a Favor by it tho' his not dealing so by his most worthy Friends might make one think otherwise and since whilst I am contented to yield to him in Contumely and Abuse I am resolved not to come one jot behind him in Point of Courtesie I have desired the Printer to pay him the same Respect as often as he can do it conveniently That his NAME may rumble as much in my Pamphlet as mine doth in his And altho' this should prove to be a sign of ill Will for I know not what to make of it our Spleen would not be mis-placed upon the Doctors Name since it is That which has done us Ten times more harm than his Arguments tho' indeed ever since his late Book we have some reason to hope that it's Authority is much lessened with all Those whose minds are at liberty to Consider There is one thing which with my Readers Licence I desire to take notice of before I pass on to the remainder of the Doctors Relation which is the gross fallacy wherewith some Protestant Divines are wont to delude the Common People whensoever they are called upon by Catholics to shew on what Authority they receive the Holy Scripture The Papists say they question the Authority of Scripture Again when it is alledged that the Scripture left to the Interpretation of each private person can decide no Point of Controversie since doubtlesly every one will declare that the Scripture is for him and in effect he does declare it by holding his particular Tenet whatsoever it be as grounded on Scripture I say when this is urged They cry The Scripture is undervalued by the Papists And this makes such deep Impression on the unthinking Multitude or shall I say strikes such a damp on their Spirits that many times it surpasses the skill of the ablest and plainest Logician to undeceive them And yet it is not because they cannot think Rationally enough to discern the Fallacy but because they will not since there is no understanding amongst them so dull or short-sighted but if it be made use of must see through it None can have a greater respect for the Holy Scripture than Catholics have I my self have known several of them beyond-Sea who amongst their other Devotions Reading some part of the Holy Scripture every day to shew their profound Veneration for it were always wont to Read it on their Knees which whosoever observes and compares with that very indifferent behaviour wherewith it is ordinarily handled here in England will not say that Catholics have a less regard for the Holy Scripture than Protestants And consequently they do as little question it 's Authority Why then do the Catholics urge the Protestants to shew on what Authority or Testimony they receive the Bible since it's Authority is undoubted on both sides It is because the Catholics would take this occasion of shewing their Adversaries that of necessity a True and Uncorrupted Church must be allowed to have been in the World when they began their pretended Reformation viz. about a hundred and fifty years ago For since they received their Bible from some Church then in the World in case there were at that time no true nor uncorrupted Church it must follow that they had no good Authority for their Bible And on the contrary if the Protestants will own that they received their Bible from good hands they must acknowledge that they had it from a True Church and consequently that there was such a one in the World when they began to Reform And from hence it will immediately follow that the first Reformers separating from the whole World as hath been said did also separate from the True Church which as we here suppose them to confess was then in it And therefore must be accounted Schismatics unless they can give us some better Definition of Schism than that which hitherto we have had viz. of it's being a Separation from the Obedience and Communion of the True Church There is yet another Reason why we ask the Protestants on what Authority they receive the Scriptures And it is because we would likewise put them in mind of what I hinted above viz. that they ought to admit other things and indeed the meaning of the Scripture upon the same Authority on which they admit the letter And therefore when they say that they had the Scripture from the Roman Catholics we tell them that if the Roman Catholics may be relyed on for the reception of the Scripture they may be credited for other Doctrins If they are bad Witnesses no part of their Testimony can be valid Wherefore if any part of it be so they must be look'd on as Good Witnesses and consequently their whole Testimony ought to be embraced And this is another cause of this Question But why do the Catholics derogate so much from the most abundant Perfection of Holy Scripture as to affirm that it is insufficient of it self to decide our Controversies in Faith It is because the daily and palpable experience of Mankind Teaches it to be so Neither is it any derogation to a Law to say that it stands in need of what never yet any Law was without viz. A Judge or Interpreter of it And I wonder that the Protestants who confess that every Man is fallible and as such may be mistaken in the Sense of Scripture and that to his Damnation should look on it as a Derogation to the same Scripture to think that God whose Mercy is over all his Works hath appointed some means to keep us from being so mistaken Especially when this help is not so much for the Scripture as for our understandings It arguing no more a defect in those sacred Volums that our narrow Intellects are not able to comprehend their meaning without an Interpreter as it fared with the * And Philip ran thither to him the Eunuch and heard him Read the Prophet Esaias and said understandest thou what thou Readest And he said how can I except some Man should guide me c. Act. c. 8. v. 30.31 Eunuch spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles than it doth a fault in a good Print that it cannot be Read by weak Eyes without the assistance of a Glass To conclude if it be a Derogation to the Scripture to say that it stands in need of somewhat besides it self for it's being understood by us How will those Protestants defend themselves who affirm that Prayer Humility and * See Pa. 18. Ministerial Guides are necessary for this purpose What greater affront is it to the Scripture to declare that it cannot be understood without the Authority of the Church than it is to say that it cannot be understood without Ministerial Guides Nor even with them according to Protestants any more than fallibly which is in truth not to be understood at all for how can a Man be said to know the meaning of a thing whilst he doubts whether he know it or not
and Knew the voice of their Church and therefore according to the Doctors own assertion needed it not But perhaps the Doctor will say that for the Verbal Translation of the Scripture the Protestants are not necessitated to have recourse to particular Men the Bible being Translated to their hands and warranted by public Authority tho' here too they will be at a loss unless it appear to them that they may confide in this Authority but for the Sense in all dubious places they ought to Address themselves to their Ministers They may do it if they please And if not I suppose they may let it alone and this last with most safety For according to our late Divines all things necessary to Salvation are plain in Scripture and therefore to look after the meaning of dubious places is to do more than of bounden Duty is required and has the appearance of a Work of Supererogation which is such an abominable thing with the Church of England that they have a whole * See 14th Article Article against it and declare that it cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety much less as I suppose PRACTISED Wherefore as yet there appears no cause why the Apprentice should be chidden for not having waited on Dr. T. in this occasion And indeed if that be the case viz. That the Members of the Church of England are to go to their Ministers for the Construction of these dubious places I do not perceive that they have any great advantage over those of the Church of Rome tho' what the Doctor says were true viz. That Roman Catholics were to apply themselves to particular Priests for the Translation of the Scriptures since the Protestants themselves must make the same application for the Sense and Meaning of these Scriptures And this Sense is that which is of the greatest importance or rather That which is of any Importance at all But in Truth they are not particular Priests which Catholics depend on for either the Translation or Sense of the Scripture in any necessary Point of Faith but it is on their Church whose Voice is as Intelligible at least and with the Doctors leave much farther Heard than that of the Church of England For is it not full as evident in England and much more evident in other Parts of the World that the Church of Rome Teaches a Purgatory than it is that the Church of England Teaches the contrary And so of other Doctrins This is an Age wherein Men whilest they Scepticize on evident Truths are Positive in Absurdities and therefore there want not Those who ask how the Members of the Church of Rome can know what their Church holds But when they shall have considered how they themselves come to know what That Church holds whilest they Condemn it's Doctrins as also how a Man may come to understand what is held by the Church of England they will not I suppose expect any farther Answer This were it not so Common and even with Men of no Common Wit would have been too frivolous to have been taken notice of One endeavor which I used for the speaking somewhat of a Guide in Controversie was on the following occasion Dr. T. having called me to him and desiring as he said that * Pag. 21. Mr. P. would stick to something took upon him to explain a Text of Scripture which had been long before Cited by Mr. P. for the Authority of the Church viz. That of St. Matthew c. 18. v. 17. If he will not hear the Church let him be to thee as an Heathen and a Publican The Doctor said that considering the Antecedent Verses this ought to be understood of ordinary Trespasses such as the not paying of a just debt c. And not of Articles of Faith making use of a tedious Instance to that purpose the summ whereof was * Ibid. that in case a Man should refuse to pay his debts after one or two demands he is put into the Ecclesiastical Courts supposing it proper for their cognisance And if he will not stand to their Sentence then he is Excommunicated and Treated as such a One. Whereupon I told the Doctor that for my own part I understood that Text of Scripture quite otherwise than he did being persuaded that we were obliged by it to Hear the Church in all those things wherein the same Church doth declare that she hath Power to Judge And most especially in matters of Faith Which in their own Nature seem more proper for the Cognisance of Ecclesiastical Courts than a Question of Debt That it was not unusual for our Blessed Saviour on a particular occasion to deliver a general Precept as for instance when the Jews ask'd him whether or no it were lawful to pay Tribute to Caesar he * Mat. c. 22. v. 19 c. called for the Tribute-mony and ask'd whose Image it bore and being Answered that it was Caesars he gave this Rule Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesars Which Rule I suppose is general and hath regard not only to Tribute but also to whatever else is due from Subjects to Sovereign Princes as Respect Obedience and the like tho' the occasion on which the Rule was made and that which immediately preceded it seem to be Particular and to look no farther than his Pecuniary Rights That in like manner tho' this Text viz. If he will not hear the Church c. might be spoken in a Particular occasion it could not be thence inferr'd that it was not of a more large Extension especially if we should compare it with other Texts such as are * Joh. c. 20. v. 21. As my Father sent me so I send you * Matth. c. 28. v. 19 20. Go and Teach all Nations and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the World. a Luke c. 10. v. 16. He that Heareth You Heareth ME c. b Eph. c. 4. v. 11 c. And he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the Work of the Ministry c. That we henceforth be no more Children c If Pastors are left to keep us from being tossed to and fro it follows that we must hearken to them as also that they must be kept from being tossed to and fro themselves Otherwise they will not be able to effect that for which they were left tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrin c. d Hebr. c. 13. v. 17. Obey those that are set over you for they watch as being to render account for your Souls All which places at least according to my own Judgment are clear for that Perpetuity and that Authority of the Church which are believed by Roman Catholics But above all this Truth seems to be most apparent to me when I consider what immediately follows in this place of Scripture viz. When
same to themselves Nothing therefore is so primarily Essential to Protestants as to conclude both Themselves and their Leaders Fallible and in consequence of this to Distrust both And from hence it follows according to what I intimated before that when they do otherwise that is absolutely confide in either their Protestancy is at an end This in Truth is consonant to Reason and therefore one would think that what I here ask were already granted But alas Reason was never more Pretended nor less Used and these Gentlemen are so far from having it in our present Case that one Part of them whil'st they decry all dependence on Men for their Faith with the greatest impatience repose so entirely on This or the Other Reverend Doctor or on Several of them together that altho' these very Doctors * By a necessary Consequence from their Doctrin viz. That the Church is to be follow'd no farther than it agrees with Scripture and each man is left to judge how far she so agrees teach them the contrary they are ready to believe them in every thing but this and the Rest wondring at General Councils for pretending to Infallibility talk in the mean while themselves with so much Authority and so little Diffidence as if they spoke by immediate Inspiration from Heaven This is what truly passes in the World but this is notwithstanding what ought not to pass For whatever Allowances may be made to Ignorance where men proceed according to the best of their Knowledge there is certainly no excuse for Protestants whil'st they declare that both their Teachers and their own Judgments are liable to Error in Doctrins of Faith if nevertheless they suffer themselves to be deceiv'd by either Wherefore my dear Friends I hope you will not say you may be mistaken and yet act as if you could not but that reflecting on the Uncertainty which even your own Principles shew you to be in you will do what so much danger naturally suggests viz. have recourse to Almighty God who is our only Refuge in all Distresses earnestly and constantly beseeching him that since you cannot please him without Faith nor have Faith whil'st you have Doubt he would bring you to such a Faith as may rationally exclude all Doubting and so yield you a solid Foundation for both your Hope and Charity This Resolution of addressing your selves to God by humble Prayer is of so great moment that tho' I could heartily wish that this were now your Preparation of mind for the reading of this Pamphlet yet I should be very well contented if it should prove the fruit of your Perusal and that when you made an end of Reading you would be throughly convinced of the necessity of Praying And it is for this reason that I make the same Request to you once more in my Close And certainly I may well despair of obtaining any other favor from you if after all my Entreaties you deny me What your own Teachers your own Principles and your own greatest Interest asks of you as well as my self E. M. ADVERTISEMENT The Citations in the Margin refer to Dr. T.'s Account of the Conference excepting where it is otherwise express'd Page 15. line 22. for Doctor himself read Doctor and himself What other faults have escaped the Press are easily corrected Some Farther REMARKS ON THE Late Account given by Dr. Tenison of his Conference with Mr. Pulton THERE are few persons I suppose but such as have a great conceit of themselves who are willing that all the words which drop from them in the heat of a tumultuous and unprepared Discourse should be Published through the present Age or recommended to Posterity at least in no better dress than the hast they were spoken in would allow But when such casual expressions are not only divested of their Antecedent and Consequent Circumstances but must bear the Additions and Defalcations of Craft and Malice over and above nay when a Disputing Adversary not only takes care to Interrupt his Opponents Discourse and by that means renders his Propositions maim'd and imperfect but also when he has them at home mangles them yet farther and in this plight like a deform'd Sampson exposes them to mockery the injury is too great to need any other aggravation than barely the being told However this Injustice is heighten'd when to make these mishapen Sentences of his Antagonist appear yet more ugly his own are trimm'd up and placed by them with a far better Air in Print than that which they had at the Conference And yet how provoking soever this injury may be I call God to witness that my own Reputation tho' it suffer as far as either Dr. Tenisons Tongue or Pen is a Slander should never have prevailed with me to have appeared in its Defence Since over and above the Repugnance I still have to this kind of coming upon the Stage it ought to be a greater comfort to a Christian to bear an Affront with patience than to ensure the Praise of the whole World. And those who have been the most acquainted with the exercises of a vertuous life have always asserted that Applause in this warfare is much an harder Enemy to deal with than Calumny It is not my Reputation then any farther than the preservation of it is a Duty which calls upon me at this time to take the Pen into my hand But it is that which seems to be so united to it as to suffer with it I mean my Religion For altho' personal defects unless they come to be general ought to cast no blemish on any Profession yet how far shall we think that such things will influence weak persons when a * Gubbard whom D. T. in his Ep. to his Parishioners mentions to have succeeded his Father in his Benefice of Mondesly and afterwards to have Preached Purgatory c might for ought the Doctor pretends to know during his stay in that place come first to be convinced of the truth of such points as he Preached so that what the Doctor takes for Dissimulation which probably would not have discovered it self where there was a good Benefice to be lost by it might be Change. It being great pity that every one should be as Immutable in Evil as D. T. This might be the case or else this G might be a Church of England-man as others have observed supposed Crime of a supposed Jesuit made so violent an Impression on Dr. Tenison whilst he was Young against their whole Order that maugre his entire Doctorship of Divinity he is like to carry it with him to his Grave And consequently to the Tribunal of that Judge who when he was our Master taught us more Charitable Lessons And to such a strange degree of partiality does this rash Judgment arrive that with many Protestants one good Man is sufficient to bring their Religion into Repute and one evil Christian enough to Discredit ours Which tho' unreasonable in them is yet a good
latter This is my Body It is evident indeed that such an Edition would be of no Credit But why Not for any defect in the sound or other intrinsic fault as hath been shewn but because the Authority of one single person which recommends the first Sentence cannot weigh with that of the whole World which delivers the last For could these two Sentences change their Extrinsic Testimonies they would change their Credit also Much more of this Nature might be added But we need not have Recourse to Suppositions for an Evidence of this Truth which is sufficiently confirmed by that Difference in the Translations of the Scripture which is already in the World. By Difference in Translations I mean a Difference in * Viz. when one Translation hath Words expressing a different Sense from those which are in another Sense and not in Language as Dr. St was pleased to Mistake my meaning in his second Letter to Mr. G In which piece for the most part he Answers my Objections by mistaking them And certainly Books may be Answered with ease when Ignorance it self as Mistaking is either Real or Pretended is able to do the work The prevention of such mistakes was one of the Reasons why I preferr'd Personal Conferences before the Writing 〈◊〉 â—ooks tho indeed for the securing such Conferences from such after mis-representations as we have here I thought it convenient that what was said in them should be committed to Writing immediately upon the place I say then that this Difference of Sense in the several Translations of the Bible which are now in Being is an undenyable proof that the Scripture does not manifest it self to us by it 's own Lustre as is pretended at least in all it's parts For since all these Differences of Sense expressed by Different words are held for Authentic by Different Bodies of Christians whereas at most there can be but one of these Different Expressions Genuine or True it must follow that the Truth of every parcel of Scripture is not evident to All alike and consequently not Evident from it self And indeed to say the truth I never knew that any sort of Christians endeavored to justifie the preference of their own Version before that of others from the Sound or Texture of the Expressions but always from it's Conformity to the Original Languages Antient Copies or the like which they would not have done could the bare Sound or Frame have sufficiently pleaded for it What is here proved from the Difference in the Translations of the Bible may be yet farther evinced by that which there is in the number of the Canonical Books since if the Scripture were evident of it self how come whole Books to be received by some and rejected by others And here a new Reason offers it self to me why Protestants should be asked more particularly what Testimony they have for their Bible since they lay aside so much of that Canon which was confirmed by the Council of Carthage in the year 397. subscribed to by St. Augustin as also by the sixth General Council A. D. 680. and hath been so generally in use ever since for want as they pretend of that Testimony which is sufficient I should design an endless piece of work should I purpose to set down all the absurdities which necessarily are derived from this Assertion viz. that the Scripture is Proved by it self Dato uno absurdo mille sequuntur I hope what I have said is enough for the rejecting a Position which ought rather to be esteemed it 's own dis-proof than the Scripture can be look'd on as it 's own Proof For since it is most apparent that the Sense of all the parts of Holy Scripture is not Plain to us by it 's own Light how comes it to pass that without further help we may know the Words which we Read to be the Words of the Holy Ghost and not know the Sense which we have of them to be the Sense intended by the same Holy Ghost The Sense being that which immediately is from God whereas the words are from Men At least in such Translations as are not made by Divine Revelation or Inspiration Which as I take it the Reformed Church of England doth not pretend to Wherefore I cannot think that any one will say that the Phrase or Form of Words in any place of Scripture is such as manifestly shews it self to be from God and yet that at the same time he is ignorant whether the Sense which he conceives of those Words be from God or from himself It follows from these Considerations That Scripture how Sacred and Divine soever it be is not manifested to us by it 's own light and consequently it is neither impertinent in it self nor derogatory to the Scripture to ask upon what Extrinsic Testimony it is received and acknowledged for Such Give me leave to add one word by way of Corollary to what hath been said which is that seeing the Holy Scriptures are not made Evident by themselves and that no Prudent Man can receive any thing upon the credit of False and Corrupted Witnesses it must be inferred that the Protestant Reformers ought to quit their pretence of being Guided by Scripture since they have no other Rule of knowing what is such and what not but the bare Letter of that which is called so and the Testimony of those whom they accounted to have so much Corruption and Falsness that they separated from them without the least apprehension of the Guilt of Schism For separating from the whole World as hath been said they must needs separate from those upon whose Authority or Testimony they received their Bible And this in effect was the summ of Mr. P's Argument against Dr. T. I should not have insisted so tediously on the foregoing points had I not known that how frivolous soever those pretences of our vilifying Scripture looking on it as Insufficient and the like may seem to any thinking Man yet the common People are most grosly and almost incurably deluded by them And we are * Rom. 1. v. 14. Debtors both to the Wise and to the Vnwise And forasmuch as concerns this last Point which I have spoken to viz. the pretended self-evidence of the Scripture it hath dropt in my hearing not only from the Mouths of the middle sort but even from those of the Learned World. And even Dr. T. himself glances at it in his Tenth Page Nothing being more Necessitous or putting a Man upon worse shifts than an ill Cause But tho' I have been very long on this subject yet I cannot but make one Observation more before I proceed to another which is that the Protestants when they find themselves destitute of solid Proof as in truth they always do for the Support of their peculiar Tenets are wont to heap a great many Unconcluding things together that so if possible what is wanting in Strength may be made out by Number Which however like Cyphers tho'
me in short concerning a Guide in Controversie viz. That a Man after using all Christian means and Pag. 18. the help of all Ministerial Guides possible must at last judge for himself and that this was not to run on his own head As also that their People could know the Voice of their Church it being in their own Language but not so readily the Voice of the Church of Rome it being in an unknown Tongue for the true Interpretation of which the unlearned depend upon the particular Priest that instructed them I say since the Doctor Publishes what he said to me on this subject he ought to have added what I replyed to him tho' likewise it were but very short for the Reasons already given My Talk was to this purpose viz. That if Men after the use of those Christian means and Ministerial Guides he spoke of were by Gods appointment to follow their own Understandings Those Laws must needs be unjust which punished them for doing so And consequently what could the English Penal Laws have to say for themselves which did not enquire whether Men had used Christian Means and Ministerial Guides or not but punished them for following their own Understandings altho' they should have used ever so many Christian means c. before-hand Neither do Men suffer by these Laws only for Doctrins relating to the Civil Government as perhaps the Doctor would insinuate by what * Pag. 24. follows but for Points meerly Religious such as are Transubstantiation Purgatory Invocation of Saints not going to a Protestant Church c. For all which Points they are punished and this to make the case yet harder by such Men as owning themselves Fallible must likewise own that those Opinions for which they punish may be Truths and Those which they would compel us to embrace Errors for ought they know This Subject is so plain and obvious in it's own Nature and there hath been so much said on it already that I shall only add one word by way of of a Recapitulation which is That on the one side we have the Church of England Teaching us to Judge for our selves in Religious Matters and on the other Hanging us for following her Doctrin If we are to be our own Judges why are we Condemn'd for it And if not why are we Taught to be so Most Religions have their Mysteries and therefore this may be allowed to the Protestants But for my part I can sooner admit that God is able to do more than I am able to understand in the Belief of Transubstantiation than that Men can at once have a just ground for the Approbation and Condemnation of the self-same Proceeding It being easier to dis-believe our Senses when our Creator Commands than to forego our Reason when we have no higher Motive for it than the Will of our Fellow-Creatures I must confess that my Discourse on this Subject at the Conference was not so large as it is here by reason of the shortness of those Interlocutory spaces that were allowed us by the Doctor which seemed to be designed by him not so much for our Speaking as for his own Breathing so that I was forced to cramp what I had to say into a few concise and general Propositions and to throw them out before the Doctor was aware of them Viz. That in case we were not bound by Almighty God to submit our Judgment to any others but presupposing the use of the Doctors Christian means were left to the Guidance of our own Understanding in matters of Faith we ought not to be hindred from or which is the same thing punished for Taking it for our Guide in such matters That the Penal Laws Punished us for so doing and therefore were unjust And the like Which Propositions tho' too brief perhaps for their being thoroughly Comprehended by the Rabble of our Hearers were yet sufficient to let the Doctor know what I meant and consequently for a larger Account of them than what we have from him pa. 24. Viz. Mr. M. took leave and just at the Door Muttered something about Penal Laws In which as the Reader will have found there is no Information either of the nature or of the occasion of that Discourse The matter being so obscurely express'd that a Protestant Gentleman of my acquaintance was so far deceived by the Doctors Terms that he imagined that I had risen up in a heat and threatned something as I went away And therefore for the future when Dr. Tenison shall tell us That he thinks it will give the greater satisfaction to tell the whole Truth That Truth is best Painted at full length and that he will let the World know the whole Truth so far as his Memory with all due helps will serve him as he doth pag. 45. 46 and 50. We will be so civil to him as not to understand him in a Literal Sense Dr. T. says in the place above cited that we are to have the help of all Ministerial Guides possible before we must Judge for our selves Now I suppose that by all Ministerial Guides possible the Doctor does not mean all sorts of Guides True or False First Because the Penal Laws hinder us from conversing with those of other Communions And Secondly Because our Saviour himself Commands us to * Matth. c. 7. v. 15. beware of false Prophets Wherefore I would fain know what mark the Doctor hath to distinguish such Ministerial Guides as may be Addressed to from such as may not If he say that we shall know these Guides by the purity of their Doctrin the only Mark commonly assigned by Protestants as was intimated above for That of the True Church Then it must follow that I must first Judge what Doctrin is Pure before I can know what Guides to have recourse to and consequently I must Judge for my self in the particular * Viz. In the Interpretation of the Scripture Doctrins of Christianity before I use the help of these Ministerial Guides Which according to the Doctor is not to be done The Circle in other Terms and more concisely is thus We cannot know what Doctrin is Pure without Guides And we cannot know what Guides to consult without first knowing what Doctrin is Pure If he shall Name Succession Universality or any thing else for the mark of these Guides then we will consider whether That which is assigned belong to the Church of England or not The Doctor seems to say in the close of his * Pag. 18. Answer which as the Reader will perceive was nothing less than one of his usual Digressions from the Point in hand That their People knew the Voice of their Church and needed not to depend upon the Learning of any Particular Priest for it If so How could the Doctor blame this Apprentice as he doth in his 55th Page for not coming to him with his doubts Would he have him repair to a particular Priest for Instruction whilest he Heard
have succeeded so well in the greater undertaking are employed for the compassing of the less The same vitious Inclination to Disobedience and mistaken Liberty that rendred them plyable to the first Imposture is not lessened but increased by their being deceived and therefore of Consequence leaves them still more disposed for the second And certainly for these Reasons a moderate Caution where any thing of this Danger appears ought not to be look't on as either too Officious or Superfluous Had this business been fairly Represented Dr. Tenison himself had been ashamed of letting so much Choler break forth where even according to Worldly Maxims there was so little cause for it And therefore if you take notice you will find that he has not permitted himself so far to be transported by his Passion but that he hath taken Wit in his Anger and notwithstanding his * Pag. 83. abhorrence of Shifting and Insincerity hath for reasons easily discernible related the matter of Fact quite otherwise than in truth it was And therefore since this Gentleman in his 46th Page promises a just Representation of the whole we must from henceforward conclude that they are not Papists only who are breakers of their Word Dr. Tenison seems to affirm as you will have seen That it was on his saying to Mr. P. the following words viz. That being your principle that all out of your Communion are damned you being a Iesuit and a Papist must break your word in the Paper for the necessary good as you think of the Souls of the Boys especially you having hope of turning Boys under your care I say he seems to tell us That on these words Mr. M. said to Dr. T. This reflects upon the King. Now for my own part I desire that my Portion in Gods favor may be no farther sure than this is False Which were I not very certain of what I here relate I would not say for ten thousand Worlds The words which I took notice of and on which I spoke the forementioned Sentences viz. This reflects too far c. were those which I noted above viz. If you are a Papist you must break your word For had the Doctor spoken of this matter in the words of his present Narrative I am well assured that I should not have made that Reflection on it For altho' the speech even as himself puts it cannot be look'd on as very seasonable in this juncture of Affairs yet that Restriction of you being a Iesuit however forced and improper as may appear by what * See Mr. P's Account pag. 14. sequ Mr. P. hath said of it would have hindred me from saying That it reflected on the King since I can assure him over and above what I have told him already that I was so far from seeking an occasion of speaking what I did that I was sorry that which he offered for it was so necessary to be taken My nature if I am not mistaken in it being too little inclined to Displease for the making such unwelcome Addresses but where as Sense of Duty absolutely requires them The Sentence which I reflected on was so plainly lyable to such a Remark that as Dr. Tenison confesses two or three immediately joyned with me in it Nay who can doubt but that even the Doctor himself was of the same perswasion when he thought it for his purpose to Change it and that by so considerable an Alteration as hath been shewn viz. by restraining that to Iesuits only which as it was spoken extended to all Catholics I must confess that this kind of Retractation I mean a Disowning of the Expression that was complained of is a better Argument of Dr. Tenisons Repentance than it would have been to have offered at it's Justification However the Doctor ought not to appear Vertuous at his Neighbors cost he ought not so far to consult his own Good Name as not to care what becomes of mine Especially when the value of Reputation is so well known to him that he thinks it worth his while as may be perceived by his above-cited Dedicatory Epistle to raise the whole posse of two large Parishes to * But twice as much would be little enough to preserve it should it please God that the Truth of this very passage alone were fully known preserve it Why must I suffer because the Doctor is a shamed of what he said He might learn by that unwillingness which he finds in himself to own his Guilt how grievous the Imputation of it must be to another Certainly had his Conscience been awake whilst he Penn'd this Account he would have seen that the Knavish Trick the False Tale the False and Vnworthy way could not have been so fitly sent abroad as kept at home and because such Accounts in the Cant of the Mobile Denominate as well as Evidences if Dr. T 's example be as good a Warrant for Ribaldry as St. Pauls * Mr. P's Account pag. 5. was for a Grave tho' sharp Reprehension give me leave to say That Narrative-Tenison would have been as good a Jest and I am sure as the case stands a far juster reproach than Evidence-Meredith But for such merry conceits as these I must confess it is my Opinion that both our Coats tho' mine be not Canonical ought to be of another Colour But that which renders my Complaint on this occasion yet more reasonable is that Dr. Tenison was under no precise necessity of taking such a course as this for the clearing of himself He might have declared that this Sentence dropt from him in the eagerness of Discourse and at unawares We should not have been so severe to his lapses as he is to * Viz. Mis-spellings and the like ours We do not think that our Cause is so near Sinking that we should catch at such Twigs to keep it above Water He might have said that tho' his Expression reach'd to all Roman Catholics he had no intention of including more than the Jesuits This in some measure at least would have sav'd both his Credit and mine Nay if he had so pleased he might have blamed the Inference which I had drawn from his Discourse since I had much rather that his Censure should have fallen on my Judgment than on my Integrity For I can assure him that I esteem it whatever he may do a less Inconvenience to be thought Weak in the former than Defective in the latter Wherefore to conclude there having been other ways of complying with that strong innate principle of self-preservation it is somewhat the more afflicting to me that he should pitch on no other means of wiping off his own Spots but by Aspersing me Methinks this hasty and inconsiderate Speech if it were such might have seem'd to him as fair an opportunity of asking pardon as some other of his sayings have done such as were * Pag. 13. and 17. That he would not come under Mr. P's Ferula and that Mr.
P. might give his Papers for Kites to his Boys And the crying Peccavi in those trivial occasions and the omitting it where his Princes honor and his fellow-Subjects Reputation lay so much at stake does it not look somewhat like Straining at a Guat and Swallowing a Camel It is true that immediately after the Doctor had ended his wrangling about this matter with Mr. P. he called after me and as I think desired me not to run away with a false Tale telling me that his words were You being a Iesuit and a Papist c. and that he hoped the King was not a Iesuit and therefore that his speech could not concern him I replyed in these express Terms Your words viz. Those which I had taken notice of were not You being a Iesuit and a Papist c. but If you are a Papist you must break your word I said moreover that I had no design to Inform against him as some in the Crowd had mutter'd and that my Intention in taking notice of his words was no other than what I have had occasion to intimate before that he might learn to be somewhat more Cautions and Deliberate in his Discourses for the future Now how comes the Doctors True Account to be wholly silent in so material a passage But the Causes of Complaint come so thick that I must beg leave to forbear the making it now and then It being hard for me to vary my phrase as often as a new Injury seems to require it Mr. M. says the Doctor denied he said such words viz. That the Doctors Proposition had reflected on the King. The confusion was so great at this time there being then three or four bawling about my Ears at once that I cannot well call to mind what I said only thus much I distinctly remember viz. That one of the Doctors Friends affirmed again and again that I had not spoken those words whom I did not contradict partly because I was not well assur'd whether or no I had said what was then particularly mentioned in such manner as to be heard by any of the Company having as I said before spoken very low and partly because I desir'd that the Doctor might receive as little dissatisfaction as it was possible and therefore since I understood he knew already what fault had been found with his Proposition which was all I aimed at I was loath to disquiet him farther by repeating That which tho' reasonably enough urged had yet been ungrateful to him But if any word dropt from me through suddenness of Speech that implyed such a Denyal as the Doctor mentions it was more than I intended and must be attributed to that distraction of mind which is hardly avoidable amidst such Peals of various Discourses where the Attention being called upon by many Different matters at once is sufficiently applyed to none For as soon as the Doctor who seemed to suspect that I meditated on some Information against him and therefore not to be contented with my Silence urged me by the continuance of his Expostulations to declare my self in more express Terms I was far from Disowning that I had Reflected on his forementioned Proposition as the Reader will have perceived by what he met with in my last Remark where I repeat some part of our Discourse on this occasion in which I acknowledged that I had Reflected on the Doctors Words but denyed that it was with any other Design save only that he himself might Reflect a little more on such as he should purpose to speak for the future A Caution which God knows the best of us stand in need of But whereas some persons of that Company spoke as if I had declared that the Doctor had Reflected on the King and that on such a supposition I had an Intention of Informing against him it is not improbable but that this or any thing else which I should have taken to have had this meaning might have been flatly denyed by me For I look'd on it as one thing For the Doctor to have Reflected on the King and another for his Proposition to have done so since for the Truth of the former it seem'd necessary to me that the Doctor should have actually thought on the King and Reflected on him in his mind when he spoke those Words which possibly he might not do Nay I cannot do him so much Injury as to imagin that he understood I do not say the whole extent but even the obvious Consequences of many of his Speeches at this Conference since if he had done so I question not but he would have omitted them But on the other hand that a Proposition may be truly said to Reflect on the King nothing else is required than by a Natural and Easie Inference It should appear to include him within its Censure As for Example when all Papists are said to be Breakers of their Word since we cannot have a better instance than we have in the present Case the King is manifestly included Tho' perhaps the Speaker may not reflect that he is so Wherefore I say I might deny that I had accused the Doctor of Reflecting on the King and yet at the same time affirm that his Proposition did This consideration leads me to another Remark which is that tho' every tittle of what the Doctor here relates should be true as it is not and tho' I should have had a purpose of Informing as was likewise falsely imagined yet the Doctor was too hasty in charging me with running away with a false Tale. For what Tale had the Doctor heard from me that was False The Doctor had spoken certain words And I affirmed that such words Reflected on the King. Where is the Falseness of this Story Or rather what Story is there in This I said not as I told you just now that the Doctor Reflected on the King but that his Words Reflected on him which tho' it had been false unless I had spoken contrary to my own mind had been the Error of Judgment or a fault in my Inferring Faculty and not a Lie as the Doctor would have it I presume that those who hold Transubstantiation and Purgatory will not pass for Lyars with the Doctor according to the propriety of our Common Speech tho' at the same time he may take such Tenets to be Erroneous and the Arguments that are brought to prove them Sophisms Wherefore in this Particular Case altho' my Inference had been Bad my Conscience might have been Good since it must needs go very hard with the World if every Man were to be as ill a Christian as he is a Logician All the Information had I intended any such thing which I could or should have given in this matter was that Dr. Tenison had spoken such Words as I had heard from him and that according to my Judgment those Words Reflected on the King. But whether they did so or not or how far the Doctor was culpable or innocent must
wished Rest to none but those who as they thought already enjoy'd it And even this Wish of theirs if it had Charity it had also in my Opinion Weakness in it And truly it had so in my Opinion too for I must not always differ with the Doctor if they wished Rest to none but those whom they supposed to enjoy it already For would it not be a Weakness in Me or in any one else whom the Doctor should take for a better Friend to wish that Dr. Tenison were possess'd of the two Parishes of St. Martin's and St. James's And if a man should wish tho' ever so heartily that the Doctor had a great deal of Sincerity I am afraid that he would take it for somewhat worse than a Weakness tho' at the same time the Party should tell him that he imitated some Christians about the Fourth Age in wishing to Folks no more than what they believed they had already But why should the Doctor fancy thà t those Holy and Learned Men I mean the Ancient Fathers those Pillars of Christianity during the first and purest Ages of the Church and those whom not only Mr. Thorndyke but the whole English Reformation pretends to imitate why I say should he imagin that these Great Men were guilty of so much Weakness Certainly if Christian Religion be a * Rom. 12. 1. Reasonable Service we cannot think that the Best Christians were the most Vnreasonable Men. These Fathers pray'd for the Dead in most express Terms they offer'd Sacrifices for them they begg'd of Almighty God to forgive them their sins they exhorted the Faithful to do the like they declared that such Prayers and Sacrifices were beneficial to the Souls of the Deceased St. Augustin hath a whole * Viz. De curâ pro Mortuis Book on this Subject and there is scarce any one of the Fathers who hath not somewhat to the same purpose And were all these Doings for nothing Did they think that their Prayers would help none but those who stood in no need of their help which is as much as to say that they would help none at all Certainly the Doctor cannot think this But all Truths are not to be spoken at all times It is better that the Fathers should pass for Weak Men in * Would not such Praying also be a Mocking of God the Taking his Name in vain and the Being guilty of Idle words even at our Devotions Praying where they knew it was to no purpose than that the Papists should have so strong a proof of Purgatory from the Consent of the Ancient Church that the Dead in some cases might be helped by the Prayers of the Living And their praying for none but whom they * If by thought he means absolutely supposed thought to be already in Happiness is so far from being true that they prayed not for the * Ideoque habet Ecclesiastica disciplina quod Fideles noverunt cùm Martyres recitantur ad Altare Dei ubi non pro ipsis oretur pro caeteris vero commemoratis Defunctis oratur Injuria est enim pro Martyre orare cujus nos debemus orationibus commendari St. Aug. Serm. 17. de verb. Ap. cap. 1. Martyrs meerly because they concluded them to be Happy and consequently not to stand in need of their Prayers It is worth observing after what fashion this matter is spoken of by the Doctor He imitated says he some Christians about the Fourth Age. By some Christians I suppose he means all the Holy Fathers of that Time and indeed he might have taken in the whole Catholic Church in which as * In Machabaeorum libris legimus oblatum pro mortuis Sacrificium Sed etsi musquam in Scriptur is veteribus omninò legeretur non parva tamen est Universae Ecclesiae quae in hac Consuetudine claret Authoritas ubi in precibus Sacerdotis quae Domino Deo ad ejus Altare sunduntur locum suum habet etiam commendatio mortuorum St. Aug. lib. de Curâ pro mortuis c. 1. St. Augustin assures us this Practice of Praying for the Dead was Universal By about the Fourth Age I suppose he means the said Fourth and the two next to it both before and after viz. the Fifth and the Third and to these he might if he had so pleased have added the Two First So that we have the settled Custom of all Antiquity deliver'd to us as the peculiar or private Practice of some Christians about the Fourth Age. Neither is this without Mystery For having said in his first Book p. 16. that he would not part with the Fathers and having now an occasion of dismissing them as weak men he signs their Discharge in other Names that he may not seem to be worse than his word When he can discover any thing in their Writings which may be wrested for his purpose they shall be as much Fathers as you please but when he catches them holding a Popish Doctrin they are out of Favor and must be turn'd into some Christians about the Fourth Age. But if the Doctor means by what he says in this place that there were some Christians about the time he mentions who imagined that Souls could not be help'd by Prayers or Wishes and therefore wish'd Rest to none but whom they supposed to enjoy what they wish'd them and so dissented from the Universal Church which as hath been shewn pray'd for the Dead out of another Principle There might for ought I know have been some such Christians but as yet I never heard of them Lastly if by some Christians wishing Rest to such as they thought to have it he means that they had so good an Opinion of those they pray'd for as to think they were already received into Bliss he need not play the Antiquary so much as to go to the Fourth Age for such Christians as these They may be found in the Seventeenth We our selves the Catholics of these times are not so uncharitable but that we think that many of our Deceased Brethren whom we recommend to Almighty God in our daily Prayers are already in the fruition of that Glory which we so earnestly sollicite for them but because we do but think so and are not certain of it we still continue our usual Intercessions left possibly it may not be so well with them as we imagin And so our Charity is exercised both ways as well by offereing this Relief to our Friends as by having so good an Opinion of them at the same time as to think they need it not And in this manner St. Augustin pray'd for his Mother For tho' as he says himself she lived so vertuously that he had reason to hope she contracted nothing since her Baptism which might retard her admission to Eternal Happiness yet because for ought he knew it might be otherwise he thanks * Ego itaque Deus cordis mei sepositis paulisper bonis ejus actibus pro quibus tibi gaudens
run through all those parts of both Dr. Tenison's Pamphlets which I have thought fitting I am not conscious to my self of any thing wherein I have dealt unjustly by him save only it may be in the want of that Negligence wherewith he * See his Epist Ded. to his new Book threatens to do Justice upon Mr. P. Which piece of Justice if I have been defective in hitherto I shall be a more careful Observer of it for the future Only thus much I judged convenient to be said that when I shall think it reasonable to say less the World may not be mistaken in the Cause of my Silence A moderate Defence according to what I have said above is due to Truth but when Calumnies grow excessive they answer themselves by appearing what they are It may be objected That in some places of this rambling Discourse I deliver my sense somewhat more largely than I did at the Conference it self whereas at first I seemed to blame such proceeding What I blamed was that those who have full Liberty in any Conference of speaking what and as much as they please especially by way of Argument should afterwards when they pretend to give Account of it render their own Speeches more full and plausible than they were and yet represent them as truly spoken This I say is what I blamed But on the other side when either a man is wholly hindred from Answering or else cut short in his Answers by the Authority or Rudeness of his Adversary and when by that means most of what he has to say remains in petto it is but just he should have that freedom in the Press which was denied him at the Conference provided that whatever is added on any Subject be related not as what was but as what would have been said had an Opportunity been given And this I have taken care of I have already told my Readers after what manner Dr. Tenison dealt with me at the Conference He made his Applications to me as often and as fully as he thought fit excepting only when I withdrew to avoid them But as for me I was to speak no longer than he pleased I must confess a most effectual way of silencing sometimes not a word sometimes a few but never so many as were needful Neither is this the first time that I have made this Complaint I did it at the Conference and particularly the Doctor may remember I told him there was no possibility of prosecuting any Argument so long as he spoke all and heard nothing I added that this indeed became a Doctor but not a Disputant My meaning was That it was proper for one who was Teaching but not for one who was in the disagreeable Employment of Defending and Proving But tho' the Doctor 's Interruptions were remarkable enough in all his Discourses with me yet they seemed to be more than ordinary a little before the conclusion of our Conference For when I perceived that our Disputations had no other visible effect than the embittering of minds and a farther alienating of affections I thought it not amiss before we took our leaves to offer something that might tend to the calming and re-settling of our Spirits that so tho' we came to no Agreement in our Religion we might yet at least part Friends and Well-wishers to one another As soon as I opened my Mouth for this purpose the Doctor immediately stopt it Not a word must pass Sir said I I am not going to Dispute but only to take my leave and would offer a word that it may be amicably No it must not be the Doctor is inexorable and tho' I attempted it three or four times it was impossible for me to get above three words over without an Interruption Whether it were that the Doctor out of his great propensity to * Ep. to his Parish in his first Book suspicion suspected that I would put an Argument upon him in disguise or for some other reason I cannot yet tell But I despaired of prevailing with him and so gave over my importunity What I should have said had it been allow'd me was to this effect That I could not perceive our Meeting had been to any great purpose That I would not then dispute on whose side the fault lay much less who were in the right and who in the wrong as to Religion That I desired we might notwithstanding the difference of our Opinions live peaceably together only at present I would intreat them to consider that whil'st they imagined the Catholics to be Mistaken they themselves were but Men and consequently as liable to Error as their Neighbors and therefore I would advise them in so important a Point as That whereon their Eternal Salvation depended that they would have recourse to Almighty God and earnestly beseech him That if they were in the right he would confirm them in it but if in the wrong that he would bring them to the right This is all I would have said and this upon the word of a Christian I was not permitted to say which I think is sufficient to shew of what nature the Doctor 's Interruptions were But what I had no leave to say at the Conference I speak here and the liberty of doing it makes some amends for all that trouble I have had and all those pains I have taken on this occasion And could I be sure that my Counsel would be followed I should desire no farther Reward Wherefore I earnestly exhort my Protestant Readers That for an Establishment in the true Faith they would make their chief Applications to Almighty God whose * Ephes 2. 8. Gift it is Should I send them to Catholic Priests their Prejudices might perhaps make them think it unreasonable should I send them to their own Ministers they might suspect a Gubbard or Papist in Masquerade and at best could hope but for a Fallible Director should I send them to the Scripture what would it * Vnless by some plain Texts they are directed to an Infallible Interpreter as indeed they might be profit them so long as they carry with them their own Fallible Interpretation Lastly should I send them to Controversial Treatises they might complain of their tediousness and intricacy I say should I send them to any of these things they might find somewhat to be afraid of But what Apprehensions can they have when I send them to Almighty God This is an Advice wherein there can be no danger but in not following it Wherefore my dear Country-men I hope that you will neither hearken to the Suggestions of Pride on the one hand as if you needed not God's Assistance nor to those of Sloth on the other as if earnest and persevering Prayer were too dear a Purchase of it but that fixing your Eye on that ETERNITY which lies at stake you will despise whatsoever either by Flatteries or Threatnings shall strive to divert you from so necessary an Undertaking I do
our Saviour had said If he will not hear the Church let him be to thee as an Heathen and a Publican which is the subject of our present Controversie He adds in the very next Verse speaking to his Church Verily I say unto you whatsoever you shall Bind on Earth shall be Bound in Heaven c. * The Doctor ought to have considered what came after his Text as well as what went before the one having as manifest a regard to it as the other This Term WHATSOEVER whether it regard the Persons or the Things which fall under the Ecclesiastical Censure or else Both is of a most general Signification So that it is evident that the Power given in this place hath no other Restriction or Limit but the Will and Determination of those to whom it is given there being nothing more required for the Binding or Loosing a Thing in Heaven than that the Church should determin to Bind or Loose it on Earth Which proves what I asserted above viz. That the Church hath Power to Judge in all those things wherein she Declares Her self to have it It is true however that being always Guided by the same Holy Spirit which invests her with this Authority she can never Declare Her self to be our Judge but where she ought and where it is highly for our Advantage that she should be so My Discourse on this occasion was to this effect but as I have said of those on other subjects much shorter tho' this was the fairest opportunity of speaking that Dr. Tenison allowed me during the whole Conference In Conclusion I assured the Doctor that I was wholly convinced that the abovementioned Text as I declared before had quite another meaning than what he gave of it And therefore I ask'd him whether being so convinced as I was I ought to follow his Interpretation or my own He Answered that he would appeal to the Company whether the Sence which he gave of the place were not * Had it been plain it would not have stood in need of his explanation plainly so I told him that this would not serve my turn for tho' that Company should happen to be all of his Mind as they were not there being some amongst them of my own Judgment yet so long as my opinion continued as it was I should be still at the same loss unless the Doctor could inform me whose Judgment I was to trust my Own or Theirs The Doctor said that for the right Interpretation of Scripture I ought to examin the Originals consult Learned Men * Why so much ado for what be said was plain Had the Company he appealed to done all this c. Whereas said he this Boy did none of these things he came not to Me nor to his Master c. and so striking out of the Road with a Cavil about the Boy I could never get him into it again Had I been able to have held him to the Point a little longer he must have granted me according to his own principle of Every ones Power of Judging for himself That seeing I Judged the Sense of Holy Scripture to be Different from what he thought I was as much bound to dis-believe his Doctrin as he was to believe it Which would have been an excellent instance how much Dr. Tenison's Rule of Faith tended to the Vnity of it And undoubtedly must have sounded very strangely in the Ears of his Parishioners notwithstanding their great esteem and affection for him Which I question not but the Doctor was well aware of and therefore thought it more to his purpose to chide the Boy for not having wash'd his Face as the Story goes of such another Answerer than to suffer the Disputation to proceed And yet this is the Doctor who in this very place desires that his Adversary would * Pag. 21. stick to something But non videmus id Manticae quod à tergo est I have already taken notice of a Sentence or two which the Doctor sets to my account more than I can remember my self to have been guilty of There is another of them pa. 21. viz. Mr. M. asked Dr. T. if he could tell Chapter and Verse throughout the Bible And I think there are one or two more of the like nature But they are of so little importance one way or other that tho' I believe they were never spoken by me yet they shall be said or not said as the Doctor pleases But touching what he says pa. 18. Of something spoken to me about the Conference betwixt some Gentlemen of the Church of Rome and Dr. Stillingfleet and Dr. Burnet I remember nothing of it Neither had I any concern in that Conference or in any thing relating to it In the Doctors 22d and 23d Pages the Reader will find the following Lines After this Dr. T. said to Mr. P. there was one thing remaining and fit to be said to him He had in a Printed Paper promised not to tamper about Religion with the Protestant Boys who should come to the Savoy-School it had appeared that he tampered with Boys out of his care and would do so much more with those under it he said it did not follow because of his word which he would not break and that for this Boy he had done it in order to his everlasting Salvation Dr. T. answered that being your Principle that all out of your Communion are Damned you being a Jesuit and a Papist must break your word in that Paper for the necessary good as you think of the Souls of the Boys especially you having hope of turning Boys under your care Mr. M. said to Dr. T. This reflects upon the King. Another more loud this reflects upon the King and suggests that he will break his word And Mr. P. joyned in the Accusation but many of the Hearers cryed out against them and said it was a Knavish trick Mr. M. was going away Dr. T. called to him and desired him not to run away with a false Tale. Mr. M. denyed he said such words Dr. T. told him he did and that for his part he thought his Loyalty at this time to be more valuable than Mr. M's Because he as a Son of the Church of England professed he would not Rebell against the King notwithstanding he might be of another Religion whereas Mr. M. being of the same Religion could not so well separate Loyalty from Interest Dr. T. being concerned at this false and unworthy way of catching Men did say to Mr. M. at the Door of the first Room that if he had persisted in this Trick he could not have forborn to have given him the Name of Evidence Meredith Here it is that the Doctor Storms indeed Here it is that his Rage breaks forth Hunc tu Romane Caveto Here it is that he manifests the Truth of what he tells us in his Epistle to his Parishioners and convinces us at length that amidst so many things there