pinching Religion fit eafy upon their Inclinations, from whence there must be Herefies; and were in Fact we find in the very beginning of Christianity, when the Gnofticks were for cutting it to their own liking.

This will be plainer yet, if we do but confider the Nature of the Evidence or the Manner wherein this Doctrine is deliver'd. That the Scriptures are the Word of God, that those we now have are Genuine, are Truths unquestionably evident to every wife and well-difpofed Perfon; but the Proof we have for the Truth of these things is not fo violently ftrong and demonstrative as to bear down all Oppofition; as we find from the many Unbelievers and Scepticks that have been and are in the World. So neither is the Senfe of Scripture fo irrefiftibly clear and piercing, that perverfe Men cannot poffibly raife any Difputes and Clouds about it. With great Judgment therefore fays Tertullian, I make no fcruple to affirm, that the very Scriptures themselves are fo difpos'd by the Will of God as to afford fubject Matter for Hereticks to work upon, when I read, that Herefies must be, which cannot be without the Scriptures. When the Difciples came to Chrift and ask'd him, why he spoke to those about him in Parables, he anfwer'd, Becaufe to you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given; therefore fpeak I to them in Parables, because they feeing fee not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand, Matth. 13. v. 10, 11, 13. that is, to you who are willing to learn, who are honeft well-meaning Perfons, I think fit to difcourfe of the Mysteries of the Kingdom plainly and without referve; and the Reason I fpeak to others in a parabolical obfcurer

• Nec periclitor dicere ipfas quoque Scripturas fic effe ex Dei voluntate difpofitas, ut Heraticis materias fubminiftrarent, cum legam, Oportere Hærefes effe, qua fine Scripturis effe non poffunt. Præfcript. cap. 39.

way,

way, is, because they are not difpos'd for Truth, nor come with a defign of being the better for my Inftru&tions. And when the Rulers and the People came flocking about him, to hear his Wifdom and fee his Works, and to ask him who he was, he gives 'em, we find, no direct answer, but fends 'em to Mofes and the Prophets, and to his Doctrine and his Miracles, from whence they might eafily collect who he was, if they had a mind; and if not, he knew they wou'd not believe, let him fay what he wou'd; For if any Man will do his Will he fhall know of the Doarine, whether it be of God, or whether I Speak of my felf. God has given us Eyes, but if we will not fee, he will not work a Miracle for the Cure of af fected Blindness: If the Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are loft, in whom the God of this World bath blinded the Minds of them which believe not, left the Light of the glorious Gofpel of Chrift, Image of God, Shou'd fhine unto them.

who is the

It is reported by fome of the Ancients that St. John, at the defire of the Afiatick Bishops, com. pos'd his Gospel in Vindication of our Saviour's Divinity, against Cerinthus and the Ebionites, who affirm'd Chrift to be a mere Man only. The Apoftle therefore upon the entrance of his Gospel thus declares: In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. And the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us, &c. As diftin&t and clear as this Scripture is for the Divine and Human Nature in Chrift, Hereticks there were who cou'd make a fhift to elude it. For fome faid, that the Word was not God; and others again faid, that the Word was not made Flesh, but was Flefh in appearance only. I will not mention the monftrous

P Hieron. Verbo Johan. Eufeb. Hift. Eccl. lib. 3. cap. 24. lib.6. cap. 14.

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Pains

Pains the Socinians have been at to Un-god our Sa viour in fpight of his beloved Apostle, but I cannot quite pafs over the good endeavours of Le Clerc to fecond the fame Doctrine with another evafion: For according to him thus we are to understand St. John, In the Beginning was Reason, and Reafon was in God; A marvellous difcovery! And Reafon was God; that is, the Man Chrift was God by Office, as an Ambaffa dor is King: And Reafon was made Flesh; that is, Reafon was made confpicuous in the Man in whom it oas. One wou'd think likewife that St. Paul had exprefs'd himself very intelligibly upon the fame Ar ticle, when speaking of the Jews, he faid: Of whom, according to the Flesh, Chrift came, who is over all, God bleffed for ever, Amen. But here again by the Hocus Pocus of a Colon after adgna, according to the Flesh, never to be met with in any Verfion, against the general Senfe of the Fathers, and against the natural Construction of the Words in the very Opinion of Socinus, is Le Clerc (a never failing Man at Innovation) for making one with them who wou'd read and understand the Text thus; Of whom, according to the Flesh, Chrift came, and then with a grateful Exclamation; God! who is over all, be blessed for ever, Amen. Though fince I find he has been pleas'd to declare that Dr. Mill has well prov'd, that Chrift is ftiled God over all bleed for ever. But who fo blind as they who will not fee? And what ftrange work do fome Criticks make with the plaineft Scrip. ture by the arbitrary Ufe of Colons! Once more, it is faid, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image, or any likeness of any thing that is in the Heaven above, or that is in the Earth beneath, or that is in the Water under the Earib; thou shalt not bow down by Jelf to them, nor ferve them. A Perfon who had no defigns in his Head but to ferve God, muft needs think that this Precept, with the gradual enumeration of all Things from Heaven above to the Waters under the Earth, was as particular and ex

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prefs

prefs as words cou'd well be, against all forts of Image-worship; but yet because it is not faid, Thou fhalt not worship God through an Image, or thy WorShip Shall not terminate in the Image, or fome fuch explanatory Clause and Restriction, bowing down to Images and ferving them, is as much in Practice with fome Men, as if there had been no such thing as the Second Commandment.

God, no doubt, if he had pleas'd, cou'd have exprefs'd his Will fo clearly and fenc'd about his Laws with fuch Provifo's, Explications and Limitations, as fhou'd have made it much more difficult, nay, impoffible for any one to misunderstand or evade them; and fo he cou'd have made Man impeccable, or redeem'd him from the Poffibility as well as the Penalty of Sin; but where then had been the Proof of Ingenuity and Faithfulness, that they which are approved may be made manifeft? Befides, for the fame Reafon that one Precept is to be infallibly fecur'd, fo is another and another, and fo on; and fo there must have been Millions and Millions of Explications and Cautions; every Rule must have been hedg'd about with as many Securities as there are Poffibilities to mistake or pervert it; every Propofition fettled, every ObjeЯion poffible anfwer'd, every Word fully explain'd, every Comma and Colon immoveable; and what not, to guard against all the ways of Error? And what a ftrange Book for Size and Senfe muft the Bible have been then? And Error being infinite, it might have been faid perhaps without a Figure, that even the World it felf wou'd not contain the Books which fhou'd be written. From the nature then of the Doctrine which goes fo much against the Grain of Flesh and Blood, from the manner of the Evidence alfo wherein those grating Truths are deliver'd, which requires not only common Senfe and Reafon, but a peculiar Probity and Teachablenefs of Spirit to underftand them: From both thefe, I fay, it is certain that without a Miracle there must be Herefies; especially in the next

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place,

place, if we confider the Corruptions of Mankind. Where this unpallatable Religion wou'd go down but by halves, and cou'd not perfectly get the better of Mens unruly Lufts and Paflions, there the Men wou'd be fure to do their beft to get the better of Religion, and to bend or break it to their Inclinations. The Man of Politicks will make it a Tool, and where it ftands in his way it fhall be no Religion for him. The Man of Pleasure will have no more Christianity than comports with his Enjoyments; and the Godliness that is not Gain Thall be no Godlinefs for the Man of Interest. The Man of Faction will fetch Chains and Links of Iron from Scripture to bind Kings and Nobles withal. The free thinker will be confin'd to no Creed but one of his own making, and with but one Article, and that too a very ambiguous one; his clear Idea's must be the length of his Faith, and where he cannot fee he will not believe. The vain Philofopher will comply with the facred Text no farther than he can make that comply with his beloved Hypothefis; and the conceited Critick muft have his Colons and Colourings in defiance of the old Reading and the Senfe of all Antiquity. Where will the itch of Novelty and a profane Curiofity reft contented? Or what Scripture will be clear enough, or what Conviction fufficient for Pride, Prejudice and Party? Ambition and Avarice will fet up for Infallibility upon Gofpel-Authority, and ufurp the Keys of Heaven, and open and fhut at Pleasure; and the Lazy and Voluptuous will not be at the Pains to examine how the Ufurpers came by them, becaufe they can be let in upon eafy Terms. So that to ask why there fhou'd be Herefies, is in effect to ask why there fhou'd be fuch things as Pride and Stubbornefs, Vanity and Wantonnefs, Envy and Malice, Ambition and Covetoufnefs, Luxury and Lazinefs, or any other Corruption in Human Nature: For till corrupted Nature is perfectly cur'd, there will be breakings out into wicked Opinions as

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