better Argument hope to confound the Unitarians is Socinian Now it must be confest That the Unitarians think honourably of Socinus but yet they do not espouse his whole Scheme nor any thing of his Scheme because it is his nor any thing more of his Scheme than is espous'd by their Arminian Nominalist Brethren who are a great majority of the Church tho the Animadverter may not love to bear of it Socinus's Life is in Print among us both Latin and English the Memory of the Man is frequently revil'd but I do not hear that his Adversaries undertake to refute the historical Account which the Polonian Knight has giv'n of him Mr. Bidle in his Preface has these Words of Socinus He took the same course to propagate the Gospel that Christ and the Apostles had done before him forsaking his Estate and his nearest Relations and undergoing all manner of Labours and Hazards to draw Men to the Knowledg of the Truth He had no other End of all his Undertakings than the Glory of God and Christ it being impossible for Calumny it self to asperse him with the least Suspicion of worldly Interest He of all Interpreters explaineth the Precepts of Christ in the strictest manner and windeth up the Lives of Men to the highest Strain of Holiness The Author of the Growth of Error makes it an Article against Socinus that he accus'd the Reformed of immoral Practices and boasted of the Holiness of his own Followers But what says that Author Was Socinus's Accusation unjust or his Boasting rash and ill grounded Why he says Meisner answer'd Socinus but it seems he confesses too that Schlichtingius defended him Upon the whole matter to speak impartially Excepting that the foreign Unitarians are recorded to have sometimes dealt hardly with one another upon account of their different Perswasions concerning worshipping Jesus Christ it does not appear that their Lives were wicked and unchristian Here in England Men that know little of them or have Ends in traducing them load them with heavy Imputations but impartial Men abroad who have known and observ'd them notwithstanding they differ from them do yet bear honourable Testimony to their Piety and Vertue Monsieur Stoop a Protestant Officer in the French Army in his Religion of the Dutch Anno 1673. gives this Account of the Socinians in Holland They have their secret Assemblies in which they are very fervent in Prayer to God with groaning and weeping They affirm that they have no Interest in the maintaining their Doctrine save only the Perswasion they have of its Truth and the Zeal of appropriating to the only individual and sovereign God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Glory of his Divinity They are confirm'd in their Faith by reading the Word of God and by the Books which have been written against them Their Conversation is holy and without Reproach as far as Men can judg by what they see Much more this impartial Gentleman none of their Party says to their Praise Even of the English Unitarians one of our Reverend Bishops disputing against them when he look'd upon them as altogether Socinianiz'd fairly professes that he judges they would not think so meanly of our Lord Christ but for fear of taking away from the Honour of God Almighty But I have a Word or two to offer to the Reverend Bishop of Sarum before I speak of the English Unitarians of this last Age. As ill as he thinks now of these Unitarians I hope he will not retract the noble Character which he once gave of one George Van Par a Dutch-man burnt in England 1549 for Unitarianism which he could not in Conscience abjure He led a very exemplary Life for Fasting Devotion and a good Conversation and suffer'd with extraordinary Composedness of Mind It is out of the way to speak of Barth Legat a Man of whose vertuous Behaviour the Booksellers of Pauls among whom he convers'd for 7 Years before his Execution gave a good account for he was an Arian burnt An. 1611 re-burnt this last Year by Mr. Gailhard but it is a better Argument for that poor Man's Seriousness in his Religious Perswasion that he could endure to be burnt for it than it is for the Sincerity of Mr. Gailhard and the Honour of Calvinism that he thirsts after the Blood of thousands and damns all Orders and Degrees of Men that do not forward his Executions But that no ill-minded Person may hence take occasion to say that I insinuate that the Unitarians are a numerous Body I openly declare that whether they are many or few is more than I know or care who am an impartial tho not always a melancholy By-stander But that they are better Men truer Christians and more faithful Subjects than the revengeful Calvinists will appear to any Man that examines the Writings of both sides I now come to speak of those Persons of this last Age who have been distinguish'd by the Name of Unitarians Anthony Wood in his Athenae Oxonienses 2d Vol. p. 197-199 gives a large Account of John Bidle and says among other very commendable things that being Master of Crifts School in Glocester He was much esteem'd for Diligence in his Profession Severity of Manners and Sanctity of Life And when he came to converse in London after many Years Imprisonment He was very taking for his Religious Discourse and Saint-like Conversation Now Mr. Wood I presume cannot be suspected of Partiality in favour of an Unitarian John Bidle seal'd the Sincerity of his religious Perswasion by his Death for he took that Sickness in Newgate whereof he died 2 days after Removal Mr. Cooper succeeded Mr. Bidle Master of Crifts School in Glocester afterward Minister of Chelthenam in Glocestershire and after the Act of Uniformity Minister of an Unitarian Congregation in that Place We appeal to all that knew him whether he was not a Man always compos'd and grave but of a most sweet and obliging Temper and Conversation He suffer'd those Abuses from intemperate and riotous Men when the Nation was running mad they knew not for what that it broke his Health and hastned his End His Daughter Mary died about a Year and a half since a known Unitarian so that the Minister who preach'd her Funeral Sermon commended her to his Auditors for a Pattern of Christian Vertues however erroneous in her Judgment Mr. Cooper was succeeded in the Guidance of an Unitarian Congregation by Ralph Taylor Henry Sturmy Thomas Macock and Allen Kear all of them very serious and diligent in their way devout and pious strictly honest and charitable to their power however not so accomplish'd in Humane Learning John Knowles of Glocester by long and diligent Study became very knowing in the Critical Learning of the Scriptures his much Reading and Thoughtfulness won him to Unitarianism having in his younger Years been an Independent His singular Piety and Vertue were exemplarily conspicuous in divers Stations and Stages of his Life His Labours were directed to the
Design of Sacred Writers c. what is the true and proper signification of the Words which we read what sense arises from them Contradictions to natural Reason cannot be the true sense of the words Difficulties may such is the Doctrine of the Resurrection if we submit our Judgments in any case but this where we are sure of a Divine Revelation and where we are sure of the sense of the sacred Penman's words we pay an excessive Reverence to the Authority of Men but I believe that those Gentlemen who profess to submit their Judgments to the Church have no other aim but to court the Church her favour or cheat her inspection with a Complement There 's no avoiding such a thought as this when the solemn and publick Judgment and Declaration of a Vice-chancellor and Heads of one of our Universities condemning the Doctrine of three infinite distinct Minds and Substances in the Trinity as False Impious and Heretical contrary to the Doctrine of the Catholick Church and of the Church of England is made a Jest of and rejected with bold contemptuous and angry Railery All that the Church of England requires of us is I humbly conceive such a Reverence and Esteem as I first describ'd a wise Submission a Reverence join'd with Honesty and a good Understanding a Submission according as may be gather'd from the 20th of her 39 Articles because she does not as she ought not ordain any thing contrary to God's Word written because she expounds Scripture one place consonant to another because she is a faithful Keeper of Holy Writ decrees nothing against the same and besides the same enforces nothing as necessary to Salvation The Church does not pretend to Infallibility the most eminent Sons shall I say or Fathers of the Church look upon her Articles as Forms in a comprehensive Latitude drawn up for Peace sake and very conscious are they that the Church of the last Age was Calvinist the Church of the present Age Arminian and all the while it was Church of England but when bold Opiniators shall not be content to keep themselves within the accountable bounds of prudential Latitude but start odd Notions not at all distinguishable from Heathenish Polytheism then they who dispute against them enter into Religious Controversy mov'd thereunto by a very just Motive But perhaps it may be urg'd that the Polytheists did not begin the Quarrel Well suppose it what will they gain by that Plea if still their Doctrine is no other than Polytheism And what if it should appear that the Unitarians gave the first occasion of Dispute this will create no Prejudice against them in the Minds of considering Men for as far as I can perceive they took Exceptions not against the Articles but the Scholastical Terms of the Church and drove at nothing farther than that those difficult Propositions which are called Mysteries might be express'd as far as the Subject would admit in words plain and intelligible and when that could not be in the very Phrase of Scripture The Unitarians if I take them right cannot yet submit their Judgment so as not to prefer Scripture-Phrase before Scholastick Terms tho they are such lovers of Peace that it has been again and again declar'd that when nothing is meant by all those Terms of Art which is contrary to Reason or not consonant to Scripture they will not contentiously decline the use of them They have said as much in some of their Prints and I should not do them justice if I did not take notice of it They are also ready to pay due reverence to the Church because of her great Candour and Moderation in not exacting from good Christians a submission of Judgment as to the use of Religious Rites and Ceremonies something more hardly once she treated them but now God be thanked she is come to a true Christian Temper so that I reckon the Toleration which Parliamentary Authority has indulg'd is enjoy'd by conscientious Separatists with the consent of the Church for it were uncharitable to suspect that she is not the same now as a while ago in the time of her danger And therefore I think that those warmer Zealots who entertain their Auditories with Invectives against the Toleration do not only slight the Authority of King and Parliament but also bring a Scandal upon the Church It is but just to believe that the Church is pleas'd with the Toleration for this other reason because she gets more by that than ever she did by violence for it is visible that our Parochial Churches are fuller now than when we compell'd Men to come in But enough of this tho it is not altogether out of the way for this also tends to declare on what accounts a reverential esteem is due to the Church and on what respects the vindication of her Honour is a just Motive of entring into Religious Controversy but a blind submission of Judgment to all that the Church already has decreed or may decree hereafter is a sensless slavish Stupidity An implicit Faith in all her Articles is more than she does require a taking up always with the first obvious literal Grammatical Sense is more than the most and the most learned Deacons Priests and Bishops themselves do 2. The Persons of whom I have been speaking were prompted as may be gather'd from their Prints to enter into Religious Controversy by an indignation against all Innovations in Religion As specious a look as this Motive has it must be very well circumstanc'd before it can be allow'd for a just and reasonable one for it happens many times that the Innovation is but surmis'd and suspected and perhaps there would not be half the Differences which there are in the Church if words which have not all of them determinate and distinct Ideas if terms of Art and equivocal Phrases were expounded and sixt by exact and plain Definitions Foreign Protestants are apt to suspect that the Church of England favours the Doctrine of Transubstantiation because she expresses her self by that ambiguous Phrase Real Presence they are afraid lest Real Presence should signify Corporeal Presence But when the Church avows that she does not use the word Real in that sense but means only a Spiritual Presence apprehended and enjoy'd by Faith the occasion of dispute is remov'd and all that can be said against the Church is that her Language is not so proper as her Faith is pure Therefore that celebrated Hugonot Jurieu was more angry than the Cause deserv'd when he join'd Transubstantiation and Real Presence together and call'd 'em both Monsters which harsh Censure cannot be return'd upon his Accomplishment of Prophecies for that 's an ingenious learned pretty thing the Events of History have an agreeable resemblance to the Apocalyptick Emblems to which he applies them but for all that I believe there 's not one word of truth in his interpretative Accomplishment By the Form of Absolution in the Visitation of the Sick one might
do not themselves believe it is methinks no other than to tempt Scepticks to conclude that enough cannot be said to establish their Authority which Mr. Edwards of all Men ought not to do unless he himself be a meer Deist which Imputation as yet I forbear to lay to his Charge tho in truth by his last Book which he calls A Vindication of Fundamental Articles c. but might better have entitled it A Vindication of Railing see p. 26 27. which Title the Book fully answers for it is one interrupted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it does not appear that he is a Christian Queen Elizabeth had a Secretary who when he retir'd to Tihalds his Country Seat was wont to lay aside his Cognizances of Honour with these words Lie there Lord Burleigh and then the grave Statesman would be very merry and gamesome It take Mr. Edwards to have much of that honourable Gentleman's Humour for I cannot imagine that he has utterly renounc'd Christianity only perhaps when he writes or preaches Controversy he cries Lie by for a while lie by so long good Christian but the angry Story once finish'd or the Sermon over he 's the same Mr. Edwards as learned as honest and as pious as he was before I beg my Reader always to consider that I defend Socinianism only quo ad hoc it is not the Road to meer Deism in the next place I will prove that meer Deism is not the Road to Atheism Deism I defin'd to be Natural Religion founded on the Belief of the Existence of a God and of a future Life There may for ought I know be Men who would be counted Deists that believe not a jot of the Life to come but these I judg if they were put to 't would hardly be able to distinguish themselves from downright Atheists To me it is all one to question the Existence of a God and to question his future Retributions but Natural Religion which depends on the Belief that God is and that he is a Rewarder cannot be the Road to Atheism I will not deny but that Mr. Edwards knows the Road to Atheism as well as any Man breathing but he must not put it upon us that Deism is that Road he may as well bear us in hand that sailing Eastward is the Road to the West-Indies There cannot be a plainer Contradiction than to say That the Belief of a God leads to the Belief of none Were Atheism the prevailing Opinion I grant to Mr. Edwards we should quickly see it move apace to the Ruin and Subversion of Kingdoms and Common-wealths Societies and Bodies Politick but upon the Principles of Deism i. e. on the Foundation of Natural Religion publick Peace and Order stood firm before the days of the Christian Revelation and did it not do so among the neighbour Nations that hated the Jews Among the Deists during the flourishing days of the growing Greatness of the Romans there were I believe as few Atheists as there are among Christians now Let no malicious Adversary here pretend that I plead the Cause of Deism no I do not this I do I maintain that Deism is not the Road to Atheism as some Men very weakly and imprudently have affirm'd for it rather is the Road to Christianity I know Mr. Edwards will be angry with me for what I am going to tell him but let him summon all the Powers and Skill he has in Logick seasoning it with a dose of ill Nature quantum sufficit and then refute me if he can I here affirm That if the Man who is not yet a Christian be an honest moral Deist a Believer in God and an Expecter of a future Judgment he is at least in precinctu ad salutem and stands fair to be a Christian no reveal'd Religion offers so reasonable Grounds to win him as the Christian Now I much wonder that so ingenuous and moderate a Man as Mr. Norris should join with Mr. Edwards in so ignorant invidious and designing an Assertion as this viz. Deism is the Road to Atheism Mr. Norris's elegant way of wording it is He that is once a Deist is in a hopeful way of being an Atheist whenever he pleases No Mr. Norris no an honest moral Deist's Principles are directly pointed against Atheism but a spiteful proud and cruel Christian is in very great danger of being an Atheist if he be not one already But perhaps Mr. Edwards may reply he spake not of a Deist who never had been a Christian but that his meaning was The Man who falls from Christianity to Deism is in the Road to be an Atheist To this I reply That tho the Unitarians are firmly perswaded of the Truth of the Christian Religion yet they need not grant the Assertion thus explain'd to be true for what Christianity teaches beyond that which natural Reason dictates has not the Efficacy to prevent Atheism which natural Reason has however I am content and I think the Unitarians ought to be so likewise That the Man who is afraid of a Bullet should wear a Coat of Mail as well as keep out of Gun-shot I hope the Reader now plainly sees that there is never a Link of Mr. Edwards's Chain that will hold The Unitarians are Orthodox of which more anon The Socinians are so far Orthodox that they are firmly perswaded of the Verity of the Christian Religion and are not meer Deists Conscientious moral Deists are in no danger of being Atheists But is there no dangerous Road leading to Atheism of which Men ought to be warn'd that they come not near it Yes there is and it is a wide Road too pav'd all along with rash Censures ill Language false Stories barbarous unchristian Dealing forg'd Decrees of inconditional Reprobation and Stoical Fate this is the Road and the Persecutor the Slanderer and the Calvinist drive hard like so many Jehu's in it leaving Deism a long way off on the right hand The Christian Religion does not allow its Professors to be so much as proper Judges of Heresy as commonly understood much less to be Executioners of Hereticks for the reason given why the Tales should not be pull'd up before the Harvest is lest some good Corn should be pull'd up with it The Christian Religion directs Men by fair Carriage by the Words of Truth and Soberness to convince them whom we think in the wrong He that is cruel abusive and unjust can be a Christian only in name in reality he is Infidel all over Then for Calvinism that four System which is good for nothing but to fight with but I hope Mr. Edwards is innocent from that for he has sourness enough without it how should it otherwise than tend to Atheism when it represents Man without Free-will and God without Goodness 2. The Unitarians defend their Doctrines from the Imputation of mischievous Consequence or Tendency by making it appear that they have no particular private Opinions about matters commonly held necessary to Salvation different
appear Heretical that is unless the Persecuted should fall into the Humour of appealing to all impartial and unprejudic'd Persons whether the Writings of the Nominalist Unitarians be not as obnoxious as theirs and altogether as much at the mercy of an Interpreter And perhaps there be that think the World has been troubled too much by them both and that neither ought to be forgiven unless they first forgive one another and I am strangely deceiv'd if I cannot name the Instances which duly consider'd recommend to them both so much Humanity The Nominalists are safe from the Unitarians not only by the Unitarian Principle which disavows Persecution but also because of their Paucity nor can their Abilities make them formidable for as a great Man notes their Adversaries are their Superiors both in Wit and Learning and the Unitarians ought to be safe from the Nominalists not only because the Doctrine of them both is one and the same tho their Language sometimes varies but also for those many cogent Reasons which are to be met with in the Essay above cited and in the Letters for Toleration which I presume will have their influence on both Nominalists and Realists as many of them as are men of Vertue true Piety and Christian Moderation but as for such furious Inquisitors as Mr. Edwards and Mr. Peter Brown I reckon they are so very passionate that they are utterly incapable of attending to sober Reasoning from plain Christian Principles therefore I will tell them a Story which perhaps they may have read in their younger days and that it may not be thrown away upon them I will be at the pains of application Pyrrhus Prince of Epirus an ambitious Politick Captain made use of one Cyneas a sensible witty Man in the conduct of his weightiest Affairs This Person one day accosted his warlike Master after this manner The Romans Sir against whom we are arming are a hardy valiant People but if the Gods should prosper us how shall we use our Victory Why said Pyrrhus when we have beaten the Romans we shall presently be Masters of all Italy And how shall we govern our selves then Sir Then Sir why then Sicily holds out her Arms to receive us a fruitful Island a noble and an easy purchase Very probable and what shall the possession of Sicily put an end to the War O Friend says Pyrrhus we must not throw away the Opportunities which the Gods put into our hands We are next bound for Lybia and then Carthage proud populous and wealthy is ours and by that glorious Conquest we shall become powerful enough to subdue all Greece The subtle Cyneas still plied him with the Question What are we for next At last Pyrrhus replied Then we 'll live at Ease spend our days in Wine and Mirth and nothing shall employ our Thoughts but the ways to vary and heighten our Pleasures When Cyneas had brought his unwary Master to this point he turn'd short upon him and ask'd What hinders us now from living at Ease without dispossessing others of their Rights and hazarding our own Fortunes Instead of running all these Risques we may even now sit down and sing O be Joyful Now to my Application Mr. Edwards and Mr. Brown furious Dealers in Polemic Squabble ambitious both to spread their Empire wide over Conscience were one day in Consult how to remove the Obstacles that stood in their way The methods they agreed on were to restrain the Press for fear they should lose by disputing to censure what they do not understand for fear there should be Heresy in 't to set up an Inquisition to jail the suspected of Faith erroneous and burn the avow'd Dissenter Their first Process they determin'd to direct against a handful of Men of late known by the Name of Unitarians in contradistinction to some Ecclesiasticks professing to believe and worship three distinct Infinite Minds Dr. Christian Eubulus was their Chancellor whom they requir'd to prosecute the aforesaid poor Men with the utmost Rigour This Christian Eubulus represented to them that the Unitarians held no private Doctrines different from what were taught by our most Orthodox Prelates that they were Men of some Learning untainted Probity and good Sense but if it was irrevocably decreed that they were to be utterly rooted out he humbly desir'd to know whom he was to fall upon next Why said Mr. Edw. and Mr. Br. when we have once dispatch'd these malepert Unitarians we shall become formidable to all the Bawlers against Priestcraft who now despise us and need not be afraid to attacque the Quakers of whom the largest Division the Foxonians who are the ruling Party are meer Deists they are a numerous and politick People the Scripture is to them a dead Letter the Rule of their Faith is the Light within them that is meer natural Reason and they have an odd way with them instead of guarding their own Doctrines they attacque ours so 't is absolutely necessary to ruine this Sect It may be done by Fines Imprisonment Death if need be or merciful Banishment What matter if the State lose by it better be without them and their Effects than plagu'd with their Heresy Christian Eubulus seem'd to acquiesce but desir'd to know of his Masters whether they should have any more need of him O Dear Friend replied they when God has blessed our Zeal so far for his Service we must not give over so there are two Sticks so they call themselves Presbyterians and Independents crooked Sticks both who cudgel one another when we let them alone but not enough to the purpose these Sticks must be burnt both burnt for they will not bend to decent Discipline and by that time we have consum'd them to Ashes all the little crawling Sectaries will fall down and worship as many infinite distinct Minds or Essences as we please or one such infinite Mind in Language that signifies Three Christian Eubulus was again at his Question and when all the World conforms What then Then Man replied the bold Duumviri why then we 'll live like true Christians none of our Communion shall be suffer'd to indulge himself in Prophaness and Immorality we 'll show Mercy and do Works of Charity we 'll diligently preach the holy Doctrines of the Gospel and honestly practise them our selves so that the Church shall become a Heaven upon Earth When Christian Eubulus had brought his zealous Masters to this point he put them the hard Question of all Why can't we live like true Christians now Why cannot we now discourage the Prophaness and Immorality of the Members of our Communion What hinders us now from being fervent in Prayer diligent in preaching the Gospel and exemplary in our Lives and Conversations When one is got into Stories especially by the Parlour Fire in a Winter Evening there 's no end of them but if the Reader will forgive me I will punish him but with one more and it shall be as short as he could wish Barclay in his Icon Animorum tells us of a Father and his two Sons who excommunicated the whole World and confin'd the Church within the narrow Pale of their own three Elect Persons within a few days the hopeful Boys excommunicated the old Man and not long after they excommunicated one another Suppose now the Church of England should convert or confound the Unitarians the Quakers the Presbyterians the Independents and every little Philadelphian Society nay and Popish Recusants also tho that 's a swinging Supposition is all like to be Peace at home within her own Body no such matter the Quinquarticular Controversy will set 'em together by the ears among themselves Mr. Gailhard and the Growth of Error have already declar'd open War against all Churchmen of the Arminian Perswasion for want of a Bone the Theory of the Earth will make a bustle among them and for ought I know the Royal Society may make some Discovery in Nature that may be Heresy in Religion but to mention no more the Unitarian Controversy it self shall live among them as vigorous as ever Dr. Sherlock will never forgive Dr. South nor Dr. South Dr. Sherlock the Nominalists will never leave till they have run down the Tritheists the Tritheists with their last Breath will revile the Nominalists for Sabellians and Socinians so that in short if the Church will have no War without her Pale she must have one within wherefore I would advise every one to make living like a good Christian his Business now and never be troubled at the Disputes which are stirring of which there 's like to be no end let the present Disputants that have the worst on 't by reason of their inferiour Numbers be run down hang'd or burnt or not I conclude with one word of Advice to the Unitarians i. e. that they would give over the Dispute I know they are Men of Conscience and have within the Bounds of Moderation been zealous for the Truth but that will not suffer tho they are silent the Learned and Excellent Bishops of Worcester and Sarum Dr. South and others are able and forward enough to defend it against all the heathenish Opposition of the Tritheistick Tribe FINIS