nor uncircumcision availed any thing and that in the new Creature there was neither Circumcision nor uncircumcision but Christ was all in all and that one God did both justifie the Circumcision by Faith and the uncircumcision through Faith from all which it is evident that those of the Circumcision might be saved and by consequence that their Religion was a true Religion and yet that their doctrine of Circumcision was an error can be disputed by none who read the Epistles of S. Paul And it is no less clear that they held it an Article of Faith delivered to Abraham by God So here it is plain that S. Paul in one breath both condemns this Opinion as erroneous and yet allows Salvation to such as believed it With how many errors doth S. Iohn charge some of the seven Churches yet they were still the Churches of Christ. The Church in the second Century did generally believe the Millennium as a thing revealed by God which the Roman Church now calls an error yet I hope I. K. will not condemn that Church as holding a false Religion The African Churches held it necessary for Infants to receive the Eucharist from these words Except you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man you have no life in you and this was approved by P. Innocent and was continued many Ages in the Roman Church as appears from the Ordo Romanus and yet that Church has declared that not to be necessary by which the Opinion the former Ages had of its necessity is declared an error But it were a strange thing from that to condemn these as holding a false Religion The Franciscans and Dominicans had hot contests about the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin and both pretended Divine authority and Revelations so that one of those must have held an error The Dominicans and Iansenists believe Predestination and Grace efficacious of it self this the Molinists deny both vouch Scriptures and the definitions of the Church The Canonists Courtiers of Rome and Iesuits have asserted the Popes Infallibility from Scripture and Councils the Sorbon hath always rejected this Now of all these different Opinions the one must be true and the other false since they stand in the terms of a contradiction and they have all vouched God and Scriptures for them therefore those who hold the false side of the contradiction according to I. K's reasoning must be of a false Religion which I believe when he considers more maturely he will find he mistook his measures in this And in fine his Argument will also hold as strong to prove that every Individual of a true Religion must be exempt from all errors in every Opinion whereof he takes God to be the Author For I. K's Argument will be as strong for every thing whereof God is believed the Author as for Articles of Faith So that every mistaken sense of Scripture will turn one to be of a false Religion since every mistaken exposition is an error and yet that being thought the meaning of the place God is believed the author of that meaning and by I. K's consequence of the error it self From all which I may I hope even by I. K's leave infer the necessary distinction between things that are believed to be errors and those that are believed to be Truths For the former to vouch God the Author of what we know to be an error and corruption is certainly so criminal that none of the true Religion can be guilty of it But there be many things which though errors yet any one may very innocently mistake for truths I do not say the mistake does quite excuse the error if the error be fundamental the mistake must be so too But if the error be in a lesser matter it is a lesser error and it will never be made out That if one apprehending an Opinion true embrace it as come from God and as an Article of Faith if he is mistaken in that he strikes at the divine veracity for among men who thinks that any wronged his veracity if another mistook his meaning and understood his words in a different sense from what he intended and expressed Certainly he who so mistakes after the true meaning is cleared cannot be understood to have fastned any reproach upon the Candor of him whose words he mistook all the blame being to be cast only on his want of right understanding This were indeed a hard case if all our mistakings of divine Revelations did infer a charging God with error or corruption But the thing is so clear that I am afraid I have spent too many words about it and this Argument of I. K's cannot but upon first reading appear to all that are accustomed to weigh and examine truth to be a piece of crude ill digested and ill palliated Sophistry Thus far have I followed I. K. through those six points he imagines he has demonstrated and have shewed how true the first four were but how little reason there was to account them such for any thing he said for their proof and how false the other two are And I suppose he will acknowledge that if what is already set down hold true and be founded on good reason I need not follow him through the rest of his Book it being only a direction to his gentle courteous Reader how to manage this method of arguing so as to convince all persons that dissent from the true Religion which he thinks is a Mathematical and sure way of proceeding and such as no man can decline or avoid and in end must be either convinced by it or be forced to confess himself no better than an Ass or a block which concludes him a mad man I will not follow this with a railery that is as obvious as severe but I love not to mix matters of sport with such serious purposes therefore I follow I. K. no more through the rest of his Book But come next to consider the great support of that cause which he manages both in his Preface and through the rest of his Book that there can be no certainty neither about the true books of Scripture the Decrees of Councils or writings of Fathers without there be a true Church and Religion agreed on which shall both declare to us what Books are true and what not and shall deliver their true meaning to us otherwise endless confusions must follow which plainly appears in the many divisions of the Protestants and the uncertainties they are in about all Controverted points From which the necessity of a true Church appears as much as in a well ordered State there is not only a necessity of clear and good Laws but of Judges to expound them CHAP. VII Of the supposed Inconveniencies J. K. imagines in the want of a true Church to Iudge Infallibly and of the right methods of finding Truth THere is nothing about which those of the Roman Church make more noise than the necessity of
deceiving Perspective cast on the falsest Propositions and the close Contextures of Reason derived from the common Notices of Truth which dwell on the minds of all men The subtleties of the Schoolmen did well enouâ—h in an Age that questioned nothing but nâ—w that men are throughly awake and having thrown off the prejudices of Custome and Education call for a fuller Evidence they are not the proper men to deal with this Age their ignorance of mankind makes them offer many things as demonstrations which some even of the most trifling pretenders to Wit can undo and blâ—w away and their being accustomed to their own Topicks not knowing how much they are rejected by men of severer and more searching Understandings makes them often beg the one half of the question to prove the other Therefore whoever would deal with our Hectors in matters of Religion must know men as well as Notiâ—nâ— and Books And as of 〈◊〉 Plato thought the Study of Geometry a necessary preparation to the understanding the higher Mysteries of his Philosophy So I have often judged an acquaintance with Mathematical Arts and Sciences a fit and almost necessary preparation for a right understanding and managing Theological debates since these teach us to distinguish Critically betwixt truth and falshood and practise a man into an exact considering of every thing that is proposed to him The want of this or at least a great overliness in it appears in J. K's late Book wherein he thinks he leads his Reader in a Mathematical method through a great many Propositions every one of which he imagines he has proved beginning from a very plain unquestioned one That something is True and ending it in a very fruitful one That every thing the Roman Church teaches as an Article of Faith must certainly be True Undoubtedly if his method be good that Church is infinitely beholding to him for its support having offered an easier and clearer method for bringing the world under her Authority than any yet thought on This he concludes as firm and sure of all sides and by a clear way of Analyticks offers a Resolution of any Theorem or Problem in Divinity even to the giving the Quadrature of that Circle their Church is forc'd to run round in proving her own Authority from the Scriptures and the Authority of the Scriptures from her own Testimony I shall without any further Introduction enter into a survey of the Six Points proposed by J. K. to be proved without examining the unwariness of his expressions in any of them in which though he lies often open yet it is of so little importance to quarrel about Words or forms of Speech that I shall not stand upon them being also careful to avoid the engaging in any debate that may be personal betwixt him and me and therefore shall confine my discourse to the Six Points he has gone through CHAP. I. It is considered if J. K. does prove convincingly that there is a God J K. thinks he hath proved the being of a God by this progression of Reason If something be true then this is true That there is something better than another which if any man deny he denies himself better than an Ass or a Block and so is either a mad man or a fool Now if something be better than other then there is a best of all things and every thing is better as it comes nearer that which is best and this best of all things is God Des Cartes is blamed by many for having left out all other Arguments for the proof of a Deity setting up only One which how strong soever it may be it is a great injury to the Cause he maintains to seem to slight all other proofs may be brought for so sacred and fundamental a truth Yet his establishing that upon a good and solid Foundation doth very much qualifie any guilt which is rather to be imputed to the over-valuing his own Notions than a designed betraying the Cause he undertook But upon this occasion the Reader may be tempted to severâ—r Câ—â—sure when the Foundations of so great a Suâ—â—â—structure are so ill laid and both the Antecedent and Consequent of this Argument prove equally weak And in the first place how is it proved that some things are better than other things or does any imagine the Atheists will admit that On the contrary they deny there is any thing morally good or evil and ascribe all the Notions of good and evil to Education Custom the several tempers and interests of men And indeed did they acknowledge the Morality of Actions they should yield the full half of the Debate that men ought to be good which would clearly make way for proving all the rest And these men will without any hesitation acknowledge themselves no better than Beasts or Blocks as to any moral goodness They will not deny but Matter is more refined in a man the Contexture better and the Usefulness greater than in other Animals but as to any moral goodness they plainly disclaim it As though Wood be never so neatly wrought in a fiâ—e and useful Cabinet yet is no better so than when it was an undressed Plank as to any moral goodness Thus it appears that I. K's ignorance of men makes him stumble in his first attempt nor is his next more successful for though some things be better it will not follow there is a best for of every sort of Beings there are some Individuals better than other but from that it does not follow there must be a best of that rank or order of Creatures because one Horse is swifter one Dog better scented one Lyon stronger therefore must there be a Horse swifter than all others a Dog the best scented of any and a Lyon stronger than any other Lyon This may be applied to all the Species of Creatures for all the goodness these people admit being only a better temper of more nimbly agitated Matter though one thing excel another it is not because it comes nearer the best of all Beings nor because it recedes further from the worst of all Beings but because it is more wieldy more apt to serve the several uses and interests of men without rising higher to consider any Orâ—ginal and Standart goodness Nor wâ—ll this any more prove the being of one that is 〈◊〉 all than because some men are sharper sighted others stronger limbâ—d others of a better digestion and others of a better tempered health that therefore there must be one that hâ—â— the sharpest sight of all men the strongest limbs the best dâ—gestion and the most constant health Besides though an Atheist did admit there were some beings Morally better and worse this does not prove there must be a best of all Beings for he may say that as naturally as Colours fit the eye and Sounds the ear so some Notions of good are suitable to the minds of men and their being better and worse is nothing but their keeping more close
and endless wranglings of the Schools in matters of Philosophy in which men being accustomed to that game of disputing and subtilising about nothing and going from those studies to Divinity and carrying that same temper and fiery edge along with them they made all that work about it which hath now so long divided the world They being also by a long practice habituated to many Maxims and Axioms which were laid down for rules not to be enquired into or denyed came really to believe those were true and to carry them along with them to all their Theological debates All which will appear very evident to any that compares their Philosophical and Theological works from which many of their strange inferences and positions did take their rise and I am afraid do still receive their nourishment Thus far I have discoursed of the several prejudices the powers of the natural man do lay in the way of our apprehending and judging aright of Divine truths and the common notions of the moral Philosophy will concur to teach all men that before their minds can be rightly qualified for the understanding any intellectual truth but most chiefly Divine truth we must abstract from all those figures of things which our senses present to us and rise above all grosser phantasms It is no less necessary that our thoughts be serene and free of passion that we may freely and at leisure consider what lies before us without the Byass of preconceived opinions or interests And it is equally rational with these that we have modest minds not vainly puffed up with an opinion of our own knowledge but tractable and docile such as will not stick after clear conviction to confess and retract an error and that we proceed in our reasonings closely and on sure grounds not on vain conjectures and maxims taken up meerly on trust but by a clear progress advance from one truth to another as the Series of them shall lead A man who is thus prepared must next consider all was said in the first four Sections with a great deal more to the same purpose That he be on good grounds perswaded there is a God that there is a true revealed Religion that the Christian Religion is the true Religion These things being laid down he is in the first place by earnest Prayers to beg God's direction to go along with him in all his enquiries which certainly will not be wanting if he bring with him a sincere well prepared mind not byassed nor prepossessed and of this we may be well assured both from the Divine goodness and veracity For as he hath promised that whoso seek shall find so it is a necessary consequent of infinite goodness to assist all that sincerely seek after life and happiness but if any come to this study without he be duly prepared he has himself to thank if he fall into errors and mistakes The next thing an exact searcher into Religion must labour in is once to observe the nature of Christianity and the great designs of it and in this he is not to follow the small game of some particular and obscure passages but to observe through the whole New Testament what was the great end of all our Saviour spoke and did and his disciples testified and wrote If once we comprehend this a right it will be a thread to carry us through particular disquisitions For as there be many natural truths of which we are well assured though Philosophy offers us some Arguments against them in the answering which we are not able to satisfie our Reasons so there may be some divine truths very certainly made out to us and yet there may be places of Scripture which seem so to contradict those truths that they cannot be well answered Again a serious Enquirer will see good reason to believe the Scriptures must be plain evident and clear since they were at first directed to men of very ordinary parts and of no profound understandings and learning therefore he may well conclude those strange Superstructures some have reared up for amusing the world can be none of the Articles of Faith necessary to be believed And as the first Converts were honest simple men so our Saviour and the Apostles spoke in a plain easie stile therefore all these forced Criticisms and Inferences by which some more ingenious than candid Writers would expound them in a sence favourable to their Opinions aâ—e not to be received since these do often represent the divine discourses rather like the little tricks of double-dealing and Sophistry for which an honest Tutor would severely chide his Pupil words are to be understood in their plain meaning and not as Logick or a nicety of Criticism may distort and throw them If then a man will in this method which no honest man can except against go to the search of the Scriptures with a mind prepared as hath been already said he cannot fail of finding out all that is necessary for his Salvation Nor is he to be doubtfully anxious concerning the true Books for none denies but the Churches care in all Ages hath been the great conveyance of this the many various Translations of all Ages and Languages nay and different Religions agreeing in all material points and the Citations out of those Books which we find in a Series of Authors who have lived in the several Ages since they were written agreeing likewise with the Books themselves together with many ancient Manuscripts which do yet remain of a great many Languages may abundantly satisfie even the most severe Inquirer that these be the very Books which the Apostles delivered and were universally received by all Christians The matter of Fact being thus cleared without any necessity of running to the authority of the Church all those scruples which I. K. with the rest of his Brethren would needs raise do vanish since they never distinguish exactly between a Witness and a Judge For the former nothing is required but honesty and good information and we have the agreeing suffrages of many witnesses that do all agree in their Testimony of these Books who though they differed very much in their Expositions of them yet concurred in their verdict about the Books and were checks on one another in the faithful preserving and transcribing them In this sence we do receive the Churches Testimony as the necessary means of conveying these Books to us But an Authority Sacred and Solemnly declared is required in a Judge and this no Church can so much as pretend to but from the Scriptures Therefore the Scriptures being received as Divine cannot depend on the sentence of the Church as a Judge since all its Jurisdiction is derived from Scripture which therefore must be acknowledged before it can be believed But because there be persons of a meaner Condition and not Educated so as to make all the inquiry which is necessary in so important a Business there is therefore a shorter method for such