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Ebook has 105 lines and 137782 words, and 3 pages
Thomas Woolston
DEFENCES OF HIS DISCOURSES 1727-1730
Garland Publishing, Inc., New York & London
In VIEW of the Present Controversy between INFIDELS and APOSTATES.
The Fifth Edition.
TO THE
Right Reverend Father in God
MY LORD,
In treating on these Heads, I shall not confine my self only to Reason, but also to the express Authority of the Fathers, those holy, venerable, and learned Preachers of the Gospel in the first Ages of the Church, who took our Religion from the Hands of the Apostles, and of apostolical Men, who dy'd, some of them, and suffer'd for the Doctrine they taught; who professedly and confessedly were endu'd with divine and extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit; who consequently can't be supposed to be Corrupters of Christianity, or Teachers of false Notions about the Miracles of our Saviour, or so much as mistaken about the apostolical and evangelical Sense and Nature of them. I know not how it comes to pass, but I am a profound Admirer, and an almost implicit Believer of the Authority of the Fathers, whom I look upon as vast Philosophers, very great Scholars, and most orthodox Divines. Whatever they concurrently assert, I firmly believe. And tho' they are, for the most part, mysterious Writers out of the Reach of the Capacities of many, who slight them; yet I, who have had the Honour and Happiness of much of their Acquaintance, fancy my self well apprised of their Meanings. If at any time I read a Passage in them which I don't presently apprehend, I salute it with Veneration for all that, till my Understanding is opened to receive the Sense of it. If I meet with but a single Opinion in any one of them, I pay my Respects to it; but where there is an Harmony and Agreement of Opinion amongst them, it is with me, and ought to be with all Christians, of such Weight, as to bear down all Prejudice, Opposition, and Contradiction before it; or the Authority of no Man, whether ancient or modern, is to have any Regard paid to it; and of what ill Consequence to Religion such an utter Rejection of Authority will be, I need not say.
I am sorry for the Occasion of such a Preface against Offence, which the Apostacy of the Age, and its Unacquaintedness with the Fathers, has made necessary. So I enter upon the particular handling of the Heads foregoing. And,
~FOOTNOTES:
Page 44.
Page 53.
In VIEW of the present Controversy between INFIDELS and APOSTATES.
MY LORD,
None of the Fathers ever trouble themselves, when they speak of this Miracle, about the Nature of the Disease, literally, in this Woman, or the greatness of the Cure of it; but alone bend their Studies to the mystical Interpretation, for the sake of which, this Evangelical Story was written, and originally transacted.
But no more of this silly Story according to the Letter. To point at it is enough to expose it to the considerate and unprejudiced. I could not help saying so much as I have; because it is necessary to form some Invective against the Letter, to make way for the Reception of the mystical and allegorical Interpretation of it, which I am now to speak to.
~FOOTNOTES:
In VIEW of the Present Controversy between INFIDELS and APOSTATES.
The Third Edition.
TO THE
Right Reverend Father in GOD
Lord Bishop of St. DAVID'S.
MY LORD,
My two former Discourses having met with a favourable Reception, I am encourag'd to go on and publish another; which, without any more Preface, I enter upon, by a Repetition of three general Heads, at first proposed to be spoken to, and they were,
Tho' I have already, spoken what may be thought sufficient, to the first of these Heads; yet I have several Things still, both from Reason and Authority, to add to it; but having not here a convenient Place for that purpose, I defer it to a better Opportunity; and so pass immediately to the Resumption of my
And thus have I finish'd my Invective against the Letter of this Story; which, if any are offended at, they enjoy, what is the most reasonable Thing in the World, the same Liberty to write for the Letter, which I have used against it: And so I pass to the Consideration of the Opinions and Expositions of the Fathers on this strange Story.
FOOTNOTES:
Chap. xiii.
Defence of Christianity, P. 415.
In VIEW of the Present Controversy between INFIDELS and APOSTATES.
The Third Edition.
MY LORD,
Whether it be not manifest, that the Literal and Evangelical Story of these Miracles, from what I have argu'd and reason'd upon them, does not consist of Absurdities, Improbabilities, and Incredibilities, according to the Proposition before us, let my Readers judge; and so I come to the Consideration of
~FOOTNOTES:
John. ix.
John ii.
Luke ii. 48.
In Lib. de Abrahamo.
Matt. ix. Mark ii. Luke v.
In VIEW of the Present Controversy between INFIDELS and APOSTATES.
The Second Edition.
MY LORD,
FOOTNOTES:
Mat. ix. Mark v. Luke viii.
Luke vii.
John xi.
John xxi. 25.
In Epist. prima ad Corinth. Cap. xxv.
Matt. xviii. 2.
In Nicephor. Callist. Eccl. Hist. L. ii. c. 35.
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