If you advance this Civil piece of Atheistry you must pardon me if I be smart with you in opposition to so damnable and Fundamental an Errour I love Christianity and Mankinde too well to suffer that Position which destroyes effectually the Root of all their Eternal Happiness and the Substance of all their Hope to pass unstigmatiz'd as it deserves Nor think to avail your self by some Discoursers in our Schools It will be shown when prest that they are still preserv'd good Christians through the virtue of Tradition which they all hold to notwithstanding their private speculations but you not because of your want of Certain Grounds to make you rationally hold Christs Faith They onely mistook a Word whereas you will be found to erre in the whole Thing or the ordinary Means to true Christianity Again if such Causes be fitting to be laid by God's Providence 't is impossible to avoid the Doctrin propos'd in Sure-Footing because 't is absolutely Impossible to invent any thing that looks like such Causes but those which are deliver'd there nor did any other Way ever attempt to show any such Whence I foresee your Cause will force you to fly for refuge to the actual Uncertainty or possible Falshood of all our Faith for any thing any man living knows by ordinary means A sad consequence of an erroneous tenet But 't is connatural and so to be expected such Effects should follow the renouncing the Rule of Faith 5. Thirdly I conceive it very reasonable that you would please to declare whether Controversy ought to have any First Principle or no If none then to speak candidly out and confess that Controvertists are Certain of nothing they say since their discourse has no Ground or First Principle to rely on If any whether Tradition be It or if it be not what else is and then vouch as plain reason tells us you ought that what you assigne has truly in it the nature of a First Principle which common Reason gives to be self-evidence Or lastly to profess if you judge it your best play that what you substitute in stead of Tradition though it be a First Principle yet it need not be at all self-evident Any thing shall content me so you will but please to speak out and to the point 6. Again since it is evidently your task to argue against Tradition's Certainty 't is as Evident that while you argue against it you must bear your self as holding It uncertain I conceive then plain Reason obliges you not to produce any thing against Tradition which depends upon Tradition for its Certainty for in doing so you would invalidate and even nullify all your own proofs Since if Tradition be held by you uncertain and they have no certainty but by means of It they must be confest Uncertain too and so they would be incompetent to be produc't as proofs and your self very dis-ingenuous to produce them I add self-contradicting too and Vnskilful Nature and Aristotle teaching us that a Discourser ought not sustain contrary to himself Hence plainest Reason excludes you from alledging any kind of Testimony either from Scripture Councils Fathers or History till you answer my Corollaries 12 15 16. which pretend to demonstrate the Certainty of all these dependent on Tradition's and the onely way to show my discourses there to be weak is to manifest my mistake by declaring into what other thing your Certainty of those Testimonies is finally resolvable which is not coincident with Tradition When you produce such a Principle and prove it such you have right to alledge the foresaid Testimonies for then you can make good their Authority Till then you can have no right in true reason to do it Not onely because till then you are to be held a Renouncer of that Thing 's Certainty upon which there are pretended demonstratious against you Theirs is built and those presum'd true ones because you let such strongest Attempts pass unanswer'd but very particularly for this Consideration that our present matter restrains you from it For our discourse is about the Ground of that Authority which ascertains to us Faith which therefore is antecedent to the notions of Faith Faithful Church Councils Fathers nay and creditable history-History-books too since those rely on Tradition taken at large for their Certainty as is evident by plain reason Coroll 16 24. which devolves into this that Tradition is FIRST AUTHORITY and so not proovable or disproovable by any other secondary Authorities but ought to be impugn'd by pure Reason But if you think fit to grant this Certainty to Tradition taken at large yet deny it to Christian Tradition which hath besides its Human force most powerful Divine Motives also to strengthen it please to speak it out and the strange unreasonableness of the position will quickly be made appear Or if you grant Christian Tradition Certain in bringing down those common Points in which we agree yet Fallible nay actually erring in bringing down to us those other points which we were found holding upon Tradition when you left us and for which as grievous Errors you pretended to leave us please to declare in what you hold the virtue of Tradition consists ascertaining to us both those common points and how we come to know Tradition is engag'd for them which done it will quickly appear whether its ascertaining virtue has its Effect upon some and not others or on all Unless you do this your very admittance of Tradition's Certainty in some overthrows you without more ado for to acknowledge it argumentative for the Certainty of some grants it a virtue of Ascertaining which therefore you are oblig'd to grant in all unless you give the reason of your Exception otherwise to admit it when your Interest is not toucht and reject it when it opposes you is plainly to confess that Tradition is able to certify yet that you admit it when you list and reject it when you list 7. Being inform'd then by Evident Reason that no kind of Authority but only the way of Reason is a competent Weapon to fight against Tradition with I have three things to propose to your Thoughts on this occasion which I hope will sound reasonable to any intelligent man by the very mentioning First that you would not alledge such Argumments as strike as well at the Constancy of every Species in Nature especially Rational Nature that is such natural Mediums as tend to destroy all Natural Certainty Secondly that your objections be not forrain or fetch 't from afar of for these are multipliable without End and apt to be suggested by Fancy upon every not-seeing the coherence of some other remote whether real or conceited Truth with the Tenet we aim to impugn but that they be immediate and close that is taken out of the Intrinsecal Nature of the Thing For so they will be more forcible and by consequence be apt to do your Cause much service and unless they be such they will do it none
on this occasion I must mind you of 't is this that though you should conquer in this way of arguing ad hominem you onely conquer me as a Discourser by showing that I contradict my self not my Tenet for to prove that false you must fix your foot and build your discourse on some Certain Ground which barely my holding it on which your discourse ad hominem relies cannot make it You must build then on some Grounded Truth if you will go about to overthrow a pretended one Indeed if you can show Tradition contradicts her self you will do more than miracle and so must conquer But I fear not the Gates of Hell much less Man's wit can prevail against that impregnable Rock Onely I beseech you bring not as Parallels against our Tradition in hand which is a vast and strong stream other little petty rivulets sprung originally from the Sensations of two or three For then as one side was liable in a thing not known publikly to bely their Senses so the conveyance down of such sleight built Attestations may easily be self-contradictory In a word if you will argue take first into your Thoughts the nature of the Thing you argue against and then fall to work assoon as you will Now if you should chance to say you hold the Sayings of Fathers and Councils some at least to be Certain my Reason tells me from Principles that having renounc't Tradition which onely could ascertain them rational nature in you will not let you have any hearty conceit of their Convictiveness whatever you pretend but that you rawly alledge them and so let them go with a valeant quantum valere possunt That therefore we may have some security more than your bare word which Experience tells us is now affirmative now negative in this point as it best sutes your Interest or after a pretty Indifferent manner half-one-half-tother that your profession of holding to such Authorities is not hollow-hearted but rooted in your Reason 't is just your Readers should expect you would declare in what the virtue of Certifying consists and that They have this virtue This if you do you acquit your self to go to work solidly and you offer us fair play in giving us some hold of your Reason whereas a common Expression gives none This Procedure also will show when apply'd whether you are Justifiable or no for admitting some Authorities of that nature and rejecting others 14. My last request is that if in the course of your Answer you think fit to complain of me for bringing History and other Proofs heretofore commonly without more ado admitted into Incertainty please to amend the fault you finde and settle their Certainty on some better Principles than I have endeavour'd In the mean time 't is Evident my whole Book ayms at settling the Certainty of all Authority by evidencing the Certainty of First Authority upon which the Assuredness of History Fathers Councils Church Faith nay Virtue or Christian Life must all be built This is my way if you judge it incompetent to do the Effect spoken of be pleas'd to manifest it Unfit and show us a Better 15. Perhaps I may have demanded more of you in some particulars than is due from the strict duty of meerly answering in the Schools a bare denial or distinction is enough for a Respondent But I conceive we are not on these terms in regard we are not met face to face where the returns of the one to the other can be quick on every occasion This obliges us for the Readers satisfaction to enlarge our selves and bring reason for every thing we affirm or deny lest we should be thought to do it gratis And your case here is particularly disadvantageous For if you go about to overthrow that on which I aym to show the Certainty of all Authority built and yet declare not on what your self hold them built and by your faithful promise to show it shortly give them strong hopes you will perform it you send them away very much dissatisfy'd either with you or with all the Authority in the world though built on Sensitive Knowledge Of which it being impossible Rational Nature should permit them to doubt they must needs dislike your attempt and have an ill conceit of your performance SIR I understand to my exceeding Satisfaction that multitudes of the most Eminent Solid and Ingenuous Wits of our Nation have been diligent perusers of my Book Consider their eyes are upon you while you Answer I am confident they will judge I have requested no more of you in this Letter but what 's reasonably due to their and my satisfaction and so will look your Answer should be correspondent They are weary of endless Contests about Faith and seeing we are not now controverting the signification of some ambiguous Testimony but penetrating deep into the very bowels of a point which is of the greatest concern in the whole world and pursuing in a method likely to decide the clearing of it their expectations are very much erected and attentively observing what will be the issue of this rational combat Frustrate not their desires to see Truth manifested by bringing the Question back from the plain open field of Evidence-in-our-method to a Logomachy or word-skirmish in a Wilderness of Talk out of which the Thread of Grounds or Principles had disentangled it To them therefore as well as your self I address this requesting those of them who are acquainted with my Answerer to press him to do himself me the world his Cause too if it can bear it the right due in Reason and here demanded This Sir if you will perform I shall lay aside the remembrance of the Justice I have to it and look upon it purely as a Favour and most obliging Civility to him who is next to Truth 's Your Friend and well-wisher J. S. Feb. 6 th 1665. POSTSCRIPT IF you complain of this Fore-stalling as Vnusual as long as 't is rational you can have no reason to do so and it will appear such to him that considers it was an unusual Circumstance occasion'd it 'T is this I had endeavour'd to bring Controversie from an Endless to a Conclusive Way and both my Reason and Experience made me apprehend my Protestant Answerer would have such strong Inclinations to bring it bacâ— into the way of quoting and glossing Testimonies that is into a wordish scanning a great part of all the Libraries in the World that a slender touch at it in my Book was not forcible and express enough to oblige him to take notice of it Having communicated therefore my thoughts with intelligent and ingenuous persons both Catholiks and Protestants and receiv'd their approbation I resolv'd and pursu'd it as you see And I hope the manifold Usefulness of it as shall be seen what way soever now you take upon you of answering will sufficiently justify my Action FINIS
A LETTER from The Authour of Sure-footing to his Answerer SIR I Am certainly inform'd there is an Answer to my Book intended and a Person chosen out for that Employment whose Name I am unconcern'd to know it being only his Quality as a Writer I have to do with I receive the Alarum with great chearfulness knowing that if my Adversary behaves himself well it will exceedingly conduce to the clearing and settling the main point there controverted But because there is difference between being call'd an Answer and being an Answer and that 't is extremely opposit to my Genius to be task't in laying open mens Faults even as Writers though it has been my unhappiness formerly to meet with Adversaries whose way of writing made that carriage my only duty wherefore to prevent as much as I am able all occasion of such unsavory oppositions and to make way to the clearing the point that so our Discourse may redound to the profit and satisfaction of our Readers I make bold to offer you these few Reflexions which in effect contain no more but a Request you would speak to the point and in such a way as is apt to bring the matter nearer a clearing This if you please to do you will very much credit your self and your endeavours in the opinion of all ingenuous persons If you refuse and rather chuse to run into Rhetorical Excursions and such Discourses as are apt to breed new Controversies not pertinent to the present one under hand you will extreamly disparage both your self your party and your Cause and give me an exceeding advantage against them all I shall also have the Satisfaction to have manifested before-hand by means of this Letter that I have contributed as much as in me lies to make you avoid those Faults which I must then be forc't to lay open and severely press upon you little to your Credit nor your Causes neither You being as I am informâ—d and Reason gives it signally chosen out as held most able to maintain it 2. That there may be no more distance between us than what our Cause enforces I heartily assure you that though I highly dislike your Tenets negatively opposit to what we hold Faith and the Way of Writing I foresee you must take unless you resolve to love Candour better than your Cause as being Inconclusive and so apt to continue not finish debates yet I have not the least pique against yours or any mans Person Nor have I any particular aversion against the Protestant party rather I look upon it with a better eye than on any other Company whatever which has broke Communion with the Catholick Church It preserves still unrenounc't the form of Episcopacy the Church-Government instituted by Christ and many grave Solemnities and Ceremonies which make our Union less difficult Many of their soberest Writers acknowledge divers of the renounc't Tenets to be Truths some of them also profess to hold Tradition especially for Scripture's Letter and even for those Points or Faith-Tenets in which they and we agree that is where their Interest is not touch't I wish they would as heartily hold to it in all other Points which descended by it and look into the Virtue it has of ascertaining and declare in what that Virtue consists I am confident a little candour of confessing truly what they finde joyn'd with an endeavour of looking into Things rather than Words would easily make way to a fair Correspondence I esteem and even honour the Protestants from my heart for their firm Allegiance to his Sacred Majesty and his Royal Father This uniting them already with all sober Catholiks under that excellent notion of good Subjects and in the same point of Faith the Indispensableness of the duty of Allegiance we owe our Prince by Divine Law Lastly I declare that for this as well as for Charitable Considerations I have a very particular zeal for their reconcilement to their Mother-Church and that 't is out of this love of Union I endeavour so earnestly to beat down the wordish and dissatisfactory way of Writing and go about to Evidence the Ground of all our Faith knowing that as wounds are never connaturally and solidly cur'd by uniting the distant sides at the surface and leaving them disunited and unheal'd at the bottom but the cure must begin there first so the onely Way to heal the Wounds of the Church is to begin first to win some to acknowledge the most radical and bottom-Principle of all Faith as controverted between us without which all agreement in particular points must needs be unsound and hollow-hearted This is my onely aym in Sure-Footing That therefore you may not obstruct so good a work and withall perform the duty of a solid and candid Writer I offer to your self and all ingenuous Readers these few Reflexions not sprung from my Will for what Authority have I to prescribe you your method but from true Reason working upon the Thing which makes it just duty in you and so ought oblige you to follow it 3. In the first place since the scope of my whole Book is about the First Principle in Controversy or the Ground of all Faith as to our Knowledge that is about a Point antecedent to all particular Points I conceive it reasonable you should let your Discourse stand firm to the matter in hand and not permit it to slide into Controversies about Particulars For so 't is evident we shall be apt to multiply many words little to our present purpose On what conditions you may have right to alledge Particulars as pretended Instances of Traditions failing shall be seen hereafter 4. Next I desire you would please to speak out Categorically and declare whether you hold Faith absolutely Certain to us or else Possible to be false for any thing we know To explicate my self better that so I may void some common and frivolous Distinctions my intent is to demand of you in behalf of the Christian Reader and his due satisfaction whether you hold Gods Providence has laid in the whole Creation any Certain means by way of Proper Causes to such an Effect to bring down Faith truly to us and whether we can arrive at Certain Knowledge of those means that is come to see or know the Connexion between such Causes and their Effect spoken of I make bold to press you earnestly to this declaration and my reason is because nothing will more conduce to the Conclusion of our present Debate For in case such Causes be laid and can be seen by us then they are Evident or Demonstrative Reasons for the Ground of our Faith's Certainty But if no such Causes be laid or being laid cannot be seen by us then all the Wit of man can never avoid the consequence but that we can have onely Probability for all our Faith that is for any thing we absolutely know 't is all as false as an old wife's tale since there are no degrees in Truths and Falshoods