that he was faine to learne of new to reade Deservedly hee But what I deduce out of this relation is first that his reasons though in his owne judgment they were not efficacious yet they convinced the whole auditory and that of no common persons By which we may understand that the reasons he brought were not demonstrations nor were the best that might have been alledged for that subject Celse better could not have been opposed And neverthelesse they carried so great an Auditory From whence we may inferre how violent a power the force of this art of talking must necessarily have upon the ordinary sort of men to make them take their Master for a great Doctor An other note that I make upon this occasion is that all the talking of such men is not or ought not to bee sufficient to perswade us not onely that they speake the truth but even that they speak their owne mindes And after all their earnestnesse we may suspect their discourse is framed but to comply with the humour of the times or to promote their present interest or to please their auditors Tully professeth the same of his Oratours and sayth he also practised it himselfe But here I may not omitt the story of that expert generall and understanding man Hanniball the Carthaginian Antiochus having furnished him with a puissant and flourishing army would entertaine him also with an Oration concerning the art of warre and the manner how he ought to proceede in it made by a famous and long-practised Oratour Phormio who in the presence of Antiochus and his Captaines discoursed to Hannibal of this subject to the great applause and admiration of all that heard him excepting Hannibal who being asked how he liked him answered that in all his life-time he had never heard such an old dotardly foole prate A strange censure one would thinke on a man so generally exacted and cryed up Yet if we consider that Phormio had learned his skill of warre onely in written discourses and Histories but Hannibal in the field and in action it selfe wee may easily conceive that Phormios Oration talked of thinges in the ayre and formed his adversary in his fancy whereas Hannibal had studied the thinges in themselves and so knew groundedly what he spoke and saw that all the Oratours glorious speech was but a painted pageant not any effectuall exhibition of truth Hence we may conclude that the ability of discoursing in a high straine and in a pathetike manner is no argument of true learning in him that exerciseth it unlesse juggling and folly in impertinency may passe for learning Who were better talkers or better discoursers then the Academikes Yet their profession was that they had no truth and that indeed there was none to be found The nineteenth REFLEXION On what Divinity And who is a Divine LEtt us now apply this to practise and to our present subject Religion as we have already said is the most important and the most necessary businesse that belongeth to Mans nature and action It is so precisely one that if a man chance to mistake in it be the cause what it will he is lost for ever For as hee that misseth his way cometh not to his journeyes end whether it be his fault or others misguidance that hath made him misse his way So who treadeth not in the true path of Religion never arriveth at eternall happinesse lett the fault lye where it will Now if learning in Religion be the skill of shewing the path to heaven and if all the great noise that these talkers make helpeth one never a steppe thitherwards as not delivering any point of truth that may be relyed upon It is evident that the pretended learning of such persons is much further from the notion of true learning then the Grammar learning we spoke of before For though learning be lowe ad meane as being onely of wordes yet of them att least the Grammarian hath knowledge Whereas this prating this parrate-vertue though it be of thinges yet is it not a science of them but all is meere wordes and winde I heare them reply as they want neither wordes nor impudence to dispute against evidence that though it is true they promise no certainty because none can be had yet they make out high probability which is the Princesse that governeth humane affaires I will not at present discusse whether there be any certainty or no It is enough that the Catholike Church professeth certainty and ever hath done so and nature forceth even the denyers of this truth to act as if they had certainty in perswading and forcing others to their opinions But I wish that these men would speake plaine English and that in lieu of this quaint terme High probability they would tell us the meaning of it in wordes that honest men may understand Lett me see if I can helpe them That which they meane by prohability must either be some accesse towardes truth on the objects side Or a strong perswasion made in the Auditor If it bee a perswasion In the Auditory without any approach to the object clearely it signifyeth nothing else but a high cheate or an excellent juggle with prayse neither may I deny nor do I envy to such men Then for the objects side If there be no fixednesse or certainty of the object by all the arguments of this high Oratour I can not comprehend there is more in all he sayth then peradventure it is true peradventure not So that High Probability signifyeth High Peradventure Which how great a Non-sence it is if applyed to fixed verities that are not subject to the mutability of change and chance that is how ridiculously it is applyed to Religion and to truths of faith is evident to every sensible man If now men will needes have one termed a Divine because he can thus finely talke in the ayre of God and of thinges belonging to him he must be a Divine of blind Tiresias his tribe who in the Poët professeth his Divinity in these termes O Laërtiade Quicquid dicam aut erit aut non Divinare etenim magnus mihi donat Apollo The last part of the reply telleth us that Probabiliry governeth all human action I deny it not But withall I take notice that Action is one thing Beliefe an other Human action is about the gaining of a future End which dependeth on fallible principles as all mortall thinges doe Which are continually involved in a thousand uncertainties and changes But faith is of unchangeable verities which nothing hath power to make otherwise then it is already settled It is a parallel to science I meane to true science such as we se exercised in Geometry for which no man looketh into probabilities And to expect that faith should depend on probabilities is no lesse ridiculous then to thinke the like of Geometry since it is more necessary and more important then Geometry and the way to heaven is missed with greater danger and losse then
naturall credulity of children to their parents and teachers Yet I do not hereby exclude but that as riper yeares come on so they ought to gaine stronger groundes and maximes to confirme what they first accepted of in a more simple manner But here peraduenture it will be expected that since we say we meane not in this discourse by the terme Religion the vertue so named by Divines but the skil of attaining to eternall blisse we should give the reason why we call this Religion The answere hereunto is not difficult for since the end we ought to ayme at in this life belongeth to the next And since we know so very little of that even the great Clerks much lesse the ordinary sort of Christians whose chiefe endeavours are bestowed upon their temporall concernements It was requisite for our nature that this science should be delivered us from God himselfe And coming from him the most confâ—rmable course was that it should be done by way of command that onely becoming his greatnesse and taking away all possibility of dispute in us Which being so effected you see the art of obtaining happinesse was now become a matter of obedience to Almighty God Besides the object of our Beatitude being the diuine essence the way to attaine it must consequently be an ardent affection to Almighty God And such affection proceeding from a high esteeme of him And the performance of duties and the acknowledgements of the greatenesse of him wee honour flowing naturally from such esteeme It followeth that the chief if not the whole skill of acquiring blisse must consist in making due acknowledgements and in framing vehement affections towardes the God-head And thus you see that the skill which before wee seemed to make different from the vertue of Religion as preceding and directing it is now found to be coincident or convertible with it And though the name of Religion seemed to be spoken aequivocally of the two and in truth is so seeing the notions are quite divers Yet because the thinges that are executed by both are the same the name is justly and fitly derived from the one to the other and so necessarily that without due consideration we can not finde in what one signification differeth from the other The third REFLEXION That the Religion without which there is no salvation is but one OUt of what we have hitherto discoursed it is evident that if according to the course of all other arts and sciences and according to the custome and rule of nature in all her other proceedings the way of conquering the high walls of heaven by our violent affections be but one That is to say that as our nature and her acts and her defects are proportionable one to another and of one kind in all men so the happinesse all men ayme at being but one also the best way unto it ought to be but one and the defects from the best one proportionate to an other that is the way of all men to bliss proportionably considered ought to be but one then it followeth clearely that if God intendeth to direct vs wisely and conformably to our Nature towardes the End he created vs for which he must of necessity do vnder forfeiture of his great wisedome and goodnesse should he make nature and vs in it with designe to bring vs to our eternall well-being and not vse the meanes for it his commandes to vs can be no other then of such thinges as by their essences do integrate the streight and direct way in which did we know the causes of things we should of our owne inclinations and by the skill of morall Philosophy both march our selues and guide others in our charge And out of this we may conclude manifestly that Religion is but one onely which if we hit on and put in execution we become happy but if we misse of it we become unhappy whether the fault of missing it be ours or no Not that I suppose the missing can happen without our fault which is an other disputation But that this rule is universally true that whosoever hath not the true Religion miscarrieth and faileth of obtaining blisse By this we see how dangerous the rocke is to which so many seeke for refuge of their shippe-wracked consciences solacing themselves with such discourses as these God is good and mercifull and therefore commandeth not impossibilities but is content if I do my endeavour to fulfill his precepts I for my part am very ready if I knew them Nay I labour and study to find them out and yet can not Therefore why should I trouble my selfe any further Rather let me cast away all anxiousnesse and trust to the mercies of so unlimited a goodnesse For if what we have hither to laboured to evince be true namely that Gods commands are not meere voluntary ones but of such actions as do naturally breede the effect for which they are commanded then labour as much as you will if you do not that which is commanded that is if you take not the true way of going to heaven you shall never come there The prescriptions of the Doctour to the Apothecary are commandes But if the Apothecary though he endeavour never so much do not mingle the right drugges and temper them according to the Doctours prescriptioÌ„s the Physick will not prove healthfull to the Patient The husbandmans prescriptions to his kynde are commands Yet if his seruant though he worke by his greatest wittes should sow pease instead of wheate the croppe will not come up fit for the Masters table So in all other trades and arts It is not enough to do our endeavour But the thinges themselves must be really performed or else the desired effects will not follow Then assuredly those who content themselves with this cold comfort that God is mercifull do make lesse account of that so important businesse of their salvation then they do of those meaner profits which arise out of vulgar arts and occupations These two then do stand very well together that the same thing may be a coÌ„mand and withall a naturall action towardes the end for which it is coÌ„manded Nay ordinarily and regularly it is alwayes so and no command is otherwise unlesse where there is some fault either in the commander or in the subject The Generalls commandes are of doing such thinges as are ordered to safety and victory the Statesmans for keeping peace and for procuring plenty the Bishops of those actions which breede vertue and good life in the people Yet all these are commands and have therefore power of forcing obedience because they are or at least ought to be supposed such as of themselves are necessary for the common good in respect of which one man subjecteth himselfe to another And from hence the sillynesse of this excuse is more evident For if it be naturall to all good commands that they be of actions conformable to the end for which they are given and that the command be made for
Platonicke Schoole and brought into it the imitation of the Trinity which is found in their discourses and in the writings of their followers So amiable is truth that the very likenesse of it enamoureth the understanding How much more would the substance do so were it rightly pursued and truly discovered Which without question it may be even in this very particular the termes in which this sublime Mystery is delivered being so naturall and the thing it selfe being the connaturall substance of Almighty God that dependeth not upon any chance or free disposition and the intention of revelation being generally to bring us to the knowledge of the thing that is revealed And therefore you will say the wonder is not so great that since Christian Religion was knowne and voyced about in the world these Mysteries should be treated of by Philosophers in their Schooles and writings But if in any of them before the coming of Christ there shoud have sprung out of pure nature the least intimation of any of these supernaturall Mysteries That would be a strong confirmation of what we have here said Certainely if this may be expected from any it must be from Aristotele He being of the onely person amongst the Heathens that hath written with solidity Of him then it is reported that as he lay upon his death-bed considering the miseries that poore man-kinde falleth dayly into through Errors and that it is not in the power of Nature to deliver Man from them hee pronunced this great sentence That Homer had much reason to make the Gods take human shapes upon them to draw by that meanes poore Men out of Errours Behold the Incarnation of the sonne of God ' as so lively grounded as any Christian can speake of it And this by the meere strength of reason And is it possible that now after so glorious publication of the Christian faith through the whole earth there should be found any Christians so unreasonable as to thinke it unreasonable that God should become man to save us from our sinnes which are the true roote of all our miseries The like is of the holy Eucharist Did but men understand so much of Metaphysickes as to know the Nature of their owne growth or augmentation they would find no difficulty in that now by many so disbelieved and decryed though in it selfe so heavenly and needefull a Mystery But ignorance and pride maketh that to be held for absurd which in truth is most conformable to Nature I will adde but one word more upon this occasion for their sakes who are affected with reason and are best satisfyed with discourses built upon that foundation This Principle being supposed that all thinges are governed in the perfectest manner that may be in conformity to the generall rules of nature which Divines use to expresse in these wordes that God ever doth that which is best then presently All the Mysteries of Christian Religion Namely the creation of Man the fall the oeconomy or conduct of the world untill the coming of Christ since Christ the end of the world the last Judgement the Resurrection the severall States of soules before it and of men after it Beatitude Damnation And whatsoever else is in Catholike beliefe as the Doctrine concerning the Church Church-gouvernement the Sacraments and whatsoever else belongeth of necessity to credulity and obedience All these I say will appeare so mainely evident and reasonable that no man of a just capacity and unpassionate mind can take any exception against it Whosoever will employ his time and endeavours in this search and shall begin it with a right understanding of Nature will find with unspeakable comfort and satisfaction to himselfe that what I have here said is true I confesse some paines are required to know these thinges as also there are some necessary to comprehend the demonstrations of Archimedes and the Cronickes of Apollonius Pergeus about which we see so many straine their wittes to understand them for the delight that is in them when they are once mastered And yet the importance ad consequence of them is not comparable to the knowledge of these truths which looked after with a like attention in a due progresse will become as evident as they But wee must not expect to attaine to the depth of all these pointes by onely discoursing of them in familiar conversation for our divertisement and recreation or by reading some treatise of them in such sort as one would do a Romance only for entertainement or passe-time and delight They who are skilled in Geometry or Algebra do well know they never purchased those sciences so cheape Seeing then that this is of so much higher a straine in it selfe and of so farre greater a concernment towardes the governement of their lifes Lett them if they can not be satisfyed with simply believing these truths use industry to finde Masters able to instruct them and employ a competency of labour in pursuite of them The eighth REFLEXION Of conference and Disputation in common AFter the way of reading there offereth it selfe to our consideration that of personall discoursing or Dialogising This may be performed in two Manners The one when hee who is to learne contributeth on his side bearing himselfe with a desire to come to truth and helping it on by acknowledging candidly what seemeth to him true out of his former persuasion and proposing wherein hee findeth difficulty and asking no more then to have that opened unto him which some preoccupation hath obstruted This Manner of treating is called Conference And no doubt but it is a farre shorter and more efficacious way to come to knowledge then reading Provided the teacher be an able Man and Master of his profession For a writer can speake but in common whereas such a teacher knoweth by the answers of his opposer wherein particularly lyeth the difficulty he is to remove and accordingly spareth and contracteth many discourses wihch the writer is forced to deliver att ayme and att hazard Besides the very orall delivery is farre more intelligible and giveth a singular energy to what is so taught The other Manner of Dialogising is when the Auditour standeth upon his guard and yieldeth nothing upon fore-knowledge but will bee coâ—vinced and see evidence for every thing he is to allow And this is properley called Disputation The parties in this are clearely two and no third to moderate the Disputation though oftentimes one be necessary to moderate the Disputants Who otherwise through contention and earnestnesse may bee apt to neglect the rules of DisputatioÌ„ whereof the first or chiefe is that the one meddle not with the others office as long as he holdeth to the rules of Disputation The parties being two a disputaÌ„t and a respondent The first thing the disputant is to doe is to state the question or rather to require of the respondent to do it if it bee necessary That is if he suspecteth the termes of the Thesis to be equivocall Then is he
to oblige the respondent to explicate his meaning in the position For that belongeth to the respondent who can not be forced to hold by the wordes of his Thesis any more then himselfe meaneth by them He may also oblige him to yield the reason of his Tenet if it be such a one that the opposite is the more common or of Authors that he is bound not to forsake without great reason For as in truth it is an impudence to maintaine any thing without a reason So the reason failing the maintainer is putt from his position though peradventure the position it selfe be not confuted Neither ought there to be required more reasons then one for one truth Not but that many arguments may be framed to prove the same conclusion but because among them one at the least ought to be irrefragable and which cā not be cōvinced of defect For if none be such the respondent ought not to maintaine his assertion for true since he himselfe must needes thinke that peradventure it is false not having evidence or knowledge that it can not be otherwise then as he affirmeth it The second duty of the disputant in a serious disputation intended for the finding out of truth is to propose no argument but such as in his opinion is convincing We can not oblige a man to know so much For all of us are fallible in particulars and even Geometricians themselves do sometimes mistake a truth for demonstrated when really it is not so But that which we may exact of our disputant is that he esteem his argument convictive and propound it for such ād he is to make account that himselfe is overcome if fair law being givē him he do not overcome For his part being to prove if he do not that faileth of his end which is to lose the day and if before he begin he doth not expect to do this he cometh not to dispute but to mock the Auditory and to persuade them or to make a shew of that which in reality he knoweth he can not performe His third duty is to proceede in forme Now by true and rigorous forme is meaned Syllogisticall forme So that in rigour every attempt of his should be a Syllogisme But among expert and ingenuous Logitians This is not exacted unlesse it bee upon a pinch where there is a controversy upon the consequence For then the rigour of forme concludeth the question Otherwise to goe as they call it by Enthymemes that is by putting one onely Antecedent whence the denyed proposition is averred to follow is the shorter and the clearer way For it taketh away both lenghth and confusion from the respondent And because if the Antecedent be false it is but one and so the deniall or distinction of it putteth the arguer in his ready way and if the consequēce be naught that is to be proued the Disputation goeth the more smoothly on His fourth duty is to prove what is immediatly denyed him and to bring that in his consequent whether it be a proposition or a sequele he ought to make good These are the necessary and maine duties of the disputant For although anciently he was allowed to make what demandes he pleased of thinges pertinent to his proofe before the respondent could discern what he aymed at by his questions Yet our latter Schoole-practise hath cutt of this liberty as being very subject to circumvent the respondent and rather captious then a solide meanes to arrive att truth As for the Answerer His first duty is to remember his name that is to say that he sitteth there to answere and therefore ought to speake no more then he is asked His solemne wordes are knowne to be I grant I deny I distinguish As for granting it is att his danger As for denying he ought not to deny any proposition that of it selfe is knowne to be true As for distinguishing he must shew that the Arguers wordes do bear more senses then one or else he giveth no distinction Hee must also shew that the parts of his distinction are to the purpose of the argument otherwise his distinction is frivolous This he must do when the Actour requireth it Otherwise he must onely give his distinction and grant the one part and deny the other to the end the arguer may choose whether he will accept of that which is granted or prove that which is denyed If he grant a proposition formerly denyed or if he deny a proposition formerly granted he hath lost the day Whether he may distinguish a proposition that he hath before simply granted or denyed is a question touching the honour of the defendant But without doubt in rigour it is lawfull to be done For no proposition can be supposed to be granted or denyed in all senses possible And therefore upon further occasion it may be declared in what sense it was formerly allowed or denyed The ninth REFLEXION Of the Application of the same to Religion BUt to apply these observations to our present subject we must cast our eyes upon the ayme and scope of our disputation Other disputations that are not of Religion wee see are sometimes done for the exercise of yong Schollers to inure them to a subtile and rigorous Manner of discoursing and to make them perfect in the consequences to their Tenets which is a laudable course according to the worth of the sciences they are about Other whiles men meete to dispute either for recreation sake or for ostentation of their wittes The latter is pardonable in yong men and the former is a commendable Manner of passing their time for those who have no better meanes of spending it But when all this is applyed to Religion it taketh an other hew For here wee looke for truth in the most necessary part and businesse of our life in which to be deceived is the greatest mischiefe that can befall us Beyond the ruine of our estate Beyond the taking away of our life Beyond the extinguishing of our family And beyond the losse of all that is deare to us in this world Wherefore he that in this Matter maintaineth any position meerely for ostentation of his witte is guilty of a most Sacrilegious action and committeth upon the party he seduceth the worst sort of murther that Mans Nature is capable of in like Manner to make a meere recreation of such disputing Is a high contempt of God of eternall Beatitude and of Divinity For exercise it may be necessary so it be knowne to befor that end and that under colour of exercise no wrong persuasion be induced into the Auditory Yet is all this from our present businesse For the Disputation for which these rules are intended is a kind of trial of the truth of Religion By which the Auditory may take an Apprehension of what they are to follow during their whole life So that it is not to be allowed without just security from both parties From the Arguent for his disputing and from the
unprofitable Servants In all which Texts Neyther is that said so much as by the outward wordes which they intend by alledging them nor is there any shew of connexion with what they pretend But rather for the most part such places do favour the adverse party As the first reprehendeth the fastinges of the wicked Jewes because they continued their impieties notwithstanding their afflicting themselves Which signifyeth that the fasts themselves were good but that the Manner and circumstances in which they were done were naught The second clearely concludeth that seeing the disobedience in eating forbidden meates floweth from the heart it is sin not to abstain from them The third supposeth evidently that the commandements may be fullfilled which is denyed by Protestants and implyeth that more may be done and consequently admitteth workes of super errogation I deny not but that both these sorts of arguments are common to both parties Yet it is with this difference that the Catholike relyeth not upon them as being fixed upon his owne firme and solide basis of having received his faith by succession from Christ And therefore in his mouth such are condesciences to the weakenesse of his auditory Whom he hopeth by this milke to make capable of a stronger settlement But among Protestants such arguments and conjecturall inferences are the very foundation of their Religion Unto which sandy ground they strive to bring their auditory hindering them from setling upon the rocke of the Church The thirteenth REFLEXION Of other sorts of Arguments drawne out of Scripture BUt leaving these shuttle-cocke arguments which are easily bandyed from either side Let us looke upon the next kind of argument which maketh use of a heape of Texts to prove the Conclusion intended I do not deny but that this is a strong proceeding If it finde either an able Logician to manage it or an Auditory capable of it both which are very rare And therefore this course is fitter for writing and for reading with deliberation then for a sudden conflict upon the place There are two wayes of using this weapon The one simply accumulateth many Texts giving every one its force in short and overwhelming the Auditour by their multitude This doth well in an Oration or Sermon and carrieth a great resemblance of strength in it But if the whole discourse cometh to be anatomised by the adversary and the wakenesse of every e text shewed in particular Then the conclusion standeth naked and ashamed and the author Amazed a see his owne opinion so unexpectedly changed And therefore in a Disputation where the adversary hath his law to answere onely one this accumulation of Texts serveth to little purpose more then to spend time The other way of employing a conglobation of Texts is to pretend to bring all the Texts that may be found in Scripture favourable to either side and by comparing them to shew which party standeth with Scripture which against it But first it is evident that this proceeding is not proper for a regular combat For the adversary will have right to clayme the planting of his owne batterye himselfe and may refuse to accept it from his enemy Againe to do this thing well and to make this comparison in due Manner So many things are to be considered that it is rather the subject of a Booke then fitt for the proposall of one party to which the other is to answere immediatly upon the place For the Texts ought to be examined that it may be determined which of them do formally containe the position that is to be proved And which onely some verity connexed to it from whence it may be drawen and the degrees of such connexion Againe what speeches are proper what Metaphoricall and the degrees of translation in them Likewise the occasions of the speaking those wordes and their coherence with actions or wordes precedent and subsequent All which considerations are so manifold and so tedious to be well performed that they can by no meanes be brought into the brevity of a Dialogisticall opposition But will require the making of long speeches like whole sermons on each side Which can not choose but be irkesome and displeasing to the Auditory And in conclusion must necessarily be without effect seeing that it is impossible ordinary memories should beare away such a multitude of notions so perfectly as to be capable of framing an exact judgement of them Besides if any one Text of these were absolutely convincing the rest would be burthensome and but hinder and embroile the evidence of the Conclusion And if none of them do prove it clearely Then all of them together can but make one side more probable then the other Which signifyeth no more then that since the best of them is but probable you can rely on neither of them as true and certaine And consequently all that is said is of no effect towardes the ending of controversies but is purely a superfluous labour and a tryall of wittes not a deciding of questions or a settling of the auditory in the right way to heaven It now remaineth onely in order to Scripture-disputation that we speake of such arguments as are drawne from places of Scripture which do plainely containe such verities as are knowne and agreed upon by both parties without the authority of Scripture to prove them So that the sense and meaning of those places is not att all ambiguous or controverted by either side And out of these you make your way to your conclusion or to other truths that are as yet unknowne to you but that you desire to have certainty of Now cleare it is that it would avail as much to take the naked Truths in themselves without the words of Scripture as to alledge the words in this case For the Truths themselves being acknowledged by both parties it is needelesse to bring any proofe of them And therefore Scripture serveth but for an ornament in this discourse And the whole force of the argument is drawne from the confessed Truths And consequently it is cleare that this is a discourse of reason not of authority however a farre off it may in some sort depend on Scripture Therefore we neede not trouble our selves att present with discussing this sort of arguments but shall remitt it to the examination of reason where on it dependeth I should here end speaking of arguing out of Scripture But because it is that which our adversaries do use most at least the Protestants and Calvinists and the Sects of their growth and because some persons are so maddely carelesse of their owne salvation that they will content themselves with probability for their Religion especially if Scripture be made the pretence of it I am forced to adde yet a few lines in regard of such persons as making Scripture the onely ground of their Religion and judge their Controversies do not so much as ayme att convincing arguments by the allegations that are brought out of Holy Writte Nor whether the point proposed be true
or false But whether side is the more probable or plausible purely in relation to Scripture Clearely he who in any point will proceede according to conscience and prudence in this way of arguing is obliged to consider all that is contained in the whole Scripture concerning that point Weighing what he putteth in each side of the ballance with the best judgement God affordeth him that so he may judiciously pronounce sentence For the doing of which he ought to consider not onely the number of places that concerne his purpose but their qualities also and be able to compare those one with an other Now this is so hard a taske that the learnedst and ablest man a live may despaire of ever being able to effect it For how can he or any Man with reason persuade himselfe that either he or any other hath ever produced or ever can produce out of Scripture all that may from thence be alledged for any point in controversy since our Saviour himself hath given us a cleare example that arguments may be drawne and those efficacious ones from Texts where we least dreame of any such sense As when disputing against the Sadduces he made this argument God is God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob But he is not God of nothing Therefore Abraham Isaac and Jacob shall rise againe or do remaine in soule hoping for their body and resurrection who can be confident of saying or knowing all that is in Scripture concerning any point when the proofes of truths may lye in such unlikely places Surely it must be either a great ignorance or a great temerity to undertake it And therefore we may conclude that it is impossible we should ever arrive so farre in this way of search as to know really what is more or lesse probable out of Scripture But all that we may hope to attaine unto is onely to be able to judge what is more or lesse probable out of those places which well our selves do know or att most out of those places which the Authors we have seene do bring And so it is evident that they who relye on Scripture or rather that professe to do so do not in truth relye upon it but upon their owne or their Teachers diligence whom they suppose to know the whole latitude of Scripture-proofe Which is not onely false but impossible for any man to do The fourteenth REFLEXION On the Arguments drawne out of the Fathers THe second nest of Authority out of which Arguments take wing Is the copious library of Fathers Wherein it is to be considered that whether Catholike or Protestant be to argue the Text he alledgeth hath a double remove from the conclusion he would prove For whereas in allegations of Scripture both sides agree that what it sayth is certainly true and so all the difficulty consisteth in knowing what is true meaning of the place alledged it is otherwise allegations of Fathers For in them there arise two questions The one whether that which the argugent pretendeth be the Fathers opinion the other whether that which the Father sayth be true after it is agreed to be his opinion For neither Catholike nor Protestant doth agree to all things that one or two Fathers may hold But indeed Protestants do defie them all And Catholikes require an universality in them to make them infallible So that if either Catholike or Protestant be the Arguer he ought to settle before-hand with his adversary that such a Father or Fathers as he intendeth to produce be of unquestionable authority between them Or else not to meddle with them for it were but labour lost and breath cast away The Protestants use to make two comparisons in Fathers The one in Age or Antiquity the other in learning or reputation As for the former they insist much upon the three first Ages supposing them to be purer then the rest In doing of which it is evident that their ayme is to reject all For when they list and that it concerneth them they will tell you that the impurity of doctrin began as soon as the Apostles were dead Now if by this Impurity they meane damnable errors then by saying so they evacuate all the authority of Fathers For they allow it no further then as it pleaseth every disputant or Minister to declare the point controverted to bee or not to bee a damnable error And thus even the three first Ages are blowne away with the rest But if the point in Controversy be no damnable error then the Fathers authority importeth litle erring being but of small consequence in such Matters as do not concerne salvation and there being no obligation upon a Christian to know unnecessary truths In a word If the Church can erre and hath erred these thousand yeares it is but courtesy to say she did not so in the former six hundred And so in truth the Fathers have no authority att all But if it can not erre nor hath erred Then the Fathers of the latter Ages own as good wittnesses as those of the former so they be induced with Universality The other comparison or distinction that Protestants use to make of the Fathers concerning their learning and reputation is as little to the purpose as that of their Antiquity For we do not cite Fathers as Doctors whose opinion is no better then the reason they bring for it but as wittnesses whose authority consisteth in a grave and moderate knowledge of what is believed and practised by the Church in the ages respectively wherein they lived And out of this it followeth that for wittnessing of Christian faith no one Father is to be preferred before an other It is true in some sense the testimony of a more antient Father may be sayd to be preferred before a more moderne one because the formall witnessing of it is of more neerenesse to Christ and of longer durance towards us But in regard of learning No Father hath more authority nor is more to be valued then an other for what concerneth faith though in other respects it be very considerable For a lesse learned Father is as credible a wittnesse as the learnedst of what is the present practise and beliefe of Christians so he have learning sufficient to warrant his understanding and knowing so much And in reality any Father whose authority carrieth us beyond the apparent memory of mankind att present living is as good as the best for declaring the faith of the Church in the time he lived in Which because it received its doctrine by entaile from age to age every Fathers testimony in such Matters of faith is firme and irrefragable To conclude therefore The Catholike maketh no difference of the quality of Fathers nor much of their Antiquity but admitteth all so they come with universality The Protestant though he will a little simper att it yet in Conclusion he rejecteth all setting his owne judgement which he calleth Scripture for high Umpire of what in them is right what wrong Therefore
happeneth when the Auditory is ignorant of some Theologicall point with is out of the listes of the Matter So that the debate is drawn to an other businesse And the Auditory remaineth unsatisfyed and discontented thinking it is the disputants fault whereas it is their owne After the Incapacity which arriveth by nature and that which proceedeth from want of study The third is that which accrueth out of Custome And this is likewise twofold The one generall the other particular The first is when the Auditor hath been used to slight discourses in Matters of study or learning and so never bendeth himselfe to penetrate deepely into the proposed question but taketh his resolution by fancy who speaketh well who doth not The particular incapacity of the Auditor proceeding from Custom is when he is meanely versed in the question it selfe and hath been used to heare certaine termes for the finall solution of it unto which when the disputants are arrived hee taketh it for granted that all is sayd that can be sayd and never considereth whether the solution be solide or the reply upon it be efficacious or no This incapacity is proper to halfe-witted men and to that kind of science which is called Inflans That is a portion great enough to make one talke and thinke himselfe wise but not able to make him know any thing solidely Thus having gone through what concerneth the understanding We are now to consider what imperfections springing from the will may render an Auditory unfitt to assist att a disputation Lett the first be a Vanity or secret pride which maketh some men come to it not to see the truth of the thing in question for they suppose they are already perfect in that as thinking themselves to know more then any man else doth and esteeming all knowledge to be but flashes of wit but meerly for passe-time or to censure the disputants Now these Men having no ayme or desire to improve themselves in any truth If any good happen to them by being present att a disputation it is against their will For they seeke none There is an other sort of Auditors faulty through the contrary disposition For they are so diffident of themselves that they dare not judge of any thing Or which is worse though possibly themselves know it not they have their opinions and beliefes absolutely tyed either to the repute of wisedome ad learning or to the Eloquence of some particular person they passionately esteeme Now clearely it were labour lost to dispute for their sakes who dare not trust themselves to see the evidence of what you say But either conferre afterwardes with your adversary about it and have not an equall recourse to you Or will not heare you speake unlesse they have some body by toblott out the notions you endeavour to imprint in their understandings before they can settle in them So that it is in vaine to cast your seede into such high wayes Where the birdes of the ayre are continually picking it up before it can take roote A third and that the most Universall imperfection of the Will in an Auditour consisteth in some affection or interest which he who hath it either can not or doth not see Some are in awe of their Parents or some powerfull Friends others apprehend their wife or some familiar acquaintance some are afraid of perscription some have pretences and hopes of rising in the world some of marrying themselves or their children some are carried away with the esteem of other persons either for their learning or for their wisedome Every one of them is byassed by some respect or other Yet if you tell them so they are ready to protest that were the truth evident unto them they would value none of these thinges more then the durt of their shooes God forbid I should thinke they counterfeit when they say so For you may often perceive in them evident tokens that their hearts go along with their wordes So that they deceive themselves more then they do others And which is their greatest unhappinesse they never suspect that these interests do prevent their seeing the truth and hinder them from penetrating and sticking to what they heare and weakely apprehend The seventeenth REFLEXION What is the best Manner to find the truth of Religion by Conference OUt of what hath been hitherto said it followeth that Disputation seldome happeneth to be the meanes of advancing any man in the truth of Religion For laying for your foundation that disputes in Religion betweene contrary parties are not to be instituted but for the finding out of truth you presently discerne that all such arguments as pretend not certainly ought to be excluded Else Religion is not to be taken for a speculative truth This being done disputation is in a Manner cutt off All Grammaticall arguments are taken away and layed aside as a laudable exercise for boyes but unworthy of grave Men All such arguments as are called probable are likewise banished the lists And these two being taken away there remaineth little worth the noise of Disputation On the other side in relation to the Auditory It is not to be undertaken but before such a one as is able to judge of the due forme and lawes of disputation that can determine what is pertinacy what well replyed and can moderate the heate of the disputants Now such a one where may we hope to finde Surely men indued with parts fit for such a purpose are not to be mett with in multitudes Therefore to have any good proceede from such a conference the Auditors should not be above two or three or some very small company For as it is not easy to find many so qualifyed as is necessary for such an Action So likewise if they were found and assembled they would not easily concurre to the right governing of it some of them understanding thinges one way some another After the manner of disputing and the qualities requisite in the Auditory that is to be present att the disputation there remaineth a third thing to be considered Which is the subject or Matter to be disputed of This ought to be confined to such points as are necessary to be believed Though in very deed this caution is onely for Catholikes all others being free to what ever they can defend doth not contradict Scripture So that being bound to maintaine nothing att all they have in their owne behalfes no occasion to dispute And when they do it it is meerely for the unsettling of others especially of Catholikes who onely have a settled rule and are bound to a knowne doctrine Wherein if Catholikes would hold themselves to such Tenets as are truly necessary without engaging themselves in others that are not so they would mainely disappoint the large objections of their Adversaries But to approach to our Conclusion If disputation do carry in it such difficulties as it can scarce ever be either necessary or profitable And yet the worke of drawing to the true
Geometry is neglected Therefore it were a great folly to imagine that faith should not be as certaine and as easy to arrive unto as Geometry is But that whiles there are certaine and infallible rules for the measuring of lines and angles there should be no certainer course to secure ones eternall happinesse and avoyde endelesse woe then to venture it upon the hazard of the dice or to play it att crosse and pile For his condition is no better then so that taketh his faith and Religion upon the recommendations of Probability But when ones affection is once engaged it maketh his eares flow and his understanding dull to any thing that can be said in opposition to what it is sett upon And so me thinkes I heare these men redouble their complaint and aske me with indignation what can we thinke that one who hath spent 30. or 40. yeares so well should after so long earnest study be still accounted an unlearned man To this question I dare scarce reply what is fitting Yet with their leave I shall aske againe of them whether he that should have spent 30. or 40. yeares in gathering ragges out of the kennels to furnish the paper milles or had cryed card-matches as long must of necessity be thought worth a thousand pound a yeare att the end of his labour though no exceptions could be made against him either for diligence in getting or frugality in conserving what he had gained In like manner he that will judge a right of a scholler or learned man must not onely reckon up the yeares of his study and the paines and industry he hath employed in it but consider also in what he hath bestowed it For if it were applyed onely to seeke out the proprieties of Latin and Greek words if onely in Criticismes whether of Grammer or of History It will avayle him no more towards the attaining of true learning then the selling of Card-matches towardes the purchasing a Mannour of a thousand pounds a yeare But peradventure some may object that the comparison holdeth not in these two cases For the Student here spoken of is supposed to have spent his age not in turning over tryffling bookes but much of it in reading the holy Scriptures and Fathers in which by our owne confession true learning is contained Therefore how can he be suspected of ignorance and want of learning Neverthelesse even this objection shaketh not my resolution Onely it obligeth me to take new information of what it was he looketh for all this while in those learned books It is sayd of the Kinges of Narsinga and of Pegu that in their prosperities they gathered such vast treasures both of pretious mettals and stones that they were faine to lett them lye heaped up in great courts because chambers were not able to containe them the Successour ever vying to out doe his Predecessour Now I aske if a dunghill cocke had been turned into these courtes how much richer would he have come out then he went in Certainely nothing att all Because he looked not there for the heades of Gold or Diamonds but searched about for some graines of wheate or barley or scratched the ground for some wormes and such thinges fitt for his stomack In like manner when a yong Gentleman that travelleth into forraine countries upon pretence of endeavouring thereby to enable himselfe if during his abode in any great citty as Paris or Rome his enquiry is after nothing but where the best Tavernes and entertainments are Can it be expected that att his returne home he should be able to give a good account in substantiall matters of the places he hath been in So if these great Students looke into the scriptures or Fathers to find out what a Metreta or a Corris or an Ephod is or in fine sift out Genealogies or Chronologies and spend there fourty yeares in such peddling divinity can it be imagined that att the end of them they should be any neerer the true quality of Divines then when they began Besides though they should seeke for true knowledge yet if they take not the right way it is impossible they should ever acquire it As those pictures which are contrived by the ingeniousnesse of Mathematicians to be looked upon either through some kind of glasse or purely by choosing a certaine position do require some one determinate Situation for the eye to be placed in else they appeare not so is the nature of all wordes and their objects as farre as the truths are dependent from the cloathing of the wordes Especially there is a degree of attention belonging to them which if it be too little the words are not understood If too great that which before was cleare to you becometh dimme by equivocations of wordes and their constructions And the more you look upon them without passion the more changeable is their aspect to you and you grow lesse certaine of what they meane Whereas with Reason it fareth contrary wise The more and the more impartially you looke upon a demonstration the more cleare and the more certaine it becometh to you Therefore in a text where Reason and the nature of the wordes do concurre to the explication of those wordes they will be better understood by arguments from Reason then the sense and reason from the wordes And when ever it happeneth that the sense and meaning is certaine by reason but the text or letter ambiguous it is evident that the latter ought to be governed by the former And accordingly they who in matter of Religion do receive knowledge of the truths belonging to it by a way not depending on a certaine forme of wordes have a mighty advantage in the explication of scripture over those who do but as it were shake the wordes together like lottes in a bagge which is the condition of those who have nothing but the bare wordes of scripture to rely upon to understand the true meaning of them It is not thē the number of yeares that a man hath spent in turning over the bible or that he hath employed in reading greeke and latin authors which can justify him to be a great Divine but there must be considered also what he sought there and how he sought it and with what freedome from passion and partiality which alone hath a huge stroke in making a man understand rightly or erroneously what he readeth Upon this occasiō there cometh into my minde a truth which peradventure may seem a Paradox but being looked into will appeare evident of it selfe and it is that a boy who can neither write nor reade may be a greater Divine them some man who hath studyed scripture his 40. yeares He who doubteth of this lett him remember that divinity hath for its End the knowledge of these truths which are to guide us to heaven and that the knowledge of them is so necessary that without it no excuse of that ignorance can hinder our perishing eternally and therefore that the knowledge of
us to follow them doe demolish the fences and bullwarckes of the same Christianity and good life But all they who deserve the name of heretikes do agree to charge the Church of Christ with corruption and adultery and do deny in her both infallibility to know Christs doctrine and power to governe And consequently they destroy externall unity and the essence of it Which as it is not formally to ruine good life so it is more then to breake downe her outworkes since it entrencheth upon the very substance in common and leaveth no meanes but meere chance and hazard to come to the knowledge of Christs law and consequently to eternall salvation Whence we may understand what this name Popery signyfyeth to witt An affection or resolution to maintaine faith and good life and the causes of conserving them There are divers other points controverted betweene Catholikes and Sectaries But they are such as for the most part require no explication but a flatt denyall As when they accuse us to have deprived the Laiety of halfe the Communion we deny it For besides that the generall practise of Christians hath bin from the beginning to give the sacrament sometimes in one kinde ometimes in both the Church hath alwayes believed that the entire communion was perfectly administred in either We likewise deny that ever the Church held the necessity of communicating Infants The Popes personall infallibility that Indulgences can draw soules out of Purgatory that Prayers ought of necessity be in an unknowne tongue to though we may thinke it fitting in some circumstances that the publike service for reverence and Majesty be so performed that faith is not to be kept with Heretikes that the Pope can dispense with the subjection to Princes And many such other Tenets which are injuriously imposed upon Catholikes by Sectaries and are flatly denyed by us and therefore require no further explication or discourse about them A Sampler of Protestants Shuffling in there Disputes of Religion COntroversy Logick or the art of discoursing in matter of Religion between those who profess the Law of Christe can not be complete unless as Aristotle made a Book of fallacies to avoide cavills in his Organe or instrument of science so wee also discover the common fallacies used in controversies Not all but the chiefest and most ordinarily in this business This then is the scope of my present work For which the first note I make is that owre Ancients have taught us and by experience wee daylie finde that Heresie is in a manner as soon overthrowne as layed open falshood like turpitude being ashamed of nakedness Therefore 't is falshoods game to vest it self like an Angel of light in the skin of the lamb and to seeme to weare the Robes of truth I mean by words like those of the Catholick party to delude the simplicity of the Innocent and welwishing People And now must it be our theame to unvaile theire Shufflings The first Shuffle Of the Word Scripture And first If we aske them what they rely upon they braggingly answer on Gods word upbraiding Catholicks to rely upon men when they fly to the churches witness but if we press thē to declare what they meā by Gods word to wit the Book of the Bible or the meaning of it they are forced to answer the sense for even beasts can convince them that wee have the Book as well as they Marching on another step and pressing to know by what instruments or means they have the sense there is no subterfuge from confessing it is by reading and their owne judging or thinking the sense of the Scripture is that which they affirme though all Catholicks affirm the contrary And although even in this they are cosened following for the most part the explication of their preacher Yet I press not that for they know not that they do so But I conclude see what you meane when you say you rely upon Scripture or Gods word to wit that you rely upon your owne opinion or guessing that this is Gods word So that this glorious profession of relying upon Gods word is in substance and reality to rely upon the opinion or guessing of a Cobler or Tinker or some house-wife when the answerers are such or at most of a Minister who for his owne interest is bound to maintaine this is the meaning of Gods word The second Shuffle Of Generall Councils SOme Protestants are so bold as to profess they wil stand to Generall Councils Now a General Council in the language of Catholicks is a general meeting of the Christian World by the Bishops and Deputies of it to testify the Doctrine of the Christian Church And is accounted inerrable in such determinations and therefore to have power to command the faith of Christians and to cast out of the Church al who do not yield to such their determinations and agreements and by consequence to have a supreme Authority in the Church in matters of faith The Protestants loath to leave the shadow though they care not for the substance use the name but to no effect For the intention being to manifest the Doctrine of the Christian World They first agree not upon the notion of what a Council is Requiring sometimes that al Bishops should bee present sometimes that all Patriarks though known to bee professed Hereticks and under the Turk sometimes objecting want of liberty and mainly that they decide not by disputation out of onely scripture or that they taught false Doctrine So that to the Protestant a Council signifies an indefinite and uncertaine when and what it is meeting of men going upon the scripture Which as it is before declared signifies every cobler or Ministers fancie which hath no authority to binde men to believe and is to bee judged by the Doctrine or agreement in faith with the Protestants The third Shuffle Of the consent of Fathers THe consent of the Fathers or Doctours of Christians before oure age and controversies beares so Venerable an aspect as that few Hereticks dare at least before honest understanding Christians give it flatly the lye Therefore the discreeter part of Protestants acknowledg it yet with a salve that they were all men and might bee deceived which in effect is to say that it is no convincing or binding Authority as Catholicks hold it to bee nay to bee a stronger authority then that of Councils as being the judgement of the Catholick Church or the learned part of it which is al one as to faith The Protestant first at one clap cutts of a thousand or 13. hundred yeares nay some 15. hundred The one saying S. Gregory the great was the last Father and first Papistrie the more ordinary course being to acknowledg onely the Fathers of the Persecution time before Constantine finding Popery as they call it to publick afterwards some pressing that ever since the decease of the Apostles the Church hath been corrupted So that they neither give any authority to the consent of Fathers nor
Sexes dedicated to God Religious Ceremonies and all sorts of enticements to love heaven and follow good life So that the Antiquity the Protestant pretends to is of wanting wilfully those means of helping soules which the primitive Church wanted by the Violence of Persecution and the Antiquity meaned by Catholicks is of being like the Ancient Church in all things that promote vertue inwardly and outwardly The ninth Shuffle Of the Word Tradition TO Antiquity hangs Tradition that is the receiving of Doctrine and Customes from the Ancient Church The which Catholicks place in this that it is derived fom the Apostles to us by the continuall and immediate delivery of one Age to another the sons continuing their Fathers both beliefe and conversation in Christian life and treading the same paths of Salvation This was a bit of too soure a digestion for Protestants being not able to shew any Masters from whome they had received theire beliefe Yet a Tradition they must have not to be openly convinced of having forged their doctrine Some of them therefore sayed they received their doctrine by the Tradition of the Bible made unto them by the Churches continuing since the Apostles time Wherein you see an open equivocating in the word of Tradition Catholicks taking it for the delivery of doctrine that is of sense and meaning the Protestants for the delivery of a mute book or killing letter Others call Tradition the Testimony of the Fathers of all Ages and so att least divert the Question Turning the proof of Religion which is plaine and easie to every ordinary understanding into a business of learning and long study in which though they be worstted yet the People cannot see it nor descry theire falshood The tenth Shuffle Of the word Really TO descend from the Universality or defence of their whole Religiō to speciall articles of it wee shall finde them there like themselves As for example those who beare an outward respect to the Fathers finding them concurring so thick to testify Christes Body to bee in the Holy Eucharist will see me to say the same and use the word of Christ being Really and verily and truely in the Sacrament and that they onely question the manner how he is there which is lawfull amongst Catholicks to do So that you cannot almost distinguish them from Catholicks Vntil you come to explicatiō There the Catholick sayeth that Christes Body is in the sacrament as the substance of Bread was in the thing which before wee called Bread and now is no more but turned into that body wich was hanged on the Cross by an entitative and reall mutation The Protestant wil tell you that it is stil Bread and naturally and entitatively the same thing wich it was before consecration but that by faith which is a real actiō it is Christes true body to us How to justify these words that by Faith it is Christes true body is impossible unless they wil have us believe by faith what they tell us is false Therefore others say it is an assurāce of Christs Body as a bond is of mony Peradventure of enjoying Christe in Heaven But how different both senses bee from the Catholick which they seek to be thought theirs and from the natural meaning of the words every mā cā see So that the manner of being Christes Body which they question signifies whether it bee truely there or no but onely by a false apprehension they call Faith The eleventh Suffle Of the Word Sacrifice The like is of the word Sacrifice and Altar and such other In which the Catholick position makes these words proper and that the Mass is as or more properly signified by the word sacrifice as the sacrifice of the old law That there is a true and real separatiō of the body of our Saviour from his bloud and more proper to the names then nature can make which can not make a true body when the bloud is separated nor true bloud whē the body is left out wich in this sacramēt is performed and nevertheless Christe entire and untouched But a Protestāt wil tel you that whē the Holy offering is called a sacrifice it is meaned a sacrifice of praise or thanks giving that is in reality no sacrifice but an outward ceremony of praise or thāks giving others that it is a resemblāce or represētatiō of a sacrifice to wit of that of the holy Cross so that you see the differēce of the two significatiōs is no less thē whē by the same word as of Christes one means Christs Person another a Crucifix or the picture of Christe The twelfth Shuffle Of the Word Priesthood In consequēce and conformity to this they abuse the Word of Priesthood For finding al Antiquity gloriously full of this name they must also use it and finding St. Paul had too expressely taught us that a Priest was a publick Officer ordained to offer to God giftes and sacrifices and that he ought to be legitimately called to the office and that Catholiks take Priesthood in this meaning And how on the other side themselves had taken out of the Church all solemn offerings and sacrifice the business of a Priest and nevertheless shame on one side and ambition on the other egged them on to call themselves Priests they were forced to corrupt the Word sacrifice first as is declared to come to the name Priesthood So that Priesthood in the Protestant meaning is an officer chosen to sing Psalmes in the sight of the People The which how different it is from the Catholick explication of being the publick Officer of the eternall sacrifice is too plain to be declared Onely I must add that who takes ordination with the intention onely to become the chief or high singer of the Parish receiveth not Priesthood as it is meaned and used in the Catholick Church The thirteenth Shuffle Of the word Faith THe abuse of this name Faith must not bee omitted which Catholicks taking for a perswasion of such truths as are necessary to bring us to good life and salvation which perswasion wee settle upon Christes doctrine delivered unto us by Tradition of the Church The which meaning is cleare in the Apostle who expresseth himself to speak of faith that works by Charity The first Protestants took the word Faith as excluding Charity and cryed downe good works as improfitable the latter ashamed of this as destroying good life and plainly contrary to the whole designe of Scripture and Fathers took it for the same faith that Catholicks do but would have it have force precisely out of its being a persuasion and the working to follow to no effect but as a hanger on without any End whereas Catholicks make the persuasion to bee chiefly or wholly to breed Charity which is the true cause of salvation But the presbiterian party and the plainer dealing Protestants have quite changed and destroyed faith saying faith is a Persuasion that the believer must have that hee in Person is one of the