Valentinus Gentilis – The Tritheist Put to Death In Bern, Chapter 20 – To the reader
CHAP. XX.
Of the Cheats and Impostures, whereby he endeavour'd to impose upon good (well-meaning) People.
INOW come to the last Chapter (or last Head of his Accusation) wherein I shall make it appear, by what sly Artifices Gentilis endeavour'd to impose upon [or cheat] every one he had to do with. For, indeed, he has shewn himself to be exactly such an one as the Poet has Comically describ'd Mercury, foreign; one that had got an excellent knack of changing his Name.
First then, he prefix'd to the Confession he Publish'd, a forg'd Preface, under the Name of Theophilus the Printer to the Sons of the Church. This he compos'd himself, and wrote it with his own hand, wherein he extravagantly commends to the Reader the vast treasure contain'd in that little Book; a Book, says he, so Excellent, that it were to be wish'd all Churches might have the happiness to enjoy the use of it And, the better to set off his unmerchantable Ware, he makes as if the Printer were vastly desirous of having the rest of Gentilis his Writings made publick; and despises the bulky Volumes, and vast, tedious, Paradoxical Books of other Authors, if compar'd with Gentilis his Works.
But this (methinks) is a Trick no Ingenuous or Honest Man would have been guilty of in a matter of such moment. Christ, the Prophets, and Apostles, never made use of these little Artifices to recommend their Writings to Posterity. It was wisely said of King Solomon, Let another praise thee, and not thine own mouth. And we have a Proverbamong our selves, which says, That they must needs have bad Neighbours, who are forc'd to commend themselves. But the truth is, he was afraid, that had he not under a feign'd Name commended it himself, the Book would certainly have met with no body else that would have been so kind, as to give it a good Character.
Secondly, He was asraid to discover the place where it was printed. For thô the Book had been published at Lyons, yet he craftily pretends it was done at Antwerp. But these were but civil Lies he made use of the better to disperse his pernicious Principles.
Thirdly, He begins his Confession with the same probity; It was by your Command, Honoured Sir, &c. For the better understanding of which Cheat, I desire all good Men to take notice, that the truth of the whole business is this:
Gentilis being under custody, was commanded in that quality to exhibit a Confession of his Faith to the Governour of Gaium, which he design'd should be examin'd by the Clergy of that Province: But in the mean time, Gentilis, whose Character was not yet fully known, nor his Confession examin'd, was, by the intercession of some Friends, dismiss'd out of Prison upon his good Behaviour, the Governour all the while, not in the least suspecting he had kept a Copy of his Confession to himself.
But as soon as he was dismiss'd, he immediately dispers'd his Confession, as if he had been commanded by the Governour so to do. The Governour did, indeed, command him, as being a suspected Heretick, to exhibit a Confession, but never gave him Orders to publish such a Blasphemous Libel under the protection of his Name. All that Gentilis could ever say in defence of this notorious Forgery, was only this; That as the Governour never did command him, so neither did he ever forbid him to publish it. But what reason, I pray you, had he to prohibit him, when as he never suspected, that he would have had the Impudence to publish it.
But Fourthly, We have already told you, and that from his own Mouth, how he publish'd such Confessions of the Trinity, both at Grenoble and Lyons, as were admitted for Orthodox by the *Viz. Such as Genebrard a Sorbon Doctor, who, to his Eternal Infamy, both defended Gentilis, and asserted Three distinct Eternal Spirits in the Trinity. See his Answer to Skegkius de Trinitate, fol. 53. p. 2.Papists themselves. And yet he has the Impudence to accuse us for joyning with them in the defence of a Quaternity, and for submitting to the grievous Errors of the Greek and Latin Fathers in this Doctrine. Certainly there cannot be a more malicious and deceitful representation of this Doctrine, than this wicked Man has given out. So that I may more truly call his false Accusations Impostures, Sophistry, Magick, and much worse Names.
Fifthly, At his return out of Poland, he presented to the Governour of Gaium a Draught or Form, for having a Publick Disputation, which I shall here present the Reader with, as it is transcrib'd verbatim from his own Original; that so all honest Men may see, what sort of Spirit it was that govern'd him through the whole Transaction. The Instrument, which he caus'd to be Publish'd under the Governor's Name, ran in the following form.
To all and singular the Pastors, Teachers, Deacons and Elders, of the Reform'd and Evangelick Churches, dispers'd through Savoy and France, to whom these Letters shall come, or to whom they shall be read, Health and Peace in the Lord.
FOrasmuch as We have read and consider'd the above-written Propositions, that are opposite to each other; and having heard the Iust and Reasonable Petition of Valentinus Gentilis an Italian, humbly requesting, That this weighty Controversie might be decided barely from the Word of God; The Illustrious Governor of Gaium has, upon these considerations, thought fit to transmit Copies of the Doctrine asserted by both Parties, into several places of France, and Savoy, more particularly to Lyons and Geneva, to the intent, that if there be any of Mr. Calvin's Disciples, who will take upon him to defend the assertions of his Master, he may come to Gaium within the space of one Week, there to dispute with Gentilis, upon this condition, That whosoever shall not be able to demonstrate the Propositions, he undertook to maintain, to be true, out of the plain Word of God, shall be look'd upon as a notorious Impostor, and Assertor of a false Religion, and shall *So that Gentilis suffered just according to his own. Conditions.suffer Death for the same. But if there be none that shall appear within the time here prescribed, the Illustrious Governor, with the whole Senate of Gaium, are resolv'd, as is most fitting, publickly to declare, That the abovenam a Gentilis is truly Orthodox in his Opinions concerning the most High God, and his Son Iesus Christ, &c.
I desire all good Men to observe, what an advantagious way of Disputing (for himself I mean) our Adversary has here prescribed. For Gentilis's Propositions are first presumed to be pious and sound; then there is only eight days time allow'd for the Disputants to come together; whereas 'twas almost impossible for the Challenge to be sent to them in so short a time. But that is particularly to be taken notice of, that no body was to Dispute but under Penalty of losing his Life, if conquer'd. Is not this, I pray you, an evident sign of a Seducing and Diabolical Spirit? And when he was charg'd with this base contrivance, his Answer was, That he did it only that he might have the fewer Opposers. But this bloody Spirit sufficiently betrays it self, that would involve Religion in Murder and false Opinions; but that (thanks be to the good Providence of God) the ruin he design'd against others, fell upon his own Pate.
And last of all, when he was to have taken his Tryal, and to have desended his Doctrine, he did, by a remarkable piece of Knavery, endeavour to obtain the Privilege of a Plaintif, and to be heard as such, thereby to avoid being Try'd as a Criminal; and when that could not be granted him, he propos'd his Doctrine so ambiguously, and rais'd scruples about matters, altogether impertinent to the Controversie, as Whether there was one most high God; and whether Christ was the Son of God, and the like; which no body did ever deny. But he was still oppos'd in this, That Christ was to be excluded from the Unity of the Eternal God; and that Three Eternal Spirits, distinguish'd ☜by Numerical Essence, ought to be allow'd.
And now let all good Men judge, what we ought to think of this Blasphemy; and how justly he was punish'd with Death, who durst challenge others to Dispute with him for their Lives.
But it is now high time to rid my hands of this business. In short then, after that we had us'd all manner of means with him, even from the 5th of August to the 9th of September, (but all to no purpose, he still persevering obstinate in his Opinions) he was at last condemn'd to Dye by the Honorable Senate. And because it may be acceptable to the Reader, I shall here rehearse the Sentence of Condemnation, which was pronounced against him in the following Words.
Whereas Valentinus Gentilis, a Native of Cosentia, in the Kingdom of Naples, after The Sentence of Condemnation passed upon Gentilis.eight years preparation to attack the Doctrine of the Trinity, did begin openly to teach, That there were in the Trinity three distinct Spirits, differing from each other in * Viz. Three distinct Eternal Spirits; For so it is in the 6th Proposition, set down in the 5th Chapter and in the 6th also, where he says the Father, Son, and H. Gh. Tres sunt aeterni Spiritus qui unus esse non possunt.Numerical Essence: Amongst which (three Spirits) he acknowledges the Father only to be that infinite God, which we ought to Worship, which is plain Blasphemy against the Son; and, besides this Opinion, has broach'd several other dangerous Errors, for which he was Apprehended by the Magistrates of Geneva, and being fully Convicted of them, there made his Recantation, and did publickly confess, detest, and *Valentinus Gentilis a great Abjurer.abjure, these his wicked Opinions; and moreover, bound himself by Oath not to depart out of that City without leave of the Senate, yet notwithstanding all this, violated the Sacred obligations of his Oath, by stealing away from thence, and by relapsing into the Erroneous Opinions he had once Abjur'd, and re-assuming their Defence with greater heat and earnestness, both by Disputing and Writing Books in opposition to the plain and express Testimonies of Scripture; and hath been guilty of the vilest Scurrility, and most horrid Blasphemies, against the Son of God, and the Glorious Mystery of the Trinity. And lastly, since his being made Prisoner to this Honorable Senate, hath, notwithstanding that full and sufficient Instruction which hath been given him, still continued obstinate in his perverse and Heretical Opinions: This Honourable Senate, to prevent disturbances, and to root out such pestilent Errors, have adjudg'd him *This Genebrard very learnedly calls Crematus est, fol. 54. And Ultricibus flammis Traditus, fol. 52.to be Beheaded.
As he was led out to Execution, the obstinate Wretch did not cease to Glory in his unruly and pertinacious Stubbornness, and expecting praise from it (as the Devil's Martyrs use to do) never lest off crying out, That he died a Martyr for the Glory of the most high God; but that we * were all Sabellians, and held one God under three Dr. Sherlock's Language all along.Names; but that he did acknowledge no God foreign. And thô we frequently answer'd him, That the things he laid to our Charge were all *Our Answer to him is and ought to be the same; tho' (God be thank'd) the Tongue of a Tritheist, be it never so false, is no slander.false and slanderous; that all the noise he made about this most high God was only mere Sophistry, and that his asserting more Gods than One was downright Impiety, yet we could work nothing upon him. For he still continued to repeat his old Blasphemies, until he saw there was no help for him, but that he must be forc'd to lay down his Neck to the Block; then he began to faulter, and said, He should be very willing to agree with us, if so be we would but own Christ to be the Son of God; when we told him, This was what we never deny'd (for what otherwise would have become of our Faith?) Then again did he discover his falshood and treachery, as having still been us'd to appropriate the appellation of God to the Person of the Father only; and in this horrid Blasphemy he still persever'd, the whole Assembly (that stood by) praying to God that he would change his mind, and we continually exhorting him to repentance, he had *How much better does it fare with Tritheism in England? Which, tho' it lost its Head at Bern, lifts up its Head (as high as Pauls) here.his life taken from him by the just Judgment of God; and so his Life and his Blasphemies ended together.
And thus I have given thee (Good Reader) a brief and faithful Account of this shatter'd History. And must now beg thee to joyn with us in our Prayers to God, that he would, in his Mercy, turn away such scandalous Offences from his Church; that he would give his People vigilant and able Ministers, who may sincerely love sound Doctrine, successfully rebuke Gainsayers, and know how to divide the Word of Truth rightly, to the Glory of his Name, and the good of his Church, through Jesus Christ his Only and Coeternal Son.
Amen.
THE Reader, by comparing the preceding History with what here follows, will perceive that the principal Proposition of Valentinus Gentilis, is in Sence perfectly the same with those Condemned by the late Oxon Censure; as also asserted by Dr. Sherlock.
At a Meeting of the Vice-Chancellor and the Heads of Colleges and Halls of the University of Oxford, on the 25th Day of November, in the Year of Our Lord 1695.
WHEREAS in a Sermon lately preached before the University of Oxford, in the Church of St. Peter in the East, on the Feast of S. Simon and Iude last past, these Words, amongst others, were deliver'd and asserted, viz. [There are Three Infinite distinct Minds and Substances in the Trinity.] Item [That the Three Persons in the Trinity are Three distinct Infinite Minds or Spirits, and Three Individual Substances.] Which gave just cause of Offence and Scandal to many Persons:
The Vice-Chancellor and Heads of Colleges and Halls, at their general Meeting this Day assembled, do judge and declare the said Words to be False, Impious, and Heretical; Contrary to the Doctrine of the Catholick Church, and particularly to the received Doctrine of the Church of England:
And do therefore strictly forbid all manner of Persons, under their Care and Charge, to Preach or Publish any such Doctrine for the future.
By Order of Mr. Vice-Chancellor.
Ben. Cooper Notarie publick and Register of the University of Oxon.
This Sentence, it is confessed, may, and, not improbably, will be confirmed, and sarther enforced, by the more Authentick Sentence of the whole University in Convocation: In the mean time, it has certainly had this good effect, That it has Unkennelled the Wolf, who quickly shew himself after it. So that being hereby bereaved of all his Shifts, Meanings, and Subterfuges, and Sheeps Cloathing besides, the University has him now in full Chase, and, 'tis hoped, will not give the Chase over, till it has run him down.
Some of the grosser Errata of the Press are thus to be Corrected.
s for f frequently.
PAg. 1. l. 5. for produee r. produce. p. 8. l. 19. for I am r. I AM. p. 18. in the Margent, for foreign r. foreign-men, l. 26. for Pennancae r. penance, p. 44. l. 6. for foreign r. foreign. p. 48. l. 1. for foreign A r. foreign A. p. 54. l. 22. for personies subsistenies r. persones subsistentes, p. 70. l. 29. for foreign r. foreign, p. 85. l. 13, r. foreign with one Accent, p. 90. l. 10. for foreign r. foreign, p. 91. l. 22. for foreign r. foreign, p. 94. l. 5. for foreign r. foreign, l. 11. for the foreign r. and then the foreign, p. 97. l. 8. for foreign r. foreign.
End of the text · Benedictus Aretius, Valentinus Gentilis – The Tritheist Put to Death In Bern (1696)