TO THE READER.

In the Apology", which I sent out in defence of a work entitled the Harmonia Apostolica, the first-fruits of my theological studies, I said,—being forced to do so by a very grave and unjust calumny of my opponents,-"that I had drawn out certain historico-ecclesiastical propositions concerning the divinity of the Son, in which, as I trusted, I had clearly shewne the agreement of the ancient doctors, who preceded the Nicene council, with the Nicene fathers, as well concerning the consubstantiality of the Son of God as His co-eternity, the tradition having been derived from the very time of the Apostles; but that, owing to ill health, and other cares and business of sundry kinds, it had not yet been in my power to put together my scattered sheets, and bring to a completion my imperfect work." Upon this I was assailed on all sides with entreaties from learned friends, that I would apply both mind and hand, to finish, as speedily as possible, a work which was absolutely needed. For they gave me to understand that the writings of Christopher Ch. Sandiusd were

a

[Apologia pro Harmonia, &c. Lond. 1676.]

i. 8. [p. 317. See Bp. Bull on Justification, Pt. ii. and iii.: Anglo-Cath. Library, p. 238.]

[Bp. Bull here omits the words "against Petavius and others" which occur in the Apologia. The calumny to which he refers was a charge of Socinianizing on the doctrine of justification.]

d Of the treatise of Christopher Christopher Sandius: the first edition had been sent out A.D. 1668, the second-so much enlarged and corrected as, except from its retaining the original title, to be a new work, (ibid.,)— was published A.D. 1676, with the following title, Christoph. Christophori Sandii Nucleus Historiæ Ecclesias

ticæ, exhibitus in Historia Arianorum, tribus libris comprehensa: Quibus præ. tina est Tractatus de Veteribus Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis, secunda editio ab Authore locupletata et emendata. Coloniæ apud Joannem Nicolai, 1676. Prefixed is a Præfatio ad Lectores, by Christophorus Philippi Sandius the father of the writer. The volume contains 432 pages (besides Addenda and Index); of these 49 pages are occupied by the tract de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis: the heading of the pages of the rest is Enucleate Historia Ecclesiasticæ, lib. i., &c., though the title-page, as has been said, bears the name Nucleus H. E. exhibitus, &c. Bp. Bull throughout refers to both these tracts, and to the Nucleus under both titles.]

every where in the hands of our students of theology and others, a writer who openly and unblushingly maintains the blasphemy of Arius as the truly catholic doctrine, and as supported by the voices of all the ancients who preceded the council of Nice. Overcome at last by their reiterated requests, (although I had not even then sufficient leisure, nor was my health strong enough for so arduous a task,) I again read over the works of the primitive fathers; the testimonies out of them, bearing on my subject, which I had collected into my note-books, I again submitted one by one to a fresh and most searching examination; I added several others to them; the passages alleged by Sandius and others in support of the opposite side I weighed with increased care; and lastly, I put in order the whole of this, as it were, rude and confused mass of my observations, disposing and arranging them in the easiest and clearest method that I could; and it is now more than five years since I finished the work, in the state in which it now comes out.

If you ask, why then has the publication been so long delayed? I will tell you plainly. As soon as I had put the finishing hand to my MS., I immediately offered it to three booksellers in succession, for publication, on the fairest terms: they all, however, on different grounds, declined to undertake the care and expense of printing the work; apprehensive, I suppose, that few would be found to buy a book, of which the author was little known, and the subject difficult, and which very few indeed would care to bestow pains in examining. Nor was I myself,-a person of narrow income and with a large family,-able to bear the expense of the press.

In consequence, I brought home again my neglected work, to be laid up on the shelves of my bookcase; content to have had the will at least to do something for the defence of divine truth, and to have complied, so far as lay in my power, with the wishes of my friends.

After I had for some time consoled myself with these reflections, at length, at the suggestion of a friend, I submitted my papers, raised as it were from the grave, to the judgment of a most distinguished man and consummate theologian, Dr. William Jane, the very worthy Regius Pro

fessor of Divinity in Oxford, who, with his usual kindness, did not decline the trouble of reading them through, and when he had read them through, and honoured them with his approval, he further recommended them to the favour and patronage of the great bishop of Oxforde, and easily obtained from his singular kindness and zeal for catholic truth, that this Defence of the Nicene Creed should at last come out from the press at the Sheldonian Theatre, which the bishop had fitted up at his own expense. But as that press was occupied with different works of other writers, there was for a considerable time no opportunity whatever, and afterwards only occasionally, for mine; and hence delay has arisen in bringing this treatise through the press.

If I could have foreseen that it would have been so long before this treatise of mine was published, you should have certainly had it much more carefully finished, more polished, and more rich in matter. But, as I have already said, I completed this work at the request of friends, who were keenly pressing and unceasingly spurring me on, to revise and enlarge the collections which I had by me in defence of the catholic faith, made from the reading of ancient authors, and, having enlarged them, to publish them as speedily as possible, as an immediate antidote to the poisonous writings of Sandius. When, however, I had lost all hope of publishing it through the booksellers, what object was there for further enlarging and improving a work, which was now condemned to the moths and worms? And at last, when an unexpected opportunity was afforded for my papers being printed, and I had placed them in the printer's hands, they were no longer under my controul.

It were, indeed, to be wished, that this most important subject had been treated by some one very much more learned than myself, on whom the providence of God had withal bestowed more uninterrupted leisure, a better furnished library, and all requisites in more abundant measure. Very many such persons our English Church has, and such I pray Almighty God that she may ever continue to have. But no one hitherto, so far as I know, has undertaken to work out this subject with the care it deserves. Do not,

therefore, disdain to use and profit by what I have done, till such time as one appears, who shall have brought out from a more ample store a better and more complete work. You have here all that it was in my power to do, a man of moderate abilities and learning, the possessor of a limited store of books, in poor health, hindered by domestic cares, and, whilst writing this work, tied to the cure of souls in a country parish, and lastly, living far from the society of learned men, an exile, as it were, from the literary world. This one thing, however, I may venture to assure you of, and most solemnly to declare, that in the whole course of this work I have observed the utmost good faith. Not a passage have I adduced from primitive antiquity in support of the decisions of the council of Nice, which, after a careful examination both of the passage itself and its context, I did not seriously think really made for the cause which we are maintaining; not a passage have I garbled, but have put before you all entire. The opinions of the Greek fathers I have cited not only in Latin, but in the Greek also, in order that those who know Greek may be able themselves to form a surer judgment of their genuine meaning. Of those passages which the modern defenders of Arianism have adduced from the ancient doctors in support of it, I have not knowingly and designedly kept back any; nor have I ever attempted any how to salve over the harder sayings of the ancients by cunning artifices; but have endeavoured, by observing the drift and purpose of each author, and by adducing other clearer statements from their several writings, to establish on solid grounds that they not only admit, but actually require, to be understood in a catholic sense. To end the matter in one word,—while I willingly confess that it is indeed possible that I may be mistaken, I resolutely deny that I have wished to deceive any one.

As regards the chief point, of which I wish to persuade others, I myself am quite convinced, and that on no hasty view, that, What the Nicene fathers laid down concerning the divinity of the Son, in opposition to Arius and other heretics, the same in effect (although sometimes, it may be, in other words, and in another mode of expression) was taught, without any single exception, by all the fathers

and approved doctors of the Church, who flourished before the council of Nice, even from the very times of the Apostles.

I pray you kindly to excuse the mistakes of the printer, and the occasional slips of a careless corrector of the press. It has been my misfortune, that I have had the opportunity of examining and correcting, in person, one sheet only, and that the last, of this work, as it passed through the press. As the only thing I can do, you will find that all the errors of the press that are of any moment, are carefully brought together and set down in a table prefixed to the work.

And now, reader, whose object is truth and piety, if these labours of mine are of any service towards confirming your faith on the primary article of the Christian religion, there will be good cause both for you and myself to give thanks to Almighty God. This only do I ask of you as a recompense for my labours, (and this I earnestly request,) that in your prayers you would sometimes remember me, a sinner, and mine.

Farewell in Christ our Saviour, our Lord and our God.

f [There was a table of errata prefixed to the first edition of the original work.]