nor is it to be thought strange if the Ministry it self be slighted in the General when there are so many Novices that know not how to divide the Word of Truth aright and therefore they spake not as the Ministers of Christ as being called and sent of God to Preach the Everlasting Gospel but as the Scribes and low Spirited time-servers that can Tell a Tale out of Ovid and Homer but are far enough from being like Ezra who read in the Book of the Law and gave the Sense and the Meaning the Gospel and Epistles to the Primitive Christians being seldom mentioned or if they be either not Explained or miserably perverted to set up some other Christ or some other Saviour besides our Lord Jesus Christ For alass poor Creatures they know not what the terrors of the Lord nor the Consolations of the Holy Ghost are themselves And how then can they perswade Men to be Christians they are strangers to the New Birth themselves and how can they give any account of those things they have not seen nor felt These things are to be Lamented and shall be reformed when God causeth Glory to dwell in our Church and Land It is in vain for Men In vain did I say it is a sin and a shame for Men to go before God in chusing of Ministers one would think the Gospel should Teach us so much good Manners as to let God choose first And when he hath given some visible Demonstrations who he hath Chosen then to set such apart by Fasting and Prayer and laying on the Hands of the Presbytery So shall they revive the Glory that is due to the Gospel Ministry by having none but Work men among them that are able to divide the Word of Truth aright and so need not to be ashamed either of the Gospel or a shame to it being sound in the Faith and having the Spirit may Convince gain-sayers For want of a due regard hereunto the Church hath too many Novices and too many put too much Contempt on the whole Ministry for the sake of some Pretenders thereunto But that which is worse then all this is the Enemies of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Gospel of his Grace take occasion hereby to Assault the very Foundation of the Christian Religion and finding many in the Ministry some of the lowest of the People before spoken of who are either prepared to receive their Principles or not Fortified against them by the Spirit of the Lord. They grow insolent and because a Novice or an Arminian cannot Confute them for want of a Spirit of Judgment and of a sound Mind they are ready to say neither can a Minister of the Gospel do it And indeed it is a Question which perhaps a Doctor of Reason cannot readily determine whether it be harder for an Arminian to Confute a Socinian or for a Socinian to Confute an Atheist for there is a connexion and a dependancy in those damnable Heresies for the denying the full satisfaction that Christ made to Divine Justice for our sin and our being Justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christs Blood makes way to deny the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ and the denying the Divine Nature of our Lord Jesus Christ makes way for denying the being of God Arminianism naturally runing into Socinianism and Socinianism as naturally into Athesim as I trust Rational Reader thou wilt see by the insuing Discourse that the most Goliah like Arguments that our Pretenders to Reason have against our Lord Jesus Christ Lye with equal force against the very being of God These Gentlemen having Formed an Idea of Religion and of God himself according to that little Measure of Reason God hath bestowed upon them and that Reason wofully Corrupted they all three set this down for a Rule and tell us in so many Words that what is contrary to their Reason cannot be True and being very Conceited as thou knowest Rational Reader most of our Weak and and Half Witted People are they tell us what ever God tell us in his Word to the contrary no matter for that That one infinite Saviour is not sufficient to grapple with an in numerable Company of sins and Guilts each of which they will have to be infinite But thy Reason will tell thee their Argument will assoon destroy the being of God as over throw the Satisfaction of Christ They also tell us the Father the Word and Holy Ghost cannot be one that sin cannot be Forgiven if the guilty be not Cleared and yet God himself saith he will not Clear the guilty and yet he will Forgive sin And to carry on their damnable Heresies with a high Hand they set themselves up for Mastersof Reason Freemen of the Common-wealth of Wit and Learning But thou wilt see Reader by the ensuing Discourse that they are quite otherwise and that they prove themselves to be no other then a shame to Learning a dishonour to the Schools a reproach to sound Reason a scandal to the Gospel Enemies to the Crown and Dignity of our Lord Jesus Christ and Factors to Atheism Now Reader I shall not detain thee any longer at the Door then to tell thee how I being no Prophet nor Prophets Son came to be ingaged in a Work of this Nature And indeed it was an unexpected Providence that led me to it I being at a Friends House some Months since I Accidently saw the two Books mentioned in the Title Page and by that transient view that I had of them while I was there I perceived they struck at the Foundation of the Christian Religion I therefore desired to Borrow them that I might inquire by the Scriptures of Truth whether those things were so or no my request was readily granted and accordingly at spare Times and redeemed Hours for I resolved not to Lose one Hours Time from my Imployment for it but I say at Redeemed Hours I did look over those Books comparing the things that were therein asserted with the Scriptures of Truth and sound Reason drawn from the same And I do Freely acknowledge that at first I was somewhat Staggered in my Faith and indeed Had I not been almost turned aside from the simplicity of the Gospel thou hadst never seen any thing of this Nature coming from me nor should I have commited my Tuoughts about those things to Paper and Ink but finding the things that were so confidently denyed and Contended against was not about Meats or Drinks or a Holy-day or a White or a Black Garment and such like Trifles as these which makes them that observe them never the better nor they that observe them not never the worse but the matters contended about being no less then denying or believing in the true God and our Saviour Jesus Christ I resolved by the Grace of God to find out the Truth as it is in Jesus and therefore I gave the more earnest heed both to these Books and the
but the Spirit of God and he to whom he reveals him Why then it must pass through the strict Inquisition of the Doctor of Reasons Queries as First How can these things be Secondly How can this Man give us his Flesh to eat Joh. 6. 52. These are hard sayings who can hear them ver 60. Or Thirdly Thou art not yet fifty Years old and hast thou seen our Father Abraham And if our Lord stand to it and assert his Divine Nature by saying before Abraham was I am they will will be ready to Stone him for a Blasphemer because they knew his Mother and his supposed Father according to the Flesh therefore he cannot speak the Truth it will not pass with Doctor Reason Therefore Gods Truth must be condemned for Folly and Nonsense But woe unto those Men that will call evil good or good evil or truth error or error truth when God riseth up to contend with those Men he will make them know he is not such a one as themselves But our Accountant after all his Pains to build a Babel's Tower undermines it all at once in the winding up of his Reasons For he saith in his Tenth Reason and his last but one That the ascribing the Divine Natures incommunicable Perfections and worship to one and another or a third Person or self necessarily infers a Plurality of Gods and is a breach of the First Commandment hath many evil tendencies and is the Ground of all the Idolatry Antichristianism and Paganism This is a high kick indeed for here our Accountant charges the Angels with Folly and not only so but all the blessed Company in Heaven Nay that is not all but rather then not do his own business effectually he will enter into Judgment with God himself Well however B. R. S. or any under his care may slight him or his Book as thinking neither worth Answering yet I must needs say he is a stout bold Fellow for he dares to charge God himself with contradiction and with being accessary to the Breach of his own first Command For according to our Accountants Reason he suffers the Worship and Worshippers in Heaven to infer a Plurality of Gods and to lay a Foundation for all Idolatry Antichristianism and Paganism For in Revelations 5. we have an Account of the Worship of Heaven and in the 11 12 13. Verses we have an Account of the Angels and the Beasts and Elders giving Blessing Honour Glory and Power to him that sitteth upon the Throne and untothe Lamb for ever and ever ver 14. and the 4 beasts say Amen to all this and the 24 Elders fall down and Worship him that liveth for ever and ever Here is Divine honour and Worship Given to him that sitteth on the Throne and the same in the same breath given unto another to use my Authors own Words Even to the Lamb for ever and ever And yet God doth not charge them with Idolatry nor making to themselves another God No this is the Worship of Heaven and must continue so for ever and ever Sure if our Accountant had any good hope of Worshipping with this blessed Company in Heaven he would endeavour to imitate them while here on Earth A Man had need have a good Stock of Patience as also of Faith and every Grace of the Holy Spirit to live in a continual dependancy on him that gives Wisdom to such simple Ones as he pleaseth and understanding to as many of them as have no knowledge as seemeth good to Soveraign pleasure as also humbly to remember that the Ostrich hideth her Eggs in the Sand and forgetteth that the Wild Beast may crush them because God hath deprived her of Wisdom Or else a Man indu'd but with an Ordinary measure of Reason and not Balast'd with the aforesaid Graces of Gods Holy Spirit could not forbear the resenting this unreasonable assertion so as to give my Accountant a Character much below that of Master of Reason But I may not give ill Language having not so Learned Christ Neither is it fit for a Man of a mean capacity to say to such a Learned Gentleman thou art a blockhead nor shall I say any thing of the Impudency that there is in bringing in an Impeachment and Charge of the highest Treason and Idolatry that Can be against the whole Court of Heaven the Blessed Him that sitteth upon the Throne and the Lamb who is worthy of all blessing Honour Power and Glory not being exempted This is such a peice of Fool hardiness as none but those that dare Run upon the thick bosses of Gods Buckler can be guilty of I hope our Accountant will not discover so much Folly as to attempt to excuse himself of an error in this by Quoting 1 Chron. 29. 20. Where it is said All the Congregation blessed the Lord God of their Fathers and bowing their heads Worshipped the Lord and the King That being but an External or Civil Worship which the People paid to the King or that is due from Inferiours to Superiours And our Accountant himself tells me he could not bear the ascribing the same Glory to Christ in Prayer which is due to the Father whereby he publickly enters his dissent and protest against the Worship and Worshippers and Worshipped also in Heaven For the Truth is what ever Worship Kings and such may receive from their Subjects in this World yet there never was nor shall be any King Lord or Potentate that shall receive Honour Glory Blessing and Praise from all the Worshippers both Angels and Men that are in Heaven for ever and ever but he who is the only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Jesus Christ who is the true God and Eternal Life 1 Joh. 5. 20. It is strange that there should not be one Doctor of Reason among all this Blessed Company to imitate Athaliah in crying out Treason Treason Idolatry Idolatry contradiction Nonsence because the right Heir is Crowned and receives the Glory of the Kingdom But upon Second thoughts it will not appear so strange as true for God hath not chosen many wise Men of this world and those few that are chosen from among them must first become Fools that they may be truly Wise For God hath chosen the Foolish things of this World to confound the wise 1 Cor. 20 27 to the end Thus we see the Scriptures made good The wisdom of this World is Foolishness with God For it is Written he taketh the Wise in their own Craftiness 1 Cor. 3. 18. There is yet another thing which our Accountant will needs call his Eleventh Reason or Stone in this Babel Building and his last But whether it may be called his Top Stone or Bottom no matter for that such as it is take it word for word Page 5th that it is saith he Great folly and boldness to affirm any thing Concerning God which is unreasonable or absurd yea which we do not understand to be true Surely what ever mistakes
and Errors the Trinitarians may be guilty of yet it is certain they cannot be guilty of greater not indeed so great Boldness and Folly as our Accountant is as we have seen but now in his last Argument For I do not find that they enter into Judgment with God nor charge the most high foolishly nor with folly and I pray Sir upon second thoughts tell me which is the greatest Folly and boldness to believe what God declares of himself to be reasonable and true though we do not understand it or to give God the Lye and and tell him that what he declares of himself is false unreasonable and absurd because we do not understand it Such an Answer as this from a Servant to a Master would be Accounted Impudent boldness and we see there is nothing more common among Men whose Understandings and Reason differ greatly yet far enough are they from differing infinitely yet among Men it is no new thing for the Wise and Learned to understand and know that to be true and Reasonable which the more Ignorant are rather more ready to wonder at than they are able to give a Demonstration of Yet are these Gentlemen so confident in their own Reason that they will give the Lye to God himself if he tell them the Father the Word and Holy Ghost are One So careful are these Gentlemen that their Faith may not stand in the Power of God but in the Wisdom of Men. But whether it be right in the sight of God to believe or obey Men rather than God judge ye Acts. 4. 19. I have now done with my short Accountant the rest of his Book being meerly Historical of what did pass between him and B. R. S. and the Church of which he was a Member but I have nothing to do with that my Business being only to contend for that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints and to believe the Truth as it is in Jesus I shall therefore now take a view of our Nameless Author again and see if he can produce any sound Reason to perswade us to deny our Lord Jesus Christ For I take it for granted that it is as great a denial of him to deny him to be as he is God over all blessed for ever more as it is to deny him to be our redemer For indeed the Holy One of Isarel is the Redeemer thereof But on a Second view of our Author in his Divine Vnity asserted I do not find any other Reasons than what I have already considered and find in my Accountant save only he is somewhat larger and in his 10th page Colume 1. he would deny the Divinity of our Lord and prove it too if he didbut know how from this Argument that Man is made after God's own Image Now saith he If God be a Trinity and Man be his Image we may find an Image of that Trinity in our selves But he excludes the Body from any part of this Image which may look tolerable enough at first view because God is a Spirit and if he had stopt here he might have carried his Sophistry off pretty fair but the Wits of our day must over shoot themselves He tells you the Reason why the Body is excluded because saith he It is imperfect and there is no Imperfection with God Good Sir did you expect to find the Soul of Man a perfect Image of God when you first entred on this Argument really you might well have spared your Pains here and have given the Spirit of God the Lye once more and you should have as good Reason so to do as you have to give our Lord himself the Lye as you do in your 15th page colume 2. where you say The same worship which is due to the Father is not to be given to Christ but that which may be given to a Creature for God's sake Wherein you do in plain English give Truth it self the Lye for he hth told us that all Men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father as hath been already proved by Scripture John 5. 23. and by the Example of the Worshippers in Heaven But if you had been sincerely looking for a faint Resemblance of the Image of God in Man as a Trinity to say nothing of that Moral Likeness that God at first stampt on Man's Nature of himself which consisted in Righteousness and true Holiness which indeed was the greatest Resemblance in Man to God And yet we have reason to believe that the Angels were every whit as much like God as in this sense Man was Therefore it must be something else in the make of Man that did bear some Image of God for which cause it is said he made Man in his own Image and if you had not wilfully shut your Eyes you could not but see that the Scripture speaks of Body Soul and Spirit in Man as the Apostle Paul prays for the Thessalonians 1 Thes 5. 23. that They might be sanctified throughout in Body Soul and Spirit And if there be such a thing as Body Soul and Spirit in Man then here is some faint Resemblance in Man of a Trinity in God I say a faint Resemblance for I am not so void of Reason as to think that a finite weak Man can be a perfect Image of God Yet our Author to shew what a Talent of Wit he hath spends all his 10th page both columes and part of 11th to prove that which no Body denies or that which is forreign to the purpose But in his 11th page his Wit runs over and his Invention will run too fast for his Reason do what he can for he saith That cannot be called Generation or Origination which never began to be generated or originated and if he had stopp'd here he might have danc'd in the Dark and they that have no Eyes could never have seen him But the Gentleman's Invention hangs in the Light of his Reason He tells us the Reason is That which never began to be a doing was never done and therefore ETERNAL GENERATION must be ETERNAL NONSENCE Well argued most Learned Doctor a Man would be ready to think you were a Pensioner to Hobbs to make way for and gain Proselytes to his Leviathan For by this Argument that which never began to be cannot have a Being and then the Fool may ask us Where is your God and the Truth is the Attribute of God's Eternity is as much above and out of your Reason as the Doctrine of the Trinity and if you tell me there is a difference between a Being and an Act. I Answer that an Eternal Act is as much without a Beginning as an Eternal Being and it is equally as great a piece of Nonsence and as derogatory to the Glory of God to say God was before he acted as to say he acted before he was Really Gentlemen but only for the great Names and Titles by which you are pleased to dignifie and distinguish your selves from the common
and only moving Cause of God's sending his Son into the World and therefore all that he did in the World could not be the Cause nor so much as a Means ro procure his Mercy consider'd without respect to Justice John 3. 16. For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life Mercy and Love in God as the truly Rational and Heavenly Dr. Owen hath observed being no less than God's willing good to the Creature and whoever God wills Good to they must have that Good willed to them For God's Will in this Sence must infallibly be done both in Heaven and in Earth But God will not convey Good to any Creature in a way that shall destroy a greater Good then the Salvation of all the Men and Angels in Heaven and Earth will amount unto But such is the Manifestation of the Glory of God's Justice therefore though God's loving Kindness and Mercy was from everlasting and therefore needed not a Sacrifice in time to procure it much less a propitiatory one to appease it which is a Contradiction with a Witness but this is not to be taken Notice of in Men that have ingross'd all contradiction to themselves under the specious pretence of Reason for 't is below the pretended Wits of our Day the Great Vain glorious Freemen of the Common-Wealth of Wit and Learning to prove themselves little Fools But I say Mercy will never be extended in a way that in the least derogates from the Justice and Truth of God No Justice and Truth must be equally exalted with Mercy where-ever it is extended Therefore when God proclaims his Name in Exod. 34. 6 7. he proclaims himself to be a God that will shew Mercy and yet will by no means clear the guilty This you Men of Reason are pleased to contradict and do in so many words tell us that a Debt fully paid and yet freely for given is a contradiction Nameless Author page 6. col 1. And Mr. Considerator calls it a Mock Payment pag. 13. col 1. But we know the things of God useth to be accounted Foolishness with Men but Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ we do as well know that God hath made foolish the Wisdom of this World and that the foolishness of God is Wiser then Men 1 Cor. 1. 20 21 25 26 27. But in the aforesaid Exod. 34. The Lord proclaims himself to be the Lord God merciful and Gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and Truth Pray observe goodness and Truth must go together and without Truth Goodness would cease to be so And in verse 7. He saith Keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity Transgression and sin and that will by no means clear theguilty Now Gentlemen are you not ashamed if you are not you may be to say a Debt fully paid and yet Freely forgiven is a Contradiction for do you not thereby Contradict God himself and Charge him with Folly and Falshood who saith he will pardon iniquity and forgive sin and yet will by no means clear the guilty Surely God is true and can no more Lye then he can dye or deny himself therefore his infinite wisdom hath contrived that which his Almighty Power hath effected a way to pardon sin and yet by no means clear the guilty This could not be done by offering up a Sacrifice to the Mercy of God nor was there any need of such a thing Mercy being the first moving Cause of setting infinite Wisdom to Work to find out a way to save the sinner and yet not clear the guilty and at the same time to save the Honour of Gods Law and to vindicate the immutability of his Truth to shew Mercy to the sinner and yet at the same time to magnifie his Law and make it Honourable Isa 44. 21. to magnifie his Mercy and yet at the same time and by the same way and means and with respect to the very same Persons to exalt his Justice This was a Work becoming God because no Created being had Wisdom and Power to do so and as it is wonderful in its own Nature so likewise should it be to us and Humbly and thankfully closed up with It is not to be quarrelled with but if you will reject the Counsel of God against your selves because it is Foolishness with you yet know you that to them that believe Christ is the Wisdom of God and the Power of God and they do receive this Truth with all manner of Acceptation And although it may seem to be foolishness to you wise Grecians yet to them that believe both Jews and Greeks Christ is the Wisdom of God and the Power of God hence it comes to pass that the Lord is well pleased for his Righteousness sake he thereby magnifying his Law and making it Honorable this answers the end of God both in Creation and Redemption The end of God was to manifie his own glory but for which he would not have descended into the Work of Creation nor Redemption For he bath made all things for himself even the wicked for the day of evil Prov. 16. 4. And we are Redeemed and Called for this very end that we may be to the Praise of the Glory of his Grace in Christ Jesus Eph. 1. 6 12. Yet so as that the Glory of his Justice might shine forth with equal Luster with his Mercy Rom. 3. 25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remison of sins that are past through the forbearance of God ver 26. To declare I say at this time his Righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus God doth all things becoming himself and Gods glory being the chiefest good and the manifestation thereof the Highest end God could have no Lower end than the manifestation of his own Glory as the first and chief end in the Work of our Redemption and our Salvation next thereunto A wise Man will not do great and Noble things for a base and low End how much less will God save sinners in a way that advances the Glory of one attribute to the abasement or in the least Ecclipsiing the Glory of another This would reflect on his Wisdom and Power but God will not God cannot extend Mercy in a way that may reflect on his Justice and Truth If the King pardon a Convicted Traytor he thereby extends his Mercy and shews a great deal of Pitty and Compassion and good Will to the Person of the Traytor But he cannot with respect to that Person but stop the Execution of Justice and the Law in that particular Falls to the Ground and that because he is Man and not God but not one jot nor Title of Gods Law shall Fall to the Ground neither shall Justice be in the least stopt or Suspended by Gods extending Mercy
the one cannot be enlarg'd nor the other enlightned are there not ten thousand things which your reason doth not understand which are certain Truths for all that and is not God able to enlarge your Capacity and your Understanding and make that appear to be truly reasonable which now by reason of your Ignorance you can see no reason for except you will say that you have attain'd to the highest pitch of Reason and Understanding that God can give you and consequently that you are infallible in all matters of Faith and in the very Nature and Being of God And if so you would do well to turn out that doating Fool at Rome and place a wiser in the Chair and lay aside the Scriptures and Simon Magus like set up for some great one in the World I still see reason to guide my Reason by the Scriptures and therefore I believe when I see a Man wise in his own Conceit I may have more hope of a Fool than of him Now though I have reason to believe that our short Accountant and our nameless Author are Brethren in this unreasonable Work of denying that Jesus Christ is the living and true God as much as Simon and Levy were in their unreasonable Zeal Yet if my Reason fail not I think they contradict each other For our nameless Author tells us pag. 5. colume 1. that Reason is a Power or Faculty of encreasing our Knowledge by Industry whereby if we rightly proceed we may come to an absolute certainty in many things So then Reason is capable of being encreas'd and growing by Industry Hence it follows that small measures of Reason can give a Man but small Certainty in many things if in any thing how contrary is this to my Accountants third Reason whose Capacity is not to be enlarg'd nor can any thing be true that is contrary to his present Understanding but when Reason is thus improv'd my Author himself tells me and I have Reason to believe him that it is but a certainty in many things so that some things are still exempted from a certain Knowledge of by Reason according to my Doctor of Reason his own Argument And if any thing be exempted surely Reason would inform a Man that the things of God should be some of those things especially those things that concern his very Being and Nature But to return to our short Accountants Third Reason for I would not hide any of his most comely Parts nor diminish any of his strongest Reasons he proceeds in his aforesaid pretended Reason and tells us Though he is bound to believe whatever God saith is True yet it is because I have Reason so to do But saith he I cannot believe the thing God saith till I know what he saith You are very right Mr. Doctor the Devil will tell the truth sometimes but he adds nor well believe pray Mark nor well believe God saith so and so till by Reason I am assured it is true Reason can never assent to that which appears unreasonable nor can I otherwise than by Reason assure my self that the Scripture is a Divine Revelation These are his very words for as I said before I will not hide his strong Reasons The first part of this Third Reason I have Answered already but he cannot well believe God saith so and so till by Reason he is perswaded it is true If Abraham had had such a Conceit of his Reason he might have Lived and Dyed in Unbelief for ought I know to the Contrary For what Reason had he to believe he should have a Son when his own Body was as good as Dead and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of Women but the revealed Word of God and he did not say this is according to my Reason therefore I will believe what God saith no he Argued quite otherwise and said though I see no Reason for this but a great deal against it as much as ever our Accountant can pretend to be Master of Yet because it is told me by that God that cannot Lye and Almighty power being ingaged to perform it therefore I do believe it and therefore it is said Rom. 4. 18. he believed against hope and therefore against reason but he would have had hope if he had had Reason for Hope will follow Reason and it would be an unreasonable peice of Nonsence and a contradiction for a Man to say I have Reason to believe I shall have such a thing but I have no hopes of it Rom. 4. 18. Yet our Accountant will needs set up for a Master of Reason though he knows not what he speaks nor where of he doth affirm Besides in this my Accountant gives no more Honour and Glory to God by believing then he or any Man else may give to the Devil For when the Father of Lyes speaks truth and that you know he will do sometimes then you may believe him if by Reason you are assur'd it is true but God is to be Believed on the Authority of his own Word It is no wonder that Men discover themselves to be Fools when no less Folly will satisfie them then to kick against him in whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge Colos 2. 3. But I pass to my Accountants Fourth Reason in the aforesaid Third Page By Revelation saith he we are taught and it is no way contrary to Reason that this one God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is this one God Joh. 17. 1. Very true and how forcible are right Words but what doth your Arguing either prove or reprove from this We are Taught by the Scriptures of truth that Jesus Christ is the True God and Eternal Life and that the true God is Jesus Christ 1 Ep. John 5. 20. and John 17. 1. Titus 2. 13. Now whether this be contrary to my Accountants Reason or no it is nevertheless true for all that but I see no Reason to deny the Father to be God for all this and if I should yet my Reason and the Inference would be as Justifiable as his in denying the Son to be God His Fifth Reason you have in his aforesaid Third Page for you must know they being small will lye in a little room Whenever God the Father and Christ his Son are spoken of in Scripture they are spoken of as two distinct Persons and Beings as Joh. 7. 16. It 's certain they are so as the Scripture declares them to be yet the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost are but one God for all that And he adds Though they are said to be One in some Sense yet never but in such a Sense as God and others may be said to be One viz. in Love Agreement and Will One would wonder that a Man pretending to Reason and Religion should not be ashamed to tell the World such an unreasonable untruth as this what is Christ and God the
Father no otherwise One than God and others may be said to be One Namely in Will and Love Pray Sir read the 6 ver of the First of Hebrews there God commands all his Angels to Worship him Will you be so unreasonable as to tell me that God is so One with any of his Creatures aâ— to Command all the Angels of Heaven to Worship them the Man Jesus only excepted who by virtue of his Union and Personal Oneness with God the Son our Mediator being God Man he must have this Honour For hath not God in the first Command forbid the worshipping any God but himself and doth he not again say He will not give his Glory to another nor his Praise to graven Images So then tho' Christ be the true God he is not another God and truth it self saith that it is the Will of God that all Men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father John 5. 23. And why then will you discover so much Ignorance of the Scripture and prove so evidently that your Wisdom your Reason is but Folly instead of being a sure guide to lead you to the Knowledge of God and again Christ tells you if your Reason will but let you believe him that as the Father knoweth me even so know I the Father Joh. 10. 15. And pray Sir will your Reason tell you that God and any others which you speak of are so One whether Angels or Men as that thereby they know God as God knows them surely God knows all his Creatures perfectly Do any of his Creatures know him so Thus we see vain Man would be counted wise though it be far from him and he is as extravagant as the Wild Asses Colt but it is not to be much wonderd at upon due consideration of the matter for how can it be otherwise when a Man is so far left of God to himself as to be wise in his own Eyes and so neglect to Live in a Continued humble dependancy upon him who gives Wisdom to the simple and Understanding to them that have no Knowledge this was the sin and Folly of the Pharisees who because they said they did see therefore their Sin and Folly remain'd with them Joh. 9. 41. And our Lord tells us in the 39th ver That for Judgment I came into this World that those that were blind and so made willing by Grace to be led in the way they knew not according to that Gracious Promise in Isaiah 42. 16. should see and that they which did see and were so conceited with their own Reason and Righteousness as not to submit to the Righteousness and Wisdom of God should be made blind and Dye in their Sins Again our Lord tells you in Joh. 5. 21. For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them even so the Son quickeneth whom he will Now Sir will your Reason tell you or if it do tell you and so delude you can it prove to you by Sound reasonable Truth that any Created being whether Angel or Man can quicken whom he will and is this such a Oneness as God and others may be said to be One. Unless I find some Truer and so more reasonable Arguments then these I shall never be your Disciple Therefore I shall pass on and Consider our Accountants 6th 7th and 8th Reasons in the 4th Page for they are all of a sort and if one be confuted the rest must Fall He tells us that those things are attributed to the Father which cannot possibly be said of the Son as that he is greater than all and those things are said of the Son which cannot possibly be attributed to the Father or to the One that is God as that he was conceived grew in Wisdom and Stature and many other such like things Which is very true and herein my Author speaks Reasonably for it would have been a very Irrational thing for him to have thought of imposing his Cunningly devised Fables upon the Weakest Christians if he did not Cunningly and Deceitfully Mention some Truths For it is no new thing for the Enemies of the Gospel to hold the Truth in Unrighteousness But Good Sir what sort of Logick is this some things are Attributed to the Father which cannot be said of the Son and some things are Attributed to the Son which cannot be Attributed to the Father which clearly shews that they are distinct that the Father is not the Son and that the Son is not the Father But it doth not follow from hence that the Son is not God and whereas you say the Scripture tells us that the Father is Greater than all the same also it saith of the Son for it is expressly said in Rom. 9. 5. That he is over All therefore Greater than All God blessed for evermore And for those many Scriptures that speak of Christ his being conceiv'd growing in Wisdom and Stature and the Like which cannot be Attributed to God the Father It is our unspeakable Comfort and happiness and shews that Christ God the Son did really take our Nature upon him according to the Scriptures Heb. 2. 16. For verily he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham and his being Conceiv'd and Born of the Virgin clearly proves that it was not a shadow or likeness of Man that he took but real Man and in regard it is said that he took on him the Seed of Abraham And in the aforesaid Hebrews 2. ver 14. it is said As the children are made partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself likewise took part of the the same Which clearly shews him to be God for who else must this he be who took on him the Seed of Abraham and took on himself part of Flesh and Blood It must be some Being superiour to the Angels themselves for the Apostle speaks of it as an Act of Soveraignty and Good Pleasure in this Mighty He in this Almighty Being who did not take the Nature of Angels but did take the Seed of Abraham So my Accountant and I are agreed in this That God the Son did take our Nature upon him And in this Sense God was made Man The Word was made flesh I suppose my Accountant will discover so much Reason as to own that this He the Apostle speaks of was not Man nor Angel For then he had spoken Nonsence and his Words would have run thus verily an Angel or a Man took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham So that it is Evident this He was neither Angel nor Man but a being infinitely superiour to both But My Author goes on to his 7th Reason and saith That there can be no Essential or Personal Vnion between God and a Creature Finite and Infinite For the being of God doth not require the being of a Creature to his being A very unreasonable assertion and therefore must have some thing reasonable joyned with it to
3 4. where he tells the Corinthians that though he is absent in Body yet he as present in Spirit had Judged already as though he were present concerning him that hath so done this Deed And in the next verse tells them what they should do wehen they wre gathered together and my Spirit with the Power of our Lord Jesus Christ Colo. 2 5. to the same purpose but were not Mr. Considerator one of the best or rather the worst at perverting of Scripture and one of the greatest reproachers of sound Reason under the greatest pretentions to it I should not have mentioned these Scriptures as having the least shew of Reason in them to invalidate the Truth of our Lords Promise or that he will not be with his People and that really present with them to the end of the World in all Places and in all Conditions according to that gracious Promise in Isa 43. 2. When thou passest through the fire I will be with thee and the waters shall not overflow thee If you tell me this Promise in Isaiah must be understood of God the Father I answer if it be so it doth but confirm our Lords Deity the Promise being no more then what he Promiseth his Disciples which clearly proves our Lord Jesus Christ to be the Omnipresent God that fills Heaven and Earth with his presence for what Paul said to the Corinthians and Colossians is no more then what we may all say to one another when we are desirous to have a good Work carried on by the Church or any other Civil Society at which we have a right to be present as Member tho' we are else where detained yet approving the Work we say our Heart is with them our Mind and Spirit is in the Work But will Mr. Considerator say this is all the comfort our Lord promises his Disciples Mat. 28. Truly if so they might say of him as Job said of his Friends miserable comforters have ye been but our Lord cannot deceive any more then he can be deceived and therefore he will come unto his People and will take up his abode with them according to his gracious Promise in Joh. 14. 23. Jesus answered and said if a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Here the Son is to come and be as much present with his Disciples as the Father And in ver 16. of the same Chapter our Lord saith I will pray the Father and he shall send you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever All which with many other Texts of Scripture not only prove the Son to be Omnipresent but also the Unity of the Divine being and the Trinity of that Unity and doth undeniably prove to all sincere unbyast Christians the Divine authority and Truth of that Word in Joh. 5. 7. which Mr. Considerator and the rest of his Tribe do so much Bark at but they shall never be able to Bite it out of Gods Bible as long as the Sun and Moon indure nor can they though in Conjunction with the Gates of Hell be able to Rob the People of God of the comfort and Consolation that they enjoy by Communion with the real though Spiritual and Divine presence of Jesus Christ For when the Atheist and Deist and Mr. Considerator himself have Mock'd and Scoff'd at Communion with God as much as their Elder Brother Ishmael himself did at the Son of the Promise yet know ye there are that know their Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ Joh. 1. 3. And yet Mr. Considerator to shew what a Doctor in Capernaum and Nicodemus's Divinity he is proves himself as good an Advocate for the abomination of Transubstantion as Belarmine himself or any Cardinal of them all could do Yet is he no Papist but any thing so he can but do some thing against the Truth for in Page 21. Colum 2. and 22. He labours all be can to make the abomination of Transubstantiation to be a small sin if any which he calls a folly or a mistake it is not an impiety he saith but a Philosophical Error Colum 2. Page 21. and hath mis-represented that abomination that he might redicule the Truth For he saith it is not pretended by the Papist that the bread and Wine have received any the least change Where as this is the very thing they have burn'd many a Christian for because they would not believe that the Bread and Wine were changed or Transubstanstiated into the very Body and blood of Christ And as for his Body being present in a Spiritual manner it was the Doctrine of the Lutherans and not of the Papists And in his 20th Page Colum he saith himself the Papists say the words of our Lord import that the Bread of the Sacrament is really and verily made to be the Substance of Christ's body in which he was Crucified But in his Page 21. Colum 2. He tells us they are of another Mind and that they do not pretend that the bread and Wine have received the least change in what is an Object of Sense Why good Sir is not the very Substance of Bread an Object of Sense Perhaps this Gentleman may pretend a License to Contradict himself but the Trinitarians must have a care of saying any thing contrary to the dictates of Mr. Considerators foolish Reason for fear of being Guilty of the unpardonable sin of Contradicton But the Gentleman was labouring to Contradict Christ and to Charge him with Folly and Falshood therefore no wonder if he Contradict himself for our Lord hath promised to be with his People to be really present with them in this World This Mr. Considerator see would prove him to be God the only true God therefore he will Give our Saviour the Lye and say he neither is nor can be Omnipresent Page 11. Colum 2. But our Lord saith Mat. 18. 20. that where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them And that the will be with his People to the end of the World Mat. 28. 20. Yet Mr. Considerator is pleased to say the Doctrine of Christ real presence is worse then the abomination of Transubstantiation But that his Fables may pass with some Colour he thinks it meet to colour his Charge with Falshood and tells us of some whom he saith ought not to call themselves the Reformed who believe the real Presence of Christ's Body in the Sacrament pag. 20. colume 2. But I know none of that Belief except the Papist nor the Considerator neither I believe but the Gentleman's Design was to deny the Real Divine Presence of Christ But that being too great a Truth to be beat out of the Scripture of Truth he contents himself in that place in denying his bodily Presence I have insisted the more on the Omnipresence of Christ because Mr. Considerator in his
to the Sinner because the Lord is God and not Man Therefore we Read that Mercy and Truth are met together Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other Psal 85. 10. God is as Just in Justifiing him that Believeth in Jesus as he is in Condemning the Unbeliever Rom. 8. 26. So that it as clear as the Sun shining at Noon day that as Mercy was the first and only moving Cause of Gods sending his Son into the World to save Sinners and therefore there was no need of his coming to procure Mercy his coming being the greatest Demonstration of Mercy and Love Joh. 3. 16. So likewise is it a Demonstration that all he did and especially what he Suffered was with respect to Justice The determinate Counsels of the Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost the one Eternal God had first if we may to help the weakness of our understanding use such an expression as First or Second concerning the decrees of God I say the First thing God had in his Eye in saving Sinners by sending his Son into the World was the Manifestation of his own Glory This being the best good must be the First Cause and Last End of all Gods Works and in Subordination thereunto Gods Mercy and great Love wherewith he Loved us was the moving Cause of sending his Son into the World with respect to God himself the Manifestation of his own Glory was the Cause and must be the Effect and last End thereof with respect to us Love Pity and Compassion and Mercy was the First moving Cause and our Eternal Salvation the last End so then if Christ came to Expiate sin or to take away sin it must be to bear the punishment due to sin or to the Sinner for sin to take away the guilt of sin which cannot be done but by bearing the punishment due for sin the guilt must be taken away For God will by no means therefore not by Mercy it self clear the guilty Therefore the guilt must be taken away that Mercy may flow in with all its Blessed effects upon the Sinner therefore the Fathers sending his Son was the Highest Act of Mercy in the Father and the Sons coming and dying in our Nature was the highest Act of Love in the Son The thing it Self was all Mercy with respect to us and the doing of it was with respect to the Honour of Gods Law and and the Manifestation of his Justice and Truth Therefore Christ did not offer himself up as a Supplication to the Mercy of God but as an expiatory Sacrifice to his Justice and not as a partial expiating of sin for that would but in part take away guilt but all guilt must be taken away or else the sinner will remain guilty and God will by no means clear the guilty Hence we read of Gods forgiving for Christs sake Eph. 4. 32. and of Redemption through his Blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his Grace Here is Redemption but at no less Price than the Blood of Ghrist here is the forgiveness of sins but it is through the Blood of Christ for we are not Redeemed with Corruptible things but by the precious Blood of Christ Peter 1. 18 19. All which shews that we are freely Forgiven and yet Justice is fully satisfied God having no Motive nor was it possible he should to concern himself about our Salvation but his own Soveraign good Will and good Pleasure he will have Mercy because he will have Mercy This makes the difference between Man and Man and this makes the difference between Man and Devil he took not upon him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham And what ever Reasons may be given for this by those wise Criticks that will vainly intrude into those things that they have not seen yet they must at last all Center in this Even so O Father because it pleaseth thee It was the good pleasure of God to save his Elect therefore Christ did not come to purchase this good pleasure but to Execute it by taking away sin both in its guilt and filth and to bring in an Everlasting Righteousness Therefore we read the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand Isa 53. 10. Dan. 9. 24. And our Lord doth so often declare that he came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him that is needless to mention particular Scriptures to prove it All which shows that Christ offering himself up by the Eternal Spirit as a Sacrifice to God was to take away sin both in the guilt and filth of it and had respect to the Justice and Holiness of God to Vindicate his Truth and the Honour of his Law in shewing Mercy to the Sinner Therefore it is said he was made sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him and in respect to Mercy and Love our Lord tells us At that day ye shall ask in my name and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you For the Father himself loveth you Joh. 16. 26. Yet if any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous 1 Epist of Joh. 2. 1. And he tells us again At that day ye shall ask in my name and I say unto you that I will pray the Father for you and in Joh. 16. ver 23. Verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you Which compared with Joh. 14. 13. 14. shews that the Father and the Son are One for saith he Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son And again in the next Verse If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it All which shews that Christ did not purchase nor doth he interceed for the Fathers Love and Mercy but interceeds as an Advocate pleading his own merrit in taking away sin and bringing in an Everlasting Righteousness so that is for Gods glory the Honour of his Law the strickness of his Justice to shew Mercy to the Sinner Therefore he saith I will do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son And indeed it is little less then the Blasphemy to say that the Fathers Love and Mercy is not so great or was not so early as the Sons for God is of one Mind and who can turn him Having thus proved that Christ offered himself up as a Sacrifice to the Justice of God to make an Attouement for Transgression It will be necessary to enquire what kind of Priest and Sacrifice this must be what mighty Mediator this must be that interposeth between the Justice of God and the guilty Sinner Aand as the Doctrine of Satisfaction ought to be received with all Humility and Thankfulness with all Care and Watchfulness to prove our selves to be of the number of those that are Redeemed from