183 184. he heaves very hard to take off a Blunder that had been justly imputed to him but he runs into a greater and more ridiculous one and salves it by Supposition for he would have it supposed and that is a great word with him you must note in his Writings that the Compilers of the Creed who lived in several Centuries yet lived in one age or time This is precious stuff you will say Though some of the Compilers of the Creed lived at some years distance from one an other yet by a Supposition they are Contemporary and live together Yes it must be so by all means he peremptorily vouches that the supposition of their living together is easy at what distance so ever they lived and how many so ever there were of them p. 185. This is as if he should suppose that all the Pedantick Tutors that lived in King Richard the Second's and King Henry the Eight's reigns should live at the same time with our Vindicator who is of the same race and kind One would not think that a man that talks so much against Poetry as he doth should have such a fansiful knack of Fiction The sense of this Blunder hath somewhat dampt him and for some pages together he is down in the mouth and only sneakingly desires me to shew him this and shew him that i. e. to shew him his Folly which I need not do he hath sufficiently done it himself Then p. 190 191 192 193 c. he is at his old work of Repetition and quoting himself though he could not quote a worse Author and filling up whole pages with what he had said in his Reasonableness of Christanity and in his former Vindication And truly this is his employment every where so that a man may modestly compute that there are three parts of his book spent in Reiterating the same things and in the very same words He that is so much against Themes will not permit himself to vary the Phrase but brings over his old matter again in the very same individual terms that he used before which renders his Farce very ridiculous and irksom But besides the impudent Vanity of the thing there is a great deal of Knavery and Dishonesty in it which he ought to answer for None but he that hath counterfeited his Name would impose upon the world by offering them a false number of Pages to heighten the Price of them The Reader is cheated into a book of above thirty sheets when if you pare off his Repetitions there remain not above eight or nine Here is a gross piece of Injustice to make the Buyer pay five shillings for a Twelve penny Cut. This is a New way of Writing to insert one book into an other verbatim and so to chouse the unwary Chapman Nay it might be further observed that whatever he hath added in this last Pamphlet is run over again in some places of it as if he studied to make it more Ridiculous then it seem'd to be at the first reading But it appears it was his business to heap up a Multitude of words and to eeke out his poor lank matter for a Book was to come out against what I had writ and there was a necessity of Stuffing it and Swelling it and to say Much where Nothing could be said to the Purpose In his next pages 202 c. he is stark mad at me for intimating that he and his Allies are Under-hand Factors for Rome See how it pleases the Divine Disposer of all things that by occasion of a small Hint a man shall discover to the world his Inward Consciousness and together with that his Propensions and Designs which he with all the art imaginable labour'd to mask and conceal When I but mention'd the Tendency of the Party to Rome he as a Concern'd and Guilty Criminal starts up and shews himself gall'd and pinch'd he flies about and grows furious and outragious What! saith he doth this Orthodox Railer tell us that we are Factors for Rome and truck for Popery What! doth he think that because I hate Universities I am in love with the Whore of Babylon How can I be of the Roman Church that am of none But this is easily answer'd by the known Maxim One of no Religion will soon be of any Scepticism makes way for Popery The doctrine which the Author and Vindicator of the Reasonableness of Christianity hath spread abroad is contrived on purpose to bring men off from the Received Articles of Christianity and to prepare them to be Scepticks and Infidels I hope to give the Reader satisfaction about this and in a few words to convince the Intelligent and Serious Considerer that it is the design of this Writer to unsettle Religion to introduce Indifferency and Neutrality into Christianity to place all Opinions on a level to represent all Doctrines to be alike that there may be no contending for any Articles of Faith that those which were look'd upon by the Primitive Church and by Our Own as Fundamental Doctrins of Christianity may for the future not be thought necessary to be known and believ'd in order to making men True Christians He perswades men that One Article will do their business and that those who pass for Orthodox Protestants confound people with bundels of doctrines which are useless and unnecessary that half the Bible Yea a quarter of it is enough that One of the Evangelists Writings contains all the rest for which he quotes Mr. Chillingworth and therefore if all the rest were lost we need not concern our selves about it as for the Epistles of the Apostles we need not trouble our heads with looking into them for there is only now and then dropt by the bye an Article of Faith And then this Author under the pretence of declaring against Systems of Divinity which is his Common Subject strikes at all the Received and Celebrated Doctrines of the Christian Church and represents them as indifferent and precarious Every where he shews his abhorence of the very word System as if it were as uneasy to him as Satisfying so that it is a singular and extraordinary favour he would quote as he doth and that with Respect Dr. Cudworths book that bears the Name of System Now I am only to take notice of the Ground of his inveighing against Systems which is his design of bringing an odium on the Settl'd Truths of Christianity and to make way for his own Giddy Notions Accordingly he pronounces concerning those Stable Fundamentals of Christianity that they were framed and fashioned according to the humors interests or designs of the Heads of Parties as if they were things depending on mens pleasure and to be suited to their convenience These are his words p. 215 216. and speak his heart and the Turkish Spye doth not express his mind more fully Thus he disposes his Readers to be of no Church of no Religion Or at least he would perswade them that one way of Religion
is as good as an other which is the prevailing doctrine of these days Therefore Mr. Bold one whom I shall afterwards account with was much mistaken when he said he never hardly appear'd on a fashionable subject Rep. p. 3. for this Opinion and that One religion is as good as another is the Modish doctrine every where This Country Gentleman is in the Fashion and doth not know it And thence you may judge of the Truth of what Mr. Lock saith of him that he takes not up his Opinions from Fashion Pref. to his Vindicat. Now this is a fair step towards Rome for if one Religion be equivalent to an other and our Salvation is not concerned in the belief of the Necessary Articles of our Faith then we are at liberty to embrace what Form and Model of Articles we please and those of the Church of Rome will perhaps be thought as good as any There is a strange passage in this Writer p. 217 218. which speaks his favourable opinion of the Pontifician way I have often wondred saith he to hear men of several Churches so heartily exclaim against the Implicit Faith of the Church of Rome when the same Implicit Faith is as much practis'd and required in their own though not so openly profess'd and ingeniously own'd there First he lets us know that from that Converse which he hath had with persons of several Churches whether of the Communion of the Church of England or those of the Dissenters he finds that they are against the Church of Rome Secondly that though they are against the doctrine of Implicit Faith in the Church of Rome yet they like it well enough in their own Thirdly they not only like it but practise it yea the very same Implicit Faith Fourthly they not only practise but require it they command and enjoyn those of their Communion to believe all they say with an Implicit Faith But fifthly they do not this with so good a grace as those of the Roman Church do For those latter are very open and ingenuous in their profession and practise of implicit Faith but the former are not so Protestants have not that Candor and Fairness which are to be seen in Papists they neither so openly profess nor so ingenuously own this doctrine but yet as strictly practise it and require the practise of it as they do I leave it with the Reader to determine from the Premises which of these two those of the Roman or of the Reform'd Churches have the happiness to be most in favour with this Gentleman In the known stile of the Roman Priests and Writers he declares that the Scripture serves but like a Nose of Wax p 213. And as the Heads of the Church of Rome deny the Bible to the Common people so he is advancing towards this apace for he lops off three of the Evangelists for one he saith will suffice and all the Epistles And further to shew his good will to the Roman Catholicks and to their Beloved Notion of Transubstantiation he tells us p. 408 409. that if a man understands those words of our Saviour's Institution This is my body and This is my blood in a Literal sense he must believe the Bread and Wine in the Lords Supper are changed really into his Body and Blood though he knows not how And afterwards he saith He is obliged to belive it to be true and to assent to it And presently afterwards To deny assent to this as true would be to deny our Saviour's Veracity and consequently his being the Messiah sent from God Here he lets us know that his One Article is quite renounced if Transubstantition be not admitted You see what his making of Iesus is the Messias to be the Sole Article of Christian Faith comes to But this doctrine of Transubstantiation is so grateful to him that he brings it over again p 413 414. assuring us that the Old Gentleman at Rome who hath an Antient Title to Infallibility may make Transubstantiaâ—on a Fundamental Article necessarily to be believ'd as well as I make the Divinity of Christ and his Satisfaction c. for these he means by the Sense of any Disputed Texts of Scripture because the Texts concerning these Points are disputable with him Fundamental Articles necessarily to be believ'd It is brought to this issue it seems that Transubstantiation is as Fundamental an Article of the Christian Faith as any that can be nam'd besides Iesus's being the Messias Thus by the Over-ruling Providence of Heaven this sort of Writers discover the inward bent of their thoughts and inclinations though they labour to hide them from the world This Gentleman would be thought to have no kindness for Rome and yet his own words confuâ—â— him As I observ'd before that he stoutly Rails whilest he is remonstrating against that practice so here he stiffly patronizes Popery even when he had pretended to shew himself displeas'd at my charging him with it And I could produce several other passages out of his Writings which makes it appear that our Prester Iohn is inclined to receive the Roman Missionaries I could make it evident that he is Indifferent as to the Reform'd Religion and the Doctrines professed by the Owners of it and that he inspires mens minds with a dis-esteem of those Articles which the Christian Churches since the Reformation have unanimously asserted and vindicated and that he represents them as Ridiculous You must not saith he give ear to what the Preachers and Pulpit Orators of these Churches tell you about more Articles than One as necessary to be known and believed in order to making you Christians If you assent to this Single Proposition Iesus is the Messias I declare to you that you are as to matter of Faith as Good Christians as St. Peter and St. Paul were When your Parish-Priests endeavour in their Popular Harangues to perswade you that this is not the sum Total of the Christian Faith but that there are other Necessary and Fundamental Doctrines which are of the Essence of Christianity you must roundly tell them from me that the Catalogue of Fundamentals every one alone can make for himself no body can collect or prescribe it to an other but this is according as God hath dealt to every one the measure of light and faith and hath open'd each mans understanding that he may understand the Scripture These are the express words of our Vindicator p. 85. and from them it undeniably follows that though no body must be a Creed-maker yet every one may be a Fundamental-maker Mr. Hobbs was pleased to give this power to the King only but this Gentleman is more liberal and grants it to every Subject He may make what Catalogue of Fundamentals he pleases and put this into it among the rest that the Pope is Infallible and that the Religion of the Church of Rome is to be prefer'd to that of the Reformed Fundamentals depend not upon the Scriptures but upon mens Understandings and
therefore every man according to his apprehensions may make as many and as few Fundamental Articles as he thinks fit What think you now of our Tutor our Anti-Academian Is not this Man of One Article disposed to entertain the Twelve New Articles of Faith of the Council of Trent It is impossible to conceive how Great Mischief that person may do whose Head is stuff'd with such Notions as these especially if we consider he is always creeping into Houses and insinuating into Families and wheadling the Masters and Mistresses and infecting the early thoughts of young Ones with such Principles Such a one the Commonwealth is concern'd to have an eye upon for the safety of the Publick And though all this while I don't suppose him to be set on work upon any consideration of his extraordinary Skill or Ability as if I took him either for a Conjurer or a Jesuite yet he may be made use of as a very fit Tool as a Convenient Machin and as I said before he may serve to be an Under-hand Factor And if the Creature had not been some such thing it is impossible he should startle and stare and fling about as the Reader may observe he doth at the naming of Popery and Rome He conceals the resentment as well as he can but the Observing Reader may plainly discern it None would have been guilty of this but our Ridiculous Masker who in imitation of the Changling kind hides his face and then thinks no body sees him But notwithstanding all his Arâ—ifices and Disguises he bewrays himself As they vulgarly say of the Fiend that when he appears in Humane Shape he can never dissemble it so well but he is some way or other discover'd there is some mark to discern him by A little after p. 229 230. he returns to the One Article again and upbraids me for many I have he saith a reserve of the Lord knows how many more p. 233. which is Irreverently and Prophanely spoken because he uses the Sacred Name so slightly and vainly By this we may guess what manner of Education his Children and Nurslings have He that abuses that Holy Name himself will not check this fault in others Then in three pages together 232 233 234. he falls into his old Trot of telling me and desiring to shew and let him know c. Without any shame or remorse he continues to stuff whole pages with Reiterations of his former Writings Though he was lately not for telling but for weighing of money yet he hath other thoughts with respect to his Books for he reckons Number to be Weight Such Writers glory in the number of their Lines and think to be Voluminous is to be Argumentative Next p. 238 c. he runs back to Object against the Reason which I assigned why the believing of Iesus to be the Messias is so frequently mention'd in the New Testament And he busies himself with Wire drawing every word that I had said and scores up all along as he had done before what I must shew him and what I must prove and sets them down in distinct Figures And yet after all these little devices and pedantick tricks he hath not rais'd one Objection against me that hath any thing more in it than his Childrens Rattle And indeed it must needs be so and can't be otherwise when men have taken up false deceitful Notions and then labour to Vindicate them it is presently seen that their pretences of Arguing are mere Sound and are nothing but Childish and Noisy Amusements In no less than 20 pages afterwards he busies himself in hunting for Objections and Cavils against what I had said and at last resolves to admit but of a single Article as necessary to be believ'd in order to the making a man a Christian But will not that Sermon of St. Peter in Acts 2. evidence that there are more Fundamental Points than that one Iesus is the Messias Are not our Saviour's Passion Death and Resurrection particularly mention'd in ver 23 24 and are they not Fundamental Articles of Faith Can you believe Iesus to be the Messias without believing him to have suffer'd died and rose again To this it is answer'd p. 268. that these Articles were not proposed by St. Peter to the unbelieving Iews as Fundamental ones and consequently they are not to be reckonâ—d as Fundamental Articles for it is certain that the Holy Apostle proposed them as they were I request the Serious and Judicious Reader to take an estimate of Mr. Lock 's Reasonableness of Christianity from this one thing viz. his denying the Articles of our Saviour's Suffering Death and Resurrection to be Articles of the Foundation i. e. such as are necessarily required to be believ'd for the costituting a man a Christian. That he deniâ—s this is plain because he tells us that St. Peter propounded not these Articles as Fundamental and because according to him there is but one Fundamental Article If there be but One then these are no Fundamental Propositions unless you will say that three added to one make but one Which I think he will scarcely assent to unless his Arithmetick be proportionable to his Christianity Besides in an other place p 233. he is Positive as to this matter for his words are these The Death and Resurrection of Christ are recorded by the Spirit of God in Holy Writ but are no more necessary to be believed to make a man a Christian than any other part of Divine Revelation that is than any Inferiour Truth mention'd in the New Testament as that Christ rid upon as Ass. This he declares to be as requisite to make a man a Christian as that Christ died and rose again But stay we must not think the day is our own the Adversary begins to rally and pushes upon us with his strong Reserves as thus p. 268. Those Articles of the Crucifixion Death and Resurrection of Christ were not propos'd here as the Fundamental Articles which St. Peter principally aim'd at and endeavour'd to convince them of And afterwards They are not the Principal thing aim'd at p. 269. but only brought in by the bye A Wager on it that he is good at Pushâ— pin None but such a Trifler as the Vindicator could have been so shameless as to offer this to a Reader of any sense and consideration for it is evident in this Sermon that our Saviour's Crucifixion and Death and Rising again are equally urged with his being Lord and Christ And the Apostle mentions his Resurrection again v. 32. This Iesus hath God reised up and therefore exhorts his Country-men and Brethren to imbrace this Iesus to believe that he suffer'd and laid down his life and took it up again for the Good of the World But our New Modeller of Christianity tells us that these are Articles occasionally brought in here by St. Peter and only as Arguments to perswade the Jews but were far from being Fundamental and Necessary Points of Christian Faith
such as they must needs believe And how doth he prove that these were brought in as Arguments Ay that is worth our taking notice of That our Saviour's Crucifixion Death and Resurrection were us'd here as Arguments to perâ—wade them into a belief of this Fundamental Article that Iesus was the Messias is evident saith he from hence that they preach'd here to 〈◊〉 who knâ—w the death and crucifixion of Iesus as well as Peter and therefore they could not be propos'd to them as New Articles of Faith to be believ'd p. 269. The answer is obvious that though those Auditors knew as well as their Speaker that Christ suffer'd on the cross and there expir'd and rose again yet they were ignorant of the Design and End of all this viz. that he suffer'd and died and rose from the dead for the Benefit and Advantage of Mankind Thus they were New Articles of Faith to them and thus St. Peter proposed them to be believ'd and receiv'd as appears from that Question of those Jews who were converted by this Sermon What shall we do to be saved Which implies that St. Peter had told them Christs Death and Resurrection were in order to the Salvation of lost mankind and therefore they desire to know what Method they must take to have the Benefit of that Salvation and Redemption and accordingly he exhorts them to Repent and to be baptized every one of them in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins v. 38. These Jews were before strangers to this they had no perswasion concerning the Design of Christs Suffering Dying and Rising again viz. that Salvation and Pardon of sins were to be obtain'd by them and therefore the Apostle preaches tehse Truths to them And that they are the Principal Doctrines in this Sermon appears from their being insisted upon so largely from v. 23 to 36. but as for that Other Article that Iesus is the Messias it is not expresly mention'd throughout the whole Sermon only the substance of it is in ver 36 after the other Grand Articles of Christs Passion and Dying and Rising had been amply discours'd of and urg'd And yet our Bold Breeder up of Small Craft faces it out that that was the Sole Proposition and the Sole Truth the Apostle labour'd to convince them of and to bring them â—o p. 270. and that the Others are no Fundamental Articles Our new Theologue is for a Messias that neither Suffer'd nor died nor rose again I leave the Reader to judge of this whilst I follow our Travelling Tutour to p. 281. c. where we still fiâ—d him perverting of St. Luke's Writing He sets himself to misrepresent his History both of the Gospel and of the Acts as if he had a particular pike against that Good Man that Holy Writer above all the rest From p. 209. to p. 299. he undertakes to set down the Contents of our Saviour's and the Apostle's Preaching and thence to prove that One Article only was propounded to be believ'd to make men Christians But our bold Undertaker falls very short of what he designed as I shall make evident from the Texts he alledges First he quotes Mat. 4. 23. Iesus went about all Gaâ—â—ilee teaching in the Synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom called in the 17th v. the Kingdom of heaven which is no other than the State of the Christian Church under the Gospel with all the Great Benefits and Priviledges as well as the Duties and Offices which appertain to it This is the Gospel of the Kingdom even the kingdom of heaven for it is that Doctrine and Dispensation wherein Heaven and Happiness are freely offer'd to mankind and whereby they may be made actual Partakers of them This is that which Christ taught and preach'd and thence our deep Logitian inâ—ers that he taught and preach'd but One Article as if the doctrine of the kingdom of heaven contain'd in it no more Next he quotes Mat. 10. 7. where our Lord enjoin'd his Apostles to preach saying The kingdom of heaven is at hand And he adds Luke 10. 9. where our Saviour commands the Seventy Disciples to give and preach to the Inhabitants of some particular places in Iudea and to say unto them The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you Which is as much as to say Go and preach the same Gospel that I my self have taught for this is the Sum of what I have every where publish'd and preach'd Repent ye for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand Mat. 4. 17. Reform your lives and embrace that Doctrine which approaches nearer and nearer unto you every day and is more and more to be discover'd to the world It is no less then the doctrine of the Kingdom of God i. e. Gods spiritual Government of his Church under the reign of the Messias the Saviour and Redeemer wherefore you must be careful to inform your selves concerning the Laws of this Spiritual Kingdom and to know and believe them as well as to practise them If a Man can prove hence that there is but One Article in all Christianity to be assented to to constitute a person a member of Christ he hath a faculty of Proving which none ever heard of before Well but why doth he not go on He had undertaken to prove the One Article from the Commission given by our Saviour to his Apostles and his Disciples and why then doth he not proceed and quote Mat. 28. 19 20. among his other Texts that he produces This is worth the Readers taking notice of for it will discover to him the Genius and Spirit of the man we are now dealing with Though he had taken upon him to set down and rehearse the several particular Commissions our Saviour gave the Apostles and Disciples when he sent them to preach the Gospel yet he omits this most Solemn order of all whereby they and their Successors were enjoyn'd to teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things c. They were to convert all Nations to the Faith of the Gospel and to make them Christs Disciples for the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by baptizing them into the profession of the Holy Trinity and consequently they were to be instructed in this doctrine in order to their being made Christians they must know and believe that in the Eternal Godhead there are Three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost this is propounded as requisite in order to their being admitted and constituted Disciples of Iesus If the Vindicator had not been conscious to himself that this is the True Sense and Import of the Text it is certain he would have produc'd it among the other places but which is dismal to consider he stifles the inward sentiment of his Conscience to secure his One Article for he saw that the Article of the Trinity was plainly express'd in this Commission and as plainly enjoin'd to
A Brief Vindication OF THE Fundamental Articles OF THE Christian Faith AS ALSO Of the Clergy Universities and Publick Schools from Mr. Lock 's Reflections upon them in his Book of Education c. With some Animadversions on two other late Pamphlets viz. Of Mr. Bold and a Nameless Socinian Writer By Iohn Edwards B. D. LONDON Printed for I. Robinson at the Golden Lion and I. Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-yard 1697. THE Epistle Dedicatory TO BOTH UNIVERSITIES HONOURED SIRS A Late Writer hath taken the confidence to make very Disrespectfull Indecent Rude and Scurrilous Reflections upon You and hath with that Scorn and Insolence which are peculiar to him and cannot be supposed to be in any other Man censured your Studies and Ways and Methods of Learning which are at this day own'd and practis'd by you They have always born the brand of Infamy who have shew'd their ill will to these Publick Schools of Education and Professed Seminaries of Arts and Literature Pope Paul the Second and Sixtus the Fourth who succeded him were infamous on this account for both of them were obâ—erv'd to bear a Hatred to Universities and publickly to declare their abhorrence of Academick Men and Learning Mr. Hobbes is a Modern Instance who was wont to decry the University-Studies and Learning because he had espoused a Set of Notions which were destructive not only to Academick but all Religious Principles But a later Instance we have in one Mr. Lock who though he infinitely comes short of the forenamed Person in Parts or Good Letters yet hath taken the courage to tread in his Old Friend's steps and publickly to proclaim his dislike of University-Men and to remonstrate against the Methods they take in bringing up of Youth The Name of Publick Schools and Academies is as hatefull to him as that of Athâ—nasius to a Socinian Nor is he pleas'd with our Old Christianity but hath offer'd a New Scheme to the World the same the very same in words as well as to the Thing with what Mr. Hobbes propounded as the Perfect and Compleat Model of Faith viz. To believe in Christ is nothing else than to believe that Jesus is the Christ and no other Faith besides this Article is required to Eternal life De Cive cap. 18. The belief of this Article Jesus is the Christ or Messias is all the Faith required for Salvation Leviathan Part. 3. Chap. 43. This is the Doctrine which is revived and furbish'd up in the pretended Reasonableness of Christianity and you see whence it is borrow'd When that Writer was framing a New Christianity he took Hobbes's Leviathan for the New Testament and the Philosopher of Malmsbury for our Saviour and the Apostles See how naturally a Man passes from arraigning and vilifying the Universities to affront and abuse Religion He had with pride and contempt trampled upon the former and now he attacks the latter and treads Christianity it self under his feet It may be few of you have taken notice of the Affronts done to your selves by this Bold Assailant as not busying your selves with such sort of Writers or as thinking such Reflections below your Resentments But I having had occasion to enter the Lists with this Gentleman it falls in my way to take notice of his Double Insolence i. e. to You and to Religion but more especially the latter which he hath miserably shatter'd and unsettled and almost reduced to nothing having baulk'd a great part of the Gospels and wholly laid aside the Epistles and renounced all Articles of Christianity but One as necessary to be believ'd to constitute a Man a Christian and having every where shew'd his disdain of the Ministry and Ministers of the Gospel especially the Clergy of the Church of England So that he deserves to be treated with Satyr rather than Argument And therefore if there be in the ensuing Papers a kind of mixture of the former with the latter I hope it will not be disrelish'd even by the most Serious and Iudicious Readers when they consider on whom it is bestow'd Gentlemen I have now an opportunity of vindicating the Honour of those Renowned and Learned Bodies to which you belong and likewise of asserting and defending the Cause of Christianity wherefore I thought I should be defective as to both these Concerns if I did not offer these Papers to You and humbly request You to take them into your patronage with the Author of them who is Most Learned Sirs Your entire Servant and Honoâ—â—er JOHN EDWARDS The Author to the Bookseller SIR YOu know Books Printed at Cambridge are commonly Licensed by the University and accordingly when I designed the following Papers for the Press there I requested Mr. Vice-Chancellor and the Regius Professor of Divinity to peruse them which they did and then returned them to me with an Imprimatur and two other Heads of Colleges for I applied my self to no more were pleased to sign the same The Form was thus April 17. 1697. Imprimatur Hen. Iames Procan Io. Beaumont Reg. Theol. Prof. Io. Covell S. T. P. Io. Baldersâ—on S. T. P. But since I found it necessary to be printed at London 〈◊〉 that I might not seem neglectful of 〈◊〉 â—avour and Kindness of the worthy Pâ—â—sons before mentioned And that you and the Reader may see that the Ensuing Undertaking was so far approved of by those Learned Gentlemen that they Licensed the Printing of it I have thought fit for their 〈◊〉 and yours to set down their Names Your humble Servant J. E. A Brief Vindication OF THE Christian Faith c. AFter I had observed the rude and surly Genius of a late Penman the Author and Vindicator of a Treatise which he entitules The Reasonableness of Christianity I had a mind to see what was his Humour in some other of his Productions and accordingly I look'd into his Papers of Education and there I soon discover'd that it was his settled Nature and Temper to Traduce all ranks of Persons and that he had taught his Tongue to Revel and that he can't write three Pages without thrice as many Calumnies and Falshoods and so I less wondered at his Rudeness to Me. There I found that he libels the most Learned and Celebrated Societies of Men in this Nation that he strives to blast the reputation of the most Useful Persoâ—s and to ridicule their Publick Employments and Statiens that with an ungovernable pride and disdain he discards some Arts and Sciences and laughs at the Professors of them And in brief I found that he imperiously flies at all and like some Barbarous Invader makes havock wheresoever he comes and spares no Sex Place or Quality of Persons Of which I will now give the Reader some particular Instances and undeniable proofs For I conceive it will not be expected that I should first endeavour to make it clear that the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity is the same person that writ concerning Education for all his Friends and Admirers
either true or false if we can suppose the former yet no Discreet man would publickly mention it out of respect to the the Honourable Robe Especiallâ— this Writer should not have exposed any of that Order seeing he had particularly commended and urged decency of words p. 256. Educat and had declared that it is the part of a Well-bred Man to express a respect to persons according to their Rank and Condition p. 258. But on the other hand if this Imputation be false then he deserves to fall into the hands of those Ministers of Iustice and to be sentenced according to his Crime But I return to his Treatise of Education It is observable that the Softer Sex have found no Protection from this Rough Man He is not only an University Hater but a Hater of Women He exposes the behaviour of two Ladies of Quality that fell out with one an other in Company and relates the Paritculars of it p. 265 266. It is likely that one or both of them have been told of this passage in his book and they can't but think it is an Affront to them and must needs be so far from believing him to have any of that Good Breeding which he pretends to teach the world that they will raâ—her stigmatize him as a Scandalous Blab that tells all he hears a Tom Coriat that relates whatever he picks up in his perambulations Joyn this with his Reflections on those Persons of Honour before mention'd and then give me your opinion of the Breeding of our Gensorious Tutour That he hath an Antipathy to the Whole Sex one would guess from what falls from his Pen p. 14. If women were themselves to frame the bodies of their children in their wombs we should certainly have no perfect children born which perhaps may go down very glib with his Admirers but you see he ventures to border upon Prophaneness and Blasphemy rather than he will not express his dislike of the Female Order Whether this be done in revenge to the Sex who generally where some body comes dub him the Hard-favour'd Man and sometimes upon occasion make use of him to scare their Children I will not dispute Or it may be he that hath been used to play with the Young Ones thinks he may make bold to be rude even with the Mothers Else he would not have given them the odious name of Munkies p. 15 and in reproach have called the House of Office Madam Cloacina p. 36. This is the cleanly genteel and polite language of Iohn Lock that writes himself Gent. And this stile and behaviour are the more strange because they are observ'd in one that hath been freely admitted to the Concerns of that Sex I might here harmlesly divert the Reader with his Scotchhoppers and Dibstones p. 115 237 275. with his Documents about Milk-potage and Water-Gruel p. 18. and his teaching Children to evacuate dextrously p 33 to p. 38. Which latter succeeds only when the Party is present it being promoted by his Vespasian-Looks He hath spent some time he saith in the study of Physick p. 40 and especially of the Guts which he very feelingly and concernedly discourses of p. 34 35 36. as if they were that part of the Body which he most minds Which is one reason perhaps why he hates Colledg-Commons and for their sake the Universities But I will not make any farther Additions because I will not prevent my self in what I design at an other time and because what I have before produced out of his Pages is sufficient to convince us what a Talent of Education he hath and how fit a person he is to have Youth committed to his charge He hath been consulted of late he saith by many about the breeding of their children Epist. Ded. but let me request such to consult their Reason and demand of that to tell them whether a Rash Censor of the Studies and Learning of our own Academies whether a Rude Reviler of those in the most Honourable Station whether a Defamer of Laudable Arts whether a Supercilious Innovator and a Fantastick Reformer in the Methods of Teaching and lastly whether a Corrupter of our Holy Faith and a profess'd Depraver of the Chief Articles of the Christian Religion of which I shall speak anon be a person fit to be consulted about the breeding of their Children The Orthodox Parents and I hope we have some of them left in England still will surely be caution'd by this not to commit them to this bold Patron of so Bad a Cause who prides himself in his Heterodoxy and boasts that he hath renounced the receiv'd doctrines of the Christian Church And thus having in a preliminary way descanted on some part of his book concerning Education that the Reader might thence have some insight into the Man I was to deal with I shall proceed now to take notice of his other Papers which relate to Religion for his New Education was in order to the introducing of a New Religion He had spoken before against the Learning in fashion and now he comes to censure the Religion in fashion as he calls it and the Fashionable and Titular Professors of it as he Stiles them p 93 i. e. the establish'd Ministers of it He had shew'd his perverse spirit in his Notions about the breeeding up of Children next he will try how successful he can be in the perverting of Men. He will see what he can do with Grown people as well as with his Young Masters Having taken upon him to reform the Universities and Schools and to cast off their Studies and Learning he is encouraged to go on and to reform Religion and to give us a New Model of Christianity Accordingly he publish'd a Treatise entituled The Reasonableness of Christianity wherein he pretends to teach the world what they have been so long ignorant of viz. that if a man acknowledg a God there is but One Article of Christian Belief which is necessarily required to be embraced by him in order to the constituting him a Christian. As for all other Articles and Doctrines delivered by Christ and his Apostles in the Writings of the New Testament he pronounces them to be unnecessary and useless as to the making a man a Christian and capacitating for Life and Salvation This Novel Conceit which is an unwarrantable Restraining and Confining of the Christian Faith and makes Christianity a far different thing from what it is represented by our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles hath been Vindicated by him once and again And as I thought my self obliged to reflect upon his First Vindication in a Discourse which I published and enâ—ituled Socinianism Unmask'd so now I am designing to attack his Second Vindication and by exactly setting down his own words which I shall very faithfully do and by impartially examining them to convince the Unbiass'd Reader of the Vanity Weakness and Inconsistency of the Absurdity Falshood and Dishonesty of his Arguing and on the contrary to establish this
Doctrine in mens minds that there are More Articles then One in the Christian Religion which are the necessary and indispensable matter of our Faith in order to our being True Christians Only first let me be permitted to observe how the Vindicator to bubble the Reader insinuates that in my Socinianism Vnmask'd I used ill language and railing and again in the same place his Preface he complains of my Stile as rude and scurrilous whereas any impartial Reader may satisfy himself that I always kept my self close to the matter which was before me I attended to the Merits of the Cause and made no Reflections but what his way of Discoursing drew from me I will not deny that I labour'd to assert the Truth with that Concern and Earnestness that Zeal and Ardour which so Good a Cause deserves I don't love to dally with the Grand Articles of our Religion for I look upon Languid and Timerous Assertors of Evangelical Truths as a sort of Betrayers of them There is as much of Iudas as Nicodemus in such persons It is one of the most Ominous Defects and Miscarriages of this Age that such numbers of men are Faint and Indifferent in matters of this nature I thank God I am not of so Phlegmatick a Mold I have not so groveling and dastardly a spirit as tamely to suffer this Upstart Adversary to shock Religion and pervert the Faith and not to stand up in defence of it and to detect his Errors and Cheats Therefore I am now treated as his Mortal Enemy because I tell him the Truth and that without timerous mincing of it It is this that hath rais'd in him an Angry and Malicious Ferment and hath made him rage and huff and fill the world with Clamours One hath rightly observ'd concerning his Second Vindication that it is an Angry piece of work and that he was in a Storm whilst he was writing it It is easily discernable that all along he is swell'd with Coler and Revenge Being touch'd home he equally raves against the Truth and Me. We see the Physick hath work'd as all the Filth and Excrements of his Papers shew Dirt and Ordure and Dunghills are the frequent embelishments of his Stile I am charg'd with popular calumnies falshood absurdity bawling talking at random malicious untruth leger-demain Nay I am a Conjurer though I never took him to be such I am a petulant Scold I am Villainous and I am e'en what he pleases I am sometimes an Innocent with him and sometimes a Iesuite for our Scurrilous Tutour is very happy in his wise and significant tacking of Calumnies together I 'm a Reprobate with him as to my Parts and Breeding I am honour'd with the Epithets of a Buffoon and with an Innuendo a Devil I have Lying and Impudence laid to my charge Yea this Well-bred Governour calls me a downright Impudent Liar And abundance of such Rhetorical Flowers I could present the Reader with out of the Vindicator's Garden for you must know that though he is a deadly Enemy to Poetry yet he is a Great Rhetorician The Strangeness of the Scene is that though he plentifully Rails every where yet he cries out against me as if I did so It is plain that he would suffer no body to Rail but himself He is clearly for the Monopoly of this Trade He seems to be of the Humour of him that would let no body where he was Swear but himself Let him then engross the whole Commodity I 'll not pretend to be a Sharer or Rival with him One that hath spent the greatest part of his time among Nurses and Gossips and the Loquacious Fry is not to seek in the Art of Scolding nay is supposed to Excel in it To such a one I am ready to give the Precedence because I question whether any of the Sisterhood at Billingsgate can outstrip him This Thorow-paced Railer flies to Personal Reflections that is such as he counts to be of that nature or else he would not have fill'd his Papers with them I am a Preacher and a Pulpit-Orator p 61 206 352 386. which are very scandalous imputations with him Wherefore he often insists upon these and touches upon my Parish and Parishioners p 203. and the very naming of an Use of Exhortation p. 393. is a Jest and a piece of Stinging Wit with him In one place p. 14â— he is so Logical that he infers I am no Good Arguer or Writer because I am a Preacher And yet he will grant that a Man may be a Commissioner for Trade to the Barbado's and yet be a Good Writer But whether he can be so as he is a Conceited Tutor I leave to be consider'd He hath such a rude way of treating the most Eminent Persons as you heard before that I could not expect to escape him who am in an other Level But it is observable that whilest he maliciously strikes at me he defames most of the Best Writers of our Age who are known to be Preachers and Pulpit Orators and this hath been the main Employment of their Lives Nay I could take notice that in his Vindication he uses the Testimonies and Authorities though it is true he hath mistaken them of some of those Writers that have been famed for their Preaching and Pulpit Oratory Now if Preachers be no Arguers then why doth he make use of their Authority If they be why doth he vilify them Good Mr. Vindicator be perswaded to leave off these Contradictions and Nonsense But any discerning man may see that here as well as in several other places of his Vindication and some of his other Writings his design was to ridicule the Sacred Office of Preaching and to blast the whole Function We may guess what honourable thoughts he hath of it when he attempts to apply the term Post in way of a rascally Quibble to the Ministry and the Persons concern'd in it p. 422. Therefore his Bitter Reflections on the Ministers of the Gospel and their Office are deservedly taken notice of and censured by a late Writer Occasional Paper Num. 1. and Num. 5. Truly there should be some care taken of this Gentleman for the very mentioning of Preaching though it be from his own mouth inflames his blood renews his Frenzy and makes him Rave This poor crazed Tutor should be look'd after and soundly dosed with Hellebore lest in the fits of his over-heated Brain he should lash out and revenge himself on the Wainscot of our Pulpits and with them of the Reading Pews for the sake of the Epistles of which hereafter And it is well if our whole Bibles escape his fury for the same reason But our Scolding Tutor falls upon me again p. 30. and now the Topick is Preferment and Admission to Preferment in the Church of England p. 24. It may be this is done to invite me to take notice of his Preferments and therefore though he be so rude as to upbraid me for my want of Titles and Dignities
as many as he can on the other's head The sum of all which is this CLAW ME AND I WILL CLAW THEE It is worth the observing that the Vindicator subscribes himself at the close of his Letter to Mr. Bold which in a conceited manner he claps into the Preface his most humble servant A. B. Upon which these short Remarks may be made 1. That he is ashamed of his Name and that with good reason 2. He is ashamed of his Cause and dares not Personally own it and set his Name to the defence of it This and the former may be reckon'd as the only Instances of Shamefacedness and Modesty that the man was ever guilty of But 3. We may gather from those two letters which he hath affixed to the end of his Epistle Who he is for though he hath only set down A. B. yet he hath left us to add the next letter C and then we know what person is meant viz. a Breeder up of Boys to learn their First Rudiments a Learned Teacher of A B C. concerning which you may find more p. 272 273. Educat From the Preface and Epistle I pass to the Book it self the first part of which is spent in the old known way of Malefactors at the Bar they are always willing to evade the Charge to insist upon the little Niceties and on the Formality of words and the Exact Punctilio's of Matter of Fact This is the practise of our Criminal p. 6 7. and he thinks thereby to palliate his Guilt He is loth to own it for he knows his demerit and the Consequence of it He is to be excus'd indeed for this or rather there is a known Proverb that excuses him that makes him so backward to Confess I have given an account of this matter in my Socinianism Unmask'd p. 5 6. and have also shew'd since that the Formal Words are agreed to by his late Proselite So that his own Gizzard Mr. Bold comes in Evidence against him and lets us know that we have no reason to listen to him when he waves the Enditement He will say and unsay as it comes into his head and will put the Reader off with any shuffling suggestions merely to evade what I had justly lay'd to his charge One of his great Cavils is that I alledge matter of fact but do not justify the Allegation p 2 and 7. and undertakes to prove it from my pretending as he saith to know and deliver his thoughts p. 8. This saith he there is an Instance of False Allegations in matters of Fact and such as are not capable of a Negative proof Such poor little trifling stuff doth he obtrude upon the Reader as if one that had read his Writings could not in a probable way tell what his thoughts of such a subject were unless you will say he dissembled when he wrote and this perhaps is it which he means when he saith there concerning me that that I affirm what I do not know And so you see what he hath got by caviling against what I alledged he hath before he was aware let the world know that he believes not what he writes that his Thoughts and his Pen hold no correspondence that when he pleads for One Article only he doth not think that there is but One but however he designs to root out All by reducing all the Articles of Christianity to One Who would attend to any of his Objections when it is plain that it is not his business to search out Truth but to betray it He hath nothing to say to what I replied to his former Vindication and therefore now to cheat the world and amuse the Reader and to give farther proof of his daring Confidences he bids me p. 9 25 72 c. go to work again 1. to prove that there are these words in his Reasonableness of Christianity viz. that Nothing is required to be believed by a Christian as absolutely necessary to make him such but this Proposition Iesus is the Messias 2. to prove that he set himself on purpose to find but one Article of Faith 3. to prove that he contends for One Article of Faith with exclusion and defiance of all the rest 4 to prove that the believing of Iesus to be the Messias is not the only Article sufficient to make a man a Christian. And several other things he calls upon me to prove and the silly Accountant scores them up as he goes along and sets down the Figures And he would not have left off where he doth but that the Innocent had number'd as far as he could go There is not one Particular he mentions which I have not proved and evinc'd in my Socinianism Unmask'd and therefore I scorn at the motion of such a Whiffling Objector such a Crude Repeater of what he had said before in his First Vindication but now hath lately vamp'd up and sent abroad again I scorn I say to produce the same Proofs again and to affront the Reader with Needless Repetitions which is the guise of this trifling Writer But seeing our A B C darian calls to me over and over again to prove this and to prove that I will now put him upon Proving and see how he will discharge that part In order to this I am to acquaint the Reader that this Gentleman in his Former Vindication call'd for a List of Fundamental Articles i. e. such as the Holy Scripture represents to us as requisite to be known and believ'd that we may be True Christians I obey'd the demands of this pert Vindicator and perform'd the Task which he was pleas'd to set me in my first Chapter of my forenamed Treatise I assign'd a considerable number of Articles of the Christian Faith as absolutely necessary to be known i. e. so far as they can be known for there are Great and Profound Mysteries couch'd in some of them so that I had reason to say they were in some measure which expression the Vindicator vainly objects against p. 70. to be known and understood and to be believ'd and I particularly and distinctly proved that all of them are of that nature and consequently no man can be a Christian without a competent knowledge and belief of these Doctrines I also there propounded a General Rule whereby all such Articles and Doctrines may be discern'd i. e. they may be known to be such from the Nature of the things contained in them for no Evangelical Truths are absolutely and indispensably necessary to be known and to be assented to in order to the constituting of us Christians but those that have Immediate respect to the Occasion Author Way Means and Issue of Mans Redemption and Salvation But our Vindicator attempts not in the least to invalidate this Description of Necessary Articles nay though he mentions it again p. 130. yet he can't invent any thing to object against it only asks this and the other Question nothing to the purpose Our bold Reformer in Divinity scribles on
and shews not himself concern'd to disprove what I propounded and asserted No he doth not so much as pretend to it But he quarrels and shuffles and makes a long Harangue about the Set Number of Fundamental Articles and enquires p. 69. whether there be neither more nor less then I have assign'd Which is nothing to the purpose for Christianity consists not as this Narrow soul'd Man would suggest in a Point If he will make it his business to score them up so let him it is none of mine I have assign'd several Articles of Necessary Belief I have particularly Enumerated such Doctrines as have all the Marks of being Fundamental Let him prove that they have not those Marks or let him take what course he pleases to prove that they are not Fundamental Truths and such as ought to be known and asserted to in order to make us Christians and when he hath done this particularly and distinctly I will be aâ— leisure to tell him whether I think there be any more that belong to the Foundation I have done my part I have proved that more then One Article is absolutely requisite to make a man a Christian and yet he is still craving and calls to me and demands and requires and challenges me to prove this and that and yet will not prove any thing himself This is a Mad way of Writing to boast still of his One Article and yet not shew that any one of these Articles which I nam'd ought not to be added to it This is the business he should have undertaken and therefore for the future I expect that he either allows of those Articles as Fundamental or else particularly shew that they are not Pray set your self to this work and prove if you can that all those Articles which I have mention'd are not necessary to be believ'd to make men Christians and by that time you have done this I shall find you fresh employment which will hinder a mans jaunting to my Young Masters houses and his going a Gooding And the Justice and Fairness of my dealing with him will appear from this that I hold him to his own Rule The Rule of Fair Dispute saith he is to prove where any thing is denied to Evade this is shuâ—â—ing p 451. He stiffly denies that those Propositions which I assign'd are necessary to be believ'd for the constituting a man a Christian I call upon him to prove it I have made it evident that they are all of them Fundamental Articles but he will not own them to be such then I say Prove the contrary I expect this of you I demand and require it of you and will insist upon it to use your own peremptory stile Your Talk is this to prove that those doctrines of the Gospel which I enumerated are not as necessary to be known and believ'd to constitute a man a Christian as that One Article which they have nam'd And when you have tried what you can do towards a proof of this I 'll tell you then what I have more to say to you But you see I put you upon following your own Rule and if you do not observe it you are by your own sentence a Shuffler It is observable that this Long-winded Rambler hath spent above 20 pages viz. from p. 48 to p. 71. in Little Queries Evasions Shiftings Wranglings about words and yet with pretences of great Seriousness But especially he is for his Queries he is every where Asking he hath more and more Questions to put which verifies a good Antient Saying which we have concerning such a Foolish Querist as he hath shew'd himself to be This strange Impertinent humour abounds so excessively in him that one would be curious to enquire what is the source of it whence it is that throughout all these Papers he is ever starting of idle trifling Questions I can resolve it into nothing but this that one whose Converse hath been always with Children must needs assimilate and ape them for as he observes himself Educat p. 220 they are mightily given to this way of asking of Questions and yet this Pedantick Tutour justifies this childish folly in himself of acting thus p. 54 to p. 60. Well seeing he is such an Intemperate and Lavish Asker I hope he will not deny me the liberty of asking him only three or four Questions and I conceive I have as much Authority to demand an Answer as he I. Why doth he pretend sometimes to assert more Articles then one whereas at other times he peremptorily contends but for One which he calls the Sole Article and the Only Article In two or three other places he talks of collecting several Articles but how is that consistent with One Concerning that Account of Faith which he offers to the world he thus speaks p. 232. No one Article which the Apostles proposed as necessary to be receiv'd by unbelievers to make them Christians is ommitted in it When he saith no one Article is omitted it is implied that there are more Articles then one If there be More I demand of him to set down just how many they are seeing he demands the like of me But with all let him tell the world whether he talks thus as one that is Crazed and knows not whether One and Many Articles be the same or whether his speaking thus be a Preparative to his Recanting his former Doctrine Here are several Lesser Questions in the Great one that I propounded let us have his Answer to them all II. What is the Reason that he hath not all this while undertaken to disprove that Plurality of Fundamental Arrticles which I asserted Why neither in his First nor Second Vindication hath he dared to shew that those Articles are not to be believ'd in order to the denominating a man a True Christian and a Member of Christ If he could have done it no body can doubt but that he would and that with mickle Confidence for no one will suspect that it is the want of that that hinders him from such an enterprize This Judicious Player at Dibstones finds fault with my Collection of Fundamentals and yet meddles with no particular one of them only is so senseless and ridiculous as to deny them to be Fundamental Doctrines of Christanity and such as are necessarily to be received by every one that lays claim to Christianity I demand a Reason of this I require a particular and full Account why every one of those Articles is not to be receiv'd as Fundamental I shall insist upon it till he either assigns some Reason or confesses he cannot III. How can he expect that I should comply with his demands which are very numerous and particularly with that of assigning a Set Collection of Fundamentals when he hath told me already that he is resolved like a Well bred man and a Good Christian of one Article to slight whatever I shall offer to him If I should propound such doctrines as I verily believe
to be Fundamentals he before hand asks why he should take them from me rather then from an Anabaptist p. 52. And in the same place he saith he hath as much reason to believe an Anabaptist or Quaker c. as me Which is as much as to tell me in express terms that he hath taken up a resolution to attend to no Articles of Faith that I shall propound Where were the Thoughts of our Pilgrim Tutour when his unwary tongue dropt such words as these Even when he is soliciting me yea challenging me to give him a List of Articles he proclaims to the world that he will not accept of any of them he declares that he would sooner take a Set of Articles and Fundamentals from a Socinian or a Papist for he particularly names them both on this very occasion than from me p. 52. And Sir we will believe you without swearing IV. An other Question I shall put to you and require an Answer to it Seeing you have taken part with the Follower of Socinus and have adopted several of their Notions and Tenents and interpret some Scriptures which relate to the Trinity in the same way that they do and thereby have given occasion to be thought one of the Party and yet you pretend to disown all acquaintance with them p. 222 223. seeing you appear thus with a double face and amuse the world with these disguises I require of you to return an Answer to this Query and the several parts of it Whether you verily believe that Iesus is so the Son of God that he is really God and that in the Unity of the Divine Essence there is a Trinity of Distinct Persons or Subsistencies that the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God and that these Three are One God as the Scriptures plainly and expresly declares Seeing you are so brisk in your demands I expect a positive Answer to mine and hereby shall we know whether you are a True Man or a Spie When I see you have performed this work I will still find you more employment I had proved Socinianism Unmask'd chap. 2. that his Opinion of One Article was founded among other things upon this Notion that all things in Christanity must be so plain that they may be easily comprehended and that there may be nothing difficult to mens understandings This I made clear from the tenour and coherence of his words from his 〈◊〉 of reasoning from the scope of his book and from the plain sense of his expressions But our Vindicator cannot bear this and therefore puts himself into a posture of shifting and evading whatever was brought against him and by all imaginable arts he labours to stifle my Reasonings and Arguings on that Point One of his knacks is to frame a Dialogue between me and him p. 34 35 36. and he is so silly in the contriving of it that it baffles him instead of favouring his Cause Fearing that the Dialogue would not do the feat he appears in the shape of a Syllogizer p. 39. though the Inconsiderate Man had derided Logick and Syllogism because they are University-Learning The next he falls into the old trade of Questions Where and When and after this is done he begins his Dialogue again This is one of the Distracted Scenes of his Vindication and the Reader may thence form an idea of the Whole Work and see with amazement what little Knacks and Conceits he applies himself to that he may juggle men out of the Truth He hath so accustom'd himself to shewing of Tricks among his Young Frie whom he hath had the Tutorage of that we must never expect any other of him whatever Subject he handles P. 93 94. he will not admit of any Mysteries in Christianity and therefore opposes what I had asserted viz. that there are some Doctrines in the Gospel which are not plain and clear and yet are of necessity to be believ'd If he had been Master of any Sincerity he would have observ'd how I explain'd my self and shew'd that all the Doctrines and Articles of the Christian Religion are not alike some of them are in themselves Evident and Illustrious others because of the Transcendency of their Matter are Obscure and Mysterious and not level to our humane understandings as the doctrine of the Holy Trinity Christ's Incarnation c. but yet are believ'd with a firm and unshaken Faith This is so Rational that none but the hood wink'd Masker would have excepted against it And he doth it after a very poor rate He nibbles at the distinction I make between the Certainty or Reality of some Evangelical Doctrines and the exact manner of the things themselves contain'd in those Doctrines But he finâ—s it pricks his chaps and so he gives it over However like the Gentlemen of Racovia he cannot endure to hear of Mysteries in Christianity and therefore here he takes occasion to express his great dislike of those who assert that in the Christian Religion there are Mysteries properly so called i. e. such Truths and Articles that as to the Manner of the things contained in them are not Intelligible but exceed humane Reason and cannot possibly be fathom'd by it The denying of this is one of his last Artifices and Contrivances for if we brieflâ— recount the Methods of this New Projector we shall find them to be in this order first he presented the world with odd Conceits of the Idea's of things thereby to undermine the Principles of Truth and to discompose the receiv'd Notions in Philosophy and Divinity as a very Reverend and Learned Writer though one of the chiefest and most Eminent of the Pulpit Orators hath lately proved against him Then that his Sentiments might prevail he prescribes a new way of Bringing up of Youth and seasoning them betimes in some Private Nurseries with such Principles as he and his Associates shall dictate and accordingly all Publick Schools and Universities and their Studies are cried down by him Next there comes forth a New Plat form of Religion all the Fundamental Articles and Doctrines of Christianity are discarded by him excepting One bare single Article which he thinks fit to retain till he hath a fair opportunity of throwing that off too Then he further advances and every where very warmly inveighs against Ministers and Preachers partly because of their University-Learning but chiefly because they oppose his groundless notion of One Article and assert the Fundamentals of Christianity And lastly to compleat his design he strikes in with the Deists and Socinians and laughs at the Mysteries of the Christian Religion and thereby encourages men to cast off all Reveal'd Religion the greatest part of which consists of Profound and Inexplicable Mysteries and such as Humane Reason neither found out nor can comprehend when reveal'd These are the Ways and Methods he hath applyed himself to in order to the undermining of the Orthodox Faith Here I will observe to the Reader how profoundly skill'd
in Greek our University Hater is He brings in these words though alien to his purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which saith he if we put into English are the dead shall rise p. 100. He might have found it rightly translated to his hand in our English Bible 1 Cor. 15. 15. but we know the Gentleman doth not much meddle with the Epistles especially St. Paul's as we shall hear afterwards He thinks good man that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Verb of the future tense And here we see the reason why such as he declaim against Publick Schools and against Grammar It is no wonder indeed that he despairs of setting up for a Critick for fear he should set the world of laughing p. 67. To this Eminent Skill of his in Criticism and Grammar we may refer Cincinnetus a new Name for a Dictator of Rome p. 356. of his Education He plays upon the Sacred Names Iesus and Messias p. 107. and would perswade the Reader to believe that he ought no more attend to the meaning of the word Iesus and the word Messias when the Proposition Iesus is the Messias is tender'd to him to believe than to the Signification of the Name Saul or Arthur or any other Name whatsoever But what is the reason then I ask the Vindicator why these Names Iesus and Christ which latter is the Greek for Mâ—ssias are so particularly and distinctly explained and descanted upon by those Learned and Pious Writers who have commented upon the Apostle's Creed We see they spend a considerable time in giving the true and full Import of these Denominations There is mentioned a Man in the same Creed under whom our Saviour suffered but we do not find that his double Name is searched into and sisted by Expositors as those Blessed Names Iesus and Messias are And the reason is plain because Christian men are concerned to know the true meaning and Sense of these Titles or else they can't know who it was that was born suffered and died for them In the very Names themselves there is included the Nature of this Divine and Extraordinary Person and therefore it was fit that they should not be ignorant of this But it is not so with other Names they need not any such Explaining and Opening as for example Pontius Pilate and Iohn Lock are well known to be such Persons though the Extraction of the Names be not explained I hope our Captious and Ludicrous Vindicator will consider this and not ridiculously and impiously undervalue and debase the Names of the Son of God and compare them with those of King Saul and Prince Arthur and tell us as he doth afterwards p. 108. that this Proposition Iesus is the Messias needs no more Explication than this Cyrus was King of Persia. And as to what he subjoyns p. 109 110. that I own the Easiness of the foresaid Proposition the Masker's Understanding is clouded or else he would not have quoted these Words in p. 74. of my Socinianism unmask'd to the purpose he doth for any one may see that I intended them to be but a General Description or Character of the Messias and the Occasion of that Lax Character of him is discernible in that place to any one but our Muffled Vindicator He would shew himself a Critick p. 112. c. in descanâ—ing upon the word Integral and Essential which I made use of in a general meaning for whatever appertain'd to the Essence and integrity of a Christian which shews that our Tutour was Over-nice that his Exceptions are mean and low and that he is but Practitioner in Water-gruel P. 117. he tells the Reader that all that part of my Discourse in Socinicnism Unmask'd which reaches from p. 28 to 35. is nothing but Pulpit-Oratory If the Reader will be pleased to consult that part of the Chapter he may satisfy himself that there is Ignorance as well as Malice in this Imputation for I there sheâ—â—hat he treads in the steps of those of the Racovian way who cast off several Articles of Christian Faith because they are in part Dark and Mysterious I shew that this was the practise of Grellius and is follow'd by the English Socinians at this daâ— I particularly assert the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity and shew in what sense it may be said not to be Difficult I prove that it contains in it no Contradiction and as to the One Article so talk'd of by him I make it evident that it is not more Intelligible than any of the Articles which I propounded as Fundamental These are the Contents of that Part of my Treatise and I appeal to the Reader whether this be the Pulpit-Oratory That the Creature should give it this Name is the highest piece of Nonsense and the plainest proof of Stupidity that he could have divulg'd to the world uâ—less you will say it was only to have a fling at the Pulpit which he often mentions with Contempt and Reproach and then it is Prophane Spite When I objected to him his Contempt of the Epistolary Writings of the Apostles which I evinc'd from his passing them by and wholly neglecting to gather any Articles of Faith out of them he replies in way of Recrimination that I have pass'd by several Chapters and Verses in my Câ—llâ—ction of Articles and thence infers my Contempt of them p. 122. It is to be hoped there are but few men in the world whose brains are thus disorder'd Could any one but this shallow Vindicator think that I should collect the Fundamental Articles of Christanity out of all the Chapters and Verses of the New Testament Or if I did not so and mentioned not some of them that this was any Argument of my despising those Writings Could any but this poor Dandler of Infants imagine that there is a parity between these two viz. my collecting of the Fundamental Articles out of the Gospels Acts and Epistles and his presenting of us with one Article only out of the Evangelists and Acts without so much as taking notice of the Apostolical Epistles Could any but this Weak Arguer infer from my not mentionig every châ—pâ—â—r and verse in the New Testament that this is the same with omitting all the Epistles Could any one that hath not the like Hardened Front with himself publish to the world that this is a sign of my Contemning the Scriptures and then upon this occasion he hath the vanity to vent a silly paultry Quibble upon passing by which none but such an abhor'd Pedant would stain his paper with Then as if he had discarded all Truth and feared his Conscience with a hot iron he hath the face to utter such words as these viz that I though a Minister of the Gospel cannot bear the Texts of Scripture which he hath produced nor his quotations out of the four Evangelists p. 152. whereas any one that pursues what I have writt may see that I only objected against his Quotations as not being a Compleat Collection
and because in several places he distorted the Evanelists words Yet according to his never-failing art of Falsifying he represents me as one that vilifies the Four Evangelists Such another daring Falshood is that that I think the Gospel the Good News of Salvation tedious from the mouth of our Saviour and his Apostles p. 126. For which apparent forgery I claim the forfeiture of his Ears if he hath not as he hath deserv'd lost them before And from this you may gather what Sincerity there is in his objecting to me that I make bold with Truth and that what I say is utterly false p. 403. you must not credit one word of it for once a Forger and always so This is his master piece of Art to cheat and abuse the world with downright Falsities and to betray Christanity and yet whilst he is doing this to accuse others of being False He grants p. 127 what I had urged about the Four Gospels being writ to and for Believers as well as Unbelievers and yet immediately after he revokes his Grant and sophistically shifts it off so that no man alive knows where to have the Gentleman But it is worth our remarking that it hath pleased God to leave this Man to his own infatuations and to suffer him to produce and insist upon a protion of Scripture which is an absolute Conâ—uration of what he brings it for p. 125. He quotes a great part of the fifth chapter to the Hebrews to prove that the Necessary Articles and Principles of Faith are not to be gather'd out of the Epistles particularly he makes use of those words You have need that one teach you again which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God v. 12. And the Apostle in chap. 6. v. 1. particuarly sets down these Principles of the doctrine of Christ as he also stiles them Who but this Obstinate and Senseless Vindicator would hence infer as he strenuously doth that the Apostolical Epistles and this especially were not written to teach men the Fundamental Principles of Christianity We have seen what a Talent he hath of Grammar and Criticism now behold the mans Improvements in Logick If you please wee 'l reduce what he saith into a Syllogisâ—â—â— because this profound Logitian hath set us a Pattern before and he will take it ill if we don't follow him If it be plainly express'd in the Epistle to the Hebrews that they have need to be taught again the First Principles of the Oracles of God and of the doctrine of Christ and accordingly the Apostle distinctly tells them what some of these Principles are then neither this Epistle nor any other Epistles of the Apostles distinctly shew what were those doctrines which were absolutely necessary to make men Christians I use the Logitian's own words But it is plainly expressed in the Epistle to the Hebrews that they have need to be taught again the first Principles of the Oracles of God and of the doctrine of Christ and accordingly the Apostle distinctly tells them what some of those Principles are Ergo neither this Epistle nor any other Epistles of the Apostles distinctly shew what were those doctrines which were absolutely necessary to make a Man a Christian. Or more briefly he argues thus This and other Epistles tell us what are the Necessary Principles of Christianity Ergo they do not tell us You have a tast of his Logical Faculty and I doubt not but you likewise have been drawing a Conclâ—sion from the Premises viz. that such Wild Reasonings argue a flaw in his Skull that uses them Is this the Thoughtful man A Creature that goes on all four if it could speak would talk much better Sense Here is such a Heap of Contradictions and such Impiety in citing the Holy Text to patronize them that I question not but the Judicious Reader will hence form such thoughts of this Gentleman as his great merits require But surely in his next quotations out of an Epistle though it be a part of Scripture which he so much dreads he will take care to speak tolerable sense and not to abuse the Sacred Writ in this palpable manner Let us see then how it is with him in his Citation out of the first Epistle to the Corinthians In order to prove his former wild Conceit that the Epistles of the Apostles are not to be consulted for Fundamentals of Christianity he alledges chap. 3. v. 2. I have fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto ye were not able to bear it neither yet are ye able The plain meaning of which words without doubt is this that the Apostle had hitherto taught them and continued still to teach them the Necessary and Indispensable Doctrines of Christianity such as were as needful for them as Milk for babes Because they were not able to bear any heavy Superstructure he made it his chief business to lay the Foundation and this Foundation is Iesus Christ v. 10 11. The plain way of Salvation by this JESUS the Son of God the Plain and Easy Articles of the Christian Faith all of them Plain as to the Truth and Certainty of them though some of them not Plain as to the manner of the things comprehended in those Articles these plain and simple Truths which are as Pure and Unsophisticated as Milk and therefore are so termed here are those Doctrines which the Apostle taught the Corinthians And now then let us see how this Man of Logick argues from the Apostle's words and to give you the better light into his excellent way of Arguing we will present it in Mode and Figure for Mr. Chillingworth saith he bid his Adversary write nothing but Syllogisms p. 228. and besides we find that Good Mr. Bold is for Syllogisms p. 4. of his Reply So that upon these Weighty Authorities we must betake our selves to this way of Disputing Thus then he argues If the Apostle fed the Corinthians with milk i. e. taught them the Plain and Necessary Articles of Christianity and delivered such in his Epistles to them then we are not to think that any Fundamental and Necessary Articles of the Christian Religion such as are to be received to make a man a Christian are to be found in this or any other of the Epistles But the Apostle fed the Corinthians with milk i. e. taught them the Plain and Necessary Articles of Christianity and delivered such in his Epistles to them Ergo we are not to think that any Fundamental and Necessary Articles of the Christian Religion such as are to be received to make a man a Christian are to be found in this or any other of the Epistles Risum teneatis If the Vindicator can clear this from Nonsense I promise him that the Reader and I will leave off laughing at him for his cashiering of Burgersdicius But in the mean time we see the reason why this Itinerant Innovator is so zealous against Logick and University-Learning He trembles at the thoughts of Strict Sense
vacates the Authority of Scripture only to gratify some of his Fraternity who with himself have a design to smother the Chief Articles of our Religion and to stifle the Christian Faith P. 344 345 c. he is mightily Concern'd if you will believe him that he should be thought to favour Socinianism What Evidence I brought for it he labours to render invalid but with little success He would maintain forsooth that though I have proved him a Socinian yet he is no Socinian and what if he be both May not a man be a Socinian and no Socinian as well as a Physitian and no Physitian But he farther complains that he is the first man that was ever found out to be at the same time a Socinian and a Factor for Rome p. 346. No Sir you are mistaken here as in all your other Points you are not the first man for there was a Iesuit in the late Reign as a profess'd Socinian owns in his Exceptions of Mr. E. examin'd p. 46. who publish'd a Paper entituled An Address c. wherein he pretends to shew that the Scriptures commonly alledged for the Incarnation of the Son of God and for the Trinity admit of an other sense And this Paper was read by the Jesuite-Preacher in Limestreet and zealously urged by him in his Pulpit Whence it is evident that Popish Priests when they see it makes for their Interest cry up the Socinian Principles and Doctrines A Iâ—suite can appear in all shapes and figures as well as a Vindicator and that is the reason that our Vindicator mention'd not this when he was enumerating the Properties of a Iesuite for he knew well enough that he could assume the guise of a Quaker or a Socinian or any other Sect and therefore a Socinian and a Factor for Rome are not inconsistent Which proves that the Vindicator had no cause to complain of my coupling these Two together and that it was as weakly as falsly said of him that he was the first man in whom both these Denominations meet Socinianism was first brought out of Italy and thither it tends Our Runnagate Tutor being almost out of breath with Impertinent Nonsense and Repetitions begins to sit down and take up with Quotations p. 350 and of whom Of two Orthodox Prelates of our Church But where-ever he mentions that word Orthodox he intends it for a Jeer so that those Worthy Persons he gives that Epithet to are much oblig'd to him for his Buffoonry But that is not all they are two Prelates he saith whom when he follows Authorities he shall prefer to Slichtingius and Socinus the good man thinks Socinus was after Slichtingius Here is the Honour that is done to those Eminent Men of our Church he can only give them the preference to two Notorious Corrupters of our Christian Faith What an impudent affront is this to the Ashes of the late Archbishop and to the Right Reverend Bishop now living from the Pen of this Episcopus Puerorum this Contemptible Overseer of Hanging-Sleeves When he follows Authorities is as much as to say he never will for our Puny-Governor is Authority to himself Thus he quotes those Excellent Prelates only to abuse them and to distort their words as may be seen in what he saith of them And it is very observable that this man who scorns Authorities yet brags in an other place that he hath Great Authorities to justify him And in what viz. that the Soul of Man is Material Here our good Gentleman can depend upon Authorities and call them Great Ones when they shock the Immortality of Humane Souls but in a Point of Orthodox Faith he laughs at Authorities This Ignorant Writer stands to what he said before that the Son of God was a phrase that among the Iews in our Saviour's time was used for the Messias p. 357. Which hath no foundation at all and none but the man that talks of the Mishna and never saw it would have asserted any such thing Mr. Selden who it is thought was the better Antiquary and Judge in this matter expresly tells us that by the Son of God the Iews meant the Word of God as he is called in the Chaldee Paraphrast which was the same as if he had profess'd himself to be God De Jure Nat. Gent. l. 2. c. 12. For the Old Jews belief was as several Good Authors have proved that the Messias was God or the Son of God for they look'd upon the Son of God as Synonymous with God when it is applied to the Messias Rittangel a Learned Writer who had been a Jew sufficiently proves this from the Jewish Writings And from other Testimonies it might be proved that the Son of God was not a term only to express the Messias but that it signified something more viz. That Jesus is the Proper Natural and Eternal Son of God that he is One with the Father as having the same Divine Nature and Essence Thus in the strictest sense he is the Son of God and the Jews in our Saviour's time understood this expression thus otherwise they would not have attempted to stone him for Blasphemy when he said he was the Son of God which according to them was the same with being One with the Father and making himself God Joh. 10. 30 33 36. Whence it is evident that the Son of God denotes the Divinity of Christ which the word Messias doth not and consequently the Son of God and the Messias are not terms of the very same signification And that place Acts 8. 37. I believe that Iesus Christ is the Son of God inefragrably proves it which I urged in my former Treatise but when the Vindicator came to repeat what I had alledg'd he leaves out the words of the Text as the Reader may see p 370. which is an argument of his hating the Light But as being ashamed which is prodigious in him of that Omission he afterwards mentions the Text and sweats to evade the force of it My Argument ran thus If the Eunuch who was instructed by Philip in the Christian Faith profess'd that he believed Iesus Christ or the Messias to be the Son of God then that word Messias or Christ is not of the very same signification with the Son of God but imports something else But the Eunuch profess'd c. Therefore the word Messias is not of the same signification with the Son of God The Minor is the Text The Major is proved from this that if the Son of God signified no more than the Messias then the Eunuch's words are a downright Tautology for they are as much as if he had said I believe that the Messias is the Messias A man would think there is some sense and reason in this way of Arguing No saith our Gentleman I will not allow that there is any Sense in this for the Tautology will be quite removed if we take Christ here for a proper Name p. 374. Say you so Good Mr. Vindicator
Then why may not your One Article Iesus is the Messias be reduced to this Jesus is he whom we call the Messias or whose Proper Name is Messiah What is the reason that you did not take the word Christ for a Proper Name in all those other places where you alledge that Name to signify his Office And what is the reason that the word Messias in your Collection of Texts may not be thought to be the same Unless your Pedantship will say that a Greek word but not an Hebrew or Syriack one is capable of being a Proper Name You see the strength of our Adversary After so many years plodding and booking it he cannot afford any other then such weak insipid trash as this Get thee gone I say to thee for a maker of poor thin Physickâ—broth P. 399. he thinks it Prophane that I say of him that he makes our Saviour a Coward But if I prove that he represents him as such then the Prophaneness will lie at his own door Though it is true our Saviour used great Caution at the first Preaching of the Gospel and did not on all occasions and to all persons declare himself to be the Messias yet he was not so Reserv'd and Timerous as this Writer would have us believe for he hath the confidence to say in his Reasonableness of Christianity that Christ made no other discovery of himself at the beginning of his Ministry but by Miracles and Circumlocutions and general Discourses p. 59. And in an other place of that Book he saith he did this lest the Sanhearim should have laid hold on what he said to have got him into their power and thereby to take away his life p. 62. And afterwards he saith our Saviour would by no means in express terms profess himself to be the Messias p 72. and that for the same reason Nay he tells us that out of this wary and cautious principle he never in the whole course of his Ministry so much as to his Disciples much less to the multitude or the Rulers of the Iews declared himself to be the Messias in express terms p. 148. And in almost a hundred pages together viz. from p. 59. to p. 152. he labours to instill this Notion into the minds of his Readers that our Blessed Lord had not Courage enough to own himself to be the Messias the views of Danger hindred him from letting the world know Who he was But how contrary is this to what we read in the Evangelical Writings When the women of Samaria had mentioned the Messias Iohn 4. 25. Christ immediately thereupon said unto her I that speak unto thee am he i. e. the Messias Here in plain and direct words he owns himself to be the Messias and this was at the very entrance of his Ministry Again we are assured that he went about all Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom Mat. 4. 23. i. e. that the Messias was come and that he himself was that Messias for it was no more dangerous to proclaim himself to be the Messias than to tell the Jews that the Messias was come for they would soon know what Particular Person it was Further though our Saviour as is particularly taken notice of by the Evangelists shew'd his Prudence and Discretion in not exposing himself to unnecessary dangers by too great a freedom of speaking yet at the beginning of his Ministry we find that he plainly and without any reserve told the Jews that God was his Father Iohn 5. 17. or which is equivalent that he was the Son of God which is as much as if he had said he was God for so the Jews interpreted it in that place for they said this was making himself equal with God v. 18. He told them at the same time that he had power to raise the dead v. â—1 and that he is to be Iudg of the world at the last day v. 22 27. that all men ought to honour him as they honour the Father v. 23. that he gives Eternal Life to those that believe on him v. 24. and more fully and amply in other expressions in that Chapter he publickly and expressly declares himself to be the Messias and the Son of God And it is observable that he made this free plain and open profession of himself and his Divine Nature and Messiaship at that very time when the Iews persecuted him and sought to slay him v. 16. Judg then of the Truth and Consistency of what this Dabler in Scripture and Divinity saith of our Saviour viz. That in the whole course of his Ministry he never expresly declared himself to be the Messias Nay which makes it the more unaccountable and prodigious he holds that Christ never all that time own'd himself to be the Messias although according to him there was no other Article of Faith propounded by Christ and the Apostles to be believ'd to make a man a Christian but this that Iesus is the Messias Judg of the truth of what he saith viz. that our Saviour always spoke to the Jews whether his own Apostles and Disciples or others concerning himself in obscure and mystical terms p. 99. as being afraid to speak out and standing in awe of the Angry Iews who sought to kill him p. 85. Is not this clearly confuted by what I have alledged out of the Gospels and is it not further confuted by what we read in Mat. 10. 28 32 where our Saviour disâ—wades his Apostles from fearing them that kill the body and requires it of them as their duty that they confess him before men i. e. as is most evident from comparing Iohn 9. 22. with 12. 4 that they confess him to be the Messias And can we think that they were obliged to do this unless he had plainly told them that he was the Messias But according to this New Expositor Christ exacted more of his Apostles than he dared to do himself for he was Cautious and Fearful and therefore would not confess himself to be the Messias he had not Spirit and Valour enough to own that Character in the whole course of his Ministry lest he should thereby be in danger of his life as he expresses it What is this but belying our Blessed Saviour and making him a Coward And who but a Poltron a Cowardly Flincher from the Fundamental Articles of our Faith would entertain such a vile and impious thought of our Lord and Master It is pleasant to see p. 222. which should indeed have been mention'd before how this Imperious Dragger up of Youth handles the Antient Grave Citizen who dedicated a Book to him and most submissively crouch'd to him In stead of acknowledging his good will and respect to him this Supercilious and Unmannerly Well bred man snibs him for his forwardness and condemns him as a System-Maker though the poor man had rail'd in three or four places of his Pamphlet against all Systems What a Magotted Vindicator is this Now our Pilgrim is approaching towards his
those Doctrines before rehears'd though we know nothing of the nature and intent of them nay though we never heard of them for there is but One Article of Faith and no more that is required to make us Christians and that is this that Iesus is the Messias If you believe this take it upon my word you need nothing more I mean as to matter of Faith to make you True and Living Members of Christ. This alone is that which properly deserves the Name of Iustifying Faith and is that Faith which God will impute to a man for Righteousness I have been blamed by several of my Brethren in the Ministry for preaching and printing such doctrines as this and they have baffled me as they think out of the Holy Scriptures and have demonstrated that there are sundry other Points of Faith that are required to be believ'd in order to the making a man a Christian but I can't be brought to listen to what they say Neither Church-men nor Dissenters shall bring me off from this perswasion I will rather stick to Worthy Mr. Hobbs and Mr. Lock then part with my Opinion at the sollicitation of Thousands of Divines and other Christians whom they call Orthodox I 'm chiefly confirm'd in this Notion by the latter of those Gentlemen whom I named who cruises up and down the Countries to propagate this doctrine and I hope will take Steeple in his Circuit very suddenly and then he will further satisfy you though I should not have used that word Satisfying because it is â—o hateful to him and instruct you in that and some other matters relating to Religion which no Christian ear ever heard of before After Mr. Bold had asserted the Darling Proposition he presents us with an other which is no less strange and monstrous and from whence we may guess at the Character of the Man who is Mr. L's humble admirer His express words are these Pref. p. 5. A mans knowing that Iesus Christ hath revealed such a doctrine brings him not under an Obligation to believe it but he may notwithstanding that withold his Assent This is the maxim of Mr. L's New Christian but the Mischievous Ingredients of it are sufficient to shew the nature and design of this Writer for though he will perhaps say that he delivers that afterwards which is contrary to the interpretation which I make of these words yet the Answer is plain that he makes nothing of Contradicting himself and therefore this is no Plea He can say and unsay as he thinks fit of which I gave several Instances in my Reflections on what he writ before This then is no excuse at all but rather shews his Weakness that he can't tell when he talks inconsistently or his Insincerity and Perverseness that he will make use of Contrarieties to serve his own ends I know likewise he will say that he speaks this of those Doctrines the belief whereof doth not constitute a man a Christian but this is a mere Evasion and he can't possibly make use of it with any shadow of Sense for if you ask him what those Doctrines are he will tell you that they are those which I before specified and reckon'd as Fundamentals of Christianity But he denies them to be such and he can't do otherwise for if there be but One Article of Faith necessarily to be believ'd to make a man a Christian which is the thing he so stiffly maintains then all the rest are not necessary to be believ'd to make him so or to denominate him to be such Having thus prevented and obviated the Cavils which he might start I 'll now very concisely present unto the Reader a few Remarks on that Proposition which I quoted out of Mr. B's last printed Papers viz. that I knowing that Christ hath reveal'd such or such a Doctrine brings not a man under an obligation to believe it but he may notwithstanding that with hold his assent First this baffles the end of Christ's revealing his doctrines to the Sons of men for without doubt they were reveal'd for this very purpose that we should yield assent to them But this Gentleman tells you that there is no such thing Revelation hath no affinity with Assent and therefore this could not be the End and Design of that And herein he follows the Patern sent him by a late Writer in his Christianity not mysterious p. 38. Divine Revelation saith he is not a motive of Assent nor a ground of our persuasion or a reason we have to believe a thing as if we were to receive it only because reveal'd Secondly This separates Knowledg from Belief and makes Religion and even Christianity it self a mere Notional Speculative thing We may according to this Wise Shaper of Christianity read the New Testament and see what Christ and the Apostles deliver'd there as matter of Belief but we are not under an obligation to believe what they delivered We may if we please look into the Gospel and the Acts but have a care of peeping into the Epistles and thence stock our selves with Propositions and furnish our Brains with Knowledge as well as our Tongues with something to talk of but we are excused from yielding Assent to the truth of them Such a monstrous Idea doth this Writer give us of that Sacred Institution of the Blessed Jesus Thirdly This is bidding defiance to the Divine Authority of the Scripâ—ures for whoever refuses to believe those doctrines which are reveal'd in the Sacred Writings doth in effect declare that those Writings are not divinely inspired And yet Mr. L's Disciple assures his Reader that though Truths and Doctrines be reveal'd in the Writings of the New Testament yet we are not obliged to give credit to them and to profess our belief of them which is no other then annulling the Authority of the Scriptures Fourthly This Assertion destroys that very One Article which he contends for for if the revealing of a Truth obliges us not to believe it then we may with hold our Assent to this Proposition Iesus is the Messias as well as to any Other for seeing they are all equally reveal'd in the Scripture we ought to make no difference So that you see the poor Foolish Builder pulls down his own Structure with his own hands The Beloved Article which he so much insists upon is ruined by what he himself asserts This is the just Judgment of God on such audacious Innovators and Depravers of Christianity Whilest they are throwing down the Propositions which others with great reason assert they demolish their own Fifthly and lastly This wild Proposition of the Replyer is destructive of all Reveal'd Religion Let there be never so many doctrines reveal'd to us by the Holy Spirit in the Divine Oracles a Christian is under no obligations according to him to believe them for all being alike reveal'd they may be equally disbeliev'd This is the New Theology of our giddy Worshipper of that Idol Opinion of One Article One would scarcely
think that he should at this time of day have the confidence to talk after this rate and to impose such dangerous and pernicious notions upon the world Or at least one would think that this Writer and his Fellow should not stare and shew themselves so extraordinarily concern'd when we tell them that they are Betrayers of Christianity Having descanted on his Main Propositions and seen what the dismal Contents of them are I 'll look into some other things which are most obvious in his Reply I expected he would have attempted to purge himself of those Self-Contradictions which I laid to his charge and proved in the plainest manner imaginable from his own words which I faithfully set down but he like his brother-Criminal deniâ—â—â— but gives no reason why he doth so He follows the example of the Vindicator and unmercifully Repeats what he had said before And all the rest is studied Evasion Subterfuge Whiffling It is in vain to mention all the Particulars it shall suffice to propound to the Reader 's view one of them and from that let him guess at all the others I had been proving in my Reflections on Mr. B. the Absurdity of the Opinion of One Article and had shew'd how he contradicted himself one Instance whereof was this that he had said that a True Christian is as much oblig'd to believe that the Holy Spirit is God as to believe that Iesus is the Christ which are his own words and yet he saith There is but that One Article Iesus is the Messias to be believ'd to make a man a Christian Whence I inferr'd and whether justly or no let the Reader judge that he spoke things repugnant and contradictory for if a True Christian be as much oblig'd to believe one as the other then it is certain that a man can't be a True Christian without believing both and if there be a necessity of believing both to make a man a True Christian then the belief of one only is not enough Now mind what the Replyer saith to this and how fallaciously and sophistically he discourses p. 19. It is as necessary for me saith he to believe that Iesus was at Cana of Galilee and turn'd Water into Wine there as it is that he was crucified without the Gates of Jerusalem because I have the same evidence for the one that I have for the other But I can not say it is of as much Importance for a man to know the one as it is to know the other much less can I say that no man can be a Christian till he knows and believes that Iesus was at Cana in Galilee c. Which is so extraneous and foreign and every ways so impertinent and inconsistent that if one did not know with what Writer this Gentleman symbolizes it might create astonishment to hear such a sensless and incoherent application of these words for whereas I had asserted that a man can't be a True Christian unless he believes other Articles and Doctrines viz. such as I have mention'd before as well as that One of Iesus's being the Christ and accordingly to disprove this he should have shew'd that those Articles are not as necessary to be believ'd as that Single one he mentions he not regarding the matter he was about produces some Historical passages out of the New Testament viz. Christ's being at Cana of Galilee and turning Water into Wine there c. and then thinks though one would think it is impossible he should he hath effected what he undertook But doth not any considerate man see that there is no comparison between these things which he alledges and those other before spoken of between the belief of some Historical Circumstances and the belief of the Grand Fundamental Points of the Christian Religion Is there not a vast difference between these Inferiour Truths and those that are of an Higher nature even such as are of the Essence of Christianity and have Immediate respect to the Salvation of our Souls Though the belief of the former be not absolutely necessary to make a man a Christian doth it follow thence that the belief of the latter is not necessarily requisite for that purpose Who but the Replyer and the Vindicator for he takes his part as to this very thing in his Vindication could first imagine any such thing and then puhlish it to the world What Talent of Reasoning Mr. B. had before he undertook this Cause of the One Article I can't tell but since I am sure he is a very poor Arguer and makes out nothing of what he pretends to but fills up his pages with weak dilute stuff yea without any dash of what is sprightly and generous And that he and his Cause run very low is evident from what he saith p. 24. in â—efence of his One Article The Notion saith he of One Article may induce those who embrace it to esteem more Persons Christians than the other Notion can allow of And thus far I fancy and you say right Good Sir it is no more than a fancy the advantage is on the former's side for I conceive there is no hurt in letting Charity as well as Patience have its perfect work Thus he and he is pleas'd to confess that this is the suggestion that comes from a cold Phlegmatick temper If he means that it is very flat and dull I think every body will agree with him Tho truly we must grant that here are some footsteps of Ingenuity such as it is for here is set forth the True Cause why this doctrine of One Single Article is so vigorously urg'd at this day and even upheld by Pensions Old Reynard would not say a syllable of this throughout his whole Treatise of the Reasonableness of Christianity and his two Vindications of it He thought it was too gross and broad therefore the Dissembler conceal'd it But Unwary Mr. Bold who tells all he knows acquaints us with the true and proper design of the setting up of One Article and the furious appearing against all the rest By this means saith he we shall have more Christians such as they are then ever were before There are many that will imbrace One Point of Christianity who will refuse to own the rest so that we shall have Christians in abundance But whether they be True Christians or whether they be esteem'd to be such that is his word is not material but we shall have the Number of these latter much increas'd and that 's enough And besides saith he we shall have more Charity and there is no hurt in that when there is but One Single Article of Christian Faith we shall all Agree and what a fine world shall we have then Ay but Sir would it not be a better world if there were no Article at all and then besure there could be no Contention whereas now there is occasion for it for some will not allow of the One Article you speak of Therefore according to your own way
of Arguing it were best to throw off that One Article and with it all the other Fundamental and Necessary doctrines of our Christan Faith and then it is certain we shall have no Point of Faith to fall out about and Charity will ride in triumph and yours and Mr. L's Christianity shall bear it company in the same Triumphal Seat This is the force and strength of our Author 's Reasoning whatever he may pretend Surely Steeple is well taught when such a one is their instructer Who would have thought that there is such a Pious Contriver for Religion in any part of the Kings dominions Who could have thought that All the Fundamental Principles of our Faith except one were to be cashier'd to make way for Charity And who can think that the One Article so much talk'd of will remain long without the rest And in a word what man of â—ense and sobriety can think that these wild Notions are not spread abroad on purpose to subvert the Foundations of Christianity and to bring in Infidelity and to turn us out to the herd of Deists and next to Atheists Let not Mr. Bold say that these are Guesses as in one place I remember he saith I am a Guesser because I am a Critick which is as much sense according to his applying of it as if one should say he is a Conjurer because he is Rector of Steeple No Sir here is no Conjecture for the thing that I say is plain and obvious and depends upon natural and rational consequences and we every day see more and more the truth of it As Dull and Phlegmatick as he is his Invention is ripe witness that horrid Fiction and False Imputation p. 25. line 3 c. But I must not stand upon these things Then he would argue from the use of the term Christian p 25. that there is but One Article which is so poor and mean that he deserves to be what he is Mr. Locks Second in the present Combate Yet he hath so good an opinion of this which he suggests that he saith It may afford some light to this matter No Sir there is no such thing as Light here only a Wooden Candle-stick I am loth to suppose any Brass about it though one would wonder how he could have that face to offer any such thing as this to prove that there is but One Article to be believ'd to constitute a Christian man which was the maâ—ter he undertook Our Mushrom-Scribe is drawn to the dreggs and in his next Paragraphs doth nothing but Cant and Hover in Obscure and Ambiguous terms but hath not a dram of Reason left as the Reader cannot but own if he had nothing else to do but to consult the pages Then he Catechises his Friends p. 29 30 31. and makes sorry work of it but at last it is observable how this Wild Reasoner who had been all along in his Reply as well as in his former Papers endeavouring to assert the necessity of but One Article in Christianity and opposing what I had said in behalf of More Articles it is observable I say that at last he gives up the Cause and meekly prostrates himself to what I had offered Let a man believe saith he never so many particular doctrines taught by Christ and his Apostles that belief will prove no more but that he believes Iesus is the Messias p. 32. If the believing of many doctrines taught by Christ and his Apostles be the same with believing that One doctrine why then hath he made all this stir for if many will prove no more than one then vice versa one will prove to be many and if his One Article be thus multiplied than why doth he quarrel with me for asserting Many Articles But still there must be whatever comes of it but One Article and he undertakes to prove it p. 36. from St. Iohn's words Whosoever believeth that Iesus is the Christ is born of God 1 John 5. 1. Which every one saith he I suppose will acknowledg to be as much as to say â— Christian. And thence infers If the belief of more Articles was absolutely necessary to make a person a Christian it could not with truth be said Whosoever believeth that Iesus is the Christ is born of God Which is a farther proof of the Shallowness or which is worse of the willful Obstinacy of this blind Worshiper of the Idol that Mr. Hobbs and Mr. Lock have set up for any one that is moderately vers'd in this Epistle of St. Iohn knows that it is a Collection of several Marks and Evidences whereby persons may examine and know whether they be True Believers and Christians indeed and among several others which he assigns this is one that they believe Iesus to be the Christ. Now can any one that is not very Weak or perverse infer hence that the belief of no other Article but this is absolutely necessary to make a man a Christian Is it not plain from other places in this Epistle that Love to God and the brethren keeping the Commandments c. are Signs and Evidences of Regeneration as well as believing Iesus to be the Messias And why then upon the mentioning of this latter in the place forecited must we conclude that none of those are absolutely necessary to make one a Christian or a Regenerate person If we should follow Mr. Bold's way of Interpreting then when it is said in this Epistle Every one that doth righteousness is born of God ch 2. v. 29. we must infer that doing of righteousness without any believing gives us a title to Regeneration And when it is said Every one that loveth which refers to loving one an other in the same verse is born of God ch 4. v. 7. we must thence gather that Brotherly Love of it self abstract from all Believing and consequently from believing that Iesus is the Messias is the only thing necessarily required of us to make us Christians and so our Learned and Profound Arguer baffles himself and ruines his own One Article Our Rambling Disputer tells us in the same place that St. John the Divine was a more Reverend Rector than the Rector of Steeple where besides the Whimsical Conceitedness of the Stile he humbly intimates that he himself is a Reverend Rector for else he could not say the other is more Reverend What he demands p. 40 about those terms the Son of God and the Messias I have answer'd in the foregoing Discourse I urged from Acts 8. 37. that the Son of God and the Messias are not terms of the same signification because else the Eunuch could not say that he believ'd Iesus Christ to be the Son of God To which he returns this fantastick Reply I think saith he they amount to somewhat more viz. that Iesus Christ is The Christ. Which hath not the least foundation in the Original from whence only he can pretend to borrow it and therefore we must look upon it as a mere Shuffle
and Good Temper as any Man yet I will never be bribed to a faint-hearted Relinquishing of the Truth No I will by the Divine Aid vindicate the Religion of the New Testament and the Faith of the Christian Church in all ages and that with open face And particularly as to what I last writ and publish'd I will make it stand the shock of the most daring Socinian in Christendom But to let these Gentlemen see that I am no Man of Contention I declare to them that I am not averse from complying with their Offers if they be Sincere and in Good Earnest and if they resolve not to violate their own Articles of Peace I will forgive their Colts teeth as this pleasant Gentleman words it if for the future they use not as they have done in most of their Writings those of the Bear And why indeed should I contend with these Catholick and Orthodox Men for that is the Stile now in their last Print Who will fall out with those that profess Agreement with the Catholick Church But especially the Title of Orthodox which they so abhorr'd is much courted by this Author as the Reader cannot but observe Which may be an occasion to us to think that these Persons are inclined to do something to deserve that Name It is my hearty Prayer and Wish that they may shew themselves to be of this number And I promise them thus far to yield to the Terms of Peace that if they renew not the Quarrel and assault me not afresh this shall be our Last Campagne and so here is an End to our Debates and Rencounters ERRATA PAge 8. Line 29. read and if those p. 11. l. 14. r. Vnreasoâ—ably p. 12. l. penult r. which p. 13. l. 6. r. numbers l. 11. r. nor the p. 19. l. 15. r him for p. 33. l. 22. r. assented p. 34. l. 27. r. task l. 31. for they r. you p. 38. l. 21. r. declare p. 39. l. 15. dele the p 42. l. 20. r. more to p. 46. l. r. peruse p. 56. l. 17. r. owns p. 5â— l. 31. r. bandied p. 64. l. 4. dele and p. 75. l. 13 for give r. go p. 94. l. 22. before to insert it BOOKS written by the Reverend Mr. John Edwards AN Enquiry into several Remarkable Texts of the Old and New Testament which contain some Difficulty in them with a Probale Resolution of them in two Vol. 8â— A Discourse concerning the Authority Stile and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testament with a Continued Illustration of several Difficult Texts throughout the whole Work In three Vol 8â— Some Thoughts concerning the several Causes and Occasions of Atheism especially in the Present Age with some brief Reflections on Socinianism and on a Late Book entituled The Reasonableness of Christianity as deliver'd in the Scriptures 8â— price 1 s. 6 d. 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A Brief Vindication of the Fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith as also of the Clergy Universities and Publick Schools from Mr. Lock 's Reflections upon them With some Animadversions on two other late Pamphlets viz. of Mr. Bold and a Nameless Socinian Writer 8â— price 1 s. 6 d. Brief Remarks upon Mr. Whiston's New Theory of the Earth and upon another Gentleman's Objections against some Passages in a Discourse of the Existence and Providence of God relating to the Copernican Hypothesis 8â— price 6 d. BOOKS Printed for Jonathan Robinson and John Wyat. A Practical Exposition on the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer in two Volumes in Quarto The Vanity of the World with other Sermons in 8 vo Sermons or Discourses on several Scriptures in Four Volumes in Octavo The Almost Christian discovered in some Sermons on Acts 26. 28. All these written by the Right Reverend Father in God Ezekiel Hopkins late Lord Bishop of London-derry Bishop Usher's Life and Letters By Dr Parr in Folio 's Body of Divinity or the Sum and Substance of the Christian Religion Folio 's 22 Sermons on several Subjects Fol. Iosephus's History of the Jews Folio Dr. Bates's Harmony of the Divine Attributes Octavo 4th Edition 1697. Charron of Wisdom in three Books All Dr. Antony Walker ' s Works viz. The Sinfulness and Danger of delaying Repentance The Vertuous Woman or the Life of the Countess of Warwick The Vertuous Wife or the Life of Mrs. Eliz. Walker His Sermons of Water-drinking Preached at Tunbridge wells c. The worthy Communicant a Treatise shewing the due Order of Receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper The 17th Edition By Ieremiah Dyke Newly reprinted 1697. The Poor Doubting Christian drawn unto Christ. By Thomas Hooker Ovid's Metamorphosis in English Verse By George Sandys Aesop's Fables in Prose with Cuts Solitude improved by divine Meditation By Nathaniel Ranew late Rector of Felsted in Essex Practical Discourses concerning Death and Heaven By Nathaniel Ranew Correction Instruction or a Treatise of Afflictions By Tho. Case The Principles of Christian Religion with a brief Method of the Doctrine thereof By Bishop Usher The sinfulness of Sin and the fulness of Christ In two Sermons By W. Bridge Brinsley's Posing of the parts reprinted 1697. Sir Simon D'ews Journal of all Queen Elizabeths Parliaments Folio Bacons Historical and Political account of the Government of England FINIS * Occasional Paper Numb 5. p 38. * Answer to the Archbishop's Sermon p. 44. * Bâ— of Worcester in his Vind. of the Trinity ch 10. * Letter to the Bishop of Worcester p. 69. * Smalc cont Frantz Disput. 4 †Homil 4. in 1 Iohan Catechism de morte Christi Qu. 12. ‖ The Antitâ—luâ—tarian Scheme of Religion p. 18. * Mr. Norrâ—'s Accoâ—nt oâ— Reason and Faith p. 13. * Bishop of Worcester's Pref. to his Vind. of the Doctrine of the Trinity †Pref. to the Account of Reason and Faith