THE Trinitarian Scheme OF RELIGION, CONCERNING Almighty God; And MANKIND, Considered both before and after the (pretended) Fall: With NOTES thereupon; which Notes contain also the Vnitarian Scheme.  
London, Printed in the Year, 1692.   

The Trinitarian Scheme of Religion concerning Almighty God; and Mankind, considered both before and after the (pretended) Fall: with Notes thereupon; which Notes contain also the Vnitarian Scheme.  

Of the Blessed Trinity.  
THERE are Three Divine Persons, an Almighty Father, an Almighty Son, an Almighty Spirit distinct from both, who are jointly Creators of all other, both Persons and Things. They are so many distinct Minds and Spirits, endued each of them with his own Proper and Personal Understanding, Will, and Power of Action. Each of them is an absolutely Perfect and All-sufficient Being; and singly and by himself a God. Yet all of them together are but one God.  

The Notes.  
There is a most Holy, most Wise, most Good and Almighty Person, who is over all, from everlasting to everlasting; the Maker of the Universe; the Fountain of Good to all other Being's, every where present. Who with respect to the Creation of the World, and his Adoption of all Good Men, is pleased to permit himself to be called the Father. But with respect to his Sovereign Dominion and Power above all, He is usually designed by the Name or Word GOD.  
There neither is nor can be more than one such Person.  
Because He is All-sufficient for himself, and for whatsoever He shall please to make; He had (thereby) within himself a most Determining and Certain Cause why he should neither beget nor make another or others equal to Himself, but only Subordinate and Dependent Being's, for Objects and Exercises of his Goodness. More such Persons or Being's as Himself, He knew must be as needless and useless, as himself is absolutely and indispensably necessary. For if He is truly All-sufficient, they must (for that reason) be altogether superfluous, both to him and to his Creatures.  
Nor can we suppose more than one such Person, without supposing an Infinity of them. For whatsoever, either Rational Motive, or Natural and Necessary Cause, may be feigned; why the Universal Father should beget or make another, or others, equal to Himself; the same (whether Motive or Cause) must also dispose that other, or those other Persons, to beget or make their Equal or Equals, and so onwards till there were an Infinity of Divine Persons.  
The Nature therefore of the thing demonstratively shows, that a stop is necessarily made at one Divine▪ that is, one Infinite and All-sufficient Person.    

Of the Eternity of the Trinity.  
AS to the Duration, Eternity or Life of the Blessed Trinity, the Trinity possesses Eternal Life all at once.  
To all other Being's, Time is a Flux or Succession; that of it which was, now is not; and that which now is, shall immediately give place to what is coming. It was once true of all other Being's but the Trinity, that they were, are and shall be; but to the Trinity there is neither past, nor to come, but whole Time or all Eternity is now. To the Trinity from everlasting to everlasting, is but one undivided Instant or Moment; for the Trinity is, we may not say it was, or it shall be.  

The Notes.  
This Divinity is wholly borrowed from the Platonists; from whom the Modern Doctrines of the Trinity, and of the Mystical Properties and Attributes thereof, have been learned by those, who among themselves go by the Names of Orthodox and Catholic. The Trinity, or God, say they, possesses Eternal Life all at once; He is, we may not say He was, or He shall be. In direct opposition to this whimsical Paradox, St. John has defined God to be Him which WAS, which IS, and which SHALL BE, or is to come, Rev. 1.4.  
We say therefore, 'tis one of the Divine Perfections (not an Imperfection) that God IS, WASPE and SHALL BE. He hath carried, and shall carry all Perfections into all the Successions and Periods of Time: when He WAS, he was no less perfect than now that he IS; nor is He now less perfect than he shall be when he SHALL BE.  
They tell us, we must not say, God WAS; that is, to please them, we must turn Atheists, by saying he WAS NOT; for of necessity we must say one of the two, either that He was, or that He was not; there being no middle between these two, no more than there is between He is, and He is not.    

Of the Omnipresence and Infinity of the Trinity.  
NOR are we to conceive of the Infinity, Immensity or Omnipresence of the Trinity after a vulgar manner. For though the Trinity is truly Infinite and Omnipresent, yet 'tis whole and all in any the least Point of Space.  
The Trinity has no Extension, and yet it comprehends all Distances. The Trinity is three such Persons, as that each of them reaches over and through all the the World; and yet all Three are laxly and largely accommodated on the Point of a Needle. Not only so, but the right Faith is, the Trinity is not where, and yet 'tis .  

The Notes.  
This is another Article of the new Platonic Divinity: God, or the Trinity, say they, is whole and all in the least point of Space; and though he is no where, yet he is . We say on the contrary (with St. Austin) what is not where, is nothing: therefore to speak as they do of God, is in words to affirm him, and in sense to deny him.  
That God is  we are ready to demonstrate to them, from the Order and Conservation of his Works, and from the Effects of his Providence, and from an hundred Passages of Holy Scripture. That he is no where, is incumbent on them to prove; which we are sure they can do by no Reason, nor by any Authority, but that of their Masters the Platonists.  
 and nowhere are contradictory Terms; therefore if God is , it must needs be false that he is nowhere: else we cannot distinguish between Affirming and Denying; that is, between express Contradictions.    

Of the Simplicity of the Trinity.  
THere is no less Mystery in the other Properties and Attributes of the Trinity. For God is one most simple uncompounded Being; yet He consists, or is made up of Three really distinct Minds, Being's, or Spirits; so really distinct and divers, that one of them is not the other; nay, one is the Father, another his Son, the third a Spirit, as distinct from both, as they are from each other.  

The Notes.  
There is no Mystery at all in any of the Properties or Attributes of God. They are no less clear in themselves, than they are evidently deduced from the Excellence of his Works, and the Methods of his Providence. The Mystery never lies in the Attribute or Property, but in the Addition made to it by fanciful Men. As to that vulgar Aphorism, that God is a most simple and uncompounded Being, (from whence they have hammered the Property or Attribute of God's Simplicity, as they affect to speak) 'tis not only not true, but self-contradictory in the sense they use it. For, how is God most simple and uncompounded, if he consists or is made up (which is the very English of the word compounded) of distinct Being's, and divers and several Persons, none of which is the other? They may with the same Exactness of Grammar, and Propriety of Speech, say, a Common-Council, or a Common-Hall, is one most simple uncompounded Being; one is no more ridiculous than the other: for the Propriety of Speech, and Exactness of Truth, is as verily lost in three, as in three hundred, or three thousand.    

What is in God, is God.  
FOR the other Properties, 'tis the Orthodox and true Belief, that whatsoever is in God, is God. Not only the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; but whatsoever else is in God by way of Immanence, that also is God. So the Justice of God, is God; the Power of God, is God; the Wisdom of God, is God; and so too is the Goodness of God.  
Yet we make not hereby, so many several Gods; because these and all other Properties of God, are not only the same with him, but the same also with one another. The Justice (for instance) of God differs not really from his Power and Mercy: and his Power and Mercy differ not, or are not really distinguished from his Wisdom, but are verily and identically the same with it, their distinction is only in our Conceit.  

The Notes.  
See here another brace of Mysteries; whatsoever is in God, is God; and the Divine Properties or Attributes differ not, but are the same with one another.  
The Reader may perhaps suspect, that when they speak after this wild fashion, they have some secret and reserved meaning, contrary to the usual Import of the Words, or a learned Sense contrary to the vulgar Signification of the Terms: but 'tis not so, they mean as they speak, and whole Volumes are written in Defence of these Follies.  
But let us consider what they say; Whatsoever is in God, is God; the Justice (for instance) of God is God; and so also the other Properties and Attributes. As who should say, every Property of a Being or Nature is that very Being or Nature, of which 'tis only a Property. This is more monstrous than to say, a Part is the Whole, that very Whole of which 'tis only a Part. For a Property being somewhat less than an Integrating Part, because it may be away, or at least be dormant and unactive, without destruction of the Specific Nature, or of the Person, an Integrating Part cannot; therefore 'tis more absurd to say, a Property, or Attribute is that very Being or Nature to which it belongs, than to say, an Integrating Part is the Whole. Thus Body and Soul are Integrating Parts of Man; take away one of them, and he is no longer a Man, but a naked Spirit; and Risibility is an acknowledged Property of the Human Nature, and yet it may be dormant, or wholly away, and the Human Nature not be destroyed, but remain.  
But they add, the Properties or Attributes of God are the same with one another, they differ only in our Conceit.  
But why do they not tell us too, that God pardons Sinners by his Justice, and punishes them by his Mercy; that he made the World by his Eternity, and will judge it by his Immensity? For if Mercy and Justice, if Wisdom and Power, if Eternity and Omnipresence are the same, and differ only in our Conceit; then the Effects of any one of these Properties are not to be appropriated to that Attribute or Property, but must be equally and indifferently ascribed to all, or to any of the rest.  
Thus unlucky are our Opposers, both at dividing and compounding; they divide what is most intimately the same, and they compound, unite and identify what are and ever must be divers and different. That Unity of God (or that God is one) which should have been as carefully guarded as the very Belief of a God, they have divided, by introducing a Trinity of three equally Almighty and All-sufficient Persons. And the Properties of the Divine Nature, to whose Distinction and Variety we must heedfully attend, if we will have any adequate Notion of God, or right Understanding of his Works and Providences, these they confound, by affirming they are the same. But let us go on to what remains.    

What we are to understand by the Son and Holy Ghost.  
GOD is one substantial and most simple Act; yet we say also God is two substantial and really distinct Acts. The two substantial and immanent Acts in God, are Understanding and Will. For God most perfectly understands himself, and also willeth (that is, loveth) himself in the most perfect manner.  
But whatsoever understandeth, doth understand by conceiving an Image of the thing understood. Therefore God (as hath been said) understanding himself from all Eternity, conceived within himself from all Eternity a most perfect Image of himself. Which Image thus conceived, and (as it were) generated or begotten by him, is called the Son. And this Image being in God, and a perfect Image of God, and Eternal, is God no less than the Father, by whom it was conceived or generated in the manner aforesaid; namely, by his understanding or apprehending himself, and his own Perfections.  
But God also willeth, and that is another of the substantial immanent Acts that concur to the essentiating the Trinity. He willeth or loveth himself, and the most perfect Image of himself; and the Image willeth or loveth him. This Mutual Love of the Father, and the Image (or Son) is what is named the Holy Ghost. So that what things in Men are Faculties, Actions and Properties, in God we must understand them to be Persons and Spirits.  
Which is also farther both cleared and proved, by this Observation. The second Person, or Son, is the Understanding or Wisdom of God; not Original Wisdom, or Understanding, for that is the Father; but a reflex Wisdom, that is, the Wisdom which resulteth from the Father's understanding himself, and his own Perfections. The Holy Spirit (as hath been said) is the mutual, willing, Love and Power of Original Wisdom, and of the Reflex Wisdom.  

The Notes.  
This they pretend is that Mystery hid from Ages and Generations, but now made manifest to the Disciples of Athanasius. There is no Parallel for it in all either History or Nature, but the Mysteries of the Egyptians. For as the Egyptians were at prodigious Cost, in making and setting up a great number of Images in and about their Temples, by which Hieroglyphics, or sacred Images, they pretended to teach Men the Secrets of Natural Philosophy, and the Precepts of Morality; but when they were asked to explain the meaning of these Hieroglyphics, they gave a very mean and trifling Sense, or a Sense very absurd and false. So after Trinitarians have long amused their Disciples with Terms as Mystical as the Egyptian Hieroglyphics, such as Trinity, Eternal Generation, Eternal Procession, three Infinite Persons and but one God: Ask them, How can these things be, and what do you mean? They answer, our meaning only is, God understands himself, and willeth (that is, esteems and loves) himself. This is a very mean and despicable Sense, to be couched in such mysterious and surprising Terms: Why do they affect to speak fantastically, when they might speak soberly and plainly?  
But we would easily forgive them the Folly of their Mysteries, if their Hieroglyphic Language were not as false and contradictory as 'tis vain and trifling. For after they have told us, that by Son and Spirit, they mean nothing but God's Knowledge and Love of himself; that the Eternal Generation (so much talked of) is only God's conceiving, understanding, or apprehending his own Perfections, and the Procession (which we are so carefully to distinguish from the Eternal Generation) is only the Love which proceeds from God towards himself: after (I say) they have thus unriddled their Mystery, and of a Mystery, made it a very vulgar and ordinary piece of Knowledge; how absurd and monstrous is it to tell us, that this Reflex Knowledge which God hath of himself, and his Love or Esteem of himself, are Persons and Spirits really distinct from him?  
One while the Second and Third Persons (so called) are only God's knowing himself, and loving himself; that is, they are only two Acts of his Understanding and Will. At the next turn, these two Acts, God's Apprehending himself, and Esteeming himself, are metamorphosed into Two several Spirits and Persons; whereof one you must call the Son, and the other the Holy Ghost: Of one you must say, on pain of Damnation, He was Conceived, Generated or Begotten; of the other you must believe and say, under the same Penalty, He proceeded.  
I say now, this is Egyptian all over; 'tis the very Genius and Spirit of the old Mystical Hieroglyphics, that is to say, partly Foolish, and partly False. And to prove it, I need go no farther, than the Understandings and Consciences of all Reasonable Men; or even of every Individual Man, who hath not as much given up his Reason to Mother- Church, as the Good Man who would not believe his Eyes against his Dear Wife, had given up to her his Senses. To tell Men, that to apprehend one's self is a Person; and to love one's self, is another Person and Spirit; is (in effect) to ridicule Religion, and to scare from it all Men of free Sense.  
I know not why the profane Wit was esteemed an Atheist, for his saying, God by his Almighty Power can turn a Tree into a Syllogism; more than such may be justly suspected of Atheism, who say, an Action of the Divine Understanding, is an Infinite and Almighty Person, whom under pain of Damnation we must call the Son of God: And again, an Action of the Divine Will is another such Person, and him we must name the Holy Ghost? For the Wit only turned a Substance into a Thought; and Trinitarians turn Thoughts into Substances and Persons. Did they allege for these Mysteries, but the least colour of Reason or Revelation, we would hold our Tongues; but to be obliged to believe such things, without any pretence of Revelation, and contrary to all Reason and common Sense, this (I think) is what we own to no sort of Men, of what colour soever they die their Coats.  
For my part I never think of these, whether Dotages or Impostures, without such an Inclination as I very hardly resist, of applying to our Athanasian Doctors, what Cato said of the Roman Augurs and Aurispices. I wonder, says Cato, that an Augur or Aruspex, can meet another of the same Profession, without their Laughing in one another's Faces. He knew their (pretended) Learning and Discipline, was the Religion established by Law; warranted by Custom and Prescription; and authorized by the Consent of Nations. For all that, 'twas a Cheat so gross and palpable, that he could not but admire, that the Augurs were such stark Fools, or such perfect Knaves, that (meeting) they could carry a grave Look upon one another.    

Of the Creation.  
IN the Fullness of Time, the before-described Trinity Created the World, and all things therein. Yet we are not to imagine, that the Three Divine Persons divided the Work among them, each of them taking a Part. Nor could every one of them Create the same things, because a thing can be created but once. But according to that Oeconomy, as Divines speak (that is, the Domestic Order, or Houshold-Government) that is between the Three Persons, it must be said and held, that the Father is most properly the Creator, the Son the Redeemer, and the Spirit the Sanctifier, of all Persons and Things. So that when we say, the Trinity Created Heaven and Earth, and all Things, this is thereby intended; The Father Created all things, by the Son, through the Holy Ghost.  

The Notes.  
The Father created all things by the Son, through the Holy Ghost.  
I wish the Sages of the Party had thought fit plainly to tell us what they mean, by such an odd way of expressing themselves. But they have long since let the World know that all their care is to get Words; and for Meaning, they never think of it.  
But the Father it seems is the Creator; nay, 'tis he that is properly the Creator: but then 'tis by the Son, and through the Holy Ghost. That is to say, the Father is not the Creator, much less is He properly the Creator, but the Son and Holy Ghost; and these two are jointly Creators. For if the Father created the World by the Son, and through the Holy Ghost; then the Father himself had no immediate Efficiency, or Hand in the Work, but only the Son and Holy Ghost: these were the true Creators of the World, and of all things. And besides that, the old Difficulty returns; namely, that the Son and Spirit divided the Work between them, each taking his part; or the same things must be created twice.  
I know not how better to explain their Notion, of the Father's being most properly the Creator, than by saying, he was just so (according to them) the Creator of the World, as King Charles I. built the Royal Sovereign, or was the Builder of the Royal Sovereign. For we say that King built the Royal Sovereign, by the Master-Builder, through the Ship-Carpenter; that is, he built it not, he only ordered it to be built, the Master-Shipwright (or Master-Builder) and the Ship-Carpenters were the Builders.  
But if this be so, we are strangely misled by the Apostles Creed, which instructs us to say, that the Almighty Father is the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and is wholly silent of the great Mystery, that it was by the Son, and through the Holy Ghost. And the Scriptures do yet worse impose on us by an unheard-of Solecism and Impropriety, while they speak of these two (or three) pretended creating Persons, by the singular Pronouns I, HE, THOU, HIM, which in no Language are used, but only of one singular and particular Person.  
They confound us yet more, if more can be, by telling us only (and so often) of the Creator, never of Creators, as Trinitarians would have us to speak. Gen. 6.7. Jebovah said, I will destroy Man, whom I have made. Isa. 42.5. HE that created the Heavens,— HE that spread out the Earth, HE that giveth Breath unto the People. Nehem. 9.6. THOU hast made the Heaven, the Heaven of Heavens, with all their Host; the Earth, and all things therein; the Sea, and all that is therein; and THOU preservest them all; and the Host of Heaven worshippeth THEE. This Text assures us there was no dividing the work between two, or more Persons. It was one THOU who both created and preserves all things: and THEE, saith the Text, the the Host of Heaven worshippeth, not YE, not THEM, not more Persons, but one only. Isa. 4.28. The CREATOR of the Ends of the Earth fainteth not. Rom. 1.25. Served the Creature more than (Gr. besides) the CREATOR.  
But what is not (really) found in Scripture for their purpose, Trinitarians know how to discover that 'tis there; which, with respect to the case before us, they do these two ways. First, by interpreting the Texts, which by Confession of their ablest Critics, speak of the new Creation, (or Renovation of the World from Idolatry, to the Knowledge of the one true God) which was by Christ, concerning the old Creation, (or the making of Heaven and Earth) which was by God. Secondly, They ofttimes honestly add the word or words that were wanting on their behalf, which they have done in abundance of Contexts. But for both these Artifices (their Detection and their Confutation) I refer to the brief History of the unitarians.    

Of Original Sin.  
SOon after the Creation, Adam, the first Man, transgressing the Law given to him of not eating the forbidden Fruit; he thereby incurred the Penalty of Death, that was the Penalty annexed to the Law, which he had violated. But, first, he incurred this Penalty, not only for himself, who was the actual and real Offender, but for his whole Posterity: God impating to them, or reckoning to them his Offence, as if they had been the Doers of it. Secondly, We are to know, that in the word Death there is implied, not only what is naturally and commonly meant thereby, even the Separation of the Soul from the Body, and the Body's returning to Dust; but, first, such a Corruption and Depravation of our Faculties, that we are all born naturally averse from every good Word and Work, and inclined to Evil only, and to all kinds of Evil. Then all Temporal Calamities and Evils, to which human Life is subject; and finally, Eternal Damnation. All these are implied in the words of the Sanction, The day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die; and they are by Divines commonly called the three Deaths, or the threefold Death, Spiritual, Temporal and Eternal.  
But we mean not to say, that the word Death doth in its first or proper Signification, import all the abovesaid Evils. But it pleased God when He passed Sentence on Adam, to extend the Signification of that Word, which expressed and contained the Penalty of his Law.  
'Tis true, 'twould be cried out on, as most unjust among Men, to reckon or impute the Transgression of a Father to his Children, and other Posterity; and much more, if they were punished for it in a far more extreme manner than is truly and indeed implied in the Penalty annexed to the Law that was violated; that is, if the Word or Words of the Penalty were extended and strained beyond their proper and natural meaning. Yet these things cannot be unjust with God, because He can do no Unjustice; and the reason of that is, because Things or Actions are not just or unjust in themselves, or in their own Natures, but only as God, who hath all Authority and Power, either willeth and commandeth them, or (on the contrary) nilleth and forbiddeth them.  

The Notes.  
This Postulatum, that Things or Actions are not just or unjust in themselves, or in their own Natures, but only as the Supreme Authority and Power (that is to say, GOD) shall please to will or nill them, to command or forbidden them, is indeed necessary to the Defence of such Doctrines as these, that God doth arbitrarily impute the Sin of one Man to all Men; and that in punishing those whom he hath made guilty by his mere Will, he infinitely exceeds the true proper and natural Signification of the Words in the Sanction, that is, of the words of that part of his Law, which contain the Penalty of transgressing it. That Postulatum is so necessary to this Doctrine of Original Sin, that it must be owned, that the Calvinists have judged better, and spoke more consistently than their Opposers of some other Sects and Churches, who hold Original Sin as 'tis before described, and yet seem unwilling to allow of that only Basis on which (Calvinists have rightly seen) it will stand; namely this, that Just and Unjust, Good and Evil, are only the Will and Prohibition of him that hath Supreme Power. But as the Postulatum is necessary to the Doctrine for which it was devised; so it as much destroys the Eternal Rectitude and Holiness of God, as the Doctrines in the foregoing Paragraphs, which have been already considered, overthrew the Unity, the Omnipresence, and other his Essential Perfections and Attributes.  
It is horrible but to think that these Imputations on the most Holy God, are such, as would make up the just Character of an Almighty Devil. For if the Devil had Supreme Power, what worse could he do, than they feign is done, by the Fountain itself of Rectitude and Holiness? Can he do worse than impute the Sin of one Man to all Men, and punish them for it, (besides and beyond his own Sanction) with an utter Inability to all that is good, then punish Inability (which was neither their Act nor Desert, and of which himself was the only cause) with Eternal Damnation?  
Here many to help themselves a little, say, God saves some from this Ruin; he rescues his Elect, though not from Sin and Temporal Death and Calamity, yet from Eternal Damnation; nay, bestows on them the unspeakable and everlasting Beatitudes of Heaven.  
But this is no better than the other: For the highest Injustice to the far-greater number, is so far from being excused, by an ungrounded Partiality for a very few, that this latter may be truly called a new and fresh Instance of sort of Unjustice. Is it not Partiality and unjustice too, to make a great number of Creatures of the same kind; and though one deserves no more than another of them, either for Good or Evil; cherish one with whatsoever Omnipotence can do for him, and burn against the other with Wrath eternal and insupportable?  
But they say, God having all Authority and Power, what He willeth must needs be Law, that is to say, Justice; and what He nills, or forbids, must be Transgression, that is to say, Evil, Sin and unjustice. But from thence, it unavoidably follows, that the Devil wants nothing but Supreme Power to legitimate all his Wickedness, and to change the nature of it from Wickedness to Goodness. If that Spirit had Supreme Power, we must call him, as we now do, GOD, most Holy, most Just, most Righteous. And seeing God hath all Power and Authority, it would (on this Hypothesis) be in him Righteous, Good and Praiseworthy, if He were pleased to damn his most faithful Servants, to break the Covenant, and disappoint the Hopes of Life and Happiness, which he hath confirmed by his Oath; and (on the contrary) should think fit to save not only the most Godless and Impious Men, but the very Devils. These Consequences are unavoidable on the before-said Hypothesis, or Doctrine, that Things and Actions are not Good or Evil in themselves, but only by the Will of Supreme Power; and they that admit of such Consequences, or cannot decline them, how can they be disputed with? But let us see what is the Doctrine of the unitarians concerning the first Sin, or (pretended) Fall of Adam, and the Consequences thereof.    

What unitarians teach concerning the Sin of Adam, and the Consequences thereon.  
WE say, when Almighty God had form the Protoplasts, Adam and Eve, He forthwith declared them Proprietors and Lords of whatsoever is in the Earth or Seas. Gen. 1.28. Have Dominion, saith God there to them, over the Fish of the Sea, over the Fowl of the Air, and over every living thing that moveth on the Earth. And I have given you every Herb,— and every Tree. Adam having thus received from his unspeakable Maker, such Marks of his Favour, was admonished withal, that he must remember he is a Creature, and has received of another whatsoever he is, or hath. Notwithstanding thou hast to deal with such a Sovereign, as will not require of thee unreasonable or troublesome Testimonies of thy Regards and Respects to him. See, the whole World is before thee, and it is all given to thee; only in this Paradise there is one Fruit, the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, of that thou art not to eat. 'Tis the Obedience that thy Maker requires of thee; 'tis the only Trial his Goodness is pleased to make of thy Love and Duty to him. If thou breakest this Charge, the Penalty is, that thy Life presently departs from thee; the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die; that is, shalt return to Dust, from whence as much of thee as is visible, and as thou art yet ware of, was taken.  
It cannot be denied that this was the most proper of all Trials, the most prudent of all Commands. Adam could not be forbid to commit Adultery or Fornication, there being but one Woman, and she also his Wife; or Murder, because he had too much occasion for Eut, and she for him, to entertain such Thoughts; or Theft, for all the World was theirs. But he was thoroughly tried by the Prohibition of the Tree of Knowledge, because of our natural Thirst of Knowledge, and the Ambition all have to be wise.  
It is not necessary however to determine, whether the forbidden Fruit had indeed a Power to sharpen the Faculties of the Mind, Understanding and Memory? 'Twas sufficient for the Trial God designed to make of Adam's Obedience, only to name or call that Fruit, the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.  
There was nothing more just, than that Adam should be satisfied with the great Advantages he already possessed; for all the Creatures, whether Animate, or Inanimate, were his; and he could not but be sensible, that his present Knowledge or Understanding was sufficient, both for himself and them. But Adam was persuaded by Satan to endeavour himself to make himself more like to Elohim, i. e. to the Angels and Spirits of Heaven, by the use of the forbidden Fruit. Thou shalt know, saith the Tempter, if thou follow my Counsel, Good and Evil; the meaning seemeth to be, Thou shalt know whatsoever Good and Evil is in every thing, by the use of this happy Fruit. He that forbids thee this Fruit, has confessed its Virtue, in the Name he was given to it; why therefore has he forbade it to thee, but because he is envious, jealous or morose? Ye shall not surely die by eating this Fruit: for how should it be more mortal to you, than to the Serpent, and to so many other Beasts and Birds as daily gather it up?  
Adam hearkens to these, and such like Reasonings, eats the forbidden Fruit, and thereby becomes obnoxious to the Penalty, even present Death.  
But it pleased God to defer the threatened Punishment or Penalty, he deferred it for upwards of nine hundred Years, which seem to be Lunar Years, that is Months, notwithstanding what Dr. Lightfoot and others have urged, for such kind of Years as are now in use. Their Arguments are partly Mistakes, partly Inadvertences, partly groundless Conjectures.  
But though the threatened Punishment was not presently executed on Adam and Eve; yet the Wisdom of God did not think fit to encourage Sin, by wholly passing over this beginning of it. He punished Adam, and cautioned his Posterity, by cursing the Earth; that is, by causing it to bring forth Thorns and Thistles, etc. as well as profitable Seeds and Plants: so that Adam and his Descendants must now Manure and Till the Ground, if they would have a regular Harvest of Seeds and Fruits. Against Eve he pronounced, that whereas Conceiving and Childbearing are naturally and necessarily both sickly and painful in some degree; yet both these should be more troublesome to her, than usual or natural. I will GREATLY multiply thy Sorrows in thy Conception; and with Sorrow shalt thou bring forth, saith the Angel who represented God, Gen. 3.16.  
The Holy Scriptures go no farther than this, in the account they give of the Sin of Adam, and the Punishment and Consequences thereof, saving that they expressly contradict the Doctrine of Trinitarians, concerning a threefold Death, Temporal, Spiritual and Eternal, which was inflicted (they say) on Adam, and on all his Descendants for his Sin.  
Where shall we look for the true Explication or Meaning of the Penalty or Punishment annexed to a Law, but in the Sentence which the Judge and Lawgiver himself passes on the Offender? The Law was this, The day thou eatest thereof (of the forbidden Fruit) thou shalt die, Gen. 2.17. that is, say the unitarians, Thou shalt return to Dust; thy Life and Spirit shall leave thy Body, and be disposed of as shall seem good to thy Maker, who in Judgement always remembers Mercy. Let us now see in the Sentence, whether this was not indeed the whole meaning of these words of the Law, Thou shalt die?  
Gen. 3.19. Dust thou art, and to Dust thou shalt return. Here is the evident Declaration from the Mouth of the Judge and Lawgiver giving Sentence, what was meant by the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt DIE. And this Penalty, Punishment and Sentence was at length executed on Adam, though he had the favour of a long Reprieve, a Reprieve of about Eighty Years.  
Our Opposers can show no Context of Holy Scripture, in which their threefold Death (for this Sin) is contained; or in which the Posterity of Adam are said to have his Sin imputed to them, and that they are punished for it.  
The only Offer they make is, from Romans, Chap. 5. the Apostle there (at v. 19) saith, As by one Man's Disobedience, many are made Sinners; so by the Obedience of one shall many be made Righteous.  
By one Man's Disobedience, say they, that is, by God's Imputation of one Man's Disobedience to them, (even Adam's in Paradise) so many have been made Sinners. How much more dexterously, and agreeably to the Justice and Wisdom of God, Pelagius and the unitarians? By one Man's Disobedience, that is, saith Pelagius, not as Austin has newly fancied, by God's Imputation, but by our Imitation of one Man's Disobedience, so many have been made Sinners: and on the other hand, by the Obedience of one; that is, by Imitation (not by Imputation) of one Man's Obedience, even the Lord Christ's, many shall be made Righteous.  
Trinitarians make the same Blunder at ver. 18. As by the Offence of one, Judgement came upon all Men to Condemnation: even so by the Righteousness of one, the free Gift came (or shall come) upon all Men to Justification and Life. Here again they see not, that by the Offence of one Man, and again, by the Righteousness of one Man, are not as much as to say, by the Imputation of one Man's Offence, and of one Man's Righteousness; but by Imitation of one Man's Righteousness, and of another Man's Offence, Justification and Condemnation have come upon all Men. We die for imitating the Disobedience of Adam; and we shall be justified and saved for and by imitating the Righteousness of the Lord Christ.  
And thus it is, that St. Paul himself explains himself in this very Chapter, v. 12. As by one Man Sin entered into the World, and Death by Sin: so also Death hath passed upon all Men; for that (or, because) all have sinned. He saith not, as Trinitarians do, because Adam sinned; but because all have sinned, therefore Death hath passed on all; that is, all of us have deserved the Death we must undergo, or have undergone, by our own Sins.  
But they say Infants die, and what Sin have they, unless you allow the Imputation of Adam's Sin to all his Descendants?  
But why do they not consider too, that Beasts die; is Adam's Sin Imputed also to them? They ought therefore to know, that Holy Paul in that Context is speaking only of Adult and Grown Persons: as for Infants, Beasts, and such like, that have not Sin; because they have not Understanding of Good and Evil, of Moral and Immoral; such die, because they have Mortal Bodies, liable to Diseases and Accidents. From which (Accidents and Diseases) to deliver and rescue them, it does not please God to Interpose, by an Extraordinary and Miraculous Power. For which sort of Providence towards them, divers Probable Reasons might be given: but being not Necessary or Proper to be here inserted, I omit them.   

Of Partial Redemption.  
THE Transgression of Adam in Paradise, or his eating the Forbidden Fruit, was in Him Actual Sin; in his Descendants 'tis called Original Sin: but the Effects of it, are the same in Both; namely, the  threefold Death, or three Deaths. Death Temporal, which is the separation of the Soul from the Body, and all temporal Calamities and Evils. Death Spiritual, which is the Corruption of the Faculties, that we are averse to all Good, and inclined to all Evil. Death Eternal, which is the everlasting Suffering of Body and Soul in Hell-fire. These Deaths are the Consequences and Desert of Adam's Sin; to himself, as the Actual Offender; to us, as his Sin is Imputed to us by the Justice of God.  
But the Mercy of God, and his Wisdom, have found out a most Gracious and Glorious Expedient, by which to deliver Mankind, though not from Temporal Death, yet (in part) from Spiritual Death, and (wholly and altogether) from Death Eternal.  
But before we speak more particularly of the Expedient; 'tis necessary to caution Learners, that they fall not into this Error; that God designed the Benefit of the Expedient, for All Men and Women. For when we say, Mankind, or all Men have been Redeemed, from the  Deaths; our meaning is, that the Elect, (or as that most considered and weighed 17th Article of the English Church speaks) Those whom God hath chosen out of Mankind, are (as that Article farther says) brought to everlasting Salvation, as Vessels of Honour. These are called, according to God's purpose, in due Season; his Spirit working in them. And they, through Grace, obey that Calling. These Elect are a definite, certain, and unalterable Number, that can neither be increased, nor diminished; as is Expressly, and in words declared, by the Suffrage of the Divines of Great Britain, at the Synod of Dort; Suffrage, p. 9 It is (saith the same Suffrage at p. 43.) for the Elect that Christ died; that He might Effectually obtain for them, and Infallibly bestow on them, both Remission of Sins, and Salvation.  
If the Unskilful ask here; How this Doctrine agreeth with those Declarations of Holy Scripture, so often repeated; which seem to say, that Christ died for the Sins of the World, or for All Men? The Divines (above said) answer at p. 47. Here it is, that the secret Decree of Election showeth itself: inasmuch as the Price was indeed paid for All, yet is not Beneficial to All; because All have not the Gist of fulfilling the Condition of the Covenant. They mean; All have not Saving Grace given to them, whereby to Believe, and to Obey the Gospel. They rightly add, at p. 55. We no where meet in Scripture any Promise, by which God hath bound himself to impart his Grace to All and every One.  
Farthermore, the same excellent Suffrage teaches, at p. 27. that 'tis a Supposition without any good ground, that all Infants are saved. It saith, that those Infants who are saved, are saved by virtue of their Election; which respecteth not the Age of Persons, but only looketh upon the common heap of Fallen Mankind, out of which it chooseth.  
And concerning such Choosing or Election, it teaches, at p. 34. that Grace doth find some whom it Adopteth, out of the most Wicked, and at their last End; while Many who seem less Guilty, have no part in this Gift.  
Therefore when All are said to be Redeemed; or when 'tis said, Christ died for All, or such like Expressions are used; this is to be understood of All sorts, or orders of Men and Women. He died for High and Low, for Old Men and Infants, for Youth and Middle-age, for Rich and Poor, for Wise and Unwise; for all these sorts, for some particular Persons of all these; for such of all these sorts as are Elected.  
And those whoever they be, who extend any farther than this, the Redemption purchased by Christ, are Arminians.  
But Arminianism is only a Limb of Socinianism; as a Map of a Province or Kingdom, is but a Limb of a Quarter-map, or of a Map of the whole World. For Arminians have borrowed, all they have, both Doctrine and Argument, from the Socinians or unitarians. And for that reason, it must be farther said, that Such as extend the Redemption by Christ, beyond what is above declared, are (so farforth) Socinianized, have departed from the Articles of the English Church, and from the Suffrage of the British Divines at Dort.  

The Notes.  
They tell us, that God so Imputed the single Transgression of one Man, to all Men, as to make all Men thereupon obnoxious to the Three Deaths, Temporal, Spiritual and Eternal: but that soon Repenting him of this Rigour, he took up a Contrary Resolution, even to Redeem all Men. Well, do they hold of that Mind? For if they do, 'tis no very Hurtful Tragi-comedy; because however Unjustly all Men were Condemned, yet if they are all Pardoned, they have been more Scared than Hurt. But the Matter (it seems) is otherways; for when God resolves to Redeem all Men, the meaning is, he intends to Redeem Some; and farther in Electing or Choosing those Some, his Election ofttimes is from the most wicked; and those also, at their last End, or when they have sinned as long as they can. In a word, of those Few whom God is pleased to Redeem from that Ruin, which his Imputation of Adam's Sin to them brought on them; he chooses, They say, the least Worthy for Objects of the Highest Mercy, and exercises the uttermost Unjustice and Cruelty, on those that are Better, or however not so bad.  
Let us consider these two Notable pieces of Orthodox Doctrine.  
1. God hath Elected to Salvation, and has Redeemed only Some of those Many, who were undone by his Imputation of another Man's Transgression to them.  
Now though unitarians deny there was any need of a Redeemer, to rescue us from Adam's Transgression, or the Punishment thereof; because neither could that Transgression be Imputed to us, nor could we be justly Punished for it; yet, on other accounts, we own there was need of a Redeemer. As, to reconcile the World to the one True God, from whom they were departed by an Universal Idolatry; and to reconcile God to the World, for that, and Other Actual Sins, and divers other Reasons. But we say also, that whatsoever was done or suffered by Christ the Redeemer or Saviour, was equally done for all Men and Women, none excepted.  
We deny not that Holy Scripture speaketh of the Elect; but we say, it means not thereby, some few certain Persons chosen out of the rest of Mankind, to Eternal Life, while all others are doomed to Damnation, or lest in an incapacity of Salvation. But the Elect are all Such as turn to God: all such are by him Elected, that is, chosen and designed for Salvation; and he would have all Men and Women to be of that number; if they are not, it proceeds from their own Negligence or Wilfulness, not from Adam, much less from God.  
This is most clearly the Doctrine taught in Holy Scripture; even, that the Redemption by Christ, is intended for All; John 6.51. The Bread which I give, saith our Saviour, is my Flesh: which I give for the Life of the WORLD. The beloved Disciple saith, the Lord Christ was a Propitiation for our Sins; and not for ours only, but for the Sins of the WHOLE World, 1 John 2.2. St. Paul to the Romans saith; By the righteousness of one (even the Lord Christ) the free Gist is come upon ALL Men, to Justification of Life, Rom. 5.18. The Author to the Hebrews saith; By the Grace of God, Jesus Christ hath tasted death for EVERY Man, Heb. 2.9. Or if they want a Text, wherein the very word Imputed is found; St. Paul saith, God by Christ reconciled the WORLD to himself, not Imputing their Transgressions to them, 2 Cor. 5.29.  
To tell us Here, as our Opposers do, that the WORLD, the WHOLE World, ALL Men, EVERY Man, are only some Men; and those also a very Few: what is it, but to give us a Flat denial of Scripture; instead of an Interpretation thereof? And I will Here leave it, with the unprejudiced Considerer; whether these Texts do not sufficiently prove this part of the Damnable Socinian Heresy. But they say farther.  
2. In choosing or electing out of the heap of fallen Mankind; God's Election or Choice is sometimes from among the most wicked, and those also at their last end, or after they have sinned as long as they can.  
The next thing that we may expect from some Men, is, that they will write a Panegyric in Praise of the Devil.  
If they had said, that the Election for which they contend, is made by the Devil, or falls upon Persons by chance of the Dice, it had been credible, that Redemption and Salvation is the chance of the most wicked, and at their last end. But to say People are elected to Salvation, and that by God; and yet that they are the most wicked, and at their last end, who are elected and saved, is not said without such manifest Impiety, that I will not now stand to dispute against it, but leave it with every sincere Lover of God, to judge betwixt us and our Opposers.  
But this one thing I will observe, that when they were loading their Maker with such scandalous Imputations; they should have so contrived their Calumnies, as to be self-consistent, and not contradictory to one another, as they are in this Article. For of what worse or worst Men and Women elected to Salvation do they dream, when themselves have before assured us, that the Imputation of Adam's Sin to us makes All averse to all Good, and inclined to all Evil? Of such Persons there is neither worse nor worst, but all are bad alike: so bad, that Satan himself neither is nor can be worse. If we all have such an Inclination to Evil only, and to every kind of Evil, as is neither restrained nor corrected, but by an extraordinary and particular Grace of God; it unavoidably follows, that all are bad alike; and that 'tis a Contradiction to say, the worst or the most wicked are chosen to be Subjects of the Grace of Redemption, and of a Pre-eternal Election.  
'Tis no manner of Evasion here to say, that the Restraining Grace which God bestows (more or less) on every Person, even on the Reprobate, hath several degrees: and from hence it comes to pass, that some are not so bad as the rest. For seeing 'tis not their own Choice or Act, but merely the Momentary Grace blown into them, that restrains any from any sort of Wickedness; it can no more be said of such, that one is better, or less bad than another, than a chained Lion can be said to be tamer, or less fierce, than a Lion who is lose, and at full liberty.    

Of the Satisfaction.  
WHen the Divine Wisdom and Goodness had determined to redeem all Men; that is, some of all sorts, and of every Order of Men, from the damning Imputation of Adam's Transgression to them: to this end, it was ne-necessary that a full Reparation should be first made to the Blessed Trinity for that Transgression of Adam; and that a Punishment, equivalent to the Punishment or threefold Death, which Adam had drawn on himself and on his Posterity, should be undergone by some Person or Persons, in the stead and place of Adam, and his Descendants.  
It is true, there is no such Vindictive Justice in God, that He could not by his Mercy forgive this Transgression, or any other: but in the case before us, God is to be considered as a Righteous Governor, who would not suffer his Law to be despised and violated, without a full Satisfaction to his Honour and Justice by the Offenders, or some other on behalf of the Offenders. For this reason it was, that 'twas necessary to find out a Person or Persons, who should undergo the threefold Death for Mankind, or other ways make an Equivalent to the Justice of God.  
The Person undergoing the Punishment, or the Equivalent, must be a Righteous Person, else he would need one to satisfy for himself. Nay, he must be a Person of Infinite both Merit and Dignity, else he could not merit Heaven for so many; nor could his Sufferings be accepted instead of so many as were obnoxious, and obliged to undergo the threefold Death.  
The Expedient therefore at length resolved on by the Blessed Trinity, for the Redemption of Mankind, was this, That a Righteous Person, of Infinite Dignity and Merit, should be substituted to the Punishment deserved by Sinners, in the room, stead and place of Sinners.  
This was judged more agreeable to the Majesty of God, as Governor of the World, than either to forgive to Adam his Transgression, and to his Descendants God's Imputation of it to them; or than to inflict on him or them any less Punishment (as suppose some Temporal Calamity) than the threefold Death. Which thing God might have done, either by his Mercy, as a Maker and Father, or by his Authority and Prerogative, as a Sovereign and Governor.  
'Tis true, there is a wonderful depth of Mystery, never to be fathomed by Human Understanding, in this manner of proceeding. And Human Wisdom would (without doubt) have chose, either to forgive the Sin, or to abate somewhat of the Punishment, rather than have substituted in the room of the Wicked and Worthless, a Person infinitely Righteous and Worthy, even though such Person should be supposed to have offered himself to the Punishment. But my Thoughts are not your Thoughts, neither are your Ways my Ways, saith the Lord. Isa. 55.8.  

The Notes.  
In their Doctrine of Original Sin, our Opposers feign, that Almighty God imputes the one Sin of one Man to all Men, and concludes them thereupon under the threesold Death, or three Deaths: but in this Doctrine of the Satisfaction, they tell us of a contrary Prodigy, that he imputes all the Sins of all Men to one Man; and what is yet a greater Monster, says on him alone a Punishment equivalent to the three Deaths (Temporal, Spiritual and Eternal) of all Mankind.  
We might call this the Trinitarians Fetch-back, if it were not, that the Interpretation they give of this Doctrine, is contrary to the Doctrine itself. One would think, if we might judge of their meaning by what they say, that the Doctrine of the Satisfaction made a complete Amends for the Doctrine of Original Sin; that is, that the (supposed) Satisfaction by Christ did (as it were) fetch-back the Damage and Losses occasioned (they say) by the Sin of Adam. But 'tis not so: for though (they say) the Redeemer was able to suffer, and did actually suffer an Equivalent to the three Deaths of all Mankind; yet (say they farther) neither his Merit nor his Sufferings do any good but only to a few, that is, to the Elect.  
As to the unitarians, they most thankfully and devoutly own, profess and publish, that the Lord Christ underwent the greatest of Labours and Sufferings for poor wretched Apostate Mankind. He made himself an Oblation, an Expiatory Sacrifice on the Altar of the Gross for our Sins, to reconcile us to God, and (in some respects) God to us. But we say, that his Labours and Sufferings on our behalf were not (as Trinitarians teach) designed as a Punishment laid on him in our stead, because Punishment is the Evil of Suffering, inflicted for the Evil of doing; and the Lord Christ having done no Sin, as the Holy Scriptures expressly teach, 1 Pet. 2. ●3. it necessarily follows, that what he underwent, were purely Labours and Sufferings, not Punishment. And for those Sufferings we say further; it has pleased God by way of Recompense, highly to exalt him, and give him a Name above every Name, Phil. 2.9.  
Nor was the Oblation or Sacrifice which the Lord Christ made of himself, on our behalf, an Oblation made (as our Opposers contend) to the Justice of God, or by way of full Reparation to God's Justice; but, as all other Sacrifices formerly were, an Oblation or Application to the Mercy of God.  
For this Doctrine of ours, we judge the following Reasons to be such Proofs as must needs be allowed, by every one that considers them freely and impartially.  
1. One Man could not possibly be judged an Equivalent, for such an immense number of Sinners as were all of them obliged to be as righteous as he; and because they were not so, were liable to Punishment; therefore it was not to the Justice of God, that the Lord Christ offered himself for those Sinners as an Equivalent, but to God's Mercy, by way of humble suit.  
2. If one Man can be conceived to be an Equivalent for all Men; yet if the Sufferings (or as our Opposers speak, the Punishment) he underwent, was not equivalent to the Punishment due to them; than it must not be said, he tendered himself to the Justice of God, but only to his Mercy, on behalf of the Offenders, and instead of their Punishment. The Punishment, as well as the Person suffering, must be equivalent, else Justice will refuse it; but Goodness or Mercy may admit of it. But now, who sees not that the Temporal Sufferings and three days Death of the Lord Christ, were far from being equivalent to the Death Temporal, Spiritual and Eternal, of so much as one Man.  
3. Uniratians will never detract from the Dignity of our Saviour's Person; they acknowledge with the Scriptures, that God was with him; nay, God (by his Spirit) was in him. But if they could also add, as Trinitarians do, that the Humanity of Christ was one Person with God; yet seeing only the Humanity could suffer or die; and seeing no Union of a Man with God, can exalt Humanity to be Divinity, or make that to be Infinite which of its own nature is Finite; therefore the Temporal Sufferings and three days Death of a mere Human Nature, cannot be equivalent to the Death Temporal, Spiritual and Eternal, which is an Infinite Punishment, of all Mankind, no nor of one Man.  
4. But if it were admitted that one Man was so dignified, by the Inhabitation of God in him, as to be an Equivalent for all Men; admitting also, that the three days Temporal Death of such a Man, amounts to as much as the Death's Temporal and Spiritual, and the Eternal Damnation of all Mankind: What will follow hereupon? It will follow, that God is obliged in Equity, to release all Mankind from all the three Deaths, Temporal, Spiritual and Eternal; else He hath received an Equivalent on behalf of Mankind, without discharging those for whom He received it; which is contrary to Equity, nay, to Justice. For in Equity an Equivalent aught to discharge the Person, whether he be Offender or Debtor: but if the Equivalent be not only tendered, but accepted also on behalf of the Debtor or Offender, the Offender hath Wrong done him, if he is not immediately discharged of his Punishment, and the Debtor of his Debt. But do Trinitarians pretend, or dare they, that God doth discharge Mankind from the three Deaths, on the Oblation and Sacrifice of himself, made by the Lord Christ on their behalf? By no means, they own we are not at all discharged from Death Temporal, but in some part from Death Spiritual, and only a few Persons from Death Eternal. It follows, that the Sufferings and Death of our Saviour were not in deed an Equivalent to the three Deaths of Mankind.  
5. To add now no more. The Unitarian Doctrine is consistent, nay, is the very same with what the Scriptures  say; namely, that Almighty God of his Grace, the Riches and Abundance of his Grace and Love, has pardoned Offenders for Christ's sake, on the Conditions on their part, of Faith, Repentance and Newness of Life. But the Trinitarian Doctrine, which saith, the Punishment laid on the Lord Christ, was truly equivalent to the Punishment due to all Mankind; doth deprive God our Maker and Father, of the Glory of his Pardoning Grace and Mercy. Nay, it saith in effect, that we are not beholden to God our Father on that account. It saith, he hath been harsh, nay, hath been apparently unjust, in that he hath received more than an Equivalent for our discharge from the three Deaths; and yet he hath not wholly released any, and but very few are at all released.  
I will only add; Whereas Trinitarians call the Sufferings of the Lord Christ a Punishment, and will have that Punishment to be equivalent to the Infinite Punishment due (they say) to Mankind for Sin Original and Actual; and whereas they call this Doctrine, the Doctrine of the SATISFACTION by the Lord Christ; they have mistaken in the Name, as well as in the Thing. 'Tis the Unitarians who, in proper speaking, hold that the Lord Christ made Satisfaction to God for Sin, not Trinitarians. We say, that the Sufferings of the Lord Christ not being equivalent in the exact Scales of Justice, for what all Mankind have deserved, yet God was satisfied with them; that is, was graciously pleased to accept them, as an Intercession on our behalf; and this is the proper Notion of a Satisfaction. But Trinitarians, in saying the Sufferings of Christ were equivalent to the Demerit of our Sins, were a full Payment to the Justice of God for them, do not hold a Satisfaction, but a Reparation, or Plenary Amends. The more elegant Latinists call Confession, Deprecation, and such like imperfect and partial Reparations and Payments, by the Name of Satisfactions.    

Of the Incarnation.  
BEcause no other but a Person of Infinite Merit and Dignity could satisfy the Divine Justice for Adam's Transgression; therefore the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, called the Son, offered himself to undergo the Equivalent to that Punishment, or threefold Death, which belonged to Adam and his Descendants: and this Offer was accepted by the other two Persons of the Trinity. It was agreed that the Son should become incarnate in an Human Nature, should be Whole and All united to a Finite Man, even the Man Christ Jesus, and be one Person with him. By this means the Man Christ Jesus became of that unspeakable Merit and Dignity, that one drop of his Blood was an Equivalent to the Eternal Punishment of all Mankind in Hellfire; and his Holiness, and the Merit thereof, was infinitely more than enough for himself, it was meritorious of Heaven for never so many Sinners.  
The Son was so incarnate in a particular Human Nature, as to be personally thereto united in the very Womb of the Virgin Mary: so that Mary (as General Councils of the Orthodox have rightly defined) was not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Mother of Christ; but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Mother of God.  
This Incarnation of the Son in the Man Christ Jesus, begets also such a Communication of Idioms (that is, of Properties and Attributes) between the Divinity and the Humanity of the Lord Christ; that we must say on the one hand, God was born, God suffered, God died; as we must say also (on the other hand) the Man Christ Jesus is Eternal, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Creator of Heaven and Earth. As all Learned Divines acknowledge, and Cardinal Bellarmine in particular, has largely proved from Fathers and Councils of the Orthodox. Bellar. de Christo, l. 3. c. 9  

The Notes.  
The Doctrine of the Incarnation claims the place of all the Trinitarian Doctrines, even of the Trinity itself, in regard of its Seniority. For while our Opposers were only Homoousians; that is, believed and professed only two Eternal and Consubstantial Persons, not having yet dreamt that the Holy Spirit is God; in the days of the first Nicene Council, even than they held the Incarnation of the second of those Persons. Neither does this Doctrine come behind any of their Doctrines, either in the Number, or the Rarity and Strangeness of its Wonders and Mysteries: but of these, three are more remarkable than the rest. I will make a short Reflection on each of them.  
The first Wonder is, that an Infinite Person is whole and all incarnate in a Finite Nature.  
Which amounts to this, That Infinite is less than Finite; for else how should Infinite be incarnate, that is, cased in the Finite? But make the greatest Allowances possible, yet the Infinite which is whole and all incarnate in the Finite, can (at most) but be commensurate to the Finite; that is, but equal to it. Now these are two such Paradoxes, that till our Opposers can separate them from their Doctrine of the Incarnation, they will never persuade that Doctrine to any who make use of their Reason and Consideration.  
The second great Mystery or Wonder of this Doctrine is, that the particular Human Nature, in which a Person of the Trinity vouchsafed to be incarnate, became thereby of Infinite Dignity and Merit, (for 'twas an Equivalent for an Infinite number of Men, and for the Infinite Punishment due to them) and yet still remained and continued a mere and bare Human Nature.  
Which is to say, a mere Human Nature continuing and abiding a bare and mere Human Nature, is a Divine Nature. For in affirming it hath Infinite Dignity and Merit; how much soever they may say in words, 'tis a bare and mere Human Nature; they have in sense affirmed 'tis a Divine Nature. For what is Divine, but as much as to say, of Infinite Dignity, and Infinite Excellence or Merit?  
The third Wonder is, That by Virtue of the Incarnation of a Divine Person in an Human Nature, the Divine Person (or God) must be said to have been born in Time, to have suffered and died; and on the contrary, the Humanity, or Man Christ Jesus, must be said to have been from all Eternity, to be Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Creator of all things, and whatsoever else is said of God.  
But that our Opposers may not complain that they are misrepresented, I must own, this is only the fore part of the Prodigy; the other end, or hinder part, is of a contrary Nature. For though you must say God was born, God suffered, God died; yet (saith their Doctrine farther) you are not really to think God can be born in Time, can suffer, or can die: and on the other hand, you must say, the Man Christ Jesus was from all Eternity, created the World, is Omnipresent and Omnipotent; but you are not so to think. The reason is, because the Communication of the Properties of the Divinity to the Humanity, and of the Humanity to the Divinity, is not real, but only nominal, or in words.  
Now Unitarians being but plain Fellows, and having Country Consciences, like not this juggling, that we must say one thing, and must think or mean another. Yet because we ought to yield to hard things for Peace sake: if our Opposers are content that we may do so also in the other Articles; that is, if they are content that we only say as is said in those Articles, and may declare at the same time that we think the contrary; and if Trinitarians will also so do in those Articles, we will comply with them in this third Wonder (or Mystery) of the Incarnation.  
And this is the only Composition that can possibly be agreed to in these Controversies, without renouncing our Christianity, our reasonable Faculties and our Senses.    

Of Grace.  
IT is true, the Lord Christ (God and Man in one Person) paid down a more than sufficient Ransom for the Actual Deliverance of a thousand Worlds, from the Imputation of Adam's Sin, and the Consequences of that Imputation, even the three Deaths; yet the Ransom was not accepted for all, but only for the Elect; nor yet was it accepted for Deliverance from the whole Punishment, but only from part of it, For no Man is thereby delivered from such a share of Spiritual Death, as to be able to do a good Action, or think a good Thought, without an immediate and particular Assistance or GRACE of God's Spirit, beginning, continuing and perfecting such good Action or Thought in him, and by him. As hath been often defined and concluded in the Councils of the Orthodox, in opposition to the Heresy of Pelagius, revived by unitarians and Arminians.  

The Notes.  
After they have tried their Skill in misrepresenting and deforming the true Idea we ought to have of God, and of his Perfections and Attributes: our Opposers proceed to calumniate Human Nature, the Image of God, and will have it to be the Image of the Devil.  
They tell us, we come into the World so depraved in all our Faculties and Powers, that we cannot do any good Action, no, nor think a good Thought, without a particular and extraordinary Grace of God, beginning, continuing and perfecting such good Action or Thought in us, and by us.  
In sober sadness, is this the Character of that sort of Creature, of whom the Apostle saith, be is made in the similitude of God? James 3.9. Or is it the very Description of the Devil himself, if at least it be not a Calumny even of him? Will God own such a Creature as his Similitude, as has a natural Impotence to all that is holy and good, and a violent and perpetual Bias to Evil only, and to every kind of Evil?  
Yes, they say our Likeness to God consists not in a Capacity to Holiness, or aught that good is; but in the Dominion we have over some Creatures in this lower World. But by this account of our Likeness to God, he that is most of all unlike to God, is much more the Similitude and Image of God, than Man is; the Dominion and Power of Satan is incomparably greater and larger than Man's ; therefore in their Hypothesis he is more the Similitude of God than Man is.  
But as absurd as these things are, I will not now insist on them, but content myself to acquaint the Reader with some of the principal Reasons of the unitarians, why they hold that Man is a free Agent, as capable of doing Good as Evil; nay, more capable of the former, because he has more reason for it, than of the latter; not the Slave to only one of the Contraries, but at absolute liberty towards both.  
1. Our Blushes and Remorses for having acted at any time otherways than we ought, are Testimonies and Witnesses of our certain and internal Consciousness, that we could have done, as Religion and Duty require of us; that is, could have forbore that Evil, and have done the contrary Good.  
2. Deliberation and Consultation, what and how we are to act, argue also, not only that we are free, but that we are sensible we are so.  
3. We experience that our Piety and Virtue are our own Work, by the Difficulty we feel, and the slow Progress we are able to make in attaining those Habits, and in subduing the contrary Habits.  
4. If Men are good, not by a spontaneous Choice or Power of their own, but only by an extraordinary and immediate Aid: no tolerable reason can be given, why we should not always be acted to Good, or why we are but partially and imperfectly Good? Is it credible that God should do his own Work in us, after a desultory, inconstant and impersect manner?  
5. What Piety or Virtue is it; or how can God love or esteem any Person, whether Him or Her, for that well-doing, or that abstinence from Evil, which was not their own Choice, Will, or Discretion, but the Work and Effect solely of God's Grace, acting by them, or in them?  
6. That every good Thought and Action, is not an Inspiration, or the Gift or Grace of God, is confirmed by this; that God doth sometimes disallow and forbid some good Intentions and Actions of his Servants. Thus, 'twas a good Thought and Intention in David, that he would build an House for the Lord, a Temple for God's public Worship and Service: 'twas so good a Thought and Purpose, that it was rewarded with a Promise from God, that God would build David 's House, i. e. would establish and confirm his Family on the Throne of Judah and Israel. But as good a Thought as that of David was, it came solely from David, not from God; for in that very Context, (2 Sam. Ch. 7.) God disallowed and forbade it; declaring withal, that He had reserved that Work for Solomon the Son of David. No one will be so unchristian, as to deny, that 'twas a good Thought and Action in St. Paul, and his Company, that they attempted to preach the Gospel in Bythinia: but it came from themselves, not from God; for the Text says, God suffered them not so to do, Acts 16.7.  
7. If our Case were such, with respect to Good and Evil, as our Opposers pretend; that is, if all the Good we do, and all the Evil we forbear, is only by a daily, hourly and momentary Grace, (for so they affect to speak) inspired, infused, or blown into us: The Words of the Divine Law should be directed to God's Grace in us, not to us. But now this is not only not so, but the Phrase and Expression used in the Law or Commandment plainly supposes, that we can obey by our own proper Powers. Such (in particular) is that remarkable Text, at Ezek. 18.31, 32. Make you a new Heart, and a new Spirit; for why will ye die, O House of Israel? I have no pleasure in the Death of him that dieth; wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.  
8. Our Ability to Good as well as Evil, is evinced also by this, that God declares he will punish the neglect of Duty, and every evil Doer, after a most terrible and condign manner. This would be too apparently unjust and tyrannical, if himself hath so made us, that we cannot do that Duty, or forbear that Evil, without a particular and extraordinary Grace and Aid, which is in the Gift and Power of God only, and which he refuseth or omitteth to bestow on us. Our Opposers deny, that we can so much as pray for that Grace or Aid of God, by which to do Good and forbear Evil: for they say, the very Affectus orandi, the Inclination or Intent to pray, is purely the Gift of God. As for the Word and Sacraments, another means for obtaining God's Grace, we shall see hereafter, that our Opposers make the outward Word of no Efficacy, ascribing all to the inward Word, which is not at all in our Power; and in order to any Benefit by the Sacraments so called, they require a great many previous Graces which are only in the Hand of God.  
So that after all their Subterfuges, Evasions and Shifts, their Doctrine concerning Grace amounts to this; God will punish Men eternally in Hellfire for not doing, and for not forbearing what 'twas not in them to do or forbear, without such an extraordinary Grace of God, as was wholly in him to give, and not at all in them to attain or get.  
As to the Texts by them alleged to prove that all is done by the Grace of God, and that we are impotent, and averse also to all Good: They have been often told by the Socinians and Remonstrants, and in the Annotations of the excellent Grotius, how those Texts are to be understood. To them therefore I refer, without engaging in so long and tedious a Digression.    

Of the Word and Sacraments.  
NOW that the Elect may obtain the before mentioned Grace of God, by which to believe aright, and to do that which Good is, the Trinity have appointed the Word and Sacraments.  
A Sacrament consists of two Parts, an outward visible Sign, and an inward invisible Grace or Energy.  
The visible Sign of the Sacrament of Baptism is Water; the inward Grace is New Birth, unto Faith and Righteousness. By this Sacrament even Infants are regenerated or born again by the Spirit co-operating; that is to say, Faith, Obedience, and other saving Graces are conferred in this Sacrament on (Elect) Infants.  
In the Sacrament of the Supper, the outward Sign is Bread and Wine; the inward Energy, or Grace accompanying it, is, first Remission of Sins; next, the refreshing and strengthening our Souls in Faith and other Graces. These things are amply and often taught us by the English Church, both in the public Catechism, and in the Offices or Forms of administering Baptism and the Lord's-Supper.  
The Word is another appointed means of Grace; but no one is to think that 'tis by Arguments used by a Preacher, or by the Rewards or Punishments held forth in the Word, whether written or preached; or suchlike external and human means, that our Minds are savingly convinced, or our Wills and Affections rightly disposed. No, no, the inward and ineffable Word which God himself speaks to the Heart, and which towards the Elect accompanies the Word preached or read, when and as oft as God pleases; this is that only Word which begets Faith, worketh Obedience, and (in one word) that whole Renovation or Change, which denominateth a Man or Woman, the Child or Servant of God.  
And thus much is plainly and undeniably intimated in the Collects, and other Prayers and Offices of our English Service-Book, and is the known Doctrine of all the Orthodox, of all indeed but Socinians, and such as are (more or less) Socinianized.  
The English Service-Book and the Articles are so clearly for these Doctrines, that it hath occasioned this Declaration of what may be meant when Men subscribe to the Articles, Homilies and Service-Book, to be favourably received, even this, that Men subscribe (not to the Truth, but) to the use of the Service-Book; and again, they subscribe to the Articles, as to Articles of Peace and Communion, (which they will not publicly impugn in the station of Preachers) not as to Articles of Faith, or of absolute and undoubted Verity. This is the sense in which (perhaps) most Men now subscribe to the Homilies, Articles and Service-Book, and which (upon occasion) they declare to be the meaning of their Subscription. But all such are reform, according to the Model, not of our first Reformers, but of Socinus, Arminius and Episcopius, whatsoever the Station may be that they hold in the Church.  

The Notes.  
The Sum of this Doctrine is; though we are so made by God, as to be by Nature impotent to all Good, and disposed to all Evil; yet to cure the Elect (though not wholly, yet in part) of this corrupt and depraved Condition of our Minds and Souls, God has appointed the Word and Sacraments. Which are a sort of means, that work not by any natural Energy of their own, nor by any Harmony, Sutableness or Agreeableness to our Powers, Faculties or Natures; but by a Theurgical, Telestick and Mystical Operation. Which is to say, they work on our Minds as Spells, Charms and Incantations (and such like) obtain their (pretended) Effects; namely, by a Preternatural Power, extraordinarily given to them by God, or by those Spirits that preside over such Affairs.  
Let a Man in black sprinkle you with some of the Church's Water, or give you a bit of Bread, or a sup of Wine, over which he has pronounced the Wonder-working Words, prescribed in Mother- Church's Ritual; though by Nature you are as bad as the Devil, you shall presently be inclined to as much Good, as will save you from Hell, and qualify you for Heaven. And this no less certainly, if you are one of the Elect, for else the Church's Incantation produces only a Momentary Effect, and a false Appearance of Good: no less certainly, I say, than by tying the Norman Knot, you may gain the Love of the Person you desire, or by other Devices recorded in the learned Books (so Fools esteem them) of Magic, you may cause Hatred, raise Winds, and do a thousand other Feats, which have no more natural or real Agreement with those Causes that are said to produce them, than Faith and Obedience have with a bit of Bread, or with a sprinkling of Water. Therefore when St. Austin defined a Sacrament to be the outward visible Sign of an inward invisible Grace or Energy: the good Father should have considered, that this is the Definition of a Charm, not of a Gospel-Sacrament. For a Charm is a bare outward visible Sign, that has no natural or real Agreement with the Effect; and if the Effect prove for the good of the Person concerned, it may be called the inward invisible Grace of such Sign or Charm; as when the Effect is to beget Love, or such like. But if the Effect of the Charm be hurtful, as to kill, or such like, than it must be called the Energy, not the Grace of the Charm; as that damning Quality or Power which our Opposers impute to the Sacrament of the Supper, when not received aright, cannot be called the Grace of that Sacrament, but only the Energy. So that let them turn themselves which way soever they can, they have turned the Gospel-Sacraments (as I said before) into Charms and Spells.  
Now on the contrary, Unitarians think of the Sacraments reverently, not extravagantly or superstitiously.  
They like not indeed the word Sacraments, because 'tis no Scripture-word; and because the Critics have noted, that 'tis a very improper Term or Name, to denote the Ceremonies of Baptism, and of commemorating the Passion and Death of our Saviour. But they will not quarrel about words, if the Things signified be agreeable to Reason or Holy Scripture.  
We think that Baptism was a Ceremony or Rite appointed by our Saviour, for divers most weighty Reasons; whereof this was the chief, to initiate or enter Jews and Heathens into the Christian Church. It was a very proper and significant Rite and Ceremony: for the washing and cleansing the Body in Water, doth very aptly signify that Repentance, and those Purposes of Holiness and Purity, which such as enter themselves into the Christian Church, or are born in that Church, should profess and practise. He that comes to be baptised, that is, to be washed in Water, doth thereby profess, he will in like manner purge his Mind and Conscience, and his whole Conversation from Impurity and Wickednesses of all sorts, by delivering himself up to the Institution and Guidance of that Gospel, which was given by the Father (or God) as its Author, was brought by the Son (our Lord Christ) as the Messenger, and confirmed by the Holy Spirit (or the Power and Inspiration of God) by abundance of Signs, Miracles and Wonders.  
Therefore according to the unitarians, 'tis not this Sacrament that worketh aught in us, much less renews, regenerates and changes our Natures; but the Person who receives this Sacrament, is to resolve and purpose Renovation, Regeneration or Newness of Life. This Doctrine we learn form St. Peter, 1 Pet. 3.21. The like Figure whereunto, even Baptism, doth also now save us; not the putting away the Filth of the Flesh, (i. e. not the mere Ceremony of Baptism, that is, of dipping and washing in Water) but the Answer of a good Conscience towards God. That is, if as our Bodies are baptised, or washed in Water, so also we purify our Consciences of all Disobedience towards God.  
From this Explication of Baptism some have drawn these two Corollaries or Consequences.  
1. That Baptism should be administered by dipping in Water; for by that, cleansing of the Body is effected, at least is intended and signified: but sprinkling doth neither cleanse, nor signify cleansing the Body, and so is very improper to signify the Answer of a good Conscience, that is, the cleansing the Heart and Conscience from Evil.  
2. That no Person is capable of this Rite, but such as can profess and intent, the thing signified by Baptism, even a clean Conscience, and a new Life.  
As to the Lord's-Supper, every one knows the mighty Wonders ascribed by our Opposers to this Sacrament. Papists say, the Substances of Bread and Wine are changed into the Substance of Christ's Body. Lutherans say, they are consubstantiated with his Body. The Church of England goes beyond the Papists; for she saith (in the Catechism) that the Body and Blood of Christ are VERILY and INDEED taken and received by the Faithful (not by others) in the Lord's-Supper. This implieth such a Real and Universal Presence of our Lord's Body in the Sacrament, as far exceeds the Popish Transubstantiation; for that limits the Presence to only the Substance of Christ's Body, and excludes the Accidents; but this takes in both.  
The Vnitarian Doctrine concerning this Sacrament, is plain and simple. We say, our Saviour has told us the meaning of this Sacrament in those words, Luke 22.19. This do in remembrance of me. And St. Paul, 1 Cor. 11.26. As oft as ye eat this Bread, and drink this Cup, ye do show the Lord's Death. That is, you commemorate and represent the shedding the Lord's Blood, and the breaking his Body for Mankind.  
But for the miraculous Effects and Consequences ascribed to the right partaking of this Sacrament, Unitarians can find them nowhere, but in the Books and Sermons of the superstitious Admirers (I might have said Idolaters) of External Things. 'Tis true, the Apostle blameth the Corinthians for receiving unworthily. But the unworthiness was their Drunkenness in the very Act of communicating, that is, of commemorating the Death of our Saviour; and 'tis of this and the like Disorders in the Act of communicating, that he there bids them to examine themselves, before they presume to take the Memorials of their Lord's Death.  
As for those words of our Saviour at John 6.53. Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his Blood, ye have no Life in you, and divers suchlike Expressions in that Chapter, especially toward the latter end of it: 'tis certain, and agreed by the most Learned Interpreters, (Papists and Protestants, as well as Socinians) that our Saviour is not there speaking of the Sacrament of the Supper, which (when he made those Discourses) was not yet instituted, but of believing in him, and imitating his Example. H. Grotius hath very judiciously and learnedly, and very amply also proved this to be the meaning of that Context; and I believe hath satisfied as many as have carefully read and considered that part of his Annotations. Wherefore I refer to him, and the English Reader to the Paraphrase of the late Learned and Pious Dr. Claget.  
Our Opposers delight in marvellous Doctrines; therefore, as they pretend, that Faith and Newness of Life are effected by God in us, by Means so unsuitable to the Qualities produced, and to the Nature of our Souls, as Water, Bread and Wine: so they assure us farther, that the written Word and Word preached have no Efficacy toward begetting those Effects; but 'tis (say they) the inward Word, which (sometimes, to some, and in some measure) accompanying the Word written or preached, first convinces, and then reclaims Sinners.  
For my part, I would gladly know what kind of thing an inward Word is; I had thought all Words had been outward Words, and that otherways they could not have been called Words. But be that as it will, Unitarians are well satisfied that the outward Word (as our Opposers are pleased to Nickname the Holy Scriptures, and the Word preached) is sufficient and effectual (by the Reasons it suggesteth, and the Rewards and Penalties it proposeth) to convince and reform our Reasonable Natures, and that otherways they were not Reasonable (but Brutish) Natures. This is not ours, but the Doctrine of Holy Scripture, and that in as express and clear Terms as can be devised. First, as to the Efficacy of the written Word, 2 Tim. 3.15. Thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation. Then for the Word taught, after St. Paul had said, Rom. 10.14. How shall they believe on him, of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a Preacher? He makes this Conclusion at ver. 17. So then Faith cometh by Hearing.  
And is it not indeed a very strange Paradox of these Gentlemen, that the Wisdom of God should make use of a Means that produceth (they say) no Effect? If the outward Word produceth no Effect in him that hears or reads, we might as well have been bid to tell twenty, in order to the getting Faith, and subduing our Lusts, as to hear and meditate of God's Word. And if that be indeed the case, 'tis very surprising, that God should expostulate after such an angry manner with lazy and negligent Pastors, and should so hearty rouse up others, as 'tis undeniable he doth. Isa. 56.10. They are dumb Dogs, that cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Isa. 58.1. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy Voice like a Trumpet; show my People their Transgressions, and the House of Israel their Sins. 1 Cor. 9.16. Necessity is laid upon me; and woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel. What needed any thing of all this, if the outward Word is nothing; and 'tis only the inward Word (which is not in the least tied to the other) that only can and does produce the desired Effect?    

About interpreting Holy Scripture.  
IF it be asked, how it comes to pass that we differ so widely from the Heretics about the Doctrines specified in the foregoing Paragraphs, while both we and they pretend Holy Scripture to be our Rule, and the sole Judge of Controversies and Questions about Religion? The Answer is at hand, even this, That Heretics being Men of some Wit and Learning, and withal carnal, are hereupon puffed up, are too proud to submit themselves to God's Revelation, but only as bowed and subdued to their Reason. But 'tis all men's Duty in a Clash between Revelation and Reason, whether real or only seeming, to submit Reason to Revelation, and not subject Divine Revelation to Human Reason. 'Tis unpardonable Boldness in any, to dislike the express words, or evident sense of Holy Scripture, because our Reason cannot fathom the depths of that Divine Book. If I would believe the Doctrine there set down, were it not for the Contradiction made to it by Human Reason; I am not a Christian otherways than in Name, if I do not receive such Doctrine with an implicit Faith, without seeking to elude, or to correct it by Reason.  
And it is upon this Hinge that all our Controversies with these Heretics do turn, whether we are to follow the express words and obvious natural sense of Holy Scripture; or, whether we are to interpret Scripture by Reason, so as to fly to a Figurative Sense, or even to a Catachrestical (i. e. somewhat harsh) Construction or Interpretation, rather than admit any Doctrine that is contrary to Reason?  

The Notes.  
Unitarians think that a real Clash between Revelation and Reason is an absurd Supposition; but if we must put that impossible case, we think 'tis clear, that Human Reason must needs be subjected to Divine Revelation. But where the Clash is only seeming, that is, where there are ways of reconciling them, as by so interpreting the Revelation, as to make it agree with Reason: we think 'tis as absurd to oppose (as Trinitarians do) these two Lights to one another; we think in that case we ought to use the Expedient of Interpretation. If the Interpretation must be made either by a Figurative Sense, or by somewhat Catachrestical (harsh) Construction, yet 'tis always better to strain Words than Things; and there are particular Reasons why we ought so to do, in interpreting Holy Scripture, and all Interpreters (of all Persuasions) do it with Approbation of All. Yet this is a thing on which I will not here insist, though it deserveth great Consideration; because this is not, as Trinitarians pretend, our Case or Quarrel with them; or the Hinge on which these Controversies turn. For we utterly deny, that the express Words, or the obvious natural Sense of Holy Scripture, are on the Trinitarian side: we never fly (in these Controversies) to a Catachrestical, or harsh sense; no, nor have at any time need of a Figurative Sense, as hath been sufficiently shown in the brief History of the unitarians. Trinitarians indeed are forced to those Expedients. I do not call them Shifts, because 'tis plain, they must be sometimes allowed not only in interpreting Holy Scripture, but in all other Writers and Writings. But seeing themselves are forced to use very often those ways of interpreting; especially in interpreting the Gospel of St. John, and the most part of St. Paul's Epistles, they have no right to object such kind of interpreting to Unitarians, if indeed we had occasion for it.    

The CONCLUSION.  
THese things have not been said, God is Witness, to challenge, much less to affront other Sects and Denominations of Christians, and least of all the Church of England. From which Church the Unitarians have not separated, as other Dissenters, for small and inconsiderable Causes, have done.  
We place not Religion in worshipping God by ourselves, or after a particular Form or Manner, but in a right Faith, and a just and charitable Conversation: We approve of known Forms of praising, and praying to God; as also in administering Baptism, the Lord's-Supper, Marriage, and the other Religious Offices; we like well of the Discipline of the Church by Bishops and Parochial Ministers; we have an Esteem for the eminent Learning, and exemplary Piety of the Conforming Clergy. For these Reasons we communicate with that Church as far as we can, and contribute our Interest to favour her against all others who would take the Chair.  
We would not therefore be understood to be Enemies to the Church, or as seeking to undermine her. Our whole Pretence is this, to reform our FAITH by the Rule of Holy Scripture, in consistence with evident REASON. And the design of this Pretence or Endeavour of ours, next to approving our own Souls to God our Judge, is, to vindicate the common Christianity from the Insults of Atheists, or other profane Persons; to take from such all just Exception against the most holy and wise Body of Laws, that the World ever had or can have, even the Christian Religion. By making it appear to be a most rational and consistent System, as well in the Credenda, the Things to be believed, as in the Ag●●●a, or Things to be done. We think this 〈◊〉 such a Design as ought not to be enterta●●●● with those Jealousies, and aspersed 〈◊〉 those Calumnies and Clamours, that are every day raised against us, both by the Pulpit and Pr●ss.  
We hope that the Reasons of our Dissent from the Church in these Doctrines, being once known, and well considered, and the Honesty of our Design in publishing them apparent; our Fellow-Christians will less regret our Difference with them about these Questions, and will at length acknowledge, that however we are mistaken, yet we are well-meaning Brethren.  
Thou Father, who governest in the Kingdoms of the Children of Men, continue to us All, the Means of rightly knowing Thee, and of living up to the Precepts of the Gospel; that we may All at length receive of thee, the Inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fades not away, reserved in Heaven for us.   
FINIS.