ANIMADVERSIONS UPON A late Discourse Concerning THE Divinity, and Death of CHRIST.  By EDMUND ELYS, sometime Fellow of Balliol College in OXFORD. ECCLES. Chap. IX. Ver. 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, Do it with thy Might: for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the Grave, whither thou goest. 
IF the Author of this Discourse did really design to Maintain the Profession of the CATHOLIC FAITH, how is it Possible that He should not speak one good Word of the Creed of St. ATHANASIUS, of the NICENE Creed? How is it Possible He should so Contemn the Ancient Fathers, if His Sentiments, touching the Faith, were the same with Theirs? I Appeal to any Man, that has the Fear of God before his Eyes, to Judge whether He do not plainly Deny the Eternity of the PERSON of Jesus Christ, in that He says, That from the Humane and Divine Nature United there did Result the Person of the Messius, who was both GOD, and Man. Certainly That which Results from the Union of the Humane Nature with the Divine is not Eternal, or From Everlasting. We can Frame, says He, no distinct Idea of that Infinite Essence, and it were not Infinite if we could. Answ. But we may REFLECT upon that IDEA, which God Himself, the ONE BEING Absolutely Infinite, has Impressed upon all Rational Souls. To know God is to have a Distinct Idea of Him. He that Pretends to Frame to himself any Idea of God, Knows not God: For God is LIGHT, and we can have no Perceivance of Him, but by the Influence, or Impression we receive from Him. He says that One Opinion concerning Christ is, That Christ was a Divine Person, miraculously Conceived, etc. Tho' he had no Existence before he was Form in the Virgins Womb. Here I desire that the Christian Reader would Observe the Subtlety of some Deceivers, who, by calling Our SAVIOUR a Divine Person, would Avoid the Abhorrence and Detestation they Deserve, because they will not Acknowledge that He has a Nature Truly Divine, or Eternal. He tells us That some Philosophers thought that Souls were propagated from Souls; and the Figure by which this was explained, being that of one Candle's being lighted at another; this seems to have given the Rise to those words, Light of Light. It is certain many of the Fathers fell often into this Conceit, and in this way of explaining this Matter, they have said many things, which intimate that they believed an Inequality between the Persons, and a Subordination of the Second and Third to the First: So that by the same Substance, or Essence, they do in many places express themselves, as if they only meant the same Being in a general Sense, as all Humane Souls are of the same Substance; that is, the same Order, or sort of Being's; and they seemed to entitle them to different Operations; not only in an Oeconomical way, but thought that one did that, which the other did not. Here He plainly endeavours to Persuade us to believe that Many of the Fathers were no True Christians, but had a Conceit that there were Three Gods: For most certainly if they thought that The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost, are of the same Substance, no otherwise than As all Humane Souls are of the same Substance, and that they have different Operations, not only in an Oeconomical way, but so that one Does what the other Does not, they Thought (in Effect) that there are Three Gods. If He would name any One of those, who have Published such Monstrous Conceptions, we should give him a Punctual Answer. In the mean time we must Aver to all the World, that not one of the Holy Fathers, of the Four First General Councils, were subject to any such Delirium: And Every one of those, that Deserve the Name of Fathers, shall Rise up in Judgement against Him, for laying so foul an Imputation upon MANY Fathers, not Nameing One of them; so that he might Insinuate a Contempt of them All into the Minds of Unwary Readers. Others, says He, took another way of explaining this, making it their Foundation, that the Deity was one Numerical Being. Answ. The Ancient Fathers did not say that the Deity was One Numerical Being: what they said manifestly imports that the Deity is BEING Simply and Absolutely, viz. BEING Absolutely Infinite, so that it implies the most palpable Contradiction that the True, and Eternal. GOD should not be Absolutely ONE. I Desire that the Learned Reader would be ever Mindful of these▪ Words of Saint BASIL, in his 141 Epistle: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, He tells us that Many have thought that the Term SON did not at all belong to the Blessed Three. If He would Name One of these Many, and show us where we may find this Execrable Heresy in Writing, we should undertake, by the Help of GOD, to Manifest the Madness, and Folly of it. He Slights this Position of the Schoolmen, That GOD being Infinite, every Offence against Him has an Infinite Gild, and must be expiated either by Acts of Infinite Value, or of Infinite Duration; and that a Person of an Infinite Nature was only capable of Acts of an Infinite Value; that such a One was necessary for Expiating Sin. But in all this Gradation, there is one Defect, That the Scripture sets none of these Speculations before us.  
Answ. There's nothing more Evident in the Holy Scriptures than this, That those that are SAVED are REDEEMED with the Precious Blood of CHRIST: And is not that Blood of Infinite Value? Is not the Wrath of GOD against All Sin Infinite? Is not Infinite Wrath against All Sin as Fully Demonstrated in an Infinite Holy PERSON, Suffering For All the Sins of the Whole World in the Nature of Man, which He Assumed that He might be Capable of Suffering, As that Wrath could ever have been Shown, or Demonstrated to Men, and Angels in the Everlasting Destruction of All Sinners? As for those Scoptical Words, those Subtle weighing of Infinities one against another, I shall make no other Reflection on them, but only to declare that I Hope the Learned, and Pious Reader will join with Me in a just Abhorrence and Detestation of them. He uses this very Dangerous Expression: The offering this to us on such easy terms, and the exacting only a Sincere Obedience as the Condition of it, without insisting on an Entire Obedience, is another part of the Grace of it. Answ. SINCERE Obedience is ENTIRE Obedience, or the having Respect to All the Commandments of GOD. He Acknowledges that GOD would Pardon Sin in such a manner, as should show how much He Hated it, at the same time that He showed such Love, and Compassion to Sinners. But, say We, He had not Shown how much He Hated Sin, and how much He Loved Sinners, if He had not Shown this Hatred, and this Love to be Both INFINITE, which He showed with all Possible Evidence in the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ, a PERSON Infinite in All Excellency, and Perfection. Every Sin, says He, gives a wound, and requires Repentance to wash, and heal it, but every Sin does not shut us out from a right to the Blessings of the Covenant. Answ. Every Known Sin does not render us Uncapable of Repentance; but Every Known Sin Exposes us to the Wrath of God, and the Sinner has no Grounds to hope for Pardon, unless he sincerely Repent, steadfastly Purposing, by the Help of GOD, to lay down his Life, rather than be Guilty of any Known Sin by Commission or Omission. I pray GOD to Affect the Heart of this Man, and of Every other Learned Person, throughout the whole Christian World, with a due Regard to the Writings of the Ancient Fathers. Their Following of those Excellent Holy Men both in Life, and Doctrine, as they were Followers of Christ, and his Apostles, would most certainly Reduce this, and all other Nations, Professing Christianity, to a True State of Christian Peace, and Tranquillity.  
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