latter This is my Body It is evident indeed that such an Edition would be of no Credit But why Not for any defect in the sound or other intrinsic fault as hath been shewn but because the Authority of one single person which recommends the first Sentence cannot weigh with that of the whole World which delivers the last For could these two Sentences change their Extrinsic Testimonies they would change their Credit also Much more of this Nature might be added But we need not have Recourse to Suppositions for an Evidence of this Truth which is sufficiently confirmed by that Difference in the Translations of the Scripture which is already in the World. By Difference in Translations I mean a Difference in * Viz. when one Translation hath Words expressing a different Sense from those which are in another Sense and not in Language as Dr. St was pleased to Mistake my meaning in his second Letter to Mr. G In which piece for the most part he Answers my Objections by mistaking them And certainly Books may be Answered with ease when Ignorance it self as Mistaking is either Real or Pretended is able to do the work The prevention of such mistakes was one of the Reasons why I preferr'd Personal Conferences before the Writing 〈◊〉 â—ooks tho indeed for the securing such Conferences from such after mis-representations as we have here I thought it convenient that what was said in them should be committed to Writing immediately upon the place I say then that this Difference of Sense in the several Translations of the Bible which are now in Being is an undenyable proof that the Scripture does not manifest it self to us by it 's own Lustre as is pretended at least in all it's parts For since all these Differences of Sense expressed by Different words are held for Authentic by Different Bodies of Christians whereas at most there can be but one of these Different Expressions Genuine or True it must follow that the Truth of every parcel of Scripture is not evident to All alike and consequently not Evident from it self And indeed to say the truth I never knew that any sort of Christians endeavored to justifie the preference of their own Version before that of others from the Sound or Texture of the Expressions but always from it's Conformity to the Original Languages Antient Copies or the like which they would not have done could the bare Sound or Frame have sufficiently pleaded for it What is here proved from the Difference in the Translations of the Bible may be yet farther evinced by that which there is in the number of the Canonical Books since if the Scripture were evident of it self how come whole Books to be received by some and rejected by others And here a new Reason offers it self to me why Protestants should be asked more particularly what Testimony they have for their Bible since they lay aside so much of that Canon which was confirmed by the Council of Carthage in the year 397. subscribed to by St. Augustin as also by the sixth General Council A. D. 680. and hath been so generally in use ever since for want as they pretend of that Testimony which is sufficient I should design an endless piece of work should I purpose to set down all the absurdities which necessarily are derived from this Assertion viz. that the Scripture is Proved by it self Dato uno absurdo mille sequuntur I hope what I have said is enough for the rejecting a Position which ought rather to be esteemed it 's own dis-proof than the Scripture can be look'd on as it 's own Proof For since it is most apparent that the Sense of all the parts of Holy Scripture is not Plain to us by it 's own Light how comes it to pass that without further help we may know the Words which we Read to be the Words of the Holy Ghost and not know the Sense which we have of them to be the Sense intended by the same Holy Ghost The Sense being that which immediately is from God whereas the words are from Men At least in such Translations as are not made by Divine Revelation or Inspiration Which as I take it the Reformed Church of England doth not pretend to Wherefore I cannot think that any one will say that the Phrase or Form of Words in any place of Scripture is such as manifestly shews it self to be from God and yet that at the same time he is ignorant whether the Sense which he conceives of those Words be from God or from himself It follows from these Considerations That Scripture how Sacred and Divine soever it be is not manifested to us by it 's own light and consequently it is neither impertinent in it self nor derogatory to the Scripture to ask upon what Extrinsic Testimony it is received and acknowledged for Such Give me leave to add one word by way of Corollary to what hath been said which is that seeing the Holy Scriptures are not made Evident by themselves and that no Prudent Man can receive any thing upon the credit of False and Corrupted Witnesses it must be inferred that the Protestant Reformers ought to quit their pretence of being Guided by Scripture since they have no other Rule of knowing what is such and what not but the bare Letter of that which is called so and the Testimony of those whom they accounted to have so much Corruption and Falsness that they separated from them without the least apprehension of the Guilt of Schism For separating from the whole World as hath been said they must needs separate from those upon whose Authority or Testimony they received their Bible And this in effect was the summ of Mr. P's Argument against Dr. T. I should not have insisted so tediously on the foregoing points had I not known that how frivolous soever those pretences of our vilifying Scripture looking on it as Insufficient and the like may seem to any thinking Man yet the common People are most grosly and almost incurably deluded by them And we are * Rom. 1. v. 14. Debtors both to the Wise and to the Vnwise And forasmuch as concerns this last Point which I have spoken to viz. the pretended self-evidence of the Scripture it hath dropt in my hearing not only from the Mouths of the middle sort but even from those of the Learned World. And even Dr. T. himself glances at it in his Tenth Page Nothing being more Necessitous or putting a Man upon worse shifts than an ill Cause But tho' I have been very long on this subject yet I cannot but make one Observation more before I proceed to another which is that the Protestants when they find themselves destitute of solid Proof as in truth they always do for the Support of their peculiar Tenets are wont to heap a great many Unconcluding things together that so if possible what is wanting in Strength may be made out by Number Which however like Cyphers tho'
and Knew the voice of their Church and therefore according to the Doctors own assertion needed it not But perhaps the Doctor will say that for the Verbal Translation of the Scripture the Protestants are not necessitated to have recourse to particular Men the Bible being Translated to their hands and warranted by public Authority tho' here too they will be at a loss unless it appear to them that they may confide in this Authority but for the Sense in all dubious places they ought to Address themselves to their Ministers They may do it if they please And if not I suppose they may let it alone and this last with most safety For according to our late Divines all things necessary to Salvation are plain in Scripture and therefore to look after the meaning of dubious places is to do more than of bounden Duty is required and has the appearance of a Work of Supererogation which is such an abominable thing with the Church of England that they have a whole * See 14th Article Article against it and declare that it cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety much less as I suppose PRACTISED Wherefore as yet there appears no cause why the Apprentice should be chidden for not having waited on Dr. T. in this occasion And indeed if that be the case viz. That the Members of the Church of England are to go to their Ministers for the Construction of these dubious places I do not perceive that they have any great advantage over those of the Church of Rome tho' what the Doctor says were true viz. That Roman Catholics were to apply themselves to particular Priests for the Translation of the Scriptures since the Protestants themselves must make the same application for the Sense and Meaning of these Scriptures And this Sense is that which is of the greatest importance or rather That which is of any Importance at all But in Truth they are not particular Priests which Catholics depend on for either the Translation or Sense of the Scripture in any necessary Point of Faith but it is on their Church whose Voice is as Intelligible at least and with the Doctors leave much farther Heard than that of the Church of England For is it not full as evident in England and much more evident in other Parts of the World that the Church of Rome Teaches a Purgatory than it is that the Church of England Teaches the contrary And so of other Doctrins This is an Age wherein Men whilest they Scepticize on evident Truths are Positive in Absurdities and therefore there want not Those who ask how the Members of the Church of Rome can know what their Church holds But when they shall have considered how they themselves come to know what That Church holds whilest they Condemn it's Doctrins as also how a Man may come to understand what is held by the Church of England they will not I suppose expect any farther Answer This were it not so Common and even with Men of no Common Wit would have been too frivolous to have been taken notice of One endeavor which I used for the speaking somewhat of a Guide in Controversie was on the following occasion Dr. T. having called me to him and desiring as he said that * Pag. 21. Mr. P. would stick to something took upon him to explain a Text of Scripture which had been long before Cited by Mr. P. for the Authority of the Church viz. That of St. Matthew c. 18. v. 17. If he will not hear the Church let him be to thee as an Heathen and a Publican The Doctor said that considering the Antecedent Verses this ought to be understood of ordinary Trespasses such as the not paying of a just debt c. And not of Articles of Faith making use of a tedious Instance to that purpose the summ whereof was * Ibid. that in case a Man should refuse to pay his debts after one or two demands he is put into the Ecclesiastical Courts supposing it proper for their cognisance And if he will not stand to their Sentence then he is Excommunicated and Treated as such a One. Whereupon I told the Doctor that for my own part I understood that Text of Scripture quite otherwise than he did being persuaded that we were obliged by it to Hear the Church in all those things wherein the same Church doth declare that she hath Power to Judge And most especially in matters of Faith Which in their own Nature seem more proper for the Cognisance of Ecclesiastical Courts than a Question of Debt That it was not unusual for our Blessed Saviour on a particular occasion to deliver a general Precept as for instance when the Jews ask'd him whether or no it were lawful to pay Tribute to Caesar he * Mat. c. 22. v. 19 c. called for the Tribute-mony and ask'd whose Image it bore and being Answered that it was Caesars he gave this Rule Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesars Which Rule I suppose is general and hath regard not only to Tribute but also to whatever else is due from Subjects to Sovereign Princes as Respect Obedience and the like tho' the occasion on which the Rule was made and that which immediately preceded it seem to be Particular and to look no farther than his Pecuniary Rights That in like manner tho' this Text viz. If he will not hear the Church c. might be spoken in a Particular occasion it could not be thence inferr'd that it was not of a more large Extension especially if we should compare it with other Texts such as are * Joh. c. 20. v. 21. As my Father sent me so I send you * Matth. c. 28. v. 19 20. Go and Teach all Nations and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the World. a Luke c. 10. v. 16. He that Heareth You Heareth ME c. b Eph. c. 4. v. 11 c. And he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the Work of the Ministry c. That we henceforth be no more Children c If Pastors are left to keep us from being tossed to and fro it follows that we must hearken to them as also that they must be kept from being tossed to and fro themselves Otherwise they will not be able to effect that for which they were left tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrin c. d Hebr. c. 13. v. 17. Obey those that are set over you for they watch as being to render account for your Souls All which places at least according to my own Judgment are clear for that Perpetuity and that Authority of the Church which are believed by Roman Catholics But above all this Truth seems to be most apparent to me when I consider what immediately follows in this place of Scripture viz. When
and Socin Meth. p. 26. Work of his own in these Words Though he the Right Socinian thinks a Doctrin is plain in Scripture yet if he believes it to be against HIS REASON he assents not to it And p. 27. A Man of this Church of England suspects not Reason it self but his own present Art of Reasoning whensoever it concludes against that which he reads and reads without doubting of the Sense of the Words This he lays down for the Difference between the Church of England and the Socinians Hitherto I have taken the Socinians at least for a witty Generation But henceforward if the Doctor 's Character of them be true I must hold them all for Blockheads on pain of being held for one my self For what is it to think a Doctrin plain in * Supposing Scripture to be the Word of God. Scripture but to think it to be revealed by God And consequently what is it not to believe a Doctrin which is thought to be plain in Scripture but not to believe what is thought to be revealed by God And is not this in other terms to suppose that it is possible for God to reveal a Falshood Wherefore if this be the sign of a Right Socinian as the Doctor would have it a Bedlam is fitter for him than an Inquisition But the truth is the Socinians are not such Fools as this Gentleman would make them They do not think the Doctrin they reject to be plain in Scripture Nay before they reject it they conclude it not to be * The Arians and Socinians are so far from thinking the Catholic Doctrin touching the Divinity of our Savior to be plain in Scripture that they think the contrary to be plainly there bringing for in many Texts as My Father is greater than I Joh. 14. 28. and the like which the Doctor knows well enough plain Wherefore in those points wherein they differ from the Catholics what the One understands Literally in the Word of God the Other interprets Mystically or Figuratively And in reference to these Texts they behave themselves no otherwise than the Protestants do towards those Words of our Savior in the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament viz. This is my Body which they will not understand in a Literal Sense Again the Doctor says That a Church-of-England-man suspects not Reason it self but his own present Art of Reasoning I have not time to speculate on the nicety of this Distinction and so I let it pass altho' I believe that a Socinian would be extreme glad to know how he might come to be guided by Reason it self when he suspects his present Art of Reasoning * What causeth a Church-of-England-man to suspect his present Art of Reasoning Is it not his present Art of Reasoning Can Reason guide him without any Reasoning The Doctor seems to be very subtil here Is not the Faculty to be suspected when its Operation is faulty Can the Reason be Perfect and yet the Reasoning which flows from it Defective But whereas the Doctor 's Church-of-England-man suspects his own present Art of Reasoning whensoever it concludes against that which he reads and reads without doubting of the Sense of the Words I dare likewise engage that whatsoever the Right Socinian reads in Scripture without doubting of the Sense of the Words he shall believe as firmly as any Church-of-England-man in the World. This is proved already and if the Doctor think otherwise I shall have cause to suspect if not his Reason yet at least his present Art of Reasoning The Reason why I have examined this Quotation is because it is taken out of a Book which I am recommended to by the Doctor for an Answer to those Questions I would have propos'd to him at the Conference The Readers have my sense * Above p. 73. sequ already concerning the Answering of short Questions and proposed in a Personal Conference by a Reference to long Books which seems to be but the putting off the Trial at best What Encouragement I have from this Quotation to have recourse to that Book in particular out of which it was * But if this he the choice what is the refuse chosen by the Author himself let them Judge For if we may guess at the Stuff by the Pattern they will be able to do it A. P. press'd Writing says the Doctor pag. 60. yet when Dr. T. began to do so he declin'd it The Reader will have * Above p. 67. seq See also Mr. P. 's Acc. p. 10. seq seen that A. P. had a great deal of reason to decline the signing an insignificant Wrangle about the Authority of one single Book which was all the Writing Dr. T. propos'd and that the Doctor had no Reason at all to decline what was propos'd to him viz. the writing of the whole Conference unless it be such as he will be loth to own Whereabouts proceeds Dr. T. would these Disputers Pag. 60. be A while ago they were all for Verbal Conferences when Written ones were offer'd as more safe and useful Now when Verbal Conferences are agreed to Writing is press'd What a pretty Sophism is here Does not Dr. Tenison know whereabouts these Disputers would be Did not those who were all for Verbal or rather Personal Conferences desire that the Argumentative part of such Conferences might be taken in * Viz. for hindring such after misrepresentations as we have had from our Dr. as I said before pa. 61. Writing and that nothing else might be published as Authentic but what was so written And were not Conferences so managed viz. Personally and by Writing * See the above-mentioned Letter to Dr. E. S. p. 26. seq preferr'd before the carrying on of a Disputation by Books and not Verbal Conferences as the Doctor insinuates before Written ones Was the Doctor ignorant of this I do not think he was But a pretended Mistake is an excellent Instrument in the hand of a Controvertist It serves to deceive his own Party and at least to make Work for his Adversaries And now I would not have the Sense of what I have said here or elsewhere on this Subject so far mistaken as that I should be thought to look on such Personal and Written Conferences as infallible means of deciding Controversies whereas I only prefer this way of proceeding in them before that of writing Books I know there is nothing of this Nature which some time or other is not liable to the underminings of Craft and therefore as far as I have been able to observe when such kind of Conferences are obtained which is only where they cannot be kept off with any credit the Protestants either refuse to dispute of the Main Points such as the Rule of Faith the Proof of Scripture or the like and fall on some other Branch where as I have said before there is more room for disputing unless the matter be soon brought to the Rule of
Learned Protestants But on the contrary I have been so far from repenting that I turned so Young that the more I read or discoursed of these matters the more I discerned the Excellence of the Catholic Religion on the one hand and the blindness of so many of my fellow Creatures on the other and consequently I had no other causes for grief than first that my Conversion was no sooner and next that I had not yet been grateful enough that it was so soon The Doctor says that * Pag. 5. no Man who well understands their Church departs from it upon true Principles And I am much mistaken if there be not very many who know well enough what the Church of England Teaches and yet depart from her on no other principles than those which they learnt from her self viz. That the Church is to be followed no farther than she agrees with Scripture and every particular Man is left to judge how far she agrees with it It would be tedious and unnecessary to set down here all those Principles or Motives upon which I departed from the Church of England since I cannot so much pretend to extraordinary things as to deny but that they are the same which have led others from her both before and since and may be seen at large in many Books However if my Readers will give me leave I will lay before them some of those Points which began my doubts and prevail'd more particularly with me * Some Motives of my Conversion to the Catholic Faith. First I had been taught that the Church of Christ continued pure for the first Five Hundred Years after it's Institution and that from thence downwards several gross Errors and Corruptions had crept into it and that it had been infected with these Plagues for about a Thousand Years And that then Almighty â—od out of his Infinite Commiseration enlightned Martin Luther Zuinglius and other as I thought Pious Men so far as that they clearly discern'd these Corruptions Preach'd against them and by that means rescued a great number of Christians from that darkness which the Gates of Hell contrary to our Lords promise or some unaccountable Fatality had engaged them in And Lastly that I my self had been so happy as to be one of this number This was that Idea of Christianity which I then had For as to what they talk'd of a constant Succession of Protestants from the fifth Age down to our times I had never heard it from any Wise Man nor indeed can such an Imposture find place with any one who is so much an Historian as the common Discourse will make him Every body knows that the first Reformers when they left the Roman Church joyned with no other Society or Sect of Christians then in the World either in Communion or Doctrin which must have been done had this pretended Succession continued Their pretence was at that time to Reform the whole Church and not to seek out any True one which then had a Being and stood in no need of Reformation Nay they were so far from thinking it necessary to joyn with any former Church in order to the preserving a Succession that they did not unite with one another But parted their stock and each Adventurer set up for himself This then was the most Rational Account that I could give of my Faith viz. That our Church finding that all Christian Churches had been in Error for a Thousand Years forsook that Error and reformed it self according to the pattern of the first Five Hundred Years after Christ For to be of a Christian Church which never had any being from Christs time till this present I thought a most unreasonable thing Now none can write after a Copy without having that Copy which they pretend to Write by I mean it was impossible for the Church of England to Reform it self according to the first Five Hundred Years of Christianity without knowing what those Christians Taught and Practis'd And how could this possibly be done but by the Holy Fathers and other Writers of those times Wherefore I firmly believed as I am persuaded many Thousands do that these Writers were meer strangers to all those Doctrins which we had forsaken and consequently that no mention was made amongst them of Purgatory Prayer for the Dead Invocation of Saints Veneration of Holy Images and Relics the Sacrifice of the Mass the Reality of Christs Flesh in the Eucharist the Decisive Authority of the Church in Controversial matters the Spiritual Supremacy of St. Peter and his Successors with some other things of this nature I say I took it for granted that nothing of all this was to be found in those Primitive Records of the Christian Religion But when I looked into them I found it quite otherwise and that those things which hitherto I had accounted Novelties were as clearly set down in these Writings as any other Points of Christian Doctrin For instances to avoid length I will refer my Readers to a Book not long since Published Entituled Nubes Testium which hath Collections out of some of those Books which then fell into my hands and must weigh with Men of any tolerable moderation notwithstanding that which is or can be said against it Now what was there for me to be done in this condition I had taken it on trust that I was a Member of a Church which had Copied out the first Five Hundred Years but found my Error It was not unknown to me that several Quotations out of the Fathers were produced in the behalf of Protestant Opinions But-to me they all seemed wrested or at least capable of interpretations which were not repugnant to what the same Fathers more plainly and fully speak in other places for a contrary Doctrin In a word what appeared to me in favor of the Catholic Cause was clear full and incapable of any other meaning But that which offered it self in opposition to it was obscure short and interpretable in another sense and indeed for the most part evidently requiring another when joyned to it's antecedents and consequents Others said That the Fathers were Men and had Errors and that they contradicted one another and themselves to boot But this Plea was as little to my satisfaction as the former For this serves only to weaken the Authority of the Fathers and if good evinces nothing but that They are not to be relyed on And then how can the Church of England make out that she follows the first Five Hundred Years when she hath no other means of knowing what was believed in those times but by such Authors as are not to be trusted For what some People say of our being able to know by Scripture what was the Belief and Practice of these Primitive Christians is wholly absurd For we know not from Scripture at least according to the Principles of the Church of England whether the Christians of the first Five Hundred Years lived according to the Scripture
but the second Branch of Mr. P's Mr. P. ask'd from whom we were to receive the Scriptures My Question was from whom we were to have the Meaning of them Now St. Augustin will tell you that you ought to receive the Sense or meaning of the Scripture from those on whose Testimony you admit the Letter according to a * Aug. contra Epist Fundam passage which I formerly Quoted to Dr. St And which he not liking as I suppose St. Augustins Judgment took no notice of Wherefore according to the Sense of this Father if Dr. Tenison had found out those Christians on whom he might have relyed for the receiving of the Scriptures which was Mr. P's Question he would have known whom to have trusted for the understanding them which was Mine Which being so I leave my Readers to Judge whether either of these Questions were not much more to the purpose than that which the Dr. set up Indeed it was so little to our Controversie whether that Book were truly St. Ambrose's or not that I wonder that a grave Man should forget himself so much as to lay any stress on it when other Proofs were offered full as plain and out of Writers of as great Authority as St. Ambrose and even when there is a passage to the same purpose and to a great degree in the same words in an undoubted Work of St. Ambrose Nay one of the Arguments which is brought against the Authority of this Book De Sacramentis is that the words of this Quotation are in another Work of the same St. Ambrose and that it is improbable this Author would use the same Words and Phrases in two distinct Books Which if a good Argument against the Authority of that Book is likewise a very good one for the Authority of the Passage Wherefore if that passage which was alledged or one Equivalent to it were undoubtedly St. Ambrose's of what moment could it be whether that particular Book which was first named were St. Ambrose's or not If the passage prove what it was produced for it is at least Equivalently in an undoubted work of St. Ambrose And if it prove nothing why so much clutter whether the Book be Authentic or not Here the Reader may be put in mind of another Method which the Protestants use in their Disputations When the Work of any Father is Quoted by Catholics if it were ever doubted of there is no remedy but it must pass for Spurious And when it shall happen to be Undoubted they will do as much as in them lies to render it Dubious at least in those places which are Quoted But when nothing of this will do their last shift is Interpretation which indeed does their business effectually This Interpretation is laid up like a Treasure which is never to be brought forth but in cases of urgent necessity Otherwise they would need no other Fond for the carrying on of almost all their Controversial Expeditions For what need is there that they should spoil their Eyes with poring on old Worm-eaten Manuscripts for the disproof of an Author when perhaps the passage which they would evade is not half so plain against them as that of some unquestioned Book which already they have set aside by their Interpretation What Obligation is there that Words in a Spurious Work should have quite another Sense than the self-same words in one which is Legitimate No but this knack of Interpreting is too great a cheat to be often Practised and therefore when any thing else will serve the turn this must not appear I said that Interpretation was their last shift But unless this be understood with some restriction I think I was too hasty in my Reckoning Their shifts are like the Priviledges of some Parliaments not so easie to be numbred For sometimes when the Author is unquestioned the passage too palpably plain to be wrested and the Party somewhat more indifferent and not so greedy of being impos'd on and when for these reasons the Gordian-knot cannot be untyed what should they do but follow Alexanders example They lop off a Century or two out of the Five Hundred Years which their Brethren are wont to Appeal to and it is great odds but the Father that is Quoted most of them and those the most Celebrated being in the fourth and fifth Centuries drops with them and loses his Authority not out of any particular picque that they have against this Father whoever he be but because he lived in ill times and when Popish Errors began to be predominant But if it shall so happen that they do not see him lying on the ground together with these Two Hundred Years the third Century is sure to follow and then it is a Thousand to one but they have him down However if after all this he shall yet remain untoucht Perhaps another Branch may fall for these Errors were very early in the Church or else the Fathers are sicut caeteri Homines and as Dr. T. intimates p. 16. there is no Decisive Determination to be built on what they say This you will say as I have said * See above pa. 27. before agrees not well with an Appeal to the first Five Hundred Years However this gradual Proceeding argues great Moderation a thing that is sometimes bragg'd of and shews that the Members of this Church are not for carrying matters to Extremities but where Necessity which hath no Law obliges them I intimated above that it was ten to one but Dr. Tenison would have refused to Write or Sign any Answer to my Questions Which was no groundless Conjecture of my own For had he not differed from himself he would most certainly have done so A Gentleman of my acquaintance then a Protestant had formerly carried him these Questions and desir'd his Answer to them in Writing In the first place the Doctor took a very sufficient time for consideration And in the second he absolutely refused to give any thing under his hand saying in excuse that he knew not what Inference might be made Whereupon I remember I advised the Gentleman to put him in mind at their next meeting of the Logical Maxim A veris possunt nil nisi vera sequi telling him consequently that if his Answer were true he need not fear that any thing should follow from it but Truth In the mean time I am not ignorant that there is something in the Doctors Narrative which is a kind of * Pag. 18. Answer to my Questions But as the Reader will perceive it is not offered by the Doctor as his Answer to them neither is there any thing else set forth as such throughout his whole Pamplet save only the mention of two Books pag. 56. and a little one which perhaps might be one of them that Mrs. V. had from him pag. 24. I say there is nothing else but these Books which is proposed by Dr. T. as an Answer to those Questions Now for my own part I
run through all those parts of both Dr. Tenison's Pamphlets which I have thought fitting I am not conscious to my self of any thing wherein I have dealt unjustly by him save only it may be in the want of that Negligence wherewith he * See his Epist Ded. to his new Book threatens to do Justice upon Mr. P. Which piece of Justice if I have been defective in hitherto I shall be a more careful Observer of it for the future Only thus much I judged convenient to be said that when I shall think it reasonable to say less the World may not be mistaken in the Cause of my Silence A moderate Defence according to what I have said above is due to Truth but when Calumnies grow excessive they answer themselves by appearing what they are It may be objected That in some places of this rambling Discourse I deliver my sense somewhat more largely than I did at the Conference it self whereas at first I seemed to blame such proceeding What I blamed was that those who have full Liberty in any Conference of speaking what and as much as they please especially by way of Argument should afterwards when they pretend to give Account of it render their own Speeches more full and plausible than they were and yet represent them as truly spoken This I say is what I blamed But on the other side when either a man is wholly hindred from Answering or else cut short in his Answers by the Authority or Rudeness of his Adversary and when by that means most of what he has to say remains in petto it is but just he should have that freedom in the Press which was denied him at the Conference provided that whatever is added on any Subject be related not as what was but as what would have been said had an Opportunity been given And this I have taken care of I have already told my Readers after what manner Dr. Tenison dealt with me at the Conference He made his Applications to me as often and as fully as he thought fit excepting only when I withdrew to avoid them But as for me I was to speak no longer than he pleased I must confess a most effectual way of silencing sometimes not a word sometimes a few but never so many as were needful Neither is this the first time that I have made this Complaint I did it at the Conference and particularly the Doctor may remember I told him there was no possibility of prosecuting any Argument so long as he spoke all and heard nothing I added that this indeed became a Doctor but not a Disputant My meaning was That it was proper for one who was Teaching but not for one who was in the disagreeable Employment of Defending and Proving But tho' the Doctor 's Interruptions were remarkable enough in all his Discourses with me yet they seemed to be more than ordinary a little before the conclusion of our Conference For when I perceived that our Disputations had no other visible effect than the embittering of minds and a farther alienating of affections I thought it not amiss before we took our leaves to offer something that might tend to the calming and re-settling of our Spirits that so tho' we came to no Agreement in our Religion we might yet at least part Friends and Well-wishers to one another As soon as I opened my Mouth for this purpose the Doctor immediately stopt it Not a word must pass Sir said I I am not going to Dispute but only to take my leave and would offer a word that it may be amicably No it must not be the Doctor is inexorable and tho' I attempted it three or four times it was impossible for me to get above three words over without an Interruption Whether it were that the Doctor out of his great propensity to * Ep. to his Parish in his first Book suspicion suspected that I would put an Argument upon him in disguise or for some other reason I cannot yet tell But I despaired of prevailing with him and so gave over my importunity What I should have said had it been allow'd me was to this effect That I could not perceive our Meeting had been to any great purpose That I would not then dispute on whose side the fault lay much less who were in the right and who in the wrong as to Religion That I desired we might notwithstanding the difference of our Opinions live peaceably together only at present I would intreat them to consider that whil'st they imagined the Catholics to be Mistaken they themselves were but Men and consequently as liable to Error as their Neighbors and therefore I would advise them in so important a Point as That whereon their Eternal Salvation depended that they would have recourse to Almighty God and earnestly beseech him That if they were in the right he would confirm them in it but if in the wrong that he would bring them to the right This is all I would have said and this upon the word of a Christian I was not permitted to say which I think is sufficient to shew of what nature the Doctor 's Interruptions were But what I had no leave to say at the Conference I speak here and the liberty of doing it makes some amends for all that trouble I have had and all those pains I have taken on this occasion And could I be sure that my Counsel would be followed I should desire no farther Reward Wherefore I earnestly exhort my Protestant Readers That for an Establishment in the true Faith they would make their chief Applications to Almighty God whose * Ephes 2. 8. Gift it is Should I send them to Catholic Priests their Prejudices might perhaps make them think it unreasonable should I send them to their own Ministers they might suspect a Gubbard or Papist in Masquerade and at best could hope but for a Fallible Director should I send them to the Scripture what would it * Vnless by some plain Texts they are directed to an Infallible Interpreter as indeed they might be profit them so long as they carry with them their own Fallible Interpretation Lastly should I send them to Controversial Treatises they might complain of their tediousness and intricacy I say should I send them to any of these things they might find somewhat to be afraid of But what Apprehensions can they have when I send them to Almighty God This is an Advice wherein there can be no danger but in not following it Wherefore my dear Country-men I hope that you will neither hearken to the Suggestions of Pride on the one hand as if you needed not God's Assistance nor to those of Sloth on the other as if earnest and persevering Prayer were too dear a Purchase of it but that fixing your Eye on that ETERNITY which lies at stake you will despise whatsoever either by Flatteries or Threatnings shall strive to divert you from so necessary an Undertaking I do