NOW more than ever, there is cause to say, the last Days and Times foretold by the Apostles 2 Tim. 3.1, 2, 3, 4, 5. St. Paul and 1 John 2.18. St. John, are come upon us: For not only Iniquity in Practise doth abound every where, and the Man, and Manner of Sin, is daily more and more discovered: But also Perverseness in Judgment, in no less than Heresie and Blasphemy, walks bare-faced with those who are so far delivered up to Satan, as to deny the Lord of Glory: For abominable Socinianism, which is a Sink of the Cerinthians, Ebionites, Sabellians, Samosatenians, Photi­nians, Arrians, Semi-Arrians, Anti-Trinitarians, Pela­gians, and of several other Hereticks, doth now proudly appear, and, in Effect, defie Christian Religion, and attempts to overthrow the Foundation of the Gospel, not in one but several parts thereof: It is for me a Matter of Wonderful Grief, to see the Boldness and Impudence of that Abominable Heresie as it were Tri­umphantly to come in, of one side; and the Silence and Sluggishness of those that should oppose it, on the other: Jer. 9.1. O that my Head were Waters, and mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears, that I might Weep day and night for the Guilt which is thereby contracted upon the Nation.

My Purpose is for the present, by the Grace of God, only to give in my Evidence in the Case, and that as briefly and plainly as I can, to condescend to the mean­est Capacity: But if by Providence I be further engaged [Page 2]in the Matter, I shall grudge neither Time nor Pains upon so Just, so Necessary, and so Glorious an Account, as to bear Record for the Fundamental Truth of Chri­stian Religion.

Laelius Socinus the Uncle, and Faustus Socinus his Nephew, both of Siena in Italy, soon after the Death of Detestable Servetus, did the first conceive, and the second bring forth their Damnable Opinions, which amongst the rest are these: They deny the most Holy and Adorable Trinity, Christ's Divinity, his being Coeternal in Time, if we may use that word, with the Father, Co­essential in Nature, and Coequal in Power; they will not own he hath given the Father Satisfaction for our Sins, but only obtained for us, by our Faith and Obe­dience, to satisfie for our selves: They say he died for our Good, but not in our Place; he died for himself, not for his Sins, but for the Mortality and Infirmity of our Nature which he had assumed; he became not our High Priest till after his Ascension into Heaven: How Man, before his Fall, was Naturally Mortal, and had no Original Righteousness; that in us there is no Original Sin, as it imports a Deformity of Nature: The Holy Ghost they admit not to be God, no more than Christ, whose Incarnation they affirm to be against Reason, and without Proofs of Scripture: With Pelagians they are against Providence and Matters of Grace. All these, and others, abominable Errors, which destroy the whole Foundation and Work of our Salvation, are to be found in the Books of Socinus, Crellius, Ostorodius, &c.

How far will Men go, when once they are fallen into and engaged in an evil way? When God hath left them in the Blindness and Darkness of their Understanding, and given them up to the Imaginations and Counsels of their evil Hearts, to the Temptations of Satan, and to their own Natural Corruption: We see it in the case of that Wicked Arrius, who within a short time, from the [Page 3]Year 323 till 336, drew a great part of the World after him; and in the other, of that great Impostor Mahomet, who agreed with Arrius against the Deity of the Lord Jesus, wherein he is followed by Socinians: That Man, thorough a Judgment of God, 2 Thess. 2.11. sending a strong Delu­sion that Men should believe a Lye, by the means of a Foolish Book, of a Nonsensical Alcoran, of pretended Trances and Raptures, when he was in his Fit of the Falling-sickness, and of the Cheat of a Pidgeon picking (as it had been taught) some Grains out of his Ear, as if the Angel Gabriel, under that shape, had then been Suggesting his Religion and Doctrine to him; with some Allowance to the Pleasures of the Flesh in this World, and Promises of the like in the next; by these means, and the Trick of his Tomb at Mecca, hath drawn a great part of the World after him.

In order to settle their Impious Principles, Socinians go about two things: First, To overthrow the Ground of our Faith and Religion, with their attempting to undermine Holy Scriptures, which are the Foundation and Rule of it: To bring it about, They affirm the Old Testament to be needless for Christians; as for the Books of the New, they allow not the Authors thereof to have been Inspired by the Spirit of God, positively against what is said 2 Tim. 3.16. and therein they would have some places to contradict others; grant this and you take away the Infallibility and Truth of Scripture; and if it be yielded of one Text, why not of many more? If so, What will become of Christian Religion grounded upon the Gospel? For if we must believe St. Paul who Gal. 1.11, 12. Certifies, it is not after Man, for he neither received it of Man, neither was he taught it, but by Revelation of Jesus Christ.

The second thing Socinians do to promote their Blasphemies, is, To make Natural Reason the Principle of Religion, for they give all to Reason, as if it was [Page 4]Infallible and could not be imposed upon, and nothing to the Authority and Consent of the Church, nor of Scripture it self, according to this Rule of theirs, That no Interpretation of Holy Scripture is to be admitted, except it doth agree with Natural Reason, and to the Evident Experience of outward Senses: Instead of the Traditions which Papists bring in, they would have their own Reason, without the Influences of the Spirit of God, to be the genuine and proper Interpreter of God's Holy Word: So take away the Rule, and you bring in Disorder and Confusion.

We know and own, how Faith doth not destroy Reason, rather it doth Refine and Purifie it; so God forbid we should exclude Reason from Religion, for 'tis Subservient to it; Reason indeed hath something of Religion; for by the Light of Nature, in things of the World, and Course of Providence, one may be con­vinced how there is a Being of Beings, a first Cause of all, and a God whose Power and Wisdom appeareth in the Works and Order of Nature, which as Psal. 19. David saith, and Rom. 10.18. Paul after him takes notice of, day unto day uttereth Speech, and night unto night sheweth Knowledge. But our Religion and Faith in Christ is not a Doctrine of Nature, or else Salvation thorough his Name had been known to every Man, but Experience convinces us of the contrary: And St. Paul doth positively and plainly declare upon the Matter, in the case of those who wanted no Natural Reason, when by the Rules thereof they would measure true Religion, Rom. 1.21, 22 Became vain in their Imagination, and their foolish Heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be Wise, they became Fools.

All and the best Natural Reason in the World, nay the greatest Gifts of Nature, in Knowledge, Wisdom, Parts whither innate or acquired by the Philosopher, Orator, &c. come very short of Faith, which in us is the Soul of our Religion; for, 1 Cor. 2.14. The Natural Man receiveth [Page 5]not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are Foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, for they are Spiri­tually discerned. So that with St. Paul we may upon this account ask, 1 Cor. 1.20. Where is the Wise? Where is the Scribe? Where is the Disputer of this World? Where is the Rational Man? Hath not God made Foolish the Wis­dom of this World? The Reason that is meerly Natural he hath infatuated; and to shew that Reason alone cannot bring us to true Religion, that is, to the Gospel, it is called a Mystery, Eph. 3.4. the Mystery of Christ, and 1 Tim. 3.9. the Mystery of the Faith, and a great one too; 1 Tim. 3.16. for without Controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness, God was manifested in the Flesh, then Christ is God, for none but he was manifested in the Flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the World, received up in Glory; all these are appliable to Christ, and to none but him, to God made Flesh. The Knowledge of this is so far above Reason, that to make it known, 'twas necessary it should be revealed: Eph. 3.3. How that by Revelation he, God, made known to me the Mystery; yea, such a Mystery as Natural Reason could not attain unto, for 'tis Col. 1.26. the Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and from Generations: Surely during these Ages and Generations there were those Men who wanted not good Natural Reason, but now is made manifest to his Saints, not to every Man, for, Matt. 13.11. unto you it is given to know the Mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given: Then it comes not by Na­tural Reason, but 'tis a Gift of God. Now the Gospel and the Preaching of Jesus Christ, is the Doctrine of Christian Religion; and this, Rom. 16.25. According to the Revela­tion of the Mystery which was kept secret since the World began.

If we want another Apostle's Evidence, we have it in St. Peter in the case of the Prophets under the Old Testament, who 1 Pet. 1.10, 11, 12. enquired, and searched diligently, of [Page 6]the Grace that should come unto you, all which had been in vain, but they got it by Revelation, unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did Minister the things which are now reported unto you, by them that have preached the Gospel unto you; no need of Revelation where Natural Reason can attain unto; yet without Revelation the Prophets, which wanted no Natural Reason, could not. I go further and say, An­gels, who are clear sighted, far above Men, 2 Pet. 2.11. greater in Power and Might, and have a greater depth of Rea­son, What of them? Which things, says the same Apo­stle in the same place, that is, the Mysteries of the Go­spel, the Angels desire to look into, not to dive, but to look into, to see and adore that Incomprehensible My­stery, they cannot look into, or else they would not desire it, for none desires to have that which he hath, Angelical Nature cannot fathom those Depths, and do we think the shallow Brain of the most Rational Man can? Hereupon I think I may follow our Blessed Savi­our's way, of arguing in the case of the Day of Judg­ment; only he doth from the lesser to the greater, and I from the greater to the lesser; Mark 13.32. Of that Day, and that Hour, knoweth no Man, no, not the Angels which are in Heaven. Thus the Mystery of the Salvation of Man­kind knoweth no Angel, much less any Man, be he ne­ver so Rational, only as much as God hath been pleased to reveal in the Gospel; that Knowledge comes not by Reason, or any thing else of Nature, but by Grace. I think this sufficiently sheweth, how deficient Natural Reason is, to lead us to True Christian Religion with­out Revelation, which God effected by means of Angels, Prophets, Apostles and Evangelists, and this not with a bare outward Declaration, but an inward effectual Working and Revelation of his Holy Spirit.

But I must not exceed the narrow Bounds I prescribed my self: So then in Opposition to Socinians, as we be­lieve [Page 7]the Perfection and Infallibility of Holy Scripture, we also must own, there are in our Holy Religion, several things above Reason: Indeed Matters of Fact do fall under our Senses, but those of Faith go far be­yond them; Material things, such as our Senses, hold no Proportion with Spiritual, such is Faith, highly elevated also beyond Reason.

Certainly this Generation of Men, come under the Curse pronounced by St. Paul, 1 Cor. 16.22. If any Man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha: 'Tis to Hate and not to Love him, as to go about to dero­gate from his Right, and as much as in them lies, to deprive him of his Due, and dishonour him, as he told the Jews, John 8.49. Verse 12, 18, 24, 28, 29, 40, 42. I honour my Father, and ye dishonour me. Wherein? It is set down in several places of the same Chapter, as namely, they would not believe him to be the Light of the World, nor the Witness which he and the Father did bare of him; and that he was he, that is, the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, who had told them the Truth he had heard of God, whom he there calls often his Father, for I proceeded forth and came from God. Yet 'tis as true as strange, that notwithstanding so many clear Proofs of his Divinity in Scripture, Socinians deny him to be God, without which he had not been qualified to be Mediator between God and us (for a Mediator must have the Nature of both Parties) nor gotten the Victory over all the Enemies of our Salva­tion. Though to avoid Prolixity, I must not insist upon the Proofs of our Lord's Divinity, which is the Life of our Faith, Hope and Comfort, yet something I must now say to it.

If we had no other Witness but St. John, it were more than sufficient to condemn the Blasphemy: In the days of the Emperor Domitian, one Ebion a Samaritan, and his Sectators, denying Christ's Divinity, the Apostle did write his Gospel to prove it, which in so many [Page 8]places thereof is done as positively, fully and clearly, as Heart can desire: Only some few I shall take notice of, to begin with the first Verse of Chap. 1. John 1.1, 14. In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; compared with V. 14. and the Word was made Flesh. Afford us this Argument, the Word was God, the Word was made Flesh, therefore God was made Flesh: And as the name Word is proper to Christ who was made Flesh, it followeth, that Christ is God. And in another place he is, in a most speci­fical manner, called Chap. 3.16. God's only begotten Son, whereby he is affirmed to be of the same Nature and Substance, and equal with him, Chap. 14.9. He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father, saith he: The Reason he gives elsewhere, Chap. 10.30. I and my Father are one; and to Philip he saith, Ch. 14.10, 11. Be­lieve me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; which for greater Confirmation he had said just in the Verse before; this Demonstrates a stricter Union than meerly one of Favour and Grace; this shews the Unity of Nature in the Distinction of Persons, which though distinguished amongst themselves, so that the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Father, yet both are Gods, and Divine Nature is common to both; no­thing can be more like the Person of the Father, than the Person of the Son, wherefore he is called Colos. 1.15. the Image of the invisible God: God the Father is Invisible, no Man hath ever seen him, but he hath made himself visible in the Person of his Son, who is partaker of his Nature: To this purpose the Lord Jesus is said to be Heb. 11.3. the brightness of his Glory, and the express Image of his Person. This is no Flattery to him nor Favour, for it is his Right; herein he is no Usurper nor Intruder, for if he was, God would not suffer it, being, as he is, so Jealous of his Honour and Glory; 'tis therefore upon a just Title, that Phil. 2.5, 6. Christ thought it no Robbery to be equal with God: None but God can truly and really be equal [Page 9]with God; I would know what meer Creature may lawfully be compared to, and be equal with God.

The Lord Jesus himself declares at several times, how he came from the Father, that is, from above, John 3.31. from Heaven; how the Father had sent him, which is to be understood, when he became Man, and was born of a Woman: Now he could not be sent and come, before he had a Being; and as he was come from the Father, so he returned to the Father, as he declared it to his Disciples: But I desire a special notice to be taken of what is said: John 17.5. And now, O Father, glorifie thou me, with the Glory which I had with thee before the World was: Whence we infer, how the Lord Jesus was before the World, that is, from Eternity, for time began only at the Creation; how not only he was, but also had Glory equal with the Father: This cannot be under­stood of his Humanity, because he was Born in Time, and he was not Glorified till after his Resurrection; nor he could not have a Glory, except he had a Being, which Being had no relation to his Humanity, but to his Divinity: And because, thorough his Humiliation, that Glory had been eclipsed, he was to return, and again to appear in it, after the Work he came about was over.

There would be no end if I would enlarge, and bring in so many places as the Old and New Testaments do afford, to prove this Point, the strength of which the bitter Enemies of this Truth, being sensible of, it makes them do what they can to elude it, and undervalue the Authority of the Scripture, which must be the Judge in the Cause, reserving the Interpretation thereof to their own Fancy or Reason, as they would call it. Wherefore to be short, I shall, according to the usual way in Schools of Divinity, resolve the whole into an Argument, which is this, He to whom in God's Word are appropriated the Names, Attributes, Works and [Page 10]Divine Honour, he is true Eternal God; but to the Lord Jesus all these are attributed in Scripture, there­fore the Lord Jesus is true Eternal God: We must descend to Particulars.

First as to the Names, we begin with the Old Testa­ment, few out of many: He is called Isa. 7.14. Immanuel, which being interpreted is, Matt. 1.23. God with us: And by the same Prophet, amongst other Glorious Names, he is called the Isa. 9.6. Mighty God: And in another place, Ch. 35.4, 5, 6. Behold your God will come with Vengeance, even God with a Recom­pense, &c. which our Saviour Matt. 11.5. applieth unto himself. So the Name of God, and of Jehovah, which Jews own to be an incommunicable Name of God, never to be pronounced but once a Year, by the High Priest, in the Holiest of all, are given him; as in Ch. 16.13. & 18.1. this to be compared with Hos. 12.6 Genesis, and in Exod. 3.15. Exodus; in Mal. 3.1. Malachy he is called the Lord, the Messenger of the Covenant, who often appeared to the Fathers, as a forerunning of his Incarnation; amongst others to Josh. 5.14, 15. Joshua, under the name of Captain of the Host of the Lord, to whom Joshua, by his Command, rendered the same Honour as Exod. 3.5. Moses had done before, Put off thy Shoes from off thy Feet, for the place where thou standest is Holy Ground; in which place he is called the Angel of the Lord, v. 2. v. 4. the Lord and God. This is the Angel of God promised to be sent before his People, Exod. 23.20, 21, 22. for my Name is in him, he is called by the same Name as I am, and he is the same as I am, even God. Of the word Jehovah, which is Englished the Lord, being attributed to our Saviour, we have besides others, two considerable Instances; one is, Isa. 40.3. The Voice of him that crieth in the Wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the Desert a High-way for our God: The Voice is John 1.23. applied to John the Baptist, as our Saviour, whose Forerunner he was, is the Lord and God. The other Instance is this, Hos. 1.7. I will have Mercy upon the House of Judah, and I will Save them by [Page 11]the Lord their God: Now there is no other Saviour but Jesus Christ the Messiah, which he plainly declared to the Woman, John 4.26. I that speak unto thee am he. If then Christ spoke the Truth, and St. John hath written the Truth, Christ is he, who is also called, Isa. 63.9, 8. the Angel of God's presence, who saved them his People, so he was their Saviour: All this spoken of the Lord Jesus.

The Proofs of this out of the New Testament are as clear as can be, besides the Texts already quoted, ob­serve the following, John 17.3. This is Eternal Life to know thee the only true God, and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ, that is, to be the only true God, a thing usual amongst the Hebrews, for though the Language be Greek, yet the Writers were Jews, whose Tongue and manner of expressing themselves is Compendious and Laconick, and commonly implies more than it doth express, espe­cially in avoiding of Repetitions; of many Instances let one serve for all, 'tis this, Psal. 37.25. I have been Young and now am Old, yet have I not seen the Righteous forsaken, nor his Seed begging Bread, supply the word forsaken before expressed, for sometimes the Seed of the Righte­ous, God suffers by way of Trial to beg; but though they beg, yet he never forsaketh them: Thus in this place after the words Jesus Christ, the words to be the only true God, ought to be supplied and understood. The same Evangelist addeth elsewhere, John 20.31. These things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; of the Living God according to the Confession before made by Peter, Chap. 6.69. We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the Living God: The Son and only Son of the Living God, must needs also be the Living God: 'Tis said, Acts 20.28. God hath purchased the Church with his own Blood: Properly speaking God hath no Blood; How then can he purchase a Church with his own Blood, otherwise than by the means of an Hypostatical Union of the Divine and Humane Natures [Page 12]in one Person, by vertue whereof the Blood which belongs to Humane Nature is called God's own Blood. Thomas calls him John 20.28. my Lord and my God; and St. Paul saith, Rom. 9.5. he is over all God Blessed for ever, and Colos. 2.9. in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. How fully doth this express it, thus 1 Tim. 3.16. God was manifest in the Flesh; and his beloved Apostle saith, 1 John 5.20. And we know that the Son of God is come in the Flesh, and hath given us an under­standing that we might know him that is true, Son of God, even in his Son Jesus Christ: This is the True God and Eternal Life. This Jesus Christ is not God only in com­parison of other Men, or by some special Prerogative of Favour, or in some higher degree than all the rest; but this Jesus Christ is the True God: How can it be more plainly and fully expressed that he is the True God? So every where else the Lord Jesus is absolutely called God, the True God, and not relatively, as Moses is said Exod. 7.1. to be made a God to Pharaoh.

Holy Scripture gives our Blessed Saviour Attributes that are incommunicable to the Creature, so he must needs be True God: As first Eternity, whereof he is called the Father, or Isa. 9.6. the Everlasting Father; also, Rev. 1.8, 17, 18. Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty; re­peated Verses 11, 12. namely, when the Apostle turned to see the Voice that spake to him, that had called himself Alpha and Omega (which being the first and last Letters of the Greek Alphabet, signifie first of all and last of all, that is, his Eternity) he saw one like the Son of Man, that is, the Lord Jesus, who v. 17. calls also himself the first and the last; and the next Verse shews it to be un­derstood of Christ, for he saith, I am he that liveth and was dead: And Chap. 21.6. he saith again, I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, to be compared with v. 3. The Tabernacle of God is with Men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his People, and God him­self [Page 13]shall be with them: To be understood of the Incar­nation, as expressed by the same Apostle John 1 14. and if any Doubt should remain, 'tis fully cleared Chap. 22.13. where again, and together, are rehearsed the general words spoken asunder in the other places, I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last: and to know who saith so of himself, read v. 16. I Jesus have sent mine Angel; and v. 6. is called the Lord God, And the Lord God sent his Angel, &c. And that all this is the Attribute and Prerogative of the only true Eternal God, Isa. 41.4. and 44.6. it appears out of Isaiah which our Saviour's words in the Revelations relate to, Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his Redeemer the Lord of Hosts, I am the first, and I am the Last, and be­sides me there is no God; which to the same purpose are repeated in other places of the same Prophesie. To condescend unto our Capacity, the Spirit of God doth represent this Eternity in three parts, Past, Pre­sent, and to come, by him which is, which was, Rev. 1.4. and which is to come; and it cannot be denied, thereby the True Eternal God to be understood; and hereunto doth fitly answer that place of Scripture which applies it to the Lord Jesus, Heb. 13.8. Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day, and for ever.

Socinians would have Christ's Being to have began with his Birth of the Blessed Virgin, but he perempto­rily confutes them with the Jews, when he saith, John 8.58. be­fore Abraham was I am. Can that Generation of Vipers deny he spoke the Truth when he said so? If they do, then with the Jews they declare themselves to be the Children of the Devil, who, as our Saviour said to them, Verse 44. Is a Liar and the Father of it. If now our Sa­viour was amongst them, they would take up Stones to Stone him as the Jews did at that time, according to their Principles (which are the same with those of the Jews) they would call him a Blasphemer, and make [Page 14]use of their words, Chap. 10.33. For a good Work we stone thee not, but for Blasphemy, and because that thou being a Man, makest thy self God. I ask, Did the Lord Jesus upon this Charge deny himself to be God? Which he would have done if he had not been: Or else, Was he an Im­postor or Deluder? Which he must needs have been, if he would have passed for God when he was not: O the Horrid and Insufferable Blasphemy of Wicked Men.

Then Scripture attributes Omniscience unto Christ when he was upon Earth as well as now, he knew every thing, John 21.17. Lord thou knowest all things, saith Peter unto him, Ch. 2.24, 25. he knew all Men, and needed not that any should testifie of Man, for he knew what was in Man. There was no Dissembling before him, Heb. 4.13, 14. for all things are, and were, naked and open unto the Eyes of him with whom we are to do, even Jesus the Son of God, who, when upon Earth, knew John 6.70. and 13.11. which of the Twelve was a Devil, for he knew who should betray him. This Record he bears of himself, and we know his Record is true, Rev. 2.23. All the Churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the Reins and Hearts. All this is very plain.

In the Word of God our Saviour is declared to be Almighty, for, John 5.19. whatsoever things the Father doth, these also doth the Son likewise; and Heb. 1.3. he upholdeth all things by the word of his Power: In the fore-quoted place of Rev. 1. he calls himself the Almighty.

Christ Jesus is also present every where, another Attri­bute of an Infinite Being; Matt. 18.20. Chap. 28.20. Where two or three are ga­thered together in my Name, there I am in the midst of them; and, Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the World.

But not only all these forenamed Attributes incom­municable to the Creature, such is every meer Man, are applied unto the Lord Jesus, also Divine Works are, as the Creation of the World, John 1.3. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made [Page 15]that was made: Which St. Paul confirmeth, Colos. 1.16. For by him were all things created that are in Heaven, and that are in Earth, visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones and Dominions, or Principalities or Powers, all things were created by him and for him. We know the Work of Creation is peculiar to God, he never imparted it to any Creature, for none is capable of it, only an Infinite Being and Power can fill up an infinite distance between an ens and non ens, a real Being and nothing; between these two is an unpassable Gulf for any Creature, an Abyss that can be filled up by no Man nor Angel: To create is God's incommunicable Work, the Name of Creator or Maker of something out of nothing, belongs to God alone; and seeing the World was created by the Word, and that Christ is the Word that was made Flesh, it followeth that Christ is God: Heb. 1.2. God by his Son made the Worlds: So he Rules and Preserves the World, as in the fore-quoted place, Heb. 1.3. He upholdeth all things by the Word of his Power: He saith himself, John 14.11. Be­lieve me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very Works sake. He is one of the Elohim that created the World. Gen. 1.1. It is also a Divine Work to raise Men from the Dead, this also belongs to Christ, for as the Father raiseth up the Dead, and quick­neth them: even so the Son quickneth whom he will: The words as and so do shew an Equality in the Acts, our Saviour raised Jairus his Daughter, Lazarus, &c. nay he raised himself by his own Power, John 10.18. I have Power to lay down my Life and take it up again. Can any one but God give Eternal Life? But Chap. 10.20. Christ gives his Sheep Eternal Life: Who can forgive Sins but God only? The Jews were in the Right, according to their Prim­ciples, to call it Blasphemy, because they believed him to be a meer Man, and not God, as he was, Mark 2.7, 10. Why doth this Man thus speak Blasphemies? who can forgive Sins but God only? Whereupon immediately our Saviour, to [Page 16]shew he was God, said, That ye may know that the Son of Man hath power to forgive Sins, &c. he proveth it with a Miracle: The raising of the Dead, and other Miracles done by the Apostles, were not in their Names and by their Power, as all Christs were, Acts 3.6. but in the Name and by the Power of Jesus of Nazareth.

Lastly, Divine Worship and Honour is and ought to be rendred to our Saviour by Angels and Men, and Heb. 1.6. let all the Angels of God worship him; and John 5.23. that all Men should Honour the Son even as they Honour the Father, that is, alike, that signifies in the same Nature, Manner, and Degree; but God declares Isa 42.8. he will not give his Glory to another: Wherefore Christ must needs be the same as the Father, of the same Nature, and not a Titular God, as they would make of him: So they who deny him truly to be the Son of God, in that, are worse than the Devils which owned him to be such; Matt. 8.29. which Truth hath been sealed with the Blood of Milli­ons of Martyrs. And to come to Particulars, John 3.15, 16 we must believe in him, we must Matt. 28.19 be Baptised in his Name, and Phil. 2.10. at his Name every Knee should bow. If Christ were not God, it were Idolatry to worship him; yet our Blessed Saviour, who was no Friend to Idolatry, would not have suffered the Man in the Gospel to have worshipped him, but far from forbidding, he encouraged him to it, and under what Notion? as Son of God, for he asked him, John 9.35, 36, 37, 38. Doest thou believe on the Son of God? The Man answered, Who is he Lord? Christ replied, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. Can we desire a plainer Declaration that Christ is the Son of God, and ought to be worshipped; and if he were not the true Son of God of the same Nature, it had been Idolatry and Blasphemy in Thomas, to call him, John 20.28. My Lord and my God.

God foreseeing the Devil would raise his strongest Batteries against his Son, who came to destroy the [Page 17]Works of the Devil, which therefore would have cut him off in his very Cradle, and stirred up the whole Malice of Earth and Hell; and to Discredit his Do­ctrine, that Father of Lies found Instruments that de­famed his Person, and said, he was a Samaritan, a Friend to Publicans and Sinners, that had a Devil, and did cast out Devils by Belzebub; he was the Carpenter's Son, such a Fellow as they knew not from whence he was, a Seducer, Deceiver and Impostor: I say, God fore-knowing all this, provided sufficient Remedies, and by his Holy Spirit in his Word, gave such clear and full Evidences, as none, but those in whom the God of this World hath blinded the Minds, could doubt of, or call to question this Truth of the Gospel, John 3.16. & Chap. 1.18. That God sent his own Son into the World: Moreover, His only begotten Son, which is in the Bosom of his Father, he hath declared him; which no body else could, it must be God's only Begotten, the reason is given in the beginning of the Verse, no Man hath seen God at any time: Shall not God's only Begotten Son receive and be Partaker of his Father's Nature? If absolutely no Man hath seen God at any time, he that hath seen and declared him must needs be God.

Though this Matter be so copious, yet to keep my self within my narrow Bounds, I shall to this Point add a few words more: St. John saith, that 1 John 2.18. in his time there were many Antichrists, and Chap. 4.1. many False Prophets were gone out into the World. These Opposers of Christ were of two sorts, some who denied Christ Jesus to be come into the World, or in the Flesh, that is, That the Messiah which took up the whole Expectation of the Jews, was not come; for we know the Messiah and John 4.25. Christ to be but one and the same: Now those that confessed not Jesus Christ to be the promised Messiah, were Antichrists, the Messiah was to come in the Flesh, that is, To take upon him our Humane [Page 18]Nature and become Man. All Prophesies and Types under the Law, in every Circumstance, were fulfilled in the Person of the Lord Jesus born of the Virgin Mary, and whosoever denied it was an Antichrist.

The second sort of Antichrists in St. John's time, were those that, as the Ebionites did then, the Arrians since, and now Socinians do, own Christ to be a Pro­phet and a Saviour, but would have him to be meerly a Man, and only a Creature; a Man they would not deny him to be, but disowned him for a God. Now against these the Apostle doth speak, 1 John 4.15. Whosoever shall confess, saith he, that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God: So by the Rule of Con­traries, and the Stile of Scriptures, we do infer, that whosoever shall not confess that Jesus is in a true and a proper Sence the Son of God, God dwelleth not in him, nor he in God; both which, that is, the Validity of this Inference, and the Apostle's Position, that Jesus is the Son of God, do appear in the following Chapter, Chap. 5.9, 10, 11. He that believeth not that Christ is the Son of God, hath made him a Liar, because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son: For this is the Witness of God, (which is greater than the Witness of Men) which he hath testified of his Son. Wherein the Apostle relateth not only to the Time of our Saviour's Baptism, when the Voice came from Heaven saying, Matt. 3.17. This is my be­loved Son in whom I am well pleased; but also to the Transfiguration, when the Voice came out of the Cloud with the same words with this Addition, Chap. 17.5. Hear ye him; which St. Peter takes special notice of, when he saith, For he, Jesus Christ, 2 Pet. 1.17, 18. received from God the Father, Honour and Glory, when there came such a Voice to him from the excellent Glory. And this Voice which came from Heaven, we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount. Where the Apostle plainly declares, That as the Voice came from God the Father, so it [Page 19]was spoken of and to God the Son, or else the distin­ction of Father and Son had been improper and super­fluous; God in the Voice calls him his Beloved Son; the Apostle saith the Voice came from God the Father: If there was not some special Energy and Signification in the word Father, the Apostle would only have said, that Christ received from God Honour, &c. but speak­ing of the Father and of the Son, who are Relatives, that shews the distinction of two different Persons of the Godhead.

This Voice was the Application to the Person of whom long before Psal. 2. wherein the Kingdom of Christ was Prophesied of, Psal. 2.7. The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Yea, such as David whose Son he was according to the Flesh, in Spirit calls him Lord; which place our Saviour makes use of against the Pharisees, for after they had answered his Question, Whose Son Christ was? He much to his purpose asketh them, Matt. 22.42, 43, 44, 45. If David then call him Lord, How is he his Son? This could not be in the Capacity of his Son, for the Son is not Lord over the Father; wherefore it must be upon some other ac­count; there was between them another Relation, it could be no Humane one within such a distance of Time.

Hence is appears, That if God doth so often, and in so singular a manner, call the Lord Jesus his Only Begotten Son, in whom he is well pleased: If God, I say, speaks Truth, the Lord Jesus must be his Son; not in that way of Favour and Grace only, as Socinians would have it, and as all his Elect are, but in a stricter and essential Relation; to beget, is to communicate his Nature and Substance; and in this Sence he is the only Begotten Son, there is but one thus properly God's Son: We have a Text which speaks plainly to the pur­pose, and gives a right Interpretation of the Phrase, [Page 20]the meaning whereof the Jews understood very well; it is said, John 5.18. The Jews sought the more to kill him, not only because he had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. So then when Christ called God his Father, he meaned that he was equal with God; the Jews say so, the Evangelist doth not say they were mistaken; and our Blesied Saviour, Ver. 19, 21. the best Interpreter of the thing, con­firmeth they had a right Notion of the Matter; for in the 19 and 21 Verses, he affirmeth his Equality in Power with the Father, For what things soever he doth, these also doth the Son likewise. For as the Father raiseth up the Dead, and quickneth them, so the Son quickneth whom he will. This Equality in Power argueth an Equality in Nature; for though God can do great and miraculous things by some Creatures, yet still 'tis the working of his own Power; but God cannot bestow an Infinite Power upon a Finite and bound Creature, which it is not capable of, because it would imply a Contradiction: An Infinite Power in Christ, such as the Father hath, doth in him import an Infinite Nature. But at this time I must not suffer my self to be drawn too far into the Matter.

Well, as we heard, St. John calls Antichrist him that denies Christ to be the Son of God: 1 John 2.22. He is Antichrist that denies the Father and the Son: Surely Father and Son must have the same Nature, deny one and you deny both; Who is a Liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? To what he calls Antichrists and Liars, St. Paul giveth the Name of Blasphemers, and begins with himself, as he was before his Conversion, 1 Tim. 1.12, 13. Putting me into the Ministry, who was before a Blasphemer and a Persecutor. Wherein was he such? He speaks some­thing of it when he saith, Acts 26.9. I verily thought with my self, that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth. What doth he mean by the Name [Page 21]of Jesus? His Person he could not reach, his Members he persecuted as much as he could; nay, as he saith, he compelled them to do as he did: What's that? To Blaspheme; he compelled them to Blaspheme, his Name, Acts 26.11. his Religion, and say many things against his Person, and deny him to be the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Profession of his Gospel, to defame and dishonour him: And do not Socinians do part of this, and the worst of it, with, as much as in them lies, depriving him of his Godhead, attacking him in the best and most sensible Part: Methinks these Men should have ob­served and taken warning by God's signal Judgments upon former Blasphemers against the Person of Christ. Arrius their great Founder, whilst he was easing him­self of the Necessities of Nature, his Bowels came forth, and with them his Life: Artemon, Samosatenus, and several more in former and later Ages, came to mi­serable Deaths: The end of Julian the Apostate is well known: These should make them Fear and Tremble. However in them is a Hardness, as was in the Jews, whose Arguments they borrow, Acts 13.45. Blaspheming and Con­tradicting, as they did, to what concerning this Matter was spoken by Paul and Barnabas.

The Grounds of their Error I shall not at this time go about to refute, that I reserve for another occasion if God permit: However two things I shall mention, which like two Rocks they commonly split upon, and this being well understood, affordeth Answers to most of their Arguments. St. Peter's words, by him spoken in another case, I here shall make use of, 2 Pet. 3.5. For this they are willingly Ignorant of; namely, the difference of Christ's State of Humiliation, and that of his Exalta­tion: The Jews who receive not the New Testament, may be ignorant of this, yet not willingly; but Soci­nians, who say and pretend they admit it, cannot be Ignorant but willingly: After this Rule we may resolve [Page 22]those places in Scripture, the Sence whereof, thorough their Prejudice, they mistake, wherein Christ is made Inferior to the Father, and the Father said to be greater than he: 'Tis most true, that as he performed the Office of Mediator, as he was Man, as at that time when he was upon Earth, in that low and humble Condition, he then was Inferior to the Father, but it was not so before, for he, to obtain Salvation for us, voluntarily left that Glory which he had with the Father before the World began, and of himself, as the Apostle saith, Phil. 2.6, 7, 8. took upon him the form of a Servant, and was made in the likeness of Man; and he humbled himself, and made himself of no Reputation: He had a Being before he was made Man, and that Being, as the Apo­stle faith in that place, was the Form and Nature of God, whereby, without Robbery or Usurpation, he was equal with God. After the time of his Humiliation was over, he went up to the place whence he was come down, again to appear in his Natural Glory, which Glory here he had still, but it was under a Cloud, which made it invisible to Man: His Humane Nature was that Cloud which Scripture calls Heb. 10.20. the Vail of his Flesh, which under the Law was typified by the Vail of the Temple; because the Light of the Sun, when 'tis behind the Clouds, doth not appear bright and glorious in our Eyes, Must Men say he hath no Bright­ness nor Glory? Still there is enough left to convince us, that in it is a Light, or else it would be quite Dark: So though the Lord Jesus his Divine Glory and Ma­jesty was eclipsed for a time, yet several Beams of it appeared in his state of Exinanition, as in his Bap­tism, Transfiguration, and when John 12.28, 29. the Voice came from Heaven saying, I have both glorified it, and I will glorifie it again; which made some of the People that stood by say, it thundred; and others, An Angel spake to him: Besides those many miraculous Works he did, which [Page 23]none but a Divine Power could effect, all these leave unbelieving Enemies of his Divinity without Excuse; for they refuse to receive the Testimony of God the Father, of Christ himself, and of the Apostles and Evan­gelists, which is as good as to call him a Deluder and an Impostor.

Their other Stumbling-block and Rock of Offence, is the Incarnation of the Son of God, or his taking upon him our Humane Nature out of the Virgim Mary, thorough the Operation of the Holy Ghost, which by no means they will own, though Scripture saith, in that Famous Prophesie of the Coming of the Messiah, Isa. 7.14. Behold a Virgin shall Conceive, and bring forth a Son, and they shall call his Name Immanuel: Matt. 1.23. to this answers John 1.14. & 1 Tim. 3.16. Which being in­terpreted is, God with us. What doth this Interpreta­tion, God with us, signifie else, than an Union of Divine with Humane Nature, one Person to be both God and Man, which doth meet in the Person of our Blessed Saviour, who for Confirmation of this, is in Scripture so often called God, Son of God, and Man, Son of Man: Can there be any thing more positive than this? John 1.1, 14. The Word was God, and the Word was made Flesh; by Flesh is meant Humane Nature; then God was made Man, as to the Manner, it could not be by Transubstantiation (change of Substance) of Divine Nature into Humane, which had imported an Anni­hilation of Divine Nature, which to think is Blasphemy, elsewhere Scripture saith positively, God was manifest in the Flesh, a Text parallel to that of John to prove the Incarnation, which the place sheweth to be said of Christ, in whom are terminated all the Prophesies and Figures under the Law about the Messiah; and though the Modus and Manner of things, be above the reach of Men to dive into, and so we must not be rash about it; yet God in his Word, having revealed the thing to be, and said something about the Manner, it must [Page 24]not be neglected by us: See the Angel's answer to the question of the Virgin, Luke 1.34, 35 How shall this be, seeing I know no Man? The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. This indeed is a high Mystery, the Coming of the Holy Ghost, the overshadowing of the Highest: Yet however this is plain, that that Holy Thing or Person to be born of Mary, should be the Son of God, and really called so; for to be called is really to be so; as of John Baptist, Thou Child shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest, Luke 1.76. shall really be so; or else, if he had not really been, it had been a Lie: Man was to have no hand in the Birth of that Child, for the Virgin knew no Man, it was to be a Production only of the Holy Ghost coming upon the Virgin, and of the Power of the Highest overshadowing her: Here we must draw a Curtain and a Door before this high Mystery; yet we may say, that to bring into the World one that should be meerly a Man, there had been no need of this transcendent, unspeakable, and incomprehensible way: If it was intended he should have been no more than a Man, there had been no need of altering the usual Course of Generation, as it was not in Take notice of the diffe­rence, Moses as a Servant, Christ as a Son, over his own House. Heb. 3.5, 6. Moses, Elijah, upon whom afterwards God poured his Spirit: So if the Lord Jesus had been but a Man, he might have been begotten of a Man, and afterwards God might have bestowed his Spirit upon him in a higher measure than ever it had been upon any Man that went before; but the overshadowing of the Highest was not in vain, because God doth nothing in vain: The Holy Ghost alone might have preserved him from Sin in his Conception, but there had been no need of the overshadowing of the Highest. Take notice how Christ is also called the Highest, and the Great God. Luke 1.76. Tit. 2.13.

Let us compare the Cases between the Birth of John the Baptist, of whom our Saviour saith thus, Luke 7.28. Amongst those that were born of Women, there was not a greater Prophet than John the Baptist, and that of the Lord Jesus: In the first, two things are re­markable, the first, That an Angel was sent to An­nounce his Birth: The second, That he should be filled with the Holy Ghost from his Mothers Womb; all the rest was Natural and Common, Chap. 1. Thy Wife Eli­zabeth shall bear thee a Son: Here according to the usual Course of Nature, a Child was to be born of a Husband and his Wife, though Old, yet the thing happened before to others; but in the Person of Christ is a Child born of a Woman without Man: The Angel said to Zachariah nothing of the Holy Ghost coming upon Elizabeth, nothing of the highest over­shadowing her, as to the Virgin Mary: And we know how never one Man, or one Prophet spoke of ano­ther as John Baptist did of our Lord and Saviour; he knew his distance, the difference between them, and his nothing in comparison with him; John 1.27, 30 He that comes after me, and whose Shoes latchet I am not worthy to unloose; the same was before me, yet born six Months after him, and before Abraham too, though there were 42 Generations between them. O that Pre-existence hath no Humane Foundation, and can be attributed to nothing, but to an Eternal Being; he owneth he was not the Christ, but he was sent before him to cry in the Wil­derness, Make straight the way of the Lord, Jehovah, Verse 34 and I saw and bare Record that this is the Son of God: Wherefore upon occasion our Saviour saith of John Baptist, He bare record of me unto the Truth; Chap. 5.33, 34. though I need no such thing, for I receive not Testimony from Man; however he bare Witness unto the Truth, that I am the Son of God: And indeed if to prove it there was but one or few such Texts and Particulars in Scripture [Page 26]about Christ, some might happen to think there is room for Cavils and Exceptions; but so many things, and in so many several places, being said to that purpose, and all tending to confirm that Truth, how he is True God, and Only True Son of God, there is no reason­able ground left to doubt of it. 1 John 5.20. We know, saith St. John, that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is True, even in his Son Jesus Christ: This is the True God, and Eternal Life. Nothing plainer than that Jesus Christ is the True God, Relatives ought to be applied to the next.

Scripture mentioneth four kinds of Generation, the first, by Father and Mother, that is, the Common: The second, without Father or Mother, which is pro­perly Creation; so Adam was begotten, and on this account called Son of God: The third, of a Father without Mother, thus Eve was formed out of Adam's Rib: But the fourth, and more Miraculous is, of a Mother without a Father; thus our Blessed Saviour was born of a Woman without the help of Man: But all these do relate only to a Temporal Generation, but that of Jesus Christ Son of God in a strict Sence, by the Father, is Eternal.

Now the Office of Mediator, required a Person that should be both God and Man, to perform those things that were to be done in relation to both: As for in­stance, To Suffer and Die, was the part of Humane Nature, which the Divine is not capable of; but to overcome Death and our Spiritual Enemies, could not be effected but by a Divine Power: And it also be­came the Majesty of God, that the Mediator should be God; which Majesty is so great, that none but he that is intimate and equal with the Father, could interpose between God and Man: Angels themselves could and dared not undertake it, for they stand in [Page 27]need of Christ Mediator; and Job 15.15. they are not Pure in God's sight, which makes them hide their Isa. 6.2. Face in his Presence; now much less any Man only such: Besides, who but a God could destroy Sin, appease God's Wrath, overcome the Power of Satan, and Death Natural and Eternal? Who could make Ex­piation for Offences committed against an Infinite God, but he that is Infinite himself? By whose Inter­cession could God's Anger be pacified, but thorough his that is his Beloved Son? By whose Power could Satan, and the whole Power of Darkness be over­come, but by him that is stronger than all the Devils and Hell? And who could conquer Death, but he that hath destroyed him that hath the Power of Death; Heb. 2.14. And as none but a God could deliver us from all these Evils, under whose Power we were; so none but a God could restore us to the Goods we had lost: As first, Who could have restored us to a perfect Righteousness, but he that is Righteousness it self? Who to God's Image, Chap. 1.3. but he that is the express Image of his Person, and the Brightness of his Glory? Who could make us Children of God, but he that is his Natural and only begotten and beloved Son? Who could bestow upon us the Holy Ghost, but he from whom the Holy Ghost proceedeth? And who could give us Eternal Life, but he that is Life it self? And by whom could we come to God, but thorough him that is the way? Hence it appears, John 14.6. how none but a True and not a made God, could be a Mediator between God and us: If one Man sin against another, 1 Sam. 2.25. saith Eli, the Judge shall judge him: But if a Man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him? No meer Man can, only he that is Lord God himself.

Rom. 8.3. What the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the Flesh, God sending his own Son in the like­ness of sinful Flesh, and for Sin, condemned Sin in the [Page 28]Flesh, is a place worthy to take up our Serious Thoughts: This sheweth first, the Law could not justifie us, by reason of Weakness thorough the Flesh, or Humane Nature, which to remedy, 'twas necessary God should send his own Son to relieve this Weak­ness and Impossibility; for that wherein our Nature, thorough Frailty, was wanting, must be helped by Divine Nature. Secondly, This sheweth, how this help came by means of God's own Son, whom God sent into the World, and by a Sacrifice for Sin, effected that which was impossible for any Man whatsoever to do. Now, if they can, let them find stronger and more proper Expressions, to signifie Christ Jesus to be the True, Proper, Natural Son of God, than these in Scripture, God's own Son, the only begotten Son, which is in the Bosom of the Father, in whom the Father is well pleased: Can this be said of one that is a meer Man? No, nor of any Angel which is a nobler Creature: For unto which of the Angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, Heb. 1.5, 6, 8. this day have I begotten thee. And again, when he bringeth the first Begotten into the World, he saith, Let all the Angels of God worship him. He can­not be called the First Begotten, in relation to a Tem­poral Generation, for many other Sons of Adoption God had begotten long before Christ's appearing in the World; but upon account of an Eternal, take notice of what is added, But unto the Son he saith, Thy Throne, 1 Tim. 1.1. Tit. 1.3. O God, is for ever and ever; not only here, and in other places I already quoted, he is called God, but also St. Paul in two places gives him the name of God our Saviour; he is God as certainly as he is our Saviour, for in both places both are joyned together. Now as when the Spirit of God doth in Scripture call him Man, we ought to believe him to be a Man indeed; so when he calls him God, we must believe him to be God indeed; for with St. Paul, [Page 29] Rom. 2.2. We are sure that the Judgment of God is according to Truth: And immediately after his Conversion, he began to preach the Gospel with this Fundamental Truth thereof, namely, That he is the Son of God: Acts 9.20. And whosoever owns him not to be truly God, gives God the Lye, disowns him to be our Saviour and our Mediator; for as the Mediator doth act the part of Man with God, so with Men he is to perform the part of God; he stands between two Extreams, and reaches them both with filling the space, though never so distant between them, he immediately ap­proacheth unto God, whom he pacifieth towards Men, and from him, upon the account of his own Merit, obtaineth for them all Gifts and Graces necessary to their Salvation: All this none but a God can do for us.

But here I must stop, for insensibly I am driven far­ther than I intended; only few words I shall speak, in relation to the most Holy and Blessed Trinity, which they deny. Divine Nature is most simply and singularly one; yet in that one Essence are Three Persons distinguished in Number, Order, Manner of Acting, and with Personal Names and Attributes: And though the words Trinity and Persons, be not in so many Letters set down in Scripture, no more than the word Sacrament, Symbole or Creed, Lord's-Prayer, &c. Yet as we agree that these are con­tained in and deduced out of the Word of God, so we may say of those now in question. For Brevity sake I shall mention none of the several Proofs taken out of the Old Testament, and pitch upon few of those out of the New.

The Baptism of the Lord Jesus doth afford a clear and strong Proof; God the Father speaks, Matt. 3.16, 17. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: Christ the Son of God is Baptised; The Spirit or Holy Ghost [Page 30]descended from Heaven like a Dove, and lighted upon him. Then the Apostles are commanded to Chap. 28.19. Baptise in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; furely by any one that can reckon, it will be found there are Three Hypostases or Persons, for so the word [...] is rendred in relation to God the Father, for the Son is said to be Heb. 1.3. the express Image of his, the Father's, Person. In the following Text we also find there, John 14.16, 17. I will Pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter; the Father, I, and the Comforter, there called the Spirit of Truth; and in the next Chapter 'tis said, Chap. 15.26. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father; again here they be Three. St. Paul also men­tioneth them, 2 Cor. 13.14. The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, The Love of God, that is, the Father, and the Communion of the Holy Ghost: This I shall conclude, with that of another Apostle, 1 John 5.7. For there are Three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these Three are One. I think from the word Three, that of Trinity may well be derived: Here is proved the Trinity of Persons, and the Unity or Oneness of Essence or Nature: The Trinity of Persons doth not multiply the Nature, without any Contradiction a Subject may in one respect be one, and manifold in another: This is clear out of several Instances in Nature, Man hath a Soul, this Soul hath three several distinct Faculties, the Mind, Will and Memory; the Mind is not the Will, nor the Will the Memory, these are three different Faculties, yet but one Soul. In the Sun are three things, the Body, the Light, and the Heat of the Sun, yet not many Suns, yet only one. A Father hath a Son, the Father and the Son are two different Persons, yet they have the same Nature and both are Men. There are many more such Instances which I now forbear to mention, to shew how in [Page 31]created Substances Trinity or Multiplicity doth not destroy Unity; so we may reasonably infer, that in the Godhead the Trinity of Persons is no Prejudice to the Unity of Essence or Nature. But for all this they will deny the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; the first I proved, and I think 'tis fit I should say something to the last, but as shortly as I can.

In order to it, I shall resolve all into one Argument, as before I did about Jesus Christ: The Syllogism is this, He is True and Eternal God, whom Scripture gives to, the Names, Attributes, Works and Worship of God; but all these, Scripture attributeth to the Holy Ghost, therefore the Holy Ghost is True Eternal God. To begin with the first, I say the Names of the True God are simply and absolutely given to the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. 3.16. Know ye not, saith Paul, that ye are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you: The latter part explaineth the first, the dwelling of God alone doth make and constitute the Temple of God; and those very same whom he calleth the Temple of God, he calleth the Temple or Dwelling of the Holy Ghost. We have another, when Paul said to Ananias, Acts 5.3, 4. Why hath Satan filled thy Heart to lie to the Holy Ghost; and in the next Verse, Thou hast not lied to Men, but unto God: Whom he before called the Holy Ghost, he now called God; these last words tend to ex­aggerate and aggravate the greatness of his Sin: The name of Jehovah is also attributed to the Holy Ghost, for the Lord said, Numb. 12.6. He will make himself known to and speak by Prophets: Now if we compare this with what Peter saith, 2 Pet. 1.21. Holy Men, or Prophets, of God, spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost; we shall find, that Jehovah, who promised to speak by Prophets, is the Holy Ghost which moved them to speak.

The Attributes of the True God, do also belong to the Holy Ghost; as first Eternity, 'tis said, Heb. 9.14. Christ thorough the Eternal Spirit offered him; so doth Omnis­cience, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God; also Omnipresence, he is every where, Psal. 139.7. Whither shall I go from thy Spiri? &c. That is, I can go no where from it; and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you; so he doth in every Believer; for Rom. 8.9. he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his; as for Almighti­ness, all his Works do demonstrate it.

Also the Works of the True God are attributed to the Holy Ghost, as the Creation of the World, Psal. 33.6. By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made, and all the Host of them by the Breath, Spirit, of his Mouth; and Job 26.13. By his Spirit he hath garnished the Heavens; the Pre­servation is represented by his Gen. 1.2. moving upon the face of the Waters; or laying upon, as a Hen doth to pre­serve her Chickens: But as the proper Attribute of the Holy Ghost, is to be Holy and Sanctifier, the great Actor in the high Mystery of Regeneration, and apply­ing of Salvation, the Work whereof is altogether Divine; so to clear it, we shall come to some Parti­culars, as teaching of the Prophets, who by him were moved, as already observed out of St. Peter. Now 'tis said, Heb. 1.1. God spake unto the Fathers by the Prophets; then the Spirit that spoke by them is God, 1 Cor. 12. from Verse 4 to 12. The diver­sities of Gifts are of the same Spirit, the difference of Administration of the same Lord, and the diversities of Operators of the same God. Now this distribution of Gifts, whither of Wisdom, of Knowledge, of Faith, working of Miracles, of Pongues, &c. all these worketh that self-same Spirit, dividing to every Man severally as he will, 'tis all his Free Gift; and that there may be no mistake about the word Spirit, the Apostle in that place V. 3. calls him the Holy Ghost.

The Government of the Church, which is the Work of God, is also attributed to the Holy Ghost, for Acts 13.2. the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the Work whereunto I have called them; which Institution of Ministers in the Church made by the Holy Ghost, is also mentioned in another place, Chap. 20.28. Take heed therefore unto your selves, and to all the Flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers; that Commission is in the Name and by the Power of the Holy Ghost. Thus also the Works of the True God are attributed unto the Holy Ghost, when he is called John 15.26. the Spirit of Truth; Rom 8.15. Spirit of Adoption; Chap. 1.4. Spirit of Sanctification, or of Holiness, and the Tit. 3.5. Spirit of Regeneration; our Blessed Saviour himself owneth, that Matt. 12.28. he cast out Devils by the Spirit of God.

Thus Honour and Worship due to the only true God, is also rendred to the Holy Ghost: Thus St. Paul calls Rom. 9.1. upon him as a Judge of his Conscience, and Searcher of his Heart: In Matt. 28.19. Baptism he is called upon as well as the Father and the Son; and that which in Scripture is said about Chap. 12.31. Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which shall never be forgiven; and 1 John 5.16. which we are forbidden to Pray for, doth sufficiently convince, how the Holy Ghost is to be worshipped with no less Piety, Honour and Ado­ration, than are the Father and the Son.

This short Scheme, which upon occasion may be en­larged, I at this time have drawn against the Blasphe­mous Heresies of Socinians, that by the Paw the Reader may know the Lyon; and so to give People warning of the Danger and Nature of the Poison, which strikes at no less, than to overthrow the Fundamentals of True Christian Religion. Thus if Men, having been fore­warned, stand upon their Guards, they may, by the Grace of God, be able to avoid the Evil and Occasion of it. As to the other Points wherein they Err, espe­cially about Matters of Grace, as that the Causes of [Page 34]Predestination are not in God, but in us; that he doth not predestinate to Salvation any particular or certain Persons; and that Predestination is mutable, and may be frustrated: These and others I now omit, only give this hint to shew, how they are broke loose against the Person and Grace of our Blessed Saviour; in them we find united and concentered the Damnable Errors of the two great Heresiarks Arrius and Pelagius, even against Scripture, Reason and Authority, the Belief of the True Christian Primitive Church.

That which now remaineth for me to do, is directly to address my self to several sorts of Persons: First, To the Clergy-men, both to the Sound and Unsound part thereof, whom God hath set to be Watchmen over Israel his People; they cannot be Ignorant of God's Charge to them, and how strictly God will re­quire at their Hands the Blood of those that shall Pe­rish thorough their Faults: It is the Duty of them all, whither Superior or Inferior, and ought to be their diligent Care, to feed their Flocks with Sound Do­ctrine, and with the Sincere Milk of Truth, to prevent the Wolves coming into their Sheep-folds, which now are waiting for an Opportunity to enter in and tear, Ezek. 13.5. Let them go up into the Gaps, and make up the Hedges for the House of God, and use every one all possible en­deavours, with Watching and Preaching, to prevent the Poison's creeping within their several Churches, and strive, with good Lives and Conversations, to pro­cure God's Blessing upon their Labours. But in a spe­cial way to the Superior Clergy, who have a great Hand in the Government of the Church, and are digni­fied with Titles, that the greater Power they have, the more is and shall be required at their Hands, when the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls shall appear: I dare not to presume so far of my self, as to think I am able to advise, much less to prescribe any Methods, [Page 35]that must be left to their Christian Prudence, and to that Measure which God hath imparted to them of his Spirit.

However with Submission it will be well to begin at Home, and every one see whither all be safe and sound within the Pales of their Jurisdiction; and if there appears any signs of Leprosie and Plague, without loss of time, and in the most proper ways, let them Purge, Cleanse and Remove it, and then use means con­ducing to keep it out, and hinder its coming in: After­wards let them meet and joyn Heads together, and be a mutual Help, and take such wholsom and vigorous Resolutions, as may, by the Blessing of God, root out and prevent the growing of those dangerous Weeds: Let every one, not only within his Precincts, labour against the Distemper, but also altogether strive to drive it out of the Land: Let them use their Authority, as far as it reacheth, in Ecclesiastical things; and wherein it falls short, they may, for help, apply to the Civil Power, and those amongst them whom God hath endued with sufficient Parts and Learning: Let them, in God's Name, make use of those Weapons to fight against and batter down Error and Heresie; to dis­courage and discountenance it in the Fautors and Pro­fessors thereof: And speedily they must go about it, for fear of coming too late; for 'tis too true, and too publick, how the Poison is gotten, not only here and there, up and down, but also into our very Vitals, I mean into the Ʋniversities: Let them but be Real and Upright for God and our Saviour's Interest, and trust God for a Success: But at one time or other Jer. 48.10. the Curse of God will light upon those that do his Work deceitfully, or negligently. Wherefore mind ye Christ, if ye will have him to mind you; be concerned for him and his Glory, if you desire him to be concerned for you.

My next Address is, to the Magistrate and Secular Power, whither Supreme or Subordinate, Legislative or [Page 36]Executive; with all humble Respect in the present case to put them in mind of their Duty; as they Rule for God, who hath placed them in their Stations, so at the Last and Terrible Day, if not before, he will call them to give him an account of their Administration; he not only hath called but also preserves them in the Exercise of their Charge, and keeps the most Unruly in Awe and Obedience under them: As this he doth for them, so he expects they shall do other things for him; he hath put the Rom. 13.4. Sword in their Hand, which they bear not in vain, for he is the Minister of God, a Revenger to ex­ecute Wrath upon him that doth Evil; not only to main­tain their own Authority, but also and chiefly that of God, for all Authority is originatively in him, and but derivatively in them; for in his Name, and by Vertue of his Commission, is all Jurisdiction, and all Judgment to be executed: They are the Keepers of both Tables, to punish not only the Transgressors of the second, but also those of the first; not only Adulterers, Thieves and Murtherers, but also Profane, Impious Idolaters and Blasphemers: I do not say presently to Hang, Draw and Quarter, but let the Guilty be discountenanced, and the Obstinate and Contumacious punished: Herein let Christian Prudence be their Guide, and the Law of the Land, not without God's, be the Rule, whereby they will unnest our Atheistical, Impious and Prophane Per­sons, who do shelter themselves under Socinianism.

I am sure the Devil and all the Powers of Hell, can raise no Opinions more Damnable and Blasphemous, no more Destructive to the very Foundation of Faith and Salvation, than to bring in amongst a Christian Society, that which spares not, but strikes at Divinity it self, which offers to pull out of God's Bosom his only begotten Son; who robs that very Son of God, of his Nature, and of that Glory which he had with the Father from all Eter­nity; and undertakes to Annihilate that Holy and [Page 37]Blessed Spirit of God: This, indeed, is to grieve him that comforteth us in all our Griefs, and at once to overthrow the whole Mystery of our Redemption; for if Christ be not God, he hath not satisfied the Justice of God, nor appeased his Wrath: And thus our Faith is vain, and we are still in our Sins; for it was impossible for any Man, meerly such, to perform that great Work, and overcome all our Enemies: I say, though God had strengthned him never so much, for no Man could re­ceive a greater Power than Humane Nature is capable of; and God could not of a Man make a God, because it implies a Contradiction: Humanity being passible, was a fit subject to suffer Pains due for Sin and the Curse of the Law; but an Infinite Power was necessary to get the Victory over those Torments, and over Death. I say not only that Humane Nature alone could not perform this; but I add, That Angelical Nature, more noble and perfect, would have sunk under the Weight and Burthen of it.

These Errors we must look upon as Hellish and Pro­digious Monsters, as indeed they are, but withall the Impudence and Shamelesness of those that are therewith infected, is a great Aggravation, they Glory in their Shame, for with a bare and brazen Face, they own and publish their Opinions, which I could observe to my Grief and Amazement: No Modesty in their Beha­viour, no sign of Piety in their Discourse, no Check of Conscience; they speak openly, write publickly, and boldly disperse their Erroneous Books; and no Curb, no Restraint put upon them; they Poison the Souls, and no body saith to them, What doest thou? We have the Ny—s, the Fer—ns, the Fr—ks, &c. known for what they be; we have here, as I am informed, one Crel—us Nephew to that Infamous Socinian beyond Sea; we have here some Fr—ch Wretches, who, before they came over, durst not own their Opinions, for fear [Page 38]of Fire and Faggot, yet here vent them with Liberty, who if ever they went back, would no doubt draw in their Horns; nay, some of them take upon them to Travel abroad in the Capacity of Governours to young Noblemen and Gentlemen, though in a high degree in­fected with that Plague; yet these things are not taken notice of, though of such a Nature as deserves strictly to be look'd and narrowly inquired into: And God knows what Judgments this is like to bring upon the Nation, as if before we had not Sins enough to answer for, but there must be this new Addition: However, we have some Law against Blasphemy and Socinianism which makes great Noise, and spreads too much; God knows whose Fault it is, with the Royal Prophet we must say, Psal. 119.126. It is time for thee, Lord, to work, for they have made void thy Law.

We want no Presidents nor Examples out of Scri­pture, to shew how 'tis the Magistrates Duty to punish such Enormities, for as they have the Sword to defend the Innocent, so 'tis to punish Malefactors, of which there can be no greater than Blasphemers: As of the two kinds of Treasons, that which is against the Prince's Person is in a higher degree and greater than that against his Government; so the Blasphemy against God's Works and Providence, may be called less than that which is immediately against his Nature and Persons: God requireth of Magistrates, and so they in Conscience are bound to provide, that Subjects be rightly insti­tuted in his True Religion, and consequently to have every thing removed and punished that is contrary thereunto: This course was taken by the good Kings of Judah, as Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezechiah and Josiah; so since Christ's Coming good Christian Emperors did so; hence to suppress Hereticks, the Councils of Nice, Con­stantinople, Ephesus, Calcedon, were summoned by the Emperors Constantine, Theodosius, Martian, &c. as to the [Page 39]Blasphemer mentioned in the Old Testament, He was stoned by God's immediate command. Levit. 24.14. Here Worstius's Book De Deo was in King James's Time burnt by the Hangman; as some Years after the Racoviensis Catechism was, by order of Parliament, condemned to be.

Lastly, I come and address to all and every parti­cular Subject, of whatsoever Rank and Quality, whi­ther Noble or Ignoble, High or Low, Rich or Poor, Young or Old, and earnestly desire them, as they are tender of the Glory of God, of their own Salvation, and of the Welfare and Prosperity of their Religion and Country, not to suffer themselves to be mislead and seduced by those Ravenous Wolves, who do not come in Sheeps-cloathings, for they deal above-board, but like Roaring Lyons; with such keep no company, and as much as possibly you can, avoid all Communi­cation, 1 Cor. 5.11. no not to eat, as St. Paul saith, which if you do, you tempt God, as much as one who would lye a bed with another that hath the Plague, yet think himself in no danger of it. Rom. 16.17, 18. Now, saith the same Apostle in another place, I beseech you Brethren, mark them which cause Divisions and Offences, contrary to the Doctrine which ye have received, and avoid them: This is both Warning and Command, and Beseeching against the Enemies of the True Doctrine he taught, the reason he gives in the next Verse, For they that are such, serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own Belly, and by good Words and fair Speeches deceive the Hearts of the Simple: Let the Simple beware of such Deceivers. This Advice in such cases he gives the Simple, as being most of all in danger of being seduced; but to the Learned and Clergy in the Person of Titus, he saith that which I wish them to mind, Tit. 3.10, 11. A Man that is an Heretick after the first and second Admoni­tion, reject: Knowing, that he that is such, is subverted [Page 40]and sinneth, being condemned of himself: What the Holy Apostle saith, he backs with a Reason.

Here I cannot forbear, with all due Respect, in God's Name, to declare to Kings, Parliaments, and to any that have a Hand in the Civil or Ecclesiastical Govern­ment, that in case they every one in their Station, and to the utmost of their Power, do not go about to re­strain and suppress that Damnable and Antichristian Poison, they thereby become accessary to the Blasphemy; it is their Duty, and in their Power, to oppose it; which to neglect, is to encourage it; for Impunity is an Encouragement to Crimes; and they must know, God at one time or other will require it at their hands, and these few Lines I have written, shall rise up in Judgment against them: Let them remember and apply Mordecai's words to Esther, Esther 4.14. If thou altogether holdest thy Peace at this time, then shall Deliverance arise from ano­ther place; but thou and thy Father's House shall be de­stroyed.

But to return to those whom I am Addressing to, I say to them, Mistrust the Deceitfulness of Sin, the Crafti­ness of the Devil, and the Weakness and Corruption of your own Hearts: As you are to avoid their Dis­courses, so have nothing to do with their Books; this I speak chiefly to the Ignorant and Unlearned, who must never read them, but in the Works of sound Divines that refute them; but be very frequent in read­ing the Word of God, which can afford both Offensive and Defensive Weapons against such Enemies; therein you may find strong and full Proofs, with Demonstra­tions of the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour, of the Holy Ghost, and of every other high and necessary Point of our Faith, for therein God hath not left him­self without a Witness against all Opposers and Blas­phemers whatsoever.

This against such Deceivers and Antichrists as St. John calls them in his second Epistle, I shall now conclude with what the same Apostle saith in the same place, If there come any unto you, and bring not this Doctrine, 2 John 10.11. receive him not into your House, neither bid him God speed. You see he forbiddeth to wish them well, in the follow­ing Verse he gives the reason, For he that biddeth him God speed, is partaker of his evil Deeds, makes himself Accessary to his Error and Guilt. This Holy Apostle not only gives us this Rule, but also his own Example in the case of Cerinthus another Heretick in his time, who denied Christ to be God or Son of God. We have it related out of Polycarpus by Lib. 3. cap 3. Ireneus and Lib 4. Hist. Eccles. cap. 14. Eusebius, How at Ephesus St. John being gone to wash himself in a Bath, as soon as he heard Cerinthus was there, he went away abhorring the place; and this he added, He feared, the place wherein such an Enemy of the Truth had Bathed would fall; and he no sooner came out, but the House fell, wherewith Cerinthus and all others within it were killed. Now to him Rev. 19.13, 16. whose Name is called the Word of God, and who hath on his Vesture, and on his Thigh, a Name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. 1 Tim. 6.14, 15. To the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Blessed and only Potentate, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords: To 1 Cor. 1.24. Christ who is the Power and Wisdom of God, even that Wisdom that speaks thus, Prov. 8.22, 23. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his Works of Old. I was set up from Everlasting, from the Beginning, or ever the Earth was. To him be Honour and Power Everlasting. Amen.