to Remove their Rooted Prejudice, I doubt not of their Receiving full Satisfaction in the Confideration of thofe Scriptures which Reveal thefe Great Myfteries.

And to Others who may rather Incline to have the whole Together, it can be but a Small Difappointment, fince the Reft is in the Prefs and will foon follow, and then may be Bound together Without any Inconvenience, if they Pare not the Leaves of this.

And in this Bufy Age, where men have so many Avocations, and wou'd grudge to Enter upon a Larger Book, or wou'd lay it by till the Vacation, it may be more Convenient to Entertain them with Small Meffes at a time, and not to Cloy Squeamish Stomachs with the Sight of too much Meat at once.

And because I have a Regard to their Time, and that this Matter is not Worth more Excufe, I conclude this Short Preface. Referving a Larger for the whole when it is Perfected. The Contents of which I have put to this, that the Reader may fee what he is to expect.

I only Add, that if any have Objections against this Dialogue, I fall be Glad to Know them, and to Confider them by themselves, without Intermixing them with the following Dialogues; And chiefly for this Reason, That I put not any of the Merit of the Cause upon it, and therefore wou'd not have it fuffer by it. If I have not reason'd aright, that lies at my Door, and Hurts not the Validity of what God has Reveal'd. But I hope what I have faid will not Hurt it. And if it Answers the End for which I have Intended it, it will Facilitate the Converfion of Many.

Quod Deus fauftum faxit.

ERRATA.

Age 15. 1. 4. f. find r. make. p. 16. ult. r. the Present Cafe. p. 32. l. 31. f. Happly r. Apply. p. 33.7. 15. r. This is. p. 34. 7. 10. f. comer. Came. p. 43. 1.3. f. Seneca r. Tully.

THE

FIRST DIALOGUE.

SOCINIAN.

Introduction.

H

AVE you Read the Book I gave you, Intituled A brief History of the Unitarians, call'd alfo Socinians?

CHRISTIAN. I have. And I know it to be the Celebrated Book of your Party. Which therefore you have Printed and Re-printed often, in feveral Volumes, fince the Year 1687. when you firft did Publifh it. And you have fince fully Employ'd the Liberty given you of Propagating your Principles openly, and above-board. Whereby you have Gain'd too Plentiful a Harveft among those who, fince they muft have fome Religion, delight in that which is fartheft from the True. But your Success has been moft among those who had not Leifure or Learning to Examin your Pretences; for whom this Book is Calculated, in a fhort, eafy and plaufible Turn to several Texts of Scripture; which they who love not the Trouble of Examining, are Pleas'd fhou'd be True, think it Sufficient for them; and fo Reft fatisfy'd. B

It

It is a Tranflation and a Compend, yet with Improve-ments, of Larger Socinian Treatifes wrote in Latin, in the fame Method, of Anfwering the feveral Texts of Scripture, in the Order of the Books as they Lie, from Genefis to the Revelation, which are brought to Prove the Chriftian Doctrines of the Holy Trinity, and the Incarnation of the Second Perfon, which is Chrift:

And this is the True and only Method to Determin this Controversy; because these Doctrins are Discover'd to Us, only by the Revelation which is given of them in the Holy Scriptures. So that the whole Queftion is, Whether they are Reveal'd there, or Not?

And the way to know this is Twofold. First, from the very Words of the Scripture it felf. Secondly, from the Current Senfe of the Church in those Ages wherein the Scriptures were wrote, and Downwards; which is, at leaft, the best Comment upon the Scriptures: They who learn'd the Faith from the Mouths of the Infpir'd Writers themselves, and Convey'd their Writings down to Us, being the moft Capable of any to give us the true Senfe and Meaning of them.

And in both these Respects, you Pretend to have the Advantage. Not only in your own Interpretation of the Scriptures: But you fay likewife, That your Doctrin was the Primitive Doctrin of the Church; And Ours Introduc'd as a Novelty and Corruption afterwards.

We will Difcourfe upon Both thefe Points, in their Order. But firft let me ask you a Queftion, in the fame Freedom of Converfation which we have always Us'd; and that is, Whether your Conviction or Scruples Began upon either the Uncertainty of the Scripture Expreffions themselves, or the Senfe of the first Ages of the Church? But, on the other hand, is not this truely the Cafe, That you thought thefe Doctrins Irreconcilable to your own Natural Reafon; And therefore by no means to be Admitted, let the words of the Revelation be never so Po

fitive

fitive, or the Teftimony of Antiquity never fo Clear in the
Matter? And therefore that you were Oblig'd to Turn and
Wind these the best you Cou'd, and to Force them to
Comply with your Hypothefis?

SOC. I will not Deny, but that, if ther were not Difficulty in Apprehending how Three can be One, or God cou'd be Man, I fhou'd, without more ado, Acquiefce in fuch Texts as thefe, That these three are one; That the Word was God; And that The Word was made Flesh. But, I fuppofe you will Allow me, That where ther is Manifeft Contradiction, we muft Turn the Sense of the Text another way. Will you fay, That we are Oblig'd to Believe Contradictions?

CHR. No. But we are to be ware, that we think not things to be Contradictions thro' the Weakness of our Understandings, which are not fo in themselves.

SOC. I grant you all that. Therefore if you can Reconcile these things from being plain Contradictions, I confefs you will Clear the way very Confiderably towards my Receiving the Texts you bring, in the Eafy Literal Senfe. And likewife for my Joining in the Teftimonies of the Ancient Fathers of the Church; with both of which (I have no Scruple to tell you) we have Trouble enough, to fatisfy our felves, and Ward off the Force of the Arguments you bring against Us.

CHR. Therefore if I can fay any thing towards your Satisfaction in this, it will be a good Preparative for what is to follow, that is, the Confideration of the Scripture Texts, and the Senfe of Antiquity in the matter.

SOC. If you can do that, your Bufinefs is more than All Belief half done. And therefore I fhall be glad to know if founded upon Reafon. you have any thing to offer upon that Head. But I must Caution you not to Trouble me with Subjecting my Rea fon to Faith, and fuch Topics, with which I have been Teaz'd, till I have no Patience left. For I must tell you, That I cannot Believe any thing, but what I think I have

B. 2

Reason

Yet we

Reafon to Believe. Elfe, I cou'd not Believe it: And
whoever tells me, That I muft Believe, because I must
Believe, I will not Anfwer him one word more.
look upon him as Abandon'd from Common Sense, and only
fit for Bedlam.

But

CHR. I readily agree with you, That we not only ought not, but that it is not in our Power to Believe any thing, but what we think we have Reafon to Believe. The Reason we go upon may not be Good, that is, the Weakness of our Understandings; but ftill we must Think it Good, elfe we cou'd not Believe it: For that wou'd be to Believe, what we do indeed not Believe. Every Man has a Reafon (fuch as it is) for what he Believes; tho? every Man cannot always Express it. My Barber told me fo, may be a Reafon with fome: But they cou'd not Believe it, if they did not Think it a Good Reafon.

Y

But after all this, you will Allow me, That we may know not the have good Reafon to Believe the Matter of Fact of many Reafon of many things things, that fuch things are truly fo and fo; of the Caufes that we Be- of which, or the Nature of the things themselves, we

lieve.

may be Ignorant to a Great Degree; And not able to Solve many Difficulties and Objections may Arife from the Nature of the things. We know not the Nature of any one thing under the Sun, but à pofteriore; by Gueffing at it, from the Effects we fee it Produce. Our Knowledge here, is nothing but Obfervation. We fee Trees Grow, and Produce their Like; fo of Beafts, and Men. We find fuch and fuch Vertues in Herbs and Minerals, &c. But we know not the Reafon of any one thing, no, not of a Pile of Grafs, why of that Colour, Shape, or Vertue!

But this we Affuredly know, not only from Obferva tion, but from Reafon; That nothing can Produce its felf. For that wou'd be to fay, the Caufe is not before the Effect: It wou'd be to fuppofe the fame thing to be before it felf: That is, to Be, and not to Be, at the fame time, which is the Height of Contradiction. Therefore

we