most infallible Mark of an Orthodox Man he that is endowed with it though he may err cannot be an Heretick If I was as bold as you dear Cousin I would apply to you a fine Passage of our worthy Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in his Sermon upon Luke 10.42 wherein he blames the Rashness of those who like you dare censure Error and Heresy in others whilst they themselves do not think of curing those Lusts Vices and Passions which so visibly reign in them But I shall only cite that general Reflection of his concerning those pretended Orthodox Deluded People says he that do not consider that the greatest Heresy in the World is a wicked Life because it is so directly and so fundamentally opposite to the whole Design of the Christian Faith and Religion and that God will sooner forgive a Man an hundred Defects of his Vnderstanding than one Fault of his Will And to shew you in one Word that when you attribute Immodesty Wantonness and Pride to Hereticks you act against the Spirit of your Church the Testimony of one of your Teachers only will suffice since he speaks for the whole Clergy I mean the Author of the Vindication of the conformed Clergy from the unjust Aspersions of Heresy That Heresy was no less than Pelagianism and Socinianism See how he vindicates your Teachers The Reason says he why they are accused of Heresy is their Moderation in Points of Controversy They do not confute their Opponent with a rude and infignificant Noise nor think they shall ever convince him by hard Words and ill Names which are the only Arguments that some Men are able to manage but they consider and are willing to make Allowances for the common Infirmities of humane Understandings and the strong Prejudices of Education and therefore they treat all Men gently and are not rudely clamorous in their Discourses but hope the best and think as charitably as they can of those that are of a different Perswasion See the Moderation of your Church imitate so charitable and Christian a Judgment and cease to damn like Jews and Heathens proud and conceited Men those good Men who work out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling lest with what Judgment ye judg ye may be judged The same Author will tell you that the Term of Heretick is a Name that is given now-a-days liberally and at a good rate and that It is nothing but the Passion of the Opponents that hath made that Name so very common as it is for it is grown no more now than an ordinary Term of Reproach for every angry Man that would fain be dealing with controversial Divinity that it serves for one of the principal Topicks for the great Professors of artificial Scolding c. Read but p. 70. As to that great Conceit and Confidence of their own Knowledg of which you think Hereticks are so full that they resolve never to allow that to be the Sense of the Revelation however plain and evident the Words are which is not agreeable to their Reason but will put another Sense upon them though never so sorced and violent As to this I will tell you First that they have borrowed that Method from the very Principle of the Reformation When dear Cousin those Words of Christ are objected to you This is my Body My Flesh is Meat indeed My Blood is Drink indeed Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood c. When I say those Places of the Scripture are objected to you who follow the Spirit of the Reformation Are you not resolved never to allow that to be the Sense of the Revelation however plain and evident these Words are which is not agreeable to your Senses and Reason and will you not put another Sense upon them though never so forced and violent as in effect you do when you say that by the Body of Christ is meant the Figure of his Body by eating his Flesh to believe in him c But I have already touched that Article in my Letter and therefore I shall insist no longer upon it Secondly Who puts upon the Scripture a more unnatural Sense than you do in this Controversy Who hath a greater Pride of Understanding and is more conceited of his Reasonings Hereticks so called make Religion to consist in the Profession of a simple Faith which they express in the very Terms of Scripture holding fast the Form of sound Words so afraid they are to indulge their Reason too much and to wrest the Language and Intention of the Holy Ghost But you on the contrary who rely altogether upon humane Expressions taken out of the Pagan Philosophy metaphysical Arguments and Abstractions or remote Consequences you I say must needs violate the sacred Reverence due to God's Word put a forced Sense upon the Words of the Holy Ghost and shew at the same time a proud Confidence by making the Scripture speak any thing that agrees with your Notions There is not one Word or Proposition in that Scripture but will signify quite contrary things according to your Distinctions and Consequences You distinguish between the Son of Man and the Son of God yet you confound those two Terms when you think fit and make the Son of Man to be the Son of God and the Son of God to be the Son of Man If we say that it was the Son of Man that came down from Heaven you reply that the Son of Man signifies there the Son of God If we object that the Son of God knew not the Day of Judgment you answer that by the Son of God in that Place is meant the Son of Man If one asks you What 's the Name of the first Person of the Trinity you answer the Father and insist earnestly upon that Distinction of Persons to avoid the Force of this Objection viz. That if Christ were the most high God he would be the Father of himself But if we object that the Father only knows the Day of Judgment and that he only is the true God and Creator of all things then the Word Father signifies no more what it signified before I mean the first Person of the Trinity but the whole Trinity and the very Son whom he hath begotten so great is your Skill in doing and undoing the Work of the Holy Ghost by contradicting Hereticks in Season and out of Season Let this suffice as to what concerns Words The same may be said of the Propositions of the Scripture either affirmative or negative By the enchanting Virtue of your Distinctions the Affirmative becomes Negative and the Negative Affirmative when there is any need of it and two contradictory Propositions are equally true and divine if at any time it can serve your turn It may be said that Christ hath wrought Miracles and hath wrought no Miracles that he knew not the Day of Judgment and knew it that he was born and not born In a word one may overthrow the whole Gospel and Creed all those
Words on purpose to keep Christians within the Bounds of the Faith of their Ancestors Metaphysical Terms whereof Men have no fixed Notion and yet they stop the Mouths of Hereticks by making the Church speak more clearly and reasonably than the Holy Ghost did But this is not all some of the same Men who inveighed so much against the Inquisition and Popish Violences set up among themselves a Holy Inquisition and will hear of no Toleration but oppress the Liberty of the Christians who dare speak out their Mind so far are they from venturing on Writings and a publick Profession One would think that by our many Disputes with the Roman Church concerning Infallibility we have acquired the Priviledg thereof to our selves Give me leave therefore dear Cousin since you call me to God's Tribunal to summon you to the same Pray tell me Ought we not to fear that God should require from us the Truth of the Holy Scripture with which we have been intrusted that Light which we have put under a Bushel and his gracious Talent which we have buried If he asks from whence we took those prosane Novelties of a Science falsly so called I mean that most strange and barbarous Language in his Church O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity three Persons and one God have Mercy upon us What shall we answer him What if he shall oblige us to give an Account of our Faith of that monstrous Creed of Athanasius with which we honour our great Holy Days and which you mention as the most illustrious Monument of the Faith of our Fathers Where is the Scribe where is the Philosopher of this World that can answer him to one of those many nonsensical Articles How came ye will he say to find in my Word one Essence and three Persons rather than one Person and three Essences By what Partiality have you discovered a Figure in these Words This is my Body and have found none in these The Word was God Why did you distinguish two Natures in the Christ whom I sent you whilst you refused to admit of two sorts of Being in the Sacramental Body which he gave you You were afraid of those Words To eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Son of God and you had no Repugnancy for the literal Sense of these A Virgin brought forth God The Jews crucified God He can ask a thousand such Questions to which we shall be able to give no reasonable Answer by reason of the Inequality of the Reverence we pretend to pay to his Word and of our Unsteadiness in the Use we make of our Reason and Senses In Effect I would fain have our Teachers to tell us by what Principle of Philosophy by what Rule of Language that Conclusion is irght and necessary viz. the Father is a Divine Person the Son is a Divine Person the Holy Ghost is a Divine Person Therefore there are three Divine Persons and this should not likewise be so The Father is God the Son is God the Holy Ghost is God Therefore there are three Gods Doth not common Reason tell us that those two Conclusions are like this Gabriel Raphael and Michael are three Angelical Persons therefore they are three Angels The same might be said of Peter James and John who are both three humane Persons and three Men. This Principle of natural Reason ought to prevail unless we are taught by the Scripture that three Divine Persons are not the same with three Gods or that a God is three Persons and three Persons a God But where doth it tell us so What Texts can they alledg that are clearer to prove that Mystery than those alledged by the Papists are to prove their supposed Mystery of one Christ and many Bodies and of many Bodies and one Christ How is it that with respect to the Sacrament we are helped by our Senses to put a reasonable Sense upon the Scripture but with respect to the Trinity Reason forsakes us so far as to ascribe to Scripture an absurd Sense and contrary to its Simplicity Is the Light of a sensible Man more certain than that of an understanding and reasonable Man Have we a greater Certainty that a Piece of Bread is not a humane Body than that two and one make three Is the Mystery of Christ's Sacramental Body more suitable to our Apprehension than the Mystery of his real and natural Body How come we to know that there is something that is incomprehensible in that Man whom we see born and dead and that there is no such thing in the Bread which we take and eat A God is joined to that say ye and why not to this But we see still some Bread will ye reply It is true your Senses do not deceive you But have not the Apostles too seen with their Eyes and touched with their Hands the Man who is called the Word of Life and their Senses have not deceived them This is true who can doubt of it How shall we come off Shall we fly to another Nature hypostatically united to this which is the Object of our Senses But then the Hereticks who err about the Sacrament may have Recourse to the same Shift to avoid the Testimony of the Senses Some will say that the Senses can judg only of the Species which remain in the Sacrament Some that there is an invisible Object in the Bread which is the glorious Body of Christ Some that there is an hypostatical Union of that Bread with the eternal Word which raises the Mystery so much above our Reason that it loses thereby the Right and Liberty of judging thereof and lies under the Necessity of submitting to the Authority of the Revelation which is clear upon this Point for it says This is my Body Now if our Reason is rash in the Judgment it bears concerning the Incarnation notwithstanding the Evidence of the literal Sense of the Scripture which is on her side what Rashness will it not be to interpose her Judgment in the Mysteries of Consubstantiation and Transubstantiation against the express Revelation of God's Word This is my Body I will only ask you one Question upon this Matter and I desire you to answer me in the Fear of God and the Sincerity of your Heart Why do you think you may with Dr. Wallis say that the Terms of Person Father Son Begotten c. are metaphorical whilst you cannot endure that those you call Hereticks should use the same Right and according to Reason and Scripture pretend likewise that the Title of God ascribed to Christ is also a metaphorical Expression Can any thing be more unjust Furthermore why do you take the Liberty to explain the Words of the Eucharist thus This Bread is the Representation and the Figure of my Body And why do you deny me at the same time the same Liberty when I explain the Words in the Beginning of St. John's Gospel by these And the Word was the Image of God Your Injustice is
because speaking of those two Natures taken in a right Sense he says that Christ did partake of this last when he was constituted the Son of God not by an eternal Generation but a Divine Sanctification and the Virtue of his Resurrection From what hath been said it doth plainly appear dear Cousin that those are truly Hereticks who forsake the Simplicity and Purity of the Scripture to coin Mysteries unknown to that Divine Revelation Unknown I say as it is evident from the new Words that have been coined to express them Which so plainly argues their Novelty that any one that is but sincere must needs be no less prejudiced against the strange Words of Consubstantiality and Incarnation than against the monstrous Term of Transubstantiation They have both the same Original Growth and Scope and consequently with respect to us they must have the same Destiny and be look'd upon by all good Christians as the Effects of humane Passions and the dismal Causes of our Divisions In this you do condemn your selves For if you pretend to teach the same Doctrines which are taught in the Scripture why do not you use the same Words Your new Terms do betray your Cause and plainly shew that according to the Character of an Heretick set down by St. Paul you do act not only against your own Conscience but against the Design of the Holy Ghost Seeing you can never speak differently from him but you must perceive at the same time that you think differently and by changing his Words alter his Notions too It is an easy thing to change a Doctrine by the Help of a new Word especially when to this new Word another is added and the Explication thereof extended as far as possible as Councils commonly do who under Pretence of clearing Truth to its highest degree of Evidence do so far depart from its Simplicity that they quite lose the sight of it so that it may be said that after so many new Pieces have been borrowed and sewed to that first Garment it hath lost its Form and Colour and is no more the same Cloth But lest you should say that it is still the same Doctrine expressed several ways I shall prove the contrary in few Words Observe therefore dear Cousin that when the Scripture or the Creed of the Apostles which is for the most part made up of scriptural Terms sets down any Capital Doctrine it makes use of so plain and intelligible Terms either proper or metaphorical that they may be understood by all Men. None can be deceived by them if he is sincere For Example when the Apostles Creed says that there is an Almighty God Maker of Heaven and Earth that that most high God hath a Son who was conceived by the Holy Ghost was born died was raised from the Dead c. any one presently apprehends with the whole Catholick Church what is an Almighty God Creator of all things and what is a Son of God who is his only Son because none but he hath a Virgin for his Mother and God for his Father what it is to be born to die and to be raised from the dead and such other Terms whereby the Doctrines of our Religion are expressed There is no Dispute about them because all Christians have the same Notions of them so that the Hereticks who rejected the Doctrines contained in them were forced to reject those Scriptures wherein they were mentioned But pray how dare you pretend that the Terms which you have contrived were contrived to signify the same things seeing they are not commonly used by Men being all taken out of Philosophy Besides their Signification is liable to so many Changes and Alterations that sometimes they signify one thing and sometimes another This is so true that the very Men of that Age in which they were coined could not agree about their natural Meaning one Doctor taking the Word Hypostasis for that we call a Person and another for that which we call a Substance one Council rejecting the Word Consubstantial as favouring Heresy and the other looking upon it as a Word fit to confute it What may be the Reason that when the Holy Ghost speaks his Words are so popular and so clear that reasonable Men cannot mistake the meaning of them How comes it to pass that there is no Dispute among Men concerning these Words Son of God who was conceived of the Holy Ghost was born died c But when Men speak and introduce a Son consubstantial with the Father begotten not made c. some do not understand them at all let them be never so reasonable some though very teachable cannot endure such a Language and some disagree about their meaning though every one of them considers it with a good Intention and in the Fear of God You need but consult your Divines hereupon some by three Persons understand three Relations some three Capacities some three Minds some three Somewhats and some three individual Natures as Peter James and John The Reason of that Difference is obvious and plain The Holy Ghost sets before us the Divine Revelation full of Wisdom and accommodated to our Knowledg and he fixes popular Notions to his Terms But Men join to their Words remote abstruse and metaphysical Ideas and they put such an unnatural Sense upon the Word of God that even when they use it it is only to defend their foolish and extravagant Fancies Do not tell me that it was wisely done by the Church to coin those new Words that the Sense of the Scripture might be fixed thereby and the Liberty of Hereticks stop'd So pitiful an Excuse doth not justify your Rashness it only justifies the Innocence of the pretended Hereticks For what could hinder those Hereticks whom you accuse of wresting the Scripture to use the same Subtilty in order to the eluding of those new Terms which you will have them to subscribe to They could easily do it by putting upon them such a Sense as would not be prejudicial to their Opinions However this very thing viz. their refusing to submit to those new Impositions is an undeniable Argument of their Sincerity and if they cannot be brought though in order to the saving of their Lives and Estates to put an unnatural Sense upon Mens Words which they despise much less will they wrest the Sense of God's Word to which they pay the greatest Reverence From whence it follows dear Cousin that you your self are a Heretick I am sorry to tell you so but you force me to it I have yet something more to say to you give me leave to speak it out for I do impart my Thoughts to you not in Anger but with a Desire of making you more attentive to those things in which your Salvation is so much concerned I mean that you run the Danger of being one of those Antichrists spoken of by St. John when he says that whosoever doth not confess that Christ who came in the Flesh for thus it