Light for Smoke, Section 15
SECT. XV. A pleaſant reproofe of a miſapplication of Scripture is no offence, againſt the maieſtie of the word; how, and in what caſes a taunting ſpeech may be allowed.
Smoke. Pag. 35.I Wonder that one of your experience in the majeſtie of the word ſhould be ſo pleaſant with a Scripture allegory.
Light.Here you impute unto me that, which (if truly objected) would require a penitentiall confeſſion on my part; if untruly, no leſſe on yours; that it may be more manifeſt, it will be meet to take notice how my words come in upon yours, and yours upon mine. VponUpon your miſapplication of Matth. 9.17. Neither doe men put new wine into old bottles, myaMine Examination. p. 20. words are theſe. Conceiving the Penner to be a ſober man, I muſt thinke in this paſſage the Printers braine was troubled with the fume of new wine, to conclude with non-ſence for a rationall conſequence; and I beleeve no new wine and old bottles, how new or old ſo ever, can worſe agree together, then the foregoing evidence and the finall ſentence of this paragraph. VponUpon my words your Comment is,
Smoke. Pag. 35. Becauſe the Scripture is of wine, you jeſt on it, as if it had made the ſence leſſe ſober. I am ſorry my younger pen ſhould reprove the aged for ieſting, which the Apoſtle ſaith is not convenient. And truly it is not comely for the ſervants to play upon the maſter of the Feaſt, or any thing in his houſe, eſpecially upon his wine, which alludes ſo to his blood, and which he hath promiſed to drinke with us new in his Fathers Kingdome.
Light.To which I anſwer; Firſt, That the Apoſtle, Eph. 5.4. forbidding jeſting under that word, which in Morall Philoſophy is the title of a vertue, doth not forbid all kinde of jeſts, towards all perſons, and in all caſes; for what was the Irony of God to Adam, Gen. 3.22. and of Elijah to the Prieſts of Baal, 1 King. 18.27. but a jeſting reproofe?
Secondly, There is a great difference betwixt jeſting at Scripture, and at a miſapplication of Scripture; this may be taunted without any reliſh of irreverence at all to the other; for example, a man may give all religious reſpect due to the words of our Saviour, Ioh. 21.16. Feed my ſheep, but whenbBellarm. Tom. 1. lib. 3. cap. 1. de Verbo Dei. p. 184 & 185. Bellarmine abuſeth them, by wreſting them and inferring from them the proofe of the Supremacy of the Pope over the univerſall Church, I may deride the abſurditie of his ſequele, without any impeachment of the antecedent allegation. The like may be ſaid of Pſal. 91.13. as brought in by PopecFoxe Martyrolog. Vol. 1. pag. 265. printed London. Ann. 1641. Alexander, to prove his proud uſurpation over Princes, when at Venice, Anno 1159. he ſet his foot upon the necke of the Emperour Frederick Barboroſſe; the Story whereof, thoughdBin. Tom. 7. concil. part. altera. p. 629. col. 1. Binius ſay it was fained by Henetiques,eVicars Decapl. in lib. Pſalm. in p. 91. pag. 268. col. 2. is ſet out and is to be ſeene in a Table at Venice; and of thefSee Paraus in Gen. 28. ver. 12. col. 1597. inference which ſome make of the ubiquitie of the body of Chriſt from the viſion of Iacobs ladder, Gen. 28.12. And what reſolution can be made of a Popiſh gloſſe on Gen. 1.10. (according to the Latine Tranſlation, Congregationem aquarum vecavit maria, applying it to the praiſe of the Virgin Mary) without ſuch a ſcoffe as may expoſe the Authours ridiculous deſcant to ſcorne and laughter? which repeated by a learned Hebrician he begins the report withgAudi Lector & ride. Sixt. Amam. Antibarbar. Bibl. l. 2. p. 287. heare Reader and laugh. And if I thought your quotation of Matth. 9.17. were as wide from the ſcope, and as weake for the proofe of that for which it was produced by you, as ſome of theſe now mentioned allegations are, (wherein there are divers judicious and religious Readers concurring with me) I might (reſerving all due reſpect to that ſacred Text) entertaine your miſapplication of it, rather with a jeſting correction, then a ſerious conviction.
You will ſay perhaps, (as inhSmoke. p.. 59. another place you have done) that miſ-application is a word ſooner written then proved, andiIbid. you would have the Reader iudge (ſo would I, if he be neither imprudent nor partiall) whether it be your miſapplication or my miſinterpretation; and let him judge alſo whether miſ-interpretation be not a word ſooner written then proved, as well as miſapplication is; and let him further judge whether theſe words of yours [I am ſorry my younger pen ſhould reprove the aged for is ſting, which the Apoſtle faith is not convenient] ſhould have been uttered by you in a jeſting or jeering way, as they are; and whether now you ſhould not be ſorry in good earneſt, that your younger pen was ſo forward to blet the face of the aged with ſuch a blacke aſperſion, as uncomely ieſting at the Scripture, and (being but a ſervant) playing upon the Maſter of the Feaſt, or any thing in his hauſe, eſpecially upon his wine which alludes to his blood, and which he hath promiſed to drinke new with us in his Fathers Kingdome.
It would better have becomed you (eſpecially profeſſing ſuch reſpect to me as you doe in your Letter andkSmoke. p. 16. elſe-where) to have taken my jeſting, as I meant it, with a candid acceptation; as the laughter of Ioh was received by younger men then himſelfe; If I laughed (faith he) they beleeved it not, and the light of my countenance they caſt not down, Iob 29.24. that is, (as the Laſt Annotations expound it) they thought a man of my gravitie would not be ſo familiar with them, or as Grotius makes the note:lEtiam joca mea putabant aliquid occultare ſerii. Grot. in Job 29.24. They thought ſome ſerious matter lay laid under my ieſting, and my familiaritie did not cauſe them to grieve, be angry, or contemne me, or *Authoritas mea mihi apud ipſos conſtabat. Grot. Ibid.my authoritie ſuffered no diminution by that meanes, or upon that occaſion.
You frame the like objection againſt me formSmoke. p. 41. being too pleaſant with your expreſſion of the truth by a ſtarre, becauſe it is the very allegory of the ſpirit, and ſo was that which Barchoche has alluded unto, Numb. 24.17. yet was his miſapplication of it juſtly entertained with a taunt, and his name with deriſion turned into Be…bozba, the ſonne of a lie, for which I quoted two grave Authours in minenPag. 27. Examination of your Quere. You ſay there was more lightſomneſſe then light in that paſſage, and I beleeve there was more light alſo then in moſt parts of your Booke, which you have ſmoked in every page; you will ſay perhaps that here againe I am too pleaſant with your Scripture evidence, but let me tell you Sr. without offence, you are obſerved to play upon the Sacred ground-worke with too much boldneſſe, and wanto…neſſe of wit, to make many alluſions which are but illuſions of your owne miſinformed ſancie; and they take the Title of your Book to be very fantaſticall, and (beſides many jeſts which have paſſed upon it by ſome ingenuous Readers, which I forbeare, leſt I ſhould make you angry with that which made them merry) while I was writing this, there came to my hands a Latine Letter form a very learned and religious Divine, with whom I have a commerce of Letters in that Language, wherein he takes your Anſwer (which you call a full anſwer unto me) to have none other fulneſſe in it then aoPerſuafiſſimum habco—poſtertorem ejus (ſcil. libri) partem, quae responſum tuum perſtring it, merum fumum eſſe, ſacillime que uno tctu calami tui diſſipatum iri, &c. fume and vapour, which will eaſily vaniſh into nothing.