ANIMADVERSIONS On a Late PAMPHLET, INTITULED, The New Arian Reprov'd.

SInce there is a Pamphlet intituled the New Arian Reprov'd juſt Publiſh'd, before my Four Volumes come out, I ſhall make a few tho' very ſhort Animadverſions thereon. Accordingly, omitting ſeveral injudicious and unfair Paſſages, I Obſerve. (1) That if I, as an Heretick, have written too inſolently, my Antagoniſts as Orthodox, ſhould do better; and thereby ſhew how Athanaſianiſm diſpoſes Men to Chriſtian Meekneſs and Humility more than Arianiſm. Which yet I dare ſay neither this Author, nor Mr. Mattair, and leaſt of all Dr. Edwards of Oxford have done.p. 7. (2) That my plainneſs and boldneſs in reproving the dange⯑rous Errors remaining in our Church is inter⯑preted an high Affront: Whereas I take it to be the greateſt Kindneſs I can do her. I hope this Author does not ſuppoſe he affronts his Auditors every time he plainly and boldly rebukes them.p. 8, &c. (3) I ſhall willingly allow this Author ſeveral whole Years to collect the Tenth part of the Teſtimonies for Orthodoxy in the Two firſt Centuries, that I did in a few Months, for Arianiſm▪ Nor am I at all unwilling to join Iſſue with him in the very ſame proportion for the Third Century alſo; provided he will not produce thoſe Teſtimo⯑nies that ſolely depend on Athanaſius, or a few [2] of his followers, without, nay againſt all the other and better Evidence about them. (4) What is here ſaid about Dr. Grabes Eſſay, p 13, &c. and my New Theory I ſhall not repeat, but only deſire the impartial Readers careful peruſal of my Remarks on that Eſſay; and my Second Edition of that Theory, before ſuch Reflections have any Weight with him. And I muſt declare how reproach⯑ful ſoever this Author eſteems it in me, yet that I ever reſolve to own and correct all my miſtakes aſſoon as ever they appear to be ſuch, in all my Writings; and by that means do hope to render thoſe Writings at laſt much more Correct and Undenyable; while the oppoſite vain Affecta⯑tion in controverſy Writers of juſtifying every Expreſſion and Conjecture, even after plain Evidence is produc'd to the contrary, hinders their own Improvement, and makes them ſtill propagate Error among Mankind. (5) Sure thoſe Learned Men who mainly recommend the three firſt Centuries, as the Standard of antient Chriſtianity,p 17.18. cannot properly include the Coun⯑cil of Nice belonging to the fourth.p. 18, &c (6) We have here a mighty Stir about this Council of Nice, and how much 'tis to be prefer'd to other Coun⯑cils. As if there was no Paſſion, nor Heat, nor worldly Concern, nor Court Management at that Council at all; but the whole was peaceably debated, and all guided by the good Spirit of God. Which if this Author can believe he may do as he pleaſes; while I am ſure the Hiſtories thereof, how partial ſoever on its ſide, give us very different Accounts. And whatever that Council determin'd, we are to believe no more of it than what is proved by the Sacred and Pri⯑mitive Writers; and what is proved by them we are to believe without regard to its Determina⯑tion. [3] So that 'tis not of great Weight what this or any other ſuch warm Councils determin'd, to thoſe I mean who with me deſire to follow the proper Authority of Chriſt by his Holy Apoſtles in ſacred matters. Our Author here ſeems to believe all the partial Athanaſian Ac⯑counts on the ſide of Athanaſius, as firmly as if the whole Chriſtian World had own'd the Truth of them. Whereas one that ſtands ſo ſtifly for the Au⯑thority of Councils and Synods ought certainly to have ſome regard to the contrary Opinion of at leaſt 3 ſucceſſive Councils in that Caſe (7) After all that is here produc'd there appears little or no debating at the Council of Nice at all,p. 26, &c. more than what Euſebius oblig'd them to; and which might well be all at one time. So that their Creed, as far as I ſee, might be ſign'd the ſame day they met, as Monfaucon obſerves: tho' I do not doubt but there was private In⯑trigues, and ſubtile Management before-hand; as there is, I believe, ſtill in all ſuch Aſſem⯑blies to this day▪ If this Author can ſhew that the [...] was here fully debated, and proved to have all the way been deliver'd down from the Apoſtles, he will ſay ſomething; otherwiſe all the political Management and Arts previous to the final Determination will be of no con⯑ſequence in this Caſe. And I deſire to know if the Council of Nice did ſo unanimouſly, and upon ſuch undenyable Authority eſtabliſh this, as the undoubted perpetual Faith of Chriſtians: How a more numerous Council, that of Jeruſa⯑lem; to ſay nothing of thoſe of Tyre and Con⯑ſtantinople, could in ten years time quite loſe the Notion, and ſettle the Church upon a Founda⯑tion without it: as if they never knew of any ſuch antient Tradition or Doctrine among Chri⯑ſtians [4] at all? This is certainly a Queſtion to be well weighed by thoſe that depend ſo intirely on the Council of Nice. (8) I have fully, in more places than one,p 31, &c declar'd how far I am an Arian. Nor can any one doubt from all I have ſaid that in my uncertain philoſophick Conjectures, I incline more to the Followers of Arius himſelf than of Athanaſius: but in my certain Faith I keep ſtrictly to the original Do⯑ctrine and Expreſſions alone; with an utter Ab⯑horrence of all Novel and raſh Arian, as well as Athanaſian Additions and Language in ſuch mat⯑ters; as I think 'tis the plain Duty of every Chri⯑ſtian to do. I take Eunomius to have been a much more Learned, Judicious, Wiſe, and Good Man, than Arius: and ſo I may well ſpeak with great Reſpect of the one, while I have no great E⯑ſteem for the other; altho' Cuſtom may call Eunomius a moſt compleat Arian, in a general Acceptation, as diſtinguiſh'd from other Parties then contending in the Church. And the Apo⯑logetick of this Eunomius, which I am going to publiſh [...] [...] certainly ſhew what a great Man he was. I have read nothing of the Orthodox in this Century, for Piety, Judgment, and cloſe Ad⯑herence to the antient Faith and Language of Chriſtians to be compar'd to it.p. 36, &c. (9) To prove that the Athanaſians did not own that Solomon Prov. 8.22. ſaid that God Created our Saviour, while they forbad that Expreſſion under the Pe⯑nalty of Hereſy, this Author ſays that is not the meaning of the Hebrew Word in this place. If this be Logick I own I have none. For my Ar⯑gument depended not on the real Senſe of the Hebrew, but on the confeſſed Language and Senſe of the Greek, which the Church us'd; and I think none call'd in queſtion till after the [5] Council of Nice. So that all that is here ſaid is intirely remote from the point. For the Antient Teſtimonies they are ſoon to be laid before the Reader, and he is himſelf to judge whether they are only ſome unguarded Expreſſions, or whether they do not contain the direct and plain Doctrine of the two firſt Centuries of Chriſtianity. I believe our Author will find it hard, to ſet them in a clear irreſiſtible Light, on the ſide of Orthodoxy, as he here ſpeaks. (10) As to the Conſtitutions,p. 39, &c. with their Interpolations, and Doxologies, I refer this Author to my Eſſay upon them, which is now to be Publiſh'd; and am not afraid ſtill to aſſert, notwithſtanding all this Authors Excla⯑mations, that they are the moſt Sacred of the Ca⯑nonical Books of the New Teſtament. p. 43, &c. (11) To prove that my Lord of Worceſter is Angry with me for tranſpoſing ſome Parts of the former Thirteen Chapters of St. Matthew, he alledges that his Lord⯑ſhip differs from me about the Day of Chriſts Death, and ſome Circumſtances belonging to his Paſſion in the Twenty Sixth and Twenty Seventh Chapters. If our Reflecter goes on in this way of reaſoning he will ſoon become Unanſwerable.p. 49, 50 I believe Monſieur Toinards is an excellent Har⯑mony, by what ſmall ſight I have had of it; but ſure I may venture to differ from him, or omit his large Book in a ſmall Catalogue, with⯑out any great Imputation of Ignorance; eſ⯑pecially while there were ſo few Copies of it in England when I wrote that Catalogue.p. 50, 51 As to the Eighty Fifth Canon I did certainly diſ⯑cover its being Apoſtolical long before I found the reſt to be ſo: Let this Author ſay what he pleaſes. And as to Dr. Grabes proper denyal of any thing I have related of him, I can hardly find it:p. 52, 53 For as to the general Charge of Miſ⯑repreſentation, [6] ſo common in all ſuch Caſes, he rather intimates he will make it good here⯑after, than has yet done it. So that all our Au⯑thors Flouriſhes here are upon very little Foun⯑dation.p. 54, &c. Nor does he ſeem to differ much from me at laſt about the meaning of the Scripture Phraſes uſually interpreted of a proper Eternity; notwithſtanding his ſhew of ſtill confuting and reproaching me thereupon. And for the Cita⯑tions from Ignatius, p. 56 ſure the Quotations in thoſe Fathers he means are of later Writers, or Writers much later than Ignatius; and in no other Senſe did I uſe thoſe Words; For I did not then, nor do yet remember of what particular Antiquity the Citations he refers to were ſuppos'd to be. (12) The Preface to the Arabick Doctrine is that which I alone Publiſh'd, and mainly depended on,p. 57 as I ſtill do; and till its Authority be diſ⯑prov'd, which I believe cannot be done, it certainly goes a great way to put an End to the Diſpute about the Conſtitutions for ever. (13) This Author is to prove Mr. Emlin once a Socinian, even notwithſtanding ſeveral Paſſages in his Writings intirely diſagree thereto.p. 57, &c. Now ſure this Author might have ſuppos'd that I knew an Intimate Friends Opinions both former and later better than a meer Stranger could do: And that I would not notoriouſly falſify in ſuch a plain caſe. And I ſtill aſſure him I ſpake the direct Truth. And that he may learn to examin better before he Writes any more about Mr. Emlin's Opinions, I ſhall tell him what I know of them, both from his Writings, and from his own Month, viz. that when formerly he examin'd that matter, he found that our Saviour Pre-exiſted, and moſ [...] probably made the World, as the Fathers In⯑ſtrument: And ſo he was not a Socinian. Nay h [...] [7] inclin'd moſt to the Arians. But obſerving how he was call'd a Man, and not knowing what powers even Human Nature, in a Pre-exiſting State, might be capable of deriving from God, when he pleas'd to inhabit in it, or intimately unite himſelf in it, he car'd not to enter deep into the Diſpute between the Socinians and Ari⯑ans; but aſſerted, what he was more fully ſatiſ⯑fied in, that Chriſt was not the ſame Being with, or equal to the ſupreme God: and that the ſub⯑ordinate Worſhip requir'd to be paid him did not imply any ſuch Things. That theſe were his real Thoughts,Humble En⯑quiry p. 2. his own Words in the Pa⯑ges here cited do ſhew, which are theſe. So that it ſhould ſeem, that Nature which did pre-exiſt did not poſſeſs the ſupreme Will.—Tho' he be allow'd to be a Man, approved of God by Signs and mighty Wonders, p. 21, which God did by him, and by whom God made the World as the Inſtrument. This is alſo more plain by his intire little Treatiſe in Vindication of the Biſhop of Glouceſters Pre-exiſtence of the Soul of Chriſt alſo. But how a Paſſage from Biſhop Wil⯑liams, who ſeems to have known no more than our Author, what Mr. Emlins Opinions were, is a proof that he was a Socinian, I by no means under⯑ſtand.p. 59 So miſerably do ſuch Writers of Contro⯑verſy argue when they pretend, without proper evidence, to affix odious Opinions and Imputa⯑tions upon their Adverſaries: for which this Author, among the reſt, muſt give an Account another day, notwithſtanding his ſtrange way of Writing here, ſo little agreeing with Truth or with Chriſtianity. Nor does he reaſon better, when from the Verdict of a Jury of Tradeſmen, He con⯑cludes the ſame Mr. Emlin really guilty of Blaſ⯑phemy; and accordingly treats him, as well as my ſelf, as Blaſphemers. p. 65 66: Yet 'tis to me prodigi⯑ouſly [8] ſtrange that the Subordination of Chriſt to the Father ſhould be exact Orthodoxy, while his Inferiority borders on no leſs a Crime than Blaſphemy. I hope it will in a little time be hard to make Mankind believe any ſuch extravagant Aſſertions, let them be deliver'd with never ſo great an Air of Magiſterial Authority. Nor will this Authors Repetition of the Athanaſian Rea⯑ding of Act. 20.28. purchas'd by the Blood of God, p 67. have, I hope, any other effect on the honeſt and impartial than to make them look into Dr. Mills's various Readings, and at once to ſee and abhor ſuch Heretical Forgeries and Interpola⯑tions in the very Books of the New Teſtament. The Quotation of which interpolated Text is the more ſtrange here, ſince by his Silence, he ſeems to deſert the other more certain and groſs Orthodox Interpolation,p. 26. 1 Joh. v. 7. Of which he had made ſo great a noiſe in his former Reflections. This is all that I think neceſſary to ſay at preſent to this Author, be⯑cauſe my four Volumes are ready to be publiſh'd; which will ſuperſede, I hope, all occaſions for ſuch Pamphlets hereafter, and put Men upon deeper and more ſerious Enquiries. However, ſo far I venture to Animadvert on my once more kind and candid Friends Vindication, without the leaſt ill will to him or any body living: Heartily Praying that he and all who are ſo deeply en⯑gag'd in ſupporting the Athanaſian Hereſy, may quickly come to Repentance, 2 Tim. 11.25. and the Acknowledgment of the Truth, as it is in Chriſt Jeſus.