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and fubordinate to the Father, and that the Fa ther alone is the fupreme God.

Thus I have confidered fome of the principal texts which are urged in the prefent cafe; and have fhewn that not any thing can fairly be concluded from them, in prejudice of the arguments before laid down. I will conclude this discourse, with recommending to all chriftians the practice of forbearance and brotherly love, under their different apprehenfions with refpect to this, and every other point; fuch behaviour being what the chriftian religion requires, and calls for from us, and is what is highly ornamental to it. For as the treating ill the perfons, or characters of others, is a very improper way of recommending truth to thofe perfons; fo fuch a behaviour is very improper to recommend any perfon to the love and fayour of God. God is love. And as his giving revelation to mankind was the effect and producé of that love; fo it was kindly intended to excite and promote in us that divine principle, and not to be a bar to it. And therefore, when the chriftian revelation ftirs us up to love and good works, and engages us to fet forward the prefent and fu ture happiness of the rest of our fellow-creatures, then its great end is answered upon us, God is honoured, and we are rendered pleasing and acceptable to him. But when the chriftian revelation becomes an occafion of wrath and refentment to us, and we are stirred up by it to hurt and injure our fellow-creatures, then its great end is manifeftly perverted, God is dishonoured, and we are ren dered the more vile and displeasing in his fight,

TRACT

THE

Supremacy of the FATHER

V. INDICATED:

OR,

Obfervations on Mr. Claggett's book, entitled, Arianifm anatomized. anatomized. Wherein is fhewn, that what Mr. Claggett, and others, call Chrift's F divine nature, is fo far from being the real and very Son of God, that on the contrary, it is the very Father of God's Son.

F

IRST, I obferve, that as Mr. Claggett has undertaken to confute my arguments, fo he hath profecuted this defign, in a very unbecoming, and unchriftian manner; by reprefenting me, as the vileft of creatures, and by. laying an heavy charge upon me,' which he can by no means prove, viz. he reprefents me as one, who, by boly and pious pretences, would not only introduce real popery; but would make us (by which I fuppofe he means proteftants) ten times more antichriftian, than the worst of papifts themfelves. One, who by hypocritical flatteries endeavours to beguile unwary readers, into a good opinion of (what he is pleased to call) berely. Thefe, with many other beinous crimes, he is pleafed to lay to my charge. But as he is wholly unable to prove what he fo freely accufes me of, and therefore must be guilty of flander and falfe accufation, whether I am guilty or not: fo that God, who knows all things, knows that I am innocent in

burden of reproach upon me alone, but he brings in fome body else, no body knows who, one behind the curtain, to feel the weight of his heavy hand but I affure him, there is no body behind the curtain; and therefore if my book is so bad, as he reprefents it to be, I think, I ought in juftice, to let the fame reft only where it is due. He infinuates of me, as in his title page, that I take a liberty to speak wickedly for God. Whether I am guilty or not, I will leave to be determined by the righteous Judge of all the earth. And as I know it is a thing impoffible for him to prove, fo it may be proper for him to confider, whether in this particular, he is not guilty himself in many inftances. Thus for example, in page 14. he reprefents me as affirming Chrift's divine nature to be a created nature: which is a direct falfhood because I never made fuch an affirmation; and I appeal to my book in the cafe; and I challenge Mr. Claggett to fhew any fuch affirmation in it. If it fhould be replied in his behalf, that it may be inferred from what I have faid. I anfwer, I have declared that Jefus Chrift is the only begotten Son of God, and therefore fuch inference cannot be juft, except begetting and creating are one and the fame thing; and if they are, then this charge will fall equally as heavy upon the fcriptures, as upon me, because he is there declared to be the only begotten Son of God. I anfwer farther, fuppofing fuch an inference to be juft, yet that makes no alteration in the cafe; becaufe as affirmations and inferences are two things, fo I cannot, with any colour of truth, be faid to affirm that which in fact is no more than the inference of another man. Suppofe Mr. Claggett fhould affirm, that God hath fore-ordained every thing which cometh to pass; and if I fhould infer from

hence,

this principle, and tho' my inference would be juft, yet I could not, with any colour of justice or honefty, in this cafe, fay, that Mr. Claggett affirmed God is or was the author of fin, becaufe he made no fuch affirmation. And though, by bafe infinuations, falfhood, and flander, he hath given occafion for the raifing of mens anger against me; yet I fhall purfue him with no other revenge, than barely to remind him of his faults, and defire God to give him repentance, and a better mind. Whether he will reflect upon, and repent of all that groundless cenfure, and uncharitablenefs, which he hath fhewed himself to be guilty of, I know not; but this I know, that it is a matter of the greatest concern to him. And if he fhould be under a ftrong perfuafion, that he is of the number of God's elect, and that God fees not fin in his people, and fo fhould think himfelf fecure from danger, how contrary foever he acts to the gofpel rule; yet, I fear, fuch a perfuafion will be but a weak security at the day of judgment. Again,

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I obferve, that as I have afferted, and undertaken to prove, by eight fcripture-arguments, that the Son of God, our Lord Jefus Chrift, is a Being inferiour and fubordinate to his God and Fa ther; and that the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, is only, and alone, the fupreme God, fo by the term fon, in this affertion, I meant only that Being which the fcriptures call the Son, and the only begotten Son of God, and which Being himself calls God his Father: I fay, I meant this perfon or Being, and him only, and not any thing elfe that men may be pleafed to call the Son, which in reality, and in fact, is not fo. I farther obferve, that as Mr. Claggett undertook to confute my arguments; fo he hath been pleased to substitute

an

true and real Son of God, which my arguments relate to. I call that Son of God, with which he opposeth me, an imaginary Son, because in fact it is no other. Now that I may truly ftate the cafe, I obferve Mr. Clagett diftingnifhes the Son or God into two natures, viz. his human, and his divine nature, and I fuppofe, that under thefe two terms, he comprehends all that he calls the Son of God. By the human nature, I apprehend, he means that man of whom St. Peter fpeaks, Ats ii. 22. Te men of Ifrael, bear thefe words, Jefus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles, wonders, and figns, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you your felves also know. And of whom St. Paul faith, in Acts xvii. 31. He (viz. God hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in rightedufnefs, by that man whom be bath ordained. Now, that this human nature, this man, is the only begotton Son of God, I verily believe; and fo in this point, I. fuppofe, Mr. Claggett and I are agreed. “And if I can prove, that

what he calls the divine nature is fo far from being, in fact, the Son of God, that on the contrary it is the Father of God's Son, then it will follow, by an unavoidable confequence, that the Son of God, which he pleades for, is but an imaginary Son; and that what he calls the human nature, is the true, and whole, and all that is the Son of God. I fhall not take notice of all the definitions which he hath given of this Son, but only of that which is moft plain and easy to be understood. He faith, that the Son is the fubftantial wifdom of the Father; and that Chrift is the power of God, and the wisdom of God effentially, by the Father's communicating his effence to the Son, and that God hath not qualities, every thing in God is his effence, &c. page 14. Here I obferve, power and wifdom, as

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