high Opinion of my Principles because they are built on the Metaphysical Verity of Things establish'd by the Ideas in the Divine Understanding And of my Method or Way of Discourse because Nature or which is the same GOD as Author of Nature has made our Soul such an Inferiour sort of Spirit that it works by Abstract or Inadequate Notions which we compound or connect into Propositions in which all Truth formally consists and then connect those Propositions into Coherent Discourses These then being by me ascrib'd to GOD and Nature I assume nothing to my self but my Conclusions and of these I deliver'd my self thus in the Words immediately following But as for my Conclusions and my Deductions as I will not justifie them with the same Firmness as I did the others so I should not think I ought to propose them to Learned Men unless I judg'd them Demonstrative And now where is all this Unheard of Arrogancy Where is my Bragging that GOD had Selected me so particularly from All Others which he most expresly puts upon me and pretends to shew them tribus ex locis from three Places of which these are Two where not a Word is found savouring of Arrogancy or any thing like it but rather the direct Contrary Would it be Uncivil on this Occasion to ask of Mr. Le Grand whether he has not forsworn all Sincerity and Common Honesty To stander is too great a Crime for a good Christian to be Guilty of but to falsisie his Adversary's Words and Slander him too or rather to pretend falsly he says thus or thus in such Determinate Places which Particularizing makes it look Credible on purpose that he may slander him is so voluntary and wilful a Complicated Crime that the Tenderest and most Indulgent Charity is at a loss to invent an Excuse for it 62. The Third Place to which he refers his Reader is taken out of the Dedicatory to Solid Philosophy Asserted where there are indeed some of those Words but not one of those haughty ones he here expresly and distinctly fixes upon me My Discourse in the two fore-going Pages was concerning the Way of Ideas made use of by Cartesius and others which I made account did delude their good Reason and by making them disregard the Nature of the Thing led them into Fancies and Imaginary Conceits I gave there for the Reason why I writ Philosophy That I apprehended GOD's Providence had fitted and enabl'd me to redress such great Mischiefs viz. that Fancies should beat down Reason and Truth and therefore I thought it became me to Re-instate Reason in her Sovereignty over Fancy and to assert to her the Rightful Dominion Nature had given her over all our Judgments Which amounts to this That I thought my self able to confute his Way of Ideas and to shew it to be Opposite to True Reason Is it such a piece of Arrogancy to pretend to be able to confute a piece of Novelry so Opposite to the Way of all the former World especially ascribing as I did that Ability to GOD Or rather if there be any Arrogancy at all on either side Is it not more like Arrogancy in them to blame the Methods of so many Thousands of Learned Men who writ before them and by introducing New Ways of Philosophizing to accuse by Consequence all the former VVorld of Ignorance Is it not rather Arrogance in him to be so haughtily and rudely Stiff in maintaining Ideas as he says Elicited or produc'd by Himself without even attempting to bring any one Demonstration or Conclusive Proof for them Can there be any Self-Conceit more Enormous than to be thus Ravingly Earnest to maintain that he has this Invisible Gift of Producing Ideas out of his own Head or ex se as he expresses it which he holds to be the only Ground of all True Knowledge without bringing any one Argument that is able to evince it and then because we will not believe him without Proof to foam thus at the Mouth with the foulest Language the most Transported Rage could dictate See his Words at the End of this § Quis a Luciferi lapsu superbiùs unquam de Seipso senserit VVhat Man since the Fall of Lucifer had ever such a Proud Conceit of himself Then follows my never-heard-of Arrogance my Intolerable Arrogance my Nequissima most VVicked Arrogance Poor Impotent Railer Whose Passion will neither let him reflect how he dishonours his Place disgraces his Friends scandalizes Good Christians or wrongs his own Conscience But in the Name of Wonder How comes it that no body but himself ever thought me thus damnably Arrogant I do confess I write briskly and smartly when I think it Evident I write for Truth It is my Duty And I have given my Reasons for it in my Preface to Solid Philosophy which he instead of Answering tells us here only he cannot read them without Horrour No nor my Arguments neither for he answers them both just alike In what then consists this Arrogancy of mine The plain Truth is this and his Carriage confesses it I had challeng'd him to bring one Principle or one Conclusive Proof for his New VVay of Philosophy He has none and therefore I must be Intolerably Arrogant because he is Obstinate in his Errours and pitifully Ignorant as also because I follow the Way which builds Truth on the Nature of Things and on the Connexion of Terms which all the Learned Men in the VVorld had so long embrac'd and Unperverted Nature teaches every Man 63. But we have lost our Third Citation I beseech my Reader to re-view it and then to consider whether there be one Word there that GOD had Selected me from All Others which he here § 40. puts upon me as my Express Words and prints in a distinct Character as mine That I have truly represented the Three Places he relates to will appear by the Preface to his former Book § 26. where he puts them down at large This then being evident to Eye-sight I charge him with Three Wilful Falsifications here in citing Three Places in my Books for these haughty Words viz. that I said I was selected from All Others c. whereas I only said that I apprehended my self Able to confute his Ideas I demand of him either to shew me the Words in my Books or to acknowledge his Errour But I do not expect from him the Candour to retract any of his Slanders whatsoever he professes here pag. 2. For this would oblige him to make Satisfaction against which as I have sufficiently experienc'd he is I know not by what Case of Conscience Church-Canon-Proof This then is Another Branch of the New Cartesian Method of Arguing and Answering viz. to falsifie and impose on his Adversary whatever VVords he pleases And he is very Constant and Diligent in pursuing that Useful Method 64. Another Branch of this New Method is Without so much as one VVord to abet his Saying nay in despite of many VVords and even
says my Errours Which none regarded but those who help'd to pen it with one of whom Mr. Le Grand and his Friend as I am informed have struck a Holy League to carry on their Sensless and already Baffl'd Slanders and Calumnies against me 92. But the Fourth Plot was so finely laid they hop'd it would be prosperous and make amends for all and that being so well levell'd it could not but hit the Mark. They sent up all my Books to Cardinal Barberin and with them one of my Lord Chancellor Hyde's writ against Mr. Cressy the Title of which they had torn out pretending to him they were all writ by one and the same Author my self Their Friends there press'd the Condemnation of them with such a hurry as if the whole Church had totter'd if it were not done quickly To expedite the Business they earnestly sollicited him that only that one Book viz. Chancellor Hyde's should be read and then to determin whether all the Books writ by such a pernicious Author ought not to be condemn'd The Cardinal without naming me delivers them to a worthy Divine who understood English bidding him Keep the rest till call'd for and read only this one pointing to that of the Chancellors which they had signally particulariz'd to him and give him an Account of it as speedily as was possible for by that one they could judge of the rest What Remedy now Would not any Man swear now that all was Cock-sure But there is no Policy against God's Providence which directed thither an English Divine who had lately come out of England and attended the now Earl of Derwent-water and his Brother in their Travels He being of Acquaintance with this Divine came to visit him in the very nick of Opportunity and finding him very busie in reading that Decretory-Book went to his Table and took up some Books that he saw lie there together Finding to his Astonishment they were mine he ask'd him how they came by all Mr. S's Books The other told him he was much mistaken and said they could not be mine telling him they had a far other Character of me whereas the Book he was reading which was said he writ by the same Author could not possibly be writ by a Man of Mr. S's Principles Mr. Midford for that was my Friend's Name knew the Book and avow'd it was writ by another Author whom he nam'd to him At which the Roman Divine held held up his Hands with Admiration at such a Knavish Contrivance So they agreed that Mr. Midford should go with him the next Morning to Cardinal Barberin to inform him what a Cheat was put upon him to hasten him to judge of all my Books by the Book of another who was of another Judgment and went upon different Principles This was so Shameful and Horrid that after this not an Enemy of mine durst appear Besides my Clypeus Septemplex and Vindiciae I had sent divers Apologeticks thither explaining my Doctrine which the Roman Divines examining desir'd Mr. Midford to know of me if my Occasions would let me come thither to teach the same Doctrine there I had printed in England If I would they would petition for a good Pension to maintain me But I was a greater Lover of my Studies in my Privacy than I was of Courts However Mr. Le Grand and my then Opposers may see by this how I am Notus in Gallia and in Italia The Malice of my Enemies as GOD had order'd it having done me more Kindness and gain'd me more Honour than all my Friends could ever have done All this was writ by Mr. Midford to my Friends and my self then at Paris divers of whom are yet alive to witness it 63. I am heartily sorry to lay open such Fraudulent and Unconscionable Carriages in any Christians much more in those of my own Persuasion it being so perfectly contrary to Common Honesty than a Turk would blush at it and a good Moral Heathen detest it But when my Christian Credit is thus assaulted I am oblig'd in Conscience to vindicate my self Nor can any Man blame me for doing that Just and Necessary Duty to my own Reputation Perhaps to revive this Quarrel which the Chief Church Governors have Examined Determin'd and Compos'd Mr. â— Grand exerts himself in this Consure of his to gratifie the Contrivers of it then hoping it would oblige them to put them in a Capacity to play a Book-Game And for the same Reason he goes about to gratifie some Protestants too by hazarding his Credit to do them a Kindness But as I believe the former are too prudent to begin Squabbles with one who meddles not with them so I am very confident the Later have too much Honour and Candour in them to be offended at a Man who writes for his Conscience and in such a Cause as is the Settling Christian Faith upon such Grounds as are Absolutely Certain which is the Interest of all Christians And that they will never be favourable to a Writer that wrongs the Common Cause and consequently his own Conscience to please his Passion much less to such a Man who in his Censura as appears by the Words ut sint calls the Protestants In England INFIDELS 94. That the World may know of how different a Temper I was from that of Mr. Le Grand whether Natural to him or Inspir'd by another I wave at present after his Censura Injustissima came out notwithstanding his Unoccasion'd Provocations at first which was the Origin of all his Warmth of Opposition so little Edifying to Sober Christians or Beneficial to Learned Readers tho' I saw also there was a Pound of Gall in that Book for a Grain of Reason yet I did charitably resolve to try if I could calm his Passion and sweeten his Bitter Humour To compass this I put my self upon some great Disadvantages and blam'd my self as much as I could with any Degree of Truth that so I might invite him by my Example to some Civil Acknowledgment of his Peevish Errours I had resolv'd to pass over all his Unsavouly Taunts his Railing Falsifications and Untrue Imputations under the Name of Mistakes nor to take notice of his manifold Omissions but to put down barely and clearly my yet Unanswer'd Arguments tho' it was tedious to me without any Occasion to repeat them Nay I fully purpos'd to give his Pretended Answers a fairer Character than they could deserve and while I rectify'd his Errours to excuse as well as I could what was Amiss or Defective I had fram'd my Thoughts to pen my Book in a Gay Familiar Style to put him in a good Humour And in a Word I was resolv'd to omit nothing that could become a Kind Friend and a Charitable Christian. Whence I had begun my Reply on this manner by which the Reader may make an Estimate how Condescending and Obliging the Whole had been had they let it go forward VERITAS PAX REsponsio mollis frangit Iram
that I much fear'd all our Charity would be lost thro' Mr. Le Grand's being ty'd up by this New Engagement and govern'd by a Man who was an Enemy to all Moderation 98. I expect Gentlemen you will complain you have lost your Time in Reading this Treatise and ask What Benefit accrues to the Reader by seeing the Faults of others laid open But I must beg your Pardon and maintain that this Procedure tho' most Unpleasant to me is notwithstanding most Beneficial to the World Virtus est Vitium fugare Sapientia Prima Stultitià caruisse And these Idle Methods of Railing Flouting Prevaricating Bantering Fooling Slandering Falsifying and Libelling to which Nonplus'd Writers are forc'd to have recourse being thus Expos'd and by your declaring against them Disgrac'd they must either be driven to take the Way of Discoursing Connectedly or leave of Writing at all To return then to my Adversaries I Request or it being my Right Demand of them that they would make choice of some one Principle for the Cartesian Doctrine which they will maintain to be such or some one Argument of theirs which they will undertake to be Demonstrative or pitch upon some one Solution of theirs to any one Argument of mine where I pretend to Demonstrate and that Principle shall be Examin'd by looking into the Self-Conexion of its Terms or the Reducibleness of them to Self-Connexion or Self-Evidence that Argument shall be try'd by the Necessary Connexion of its Terms with the Medium and lastly that Solution shall be judg'd of by putting my Argument home shewing on what the Connexion of the Two Terms with a Third was built and then considering upon what Grounds it it is pretended they are Unconnected the Consequence of it Slack and the Reason of it Solv'd And let him who uses the least Disrespectful Word to his Adversary be held Nonplus'd and to deserve no Answer By this means in a Reply or two Truth will be made appear much precious Time sav'd all Wrangling avoided the Rules of Decency and Civility preserv'd Inviolate and the Controversie decided 99. Only this Condition I would request That if any Principle Axiom Postulatum or Argument be produc'd which has been solidly Refuted already that then to save Unnecessary Labour it may be sufficient to relate to it unless it has been Reply'd to formerly Which I desire because I have very lately seen and perus'd a Book written by a Professor of Philosophy in Paris and Dedicated to the Dean and Faculty of Sorbon in which many of the Principal Positions of the Cartesians are solidly Confuted It bears for Title De Existentiâ Dei Humanae Mentis Immortalitate secundum Cartesii Aristotelis Doctrinam Disputatio This Acute and Learned Author is thorowly versed in Cartesius and has so perfectly digested Aristotle that he seems to have turned him in Succum Sanguinem He tells us Cartesius attempted to Demonstrate these two Points because he was I believe Unjustly suspected to hold neither of them He refutes his Definitions of Cogitatio Idea Sustantia Mens As also his Notion of Corpus Materia Extensio Physica c. He shews his Definition of GOD to be Faulty and his Notion of Real Distinction to be Groundless He sifts all his Seven Postulatums his Ten Axioms and all his pretended Demonstrations of those Two most Important Theses and shews them to be Shallow and Spurious Lastly In his Second Part he Domonstrates those main Points by the Principles of Aristotle Tho' a School-man indeed the Best of our Modern ones I have seen and for being such ought to have some Grains of Allowance granted him yet he avoids School-Terms as much as is possible His Style is Concise and yet Clear His Oppositions and Solutions generally Forcible and Full. He lights frequently into the same Arguments I do and very often falls into my Abominable Sin which so mads my two Cartesians of telling his Reader and shewing that the Cartesian Doctrine is strangely FANATICAL I thought fit to acquaint our Country-men with the Just Character of that Learned Book than which I know none more Proper for those of our Universities after they have pass'd their First Studies as well for the Excellency of the two Noble Truths it demonstrates as for giving them great Light to look into the Nature of True Demonstration and and into the Right Understanding of Aristotle's Genuin Doctrine so much mistaken by most of our Unskilful Modern Commentators 100. I hear my Adversaries contend that Id. Cart. p. 64. I deny Annihilation to be Possible even to GOD's Extraordinary or Miraculous Power I answer 1. That I speak there § 43. not of Annihilation it self but of a particular Way I was inventing how it might be done which Way whether it holds or no I neither know nor care 2. I did not seem to deny even This but upon Supposition that it would put an Attribute in GOD which was unworthy of Him 3. That in my whole Discourse there 't is most Evident that I only spoke tentativè not assertivè I will not recount how many Authors have held the same as to this Point which my self if truly represented have done One will suffice ad hominem against my Cartesian Adversaries viz. Du Hamel the Best Philosopher of the Cartesian School tho' he be none of the Fierce or Furious ones who in Tom 5. p. 8. says Substantiae Annibilatio aliquid Inconstantiae in ipso rei Conditore testari videtur The Annibilation of a Substance or Thing seems to testifie some Inconstancy in the Maker of the Thing Himself Which certainly is a Dishonour and Imperfection and cannot be attributed to GOD. The Sense of that Position as far as concerns the Generality of Christians who are no Speculators is that Creatures should not be held to subsist of themselves but to depend entirely every Moment on GOD for their Being Now let us consider how I had exceeded all other Writers in Asserting that Substantial Truth Others use to say that the Nature of Creatures is Indifferont to Being and Not-Being Whereas Method to Science p. 304. I maintain that Were there any Inclination in Creatures rather to One than the Other it seems to be rather to Not-Being than to Being And that the Nothingness of Creatures is so radicated in their Natures and sticks to them that it inclines them to Not-Being even while they are Whether this Doctrine of mine be more for the Honour of our Great Creator and for our Continual Dependence on Him or Mr. Le Grand's in his Censura p. 71. who denies that Creatures would out of their own Defectiveness or Indigent Condition fall to Nothing or be Annihilated and says that every thing as far as is of it self would remain in the same State let Indifferent Divines judge Nay he says this in Opposition to me when I affirm that all Creatures depend on GOD for their Continuance in Being Certainly there needs many Grains of Salt to make such Doctrine as this sound well to a Christian's Ear For this destroys the Doctrine of Suspension's being the Cause of Annihilation in regard he makes the Creature still of its own Nature able to Exist alone after it is once put to be which I am sure takes away its Continual Dependence on GOD for its Being which is both against the Language and Sense of Christianity Yet I doubt not but his Intention is very Orthodox whatever his Ideas are By this time Gentlemen I fear I have over-weary'd you I am sure I have my self with Replying by Snatches to Unconnected Talk I hope my next Present will be more worthy of your Perusal In the mean time I am with all Respect Your most Humble Servant J. S. FINIS