can furnish him with which gaudy paint makes it often cheat and pass for the truth with vulgar eyes who gazing on its superficial dress seldom discern Counterfeit from Current Hence it happens that such become Heterodox few receiving the naked and unadorn'd Truth when rival'd with asplended and specious error Sophistry is but perverted logick and that person that in his Disputations borrows his keenest weapons from it is to be suspected as being scarce sound I have often found the Advocates of a bad cause as Ribera expresses â—it Curam habent nitoris cultusque verborum venustatis numerositatis sententiarum carefull of their Cadencies and the Handsomness of their stile that what 's wanting of Native Beauty may be made out with a supplement of Paint How far Mr. Wills has contracted the guilt of playing the Sophister let his discerning Readers determine For my part I think his greatest Excellency lyes there as far as appears to me in his published Treatises And that he is a meer Word-pecker is very obvious For if he finds one misplac'd misinserted or by chance misapply'd as oft happens with the most accurate through the Transcriber or Printers fault he gloryes and insults as if he had gain'd an Olympick prize Though his own Writings are obnoxious to the same Correction as I could abundantly shew if needful It is worth notice that the main thing in Controversy viz. the Antiquity of Infant Baptism is quite given up and forsaken by Mr. Wills it being evident by Mr. Danvers c. That for the first 300 years The Baptism of grown persons professing faith was universally owned and practiced and no Record of credit that assures us that Infant Baptism was at all owned as Christs ordinance The most that can be said is that it was Creeping in in the third Century when Tertullian opposed it and got some small footing by degrees from the opinion of its necessity to salvation and that from a fatal mistake of John 3.5 And in the year 416. received its instalment by humane Authority being imposed by a dreadful Anathema at the Milevitan Council Certainly had it been the practice of the universal Church Tertullian the ancientest Latine Father could not have oppos'd it uncontradicted And it is past doubt that it was dislik't and cry'd down by many when that Council sate else their Canon was ridiculous and vain The Eclcesiastical Empire was then upon its erection and Paedobaptism was thought a necessary pillar to support it therefore was the opposite party from time to time crush't with these terrifying Canons and Curses Now Mr. Wills having lost his Garrison with incorrigible obstinacy mans his Outworks and Approaches pouring out Contempt and Appeals as if he would carry all by noise but how such a re-attack shall prevail is easy to be conjectured Had Mr. Wills accepted of Mr. Danvers's modest endeavours to give him satisfaction in a private way with promised assurance that he would publickly recant any mistakes which the closest scrutinie of indifferent persons mutually chosen could bring to light it had been a strong argument that he had sought to clear and defend Truth not purchase Applause c. And had saved a great deal of labour and trouble But in Print he must be yet has not the ingenuity and common honesty to retract or repent for his own Noterious mistakes and falsehoods so fully detected and enumerated by Mr. Danvers in his Writings particularly in his Rejoynd from p. 49. to 77. whilst he has the confidence not to say impudence with so much severity to take by the throat and exact from him the utmost mite yea and that for mistakes of his own making too which he so unjustly Fathers upon him Discovering hereby his folly and shamful partiality that whilst as concerning his own errors he can overlook Beams swallow Camels and leap over Mountains He can with such an Eagle eye discover the Motes strain at the Gnats magnify the Male-hills of others The notority whereof you will find further Exemplified in the following pages by Tho. Delaune April 20. 1676. A just Reproof to Mr. Obed Will 's c. IN p. 14 of our Answer to Mr. Will 's Appeal after we had as mildly treated him and with as much impartiality as was possible we made a motion to him that if he thought himself concern'd to appear any further in the Controversy he would be perswaded that things may be transacted in an amicable and friendly way which we hop'd may tend to our mutual satisfaction in the clearing up of truth and to cherish that love that all that fear the Lord should bear each other though differing in some things Yet notwithstanding he comes forth in such a Contemptuous Sarcastical and Insulting spirit as if that mode of writing were the very Sinews of his undertaking and of the essence of his faculty Which I shall mention only once for all and betake my self more immediatly to the matter of his Censure having neither leasure nor will to strive with him for mastery in such Rhetorick 1st He sayes p. 5. That we accuse him for what was never brought to our Bar. But if he must needs call us forth without any seeking of ours and invest us with a power to Judge his Appeal he must give us leave also which is not deny'd to any in that Capacity as appealed unto to hint unto him what Circumstances we found that made his grievance not so notirious as he pretended and the antecedent passages that argued him precipitant and the Defendent far from Contumacious 2ly He sayes we borrow our accusations from Mr. Danvers Preface But suppose we had that 's no excuse sufficient for him For he should have disprov'd the things if untrue We noted them from our own knowledge of the truth of them and not meerly because Mr. Danvers said so His talk that we gave Mr. Danvers's Judgment not our own and that the things brought to our Bar we carry'd back to his is utterly untrue For we consulted with him no more then the nature of the matter before us required Nor did we hold any Intelligence with him but what consisted with Justice and Impartiality We were obliged in equity to hear him before we could proceed to a determination For Alteram andire partem is allowed in every Law And that our answer was à capite ad Calcem of Mr. Danvers forming as Mr. Will 's has the confidence to publish p. 8 is a gross falshood and his Inference of our Collusion unrighteous His very parallels confute him VVe must needs have the same matter as far as we treat upon the same thing yet our expressions are not of Mr. Danvers's framing VVhether Mr. Will 's hath done such great service as he boasts of p. 6. in detecting Mr. Danvers his mistakes any further then what are acknowledg'd is left to understanding Readers to determine VVhat we found fault with in Mr. Will 's his appeal deserves a smarter reprehension then we
can there be made but must be obnoxious to this censure We ascribe nothing to our own wisdom it is the beneplaeitum or good pleasure of the Lord to reveal his Truths to Babes which are hid from the wise and prudent Luk. 10.21 for which we must as Christ did express our thankfulness And no man must presume to call him to account for the exercise of his Soveraignty We believe that a great many hold Infant Baptism purely out of Conscience because they think the grounds urged for it from Scripture be valid and that if they were satisfied as we are of its unlawfulness they would renounce the practice as a great many do upon the accession of more light 2 That vast multitudes hold it out of pure ignorance 3 Some because it was the opinion of their Ancestors and is so generally owned 4 Most from that wretched and mischievous conceit with which except some few of the most refined Protestants the world is intoxicated viz. that WITHOVT IT THEIR CHILDREN ARE DAMNED 5 Many of the great and learned ones hold it because it is the Cornerstone of the Ecclesiastical Fabrick erected by the man of sin against which they must not declare if they will be Ministers of that State 6 Most are brought up in that way and never examine it whether right or wrong 7 Some that would examine it judge that so great a part of the world would not hold it if it were unlawfull and so are led by an implicite Faith 8 Some that examine it are byassed by Interest or Education so that the clearest Argument or Reason cannot remove them 9 Some are indeed convinced by the force of Truth yet the love of the world or some such sinister end hinders their owning so despised and uncountenanced a practice And a great many through grace are convinced and wrought upon to own it and beâ—r their testimony to it and certainly the testimony though but of a few that are not blinded with temporal ends and that cannot be charged upon us but swim painfully against the stream is not to be slighted Obj. But you make an Idol of it and censoriously condemn all that differ from you Answ This is an injurious charge for we ascribe no more to it then is warranted in the Word of God We look upon it as the initiating Ordinance into a Gospel profession Act. 2.41 42. An Ordinance of Christ of the sâ—me duration with preaching Mat. 28.19 A lively resemblance of the Death Burial and Resurrection of Christ Rom. 6.4 Col. 2.12 And we conceive it our duty to be found in the practice and profession of it though we undergo the censures and affronts of the age we live in thereby We make no Idol of it nor does our Religion consist in it only we desire to press after Holiness and to worship our God in Spirit and Truth to walk blamelesly Nor do we condemn dissenters but pray for them that the Lord would give them more light We desire to love all men as far as they appear to us to belong to Christ and would walk together in love as fâ—r as we agree But when they erre from the Rule we dare go no further with them Magis amica veritas it being as Aristotle himself said l. 1. c. 6 Ethicorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sacred thing to prefer Truth before Friendship Daille tells us in his Right use of the Fathers p 97. that Justin Martyr Irenaeus Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian I may add Origen Cyprian Lactantius Hillary Ambrose Jerome Augustine and Epiphanius that is the most eminent and most approved of the Fathers that ever were have stumbled in many places and quite fallen away in others Of which they themselves were so sensible that they gave us many cautions not to lean upon their Authority Non â—ecipienda veterum Authoritas Scripturae testimonio destituta August Ep. 19. Ex omnibus Fatribus nemo est quin suis scriptis aliquando faede erraverit hallucinatus est Lubert de Eccles l. 3. c. 7. In libris Doctorum Ecclesiae aliquondo errores aliquando Haereses inveniuntur non est tamen ut condemnemus vel librum vtl Authorem Deus enim hoc permittit ut nos veritatem ex ipsis scripturis indagemus Anselm Comment in 2 Cor. Therefore it is the less to be wondred that such as suck their unexamin'd Religion from their mouths go astray with them Nor can we be censured of arrogance if upon the tryal of their documents we hold fast only that which is good The sober Author of the Naked Truth tells us p. 42. That in matters of Faith there were some errors very Primitive and at the time of the Evangelical Reformation by Luther Melancthon Calvin he can shew some errors generally received in most if not all the Churches of Christendom but neither approved nor known by the Primitive Church Now this being so let the sober judge what little reason or safety we have to be led by any mans ipse dixit I would not be understood in any thing I say about this matter to cry down humane learning as a thing of no use For I confess it to be of excellent benefit in its place if rightly employ'd and that the knowledge of the Original Languages in which the Scriptures are penn'd is of very great necessity that we might converse with that blessed Book in its own emphatical and Native Idiom and that we might not be imposed upon by wrong Translations Yet we are to consider the bounds of Philosophy and humane literature viz. it is to be exercised in the things that may be known by the light of Natural Reason but when it travels beyond that road and must needs be defining things beyond its sphear it becomes extravagant and sawcy Accinge te ad Philosophiam sed hac lege ut memineris nullam esse Philosophiam quae à mysteriorum veritate nos abdueat Philosophia veritatem quaerit Theologia invenit Religio possidet says Picus Mirandula ad Ald. Man Fire is good in the Chimney but mischievous in the House-top Learning is good as an handmaid Hagar-like but if it must needs be Mistress and usurp Authority in the Family if like scoffing Ishmael Gen. 21.9 Gal. 4.30 it will mock at the Spirit and the simplicity of the Gospel let it be cast out As Reason is above Sense so Faith is above Reason 'T is the work of Faith by the aid of Divine Revelation to be employ'd in the mysteries of Religion Therefore our Philosophers when they attempt that undertaking by the dim guidance of Natures light are guilty of as great an absurdity as if the eye should encroach upon the ear and would pretend to distinguish the various gradations of Musical Notes or the Quavers of a pleasant Instrument which it cannot so much perform as the dullest brute can imitate the warblings of the Nightingale Christ made choice of the despised and unlearned that his grace might be the more
magnified and that it might be seen that he is able to qualifie a Fisherman Tent-maker or any other Tradesman to be the Messenger of the Everlasting Gospel and Embassador Extraordinary as it were of Heaven without being beholden to Aristotle Cicero or Aquinas He could by his Almighty power have converted the great Athenian Academicks as well as command a fish to bring him the tribute money Mat. 17.27 but his pleasure was to pitch upon a few poor people And shall we despise his grace when appearing in â—uch now God forbid We are opposed by men of different perswasions Prelatical Presbyterian Independent c. all agreeing in the practice of Paedobaptism though from very different grounds And I must confess that I find the greatest Ingenuity in Mr. Walker who very honestly holds Infant Baptism upon the same ground the Antiquity he alledges did viz. the conceit of its necessity though perhaps not in so very gross a degree as some of them And insists most upon the old Mediums to the shame of those that look upon themselves more Refined who twist themselves into so many new forms before they will part with it So that he may be allow'd many hundred years whereas the others can claim no Antiquity for their faederal Right above the 16th Century So that if things be weigh'd in the ballance of an unprejudic'd mind Mr. Walker's undertaking may be likely though not so Intended by him to convince people that since the grounds their adored Antiquity has laid for this practice and he has so fully produced be so weak and unscriptural they ought not to venture their Faith in so leakie a bottom but to reform and reduce it to its Primitive purity It being an undoubted maxim that in Controversies especially Omne certius eligibilius est incerto and Omne quod est propinquam vero est magis eligendum Whatsoever is most certain and bordering upon Truth is to be chosen before that which is doubtfull and disputable And whether our way or theirs he most agreeable to the Word of Truth and the practice of the Primitive Saints is submitted upon a fair tryal to the decision of the judicious and unbyassed Reader I have with as much brevity as I could given a short Answer to each of our Adversaries who have lately appeared against us unreply'd to There remains something to be said to one Mr. William Allen an Apostate Baptist for some late Arguments for Infants Baptism which I should have done also but that it is performed by an able hand and designed speedily for the publick Most of these Papers were ready for the Press many months since but we find it a difficult thing to pass it wanting the priviledge of an Imprimatur My great distance permitted me not to see the sheets in which are some errours injurious to the sense some of which upon a cursory reading I gathered the rest are left to thine Ingenuity to correct or pardon T. D. PREFACE IT would appear to me somewhat strange had I not seen a late example in the forwardest Champions of Paedo-baptism even Mr. Baxter and Mr. Wills that a man of so exuberant an invention as Mr. Whiston and so copious in venting his Notions should yet shift off his Antagonist with so disingenious and unscholar-like a Return as he gives Mr. Hutchinson in his Postscript Whether he be such an admirer of his own clocution that studying to display his faculty he has neither leasure nor Candor to give his adversary any other answer then Contempt or Naked Gainsaying Or whether the evidence of truth has not so substantially silenced him that yet loath to seem so be is forced to betake himself to such Evasive Subterfuges I will not determine But I have just cause to think the later for can any man imagine that one of his Forwardness Acquisition and Leasure being as he sayes Postscript p. 250. Free from all Family entanglements c. had he any thing to the purpose to offer would fail to publish it so seasonably in vindication of the cause he manages How unconvincing such a method of disputation as he takes is he cannot be ignorant of and such as will be imposed upon thereby may quietly enjoy that liberty for me And I would have Mr. Whiston know that the notice that I take of his Books is not because I think he has done more then others of his perswasion nor that I apprehend any stronger authority in his ipse dâ—â—ir then in the Dictates of his Predecessors But because he seems as he tells us in the Preface to his Essay to tread a new Path and proceed in another Strain then either the Prenitive Fathers or the Maior 〈…〉 â—ound out For of the first he tells in the Language of an Oracle That wherein they dissent from him they themselves disâ—â—nted from the Truth And of the later That their mistakes need Rectisying But to prevent the ill influence this his new started Argumentation may have upon the well meaning and enquiring Christian Mr. Hutchinson indeavoured in some late Animadversions upon Mr. Whistons answer to Mr. Danvers to make him sensible how unrighteous and lyable to exception his said undertaking was And therein did not proceed upon bare Dictates but plain and solid Demonstration from Scripture-evidence And though the singleness Mr. Whiston appears in be a just motive to us to slight his new stampt Divinity especially since it consists of little more then meer Affirmations yet he was opposed with such strength of Demonstration that I see he is loath to encounter it but in that New way of Postscripting Mr. Baxter taught him viz. To Answer Books by general Negations Therefore I see no Reason but it may be taken for granted that he is drawn to the Lees of his Ratiocination And whereas he complains of Mr. Hutchinsons overlooking the first Treatise of Infant Baptism p. 251. Mr. Whiston may consider it was Mr. Hutchinsons work then to detect and refel his injurious Cavils against Mr. Danvers And truly I must inform him for my part that it is a service of no grateful relish to me to take in hand and peruse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so tedious and incoherent a Discourse and upon which with more truth and honesty that Character he gives Mr. Danvers his Treatise may be retorted viz. That it carry's sufficient Antidote against its own embracements But to prevent his glorying I shall only take a Brief Survey of that Piece and leave a few Remark upon it with the Reader And as to his quarâ—lling with Mr. Hutchinson for taking no notice of his Intimations given by 〈…〉 lishing some thing further concerning this Controversy I cannot conceive how he can frame any just Charge thence against Mr. Hutchinson unless he fancy'd him to have Mr. Baxters faculty of Prophecying what his adversary is impreâ—nateâ— with But since no man besides Mr. Baxter is master of such afore-knowledge few besides Mr. Whiston would blame an Antagonist for that neglect viz.
is no untruth the grand Question before us being Whether Mr. Danvers was such a falsister as his accuser pretended and not whether Infant Baptism was lawful For to put that Cuestion to us would be Ridioulous And whether what we mention about the Milevitan Canon be so Collateral as Mr. Will 's pretends shall be considered in its due place 3ly In taking Mr Danvers words for Answers to some of the particulars in his Appeal and for sufficient answers to the trivial and insignificant Reply If Mr. Danvers his answers were full and proper here lyes no just charge against us nor any instance of partiality And when Mr. Will 's demonstrates they were not so it shall be considered 4ly As to what relates to my self I refer you to my particular defence made afterwards by it self Next Mr. Will 's having as he sayes though untruly manifested our Partiality comes to shew that Mr. Danvers his acknowledgments are not so ingenuous as we make them And 1st About the passage of Nazianzen Baptizandos peccata sua confiteri solitos which Mr. Danvers owns should be Translated The Baptized were wont to confess their sins And what would Mr. Will 's have more Would he have Mr. Danvers say he prevaricated when his Conscience tells him no such matter Or can Mr. Wih's make out that that sense Mr. Danvers deduced is not to be Consequently drawn from that expression 2ly Mr. Danvers his acknowledging his error about Deus Dedit prevented that fear of Mr. Will 's that the Reader might conclude that gifts were given by the Baptized to the Church and his guessing happily thereby that none were Baptized but the adult And is not that enough 3ly As to the quotation out of Walden about Wickliff the thing charged upon Mr. Danvers was That he made Walden say that Wickliffs Doctrine was very agreeable to the Doctrine of former Hereticks as Pelagius c. App. p. 173. Which he owned to be his mistake And what could we expect more from him It was not our business to lanch into the Controversy whether Wickliff opposed Infant Baptism c. That must be sub judice Though by the way since Mr. Wills acknowledges that Wickliff and the Albegois did deny that Infants were to be Baptized with Water as necessary to their Salvation has himself confirmed the truth of the thing till he make appear that the Paedohaptists in those dayes did upon any other ground Baptize their Infants VVhich Mr. Timbes and Mr. Danvers have so often called for That of the Faederal right which the Protestant Paedobaptists have so boasted of being but of yesterday never heard of as said till Zwinglius time And as to Mr. Will 's his talk that we never examined the History of these things it is untrue and just of the complexion of the rest 4ly That mistake about Zonaras p. 41. is also own'd and if Mr. Will 's in his own conceit magnifies it as no such trifle he must give us and others the liberty of our thoughts 5ly The mistake about Lanifrank Mr. Danvers very honestly owned and intended to rectifie it before Mr. Will 's minded him of it which is enough to satisfie any man of common ingenuity And those other untruths Mr. Will 's found complicated there as he sayes were acknowledg'd in the grand error that produced them and could no more injure any afterwards then branches can grow when the root is taken away 6ly The mistake of Sericius for Hiâ—omarus is also owned which was to us enough though the following words of Mr. Danvers should be omitted Next Mr. Will 's comes to shew That the particulars in his Appeal which we call trivial and insignificant deserve not those epithetes And that Mr. Danvers his answers which we make our own are very insufficient to satifie an Impartial Reader Reply In regard Mr. Will 's makes the greatest Flourish and â—angling about the particulars he brings under this head I shall offer these few considerations to all impartial men in justification of our procedure herein 1st That the thing charged upon Mr. Danvers was forgery and perverting of Authors which indeed is a great charge and reflects much infamy upon the Cause that must be beholden to such props for its support And that Mr Wills â—n these particulars made that charge good doth not yet appear 2ly It is acknowledged Mr. Danvers was in some particulars mistaken which we found him very willing to own as publickly as he had before delivered them and which as far as he was convinced of are acknowledg'd in his Rejoynder but how inconsiderable the Reader can best judge 3ly It must be declared that as far as we are capable to judge both from the experience of his Integrity Candor and piety as vvell as our tracing him upon this occasion in his quotations we could not find any of his mistakes to proceed from that principle Mr. Wills insinuates Infant Bapt. p. 57. viz. That he will not refuse the most sordid and shameful wayes to promote his cause or that he knowingly misrepresented any of his Authors And we cannot but judge Mr. Will 's an egregious over-lasher in that consident assertion p. 34. of the same book viz. That never any writer did more prevaricate or shew more falshood then he hath done and that he would certainly have forborn it if he had thought any man would have been at the trouble to examine and search whether he spoke truth or not But 4ly Inasmuch as we found no such weight in the particulars under this head as Mr. Will 's would suggest to prove his charge of prevarication but on the contrary an enumeration of Cavilling exceptions of no great affinity to the general charge of Forgery c. And in our Judgments for the most part sufficiently defended by Mr. Danvers we thought no law did oblidge us to condemn him for a Forger from such instances as carryed no sufficient evidence in them that he was so And therefore these particulars coming so far short of what Mr. Will 's produced them for what fitter Epithetes could we give them then that they were trivial and insignisicant and merited not a second Confutation But since Mr. Will 's now falls upon us the said particulars shall be reviewed and the naked sense given of them and so discharge any further transaction in such contests with so unreasonable an opposite And if Mr. Will 's will have the last word I think I shall not quarrel with him for it And as for his menace of an answer to Mr. Danvers Rejoynder it is like his way of dealing and scarce to be reconciled to the Conclusion of his first preface vind VVhere he gives security for his future silence But if the Circumstances he supposeth his Antagonist is under may incourage Mr. Will 's to revive his clamours and perpetuate the quarrel we hope If his attempts be worth opposition truth shall not want an Advocate that may disappoint this iâ—vader of the Trophyes he promises
ornaments accommodated whatsoever is to be believed or practiced to the understanding and capacities of men and that in express and intelligible terms which is indeed the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or meet accommodation of words into things Non movent non persuadent sacrâ—e literae says Picus Mirandula ad Hermol Barbar sed cogunt agitant vim inferunt legis rudia verba agrestia sed viva sed animata flammea aculeata ad imum spiritum penetrantia He that with a discursive understanding considers that the Scriptures in setting forth spiritual things aboundeth with Metaphors Parables and Similitudes borrowed from Earthly things and often calling them by the very names that material or earthly things are called cannot but arrive at this conclusion that it is rather to accommodate those spiritual matters to our capacities and understandings then to hide and obscure them from us God conveying the knowledge of heavenly things to us by preaching them by their respective parallels of earthly things for as Burgersdicius well notes in his Logick l. 1. c. 24. Oratio Metaphorica est perspicua sensibus ad animum assectusque movendos aptissima A Metaphorical speech is perspicuous to sense and to work upon the mind and affections most proper I shall readily own that the Lord having endued us with Reason that being a discursive faculty which from apt and proper premisses infers their natural Consequences we are not to flight that blessing but to make use of it in its proper place viz. in Resolving principles by fit Mediums into their Conclusions But to be too busie in matters of Gods positive worship which is as much out of the reach of our Reason to define as it is beyond the power of a blind man to judge of colours that depending meerly upon Gods Institution and for which we have his plain prescriptiors before us and boldly obtruding such Consequences in reference thereto as our dim faculty of ratiocination shall suggest is to offer strange fire at his Altar and shew our selves rather bold Interpreters then obeyers of his Law Ratio est potentia Discursiva à principiis ad Conclusiones sed non habet in se principia iliarum rerum quae side apprehenduntur impudenter itaque Conclusiones aedificat super arenam opinionum suarum cum sua principia quae sunt vera in ordint Naturae opponit principtis Theologicis quae sunt longe supra Naturam God has layn down the Rules of worship plainly and operly And as Wollebius says p. 7. Comp. Theol. Eâ—â—i quibusdam locis obscurior sit aliis tamen se explicat primarios Religianis articulos perspicuè tradit Though in some places it may be seemingly obscure yet in other places it expounds it self delivering the prime Articles of Faith very evidently and clearly 2 Pet. 1.19 20 21. 2 Tim. 3.15 16. And August de doctr Christ l. 3. c. 26. tells us that one place of Scripture must be expounded by another locum unum sacrae Scripturae per alium ejusdem Scripturae clariorem facere est optima interpretatio So that if the prime Articles of Faith and practical Duties be evidently and perspicuously laid down and delivered in the Scriptures as indeed they are what necessity is there to have recourse to such far fetch'd and extorted consequences as are usually calculated to countenance some beloved error for the sake of which the Text is so tormented and rackt by the Critical Wits of our age that there is scarce any Sect but pretend patronage from it though the Conclusions they squeeze are no more to be found in the premisses unless by that wretched art of Sophistry then a Dolphin in the Woods It is to be bewail'd what conviction proof men are even in so plain a case has not common and wofull experience taught us that when such a liberty of allowing Articles of Faith and Opinions from pretended Consequences was most encouraged that Religion was then most incumbred yea stifled with the products of such wanton wits as play'd the Sophisters with Scripture and obtruded such Brats of their own begetting as legitimate off-springs of the Word upon the too much abused and credulous Vulgar to the misleading of their Souls and fostering as well as propagating Division and Confusion in the Church whereas of right no products of an humane spirit should be receivable in Evangelical Religion Therefore in my opinion 't is the safest way to be sober in a matter of such high concernment and admit of no consequence in point of faith or practice that are obscure doubtfull or uncertain but only such as are plain and to be easily seen by any eye to be the natural and undoubted result of the premisses and consonant to the general nature and tenour of the Gospel And Mr. Wills his demand who shall be Judge to determine which consequences are plain and which not is a captious question propounded only to make a noise for the same interrogation lies against all consequences viz. who shall Judge what consequences are rightly deduced and what not which when he resolves it for himself resolves the other also for us 'T is certain that every mans Reason and discretive Judgment must in that case be his Judge no other being invested into that Supremacy 'T is true that appears plain to one which appears not so to another therefore we are to pray for a discerning and clear understanding Jam. 1.17 that we might be establish'd in Evangelical Truths without being beholden to the niceties of the Schoolmen and their idle speculations I have insisted the longer upon this point because we are generally charged to deny all Consequences from Scripture which is false for we grant that after the example of our Lord Jesus and his Apostle Mat. 22.31 32 Act. 13.33 34. we may from plain and lawfull premisses infer their necessary Conclusion The thing we deny is that such Sophistical pretended Consequences not at all countenanced in Scripture Text as our adversaries use in the management of this Controversie of Infant Baptism against us are of any validity or credit and should not therefore be used It may be well called the Naked Truth that a late excellent Pen hath so feelingly exprest There is nothing has prov'd a greater plague to Christianity then School-Divinity where new questions nice distinctions and rash conclusions are toss'd up and down like Tennis-balls whence proceed cruel bickerings and dangerous Heresies The first Divinity School we read of was set up at Alexandria by Pantenus whence sprung the Arrian Heresie which soon overran all Christendom In the subtilty of those Schools Heresie grew refined and with their distinctions and evasions quite baffled the plain and simple professors of the Gospel There is no giving way to rational Deductions and humane Argumentations against Faith and Scripture The Primitive Doctors converted from Heathenism and well skill'd in Philosophy Antiquity History and Logick or Sophistry translated those Sciences falsly so called into Christianity to