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
gratias ago nunc pro peccatis Matris meae deprecor te c. St. Aug. lib. 9. Confess c. 13. Almighty God for his Mothers Good Deeds on the one hand and beseeches him to pardon such Sins as possibly she might have committed on the other And he is so Zealous in this Charitable Employment that he is not contented to offer up his own Prayers only for this purpose but begs of such as should read his Book of Confessions wherein he gives an Account of these things that they likewise would joyn Their Petitions to His * Ut quod illa à me poposcit extremum uberius ei praestetur in multorum orationibus Ibid. That so adds this Holy Bishop what my Mother made her last Request to me may the more plentifully be performed for her by the Prayers of Many Other parts of this Dedicatory Address might likewise be dissected and read upon but I fear that my Lecture is too tedious already Neither should it have been so long had I not been willing to shew my Reader what just cause I have to decline the perusal of the whole Book when a few Lines of Preface afford so much and so trivial work Wherefore I shall not stay to examin with what probability of Truth he asserts That the Souls of his Sheep are much dearer to him than their Fleeces when he seems to be so * See above p. 17. sequ loth that any farther Division should be made in the Fleeces tho' for a better Attendance on the Souls Neither will I ask him how he comes in the close of his Letter to call the English Protestant Church * I suppose not from Missions Apostolical as if it came down by perpetual Succession from the Apostles when every body knows that has not read his Ten thousand pounds worth of Books that it began in the last Age and brags of no other Succession than what it pretends to have received from that Church to which in Truth and even according to its own Profession it neither succeeds in Doctrin nor Discipline And lastly whereas the Doctor says That the Establish'd Church so far as he can understand the Temper of it which is somewhat difficult for him to do had rather suffer Injuries than do them I shall only say That if this be so I presume he will give us leave to hope that this Established Church will not look on the power of doing those Injuries as part of Her Establishment And so much for the Preface I come now to what concerns me in the Book I am told that Dr. Tenison in the 58th page of his new Book calls me a Manager in Conference And again page 96. he says That I am the very Sales-man at every Auction of Arguments What the Doctor means by this I cannot well tell nor I suppose He himself Possibly it was somewhat that came into his Head whil'st the Pen was in his Hand and down it went at all Adventures For this was the second Conference I was ever at in my Life excepting casual and unsought Rencounters and how unwillingly I came to this I have already given my Readers an Account It is true that I had like to have been at one or two more in Mr. G. 's Company had not the Ministers who were to be his Antagonists disappointed him twice or thrice But this was before Dr. St. had published his first Letter to Mr. G. and so given me to understand how great an Advantage Latitudinarian Wits have over one not only much less but also ty'd within the streight Rules of Sincerity It is true the Goodness of a Cause is of great Weight but the Disingenuity of an Adversary is a shrewd Counterpoise Now I say how my Being at these two Conferences and that accidentally too and forasmuch as concerns the latter very unwillingly could render me that Manager and Sales-man at Auctions of Arguments which the Doctor 's Nick-naming Faculty would make me I do not perceive But the Doctor has a Rule for this as well as for the rest which he has been pleased to bestow on me viz. Calumniare fortitèr aliquid adhaerebit and therefore I shall say no more of it And yet it is hard to find out why the Doctor turns that into a Calumny which fairly represented would be a Commendation For what could any man do better who had a Talent proper for it than employ his time in freeing Souls from Error an Employment for which our Blessed Lord came into the World and for which his Holy Apostles travelled through it But I forget that the Retrenchment of Missions was one of the most considerable parts of the Reformation However tho' I have not been at many of these Conferences yet I will not deny but that I imagin my self to have arrived to some competency of skill in them and for some proof of this and because I desire to be communicative in so precious a Talent I purpose to make my Readers partakers of it as a Reward of that Patience wherewith they have hitherto endured such tedious and immethodical Discourses promising my self that for the sake of this one Treasure only they will think the rest of their time well bestow'd Now forasmuch as the worse the Cause is the greater skill is required in the Management of it I will lay down some brief Rules whereby as I conceive an ill Cause may be managed in Conference to the best advantage and so as that the Defender of it especially if the Hearers be no wiser than some of Dr. Tenison's Parishioners may come off with great Applause First then let the Scene of your Conference be Brief Rules how an ill Cause may be manag'd to the best advantage lay'd amongst your own Friends and therefore if the Disputer be a Protestant and such he must be to stand in any need of these Instructions let it be in a Protestant Family Before the Conference and the arrival of your Antagonist endeavor to possess your Favorers with a prejudice against him prophesie something which you are sure will come to pass that when it doth so they may have the better Opinion of you For Example Tell them that you are come alone without so much as either Friend or Servant when you know that the whole House are your Friends and that none can be readier to serve you than they are And then lay a wager that your Antagonist brings some one with him because you think it imprudent and therefore unlikely that he should trust himself to the Reports of your Party without some Witness of his own But this as you shall word it must argue Confidence in You and Diffidence in Him. And when you shall see that he complies with what you thought Reasonable turn to your Company and say Did I not tell you that he would not come alone Be sure to begin the Conference with that which hath nothing to do with it Make many Exceptions at the
or not The Scripture does not tell us of a Church which is to continue only to the end of the Fifth Age. It tells us indeed of one which is to continue to the End of the World And this Church I hope may be found as well in the Fourteenth Age as in the Fifth For if all the Christians of the Fourteenth were Erroneous and Corrupted and stood in need of Reformation those of the Fifth might have been so too for any thing which the Scriptures can assure us to the contrary This Rock then of my Protestant Faith being shaken I mean a Belief that the Church of England had Model'd it self according to the Doctrins of the first Five Hundred Years it will not be wonder'd at if at least I gave way to some doubts I found no better footing in that way which was taken by those Church of England-men who conversed more with Roman Catholics than with Protestant Dissenters viz. Scripture as it is understood by every private Man. First Because those who took that way differed from one another in most material things and also Such as were esteemed Heretics by the Church of England followed the same Rule Secondly Because according to my own Judgment who were by this Rule to judge for my self the Church of England was beholding to Tradition for some Parts of her Doctrin and Practice as Infant-Baptism the Observation of the first Day of the Week and the like having no clear Scripture for them and therefore could not hold them and require them to be held by the Rule of Scripture Interpreted without the help of Tradition Thirdly Because it was sincerely my own Judgment that the Scripture was much clearer for the Catholics than for the Protestants particularly in Transubstantiation Sacramental Confession Extreme Vnction Purgatory St. Peters Supremacy and lastly and chiefly being that which includes all other Points the Decisive Authority of the Church wherefore if I must follow Scripture Interpreted by my self I must at the same time necessarily cease to follow the Church of England These certainly were Motives if not for an absolute departure from the Church of England yet still at least as I have already hinted for the doubting of her Truth About this time I remember that I had two notions concerning Faith. First That Faith was not that which must necessarily suit with the Fancies of particular Men since then it ought to be as various as those Fancies were but it was that which God would have us believe whether we fancied it or not viz. That which he would have us * Bringing into Captivity all understanding into the Obedience of Christ 2 Cor. c. 10. v. 5. submit our Fancies and Judgments to meerly because it was revealed by him And in this submission as I thought consisted both the Difficulty and Merit of Faith. And consequently that I ought not so much to consider the nature of the things proposed to be believed as the Authority by which they were proposed Secondly That this Faith was the * Ephes c. 2. v. 8. Gift of God and for that reason that more confidence was to be put in humbe Prayer for the obtaining it than in any Human Skill or Industry Wherefore as far as God Almighties Grace assisted my weakness I endeavored to obtain this Gift by that means making it my earnest Prayer to his Divine Goodness that I might know the Truth and firmly purposing to embrace that which I should be convinced of tho' it should be ever so contrary to my Worldly Interest as the Roman Catholic Religion at that time most apparently was To Prayer I judged it necessary to add a serious endeavor of amending my Life lest otherwise I should be found to sue Hypocritically for more light from Almighty God whilst I made no use of that which I had received from him by complying with what I already knew to be his Will. This is a Point which all those who are in search of the True Faith ought to examin their Consciences upon and therefore I would not omit the mention of it in this place Amidst these doubts I confess ingenuously that what our English Doctors have made so light of was of great moment with me viz. That the Church of England-men affirmed that Salvation might be had amongst the Roman Catholics but the Roman Catholics absolutely denyed that the like was to be had amongst them For Salvation in the Roman Communion both Churches concurr'd whereas for the latter we had only the bare word of Protestants in their own behalf Who likewise at the same time told us they were fallible and consequently for ought they knew might be mistaken And if they were actually mistaken I should be undone by rarrying with them whereas on the other side if they were not mistaken I could receive no damage by being amongst the Roman Catholics In a word I considered that if the Protestants were true I should be safe with the Roman Catholics but if the Roman Catholics were right I could not be so with the Protestants This Motive is so strong in it's own Nature that many Protestants confess that it must needs have great Power with those who as they say cannot throughly examin the differences betwixt us and these I take to be the greatest part of Mankind And if so I will venture to add that GOD Almighty having taken as much care of the Ignorant as of the Learned would never permit Falshood to be supported by such Arguments as must in common Prudence oblige all unlearned persons to be engaged in it But above all methinks this Argument should be of force with those Vniversal Gentlemen who pretend that their Religion is the Catholic because they believe nothing but that wherein all agree forgetting that such a Restraint of their Belief is peculiar to themselves and not common whereas here is an Agreement of all Parties at least such as have any Esteem with them on which they may safely rely viz. That Salvation may be had in the Roman Catholic Church which is all we do or at least ought to aim at by our Religion As for those other Points which perhaps they hold viz. A Deity a Saviour and the like tho' they have the universal consent of all Christians for their Truth yet they have it not for their sufficiency to Salvation especially so as to exclude the Necessity of believing other Articles when they are duly proposed and it will be of small Consequence to them that what they hold common with others proves True if their additional Article which holds this Truth to be sufficient should prove False What was urged in derogation of this Argument as if the Protestants shew'd a greater Charity by thinking well of Catholics than Catholics did by thinking ill of them was nothing to my purpose For I was then in search of True Faith and not of Charity and knew withal that how great appearance soever there might be of Charity it could not
be Real unless it were grounded on * Without Faith it is impossible to please God Heb. c. 11. v. 6. Orthodox Faith. It seemed to me to be a surer mark of Charity for Men to adventure both Estate and Life for the Conversion of others as formerly the Apostles and now the Catholic Missioners did than to keep at home and in our warm Beds and cry We hope or we declare they may be saved tho' they are in an Error Which if it were a Charity was in my opinion a very Lazy one Moreover if the Protestant Religion were false it was more Charitable in the Catholics to tell them so than by soothing them in their Error to engage them faster to it Wherefore the Protestants ought not to fetch an Argument as some most unreasonably do for the Truth of their Religion from their having as they imagin a greater Charity than Catholics since it must first be proved that their Religion is true before it will appear that the Catholics want Charity in condemning it Lastly If it must pass for a Sign of Charity to think well of more Religions than one the Turkish Tenets will have the advantage of the Nine and Thirty Articles forasmuch as the Mahometans declare that every one will be saved in his own Religion and the Articles on the other side confine Salvation to the * See 18th Article Christians only But both these Charitable Religions must give way to the Origenists who will have neither Men nor Devils to be Eternally Damned Wherefore it is apparent that this plausible pretence of Greater Charity weakens not the force of the forementioned Argument but leaves it Such as that the most cautious Christian may safely repose on it Nay the more cautious a Man is in his everlasting concerns the better and safer this Argument will appear to him For those who have a quicker Sense of their Temporal Interests than their Spiritual will not so much consult what is safe for their Souls as what is secure for their Estates And if both cannot be made sure alike they will trust a scanty probability or rather an Improbability with the former so that they may have Demonstration which yet Gods knows can be but Imaginary for the latter Now what would Dr. Tenison have me do in these circumstances Would he have me Read the Scriptures Iread them Would he have me peruse the Fathers I did it without his advice Would he have me make use of what he calls * Pag. 18. Ministerial Guides I heard the Instructions of the English Clergy for many Years Would he have me pray I looked on Prayer as the chief means of obtaining true Faith and therefore omitted it not Would he have me be humble In this Point I can only say that during this search I had so mean an Opinion of my own understanding that I could not but conclude that Almighty God whose Providential care appeared in all other things had likewise provided some * Such a guide must be one who could not Err himself i. e. Infallible Guide for me that I might not Err in so important a concern as that must needs be without which it was impossible to please him viz. * Ut supra Hebr. 11. 6. Faith. Wherefore having thus far observed as I suppose the Doctors directions what would he have me do after all Doth he require the interior Sense he speaks of pa. 10 That also pleaded for the Roman Catholics And now if this be all he looks after would he have me according to what he says p. 15. at last Judge for my self Why then I do Judge and Pronounce too I mean for my self that Holy Scriptures Antient Fathers and Common Reason are all for the Roman Catholics and against the Protestants And what shall interpose between this Sentence and it's Execution I mean between Concluding that the Roman Catholic Religion is the best and Embracing it as such Doth the Church of England pretend that I ought to submit my private Judgment to her Public Decisions She doth not Nor if she did would Dr. Tenison be her Advocate And therefore to conclude if Dr. T being as I conceive no great friend to Retractations of this kind will still affirm that I departed from the Church of England on false Principles he must at least acknowledge that those principles were such as I had received from her So that in effect I am censured by my Teachers for doing that very thing which they Taught me to do An hard case and that which certainly must prevail with us to observe our Saviours Command in being * Matth. c. 7. v. 15. aware of such Teachers for the future I have said nothing here at least directly of the marks of the True Church viz. Vnity Holiness Universality Perpetuity Conversion of Infidels and the like nor of many other things which concurr'd at that time to convince me of the truth of of the Religion I embraced But thus much I have said that since Dr. Tenison hath been pleased to make the World acquainted with my Conversion it may not be wholly ignorant of those Motives which occasioned it And since we are Commanded * Ready always to satisfie every one that asketh you a Reason of that Hope which is in you 1 Pet. c. 3. v. 15. to give a Reason of the hope which is in us to every one that asks when we are upbraided with our change in this public manner the public seems to demand this Reason and consequently we seem to lie under an obligation of rendring it Which I hope will excuse me with my Readers for so long a Comment on the Doctors Text. And now to return to my Remarks methinks Dr. Tenison conceiving that I had left his Church for want of due Information ought not to have press'd so much for my being excluded from that Conference but rather to have been glad of this opportunity wherein by his great Learning he might have rectified my understanding and been a means of reducing me to one of his two fair Flocks viz. to St. Martins in the Fields or St. James Westminster For tho' those Flocks are so numerous that one stray Sheep can hardly be found missing yet we know it was the property heretofore of a good Shepherd to leave the Ninty Nine that he might seek after the Hundredth this being perhaps in former days a competent number for one Shepherd I say it had been a clearer sign not only of the Doctors Charity but also of his confidence in the goodness of his cause to have admitted me to his Conference than to pretend my turning Roman Catholic through Ignorance as an Argument for the sending me away and consequently depriving me of what he ought to think an opportunity of being better informed But perhaps the Doctor who thought this Conference * Pa. 3. And yet D. T. was displeased with Mr. P for proposing a Rule of Faith for the Subject of that
Mr. P. might mention this again after he sat down tho' I do not remember it Moreover after this first sitting down the Doctor added two of his Objections against me and offered at some Preliminary things as he called them And it was after these Discourses tho' they are omitted as trivial in Mr. P s account that Mr. P. began his Argumentation and not immediately after the proposal of having it Written as Dr. T. says for Mr. P. perceiving that the Doctor had a mind to consume the time in unprofitable Cavils endeavored to cut him short by putting him in remembrance of the business for which they had met I mention these particulars that the not admitting of this Proposal of Writing may appear what truly it was the Doctors Tergiversation Had Mr. P. been then as well acquainted with Dr. T. as he is now he would absolutely have refused the Conference had not his desire of Writing been yielded to And this is the resolution which he has taken for the future Which in my judgment is but shutting the Stable-door after the Steed is Stolen For I believe he is never like to have the Doctors Company on such hard terms notwithstanding that he seems to offer p. 70. what he refused at the Conference Whereas he says Mr. P. began a Verbal Conference by saying the Protestants had no Bible It was not so For he began the Conference by desiring the Doctor to Assign his Rule of Faith Having first given us some account how the Youth for whose sake the Conference was came to entertain thoughts of making himself a Member of the Roman Catholic Church And to that Proposition after much debate concerning these Desires in the Youth the Doctor replyed being again and again pressed to it by Mr. P. that his Rule of Faith was the Holy Scripture And it was on this Answer that Mr. P. asked the Doctor how he could prove that the Book which he called Holy Scripture was truly such and not before as it is made by the Doctors Account which as I have complained before is one of the most intricate things I ever met with and no more like the Conference than it is usual for the new hands at Cards after the Pack is well shuffled to be like the former ones The Cards it is true are all the same but their places being changed the Games are different I do not say that this Account is more confused than the Conference but the confusion has quite another shape or figure than it had But the matter of Fact being cleared as above it becomes more evident how much Dr. Tenison dissembled when instead of proving his Bible to be true Scripture as was desired he offered to dispute Pag. 6. out of that Book which Mr. P. should own to be Scripture since it could not but be manifest to him that Mr. P. did not only ask him for the proof of those places wherein his Bible differs from ours but for the proof of the whole or if he had demanded a proof of such places only it was not for the sake of any Arguments which the Protestants take thence for the defence of their Religion but that it might appear on what Testimony they had received the Scripture and consequently on what grounds their Reformation had proceeded And therefore when to avoid this proof he offered to dispute out of Mr. P's Bible which he might easily have done by the help of his own Interpretation it was a plain tho' with the Rabble a very plausible evasion This * Ibid. Method viz. of Disputing out of Mr. P's Bible says the Doctor Mr. P. would not allow but repeated his Discourse about our not having a Bible and our not being able if we had one to prove we had one and asked again about the Rule of our Faith. Dr. T. before he answered to this applyed himself to Mr. M. who seem'd to be the calmer person c. Here the Doctor discovers his way of Disputing How comes the Doctor to apply himself to Mr. M. whereas Mr. P. had begun his Conference with him and proposed the main Question of it How come we not to receive an Answer to this Question till two or three Pages full of wrangling after it was proposed nor then neither as he confesses p. 9. till Mr. P. and Mr. M. not suffering him to tell a Story pressed him to it nor even then as he farther * Pag. 9. owns till he had chid Mr. P. for asking him Questions and seeming to Catechize him Surely after so long an Expectation the Answer must needs be extraordinary In the next place how comes Mr. M. tho' a Convert and * Pag. 5. possessed with a Spirit of fiercer Bigottry than other Romanists to be the calmer person But Dr. T. wants an excuse for turning away from his Antagonist and speaking to one who as he was told at the beginning was to have no part in the Dispute And as for the Complement he is resolved that I shall pay dear for it before he parts with me Besides some such appearance of Candor the common Artifice of Detractors is necessary for the obtaining a belief to the basest of Calumnies which is to * Pag. 23. follow Dr. T. * Pag. 6. put Mr. M. in mind that such Discourses as these concerning the proof of Holy Scripture and some others lately used by the Romanists about the Trinity and Transubstantiation would rather make the People Atheists or Vnbelievers than Converts And that the Indifferent were ready to say Content We cannot believe Transubstantiation and we will have no Trinity We cannot have the Bible unless we take it upon Roman Authority and none we will have Mr. M. said That would not be the consequence but gave no reason why he said so But Mr. M. can give a very good reason why he then gave none It is because before he could pronounce Six words Dr. T. turn'd back again to Mr. P. And it was not for one as I have intimated already who looked on himself as wholly unconcerned in the Controversie to interrupt it so far as to press the Doctor to hearken to him What I would have then said had the Doctor been pleased to stay for it was That those who would give themselves leave to consider would find so good Authority in the Roman Church for the belief of the Trinity and the Holy Scripture that tho' there were no other Authority for them as indeed there is none yet this alone would be sufficient And consequently that there would be no danger of Atheism but where Obstinacy and Perversness should interpose which would never leave Men destitute of a Pretence for Incredulity tho' they should want a just reason for it ever so much I should have added that it was an excellent Argument of the Truth of a Religion when it could be shewn that either such a Religion was True or else that none was so Wherefore if it could be
might have pretended to but for some time even of the Open Air and even this kind of Life was so precariously enjoy'd by us and we were so far from being assured of any Continuance of it that were it not for our Confidence in God's Mercy we could have expected nothing else but immediate Destruction Now when these two things are put into the Ballance I mean the two different Trials of Dr. Tenison's Loyalty and Mine I cannot but think that the Advantage will be on my side and this even tho' the Doctor himself which perhaps is a bold word should hold the Scales Wherefore if any value accrue to Loyalty from such kind of Trials That certainly which has undergon the longest and severest ought to be the most prized Neither is there any reason why my Loyaly should lose that value in the Calm which according to this Rule it must have acquir'd in the Storm On the contrary it is then chiefly that the Labours of a Souldier are considered when the War is at an end and even by Rewards his Merit is not lessen'd tho' his Pretension be but declared For which reasons it is probable that this Comparison of the Doctorâ— will appear to the World to have many more Graiâ—â— of Self-Love than of Consideration And for m◠〈◊〉 part I cannot but look on it as an ill sign 〈…〉 Loyalty should sit so heavy on any Man's shoulders at this time of day and amidst so much ease and security as to be thought a thing of any weight Besides had the Doctor been that Loyal Man he pretended tho' he had thought me a little too hasty in this occasion ought he to have snapt me up so discourteously and with so much bitterness of Spirit for an expression which tho' taken by him for ill-grounded could not but be look'd on as Loyal Methinks I say the Loyalty of my Admonition might have made some Attonement for the supposed Error of it and the Doctor who is so good at giving Grains of Allowance might one would think Page 7. have extended his Charity to Me also especially when the Zeal for Loyalty needed not to have been extraordinary in him for the overlooking of so small a Fault Similis simili gaudet Had the Doctor been as much a Loyalist in his Heart as seemingly at least he was the contrary in his words he would have cherished Loyalty where-ever he had found it even even tho' mingled with some Indiscretion He may remember how cordially the Old and Loyal Church-of England-men and the Roman Catholics lov'd one another during the Civil Wars when the difference of Persuasion was not more powerful to divide their Understandings than a constant Fidelity to their Prince to unite their Affections But these days are somewhat changed The first Reformers to give them their due thought nothing enough for the * Declaring him Head of their Church and Supreme Governor in all Ecclesiastical and Spiritual Things or Causes They cared not what Church-Power he took so that he would exercise it in giving them Church-Livings King but it is to be feared there are some amongst their Successors who thinâ— â—â—ery thing too much Wherefore the late Representer of Old and New Popery may if he pleases for his diversion transfer his parallel Columns to his own Church I question not but he will be able to fill them And for some Materials I would recommend him to a late * Work of one of his own A Discourse for Abrogating the Tast c. Prelates Others he may have in the Uarious Translations of the Scripture Common-Prayer-Books Rubricks Forms of Ordination and the like But after all I will not much contend with Dr. Tenison in the forementioned Point I wish that he thought his Loyalty ten times more valuable than he does The greater Treasure he takes it for the more careful in all probability he will be to preserve it And had the Doctor 's esteem for Loyalty been so extraordinary before our Acquaintance his Discourse had not drawn such a fruitless Admonition from me nor my Admonition so much unjust Anger from him There are several other Remarks which would offer themselves to me on this Subject But the Filth which is so copiously rak'd together in this Paragraph is no such inviting sight as that I should continue to pore on it However there is one Observation which prevails with me for a little longer stay I cannot but call to mind what Sacred things the King's Witnesses were during the late pretended Popish-Plot notwithstanding that those who presented themselves for that Employment were known to be the most profligate Wretches alive whereas as soon as that Phantôm vanished and a true Plot bred under the Shadow of this false One was happily detected then nothing was so scandalous with some Men as one of these Witnesses such I mean as were then for the King Such a strange Perverseness is there in some Natures that what is for their turn tho' ever so Diabolical shall be Saintly with them but what is otherwise tho' Truth Justice or Piety shall be look'd on as the most detestable thing in the World. Whil'st the Witnesses were False it was a sin to asperse them but as soon as they came to be True their former Treasons were held less Crimes than their present Discovery of them And it was about this time viz. whil'st the Real Plot was under Prosecution that the Doctor 's Nick name of Evidence began to come in use Indeed the former Witnesses were every way so abominable that the very name of a Witness seem'd Ignominious and therefore it was the easier for the Enemies of the Crown to represent that as Odious in it self which was only so when accompanied with Falshood And hence instead of vilifying Perjur'd Witnesses in particular they slily brought a discredit on all Witnesses in general at least on Those who as I have said were for the King and so falsly pretending to remedy one Evil they endeavoured to introduce a Greater it being certainly a less Mischief to the Common-wealth that some False Witnesses should be believed than that None should be look'd on as True. Wherefore I hope the Doctor means somewhat worse by the Nick-name he bestows on me than barely the being a Witness for the King since blessed be God I am not yet so unmortified but that I had rather be reputed a False Evidence tho' the worst of Disgraces than that the being a True Evidence on the King's behalf should be esteemed a Disgrace It being better that His Majesty should want the Testimony of one single Person tho' ever so unjustly than that he should be depriv'd of That of all his Subjects This Pamphlet grows more bulky than I intended and therefore having said as much as I thought fit on the things contain'd in Dr. Tenison's Narrative I purpose to be much shorter concerning that which remains The Doctor in his 57th Page quotes a * Viz. His Diff. betwixt Prot.