although if they had then a being yet they made no Figure in the World He fully tells us that the Arians appealed for tryal to the Fathers that they were condemned at Nice by a Party and by the Artifice of the Emperor Where he also gives us a monstrous Account of the Number of the Bishops there assembled And p. 99. he affirms that the Arians had not Freedome to dispute their Cause He represents the Arian Councils of Ariminum very Erroneously He manifests his Malignity when he accuses the Trinitarians of Ignorance and for Proof cites a Canon of the Church and p. 103. he gives many Instances of the same where we have proved that there is no such Canon as far as a Negative is capable of being proved And we have discovered his disingenuity in not mentioning Du Ranckin from whom he borrowed all his Materials word for word The seventh Section is of the Immortality of the soul and of the Original of the Jews In this Section the necessity of revealed Religion is proved from the insufficiency of Philosophical Reasons to this purpose As also with relation to a future State Which as Mr. Blount confesses p. 118. hath so much ruffled and entangled mens Minds The principal philosophic Reason is examined and refell'd From whence it will be evident that the Scriptures alone give a satisfactory Account of those things Sir Henry Savil's translating Tacitus and omiting the Original of the Jews is here defended Institution of Divine Worship proved to be before Moses and Abraham As also that Moses and the Israelites did not learn Circumcision from the Aegyptians and that our Author in this Method followed Celsus and Julian The eighth Section of marrying two Sisters Judaism Christianity Millenaries In which the Scriptures brought to prove it unlawful are defended The Nature of Penal Laws in this case makes more against our Deists then for him his Error proceeds from neglecting the Hebrew and following the Greek Translation The Apostolic Canon in this case considered Dr. Hammond's Mistake discovered about a Woman's leaving her Husband and marrying again As also Mr. Blount's Abuse of the Council of Eliberis where we are necessitated to speak on something concerning Excommunication the Churches great Censure Grotius his Error in his Inference from the Apostolic Canon reproved and his Collection from the Council of Eliberis proved unwarrantable St. Basil's Epistle to Diadorus in this case is considered Mr. Blount's great Falshood and Abuse of the civil Law in this case is laid open the Sects of the Jews and the case of the Messiah is rightly stated Mr. Blount's manner of Arguing is reprehended We have defended the Prophecy of Daniel in this case and have shown the Original of the Millinaries The ninth Section of Augury Origine of Good and Evil plurality of Worlds Ocellus Lucanus c. From his account of Augury I have collected the Necessity of revealed Religion discovered his mistake of Christian Processions If what Varenius concerning whole Nations being Atheistical affirms be true the most learned Dr. Stilling fleet seems to be under some mistake Varenius his Assertion argues the Necessity of revealed Religion the Chinensian and Aegyptian account of time proved to be vain and ridiculous as also the Chaldean the main Props of our Author's Hypothesis the Origine of Good and Evil not to be known by natural Religion If Mr. Blount's Supposition be granted concerning the Persians the Deist must be an Idolater his reason for plurality of worlds refuted the principal Arguments of Ocellus Lucanus refell'd his Age examined with some uncommon Observations relating to him and our Author 's great Vanity in making him cotemporary with or ancienter then Moses exposed Mr. Blount's great Argument for a double Creation out of the first and second Chapters of Genesis enquired into and proved ineffectual From hence we may see the reason why in his 5th Page he propounds it as a Difficulty how distinct pieces of the World should be Peopled as America and the like without a miracle and of Mathusalem's being the longest llv'd of all Adam's Posterity because in his Hypothesis of two distinct Originals of mankind they have an easie Solution although they have a truer and a much easier one in ours This method of his is indeed allowable in Philosophy which varies according to every new Phaenomenon but hath no place in matters of Religion His Disingenuity in relation to Cicero reproved the Difference between Ocellus and the Chaldeans is observed There are many other Matters contained in this Book which for Brevities sake I have omited but are perspicuously treated of and I hope to the Readers satisfaction Two things remain which I think fit to acquaint my Reader with one is that these Oracles are many of them transcribed out of modern Authors of whom I have taken no Notice but require all at Mr. Blount's Hands he being the Person that gave them the Title of Oracles neither take I any Notice of others concerned he being the chief Architect The other is that these Controversies depending much on Authority I am necessitated to make frequent appeals to Greek and Latin Authors whom for the Benefit of some Readers I have translated into English where if I have not kept my self strictly to the Words yet I have taken all care not to deviate from tne true sense Lastly As in all Duty bound I humbly submit the censure of what I have written to my Superiors in the Cnurch of England Farewel Mr. BLOUNT's Oracles of Reason Examined and Answered In Nine SECTIONS c. SECT I. Of the Mosaic Creation and the Divine Miracles MR. Blount Page the Second says That many Fathers of the Church have concluded that the whole Mosaic Creation seems to have been but a pious Allegory ANSWER It is worth observing that although the Author of these pretended Oracles of Reason hath little regard for the Holy Scriptures and without all peradventure less for the Fathers of the Church yet upon all Occasions he makes use of their Authorities and frequently quotes them Upon reading this Imputation and his fastning such a Charge upon many Fathers of the Church I forthwith consulted Mr. Dally of the Use of the Fathers Book the second Chapter three and fourth where he treats professedly of the Fathers Errors and I find nothing there that favours this bold Assertion On the contrary I find an Expression of Dally's from the unanimous Consent of the Fathers which if it be true this of the Oracle must necessarily be false None of the ancient Fathers can be charged with this Mistake if Origen his Interpreters I take not into the Number and perhaps St. Ambrose be excepted St. Ambrose Chap. 2. of Paradise speaks not of above One that was of this Opinion and the Margent refers us to Origen Whereas had it been true what these Oracles suggests p. 49. That in the first Ages of the Christian Church the more candid Interpreters deviated from the literal reading of Moses's History
very day of their Birth they should fall into Misery and Evil. Where we see that after all those Brags of Sacred Oracles and Authority of Fathers our Author with all his Reason and Arguments is forced to conclude with probability Pag. 59. The Second Nicene Council would have this Doctrine proposed out of the Book of John Bishop of Thessalonica to be confirmed these are the Words concerning the Angels Arch-Angels and their Powers to which I also joyn our own Souls this is the Opinion of the Catholick-Church that they are 't is true intelligible yet not wholly incorporeal and invisible ANSWER Supposing that it were true as it is not what Mr. Blount hath delivered concerning the Second Nicene Council 's Confirming the Opinion of John Bishop of Thessalonica yet it cannot be concluded that this was the Opinion of the Catholick-Church as to the Corporiety of Angels and Souls Who knows not that the Conditions commonly required to make a General Council which only can Represent the Catholick-Church were wanting to the Second Nicene Petrus de Marca lib. 2. de Concordia c. 17. gives us this Account Secunda Synodus Nicaena ab Ecclesia Gallicana in Concilio Francofordiensi repudiata est The Gallicane Church Assembled in the Council of Francford hath rejected the Second Nicene Council And he subjoyns this excellent Reason Secundam Synodum Nicenam Oecumedicam dici posse negarunt quod occidentis provinciae per Epistolas more Ecclesiastico sententiam rogatae non fuissent The Second Nicene Synod was deny'd by them to be Oecumenical because no regard was had to the Provinces of the Western Churches in order to their consent according to the Custom received in the Church And the same De Marca lib. 6. c. 25. adds In Synodo Francofordiensi agitatum an Secunda Synodus Nicene recipienda foret tanquam septima Synodus oecumenica decretum autem in Canone Secundo Synodum illam repudiandam esse damnandam In the Synod held at Fracford it was Debated whether the Second Nicene Synod should be received as the Seventh General Council but it was Decreed in the Second Canon that it should be rejected and Condemned Agreeable hereunto is that of Launey some time a most Learned Doctor of the Sorbon in his Epistles Par. 8. Epist 11. Antiquiores Gallia Scriptores Nicaenam Secundam Vniversalibus non accensent conciliis The more Ancient French Writers do not enumerate the Second Nicene Council among those which they account Universal And Launey then descends to Particulars proving the same by the Ancient French Annals and many Historians If we consult the Church here in Britain in those times we shall find that they Rejected it also Simeon Dunelmensis an Ancient and good English Historian in his Book de Gestis regum Anglorum ad annum 792 says That Charles King of France seut a Synodal Book into Britain which he received from Constantinople in which Book were contained the Decrees of the Second Nicene Council Now how our Church in those days was pleased or rather displeased therewith the fame Dunelmensis tells us In quo Libro hu proh Dolor Multa inconvenientia verae fidei contraria reperiunt maxime quod ibidem confirmatum imagines adorare debere quod omnino Ecclesia Dei execratur In which Book alas Many inconvenient things were found and repugnant to the true Faith especially that which relates to the Worship of Images which the Church of God doth utterly abominate This Testimony is the more to be regarded for that it appears from hence that in those days our Church abhorred Image Worship This Testimony is Recorded also by Roger Hoveden Matthew Westminster and other our Ancient and best Historians And so much confounded the Romanists in the begining of the Reformation that their great Advocate Harpsfield could make no other Reply but that it was commentitia insulsa fabula a foolish and an invented Fable and that it was not Written by Simeon Dunelmensis or Matthew Westminster He makes no mention of Roger Hoveden nor of the Manuscript History of Rochester in the Cottonian Bibliothec whereas the same is now to be found in the Manuscript of Dunelmensis in Bennet Colledg Library in Cambridge And those who have been conversant in those things assure us that the same is to be seen in divers Manuscripts of Mathew Westminster and Hoveden and that all old and uncorrupted Copies testifie the same thing Of what Quallity Dunelmensis was I need not say much since the Preface to the Decem Scriptures is very full to this purpose I shall only here say that he is accounted one of our best Historians by the Pontifician and Reformed Parties He was Chantour of the Church of Saint Cuthberts in Durham and continued his History to the Days of King Henry the First But Supposing that this Synod was Universal or that which is all one that the Opinion of the Catholick-Church might be gathered from it as touching the Corporiety of Angels and Souls Doth it appear that such was the definition of that Synod in any of its Decrees Or doth it appear that they Confirmed the Opinion of John Bishop of Thessalonica in this Point No certainly nothing less And for this we appeal to Edmund Richâ—r a Doctor of the Sorbon in his Learned History of General Councils in his First Book p. 655. where we Read Angelos animas esse Corporeas nequaquam approbavit Synodus sed fuit peculiaris opinio Episcopi Thessalonicensis The Second Nicene Synod did not approve of the Doctrine of the Corporiety of Angels or Souls but it was the peculiar and private opinion of the Bishop of Thessalonica And the same Richer farther adds Accedit in Synodis non attendi oportere ad ea quae privatus aliquis narrat sed ad solam Synodi definitionem ut alias observatum est Besides in Reading Councils little regard is to be had to what a private Doctor or Bishop may declare or say we ought only to look to the Decree or Definition of the Synod And this says Richer I have Observed in another Place And now I may without doing any wrong Conclude that Mr. Blount hath Read the Councils very negligently and makes use of them at Second Hand The same may be said of the Fathers he quotes He hath injuriously imputed Heresy to the Catholick Church and hath fastened an untruth on the Second Council of Nice Pag. 73. St. Austin Would have all things that are said to be the Work of Six Days to have been Created in one moment altho Moses divided them into Classes and different times that he might the better help the Imagination of the People to Comprehend the Fiâ—st Originals of things God Almighty did in my Opinion Create out of nothing in one Moment and by one individual Act all Substances whether Intellectual or Câ—â—â—â—â—al nor did St. Austin in that come wide of 〈…〉 ANSWER I Remember that I have Read somwhere in Maldenate that Gregory Nazianzen Compares
He quotes Acts 24 ver 19. who ought to have been before thee and object if they had ought against me or else let these same here say if they have found any evil doing in me whilst I stood before the Council And he quotes the 25. About whom when I was at Jerusalem the chief Priests and the Elders of the Jews informed me desiring to have judgment against him to whom I answered It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face and have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him Can it now be possibly conceived that Athanasius should thus expose himself and the Sacred Synod as He must of necessity have done if either He or they had been obnoxious to the same charge Sozomen lib. 1. c. 15. Eccles Histor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When the Bishops were assembled together they sent for Arius and proposed his Opinion to be disputed and discussed Socrates lib. 1. c. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Opinion of Arius was defended by Eusebius Bishop of Nicomede by Theagnis Bishop of Nice by Maris Bishop of Chalcedon in Bithynia who were opposed with great zeal by Athanasius a Deacon of the Church of Alexandria Theodoret lib. 1. c. 7. I have formerly made mention of some who in the Council defended the cause of Arius besides those Menophantus of Ephesus Patrophilus of Scythopolis Theognis of Nice Narcissus of Neroniad this Neroniad is a City of the other Cilicia now called Irenopolis ' Theonas of Marmarita Secundus of Ptolemais a City of Egypt opposed the Catholiek Faith and took on them the Defense and Patronage of Arius Ruffinus lib 1. c. 2. For many days there was a great dispute in the Council where some vehemently favoured Arius and contended for his Doctrines Who can now believe after such a cloud of of Witnesses that there should be the least Mite of truth in this Position of Mr. Blount's That the Arians had not the freedom to dispute their cause at the Council of Nice What should occasion this grand Mistake in our Deist may without great difficulty be conjectured I do not find any ground for it in the Arabian Historians before mentioned but in that impudent Writer Sandius pag 167. I find the whole charge For there He affirms That Arius and his Complices were censured judged and condemned causa inaudita multo minus rationibus expensis They were condemned says He without being heard much less had they permission to produce their Arguments and Reasons And that which overcomes all Impudence is that the said Sandius for proof cites Socrates Theodoret and Athanasius himself whereas there is nothing in those Authors but makes against Him for the places I have cited I have viewed in the Original Upon the whole this plainly appears that Arius was cited before the Fathers in the Council His Propositions were debated His cause was espoused by some in the Council with much zeal every thing on either side was weighed with great deliberation that nothing might be rashly concluded in so weighty and important an Affair Pag. 99. The Arian Doctrine was not only confirmed by eight Councils several times assembled at Tyre Sardis Syrmium Millain Seleucia Nice Tarsis and particularly at Ariminum where six hundred Bishops were of their opinion with only three which held the contrary they also punished others who were of a contrary opinion with Confiscations Banishments and other grievous Punishments ANSWER The Arian Doctrine according to Athanasius was confirmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Arian Doctrine was confirmed by ten Synods and more Neither is this any wonder for the Arians had for a long time the Sun-shine of the Secular Power The Question then is not of the Number of Synods but of the Methods by which they did proceed As to the Arian Methods we have this account from Athanasius All their Councils were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the Methods they took were irregular they were grounded on Hatred Ambition and Violence and this made their Councils void to all intents and purposes And as to the Council of Ariminum He says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Things were there determined by ambition and violence Nay He is so positive as to this of Ariminum that he plainly says That the Advocates thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That if the Advocates of that Council did but know how irregular the Proceedings at Ariminum were they would be silent and not plead for it So charitable was this good Man that altho' the Arians persecuted Him causelesly with all imaginable malice and wickedness yet He could not think that they would proceed to such boldness as openly to defend such notoriously unjustifiable courses As to the Number of Bishops pretended to be present at the Council of Ariminum there is some difference between our Author and Sandius the latter making the Number to be a thousand or more Interea qui Arimini convenerunt Pontifices numero millenarium excedente fuerunt And this Hunerick testifies in Victor Vticen lib. 3. I have consulted the place and can avouch for Sandius that he hath rightly cited Victor Utic For thus it is in the Bibliotheck of the Fathers But the Authority of Hunerick is of no moment He was an Arian Prince a Vandal and one who to carry on designs would not confine himself to numbers and peradventure the consideration thereof might move Mr. Blount to make allowance and to confine Himself to six hundred a very competent number and more than I am willing to acknowledge For I cannot but think that they are both out of the way since Sulpitius Severus an ancient Author and one that had many conveniences of knowing the truth much better than either of them assures us that there were very few above four hundred Quadringenti aliquot amplius are the words of Sulpitius Severus lib. 2. Hist Sacra And whereas Mr. Blount says That out of the number of six hundred there were only three that dissented he is under a great mistake and to make it very plain I shall cite Theodoret lib. 2. Eccles Hist cap. 23. where we find what here follows The Great Athanasius in his Epistle to the Africans writes after this manner of the Council of Ariminum Who can bear with them who prefer the Council of Ariminum before that of Nice or rather who cannot but hate such as reject the Decrees of those at Nice and are in love with such as were extorted by force and violence at Ariminum It happens to such as it happened to the Jews accordingly as it is written by the Prophet They have forsaken the fountain of living waters and have digged to themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water So these Men leaving the Sacred Nicene Council have betaken themselves to many Synods which are in themselves vain and of no effect And yet at Ariminum there were no
less than two hundred Dissenters and not three only as Mr. Blount bears us in hand that held the contrary As to what is added concerning the Persecutions used by the Arians we own it to be true and the Orthodox frequently inveighed against the Arians for these their Barbarities I shall therefore acquaint my Reader what Grotius says lib 2. De Jur. Pacis Belli cap. 21. sect 5. Athanasius is very vehement against the Arian Heresy for in his Epist ad Solit. they were the first who made use of the Temporal Power to punish dissenters with Stripes Imprisonments Confiscations and Banishments says Mr. Blount Those Bishops were condemned in France by the judgment of the Church which persecuted the Priscillianists to death and in the East that Synod was condemned which consented to the Burning of Bogomilus Page 100. As for the Trinitarians of those times I must confess that I cannot but esteem them as enemies to all Humane Learning for they had Canons forbidding them to read any Ethnick Books ANSWER I have seldom found such Confidence any where as these Oracles do in all places afford us How ridiculous this insulting of Mr. Blount's is will fully appear in handling this Point In prosecution of which I shall First Lay down the Discourse of Father Paul relating hereunto Secondly I shall show what Reasons I have to dissent from that learned and worthy Person Thirdly I shall consult the Opinions of some of the most Learned of the Eastern Church with my Reason for so doing Lastly I shall make plain Inferences which will be sufficient to cramp the Presumption of our Deist and to defend the Trinitarians as he calls them against the Imputation of Ignorance Of what Candor and Learning Father Paul was every Man knows that hath read his History of the Council of Trent where p. 472. he hath this Discourse In the Church of Martyrs there was no Ecclesiastical Prohibition though some godly Men made Conscience of reading bad Books for fear of offending against one of the three Points of the Law of God to avoid the Contagion of Evil not to expose ones self to Temptations without Necessity or Profit and not to spend time vainly These Laws being Natural do remain always and should oblige us to beware of reading bad Books though there were no Ecclesiastical Law for it But these Respects ceasing the Example of Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria a famous Doctor did happen who about the Year of our Lord 240. being reprehended by some of his Priests for these Causes and troubled with these Respects had a Vision that he should read all Books because he was able to judge of them yet they thought that there was greater Danger in the Books of the Gentiles than of the Hereticks the reading whereof was more abhorred and reprehended because it was more used by Christian Doctors for a vanity of Human Eloquence For this cause St. Jerom either in a Version or in a Sleep was beaten by the Devil So that about the Year 400 a Council in Carthage did forbid to read the Books of the Gentiles but allowed them to read the Books of Hereticks the Decrees whereof is among the Canons collected by Gratian and this was the first Ecclesiastical Prohibition by way of Canon Thus far Paul And now I come to the second thing The Council of Carthage which Father Paul relates to is that which is commonly called the 4th Carthaginian Council whose 16th Canon is ut Episcopus Gentilium libâ—os non legat Haereticorum autem pro necessitate tempore That a Bishop do not read the Books of the Gentiles but in reading the Books of Hereticks He is to have regard to Necessity and Opportunity Now in this particular I dissent from Paul and joyn with that great Antiquary Justellus who in his Preface to the Code of the African Church says Concilium quod vocant quartum Carthaginense plane repudiandum est nec fides adhibenda Canonibus 104 quos sine auctoritate huic Concilio adscribunt The Council which is commonly called the fourth Carthaginian is to be wholly rejected neither is there any Faith to be given to the 104 Canons which without any good Authority they ascribe to it There is no mention of these Canons in the Collection of Ferrandus nor in that of Dionysius Exiguus nor in the Code of the African Church nor in the Collection commonly called the Afr. Council In a Manuscript that belonged to Cardinal Barberini they are entituled Ancient Statutes of the Eastern Church But these Canons themselves prove the contrary The Ceremonies of the Ordination of the lesser Orders as they are sate forth in this Council are agreeable enough to the Practice of the Western Church where these Orders were conferred by delivering holy Vessels but not to the Eastern Church where these Orders were always conferred by Imposition of Hands In other Manuscripts they are entituled The ancient Statutes of the Church In a word there can be no sufficient reason given why they should not be found in the ancient Collections if they were genuine The ancientest Author Father Paul cites is Gratian whose testimony is of no weight if not strengthen'd by some collateral Evidence For all know He is a perfect Rhapsodist and this is so fully made out by August Tarraconensis in his Book de Emendat Gratiani that there is not any place left for the least doubt Which prejudice together with that of Moderness may be objected against Isidore Burchardus Hincmare Ivo Carnotensis c. and the defence which Schelstrate makes is so weak and dull as that it savours little of a Vaticane Library keeper whereas otherwise in his Ecclesia Africana He discovers much Learning and Reading I am now to consult the Opinions of some in the Eastern Church and to bring my reason for doing so Saint Basil in the first Tome of his Works hath a Homily whose Title is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Homily was compos'd for young Men not to prohibite them to read the Books of the Gentiles but to direct them and to shew what benefit they might reap thereby Amongst other things He takes notice that Moses was educated in the Learning of the Egyptians and so proceeded to the knowledge of the true God In like manner in following ages Dauiel at Babylon learned the Learning of the Chaldeans and from thence proceeded to Divine Doctrines Gregory Nazianzen ad Seleucum Iambie 3. treats of this matter where he prohibits nothing as touching reading the Books of the Gentiles but only lays down this Rule That from the same Plant Roses may be gathered and Thorns and that we ought to take one and leave the other The reason of these two citations is to stop the mouths of those who pretend that the Apostles prohibited the reading the Books of the Gentiles and for that purpose quote chap. 5. of the Apostolical Constitutions whose Title is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning reading the Books of such as are
not within the pale of the Church To which there needs no other Reply than the Testimonies of these two learned and pious Bishops If there had been such Constitutions in their times they could never have written as they did Besides the Authority of these pretended Constitutions as to this point is so fully refuted by Mr. Dalle in his Book de Pseudopigr Apostolicis pag. 326. that there is no place left for a Reply I may add hereunto the Law of the Emperour Julian the Apostate from Theodoret Eccles Hist lib. 4. c. 8. He first of all prohibited the use of Rhetoric Poetry and Philosophick Arts to the children of the Galileans so he called the Christians and the reason of the Law is in these words They wound us with our arrows as it is in the Proverb for out of our own Books they borrow arguments which they make use of to our confusion And all know this to be true who have read Tertullian Arnobius Lactantius and others in their Controversies with the Gentiles The Corollaries and Inferences I shall make are very plain First I affirm that there is no good Evidence for such a Canon anno 400. much less Canons as Mr. Blount says The Second is That this pretended Canon was made 75 years after the holding of the Nicene Council and therefore our Deist could not gather from this Canon the Ignorance of the Trinitarians of those times The Third is That it cannot be presumed that the Canons of the Church should be conform to the Decree of the Emperour Julian which was made on purpose to eradicate the Christian Religion no more can it can be presumed that Basil and N zianzen would impugn an Apostolical Constitution Lastly The Learning of the Gentiles was so amply treated of by the Fathers of the 4 first Centuries their Philosophy and Theology was so fully examined and refuted by them that unless these Books had been prohibited it was impossible for the Trinitarians of those times to have been ignorant of all the solid Learning contained in the Books of the Gentiles Pag. 103. And to shew how ignorant the Clergy were in the time of the Emp. Marcian we find the Greek Tongue so little understood at Rome and the Latin in Greece that the Bishops in both Countries in all 630. were glad to speak by Interpreters Nay in this very Council at Chalcedon the Emperor was fain to deliver the same speech in Greek to one party and in Latin to the others so that both might understand him the Council of Jerusalem for the same reason made certain Creeds both in Greek and Latin at the Council of Ephesus the Pope 's Legats had their Interpreter to expound the words and when Celestine 's Letters were there read the Acts tells us how the Bishops desired to to have them translated into Greek and read over again insomuch that the Romish Legats had almost made a controversy of it fearing least the Papal Authority should have been prejudiced by such an Act alledging therefore how it was the ancient custom to propose the Bulls of the See Apostolick in Latin only and that that might row suffice Whereupon those poor Greek Bishops were in danger not to have understood the Pope 's Latin till at length the Legats were content with Reasons when it was evidenced to them That the major part could not understand one word of Latin But the pleasantest of all is Pope Celestine 's Excuse to Nestorius for his so long delay in answering his Letters because he could not by any means get his Greek construed sooner Also Pope Gregory the Fiest ingeniously confesseth to the Bishop of Thessaly that hâ— understood not a jot of his Greek ANSWER Mr. Blount hath discovered much malignity against the Clergy in this and the next Page the great Imputation of their not being good Grecians cannot be charged on the present Clergy Besides we are not so ignorant as He is disingenuous who hath taken all those choice Remarks word for word out of Du Ranchin's Review of the Council of Trent p. 151 and 152. and yet makes no mention of the Author to whom he was so much obliged What our Author proposes to Himself by this Method is not very material for since the Latin and Greek are the Learned Languages why may not one of them be sufficient for a Clergy-man He that hath been in the least concern'd in the Popish Controversies cannot be ignorant that Casaubone Rainolds Dalle and others have sufficiently demonstrated how unskilful Baronius and Bellarmine have been in the Greek Tongue and yet who can doubt but that they were deservedly reputed great Clerks Who can doubt but that St. Austin and the African Bishops were very Pious and Learned Men and yet how meanly they were skilled in the Greek Tongue I have shown in another place If our Author be delighted with such Instances He might have brought some more pertinent to His purpose For Alphonsus a Castro tells us there were some Popes so illiterate as they were totally ignorant of Grammar Saint Amour tells us of a Pope who said He was a Canonist and no Divine The Learned Bishop of Sarum in the Preface to his Regale acquaints us with a Report at Rome at the Election of a Pope that Cardinal Albici should say For the Love of God let us at least have a Pope that is so learned that He may be able to read the Gospel in the Mass However it be none of Mr. Blount's Instances affect us of the Reformed Church whom yet I think he purposely designs to derogate from in his Paragraph For p. 97. he writes very contemptibly of them and says ' The Quicunque Men by which he understands the Clergy of England are as much below Mr. Hobbs his Resentments ' as he is above their Anger And this he writes near the beginning of this Chapter where these his Proofs are of the Ignorance of the Clergy but how unjust this charge is with respect to them is so manifest that it would be a madneâ—◠〈◊〉 â—â—fute him SECT VII Of the Immortality of the Soul and the Original of the Jews THese Oracles of Reason have nothing remarkable from p. 106 to p. 116. save only this That he borrows whole pages without any acknowledgment The Epistle to Mr. Wilwood is a translation out of Gassendus third and fourth Chapters of the third part Syntag. Epic. Philos his Treatise of Beneficence to Madam and his preference of Plato and Pythagoras to Aristotle are either purely Moral or else grounded on the Sentiments of those Philosophers with whom we have no mind to contest at present about those Points of Fate and Fortune Pag. 117. Your incomparable Version of that passage of Seneca where he begins with Post mortem nihil est ipsa mors nihil There is nothing after death and Death it self is nothing And pag. 128. he says This is Seneca 's Opinion ANSWER What Seneca's Opinion was of the Immortality of the Soul
quas prisci coluere quid quemque deceat quibus sacris quaque mente Deum colere oporteat noscitamus How much do we owe to Christ our King and Master whom we acknowledge and worship as true God by whose guidance and direction the monstrous Doctrine and barbarous Rites of these savage Nations being chased away and we being taught true Religion imbrace Civility and the true God and the errors and unspeakable follies which the Ancients had in honour and reverence being brought to light we know what our duty is with what Ceremonies and what mind God is to be worshipped Which is in effect the same with that of the Apostle Colos 1. ver 13. Thanks be to God who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Now this of Alexander is the more to be remark'd forasmuch as Augury the Art of Divination Astrology Southsaying and the like Superstitions like a universal contagion had insected all Mankind save only where Revealed Religion had obtained as Tully tells us in his first Book de Divinatione Qua est autem gens aut quae civitas quae non aut extis pecudum aut monstra aut fulgura interpretantium aut Augurum aut Astrologorum aut Sortium ea enim fere Artis sunt aut Somniorum aut Vaâ—icinationum haec enim duo naturalia putantur praedictione moveatur There could not be named any Nation or City which abounded not with these Abominations and was not moved with the Predictions of those who pretend to interpret Prodigies and Lightnings or with the Predictions of the Augurs or Astrologers or Oracles in these there was something of Art or with the foreboding of Dreams and Accidents which two last may have something Natural What Mr. Blount could promise himself by his Account of Augury I cannot imagine but I am perswaded he could not think of any thing which would prove more disadvantagious to his Design in general than this Subject Pag. 170. From the Pagan Processions the manner of the Christians going in Procession was thought to be first taken ANSWER Our Author is much mistaken as to the Institution of Processions Gregory Turonensis lib. 11. Hist cap. 37. gives us this Account Refert Avitus in quadam homilia quam de Rogationibus scripsit has ipsas Rogationes quos ante Ascensionis Domini triumphum celebrantus a Mamerto ipsius Viennensis Vrbis cui hic eo tempore praeerat institutas fuisse dum Vrbs illa multis terreretur prodigiis Avitus reports in a certain Homily of his which he writ of Rogations That Mamertus Bishop of Vienna instituted those Rogations or Processions which we celebrate before our Lord's Asoension Out of the said Homily we have this occasion of their Iustitution That it was appointed for diverting God's displeasure forasmuch as in those times there were great Earthquakes Incursions of Wolves and wild Beasts frequent Fires terrible Sounds by night to the extream terrrour of the People Wherefore the said Bishop knowing no better expedient to divert so severe a Chastisement than Fasting and Humiliation ordered those Days for that intent and contrived a Litany apt and suitable for such humble Address This pious course taking good effect succeeding times continued it in their Anniversary practice so that the first Council of Orleans established it by a Decree in their 23. Canon Which Custom having had so long footing in the Church our Reformers were loth to be singular in rescinding of it and the rather because they observed that it fell casually and beyond its first intention upon such a Season as might be very agreeable to the Service of those days For this being the Critical time of the Year when all the Fruits of the Earth are in greatest hazard of miscarrying by Frosts and unseasonable Weather it is therefore exceeding proper to supplicate God for the withholding of his Judgments and to implore his Blessing upon the Labours of the Husbandman And altho' our Liturgy hath no set Office yet our Church hath set Homilies for it And in the Injunctions an 1559. and Advertisements an 7. Elizab. it was ordered That in the Rogation Days of Procession the Curat sing or say in English the two Psalms beginning Benedic anima mea c. with the Litany and Suffrages thereunto belonging So that I conceive the greatest Enemies our Church hath cannot blemish our practice with Paganism or Superstition Polydor Virgil de rerum Inventione lib. 6. c. 11. derives their Original somewhat higher Ejusmodi Processionum usum jam inde a principio apud nostros fuisse testimonio est Tertullianus libro ad Vxorem quem forte intermissum Mamertus renovavit illos a Judaeis mutuatos esse satis constat These Processions were in use among Christians from the very beginning of Christianity as Tertulian delivers in one of the Books which he writ for his Wife which custom being long omitted was at last brought into use again by Mamertus and 't is manifest that the Christians borrowed it from the Jews The only Authors that I have read that can give any countenance to this Imputation of Mr. Blount's are Fromondus in his Meteors Book 5. ch 4. Artic. second where we are told That in the place of the Robigalia and Floralia the Catholick Church instituted the Day of Rogation and the Supplications and Processions before Ascension day The other Author is Mr. Gregory in his Notes on Ridley's View of the Civil and Canon Law p. 76. The old Romans instituted three yearly Solemnities in the honour of their Gods for the Fruits of the Earth These also the Romish Church observed having first moderated their Superstition and directed them to a more sacred end How malicious then is this Suggestion of Mr. Blount's His Argument is no more than this That the Christians who appointed Processions and Seasons to pray to God for his Blessing on the Fruits of the Earth are guilty of Paganism because the Gentiles were wont also to pray to their Idols for the like Blessing This I say is the strength of his Argument upon supposition that Mr. Gregory and Fromondus are not mistaken which they certainly are with respect to their original Institution Pag. 178. I must beg Mr. Lock 's Pardon if I very much question those Authorities he quotes from the Travels of some Men who affirm some Nations to have no notions of a Deity since the same has been said of the Inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope which the last Account of that place proves to be false ANSWER I must confess 't is very difficult to perswade a Mans self That the Idea of God is not innate And if we respect Authority with relation to some Nations having no notion of a Deity My Lord Bishop Stillingfleet is enough to stagger any Man's Belief to the contrary who in his Origines Sacrae p. â—94 positively asserts That of any whole Nation which hath consented in the denial
he allows it to no Historian but Moses whom alone he makes to be divinely inspired As to the point of Antiquity we appeal to our Author himself who notwithstanding what he hath here written of this matter page 224. confesses That we have no Writer extant at this time more ancient than Moses unless it be Ocellus His exception of Ocellus is of no moment as we have proved in the foregoing Discourse After all my Search I can no where find Josephus absolutely affirming That the Egyptians Chaldeans and Phenicians had any certain Records of their Original but only Comparatively with the Greeks He no where affirms directly or indirectly that the forenamed Nation had more ancient Records of their Country to refute him and that therefore he thinks more convenient to yield to them in Antiquity and therefore our Deist is forc'd to use this Device This is the secret meaning of what Josephus says What Josephus says is clear and perspicuous there is no colour for so slanderous an Insinuation and I think I may affirm witout any Calumny or Controversy That not Josephus but our Deist had a Secret meaning to impose on credulous Readers by abusing good Authors We may bid Farewell to all Evidence in Matters of Fact if Secret meanings be allow'd of but perhaps our Deist had herein a regard to Himself hoping that at a dead lift This Secret meaning might gloss and varnish over some of his monstrous and incredible Tenents I am sure that by this Hocus-pocus Trick he might have cited The Hind and Panther which he quotes pag. 150. for the Antiquities of his Chaldeans Egyptians Phenicians and have quoted Josephus for the Frauds and Imposings of the Priest And now I am making towards a Conclusion I hope I may do a thing grateful to the Reader and be not thought to deviate from my Subject if I here present him with the great Aversion that our Church hath for Deism The Church of England Article 18. declares in these words They are also to be had accursed that presume to say that every Man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth so that he be diligent to frame his Life according to that Law and the Light of Nature for Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only in the Name of Jesus Christ whereby Men must be saved This Article plainly declares as Mr. Rogers on the Articles p. 87. collects that the Profession of every Religion cannot save a Man live he never so vertuously It also follows from this Article That no Man ever was or shall be saved but only by the Faith and Name of JESVS CHRIST The Opinion of the Deist is diametrically opposite hereunto For pag. 199. and 200. he affirms That Natural and Unrevealed Religion is sufficient to make us happy in a future State And he affirms p. 201. That this his Opinion is Charitable forasmuch as it doth not exclude any Dissenters from Eternal Happiness and that God may be pleased with different Worships St. Austin in his Book of Heresies cap. 72. reckons that of the Rhetorians to be one Forasmuch as they believe that all hereticks hold the Truth and walk uprightly Which Heresy St. Austin calls a Heresy of wonderful vanity and such as seems to him incredible my own part I cannot perceive any great difference between the Rhetorians and the Deists And whereas our Deist seems to value his Opinion upon the pretended Charitableness thereof and thinks that a Recommendation He is much mistaken for this Opinion is rather Turkish than Charitable We read in Busbequius Epist 3. that Rustan the Prime Vizier perswaded that excellent Embassadour to turn Musselman and that if he would do so he should receive great Honours and Rewards from Solyman his Lord and Emperour To whom Busbequins makes this Reply Mihi certum est manere in ea Religione in qua natus essem quamque Dominus meus profitetur Pulchre inquit Rustanus sed tamen de anima quid fiet Et de Anima inquam bene spero Tum ille cum paulisper intercogitasset ita est profecto neque ego ab hac absum sententia aternae beatitudinis consortes fore qui sancte innocenterque hanc vitam traduxerint quamcunque illi Religionem secuti sunt I am resolved says Busbequius to continue in that Religion in which I were born and which my Lord professes Very well says Rustan but what will become of your Soul in another World I am says Busbequius very confident of its welfare Then Rustan after some pause makes this Answer I am of your Mind this is my Opinion That all Persons shall be eternally happy that lead an innocent life notwithstanding their differences in Religion The Prime Vizier's Opinion seems to me to be the same with Mr. Blount's it is altogether so charitable And if our Deist had been present at that Interview 't is apparent enough with whom he would have sided And if the same Offers had been made to him which were made to that incomparable Embassadour 't is plain enough what he would have done So that if I should assert That Deism is a direct Road to Turcism I think I should not be mistaken Our Deist must have more Confidence and all things considered better luck than Polus had in Erasmus his Exorcisms if he can perswade any Persons who seriously consult their own Salvation To behold any Happiness in his Heaven It 's worth our observation in what detestation and abhorrence our Church of England hath the Opinion of the Deists for it affixes an Accurse to it which I think is not very usual for Provincial Councils Mr. Pool indeed in his Appendix to the Nullity of the Romish Faith pag. 240. 〈◊〉 these words If we look into the Records of Councils we shall find That this Practice of Anathematizing was not only in use in general but also in particular and Provincial Councils I doubt not but this Learned Man had good grounds for his Assertion Yet I must confess for my own part I have not observed this Method in Particular Councils if we except that Orthodox Council held at Gangra in Paphlagonia about the Year of our Lord 324. in every one of whose Canons about twenty in number we find an Accurse affix'd a sufficient Instance In Antiquity to justify our Church 's Method And since we have had an occasion to mention this Synod and that we live in an Age in which Atheism and Deism abounds to that degree that the Churches set apart for GOD's Service and our Religious Assemblies are slighted and contemned I shall conclude with the Judment of that Pious Synod Can. 5 Si quis docet domum Dei contemptibilem esse ut conventus qui in ea celebrantur Anathema sit How nearly this concerns our Deists and other despisers of GOD's Publick Worship who frequently abuse GOD's Ministers and make no Religion of traducing and ridiculing them is very plain and palpable and there is here NO SECRET MEANING EXEQUIAS DEISTAE QUIBUS IRE COMMODUM EST JAM TEMPUS EST. FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by Charles Yeo John Pearce and Philip Bishop Booksellers in Exon. SElect Hymns each fitted to two Tunes to be sung in Churches The Beauty of Holiness or a short Defence and Vindication of the pious Decency Regularity and Order of Reading the Communion-Service at the Communion-Table offered to a dissatisfied Neighbour from his Minister A Form of Prayer for Married Persons for the most part taken out of the Liturgy In the PRESS A Practical Treatise concerning Evil Thoughts wherein are some Things more especially useful for Melancholy Persons By William Chiloot M. A. Danmonii Orientales Illustres or the Worthies of Devon Printed by way of Subscription Price in Sheets Sixteen Shillings and Six Pence the first Payment Eight Shillings All Gentlemen that are willing to take the Advantage by Subscribing are desired to send in their first Payment with all speed to the Undertakers Charles Yeo John Pearce and Philip Bishop
of his proposing them as Mr. Blount doth his Oracles he plainly enough insinuates to an intelligent Reader that his design was no other than to overthrow the Authority of the Pentateuch out of his Store-house it is that Hobbs Spinosa and other such Politicians in Mr. Blount's Common-wealth of Learning have furnished themselves with Objections such as they are and which have been often answered My Second Observation is That not only Philo Judaeus Josephus and all others as well Ancient and Modern Jews did understand by the Law the whole Pentateuch but also the Gentiles did understand it in the same manner and consequently it cannot be imagined that the Law mentioned by our Lord should be taken in a different Sense The Author I shall cite for Proof hereof is Dionysius Longinus in his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sect 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Legislator of the Jews no common Person when he declares and makes known the Power of his God according to his Majesty presently in the beginning of his Laws he tells us that God said Let there be Light and it was so Longinus in this place calls the beginning of Genesis the beginning of Moses's Laws And if Genesis comes under that Denomination I think no question can be made of the other Books nor of the true Sense of those places by me brought out of the New Testament My Last Observation is That one of the great Proofs of revealed Religion depends on the Antiquity and Verity of the Mosaic Writings if these Books were not written by Moses a wide Gate would be opened for Libertines and Deists to redicule them and to expose them for Fables Preadamitism and the Eternity of the World might be received as uncontroulable Doctrines and Christian Religion deprived of the Support of those Writings to which our Lord was pleased to make an Appeal So that is is no wonder that Mr. Blount should be so positive and endeavour with such Confidence to subvert these Writings by affirming That it is evident that Moses was not the Author of them He well knowing that his pretended Oracles of Reason will be accounted Scandalous and False as long as this part of Holy Scriptures the Mosaic Writings can be defended SECT II. Of PARADISE IN this Section the Mosaic History of the Creation is wickedly ridiculed What Ireneus says of some of the Ancient Heresies viz. That the very naming of them is a sufficient Refutation the same may be said of some Passages I shall here Transcribe Pag. 25. There is a Dialogue between the Serpent and Eve It hapned upon a time that Eve sitting solitary under a Tree without her Husband there came to her a Serpent or Adder which I know not by what Means or Power civilly accosted the Woman in these Words or to this Purpose All hail most fair One What are you doing so solitary and serious under this Shade Pag. 26. Eve says Let me see had I best use it or no What can be more beautiful than this Apple How sweetly it smells but it may be it tasts ill Serpent If it tasts ill throw it away and say I am a great Lyar. Eve Well I 'll try thou hast not deceived me Give me one that I may carry it to my Husband Serpent Well thought on here 's another for you go to your Husband with it Farewel young Woman Pag. 27. God says to the Serpent Hereafter vile Beast instead of eating Apples thou shalt lick the Dust of the Earth and as for you Mistress Curious in sorrow shall you bring forth Children Pag. 33. It perplexes me how out of one Rib the whole Mass of a Womans Body could be built for a Rib doth not equal the hundredth perhaps not the thousandth Part of an entire Body Pag. 44. The Text says They sewed Fig-Leaves together and therewith made themselves Aprons From whence you may deduce the Original of the Taylors Trade But where had they Needles and where their Thread the very first Day of their Creation since the Thâ—ead-makers Art was not yet found out nor yet the Art of Working in Iron ANSWER In this Section are many such Queries but these are more then sufficient to make any Man Nauseate For what Man that hath but a Mâ—â—e of Piety will not be concerned to read such Expressions to read the Holy Oracles of God to be thus droll'd on by these pretended ones and this sacred Book of God to be thus exposed by a scurrilous Libel Our Author often cites the Canons of the Church when they serve his Turn Here he mentions none and I am certain there is good Reason for it for not to mention ancient Canons which he must necessarily know condemns this Practice The Council of Trent condemns it and in Session 4th condemns them who shall convert and wrest the Words of Holy Scripture to Prophaneness Scurrilousness Fabulousness Flatteries Distractions Superstitions or too scurrilous Libels The first Council of Millain declares That their Rashness is very wicked who absue the Words or Sentences of Holy Scripture to Flattery Contumely Superstition Impiety or to any prophane Purposes and that the Bishops are to punish such Offenders according to the holy Canons So that as far as I know this folly of our Author in sporting thus with Holy Scripture is condemned by all Christians of any particular Denomination in the whole World What is material and worthy of Consideration in this Section we will now examine Pag. 36. These are the Words of Moses There comes a River out of Eden to water the Garden and from thence it divides it self into four Branches the Name of the first is Pishon c. Gen. 2. Ver. 10. Whereby it is apparent that either in the Entrance or Exit of the Garden there were four Rivers and that those four Rivers did proceed from one and the same Fountain-head in Eden Now pray tell me in what part of the Earth is this Country of Eden where Four Rivers arise from one and the same Spring ANSWER That there may be a plain and a full Solution of the difficulties the Oracle proposes both in this Paragaph and in the other which shall be examined in this Section I shall premise a Consideration or Two of good use in the Matters under Debate The First Consideration shall be of the Opinions of the Ancient Jews and Christians as to this Book of Genesis The Second shall be of the great alterations that have happened to many places of the Earth since the Creation Out of which it will appear that many places then well known may now be wholy unknown to us Lastly I shall make a brief Reply to what the Oracle hath here declared The First Consideration relating to the Ancient Jews is that they always looked on the Book Genesis as a Book hard to be understood yet to contain a literal Sense St. Jerom in his Preface to his Commentaries on Ezechiel says Nisi quis apud eos aetatem Sacerdotalis
Geography of Carolus a Sancto Paulo would give little Credit to this Charge for he would not find half that number of Bishopricks in the Christian World We confess there is some difference among ancient Authors as to the precise Number of Bishops in the Nicene Synod but then the difference is very inconsiderable not so portentous and extravagant as it is here represented nor a Word of this pretended Project of Constantine's Athanasius Hilary Hierom Ruffin Socrates and others affirm the Number of the Council to be 318. 'T is true there were many Presbyters and Deacons that accompanied these Bishops of whom these Authors make no particular mention there being no such regard had of them as there was of the Bishops I am verily perswaded that what Mr. Selden says in his Commentary on Eutychius p. 81. will obtain Belief among all unprejudiced Persons I will therefore report in his own Words Nemo mihi Sancto Athanasio aequiparandus is scilicet Archidiaconus tunc Ecclesiae Alexandrinae cum Alexandro patriarcha suo cui proxime successit testis interfuit oculatus Atque diserte is in Epistola ad Episcopos Africanos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No one in my Opinion as to this Matter is to be compared to Athanasius he was Archdeacon of the Church of Alexandria an Eye Witness and immediate Successor to Alexander the Patriarch and he expresly writes in an Epistle of his to the African Bishops That in the Synod held at Nice there were assembled Three hundred and eighteen Bishops There is an ancient Author who wrote a Book about the time of the fourth general Council held at Chalcedon One hundred and twenty Years after that at Nice The Title of the Book is An Exposition and Collection of all the said Synods This Book was brought into England in Manuscript together with many other Manuscripts of great Value by Christian Ravius a German a Man very well versed in the Oriental Learning This Book gives us an account much differing from Mr. Blount's He says There were 232 Bishops in the Council Presbyters and Monks 86 in all 318. Here is no mention of 2000 Bishops nor of any Artifice of Constantine's And this is the more to be regarded if it be true what Sandius the Arian Historiographer imagines p 166. that the Author of this Collection was Sabinus the Macedonian who wrote a Book of the same Title Socrates assures us that this History was written with great Partiality being an Enemy to that Council and one that accused the Fathers thereof as simple and ignorant Persons for which he is reproved by the same Socrates lib. 1. c. 6. and lib. 2. c. 13. How glad would Sabinus have been to have laid hold on this occasion to blacken Constantine and this Synod had there been the least Colour of Truth for so horrid a Calumny Perhaps some may think that Mr. Blount had somd good Grounds for laying this Imputation on Constantine and the Council although he did not produce them and would therefore be willingly satisfied what Conjectures may be made in order thereunto For the satisfaction of such I make this Answer That I believe Mr. Blount had no Grounds but such only as we find cited in Sandius and Selden In the first we find out of Hottinger in his Oriental History viz. That Petricides and Elma Cinus Arabian Writers have delivered to Posterity that there were at Nice 2300 which in truth can make nothing for Mr. Blount the Question was of Bishops only not of Others For Socrates lib. 1. c. 5. Eccles Hist says that there were at this Council Presbyters Deacons and of other inferior Orders innumerable And I find this of Socrates to be very agreeable with that which is delivered by other Historians of that Age and which peradventure might give the first occasion of this exorbitant number of Bishops And if we may be allowed to consult Reason in historical Matters I cannot do better then to cite Nicetas Coniates lib. 5. c. 9. where he gives this Reason why no more Bishops met in so venerable an Assembly because Age and Sickness detained many and that Bishopricks were then thin sowed every little City being not then advanced into an Episcopal See In Selden we find Eutychius affirming that in the City of Nice were assembled 2400 Bishops According to Dr. Pocock's Translation Josephus Aegyptius affirms the number to be 2048. And the same is affirmed by Ismael Ibn Ali the Mahometan Historian These are the only Authors that I have any where observed to have been made use of by learned Men to this purpose To all which the Novelty of the Author is a sufficient Answer Certainly those Historians who liv'd in the Age when things are transacted and are Eye-witnesses and are a great part of the Affairs themselves are to be believed before others that lived some hundred of Years after the things were done But since Ismael Ibn Ali the Mahometan seems more full to Mr. Blount's purpose than the others I will here translate him About the End of the twentieth Year of Constantine the Emperor there were gathered together in Council 2048 Bishops then the Emperor chose out of that number 318. And they did Excommunicate Arius of Alexandria because he did assert that Christ was a Creature The foresaid Bishops were consenting to the Emperor's Pleasure and so they innovated and published a New System of Christian Religion Eusebius who lived in those Days and was a Member of the Council says in his Chronicle that the Vicennalia of Constantine were Celebrated at Rome Anno 330. and that the Council was assembled Anno 325. So that this Trip of the Mahometans is an Argument that he made use of bad Records in compiling his History And whereas he says the Council innovated as to Religion he writes like a Mahometan indeed and not like a Man acquainted with the Misteries of our Sacred Religion We have therefore reason to believe that as the Arabic Canons falsly fathered on this Council are exploded by all that have any Gust of Criticism so likewise will these Modern Arabic Pamphlets be rejected by all such as will take the Pains to examine them Pag. 99. The Arians had not the Freedom to dispute their Cause in the Council of Nice ANSWER If this could be made appear then farewell to the Authority of the Nicene Council but if this be false as undoubtedly it is what a horrid injury is done to this most Venerable Assembly This is one of the greatest Objections the Protestants have against the Council of Trent and that the Catholicks of old had against the Arian Synods but who can believe this that knows with what fervency and zeal Saint Athanasius declaims against this perverse Method And this Method He says is repugnant to the Law of God and the Blessed Apostle Athanasius Apol. ad Const Imper. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The divine Law and the Blessed Apostle require and Command all parties to be heard And to this purpose
It is a necessary Duty incumbent on us to prevent the same by true Ratiocination The Epistle says 't is written in Leviticus Thou shalt not Marry thy Wife's Sister to vex her whilst she is living From whence saith the Epistle 't is manifest you may Marry her Sister when your Wife is dead We are asked Whether it is not written That a Man may Marry his Wife's Sister We say it is a certain Truth that no such thing is written No Person but the Legislator ought by virtue of any Consequence to infer any thing from the silence of a Law For if this Liberty be allowed a Man may Marry his Wife's Sister tho' his Wife be Living For this Sophism will serve that turn too 't is written Thou shalt not take thy Sister that she may not vex thy Wife therefore where there is no Vexation in the case the thing is lawful They who are for this Opinion may soon pretend that there will be no Vexation nor Jealosies between the two Sisters Wherefore the Cause being removed for which the Legislator prohibited a Man to have two Sisters to Wife at one time What should hinder it But you will say this is not written in the Law neither say I is the other there written But I say if Consequences be allowed the Consequence is equal on either side it grants equal License and Liberty How much this sort of Marriage was abominated by the Ancient Christians St. Basil abundantly declares when in his Epistle he makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Uncleanness to be the cause of it and the Marriage it self he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unlawful dwelling together and no Marriage You may see how effectually Basil hath refuted this pretended Oracle without Recourse to the Hebrew for he makes use only of the Translation of the 70. and Quotes the place of Leviticus in the same manner our Deist doth the Septuaginta having suffered no Alteration in this place Pag. 144. Whether the Solution of Justinian in the like cases of Affinity in the first Book of his Institutions Tit. 10. de Nuptiis be not properly applicable to Leviticus 18. Ver. 18. Si una tibi nupta est ideo alteram uxorem ducere non poteris quia duas sorores eodem tempore habere non licet If you are Married to one you cannot Marry the other because you cannot that is you ought not to be Married to two Sisters at one time ANSWER I do not remember that I have met with a greater Disingenuity in any Author than I have here found in this place of Mr. Blount's I have consulted Justinian's Institutes with the Commentaries of Antonius Contius Jacobus Gothofredus and Franciscus Acoursius and I cannot find the place cited in any of these Editions There is a place or two Tit. de Nuptiis concerning Marrying two Wifes but not a Word of Marrying two Sisters So that I have reason to think that Mr. Blount wilfully and fraudulently changed these Words duas uxores twice used in that Title into duas sorores two Wifes into two Sisters although the present case is wholly omitted And I am verily perswaded that nothing can excuse him unless perhaps some invisible Manuscript or some Edition never heard of before It is not to be passed over in silence that our Deist in this Page proposes a Query concerning the Canons of the Church of England viz. Whether if any of the Canons of the Church of England be dubious it may not be proper and convenient to consult the antient Canons for Explanation and Illustration What he designs by this Query his other Queries have either nothing to the purpose or have been already answered I cannot conjecture considering his Concessions relating to the 99th Canon and the Table of Marriage set forth by Authority 1563. Wherefore to put all out of doubt and to vindicate the Perspicuity of the forementioned Canon and that the Illustration it receives from former Canons makes more against Mr. Blount then otherwise I will set down the Opinion of our Church concerning these Marriages out of the Book Entituled Liber quorundam Canonum disciplinae Ecclesiae Anglicanae Anno 1581. in which Book we find these Words Omnia Matrimonia quae uspiam contracta sunt intra gradus cognationis aut affinitatis prohibitos in 18 Levitici autoritate Episcopi dissâ—lventur maxime vero si quis priore uxore demortua ejus sororem uxorem duxerit hic enim gradus communi Dostorum virorum consensu judicio puâ—atur in Levitico prohiberi That is All Marriages which have been at any time contracted within the Degrees of Cognation or Affinity prohibited in the 18th of Leviticus shall by Episcopal Authority be dissolved Especially if a Man marries his deceased Wife's Sister It is the Opinion of the Learned that this Degree is prohibited in the forenamed Book of Leviticus The Conclusion is very obvious and our Author 's wonted Subtilty hath proved a Disadvantage to his Design Pag. 157. I cannot find any Authentick Ground to believe that the Sects among the Jews were more Antient then the Days of the Maccabees ANSWER It is a common Opinion among learned Men that all the Sects of the Jews had their Beginning after the Death of their Prophets And this is substantially proved by Cunaeus lib. 2. c. 17. de Repub. Hebraeorum But how long after their Deaths is a very great Question as Pfeiffer says Exercit. 4ta speaking of the Pharisees Casaubon in his first Exercit. against Baronius quotes Josephus lib. 13. c. 9. for mentioning the Pharisees Sadduces and Essenes in the Affairs of Jonathan Asmonaeus 140 Years before the Nativity of Christ The same Josephus lib. 18. c. 2. affirms that those three Sects or as he calls them Philosophies were known to the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Translator renders multis retro saeculis many Ages past Of all their Sects the Sadduces are the most ancient and Casaubon in the place cited thinks the Pharisees to be soon after them Antigonus Sochaeus whose Disciple Zadoch the Author of the Sect of the Sadduces was succeeded Simeon the Just whom the Jews commonly and among them Abraham Zacuth makes to be the same with Jaddus that went out to meet Alexander 330 Years before Christ So that Mr. Blount seems to be somewhat mistaken as to the Antiquity of these Sects Pag. 158. The Introduction of those Sects and of that Caballa occasioned that Exposition of the Prophecy of Jacob viz. The Scepret shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver between his Feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the People be from whence they did according to that fantastick Caballa imagine that whensoever the Scepter should depart from Judah and the Dominion thereof cease that then there should arrive a Messiah ANSWER The Exposition of this Place with respect to the Messiah is evident from the Consent of the Ancient Jews who never understood it in any other manner