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A59229
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A letter of thanks from the author of Sure-footing to his answerer Mr. J.T.
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Sergeant, John, 1622-1707.
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1666
(1666)
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Wing S2575; ESTC R10529
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66,859
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140
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words Authority of the Catholick Church mean the Book of Scriptures Or can I desire more then this Father offers mee in express terms or a greater Testimony that you are to seek for an Answer to it then the strange Evasion you substitute instead of a reply Especially if wee take the Testimony immediatly following which from the best establisht Seats of the Apostles even to this very day is strengthen'd by the Series of Bishops succeeding them and by the Assertion of so many nations Is here the word Tradition pretended Indifferent and apt to bee taken ambiguously and not rather Assertions of so many nations or Consent of nations and Authority of the Catholik Church of force to cause Faith and Assu rance which to demonstrate is the whole Endeavour of Sure-fooring The 5th is the same Fathers cited p. 137. The Faithfull do possess perseveringly a Rule of Faith common to little and great in the Church Is the word Church the same with the word Tradition or in danger of being ambiguous or as you say of the word Tradition p. 318. commonly us'd by the Fathers to signify to us the Scriptures The 6th is of St. Irenaeus All those who will hear Truth may at present perfectly discern in the Church the Tradition of the Apostles manifest in the whole world What means the world at present but that the Tradition of the Apostles is yet vigorous and fresh in the Church which remark had very unfitly suted with Scriptures The 7th and 8th are Tertullians Both say the same Sence that what is establisht as Sacred or profest at this present day in the Churches of the Apostles is manifestly deliver'd by the Apostles or a Tradition of the Apostles which is incompetent to Scripture it not being a Tradition or point delivered but the Delivery The last is of Chrysologus which has indeed the word Tradition but by the additionall words of the Fathers not left ambiguous but determin'd to unwritten Tradition For the Fathers according to you are not to give or diliver down the Sence of Scriptures it being plain of it self This Sir is the upshot of your skill in Notebook-learning the three first Testimonies from Scripture you answerd not mistaking quite what they were brought for the 4th you omitted You have given pittiful answers to eight from the Fathers and shufled off nine more without answer pleading you had given us a Key to open them which was never made for those locks By which I see you reserve your greatest Kindnesses like a right friendly man till the last You will not have the Councill of Trent make Tradition the onely Rule of Faith you had oblig'd mee had you answer'd my reason for it in my 4th note p. 145. 146. But this is not your way you still slip over my reasons all along as if none had been brought and then say some sleight thing or other to the Conclusion as if it had never been inferrd by mee but meerly gratis and rawly affirm'd I have explicated our Divines that seem to differ from mee herein Sure footing p. 187. 188. and the Council it self takes my part in it by defining and practising the taking the Sence of Scripture from that quod tenuit tenet Sanct a Mater Ecclesia which in this antecedency to Scriptures Sence can no where bee had but from Tradition You cavill at mee for not putting down the words in which that Councill declares it self to honour the Holy Scripture and Tradition with equall pious affection and reverence Why should I you see I was very short in all my allegations thence and rather touch't at them for Catholicks to read them more at large than transcrib'd them fully But how groundless your Cavill is may bee understood hence that I took notice of a far more dangerous point to wit it's putting the Holy Scriptures constantly before Tradition and show'd good reason why But you approve not even of any honour done to the Scriptures upon those Terms and your interest makes you wish that rather it's Letter and Sence both should remain uncertain than it should owe any thing to the Catholick Church You ask how an Apostle and Evangelist should bee more present by the Scripture ascertain'd as to words and Sence then by or all Tradition I answer because that Book is in that case Evident to bee peculiarly and adequately his whereas Orall Tradition was common to all and 't is doubtable what hand some of those Apostles or Evangelists might have had in the source of that which was lineally deriv'd to us Sir I wonder how you hit so right once as not to answer likewise the Testimony I brought p. 152. of the Catholick Clergy's adhering to Tradition in the â—ick of the breach you might as well have spoke to that as to the Council of Trent divers others But I perceive it had some peculiar difficulty as had divers of the neglected nine else your Genius leads you naturally to flie at any thing that has but the semblance or even name of a Testimony whereas unactive I stoop at no such game till I see certainly 't is worth my pains and I fear yours will scarce prove so THey come in play p. 320. And because they are huddled together here something confusedly it were not amiss to sort them under Dr. Pierce's Heads found Sure-footing p. 170. To the first Head which comprises those which are onely brought to vapour with belongs that of St. Hierom. p. 323. To the second Head which consists of those which are raw unapply'd and onely say something in common which never comes home to the point belong all those of Eusebius That of St. Chrysostome and St. Austin's p. 324. of Iustin and Theodoret p. 325. That of Hilary p. 327. of St. Basil. p. 328. of Chrysostom p. 328. and 329. and those of St. Austin in the same place Of Theoph. Alexandr p. 330. Theodoret p. 330. 331. The 2d and 3d. from Gerson p. 331. To the 4th that of St. Austin p. 325. To the 7th Head which comprises those which are false and signifie not the thing they are quoted for appertain that of Ireneus p. 326. of St. Austin St. Hierome and the 2d of Theoph. Alexandrinus p. 330. To the 8th consisting of those which labour of obscurity by an evidently ambiguous word that of Optatus p. 327. The first from Gerson p. 331. and that from Lyra p. 332. St. Cyprian's Testimony was writ by him to defend an Errour which both wee and the Protestants hold for such and therefore no wonder if as Bellarmin sayes more errantium ratiocinaretur hee discoursed after the rate of those that err that is assumes false Grounds to build his errour on Whence the inferring an acknowledg'd false Conclusion from it is an argument rather his Principle was not sound I know Sir you will fume at this usage of your Testimonies but with what reason For first you putting them down rawly without particularizing their force or import
build on any thing so much as these but one of these laid for a Ground you run on with such a Carreer as if you would overthrow all the Sence and Reason that ever comes in your way You tell mee p. 158. by a parallell Discourse to mine against my Lord of Downs that my demonstrations are none unless I vouch some particularity in my Method above what 's in others which p. 160. you say you remember not I have done any where It seems you read my Transition not with any sober intent to understand it and speak solidly to it but onely to carp at it and break jests upon it Have you so soon forgot the pleasant mood it put you into p. 3 and 4. I contest then that the Method I there declare my self to pursue is particular above what I ever observ'd in any of your Controvertists not that they want better Parts to lay it but because they want a good Cause to bear it and give them leave to follow it I declare also that I hold that Method sufficient to demonstrate by though I pretend it not the exactest than can bee made As for those great men whom you alledge to differ in demonstrations Charles Thynn I leave to bear you company you are both such merry Blades I doubt not but were the business well examin'd their differences spring from not attending heedfully to the Method of concluding and that no miscarriage could ensue in any Discourse were the way of Discoursing perfectly laid agreed to and exactly follow'd nay that those few Differences amongst Geometricians arise from the same defect as were it seasonable I could show particularly with the help of a Friend you must think in that famous one about angulus contingentiae But to our present purpose meethinks Sir you may remember a thing call'd a Letter to my Answerer where I endeavour'd at least at some means to settle some particularity in our Method above what has been practic 't in other Controversies formerly begging you would agree to it that so wee might both follow it but you would have none you thank't mee Since then you would not accept it when offer'd you should not ask for it again when your Book is writ and the Circumstances of using it past But perhaps there lies the policy of it You end with a Glance or two at my Self-confidence But are you Propheticall in this too Sir that 't is some proud and vain humour in mee and not rather my Assuredness of the Truth of my Cause and of the Conclusiveness of my Method which makes mee deliver my self undauntedly See my Letter to my Answerer where I have these words p. 18. By this means it will bee quickly discover'd whether or no you have overthrown my Discourse by showing it ill-coherent and how far 't is faulty that if I cannot clear it to bee connected I may confess my fault and endeavour to amend it For however I see my Grounds evident yet I am far from judging my self Infallible in drawing my Consequences though I see withall the Method I take will not let me err much or if I do my Errour will bee easily discoverable because I go not about to cloud my self in Words but to speak out as plain as I can from the nature of the Thing Had you a desire to practice the due candour towards mee I should have done to you you would not have sought occasions to put in upon a personall priding my self in my performances which I so frequently disown and place all my advantage in my Cause and my Method But you are angry I deliver my self so boldly in what I take to bee Truth I beseech you Sir is it not naturall for any one who judges hee speaks what 's Evident to express himself fear lesly when hee disputes against an Adversary of the Truth whose Cause hee has espoused as 't is on the contrary for one who judges hee has onely Probability for what hee sayes to speak dis-confidently and condescendingly and when hee indeed sneaks not daring to speak out then to praise himself and his party for modest and moderate men You know by experience Sir ' t is Has there in our late age come out a Book more brisk than this of yours not in asserting but in scorn and proud petulancy and which is to bee pittied proud of an aiery jest or some gay conceit Shall I bee bold to tell you Sir what is Self confidence To undertake to write a Discourse about the Ground of Faith without so much as one Principle that deserves to bee call'd such to bless himself with to lay for Grounds all along Falsifications of his Adversaries meaning and words and then quibbling taunting and vapouring as if all the world were his own Lastly to tell his Auditours soberly and sadly out the Pulpit all is God's Word hee preaches and press they should beleeve him and yet when hee writes against us confess all hee preaches concerning Salvation and the Way to it may possibly bee false that is for any thing hee absolutely knows hee has not told them one true word all the while This Sir I must needs confess is such a Heroick strain of self-confidence that however it bee familiar and naturall to others yet I dispair for my part ever to attain it To bear ones self as holding a thing a demonstration which he judges hee has Evidence that 't is such is a puling and trifling kind of self-conceit but to carry it out with the greatest Formality in the world as if it were most Certain and yet hold at the same time and profess 't is possible to bee false that is may for any thing any man knows bee shown false to morrow is a noble and gallant Self confidence and such a one as fears not the face of any man living P. 161. You come to examin my demonstrations à priori and in order to it my four Grounds which you affirm you will set down in my own words Which intimates you did not do so formerly though it bee your duty to do it alwayes However 't is a Kindness which I am bound to thank you for and as far as I discern you have not faltred in it of which I here make my hearty Acknowledgment But Sir may I not fear this particular Resolution of yours here to bee Sincere springs hence because in this Sect. 2. where you put down my words you do not yet go about to apply them to your Discourse and attempt to confute which in your next Section p. 163. you endeavour I foresee you will bee shrew'dly tempted there for want of other Answer to break your resolution till wee come there then I leave you with my hearty wishes of strength constancy against that habituall Infirmity which so often overcoms all your resolutions of that nature And wee are now come to your third Sect p. 163. the place of the triall of your perseverance where you begin your confute and