Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A65318
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A dialogue between Mr. Merriman, and Dr. Chymist: concerning John Sergents paradoxes, in his New method to science, and his Solid philosophy. By T.W.
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T. W.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing W115; ESTC R219887
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13,148
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32
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A DIALOGUE BETWEEN Mr. MERRIMAN AND Dr. CHYMIST CONCERNING JOHN SERGENTS Paradoxes in his New Method to Science and his Solid Philosophy By T.W. LONDON Printed in the Year 1698. A DIALOGUE BETWEEN Mr. MERRIMAN and Dr. CHYMIST Concerning John Sergent 's Paradoxes in his New Method to Science and his Solid Philosophy Merriman WHAT you are hard at work Doctor well Does the Philosophers Stone appear yet You 'll never leave off till you have lost your Brains and your Money for generally this is the effect of your Study Poverty and Madness for I never knew any of you but dy'd Beggars tho' once perhaps Masters of plentiful Fortunes and this is enough to drive any Man out of his Wits Come come be advis'd by a Friend leave of this foolish Study lay aside this imaginary Philosophers-Stone and apply thy Wits in some thing that is substantial and advantagious Dr. Chymist Why faith Merriman I am almost weary on 't for after so many Years of hard Study and the throwing away my Money my Time and my Brains as thou say'st when I thought I was upon the point of having the Philosophers-Stone in my hand some unlucky Accident or other turn'd all into Smoak and I was to begin again Merr. What 's here the Method to Science and Solid Philosophy by J. S. ha ha ha Dr. Ay! Have you seen them They are ingenious Pieces I can assure you and the Author is a Man of parts he has found out that which no Man since the Creation cou'd find out but himself Nay nor never had been found out had not the Divine Providence made choice of him above all Men of the World to Midwife into the World this wondrous Child his Method to Science Merr. A wondrous Child indeed a wondrous Monster fram'd in his own Brain that has neither Head nor Tail ugly and deform'd in every part of it The Beats can lick their Cubs into some shape but he can never lick this Whelp of his into any Dr. Have you read the Book Merriman or do you only speak the malicious words of J. S's Enemies Merr. Yes I have read it and read it and studied to find out something of sense in it and still cou'd meet with nothing but Nonsense I 'll tell you it looks as if it had been writ by Oliver's Porter in Bedlam 't is just like a Quakers Sermon take it in pieces and you 'l find a great many good sayings in it but take it all together 't is a piece of Nonsense And this you call a wondrous Child and product of Mr. J. S's Brain and brought to light by the Divine Providence as he proudly and vainly tells us I must tell you Doctor the expression out of his his Mouth nauseates and smells rank of Blasphemy Dr. 'T is strange Merriman that because you cannot comprehend his Demonstrations that therefore you 'll run down the Book for Nonsense Merr. 'T is much more strange Doctor that you who wou'd be thought a Man of sense shou'd justifie and approve such Paradoxes as his Book contains Why what 's more nonsensical then to see a fellow in an Age of dotage with one foot in the Grave peep out and with a speaking Trumpet tell the World they are all Fools and Coxcombs that there is not one Man of Sense to be found in it and that there never was a Philosopher till J. S. appear'd and that he was sent by the Divine Providence to teach the World which was lost in ignorance the Method to Science Does not all this look like a Man come out of Bedlam who thinks every Man mad but himself And wou'd not one take him for the Ass in the Fable who had hid himself some time in a Pit and at last comes out very gravely in a Philosophers Cloak His Master ask'd him where he had been so long And he answer'd that all that time he had apply'd himself to the study of Philosophy and that he was become a very great proficient and Doctor but for all his boasting of his Science his Cloak was no sooner pull'd off but every one knew him to be an Ass and so he was severely chastiz'd for his lying and vaunting Dr. Come come Merriman this is all Malice and putting upon J. S. Why can you believe that a Man of his Sense Learning and Piety can be so senseless and pron'd as to run down all Mankind as sensless Animals that had never learnt his Method to Science Or that there never was any true Philosophy till he appear'd in the World Merr. Nay Doctor 't is far from Malice or putting upon him for I have Demonstration for what I say his own words Doctor and that is Demonstration enough Seeing Philosophy reduced to this lamentable condition Alass poor Philosophy and that solid rationality and all truth in natural Objects were thus in eminent danger to be over-run and born down by imaginary Conceits and apprehending that God's Providence had fitted and enabled me J. S. to redress such great Mischiefs O brave J. S. I thought it became me to reinstate Reason in her Soveraignty over fancy Sol. Phil. Ep. Ded. p. 8. and in the Preface he says Indeed I must own I have a high opinion of my Principles and my Method which Nature and God's good Providence have lay'd and established pa. 11. What think you of this Is not all this Luciferian Pride For my part I am so far from believing him to be appointed by the Divine Providence to be the Worlds Master and to teach them this New Philosophy that I begin to suspect him to have a Cloven Foot and that no body but the Devil set him on work Dr. The truth of it is he does infinitely abound on his own Sense and it was always his fault which has drawn him into a great many Follies which hath occasion'd him many disturbances I wish he had been advis'd and either have writ more modestly or not at all Merr. How is it possible Doctor for this Man to be advis'd who judges all other Men Fools and himself the only wise Man in the World He tells you that the World has been sufficiently pester'd already with Books of Philosophy nay Volums blown up to a vast bulk with windy and frothy Probabilities and petty inconclusive Topicks Preface to Solid Philosophy ibid. and who writ these vast Volums that contain'd nothing but windy frothy Probabilities only the greatest Wits and Masters in the World but 't is no matter they are all Fools co Mr. S. but behold now in this latter Age appears a wonder a Man that speaks no windy frothy Probabilities nor petty inconclusive Topicks but as often as He opens his mouth speaks Demonstrations and no Man can see them but himself Dr. Whose fault is that Mr. Merriman If Men will not see when the Demonstration lies before them that 's no fault of Mr. J. S. but if Men wou'd not be prejudic'd and wou'd but open their Eyes and look through Mr J.
S's prospective they wou'd see Demonstrations fly from his Mouth and Pen as thick as Attomes but let another Man speak and then you shall behold nothing but windy frothy Probabilities O he is certainly a rare Man in this Art of Demonstration Good man with what tenderness and compassion he speaks of the World's ignorance and blindness Alass says he how few Men are there who will profess to demonstrate in Philosophy or to reduce their Discourses to Evidence Ibid. p. 13. Without doing which and abiding by the Tryal perhaps there is not one word of truth in all Philosophy nor any thing but learn'd Romance in all the Vniversities of Europe And will not you say then that the World was reduc'd to a deplorable condition and that he had good reason for writing and publishing his Method to Science and his Silod Philosophy Merr. I must confess Doctor that if his saying be a Demonstrotion of the Worlds ignorance it was in a miserable condition Alass poor World Not a word of truth in all Philosophy nor nothing but learned Romance in all the Vniversities of Europe A sad business Doctor upon my word and alass this must all be true according to J. S. For how possibly cou'd the Philosophers and the Vniversities of Europe profess to demonmonstrate in Philosophy or reduce their Discourses to Evidence who were totally ignorant of J. S's Method to Science and consequently had no Solid Philosophy Poor ignorant World What a blessing is' t that the Divine Providence shou'd send a Man at last to inform our ignorance and teach us the way of Truth what not one word of Truth and nothing but learned Romance among so many learn'd Men and so many famous Universities Why this is the Devil who can believe it I 'll tell you what Doctor this requires a swinging Demonstration the World will never believe it else and I suppose he writ to be believed I 'll tell you what it sounds very harsh to tell any one Man that he is a Fool but to go about to demonstrate him so is certainly the part of a Madman for no Man desires to be thought a Fool tho' he be one but for a Man to go about to demonstrate all the learned Men that are and ever have been in the World to be a company of empty windy frothy Fools and not to have one word of Truth or Solid Philosophy amongst them is the part of a Man distracted Faith Doctor the best way for your friend J. S. to come off of this business is to say he was intoxicated when he writ these Books for they smell rank of the fumes of an intoxicated Brain Dr. Well but if he makes all this out by a clear Demonstration what will you say to him then For there is not one thing that he asserts but he demonstrates Merr. Ay so he tell us 'T is granted there cannot be a clearer proof of a thing then when it is clear'd by Demonstration but do you or any Man in the World see this Demonstration of his does it appear evident to you that you are a windy frothy Fool and that there is not one word of Truth in all you say or write and ask the same question of all the learned Philosophers and famous Vniversities in Europe and they 'll all tell you they see nothing of it and that nothing but a Man distracted wou'd assert such a nonsensical Proposition Now to demonstrate and no Man to see the Demonstration is a Paradox that no one cou'd be the Author of but J. S. ask my Lord D. to whom he dedicates his Book if he believed himself a Blockhead before he read J. S's Method to Science or his Solod Philosophy and see what he 'll say to you Well so much for Ep. and Pref. Now let us have a touch at his Method to Science and his Solid Philosophy and observe a little what Paradoxes we shall meet with there for I can assure you he is a Man that does infinitely abound with them Dr. And I 'll warrant you 'll call his Definition of Notion a Paradox for which I can assure you he values himself highly a Notion says he is the very thing it self existing in my understanding and this he says is so manifestly true that were it otherwise it is impossible any Man living shou'd know any thing at all What think you of this Solid Philo. p. 27. § 3. Merr. What think I of it Why I cannot but laugh to see the Ass mumble Thistles tho' they prick his chops he will be doing with them he tells you he foresaw the World wou'd laugh at him for a Man of Paradoxes at the first view of this Proposition but for all that he was in mighty pain till he was deliver'd of it tho' he were sure to be laught at and he is much in the right of it for I can assure him he has had as many laughers as have read his Book Well I 'll say that for him he 's a bold Britain he sets the World at defiance let all the wise Men say and think what they will if this Proposition is not true every Man 's a Fool for 't is impossible he shou'd know any thing Give me leave Doctor this is a dangerous Man to live in a Common-wealth a Man can call nothing his own that this Man gets a Notion of Why if a Man has a pretty Daughter or a handfome Wife he no sooner gets a Notion of them but whip they 'r gone he has them himself in the twinkling of a Bedstaff He comes into a Pasture where there are Droves of fat Bullocks Flocks of Sheep Heards of Swine why he no sooner sees them but slap he sweeps them all away Show him a Gold Watch a Diamond Ring a Rope of Pearl a Purse of Gold he no sooner gets a Notion of them but whipshius doxious they are all gone he has them all in his possession And this he thinks may be a subject matter of laughter whatever others have had I 'm sure I have had my belly full I have not laugh'd so this seven Years Bless me That 't is possible for an Old Man to be so rediculous I 'll tell you Doctor I wou'd have you advise him to set up for a Conjurer I fancy he wou'd make a rare one does he not look something like one I fancy he does Dr. Come you are merry you are merry Mr. Merriman I see you have not your Name for nothing why do you think that because he has these Real Substantial Things really in his Head that he carries them away with him and they remain no longer where they were when he had his Notion of them No no tho' he has them all really in his Head or Understanding they still remain where first he conceiv'd a Notion of them he does not carry them away with him that is a gross conception indeed Merr. Hold a little Doctor what signifies a Notion if a Man does not carry