Reason in the Interpretation of Scripture and obliges all to submit to her judgment On the contrary the Church of England as it is constituted according to Dr. St. 's Exposition favours all sorts of Fanaticisme since it permits every one to be led by his own private Spirit in the Interpretation of Scripture without obliging him to submit to the Judgment of any Church in such matters He answers secondly that if whatever is countenanced by the Authority of a True Church ceases to be Fanaticisme there flow hence monstrous Absurdities The first is that a prevailing Fanaticisme ceases to be Fanaticisme pag. 55. Is not this a strange whimsie of the Drs. and a pregnant Argument how little he values church Authority to say that because some particular way of Devotion comes to be approved and countenanced by the Authority of a True Church the approbation of the Church serves only to make it a greater and a more prevailing Fanaticisme than it was before whereas I proved in my Book pag. 9. with several instances That the approbation of a True Church is sufficient to clear particular waies of Devotion from the imputation of Fanaticisme So that the difference between Fanatick and Non-fanatick waies of Devotion does not consist in the extravagancy rather of the one and not of the other for both may be extravagant enough but in that the former are against Authority the latter according to Authority I will explain this Doctrine with the Example the Dr. alledges in the place now quoted of Treason and Rebellion What difference is there between a Loyal and Rebellious Army Both Plunder Harras Fight and Kill The difference only is that a Loyal Army proceeds according to Authority and by order of their true Sovereign But a Rebellious Army acts contrary to Authority and to the orders of their Prince As therefore it would be extream ridiculous to affirm That the approbation of a True and Lawful Prince serves only to make the proceedings of his Subjects approved by him more Rebellious or a more prevailing Rebellion so it is absurd to defend as Dr. St. does That the approbation of a True Church renders particular waies of Devotion approved by her more lyable to Fanaticisme or a more prevailing Fanaticisme But the Dr. urges That this would be an excellent way to vindicate the Fanaticisme of the late times which because countenanced by an Authority supposed competent enough by some who then writ of Obedience and Government it ceases to be Fanaticisme Speak out Doctor was Cromwell a True and Lawful Governour of this Kingdome or not if you say he was not how can you have the confidence to parallel our case with theirs since you your self defend the Roman Church to be a True Lawful Church and the very same with your own if you say that he was a True and Lawful Governour and his Authority competent where is your Loyalty As for the Writer of the Book entituled Obedience and Government let him answer for himself I detest that Doctrine neither am I responsable for what that Author affirms as neither Dr. St. will think himself obliged to own whatever Protestants did in the late Rebellion The second Absurdity he pretends to infer from our Doctrine is That Prophets and Apostles nay our Lord himself are according to this Rule unavoidably Fanaticks For what competent Authority saies he pag. 56. had they to countenance them Are you in earnest Doctor had Christ the Prophets and Apostles no competent Authority to countenance their proceedings This indeed is to cast them into the common heard of Fanaticks since no competent Authority neither Humane nor Divine did countenance or approve their Preaching Can the Dr. deny but that Christ the Apostles and Prophets were countenanced by Divine Authority manifested by unquestionable Miracles or will he say That Divine Authority manifested by these Miracles is not an Authority competent enough to vindicate such actions as it approves of from the Crime of Fanaticisme But the Dr. presses that the Jewish Church though not yet cast off while our Saviour lived did not countenance him nor his Apostles What then did I ever affirm that the Authority of a True Church was determinately necessary to clear particular practices from Fanaticisme as the Dr. most grossly supposes I did I defended indeed that the Authority of a True Church is sufficient to clear such actions from Fanaticisme but I never asserted that it was necessary yea I insinuated the contrary pag. 9. There are two waies to commission men to Preach and to Authorize their manners of Devotion Both of them sufficient but neither of them determinately necessary the one extraordinary when God by evident Miracles declares that such men are commissioned by him and in this manner Christ the Prophets and the Apostles were commissioned by him the other Ordinary when the Pastours of the True Church authorize men to Preach or approve of such particular waies of Devotion and in this sense I cleared the particular waies of Devotion countenanced by the Roman Church which the Dr. confesses to be a True Church from the Aspersion of Fanaticisme Neither can one reasonably argue that what is not countenanced in the Second and Ordinary way is not countenanced by a competent Authority since it may be approved of in an Extraordinary way And though the Jews did not follow the Doctrine of Christ yet they acknowledged his Commission and Gods Broad seal viz. evident Miracles wrought by him when in a full Assembly they affirmed Joan 11. Hic homo multa Signa facit This man Christ works many Miracles and certainly such a publick attestation as this was enough to countenance and acknowledge his Commission though out of obstinacy they would not submit to his Doctrine as Pilate declared our Saviour to be innocent and guiltless yet out of fear lest he should disgust Caesar condemned him to death I cannot omit here the two famous yet Contradictory Revelations which are said to have been made to St. Bridgit and St. Catherin concerning the immaculate Conception of our Blessed Lady To St. Bridgit that she was conceived without Original Sin To St. Catherin that she was conceived with Original Sin Dr. St. scarce publishes a Book wherein he does not insert these Revelations pretending thereby to blow up the Infallibility of the Roman Church since she Canonized for Saints both St. Bridgit and St. Catherin and approves their Revelations and consequently something that is false as necessarily one of the forementioned Revelations must be particularly he endeavours to prove hence against me That submission to the Judgment of the Church is not a Rule to judge Fanaticisme by For both these Revelations were approved of by the Roman Church and yet one of them was false and therefore Fanatical and one of those Saints either was deceived or went about to deceive and by consequence was a Fanatick See the Dr. pag. 61 62. To this I answer that the Dr. has never yet shewn That
those two Revelations of the abovementioned Saints were approved of in particular by the Roman Church or in general True it is that the Roman Church declares them both to be Saints and to be famous for their Revelations but she does not therefore approve of every porticular Revelation related to have been made unto them The whole Christian Church looks upon Christ and his Apostles as famous for their Miracles and Doctrines shall we therefore hence infer that the whole Christian Church approves of every particular Miracle related of them by any Author whatsoever and of every particular Doctrine which some one or other teaches to have been delivered by them Are there not many false Miracles and Doctrines father'd upon Christ and his Apostles wherefore to the end that the Roman Church be proved Fallible by reason of the two forementioned Revelations contrary the one to the other it was necessary for Dr. St. to have shewen that they were both approved of by our Church which the Dr. has not yet done Those two Saints might be famous for their Revelations and deservedly look'd upon as such though the abovesaid two Revelations or at least one of them had been forged Moreover though one of these two Revelations as being contrary one to the other was false and the person to whom such a Revelation is sayed to have been made either deceived or was deceived supposing she affirmed that she had had such a Revelation yet it does not therefore follow that either such a Revelation was Fanaticisme or such a person a Fanatick For sure Dr. St. will not enlarge so much the roll of Fanaticks as to affirm That all such as are deceived are Fanaticks For so he must cast himself into that heard since certainly he is not so vain as to think that in no Interpretation of Scripture in no Tenet whatsoever of so many as he has laid down in his Books he has been deceived Wherefore as an unjust Warr is not Rebellion if it be countenanced by the Authority of a True and Lawful Sovereign Prince For Sovereigns may wage unjust Warrs So neither a false Revelation is Fanaticisme if it be countenanced by the Authority of the True Church supposing that the True Church may countenance such Revelations For it is Essential Fanaticisme as we have seen to be contrary to Authority I have enlarged my self upon this point of Fanaticisme because the Dr. seems to hugg it as the Benjamin of his Mimical Wit and presumes so much of his endeavours in this kind that he boldly attests as we hinted above that his Adversaries have not said so much as one wise word to clear their Church from the Aspersion of Fanaticisme The Dr. vapours pag. 59. that this Charge of Fanaticisme was a new Charge yet the Author of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stillingfleeton tells us whence he borrowed it snd neither Bellarmin Becanus or any of their old beaten Souldiers could give them any assistance they found not the Title of the Fanaticisme of the Roman Church in any of their Common place Books therefore plain Mother-wit must help them 'T is a wonder that order has not been given to erect a Statue to Dr. St. for so rare an Invention as this is of the Fanaticisme of the Roman Church and if his Mother-wit could help him without the assistance of Common-place Books to frame this new Charge against us well may the Mother-wit of his Adversaries help them without needing the assistance of any Staunch-Author for such he terms our Antient Writers to answer it There is a short way to answer Dr. St. 's Books without needing to read Antient Authors Read only his Books and you will find the Answer to whatever he objects against us so full they are of self-contradictions They are like to certain venemous Beasts that breed in themselves the Antidote against their own poison I have lately read a perfect Character of Dr. St's proceedings in charging Roman Church with Fanaticisme drawn by himself in a Sermon preached before his Majesty 24. of February last 1674. Where shewing how licentious people among the Gentiles heretofore as in these times among Christians brought Vertue into Contempt and having assigned for the first Medium they laid hold of to effect their wicked design viz. The seperating Religion and morality from each other he adds page 11. These words The next thing was to make it vertue to appear ridiculous which was a certain way to make Fools out of love with it who do not consider what is fit to be laughed at but what is so When Socrates at Athens undertook with many sharp and cutting Ironies to reprove the vices of his age and with a great deal of Wit and Reason to perswade men to the sober practice of vertue the licentious people knew not what to do with him For they were not able to withstand the force of his Argments At last Aristophanes having a Comical Wit whereby he was able to make any thing seem ridicalous although he knew very well the Wisdome and Learning of Socrates yet to please and humour the people he brings him upon the Stage and represents his grave instructions after such a manner as turned all into a matter of laughter to the people of Athens This is the method which men take when they set their wits against Vertue and Goodness They know it is impossible to argue men out of it but it is very easie by ridiculous postures and mimical gestures and profane Similitudes to put so grave and modest a thing as Vertue is out of countenance among those who are sure to laugh on the other side I do not think that such things can signifie much to wise men but when was the world made up of such and therefore it signifies very much to the mischief of those who have not the courage to love despised Vertue nor to defend a cause that is laughed down Thus far the Dr. All which may be easily applied to Dr. St. himself For the main task of the Dr. in his Treatise of the Fanaticisme of the Roman Church was to render ridiculous the Religious practices of the Roman Catholicks and of so many Saints famous throughout the world for their Zeal and Piety which to use his own words was a certain way to make fools out of love with our Church who do not consider what is fit to be laughed at but what is so He could not be ignorant of the great reputation even the modern Saints of our Church deservedly enjoy upon account of their Vertue far beyond what Socrates had yet like another Aristophanes having a Comical and Drolling Wit whereby he is able to make any thing though never so Sacred to seem ridiculous only to please and humour Licentious people he represents their grave Instructions and their Charitable and devout practices in such a manner as he turns all into a matter of Laughter He knows it is impossible to argue judicious men out of the opinion they
low opinion of Christian Religion even when it was in its greatest purity since they think it so hard that being faced with the Roman Religion which seems to them to be so full of Corruptions Superstitions and abominations the one may be distinguished from the other or that the Roman Religion is not so ridiculous and ill-favoured as they represent it to be since it is so like the Christian Religion even in its greatest Purity that being compared together 't is extream difficult to know which is which and that by such a parallel men are incited either to embrace them both or reject them both The Dr. goes yet farther and endeavouring to supply with counterfeited zeal the difficiency of true and solid reasons puts down these words pag. 11. I would fain know of these men whether they do in earnest make no difference between the Writings of such as Mother Juliana and the Books of Scripture between the Revelations of St. Bridgit St. Catherin c. and those of the Prophets between the actions of St. Francis and Ignatius Loyola and those of the Apostles if they do not I know who they are that expose our Religion to purpose If they do make a difference how can the representing their Visions and practises reflect dishonour upon the other so infinitely above them so much more certainly conveighed down to us with the consent of the whole Christian world In answer to this Objection I would fain know of the Dr. whether he does in earnest make no difference between a Door a Vine a Worm a Lamb a Shepheard c. and Christ our Saviour If he does not then Christ is no better than a Door a Vine a Worm a Lamb a Shepheard which to affirm is Blasphemy if he makes a difference how does the Scripture compare Christ to things so infinitely beneath him Now if he saies that these things though infinitely beneath Christ yet in some of their Properties may resemble him and his virtues and upon that account he is compared unto them without any blemish or reflexion upon his honour why might not we without reflecting any dishonour upon Christ say that Saint Francis Saint Ignatius and other Canonized Saints of the Roman Church do in their Virtues Miracles and Practises resemble those of Christ and his Apostles though infinitely above them Besides 't is manifest that Christ and his works as being an infinite value derived from the dignity of the person were far more above the Apostles and their works than those were above the particular Saints of the Roman Church and their practices notwithstanding we have the same Inducements and Topicks to believe the matters of Fact of the Apostles and Prophets as those of Christ though so far beyond them and whoever should deny the former without doubt he would open a way to deny the latter Although therefore the practises and Revelations of the particular Saints of the Roman Church be in several Circumstances inferiour to those of the Apostles and Prophets yet there may be the same Motives and Inducements we speak antecedently to Scripture taken as the word of God as when we prove against Pagans the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles to believe the one as the other So that should one deny the Virtues Revelations and Practises constantly related and believed concerning the Roman Saints and approved by our Church for of such Virtues Revelations and Practises we speak in this present debate he would doubtless give a great occasion to Pagans to deny or question the Virtues Revelations and Practises of the Apostles and Prophets The reason is because the same Motives Inducements and Topicks may serve for the belief of things very different one from another which is what I pretended and if they are of no force in the one neither are they in the other Yet one would think that the harder the thing is and the more sublime the stronger Inducements are requisite to believe it So that if the unanimous consent of so many learned and pious men is not sufficient to induce a Protestant to believe the practises and transactions of St. Bennet St. Dominick St. Francis and St. Ignatius handed down by so general a Tradition and of a far fresher date how shall the like consent be sufficient to induce Pagans to believe the works of Christ and his Apostles far more wonderful and of a staler date For commonly matters of Fact of a fresh date are more easily prov'd and believed than of a staler The difference therefore inculcated by Dr. St. between Christ and his Apostles on the one side and the proper Saints of the Roman Church on the other and the Superminency of the former above the latter is so far from diminishing the force of our Argument that it rather increases it Again Dr. St. and his Partizans commonly defend that the certainty we have that such Books are Scripture and that they were penned by such Writers whose names are prefixed unto them is of the same nature with the certainty that we have that such Books were written by Titus Livius or Plutarch which are unanimously assented unto as Titus Livius or Plutarch's Works and the certainty we have that there have been such men as Christ his Apostles and that they did such and such things which are commonly ascribed unto them with the certainty we have that there have been in the world such men as William the Conquerour Julius Caesar and Henry the Eighth and that they have done such things as unanimously are attributed unto them So that whoever should deny all such meer Humane Histories would be in a fair way to deny that ever there have been such men as Christ and his Apostles or that they have done such things which Christians unanimously ascribe unto them This Doctrine supposed whether true or false I do not now dispute I would once more fain know of the Dr. whether he does in earnest make no difference between the Books of Scripture and the Books of Livy and Plutarch between Christ and his Apostles and their Practises and William the Conquerour Julius Caesar Henry the Eighth Practises if not then we know who they are that expose Christian Religion to purpose if he does make a difference how does he make this Parallel between things so far estranged the one from the other and if he saies the Parallel he makes is not between the persons or things themselves but between the certainty of the one and the other and there may be without doubt the same kind of certainty concerning things very different let him apply to the same answer to his Argument made against us and he will see how it comes to nothing For what we pretend is that there is the same or the like certainty the same or the like motives and inducements we speak here antecedently to Scripture held to be the word of God for such it is not held to be by Pagans to believe that there have been such men as St.
Bennet St. Dominick St. Francis St. Ignatius and that they have done such things as are unanimously attributed unto them by Roman Catholicks without any hesitation as that there have been such men as Christ and his Apostles and that they have done such things as are universally ascribed unto them by Christians So that whoever should deny that there was ever such a man as St. Bennet or that he ever founded any Order of Religious men he might easily in the like manner be brought to question or deny that there ever was any such man as Christ or that he ever founded Christian Religion there being the same or the like evidence for the one as for the other antecedently to Scripture owned as the Word of God viz. a constant Tradition of men although Christ and Christian Religion be far above St. Bennet and his Order I do not deny but that there is a more Universal Tradition for the Miracles and Transactions of Christ and his Apostles than for the particular Actions and Miracles of the forementioned Roman Saints But what then may there not be several degrees in the same kind of certainty Protestants aver as we have seen that there is the same kind of certainty and evidence against a Pagan for the Miracles of Christ as for the Actions of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar though these are attended upon by a more Universal Tradition since Jews and Pagans who deny Christs Miracles assent unto the Actions of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar and yet both we and Protestants affirm that they may as well deny or question the one as the other Moreover there is Tradition enough to induce a Moral certainty for all and every Book of the Scripture and yet doubtless there is a more general Tradition for some Books of Scripture than for others for the Old Testament than for the New and for some parts of the New than for others In the like manner though the Tradition for Christs and his Apostles Miracles be more general than for the Miracles of the above-mentioned Roman Saints approved of by our Church yet the Tradition for these is so general that it renders them Morally certain so that whoever proceeds rationally upon the account of Humane Tradition will either allow both or neither Let 's suppose that there are in the world a hundred Millions of Christians and that threescore Millions of them are Roman Catholicks For even Protestants confess that Roman Catholicks alone make up the Major part of Christendome Now whoever has the confidence to deny the Miracles of St. Bennet though assented unto by so many Millions of Roman Catholicks and for the space of above a Thousand years he would not stick should the like passion carry him that way to question the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles though agreed on by the whole Body of Christians and for the space of above a Thousand and six Hundred years Can we imagin that any prudent man does now believe the Miracles of Christ because there is such a precise number in the world and no lesser of Christians who assent unto them or rather because there is a vast number of Christians that unanimously assert them and certainly the number of Catholicks alone is a vast number Or would it not be a madness for one to say That were there no more Christians in the world to attest the Miracles of Christ than there are Roman Catholicks he would not think himself obliged to believe them upon account to Tradition and consent in their favour when as 't is certain there was a time when there were no more Christians in the world than now there are Roman Catholicks and yet even then doubtless there was Tradition and Consent sufficient to render the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles unquestionable And thus far concerning the Parallel between the Miracles and Practises of Christ and his Apostles and those of Roman Canonized Saints supposing the Actions of the latter to be inferiour as really they are in several Circumstances to those of the former Yet our Saviour expressly saies John 14.12 I say unto you He that believes in me the works that I do he shall do and greater works than these shall he do which words even according to Calvin and other Sectaries extend not only to the Apostles but also to the whole Body of the Church in succeeding Ages So that not only the Miracles and practises of the Apostles but also those of modern Saints of the Roman Church considered in themselves are as great or greater than those of Christ Did Christ do Miracles raising the Dead casting out Devils curing suddenly the Lame the Deaf the Dumb and others infected with incurable Diseases So did the Apostles and several Apostolical men of the Roman Church Did Christ Foretel things to come So did the Apostles and Roman Saints Did Christ Convert many with his Preaching So did the Apostles and several Saints of the Roman Church Was Christ a Pattern of Charity Humility Patience and all other Virtues The Apostles and many famous Roman Saints have imitated his Virtues Notwithstanding what Christ did he did it by his own power being Omnipotent but what the Apostles and other Apostolical men did in this kind they did it by the vertue and power Christ liberally conferred upon them And therefore Christ was the Principal Agent of all such works Now let any one judge whether the Parallel between the Inducements we have to be Christians and those which we have to be Catholicks and the certainty of both antecedently to Scripture owned as the word of God be so unreasonable as that only with an Admiration or two Dr. St. could prudently think to blow it off Wherefore I repeat what I have already said That the Drs. Objections against Roman Catholicks will assoon make one no Christian as no Catholick And as for several Extravagant abstruse and mystical expressions he alledges out of the Revelations and Visions of Canonized Saints of the Roman Church branding them for Fanaticisme the Dr. might as I insinuated in my Book produce out of the Revelations of St. John and the Canticles which upon this account are dash'd out of the Canon of Scriptures by some Protestants quite as strange and extraordinary expressions and Practises But Dr. St. is of those men who whatever they understand not they Blaspheme and he is as unacquainted with mystical Divinity as with other Faculties which he has a greater obligation to know Now if the Canticles and Apocalypse are sufficiently cleared from Fanaticisme notwithstanding so many strange and abstruse expressions they continue because they are approved of by the greatest part of Christians also the Revelations of St. Bridgit St. Catherine and St. Teresa are cleared from the like Aspersion because they are countenanced by the Major part of Christendome viz. the Roman Catholick Church which according to Dr. St.'s concession is a True Church And sure the approbation of a True Church and so much
make a fine business of Religion but I am far from any such intent I know him too well He is as pitiful at Arguing as excellent at Drolling and I am resolved to attack him on the weakest side let him complain never so much Nor could the Dr. have given the world a more pregnant Testimony that his Adversaries have pinched and galled him than by using such unhandsome and passionate expressions against them For all wise men do clearly understand that whoever in serious debates such as those of Religion are with all persons who have any sense of Religion in them when he is closely press'd in lieu of Answering falls a Railing or a Drolling he yields himself for defeated not to seem so to ignorant people who think that so long as the party speaks he answers he will needs say something though it be nothing to the purpose The best way to deal with such Adversaries is to press the Arguments which nettled them The Spur Which touching only does make one kick and wince if often applyed may tame and calm him And though one should be permitted now and then to sprinkle even serious Discourses with some sort of Railery yet what prudence could it be in Dr. St. when he had no less than Nine several Treatises to answer besides others published before issued forth against his Discourse concerning the Idolatry of the Roman Church or some part thereof and such as even Protestants were of opinion he would have enough to do to answer them what prudence could it be I say for him in this Conjuncture to mis-spend so much time in framing Romantick Characters of his Adversaries Sure had he been perswaded that he could solidly answer them he would presently have closed with them and dispatch'd them and not have stood off so long in Buffoonery And the effect he has obtained by this manner of answering seems to be that having quite spent himself in these Drolling and Railing Fits he has been forced to be beholding to a Person of Honour though unacquainted with Polemical Contests as his Book sufficiently proclaims it for answering his grave Adveersary S. C. and to Dr. Whitby though as that witty Author J. V. C. tells us he vents Reasons Epist ad Cressyn ag Mr. Whitby as young Children do Worms heads and tails together for encountring even the Knight himself For so he stiles his worthy Antagonist pref pag. 40. T. G. And here I cannot but wonder What Dr. St. the Champion of the Protestant Church Whitby in his preface that Incomparable Man that Prodigie of Ingenuity and Learning had he not Courage enough to Combate the Knight even when his own party was in so great expectation of the Engagement Must he be forced to substitute Whitby in his place But to such shifts as these one will be put who when he hath serious business in hand trifles out his time in fopperies Yea probably speaking he will hire some such man and there are many such men as Dr. Whitby to Encounter the Squire too for so he terms that Ingenious Writer J. S. and the rest of his Learned Adversaries who remain unanswered Yet it is great pity he should not answer them all himself For if any of their Books have not hitherto arrived to the esteem they deserve let the Dr. answer them in particular and they will not fail to gain the Repute due unto them For my own part I can assure him that not only I my self but several others too have a greater esteem for my little Book since the Dr. was pleased to answer it than we had before and I am so far from fearing his Replies that I heartily desire he would Answer whatever hereafter I shall Publish relating to Controversie The substance of the Reply was finished some few months after Dr. St. Examination of my Book came forth the reason why it was not published sooner is because I expected the Dr. should afford a particular answer to several Treatises issued forth against his discourse of the Roman Idolatry the book I attaqued which remained yet unanswered to the end that having seen what he could answer to the whole charge layed to him in this debate I might the better order my Reply But since the Dr. in so long a time has not yet been pleased to satisfie so just an expectation for some good reasons he knows I resolved without any farther delay to set forth this Rejoynder especially being prest thereunto by the invitation of several persons of Learning both Diocesan and Catholick who are perswaded that the Dr. in the Examination of my Book has layed himself thus open as will manifestly appear by the following Treatise The Contents CHap. I. On supposition Dr. St. Contradicts himself in the way I insist upon all the charges he casts upon the Roman Church are false and all their proofs void Chap. II. Several objections against the forementioned way of answering the Dr. proved insignificant Chap. III. Other Objections answered Chap. IV. The Evasions of the Dr. to clear himself from Self-contradiction in charging the Roman Church with Idolatry examined Chap. V. The Dr. palpably Contradicts himself by affirming the Roman Church to be Idolatrous and yet granting her to be a True Church Chap. VI. Another proof of the same intent drawn from the nature of the Idolatry the Dr. fathers upon the Roman Church Chap. VII The invalidity of the Drs. answers to our Propositions in particular Chap. VIII Several quibbles against the aforesaid Doctrine removed Chap. IX The Drs. answer to my Appendix proved frivolous Chap. X. Concerning the other Contradictions committed by the Dr. in the Charges he laies upon the Roman Church Chap. XI Some difficulties raised by the Dr. against my Judgment concerning his manner of proceeding rejected ERRATA PRef post medium not to seem so r. yet not to seem so fine Diocesan and Catholick r. Protestants and Catholicks ib. thus open r. too open p. 47. l. 13. would not r. would it not p. 68. l. 5. charity of this r. charity as this p. 75. l. 18. his excess r. this excess l. 22. this charity r. his charity p. 100. l. 2. nor among r. now among p. 101. so it is r. so that it is p. 103. l 13. commanded r. commandment p 123. l. 13. post illa virba honour due to God add and then 't is false p. 124. l. 8. this part was r. this was part p. 131. l. 8. when r then p. 132. l. 27. does not own r. does own p. 145. l 25. our own r. his own p. 161. l. 27. would not be r. would be p. 185. l. 24. answering r. answer p. 186 l. 22. and Idolater r. an Idolater p. 188. l. 8. any r. as any p. 194. l. 19. universal truth r. universal true p. 214. l. 26. in any times r. many times p. 220 l. 26. detected r. detested p. 221. l. 9. are most r. are more ib. l. 17. to him treason r. him to
treason p. 239. l. 20. that was r. that this was p. 249. l. 23. as he r. as that he p. 265. l. 15. being an r. being of an p. 269. l. 2. eighth practises r. eighth their practises ib. l. 14. to the same r. the same CHAP. I. On supposition Dr. St. contradicts himself in the way I insist upon all the Charges he casts upon the Roman Church are false and all their proofs void AFter Dr. St. had prefixed two Prefaces to his Book the one of 82 pages the other of 12 he sets upon the examination of my Treatise which with Introduction Answer and Appendix contains only 21 pages though in a closer letter He designes to prove two things against me 1. That on supposition he did contradict himself in the way I insist upon yet that would be no sufficient Answer to his Book Page 14. 2. That he is far enough from contradicting himself in any one of the things I charge him with In reply to these two Points I shall shew 1. What follows if the Dr. Contradicts himself and hence will appear whether on supposition he contraicts himsef in the way I insist upon I answer his Book or not 2. That he palpably contradicts himself in the forementioned Charges he lays upon the Roman Church And that the Dr. may see I have a mind to deal fairly with him I am very willing to be tried by the Learned men of our Two Famous Universities where there are many as ingenious as Dr. St. and far more ingenuous not only whether I have not proved that the Dr. contradicts himself but also whether this being once proved in the way I insist upon I do not invalidate and annual all the above-mentioned Charges he lays against the Roman Church with all the Reasons and Proofs he produces or can produce to make them good To commence therefore the first Point of this Reply If I have proved that Dr. St. has contradicted himself in the aforesaid Crimes he imputes to the Roman Church which is the supposition wherein he and we speak in this first part it manifestly follows that I have obtained the design of my Book couched in the Title thereof viz Dr. Stillingfleet against Dr. Stillingfleet and if I moreover shew that he still contradicts himself I compleat also the Subject and Title of this Rejoynder Dr. Stillingfleet still against Dr. Stillingfleet For nothing else is aimed at in these Titles but only to evince that the Dr. did contradict and persists to contradict himself This is apparent from what I insinuated at the beginning of my Book in these words page 1. My aim therefore in this short Paper only is to lay open the palpable contradictions of Dr. St. in imputing to the Roman Church the forementioned Calumnies And what more can be expected from a Writer than to fill up the Subject and Designe of his Discourse Especially if the Designe be of great Consequence as this is according to what now follows Again Self-contradiction being proved as Dr. St. himself grants p. 15. overthrows the authority of the Person who stands convicted thereof Now I conceive that a sheet and half of Paper was not ill-imployed in overthrowing had it no other effect the authority of one who pretends to be a Pillar of the Protestant Church and who gains more upon his Devotees by authority than by reason So that even according to Dr. St's confession self-contradiction being once evidenced against him we ought not to believe him in any thing he says or alledges unless he recalls himself For to believe one is to take a thing upon his authority and sure no body ought to take any thing upon the authority and credit of one who has lost all authority and credit Besides whoever forces his Adversary to grant manifest Contradictions or shews that he grants them according to the rigour of Logique and close arguing he puts him in a sack he brings him to a Non-plus and in plain vulgar English he makes an Ass of him or shews him to be so unless he recants And can more than this be required of one to confute and confound his Adversary or can one press him further than to a Non-plus Finally Whoever grants and persists to grant palpable Contradictions he may justly be posted up for a Mad-man Should one for instance infected with the Plague say and repeat that he is in very good health but withal that he is deadly sick of the Plague could there be a clearer Symptome that such a man's brains were distemper'd than to hear him harp upon so palpable a contradiction And there is no wise man who will have to do with Mad-men no not in their Lucid Intervals as Dr. St. in his Pref. p. 11. gravely observes For though Mad-men Fools may sometimes say shrew'd things yet no body who is perswaded they are such can in prudence think himself bound to confute them but rather to pity them nor to solve their Objections but to slight them though it does not follow because they are so that all their Arguments are false and their Objections null This I have said because I perceive there are several who are not sensible what gross absurdities do follow from self-contradiction Nevertheless the Dr. still urges That all this is no sufficient answer to his Book For though he confesses that self-contradicition being once evidenced against him all his authority and credit is worth nothing and consequently he is not to be believed or credited in any thing he quotes or alledges and all his Arguments which depend upon the truth of his Quotations are not to be valued nay neither is one bound to make enquiry whether his Quotations be true or not For who is bound to make inquiry into the truth of what a Mad-man or one that hath forfeited all his credit does say or alledge Yet after all this he affirms and vapours in almost every leaf of this first part that his Arguments especially such as do not depend upon the truth of his Allegations and how few has he of such Arguments remain firm solid and unanswered Now to disabuse the Doctor and his Partizans in this Point I shall demonstrate that in the present Supposition viz. That he contradicts himself in the way I insist upon by laying to our charge the above mentioned crimes not only all the aforesaid Aspersions but also all the Arguments which he produces or can produce either from Authority or Reason in proof of them are void and of no force And to this purpose I set down these following Principles which though appertaining only to Logique this Dr. of Divinity seems to be ignorant of 1. When two Propositions contradict one another both cannot be true but either the one or the other must needs be false This is a manifest Principle of Natural Logique wherefore if these two Propositions The Roman Church is a true Church the Roman Church is an Idolatrous Church do contradict one another as now we suppose
Recognitions recalling his former Errours though he might make a just Volume upon that Subject and begin it with the Recantation of what he sets down in his Irenicon destructive to the Episcopal Dignity which he is loth to do for he sees that book endeared him to the Presbyterian party whom he seems to Court I confess that it is no blemish for a man when he is better informed to recal the Errours which heretofore he assented unto For to err is a frailty of men but to persevere obstinately in an Errour as necessarily he must do who persists in a palpable Contradiction is a brutish obstinacy and what greater disparagement than this can there be for a rational man Now Dr. St. not only heretofore but even in this present book after he had Charged the Roman Church with gross Idolatry affirms that she is a true Church as shall hereafter appear without having ever yet recalled that Proposition and consequently he persists to contradict himself as he now admits Whence follows that the Allegation of Bellarmin's Recognitions or Recantations was nothing to the purpose For it is as if one should argue thus Bellarmin though he erred yet because he recalled his Errours making a Book of Recognitions did not lose his Reputation neither did he deserve that we should slight what he saies Therefore Dr. St. who has erred and does persist to err who has and does still contradict himself without ever having recalled his Errours does not deserve we should slight what he affirms or thus Saint Peter though he sinned grievously yet because he did sincerely repent was a great Saint Therefore such as have sinned grievously and never repent are great Saints Let Dr. St. imitate Bellarmin and recal his former Errous and he will lose nothing no not his Authority which notwithstanding as he himself affirms Self-contradiction being once proved especially if it be insisted upon is utterly overthrown But we must reflect That such as recal their former Opinions or Tenets are in two sorts Some recal Tenets heretofore assented unto because they find them inconsistent with Errours which they are resolved to defend as if one for instance who being not able to vindicate the General Principles of Christianity without confessing the particular Tenets of the Roman Church to be true should out of hatred to such particular Tenets deny the General principles of Christianity which before he had yielded unto Such men as these are far from deserving any Commendation for recalling their former perswasions but rather shew an inveterate obstinacy and odium against the Truth and amongst such men Dr. St. must be enrolled should he to defend the Idolatry of the Roman Church deny her to be a true Church contrary to the Truth he has so often acknowledged and to the very Grounds whereon he builds the truth of Protestancy For though I do not allow of his Grounds yet I Assent to the Truth of the Roman-Catholick Religion which is evidently thence inferred Others to embrace the Truth which in process of time they have discovered recal former Tenets contrary thereunto as St. Augustin and Bellarmin did So do many who finding Protestant Religion to be false relinquish it and embrace the Roman opposite thereunto Such men as these shew great ingenuity and sincerity and by revoking such Opinions with all Wise men rather gain than lose Authority or Reputation And among these men Dr. St. would deserve to be listed if he would be pleased to recant and declare plainly to the world that when he Charged the Roman Church with Idolatry Fanaticism Divisions in matters of Faith danger of Salvation in her Communion and other Corruptions he over shot himself as several even of his own Friends confess he did at least in the Charge of Idolatry Besides when one recalls an Opinion as inconsistent with the Truth to which he had heretofore assented he also virtually recalls all the proofs thereof acknowledging them to be either false or unconcluding And since what St. Augustin and Bellarmin stood to after their Retractations contradicted what they held before 't is manifest that their proofs either on the one side or other were void and consequently recalling such Opinions they recalled also their proofs of them And here I cannot but reflect that Dr. St. seems to list me pag. 14. among such as he terms Revolters from the Church of England Thanks be to God I was bred a Roman-Catholick my Parents and Ancestors were of the same Religion and suffered much for their constancy therein And I can assure the Dr. that for all I have seen in him I am so far from being startled in my Religion that I am rather confirmed therein For a weak impugnation of the Truth is a confirmation thereof and if God shall be pleased to give me his Grace not to quit the General Principles of Christianity I shall never upon the account of what Dr. St. saies relinquish the particular Tenets of the Catholick Church Many ask me what matters it that Dr. St. palpably contradicts himself and persists so to do which is the same as if they should ask me what matters it if Dr. St. be a Madman And to say the truth it matters very little for the Publick good that he be so but it matters very much that being so he should be commonly reputed a Wiseman For what greater damage can be imagined than that the people be guided by a Madman in affairs of so great concern as those of Religion are Neither can one do a greater service to the Common-wealth than to discover their Guides to be mad if really they be so Neither can there be a better way to discover it than by shewing they grant and persist to grant palpable Contradictions Moreover they might say the same in case I had attacked any other particular Doctor of the Protestant Church for Dr. St. carries as great a vogue as any other asking me what matters it if I force such a Doctor to manifest Contradictions and by consequence bring him to a Non-plus So that were this Objection justifiable it would prove that it is of no concern to defeat and bring to a Non-plus any particular Adversary which is certainly false and repugnant to the common practice of all Learned and Zealous men Besides had I proved only that the Charges which Dr. St. saies upon us did contradict some particular Tenet held only by the Dr. and some few of his Partizans though that would have been sufficient to have baffled him yet it would not have been of so great moment But I have shewn that the Aspersions he casts upon us do contradict General Principles assented unto not only by Dr. St. and all Roman-Catholicks but also by all Learned Protestants Members of the English Church and by many others of different Professions and consequently I convince all such that the forementioned Aspersions are false as being repugnant to True and General Principles granted by them and that whatever is produced
for asserting Dr. St. to be an Honest man and yet a Knave certainly no prudent person can think that such a one would sufficiently clear himself by saying That he granted him to be an Honest man out of meer kindness but that he affirmed him to be a Knave upon good and solid Reason and that therefore no body could without disingenuity oppose the one Judgment against the other These pittiful shifts of Dr. St. make one exclaim O how unhappy a thing it is to engage in a bad Cause What will not some say rather than unsay themselves and confess their Errours Again either Dr. St. thinks this Concession of his The Roman Church is a true Church to be grounded upon good and solid Reason as really it is or he does not think it such now if he think it such it is not a Judgement of Charity only but of Reason also and consequently he unjustly charges me with disingenuity for opposing a Judgment of meer Charity against a Judgment of Reason since both in his opinion are Judgments of Reason If he does not think this his Concession to be grounded upon Reason how can it be a Judgment of true and real Charity Can it be true Charity to tell us That we are in a true way to Salvation That our Church does not teach us any damnable Errour or any thing destructive to our Eternal Wellfare and yet to tell us all this without any Reason to think it so Such a Charity of this if it must be called so is rather a meer Cheat than Charity Nay since the Dr. has declared himself an implacable Enemy to the Roman Church bespattering her with so many foul Aspersions 't is not credible he would grant her to be a True church did not good and solid Reasons force him thereunto and we have seen above that the very same grounds whereby he pretends to establish the Truth of the Protestant Church evince also the Truth of the Roman Church So that he must either confess That he grants his own Church to be true out of meer Charity without any solid ground for to grant it or he must acknowledge our Church to be a true Church upon good and solid Reasons at least in his Opinion And because Dr. St. and his Associates do so often vapour of their Charity in allowing Roman-Catholicks a possibility of Salvation endeavouring some of them thence to prove That their Religion is better than ours which does not allow so much to Protestants 't will not be amiss to examin the depth of this their Charity and sure if we consider how those who deny our Church to be a true Church are puzzled and to what shifts they are put concerning the continuation of the True Church for so many years before Luther and Calvin their Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and several other points of highest concern objected against them we may prudently believe that when they acknowledge our Church to be a true Church they do it not so much out of any kindness they have for us as for their own proper Interest and Concern Again if that Religion has the greatest Charity and upon that account is to be held for the best Religion that makes the way of Salvation widest the Religion of the Libertines and Latitudinarians who affirm all Religions to be true and sufficient to Salvation whether Christianism Judaism Paganism or Mahometism would be the best of all Religions which certainly Dr. St. will never grant although he burns with so great Charity Moreover leaving both parties Catholicks and Protestants to their proper Tenets 't is greater Charity in Catholicks towards Protestants to tell them they are in the wrong than in Protestants towards Catholicks to tell them they are in the right or in a true way to Salvation For the most that Protestants can effect in Catholicks with this their Concession is to encourage them to go on with more alacrity in the way wherein they are since they see that even their greatest Enemies do grant them to be in a true way to Heaven when as Catholicks by telling Protestants they are in the wrong may bring many of them to the right and save them from Damnation Since they cannot but be much moved seeing that so many Learned men who are ten to one for Protestants do affirm with so great asseveration and constancy producing several solid grounds in proof of what they affirm That protestants are in the wrong way And beyond debate it is far greater Charity to save one from Damnation than only to encourage him to obtain his Salvation So it is greater Charity to tell one whom we know to be out of the way That he is in the wrong than to tell one whom we know to be in the true way That he is in the right Because the one unless he be told of his Errour will probably go on and never come whither he intended when as the other encouraged by our advice will only come sooner to his journey's end whither he would have arrived although we had told him nothing Besides when our Adversaries are pinched with the inferences we deduce from this their Concession they do so mince and clip their Charity that it scarce retains any shew or mark thereof as appears by what Archbishop Lawd Dr. Stillingfleet and others assert in this matter For they say That all Learned men among us are damned if they continue in Communion with the Roman Church Nay the same they affirm of all those who understand the pretended Absurdities they are pleased to oppose against us which in their opinion are so clear and manifest that no body who is not a meer Fool or a Madman and consequently in a condition not capable of Malice may easily understand them That scarce any one is saved amongst us That only an invincible ignorance which is not easily presumed in matters so clear as they will needs have our Errours to be and wherein every one is so much concern'd can excuse us from eternal Damnation That we are all flat Idolaters and as gross as the grossest of the Heathen and by consequence That this Proposition A Roman-Catholick may be saved hath no more truth in it than this An Idolater may be saved Finally that Roman-Catholicks may be saved upon condition they repent of their Errours as also Jews Turks and Pagans may be saved upon the like Condition Now if we compare with these their Assertions concerning Roman Catholicks what we affirm of Protestants in order to their Salvation or Damnation we shall evidently see that there is little or no difference between us and them in relation to this point and that they have no cause to make such Bravadoe's of their Charity towards us For between these two Propositions scarce any one is saved and all are damned there is so scant a difference that there is very little reason to boast thereof Neither do we deny but that some Protestants have an invincible ignorance of the Errours
of their Religion and consequently upon that account are no less excusable from Damnation than they say we are Besides Catholicks do not affirm That those Protestants who are in a condition not capable of Malice as meer Fools Madmen and Children are more liable to damnation than Catholicks of the same condition Yet farther we never assert that this Proposition Protestants are damned has more truth in it than this Idolaters are damned and consequently it is as true That a Protestant may be saved as that an Idolater may be saved Neither do we deny but Protestants may be saved if they repent Where then is the difference between their Charity and ours that may give them any cause of Vapouring In Fine if things be well considered it will manifestly appeare That Protestants damn more Catholicks than Catholicks do Protestants For it is certain that there are at least twenty Roman-Catholicks in the world for one Protestant of the English Church with which is our present debate Now since they affirm that scarce any Catholick is saved let 's put the case that only one in twenty is saved and all the rest are damned according to this computation they damn nineteen where we damn one Supposing that we damn all Protestants or believe them to be damned if they continue in that Profession and they scarce save any Chatholick or believe him to be saved if he lives and dies in the Communion of the Roman Church So that concerning the Damnation or Salvation of Contrary Party we have more reason to glory of our Charity than they And hence evidently appears the inanity of their pretended Charity which they often cast in our Teeth this being a common Topick whence they have framed many Sermons and Discourses against us Yet I cannot deny but that the Charity of Dr. St. is enhanced to a high degree For he has made the bounds of the True Church so wide that it contains not only the most notorious Hereticks but also the greatest Idolaters Was it not therefore very ill done of me to make so bad a use of so wonderful a Charity And all this he does out of his exceeding great kindness for Protestant Religion and because he cannot find a way how to bring her within the verge of the True Church without letting in with her the grossest Idolaters of the world both in Doctrine and Practice But whether Protestants will think themselves bound to render the Dr. Thanks for his excess of his Charity I leave it to the judgment of the Learned and Zealous men amongst them One step only is wanting to make this Charity perfect indeed and that is to enlarge the Pale of the True Church so far as that it may take in flat Atheists which he may do with as much ease as he does other things In the pages 19 20 21 22. he mingles many things which do not tend to prove that he does not contradict himself which was the proper subject in this second part of his Answer but only that on svpposition he should contradict himself in the way I insist upon yet this would not be a satisfactory answer nor annull the Reasons he produced in order to make good the charges he laies against us All which has been already answered above in the first part of our Reply As concerning his Vindication from Self-contradiction he saies pag. 20 21 That by granting us a True Church and yet charging us with Idolatry it does not follow That he contradicts himself but the only true consequence is That he thinks some kind of Idolatry consistent with the Being of a True Church For what shadow of Contradiction is it they are the Dr.'s words pag. 21. to say That the Roman Church is a true Church and yet is guilty of Idolatry supposing he believes some sort of Idolatry which is very sinful not to be yet of so high a nature as to unchurch those that practise it A strange Answer so that if one has so good an opinion of himself and who has not as to believe or think that what he affirms is in some sort consistent with what he denies let him affirm or deny what he pleases according to this admirable evasion of Dr. Stillingfleet he will be free from Self-contradiction Whoever joynes two terms that really contradict one another whatever he thinks he commits a Contradiction Should one affirm another to be a notorious Traitor but yet a Loyal Subject which is the instance above insinuated could the Dr. prudently say in this case that such a person did not contradict himself but that the only true consequence that hence might be inferred was That he thought some sort of notorious Treason to be consistent with Loyalty or could he justly exclaim What shadow of Contradiction is it to say That one is a notorious Traitor but yet a Loyal Subject supposing that who saies this believes some sort of Treason though very notorious not to be yet of so high a nature as to destroy Loyalty Neither should the Dr. have supposed pag. 22. as he does but proved that the Idolatry introduced by Jeroborm among the Israelites was not destructive to the being of a True Church Several protestants among other precedents produce the Church of Israel infected with the Idolatry of Jeroboam to shew that the true visible Church may cease and consequently they believed the Church of Israel to have ceased to be a true Church by reason of the Idolatry she committed otherwise they could never have made use of the said instance to that intent and accordingly they look't upon that Idolatry as destructive to the Being of a True Church For how can a Church cease to be true upon the account of an Idolatry not destructive to the Being of a True Church Yea the Apostle Rom. 11. does not obscurely insinuate that the Idolatry practised by the Israelites did unchurch them yet they were not all infected therewith For God told Elias when he complained that he was left alone in Israel that seven thousand of them had not bowed their knees unto Baal The Evasions produced hitherto by the Dr. are as we have seen ineffectual to clear him from Self-contradiction and such as had they any force in them would prove it impossible that any one should contradict himself especially if he believed he does not which is evidently false So that the Dr. to shew himself guiltless of Self-contradiction takes the same way as if to prove himself an honest man he should alledge no better Reasons than such as prove if they prove any thing that there have never been nor are any Knaves in the world but that all are and have been honest men But this is a common Artifice of Dr. St. So that he may produce any Arguments that seem to prove his intent he cares not whatever else they prove with the same force and so he may shoot home he matters not how much he over shoots himself though one may miss as much of the
intrinsical condition must needs destroy the whole So that a Church to be True must have all her Essentials but to be absolutely False 't is enough that any one of them be wanting according to those common Axioms of Philosophers Bonum ex integra causa malum autem ex quolibet defectu Death destroies the Essence of a man and yet it neither destroies the Soul nor the Body immediately but only the Union between them both which is the least considerable thing in a mans Essence Finally because we discourse now what Errours are Essential in matters of Faith and inconsistent with the Being of a True Church we must reflect that according to Divines there are two sorts of Errours the one Privative the other Positive A Church does err privatively against the Essence of a True Church by not holding all the positive Essential points requisite thereunto although she should not positively hold any thing contrary to such points A Congregation of Men who should not believe there is a God although they should not positively believe that there is no God would beyond all question be no true Church But a Church errs positively against the Essence of a true Church when she positively holds and asserts something inconsistent with an Essential point whatever else she affirms Doubtless a Church or Congregation which teaches that there is no God cannot be a true Church whatever else she teaches Both these sorts of Errours are destructive to the Essence of a Church and the latter is rather worse than the former For it is worse to believe that there is no God than not to believe that there is a God Hence I infer that to the constitution of a true Church 't is not enough to assert the positive Articles requisite to the Being of a Church but 't is also necessary not to hold any Errour incoâ—sistenâ— with any of such Articles as 〈…〉 several persons who deny either mediately or immediately those very points which they confess These things being premised I go on to shew that if the Roman Church does hold any kind of Idolatry what kind soever it be to be lawful as Dr. St. expressly affirms she does she must needs hold an Errour destructive a to Fundamental and Essential point of Faith and by consequence a Fundamental Errour inconsistent with the Essence of a true Church And since 't is certain that no kind of Idolatry is lawful if the Roman Church holds any kind of Idolatry as lawful she must needs hold an Errour inconsistent with some Truth as all Errour is Now it is not possible that the Roman Church should hold any sort of Idolatry whatsoever as lawful unless she holds that some Honour which is due only to God may be given to a meer Creature For the notion of Idolatry in general does necessarily contain this even as Dr. St. himself confesses in this Book pag. 24. where he saies thus I agree in general that the true notion of Idolatry is giving the Honour due only to God to a meer Creature but he adds presently these words I desire no greater advantage against the Church of Rome in order to prove her Idolatrous than from such a Concession which is as much as if I should say I desire no greater advantage against Dr. St. in order to prove him a Knave than that he should grant as doubtless he does that the Notion of a Knave in general is he who makes it his business to cheat others For I am certain that it is far easier to shew that this notion of a Knave does agree to Dr. St. than that notion of Idolatry to the Roman Church But for my present purpose it is enough that Dr St. grants that to be the true notion of Idolatry in general For so 't is evident that let the kinds of Idolatry be never so many they must needs participate the forementioned notion because all the Species or different kinds must needs participate the general notion under which they are contained as for instance because it is the general notion of an Animal to be vivens sensibile a living Substance endowed with a sensitive power let the Species or differences be never so many 't is impossible that there should be any sort of Animal which is not vivens sensibile So that whatsoever is not vivens sensible is not Animal and whatsoever Worship is such that thereby the Honour due only to God is not given to a meer Creature such a worship cannot be any sort of Idolatry Hence I infer that 't is impossible the Roman Church should teach or hold any kind of Idolatry whatsoever it be gross or not gross but she must hold supposing the Notion of Idolatry in general to be such as has been insinuated expressly or implicitly in the same manner as she holds Idolatry That some Honour due only to God may be given to a meer Creature which Errour for evidently 't is an Errour is inconsistent with the contrary Truth viz. No Honour due to God may be given to a meer Creature And what Truth is this Fundamental and Essential or Non-fundamental and Non-essential without debate it is a Fundamental and Essential point of Religion For what point is such if this be not Nay Dr. St. himself does absolutely grant it pag. 26. in the Answer to my first Proposition as hereafter will appear and p. 21. he accounts among the Essentials of a true Church and the Fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith this very proposition viz. That God and his Son Jesus Christ are the proper object of Divine Worship or which is the same no Divine Worship or no Honour due only to God is to be given to any one but God Since therefore all Idolatry is inconsistent with the forementioned Fundamental and Essential point 't is manifest the Church of Rome cannot hold any kind of Idolatry whatsoever without holding a Fundamental Errour destructive to the very Essence and Being of a True Church Wherefore Dr. St. by granting the Roman Church to be a True Church and yet charging her with Idolatry does commit a palpable Contradiction and in one breath blows cold and hot asserting that she is a True Church and yet that she holds something inconsistent with the very Being and Essence of a True Church To draw this Argument into a narrower circle I form this Dilemma Either by the Idolatry Dr. St. Fathers upon our Church Some Honour due only to God is given to a meer Creature or not If not then it is no Idolatry as not participaring the general Notion of Idolatry If so then it is destrrctive to an Essential point of Religion and consequently to the Essence of a True Church So that Dr. St. by distinguishing two sorts of Idolatry one destructive to the Being of a Church another not-destructive to the Being of a Church does as much as tell us There are two sorts of Idolatry one that is Idolatry another that is not Idolatry of the former
an Image which is no God is all one kind of formal Idolatry Wherefore Dr. St. since he assents to this Doctrine Parallels the Veneration of Images practised by the Roman Church to the Worship of False Gods and looks upon them both as one kind of formal Idolatry and certainly the Worship of False Gods as rejecting the true God is inconsistent with the Being of a True Church For what Idolatry is so if this be not In the same pag. he pretends to shew that the grossest Idolatry in the world is excusable on the same grounds whereon we excuse from Idolatry the Veneration of Christ in the Eucharist which he compares with the Idolatry of those who said Christ was the Sun and he adds pag. 136. That the Absurdities of Transubstantiation are greater than of that Doctrine which teaches the Sun to be God and in the same place he calls it as Venial a Fault The Worshipping that for the True God which is not so such is the Idolatry he Fathers upon us and terms it the Superstition of an undue way of Worshiping as the Worshipping False Gods which he stiles the Superstitian of an undue object and pag. 137. he saies thus The most stupid and senseless of all Idolaters who Worship the very Images for God which the wiser among the Heathens according to his Judgment alwayes disalowed were in truth the most excusable upon this ground upon which we excuse from Idolatry the Veneration we give to the Sacrament of the Altar and by consequence the Idolatry he Fathers upon us in this matter is in his opinion worse and less excusable than the most stupid and senseless Idolatry of the Heathens In the page immediately before he compares our Veneration of Christ in the Eucharist with the Aegyptians worshipping the Sun for God and the Israelites the Golden Calf believing it was the true God Pag. 142 143. speaking of the Veneration the Roman Church allows to Saints he adds I would willingly understand why I may not as well honour God by giving Worship to the Sun as to Ignatius Loyola or St. Francis or any other of the late Cannonized Saints And why does he not speak of the B. Virgin Mary of the Apostles of St. Augustine and of other Ancient Saints since he equally impugns the Veneration of all Saints The reason he adds is excellent I am sure saies he the Sun is a certain Monument of Gods goodness and I cannot be mistaken therein But I can never be certain of the holiness of those persons viz. the late Cannonized Saints For all that I can know Ignatius Loyola was a great Hypocrite But I am sure that the Sun is none I know the best of men have their Corruptions and to what degree it is impossible for others to understand But I am certain the spots of the Sun are no Moral Impurities nor displeasing to God How frivolous this reason is will clearly appear by this instance Dr. St. will not deny but that some Reverence Respect Esteem and Veneration may be given in this life to men by reason of their Holiness Sanctity and Honesty of Life and that one may here upon earth implore the Prayers of other men especially Holy and Honest Men or invoke them to be his Intercessours with God in his Necessities which is practised by Protestants and no more than this we ascribe to the Saints in Heaven Now according to this Reason of the Dr. to use his own words Why may I not as well honour Dr. St. 's Cat or Dog who in the common opinion of Philosophers as being Substances endowed with Life are perfecter than the Sun as Dr. St. himself or invoke them as well as him or any of the Protestant Bishops or Ministers I am sure Dr. St. 's Cat and Dog do whatever God will have them do and that they never have transgress'd any of his Commandments and I cannot be mistaken therein But I can never be certain that Dr. St. is an honest man yea I am certain that he has transgress'd Gods Commandments For all that I can know Dr. St. is a great Hypocrite and an errant Knave But I am sure Dr. St. 's Cat and Dog are none I know that Dr. St. has his Corruptions since the best of men have theirs and to what degree he has them is impossible for me or others to understand but I am certain that the Blemishes of those Creatures supposing they have them are no Moral Impurities nor displeasing to God Whence it follows that according to this Argument of Dr. St. 't is as Lawful and more laudable to Reverence upon the account of Honesty Dr. St.'s Cat or Dog to invoke their Intercession as to Reverence Dr. St. himself or to invoke his assistance by Prayers and what ever answer Dr. St. shall give to this Instance will solve the Objection he makes against us For 't is certain that the Sun is as uncapable to understand or to be made to understand our addresses or to intercede for us or to lead a moral honest life as a Cat or a Dog But Dr. St. knows too well that it is not for his interest to consider the incoherency of his Principles or the train of Absurdities which commonly wait upon his Arguments Yet for our present intent it is enough to shew that the Idolatry he endeavours to fasten upon the Roman Church in the Invocation of Saints which she allows of is in his perswasion as bad or worse than the Adoration of the Sun Page 159. he makes a large Parallel between the Veneration that Roman Catholicks afford to Saints and the Idolatry of the Heathens in Sacrificing to their Inferiour Deities or Heroes Did the Israelites saies he use solemn Ceremonies of making any capable of Divine Worship So does the Roman Church Did they set up their Images in publick places of Worship and then kneel down before them and Invocate those represented by them So does the Roman Church Did they Consecrate Temples and Erect Altars to them and keep Festivals and burn Incense before them So does the Roman Church Lastly Did they offer up Sacrifices in those Temples to the Honour of their lesser Deities or Heroes So does the Roman Church Whence it appears that Dr. St. does hold us for as great Idolaters by reason of the Honour we afford to Saints as the Heathens were in Adoring their lesser Deities All this Doctrine he had laid down in his Answer to the Questions pag. 3 4. where he has these words The same Argument whereby the Papists make the Worship of the Bread in the Eucharist not to be Idolatry would make the grossest Heathenish Idolatry not to be so And a little after he saies thus The Church of Rome in the Worship of God by Images the Adoration of the Bread in the Eucharist and the formal Invocation of Saints doth require the giving to the Creature the Worship due only to the Creator Whence it follows that Dr. St. does Charge the Roman
Disciples of the Pharisees and Officers of Herod came to tempt our Saviour Mat. 22. they proposed unto him a question and our Saviour starting a new question and raising a new Difficulty solved the question proposed unto him and silenced his Adversaries But had Dr. St. been with the Enemies of Christ in that occasion he would have suggested unto them That it was a clear evidence of a sophistical and cavelling humour in order to answer one question to start another Besides what question or difficulty do I start I take for granted that the Roman Church is a true Church as Dr. St. has heretofore and does still grant and hence I prove the nullity of the Charge he laies against us which is the common way of confuting an Adversary viz. Out of Principles granted by him to infer the contradictory of what he maintains But Dr. St. had charged me with Sophistry and Captiousness and he must make it good the best way he can which is to feign his Adversary to say what he does not CHAP. VII The Invalidity of the Doctor 's Answers to our Propositions in Particular LEt us see now for the greater satisfaction of the Reader what he Answers to every particular Proposition I laid down in order to prove him guilty of Self contradiction in Charging us with Idolatry and to clear our Church from so foul an Aspersion my first Proposition was this 'T is an Article of Faith and a Fundamental point of Religion That the Honour which is due only to God is not to be given to a meer Creature This Proposition the Dr. absolutely grants without any distinction saying pag. 26. His first Proposition I agree to He adds afterwards That there is no dispute between us whether that Honour which is due only to God may be given to a Creature and finally he grants this Proposition to be in it self true But after he had absolutely granted it without any distinction he begins to quibble at it But I desire he would tell me whether the exception he afterwards makes against it does hinder or not the absolute truth thereof If it does not what more can I or any one else desire when we lay down Principles or Propositions than that the Proposition we advance be absolutely true If it does hinder the absolute truth of the aforesaid Proposition why did he grant it absolutely without any distinction But what is the exception he makes against us in this Proposition He saies We should have discust what that Honour is which is due only to God Wherein he adds there is a great dispute between them and us So that it seems he would have had us lay down among the Principles which we advanced against him some thing that is disputed between us which is point blank against the very notion of a Principle which ought to he agreed unto by all or at least by the Adversary with whom we deal So that he accuses us that we proceed Sophistically and Captiously and why Because forsooth we do not lay down for a Principle that which is not a Principle which doubtless is a frivolous accusation Neither was there any need we should discuss in particular what that Honour is which is due only to God For the Honour we give to Images or Saints either is due only to God or not If the Dr. saies it is then it is a palpable Contradiction for the Dr. to affirm that our Church is True and yet that she allows Saints and Images such an Honour If he saies it is not then how can he accuse our Church of Idolatry because she gives to Saints and Images such an Honour Wherefore without descending to the particular Honour due only to God we prove that either Dr. St. must confess that our Church is free from the aforesaid Idolatray or that he contradicts himself which was my proper task in that place and is not this enough He adds pag. 27. That it cannot excuse us from Idolatry to say That we acknowledge it to be Idolatry to give that Honour which we suppose to be due only to God to a meer Creature in case that he can prove that we give to meer Creatures any part of that Honour which is due to God I do confess that were it once proved that we give any Honour duly only to God to a meer Creature such an acknowledgment would not excuse us from Idolatry as it did not excuse the Heathens from the like Crime although they acknowledged the same Truth But here we must reflect That sometimes the Dr. saies that 't is Idolatry to give to a meer Creature the Honour due only to God and in that he saies the truth Othertimes as in this place he omits only and speaks of Honour due to God For some honour is due to God but not only to God As when our Saviour was upon earth without doubt the Honour of kneeling down before him was due unto him which Honour notwithstanding is due unto a King and to ones Father But what is all this that Dr. St. sets down in this Paragraph to clear himself from Self-contradiction in asserting our Church to be a true Church and yet charging her with Idolatry which was the design in this second part of his Answer and my immediate intention in Dr. Stillingfleet against Dr. Stillingfleet was to prove him guilty of Self-contradiction as he saies page 28. His immediate intention was not to clear their Church from Idolatry but to accuse me of Contradiction yet I have shewn above that if I evince that he contradicts himself in the way I insist upon I do manifestly clear our Church from Idolatry and that this part was of my design My 2d Proposition was as follows To teach Idolatry is to err against the forementioned Article of Faith Fundamental point of Religion i.e. as he saies to teach Idolatry is to teach That the Honour which is due only to God is to be given I sayed may be given to a meer Creature To this second Proposition he Answers thus pag. 27. That this is to teach Idolatry no one questions but he adds that they who do not teach this i. e. that the Honour which is due only to God may be given to a meer Creature may yet teach Idolatry and therefore he saies We should if we had proceeded as we ought to have done have laid down an universal Negative viz. No Church that does not teach this can be guilty of Idolatry and not a particular Affirmative as he fancies this Proposition of mine to be To teach Idolatry is to teach that the Honour due only to God may be given to a meer Creature Hence we may discover how great a Logician Dr. St. is I wonder how he should fancy that Proposition of mine to be a particular Affirmative and not an Universal Is this Proposition a particular Affirmative To be a man is to be Animal rationale Sure no body that understands any thing of Rationality can take
such a Proposition for a particular Affirmative and as the true Notion of a man in general is Animal rationale so the true notion of Idolatry according to Dr. St. himself pag. 24. quoted above is giving the Honour due only to God to a meer Creature Wherefore these two Propositions are universal Affirmatives equivalent to these To be any man whatsoever is to be Animal rationale To teach any Idolatry whatsoever is to teach that the Honour due only to God may be given to a meer Creature The reason hereof is because as Logicians tell us an indefinite Proposition in a necessary matter such is the Notion of a Thing which must necessarily agree unto it is equivalent to an Universal as to say a man is Animal rationale is as much as to say every man is such and to say Idolatry is the giving to a meer creature the honour due only to God which is the true notion of Idolatry in general is the same as if one should say All Idolatry is such Now if this Universal Affirmative be true as it is even according to Dr. St.'s confession a Church that teaches any sort of Idolatry whatsoever does teach that the Honour which is due only to God may be given to a meer Creature and hence it necessarily follows That no Church that does not teach this can be guilty of any sort of Idolatry as because every man is animal rationale a rational Animal it must needs follow that nothing that is not animal rationale can be a man whoever has the least smattering of Logick cannot be ignorant of these Rules But it was not for Dr. St.'s purpose to remember any thing of Logick or of Rationality Whence I conclude that the Proposition layed down by me is an Universal Affirmative equivalent to the Proposition set down by the Dr. Since therefore no Church can teach any Idolatry without teaching that the Honour which is due only to God may be given to a meer Creature it is evidently inferred that no Church can teach any Idolatry without erring against the forementioned Article of Faith and Fundamental point of Religion which is all I pretended in my second Proposition Besides although I should grant as I do not that a Church might teach some sort of Idolatry without teaching or requiring that the Honour due only to God be given to a meer Creature yet according to Dr. St.'s own confession the Idolatry he Fathers upon the Roman Church is such that it requires the honour which is due only to God to be given to a meer Creature For in his Discourse concerning the Roman Idolatry pag. 3. he has these words The Church of Rome in the Worship of God by Images the Adoration of the Bread in the Eucharist and the formal Invocation of Saints doth require giving to the Creature Worship due only to the Creator So that according to this Assertion of Dr. St. which he endeavours to establish throughout that whole Discourse no Church can teach the Idolatry he fathers upon the Roman Church without teaching the giving to a meer Creature the Honor Worship due only to the Creator and consequently without erring against that Article of Faith and Fundamental point of Religion contained in my first Proposition which is enough for my main intent So that if my second Proposition be propounded thus To teach that sort of Idolatry which Dr. St. Fathers upon the Roman Church is to err against the forementioned Article of Faith and Fundamental point of Religion he will have nothing to quibble at it since he expressly asserts that such a kind of Idolatry requires the contrary to that Article whence I conclude that this second Proposition is also agreed unto by Dr. St. either absolutely or at least as far as is necessary for my purpose My third Proposition runs thus A Church that does not err against any Article of Faith nor against any Fundamental point of Religion does not teach Idolatry To this Proposition he answers That it is very Sophistical and Captious Dr. St. seems to be possess'd with such a panick fear to be Non-pluss'd by me that had I said two and two are four in all likelyhood he would have called it a Sophistical and Captious Proposition And this is a common flaw in weak but obstinate defendants who when they have nothing to say against a Proposition they Characterise it for Sophistical But let us see in what consists the Sophistry and Captiousness of this Proposition He saies pag. 28 29. That if by Article of Faith and Fundamental point of Religion he means the main Fundamental points of Doctrine contained in the Apostles Creed then a Church which does own all the Fundamentals of Doctrine may be guilty of Idolatry and teach those things wherein it lies But where is Dr. St.'s ingenuity My Proposition was not That a Church which owns all Fundamentals does not teach Idolatry but that a Church which does not err against any Fundamental does not teach Idolatry which is very different because a Church may err against a Doctrine which she owns and contradict her self as has been hinted at above and Dr. St. himself agrees unto as hereafter will appear So that the Dr. does not deny my Proposition but another very different We may therefore take my Proposition for granted yea we have shewn already that any Fundamental Errour or an Errour against any Fundamental point great or little if there be any Fundamental point of little concern is destructive to the Being of a Church He goes on and saies But if by erring against an Article of Faith be meant that a Church which does not err at all in matters of Religion cannot teach Idolatry then he concludes the Proposition is true but impertinent Neither does this part of the distinction touch my Proposition For all matters of Religion are not Articles of Faith according to Dr. St. who does not think all the 39. Articles to be Articles of Faith yet he judges them all to be Articles or matters of Religion and to concern the Soundness of a Church but not the Essence nay we do not hold that all the Ceremonies of our Church and all our Ecclesiastical Precepts are Articles of Faith yet they may be called matters of Religion Wherefore these two Propositions A Church that does not err against any Article of Faith and a Chuch that does not err at all in matters of Religion are very different neither does the former Proposition contain the latter Is not this when a learned distinction wherein neither part touches the Proposition which the Author pretends to distinguish whereas according to all reason Both Members of the Distinction are to be contained in the word which is distinguished Would it not be ridiculous for one to distinguish thus the following Proposition Every man is a rational Animal if by Man be meant all kind of Animals 't is false But if by Man be meant only that kind of Animal which is man
't is true For as a man does not signifie all kind of Animals but only a certain kind So neither an Article of Faith does signifie all matters of Religion but only certain points So that Dr. St.'s distinction comes to be this If by Articles of Faith and Fundamental points of Religion be understood not only Articles of Faith and Fundamental points but also other points which are neither Articles of Faith nor Fundamental i. e. if by these words he understood what they do not signifie then very wisely the Dr. saies pag. 28. The Proposition is true but impertinent as certainly it is impertinent But who makes it so But if by Articles of Faith and Fundamental points of Religion be only understood Articles of Faith and Fundamental points of Religion as whoever has any understanding in him must needs understand Then what then he saies not a word to the Proposition layed down by me viz. A Church that does not err against any Article of Faith nor against any Fundamental point of Religion does not teach Idolatry Whereas according to the common Rules of distinguishing Propositions he should have told us whether our Proposition qualified with that part of the Distinction was true or false But he coggs in another Proposition very different saying That a Church which does not own all Fundamentals of Doctrine may be guilty of Idolatry Let any one judge whether this be not downright juggling Whence the Reader may easily see to what extremities this poor man is brought to make good against us his pretended Charge of Idolatry and to clear himself from Self-contradiction Moreover either he does admit other Articles of Faith and Fundamental points of Religion besides those which are contained in the Apostles Creed or not if he does admit others then the Distinction would run thus If by not erring against any Article of Faith be understood that a Church which does not err against some certain Articles of Faith cannot teach Idolatry i. e. if in place of my Proposition which is an Vniversal Negative be put in another Proposition very different viz. a Particular Negative then the Proposition which he puts in may be false as certainly it may be for a Church may teach Idolatry without erring against every Artiticle of Faith as the Heathens who admitted a Deity and a Religion did not err against every Article of Faith though they taught Idolatry But this cannot hinder the truth of my Proposition which was an Vniversal Negative viz. not erring against any when as his Proposition would be a particular Negative viz. not erring against some As this universal is true a man that does not transgress any of Gods Commandments is a good man but this other particular may be false A man that does not transgress some certain Commandments of God viz. those which concern immediately the honour of God is a good man neither could the falsity of this latter Proposition obstruct the truth of the former But if Dr. St. admits no Articles at all of Faith nor Fundamental points which are not contained explicitely nor implicitely in the Apostles Creed then he must needs reduce to the Apostles Creed the Article quoted in my first Proposition viz. The honour which is due only to God is not to be given to a meer Creature since he grants this to be an Article of Faith and a Fundamental point of Religion as has been seen and doubtless 't is a main Fundamental point too And this is enough for the truth of our third Proposition For if a Church does not err against any Article of Faith even of those which the Dr. grants to be such she does not err against the forementioned Article which even the Dr. places amongst Articles of Faith and if it does not err against this Article it does not teach Idolatry at least that kind of Idolatry which he is pleased to father upon us For to teach any sort of Idolatry at least that which the Dr. laies to our charge is to err against the aforesaid Article which not only in our opinion but also in the opinion of the Dr. and other Protestants is an Article of Faith as does manifestly appear by what has been handled in our Second Proposition My fourth Proposition was framed thus The Church of Rome does teach Veneration of Images Adoration of the Hoast and Invocation of Saints To this Dr. St. page 29. answers That it is agreed on by both sides without adding any more Now I see the Dr. takes heart and dares to grant a Proposition set down by me without stigmatizing it either before or after for Sophistical and Captious Hence I infer that the Veneration of Images Adoration of the Hoast and Invocation of the Saints are Doctrines of the Roman Church and by consequence they are not meer practices of Roman Catholicks For when a practice of the members of any Chuch is taught and approved by the Church her self then such a practice comes to be the Doctrine of that Church This I have said because sometimes Dr. St. does seem to look upon the forementioned points as meer practices of Roman-Catholicks and it is certain that a Church may be a True Church and yet the Members thereof practice some things contrary to the Doctrine and Tenets of the Church whose members they are For the Dr. will not deny that among Protestants there are some nay many who although they assent to the Tenets of the Protestant Church do contradict in their practice the Doctrine they profess to believe being Adulterers Thieves Perjurers and Drunkards living as if there were no God according to that of St. Paul Titus 1.16 quoted by Dr. St. pag. 25. speaking of some who profess that they know God but in works they deny him And yet sure the Dr. will not therefore affirm that the Protestant Church is not a true and sound Church However should she teach Adultery Thieving and Perjury to be lawful or that there is no God certainly the Dr. in that case would not hold her for a True much less for a Sound Church Our present debate therefore is concerning the Doctrines of the Roman Church and whether Dr. St. does not Contradict himself by asserting that the Roman Church is a True Church and yet that she does teach Idolatry or those things wherein it lies My fifth and last Proposition goes thus The Roman Church does not err against any Article of Faith or Fundamental point of Religion Dr. St. does confess pag. 29. That this is his Concession from whence all the force of our Argument is taken and we do not deny but that this Concession of the Dr. is of great concern in order to our present Design All the endeavours therefore of the Dr. are bent to shew in what sense this Concession is made by him and of what force it is in this present Debate I prove this to be Dr. St.'s Sentiment which some did question when my book first came forth as I insinuated above
a Dr. or of Divinity should not be ignorant of them and all that he does in this kind is as appears by the instances above produced First he feigns me to speak what I do not and then he affirms that I speak Sophistically and Captiously Thirdly 't is the common stile of our Polemical Divines here in England whether Catholicks or Protestants to use this Syllogistical way both in their Books and conferences concerning matters of Religion when they will write or speak close to the Subject they handle Let my Adversary be a president who in his Answer to the two Questions proposed by one of the Church of Rome he reduces almost all his Discourses to formal Syllogisms although he laboured that Answer only for the satisfaction of a Lady and Ladies do not use to be much verst in Artificial Logick or formal Syllogisms And in the late Disputes betwen the Annabaptists and Quakers the greatest of their Auditory being made up of Women and Tradesmen who have not frequented Universities yet their Arguments were framed in a Syllogistical way Since therefore I had never heard this common method of treating Controversies reprehended in our Divines Protestants or Catholicks and being moreover inclined thereunto as having been bred the greatest part of my life in Famous Universities where a Scholastick and Dialectical method is most in vogue I thought no just exception would be made against me should I indulge my self in a thing nothing extravagant and suitable to my inclination especially when I intended my Book particularly for learned men who are not unacquainted with Syllogisms And for the satisfaction of Protestants in this matter 't will without doubt be enough to see that my Adversary Dr. St. although he seems to have been resolved to pardon me in nothing which he could find to be any way obnoxious to his Reproofs has not carped at me upon this account However if any one be not satisfied with these Reasons he may pass over the Formal Syllogisms laid down at the closing of each point in Dr. Stillingfleet against Dr. Stillingfleet only I desire him to make the Deduction by himself in the manner he shall think best The Two Syllogisms therefore wherewith out of the Propositions above mentioned and assented unto by the Doctor I demonstrated the Roman Church to be free from Idolatry in the Veneration of Images Adoration of the Hoast and Invocation of Saints were these A Church that does not err against any Article of Faith or Fundamental point of Religion does not teach Idolatry See Prop. 3. But the Roman Church is a Church that does not err against any Article of Faith or Fundamental point of Religion See Prop. 5. Therefore she does not teach Idolatry But she does teach Veneration of Images Adoration of Christ in the Eucharist and Invocation of Saints See Prop. 4. Therefore none of these Practices as taught and allowed of by the Roman Church are Idolatry We may add this farther Discourse A Church that does not err against this Fundamental point viz. The Honour due only to the Creator is not to be given to the Creature does not teach Idolatry all Idolatry being destructive to the forementioned point See Prop. 3. But such is the Roman Church as is evident by the fifth Proposition Therefore she does not teach Idolatry And hence manifestly appears how palpably Dr. St. Contradicts himself in charging the Roman Church with Idolatry and yet granting her to be a True Church unerring against all Fundamentals For it is as much as if he had said she does not err against any Fundamental point yet she does err against some CHAP. VIII Several Quibbles against the aforesaid Doctrine removed FRom what we have hitherto set down may easily be answer'd several Quibbles which Dr. St. others do or may object against the Doctrine above established The Doctor often insinuates that there are two sorts of Idolary The one consistent with the Being but not with the Soundness of a Church The other inconsistent with the very Being of a Church and he makes the Roman Church guilty of the former kind of Idolatry and not of the latter Whence he concludes that he does not commit any Contradiction by charging the Roman Church with this sort of Idolatry and yet granting her to be a true Church But this objection vanishes to nothing because we have shewn that the general notion of Idolatry allowed by the Dr. is inconsistent with a Fundamental and Essential point of Religion and consequently with the very Being of a True Church And since there can be no kind of Idolatry which does not participate the general notion of Idolatry as is evident it manifestly follows that all sorts possible of Idolatry are inconsistent with the Being of a Church Moreover we have already demonstrated that Dr. St. affirms in the places quoted above the Idolatry allowed of by the Roman Church to be as bad nay worse than the grossest Idolatry of the Heathens Now if the grossest Idolatry of the Heathens be destructive to the Being of a Church as certainly it is neither does nor can Dr. St. deny it how is it credible that an Idolatry yet worse than that should be consistent with the Being and Essence of a True Church The Dr. might as well with the subtlety of his wit distinguish two Antichrists the one that is contrary to Christ the other though worse than the former that is not contrary to Christ but his intimate Friend For I am confident that one may as easily find out an Antichrist not contrary to Christ as an Idolatry not dstructive to the Being of a True Church In the like manner he might say and therein he would highly oblige the Libertins of our Nation that there are two sorts of Debauchery the one inconsistent with a good life the other though far worse than the former yet consistent with it and then tells us that one cannot be a good and pious man and yet a Debauchee in the former sense But that if one be a Debauchee in the latter sense which is yet far more horrible than the former he may very well be a good and pious man without the least shew of Contradiction and then laugh at us as half-witted men because we cannot understand these Niceties Certainly there has never been yet in the world a man who has more obliged Idolaters than Dr. St. has done I and many more with me have alwayes believed that there is no Idolatry which is not Idolatry and that all Idolatry is inconsistent with the Being of a True Church But the incomparable Dr. St. has found out one Idolatry that is no-Idolatry another Idolatry which kills a Church another though worse than the former that makes her only sick and another finally that is an Essential perfection and a necessary ingredient of a True Church as we shall see when we come to examin his Answer to our Appendix Now since the Dr. has invented such pretty kinds of Idolatry
those points and Articles which are requisite to the Being of a Church but moreover does not teach nor require any thing whatsoever destructive to Salvation as doubtless gross Idolatry and open Violations of the Divine Laws are As insignificant and senseless as this is another evasion or rather the same in other terms the Dr. makes use of viz. that we may be saved as Christians but not as Roman Catholicks and that we may be saved if we repent but not otherwise And what Roman Catholick did ever affirm that Protestants or any Hereticks whatsoever are damned as Christians or because they hold the general Principles of Christianity wherein they agree with good Christians but only as holding the particular Errours of their respective Religions neither will they be damned if they Repent And yet Dr. St. pretends that Protestants have a more Charitable opinion of Catholicks in order to their Salvation than Catholicks have of Protestants See my book pag. 7 8. Yea there is no Religion which does not hold some general Truths viz. That we ought to repent of our sins and retract our Errours That we are bound to believe and do whatsoever God will have us believe or do and such like neither is any one damned for holding these Truths nor if he sincerely repents of all his sins and retracts all his errours and yet sure Dr. St. will not grant that all Religions in the world are True and the very same with Protestancy as he saies ours is The forementioned Answer of Dr. St. puts me in mind of what one answered a Prince who was also a Bishop when being checked by him for having committed some great misdemeanour unbeseeming a Bishop he said that he had done it as a Prince not as a Bishop the other replyed But if the Devil carries away your Highness as a Prince what will become of you as a Bishop In the like manner if Dr. St. affirms that Roman Catholicks as such are damned can he imagin that they will be saved as Christians In fine according to this answer of Dr. St. it is no more possible for Roman Catholicks to be saved than for a man to become a Horse which is altogether impossible For the repugnancy that is for a man to become a horse is not grounded upon the Generical Predicates wherin he agrees with a Horse but upon his special difference and Dr. St. confesses the particular Tenets of Roman Catholicks to be repugnant to Salvation but not the general and if this be the possibility of Salvation he grants us and whereof he so much vapours what Catholick ever denied it to Protestants and to say that we may be saved if we repent of our particular Tenets and recal them which we can never do without quitting the Roman Catholick Religion is as much as if he should say that the Roman Catholick Religion is a true way to Salvation but that it will never carry you thither unless you quit it which is as I insinuated in the place above quoted a pretty piece of Non-sense Whence we conclude that as Dr. St. to shew that the Roman Church may be Idolatrous though True forges an Idolatry which is no Idolatry so to prove that she may be a true Church though Idolatrous he feigns a true Church that is no true Church And who can wonder now that Whitby should stile Dr. St. a Prodigy of Ingenuity and Learning since he has been able to invent such prodigious distinctions of a true Church no true Church and of an Idolatry no Idolatry And hence by the way I infer a thing of great comfort for Roman Catholicks which is that when they hear their Church impeached of Idolatry in so many Ballads cryed through the streets and in so many Pamphlets that lie upon every Stationers Stall there is no more meant by the Idolatry they accuse us of than an Idolatry that is no Idolatry or an Idolatry that is an essential perfection of the true Religion and there is no great harm to be feared from such Idolatries as these One thing there is that I cannot but wonder at which is that since Dr. St. is so eminent in composing things though never so opposite one to the other the Anabaptists and Quakers did not chuse him for Arbiter in their late Contests concerning Religion For though the Anabaptists had proved the Quakers no Christians as they pretended notwithstanding the Dr. out of his immense charity would have demonstrated that they were both still of the very same Religion not only among themselves but even with him also For if he be able to bring to a composition things that grin so much one at the other as a True Church and an Idolatrous Church even with the grossest sort of Idolatry what will he not compose and if he be so charitable as to make his own Church the very same in substance with an Idolatrous Church why not also with a No Christian Church besides the Quakers and Anabaptists follow the very same Rule whereby Dr. St. regulates Protestancy See his Principles 5 13 15. For after a sober and sincere enquiry made into the Truth and whether they have made such an enquiry or not they must be their own Judges without being bound to submit to any Exteriour Guide they follow the Light within or a faculty in them of discerning Truth and Falshood in matters proposed to their Belief whereby they judge of the Truth of Divine Revelation and of the Genuine sense thereof So that if this faculty which is and ought to be according to the Dr. their sole Guide tells them That Christ is not God That Christian Religion is not true or that there is no Scripture All goes well and they are of the very same Religion with Dr. St. adjusting themselves to his very rule A late Book entituled A Treatise of Humane Reason disgusted much the Protestants as I have heard and yet it is nothing else but an abstract of those very Principles and Grounds whereon this Champion of Protestancy Dr. St. builds the Vindication of the Protestant Religion Finally because the Dr. seems extream fond of his distinction of a True Church and a Sound Church insinuated above it will not be amiss to examin what he can mean by a Sound Church and secure way to Salvation which in this debate signifie the same Does he mean by it a Church that is free from all difficulties and Temptations if so then there is no True Church in the world that is sound and secure For even according to our Saviours Testimony the true way to Heaven is narrow and difficult beset with several dangers and temptations which render the Salvation of men extream hazardous and encompassed on all with cross and by-paths and dark turnnings wherein many are miss-led yea Christian Religion taken in its greatest purity contains high Mysteries not easie to be assented unto and hard Precepts which go against the grain of our nature and many miscarry deterred by these
difficulties Does he therefore mean by it a Church qualified with such Laws that whoever keeps close to them till death and let the way to Salvation be never so secure yet if one does not keep to it 'till death what will it avail him will certainly be saved If this be his meaning there is no True Church which is not sound and secure in this sense For a True Church must contain all things necessary to Salvation both in order to our Belief and Practice as is certain neither does Dr. St. deny it and sure whoever dies having discharged all things necessary to his Salvation as well in reference to his Belief as Practice will certainly be saved as is manifest from those words of our Saviour Si vis ad vitam ingredi serva mandata which is a much as if he had said whoever observes my Commandments shall certainly be saved and doubtless no Body can do all that is necessary to Salvation without observing Gods Commandments Does he mean by it a Church that does not teach any thing whatsoever as an Article of Faith which is either an Errour or Corruption This seems to be his meaning But neither is it possible that any Church whatsoever should be a True Church and yet not sound and secure in this sense For it is a manifest Contradiction to affirm That such a Church is a True Church but yet that she fathers upon God or teaches God to be the Author of some Errour or Corruption as necessarily she must if she teaches any Errour or Corruption as an Article of Faith A True Church must not err against any Fundamental point of Faith as is certain nor consequently against this point God is not the Author of any Errour or Corruption whatsoever which doubtless is Fundamental A true Church therefore must not teach any Errour or Corruption as an Article of Faith or which is the same must not teach God to be the Author of any Errour or Corruption For to teach this is to err against the forementioned point Does he mean by it a Church that does not require or enjoyn any Practice or any other thing destructive to Salvation as doubtless all Idolatry is whether she teaches it as an Article of Faith or not But how can a Church be true and yet not sound nor secure in this sense also A true Church must lead men to Salvation and certainly it cannot lead men to Salvation if it enjoyns and requires them to do things destructive thereunto Wherefore I cannot see what Dr. St. is able to mean by a Sound and Secure Church which does not prove either that there is not in the world any Church True and Sound or that there is no Church True which is not Sound and secure and we are so far from confounding a True Church with a Sound and Secure Church in the first sense abovementioned i. e. with a Church free from all dangers and difficulties as Dr. St. will needs suppose we do that we constantly affirm that there is no True Church in the world Sound and Secure in that sense according to what I set down in my Book pag. 5. But the Dr. did not think fit to take notice thereof From what has been agitated in the precedent Discourses it manifestly appears that Dr. St. is guilty of Self Contradiction by asserting that the Roman Church is a True Church and yet charging her with Idolatry yea the grossest Idolatry of the world and as I promised at the beginning I am willing to admit as Judges in this plea the Learned men in our two famous Universities CHAP. IX The Doctor 's Answer to my Appendix proved Frivolous I Come now to consider what Answer Dr. St. is pleased to afford to the Appendix of my Book which he Attacks in the next place wherein to confirm the former Doctrine concerning the Nullity of the Charge of Idolatry cast upon the Roman Church I proved that either his Principles whereon he bottoms the forementioned Charge were not good or that he himself was an Idolater and the greatest part of his Answer being contained in less than three leaves in Octavo is stuffed up with Scoffs gawdy expressions jingling Metaphors superfluous Digressions Railery and such like Chaff the common Ingredients of his Books After I had declared each premise by it self I summed up the substance of my Argument in this manner Whoever Worships God represented in a way far inferiour to his Greatness is an Idolater according to Dr. St.'s main Principle whereby he pretends to make good the Charge of Idolatry laid upon us in the Veneration of Images But whoever Worships God represented unto him without the Beatifical Vision either by Images by words or by Imagination he worships God represented in a way far inferiour to his Greatness as is manifest Therefore whoever Worships God represented unto him without the Beatifical Vision either by Words or Images or by his own Imagination as is ding to Dr. St.'s Principles is an Idolater but Dr. St. does worship God represented unto him without the Beatifical Vision either by words by Images or his own Imaginations as is evident if he Worships God at all Whence I conclude that he is an Idolater according to his own Concessions Now Dr. St. cannot deny the Consequences if he once grants the Premises neither can he deny the Premises without eating his own words or denying some manifest Principle For certainly he is not so wicked as to confess that he never Worships God nor so Phanatically pround as to say That he does enjoy the Beatifical Vision Whence it follows that he must grant that he Worships God represented unto him in some manner beneath the Beatifical Vision For it is certain that all other Representations of God different from the Beatifical Vision must necessarily fall beneath it Hence I infer that all Representations of God excepting the Beatifical Vision which is an Intuitive Knowledg of God are inferiour to his Greatness For all such Representations as the Apostle teaches us are Enigmatical and per speculum not representing God on the part of the object sicuti est as he is but as Scholastical Divines term them inadequate and abstractive per species alienas by Idea's alien and far estranged from the Nature of God and consequently infinitely beneath his Greatness For whatsoever is not God must necessarily be infinitely beneath him Since therefore all Representations of God not as he is but by alien Species and Idea's such are all Representations of God by words by Images or by abstractive and imperfect Imaginations are far inferiour to his Greatness and Majesty it is manifestly inferred that whoever Worships God represented unto him in either of the forementioned manners must needs worship him represented in a way far inferiour to his Greatness Neither does Dr. St. in his Answer to this point any where refute this Doctrine but rather confirms it confessing plainly pag. 39. That his Conceptions cannot reach the Greatness of
God and he would be a Fanatick should he assert rhe contrary Now since Dr. St. worships God represented unto him by his own Conceptions these remaining far beneath his Greatness we conclud that Dr. St. worships God represented unto him in a way inferiour to his Grandeur and Majesty Wherefore to save himself from being an Idolater he must necessarily deny this Principle to be true viz. Whoever worships God represented unto him in a way inferiour to his Greatness is an Idolater Yet this is the main Principle whereon he grounds the Charge of Idolatry cast upon the Roman Church in the Veneration of Images and hence is manifestly proved that the aforesaid Charge as bottomed upon a false and Sandy Principle is altogether groundless and frivolous which was what I intended by this Appendix made in confirmation of what I had laid down before to prove our Church guitless of Idolatry Let 's now examin what Artifices the Dr. uses to clear himself from this imputation of Idolatry drawn up against him out of his own Principles and to prevent the Train as he saies pag. 35. laid to blow him up fetch'd from his own Stores First he seems to have been inclined to suspect that this Charge of Idolatry cast upon him was intended only for a piece of Drollery This is a pretty way to stave off all Arguments ab absurdo which are very concluding and frequent among Learned men when to prove the inanity of some Principle produced by the Adversary they lay open the absurdities which thence ensue A compendious Answering to all such Arguments according to this incomparable Doctors way of answering is to tell those who frame them That they are in jest and that without doubt they intend only to Droll But if this manner of Answering be warrantable 't will be sufficient to tell Dr. St. That his whole Discourse of Idolatry and Fanaticism charged upon the Roman Church and almost all his other works were intended only for pieces of Drollery Aperson of Quality and no Roman-Catholick could find no fitter place in his Library for Dr. St.'s Discourse of the Roman Idolatry than to put it among the Play-books After this to annul the aforesaid Charge of Idolatry he betakes himself to admiration What saies he pag. 35. is it come to this at last and am I become an Idolater too who was never apt to think my self inclined so much as to Superstition I marry Sir This is a speedy way indeed to dispatch Arguments with no more than an Admiration What! Dr. Stillingfleet and Idolater Dr. Stillingfleet that Zealous man for Religion who knows not how to defend his own Church to be True without laying down Principles that prove all Churches never so Heretical or Schismatical to be true and Orthodox Dr. Stillingfleet that pious and godly Protestant who has so great a kindness for the Protestant Church that he makes her the very same with an Idolatrous Church and with such a kind of Idolatry that is worse than the adoring a red Cloath for God! Dr. Stillingfleet so Religious a man that by all we can guess by his Principles alledged above we cannot determin whether he be of any or of no Religion What such a man as this an Idolater no God forbid And why Because forsooth he was never apt to think himself inclined that way Excellent just as if one should say The Heathens did not think themselves Idolatrous nor inclined that way Therefore they were no Idolaters I wonder why Dr. St. who boasts so much of his Charity does not go to Newgate to instruct the Malefactors there how they may defend themselves when they are Arraigned for Thieves or Murderers telling them with one sole Exclamation they may invalidate all the Evidences brought in against them What They Thieves They Murderers They take away mens Goods and Lives too who were never apt to think themselves inclined but to works of Piety and as coming instructed by so good an Advocate they would doubtless be instantly discharged But if this be the Champion of the English Church as he is cryed up to be she is in as miserable a condition any of her Enemies con wish her Such Defenders as these have brought the English Protestancy so low that 't is no wonder they should in a every Session of Parliament give her a Cordial to keep her alive Such Ministers contribute far more to the ruine of Protestancy than any Roman Priests Yea if this manner of answering be solid it follows also that the Charges of Idolatry and Fanaticisme wherewith he impeaches our Church are without difficulty repealed saying only What The Church of Rome Idolatrous That Church which has banished Paganisme from the greatest part of the World Should she introduce an Idolatry more detestable than the grossest Idolatry of the Pagans That Church which even Protestants themselves confess to have been the only visible Church of Christ for above 1000 years and acknowledge her to be the Mother Church the Patriarchal Church of the West the first See prima Sedes a true Member at least of the Catholick Church unerring in all Articles of Faith the very same with their own Church from whom they pretend to derive the Ordination of their Bishops and by whom have been handed down to them the Books of Scripture upon which alone they ground their Religion that such a Church and acknowledged as such should be impeached by Protestants and among the rest by Dr. St. who in most things agrees to the former Character given of her Should I say be impeached of an Iddolatry more detestable than the Adoration of an Animal a Statue or a red Cloth for God is indeed a thing worthy of Admiration and whereof several moderate Protestants are ashamed But why should any one wonder that Dr. Stillingfleet Dr. Stillingfleet I say should be an Idolater and only because he was never apt to think himself inclined that way Although I never absolutely accused him of Idolatry but only on supposition that the Principles whereon he pretends to establish the Charge of Idolatry cast upon us were warrantable which is very different as presently shall be made to appear He goes on and saies pag. 53. That all the comfort he found left was towards the conclusion of my Book wherein as he affirms I confess That the same Argument proves the Prophets Evangelists and the Holy Ghost himself to be Idolaters and then he adds that he hoped there was no great harm to be feared in so good Company But Dr. St. very disingenuosly leaves out this Clause contained in my Book viz. or it proves nothing which renders the sense very different fcom what those words as quoted by the Dr. may seem to import For sure he will not deny but that it is a very different thing to say absolutely Dr. St. is an Hypocrite without adding any thing more or to say Dr. St. is an Hypocrite if he holds one Religion in his heart and professes another
exteriourly Now my intent was by discovering the vast absurdities which wait upon Dr. St.'s Argument whereby he pretends to prove Roman Catholicks guilty of Idolatry to shew the inanity and nullity thereof according to that irrefragable Maxime of Rational Discourses Out of Truth alone neither Falsity nor Absurdity does follow and because perhaps some might not think it any absurdity to grant that Dr. St. is an Idolater and consequently admitting it might stick to his Argument I added that the same Argument of the Dr. had it any force in it would prove the Evangelists and the Holy Ghost to be Idolaters an absurdity so great that no Christian can assent unto and when we argue ab absurdo the greater and more evident the absurdity we infer is the better is the Argument So that my Discourse runs thus Either Dr. St.'s Argument proves the Evangelists and Holy Ghost to be Idolaters or it proves nothing as I have shewen throughout that Appendix But it does not nor cannot prove the Evangelists and the Holy Ghost to be Idolaters For certainly there can be no good proof of a Falsity or Absurdity Therefore his Argument proves nothing When shall we find any thing in the Dr. that looks like a rational Answer to this Charge of Idolatry which lies so heavy upon him out of his own Tenets He saies pag. 37. That God did forbid in the Commandment the worship of him by Images but not the worship of him by our Conceptions although unsuitable to his incomprehensible nature without taking any notice of what I objected to the contrary for pag. 19. I affirmed that the Dr. himself pag. 59. in his Discourse concerning the Roman Idolatry did understand the prohibition contained in the Commandment of all kind of Similitudes or Representations whatsoever whether of a real or imaginary Being For the words of the Law being general all sorts of Representations or Likenesses of God are necessarily comprehended therein Now not only Corporeal Images but also Words and Conceptions are certain Repretations and Resemblances of their objects which Dr. St. never denied Yea Knowledge or Mental Conception is commonly defined a Formal Representation of an Object and it is an ordinary opinion among Philosophers that in obscure and abstract Conceptions the mind frames an Idea of the Object And certainly should one adore his own thoughts and Idea's he would commit Idolatry and transgress this Commandment Wherefore this Commandment does forbid the making any Image or Representation of God whether Spiritual or Corporeal not absolutely but as the Law saies to adore it Since therefore as Dr. St. confesses in his former book and the Reasons now alledged do evince the Law speaks of all kinds of Representations and Resemblances in order to that effect why does he in his Answer to my Book confine the Law only to Corporeal Representations Again if according to the Dictates of Nature as Dr. St. affirms pag. 36. who therefore thinks this commandment to be of an unalterable Nature common to all and not peculiar to the Jews 't is Idolatry to represent God by Corporeal Images or to adore him so represented because Corporeal things represent God in a way far beneath his Greatness which is the reason he produces for the Law it follows evidently that whoever adores God represented unto him in a way beneath his Greatness whether by words Images or gross Imaginations for neither of these waies do represent him in a manner suitable to his Majesty and there are unworthy Conceptions of God as well as unworthy Images is an Idolater which is what I intended to prove against him For in natural Precepts such as this is the Law extends as far as the Reason of the Law and according to the constant Axiome of Logicians Causalis vera infert universalem veram If the Proposition which contains the cause or reason of a thing be true there follows necessarily an universal Truth Wherefore if this Proposition who adores God represented by Corporeal things is an Idolater because he adores him represented in a way inferiour to his Greatness be true as Dr. St. will needs have it to be this Universal must also be true Whoever adores God represented in a way inferiour to his greatness is an Idolater But the Dr. thought it best not to take any notice at all of these things and I find that among many other his rare accomplishments one is that he is excellent in forgetting such things as he knows he cannot answer In the same page he will seem to lay in the dust my whole Discourse with these only words But the mischief is all this subtlety of my Argument is used against the Law-maker and not against me O Irrefragable Answer if such Answers as these wll serve the turn I 'le warrant you the Dr. will never be puzzled Let any one interpret the Law of God never so ridiculously if he be urged with the Absurdities that flow from such an Interpretation his answer may be according to this learned Dr. when he hath nothing else to say That all the Absurdities they pretend to draw from his Interpretation are against the Law-maker and not against him Here occurs unto me what I have lately read in a brief account of the most material passages between the Quakers and the Baptists at the Barbican Meeting London October 9. 1674. pag. 9 10. The Anabaptist press'd the Quaker in this manner the Apostle saith Let Women be silent in the Church Why suffer ye Women to declare The Quaker answered The Woman to be silenced is the Flesh Has the Flesh replies the Anabaptist a Husband Yea saies the Quaker and who is it replyed again the Anabaptist the Quaker promptly answered The Devil But the Anabaptist goes on and urges The Text saith Let a Woman ask her Husband at home must the Flesh be instructed by the Devil in matters of Religion Here the poor Quaker seemed according to this account to be puzzled But had Dr. St. been by him he would have suggested to him this easie answer Alas for thee Thou canst not understand All thy subtlety is against Paul and not against me The debate between us and Dr. St. is concerning the right meaning of Gods Commandment The Dr. saies that thereby are prohibited all Representations of God in a way inferiour to his Greatness and the Adoring of him so Represented And after I had shewn out of undeniable Principles the absurdity of this interpretation can the Dr. think it a sufficient answer to say All this subtlety is against the Law maker and not against him Whenas all the Absurdities I deduce are against Dr. St.'s interpretation of the Law not against the Law it self nor the Law-maker In the pag. 38. he seems to place the difference between Thoughts of God and Corporeal Images of him in order to our present design That the former proceeds from the necessary weakness of our understanding not being able to reach the Greatness of God who therefore has procured
be conceived by men under the Species or Similitude of some Corporeal Substance as we all confess that an Angel is a meer Spiritual substance yet we conceive and paint an Angel under the Species of a young man with wings on his shoulders when as in reality such a man is neither an Angel nor has any Physical likeness unless it be very remote with him Yet such a Picture or Idea is commonly taken to signifie an Angel And here 't is necessary to advertise what Dr. St. will not seem to reflect on That it is a very different thing to take such a Statute Picture Enigma or Embleme to signifie such an object and to take such a Statue Picture Enigma or Embleme to be the very object it self or very like thereunto In the City of London are put up three Statues of Women with such Attirement to signifie Faith Hope and Charity with whom they have no likeness at all so that those Statues are taken by the Citizens to signifie those Vertues and to put them in mind of them But sure Dr. St. will not say that the Citizens of London are so silly as to take Faith Hope and Charity to be really three Women in such a Dress or that they have any real likeness unless very remote with them The same is to be seen in all Emblems and Hieroglyphicks which are taken to signifie things very different So a Ring is an Emblem of Eternity But who does think that Eternity is a Ring In the like manner to take God to be really an old man sitting in Heaven with Hands Arms Mouth and Feet or to have a great likeness with him would beyond question be very dishonourable unto God and unworthy of him but to take the Idea or Picture of an Old man sitting in Heaven Antiquus Dierum as God is described by the Prophet or some other Corporeal Hieroglyphick contained in the Apocalypse or other places of Scripture to signifie and represent unto us God a Being infinitely Perfect is by no means dishonorable or injurious unto him otherwise the Prophets and Evangelists would be to blame for representing him under such Idea's or Expressions Neither are the Pictures of God more obnoxious to the mistakes of vulgar people then the like expressions by words contained in the Creed and Scripture as I insinuated in my Book But the Dr. thought good to pass it over Wherefore if Dr. St. has a more subtilized manner of conceiving the Divine Essence than the Prophets and Apostles had he may keep it to himself we poor men shall content our selves to conceive God as the Apostles and Prophets represent him in the Creed and Scripture From what hitherto has been discust in relation to this point it evidently appears that either Dr. St. must grant himself and if that be not absurdity great enough the Apostles Evangelists and the Holy Ghost to be Idolaters or confess that the main Principle whereon he pretends to make good the Charge of Idolatry laid upon us in the Veneration of Images to be frivolous and insignificant which is what we aim at But such is the obstinacy of some men that to maintain one folly they will run into a thousand and they will be sure to do their work whatever comes of it Dr. St. seems to be so Complaisant that to the end we may be Idolaters he is willing to bear us company and to be an Idolater himself and to bring with him too the Prophets and Evangelists and what harm is there to be feared in so good Company Yea the way he takes to prove us guilty of Idolatry in the Veneration of Images either is a meer dream or it shews there is no Church in the world though never so Orthodox Pure and Sound which does not require Idolatry For all Churches require that we should adore God and as represented to us in this life Since therefore according to the ordinary Providence we cannot represent God in this life as he is but in a manner far inferiour to his Greatness it follows manifestly that all Churches and all Religions though never so Pure and Sound require we should Adore God represented unto us in a way far inferiour to his Majesty which according to Dr. St. is flat Idolatry So that the Dr. to be sure to perswade his Devotes to be no Roman Catholicks he perswades them to be of no Religion or which is the same deters them from that which is Essential to all Religions as is the Adoration of God represented in a manner inferiour to his Greatness and as to prove Roman-Catholicks Idolaters in the Veneration of God by Images he proves himself the Prophets and Evangelists and all persons whatsoever that profess any Religion to be likewise Idolaters so to shew us guilty of the same Crime in the Adoration of the Eucharist which is the grossest Idolatry he Fathers upon us he must declare as Complices the Lutherans who admit the Real Presence and Adore Christ in the Eucharist as we do and what good Reformers of the Roman Church were the Lutherans and yet as such they are look'd upon by English Protestants if they left her depraved with a more detestable sort of Idolatry in the Dr.'s perswasion than is the Adoring of a Red Cloath for God But such is Dr. St.'s Zeal So that Roman-Catholicks be Idolaters whoever else be so he cares not Friends or Foes 't is all one to him It is to affront the Dr. to imagin that a man of his Employments has leisure to consider the vast absurdities that flow from what he maintains And to use the same words I set down in the Appendix pag. 21. I infer and conclude hence how little account is to be made of the Charge of Idolatry laid upon the Roman Church by Dr. St. seeing that the very same Principles whereby he pretends to prove that Roman-Catholicks are Idolaters do prove or they prove nothing as is most certain for an Argument that proves too much proves nothing that the Prophets the Evangelists and the Holy Ghost are Idolaters And if in this main point of Idolatry which he pretends to make manifest and undeniable against us he does err so Sacrilegiously and so Enormously may we not prudently think that the other Charges of lesser moment which he laies upon the Roman Church and wherein he does not pretend to so great an Evidence are meer Whimsies and malicious Calumnies CHAP. X. Concerning the other Contradictions committed by the Dr. in the Charges he laies upon the Roman Church MY design at the beginning was to pursue in particular the other Contradictions wherewith I charge the Dr But what hitherto has been set down is sufficient First because I have manifestly convicted him of Self-contradiction in asserting the Roman Church to be a True Church and yet Idolatrous with the grossest Idolatry and since the main aspersion the casts upon us is this of Idolatry which therefore he terms the Mouth of the Dragon if he can
have of St. Bennet St. Dominick St. Francis St. Ignatius and St. Teresa but it is very easie by Mimical Expressions and profane Similitudes to render them ridiculous and contemptible among those who are sure to laugh on the other side But such proceedings can signifie nothing to Wise men but only to such as have not courage to love despised Vertue nor to defend a Cause that is laughed down Come Come Dr. Stillingfleet it is too notorious to all intelligent persons what you pretend with this scurrilous drolling way of attacking the Roman Church Your aim is to bring all Religion and Vertue into Contempt and Derision however you endeavour to disguized so mischievous a design with all Artifices possible I wish from my heart I were able to impute your Misdemeanours and Miscarriages in your Controversial Books to Ignorance or Inadvertency But on the one side your Mistakes are so gross your Contradictions so palpable and your Aspersions so notoriously scurrilous that he must needs be a Fool who cannot see them and on the other side the works you have published do proclaim you no Fool that I am forced to impute your unhandsome proceedings to the Malice of your Will not the Ignorance of your Understanding The Dr. pag. 70. endeavouring to stave off the Self-contradiction charged upon him in imputing to the Roman Church Divisions in matters of Faith saies thus But the fourth and fifth Proposition viz. of my Book in this point are the most healing Principles that have yet been thought on Fie for shame Why should we and they of the Church of Rome quarrel thus long We are very well agreed in all matters of Faith as I shall demonstratively prove it from the Argument of J. W. drawn from his two last Propositions All who assent unto the antient Creeds are undivided in matters of Faith by Prop. 4. But both Papists and Protestants do assent unto the Antient Creeds Ergo they are undivided in matters of Faith And hath not J. W. now done his business and very substantially proved the thing he intended But I hope we may enjoy the benefit of it as well as those of the Church of Rome and that they will not henceforward charge us with dividing from their Church in any matters of Faith since we are all agreed in owning the antient Creeds and seeing we are not divided from the Church but by differing in matters of Faith according to his Proposition it follows that we are still Members of the True Church and therefore neither guilty of Heresie nor Scisme By what Dr. St. sets down here any prudent man may clearly see how grossly and wilfully he mistakes himself My fourth Proposition set down by me pag. 12. whereof the Dr. makes mention in the place now quoted and to which I refer my self in the Syllogism I frame pag. 13. runs thus All those who assent to the antient Creeds are according to Dr. St. 's opinion mark those words undivided in matters and Articles of Faith and that was the Dr. 's perswasion I proved out of his Rational Account pag. 56 58. and thence I conclude pag. 13. that according to Dr. St. mark those words All those who agree to the antient Creeds are of the same Communion and undivided in matters of Faith Now this wise Dr. most grossly supposes that it is the same for me to say All those who agree to the antient Creeds are according to Dr. St. undivided in matters of Faith where I only relate Dr. St. 's opinion argue thence against him ad hominem or to say absolutely All those who agree to the antient Creeds are undivided in matters of Faith which words pronounced so without any modification import as if I were of that perswasion whereas I am very far from it neither here nor in any other place do I defend any such Doctrine Wherefore the Major Proposition in the Syllogism set down by the Dr. is in his opinion True and consequently may be subservient to prove against him but in my opinion it is false and of no force to demonstrate any thing against me and I confess that it is a very compendious way to compose the differences between me and the Dr. if one may suppose as he here does That what he saies I say and that it is the very same for me to affirm such a thing is so according to Dr. St's opinion or it is true that Dr. St. thinks so and such a thing is so or it is true what Dr. St. thinks which Propositions doubtless are very different For to the truth of the former Proposition 't is enough that Dr. St. be of that opinion whether his opinion be true or false but to the truth of the latter 't is requisite that his opinion be true and that what he saies be so as he saies it is Certainly Christians may truly affirm without forfeiting their Faith that according to the opinion of the Jews Christ is not the Messias will the Dr. therefore infer hence that Christians may truly affirm that Christ is not the Messias or that Christians and Jews are agreed in that main point Fie for shame to use your own expression you a Doctor of Divinity and cannot distinguish between Propositions so notoriously different Where is the ingenuity you so much boast of Sure you imagined that the Reader would be so silly as to take upon your bare word what you write or quote without ever examining or comparing it By what I have said in reference to the Major Proposition of his Syllogisme whereby he pretends to prove demonstratively against us That both Catholicks and Protestants are agreed in matters of Faith any one many judge what Demonstrations we are to expect from Dr. St. As concerning the Minor Proposition of the Drs. Syllogisme he supposes it to be the same with my Fifth wherein he is also wilfully mistaken For my Fifth Proposition is this All Roman Catholicks assent unto the antient Creeds whereas his Minor was this Both Papists and Protestants do assent unto the Antient Creeds where he adds That Protestants assent unto the Antient Creeds which I never affirmed and the Dr. cannot be ignorant that Roman-Catholicks hold Protestants do not believe in that Article even of the Apostles Creed Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam which in its true and legitimate sense signifies the Roman Catholick Church and those only are to be thought to believe Scripture and the Antient Creeds who believe them in the true and legitimate sense which in our Doctrine is only that sense which is agreable or not repugnant to the exposition of the Roman Catholick Church So that Protestants according to the perswasion of Catholicks do not believe the Antient Creeds because they do not believe them rightly understood But according to Dr. St. 's opinion Roman Catholicks do believe the Scripture and the Antient Creeds rightly understood For his Rule is that whoever understands Scripture or the Antient Creeds as by his natural
faculty of discerning Truth and Falshood he thinks they are to be understood such an one rightly understands them Now Roman Catholicks understand them as the Natural Faculty in them of discerning Truth and Falshood teaches them and Dr. St. ought to believe that we do so as he will have us to believe the like of him and if we do submit to the judgment of the Roman Catholick Church concerning the true interpretation of Scripture and of the Antient Creeds the Natural Reason that is in us teaches us so to do And sure Dr. St. will not so far abase the Authority of the True Church and of her Doctors as to assert that whoever is induced by their Authority to believe such to be the true sense of such particular places of Scripture as they expound them in must needs misinterpret them Hence I infer that neither the Minor Proposition in the Drs. Syllogisme is granted by us and is not the Dr. like to demonstrate many things if such be his Demonstrations that both the Major and Minor are denied by his Adversaries is not this to do his business very substantially Yet the formentioned Syllogisme is a demonstration against the Dr. that Roman Catholicks and Protestants are undivided in matters of Faith according to his opinion and consequently must be granted by him to be both of the same Church and I concluded thence above that he must either deny the Protestant Church to be True or grant the Roman Church to be so Moreover the Syllogisme I form pag. 13. out of my Fourth and Fifth Proposition is a demonstration against Dr. St. That all Roman Catholicks as long as they remain so are undivided in matters of Faith which is all I there pretended For I never intended to prove that they were so undivided with such as are out of their Communion CHAP. XI Some Difficulties raised by the Dr. against my Judgment concerning his manner of proceeding Rejected BEfore I make an end I cannot but take notice of some Difficulties Dr. St. sets down in his particular Preface relating to the Judgment I frame of his manner of Proceeding in these words couched by me pag. 11. I verily believe that Dr. St. did his Interest byass him that way could with Lucian Porphyrius and those many Libertines of our Country the spawn of such Books as these he could I say flurt with as much picquantness and railery at Christian Religion as he does as the Roman charging Christians with Superstitions Corruptions and Dissensions What does he not say against these words He calls them a base Suggestion wherein there is no colour of Truth pag. 8. A slie Insinuation a Calumny too gross to need any farther Answer pag. 9. and that it had been better to have called him at Atheist in plain terms p. 8. I perceive the man is angry 'T is necessary to treat him mildly that he may come to himself But withal I reflect that many do endeavour to supply with Anger the want of Reason and to Hector one with Bravadoes into their opinion when they cannot draw him with Arguments Let us examin in particular what he objects against the fore-mentioned words He saies That I very honestly distinguish the Christian Religion and the Roman from each other And sure I should not deal honestly did I not distinguish the Roman Religion from the Christian as a Species from the Genus and as a part from the whole For we do not deny but that there are many vulgarly called Christians because they are truly Christened and profess to believe in Christ and acknowledge the Apostles Creed although interpreted in their way Such were Donatists Pelagians Arians and others held by us and Protestants too for Hereticks who are never owned to be Roman Catholicks I confess I have not learn'd as yet so great kindness for our Church as to make it the same Individual Church those who do so with their own Church let them answer for themselves with an Heretical nay with an Idolatrous Church Wherefore 't is manifest that the Christian Religion taken in the aforesaid sense does comprehend more than the Roman So that what I intended in the forementioned place was that the way Dr. St. takes to impugne the particular Tenets of the Roman Church does if it be of any force annul the common Principles of Christianity wherein all those who own themselves to be Christians do agree And that this was my meaning any one who was not resolved to quibble might easily have seen In the next place he asks me pag. 8. What is this verily believe of mine grounded upon Doubtless the rage my words put him into did not let him see what followed For I layed down the Reasons of what before I asserted in these words For if it be a rational way of proceeding to rally together whatever has been objected by the Enemies of a Community without making mention of the Answers given by them or the sentence pronounced in their favour and to Father upon the whole Body the misdemeanours of some members although disowned by the Major part which are the Artifices used by Dr. St. in his works against Catholicks what Community is there so holy which may not easily be traduced All this the Dr. very handsomly omits without so much as answering a word thereunto For he is too wise to take notice of any thing that may prejudice his design and only is pleased to divert the Reader with impertinent Questions as whether This verily believe of mine be grounded upon the Authority of our Church or rather upon some Vision or Revelation made by some of our Saints Whereas in the forementioned words the Motives of that my belief are clearly set down The Dr. cannot deny but that among Christians even of the Primitive Church there were committed Incest Simony Adultery and several other horrid Crimes worse than those which the very Heathens did commit as may be gathered out of the Gospel the Acts and the Epistles of the Apostles and that there were Heresies among them as that of the Nicolaites Wherefore if the misdemeanours of some Members may be fathered upon the whole Community although disowned by the Major part this absurdity would follow that the Christan Religion even when it was in its Primitive purity might be called an Incestuous Simonical Adulterous Heretical and a worse Religion than Paganisme Again 't is certain that many Enormous things were objected by the Jews against our Saviour as he was a Blasphemer a Seducer a Drunkard and that he Preached Sedition and that he was possess'd by the Devil and that the Religion he founded was a ridiculous scandalous and Superstitious Religion Now should one of a picquant and malicious wit represent these and several other blemishes objected against Christ his Religion without taking notice of the Answers given them nor of the pregnant Arguments produced in favour and vindication of Christ and his Religion what a low opinion what an aversion from Christian Religion