ave been satisfied of my innocence and accuracy.
I would not print this Vindication in quarto, lest it should be bound
and preserved with the history itself. At the distance of twelve years,
I calmly affirm my judgment of Davies, Chelsum, &c. A victory over such
antagonists was a sufficient humiliation. They, however, were rewarded
in this world. Poor Chelsum was indeed neglected; and I dare not boast
the making Dr. Watson a bishop; he is a prelate of a large mind and
liberal spirit: but I enjoyed the pleasure of giving a Royal pension to
Mr. Davies, and of collating Dr. Apthorpe to an archiepiscopal living.
Their success encouraged the zeal of Taylor the Arian, [Note: The
stupendous title, Thoughts on the Causes of the grand Apostacy, at first
agitated my nerves, till I discovered that it was the apostacy of the
whole church, since the Council of Nice, from Mr. Taylor's private
religion. His book is a thorough mixture of high enthusiasm and low
buffoonery, and the Millennium is a fundamental article of his creed.]
and Milner the Methodist, [Note: From his grammar-school at Kingston
upon Hull, Mr. Joseph Milner pronounces an anathema against all rational
religion. His faith is a divine taste, a spiritual inspiration; his
church is a mystic and invisible body: the natural Christians, such
as Mr. Locke, who believe and interpret the Scriptures, are, in his
judgment, no better than profane infidels.] with many others, whom it
would be difficult to remember, and tedious to rehearse. The list of my
adversaries, however, was graced with the more respectable names of Dr.
Priestley, Sir David Dalrymple, and Dr. White; and every polemic,
of either university, discharged his sermon or pamphlet against the
impenetrable silence of the Roman historian. In his History of the
Corruptions of Christianity, Dr. Priestley threw down his two gauntlets
to Bishop Hurd and Mr. Gibbon. I declined the challenge in a letter,
exhorting my opponent to enlighten the world by his philosophical
discoveries, and to remember that the merit of his predecessor Servetus
is now reduced to a single passage, which indicates the smaller
circulation of the blood through the lungs, from and to the heart.
Instead of listening to this friendly advice, the dauntless philosopher
of Birmingham continued to fire away his double battery against those
who believed too little, and those who believed too much. From my
replies he has nothing to hope or fear: but his Socinia