The Account Audited and Discounted, Exercitation 1 · Section 43
Sect. 43. And now the Doctor may be pleaſed to review, and if he will, recall his bitter, falſe, uncharitable concluſion, &c.
HOw the Doctor hath vindicated his Doctrine againſt me, the indifferent Reader, p. 89. n. 4.muſt now be Judge, not we our ſelves: It onelyonly remaines, to ſee how he will vindicate his charity, in his bitter concluſion: which he goes about, firſt, by his Rhetorick, [craving to premiſe, that it was but a ſevere Satyre, againſt a vice, and not a perſon, &c.] I ſhall with him, deſire the Iudifferent Reader to review thoſe two laſt Sections, and then give Judgment, whether he doth not even point at the perſons, whom he meanes; not in particular, naming the men, but in a plain deſcribing a party of men, known well enough to the nation: Thus he begins: [If ſome men, The oppoſers of the Ceremonies of our Church, againſt whom that tract was prepared. Infr. p. 114 n. 7.as they will abide no Rites, ſo they would avow no quarrels but, &c.] Who knows not, that he means, thoſe godly, learned, conſcientious men, who oppoſed the Ceremonies of our Church: So he ſayes expreſly here, n. 5. [All that have oppoſed our Church, in point of Rites and Ceremonies, and branded the innocent as guilty of no leſs crime, then Superſtition.] This part of the charge is falſe, for they could, and did abide ſome Rites, as we ſaid above; and did avow no quarrels, but for what (they thought) Scripture would give them particular directions and commands: But he goes on, and worſe; [And conſequently, if they would not judge or damn their brethren, when neither Christ nor his Writ, &c. condemnes them.] This is both falſe and uncharitable, to cenſure men, as judging and damning their brethren; when neither Chriſt nor his Writ condemn'd them: when as they were men of humble and meek Spirits, readier to be judged and condemn'd by their oppoſites, and patiently to ſuffer it. It followes [which till it be done, it muſt be expected, that they (afore deſcribed) who have learn't one of the Divels Attributes, that of Satan adverſary, or enemy man, will alſo advance to another, that of foreign, calumniator, and foreign, accuſer of the brethren, &c.] What could he have ſaid worſe, if he had called them Divels? Is there yet any more dregs in the bottome of the cup? yes, a little very charitable ſtuff. [It now, being by ſome men reſolved (if the teſtimony of the rest of their lives may be believed) that there is no capital damning ſin worth heeding or abſtaining from, but Superſtition, See p. 90. n. 5.&c.] Now Reader, is this a Satyre, of a vice, and not a deſcription of perſons, or a party? can the Doctor with perfect peace of minde review thoſe Sections, and ſee no breach of duty, none againſt whom he hath offended? Non equidem in video, miror magis.
OnelyOnly one thing more, and we ſhall part a while; The Doctor ſayes, [He can very well abſtain from making uſe of the advantage given him, of more then recriminating.] And wel he may; for he hath done it before; ſaying, [I have charged that foul ſin of Superſtition upon the Doctor perſonnally, and enlarged it to his party, which must needs involve all the obedient Sons of the Church of England, &c.] To which I anſwer, firſt, For the Doctor himſelf, I have charged him with nothing, but [what is avowed by himſelf, to be his opinion and practice, and what is proved really to be ſuperſtitious,] according to the true notion of the word, amongſt reformed Orthodox Divines.] Theſe are my words, in this laſt Section: which if it be not true, why did not the Doctor deny the charge, and make it appear, that his own principles do not hold out the nature of Superſtition; & his own opinion and practice do not conclude him guilty of what is laid to his charge. This is very obſervable, that whereever I charge him to be ſuperſtitious, he moves it, and takes no notice of it, as will appear hereafter. 2. As for his party, he takes too much Honor to himſelf, to think I meant all the obedient Sons of the Church of England. No, there is a party in that party, that condemn the Doctor for his Superſtition, as much as I do. But the party, that I joyn'd with the Doctor, were thoſe too forward Sons of the Church of England, who were (if God had not ſtaid them) running away from their Mother to Rome, both in Doctrine and Worſhip; and by all modeſt and pious men, even of Epiſcopal notion, judged as Hetordox in the one, and as Superſtitious in the other. In a word, I ſhall make the Doctor to be his own Accuſer, in the premiſes, and his own Judge, in the concluſion, of any charge I lay againſt him. And ſo I now reſt.