Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	dare_v	good_a	great_a	295	4	2.0926	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59240	Raillery defeated by calm reason, or, The new Cartesian method of arguing and answering expos'd in a letter to all lovers of science, candor and civility / by J.S.	Sergeant, John, 1622-1707.	1699 (1699)	Wing S2586; ESTC R34236	96,773	224

think is wiser than to judge that any Credit is to be given to them who by their Carriage confess themselves to be piqu'd and exasperated even to an Extasie of Fury Their Transport of Passion too visibly discovers that their Souls are not acted by the Spirit of Sober Reason Charity and Candid Love of Truth but agitated by a violent Whirlwind of Fury Envy and Resolute Uncharitableness Their Demeanour being such that even tho' they had Truth on their side they would disgrace their Cause by their Hot-headed Managery of it 11. These unoccasion'd Contumelies being the most Disgraceful that could be laid upon one of my Quality and Rank did a little transport me in my Ideae Cartesianae where I was to reply to them and made me use now and then some smart Expressions more than were precisely necessary for my Defence for which I ask Mr. Le Grand's and my Reader 's Pardon tho' they were no more than such as every Prudent Man may discern that himself as a Writer had given himself But I carefully avoided all Imputations of Irreligion either in his Intentions or his Writings And if I saw that in any Circumstance my Words might occasion such a Misconstruction I charitably and carefully defended his Credit in such Points and declar'd him innocent All the Reflexions I us'd were on his Manner of Writing which it was impossible to avoid if I would do a Just Right to my self But he liberally requited me in his Censura and gave me Pounds for my Pence For he tells me in the Close of his Epistle to the Reader that Non quicquam per integrum Responsum suum sine mendacio dixit that I have not spoken any thing that is not one Word throughout my whole Answer without a Lye So that my Answer which consists of two hundred seventy two Pages is nothing but one continu'd Lye Upon my word this was shrewd and home and if this Libel of his which usher'd in and made way for the following one be but capable of Immortality my Name will be Eterniz'd for a Lyar to the World's End Certainly these Men are the oddest sort of Writers that ever were guilty of Ink-shed Other Men when they write do entertain some Hope they shall be believ'd but these Men never think on nor regard that Obvious Consideration They press on furiously to attain their Beloved End which is to disgrace that abominable J. S. And this so totally possesses and fills their whole Fancy that not the least Prudential Consideration can peep up there to make them wisely pursue their own Design What Man in his Wits do they think will believe that a Man of known Credit who never in his Life was noted or thought to be a Lyar should in the Twinkling of a Bed-staff as their Noble Jack Pudding in his Dialogue p. 13. stiles it tell a Lye in every Line for Two Hundred Seventy two Pages together Logicians say that an Argument that proves too much is naught and proves Nothing at all Such will be the Fate of their Ranting Fits of Passion they so overstrain all Belief that no Credit will be given to any one thing they say nor did I ever know that Maxim of Machiavell Calumniare fortiter c. more untowardly and aukwardly apply'd Yet I must say this in their Commendation that they are Men of a most Magnanimous Courage and Confidence Should I talk at this swaggering Rate I should fear it would spoil my whole ensuing Book and so utterly lose my Credit that not a Word I said would be believ'd 12. Being heartily weary of this brawling Way of theirs so contrary to my Genius which all who read my Books may see does aim at Close and Solid Reasoning I publish'd a small Treatise settling the First Truth or First Principle fundamentally on the Ideas in God's Creative Intellect for which Reason I intitl'd it Non Ultra it being impossible to go higher Where also I demonstrated the Shallowness of the First Principlè of the Cartesians In it I begg'd of them but meerly to name or put down Categorically any one Principle of the Cartesian Doctrine which they judge to be the strongest or most Evident and I would undertake to Demonstrate that either it is no Principle or else that it has no Influence at all upon their Hypothesis I declar'd that I did this to put an End to this Controversie and to settle Peace I propos'd there p. 121. that we should confine our selves to Half a Sheet of Paper and that all should be transacted by pure Dint of Reason and that he who shall use the least Uncivil VVord to his Adversary and falls into Passion shall be held to have lost his Cause and to be reduc'd to a Non-plus Could any Proposal or any Overture be more Civil Equal or Welcome to Men who love Truth and Ingenuity or be more Efficacious to Decide the Question and stop the Way to all Possibility of VVrangling But that 's the Fault of it They have a great Talent in Brabbling but they are not at all gifted for Arguing conclusively Demonstrating or Laying Principles More than this I offer'd that If they can shew their Cause has any Principles to support it without which by the way none ought to hold it True that I would make them Satisfaction by acknowledging publickly that I had foolishly over-ween'd and take the Shame to my self for my Rash Presumption By which candid and frank Offer I put my self upon the greatest Disadvantage imaginable and gave them a greater Advantage against me than they could ever hope to gain any other Way Lastly I did all this needlesly without either being Forc'd or Desir'd to do it but meerly out of my own Voluntary Motion and out of my sincere Desire that Truth should be made appear 13. But what Return do you think was made me for this Fair and Candid Proposal While I was expecting this Half-sheet of Paper that was to consist of nothing but Calm Reason and was likely to decide the whole Controversie out comes a Dialogue in English under the Name of Mr. Merry-man A-la-mode of our Bartholomew Fair Jack-Pudding stuffed with Ignorance Impudence Falsification Foul-mouth'd Railing Scornful Jeers and other Scurrilous Language Which for any thing I see yet are all the Cartesian Principles I am to expect The Reader will see how shrewdly he confutes me For he tells me over and over I am an Ass a Rare Fellow and as Proud as Lucifer That my Writings smell rank of the Fumes of an Intoxicated Brain That I am a kind of Devil Incarnate for he says he begins to suspect I have a Cloven Foot and that no body but the Devil set me on VVriting That I run down Piety Religion and GOD himself and forty such Good Morrows Certainly by this Description I must have ten Legions in me at least Yet the Jest is this this silly Fop who would pretend great Zeal for Faith and GOD's Honour dares not appear