pregnant proofs in vindication of the Articles we defend in opposition to the Protestant Church though Sectaries boast that Scripture is on their side yet they allow only of such Scripture of such Versions and of such an Interpretation as their private Spirit dictates unto them So that if we will prove out of Scripture as out of a principle admitted by our Adversaries the Articles of our Faith we must prove them out of Scripture as interpreted according to their private Spirit which is impossible For how can it be possible to evince against a Zuinglian for example out of that place of Scripture Matth. 26. This is my body the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist if we must take that place in the sense of a Zuinglian viz. in a meer Figurative sense And since Sectaries will not assent to any thing in matters of Religion asserted by Doctors Fathers Tradition or Councils further then it is agreeable to Scripture neither will they assent to Scripture but as interpreted by their own private spirit it follows manifâ—stly that the malice of our Aduersaries has rendred all the forementioned Topicks though good in themselves as admitted by them and in the manner they admit them insignificant and ineffectual to prove out of them as out of premises granted by our Aduersaries the Tenets of the true Religion and that whoever makes use of them as of such will often be at a loss Yea what shall we say to Les beaux Esprits of our Nation the Spawn of Heresie who openly disavow Doctors Fathers Tradition Councils and Scripture Wherefore to the end we may argue well against our Adversary out of a Principle as granted by him it is not enough that such a principle be good and pertinent in it self but it is necessary that it be granted by our Adversary and in such a manner as that it may be effectual to evince what we intend If finally we retreat to Natural Reason endeavouring thereby to make out the True Religion though there be no rational man who will plainly confess that he renounces all Natural Reason for so he would renounce the being a Rational man yea such as disallow all other Topicks do most vapour of Natural Reason yet many confine it in several matters to their own private Notions and Fancies Notwithstanding there are some Principles so manifest and so general that no man whatsoever can deny or question them without evidently rendring himself uncapable of conferring with any rational man Such is this Principle SOMETHING IS TRUE which no Sceptique though never so Extravagant can call in question and whoever should affirm that NOTHING IS TRUE would not only incapacitate himself for all humane conversation but also grant the very thing he denies This Proposition Nothing is True being of the nature of such as falsifie themselves and cut their own throats Nay if nothing be true the Position our Adversaries pretend to maintain is not True viz. That the Roman Church is infected with Errors and Corruptions Our present Method therefore is bottom'd upon the forementioned Principle Something is true which I keep in reserve to the end that in case other Principles should fail me I might have wherein to trust and whereon to ground the Conviction of all Dissenters whatsoever from the true Religion For this Principle being once agreed unto as necessarily it must be I deduce thence the truth not only of the Roman Catholique Religion but also of whatsoever she delivers as an Article of Divine Faith This Method is Rational Compendious Clear Easie and General It is Rational for not only the Foundation but the Superstructures too are squared out by natural Reason It is Compendious for the whole substance of the Method is comprehended in six short points which yet I draw into a narrower Circle It is Clear interwoven only with plain and general notions and devested from all Scholastical questions which of purpose I have waved For my perswasion always has been That Polemical Debates wherein we handle matters of Religion which we cannot deny without forfeiting our Faith are not to be involved with Scholastical Opinions which we may promiscuously deny or defend without any prejudice to our Religion For then the contest comes to be not between Catholick and no-Catholick but between Catholicks and Catholiques neither do I see what necessity there is that men should be made Thomists Scotists or Suarists before they be made Christians or Catholiques or why Those who come to our Religion should not have the same liberty in order to opinions as Those who are of our Religion It is Easie For that one may understand this Method it is not necessary that he be vers'd in Fathers Councils or Scriptures nor that he has read Books of Controversie nor that he be a Philosopher or a Divine nor that he be acquainted with the Latin Greek or Hebrew Tongue nay nor that he be so much as able to read It is only necessary that he be endowed with Reason and that he be able to reflect upon his own Thoughts which any rational man is able to do For my Task in this Method only is among so many general Notions which either Nature or Education hath printed in the hearts of all men to trace out such as being rallied together will certainly conveigh one to the True Religion So that my design is rather to shew every one how he may convince himself than to convince him my self And though few are willing to yield to others in contests of great concern yet no Body is unwilling to yield to himself and his own Notions Wherefore laying aside all Animosities and Feuds of Disputes which many hate so much we deal fairly and freely with our Adversary making him his own Book and only pointing out unto him by way of an Interrogatory such Principles as are material to our intent Finally it is General for the Satisfaction of all persons for the confirmation of all Articles of Faith and for the confutation of all Errors against Religion It is General for the satisfaction of all persons whether they be learned or unlearned whether they be Christians or no Christians and whether they be of any Religion or of no Religion Yea it is General as well for such as seek their own Satisfaction in matters of Religion as for such as desire to satisfie others Nor Those who will make use of This Method have any need of Books much less of great Libraries and whatever way our Adversary takes to attaque us we may force him to our Method So that whoever is well acquainted therewith needs not any particular preparation to encounter any Adversary of whatsoever Sect or profession he be It is also General for the Confirmation of all Articles of Faith For we shew at once the Truth of All such Articles and not only of sâ—ch as are now Articles of Faith but of such too as shall hereafter be declared to be so We insinuate also how This Method
such Doctrines be Articles of the Catholick Faith or not but whether they be errors or truths Now if one knows what Doctrines are delivered by the Catholick Church as Articles of Faith he may easily know what Propositions are immediately opposite to such Doctrines As for example if one knows that Purgatory is delivered as an Article of Faith by the Catholick Church he cannot but see that No-Purgatory or the denial of Purgatory is immediately opposite to such an Article And if one knows what Propositions are immediately opposite to such Doctrines as the Catholick Church delivers as Articles of Faith he knows also what Propositions are Formal Heresies For all Formal Here sies whatsoever are immediately opposite to some Doctrine taught by the True Church i. e. the Catholick as an Article of Faith Moreover if one knows what other Propositions do necessarily infer any Formal Hetesie he knows also what Propositions are virtual Heresies For a'l virtual Heresie must necessarily infer a Formal Heresie And because the Roman Catholick Church is not only now the True Church but will be till the worlds end for among other things which she delivers as Articles of Faith one is her own perpetuity by help of this Method we are taught not only what Heresies now are or have been but also what Heresies shall be hereafter if it happens that any new Heresies be broached For all Heresies whatsoever must necessarily be contrary to some Doctrine delivered by the Catholick Church as an Article of Faith Yet further by the means of this Method we may solve all Objections against the Truth of the Roman Catholick Church or any Doctrine delivered by it as an Article of Faith shewing in general That whatsoever is or can be objected against us in this kind either from Reason or Authority is false or Incouclusive For if the Roman Catholick Church be a True Church and if whatsoever she teaches as an Article of Faith be True as we have evinced it follows evidently that what ever is or can be objected against our Church or any Article thereof must necessarily be either False or Inconclusive For it is a manifest principle of Logick That there can be no True Solid and Real Proof against a Truth or of a Falsity True it is that this Method doth not instruct us how we are to answer in particular every Objection against the Truth of the Roman Church and of the Doctrines which she delivers as Articles of Faith But this is not necessary to the end we may remain fully satisfied concerning the Falsity or Inconclusiveness of whatsoever is objected against her or her Articles All men are firmly perswaded that there is Local Motion and that we move from one place to another as reason and experience do evidently demonstrate and consequently according to the Principle just now insinuated they are cervain that whatsoever is objected against Local Motion although it seem never so hard is either False or Inclusive Yet very few can shew directly even with probability and perhaps no Body with evidence how and why each Objection in particular against Local Motion is either False or Inconclusive And generally speaking one may be certain as several obvious instances do evince that such a Thing is so without knowing or being able to assign either the particular manner how it is so or the direct and proper reason why it is so and consequently one may be fully satisfied that such an objection is either False or Inconclusive though he be not able to give the proper and direct reason why it is so And although I must needs confess that there are several other ways to demonstrate the Truth of the Roman Catholick Religion as there may be many reasons and all of them very good to prove the same Truth yet it is easie to force our Adversary to come to this Method For all Methods whatsoever to prove the true Religion or any other verity are grounded either upon Reason or Authority If our Adversary will be tried by Reason the way we have taken in this Method in order to find out the true Religion is built upon Reason For Reason shews us that there is something better than another and that if there be something better than another there is a God and that if there be a God there is a True Religion and thus Reason guides us downwards through the forementioned Points till it has proved That the Roman Catholick Religion delivers nothing as an Article of Faith which is not true and that then we are to believe her in whatsoever she teaches as such But if our Adversary will be tried by Authority either of Scriptures or General Councils or ancient Fathers or Modern Writers This Trial if it be well managed must depend upon the knowledge of the True Church and True Religion For certainly no Body in matters of Religion is bound to be tried by the Scriptures Councils or Doctors of a False Religion We cannot in prudence require of a Christian to stand in Debates of Religion to the Decisions of the Alchoran the Scripture of the Turks or to the Decrees of their Councils and Doctors Wherefore when men appeal to Scriptures Councils or Doctors for the determination of Religious Debates doubtless their intention is to appeal to such Scriptures and Councils and such alone and to all such as are admitted by the True Church and to such Doctors only as are Members of the True Religion And how can we know what Scriptures or what Councils are admitted by the True Church or what Doctors are Members of the True Religion unless we know which is the True Church and which is the True Religion For what Saint Augustin said of the Church in order to the Scripture Ego vero Evangelio non crederem nisi me Ecclesiae Catholicae commoveret authoritas Aug. lib. Epist cont Manich. cap. 5. may be extended to Councils and Doctors For the present True Church decides not only what ancient Councils and Doctors have been Orthodox but also what modern Councils and Doctors are so We force therefore our Adversary to the investigation of the True Religion and then we may set upon him according to the Method above-mentioned Moreover when one appeals to Scriptures Councils or Fathers sure he appeals to them as rightly understood For who will be tried by Scriptures Councils or Fathers understood in a wrong sense Now if there arise a contest as commonly there does between us and our Adversaries concerning the right meaning of the places alledged out of Scripture the same is of places alledged out of Councils or Fathers certainly the Judge to decide this Debate must appertain to the True Religion For who will make his application to an Atheist to decide matters of Religion or what Christian will go to a Turk or a Jew to determine matters belonging to Christianity In like manner when one appeals to the private Spirit in matters of Religion sure he will not appeal to the private
Spirit of an Atheist or if he be a Christian to the private Spirit of a Jew a Turk or an Heretick His intention therefore is to appeal to the private Spirit of such as are of the True Religion and we cannot be ascertainâ—d who or what appertains to the True Religion unless we be informed which the True Religion is And thus we force our Adversary again to make enquiry into the True Religion and then we may attack him after our own way asking him whether he grants the Roman Catholick Religion to be a true Religion if he grants it we may shew according to what we hinted above That the Roman Catholick Religion is the true Religion and if so that to her appertains the judgment of Controversie and of the true and genuine sense of Scriptures Councils and Fathers Whence I conclude that till we have found out which is the true Religion scarce any other Thing under Debate appertaining to Religion can be proved And when that is found out all other Things appertaining to Religion are proved without difficulty And here I cannot but reflect upon the unreasonableness of our Adversaries who will tie us to certain Topicks without giving us leave to make use of others of no less force Some will have us shew them in the First Four General Councils or in the Fathers of the First 600 years after Christ in express terms all the Points which we defend in opposition to the Protestant Church and unless we can do it they proclaim the victory against us And why might not we in the same manner require of them to shew us in the Apostles Creed all their Thirty Nine Articles or in the First Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel all the Mysteries of Christian Religion we admit beside the Four First General Councils several others of equal Authority and beside the Fathers of the First 600 years other Fathers and Doctors Others will have All Controversies decided by express Scripture and by their Scriptures only and with their versions and interpreted according to their sense without hearkening either to Councils or Fathers or any other Topicks though very solid and effectual whereas any good and solid argument let it be drawn from any Topick whatsoever is sufficient to evince a Truth and no Body can with reason require more of his Adversary than that he should prove solidly the Thesis which he undertakes to defend Neither is it necessary That all Truths should be evidenced out of every place Wherefore it is not Prudence to permit that our Adversary should prescribe us the manner wherein we are to attack him it is better to force him to fight our way For though perhaps the way he proposes unto us may be apt enough yet another may be more advantageous and an adversary may with more ease find in a way wherein he is versed Cavils wherewith to elude our Arguments though never so good then if he be brought into a road wherein he is not acquainted Yet because they may have no occasion to quarrel with us as if we did refuse to be tried by Scripture we profess that we are not unwilling to be tried by it But then it must be with These Conditions which no rational man can look upon as absurd viz. By True Scripture By the whole Canon of Scripture By the True Versions thereof and by Scripture rightly understood The same may be said of Councils and Fathers We have made frequent mention in this Discourse of Fundamental points of the True Religion yet we do not require of our Adversaries that which they are loth to do to exhibit unto us a Catalogue of all such Points What we require of them is only That they grant this point to be Fundamental and Essential to a True Religion viz. God is not the Author of any error or corruption whatsoever or whatsoever God reveals is true And sure no Body who grants any true Religion yea any True Deity can refuse to grant This position For it is certain that there are some Points determinately Fundamental and Essential to a true Religion and if there be and such why not this The very Foundation of Divine Faith consists in this Principle That God does neither deceive nor is deceived in any Thing whatsoever and consequently that he is not the Author of any error great or little and that what ever he reveals is true Otherwise one might say Though God has revealed such a Thing perhaps it is not so as he has revealed it which doutbless would be a manifest Blasphemy Yea the reason why we ought to believe God before man is because men do many times deceive and are many times more deceived But God does never deceive nor is deceived We have mentioned also several times Natural and Revealed Religion By Natural Religion we understand Those necessary common Principles of Morality relating to our duty towards God our selves and our Neighbour which Nature has printed in the hearts of men and are usually stiled The Law of Nature Such are these Principles Do as you would be done by Worship God Honour your Parents Obey your Superiours Fly Evil. Do Good and such like Natural Religion also does inform us concerning several Attributes of God as that he is Supreme Governour of the Vniverse That he is not idle in the world That he complies with his Character and consequently that he rules and governs the world That he is just and merciful and consequently that he will reward those who do well and punish such as do ill By a revealed Religion is signified a Religion that contains either some high Mysteries seated above the Sphere of Humane Reason or some particular manner of worshipping God or some particular matters wherein we are to obey him freely revealed unto us by God Now God may manifest his will unto men divers ways either by Writings Words or other Signs by positive Injunctions or by Silence as men also may manifest their will by himself or by others Commissioned by him whether Angels or Men or he may manifest his will partly by Writing and partly in Words or by Writings or Words so clear that any one may understand them or so obscure that to understand them there is need of an Expositor He may also determine by himself the particular manner wherein he will be worshipped and the particular matters wherein he will be obeyed or he may assign others to determine them and though it be Free for God to chuse this or that way of governing men yet supposing there are men he must needs lay hold of some way or other to manifest unto them his pleasure otherwise he would not comply with this Character of being Governour of the world and consequently there must be some Religion freely revealed by God Besides out of that common notion of God assented unto by All Ens Optimum Maximum the Best of all Things though we may prove the Existency of a Deity by other Notions agreed upon by
A RATIONAL Compendious way TO CONVINCE Without any DISPUTE All Persons whatsoever Dissenting from the TRVE RELIGION By J. K. PSAL. IV. 7. Signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui Domine Printed in the Year 1674. THE PREFACE THE variety of Sects which daily swarm here in England has forced me upon this way of ending Controversies in Religion No body can confute in particular the proper Tenets of each Sect unless he be first well informed what they are and our Sects are so numerous and so various that to be well informed of the particular Tenets of each one of them a mans life is not sufficient Yea even Those who do profess to be all os the same Religion are many times so different one from another that we can scarce find Two among them who do perfectly agree in the Articles of their Faith Several Religions retain only the name of what they were when first broached and should one be perfectly acquainted with the proper Tenets of the Sects which are now in Vogue within a short time he would be to seek when other new Heresies come into fashion Besides it is one thing to convince a man that he is in a wrong way which we may do by refuting the particular Errors of the Religion he professes and another thing to shew him which is the True way which cannot be done but by demonstrating unto him the True Religion Wherefore I have endeavoured without taking notice of the particular Errors of each Sect to find out a Method whereby to evidence to all persons whatsoever the True Religion For this being once evidenced unto them whoever strayes from it may clearly see not only that he is in the wrong but also how he may put himself in the right-Certain it is that if there be a True Religion in the world as we shall evince there is it may be found out by all such as are concerned therein and consequently by all persons whatsoever For they are all concern'd in finding out the True Religion since they are all bound to save their Souls Nor can they save their Souls unless they please God nor please God unless they embrace the True Religion which is only able to teach them what they are to do to please God Sine Fide impossibile est placere Deo Heb. 11.6 Nor finally embrace the True Religion unless they can find out and be convinced which it is And if all persons whatsoever may find out which the True Religion is there must needs be some way whereby they may find it out and this way also must be such that it may be found out For what matters it that there be a way to find out such a thing if no Body can find out which that way is My endeavour therefore was to find out This way of Convincing all persons whatsoever concerning the True Religion Now Natural Reason and Experience teaches us that it is not possible to convince any one by discourse but out of what the person with whom we deal does admit For all conviction by discourse must be grounded upon premises and nothing can be convinced or concluded out of premises unless they be granted If every Thing is to be proved we shall never finish the proof of any Thing The art therefore of convincing a person consists in discovering such premises granted by him whence is inferred what we pretend to convince him of And if the premises be not only granted by our Adversary but also True in themselves they may be effectual both to convince our Adversary and evince the Truth too But if they be not True in themselves yet granted to be so they may convince him but can never evince the Truth And such Arguments are commenly stiled Argumenta ad hominem Since therefore my design was not only to convince the persons but to evince the Truth also and to convince all persons whatsoever concerning the True Religion I further resolved to seek out Principles True in themselves pertinent to prove the intent and such as no person whatsoever could deny or question But where shall we meet with such Principles especially since we live in an Age wherein a good wit and a bold wit are accounted Synonima's and those are held to be most ingenious who can deny most If we apply our selves to the several Writers of each respective Sect thinking to convince the professors of such Sects by the Testimonies of their own Doctors we shall find that some Fancy one Author some another though they all profess themselves to be of the same Religion Neither will they stand to all the Author whom they Fancy asserts but to what they please only and in what sense too they please to interpret it Yea though they promise many times at the Beginning to stick to what such a Doctor to whom they are devoted does affirm in reference to such a Debate yet when they are press'd they flie off and say That they will not pin their Faith upon the sleeve of Luther Calvin or any other particular Doctor of the Protestant Church If we make our address to the ancient Fathers of the Church endeavouring to evidence by their Testimonies the Truth of ours and the Falshood of our Adversaries Religion this Topick is obnoxious to the same flaws as the former For our Adversaries admit among the ancient Fathers only whom they fancy and of him only what they fancy and this only in what sense they fancy and though to amuse the people they often vapour that the Fathers for the first 600 years after Christ did stand for them yet when they are pinched with clear Testimonies produced out of them destructive to their particular Sentiments they plainly confess that even the chiefest of the ancient Fathers were infected with Non-fundamental Errors and such Errors only they ascribe to Bellarmin and other Writers of the Roman Church and with several Superstitions of Popery or they come to slight them all saying with some German Lutherans that one Kemnitius is worth a thousand Austins or with their grand Patriarch Luther that they do not value a Thousand Cyprians a Thousand Austins nay nor the whole Universal Church worth a straw The same may be said of Tradition For they admit the Tradition only of such men and in such matters as they think fit or when they are urged they slight it If we appeal to the General Councils of the Church shewing that by their Canons our Tenets are established and the Errors of our Adversaries condemned of eighteen General Councils they admit only four Nay they do not afford any absolute assent to the Definitions of any General Council whatsoever but only a conditional viz. as far only as they guided by their own private Spirit do judge that what the Council defines is agreeable to Scripture And sure they will not deny such an assent even to what the Council of Trent has defined If we betake our Selves to Scripture producing thence many