late Archbishop was a meer self-interested Man But if this be not the plain meaning no nor the meaning plain or obscure then the Considerer is falsly accus'd I will lay the matter before the Reader The Considerer begins his Answer to his Grace the late ArchBp with an Apology for his undertaking to answer so many Men of the first Order in the Church eminent for real Worth and excellent Learning He expresses a particular Deference to his Grace as he ought above all the rest He then declares the Motives which perswaded him to answer this being done that his Cause might not lose by the Meanness and Obscurity of his Person he ingeniously notes that in the Commonwealth of Learning there 's no regard had to Titles of Honour wherefore if he has prov'd his Point it avails his Opposers nothing that they are great Pensioners of the World biass'd by Rewards and Aws It will indeed hence follow that the Considerer did mean that in his Judgment the Honours and Profits enjoy'd by the ArchBp might have some influence on his mind to hinder him from discerning plainly the state of the Question or freely speaking his Mind but this can never be made to signify that the ArchBp was a meer self-interested Man but by such a Figure as makes the Name of a Learned and Religious Person truly signify profound Learning and solid Religion 'T is not the most uncommon thing in the World for good Men in great Places to be influenc'd sometimes and in some things by self-interest but a meer self-interested Man is one who is wholly govern'd by self-interest whose Opinions alter as his Interest does whose Stile accommodates it self to the Changes of Times and the Steps of his own Advancement But tho I am satisfied that the Considerer's Words do not reflect on the ABp so injuriously as the Bishop of W. would perswade yet I think it had been better that they had been unsaid for they are off from the Argument unbecoming and best excus'd by observing that none of all his Antagonists but has more to answer for upon this account than he As for that Charge of ridiculing the Articles of the Christian Religion the Unitarians stand upon it that they are perfectly innocent only they acknowledg that they have wrote satyrically against the Heathenish Error of the Realists but they hope they may be forgiven their Endeavours to put Tritheism to open Shame especially because they never wish'd to see it hang'd or burn'd I have now noted what may be justly pleaded on behalf of the Unitarians to acquit them from the Guilt of an undue management of the Controversy but there are two things wherein I cannot excuse them the first is a piece of Rashness and Indiscretion the second a Trespass against a distinguishing Precept of the Christian Religion The Story of Dulcinea is pointed not against the Orthodox Doctrine but the Scholastick Unscriptural Terms of the Nominalists Now it was a piece of Rashness and Indiscretion to ridicule those Terms how obnoxious soever unto which for Peace sake they now confess their Consciences could submit Sure they could not hope that the old Scholastick Terms should be laid aside at their Instance George Duke of Saxony thought not amiss of the Reformation which Luther drove at but that it should be made at the Instance of a pitiful Monk seem'd to him intolerable The Trespass against a distinguishing Precept of the Christian Religion of which I think the Unitarians are in some measure guilty is That when they have been odiously misrepresented foully calumniated maliciously expos'd haughtily insulted rated revil'd and censur'd by this and t'other Adversary better skill'd at Libelling than Logick they have not taken it with all the compos'd Firmness of Mind with all the steddy Patience which the Commands of the Holy Gospel requir'd and the Example of their blessed Master made practicable but when they have been barbarously us'd have answer'd angrily again It 's true the worst Returns that they have made compar'd with what they have suffer'd may seem perfect Courtship but if they had never been mov'd from an even Christian Temper when all manner of evil was spoke against them without just Cause their Labours would have gain'd a still higher Esteem and perhaps have been handed down to late Posterity as the most absolute Patterns of a dexterous and able pertinent close and just Management of Controversy I should now examine how the Controversy has been manag'd by those Authors who have oppos'd the Unitarians whether upon the Principles of Tritheism or upon a misunderstanding of one another about certain Terms of Art which admit divers Constructions But I am really afraid of examining this well knowing that I should meet abundance of Unchristian Matter not capable of any favourable Representation Should I but shew how they have treated one another the impartial Reader would certainly say that the Unitarians ought to sit down content under the Injuries which have fall'n to their share and therefore I hope these Authors will give me leave to pass them over all but one who has distinguish'd himself by peculiar Antichristian Excesses with this general not harsh Censure In some of their Writings there appears much Learning so much Learning that it runs into Confusion such Confusion that tho you may perceive whom they love and whom they hate yet you cannot easily divine what Opinions they are for or against in others there are to be met better digested Learning and a strong Vivacity of Wit This Man despairs of solving the Difficulties he meddles with but honestly hopes that one time or other a lucky Interpreter will rise that presumes he has started a Notion which seems to give some light to help to form some general Idea of Matters in question but among them all there 's little or no Christian Moderation and Temper Yet if these great Persons had confin'd themselves to close Reasoning and left the zealous angry part to Mr. Edwards their Cause would not have suffer'd for want of calling Names That worthy Author's Book entit'led A brief Vindication of the fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith is such an entire piece of Railing that no Rabsheka before Christ nor Lucian since ever equall'd it 'T is wrote too all in the Strain of Bombomachides-Cluninstaridy-Sarchides Great Neptune's Grandchild I vanquish'd the stupendous Giant COL sprung from the prolifick putrefying Gore of the odious Leviathan we fought on Altercando's Plains where Lana Caprina has so often committed Fools and Philosophers together I push'd hard at first in vain the mighty Monster roar'd in vain disgorg'd his poisonous Replies for now collecting all my Powers into one impetuous Volume I pour'd in upon him 500 bald Reproaches Conundrums and Blunders innumerable and to perfect the glorious Work I murder'd his Fame but that with some few trifling Stories two malicious Witticisms and one lewd obscene Allusion I ruin'd the whole Posse of the Unitarians struck their chosen Champion dead
better Argument hope to confound the Unitarians is Socinian Now it must be confest That the Unitarians think honourably of Socinus but yet they do not espouse his whole Scheme nor any thing of his Scheme because it is his nor any thing more of his Scheme than is espous'd by their Arminian Nominalist Brethren who are a great majority of the Church tho the Animadverter may not love to bear of it Socinus's Life is in Print among us both Latin and English the Memory of the Man is frequently revil'd but I do not hear that his Adversaries undertake to refute the historical Account which the Polonian Knight has giv'n of him Mr. Bidle in his Preface has these Words of Socinus He took the same course to propagate the Gospel that Christ and the Apostles had done before him forsaking his Estate and his nearest Relations and undergoing all manner of Labours and Hazards to draw Men to the Knowledg of the Truth He had no other End of all his Undertakings than the Glory of God and Christ it being impossible for Calumny it self to asperse him with the least Suspicion of worldly Interest He of all Interpreters explaineth the Precepts of Christ in the strictest manner and windeth up the Lives of Men to the highest Strain of Holiness The Author of the Growth of Error makes it an Article against Socinus that he accus'd the Reformed of immoral Practices and boasted of the Holiness of his own Followers But what says that Author Was Socinus's Accusation unjust or his Boasting rash and ill grounded Why he says Meisner answer'd Socinus but it seems he confesses too that Schlichtingius defended him Upon the whole matter to speak impartially Excepting that the foreign Unitarians are recorded to have sometimes dealt hardly with one another upon account of their different Perswasions concerning worshipping Jesus Christ it does not appear that their Lives were wicked and unchristian Here in England Men that know little of them or have Ends in traducing them load them with heavy Imputations but impartial Men abroad who have known and observ'd them notwithstanding they differ from them do yet bear honourable Testimony to their Piety and Vertue Monsieur Stoop a Protestant Officer in the French Army in his Religion of the Dutch Anno 1673. gives this Account of the Socinians in Holland They have their secret Assemblies in which they are very fervent in Prayer to God with groaning and weeping They affirm that they have no Interest in the maintaining their Doctrine save only the Perswasion they have of its Truth and the Zeal of appropriating to the only individual and sovereign God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Glory of his Divinity They are confirm'd in their Faith by reading the Word of God and by the Books which have been written against them Their Conversation is holy and without Reproach as far as Men can judg by what they see Much more this impartial Gentleman none of their Party says to their Praise Even of the English Unitarians one of our Reverend Bishops disputing against them when he look'd upon them as altogether Socinianiz'd fairly professes that he judges they would not think so meanly of our Lord Christ but for fear of taking away from the Honour of God Almighty But I have a Word or two to offer to the Reverend Bishop of Sarum before I speak of the English Unitarians of this last Age. As ill as he thinks now of these Unitarians I hope he will not retract the noble Character which he once gave of one George Van Par a Dutch-man burnt in England 1549 for Unitarianism which he could not in Conscience abjure He led a very exemplary Life for Fasting Devotion and a good Conversation and suffer'd with extraordinary Composedness of Mind It is out of the way to speak of Barth Legat a Man of whose vertuous Behaviour the Booksellers of Pauls among whom he convers'd for 7 Years before his Execution gave a good account for he was an Arian burnt An. 1611 re-burnt this last Year by Mr. Gailhard but it is a better Argument for that poor Man's Seriousness in his Religious Perswasion that he could endure to be burnt for it than it is for the Sincerity of Mr. Gailhard and the Honour of Calvinism that he thirsts after the Blood of thousands and damns all Orders and Degrees of Men that do not forward his Executions But that no ill-minded Person may hence take occasion to say that I insinuate that the Unitarians are a numerous Body I openly declare that whether they are many or few is more than I know or care who am an impartial tho not always a melancholy By-stander But that they are better Men truer Christians and more faithful Subjects than the revengeful Calvinists will appear to any Man that examines the Writings of both sides I now come to speak of those Persons of this last Age who have been distinguish'd by the Name of Unitarians Anthony Wood in his Athenae Oxonienses 2d Vol. p. 197-199 gives a large Account of John Bidle and says among other very commendable things that being Master of Crifts School in Glocester He was much esteem'd for Diligence in his Profession Severity of Manners and Sanctity of Life And when he came to converse in London after many Years Imprisonment He was very taking for his Religious Discourse and Saint-like Conversation Now Mr. Wood I presume cannot be suspected of Partiality in favour of an Unitarian John Bidle seal'd the Sincerity of his religious Perswasion by his Death for he took that Sickness in Newgate whereof he died 2 days after Removal Mr. Cooper succeeded Mr. Bidle Master of Crifts School in Glocester afterward Minister of Chelthenam in Glocestershire and after the Act of Uniformity Minister of an Unitarian Congregation in that Place We appeal to all that knew him whether he was not a Man always compos'd and grave but of a most sweet and obliging Temper and Conversation He suffer'd those Abuses from intemperate and riotous Men when the Nation was running mad they knew not for what that it broke his Health and hastned his End His Daughter Mary died about a Year and a half since a known Unitarian so that the Minister who preach'd her Funeral Sermon commended her to his Auditors for a Pattern of Christian Vertues however erroneous in her Judgment Mr. Cooper was succeeded in the Guidance of an Unitarian Congregation by Ralph Taylor Henry Sturmy Thomas Macock and Allen Kear all of them very serious and diligent in their way devout and pious strictly honest and charitable to their power however not so accomplish'd in Humane Learning John Knowles of Glocester by long and diligent Study became very knowing in the Critical Learning of the Scriptures his much Reading and Thoughtfulness won him to Unitarianism having in his younger Years been an Independent His singular Piety and Vertue were exemplarily conspicuous in divers Stations and Stages of his Life His Labours were directed to the
therefore publickly profess'd their Agreement with the Church of England on this and other disputed Articles I ought not in reason but to look upon them as sound and orthodox Members of the Church of England as to their Faith If it be still objected That there is in some of the first Prints of these Unitarians something very like a formal Opposition of the Articles of the Church let it be consider'd they have of late answer'd for themselves confessing that careless or less accurate Expressions may have been us'd by both Parties of which neither ought to take advantage because which is originally a Tritheist's Argument but the Nominalists acquiesce in 't there is no Heterodox Intention on either side Nay the Unitarians have desir'd that those Passages in their Writings which might be wrested by an ill-natur'd Adversary to their Disadvantage be interpreted according to their later more accurate and careful explaining their Minds If it be farther urg'd by those that love no Satisfaction but the Ruin of poor Men who have had the Misfortune to displease them that it is an intolerable Shame for the Unitarians to shift about thus after they have made a hurly-burly in the Chutch they may perhaps desire to know whether they are more to blame than the Realists and whether they may not have as free leave to explain their first Writings as the Realists to explain their first For Dr. S th was not angry at the Dean for explaining his obnoxious Tritheistick Phrases but because his Explanation was as arrant Tritheism as his first obnoxious Tritheistick Phrases which cannot be said of the Unitarians in that Book where they have declar'd their Agreement with the Catholick Church Whereupon even Mr. Edwards cries out Why should I contend with these Catholick and Orthodox Men Who will fall out with those that profess agreement with the Catholick Church Indeed he does not use these friendly Words till the very latter end of the very worst Book he ever wrote It 's true he acknowledg'd himself in debt to the Civility of the nameless Socinian so he calls him for he calls no Man he dislikes by a right Name and promis'd a return of Civility about six Leaves before but it seems he had not quite discharg'd his Stomach of the foul Matter which lay upon it and could not speak him fair till he had call'd him all the names he could think on just his way of dealing with Mr. Bold for seven or eight Leaves together he represents him as a Subverter of the Foundations of Christianity a Worshipper of the Idol that Mr. Hobbs and Mr. Lock have set up a dull phlegmatick horrid lying Fellow c. and in the close he is ready if what he says is true to express the deference which he ows to Mr. Bold's Person and Office From whence tho it does not follow but that Mr. Bold may be a learned and honest Man for all that Mr. Edwards says is not Gospel yet it does plainly follow that Mr. Edwards thinks he ows a deference to an Antichristian Idolatrous dull horrid lying Fellow and that he is ready to express the same and by joining Mr. Bold's Person whom he represents as an Antichristian c. he fairly implies that it is his Perswasion that the Office sanctifies the Person tho the Person be an Antichristian Idolatrous dull horrid lying Fellow I hope without offence to any sober Man it may be set down as an instance of Priestcraft this subtle Contrivance That the holy Office of the spiritual Man should expiate whatever is done amiss by the Sinner I word it gently and don 't pursue it so far as the matter leads I have said what I had to say concerning the Persons of the late Deceas'd and now living Unitarians and as far as I perceive the Men are honest their Conversation blameless the Holy Scripture is their Rule and they interpret it according to the best of their understanding nay as good luck will have it they interpret it just as the founder and major part of the Church does and have always so interpreted it tho they did not always perceive the Agreement between the Church and themselves they are not as they have been odiously revil'd Men of no seriousness in Religion meer Deists much less Atheists or as a Reverend Father out of the abundance of his Charity compliments them irreligious profligate Villains but it is to be hop'd that he will recal those bitter words at least for his own sake for I am told they are resolv'd to make it plainly appear to the World that his Lordship's Doctrine in some of his Books and in some perhaps not accords as much with the Racovian Catechism as theirs so that if there be not two Rules to judg of Heresy one Fire will serve them and his Lordship both I come now to consider what is the Tendency of the Unitarian Doctrines only one Question I have to premise Supposing that the Conversation of these Men is such as becomes the Gospel which from my Soul I believe but their Doctrines false and of mischievous Tendency would it not have become their jealous Adversaries who by the Rules of the Gospel are oblig'd to believe the best which a Cause will bear to have look'd upon them as Men erring through Ignorance and not perceiving the mischievous Tendency of their Doctrines A good Man cannot promote a Doctrine which he knows to be false or of mischievous Consequence but a zealous or a proud Man is capable of suspecting a Doctrine to be false and of mischievous Consequence which is nothing so Two ways the Unitarians defend their Doctrines from the Imputation of mischievous Consequence or Tendency 1. By ingenuously carefully and largely explaining their Minds on those Articles which they were charg'd to deny or expound amiss 2. By making it appear that they have no particular private Opinions about Matters commonly held necessary to Salvation different from the Church of England i. e. if the Bishops and chief Doctors of the Church know what the Church means 1. By ingenuously c. The Writer who drew up the Trinitarian Scheme quotes not the Authors whence he drew it I suppose because his Design was to reprove the Errors of Men and spare their Persons Mr. Edwards who knows not when his Friends are well us'd tells him he had no credible Authors to vouch that Scheme Sure he meant creditable But 't is no new thing for Men of bustling Learning to forget their Mother-tongue The Unitarian will not pretend to find credible Authors i. e. Authors fit to be trusted for the Scheme which he looks upon as erroneous they may be credible in Matters of fact in Matters of Faith not so Matters of Faith are not to be taken on the bare Credit of any Man's word but if creditable i. e. Authors of esteem to vouch that Scheme will content Mr. Edwards he may have them in due time and to be very civil to him he shall
do not themselves believe it is methinks no other than to tempt Scepticks to conclude that enough cannot be said to establish their Authority which Mr. Edwards of all Men ought not to do unless he himself be a meer Deist which Imputation as yet I forbear to lay to his Charge tho in truth by his last Book which he calls A Vindication of Fundamental Articles c. but might better have entitled it A Vindication of Railing see p. 26 27. which Title the Book fully answers for it is one interrupted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it does not appear that he is a Christian Queen Elizabeth had a Secretary who when he retir'd to Tihalds his Country Seat was wont to lay aside his Cognizances of Honour with these words Lie there Lord Burleigh and then the grave Statesman would be very merry and gamesome It take Mr. Edwards to have much of that honourable Gentleman's Humour for I cannot imagine that he has utterly renounc'd Christianity only perhaps when he writes or preaches Controversy he cries Lie by for a while lie by so long good Christian but the angry Story once finish'd or the Sermon over he 's the same Mr. Edwards as learned as honest and as pious as he was before I beg my Reader always to consider that I defend Socinianism only quo ad hoc it is not the Road to meer Deism in the next place I will prove that meer Deism is not the Road to Atheism Deism I defin'd to be Natural Religion founded on the Belief of the Existence of a God and of a future Life There may for ought I know be Men who would be counted Deists that believe not a jot of the Life to come but these I judg if they were put to 't would hardly be able to distinguish themselves from downright Atheists To me it is all one to question the Existence of a God and to question his future Retributions but Natural Religion which depends on the Belief that God is and that he is a Rewarder cannot be the Road to Atheism I will not deny but that Mr. Edwards knows the Road to Atheism as well as any Man breathing but he must not put it upon us that Deism is that Road he may as well bear us in hand that sailing Eastward is the Road to the West-Indies There cannot be a plainer Contradiction than to say That the Belief of a God leads to the Belief of none Were Atheism the prevailing Opinion I grant to Mr. Edwards we should quickly see it move apace to the Ruin and Subversion of Kingdoms and Common-wealths Societies and Bodies Politick but upon the Principles of Deism i. e. on the Foundation of Natural Religion publick Peace and Order stood firm before the days of the Christian Revelation and did it not do so among the neighbour Nations that hated the Jews Among the Deists during the flourishing days of the growing Greatness of the Romans there were I believe as few Atheists as there are among Christians now Let no malicious Adversary here pretend that I plead the Cause of Deism no I do not this I do I maintain that Deism is not the Road to Atheism as some Men very weakly and imprudently have affirm'd for it rather is the Road to Christianity I know Mr. Edwards will be angry with me for what I am going to tell him but let him summon all the Powers and Skill he has in Logick seasoning it with a dose of ill Nature quantum sufficit and then refute me if he can I here affirm That if the Man who is not yet a Christian be an honest moral Deist a Believer in God and an Expecter of a future Judgment he is at least in precinctu ad salutem and stands fair to be a Christian no reveal'd Religion offers so reasonable Grounds to win him as the Christian Now I much wonder that so ingenuous and moderate a Man as Mr. Norris should join with Mr. Edwards in so ignorant invidious and designing an Assertion as this viz. Deism is the Road to Atheism Mr. Norris's elegant way of wording it is He that is once a Deist is in a hopeful way of being an Atheist whenever he pleases No Mr. Norris no an honest moral Deist's Principles are directly pointed against Atheism but a spiteful proud and cruel Christian is in very great danger of being an Atheist if he be not one already But perhaps Mr. Edwards may reply he spake not of a Deist who never had been a Christian but that his meaning was The Man who falls from Christianity to Deism is in the Road to be an Atheist To this I reply That tho the Unitarians are firmly perswaded of the Truth of the Christian Religion yet they need not grant the Assertion thus explain'd to be true for what Christianity teaches beyond that which natural Reason dictates has not the Efficacy to prevent Atheism which natural Reason has however I am content and I think the Unitarians ought to be so likewise That the Man who is afraid of a Bullet should wear a Coat of Mail as well as keep out of Gun-shot I hope the Reader now plainly sees that there is never a Link of Mr. Edwards's Chain that will hold The Unitarians are Orthodox of which more anon The Socinians are so far Orthodox that they are firmly perswaded of the Verity of the Christian Religion and are not meer Deists Conscientious moral Deists are in no danger of being Atheists But is there no dangerous Road leading to Atheism of which Men ought to be warn'd that they come not near it Yes there is and it is a wide Road too pav'd all along with rash Censures ill Language false Stories barbarous unchristian Dealing forg'd Decrees of inconditional Reprobation and Stoical Fate this is the Road and the Persecutor the Slanderer and the Calvinist drive hard like so many Jehu's in it leaving Deism a long way off on the right hand The Christian Religion does not allow its Professors to be so much as proper Judges of Heresy as commonly understood much less to be Executioners of Hereticks for the reason given why the Tales should not be pull'd up before the Harvest is lest some good Corn should be pull'd up with it The Christian Religion directs Men by fair Carriage by the Words of Truth and Soberness to convince them whom we think in the wrong He that is cruel abusive and unjust can be a Christian only in name in reality he is Infidel all over Then for Calvinism that four System which is good for nothing but to fight with but I hope Mr. Edwards is innocent from that for he has sourness enough without it how should it otherwise than tend to Atheism when it represents Man without Free-will and God without Goodness 2. The Unitarians defend their Doctrines from the Imputation of mischievous Consequence or Tendency by making it appear that they have no particular private Opinions about matters commonly held necessary to Salvation different
that Champion that was cull'd out of the whole Host and was himself an Host or else he had not been a Match for me yet him I confounded only with some Scores of Perversions and a few bolder Falsifications of Authors I chain'd the Rector of Steeple to the Carcase of old Malmsbury like another Mezentius I clap'd them together Componens manibúsque manus atque oribus ora And thus I made an One-Article Christian stink alive The wonderful Book full of these Strains borrows all the Credit which it can from an University-Licence This calls to my Memory an Observation formerly sent me by a Friend The Spanish Clergy have the Reputation of learned and judicious Divines all over Europe not that they really excel those of other Countries but because the Pride and Gravity of the Nation takes a particular Method which procures them this Fame they will not suffer every splenetick Trifler to scandalize his whole Order by publishing his passionate Ignorance or Weakness to the World from the Press they absolutely refuse to license any but very good Books By this Policy of theirs a Spanish Divine is become but another Phrase for a very learned and judicious Divine This is a dext'rous way of raising a vast Reputation to a Community from a small stock of Merit our Universities might make their Advantage of it but if they are for setting all hands to work then Mr. Edwards ought not to be deny'd his humble Request But this notwithstanding I will say somewhat for his Brief Vindication that is If it had not been for one thing it might have repaid the Kindnesses of the Licencers for if all that part of it which was meant for reasoning had been downright railing and the railing part reasoning perhaps the reasoning would have been weak because his Head is disorder'd but the Book would have been a very civil Book But indeed as it is I defy all the Hereticks in Christendom and all the Atheists in the World to write any thing so wicked and unchristian I reserve the Consideration of Particulars till he publishes such another Book for I reckon that tho he has in all manner of evil-speaking far out-done Hereticks and Atheists yet 't is not impossible but that having succeeded so strangely in this unchristian Sally he may adventure again and out-do himself But as for the Unitarians if I were fit to advise them they should never concern themselves any more with this Author Mr. Lock and Mr. Bold are in equal Prudence oblig'd to let him rail on There 's a Story in Plutarch the Substance of which I remember but the Book I have not by me some Strangers from Chios debauch'd lewd Fellows full of Wine and Madness vomited in the Court of the Ephori the chief Magistrates of the City nay and did something worse in the very Chairs of State Inquiry being made after the shameless Offenders and Information giv'n in every one expected to have seen them severely handled but the Ephori contented themselves with ordering their publick Crier to proclaim That the Gentlemen of Chios should have leave to be as filthy impudent and wicked as their wretched base Natures would prompt them I shall have absolv'd my Design when I have added what occurs to my Mind concerning the proper way to remedy the Mischiefs which have happen'd from the Controversy and to prevent farther One would think it were easy to remedy such Mischiefs and to prevent the like for the future because in the controverted Points themselves there is so fair and full an Agreement between the Orthodox Nominalists who are the Church and the no less Orthodox Unitarians Eager Disputants seldom convert one another but many times after long Dispute discover that they rashly fell out and that there was no material Difference between them Thus it is in the case before us but then a very odd thing happens upon it for the Parties are like to fall out again because they fell out before for nothing I am inform'd that some angry Nominalists threaten to call the Considerer to account for giving the Occasion of the Quarrel and protest that they do not mean to be trick'd out of the Punishment of Heresy by a Turn of Wit So the New Justice if I remember right in one of Old Ben's Plays upon every Rap at his Gate he bid his Clerk run and bring the Malefactors in that he might draw their Mittimus What! no Malefactors yet O Tempora O Mores l But I thought it had been the Office of a Minister of the Gospel to preach the Mercies of God in Christ to teach to exhort to declare God's Judgments against Sin not to execute them to win Men to God not to send them to the Devil for God reserves the Execution of Vengeance to himself and therefore allows the Civil Magistrate no coercive Powers farther than to preserve the publick Peace which is uncontestably prov'd in that admirable strong clear and convincing Tract entitled An Essay concerning the Power of the Magistrate and the Rights of Mankind in Matters of Religion for which the learned Author deserves a Statue in every Kingdom and Commonwealth upon the Face of God's Earth No Men can be in love with ill Usage and therefore the Unitarians remonstrate That they were always perswaded that they had these two ways to prove their Doctrine Orthodox 1. The Suffrage of Reason 2. The Testimony of Scripture but now they have a third the Authority of the Nominalist Unitarians and they are resolv'd to make the most of it They like the Doctrines they have always taught never the worse for their being reasonable they are tenacious of them because they are Scriptural and not a little pleas'd to see that the Nominalist Trinitarians have expounded the Articles of the Ch. of England to the very same purpose Would the latter recant their Expositions which are Unitarian all over I would not ensure the former neque à reatu neque poena nor from the Guilt nor from the Punishment of Heresy but as the case stands they have but one thing to answer for and that is affronting some receiv'd Terms of Art for which Offence to say the truth they have giv'n but little Satisfaction for still they prefer Scripture Phrases before all other still they look upon the received Terms of Art as ill chosen and improper and consent not to oppose them only for Peace sake and not out of any Reverence which they are willing to pay to the Inventions of Philosophick Fathers or the critical Fancies of subtle Schoolmen Indeed this Fault let it be never so much aggravated will not make out a very honorable Pretence for Ecclesiastical Execution and yet 't is the best that can be had unless the Persecutors should chance to light upon the arbitrary Device of taking upon them not only the Interpretation of the Articles of the Church but also of the Writings of the Unitarians By this means indeed the Unitarian Writings might chance to