiration and together with the Assistance and a certain Instuence of the Divine Power Thus the Spirit is both a Creature and not a Creature an Angel and also the Spiritual Breath of God or a certain Virtue of God or an Influence of the Power of God which is Something belonging to the Father or a certain Acting of the Father but appears not and need not be concluded and in reason cannot be thought to be a particular real Divine Person distinct from the Father As by the Word is understood both the First-Born the Word-Bearer and the Chief of all Creatures and a Divine Word or an Influence of the Father's Wisdom and Divine Nature dwelling in and as intimately as possible united with the First-Born The Father according to these Notions may then truly be said to be the whole Godhead or the only true God and to know alone all things but then by the Influences of his Divine Word Spirit he may manifest to others what He pleases that when he thinks fit properly 't is not the Father that is Incarnate but his Word which is agreable to Scripture as well as Reason And the Spirit may be said by a Figure to search the things of God See Crell's Touching One God c. Book 1. Sect. 3. Chap. 14. And indeed who besides God should know or search the things of God but the Divine Inspiration or they to whom it is reveal'd by the Divine Inspiration In the Form of Baptism and in the Creed the Word and the Spirit may well be mentioned after mention made in general of the Father tho' they be not Divine Persons distinct from the Father but be certain Influences of the Divine Perfections or certain Actings of the Father by some Powers or Virtues belonging to his Nature The Form of Baptism thus implies that thereby we are Consecrated the Disciples of God our Father and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Disciples of the Word communicated to Christ who has Redeemed us by his Doctrine and by his Blood and in fine of the Holy Inspiration also which Confirms the Gospel and Sanctifies the Soul of true Believers And in the Creed we profess this Belief Evidently herein is no Tautology nor any thing Superfluous For the Father and his Influences or God and the most eminent Actings of his Powers are things distinct And those Actings and Influences are not therefore known tho' the Father be and tho' they belong to the Father And tho' they were Necessarily in the Father it would not be Impertinent to particularize them after having made mention of the Father As after having said that there is a Sun it would not be irrational to add that we believe and know the Sun produceth Light and Heat Otherwise indeed what could the Trinitarians themselves plead for mentioning the Son and Spirit after the Father when they hold that the whole Son and Spirit are wholly in the Father and that the Father cannot be without them Now according to our System the Spirit implying an Influence and an Acting of the Divine Nature those may well be said to be the Temple of God in whom the Divine Inspiration resides tho' the Divine Inspiration be not a Person or not a Person distinct from the Father Indeed tho' the Divine Inspiration were only the Acting of an Angel commissionated and directed by God Christians in whom the Impiration works might then also be truly said to be the Temple of God and not of the Angel because the Angel works not for himself or on his own account but as sent and ordered by God and Christ and then according to the Jewish Phrase Apostolus cujusque est quisque as when an Embassador Wedds a Princess in his Master's Name She is not thereby Married to the Subject but to the Prince that sent him And the Angels may be called by way of eminence the Breath of God inasmuch as they proceed from him as our Breath doth from us or most probably inasmuch as they carry the Influence of the Divine Spirit or Power as God's-Word Bearer is called God's Word inasmuch as he carries the Commands of God and both acts by Gods ' Power and Wisdom and represents and exhibits God's
rendered determined may be translated judged or condemned and so Erasmus has interpreted it as if St. Paul had said to declare that actually he did not rely on the force of Eloquence but on the Power it self of the Gospel which he knew was attended with sufficient Evidences without setting it forth with the Ornaments and Advantages of an Elaborate Oration as he might have done which declaration is incontestably the scope and whole intent of the Apostle's reasoning I have condemned my self to be among you or I have judged it fittest to be among you as knowing nothing but Christ Crucified lest the Testimony of the Cross and Sufferings of Christ and the Demonstration of the Spirit should be thought insufficient Evidences therefore when I came unto you I came not with excellency of Speech but barely contented my self most simply to set before you the Testimony of God The current of the Discourse shews that St. Paul did not deny his knowing any thing besides Christianity but only asserted that he judged a Demonstration of all his other Learning unnecessary in comparison of that and in order to the end which he proposed to himself namely the Conversion of the Corinthians wherefore according to our Version he determined to be or determined to appear as knowing nothing else but Christ Crucified and wholly neglected to make a shew of his Eloquence It is undeniably evident that this is his meaning But it is as evident that there is no such restriction in our Saviour's expression and that he fimply denies his knowing at all the Day of Judgment and expresly asserts that none but the Father knew it This Argument it seems therefore will remain to the end of the World such a one as the Dr. desired a positive Proof that Christ properly is not God Almighty himself And the Vnitarians hold that to deny it is to fly wilfully in the face of Evidence For as to the Knowledge of that Day the Son puts himself into the same rank with the Angels and all other Creatures and says that he knows it no more than they which is as express a denial of his knowing it as it is possible to be To this Head and for a further Illustration of this Argument we may add the Saying in the first Verse of the first Chapter of the Revelations that God gave that Revelation to Jesus Christ For by those words it appears that Jesus Christ had not that Revelation of himself and consequently that Jesus Christ is not the Supreme God tho' yet he be God or a God and God's Representative in whom the Father in an extraordinary manner dwells as was said If that Person designed or signified in Scripture by the Name of Jesus Christ were literally the Supreme God that Verse would bear this Sense that the Supreme God gave to another Person who is also the Supreme God a Revelation which he had not till then that it was given him otherwise if he had it before it needed not to have been given him On the other hand if he had it not 't is plain this is an indigent God not the same with the Giver and consequently not the Supreme God To this some answer that this Person received the whole Godhead from all eternity from the Father and therefore whatever he enjoys at any time or whatever knowledg he has he may be said to receive it from God there by God meaning the Father But we reply this visibly is precariously said For if from all eternity Christ had all knowledg from the Father what occasion was there for taking notice here that he had this particular knowledg from God There appears not to be here any particular reason for it Therefore the last refuge is in the distinction of the two Natures And so either the Meaning is that the Father gave that Revelation to the Man Christ But then we reply that was not necessary if another All-knowing Person was hypostatically-united with that Man Or else it only remains the Meaning must be supposed to be that the Second Person of the Trinity gave that Revelation to the Man Jesus Christ To this we reply The Name Jesus Christ denotes the whole Person and according to the Trinitarians that Person implies the Supreme God as well as the most highly dignified Creature and therefore God then could not be said simply or in general terms to give any thing to Jesus Christ III. The Vnitarians do very much wonder that any one who has read the Scripture should ask for a Text where it is taught that Christ is not literally the Almighty God himself seeing that in Two Hundred and Seventy Three distinct Passages of the New Testament Christ is expresly distinguished from God Whence rationally we ought to infer that Christ is not literally and expresly that God from whom he is distinguished and that therfore when he is called God it must be understood in an infeferior Sense according to the Significations we have mentioned in which that Title is used As in a Country as it is in France where the King 's Eldest Son when he is spoken of either singly or together with other Princes or Lords is by way of eminency called My Lord it is obvious that then another Lord who is also tho' in an inferior sense called My Lord but not simply or as by a distinguishing character but as by a common title to which is and must be added something to notify the Person spoken of or who at least is never simply stiled My Lord when spoken of together with the King 's Eldest Son being thus distinguished from My Lord or from Him that is called My Lord simply and by way of eminency then I say the other Lord is thereby declared not to be that My Lord himself the King's Heir but an inferior Lord. What the Trinitarians then here say that the Title of God tho' most particularly and eminently appropriated to the Father as it is in Scripture does not exclude other Persons thus expresly distinguished from him from being the same God not only is a mere begging of the question and is without grounds but is expresly contrary to all reason That Subtersuge therefore of the Trinitarians is wholly vain And indeed did St. Peter suppose that Cornelius knew of the Evasion of the Trinitarians when preaching the Gospel to him he distinguished in the current of his Discourse Christ from God Acts 10.36 IV. At the 19th Verse of the 5th of St. John our Saviour himself tells us that the Son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do Now in good truth could one that were literally the Almighty God say this concerning himself Can the Almighty and All-Wise God be supposed able to do nothing but what he must be taught how to do it Surely it were a monstrous Supposition to reckon He needed to be taught any thing Whereas if God's Only-Begotten Son be not properly God Almighty himself but the Word Incarnate according
to put an end to the Controversy and either excuse or justify all the Vnitarian Interpretations of Scripture how harsh soever they may otherwise appear c. The Scripture-Proofs of our Saviour's Divinity explained P. 55. I leave it to the Reader to summ up the Evidence it being so obvious and easily done and shall only shew what follows most incontestably from the whole including the Arguments for the Gespel-Terms of Communion handled in the Ireniâ—um Magnum and particularly in the Apologia pro Irenico Magno where as was said there are also Arguments as here and in Crell's Book against the Trinitarian System which I find no where satisfactorily answered and which appear indeed most express and unanswerable Howbeit it is my most earnest desire to be rightly informed and to see the Truth set into the greatest light CHAP. XV. The Inferences most incontestably following from the whole foregoing Discourse and the Gospel-Terms of Communion FROM the whole these four things do most incontestably follow as the least that can be granted to the Vnitarians by Protestants that impartially consider the Arguments treated of in the foregoing Discourse and in the Apologia pro Irenico Magno I. That the State of this Controversy is such that Men may be Vnitarians and be very sincere pious and inquisitive and that if Vnitarianism be an Error it is not a damnable and an intolerable one or an Heresy II. That in the Case of this most abstruse Controversy we ought in our Terms of Communion with relation thereunto to keep to the Generality of the Terms of Scripture and not Magisterially determine this Matter any farther than that Generality nor force or fright away the Vnitarians out of the Church-Society but ought to regulate our Publick Service and our Terms of Church-Union according to the utmost Generality of the Expressions of Scripture so as that Vnitarians may without Scruple joyn with Us therein seeing the Gospel-Terms of Communion and the Principles of Protestants require this Moderation and enjoyn that Method in reference to such Points as are so very difficult and intricate that sincere and inquisitive Persons may be at a loss and may mistake about them III. That therefore First in the Publick Service we ought to address the Current of our Prayers directly as well as ultimately to God in general in the Name thro' the Mediation of Christ in the Conclusion of them beseeching God to hear us grant us our Requests for the Sake of his Dear Son our Blessed Lord Saviour and Redeemer and so when we address some Ejaculations to Christ we ought as has been shewn in general to address to him as to our Mediator or Mediatory Governor Soveraign in whom the Fulness of the God-head so dwells as abundantly and constantly to assist him in the Discharge of his Mediatory Office whereby he both acts for God and represents God is in some sense God Secondly in our Publick Service likewise the Terms of Church-Union we ought to be content with the Apostles Creed which is worded in a Generality agreable to that of Scripture and ought not to think other Creeds necessary or expedient which are artificially fram'd on purpose to depart from that Generality and are incumbred with Human Decisions and Magisterial Impositions Thirdly no Subscription or Assent ought to be required of Clergy-men but to the Bible it self to Doctrines expressed in the Words of Scripture or in Terms that agree to the Scripture-Generality the Clergy-men's Declaration being admitted that they Subscribe and Assent to the things proposed to them but so far as they are agreable to the Generality of Scripture These Three Points not only follow necessarily from the 2d Inference but are implied in it and we rank them on a distinct Head only that the Principles in general which are the Grounds on which these Particulars are built may first be more distinctly observed to be necessarily deducible from the First Inference and from the Gospel-Terms of Communion and that then it may distinctly be considered what Particulars necessarily follow from those Principles that the said Particulars may upon those demonstrated Grounds be firmly established IV. That among all the other incontestable Reasons for this Generality in the Terms of Church-Union this is one which follows from the First and Second Inferences deserves a distinct rank Namely that this Method is the safest in a Controversy at least to be own'd by all considering Trinitarians to be most intricate and that incontestably it suffices to Pray to God in general to satisfy to the Duty of Praying to the God-head God in general including the whole God-head so that when God in general is directly ultimately Pray'd to all is certainly worshipped that is to be adored with Supreme Worship and when our Petitions are put up in the Name of Christ the Mediatory Honour due to our Saviour is thereby paid him being thus addressed to as the Mediator of the New Covenant in whom the Fulness of the Godhead dwells as was said I. That the State of this Controversy is such that Men may be Vnitarians and be very sincere pious and inquisitive and that if Vnitarianism be an Error it is not a damnable and an intolerable one or a Heresy This follows from the high Probability at least of the Arguments for Vnitarianism to say no more of them for after all upon mature consideration these Arguments seem to be express and unanswerable and on the other hand it seems that a Solution is given to the Chiefest Objections of the Scholastick or Platonick Trinitarians Howbeit this at least cannot be denied to be a most difficult intricate Point And admitting that the Vnitarian System has no higher evidence than the other and is encumbred with as great Difficulties to which Sentiment I have often for a great while been most inclined even since I began to write on this Subject esteeming it to be God's will and intention that we should for the most part suspend our judgment about it and indeed it may with great appearance of reason be judged the fittest not to be too decisive in so mysterious and abstruse a Matter yet no advantage can thence be taken against the Vnitarians and every Trinitarian that carefully and sincerely considers the Vnitarian Arguments seeing they are so weighty and considerable must at least grant that they are such that Men may take them to be good Arguments and yet be very Honest hearty Lovers of God and to the best of their power Inquisitive and that consequently if Vnitarianism be an Error it is not a damnable and an intolerable one or a Heresy For is it credible that God will assign the dreadful Torments of Hell for an Error which good Men who sincerely and diligently seek to know his Will and to practice it cannot avoid taking for a Truth God punishes nothing but what has some Wickedness in it or some Pravity and Malice Now what Malice or Wickedness
Christ died Therefore it certainly follows both that the Scholastick Trinitarian Determinations and Impositions are contrary to God's Will and that it is an indispensible Duty to profess and establish the Gospel-Terms of Communion which are stated and pleaded for in the Irenicum Magnum and in the Apologia pro Irenico Magno Tho' some Vnitarians considering an Influence of the Divine Nature dwelling in Christ and an Influence and Act of the Divine Power implied in the Holy Spirit or Holy Inspiration and considering we are exhorted to keep as much as we can the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace should carry Christian Condescension so far as by their Presence sometime in the Religious Assemblies for Peace-Sake till these things be duely weighed to bear with the Use of some of the Scholastick Trinitarian Terms yet that is at least so nice a Point that many conscientiously may with great colour of reason absolutely scruple them and all Vnitarians are obliged to express openly their dislike of those in their opinion at least dubious Terms and rash Expressions and to appear and profess not to repeat some of them and not to assent to them in the Religious Service which Condescension indeed upon mature Consideration seems even generally to be more than is wholly warrantable particularly one would think with respect to the Litany and the Athanasian and Nicene Creeds according to what has hereupon been said so that the Afternoon-Service only can well seem tolerable to them and indeed 't is generally reckoned to be no less than Hypocritical Temporizing for any Vnitarian to carry the Condescension farther therefore even the Trinitarians themselves who are persuaded of the evident and incontestable Reasonableness and Necessity of the Gospel Terms of Communion are bound to protest against the imposing of those said Scholastick Terms deviating from the Scripture-Latitude not only as an unnecessary Burden but as a grievous and unwarrantable a pernicious and cruel Oppression perfectly contrary to the Moderation of the Gospel For has not God intended there should be one Catholick Church and Communion of Saints In a word the Scripture-Terms are the only Just and Charitable and Necessary Terms of Church Communion And they are a fit Means of Peace For so you establish no other Terms of Church-Communion but such as are agreable to the Scripture-Generality you may lay any Penalty on express Disputings in the Religious Assemblies These Terms of Church-Vnion then both are the Scripture-Terms and the only Terms of Communion that are agreable to the fundamental Grounds of the Reformation or to the incontestable Principles of Protestants and to Reason and Moderation and they are the fit and only possible Terms for all Christians that own the Scripture for their Rule to Vnite in And the Vnitarian Arguments are so considerable that it must be the highest Temerity in the World not to be willing to stick in Acts of Communion to the Safe suficient Generality included in those Terms So that to reject these Terms is not only to run the greatest Hazards to oppress the Truth and injure those who are approved of God but it is expresly to be guilty of the greatest Mischiefs of disfiguring Christianity as if it had no Means of Union hindering the growth and efficacy of the Gospel and being the Cause of endless Schisms and Divisions These Matters are set into so full and incontestable a light that to slight and resist so great Evidence cannot but be of the greatest Consequence to the Souls of them that are therein concern'd It is credible God has preserv'd the World and this Generation for the Sake of this great Light most illustriously adorning the Gospel so great a Light that against it the Gates of Hell shall never be able to prevail and it will never be possible for all the Powers of the Adversaries of so evident Truths to answer these unanswerable Arguments Now then incontestably Peace is presented upon just Terms by this Method which therefore should be most carefully considered For if the righteous be oppressed God noteth all things in his Book and Great Plagues are denounced against rejecting a great Light and injuring those that are accepted of God May We all take effectual Measures to avoid God's Judgments and to obtain his Mercy and Eternal Salvation I thought here to have finished this Post-Script but it may perhaps not be unfit to advertise that since the writing of it I have accidentally met with a small Pamphlet a 6d Book wherein these Terms of Communion in some measure are likewise pleaded for I recommend it therefore to the Reader 's perusal It is intituled The Moderate Trinitarian c. By Daniel Allen. Printed for Mary Fabian at Mercers-Chappel in Cheap-side 1699. Therein it is Inquired Whether and Shewn That the Trinitarians and Vnitarians may communicate together so that no Practice ought to be enjoyned for Terms of Communion contrary to the Latitude of Scripture seeing it is therein that the Trinitarians and Vnitarians may Unite But not only to put my self in the company of a more known Person but more especially seeing Men commonly regard more or slight the less an Opinion which they see held by one who is generally esteemed most Eminent for Learning and all good Qualities I ought not to omit observing that the famous Bishop Taylor incontestably establishes these Terms of Church-Communion in that for the main admirable Book of his intituled The Liberty of Prophesying which indeed I have had the misfortune to be but very lately acquainted with That the Scripture-Terms of Communion which I have been pleading for are therein implied I think may sufficiently appear by these few Quotations out of it That which I have is the 4to Edition 1647. I shall sometimes abridge the words but without altering the sense If a Doctrin be not so revealed but that wise and good Men differ in their Opinions it is a clear case it is not inter Dogmata necessaria simpliciter c. The Epistle Dedicat. P. 15.16 It is observable that the restraint of Prophesying imposing upon other Mens Understanding and lording it over their Faith came in with the retinue of Antichrist that is as other Abuses and Corruptions of the Church did c. Ib. P. 18. Let not Men be hasty in calling every dislik'd Opinion by the Name of Heresy Ib. P. 29. The Lutheran Churches the Zuinglians the Calvinists the Socinians the Anabaptists the Aethiopian Churches which are all Nestorian differ from others Where then shall we six our Considence or joyn Communion To pitch upon any one is to throw the Dice if Salvation be to be had only in one of them and that every Error be damnable We have therefore no other help in the midst of these Differences but to be all United in that Common Term which is the Medium of the Communion of Saints that is the Apostles Creed an honest endeavour to find out what truths we can and a mutual permission to
in the stead of God they do in some measure represent Him We see Exod. 23.21 that the Angel that conducted the Children of Israel had that High Name and Dignity for says God my Name is in Him There is nothing more common in Scripture than for those Beings to be said to be what they represent as also what they are figured by As Christ sais that He is the Door and the true Vine and that the Consecrated Bread is his Body So Angels and other God's Messengers are said to be God and are called Jehovah See Gen. 18.1 c. Gen. 19.13 compared with the 18th 24th and 29th Verses Gen. 31.11 and 13. Exod. 3.2.4 and 6. Exod. 4.16 compared with Exod 7.1 Exod. 14.19 and 24. 1. Sam. 3.21 c. Bishop Taylor in his Sermon on 1. Sam. 15.22 observes it is a Saying of the Jews that Apostolus cujusque est quisque every Man's Messenger is himself or is said and may be said to be himself and must be censed and reck'ned as himself The Names of some of the Chief Angels are God or the Great God which shews that God is the same with Prince or Sovereign such as was said As Gabriel which signifies the Mighty God and Michael which signifies Equal to God or Like the Highest Agreably to which Denominations the Samaritans thought they might give to Simon Magus the Name of the Great Power of God because probably they conceited him to be assisted of some Mighty Angel Act. 8.10 This Man is the Great Power of God The Superior Angels are called Gods by Clemens Alexandrinus Strom. L. 5. P. 598. The whole Army sais he of Angels and Gods is subjected to the Son Whereby as by many other Passages it appears the Primitive Christians thought it not repugnant to Christianity and the Scripture-stile to call others Gods besides Almighty God The Title of God is particularly given to some Men in Scripture Exod. 7.1 Moses is said to be God or a God to Pharaoh because he was sent on a wonderful and extraordinary Errand to him by God and was enabled to save and to destroy him Behold sais God there to Moses I have made thee a God to Pharaoh and Aaron thy Brother shall be thy Prophet This Text may put us in mind or cause us to observe that as we shall see was remark'd by Eusebius Pamphilus De Ecclesiastie Theolog. Lib. 2. Cap. 17. St. John's Expression which we are considering should not be rendered the Word was God but the Word was a God there being no Article here before the Term God as there was in the foregoing Sentence where it was said that the Word was with God which Sentence therefore should have been Translated was with the God by excellency or the Supreme God the Sovereign of all This Passage of St. John would appear more easy to our Apprehension if instead of the term God we did read Lord or Sovereign because in the Stile of our Modern Languages we are not used to appropriate the Title of God to any Creatures as the Scripture doth but are only wont to give the Appellation of Lord in common tho' in divers Senses to God and to some Great Men in Authority Thus then we may conceive the First Verse of St. John's Gospel to run according to its true Signification In the beginning of the New Oeconomy while John the Baptist was Preaching the Baptism of Repentance as the immediate Introduction of the New Dispensation the Messiah himself was then in the World And the Messiah was with the Lord as Moses was with the Angel in the Mountain before the giving of the Law And the Messiah was then constituted a Sovereign Lord or the Chief of those Princely Ministers and High Officers who have the Title of Lord or God communicated to them tho' in an Inferior Sense to what it imports when it is attributed to the Eternal and Supreme Lord of all And the Word was with the God and the Word was a God Our Saviour himself observes John 10.34 that the Title of God was given to Men in the Holy Scripture Is it not written in your Law I said Ye are Gods If He called them Gods unto whom the Word of God came or to whom God gave a High Commission and the Scripture cannot be broken say ye of Him whom the Father has Sanctified and Sent into the World Thou Blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God We must needs then ever remember that the Stile of Scripture differs from ours and that we must not Interpret every thing according to the Sound of Words but consistently with the whole Scripture and the clear notions of Reason Verba non Sono sed Sensu sapiunt is an excellent Rule and a Sentence of St. Hilary's quoted in Bishop Taylor 's Second Sermon upon Tit. 2.7 A notable Example of the Title of God being given to Men is that of the 45th Ps at the 6. and 7. Ver. where the Author of this Psalm addresses himself thus to Solomon upon his Marriage with Pharach's Daughter and his being declared King or Heir of the Kingdom by his Father David Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever Thou lovest Righteousness and hatest Wickedness wherefore O God thy God has vnointed thee with the Oyl of Gladness above thy Fellows Here Solomon is expresly called God It is undoubted that this Psalm in a mystical Sense is applicable to the Messiah and to his Spiritual Marriage with the Church But the mystical and secundary doth not take away the first and literal Sense And it would be most Unreasonable to pretend that this Psalm has no literal Signification It appears to be the usual way of the Holy Spirit under the Old Testament to Shadow the things pertaining to the Christian Oeconomy by real Acts or literal Events then verified or belonging to those times under the former Dispensations And accordingly we find all the reason in the World to ascribe a literal Sense to this prophetical and mystical Psalm and to understand it primarily or originally of the said Wedding of King Solomon We find it has always been generally so understood We find it as sitting for that Solemnity as it could be supposed to have been if it had been made for it and we see it is entituled a Song of Love or a Wedding Poem The Prince is represented as having his Title newly confer'd upon and assured to him and as being preferred before his Fellows or Brethren by his God or King This suits very well with Solomons Case and with the Secinian System But it is inconsistent with the Trinitarian Notions as much as the Trinitarian Interpretation is repugnant to the Truth of the Divine Unity For if there be but one God can it be said to Him thy God has c If the term God be here taken in the most eminent Sense of it there are two Supreme Gods the one spoken to and the other spoken of and said to be the God