But neither yet did Satan stop here, but improved the advantage given him by these men to the utter denying of Jesus Christ: for unto the prin- ciple of Christ's being not God, adding another of the same nature, that the prophecies of the Old Testament were all concerning temi>oral things, some amongst them at length concluded that there was no promise of any such person as Jesus Christ in the whole Old Testament ; that the Messiah or king promised was only a king promised to the Jews, that they should have after the captivity, in case they did not oftend but walk with God. " The kingdom," say they, " promised in the Old Testament, is a kingdom of this world only ; but the kingdom which you assert to belong to Jesus of Nazai-eth was a kingdom not of this world, a heavenly kingdom, and so, consequently, not promised of God or from God;"^ and therefore with him they would not have aught to do. This was the argument of Martin Seidelius, in his epistle to Socinus and his companions.
Wliat advantage is given to the like blasphemous imaginations with this, by such Judaizing annotations on the Old Testament as those of Grotius, time will evidence. Now, because this man's creed is such as is not to be paralleled, perhaps some may be contented to take it in his own words, wliich are as follow : —
" Ca^terum ut sciatis cujus sim religionis, quamvis id seripto mco quod habetis ostenderim, tamen hie breviter repetam. Et primum quidem doc- trina de Messia, sen rege illo promisso, ad meam religionem nihil pertinet : nam rex ille tantum Judteis promissus erat, sicut et bona ilia Canaan. Sic etiam circumcisio, sacrificia, et reliqvioe ceremonias Mosis ad me non perti- nent, sed tantum populo Judaico promissa, data, et mandata sunt. Neque ista fuerunt cultus Dei apud Judceos, sed inserviebant cultui divino, et ad cultum divinum deducebant Judreos. Verus autem cultus Dei quern meam religionem appello, est decalogus, qui est sterna, et immutabilis voluntas Dei ; qui decalogus ideo ad me pertinet, quia etiam milii a Deo datus est, non quidem per vocem sonantcm de ccelo, sicut populo Judaico, at per creationem insita est menti mere ; quia autem insitus decalogus, per cor- ruptionem naturfe humanai et pravis consuetudiuibus, aliqua ex parte ob- scuratus est, ideo ad illustrandum eum, adhibeo voealem decalogum, qui vocalis decalog'us, ideo etiam ad me, et ad omnes populos pertinet, quia cum insito nobis decalog'O consentit, imo idem ille decalogus est. Hccc est
' " Manjfeste in eo sunt decepti, qui hoc anno 1580, accidifcse scribunt, cum certissi- raum sit ea facta fuisse uno anno ante, hoc est, anno 1679." — Socin. ad Weik. p. 44.
2 " Duces luijusagminis Anabaptistici, et Antitrinitarii erant Gregorius Paulus, Daniel Bielenscius, et alii, quorum tandem alic^ui fanatico proposito relicto, ad ecclesiani evan- gelicani redienint, ut Daniel Bielenscius, qui Cracovite omnium suorum errorum publico puenitentiam egit, ibidemque, ecclesia3 Dei commode praefuit." — Adrian. Regen. Hist. Eccles. Slavon. lib. i. p. 90.
3 " Ita argumentor, quoties regnum Davidi usque in seculum promissum est, tale ne- cesse fuit, \\t posteri ejus, in quibus htcc promissio impleri debebat, habcrent: sed reg- num mundanum Davidi usque in seculum promissum est, ergo regnum niundanum poster! Davidis ut habercnt necesse est : et per consequens, rex ille, quem prophetix; ex liac pro- missione post captivitatem B.abylonicam regnatuium promiserunt, pcrindc ut cfctcri posteri Davidis, mundanum regnum debuit habere. Quod quia Jesus ille non habuit (non enim regnavit ut David et posteri ejus), sed dicitur habere cocleste regnum, quod est diversum a mundane regno : ergo Jesus ille non est rex quem propheta; promiserunt." — Martin. Seidelius, Ep. 1 ad Socin.
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34; THE PREFACE TO THE READER.
mea sententia de Messia, seu rege illo promisso, et litec est mea religio, quam coram vobis ingenue profiteer." — Martin. Seidelius Olaviensis Silesius.
To this issue did Satan drive the Socinian principles in this man and sundry others, even to a full and peremptory denial of the Lord that bought them. In ansvrering this man, it fell out with Socinus much as it did with him in his disputation with Franken about the adoration and invocation of Jesus Christ ; for granting Franken that Christ was but a mere man, he could no way evade his inference thence, that he was not to be invocated ; so, granting Seidelius that the promises of the Old Testament Avere all temporal, he could not maintain against him that Jesus Christ, whose king- dom is heavenly, was the king and Messiah therein promised ; for Faustus hath nothing to reply but that " God gives more than he promised, of which no man ought to complain."^ Not observing that the question being not about the faithfulness of God in his promises, but about the thing pro- mised, he gave away the whole cause, and yielded that Christ was not indeed the king and Messiah promised in the Old Testament.
Of an alike opinion to tliis of Seidelius was he of Avhom we spake be- fore, Franeiscus David ; who as to the kingdom of Christ delivered him- self to this purpose : " That he was appointed to be a king of the Jews, and that God sent him into the world to receive his kingdom, Avhich was to be earthly and civil, as the kingdoms of other kings ; but the Jews re- jected him and slew him, contrary to the purpose of God, who therefore took him from them and placed him in a quiet place, where he is not at all concerned in any of the things of the church, but is there in God's de- sign a king, and he will one day send him again to Jerusalem, there to take upon him a kingdom, and to rule as the kings of this world do or have done." — Thes. Francisci David de Adorat. Jes. Christi.