66 "raised of them. For I cannot find, that they have either heightened or strengthened men's intellectual faculties, or "cast a greater light and clearness upon that object which "has so long exercised. them; but that a Trinity in Unity "is as mysterious as ever; and the mind of man as unable 66 to grasp and comprehend it, as it hath been from the be 66 66 ginning to this day. In a word, self consciousness and "mutual consciousness have rendered nothing about the "Divine Nature and Persons plainer, easier, and more intelligible; nor indeed, after such a mighty stress so irrationally laid upon two slight, empty words, have they "made any thing (but the author himself) better under"stood than it was before." Chap. iv. page 115. 66 66 "And indeed I cannot but here further declare, that to me it seems one of the most preposterous and unrea"sonable things in nature, for any one first to assert three "Gods, and, when he has so well furnished the world with "deities, to expect that all mankind should fall down and worship them." Chap. v. page 143. "Certainly one would think, that the very shame of the "world, and that common awe and regard of truth, which "nature has imprinted on the minds of men, should keep 66 any one from offering to impose upon men in so gross "and shameless a manner, as to venture to call a notion "or opinion the constant doctrine both of the fathers and "schools; nay, and to profess to make it out, and shew it "to be so; and while he is so doing, not to produce one "father or schoolman; I say again, not so much as one ❝of either, in behalf of that which he so confidently and "expressly avows to be the joint sentiments of both. This 66 surely is a way of proving, or rather of imposing, pe"culiar to himself. But we have seen how extremely fond "he is of this new term and notion: and therefore, since "he will needs have the reputation of being the sole father "and begetter of the hopeful issue, there is no reason in the "world that antiquity should find other fathers to main"tain it." Chap. vi. p. 168. "The book called by him A Vindication of the Trinity, " is certainly like a kind of pot or vessel with handles quite "round it; turn it which way you will, you are sure to find "something to take hold of it by." Page 358. 66 "I cannot see any new advantage he has got over the "Socinians, unless it be that he thinks his three Gods will "be too hard for their one. And perhaps it is upon pre"sumption of this, that he discharges that clap of thunder "at them in his preface, where he tells us, that having dipped his pen in the vindication of so glorious a cause, by the grace of God he will never desert it, while he can "hold pen in hand. In which words methinks I see him "ready armed and mounted, (with his face towards the "west,) and brandishing his sword aloft, all reeking with "Socinian blood, and with the very darts of his eyes looking "his poor forgotten friends through and through. For in "good earnest the words sound very terribly to these men ; "but most terribly of all to the article itself, (which is like "to suffer most by his Vindication;) for thus to threaten "that he will never leave off vexing it, as long as he can "hold pen in hand, (which I dare say will be as long as he "can tell money with it,) this, I say again, sounds very dreadfully." P. 359. 66 In 1695, Dr. Sherlock published a Defence of himself against the animadverter; to which Dr. South replied (incog. as before) in a treatise, entitled, Tritheism charged upon Dr. Sherlock's new Notion of the Trinity. And the Charge made good, in Answer to the Defence of the said Notion against the Animadversions, &c. This piece he thus addressed, To all Professors of Divinity in the two Universities of this Kingdom. "Our church's enemies of late," says he, "seem to have diverted their main attacks from her "outworks in matters of discipline and ceremony; and now "it is no less than her very capitol which they invade; her "palladium (if I may allude to such expressions) which "they would rob her of; even the prime, the grand, and distinguishing article of our Christianity, the article of the "blessed Trinity itself; without the belief of which, I dare aver that a man can no more be a Christian, than he can, 66 66 "without a rational soul, be a man. And this is now the 66 point so fiercely laid at and assaulted, both by Socinian"ism on the one hand, and by Tritheism, or rather Pagan"ism, on the other. For as the former would run it down "by stripping the Godhead of a ternary of Persons, so the "other would as effectually, but more scandalously over"throw it, by introducing a trinity of Gods; as they in❝evitably do, who assert the three Divine Persons to be "three distinct infinite minds, or spirits; which, I positively "affirm, is equivalent to the asserting the said three Persons "to be three Gods. And I doubt not of learned conyour 66 currence with me, and abetment of me in this affirmation. "If it must be the lot of the church of England to sit "down, and see her most holy religion practised upon by "such wretched innovations as can tend only to ridicule and 66 expose the chief articles of it to the scorn of Arians and "Socinians, and all this under pretence of explaining them; "I can but say, God deliver our poor church from such explainers, and our creed from such explications. And "as I heartily commiserate the unhappy state of that, so I really pity this bold man himself, that he should be thus "suffered to go on venting his scandalous heterodoxies, "without finding either friends to counsel, or superiors to "control him." Page 71. 66 66 "That the Holy Ghost is called poßoλ, not by ema"nation, but by procession, is just as if one should say of "Peter, that he is not a living creature, but a man. From "all which it follows, that this author is grossly ignorant of "the true philosophical sense of the term emanation; some"times applying it to one thing, and sometimes denying it "of another; but both at a venture, and just as people use "to do at blindman's buff." Page 76. "The soul of Socrates, vitally joined with a female body, "would certainly make a woman; and yet, according to "this author's principle, (affirming that it is the soul, and "the soul only, which makes the person,) Socrates, with "such a change of body, would continue the same person, 66 "and consequently the same Socrates still. And in like manner for Xantippe; the conjunction of her soul with "another sex would certainly make the whole compound a "man; and yet, nevertheless, Xantippe would continue the same person, and the same Xantippe still; save only, I "confess, that, upon such an exchange of bodies with her "husband Socrates, she would have more right to wear the “breeches than she had before.” P. 129. 66 "If he proves, that three absolute entire beings can be "three relative subsistences or modifications of one and the same infinite mind or being, then I will grant, that he "has defended his assertion against the animadverter; "and not only so, but that he has full power also (by a theological use of his own making) to alter the sense and signification of all words, in spite of the world, and by "virtue of the same, (if he pleases,) may call the deanery "of St. Paul's the archbishopric of Canterbury, and behave "himself accordingly." Pages 243, 244. "He excepts against Bellarmine's orthodoxy, (because "forsooth he was a Papist,) like that profound dotard who "reproved a young student for reading Clavius upon Eu"clid, telling him that he ought to read none but Protest ant mathematics: surely the Romish writers are as ortho"dox about the article of the Trinity, as any Protestant "writers whatsoever!" P. 256. "When I look back upon that shrewd remark of his, "with which he begins the said answer, viz. That logic is "a very troublesome thing when men want sense, (p. 93. "1. 7,) I must confess, that he here speaks like a man who "understands himself; and that having so often shewn, how "troublesome a thing logic is to him, by his being so angry "with it, he now gives a very satisfactory reason why it is 66 so: and therefore, in requital of it, I cannot but tell him, "that if logic without sense be so troublesome, confidence, "without either logic, or sense, or truth, or shame, or so "much as conscience of what one says or denies, is intole"rable." P. 274. "And so I take my leave of the dean's three distinct, in"finite minds, spirits, or substances, that is to say, of his "three Gods; and having done this, methinks I see him go 66 66 whimpering away, with his finger in his eye, and that complaint of Micah in his mouth, Judges xviii. 24. Ye "have taken away my gods which I made; and what have "I more? Though I must confess I cannot tell why he "should be so fond of them, since I dare undertake, that he "will never be able to bring the Christian world either to "believe in, or to worship a trinity of Gods. Nor do I see "what use they are likely to be of, even to himself, unless "peradventure to swear by." Page 281. The result of this paper war gave the victory to Dr. South, and decided after a most extraordinary manner in his favour: for Mr. Bingham, fellow of University college in Oxford, having some time after taken upon him to fall in with Dr. Sherlock's notions, and asserted, in a sermon before the university," that there were three infinite distinct “minds and substances in the Trinity; and also that the "three Persons in the Trinity are three distinct minds or "spirits, and three individual substances;" was censured by a solemn decree there in convocation: wherein, "they judge, declare, and determine the aforesaid words, lately "delivered in the said sermon, to be false, impious, and he"retical, disagreeing with, and contrary to the doctrine of "the church of England publicly received." But this decree rather irritated the parties than composed the differences: whereupon the king interposed his royal authority, by directions to the archbishops and bishops, that no preacher whatsoever, in his sermon or lecture, should presume to deliver any other doctrine concerning the blessed Trinity, than what was contained in the holy scriptures, and was agreeable to the three Creeds and the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion; which put an end to the controversy, though not till after both the disputants (with Dr. Burnet, master of the Charter-house, who about the same time published his Archæologia, whereby he impugned and weakened, as much as in him lay, the divine truths of the Old Testa |