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majesty_n	excellent_a	king_n	printer_n	5,735	5	10.5658	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59222	Five Catholick letters concerning the means of knowing with absolute certainty what faith now held was taught by Jesus Christ written by J. Sergeant upon occasion of a conference between Dr. Stillingfleet and Mr. Peter Gooden.	Sergeant, John, 1622-1707.; Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.; Gooden, Peter, d. 1695.	1688 (1688)	Wing S2568; ESTC R28132	302,336	458

A LETTER To the D. of P. IN ANSWER TO THE Arguing Part OF HIS FIRST LETTER To Mr. G. Published with Allowance LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel 1687. A LETTER To the D. of P. In Answer to the Arguing Part of his First Letter 1. THAT you may not take it unkindly the Arguing Part of your Letter to Mr. G. should pass unregarded I have been prevail'd upon to accept of his Commission to hold his Cards while he is not in Circumstances to play out his Game himself But can assure you beforehand since Matter of Fact is clearing by other Hands more proper I mean to confine my self to Matter of Right and so shall give you the least and most excusable trouble that can be a short one 2. Your Letter tells us that the Conference was for the sake of a Gentleman who I heard desir'd to be satisfi'd that Protestants are absolutely certain of what they believe and made account you could satisfie him and profess'd if you could not he would quit your Communion And you take care to inform us p. 2. that he was satisfi'd and declar'd immediately after the Conference that he was much more confirm'd in the Communion of your Church by it and resolv'd to continue in it But could you not have afforded to inform us likewise by what he was satisfi'd For there is many a Man who would be as glad and is as much concern'd to be satisfi'd in that Point as that Gentleman and he would not have been a jot the less confirm'd or the less resolv'd if his Neighbor had been confirm'd and resolv'd with him I cannot for my life imagin why you should make a Secret of a thing which besides your own and your Churches Honor concerns the Salvation of thousands and thousands to know 3. Your Letter I perceive would shift it off to Mr. G. whom you desire p. 7. to prove that Protestants have no Absolute Certainty c. Of this Proposal there will be occasion to say more by and by At the present I pray you consider how you deal with those Souls who rely on you If you should move them to trust their Estates with a Man of your naming of whom you would give no other satisfaction that he were able to manage them and faithful and responsible but only to bid those who doubted prove the contrary I fancy there would need all the Credit you have to hinder the Motion from appearing very strange And yet you have the confidence to make them one as much stranger as their Souls are more worth than their Mony For you would have them hazard their Souls where they are not safe for any care you take to satisfie them that they are Why suppose Mr. G. could not prove that Protestants are not Certain are they therefore Certain Has Peter Twenty pounds in his Purse because Paul cannot prove he has not Or ever the more Title to an Estate because an Adversary may have the ill luck to be Non-suited Must not every body speak for himself one day and bring in his own Account which will pass or not pass as it is or is not faulty in it self whether any fault have been found in it before or no And will not the Happiness or Misery of their Souls for ever depend on that Account Can you suffer them to run that terrible hazard without making them able to justifie their Accounts themselves and furnishing them with assurance that they can and with no more to say but that they hop'd Dr. St. would make his Party good with Mr. G. That things so precious to God as Souls should be of no more value with those who set up for Ministers of the Gospel That their great and only care as far as I see should be to make a shew and pass for some body here let every one take his chance hereafter Besides Truth is therefore Truth because 't is built on Intrinsecal Grounds which prove it to be such and not on private Mens Abilities or their saying this or that wherefore till those Grounds be produc'd it cannot be with reason held Truth And Dr. St. is more particularly oblig'd to make good he has such Grounds having had such ill fortune formerly with the Principles to which he undertook to reduce Protestant Faith as appears by the Account given of them in Error Non-plust 4. But leaving these Matters to be Answer'd where we must all answer why we have believ'd so and so pray let us have fair play in the mean time Let every one bear his own Burthen and you not think to discharge your self by throwing your Load on another Man's Shoulders You affirm there is Absolute Certainty on the Protestants side and 't is for him to prove it who affirms it If you do it but half so well as Mr. G. can and has the Infallibility which he asserts you will earn Thanks from one side and Admiration from the other But it is for you to do it To trick off proving the contrary upon your Adversary is to own that Proving is a thing which agrees not with your Constitution and in which your Heart misgives you 5. Yet even so you were uneasie still and would not venture what Mr. G. could do as slightly as you think or would have others think of him You know well enough that to prove Protestants have no Absolute Certainty of their Faith is no hard Task even for a weak Man You know any Man may find it confess'd to his hand by Protestants And therefore you had reason to bethink your self of an Expedient to trick it off again from that Point and put Mr. G. to prove That Protestants have no Absolute Certainty as to the Rule of their Faith viz. the Scripture The Merits of this Cause too I think will return hereafter more fitly in this place I mind only the Art. Pray was not the very First Question at the Conference Whether Protestants are absolutely Certain that they hold now the same Tenets in Faith and All that our Saviour taught to his Apostles And your Answer that They are Did our Saviour teach and do Protestants believe no more than that the Book so call'd is Scripture Is Certainty of this more and Certainty of this Book all one And was not the Question plainly of the Certainty of this and of All this more Here is then an Enquiry after one thing plainly turn'd off to another Yes but this was one of the two things which the whole Conference depended upon As if the whole Conference did not depend on that thing which was to be made manifest by the Conference viz. the Absolute Certainty of Protestant Faith. Mr. G. indeed did himself ask some Questions about your Certainty of your Rule Questions whose course it was wisely done to cut off before they had question'd away your Certainty of Faith. For after they had caus'd it to be