same sense which Dr. Clarke hath done: and that 1685. the Son and Spirit may have the divine attributes, such as omnipotence, omniscience, and the rest ascribed to them; but that they are not omnipotent and omniscient, ad intra, of themselves, (and so of the rest,) but only by means of the Father's concurrence. Also Dr. Sherlock had introduced new terms without and against the authority of the church, and had mixed philosophy with divinity, in a matter not to be decided but by revelation only; and so expressed himself, as to seem to destroy the unity of the Deity, and to make himself suspected of tritheism by more than a few; though our learned author in his Discourse of the Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity, &c. seems to clear him from that charge. And besides these, several others were for framing schemes out of their own heads, concerning this ineffable mystery, and so departed from the old trodden way, which is so plainly described in this excellent treatise f. versaries friends ap formance. But notwithstanding all this, it was no sooner How adprinted at Oxford, but it was received with an uni- as well as versal applause, as it greatly deserved: and the fame plauded thereof soon spread itself into foreign parts, where it this perwas highly valued by the best judges of antiquity, though of different persuasions. Hence an Unitarian writer, who calleth himself a disinterested person, though he hath given his judgment against it, with all the strength and learning that he was [In the year 1718, i. e. nine years after Bull's death, and thirty-three years after the appearance of the Defensio, Dr. Whitby published a work, entitled, Disquisitiones modesta in clarissimi Bulli Defensionem Fidei Nicana, an account of which work may 1685. master of, yet was obliged by the irresistible evidence of truth, to give this following character, both of the book and author, viz. “5 After Dr. Cudworth, "came Dr. Bull, author of the Defence of the Ni"cene Faith, a book that has rendered the writer “of it very famous, not in England only or chiefly, "but beyond the water. It is composed in a style "most truly Latin, with much vivacity of expres“sion, with great vigour and subtilty of thought: 66 in short, it is worthy of the noble argument of "which he treats. This author having studied the "Fathers with an application, diligence, and ob"servation, almost peculiar to him, perceived that "the schools have departed from that notion of the Trinity believed and professed by some of the "principal Fathers." Thus far he; which was surely confession enough from an enemy. But the answerer of this Socinian pamphlet, who is supposed to be Dr. Sherlock himself, in a discourse entitled, The Distinction between Real and Nominal Trinitarians examined, &c. hath made this reflection hereupon; that this was done out of pure artifice only, not out of any good-will for our author, or disinterestedness between the two contending parties, but "that all that this Socinian intended by 66 bringing Dr. Bull into the fray, was to follow the "blow the animadverter, [Dr. South,] and the Ox"ford decree had given to a Trinity of distinct, proper, subsisting, living, intelligent persons, (which is all that Dr. Bull or the dean assert,) by 66 66 8 The Judgment of a disinterested Person, concerning the Controversy about the blessed Trinity, depending between Dr. South and Dr. Sherlock, 4to. an. 1696. h Page 4. 66 66 66 "their charge of tritheism, which he hoped would 1685. "be a sufficient answer to that otherwise unanswer"able book; and together with Dr. Bull would con"fute all the Fathers at once, on whose authority "he so much relies, and to whom he perpetually appeals; for no Christian must hearken to those men, whatever their authority be, did they really (as they are unjustly charged) preach three Gods; " and thus he thinks he has got rid of all antiquity, "and of the tritheistic Trinity with it." But whatsoever might be his design, and this seems very probable which here is alleged against him, it must still be confessed, that nothing but the truth forced this character from him. And indeed this book was so universally applauded, that it brought over to the author several who were before his enemies, or that at least were doubtful, whether he was orthodox in the faith. The university of Oxford accounted it an honour to them, to have so learned and useful a treatise printed at their press, and written by one who had been formerly a member of their body, but was driven away by the wickedness of the times, as hath been already remarked. Wherefore they thought it incumbent upon them to confer what honour they could upon him, as shall be afterwards related, who by this judicious and elaborate defence of the catholic faith, had contributed so much to the honour, not only of the university itself, but of the church and nation, in foreign churches and nations. LXII. In the year 1690, the bishop of Meaux, The bishop whose History of the Variations, &c. had been sends mon ['Histoire des Variations des Eglises Protestantes. 1688.] of Meaux sieur Jurieu for the Fathers about the Trinity. 1685. attacked in defence of the protestants, (but especially of the French Calvinists,) by monsieur Jurieu, with to Dr. Bull, too little deference to the primitive Fathers of the sense of the church, set forth a discourse against this his adversary, on purpose to prove, that his way of proceeding did effectually tend to the very undermining of Christianity, or at least to the establishment of Socinianism; and that it was a method condemned, not only by the Roman catholics, but by the most judicious protestant writers, such as Dr. Bull in particular. And having in his aforesaid history made honourable mention of our most learned author, as before was taken notice of; he upon this fresh occasion frequently maketh his appeal to him, and sendeth his readers to satisfy themselves, in the collection of testimonies gathered by him out of the Fathers. In one place he saith, "That I may have no occa❝sion, my brethren, to defend against you the doc"trine of the first ages, concerning the eternal gene"ration of the Son, if your minister hath any doubt "hereof, and is not willing to read the learned trea"tises of a father Thomassin, who so profoundly 66 explains the ancient traditions, or the learned pre"face of a father Petau, which is the elucidation "and key of his whole doctrine, concerning this "matter, I send him to m BULL, that learned Eng"lish protestant, the treatise, where he hath so well "defended the Fathers, who lived before the council "of Nice. You must either renounce the faith of "the holy Trinity, which God forbid, or presuppose Dogmata Theolog. Thomass. tom. iii. m Premier Avertisement aux Protestants sur les Lettres du Ministre Jurieu contre L'Histoire des Variations. §. xxv. "with me that this author hath reason." For mon- 1685. sieur Jurieu, by endeavouring to find variations in the ancient Fathers, and treading in the steps of Dailée, did the cause of Christianity in general more hurt, than he did his own good by it. For if, according to him, the primitive Christians did not believe the eternity of the Son, or the immutability of the divine essence, or the equality of the second and third persons with the first, or the coeternity of them all three; or if they were so ignorant of the mystery of the incarnation, and knew not even the unity and perfection of God, known to the very pagans by the light of nature, and were so far from understanding the Scriptures, that they did not read them; and if they, even the most famous Fathers of the three first centuries, were such poor and paltry divines as he represents them, and could be guilty, not only of such gross ignorance, but also of the most capital errors and heresies, there must soon be an end of Christian faith and doctrine, and all must terminate in deism or natural religion. For confutation therefore of all these heavy charges against these ancient witnesses of our religion, the learned and judicious defence of the Ante-Nicene Fathers by this our author is rightly appealed to, for the sake of our common Christianity, in which all equally are concerned. how much book was But here it is very remarkable, that our author's An instance book was in such esteem abroad, both with Ro- Dr. Bull's manists and protestants, that even monsieur Jurieu esteemed himself contended, no less than the bishop his adversary, to have him on his side, saying, that Bull's protestants. n Sect. 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16. by Romanists and |