A Contention for Truth, Postscript
The Poſtſcript.
Reader,
IT is poſſible that ſome, either for want of charity or ingenuity, may cenſure me, as one that hath condemned the generation of the Righteous, becauſe the fore-cited paſſages are collected out of the writings of ſuch as either were, or are deſervedly ſo eſteemed; I thought good therefore to let thee know that thoſe men that I have mentioned, (though holy and learned) never pretended to Infallibility; I hope therefore I may have charity for their Perſons, while I make reflection upon ſome of their Opinions; and the rather becauſe diverſe, as well Non-conformable as Conformable Miniſters have writ againſt Luther, in the Doctrine of Conſubſtantiation, and other Opinion, and yet they retained a reverend eſteem of his memory in other matters,; and ſo they have done towards Origen, & divers of the Antients that differed from them; again, conſider that the Presbiterians in the late times did publiſh a Catal…gue of the errours and hereſies that then prevailed, with the names of divers perſons that were equal in holineſs and learning with any that I have named, who held ſome of thoſe Opinions, they cald Heterodox, ſurely thou canſt not think they were ſo vile, as thereby to condemn the Generation of the Righteous, or to beget an ill Opinion of their perſons in the minds of good or bad men, but rather to catuion people to beware of their Doctrine, and to take heed what they heard, and not to imbrace all for truth, though delivered by men, otherwiſe holy and learned; conſider yet further, that thoſe Doctrines I mentioned, which thoſe men have delivered, they are either true or falſe; if falſe, it is not I, but themſelves, that have once and again publiſhed them among the uncircumciſed, therefore if there be a dead Flie in their Pot of of Ointment, that hath made it ſend out any evil ſavour, or hath had any evil influence upon the lives of men, blame them, and not me; for they have put it in, and I found it there, and ſo mayſt thou if thou will make inſpection; but if what they have publiſhed in the forecited paſſages, be ſound and Orthodon, than all that can be ſaid is, that I have done them more Honour then I was aware of; becauſe if thoſe Doctrines be true, I have revived and preſ…rved th…ir memory by reciting them, and have thereby done thee ſervice, by giving thee a freſh Oration, to judge whether they are Doctrines that are according to Godlineſs, yea or no. Vale.
End of the text · Jeremiah Ives, A Contention for Truth (1672)