Of idolatry a discourse, in which is endeavoured a declaration of, its distinction from superstition, its notion, cause, commencement, and progress, its practice charged on Gentiles, Jews, Mahometans, Gnosticks, Manichees Arians, Socinians, Romanists : as also, of the means which God hath vouchsafed towards the cure of it by the Shechinah of His Son / by Tho. Tenison ...

PART 3. Of the Idolatry of the Socinians.

THe point in which Socinus offendeth by himself, is the Worship he giveth Christ whilst he maketh him but a man; and such a man as is but a machine of animated and thinking Matter: for though he decli∣neth not the word, soul or spirit, I cannot find at the bottom of his Hypothesis, any distinct substance of a Soul in Christ. If that Principle had been believed by him, why doth he suppose the Lord Jesus bereaved of all Perception as long as his Body remained lifeless in the Grave c 1.1? Why do his Followers maintain that the dead do no otherwise live to God than as there is in him a firm purpose of their Resurrection d 1.2? for so the Vindicator of the Confession of the Churches of Poland, written by Shlichtingius, is pleased to dis∣course:

We believe (said he) not only that the Soul of Christ supervived his Body, but also that the Souls of other men do the like. But if Cichovius thinketh

that the dead do otherwise live to God, than as it is always in the hand and power of God to raise them up, and restore them to life; let him go and confute Christ, where he saith, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Now Reason (the great Diana of Soci∣nus, though he often took a cloud of fancy for his Goddess) can't but judg it a disparagement to the Idea of a God, to suppose such Divinity as can go∣vern the World, and hear and act in all places at once, (as Christ is by Socinus confessed to do); in a portion of living Matter, not six-foot square, reserved in the Heavens; and perceiving by the help of moti∣on on its organs. Arius advanced the Idea of Divini∣ty to a much higher and more becoming pitch; for he, overcome with the plain evidence of Scripture, main∣tained the Praeexistence of the Logos, and supposed him to be a distinct substance from Matter. And he might consequently affirm with consistence to his Prin∣ciples, that Christ could know without the mere help of motion, and be spread in his substance to an ampli∣tude equal with that of the Material World. For the Material World is but a Creature, one Body of ma∣ny Creatures; and it implieth no contradiction to say of God, that he can make one Creature as big as the collection of all the rest. But notwithstanding such amplitude, there would still be wanting infinite Wis∣dom. For in the Idea of God we have no other noti∣on of it than as of such a Wisdom as sufficeth to frame the World, and to govern it after it hath been framed.

Now this latter Point is that in which both Arius and Socinus are together condemned, whilst both wor∣ship Christ as one who under God disposeth and go∣verneth all things. It is true, that he is such: but such

he had not been if he had not been consubstantial with the Father. In that sense he is the Father's Wisdom: and whilst Arius and Socinus adore him as Gods Wis∣dom, yet not as God; they ascribe to the Creature, the Attribute by which the Creator is known. For the Scriptures, they in opposition to all other gods, do as well ascribe the Government, as the Creation of the World, to that one God of Israel. Hear them speaking in this matter, with so loud and plain a voice, that he who is dull of hearing cannot mistake them, unless he by obstinacy make himself deafer still, and will not di∣stinctly hear them. In them we find this Prayer made by the pious King Hezekiah, when he was distressed by Sennacherib a 1.3. O Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the Cherubims! Thou art the God, even thou alone of all the Kingdoms of the Earth. Thou hast made Heaven and Earth. Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear, open thine eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib who hath sent to reproach the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the Kings of Assyria have laid wast all the Nations and their Countries, and have cast their Gods into the fire; for they were no gods but the work of mens hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the Kingdoms of the Earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only. Other pla∣ces there are to the same purpose b 1.4, and amongst them these: Let them [the Nations or Gentiles] give glory unto the Lord c 1.5, and declare his praise in the Islands. The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man;—He shall prevail against his enemies.

I have declared d 1.6 and I have saved, and I have shew∣ed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. Yea, before the day I was he,—I will work, and who shall let it?

Thus saith the Lord a 1.7 the Redeemer,—I am the Lord your holy one, the Creato•…•… of Israel, your King. [He that raiseth you out of mean estate, and ruleth over you.] Thus saith the Lord who maketh a way in the Sea, and a path in the mighty waters.

Who would not fear thee, O King of Nations b 1.8! The stock is a doctrine of vanities; but the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King.

Ask ye of the Lord rain c 1.9, in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. For the Idols have spoken vanity.—The eyes of the Lord d 1.10 run to and fro through the whole Earth. [The King of Chaldea] e 1.11 shall gather the captivity as the sand, and shall scoff at Kings.—Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend imputing this his power unto his god. Art thou not he from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die: O Lord, thou hast ordained them [the Powers of Chaldea] for judg∣ment; and, O mighty God! Thou hast established them for correction. Who hath (f) directed the Spirit of the * 1.12 Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? with whom took he counsel? and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment?—Behold the Nations are as a drop of a bucket.

See here the Spirit of God asserting the Divinity of the one God of Israel, against Idols, by displaying his Wisdom and Power in the Natural and Political Go∣vernment of the World. But lest the evidence of these places should be weakened by any, as Scriptures of the Old Testament, relating to times before our Lord was actually made by the Eternal Father, the King of the World; I will add a few more which may tend to the preventing of such an Evasion. Isaiah g 1.13 prophesying of the Baptist, and of the blessed times of the Gospel,

introduceth that voice thus crying out to Jerusalem and Judah: Behold your God. Behold the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him.—He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.

In the same Isaiah (for I scarce seek further than that Evangelical Prophet) the God of Israel repeateth this profession a 1.14: Before me there was no God framed, neither shall there be after me. Thus b 1.15 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.

And yet of the Logos, the Socinians will profess as did Nathaniel, Thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel; and as doth the Book of the Revelation, that he is, Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.

The God of Israel had said also in the foregoing Chapter, I, even I, am the Lord, and besides me there is no Saviour.—Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no God. I know not any. c 1.16 Yet, of the Logos, Socinians and Arians make confession in the words of St. John, saying, That he was in the beginning with God the Father.

The design of all these places ought not in reason to be baffled, by saying with confidence d 1.17 these two things: First, That the Power which Christ had was given him by God, and in order to his Glory. Second∣ly, That it is not unlawful, but our duty, to wor∣ship a Creature by Gods command, though without his permission it be Idolatry. If Christ had not been more than a creature, God would not have enjoined us so high a Worship of Him: neither would it have been consistent with his incommunicable Omnipotence and Wisdom to have given him all power in Heaven and in Earth.

This (as e 1.18 Athanasius speaketh) were to turn his Humane Nature into a second Almighty.

The Logos was so before all Worlds, and ceased not to be so by assuming the Humane Nature into Unity of Subsistence.

To say then that Christ is a Creature, yet made such a God who can hear all Prayers, supply all wants, give all Graces needful to his Body the Church, know all the secrets of all Thoughts not directed to him, go∣vern and judg with Wisdom all the World, and to Worship him under this Divine Notion; what is it else than the paying an homage to a presumed Creature, which is due only to the one very God? for what ap∣prehensions greater than these do we entertain concer∣ning the true God, when we call upon him, confide in him, or revere him?

He then that meeteth such an Inscription in Racovia as he may find often a 1.19 in Misna, in this manner, D. O. S. and at length, Deo Omnipotenti Sacrum, and meant of Christ, to whom, in the Verses set b 1.20 under∣neath, the application is particularly made; How must he expound it? He must either interpret it of Christ Transubstantiated as 'twere by their fancy into the Fa∣ther, or worshipped like Neptune c 1.21 in the D. M. at Rome, in the quality of the true God, whilst he is confessed to be but a Creature. For they will own but one God in nature and person, and yet will give to Christ, not acknowledged as a coeternal Subsistence, that which belongeth in eminent manner to his Idea. His Idea sure it is; for that Being appeareth to our mind as the best and greatest, which with such mighty Goodness, Power and Wisdom, governs the insensible, sensible, rational, and Christian World.

I end this Chapter with the sense of St. Cyprian's words in his conclusion of the Book de Bono Patientiae d 1.22:

[Jesus] Is he who was silent in his sufferings, but will not be so afterwards when he executeth

vengeance. This is our God; not the God of all, but the God of the Faithful, and of them who believe.—Him, most dear Brethren, let us expect as our Judg and Avenger.—God the Father com∣manded this his Son to be adored. And Saint Paul the Apostle, mindful of his command, saith, That God hath exalted him, and given him a name above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow; of things Coelestial, Terrestrial and In∣fernal. And in the Revelation, the Angel for∣biddeth John who was willing to worship him a 1.23, and saith, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-ser∣vant and of thy Brethren. Adore the Lord Je∣sus b 1.24.

Notes

• c 1.1

  Compendiolum Socinianismi, c. 8. Sect. 7. p. 142.—Hinc colligunt animas post mortem nihil sentire aut age∣re, imo ne qui∣dem in se reipsâ subsistere ut per∣sonas: atque hoc esse quod passim dicitur in V. T. mortu∣os non habere memoriam Dei.—Item hunc esse descensum ad inferos, cum quis in Statum mortuorum re∣digitur.
• d 1.2

  Vind. Conses. Eccles. Polon. p. 150.
• a 1.3

  Isa. 37. 16, 1•…•…, 18, 19, 20.
• b 1.4

  See Isa. 41. from 1, to 29. &c. 43. 1, to 6.
• c 1.5

  Isa. 42. 12, 13.
• d 1.6

  Isa. 43. 12, 13.
• a 1.7

  Isa. 43. 14, 15, 16.
• b 1.8

  Jer. 10. 7, 8, 9.
• c 1.9

  Zach. 10, 1, 2.
• d 1.10

  Zach. 4. 10.
• e 1.11

  Hab. 1. 9, 10, 11, 12.
• * 1.12

  Isa. 40. 13, 14, 15.
• g 1.13

  Isa. 40. 9, 10, 11.
• a 1.14

  Isa. 43. 10, 11, See Ch. 44. 8.
• b 1.15

  Isa. 44. 6. & 48. 12.
• c 1.16

  See Ch. 43: 11. & Ch. 45. 5.
• d 1.17

  Confess. Schlicht. Vind. c. 1. p, 54. Multorum Deo∣rum cultores non sumus.—Christum, enim colimus, tan∣quam à summo potestatem Re∣rum Omnium adeptum, &, si∣cut nomine illi∣us, sic ad glori∣am illius, impe∣rantem.
• e 1.18

  S. Athan. op. vol. 2. p. 581. A.
• a 1.19

  In Templo A∣frano. ap. Nath. Chytraei Monu∣menta Misnica. p. 362, 363.
• b 1.20

  Victor Cbri∣ste.—In te Credo unum.—
• c 1.21

  Ap. Sauber∣tum de Sacrifi∣ciis. c. 2. p. 27. D. M. [i. e. Deo Maximo] Nep∣tuno Sacrum.
• d 1.22

  S. Cypr. de bono Patientiae, Sect. 14, 15. p. 368. Hic est qui cum in pas∣sione tacuerit, &c. Hic est Deus noster, &c.
• a 1.23

  Rev. 22. 9.
• b 1.24

  Jesum Domi∣num adora. So S. Cyprian rea∣deth the Text, We, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 worship God.