Confutation of Errors of Daniel Williams, Title page – Errata
A CONFUTATION OF Some of the ERRORS OF Mr. Daniel Williams. By the Reverend Mr. Uincent Alsop. IN A LETTER To the Reverend Mr. Daniel Burgesse.
LONDON Printed for John Marshal, and Sold at the Bible in Newgate-street, and at the Bible in Grace Church street where is to be had the History of the Union between the Presbyterian and Congregational Ministers in and about London; And the Causes of the breach o… it. 1698.
TO THE READER.
THough, in the ensuing Letter the Reverend Mr. Alsop is brought in Confuting some of those Errors, which are in Mr. Williams's Writings, and have been Countenanced by his Subscription, and the Defence he has written for him; yet it ought not to surprize thee. For, it's Probable, he may plead Prescription, and upon this Foundation lay a claim to the Priviledge of contradicting whatsoever himself saith, or doth. His subscription to the Testimonial before Mr. Williams's Book, Intituled, Gospel Truth Stated, in these words, We Judge, that our Reverend Brother hath for the substance, Rightly Stated the Truth and Errors mentioned as such; then thus to it, that he hath in all that is Material, Rightly and Fully Stated them; And again his Declaration in the presence of Dr. Bates, Mr. How, and others, that he subscribed only to the Right stating of the Truths and Errors, thinking or believing, or not doubting, that there are Errors amongst what he calls Truth; and some Truths Represented by him to be Errors and yet an Error as well as a Truth may be rightly Stated; These contradictions, as well as his Approving and Recommending the First Paper, then subscribing it, and yet with the greatest virulence exposing it; may serve instead of a Demonstration, that how surprizing soever they may be in another, they ought not to be so in him: And that his late seeming Tergiversations, Windings and Turnings are not so much to be heeded, but that still his Judgment is to be measured by what he has in his Anti-Sozzo, and must be so, until he Retracts and Answers it.
To which I will add, that I am of Opinion, the Author of the Letter doth not urge Mr. Alsops Authority, but his Reasons, which are, it must be owned, a Solid Confutation of those Errors, in Mr. Williams's, to which they are opposed. For Mr. Alsops Acting the Part of a Fickle man in forsaking the Faith he once Preached, cannot in the least weaken those Arguments, whose strength lyeth in their Conformity unto, and Agreement with the sacred Text. But notwithstanding the many different shapes he seems to have assum'd, I'll hope the best of him, that he has not Abandoned those Principles so freely own'd and strenuously proved by him, in his Anti-Sozzo, and that therefore the Letter is justly Stiled, A Confutation of some of Mr. Williams's Errors by the Reverend Mr.
VINCENT ALSOP.
THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER.
THE Author being perfectly unknown unto me, I can give no other Character of him than what he has given of himself in this Letter, However, I must do him Justice in desiring thee to Correct one considerable mistake in pag. 8. line 3. and for, [what hath Infatuated an Alsop,] read [what hath Influenced an Alsop.]
To the Reverend Mr. Daniel Burgesse.
SIR,
THE Matters in Difference between Mr. Daniel Williams, and his Opposers, as we gather out of his Books, compared with what hath been Written against him, is not as has been Represented to us, meerly about Words, and Different Modes of Expression; but about Things of the Nearest Concernment to our Salvation: And the Menage of the Contest, on our part, so odd, that unless our Brethren in the City, do Directly, and with Great Plainness, Testify against the Errors found in his Writings, the Scandal, under which we shall all fall, will, with its Consequences, be much greater than the Wisest of us can Foresee; Though, God knows, it is already such, as makes us sink in the Esteem of Men of Good Learning and Sobriety. For, Sir, the Errors he hath vented if they are not the same with, they are so like to the Impious Opinions of Socinus, in several Points, that the more Exact our Examination is, the more apt we are to take 'em for Socinian; or, at least, for what is Adjusted to Prepare the Way for their more Kind Reception and Entertainment. And to speak Impartially, He hath, with an Industry Unparallel, and with all the Art and Cunning, together with an Heretical Freedom of Saying and Vnsaying; of Subscribing and Renouncing, as it is for his Purpose, one while appearing in the Light, and again taking his turns in the Darker Shades; Gained; he has, Isay, gain'd such an Interest amongst our Brethren in Bishops gate-street, as to Conciliate some to his Notions, others to his Person, and all of 'em to Act, as if they were entirely of his Mind: And is it not wonderful to observe, how almost all of you are wheedled into a Silence, and Consequently into a Tacit Approval of what you Abhor, by a Man, that Exceeds not his Brethren, either in Learning, or Vertue, or any thing else that can, without a Blush, be so much as mentioned; and who is no more, nor no longer ours, than his Interest, which made him to be so, doth Influence; For He is as much, and no more a Presbyterian, than the Present Controversy is about Church Discipline, which Representation, he has made of it, is as Remote from Truth, as his Heart was from Vnion with the Congregational Brethren, when he declared, That whilst he Liv'd, he would have nothing to do with them. For, although he has got an Advantage from the Independents absenting themselves from the Monday-Veeting in Bishopsgate-street, which he has Improved to the Persuading Divers of our Number to believe, that they have wickedly Designed, and are Craftily Endeavouring the Subversion of our Church-Government, yet it is as manifest as the Light at Noon, That He is most Incessant in his Labours to Possess us with an Opinion, That He is a Presbyterian, for no other Ends than to take you off from a Severe Examination of his Writings, and from your giving a Just and Necessary Testimony against his Errors; wherein he hath been so successful as to Prevail with most of you to Joyn with him in the Cry, that the Differences amongst you, are only about some Late Invented Terms and Phrases, or Peculiar Modes of Expression, or Methods of Explaining the Truths, in which you are, as to the Substance, Agreed; Or, at most, about Tything the Mint, Anise and Cummin of Religion, so Remote are they from affecting the weightier matters of Faith, whence it's commonly Demanded, To what purpose is there so much Noise and Pother made? What hath Mr. Williams done? Of what Nature are the Errors, with which he is Charged? Why are they not Assigned? They have been Assigned, first by six Independent Ministers in a Paper sent to your Meeting in Bishopsgate-street; Then by Mr Chaunc…y, in his Neonomianism Vnmask'd; Afterwards by Mr Lobb, in a Paper delivered to several of our Brethren, as in the late History of the Union, p. 28. But that you may see what provokes me, I will, without Exaggeration, set down some of his Erroneous Opinions, in his own words; Show their Agreement with the Tenets advanced by the Enemies to Christ's Truths, and how strenuously the Learned and Reverend Father Alsop, has, in his Answer to a Socinianizing Gentleman, I mean in his Anti-Sozzo, confuted Mr. Williams.