5. This is the substance of Schlichtingius' rule, " When any thing is affirmed of God exclusively to others, — indeed others are not ex- cluded, but included"!
6. We argue not only from the exclusive particle, but from the nature of the thing itself So that, this pretended rule and excep- tion notwithstanding, all and every thing whatever that is not God is by God himself everlastingly excluded from the least share in di- vine or religious worship, with express condemnation of them who assign it to them.
The same evasion with that insisted on by Schlichtingius, Socinus himself had before used, who professes that this is the bottom and foundation of all his arguments in his disputation with Franciscus David about the invocation of Christ, that others as well as God may be worshipped and invocated, in his third epistle to Volkelius, where he labours to answer the objection of John's praying for grace from " the seven spirits that are before the throne of Christ," Rev. i. 4, " But why, I j)ray, is it absurd to affirm that those seven spirits (supposing them mere creatures) were invocated of John ? Is it be- cause God alone is to be invocated? But that this reason is of no value that whole disputation doth demonstrate, not only because it is nowhere forbidden that we should invocate any other but God" {ps
384 VINDICIiE EVANGELIC^.
durum), "but also, and much rather, because those interdictions never exclude those who are subordinate to God himself/'^ That is, as was observed before, they exclude none at all ; for all creatures whatever are subordinate to God. To say that they are subordinate as to this end, that under him they may be worshipped, is purely to beg the question. We deny that any is or may be in such a subordination to God. And the reasons the man adds of this his assertion contain the grand plea of all idolaters, heathenish and antichristian : " What- ever is given to them," saith he, " who are in that subordination is given to God."^ So said the Pagans of old, so say the Papists at this day; all redounds to the glory of God, when they worship stocks and stones, because he appoints them so to do. And so said the Israel- ites when they worshipped the golden calf: "It is a feast to Jehovah." But if John might worship and invocate (which is the highest act of worship) the seven spirits, Rev. i. 4, because of their subordination to God, supposing them to be so many created spirits, why might he not as well worship the spirit or angel in the end of the book, chap, xxii. 8, 9, who was no less subordinate to God ? Was the matter so altered during his visions, that whom he might invocate in the en- trance he might not so much as worship in the close ?
The Racovian Catechism takes another course, and tells you that the foundation of the worship and adoration of Christ is because " Christ had added to the first commandment that we should ac- knowledge him for God;"^ that is, he who hath divine authority over us, to whom we are bound to yield divine honour. But, — 1. That Jesus Christ, who is not God hy nature, did add to the command of God that he himself should be acknowledged God, is intolerable blasphemy, asserted without the least colour or pretence from the Scripture, and opens a door to downright atheism. 2. The exposi- tion of his being God, that is, one ^vho hath divine authority over us, is false. God is a name of nature, not of office and power, Gal. iv. 8. 3. Christ was worshipped, and commanded to be worshipped, before his coming in the flesh, Ps. ii. VI; Gen. xlviii. 16; Exod. xxiii. 21.
But if this be added to the first commandment, that Christ be worshipped as God, then is he to be worshipped with the worship re-
V " Sed cur qua3so absurdum est affirraare septem illos spiritus a Joliaune fuisse in- vocatos ? An quia solus Deus est invocandus ? Atqui banc rationem nihili esse tota ilia disputatione demonstratur, non modo quia nunquam diserte intordictum est, quem- quam alium pva3ter Deum ipsum invocare, sed etiam, et multo magis, quia ejusmodi interdictiones (ut sic loquar) nunquam eos excludunt qui ipsi Deo sunt subordinati." — Socin. Ep. 3 ad Volk.
2 " Quic(iuid cnim ab eo qui subordinationcm istam recte novit et mente sua illam probat, in istos confertur, in Deum ipsum confertur."
8 " Quid prteterea Dominus Jesus huic prtecepto primo addidit ? — Id quod etiamnum Dominum Jcsum pro Deo cognosccrc tenemur, id est, pro eo qui in uos potcstatem liabet divinam, et cui nos divinum exbibere honorera obstricti sumus." — Cat. Rac. do pitcccp. Christi.
OF Christ's kingly office. 385,
quired in the first commandment. Now, this worship is that which is proper to the only true God, as the very words of it import, "Tliou shalt have no other gods before me." How, then, will Smalcius reconcile himself with his master, who plainly affirms that Jesus Christ is not to be worshipped with that divine worship which is due to God alone, and strives to answer that place of John v. 23 to the contrary, that " all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father?"^ That Christ should be commanded to be worshipped in the first commandment (or by an addition made thereto), which commands us to have only one God, and not be worshipped with tlie worship which is due to that one God, is one of the mysteries of these men's religion. But to proceed: —