Wichelsea and nottingham Daniel Feuch, earl of

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ANSWER
Earl of Nottingham

OF THE

TO

Mr. W bifton's Letter to Him,

Concerning the
Eternity of the Son of God,

AND

Of the Holy Ghoft.

Deut. XXIX. 29.
The secret Things belong unto the Lord our God, but

those Things which are reveald, belong to us, and
to our Children for ever.

1 Tim. VI. v. 20, 21. Keep that which is committed to thy Truft, avoiding

prophane and vain Babblings, and Oppositions of Science falsly so calld; which fome professing, have erred concerning the Truth.

The E I G H IH EDITION.

L O N D ON:
Printed for EDWARD VALENTINE, at the Queen's-
Head against St. Dunftan's Church, Fleetstreet. 1721.

Price One Shilling.

When I receiv'd your Letter concerning the Eternity of the Son of God, and of the Holy Spirit, dated July 10. 1719. together with yotir Letter of Thanks to the Bishop of London , dated Jan. 17. 1715. annext to it: Tho' I thought I was not, at my Years, to learn my Catechism ; jet my Cu- . riosity led me to read them, knowing your Reputatinn for Learning : And I own my great Surprize, to find Jo many Testimonies, and some Texts, cited by you against the Doctrine of the Trinity, by which you bad been drawn from that Opinion and Faith , which you once profess’d; and which now, with the Boldness and Authority of an Apojlle, ( like St. Paul himself in another Cafe ) Behold, I say unto yon, is "a fatal Gal. v. 2. “ Mistake : So I refolu'd to look into your Quotations, letter to

the Bishop and consider your Texts ; and I own also, that I was of Londons much more surpriz'd, to find your Quotations liable p.18 to such Obječtions, as you will see in the ensuing Letter, which I writ soon after yours came to my Hand, with an Expectation of seeing you, when you came into this Country, as you us'd to do every Tear ; and to prepare my self, as well as I was able , for your Assaults, and 710t to enter into an open Paper-War, knowing my own Ignorance and Weakness; and that I had not sufficiently

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prov'd

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prov'd the Armour, which was necessary for an Encounter with so great a Champion, as had defy'd the Armies of the Living God. But since you have been in Rutland, both last Tear and this, and not af. forded me your Company here, as formerly you were mont; and that your Letter to me is referr'd to, in a late Tract by your self, as a full Evidence of the Truth of your Do&trine ; and that many may take your peremptory Affertions upon Trust, from so eminent a Man as your self; and since I have had Leisure to examine your Quotations, and do find that you have perverted the Scriptures, and abus'd your Authors by an intrue and unfair Representation of the Pasages you cite out of them ; I have now ventur?d to send to the

l Press my Animadversions, and what has occurr`d to me upon this Subje&t ; that I might not, by my Silence, be

thought your Proselyte : And because it is not enough Rom.x.10. to believe with the Heart, but with the Mouth

Confession is made unto Salvation ; and not confelling the Lord Jesus before Men, is next to the denying him.

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I do not doubt, but your Zeal will prompt you to a Reply; and therefore allow me to tell you the Metbod, in which it will be mot fair in its self, and satisfatory to me and others, who shall read it.

1. To state your own Do&trine, and to them that it is consistent with coinmon Sense, and with the other Doctrines of our Holy Religion ; which, I hope, we agree in; some of which I have mention' in

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Leta ter: For, like the Men of Capua, who would not destroy their Magiftrates, though they extremely disik'd them, because they could not find better to put into their Places; you should not, in an Age, when many ridicule all reveal'd Religion, reproach that, which is establish'd among us, as being again? " of Nature and common Sense till

freed

P. 38.

“ the Light

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you have

freed your own Scheme from that Obječtion, and evi-
dently shewn that it is rational and true.
2. To justify the Construction, which you

have
put upon the Texts, cited by you out of the Scri-
ptures.

3. Not to load me with a Multitude of new
Quotations. For that is to lead me into a Labyrinth,
where a Man fo little vers'd in the Fathers, as I am,
will want a Clue of Thread to bring him out of it ; and
you cannot expe&t that I should believe they are true, or
that I will take the Pains to examine them ; for I may
justly conclude them to be false, till you have provod

,
those in your Letter, which I have look'd into, to be
truly and fairly stated. And since "

u Those are the
“ Original Principal Texts and Testimonies, P. 24, &
« which concern this important Subject ;" 'tis in 37.
vain to heap up others, which are less Authoritative
and Cogent. Now whether your Quotations be true
and fair, is a Matter of fact, which can scarce bear
a Dispute, or may be easily decided : And tho’ if they
were true and fair, which I am sure they are not, it
would not follow, that I ought to yield to them, because
there may be others, and you your self have mention'd
Several, which are plainer, clearer, and stronger
Assertions of the Divinity of the Son of God and
Holy Ghost, than Those which you have produced
against it : Yet, if these be not true and fair, it will
follow, that you ought to renounce that Opinion and
Do&trine, into which you have been so misled. But,
notwithstanding this Advantage which I have, I dare
join Issue with

you upon this point of the Truth and Fairness of your Quotations.

Lastly, As you have a Right to examine my Quota

,
tions, and the Constructions of the Texts cited by me,
(as I bave done yours ;) So I shall be well pleas'd to
see your Observations ; being very sure that I have not

wilfully

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