A LETTER To J. C. Esq; Vpon Mr. Toland's Book. SIR, WIthout further Preamble, I shall take occasion from what passed at the Committee of Religion the other night, to give you my Thoughts upon the Book of John Toland's; which indeed I never saw, till upon hearing it there spoken of, I procured it. I have since perused it with some Attention, but have not met with any of those learned Answers which, as is said, have been given to it; so that I shall only give you my naked thoughts, without any dress of Scholasti●k terms: for I skill not the heavy weapons taken out of the armoury of the Fathers; Eph. 6.17. I pretend not to combat with any other weapon than the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. By That Luther overcame all his Antagonists, and by That, a greater than he, overcame the strong man armed, Mat. 4.4, 7.10. even beelzeebub himself; a Scriptum est to every temptation soon chased away the Tempter. I must confess it is somewhat difficult to go about this matter, for the Adversary allows but a supposed Authority in the New Testament; so that when he pleases to take away, or deny his Hypothesis, all my Arguments must of course fall to the ground. He will allow nothing but the blurred Book of Reason, which in every man is different, according to their natural Capacity, Constitution, Organs of Sense, or Education; tho, as to that in himself, he thinks it most perfect, able to search the hidden things of God, being vainly puffed up in his own mind. 1 Cor. 2.10 First then, as to his Title, Christianity not Mysterious; if that Position be not Heresy, I know not what is. Heresy is an Erroneous belief in Fundamentals, joined with a Pravity of Will; And that this is such, I shall prove. First, that it is an Erroneous belief; That Christianity is Mysterious, that we know not of it, neither in the nature of the thing, nor in degree, more than what God has been pleased to reveal to us, is most certain. Could any one comprehend before it was revealed, that God would sand his Son our Lord Jesus Christ, to be born of a Woman, to redeem us, and to take upon him our flesh? Well, and now that it is revealed, pray how much more of that ineffable Mystery can our Reason make out to us than what is revealed? Can we by Reason explain to ourselves the Incarnation of the Son of God, tho that he was inca●nate is fully revealed to us? Those words of his, John 14.20. that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you, fully reveal to us the Mystery of our Redemption, and of the Trinity, * In the Original it is not yet what can we add to that Revelation? But further, the Operations of the Holy Spirit in our Souls what Reason can explain or conceive, it blows where it lists, and when, and how; It is of that very thing that it is said, that it is not entred into the heart of man to conceive; which yet God has revealed to us by his Holy Spirit. but No, every happy Soul that feels it must say, it is quod neque● monstrare & sentio tantum. 1 Cor. 2.9, 10. I wish he himself had attended more to the Motions thereof within himself, he had not surely then come so near to that unpardonable Offence; which proves the second part of my Definition, a pravity of Will; That this is so is manifest, for his Errors tend to make Mankind miserable; Rom. 8.16. Joh. 16.13 For it is the Spirit of God that Testifies to our Spirits that we are the Sons of God: It is the Holy Spirit that leads us into all Truth. If then this our Faith be vain, and that the supposed Influences and Motions of the Holy Spirit in our Souls are but Dreams and Enthusiasms, we are wretched Creatures; in the fallen Estate that we are, we had be●ter never have been Born. Lo then the inveteracy of that Heart that publishes this Doctrine, Eph. 2.12. that leaves us without God in the World, that has wrapped him up from us, like Epicurus's God, in dark Clouds; this is vastly enlarging Nero's cruel Wish, and cutting off the Neck of all Mankind at one blow. But further, the Pravity of his Will is manifest in this, That this Doctrine must necesfartly produce a Pravity of Will in Others; for if we have no supernatural Assistance nor Guide, whatever our Reason does not Reproach us for, is no● ill;( for our Natural Conscience may soon be overcome and said asleep, by wilfu●●in wrought up into a Habit) and then when a Man has debauched his Reason( as it is not difficult for Licentious Persons to deprave that to the highest Degree) what Wickedness is he not fit for? Indeed, Pravity of the Will is essential to Heresy. A Pious heretic is a Contradiction. For if a Pi●us S●u● do Er●, his Piety gives him Humility to seek for further Information, and God does alway bless his Endeavours; so that his Errors shall not be in Fundamentals; for our blessed Saviour assures us, Jo. 7.17. If any Man do my Will, he shall know of the Doctrine, whether it be of God. The good Man that fears God, that Loves him, and seeks him and his Direction by continual Prayer, cannot be left in Fundamental Error. Such Usage would be Barbarous from a Man like ourselves, and therefore we can never impute it to the God of Truth. But it is Pride that makes your Sect Master; and where Pride is, there is Contention and every Evil Work. The Conclusion in short is this, if there be no Mystery in our Re●igions, ●ay aside your Bibles, those lively Oracles,( after you have red the Histori●al part of them) and let Rea●on only be your Guide; and since, Nihil est in Intellectu quod non fuit prius in sensu, if we must have a God it must be the Object of our sense, a God to go before us, like Aarons, Lo these are thy Gods, and then we are come to a fine Pass with our Reason. St. Paul tells us, Rom. 1.21. That even the Philosophers among the Heathens in matters of Religion 〈◇〉 became Fools by their* Reasonings, and so their foolish Hearts were darkened, and so they fell into Idolatry the greatest of all Fo●ly. Why Reason ye among yourselves, Mat. 16.8. Mat. 9.33. I shall now proceed to consider the Book; wherein, First I would take Notice of his Treatment of the Holy Scriptures. He says indeed in one place, That they have the brightest Characters of Divinity; but he has for once given them that Character, that he might with the more Impunity Stab them afterwards as often as he pleases, P. 33. which he does not spare to do three times, with his If the Gospel be the Word of God. Just the same way does he use our Blessed Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ; Edit. 2d p. 25. 46. 170. whom once in his Preface he calls the Lord Jesus Christ, that he may be taken the less Notice of afterward for his familiar Treatment of him. The word Lord is the Adjunct to the Name of our Saviour Jesus Christ near 600 times in the New Testament; it is often used alone without Jesus or Christ, to denote our Saviour, as being his peculiar Title, and I shall prove it to be a Declaration of his Divinity. At his Birth the Angels told the Shepherds, * Mat. 2.11 Luk. 24.34 to you is Born a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord: At his Resurrection the Disciples told each other, the Lord is Risen, Joh. 20.25 28. and they to●d Thomas, We have s●en the Lord: and Thomas crys out, My Lord and my God: And when he appeared to them as they were F●shing, they said one to another, 1 Cor. 12.3 it is the Lord: The Apostle tells us, That no Man can call Jesus Lord( that is, believe him to be God) but by the Spirit of God: How often do and find in the Apostles Writings, The Day of the Lord, our Lord Jesus, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Nay, Let us look back into the Old Testament, and we shall find the same; That David in Spirit called him Lord, in the 110th Psalm( and elsewhere) our Saviour himself Testifies: And that that Memorable and Glorious Vision of Isaiah, Chap. 6. I saw the Lord Sitting upon his Throne, &c. had Relation to our Saviour St. John affirms, Chap. 12.41. St. judas tells us, v. 5. That the Lord having saved the People out of egypt, afterward Destroyed them that believed not; and that this is spoken of the Lord Jesus Christ is plain, not only from 1 Cor 10.9. where St. Paul speaking of the Children of Israel in the Wilderness, says, Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also Tempted. &c but also, that in the Vulgata, in the Aeth●opick Manuscript of Ludolphus in the Alexandrian MS in the King's Library at St. James's, beside two other Celebrated Mss at Rome, it is red, That the Lord Jesus having saved the People out of Egypt, &c. The Lord's day 〈◇〉 Rev. 1.10, is not the day sanctified to the Jehovah, for that is Sabbatum, but it is the day of our Lord Jesus Christ's Resurrection, 1 Cor. 11.20, 11. 1 Cor. 10. 2●. 〈◇〉 is his Supper, and 〈◇〉 is his Table. And now I think I have pretty well proved that * Phil. 2. ●1. every Tongue ought to confess that Jesus is Lord, yea that he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Yet this Author having name him about eight and twenty times in his Book, has not vouchsafed him therein the Title of Lord or God. He says in his Pre●ace that he is a Christian; according to the old Distinction of believing, Credere Christum( fu●ss●), and Credere in Christum, I believe he may be called a Believer of the former sort, that believes there was such a Man as he whom we call Christ. But in my judgement he is hardly come up even to N●codemus's belief, that John 3.2. Jesus was a Teacher come from God, or then he would not put such a doubtful Expression as, if the Gospel be Really the Word of God. But whatever he believes of him, it is plain he believes not Christ to have been the Author of what we call the Christian Religion, otherwise he would never have compared it all along with the O●gia of Bacchus, in that contemptible manner that he does. God has promised Jam. 1.5. to give Wisdom to them that ask it; but there is reason to fe●r this Author is among those that call not upon God. I think he cannot be supposed at least to say the Lords Prayer, Joh. 5.23. for our Saviour has told us that all Men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father, can he then say, Hallowed be thy Name, who makes a Coffee-house ●est of the Trinity. I shall now proceed to show you how he treats our Church and our Sacraments. In page. 107 he says, that as far as any Church allows o● Mysteries, it is so far Antichristian, and of Kin to the Scarlet Whore. If this becomes one of his Years, or Station, or Learning, or Experience, and be not Another Dogma arising ●rom his Pride and Vanity let the World Judge. Our Religion and Liturgy are made a part of our Laws; and our rubric and our Divine Service are made Act of Parliament, viz. 2 do Elizabethae; notwithstanding which, and even without regard of our Laws or being afraid of the Power,( which is the Ordinance of God) and which he ought to obey for Conscience sake, he boa●ts in defaming ou● Religion and Sacraments. Our Church, upon the Foundation of the Holy Scriptures, has declared there are two Sacraments, that they are generally( that is, Chur. Cat. where they may be had) necessary to Salvation, that they are ordained by Christ himself, and the means whereby we receive Grace. But this Author defeats us of all these blessed Benefits at once, by calling them Ceremonies; which are but Rites, and generally of human Institution. But if we should say that they were of Divine Institution, as many of the Ceremonies of the Jews were, yet still as Ceremonies they are only Significative, and not Operative, as we believe, and many o● us know and have felt the holy Sacraments to be. Here also see another Instance of the Pravity of his Will, in depriving all Mankind of this Means of Grace, and of the blessed Union thereby wrought between Christ and his Members. There are no particular Ceremonies made necessary under the Gospel; but our Lord has made his Sacraments necessary. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Mark. 16.16. So that where Men come to the knowledge of Christ, it is not a belief alone tho never so Orthodox, no nor a good life joined to it, that will save them. For tho St. Peter declared to Cornelius that in omn● Gente, among all the Gentiles, he that fears God and works Righteousness is accepted of him, yet Cornelius must be baptized, tho he was a most devout and holy man and a Believer. Act. 10.35 And as for the Lord's Supper the Evangelists and St. Paul assure us it was ordained by our Saviour; and that it is the means o● conveying Grace, our Saviour in the 6th Chap. of St. John's Gospel declares at large, and St. Paul also, The Bread which we break is it not the Communication( 〈◇〉) of the Body of Christ. 1 Cor. 10.17. And tho this Author labours so much to expose the solemnity of its celebration, we know that it was from the beginning the most essential part of the Christian Worship. We find the Apostles in Acts 3.1. went up to the Temple at the hour of Prayer, to pray with the Jews; but their breaking of Bread, this holy Communion, was 〈◇〉 in the houses, Act. 2.46, ( not from house to house as it is improperly Translated) the Christian Congregations, of which it is probable every one of the Apostles held one in Jerusalem in a separate house,( for so we find when Peter got out o● Prison Acts 12.12. he went to the house of Mark, where a Congregation were together praying, and bids them to sand to James and the rest of the Apostles, that by all their Congregations of Christian Believers there might a general Thanksgiving be offered to God for his deliverance; that 〈◇〉 is so to be rendered, I could give many undeniable Proofs out of the New Testament. But to return from this Digression, and to show you further his Contempt of our Sacraments, he speaks of one of them in a manner that St. Paul never did, nor any good man beside. St. Paul calls it the Lords Supper, 1 Cor. 11.20. but this Author having Occasion four times to mention it, calls it only The Supper, as tho it were a Common club or Collation. And since our Sacraments are so ill handled by him, what can we expect for our Ceremonies? Your mock Anniversary Fasts, says he p. 158. and so he goes on to compare our Ceremonies with those of the Romish Church, and shows the latter to be full as proper and fignificative as ours. As I said before, I know not by what name to call him; he shows some Indignation at Popery, he ridicules the old Socinians with the Notion of a deified Creature, and exposes us and indeed the Christian Religion itself at the same rate, whilst he makes all things, as he expresses it, to bow before the majestic Light of Evidence, which according to him, is full Conviction of Reason, without making any Allowance for the difference of Mens Capacities. So that I think without trangressing the Rules of Charity, there remains only for him that of a heretic, which he seems also with some Vanity to expect, and which I think I have in some measure proved, tho if so short a Letter would have admitted it, I could have added much to what I have said at the beginning upon that Subject. I would not make up in railing what I want in Argument, but I think this is his Character in Scripture language, that he is one of those Animal in opposition to Spiritual. heady, high-minded, sensual, having not the Spirit, I will not add 〈◇〉 haters of God, tho his behaviour to our Lord Jesus Christ shows little less. Unhappy man! to hate or despise infinite love, him that loved us, and washed us from our Sins by his blood, and sanctifieth us by his holy Spirit, that is now our High Priest in the presence of God, that knows and has compassion on our Infirmities, that is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, and be saved. O poor wretch, thy Condemnation is of thyself; for if any manlove not the Lord Jesus, 1 Cor. 16.22. let him be, yea he is, Anathema Maranatha, accursed, and to be condemned at the last judgement: for there is none other Name known among men, from, or by whom we can be saved. Not to love him, and consequently not to abide in his love, is curse enough, yea the very Essence of all Malediction. And now let those consider this, whether within doors or without; and whether the Vindication, or even the Excusing this Book, or the Author, or the ridiculing, or otherwise baffling, the just Prosecution and Censure of it and him, be not truly the denying of our Saviour before men, and whether such may not assuredly expect to be denied of him, in the presence of his Father, and the Holy Angels, and all the World at the last day. We shall all of us one day stand in need of a Saviour: O let us take heed to secure him our Friend, the neglect of whose Salvation we shall one day so sadly rue. For my part upon this occasion in my station, Liberavi animam mean, let the Event be what it will, I remain, Dear Sir, Your most Humble Servant. Advertisement. THere being several Greek Citations in the Author's Copy, which for want of that Character, could not be Printed; the Learned Reader is Desired to excuse the Writing thereof. DUBLIN, Printed in the Year, 1697.