The FIRE 's continued at OXFORD OR The Decree of the Convocation for burning the Naked Gospel considered In a Letter to a Person of Honour Honoured Sir I Gave you in my last the state of the Controversy between the Bp. of Exeter and the Rector and major part of the Fellows of Exeter-Colledg at Oxford as well as I could collect it from the Relations I could meet with and from their Petition to her Majesty before whom the Cause is depending In the mean time the Gazette will inform you The University of Oxford in Convocation held Aug. 19. instant has past their Judgment and Decree against certain Propositions as Impious and Heretical cited out of a certain infamous Libel entituled The Naked Gospel which say they impugn and destroy the chief Mysteries of our Faith always held and maintained in the Catholick Church and especially in the English And in the Preface to their Decree they say it not only denies but exposes to scorn that very Lord Jesus Christ who is God blessed for ever Now Sir before I take into consideration the impious and heretical Propositions give me leave to give you a short Summary of the Tendency and Design of the Book and of the reputed Author's printing it at his own Charge as I am inform'd by some that know him for I do not know him my self nor ever had any communication with him And first of the Author's Design in writing it When the King had called a Convocation to reconcile as was hoped to the Church of England the several Parties in this Kingdom and to satisfy if possible the Consciences of those who differ from it this Author was willing to contribute to so good a Work But because a direct Address might appear too great a boldness as some that went that way afterward found he conceiv'd that a clear stating the first Principles of the Gospel would appear more suitable to so learned a Body and useful toward enlargement of the Mind to a comprehensive Charity He therefore got this Treatise printed with design to steal a Copy of it into the Hand of every Member of the Convocation without publishing it to the World No sooner was the Impression finished but he found the Hopes of the King and the Generality of good Men disappointed by the rigour of the prevailing Party in the Convocation and a great Noise made about this well-design'd Book whereof some sew Copies had gotten abroad The Author hereupon made some Changes in the middle of the Book leaving out such Passages as appeared most offensive and of this Impression he communicated more Copies than he had done of the former But now cometh out a stolen Impression of the first Book made at London by he knows not whom which put it out of his power to dispose as he pleas'd of a Book that was his own 1. By Writing and then by Printing and Altering wholly at his own Cost Thus it appears his Design was not to disturb the Peace of the Church but to promote it 2. The Design and Tendency of the Book I will presume to whisper to you out of hearing of the Convocation is such as partly by reconciling Controversies partly by distinguishing necestary Articles from those that are not necessary and cutting off Disputes about the Modes and Niceties of things in gross necessary by giving such a Scheme of Christian Religion as is clear and plain to vulgar Capacities and apt to remove Doubts and Fears and Uncertainties and to satisfy good Peoples Minds touching their being in the true way of Salvation notwithstanding the many Disferences and Disputes among conscientious Men which they are either not able to determine or not with full satisfattion to themselves to turn Mens Minds from the study of Opinions and Speculations to Practical Piety Devotion toward God and Christ and Love toward all Christians of all Perswasions in the mean time making Rents and Divisions Heats and Animosities about Matters hardly determinable to be dangerous and unbecoming sincere Christians This Book I say having this Design and Tendency were not People prejudiced against it by rash and presumptuous Decrees and Censures might be of as great benefit to the. World in general and the Christian World in special as perhaps any Book of that Subject that has been publish'd these hundred Years When you have read the Book I doubt not but you will be of my Mind But for all that I could have wished the Author had not by some elegant Figures of Speech either bordered upon Hyperbole's or made his Mind less intelligible to common Readers and laid himself more open to the Cavils of his fierce Enemies which he did not fear among so learned Men as our Convocation For except the manner of expression I make no question but your own Memory will suggest to you that as we say of the Holy Scriptures they contain in one Bundle all those excellent Precepts and Instructions which lie dispers'd some in one some in another of the Philosophers so die Naked Gospel contains nothing but what is found by Parcels in other eminent and allowed Authors whom the Oxford-Convocation dare not pass Sentence upon tho' they have appear'd of late Years presumptuous enough in that kind witness their famous Judgment and Decree past in Convocation July 21. 1683. declaring 27 Propositions to be False Seditious and Impious and most of them to be also Heretical and Blasphemous infamous to Christian Religion and destruction to all Government in Church and State And this at such a time when the Court sollicited that Judgment for promoting their horrid Design of introducing Popery and Arbitrary Government into these Kingdoms and rooting that pestilent Heresy of Protestantism out of all Nations to which that Oxford-Decree was greatly serviceable And had the Body of the People of England been throughly perswaded of the Truth Equity and Religion of that Decree in all the Propositions we could never have had the happy cause of blessing God for delivering us from French Tyranny and Popish Cruelty and Superstition by the glorious Courage and Conduct of his Highness the Prince of Orange nor could the Peers and Representatives of the Nation in Convention have sett'd the Crown upon their most Excellent Majesties William and Mary but we had in all likelyhood been for ever enslaved to a bigotted Popish King and the Lady of Loretto's Heirs For it is observable that the Vote of the Convention which declared K. James's Throne vacant was grounded upon his having broken the Contract between King and People And that there is such a Contract is the Proposition condemned as impious by the same Hand which now condemned the N. G. At this time we see that those Bishops and others that have throughly digested the Oxford-Principles of Passive Obedience and Non-resistanne can rather lose their Preferments than swear Allegiance to our King and Queen And since divers of the Clergy profess to swear to their Majesties as King and Queen de
Facto only Have we not reasonable grounds to suspect the Passive-Obedience-men of the Convocation to be such And perhaps our Author may have somewhat more incurr'd their Enmity by his being as I hear he is a de Jure Liege-man and did not join his Sufferage in that Decree This burning Decree of the Convocation of Oxford July 21. 83. brings fresh to my Mind the most unjust Expulsion of Mr. Parkinson from that University and consequently from his Fellowship in Lincoln-Colledg whereby and from his Pupils he receiv'd about 120 l. per Annum of all which he was depriv'd without any Trial about the very time of that Convocation and for holding as was pretended some of those Propositions condemned by that Decree and whilst he stood indicted for the same at the Assizes of Oxford where and at the King's-Bench Westminster he was forced to give attendance for about three Years And tho' he has been restor'd to the Liberty of the University by the late Vice-Chancellor now Bishop of Bristol yet to this Day he cannot procure restoration to his Fellowship much less reparation of his great Damages sustain'd in the space of full seven Years How does Dr. H 's Conscience suffer him to sleep while it is not done since he was the chief Agent in that Expulsion Let me enquire now how these Gentlemen-burners make good their Sentence That the Naked Gospel plucks up by the Roots the Primitive Doctrine once delivered to the Saints destroys the chief Mysteries of our Religion and not only denies but exposes to scorn that very Jesus Christ our Lord who bought us and who is God blessed for ever A heavy Charge indeed and which is to be abominated by all Christians But what shall we say of these Judges if they fail in their Proofs must they not fall under the Character of false Accusers and unjust Judges The Matters contain'd in the Book from first to last shew plainly that the Author is neither Arian nor Socinian for he is so far from denying even the Eternal Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ that he plainly enough confesses it but if he both confesses it and denies it he contradicts himself and cannot be said absolutely either to confess or deny it But that he confesses it and denies only the necessity of understanding and believing the manner of it appears in divers Passages which is one main distinction which the Learned Judges ought to have considered As 1. Chap. 5. pag. 24. I st Edit The same infinite absolute implicit Belief which is acknowledged due to God is also due to Christ Which could not be said by one that did not believe him an Infinite God Again 2. Chap. 6. pag. 36. Other Characters speak an unmeasurable Excellency but this the only begotten Son of God speaks an incommunicable One. And a few Lines after he addeth That the Divinity of our Lord maketh the Dignity of his Person unintelligible and for that very reason he is to be believed in with utmost confidence P. 37. Then consider 3. what he affirmeth Pag. 39. that our Saviour in answering the Jews who were offended at him for having stiled himself the Son of God did not upon so pressing occasion assert his right but abating so much as exceeded their comprehension speaks nothing of what he had been from Eternity in himself but what he was in relation to the World and in comparison with other Messengers of God to it Thus did he like Elijah contract himself to their Dimensions requiring only such a measure of Faith as was suitable to their Vnderstandings and his own Designs Here the Author saying that our Lord did not assert his Right must mean his Right to that Title which the Jews accus'd him of Blasphemy for usurping which was that he being a Man made himself God clearly supposes him to be God And again in saying he spake nothing of what he was from Eternity in himself He supposeth it was a Truth beyond controversy that he was from Eternity and that so much the more plainly because it comes as part of a Discourse which shews that our Lord did not assert his Right 4. What the Burners produce as Heretical in evidence of their Charge viz. That his Generation must needs be-so much above our Vnderstanding as the Nature of God is above our own may much more justly be produced in defence of the Author as a proof that he believed our Lord's Divinity than be objected as subverting the Faith of it Since therefore he acknowledged our Lord's Divinity for a Truth as we see the Propositions the Burners cite as denying it must be as clear as these or else the Author does not contradict himself but must be reckon'd Orthodox in the Faith For obscure Passages ought in reason to be explicated by those that are clear And then the Burners fall short in proving their heinous Charge and all the Fault of the Author must lie in his denying it to be a matter of necessary saving-Faith But the great Champions of the Catholick Doctrine were generally guilty of the same Heresy St. Hilary wrote no less than twelve Books concerning the Trinity yet in the close of the 10th hath these words Non per difficiles nos Deus ad beatam vitam questiones vocat c. God doth not call us to a blessed Life by difficult Questions nor solicites us by a manifold kind of Eloquence the way of Eternity is plain and easy to us viz. To believe that God-raised Jesus from the Dead and to confess him our Lord. In which words we see not only in the present Question concerning our Lord's Person but in all others how little of mere Belief is required to Salvation Nor do we find the least Hint to the contrary in the History of those Times wherein the Controversy raged tho' they Persecuted one another they did not Damn one another they contended for their Opinions as for great Truths wherein our Lord's Honour was concern'd not as for Articles of Faith whereon the Believer's Salvation depended Sr. Chrysostom says All Necessaries are clear and manifest And Nazianzen after thirteen Years study calls them Fools who too curiously enquire into the Incarnation of our Lord. Yea and those who were so eager for condemning the Naked Gospel to the Flames cannot sure but think it more dishonourable to the Saviour of the World to believe he will damn any Man for failing of so difficult a Truth when he sincerely believes the clear Gospel than any other Error concerning the Divinity of his Person can be A second Distinction which the Author might juslly have expected from such Learned Persons was That the Question in debate was not concerning the Divinity or mere Humanity of our Lord's Person but concerning a Nicety so inconsiderable that neither the Emperor nor a Council could find the difference between the Nicene and Arian Confession And doubtless it must be something worse than Inadvertency that can blind any Man so far as to disable
him from discovering that from the beginning of the 7th Chapter to the 10th this Author speaketh only as a Commentator upon the. Letter of the great Emperor Constantine wherein he equally condemneth both Parties for troubling the Peace of his Empire with such a Question wherein it was not disputed whether Christ were God or not for therein both sides agreed but in what manner he was begotten or wherein he agreed or differ'd from the Father There is a Passage which I find in the last Impression which perhaps is not in many Hands and little notice taken of it in which the Author by closing that Discourse displayeth his meaning in it which though it be somewhat long I think fit to transcribe Pag 48 49. AND what is all this to BELIEVING IN CHRIST Yea what is it to the PERSON of Christ Had freedom from Persecution suffered a Controversy to have sprung three or four Ages before between some that then believed Christ to be God and others that believed Jesus to be the Christ but a Man born of Men as we heard from Justin Martyr the importance of such a Controversy would have justified the Heat wherewith it should be persecuted But here it was quite otherwise The Difference at first appeared very slight and afterward none at all For the Confession of Arius after his condemnation was so like the Nicene that neither the Emperor himself nor a Council found any defect in it The angry Bishop indeed found a word wanting but such a word as proved too unweildy even for those who would not dispence with it This word Arius omitted as no less needless than intractable But he and his followers acknowledged Christ to be the only begotten Son of God begotten before all Worlds God of God Light of Light very God of very God Was not this so believe in him Is it not enough to believe that as he created the World so he governeth it that as he promised everlasting Life to his Believers so he is able to perform it that he now seeth and will hereafter reward every one according to his Works Doth not this answer all the Designs of Faith Love Thankfulness Obedience c. Can none be Believers but Metaphysicians only Nor all they neither but only such as fully comprehend the new-coin'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and can so nicely apply them to the Person of Christ as to salve all Difficulties The Parties themselves did not think so The leading Bishops in the midst of their Heats allowed Toleration to the Dissenters and all of both sides during the Persecution under Julian communicated in die same Churches and in all good Offices both of Devotion toward God and Charity toward each other they mutually comforted and strengthned one another in defence of the Christian Faith By this it appeareth they did not judg one another to be Infidels and consequently that the Faith to which Eternal Life is promised was not concern'd in the Controversy An Evidence concurring with greater to prove that the Creed which weareth the Name of Athanasius was not his Issue nor Contemporary And where is that Church-of England-Man who doth not so distinguish the Doctrines of that Creed from its Censures as to retain the former in their full import but pull out the String of the latter by such an Interpretation as leaves uncancell'd our Saviour's Patent of Eternal Life to whosoever believeth in him These are the words of the Author wherein he summeth up the Design of all he had said concerning Faith toward the Person of Christ and whereby are rendred inexcusable any that charge him with Arianism Socinianism or any other hard Character No! his Heresy lay not in the Book but the Conclusion The Conclusion was so unlucky as not only to contradict the Purposes but the very Speech of those Leaders of that Convocation In the days of Hen. 3. the Bishops moved the Temporal Lords to suit the Law of England to the Canon Law by legitimating Children born before Wedlock The Temporal Lords answered Nolumus Lâ—ges Augliae mutari quia huc usque usu approbatae sunt The former half of these words the Noble Bishop of London took for the Motto of his Standard wherein there was neither need nor place for the later half and it is well known who with equal Wit Wisdom and Gratitude threw it in his Face in that Convocation Could any thing more provoke such a Man's spleen than a Discourse so cross both to the Determination and the Reason as for this very Reason to prove a Change ought to be made because Experience had proved those Laws unhappy in succeeding Ages which were wisely and charitably instituted for that Age wherein they were first established This was an Affront never to be digested but for its sake the whole Book must be condemned and the Author prosecuted From this general Apology for the Author's Innocency I will now proceed to take a short view of the particular Propositions whereby the Burners prove the equity of their Sentence and Execution ' That Mahomet profess'd all the Articles of the Christian Faith Answ By the first step we may see whither they are going They quote the Words of the Author as the Devil did Scripture by halves Had they gone on as a Faithful Witness should do it must plainly appear that the Author meant not to equal Mahomet's Belief with the Christians but to shew the Design and Success of his Pretences For thus he proceeds ' Mahomet profest all the Articles of the Christian Faith and declared himself not an Apostate but Reformer pretending to purify it from the Corruption wherewith it had be'n defiled and perfect it with Additionals he framed such a Jargon as appeared most serviceable to his Ends and most suitable to his Lust And sure their Malice must have be'n too hard for their Memory if they had forgotten what had be'n said ' That the Author of the Alcoran was no other than a leud brain-sick Scoundrel and his Doctrines as far as they are his no better than extravagant Whimsies or leud Panders to Lust And again that the Asian Churches had their Candlestick removed by the Sword of a base Slave and his few Followers and by Doctrines weak as That Sword when first unsheathed and leud as those Rogues that managed it But alas this would have spoil'd the first most Heretical and Impious Proposition and the Author must have scap't without that severe Character of being a Friend to Mahomet and a Favourer of the Alcoran which any one will think him to be with a Witness who shall read this so just Decree and never view the. Book it self Do you not blush Sir at the Ingenuity of that Person who drew out this abominable Proposition And are you not almost afraid that the Learned Condemners took it upon trust without too laborious an Examination And so much for this strong firm and laudable Foundation Let us proceed to the rest
whose honour the Writer professeth to advance and upon this account they think it more reasonable that those Expressions which exalt our Savior's Person to an Equality with the Father should stoop to those which speak him Inferior than that those which speak him Inferior should be strained up to those which speak him Equal And however this is the safer Way since it will lead us to such a Belief as will suffice for that end for whose sake alone Belief it self is required pag. 59. of the Interpolated Edition ' To this Question Whether any promise of God does necessarily import a restitution of the same numerical matter ' He answers That the Words of St. Paul Thou fool that which thou sowest c. plainly deny the Resurrection of the same numerical particles ' To another Question Whether it be more honorable to God and more serviceable to the design of the Gospel that we believe the Contrary ' He answers That it is the same as to ask Whether it be more honorable to salve all his Perfections or to robb one that we may clothe the other Answ To this and the other two following Paragraphs I answer That they relate to the Differences of those Times wherein the hot Bishops on both sides eagerly contended with one another to the unspeakable Detriment of the Church and Disturbance of the Empire But wise and stay'd Men such as the Emperor Constantine and those Bishops that were his Counsellors had such an esteem of those Controversies as our Author But 2. as to our Times and the Question about the Athanasian Creed I see not but that they who hold it so stiffly and persecute their Brethren on that score have no mind to remove Occasions of Difference and Separation but to continue them which one may be tempted to believe they would not do but for the sake of some secular and base Interest See more in the Judgment of one of our most eminent Bishops summing up that Letter of Constantine which this Author pressed Infra p. 14. This Persecution of the Author of the Naked Gospel and the manner of it is so threatning both to those of the National Church and the Dissenters from her that a fiercer Persecution may reasonably be expected than any we have seen in the late Reigns The Example is clear in those that being of the Church have any thing to lose pertaining to it And for Dissenters the Burners and other their Brethren do well know that none of 'em can give assent to the Athanasian Creed except some Presbyterians and non-assent let 's loose all the Penal Laws hungry Chancellors peevish or bigotted Justices and rascally Informers against them Is this the Temper that was promised If it should come to this How much worse would the Protestant National Church of England deal with her Children than the Papal Church of Rome This prohibits 'em to read the Bible and so prevents the occasion of questioning her Doctrines but that gives us the Scripture to read but will persecute us if we believe not and profess more than or contrary to what is therein contain'd contrary to the common Principle of Protestants and most expresly of this Church her self in her Sixth Article which saith ' The Holy Scripture containeth all things neeessary to salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor can be proved thereby is not to be required of any one to to believed as an Article of Faith or of necessity to Salvation If they do not mean by proved thereby proved to the satisfaction of every sober Man the Church of Rome will prove all her Articles in the same way and manner Thus Sir I take the freedom of telling you my thoughts upon this occasion but now I must return and ask you whether the Learned Assembly of Burners have proved that the Naked Gospel does not only deny the Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ but ostentui habet as their Phrase is expose him to scorn or make a shew of him Do all their Exscriptions prove any part of their horrid Charge As for his denying the resurrection of the same numerical Particles you know that since the newer Philosophy got Credit that Doctrine is often taught in our Pulpits and I am inform'd even at St Mary's in Oxford too besides in divers learned Mens Writings Good God! when shall the Spirit of Persecution be cast out when will Christians learn to be just as Men not to say loving and tender-hearted as Brethren They boast of the truth of their Faith but it is not such as worketh by Love What is it to honour Christ in their Words and dishonour him in their Lives Fourteen Hundred Years experience has taught the World that Men contend for Opinions and Speculations in Religion for the gratification of their Pride Covetousness Revenge and the like worldly Interests Though my Letter has been so long I 'le venture still to entertain you Sir with something considerable about Dr. Bury the supposed Author of the Naked Gospel of which I am credibly inform'd To have a Book condemn'd long after 't was printed nay when its Author and his Colledg were strugling against heavy Oppression in their Rights and Priviledges will put the World upon enquiring into the Reasons and Motives of such an Action as well as the Life and Conduct of the Author The Rector of Exeter Colledg then having done what lay in his Power for his King was expell'd from his Fellowship for refusing to submit to the Visitors in 1648 and the only Person who had courage to read the Prayers of his then distress'd Mother the Church of England in the Colledg when extempore Ones were in fashion for which he was led by a Fileof Musqueteers to the next Port turn'd out and forbid entrance again upon pain of Death and he never after ran counter to so good a beginning Would not one think Sir this sufficient to procure him the respect and veneration of those who are his worst Enemies Had any of them fallen into Circumstances less troublesome what out-cries I sancy would there have been what writing of Letters what trumpeting of Praises what noise of Loyalty and past Sufferings not a Figure in Rhetorick but must have been drawn dry by one Wit or other and had that fail'd the World must have been hector'd into a good Opinion After he was made Rector he never did any thing that look'd as if he had forgot his first Loyal Principles but led a quiet sober and unblameable Life given very much to good Works as may be prov'd by his Buildings in the Colledg his large Contributions to the Company for Relief of Clergy-mens Widows and Orphan besides other less visible Instances not fit to be mentioned while he 's alive All which none indeed can deny that will not basely wrong him He was so strict an observer of what he thought the Will of his Founder that he would have declar'd his own Son's Fellowship void staying some time longer