TO THE Most Reverend the Archbishops, and the Right Reverend the Bi∣shops of the Church of England.

My Lords,

I Here present your Lordships with a short Account of the Proceedings of an Emi∣nent Protestant Reformed Church and State, against a Noted Tritheist, for asserting Three Eternal Spirits in the Bles∣sed Trinity; induced thereto by the late fatal Growth of Tritheism in our Church; first vented and asserted in the same and yet higher Terms by Dr. Sherlock, in his pretended Vindication of the Doctrine of the Ever Blessed Trinity, in the Year 1690. And since that by one J. B. Minister of Folkstone in Kent, and sty∣ling himself, A Presbyter of the Church of England (to the extream Disgrace of it), in a Book written in Defence of the said Dr. Sher∣lock, Page  [unnumbered] and his Tritheistick Notions upon the same Article, in the Year 1695. and since that also openly preached in the very Face of the whole University of Oxon, by one Mr. Joseph Bingham, then a Fellow of University-Col∣ledge there, on the 28th of October, in 1695. And lastly, maintained, and with great and e∣ven foaming Vehemence, preached up in one of the most Eminent Cathedrals in England, by one of the Prebendaries of the same, first on the 30th, Nov. 95. and since that on the 12th of January 9. Whose Name, together with the Heterodoxyes then and there delivered by him, are ready to be produc'd, as there shall be occasion. So that your Lordships can need nothing further, either to alarm or convince you, That the Enemy has been sowing his Tares amongst us, while you see them so plen∣tifully coming up even under your Eyes.

As for Dr. Sherlock, he has over and over declared, and lately again renewed * the same De∣claration, viz. That the Three Divine Persons are Three distinct Infinite Eternal Minds or Spirits; and that it is Heresie and Non∣sence to judge otherwise; (For He, it seems, may take upon him to declare Heresie without a Reprimand.) And as for Presbyter I. B. of Folkstone, he asserts the very same in Page  [unnumbered] Print. And not only so, but likewise, to the flagrant Scandal of our Church, * professedly owns * and prefers Genebrard's Tritheistick Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, as bet∣ter and more Orthodox than that of Calvin and his Followers, whom he charges with denying the Nicene Faith, as to that part of it [God of God]; which yet Bellarmine himself (as much as he hated Calvin) vindicates him from, in his 2d Book de Christo, and 19. Chap. To * whom we may further add Beza, Brentius and Zanchius, with several other Eminent Divines of the Reformation, All of them, with the utmost Calumny reviled and condemned by this Genebrard; while on the other side he positively * vouches the horrid Opini∣ons of Gentilis for sound and Catholick: And be∣sides all this, at one stroke charges all the Reformed Churches, both of France and Germany, sometimes with Sabellianism, and sometimes with Arianism, as the Reader Page  [unnumbered] will perceive by the Quotations here tendred him on the * side. This Genebrard, I say, is the Person followed and defended by Dr. Sher∣lock's Defender, J. B. and that as to his Do∣ctrine of the Trinity; as may be more particu∣larly and fully declared in another place. But in the mean time, how these Encomium's, bestowed by a Presbyter of the Church of England, upon such a Furious Tritheistick Papist (in so foul a manner, traducing the Doctrine of most of the Protestant Divines and Church∣is, about the blessed Trinity,) will sound in the ears of the Reformed Churches abroad (whom we have been so long professing to Court) is * left to the Bishops of this Reformed Church to judge: For some indeed have shewn them∣selves very zealous to quit a great part of our Ecclesiastical Constitution, in order to our U∣nion with those Churches beyond Sea; (Tho I confess I could never yet hear, That those Chur∣ches alledged the Rites and Ceremonies of our Church as any Bar to their Communion with Page  [unnumbered] it.) But howsoever they do, or may stand af∣fected to us, I dare undertake, that our quitting all the Ceremonies hitherto enjoyned and re∣ceived amongst us (as Ancient, Decent, and Inoffensive, as they certainly are) will not be half so powerful to draw them to us, as the Asserting Three Distinct Infinite, Eternal Minds or Spirits in the Blessed Trinity (or countenancing those who assert them) will be effectual to make them abhor, loath, and fly from our Communion. And when they are once gotten to such a distance from us, I fear we shall hardly get them back again, but by quitting our Church-Livings and Preferments to them, and then we shall be throughly Refor∣med indeed.

That Tritheism therefore is in a thriving condition amongst us, cannot be denied, nor so much as questioned. And the Causes of it are manifestly these two: First, The great and advantagious Station held by that Person in the Church, who first broached it here: And Secondly, The connivence which has ever since attended him in the Assertion of it. The first of which has created him several Dependen∣cies amongst some poor empty Retainers, acted. by Hope and Hunger (as Hunger and Emp∣tiness generally go together;) who to serve their Interest by his Favour, easily turn Proselytes to his Opinions; it being not Imaginable Page  [unnumbered] that they should open their Mouths so wide for him, but to have them fill'd by him. But such mischiefs must always be expected from Heterodoxy in High Place; which is never so formidable for what it holds, as for what it has to give. For this still made the Pope an Over-match for a Council, and may at any time give an overgrown Heretick the vantage ground of Truth. Tho miserable, no doubt, must the state of that Church needs be, where men shall wear her Favours, so much to the prejudice of her Faith.

As for the other Reason of the Fatal spread∣ing of this Poyson, viz. The Connivence and Encouragement attending the Person who first vented it; I shall not stick to affirm, That he who asserts any thing contrary to the Received Doctrine of the Church, (how much soever he may be favoured or abetted, dignifi∣ed or distinguished) is a scandal to the Gown he wears, and an Insufferable Reproach to the Church he wears it in. I very well know, That the judicial Proceedings of the Church and Senate of Bern against that wretehed Thitheist Gentilis, are no rule for us to proceed by, who have Laws of our own, which allow of no such severity (as I am far from desiring that they should.) Neverthe∣less, tho they are not a rule for us to proceed by, they may very well be a Rule for us to judg Page  [unnumbered] by, so far at least, as to Conclude, That what upon the Maturest deliberation, was account∣ed Capital in one Reformed Church (and that a very great one too) cannot without scan∣dal continue Uncensured and Unrebuked in Another; which yet this Detestable Tritheism has done for several years; and not only so, but the Publisher and Assertor of it, has been hi∣therto so far from any thing like Censure, or Rebuke, that he has been Advanced, Counte∣nanced and Abetted to the utmost: And some talk of no less matters than his being mounted shortly to the Episcopal Chair and Dignity; tho some again think that it would be a very odd sight, in a Christian Church, to see a Tri∣theist in a Bishoprick, and holding his Tri∣theism with it in Commendam; for let this happen when it will, I dare undertake that the Promotion of the man will be the Degradation of the Office.

However, this is certain, That the wounds which this man has given this poor Church, are deep and dangerous, and have been kept Bleeding so long, that now they begin to Fester and threaten some further mischief; and it is too late to dally any longer with the Cure. For, my Lords, your Lordships cannot but know that Tritheism is worse, and more Reproach∣ful to Christianity, not only than Sabellia∣nism, but even than Socinianism it self, as Page  [unnumbered] being contrary to all Natural, as well as Re∣vealed Religion, by destroying the grand, lead∣ing and fundamental Article of Both, viz. The Unity of the Godhead; which So∣cinianism (how much soever it impugns and denies the Revealed Article of three distinct Persons in the Godhead) does not encroach up∣on. And yet in a further degree is it worse than Arianism; for tho Arianism denies the Essential Deity of the Son, making him only a Glorious Deified Creature, or the First-born of the Creation, yet it still preserves the Unity of the Divine Essence entire and un∣multiplied; which the Assertion of Three distinct Infinite, Eternal Minds or Spirits unavoidably multiplies, and by consequence destroys. Whereas the Unity of the Godhead is the very Foundation and Corner Stone of all True Religion, and as Essential an Article of the Christian Faith, as that of a Trinity of Persons it self; Both of them together mak∣ing up that great Depositum, which God has committed to us to keep inviolably, and to de∣fend resolutely (and in a word) to save, as well as to be saved by.

And therefore. my Lords I shall recommend this important matter to your Lordships, much in those words of Mordecai to Esther. Who knows but that you are come to such high Place, Power and Dignity in our Page  [unnumbered] Church for such a Time as This? And that God is now Trying whether you will make good the Zeal you have so often professed for our Religion heretofore, by doing something signal, great, and worthy of those Pro∣fessions now. In a word, I look upon your Lordships as Persons of that Sincerity and Clearness of Principle, that if you believed this Doctrine of Three Distinct, Infinite, Eternal Minds, Spirits and Substances in the ever Blessed Trinity, to be True, you would boldly and openly Profess it, which since you do not, why should not so Scandalous a Corruption of our Faith, receive a Check by some mark of your Lordships Disapprobation? Hitherto I am sure there has been a Profound Silence in this matter; and I heartily wish, the Enemies of our Religion may not pass that nicking Reflexion upon it, Tacent, Satis Laudant. For in good earnest it is very hard that Heresy should over-run a Church, only because we must not call it Heresie.

But this is not the worst of our Case neither. For a certain Socinian Writer (by a Spirit of Prophecy coming upon him from some above) * Page  [unnumbered] positively tells the Nominal Trinitarians (as he calls those who assert a Trinity of Di∣vine Persons, in opposition to that of Three distinct, Infinite Minds, Spirits, or Sub∣stances) that it will not be long before they be told by their Superiors in the Church, That it will concern them to be Quiet (that is, I suppose, to Write against Dr. Sherlock and his Tribe no more) lest they themselves be censured as Sabellians. Now this, upon my word, is very home, and sounds dreadfully indeed; and having been written about the middle of August last, lets us into a farther Understanding of the late Letter sent to the Vice-chancellor of Oxon, and shews, That there were Reprimands preparing for us long before that scandalous Sermon was Preached there, and consequently before the Oxford Censure could be thought of. And now if this be real∣ly so, is not our Church, think we, in a blessed Condition? viz. That first, the Assertors of its received Doctrine are to be censured; next, That They are to be Censured by their Superiors in and of the same Church. And thirdly, That they are to be Censured as Sabellian Hereticks. And lastly, That the Socinians must be made privy to this Design, while our Clergy knows nothing of it. What a dismal Aspect, I say, must all this needs have upon our Church and Clergy? But as for the Charge of Sabellia∣nism, which we are here threatned with, I hope Page  [unnumbered] it will be proved against us, before we are Cen∣sured for it; and then we desire no greater security against such a Censure. For does not Sabellius hold only one single Subsistence in the Godhead, and no more? And can those then be Sabellians who hold three distinct Subsist∣ences in the Same? And does not Sabellius allow only a Trinity of Names, as of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and that Founded in a Trinity of Offices, as that the Father is the Creator of all things; the Son the Redeemer of Mankind; and the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier of the Church? The Assumption of which Names and Offices having been a free effect of God's will, might by Consequence (had God so pleased) never have been at all; since nothing in the Divine Nature could make it necessary. But what is this to us, who main∣tain three such Subsistences in the Divine Na∣ture, as are Eternal, Necessary and Inseparable (even by the Divine Power it self) both from the said Nature, and from one another. I pro∣test I cannot tell whether there be more Malice or Ignorance in such a Charge (as often as some have the face to make it.) But such is the Nature of Malice, that while it opens mens Mouths, it commonly shuts their Eyes. In the mean time I would have this pert, medling Socinian know, That the As∣sertors of a Trinity of Persons against Three Distinct, Infinite Minds or Spirits Page  [unnumbered] are neither grown so hoarse with Appealing to Universities and Bishops, nor yet so weary and ashamed of so doing, but that in case such a censure should pass upon them from those Superiors he speaks of, they would have the Courage to appeal still; not indeed to them, but from them, and that to the whole Nati∣on, and to all the Protestant Churches and Universities in Christendom. But, if what this Socinian has so boldly and positively said and Printed of them, be false (as for their own sakes I trust it is) I hope these Superiors will consider what may be the consequence of sitting down tamely under such a Slander. However, let matters go as they will, The Assertion of Three Divine Persons, in contradiction to Three Distinct, Infinite, Eternal Minds, Spirits or Substances in the ever blessed Trinity, is certainly the Cause of God, and he will not desert it, though others should.

The University of Oxford has appear'd ve∣ry considerably in this matter already, and would have appeared yet further, and done much more had she not been hindred from doing what she was ready and desirous to do; there being no∣thing which that Great and Learned Body so ardently wished, and pressed for, as a Liberty * to have declared it self Authoritatively against those scandalous Propositions in full Convoca∣tion. Page  [unnumbered] But if, in the mean time, there is a∣ny Failure or Defect (as some contend there is) in the late Censure so worthily passed upon the forementioned Propositions, by that Venera∣ble meeting of the Vice-Chancellor, the Bp. of the Diocess, and other Heads of Colleges and Halls there, it is to be hoped, that your Lordships, to whom the Care of our Religion more immediately and peculiarly belongs, will vouchsafe to supply the said Defect by the greater Authority of your Episcopal Censure: For if so gross a Piece of Paganism as that which holds [Three Distinct Infinite Eternal Minds or Spirits in the Godhead], having been first vented by one in so considerable a Place and Dignity in our Church, and to this very Day persisted in, and moreover defended (to his poor Utmost) by one calling himself a Presbyter of the Church of England; and after that preached publickly before one of our Universities; and lastly, maintained from the Pulpit in one of our greatest Cathedrals Twice, shall continue Uncensured and Uncontrouled by the Governours of our Church; a•〈◊〉 upon these Terms, will be apt to look 〈◊〉 Ecclesiastical Authority as serving 〈◊〉 else but to upbraid the Non-Ex•…〈◊〉 it is further referred to your Lordships, serious∣ly to consider, how Foreign Churches (which will certainly hear of it,) will Resent it; And Page  [unnumbered] how Reproachfully it will Reflect upon our Own; which I account a Church as well Reform'd as the best of them; and that without the help of a Further Reformation.

May God direct and assist your Lordships Counsels and Proceedings in so near and Arduous a Concern of our Opposed Re∣ligion. For the Eyes of the World are upon you, and their Ears open to hear what you will do. And as all who wish your Lordships and the Church well, hope that you will acquit your selves in so weighty an Affair, sutably to your High Character and Post in the Church, so their next satisfaction will be, That your Lordships have had this matter humbly, fairly and Dutifully laid before you, whether your Lordships shall think fit to do anything in it or no.

So begging your Lordshipp's Paternal Blessing, I am,

My Lords, Your Lordshipp's most Humble, and Obedient Servant,

N. N.