This is a small flip in our excellent author; for the Poet, xal' ox, is Homer, who hath faid nothing concerning this Fable of Achilles.

IBID. SERMON XLIII, &c.

Tillotfon printed thefe Sermons on the Divinity of Chrift, to vindicate himself from the charge of Socinianisin: that is, from an accufation entirely groundless. I have been told, that Crellius, a Socinian, and a defcendant from the more cele

brated Crellius,

who used, when he came over

hither, to visit the Archbishop, and to converfe with him, juftified him on this head; and declared that "Tillotson had often difputed with him, in a friendly way, upon the fubject of the Trinity; and that he was the best reafoner, and had the most to say for himself, of any adverfary he had ever encountered."

But then, Tillotfon had made fome conceffions concerning the Socinians, which never were, and never will be forgiven him; and hath broken an ancient and fundamental rule of theological controverfy;"Allow not an adverfary to have either common fenfe, or common honesty."

Here is the obnoxious paffage :

"And yet, to do right to the writers on that "fide, I muft own, that generally they are a pattern of the fair way of difputing, and of debat

ing matters of religion without heat and unfeemly reflections upon their adverfaries. "They generally argue matters with that temper " and gravity, and with that freedom from paf"fion and tranfport, which becomes a ferious and "weighty argument; and, for the most part, "they reafon clofely, and clearly, with extraor"dinary guard and caution; with great dexterity "and decency, and yet with fmartness and fub"tilty enough; with a very gentle heat, and few "hard words: virtues, to be praised, wherever "they are found; yea even in an enemy, and very worthy our imitation. In a word, they

are the strongest managers of a weak caufe, and "which is ill founded at the bottom, that perhaps "ever yet meddled with controverfy; infomuch, "that fome of the Proteftants, and the generality "of the Popish writers, and even of the Jefuits "themselves, who pretend to all the reafon and "fubtilty in the world, are in comparison of them "but mere fcolds and bunglers. Upon the whole "matter, they have but this one great defect, "that they want a good caufe, and truth on their "fide; which if they had, they have reason, and "wit, and temper enough to defend it.”

The thought, which is contained in the last fentence, resembles that of Quintilian, who fays of Seneca: "Multa probanda in co, multa etiam admiranda funt: eligere modo curæ fit, quod

7

utinam

utinam ipfe feciffet! Digna enim fuit illa natura,quæ meliora vellet, quæ quod voluit effecit." And again, "Velles eum fuo ingenio dixiffe, alieno judicio."

Now, by way of contraft, behold the character of the fame perfons, from the masterly and impartial hand of SOUTH:

"The Socinians are impious blafphemers, whofe "infamous pedigree runs back [from wretch to "wretch] in a direct line to the devil himself; and "who are fitter to be crushed by the civil magiftrate,, "as destructive to government and fociety, than to "be confuted as merely heretics in religion."

Such is the true agonistic ftyle and intolerant Spirit; fuch the courage of a champion, who challenges his adverfary, and then calls upon the conftable to come and help him.

An tibi Mavors

Ventofd in lingua, pedibufque fugacibus iftis
Semper erit ?

VOL. II. SERMON XVI.

"Jofephus flattered Vefpafian fo far, as to make him believe, that he was the man [the Meffias]; and thereupon perfuaded him to destroy the line of David, out of which the tradition was, that the Meffias fhould fpring, &c." ~

Jofephus did not give this wicked advice. Our Prelate perhaps had in his thoughts what Eufebius* relates of Domitian, that he ordered all the

family of David to be destroyed; and that fome

of our Lord's kinfmen were feized, and brought before him, and upon examination difmiffed, as poor and inconfiderable, perfons. Afterwards, in the time of Trajan, fome heretics laid an information against Symeon, the fon of Cleopas, as being of the family of David, and alfo a Chriftian: and, for this, Symeon was put to death, when he was an hundred and twenty years old. But thefe very accufers of the Martyr were alfo convicted of belonging to the royal tribe, diligent fearch being made at that time for fuch perfons."

Eufebius had these accounts from Hegefippus,, and Hegefippus is far enough from infallibility. So the Stories reft upon his authority, fuch as it is. Eufeb. Evang. Hift. III. 19, 20, 32.

IBID. SERMON LXX.

We must be serious in our inftructions: "to which nothing can be more contrary, than "to trifle with the word of God; and to speak of "the weightieft matters in the world, the great "and everlasting concernments of the fouls of men, in fo flight and indecent a manner, as is "not only beneath the gravity of the pulpit, but even of a well-regulated stage. Can any thing "be more unfuitable, than to hear a Minifter of "God, from this folemn place, to break Jefts "upon Sin, and to quibble with the vices of the

age? This is to shoot without a bullet; as if we "had no mind to do execution, but only to make "men fmile at the mention of their faults: This

"is

❝is so nauseous a folly, and of fo pernicious confequence to religion, that hardly any thing too "fevere can be faid of it."

This was undoubtedly defigned as a cenfure upon South, for faying, "that there is no fluxing a foul out of its immortality," and a hundred things of the fame kind.

"The Being of God is fo comfortable, so con"venient, so neceffary to the felicity of mankind, "that (as Tully admirably fays) Dii immortales "ad ufum hominum fabricati pene videantur: If God "were not a neceffary being of himself, he might "almoft feem to be made on purpose for the use and benefit of men."

A learned perfon,-who fhall not be namedobferved, that Tillotson, taking the verb fabricati in a paffive fenfe, grofsly misunderstood Cicero;. whose words are thefe: "Sunt autem alii philofophi, et hi quidem magni atque nobiles, qui Deorum mente atque ratione omnem mundum adminiftrari atque regi cenfeant: neque verò id folum, fed etiam ab iifdem vitæ hominum confuli et provideri: Nam, et fruges, et reliqua quæ terra pariat, et tempeftates, ac temporum varietates, cælique mutationes, quibus omnia quæ terra gignat, maturata pubefcánt, a Dîs immortalibus tribui humano generi putant; multaque, quæ talia funt, ut ea ipfa Di immortales ad ufum hominum fabriçati pene videantur." De Nat. Deor. L. I. 2.