1. SIr , what you are I do not know ; nor have any reason , from your carriage , to think you are much worth the knowing ; and you did very prudently to mask your self under the disguise of a private and obscure hand , to hide the blushes which common shame would otherwise force even into a forehead Epist. Dedicatory . of the blackest complexion . It is easy to discern by your furious Zeal , your Falsifying humour , and your Patronizing so fiercely that party which maintains that All Christian Faith which is held now may be False , that you are far from the Principles of a Genuin Church of England-man , farther than a good Benefice may perhaps give you a Vocation , but rather some hotbrain'd Calvinist in masquerade , parboil'd by the scalding zeal against Popery into a stanch Protestant , which like Lobsters change their hew and outward appearance , but not their Nature . The Character you have given your 〈…〉 y your behaviour in your 41st . page ; is that you are a Willfull and Bold Calumniator ; who , trusting to the easy Credulousness of your Friends , and relying on the Great Noise your Numerous party are able to make , value not a straw what manifest Falshhoods you publish . And , which is the worst Quality of a Lyer , that you are a Careless , Open , and Confident one . If this can be plainly made good against you , I am sure your rude and Unchristian carriage towards me justifies me for letting the world know you are guilty of these Faults of the First Magnitude . What prejudice this may do to your Descants all along upon other pieces writ by Catholicks you are to look to , and should have better consider'd when you thus sacrific'd your Conscience to your Malice ; for if this be prov'd upon you , it will here stand upon Publique Record , and like your fellow-Knights of the Post , you are never to be believ'd in any thing you say either here or hereafter . Certainly Sir , a little more Temperance had done your Cause far more Right : For every man of an ordinary Prudence will vehemently suspect your sharp Reflexions are meerly Romantick , seeing you make the Protestant Knight still beat the Popish Gyant . What man of common Reason will , do you think , believe you , that the Catholick Party have in none of their Books sp●ke a word of Sense , or tha● ( as you tell the Reader with much assurance ) never was Cause more intirely baffled : Nay , in Epist. to the Reader . the full career of your ranting exaggerations , you aver without Fear , Sh●me or Wit , that your very Footmen themselves esteem themselves an equall match for Jesuits ; and lest the Credit of your Learned Ibid . Footmen should sink , or the sober part of the world should look upon them as self conceited Puppies for having such a high Esteem of themselves , you hold them up by the chin , and tell us very sadly , that you think they have satisfy'd the World they are not mistaken in this opinion of themselves . Now , all this while Ibid . there was but one Footman , whose name , to ridicule a Roman-Catholick writer , was prefixt to a pamphlet , which in all likelihood might have been written by some such shamming Gentleman as your self . I wonder you did not add Protestant Broom-men , Kennell-rakers and Chimney-Sweepers ; for none can doubt but some of these may have as much Knavish wit as a Footman . But it was your Kindness to Catholiks not to tyrannize too much over them , on depress them with such ignoble comparisons ; and therefore you did them the honour to allow them fit matches to run a Controversy race with your thrice Reverend Foot-men . And , by your Discourse , 〈…〉 high honour too ; for you tell us p. 45. that the R. F. Sabran is now grown more famous in the world from his new Antagonist the Footman . I hope I may use your own words so I apply them better ; and tell the Reader that I admire at the P. 20. heat and bitterness of that little Satyr , your ridiculously-malicious self .

2. Notwithstanding your Ill performance , I frankly acknowledge that a History of what Books have been writ pro and con in our Controversies is a very laudable Design ; and had you observ'd the impartiality of an Historian by onely relating what had been done in that kind , and then referr'd your Reader to the Books you mention'd , and left him to judge of the performances on both sides by those Books themselves , you had deserv'd a due Commendation . But you could not content your self with matter of Fact , but would needs enter upon the matter of Right too ; and this , with Reflexions wholly made up of Vapour , Insolence , silly Amplifications , Ironies , Invectives ; and oftimes open Falshoods . For example , Never did man set pen to Paper ( as F. Sabran ) with such a stock of Ignorance and Confidence together . p. 4. whose stock is Confidence . p. 45. He has neither Learning , nor good manners , ibid . One would wonder , by the way , Sir , where your Breeding lies . But as for the Representer , he is quite stript of Honesty and Wi● both . — He seems ( say you ) ●o have struggled a little with himself before be could get the better of his Conscience . p. 11. The Confidence of this vain man — He ( his Protestant Antagonist ) has though fit to give him up as a priviledg'd person , who is past either Sense or Modesty , or hopes of being reclaim'd , p. 12. That is , in more honest term , his Antagonist acknowledges himself baffled , and I perceive by your p. 4. that you are about giving up F. Sabran too upon the same score . Again — That honest sincere man that cannot endure false dealing , but was dropt down from heaven to be the Scourge and Censor of a Licencious age — by a strange kind of Metamorphosis from an Angell of Light transforming himself into a Spirit of Darkness . p. 43. And lastly , that He is an Ass in a Lyons Skin . p. 44. Pray good sweet angry Sr. lay aside your Passion a whiles ; and do but consider a little how ridiculous you make your self , and clap the long ears on your own noddle . Had you profest your self a Thersites , and a master of Invective Rhetorick , none would have wonder'd at you for following your Vocation ; ●●t the Jest is , you will needs make your self all this while a Master of Ceremonies , to teach others good manners , and yet P. 45. the Academy of Scolds at Billingsgate cannot furnish one with baser and fouler Language . Were you writing against the person , and had at the same time prov'd his Demerit answerable to your words , then indeed Smart language , so it be True , may some times pass , nay be needfull ; but to fall upon him so severely in an undue occasion , and with such a furious career of extravagant railing , does too visibly proceed from the Impotency and Uneasiness of your Passion . Could a mad Dog speak , I know not ( tho' you perhaps may ) what worse language he could foam out than Ass and Devil . Whence I Congratulate to the Gentleman the happy omen , that he could deserve the heat and bitterness of P. 20. such little Satyr● . Thus our impartiall Historian treats the one party ; But on the other he bestows all along the Magnificent ●itles of Excellent , Learned , Ingenious , Incomparable , and all-●obe Reverence● them with his ●ermagant Hyperbolical Commendations . And now , Reader , is it a Straw's matter whether such a Writer praises or reviles a man ; or rather are not his Elogiums a Disgrace , and his Invictives a high Honour and Commendation in the opinion o● any Moderate Reader ?

3 ▪ My turn comes next ; and any man will see how Dr. St. and his good Friends are nettled , by your pelting me so unmercifully .

4. Your First Falshood is , that I begun to carry on this Controversy after the Reflector had writ his . This I affirm to be Untrue ; P. 40. Fo● , the First Catholick Letter was also mine . And , tho' my Name was not to it , yet I still own'd it for mine in my following pi●ces . Which if you read , you could not but see ; if you did not , you are a strange disregarder of Truth or Sincerity , to pass such ●●●n Censures upon Books you never so much as read . And , if this were so , as I much fear , it puts me into some doubt whether you ever read any of the Catholick Books you Censur'd so deeply ; but , like a right Honest man , right or wrong , shot your bolts at random .

5. Your Second Falshood is , that Dr. St. has reply'd to my first Four Letters ; And this is a most Notorious Banger . For , Ibid . first , in is shown in my Fifth Letter Page by Page to every Examiner's Eye , from p. 154. to p. 173. that he has omitted so much as to take notice of ( much more to Answer ) Thirty Nine parts of Fort of my First and Third Letters . Next , he owes me an Answer to the Second . Thirdly , he has not answer●d one word to my Fourth . And so two or three shameless Untruths must serve f●r an Answer to those four Treatises . Which , I suppose , is the modern way of Controversy you told us of p. 20 However , you tell us p. 40. 〈◇〉 Dr St's peece was an Excellent Discourse ; that is , 't is one of your Geese metamorphos'd to a Swan , by your gloss commendations . However , it discover'd my Vanity , & that 's enough in all Conscience . But Sr , are You a Christian , even in a Latitudinarian sense , who call it Vanity to assert that the Faith now held by Christians is truly Christ's , and consequently True , or that it has Grounds to prove it True that it did descend from him , which is the Grand Contest between Dr St. and me ? And on this occasion let me ask you how you durst tell the World in the Ti●le to your Dedicatory , that a Book writ to maintain the Possible Falshood of Faith , is writ In Defence of the Church of England ; as if it were her Doctrine , that all Christian Faith may be a Lye ; or how a Chaplain to an Arch-Bp . durst approve a Pamphle● , that makes that Church guilty of that half Atheisticall Tenet , which her best Writers and most Genuin Sons ever abhorr'd . But — Haec est hora vestra & potestas tenebrarum .

6. Your Third Falshoo● is , that I writ Contradictions , which has been confuted at large in an elaborate Discourse ( Fifth-Cath . Letter p. 8. to p. 18. ) where every particular Contradiction objected is solv'd b● a clear state of the Question ; which the Learned Dr. would needs mistake throughout his whole Answer . However , it was expected this would have stopt my mouth . But alas , when vain men promise to themselves Unreasonable things , how strangely their Expectations fail them ! T is not Nonsense cl●d in fine words , nor all the Spitefull Reflexions of men , who , I see plainly , have not the least value for Truth , that can shock me or fright me from defending it .

7. Your Fourth Falshood is , that the Blackloist Heresy was now like to be brought on the Stage again ; meaning , that my Doctrin about Tradition was peculiar to Mr. Blacklow . The contrary to which I have shown to every honest Reader's eye in a particular Treatise ( Clypeus Septemplex p. 209. to p. 250 ) and the very Reverend F. Warner in his See Third Cath Letter . p. 21. Anti-Heaman tells Dr. Burnet he discovers his Ignorance in saying it was newly invented . Lastly , my Fifth Letter p. 24. has Forestall'd this objection . But no Sincerity is to be expected from such willfull Asserters of baffled Falshoods . Disprove a Calumny never so evidently , all they do , in stead of invalidating our Reasons or Testimonies , is to say the same over again with a steel'd Impudence , as if nothing had been alledg'd against it .

8. Your Fifth Falshood is , that I have formerl● eat my words . P. 41 : Your Sixth , that I did this , when I was cited to Rome to be cen●r'd for those dangerous Hereticall Propositions which I am ●ow aain breaching in England . Both of which are most Impudent Untruths . This appears both by the kind Monitio sent me from 〈◇〉 * Clypeus Septemplex . p. 10. Sacred Congregation , where 't is manifest they were aware that I had declar'd my self to speak [ de Regula Externa Fidei seu de Traditione Ecclesiae ] of the Extrinsicall Rule of Faith or the Tradition of the Church . As also , that in the circumstance of our Controversy I had maintain'd [ debere eam esse evidentem ] this Rule ought to be Evident . All which they allow'd , and requir'd no more of me but only that Mindfull of the words of the Apostle [ I am a Debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians , both to the Wise and to the Unwise ] I would clear some Propositions contain'd something obscurely in my Books , by reason of the ambiguity of the word Evidence , viz. whether it was meant of the Evidence of the Mysteries , or of the Motives to Faith ; which Mistake bred the whole Misunderstanding . This I did by a hundred Instances , and most pregnant and convincing Reasons in my Declaratio ; and , this done , those severest Judges of Unsound Doctrine , remain'd satisfy'd ; and to your greater confusion I have the Original of the Monitio and the other Records in my hands still . For farther Evidence that I was neither put to Eat my words , or Retract the least tittle in my books , nor was ever Cited to Rome , I could allege those Right Reverend Personages , Bishop Leyburn , and Bishop Gifford ; of which the former was at Rome all the time of the Contest : the Other , though at Paris , yet was acquainted with all the particulars of it : As also those Reverend Divines mention'd Fifth Cath . Letter . p. 21. who examin'd the Propositions chiefly objected ; and attested under their hands that their Sense was not in my Books but the direct contrary : I could produce likewise Multitudes of Other Persons , both Divines and Lay-men , of unblemisht Credit , who can witness the same . And yet this Frontless man thinks to out-face the world with an open and manifest Lye , to second Dr. St's wilfull Forgeries ; though he knows how I answer'd in my Clypeus Septemplex and Vindiciae what the Dr. for want of better Stuff , did cite out of his Friend Lominus , and that in the First Section of my Fifth Catholick Letter I particularly shew'd by unquestionable Authority every tittle of Dr. St's Calumnies to be most False : and , lastly , what Approbations from the most Knowing and most Orthodox Catholicks of the best Quality my Books have had . Which done I close Fifth Cath : Letter . p. 30. my Discourse with this Recapitularion [ The Sum of my present Defence is his : Eight Divines of great Repute , appointed by the Arch-Bishop of Paris , and ad mitted by my Adversary himself , do unanimously attest that the Sense condemn'd is not in my Books , but the contrary . My Judge clears me ; The Censu●ers are commanded to make me Satisfaction . The Highest T●ibu●al ●llows my Plea and acquits me . Primates , Arch-Bishops , B●sh●ps , the Sorbon , Eminent Divines , and even those who take ano●her way in their Writings , approve and commend my D●ctrin , and most of them in very high and extraordinary expressions . My own Superiour does the same ; nay , even those who were formerly ●●ghly prejudiced , declare themselves satisfy'd in it . So that poor Dr. St. is left alone to ballance against all this weighty Authority ; with one Lominus , a meer Utopian or Man in the Moon ; on whose sole No-Authority he grounds all his sensless ●umnies . ] All which particulars were shewn there at large . ●enforce those Testimonials , I added [ I desire the Reader to ●ffect that those Judg●s , Approvers and Commenders of my ●ooks and Doctrin liv'd generally in diverse and far-distant 〈…〉 ions , were of different Faculties and Universities , of different 〈…〉 cations , different Orders , and ( to some degree ) of different Principles & Interests , diverse of them utterly unknown to Me , or I to Them . So that , 't is impossible to imagine that any thing but the force of Truth , & the Integrity of my way of proving the Certainty of our Faith , as to its having been taught by Jesus Christ , could make them conspire to allow or abet my Books so heartily and Unanimously . Nor could there be any Human inducements to make them so strangely partial to a Private man , every way inconsiderable , and of no Esteem at all but what my Writings and Principles gave me . ] And now , Rea 〈…〉 dmire at the Impudence of this man , and be Judge thy self 〈…〉 her he has not forsworn all Common Honesty , and renounc't 〈…〉 e , who , after all this and much more read by him in the 〈…〉 he is here Censuring , does , before any man has disprov'd 〈…〉 ttle of it , or ( I am sure ) can , in this very book of his , where 〈…〉 pretends to give a faithfull account of the Contents of each 〈…〉 e , and of the performances of each of our Controvertists , not 〈…〉 ot acquaint the Reader with this my Defence , but without Authority , nay against such an Uncontestable Authority , ven 〈…〉 o throw about his headstrong and willfull Forgeries ; as that 〈…〉 adicted my self , Eat my Words , was cited to Rome ; that what 〈…〉 e in my Letters is held there a dangerous Heresy , that no 〈…〉 of Sense will be hired to read three Pages in my Books , &c. An 〈…〉 ent sig● of a Nonplust Cause , which puts its Defenders to such 〈…〉 shifts as to have recourse to Empty Vapour , Huge Noises , 〈…〉 Notorious Li 〈…〉 ld it .

9. You proceed and tell us next , that my Letter has met with as few Readers as I have Admirers . Here also there want some Grains of Truth , for I am inform'd there are not a Hundred left of my Fifth Letter ; and sending to buy some of my First , I was told there were so few left that they are rais'd to double the price they were vended for in the beginning . Yet your Comfort is , there is no danger in the World of my Last Letter's doing any mischief , P. 41. since you do not believe it possible to hire any man of Sense to read three pages in it . Alas , poor Gentleman ! I doubt not but you have a strong Faith , which so blinds you that you cannot see how ridiculous you make your self and your Friends . You gave us to understand by telling us Dr. St. declinei the Task , that he despairs of Answering that Letter fairly and upon the Square ; and yet , when 't is so clearly Visible that the Regret that you cannot answer it vexes and galls you to the heart , you , like a right pleasant man , pretend to be much Comforted that 't is not worth the Answering . A very cheap and easy method to confute all the Books in the World . But , Sir , I am to tell you very Discomfortable news ; which is , that the best Witts of our Nation , ( to whom chiefly I write ) men not a jot inferiour to your Great Dr himself , have not only read those Letters of mine , but given such a Character of them for Unanswerable , as is not modest for me to repeat . And I have been told from a person of worth , that the very Reverend F. W. after his perusing some of my Letters , did honour them with this Elogium , that they had laid Dr. St. so flat that he would never be able to rise again . And , I am so confident of the Goodness of my cause , that I do here promise Him and the World very faithfully that I shall make his words good ; or rather , by what fol●ows here , it will appear I have done it alread● ▪ For you tell us , that A very Learned Person , in compassion , as you P. 41. suppose , to the poor headstrong-man , hath undertaken to Answer 〈…〉 only my Fifth Letter , but the other Discourses of the Romanists a 〈…〉 Tradition . As much as to say , the Dr. has enough of me . I 〈…〉 confess , Sir , this would be very Learned indeed ; for he must 〈…〉 the main passages , either confute First Principles , upon which 〈…〉sist , or else ( which is equally impossible ) shew that they d 〈…〉 stand engag'd against Dr. St's Discourse . I know you can e 〈…〉 nick-name any thing an Answer , though never so trivial or 〈…〉 from the purpose . But that we may hold to the Point 〈…〉 f●r●s●e you are flinching from , I will save your very Learn 〈…〉son a great deal of trouble ; and , if he can but shew us th 〈…〉 Christian now living has any Reason that concludes the 〈…〉 holds is the same which Christ and his Apostles taught , but by means of Tradition , I promise him I will be his Convert . This is the point in hand , and pray , Sir , let it be your care that your very Learned Person do not very Learnedly run quite away from it into Impertinent Digressions , as the most Learned Dr. St. did ; for , if he does , I shall not be so very Unlearned as to follow his Ramble .

10. But is it not very pleasant that you should talk of Compassion to me who have left your Dr. in such a pitifull and miserable Condition , that he thinks it not Creditable for him to proceed further with me himself ? I suppose he left me off , as the Representer's Antagonist did Him , or , as you Phrase it ( p. 12. ) has thought fit to give me up , as a Privileg'd Person who is past hopes of being reclaim'd ; the true English of which every Prudent Reader will guess at . It would have done well tho' to have mingled a little Charity with his Compassion ; for , certainly , he had done a great Cure to have set me to rights : For I must confess I am so headstrong as still to maintain that Errour Nonplus has shewn clearly that the Stupendiously Learned Dr. St. has never a Principle to help himself with : and the Dr. owes a Cure to this stiff-neck't humour of mine , since he contributed to it by modestly declining now these fifteen Years to answer that Book , or clear himself from being ● Man of No Principles . I am so headstrong too , that I will not let all the present Faith of Christianity be held Possible to be False , or ( which is the same ) not-True . Nay , I am so headstrong , that , when I see plainly that scarce one of my Reasons are spoken to candidly and fairly , nor so much as one of them answer'd , I will not depart from my Conclusion , because the Incomparable Dr. St. prevaricates , flouts and falsifies . You see , Sir , of what nature my Disease of headstrongness is ; and , if the more-then-very-Learned Dr. St. cannot cure me himself , I much fear your other Person , who is no more but very-Learned will scarce do any good of me .

11. However , 't is a Kindness that an Answer is promis'd me ; But by Whom ? I peremptorily Fifth Cath . Letter . p. 153 Challeng'd the Dr. Himself who is my proper Adversary ; and is he so shy to meet me and vindicate himself , when so many heavy Charges lie upon him , and particularly that heaviest of making All Christian Faith Possible to be False or ( which is the same ) not-True ? Can he have any business that more nearly concerns his Credit then this does ? Or does he hope that another Person can know his Thoughts and Reasons , and , so , defend him , better than Himself can ? Neither of these can with any Sense be thought or pretended . 't is manifest then that he is at his Wit's end how to Reply pertinently ; and therefore , seeing himself press●d closer and closer , and all his witty Evasions discover'd , he very fairly quits the Field , and sets on some perdu Bungler , furnisht with some Wit and a Plausible Invective Style , but little or no Sense ; and who has as little Credit to lose as I shall get Honour by me●dling with him ▪ and this for no other end but that it may be Trumpeted aloud to the world in your next Continuation , now Incomparably J. S. has been Answer'd . Or , in case he be of any Repute in the eye of the world , yet for fear of danger he shall keep himself invisible in his Misty Cloak , without owning his Name , but come out upon the Stage Maskt , as your Continuating self does ; and then ( as your self also , secur'd after the same manner , has now done ) he may without blushing , tell his Readers as many Falshoods as he pleases , and yet save his Credit ; for then , like a Slander got among the Gossips , none knows on whom to fix it .

12. Well , but how will this very Learned Person Answer me ? Why , you tell us he will answer me in

An Historical Discourse concerning Tradition .

Incomparable ! I demand an Answer to nine ●r ten Treatises , and particularly to my Several Reasons alledg'd in them , of which , God be prais'd , there is good store ; and this very Learned Person will undertake to Answer them All in a 〈…〉 . Was it ever heard of since the World stood , that Intrinsical Arguments or Reasons are to be answer'd by Histories ? Or , can these men give the world a Clearer Demonstration that they are perfectly baffled , than to trick-off the Direct Answers they owe to my Arguments by such an Indirect Wile ? Every Reader sees what a Candid and Clear Method I observe in all my Answers to the Dr. I take his Books and Reasons end-ways as they lie in order Page by Page ; so that if I run astray from the Question in hand , or omit any thing of weight , 't is easily discoverable , and I may be presently caught , for they know where to have me . On the other side my Adversaries can never be brought to follow any such Fair Method : But they fall to write a Treatise about some Subject , which by the common words in the Title looks a little a kin to our business ; and then they catch at some passages here and there incidentally scatter'd and disorderly Collected ; and , the true Sense and force of them , which they had as found in their due place , and the Tenour of the Discourse being lost or perverted , they fall to play upon those words ; but where the Answer is to all the Particular Reasons contain'd in my Book , we may go look . Something is sleightly and wittily said to a few scraps of it , but the Main , or the Book it self , is left unspoken to . This untoward Method has been exactly follow'd by Dr. Tillotson throughout his Rule of Faith , and in his Preface to his Sermons ; and the same is most Religiously obferv'd by Dr. St in his late pretended Answer to some of my Letters ; and particularly in his Examination of the Council of Trent , where he runs quite away from the whole business , as is shewn , Fifth Cath . Letter . p. 152 153.

13. But , since this odd kind of Historian has undertaken to pay Dr. St's Debts , 't is but fitting I should give him a atalogue of them .

Imprimis , He owes me an Answer to the many Arguments in Faith Vindicated , demonstrating that the Rule by which we are to know what hrist taught , must be Impossible to be False , or Infallible . This was apply'd in the Inferences at the End of that Treatise against the two Great Doctors ; and it was shown there ( I dare tell them ) Unanswerably , that unless they can confute That Book ( which I am sure they dare not fairly Attempt ) all they do write or can write of Controversy is at once quite overthrown . Since if it be made good that Christian Faith must have such Conclusive Motives or such a Rule to establish it , and recommend it to those who are to embrace it , and they have none such , nay disclaim the having any such Rule , they can never prove it True , that any thing which themselves , or any else , do now hold , is indeed Christ's Doctrine .

Item , he owes me an Answer to Errour Nonplust , which prov'd him to be A Man of No Principles and to the several Discourses against each of those pre●ended Principles of his respectively : for which I have less reason to forbear him any longer , because he has in this long Term of Fifteen years , ( at least , ) Endeavour'd to clear some other debts , but never went about to pay me one single Farthing ; which was very Unconscionable .

Item , He owes me an Answer to my Method , Printed at the end of Errour-Nonplust ; which comprises the summ of my Doctrine about Tradition , and reduces it to First Principles ; which , therefore , since such Principles will not be brought to Contradict One another , Dr. St. is the most proper man in the World to Oppose and Answer , as having No Principles at all .

Item , He owes me an Answer to my First and Third Letters : in regard he has omitted to speak to See Fifth Cath . Letter . p. 154. 155. 156 and p. 164. to p. 173 Thirty Nine parts of Forty in them ; and his pretended Answer to the single Fortieth part , has been shown in my Fifth Letter to be none .

Item , He owes me an Answer to my Second Letter ; ●bid . p. 156. to p. 165. the Reflecter , being , ( poor man ! ) non-selvent .

Item , He owes me an Full Answer to my Fourth Letter laying open the Vanity of his Insignificant Guildhall-Hall Sermon ; to which he has hitherto said Nothing . I add , nor ever can , with the least show of Reason .

Item , He owes me a Compleat , Distinct and Direct answer to my whole Fifth Letter , & all the several Discourses in it ; to which , if we may trust you , he now declines to speak .

Lastly , he owes me an Account why , in his Appendix to Dr. T's Rule of Faith , he undertook to confute Tradition , and yet wilfully mistook the Nature of the Thing he was to impugn ; as is shown Fifth Gath . Letter , p. 6. and 7. which renders that whole Appendix Insignificant .

14. Now , Sir , since 't is Impossible that all the Books concerning Tradition can with any sense be said to be answer'd , till the Particular Reasons they insist on be distinctly reply'd to ; and 't is ridiculous to expect this from a Historical Discourse , I see we must set our hearts at rest and expect no Answer at all but only some sleeveless Discourse by a very large Synecdoche , or rather a far-stretcht Catachresis , miscall'd an Answer . However , I shall demand this Justice of you , that you would put down all these particular Treatises as unanswer'd in an Appendix to this your Continuation of the present State of the Controversy ( as you ridiculously call it , by the same figure as the French Parson call'd the Devill The man of the Sin ) And do not brag that Dr. T's Rule of Faith is not yet reply'd to ; for , besides what has been done already , I am ●nform'd it will be punctually and particularly Answer'd : And , to requite your kindness , I hope by that time you write your next , to help you with some others to furnish out your Narrative , and make you stand in need of some new Falshoods and Invectives to save the Credit of your Freinds , who are so laudably and meritoriously employ'd in maintaining that the faith of all Christians in the world may be a Ly . If your Historicall Discourser fails of this performance , I shall not leave the Point or the Question to dance after his impertinent Voluntaries . It will , in that case , be an abundant satisfaction to the world that I show by detail what he has left unreply'd to , & still insist upon a full & direct Answer to my several Reasons or Discourses . But pray tell him that scorn-full Jeers and Open Falshoods , tho' never so briskly , and confidently deliver'd , are no competent Answers to Arguments , and I have reason to fear he will bring no other , or rather I am sure he cannot .

15. I would gladly find some way to save your Friends this vast Labour , and excuse them from this Impossible Task : Wherefore , since 't is Unmercifull to press poor Debtors to pay more than they are able , therefore out of Compassion to your head-strong Party , I will come to this fair composition with them ; that if Dr. St. can answer me but one single Argument which I will bring to prove , that he cannot , by his Principles , maintain it to be True , that what you or Any now hold is Christ's Doctrine , nor consequently that the present Christian Faith it self is True : Also , if he can bring but One Argument himself , which ( according to his Principles ) does conclude that what he or any other Christian now holds , is Christs Do●trin , and , so , True , I will pardon the Vast Sums he owes me , ●nd quit all scores between us ; nay more I will acknowledge ●ll the Guilded Bubbles in your frothy Books to be solid sense , ●nd make you Publick Satisfaction for having oppos'd you hi●herto . I hope the Reader will think there was never in the world a kinder Creditour , considering the long scroll of what he is indebted to me for , and how long much of it has been due . Your Argument I am to expect . Mine is ready ; premising ●irst this Lemma , that

[ What 's True is ( in our case ) Impossible to be False . ] For , ●e are not speaking here of future Contingents , or of such cases where the Changeableness of the matter may vary the Truth of the Proposition as affirm'd at Present , but of what has determinately past or not past ; whence what truly has been Taught by Christ is impossible now not to have been Taught by him . This Evident Truth fore-laid , I argue thus .

No Proof from Reason that does not Evidently conclude , nor Testimony that is Fallible , can prove a thing Impossible to be false .

Therefore no such Proof or Testimony can prove a thing to be True . Lemma .