years Disputation a Doctor of Divinity and a Dean has been hardly perswaded out of the Heresy of three Spirits Minds or Substances yet the continuance of these unscriptural Terms without an exact Explication of them in Sermons and Catechisms heathenizes all the common People nay and great numbers of not unlearned persons 'T is evident now I suppose to every body that the Disinterested was not concerned to reply to such an Answer as this Dr. Sherlock indeed confuted most plainly all his Reasons and trampled upon his Authorities but kindly granted him the Doctrine for which he contended I was in hope therefore all the dust and noise had been at an end but Dr. Sherlock who has no mercy on a conquer'd Enemy thought fit to make a new Onset He publisht a Sermon concerning the danger of corrupting the Faith by Philosophy in which with a great deal of bitterness and many Invectives against the Unitarians he declares that The Unitarian and all other Heresies have their rise and strength from Philosophy and Reason He pretends that Religion must be learned and taught only from Holy Scripture not indeed from the meer Letter or Phrase of Holy Scripture without allowance for Metaphors and such like Schemes of Speech but from the obvious and natural senfe of the words of Scripture without presuming to mollify or change in the least what seems to be the proper sense of the words on the account of any Opposition thereto by Reason or Philosophy He takes occasion here to declame against Reason and Philosophy as most dangerous Deceits and Impostures the true Originals and Causes of all Heresies and Errors in Religion His topicks of Argument for these things are the same that have been always advanced by the maintainers of Transubstantiation other such like Doctrines which have been rejected by the Protestant Churches on the account that they are flatly contrary to Reason and Philosophy This Sermon had been out but a little time when Mr. Firmin publisht Remarks on it The Author of the Remarks first makes an Abstract or Summary of the Sermon and then examins part by part the said Summary or Abstract He proves that the use of Philosophy and Reason is even necessary for the right understanding of Holy Scripture or of any other Book or Speech whatsoever and that 't is by Reason which is no other thing but common sense and by Philosophy which is nothing but experimental Knowledg that we can judg when a Book confest on all hands to be true and certain speaks figuratively and popularly and when strictly grammatically and literally In a word 't is by Reason and Philosophy chiefly that the true meaning and intention of any Book which Book or Writing is granted to be certainly true can be found The Remarks are so written that Dr. Sherlock thinks fit to deny that his Sermon is truly represented he says in his Vindication of the Sermon The Author of the Remarks gives the sense of my Sermon in his own words and directly contrary to my meaning I who made the Sermon knew nothing of it but by mere guess as it lays in his Abstract Vind. p. 4. He adds again at p. 28. The Author of the Remarks has not opposed the Doctrine of my Sermon but his own Chimeras and Follies In short the Doctor complains that his whole Sermon is misreported by the Author of the Remarks and that it was not at all his Intention in the Sermon to speak against Philosophy or Reason but only against what some men call Philosophy and Reason and against vain pretences to Reason and Philosophy Vind. p. 5. He quotes two or three mincing passages of his Sermon which speak not of philosophy and Reason but of Pretenders and Pretences to Reason and Philosophy and these two or three Passages he offers as the true and whole intention of his Sermon But It is certain himself had other thoughts of the intention of his Sermon when he publish'd it and before he law it confuted for he gives it this Title The danger of corrupting Religion by Philosophy not by Pretender or Pretences to Philosophy 'T is certain also that the Arguments he alledges are directed against Philosophy it self and Reason it self as every one sees in the Sermon and in the Vindication of it He has for instance this passage laugh'd at by so many If a. Contradiction to fallible Sense be not a good objection against the truth of any thing how comes a Contradiction to much more fallible Reason to be an unanswerable objection Vind. p. 14. Farther when he is explaining his Text he says Beware lest any spoil you thro' Philosophy and vain Deceit that is thro' the vain deceit of Philosophy Philosophy cheats men with a flattering but false appearance It may unsettle weak minds but cannot lay a sure or solid foundation for Faith it may cheat men out of their Faith but when that is done can give nothing in the room of it Serm. p. 2. He has divers such passages addressed directly against Reason and Philosophy but after the Remarks on those passages came abroad he thought it should seem that seeing what he had so hastily said could no ways be defended his best way would be to deny that ever he said or intended it He thought perhaps it would be a less loss of Reputation if two or three prying malicious Fellows will read the Sermon again and thereby discover either that the Doctor had forgot himself or would venture in a streight on an apparent falsity than to make himself contemptible to learned and discerning Men by pertinacy in Opinions that had been so clearly refuted I leave it to others to judg whether this were an exact Computation But I think I had not mentioned this Sermon or its Vindication but that here again the Doctor calls in his Heterodoxies concerning the Trinity He disowns here the expression three infinite Minds and Spirits as very inconvenient and liable to an heretical Interpretation it ought not to be used he saith in the absolute but only in a qualified and restrained Sense His words are I freely acknowledg that three infinite Minds and Spirits is liable to a very Heretical and Tritheistic Sense if understood absolutely Serm. p. 3. But this was never acknowledged till the Judgment by the Disinterested and the Remarks had extorted it from him I come now to his third and last book of Retractations his present state of the Socinian Controversy which as 't is much larger than any of the rest so 't is more express and direct against the Heresy of three infinite eternal Minds Spirits Beings or Substances 'T is also written so much more calmly than any former piece by the same hand that I could scarce believe it was Doctor Sherlock's Abating a little grumbling of the gizard against Dr. S th and the Oxford Heads for former harshness and irreverence and a small aking of the teeth against the unpardonable Socinians the Causers or however the Occasioners of
thought the Articles of that Creed are affirmed I have examined some of his principal References and can say of 'em they are either Perversions or downright Falsifications of what the Authors referred to did intend Dr. Wallis whose dishonest Quotations out of the Socinians have been detested by every body is hardly more blamable in that kind than Mr. Edwards saving that the Doctor being as one rightly tells him somewhat more than a Socinian did but foul his own Nest by his Forgeries but we cannot certainly say what is the opinion of Mr. Edwards in the great Article in question among us But come we to the Creed which he says is ours as I promis'd I will answer to every Article of it sincerely and directly I. I believe concerning the Scriptures that there are Errors Mistakes and Contradictions in some places of it That the Authority of some whole books of it is questionable yea that the whole Bible has been tamper'd with and may be suspected to be corrupted That there are Errors Mistakes and Contradictions in the H. Bible was never said by any person pretending to be a Christian if by the Bible you mean the Bible as it came out of the hands of the inspired Authors of it As on the other side that there are Errors Mistakes or Contradictions in the vulgar Copies of the Bible used by the Church of Rome for instance or the English Church was never questioned by any learned Man of whatsoever Sect or way and least of all can Mr. Edwards question it He has published a book concerning the Excellence and Perfection of H. Scripture in which book he finds great fault with our English Bible He saith in the Title of his 13th chapter It is faulty and defective in many places of the Old and New Testaments and I offer all along in this chapter particular Emendations in order to render it more exact and compleat As to the Hebrew and Greek copies of the Bible 't is well known some are more perfect and some less They differ very much for in the Old Testament the Hebrew Critics have noted 800 various readings in the New there are many more Mr. Gregory of Oxford so much esteemed and even venerated for his admirable Learning says hereupon and says it cum Licentiâ Superiorum There is no book in the World that has suffer'd so much by the hand of Time as the Bible Pref. p. 4. He judged and judged truly that tho' the first Authors of the Bible were Divinely Instructed Men yet the Copiers Printers and Publishers in following Ages were all of them Fallible Men and some of them ill-designing Men. He knew that all the Church Historians and Critics have confessed or rather have warned us that some copies of the Bible have been very much vitiated by the hands as well of the Orthodox as of Heretics and that 't is matter of great difficulty at this distance of time from the Apostolic Age to assertain the true reading of H. Scripture in all places of it Yet we do not say hereupon as Mr. Edwards charges us that the Bible much less the whole Bible is corrupted For as to the faulty readings in the common Bibles of some Churches and in some Manuscript Copies the Providence of God has so watched over this sacred Book that we know what by information of the antient Church-Historians and the writings of the Fathers what by the early Translations of the Bible into Greek Latin and Syriac and the concurrent Testimony of the more antient Manuscript copies both who they were that introduced the corrupt readings and what is the true Reading in all Texts of weight and consequence In short as to this matter we agree with the Critics of other Sects and Denominations that tho' ill Men have often attempted they could never effect the corruption of H. Scripture the antient Manuscripts the first Translations the Fathers and Historians of the Church are sufficient directors concerning the authentic and genuine Reading of doubtful places of H. Scripture Farther whereas Mr. Edwards would intimate that we reject divers Books of H. Scripture On the contrary we receive into our Canon all those Books of Scripture that are received or owned by the Church of England and we reject the Books rejected by the Church of England We know well that some Books and parts of Books reckoned to be wrote by the Apostles or Apostolical Men were questioned nay were refused by some of the Antients but we concur with the opinion of the present Catholic Church concerning them for the reasons given by the Catholic Church and which I mention in the Reply to my Lord the Bp. of Chichester If Mr. Edwards would have truly represented the opinion of the Socinians concerning the Scriptures he knew where to find it and so expressed as would have satisfied every body He knows that in the Brief Notes on the Creed of Athanasius they have declared what is their sense in very unexceptionable words The Holy Scriptures say they are a divine an infallible and compleat Rule both of Faith and Manners Br. Notes p. 1. The Church neither requires nor desires that they should say more II. I believe concerning God That he is not a Spirit properly speaking but a sort of Body such as Air or Aether is That he is not immense infinite or every where present but confined to certain places That he hath no knowledg of such future Events as depend on the Free Will of Man and That it is impossible such things should be foreseen by him That there is a Succession in God's eternal duration as well as in time which is the measure of the duration that belong to finite Beings That Almighty God is Incorporeal Omnipresent and Omniscient has not only been confessed but proved by the Unitarians of this Nation in divers of their late Prints As to the other that all Duration that of God as well as of Creatures consists in a Succession is affirmed by some Learned Men of all Perswasions and Ways as well as by the Unitarians It should seem Mr. Edwards holds that God possesses eternal Lite all at once that to God Eternity is one standing permanent Moment St. John is of another mind for he describes the duration of God by a Succession by was is and is to come Grace be to you and Peace says he from him which is was and is to come Rev. 1.4 'T is undeniable by any but affected Wranglers that here the duration of God his continuance in being is distinguished by the threefold Succession was is and shall be which is common to all Beings Eternal life possessed all at once is one of the monstrous Paradoxes which our Opposers maintain for all that I can see meerly from a spirit of contradiction for it has no manner of ground either in Reason or Holy Scripture I desire to know of 'em how the duration of God is the less perfect because 't is said to consist in a Succession
only this that every one shall be so recompensed at the Resurrection as is worthy of the holy Judg and compassionate Father of the World But we hold he saith that the Punishment of the Wicked is only Extinction Their life shall be destroyed for ever by the unquenchable Fire into which they are cast Which opinion that it may look ridiculous he words for us thus the unquenchable Fire is nothing but Annihilation What the Scriptures have said concerning the Punishment of the Wicked after the Resurrection is not so clear but that the opinions of Learned Men Fathers and Moderns have been very different about it Some of which number is Origen the most considerable of the Ante-nicens held that not only wicked Men but the very Devils will repent and reform under the Punishments they endure that therefore they will be pardoned be admitted to a new trial of their Behaviour and may attain to Blessedness These say that Man being a reasonable is therefore a docile or teachable Creature and it not looking probable that the Wisdom of God will lose any part of his Creation but will bring it to the Perfection and upon that to the Blessedness of which 't is capable therefore what by Instructions what by Punishments and Encouragements God will reclame the Bad will perfect and confirm the Good and so in the long-run of things be acclamed the Saviour of all Others among whom have been some it may be the most of the Forein Vnitarians have thought that the Righteous are rewarded with an everlasting Life of Blessedness and the impenitent Wicked punisht by that unquenchable Fire that will wholly destroy their being They believe this is the reason why the Punishment by Hell-Fire is called Eternal Death in Holy Scripture But the more current opinion among all denominations of Christians is that the Punishment of the Impenitent in Hell-fire is called Death not because it utterly destroys the life of the Sufferer but because 't is a continual and endless dying The extreme pains of Hell may well be called an everlasting dying or an eternal Death tho' the Sufferer is never extinct I do not find any thing in the Books of the English Vnitarians concerning these opinions they may hold as variously concerning them as the Christians of other denominations But if I may answer for them by what I judg of them by conversation with them I would say we approve the doctrine delivered by Arch-bishop J. Tillotson in a Sermon before her late Majesty of happy memory March 7.1689 on Matth. 25.46 which Sermon was printed by their Majesties special Command VIII I believe as to Christianity it self every thing in it is to be submitted to the dictates of Human Reason and that there are no Doctrines in it that are mysterious Neither of these was ever said by any Vnitarian and all our Prints more especially those in the English Tongue are express that there are many things as well in Religion as Nature that are far above the capacity of human Reason to declare or understand the manner of 'em or how they should be what we either see or are infallibly taught they are We never pretended that the Human Reason is the measure of Truth as Mr. Edwards and Mr. Norris charge us so that what our reason does not comprehend we will not believe on any other evidence whatsoever We never said it or thought it we reject no Doctrines but such as are contrary to Reason and of that I speak fully in the answer to Mr. De Luzancy hereto annexed IX As to Divine Worship I believe it may be given to another besides God to Christ who is but a Creature But we have disavowed nothing more in all our Prints than giving Divine Worship to any but only God that 't is a marvel to me that Mr. Edwards should impute to us such a doctrine we have scarce any English Print where we do not expresly oppose it Nor do we reckon of the Lord Christ as but a Creature I have said before he is God and Man The Divinity did so inhabit in the Humanity of Christ doth so exert in it the most glorious effects of Omnipotence and Omniscience that if others have been called God because they represented God Christ is to be so called because he exhibits God X. I believe Prayer was not required under the Old Testament The Lords-day is a ceremonious Observance abolished by the Gospel There is no spiritual Blessing conferred in the use of the Sacraments Baptism is an useless Rite and the Baptism of Children altogether vain There is no distinct function or office of Ministers in the Christian Church the very Lord's Supper it self may be administred by a private person I think Mr. Edwards is in the right against those if any such there were who deny'd that Prayer was a duty or precept of the Old Testament and the Law when he says It is included in the general precepts of fearing serving worshipping God But he is as much out in the next Article that some have said the Lords-day is abolished by the Gospel for it was never said by any He meant I suppose that the Seventh-day or Sabbath is abolisht and I take it to be the doctrine of the Catholic Church that the Seventh-day-Sabbath was ceremonial and is abolisht It may better however be said that the Sabbath is transferred from the seventh to the first day than that 't is absolutely abolisht or taken away In short the English Vnitarians hold no private opinion about either the Sabbath or Lord's day but as well in principle as practice concur with the Catholic Church It is too loosly said That there is no spiritual Blessing conferr'd in the use of the Sacraments For there is no ordinance of God but the serious and devout performance of it draws a blessing on the doer For all that many exceed in ascribing to the Sacraments certain Powers and Energies without competent warrant from the Word of God I do not know that Baptism is any thing more than a federal Rite by which we are initiated into the Christian Religion or the Holy Supper any thing more than a commemoration of the Sacrifice of Christ offering himself to God as an atonement for repenting sinners I know not to what purpose so many superstitious Books are written to teach people how to prepare themselves for the Memorial Supper when an honest Intention and a reverent Performance are sufficient both preparations and qualifications for and in all Gospel-Ordinances The Apostle says He that eateth that Bread unworthily or unworthily drinketh of that Cup is guilty of the blood of Christ nay eateth and drinketh Judgment to himself But he also warns them what he means by unworthy partaking namely their not tarrying for one another and withal eating and drinking with so little regard to God or Men that some of them made themselves drunk with the Sacramental Wine while others could not so much as tast of it Briefly their