A30189:192
An answer to two treatises of Mr. John Can, the leader of the English…An answer to two treatises of Mr. Iohn Can, the leader of the English…
An answer to two treatises of Mr. John Can, the leader of the English Brownists in Amsterdam the former called, A necessity of separation from the Church of England, proved by the Nonconformists principles : the other, A stay against straying : wherein in opposition to M. John Robinson, he undertakes to prove the unlawfulness of hearing the ministers of the Church of England ... / by the late learned, laborious and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, John Ball.An answer to two treatises of Mr. Iohn Can, the leader of the English Brownists in Amsterdam the former called, A necessitie of separation from the Church of England, proved by the Nonconformists principles : the other, A stay against straying : wherein in opposition to M. Iohn Robinson, he undertakes to prove the unlawfulnesse of hearing the ministers of the Church of England ... / by the late learned, laborious and faithfull servant of Jesus Christ, John Ball.
London: printed by R.B., 1642
Chapter 1 › Section 4 › CAN. Stay against Stray. Sect. 3, pag. 17, 18. › ANSWER.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But first you should call to mind what you answer to your opposite. 1As for your bare saying, it is far from proof. To affirm or deny (according to Aristotle) is of no consequence. We cannot take his bare saying, de jure & fide, to be a rule of faith to us. For our consciences are not (like Samsons shoulders) strong enough to bear it. If it may suffice to accuse, who shall be innocent? And if the cause may be carried with clamours and out-cries, you are sure to win the victory.
But first you should call to minde what you answere to your opposite. 1As for your bare saying, it is farre from proofe. To affirme or denie (according to Aristorie) is of no consequence. Wee cannot take his bare saying, de jure & fide, to be a rule of faith to us. For our consciences are not (like Samsons shoulders) strong enough to beare it. If it may suffice to accuse, who shall be innocent? And if the cause may be carried with clamors and out-cryes, you are sure to winne the victory.
- 1CAN. Stay. §. 3. p. 20 Arist. de interpret. l. 1. c. 6. prapter nostr•m •ffirmare vel negare nihil sequitur. CAN. Stay. §. 7. p. 89.
2 Suppose our Church and Ministry be an Idol in some respect, it is not a real Idol, but Metaphorical, not absolute, but in some consideration: for the Word preached, and the Sacraments Administered in our societies, are the true Gospel, and entire Sacraments of Jesus Christ; which could not be, if our Church and Ministry was absolutely an Idol, a mere nothing. But to draw illimited conclusions, from a real Idol, to a Metaphorical, from an absolute Idol, to an Idol in some consideration or respect, is a new Logic never taught in the Schools, nor learned from the Scriptures.