in the Soul because God is a Spirit without Body yet some Conformity there is for it affords some Organs which are subservient to the Actions of the Soul and so the Body is in its manner an Image of Divine Perfection it doth hear and see and is a Symbol and Instrument of the Perfections of the Soul and of the Maker for the Wisdom Power and other Attributes of God are commonly represented by the Members as the Eyes Ears Mouth and Hands of the Body Lastly The Image of God did consist in the whole Person in Relation to the dominion which God gave Adam over all other Worldly Creatures also as to Happiness and Immortality for as God is Lord over the whole Work of Creation and Enjoys a Supreme Felicity so he constituted him Lord of other Creatures and placed him in a State of happy Immortality But several of these they deny or have corrupted they would not have God's Image to have consisted in Immortality and Righteousness for they affirm Adam to have been created Mortal and that he had died though he had not sinn'd but if so then God's Threatning his Disobedience with Death had been in vain and to no purpose if he had died whether or not he had sinned then Death had been no Punishment for his Sin yet the Apostle saith Rom. 6.23 Chap. 5.12 the Wages of Sin is Death he said before By one Man Sin entered into the World and Death by Sin Though his Body was made of a frail matter yet thorough God's Gift it might have been Immortal as it shall be after the Resurrection that Immortality of our first Parents we call a power and faculty of not dying which to them was Natural for if they had continued in their integrity they had not died and in that State 't was as Natural not to die as not to Sin Death necessarily follows Sin and no Sin no Death as to that holiness and Righteousness wherein chiefly consisted the Image of God in which they were created the Apostle speaks of it when he saith Epes 4.24 that ye put on the new Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true holiness which in the verse before he called to be renewed in the Spirit of your mind which implies that once in us there was such a thing but was since decay'd and lost in Adam we had and lost it in him but in Christ were restored thereunto but Socinians who pretend to a right of making all things to be as they would laugh at it primum c. to affirm saith one * Smalc exam Err. err 104. That the first Man received in his Creation holiness and supernatural gifts is an Old and stinking Fable They also would have the pains which Adam and Eve underwent to have been natural Gen. 3.16 17 18 19. Chap. 1.31 Chap. 2.17 V. 20. when we read they were a Punishment for their Sin this in them imports a reflection upon God their Maker and 't is to give Scripture the lie when it saith and God saw that every thing he had made was very good and also when God said to Adam in the day that thou Eatest thereof thou shalt surely Die. They say farther that he had not the excellent and certain Knowledge of the Creator nor of the rest of the Creatures which if true then he had been an imperfect Work of God but seeing God who was a competent Judge of the thing left it for him to give names to all Cattel and to the Fowl of the Air and to every Beast of the field which God approved of we must believe he had that certain Knowledge †Se statu prim hom c. 6. v. 23. though Smalcius be of a different Opinion and we also read he knew his Wife to be bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh Now when I am upon this point about Knowledge I shall pass to another which they oppose 't is this That there is a Natural Knowledge of God whereby we mean that Men who have the use of Natural Reason may without special Revelation by the consideration of God's Works in the World know that there is a God a first Cause of all who hath his being of himself and hath given all things theirs but they being used to gainsay Scripture affirm that by the light of nature Men cannot know that there is a God though Paul saith that which may be known of God is manifest in Men Rom. 1.19 20 21 28. for God hath shewed it unto them and it may more appear in the Verses quoted in the Margin and this knowledge is such as to leave them without excuse and this carries them so far as that by nature they do the things contain'd in the law which shew the work of the law written in their hearts Chap. 2.14 15. their Conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another an evil Conscience attended with terrours for fear of punishment and a good one with joy do demonstrate there is a God revenger for evil and rewarder of good but what 's that to them let Scripture speak never so positively and plainly things must be as they will have them to be The next thing is about Original Sin that is the stain and corruption which we bring into the World and as it is in humane nature 't is so call'd because it hath it's spring and origine from Adam and also because 't is originally and naturally from the Womb in every Man Woman and Child it consists in the privation of that original righteousness wherein the first Man was created and in the corruption inherent in our nature whereby we are averse from good and inclined to evil which Socinians who are a line of the generation spoken of Prov. 30.12 Isa 65.5 that are pure in their own eyes even from the Womb and so being righteous in their own conceit think they may say to others come not near to me stand by thy self for I am holier than thou yet 't is said they are not wash'd from their filthiness of this Sin there are two parts the imputation and the inherency as to the first Adam was a publick Person the representative of all Mankind which was in his Loyns as Levi was in Abraham's when to Melchisedec he paid the tenth part of all Heb. 7.9 upon which account as the Apostle observes Levi paid Tithes in Abraham by the same reason whole Mankind which were in Adam's Loyns when he sinn'd are accounted to have sinn'd in him God's Promises and Threatnings were not confin'd in him but extended to his whole Posterity which would have enjoyed the benefit of his Obedience if he had continued in his integrity as they have smarted for his Disobedience as 't is usual among Men to see the Blood and Family of Traytors to suffer for the Crimes of Parents and thereby to forfeit Estates and Dignities this imputation
thing went otherwise when Emperours and other Men of Authority in the World became Christians then they became Nursing Fathers to the Church defended and maintained it against her Enemies by Arms against those who therewith assaulted it and by Councils against those who would have undermin'd her Doctrines And so it ought now to be against those who impiously Blaspheme that God whom the Christian Church ever own'd and worship'd whereunto the Adversaries agree for saith * Tom. 1. Sol. Scrup. 30. ad eum p. 327. Socinus Constat Justinum c. It is certain that Justin and Irenaeus had a different Opinion from what we have of the Person of Christ Therefore Men who willfully recede from such Fundamental and Universal Truths and Blaspheme there-against may very well be restrain'd and punish'd and by an Argument ad Hominem here upon the matter I return Socinus's own words upon himself for saith he †Epist ad Mart. Vadovit The Heresiarcks who raise Seditions and in promoting their Heresies mind only their own conveniencies ought most severely to be used as those whose Fault and Vice lieth not in the Vnderstanding but in the Will He farther adds How the Heresiarcks whose Frailty lies only in the Mind ought to be dealt with as furious Men and out of their Senses because though they be pity-worthy yet when found to do mischief are restrain'd and though these like the others may be pity'd yet if need requires their endeavours to propagate their Doctrine ought to be suppress'd even if otherwise it cannot be done with Bonds and Imprisonment That is in plain English if they had the Power in their hand thus they would use those who differ from them and by them are call'd Hereticks so upon themselves they pass a Sentence of Condemnation This Coercive Power at several times hath by the Magisttrate been made use of it was for an instance when several Bishops of the East met together to get Paulus Samosatenus an Heresiarck well known to Socinus remov'd from bis Bishoprick of Antioch for his Heresy and addressed to the Emperour Aurelian who effected it But to go much beyond the time of Christian Emperours we have a remarkable example of what is the Duty and ought to be the Care of Princes and Governours to make use of the Power which God hath put into their hands to promote his Glory and suppress all that is contrary to it Dan. 3.29 Nebuchadnezzar's Decree which he made after Shadrach and his two Companions had miraculously been deliver'd from the fiery Furnace that every not only Person but Nation and People that should speak any thing amiss or as it is in the old Translation Blaspheme against the God of Shadrach should be cut in pieces and their houses be made a dunghill If this Heathen King would not leave Blasphemy unpunish'd but mov'd by God's Spirit made a Law and appointed a Punishment for such Transgressours much more ought all who profess the Christian Religion take care to see such Impieties suppress'd or else as their Knowledge and Charge is greater if therein they be wanting they are in danger of suffering double Punishment What Treason is in Humane things that in some kind Blasphemy is in Divine for as Treason is against the King's Person or Government so Blasphemy is against God's Nature or his Works now as Treason is justly punish'd so there is a Punishment due to Blasphemy But to come to other things I say that for all their pretences to Piety and Vertue their Principles lead quite to the contrary and what I am going to say though there was nothing else can bring it home upon them here I positively charge them by means of some of their damnable Opinions to encourage Vice Prophaneness Immorality with all manner of Wickedness and this by the Grace of God I can make good so that it shall stick and let them wash it off as they can They are for the Mortality of the Soul after Death like the Body they would have her to be uncapable of Pleasure or Pains she neither acts nor is acted by but is asleep together with the Body till the Resurrection-Day to this purpose speaks * Epist 5. ad Volk So. Epist 3. ad Dudith p. 507. Socinus which was †Def. Puccii ad Resp Soc. tom 2. Oper. Soc. p. 264.267 Fr. Puccius's Charge against him Non me latet c. saith Puccius I know that thou deniest the Immortality of the Souls of those who are not Christians in the Resurrection so with the Epicureans thou believest the Impious Doctrine that the Souls dye with the Body and are both Annihilated by Death We use to say sins are linck'd together and go by couples so one Errour draws into another thus by a good consequence they deny there is now a Triumphing Church consisting of the Souls of those who enjoy God's presence when Scripture saith Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the spirit Rev. 14.13 that they may rest from their labours Upon this Subject Calvin hath written an excellent Treatise call'd Psychopannichia about the condition of Souls after this Life to be seen at the beginning of his Opuscula's which I refer the Reader to not to trouble my self with refuting the Dream of the Soul falling asleep after Death till the Resurrection They also deny that there shall be a Hell being for a total Annihilation that is after Judgment the Wicked shall be reduc'd to nothing as if they had never been then no Torments for them to suffer upon this †Epist 3. ad Dudith nec de Immortalitate animae c. Socinus speaks plain enough I don't believe that any where in the whole Old Testament any clear mention is made either of the Immortality of the Soul or of any other Life Here is your Saducee but what 's become of the Soul after Death Solomon speaks to the purpose Then shall the dust that is the Body Eccles 12.7 return to the Earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it now in God's presence is fullness of joy and at his right-hand pleasures for evermore Psalm 16.11 Certainly the Soul when 't is with God in that special manner must feel Joy and Comfort but Socinians are of a contrary Opinion for they affirm * Smalc Err. 100. Err. 81. Err. 98. Animae Sanctorum c. The Souls of Saints after Death feel nothing and enjoy nothing Nay they deprive them of the blessed Vision of God for he adds The Souls of Saints do not see God before the Day of Judgment yet Scripture speaks of a place of Ease and Rest call'd Abraham's Bosom and though Parables be not Argumentative Luke 16.22 25. yet they are Illustrative to make us understand as far as we are able a thing that is and that same place without any Parable our Saviour calls Paradise when speaking to the repenting Malefactor
Why hath Satan fill'd thine heart to lye to the Holy Ghost in the next verse it 's said Thou hast not ly'd unto Men but unto God These last Words explain the first how to lye to the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 3.16 is to lye to God Paul is another Evidence when he saith Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you That Spirit which dwelleth in them is the same true God whose Temple they are farther as God is every where Psal 139.7 so is the Holy Ghost Whither shall I go from thy Spirit saith David which comes to this I can go no where but there he is so the Holy Ghost is Infinite and none but God is such Rom. 8.9 and the Spirit of God dwells in you as he doth in every Believer and as there are Believers of all Nations Ages Sexes Qualities c. in the World so the Holy Ghost who is in them all is all the World over and so God absolute Eternity belongs to God and the Holy Ghost is Eternal too as we have it thus Heb. 9.14 1 Cor. 2.10 Christ through the Eternal Spirit offered himself and who but God can know all things whether of Men or of God But the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God The Work of the Creation is proper to God and incommunicable to the Creature which cannot be both Creator and Creature to Create imports in him that doth an infinite Power to fill up an infinite Space between a nothing and something which no Creature is capable of he who is to all others the Author of their Beings must need have his own of himself and that is God for he that built all things is God Psal 33.6 Job 26.13 now the Holy Ghost made the World for as By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made so all the Host of them by the breath Spirit of his Mouth to this purpose 't is said by his Spirit he hath garnish'd the Heavens And in the History of the Creation Gen. 1.2 we read how that same Spirit moved upon the face of the Waters to give Life Motion and make them Fruitful besides none but God can bestow the Spiritual and Heavenly gifts of Grace but the Holy Ghost is the Distributer of them for he divideth to every Man severally as he will 1 Cor. 12.4 11. that is independently as of his own and without giving any Accounts farthermore the Ruling of the Church appointing of Apostles and other Ministers and accordingly he endu'd the Apostles and on the Day of Pentecost filled them with Gifts to qualifie them for their work and the Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have call'd them Acts. 13.2 'T was God's work and 't was God who appointed them so he not only gave them Commission to go but also appointed them the Field where to sow the Seed of the Word Chap. 16.6 7. for the Holy Ghost did forbid them to preach the word in Asia tho' they had a mind to it then they would have gone to Bithynia but the Spirit suffer'd them not again Paul tells the Elders of the Church of Ephesus that The Holy Ghost had made them Overseers over that Flock Chap. 20.28 In sew Words all Offices and Gifts in the Church he absolutely disposes of as to him seems good Besides we must take notice of the Glorious Titles given him in Scripture applyable to no Creature as are the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of Adoption John 15.26 Rom. 8.15 Chap. 1.4 Tit. 3.5 Matth. 12.28 Rom. 9.1 Matth. 18.9 2 Cor. 13 14. John 5.7 Matth. 12.31 the Spirit of Sanctification and the Spirit of Renewing or Regeneration and by whom Miracles as Casting out of Devils are wrought furthermore how Divine Worship Honour and Prayer is due and render'd unto the Holy Ghost thus Paul calls upon him as he who knew the Hearts And in the Form of Baptism in the Apostolical Blessing he is equally call'd upon with the Father and the Son and equally concern'd with them in bearing Record in Heaven besides the Holy Ghost must be God seeing The Sin of Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven being the most Abominable and Damnable of all hence I conclude the Holy Ghost equally to be God with the Father and with the Son Their second Error is to deny the Holy Ghost to be a Person but seeing as we already prov'd he is God of the same Nature with the Father and the Son he must be a Person as indeed the Proprieties of a Person are Attributed unto him for in our Saviour's Conception he Acted and Sanctifi'd the Virgins Womb in his Baptism he appear'd in the visible shape of a Dove and of cloven Tongues in the Day of Pentecost in his name we are equally Baptiz'd with the Father's and the Son 's He sent the Apostles Rom. 8.26 He maketh intercession for us besides that he doth create and work Miracles and to none but a Person it doth belong and is proper so to act and so to do Of this Error of theirs there is another branch for they would not have the Holy Ghost to be a Person of the Godhead distinct from the Father and from the Son but the contrary doth appear John 15.26 for in Scripture he is call'd the Spirit of the Father and of the Son he is sent by the Father and by the Son he is distinguish'd from the Father and from the Son by a personal Property to proceed as he is expresly call'd another from the Father and from the Son The Father will give you another Comforter Chap. 14.16 Saith our Saviour that is another from the Father and from me The Heretick Macedonius deny'd the Divinity and Personality of the Holy Ghost and affirm'd it to be only a Vertu and Power whereby the * Smalc Exam. Err. 157. Err. 132. and 137. Father and the Son do work which Fundamental Error Socinians borrow'd of him Spiritum Sanctum c. saith one of them The Holy Ghost is in God a Propriety or Attribute as are Wisdom and Justice Furthermore The Holy Ghost is not one but many of inequal Dignity because there are different Gifts he would set up different Spirits 1 Cor. 12.4 tho' the Apostle saith positively There are diversity of Gifts but the same Spirit We own as we did before how according to an unusual improper and figurative way sometimes the word Spirit signifies the Gift and Workings of the Holy Ghost but when 't is properly taken then it signifies the third Person in order of the Godhead partaker of the Nature therefore call'd God as prov'd Another Socinian calls the Holy Ghost Virtutem illam c †Schlichting in Simbol p. 99. That Virtue whereby God particularly sanctifies those Men which are dear to him And so all along he runs on
to mind what the Prophets or what God saith by the Prophets this is a bold stroak of a pen against the Old Testament he that is so sawcy with the Old can soon be so with the New and so against all Revealed Religion but because 't is fit for me to shew upon what occasion he saith it I must pass to another point and say few Words to it the more because this hits our Socinians who call themselves Vnitarians in that place the question is between the strict Socinians and the sect of Davidians whether or not Christ should be Worship'd and Pray'd to which Socinus was for though indeed to little purpose only as a Medium as †Tom. 2. p. 772. he saith and in Relation to God but Francis David against now Socinus and his Adherents were very strict and positive for their Opinion such as it is * Epist 3. ad Radecium Tom. 1. p. 391. he himself is large upon it and there saith de re omnium maxima c. 't is the greatest point of all in our Religion and somewhat lower he adds noli igitur rogo obsecro c. do not I beseech you oppose a most clear Truth but own the most excellent Mystery and foundation of Christian Religion here by the by take Notice how contrary to some of the Gang he calls Mystery something in our Religion and †Epist ad Synod Waegrov elsewhere to an Assembly of Antitrinitarians he saith they ought in their Churches to maintain the Adoration and Invocation of Christ for saith he if it be despised Judaism nor Epicurism or Atheism cannot be kept out and their * Catec Racov p. 115. eos prorsus non esse Christianos Catechism saith of those Men who pray not to Christ and hold he must not be adored they are no Christians at all seeing they really have not Christ whom they deny in deed though dare not do 't in Words This hits home the Vnitarians let them Answear it as they can But to say all tho' Socinus had as you read so strongly pressed that point yet †Epist ad Enjedin Tom. 1. p. 485. elsewhere he reckons it among indifferent things such as God in his Word hath neither commanded nor forbidden and so not altogether necessary It is very strange how one can be for the Adoration of Christ yet Blasphemously to call him * Smalc exam err 100. a made God or a deisied man a God of the second order a God subordinate to the supreme One but after what he saith in the same Book we must wonder at nothing from him †Err. 8. non est certum c. 't is not certain that God is precisely to be adored for his Divine Nature and elsewhere * Err. 15. non est certum c. to Worship one Onely God who is supreme God by Nature and independent is somewhat to Judaize and deny the Christian Religion nay he goes further and saith †Err. 17. Angelis qui sunt dij c. No man may deny that Divine Worship may be and hath under the Old Testament really been rendered to Angels which are heavenly Gods After this distinction there are also hellish Gods Further God may Command that every Angel be Worshiped for a God but I am sure God never will for he never contradicts himself is not this perfect Idolatry which we charge Socinianism with but I must get out of this stinking Blasphemous and Idolatrous dunghill the Devil John 8.44 saith the Lord is a lyar and his Children are liars and this Man is such one with a Witness for he gives God the lie But before I leave off this point to come closer upon some of our Socinians here I must with a stroak of my Pen hit their great Master Francis David who to shew his want of sincerity and his perverseness of Heart doth so wretchedly wrest the Protomartyr's Prayer to the Lord Jesus when being stoned to death he said Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit which with his ignorant and unsound Interpretation the Heretick would thus depravate O God the Father who art the Lord of Jesus receive my Soul Did any wretch ever screw up his hellish brains to force such a sense upon Words so plain without the least shaddow or appearance of ground for it only because he would have him by no means called upon was ever any Text worse mangled than this by the Additions of that Wicked Man This is the Spirit of those who call themselves Vnitarians and I Socinian-Davidians but to the thing There is a phrase which answers this Chap. 9.14 viz. All that call on thy Name which can admit of no such sense as the Heretick would force upon the other for there Ananias speaks to the Lord Jesus of those who pray'd to and believed in him there is besides a prayer of St. John to our Blessed Lord which leaves not in the least place to quibble or cavil at Amen even so come Lord Jesus Rev. 22.20 which as to the Object fully and plainly answers that of Stephen Lord Jesus receive my Spirit when Paul besought the Lord thrice he certainly thereby pray'd to him who answered and said my grace is sufficient unto thee and that this was the Grace of Christ who thus answered his prayer in plain Words he declared it 2. Cor. 12.9 I will Glory in my Insirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me so that the Divinity and Invocation of our Blessed Saviour is clear enough out of Scripture so 't is out of the Faith and Practice of the Christian Church at all times That by the Primitive Christians he was believed to be true Consubstantial God and adored as such it appears not only out of the Writings of the Doctors of the Church both before and after the Nicene Council who Condemn'd as Hereticks all that did speak or writ against it but also by the Testimony of their Heathen Enemies as Pliny in what he did write to the Emperour Trajan about the Christians who gave of them this Character that they owned Christ to be God and as such Sung hymns in his Praise Now we must go on and speak of other things concerning Adam they hold many bad and dangerous Errours as Scripture saith Gen. 1.27 he was Created in God's own Image which consisted not in one but in many things in Soul and Body and in the Union of both in his Person the Soul is in the Image of God First As to her Nature which is Spiritual and Immortal Secondly As to the Faculties namely the Understanding and Will Thirdly As to the habits of those Faculties that is in Wisdom and Righteousness for as God is Spiritual and Immortal so is the Soul as to Understand and to Will are Proprieties of God so he endued Man's Soul with an Understanding and a Will as to the Body though there be less of God's Image in it than
upon the word only they ought to take notice of a thing material to our purpose how their Notion doth not consist with the scope of the place for there the Apostle speaks not of Christ's Kingdom but of his Person call'd the brightness of the Glory and the express Image of the Father's Person Colos 1.19 so in that other A pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell 't is not spoken of the Doctrine but of the Person of Christ That sort of Men first do what they can to wrest God's Word which abominably they generally do in the Texts about Christ's Satisfaction and almost in every other Point but when they see that cannot do they fly in the Face of Holy Writers Thus * Schlichtingius one of them upon the words But a Body hast thou prepared me saith how these words the Apostle quoted not to his purpose Non necesse c. 'T is not necessary to believe that the Author in his quotation of the words had any regard unto their proper sense but had quoted them only because they were joined with others that were to his purpose Which in him is not only an ignorance of the Scope of the place but also a Reflection upon the Apostle as if he had not well known what he said and wherefore as if he at that time had not been Inspired of God which is both Prophaneness and Impiety However they cannot deny him to have been a very Rational Man but they will be for Deism or Natural Religion in opposition to Revelation If seriously and impartially we look upon Socinians we may about the things in question well compare them with the Scribes Pharisees and Sadducees that were in our Saviour's and his Apostles days as being acted by the same Evil Spirit as they were and equally full of Gall and Bitterness against the Person Honour and Doctrine of our Lord whom upon all occasions these do as the others did undervalue taking him for a meer Man and consequently for a Lyar and Impostour when he called himself true God Son of God in Power equal with the Father and one with him Thus Impiously the Jews call'd him a Samaritan who had a Devil a Seducer a Deceiver a Malefactor and a Blasphemer The Pharisees were full of Pride and Self-Conceit would pass for the only Good Knowing Wise Men in the World sat in Moses's Chair nam'd themselves his Disciples said of those who were not of their Opinion about Jesus Christ This People who knows not the law are cursed How did they use the blind-born Man when to them he spoke good Sense and Reason Thou wast altogether born in sin Joh. 9.34 and doest thou teach us Implying as if they were not born in sin but were Pure and Holy Likewise Socinians pretend to a Pharisaical Righteousness they were not born in sin for they say there is in them no Original Sin and they pretend they can in this World attain to such a Perfection as not to Sin also with the Sadducees they deny the Resurrection of the Dead at least of the Wicked so of the Good too as to the Body The Scribes and Pharisees could not deny the mighty and miraculous Works of our blessed Lord for they were Matters of Fact done not in a Corner but in many several places and in the presence of Thousands of People nay in their Council they confess'd it and said What do we For this man doth many miracles John 11.47 They could not deny their Senses but were in their Judgments convinc'd of it yet their Hearts would not be wrought upon by reason of a desperate Obstinacy but it was prepossess'd with Rage and Malice and would not yield to the Truth nor give Glory to God This is the very Case of Socinians they cannot deny the Supreme Divine Power which the Lord Jesus exerted in so many of his Actions nor absolutely deny him to be God they cannot convince him of Lye nor of any Sin They cannot be ignorant of the Testimony which more than once from Heaven the Father gave of him neither the Record which John bare of him nor that which upon several occasions he gave of himself as to his Divine Nature and Power this they cannot deny but will not confess it and hold the Truth of God in Unrighteousness whereupon we must say they are worse than the Rulers Elders Scribes Pharisees and Sadducees who upon the account of a Miracle done by Peter and John by the Power of our Saviour and in his Name said we cannot deny it Joh. 4.16.14 and they could say nothing against it but Socinians speak against it and the Truth Satan hath so filled the Heart of some of them that though they cannot deny God's Essential Names and Attributes Divine Works and Worship to belong to him yet will not own him to be true God and by Nature which is the only true God in opposition to Idols and Creatures which by Nature are not God's Gal. 4.8 But their Hearts are so perverse and set against him that notwithstanding those lights of the Truth they will not be convinced They cannot deny that Christ did cast out Devils but rather that to give him Glory for it with the Jews they wiâ—â— forge in their Heads and Impiously say he cast them out by Beelzebub for such Cavils and Wrestings they never want which helps them to speak and write against the known Truths Julian being over taken with a signal Judgment could in 't perceive Christ'â— Hand which made him cry out Thou hast overcome 〈◊〉 Galilean Though his rage could not suffer him to own he had been in the wrong and will Socinians waiâ— till they feel such a stroke of Christ's avenging Hand aâ— did the Apostate and some of their Ring-Leaders Out of these and many things more it appears how to Socinians chiefly belongs the Apostle's Saying of those who wrest some things in Paul's Epistles 2 Pet. 3.16 as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction The serious consideration of this engages the same Apostle to give those whom he writes to this necessary warning Ye therefore beloved v. 17. seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the Errors of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness A most seasonable Caution in these as well as in those Times The Society of such which too often proves an occasion of falling into their abominable Heresies we also ought to avoid and this I speak not of my self but have an Apostle's Warrant for it and such a one as made it his chief business plainly and fully to assert the Divinity of the Son of God Jesus Christ our Lord 2 John 10.11 If there come any unto you and bring not this Doctrine receive him not into your House neither bid him God speed for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds 2 Cor. 5.11 And Paul forbids us
means he in Poland where that cunning and craftiness are more strangers than in Italy which is I may say the chief center of it endeared himself to the friendship of some great Men in that Kingdom who by their example and authority spread and propagated his Errours also by the help of whether natural or counterfeit Patience Meekness and other affected Vertues which all are dangerous qualifications when made use of for bad ends Satan is never so dangerous as when transform'd into an Angel of Light so his Ministers ought carefully to be avoided when in Sheep's Clothing and when they have a shew of Innocency and Candour for then occasions are offered them to execute their woolvish ravenousness to tear and devour the Sheep but though God suffered this impious blasphemer to do a great deal of mischief as to admiration in his just judgment he did Mahomet with his absurd nonsensical and extravagant impostures yet by raising oppositions against him he would not permit him to do all the evil he intended for several pull'd off his Vizard and made him appear in his own Colours In some of his Writings disputes and discourses tho' naturally hot enough yet he seem'd mild patient and moderate knowing how our nature can more easily be enticed and gently drawn then forced by which crafty means the Poison of his Errours more easily crept in and was by him insinuated into the Minds of Men as formerly the Pelagians and other cunning Hereticks had done before him such Men as the Apostle saith by good Words and fair Speeches deceive the Hearts of the simple and as said in the same place Rom. 16.18 do not serve the Lord Jesus but their Belly now such as cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which we have learned we ought diligently to mark and avoid them Hereupon we must take God's warning to the Prophet Jerem. 12.6 believe them not though they speak fair words unto thee which we ought the more to mind because Socinians by means of deceitful words were first admitted and received here when all Europe as Switzerland Geneva Germany c. proved too hot for them and being turned out of Poland then they sent hither to supplicate in the name of poor persecuted Prostants upon which account they were pityed and coming over some of them thorough Holland where they met with too many Friends they unhappily were here received for such as they had represented themselves to be though when in time they came to be known they cunningly held their pace because they were watched But of late upon what encouragement God knows they are broken loose upon us both at home and from abroad whence some of that outlandish cursed stock are come in and now live here till God be pleased to disperse and suppress them in the mean while they are like so many Vipers in the bosom of the Nation upon this account we may observe two things which usually happen and are the effects of a Corrupt nature the first that men in a wrong way are more diligent careful and industrious to promote those hurtful ends of theirs than others who are for a good cause and which may do good are to forward it commonly one in a evil way will go farther than another in a good one the Truth is he must go fast whom the Devil drives The second thing is the general disposition in men to fall into those snares and contrary to the dictates of Truth and sound Reason to entertain false Notions because they seem left to their choice to the prejudice of those Truths which have along with them a Command over our consent and belief thorough such pretences and outward appearances of Modesty Humility desire of rhe Truth and the like dephts and devices of Satan which the Apostle saith we are not ignorant of and by these shares of the Devil Rev. 2.24 Cor. 2.11.2 Tim. 2. Men are by him taken captive at his will A thing which very much help'd Socinus to set up his errours is this when he came into Poland he found that Country rent in pieces by several Factions and Sects of Antitrinitarians who were more intent to destroy the Opinions of their Antagonists than to confirm their own so he being a subtle and Crafty Italian newly come among them acted his part so Cunningly as to get himself to be the head wherein he was favoured by the State and Constitution of that Kingdom where great Men have much Power and great Influences that Nation being stiled Martialis ferox upon the account of the fierce and Arbitrary Spirit of Men of Quality and the ordinary people very much kept under by them not daring to oppose he being there to strenghten himself made a Rapsody of most Heresies before him and of others then on Foot in those parts which he would never have attempted in Italy for fear of Fire and Fagot nor in Switzerland whence he was forced to fly away and to please Heterodox Men of all sorts he therewith compiled that unhappy System of his wholly or in part to engage greater Numbers of Men to defend it At that time Poland abounded in Monstrous Opinions which he cemented and join'd together and notwithstanding some divisions did set up for head of all this Man from his Youth began to be fitted to produce Monstrous things for besides his Uncles Directions he being born within the State of Toscany which generally brings forth the most refin'd Wits of all Italy and so I may say of Europe had working brains of his own which prompted him to new things and as Italians are very apt to indulge their natural Genius which by experience I know in these late times commonly to lead them to mischief as we have a late instance in the person of Borri who among other Extravagant alterations which he made in some Articles of the Popish Religion for which he was in the Inquisition and is now if not lately dead under confinement during Life in the Castle San Angelo in Rome he made the Virgin a Goddess of the same Nature with God so Socinus had several Contemporaries and Compatriots whom I named elsewhere who with him acted their parts upon the same Stage Now I say Socinus being a busy Man of an active and stirring Spirit and in his time matters of Religion being the general discourse of the World he apply'd his Wits that way and though may be at first he was not altogether so bad as he proved at last he began by degrees so publish'd with a disguised name Castellio's Pelagian Dialogues afterwards his Book de Christo Servatore as when an Enemy goes about to besiege a place he begins with the outworks and so by degrees comes to the Body thus Christ's Enemies begin with acting against his Grace and at last do attack his Person He and his followers use to slight and unconcernedly to speak of Holy things and of Religion thus it seems to me I see
nothing and the like according to that Spirit they little care what interpretations they make of God's Word which thus they impiously make a stalking Horse of to their wandring Thoughts and for sinister ends of their own namely as they and our modern Socinians here say to improve theit Parts promote Learning and make 〈◊〉 discoveries that is in plain English they may be prophane at God's own cost if they have a mind to improve their parts let them make choice of other matters as Philosophy Mathematicks and of what other humane Arts and Sciences they please and not for their Pride and Vain Glory to prophane God's Field and therein sow their own Tares and to make Religion and the Church subservient to their Evil intents and purposes Another thing they do as may be seen in most of their late Pamphlets which indeed is neither fit nor decent is often to commend themselves and bring in others who speak well of them but it had been much better not to have brought themselves under a necessity to need Begging or Borrowing such Certificates of their good behaviour This puts me in mind of what our Saviour said to the Pharisees ye are they who justify yourselves before Men but God knoweth your Hearts Luke 16.15 'T is true there hath been some who may be out of a Principle of Charity and a Spirit of meekness would have invited them out of their Errours but these are so far gone in that way as to stand in need to make some kind of Apology for themselves yet that method of gentleness is ill bestowed upon Men of an obstinate and stubborn Spirit and hitherto hath proved uneffectual for by the abuse of the thing they are grown Haughtier and Prouder so that sometimes they make their own Panegyrick as I * P. 27. observed in the Vindication of the Epistle and preface to my Book And in a place of the mock Apology against me one of them saith one †P. 20 21. of our Learn'd Bishops doth not think the Vnitarians would dishonour Christ only they think that to make him equal with the Father is a disparagement to Almighty God Such a passage may be though I do not remember to have read it yet I am apt to believe with passing thorough their hands it hath gotten a tincture of Socinianism but what makes those Men so busy as to decide that to make the Son equal with the Father is a disparagement to God Almighty when the same in several Texts of Scripture quoted elsewhere makes him his equal Zech. 13.7 and in one place calls him my fellow and in many Texts of the New Testament Christ makes himself equal with the Father But let me warn those who have a favourable Opinion of them to have a care of what they Write for thereby we see how apt they are to take Advantage of any thing so every stroke of a Charitable Pen they would use as an Argument of their good and sincere intentions and of their being in the Right for as they make of it a Trade to wrest Scriptures so they do the Writings of others which I have a particular cause to take Notice of because I said that some Arminians went Hand in Hand with Socinians presently as well observed by * In his Letter to Dr. Edwards Mr. Lobb and in the †P. 12. remarks on a Paper sent by some Eminent Presbyterians to the Congregational c. They lookt upon 't with a multiplying Glass and would bring under their Banners not only almost all the Church but half of the Presbyterians c. Which in my Answer to the two Letters I take Notice of as of their want of sincerity and to speak plainly I now may call it one of their Tricks which they are so full of As indeed in their whole Carriage one may easily perceive it for it hangs altogether and in the bottom it appears in their Doctrines and Practices so contrary to Faith and to the Rules of the Universal Church besides the Self-Conceitedness and Pride of their Pen-Men who despise all that are not of their Mind and with Blasphemy deride true Religion and to that purpose make use of lies and Calumnies but when hard press'd are reduced to pityful shifts their zeal for Christ and Gospel Truths which as much as they are able they pervert may be look'd upon as meer Hypocrisy and in defence of their Errours they shew a great hardness of Heart and disingenuity and as they betray the Truth so spare not those who defend it against them and load them with invectives full of gall and bitterness which is an effect of Passion so contrary to the Meekness and Moderation which they would seem to pretend to as we find Socinus doing against Puccius whom he sharply upbraids * Epist 〈…〉 â—â—lith 〈◊〉 1. P. 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 much relying upon his Opinions which exactly was Socinus's Original and inherent Sin the extraordinary care also which he took to publish and every where to disperse his Works argues in him no small Vanity and Ambition as for his Passion when he disputed which then he could not command so well as at other times we have the Evidence of a familiar Friend of his in these words * Squarcial Epist ad Socin Scio non suspicor c. I do not guess at but know thine immoderate hate in dispute how often have I warned thee when thou wast about disputing or wrangling concerning light matters and disturbing all things with the greatest Clamourousness This Man who against the proper and natural sense of Scriptures would force his own upon them †Assert posnan 10. in oper Soc. p. 510. to fill up his measure doth scornfully speak of the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds received by the Universal Church but what need we go so far backward as Socinus's time for these things when now among us we have a fresh Evidence of that Spirit of theirs in a late * The Charitable Samar Pamphlet how unworthily doth that Scribler speak of the Council of Nice which saith he was principally Composed of a pack of wrangling contentious Grecians Men bred up in Controversy all their Life and perpetually quarrelling one with another all this he saith gratis and as his own deluded Opinion that among them there might have been some such ones I will not dispute but he cannot say all were so that Council was summon'd by a great and Christian Emperour Constantine who was present and upon that account things must be thought to have been managed with good order besides that what he saith is not to be purpose the question being not about their Temper but about the Matters lying before them Acts 15.39 a cause is never the worse in it self for the frailties of those that own it may any one disparage the Gospel preach'd by Paul and Barnabas because they fell out and parted about a thing of no moment whether or not they