14 / 504
are, and fundry Texts
of
Scripture,
that
are ufually produced, and urged
in
the
defence
of
he
cantle
under confderation
,
that I
have
not
infifted on: nor vindicated from
the
exceptions
of
the
A
dverfaries.
Not
that
I
judge them
indefenfible
againft their
moil
cunning or
molt
fu-
rious affaults,and
fo
flighted
what
I
could
not
hold
for
urdeed
I knownot
any oneText
of
fcri-
pture;commonly
ufed
or
this
end, nor
any
Argument
by
any
fober man
framed to the
fame
purpofe,
that
is
not
capable
of
an eafy
and faire vindication
:
but
meerly bccaufe
they
fell
nor
in regedarly,in
the method
1
had
propofed
to
my
l'elfe ,
nor would
fo
do
,
unlefs
i had
gone
forth to
the
iffue
of
my
fiat
intendment,
and had handled
the
abode
of
Believers
with
God
at
large
,
from
its
principles
and
caufes
as
I had done
,
that part
of
our doctrine which con
-
cernes
the Continuance
of
the
love of
God with,
and
unto
them
;
which
the
growth
of
the
Treadle under
my
hand
,
would not
give me leave
to
do.
What
bath been,or
may
yet fur-
ther
be
done,
by
others
who have made,
or
fhall
make
it their
bufinefs,to
draw the
Paw
of
this
Controverly
,
to
and
fro
which Mr.
Geodwin,1
hope will
give
fatis£adion,
as
in
other things,
fo in
the particulars
by me
omitted.
As to
what
I have
to
fpeak,or
at
leaf}
think
it
conveni-
ent to (peak, concerning
him,
with whom in this difcourfe
I have
much
to do,and the manner
of
my dealing with him, being
a
thing
of
perfonal
Concernment
,
not
having
any
influencing
Afped
On
the merit
of
the
caufe
,
I [hall,
in
not
many words,
abfolve
you
of
your trouble
in
the Conlderation thereof.
My
Adverfary
is
a
perfon, whom
his
worth,paines,dilígence,and
opinions,
and the
contefls,wherein on their account he bath publikely engaged,have
delive-
red from being
the object
of
any
ordinary thoughts
,
of
expreflions.
Nothing not great,not
confiderable, not fome way eminent,
is
by any Ipoken
of
him,
either confenting with him,or
diffenting from
him. To interpole
my
Judgment
in
the crowd, on the one
fide or
the
other,
I
know
neither warrant
,orfuffcient
caufe
:
We
all
hand,
or
fall
to our
own
maffers
;
And
the
fire
will try
all
our
orkes.
This only
I
fhall
crave
Liberty
to
fay
;
that whether
from his
owngeniva,and
acrimony
of
Spirit ,
or from the provocations
of
others
,
with whom
he
bath
had to do, many
of
his
Polemical
Treatifes
have been [prickled
with Satyrical
Sarcafinec,
and
contemptuous
rebukes
of
the perfon with
whom
he
hath had to
do.
So
that
were
I not re-
lieved in my
thoughts
by
the
confderation ofthofe
Exacerbations and
exafperacions
of
fpi-
rit',
which upon
other
accounts,
betides
bare
difference
of
opinion in religious things
,
have
fallen
out
in
the
dayes
and
feafons
which
have patted over us
,
all
of
them labouring
to
exert
fomethingof
themfelves
in
every
undertaking
of
the
perfons
brought under their power
,
I
fhould
have been
utterly
difcouraged from any contefts
of
thisnature.
Much indeed
of
his
irregularity in
this
kind,I cannot but
afcribe
to
that
prompt
facility he
hath,in putting abroad
every paillon
of
his
mind
,
and all
his
conceptions, not only decently clothed, with language
of
a
full and choice
Ggnificancy
,
but
alto trim'd and adorn'd with
all
manner
of
fignal im-
provements, that
may
render
it
keen
or
pleafantaccording to
his
intendment or
defrre
;What
the
Latine
Lyrickfaid
of
the
Grecian
Peet may be applyed
to
him.
t
lZontedecarrens
velo; amni:,
imbres
em
fuper
norm
alaire
ripae,
Ferver
,
immenfufgr
rui:
profundo
Pindarue
ore.
And he
is
thereby plainly
poffefted
of
not
a
few advantages.
It
is
true
that
when the
proof
.
of
his
opinion
by
Argument
,
and
the orderly purfuit
of
it
is
incumbent
on him,
(a
coserle
of
all
other
wherein he foonefl
faileth,)
themedium heuferh, and infifierh
on,
receiveth
not the
leaf}
contribution
of
real
ftrength
from any
dcefs
of
words
,
and Expreflions wherewith it
is
adorned
and accompanied:yet
it cannot
be
denyed
but that
his
Allegorical
amplifications,
illufirations
and
exaggerations
of
the things he would
infinuate
,
take great impreflions upon
the
minds
of
them,
who are
in
any meafureintangled with
the
feeming
probabilities which
are painted over
his
Arguments,by theirfophiftry,and
pretence
ofTruch.The Apottle giving
that
Caution to the Collofans
that
they
should
take heed,
Nfi
zrs
vi
's.4
a
aoy'fnmr
i,,
sr9xvo-
aoy10,
manifefteth the
prevalencie
offalfe
reafoningi
when
in
Conjondion
with
Rhetorical
per
-
fwa,.4ons.The
great ¡tore alto
of
words
and expreflions which
for
all occafions he
bath
lying
by him, ate of no
little
ufe
to him,
when being preffed with
any Arguments,or
ceflimonies
of
Scripture
, and being
not
able
to
evade, he
is
forc'c to
raife
a
cloud
of
them
,
wherewith after
he bath
a while
darkned the wifdome and
Conned
of
that
,
wherewith
he
bath to do, he.in-
fenibly
flipps
out
of
thecord
,
wherewith he appeared to
have been detained, and
triumphes
as in a
petfea
Conqueft
,
when only an 'inarticulate found
harts been
given
by
his
trumpet,
but
the charge
of
his
Adverfaries
not
once
received
or
repelled.
But
not
any
where,
loth
he more indultrioufly hoift up,and fpread
the
failes
of
his
luxurient Eloquence,then when he
aimes
to render the opinion
of
his adverfaries
to
be
,
morflrum
horendum
,
informe
¡agent,
cui
lumen