An answer to Dr. Sherlock's examination of the Oxford decree in a letter from a member of that university to his friend in London. Wallis, John, 1616-1703. 1696 Approx. 21 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 10 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-08 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A67368 Wing W557 ESTC R24595 08251914 ocm 08251914 41203 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A67368) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 41203) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1243:17) An answer to Dr. Sherlock's examination of the Oxford decree in a letter from a member of that university to his friend in London. Wallis, John, 1616-1703. The second edition, corrected and inlarged. 16 p. s.n.], [S.l. : 1696. Reproduction of original in the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign Campus). Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707. -- Modest examination of the authority and reasons of the late decree of the vice-chancellor of Oxford. Trinity -- Early works to 1800. 2004-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2004-04 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-05 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2004-05 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion AN ANSWER TO Dr. SHERLOCK's EXAMINATION OF THE Oxford Decree : IN A Letter from a Member of that University , to his Friend in London . The Second Edition , Corrected and Inlarged . Printed Anno Dom. 1696. AN ANSWER TO Dr. SHERLOCK's Examination , &c. Ian. 3. 1695 / 6. SIR , AS to what you ask , concerning Dr. Sherlock's Modest Examination of the Oxford Decree ( as he calls it : ) I have seen it ; and find He is very Angry , and under great Mistakes . He is set forth in the Frontispice , with his Titles at large , WILLIAM SHERLOCK , D. D. Dean of St. Paul 's , Master of the Temple , and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty : And thinks much , that what he says ( though without naming him ) should be Censured , considering his Profession , Character , and Station in the Church , p. 2. The Title he gives it , ( and at which he quarels ) Decretum Oxoniense , or the Oxford Decree , is ( for ought I know ) a Title of his own . Sure , 't is none of theirs who made it : who are therefore therein not concerned , whether it be , or be not , Decretum Oxoniense . Nor was he Named in it ; but onely a Sermon censured , which was Preached at Oxford by another Person . If Dr. Sherlock be of the same mind with that other Person ; that is not our fault . 'T was Printed ( he says ) in Latin in these words , &c. True ; but not with that spelling . For instance , Prefectorum was not printed ( once and again ) with a single e , instead of Praefectorum with an ae . And it was hoped , so great a Critick as he would be thought ( pag. 5. ) might have been able to spell true , when he had a printed Copy before him . He then fansies ( or would be thought to think ) that some Malicious Animadverter ( p. 1. 5. ) had Translated this Latin into English , for the Benefit and Edification of his English Readers . But that is one of his great Mistakes . 'T was printed at Oxford , both in Latin and English , the same Day ; and by the same Authority ; ( and 't is believ'd , Dr. Sherlock knows it was ; ) And the English ( as there printed ) is as much an Original as the Latin ; ( how it is Re-printed at London , I know not . ) And , I doubt , the Animadverter ( if he had done it ) would rather have said , It was for the Benefit and Edification of Dr. Sherlock , for fear he should not have understood Latin. For it is at this rate , they use to talk to one another . If the Hawkers at London , have caused it to be Re-printed , with a new Title , and Notes upon it , ( to make it fell the better , ) and put it into the Weekly Advertisements , for that purpose ; who can help it ? But the Critick finds fault with the Latin , as transgressing the plain Rules of Grammar , in using Eorum fidei & curae commissis , for suae . Of that , let the Criticks judge . If committed to their care , had been meant of them Iointly , I think the word suae might have been used ; but when to be understood of them Respectively , I think eorum doth better . Suae curae commissi , is , in plain English , committed to their own care : But it is here to be understood , of the care of others ; and , who those others were , eorum was to signify . And I would fain know , by what plain Rule of Dr. Sherlock 's Grammar ( if he have a Grammar ) Eorum may not be so used . But I would not advise Dr. Sherlock to venture too much at Criticism . I doubt his Talent doth not lie that way . In what cases we must use suae , and in what eorum , and in what we may indifferently use either ; better Criticks , than Dr. Sherlock and I , will not take upon them to determine . The pretended false English in that Remark ( whose ever it be ) It may be Noted , that the Propositions above-mentioned are Dr. Sherlock 's in his Discourse of the Trinity ; and the Defender's of it ( of that Discourse ; ) and wrote against by the Animadverter ; I am yet to seek . I think it is true English. When Dr. Sherlock tells us , where the bad English lies , let the Noter Answer it . The Vice-Chancellor and Heads of Houses are not therein concerned . Mean while , I think his two Criticisms , to be two Mistakes . He tells us , The Decree of the Oxford Convocation , is indeed Decretum Oxoniense , or a Decree of the University of Oxford , ( Be it so ; ) but , not that of the Heads of Colleges and Halls . Very true ; Nor do they say it is . But , if that would do him a Kindness , a Vote of Convocation might have been had as easily . For , as I do not hear , that any one dissented , in the Meeting of Heads ; so I believe there would have been as few in Convocation , if it had been proposed there . Some perhaps would rather have had it passed , not there only , but in Convocation also ; but , if so , it was to pass there first , before it came to Convocation . But he says , p. 6. The Statutes refer such Censures , not to the Meeting of Heads , but to the Vice-Chancellor , and six Heads , Doctors of Divinity , and to one or both of the Professors of Divinity . The word Heads in this last Clause , is another of his Mistakes . For it is not requisite , that the six Doctors of Divinity should all be Heads of Houses ; the Vice-Chancellor may as well advise with other Doctors . But be it so ; there were at least six Heads of Houses , Doctors of Divinity , and one or both of the two Professors of Divinity . But is it there said , He may not advise with more than six ? If instead of calling six Heads , he call them All , is there any hurt in this ? Especially when they are all Unanimous ? But , he says , p. 3. they were not all present . ( Very good ! Before we had too many , now we have too few . ) But all were warned ; and if some chanced to be out of Town , it is but what would have been in a Convocation . Some of the Wisest Heads ( he says ) were Absent , and some present Dissented . That some were absent , is very like : But , that any present did Dissent , I have not heard ; or , that any then absent did dislike the Sentence when they heard it . But , if the Meeting of the Heads of Houses be so Venerable an Authority ; he will ( he says ) undertake , any day in the Year , to procure a Meeting of twice as many , as Wise and Learned Men , to censure their Decree . ( Very modestly spoken ! ) No doubt but he and his are Wise and Learned Men ; at least , he thinks so . But what are those Wise and Learned Men to do ? To censure their Decree . Very good ! Perhaps they would ( some of them , not many , ) advise to put suae instead of eorum . But would those Wise and Learned Men say ( as he doth ) That the three Persons in the Trinity , are three distinct Infinite Minds and Spirits , and three Individual Substances ? I doubt , he would not find it so easy ( every day in the Year ) to procure a Meeting of Twice so many Wise and Learned Men , to say This. I do not find , that his New Doctrine doth make so many Proselites . But , supposing their Authority , he asks , How far their Authority extends ? I say , if it extend so far as to censure our own Members ; 't is enough for our turn at present . Dr. Sherlock , if he please , may keep out of their reach . And the words of the Statute be large enough , Haereticos , Schismaticos , & quoscunque alios minus recte de fide Catholica , & Doctrina vel Disciplina Ecclesiae Anglicanae sentientes . — Utque tam Conciones quam Libri , quibus male-sanae opiniones propagantur , cohibeantur . And this referred ( with Dr. Sherlock 's good leave ) Vice-Cancellarii judicio , assidentibus ipsi Praefectis in ordinario ipsorum Conventu ; ( in the Chapter De Authoritate & Officio Vice-Cancellarii . ) And , as to Sermons in particular , ( in the Chapter De Offensionis & Dissensionis materia in Concionibus evitanda , ) Siquis pro Concione aliqua , intra Universitatem ejusve praecinctum habita , quicquam Doctrinae vel Disciplinae Ecclesiae Anglicanae publice receptae dissonum aut contrarium — protulerit ; sive protulisse ab ipso Vice-Cancellario suspectus , vel ab alio aliquo , rationabilem suspicionis causam afferente , delatus fuerit ; the Vice-Chancellor or his Deputy is to proceed as is there directed , Adhibito consilio sex aliorum S. Theol. Doctorum , quorum unus sit S. Theologiae Professor Regius , si concioni interfuerit . But , because Dr. Sherlock ( tho' he pretend to cite them ) doth ( p. 5. ) confess he doth not know our Statutes ; I shall admit this excuse of Ignorance for his Mistakes ; Provided , he will forbear thus to talk of he knows not what . Now , as to what the Vice-Chancellor is thus to censure ; it may be presum'd , that he ( with the Advice afore-said ) is ( in some measure ) to make some Judgement of it , in order to such Censure . How far ( out of the present case ) they may declare and decree Heresy , I shall not take upon me to determine . A Judge , in his Ordinary Proceedings , tho' I think he is not to declare New Treasons ( besides those enumerated in the Statute of Treasons ; ) yet , when a Case is to be tried before him , I suppose , he may declare , Whether he think the fact in question , to be Treason within that Statute . But , of this , let those judge , whose business it is to understand the Law. I confess also , that I do not take our Statutes , to be the Law of the Land , ( for the whole Nation ; ) But they be our Rule ( by which we are to proceed as to our own Members : ) Ratified to us by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury , under his Archiepiscopal Seal ; and by the King's Majesty , under the great Seal of England . The Statute of 1. Eliz. is , I suppose , to be understood of such Legal Conviction or Definitive Sentence ( in order to Burning ) as upon which ( as the Law then stood ) the Writ De Haeretico comburendo , was of course to issue . Which is not the present Case . That the Paper of Complaint was signed but by Two ; I believe is true . But One had been enough . And the Vice-Chancellor was satisfied , there needed no more . And therefore did forbid the gathering of more Hands : Because he meant to proceed Calmly , not Tumultuously . ( And , in so doing , I think he did wisely . ) And it had been dispatched sooner ; but that the Business of Entertaining the KING , did retard it till that Solemnity was over . But a main business of these Angry Papers , is , a Quarel between Dr. Sherlock , and , his Malicious Animadverter , Dr. South . The Vice-Chancellor and Heads of Houses had said nothing of Dr. Sherlock ; But had onely censured an offensive Sermon , which they could not approve of ; but might be supposed to do , if ( when Preached to their Faces ) they shewed no dislike of it . But Dr. Sherlock ( whose Doctrine was the same ) brings himself into the Quarel by a side-wind . He first supposeth , That the Complaint was commenced by Dr. South . Which is a mistake ; for the Sermon was complain'd of , the same day it was Preached , or that following , before Dr. South knew any thing of it ; being at that time far enough from Oxford . Then , That the Person who Preached it , was never summoned or questioned for it , or his Name mentioned at the Meeting . Which is another mistake ; for , upon the first complaint , the person was summoned , and did appear , and did give his Answer in writing , with his Name subscribed ; owned the words ; and said , what he had to say , in excuse thereof : and this his Answer was communicated to the Heads of Houses . Next , That their Censure was in Latin only ; whereas it was Originally in English also . Then , That it was Translated by his Malicious Animadverter : when as there was no such matter . That He caused it to be Re-printed at London ; That , there , He gave it a notable Title ; That He made the notable Remarks in the Postscript ; That , when He had Railed himself out of Breath , he called for a Decretum Oxoniense to help him ; which was the wisest thing he could do . That Dr. South sollicited the Cause with such Zeal and Importunity , as could not be resisted ; That He triumphs in it ; That He Published it in one of the weekly Prints ; and much more to the same purpose . Now , if you ask , How he knows all this ? His proof is , It may be supposed , or It is easy to guess , p. 5. Now , much of this we know to be false . And if we should add , It may be supposed , that the rest is so too ; would not this be as good a Proof ? Or , if it should be said , That Dr. Sherlock being Baffled by Dr. South , and having Railed to no purpose , got a Young man to Preach his Doctrine in the face of the University , ( which happened , for his purpose , as if it had been contrived ; ) that in case , as was hoped , the University had taken it patiently ; he might have gloried , That the University of Oxford found no fault with his Doctrine . Which might furnish him with new Topicks of Railing and Triumphing : Would not , It may be supposed , do as well here ? Only we cannot say , It happened Luckily for his purpose ; but rather Unluckily . But be this as it will : Let the Two Doctors agree that Point amongst themselves ; or let the Animadverter and the Defender fight it out . The Decree ( as he calls it ) names neither ; but only Censures a third Person . That this Person was not summoned , is not true . Summoned he was ; and had given in his Answer , in Writing , under his hand ; and upon that Answer the Vice-Chancellor and Heads of Houses did proceed . They did Condemn the Doctrine ; and forbid the Preaching it ; by him or any other . Why they were so kind as to proceed no farther against him ; many reasons may be alleged . He had ( while the business was depending ) quitted the University , and was gone ; And , 't was hoped ( being a Young man ) he would be more wary ; and avoid the like , for the future . And if Dr. Sherlock would , in time , have done the like , I think he had done better : and I believe the best of his Friends think so too . When he had let fall some unwary Expressions , and not justifiable ; he might have retracted them , with as little discredit as he has done some other . And it would be the Wisest thing he could do . What are the thousand Iacobite Stories he talks of ( p. 1. ) I know not : Whether now he be or be not a Jacobite ; Whether he have or have not been ; or , Whether sometime he have and sometime have not ; is nothing to this purpose ? If he will still insist upon it , that If a Person be a Mind , a Spirit , a Substance ; then three Persons must be Three distinct Minds , Spirits , and Substances , p. 18. ( as distinct as Adam and Abel , though not separate , p. 20. ) he knows it will not be allow'd him : Because Mind , Spirit , Substance , are ( in their proper signification ) Absolute ; but Person ( in its proper signification ) is a Relative Term. If Dr. Sherlock were Dean of Paul s , Dean of Windsor , and Dean of Westminster ; should we thence argue , That , since a Dean is a Man , an Animal , a Substance ; therefore , because of three Distinct , Substantial Deaneries , they be ( or he is ) three distinct Men , three distinct Animals , and three distinct Substances ? I think not . Because Man , Animal , Substance , are terms Absolute , but Dean is Relative . And the same Absolute Being , may admit ( without being multiplied ) many Relative Predicates . I should rather say , that Dr. Sherlock would ( in such case ) sustain three Persons , without being three Men , three Animals , or three Substances . Yet this is not Sabellianism ; For , though Dean of Paul's , be a Relative Name ; yet it is not merely an Empty Name ; but doth import a Substantial Dignity , as the Ground of that Relation ; and a Substantial Man as the Subject of That , as well as of his Other Relations . And this hath been told him so often , that we cannot think the Dean so Dull , as not to Apprehend the Distinction ; but so wilful , as that he scorns to own it : But would still have us think , that Mind , Spirit , Person , are terms Equivalent ; ( and therefore jumbles them together as such ; ) which will not be admitted . Or , if they be equivalent ; why cannot he content himself with ( what is generally received ) three Persons , but must impose upon us his New Terms of Three Distinct Minds , Three Distinct Spirits , and Three Distinct Substances ? But Scorn and Flouncing will not carry it off . The Consequence will hold more strongly , thus , If an Infinite Eternal Mind or Spirit be God ; Then Three Distinct Infinite Eternal Minds or Spirits , are Three Gods. ( For , here , the Terms are all Absolute , not Relative . ) And if to maintain ( obstinately ) That there be Three Gods ; ( that is , Three Eternal Infinite Minds or Spirits ; ) be not Heresy , What is ? It seems to me , but a New Trick , to play the Game into the Socinian's hand ; By granting to them ( their darling Notion ) that To affirm , the Father , Son , and Holy-Ghost , to be Three Persons of which each is God ; is the same as to affirm that they are Three Gods. Which we must not allow . If St. Hilary have sometime called them tres substantias ; he may know , that substantia was at that time an ambiguous term , and taken sometimes as the Latin word for Hypostasis , and sometimes for Ousia . For which reason the Latines were , for some time , shy of admitting the term Hypostasis , least it should be thought to imply the same with Substantia , in the same sense with Ousia . And he might have understood from his own Citation , p. 38. that , by Substance , is there meant Subsistence . Tres Substantias esse dixerunt ; Subsistentium Personas , per Substantias , edocentes . That is , ( by his own Translation ) They said there were three Substances ; meaning thereby , three Subsisting Persons . But when as now ( for some Ages ) it is agreed ( for prevention of Ambiguity ) in the one sense , to say Substance , and in the other Subsistence ; it is not now the same to call them three substances ( in contradistinction to three subsistences ) as then it was , while the word was used Ambiguously in both senses . This , I suppose , may satisfy you , ( so far as concerns the Vice-Chancellor and Heads of Houses ; ) if it will not satisfy Dr. Sherlock , let Him and the Animadverter dispute it out . Yours , &c.