Mr. Locke with more tenderness and so they would have all Writers be very sweet upon their Opponents and shew themselves as mild and gentle as cade Lambs tho they wield their Pens against the stiffest Patrons of Error they must compliment and flatter them they must shew themselves very fond of them and address themselves to them with great respects and honour or at least they must not dare to provoke and exasperate them tho it be by the innocent freedom of urging Truth This faint sort of Penning may be observ'd especially in one known Writer of late and if there were more such the Mischief of that sneaking Humour would be unspeakable But I perceive Mr. Edwards's fault is that he is none of those hum-drumming Authors and thence it is that he is disgusted by those of that kidney and hath the honour to bear the same imputation that was causelesly thrown upon my Lord Bishop of Worcester in one of the late Socinian Pamphlets that he was a passionate and angry Writer and not fit to write Controversies But the truth of the matter with respect to the Gentleman Mr. Edwards hath to do with is this that he began to be very daring and with disdain to trample upon Vniversities publick Schools Clergymen c. as well as upon the most sacred and venerable Articles of our Christian Faith and the very Epistles of the inspired Apostles which occasion'd Mr. Edwards to appear against him with some severity and indignation and to be plain and home with him and to be a little upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with him He thought good to treat him roundly and smartly and to intersperse here and there some nipping Sarcasms And now we see and are convinced that this was the best way of dealing with him for this sort of Medicaments hath cured his Pen of the Diarrhaea at least as to this present Cause for a time As we owe it likewise to this plainness and freedom that the late Socinian Writers were took down so soon By the pointed dint of Mr. Edwards's Arguments in his Socinian Creed and by the free and smart Lashes he distributed among those Gentlemen this great Service was done to the Church And I am perswaded and so are others that he will never hear from them again especially now their great Pan is dead who used to hand their Papers to the Press and to pay for them It is the general opinion that if Mr. Locke had not run the Gantlet we should not have been quiet for him whence we see there was a necessity of using this severe Discipline towards him It was as requisite as sober and close arguing of which he had abundance in Mr. Edwards's several Writings Here was no unfair dealing then Mr. Edwards did nothing that was ungenteel or argued him to be a stranger to good Manners no more than the Gentlemen of the Grand Jury of Middlesex who thought fit to give Mr. Locke's Book a place in their Presentments To conclude it is a vulgar Saying tho borrowed from an eminent Pen that Writers of Controversies should use soft Words and hard Arguments But tho the Bishop of Worcester hath follow'd this exactly in his Controversies with Mr. Locke yet neither Mr. Locke nor Mr. Edwards have tied themselves to this Rule for Mr. Locke in his Debates with the Bishop hath soft Words and soft Arguments and in his last Debates with Mr. Edwards he hath some very hard words tho his Arguments be very soft But of Mr. Edwards it is generally said his Arguments are hard as well as his Words Leaving Mr. Locke and his Antagonists we proceed to Champions of another nature and kind And the next pair is of the Critical Classis the Honourable Charles Boyle Esq having publish'd the Epistles of Phalaris c. Dr. Bentley not long after put out his Dissertations upon them wherein he makes some Reflections on the Editors but chiefly on the performance it self I don't think he had any ill design but he shews himself a true thorough-paced Critick that is one that flies at all censures and condemns all as he sees occasion and spares neither persons nor things for else he would not be a right Critick It is a hard matter to decide the Controversy between Persons of this Study for there is a great deal of subtilty and double-dealing in the ordinary managing of the Criticks Office and it is an easy matter for a well-read man to thrust his Notions on the belief of the world and to gain a very good reception tho they have little solidity at the bottom I will not undertake to interpose here for he only is to be Umpire that fully understands both sides But I hope I may be permitted to report what every unbiass'd man saith that hath insight into that sort of Learning namely that the Doctor 's Criticism is very brave and noble and if it be not exactly adjusted to Truth yet it is very probable Then comes Mr. Boyle and shews himself a great Critick and a witty one He hath amass'd a great deal of Reading together excellently criticized for his own turn but when all is done his Quotations do not reach the Business However this must be said he hath taken a great deal of pains or some body for him hath so for this is that which the Doctor hath more than hinted that Mr. Boyle was not the Author of that Work yea that there was a Club of Criticks to finish it that it was patch'd up of several pieces and by several hands Cuckow-like they had translated their own brood and laid it in this Gentleman's Nest But to be free with the Learned Doctor tho most men think this to be true yet unless he had had good ground for it he should have been silent especially when he dealt with a Person of Honour and one that had been lately reading not only Rosscommon but an antienter Poet Quae non fecimus ipsi Vix ea nostra voco Therefore truly I think the Learned Doctor should have tacitely owned him to be the Author of that undertaking till he could evince the contrary and the rather because that Gentleman publickly set his Name to it and told the World it was his But let us see how this incens'd young Critick handles the Doctor and truly he doth this roughly enough for first he reflects on his Morals and accuses him of false dealing lying cheating denying his own words p. 5 6 7 8. and he produces other mens words and hands against him The decision of all which wholly depends on the integrity of the Witnesses and on the fair and sincere interpreting of what passed on both sides and therefore I shall wave this and proceed to that which we may more easily judg of Only all that I will say at present is this that from what an honest Gentleman beyond-sea Monsieur Grevius is ready to attest to the World we shall be able to guess what weight there is in the
rest of the Stories and Relations Mr. Boyle to let us know at his first setting up to write that he intends not to be sparing in his Reflections grates on the Doctor 's breeding Pref. tells him of his dependance on p. 12. upbraids him with want of Humanity ibid. Objects to him ill breeding p. 22. ill-manners ibid. He lets the Doctor know that he acts not like a Scholar or a Christian p. 24. or one in Holy Orders ibid. He charges him with want of Modesty p. 28. with affectation of Pedantry p. 34. defect of sagacity and sincerity p. 67. he saith he is a man of no meaning and design p. 68. one that hath no relish or taste of the proprieties of any of those Languages he hath pretended to judg of or write in p. 72. he jeers at his Employment of Library-keeper p. 91 100. he lays to his charge disabliging rude qualities p. 111. misrepresenting of Authors to serve a turn 117. laughs at him for quibble and witticism 133 134 tells him he is fast asleep and yet talks wildly 137. he means he talks in his Sleep He commonly arraigns him as a Filcher and a Plagiary he calls him a weeder of Writers 216. and to let us see he improves in his Stile he honours him with the Epithets of Ass and Dunce 220. And in one single page he lays it on thick telling him he is false and disingenuous in his dealings fierce and vindictive lofty and insulting scurrilous clownish p. 222. and every where he represents him as a Fool a weak Creature as a man neither of Understanding nor Integrity Here is the charge which is either true or false if the former then Mr. Boyle is the only discerning man in the World which no body I think believes no not himself for no body but he will or can say all these things of the Doctor If the latter then some body begins the Prize betimes for the Whetstone and few can boast they have the better of him But I will not be so rude as to impeach him of falsity tho the thing he saith be not true for perhaps it may seem true to him and then if he delivered only his Opinion he doth not falsify As to Mr. Boyle's stile it is very reflecting and sarcastick and if any man thinks otherwise he deserves to taste of it But such as it is if Dr. Bentley had deserv'd it at his hands it had not been culpable For it is not the severity of Language that renders it blameable but the ill design and end that make it so An ingenious Gentleman was pleas'd to say There is not so much Truth spoken any where as at Billinsgate Blount's Life of Apollonius Tyanaeus written by Philostrat because others are mealy-mouthed and loth to speak out but they tell one anothers faults plainly and roundly tho with unsufferable indecency of words and with implacable Passion and to very unchristian ends and purposes and by that Gentleman's leave with want of Truth very frequently I will not then insist upon the bare mode of Language used by this noble Writer but fairly and impartially scan the decency and fitness of it as it relates to the Person whom he hath to do with and as it may be thought to become himself 1. Some think this noble Gentleman hath transgress'd his own Laws and Rules about Pedantry and whilst he charges the Doctor with that fault is guilty of it himself in those scraps of Poetry which he claps into the front and into the body of his Book in his affected Quotations of others besides Rosscommon in his indigested Rhapsodies out of Greek Authors in his forced and strain'd Criticisms in his slighting the best and most authentick Authority in his formal dictating every where in his prescribing of Maxims and Rules to the World in his pack of Advices and good Counsels when there was no need of them Such trumpery as this is found in the most slender sort of Writers and such as this Gentleman calls Pedants This is some mens sense concerning his Examination of Dr. Bently's Dissertations 2. Others think that the ill-breeding he objects to the Doctor is his own blemish for they apprehend it savours not overmuch of Gentility and good Manners to disparage the breeding of a Person of ingenuous Education and brought up in Societies and Families where that quality is not wanting and who taught it unto others And there are those who imagine that Doctor of Divinity Chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty the Kings Library keeper not to mention his Promotion and Dignity in the Church almost amount to as great a noise as the Title of Esquire 3. Some think and who can help their thinking that Mr. Boyle offends against his own Rules about ill-breeding and Pedantism when he mentions Dr. Bently's dependance on a great Man as if that Relation were a dishonour to him for be sure he doth not mention it for his Honour One would think that for the sake of that eminent Person that Reflection might have been spared But some are of Opinion that this is a kind of revenging of Mr. L.'s Cause which they would not do directly on the Bishop for writing against him and therefore chose this oblique way But I can say nothing as to that No man believes there is any great overplus of breeding for that is the word our Author furnishes us with in insisting on Dr. Bentley's being the Library-keeper at St. James's He did rather call for some Deference as he was the King's Servant there Wherefore he that turns this into a Reflection seems not to understand the breeding of the Court But however as the Doctor was in Holy Orders he was to have had some respect paid to him but even this is mention'd to his disparagement which carries little of the air and genius of a Gentleman which is an Argument to perswade me that some body else besides the Honourable Mr. Boyle had a hand in this work In short whoever he was he gives the Doctor no quarter he teazes and worries him most unmercifully Mr. Wotton hardly escapes for this Author flies at him and his Treatise of Antient and Modern Learning and more than once reminds him that he hath purged his Book of several ill Passages in this second Edition p. 97. letting us know that the former had several ill Passages in it and he charges this Gentleman likewise with ill manners p. 22. and it is a kindness that he there stopt 4. The aggravation of all is this That the greatest part of all this Raillery is only for a little Criticism Who would think that such a small matter should exasperate Persons to that height and warm their Bloods to that degree It was otherwise with the late Combatants we spoke of their difference was in points of an high nature where indifferency would have been a fault Mr. Edwards had reason to appear with some warmth when the grand matters of our Religion lay at stake such
and is ambitious of propagating them and this he doth under the mask of Criticizing He concludes all with his judgment on the Character of a Writer and we might do so too and be as severe upon him as he is upon Curtius whom he makes a very sorry Writer But as for himself and his Treatise of the Critical Art he gives us high Characters of both in several of his Pages but chiefly in his Dedicatory Epistle to his Teuto where he assures us that he doth not swell with Pedagogick Pride nor is he loaded with a farrage of jejune Learning but uses his Judgment and Memory and is modest c. I am as ready as himself to heap praises on his Head and to applaud his neat Stile his great Reading his vast Industry his excellent Remarks on the different undertakings of Authors his variety of Critical Notions by which he hath very much obliged the World But then that I neither may be a partial Critick I must needs say he hath disobliged it much more by his straining of Criticism to support a Cause which he hath unfortunately adopted And here to make an end I will observe these three things 1. There is nothing New in this Writer which respects that Cause He hath not cultivated the Argument at all no not where every one might have expected it For who would have thought that so industrious a Critick and so hearty a well-willer to Vnitarianism would not have attempted at least to return an Answer to the excellent Arguments used by Bishop Pearson and Bishop Stillingfleet to disprove the Allegations of the Socinians about the adulterating and depraving of some of those Texts which he hath produced This would have been a seasonable work and especially because it properly appertains to the Province of Criticks and because it appears from his Writings that he is not unacquainted with the Works of those eminent Men and reads them in their own Language And yet notwithstanding all this he makes no effort that ways nor doth he so much as take notice that those excellent Authors have replied to the Objections and Scruples of the Socinian Writers about those Texts Whence we may infer that what those Learned Anti-Socinians have suggested is unanswerable and that one of the smartest Criticks of our days hath nothing to say to it 2. We might observe how mischievous and dangerous such Writings as these which not only this Author but others of the same Perswasion have lately fill'd the World with may prove to Mankind We ought to think of this betimes and to shew our resentment of it lest otherwise we contribute by our insensibleness to that Evil which we see is approaching Any man that is not prepossess'd may discern the Contrivance which is carrying on at this day namely to instil the notions of Socinianism into the Youth of this Age and accordingly it is observable that the Foreign and English Vnitarians have industriously applied themselves to this rank of Persons that is to those that are coming up in the World We see that their address is very frequent and close to young Gentlemen that by sowing these early Seeds in them there may be a hopeful Crop expected afterwards so that tho these Seeds-men may not prevail so far upon this present Generation as they desire yet there may be some fruit of their labours in the future one This Learned Monsieur is a Tutor to the younger Heads a Director to them in their Studies and dedicates his Criticks to one of them and intimates the hopes of the good success of his Documents And truly it is to be mention'd with infinite regret that these Instructors have their Teuto's every where and are very busily at work with them so among our selves we have some that promote Principles of a like nature with those and are employ'd in the Education of the youth of this Nation As much as to tell us that if they cannot sufficiently proselyte the men of this Age they will make sure of those of the next if they can't succeed at present they will gain Posterity 3. I have one thing more to observe and that is this how harmful a Project it is of our Critick to publish Dr. Hammond's Annotations on the New Testament and at the same time to mix his own additional Notes with them This is a politick way to promote the Cause and especially in England where the Works of that Learned and Pious Annotator are in so great esteem When his Criticisms and Interpretations are blended with the Socinian ones how easily will they be both imbibed together I thought fit to caution my Countrymen about this Hazard that they may not be betray'd into Error even the worst of Errors whilst they are intent upon studying the Truth This is all I have to say at present concerning this French Author whose Wit and Parts and acquired Accomplishments are not of the lowest degree and whose Critical Genius if it had been set right would have been extremely serviceable to Religion especially the Christian But it is his unhappiness to have taken the wrong Path and if he goes on after this rate he hath begun he will criticize a great part of our Religion out of doors I had some Thoughts of proceeding to other Authors some of our own Country as Dr. Whitby and Mr. Norris who have duell'd one another about the Love of the Creature I was thinking to examine the Philosophick Champions as L. P. or the Oxford-Essays and Mr. H. and one or two pair more of the Strugglers of this Age but these may perhaps be the diversion of another Paper and it may be will give less Offence for your Criticks are very touchy People and it is very invidious to go a Socinian-hunting as one or two lately have found it And lastly I am fully sensible what a difficult and arduous work I have been about no less than adjusting the Debates between Cambridg and Oxford between the St. Johns men on one side and the men of Christ-Church on the other THE END