Six Discourses on the Miracles of Our Saviour, and Defences of His Discourses

by Thomas Woolston

t Last, one Volume of Bishop Smalbroke's mountainous Work, that the Press has been so long pregnant with, is brought forth: And I don't doubt, but it answers the Expectations of the Clergy, who will extol it to the Skies, and applaud it to the Populace, as an absolute Confutation of my Discourses; but I would advise them, if it be not too late, not to be too profuse in their Commendations of it, for fear that an Occasion should be given them to blush for their want of Judgment. We have had Instances of Books before now (and one very remarkable, in the Case of Boyle against Bently) that have met with a general Approbation, till they have been sifted into, and upon Examination found empty; and it is not impossible, but this of the Bishop before us, may meet with the same Fate.

I had conceived a great Opinion of this Bishop's Learning and Abilities, and, if he had not sent[338] two simple Harbingers before-hand, should have been so apprehensive of his Acuteness, that nothing, but a thorough Persuasion of the Goodness of my Cause, and of my Power to defend it, could have kept me from Flight before him. But I stand my Ground, and shall, against greater Adversaries than this Bishop, who has more weakly and maliciously attack'd me, than you'd have been expected from one of his reputed Candour and Learning; and given me greater Advantages to insult and triumph over him, than I could wish or desire.

Many other little Whifflers in Divinity have before attack'd me with their Squibs and Squirts from the Press, but I despised them all, as unworthy of my particular Regard and Notice, reserving my self for Defence against this Bishop's grand Assault; when, by the by, I might have an Opportunity to animadvert on one or other of them. Some of these Whifflers, like Men of Honour, have set their Names to their Works; others very prudently have concealed their Names, which, upon the best Enquiry I could make, I have not been able to discover, or I had given them a Rebuke for their Impudence and Slanders. It may be wonder'd, that any polemical Authors, especially when they write on the orthodox and establish'd Side of the Question, should conceal themselves, and that they are not tempted with the Hopes of Reward and Applause to make themselves known. I will say what I think here, that it's never Modesty in such anonymous Authors (for we Scribblers in Divinity, whatever we may pretend, have always a good Conceit of our selves) but Apprehensions of a sharp Reply to their Dishonour. And this is the true Reason, why some of my Adversaries industriously conceal themselves, knowing that they are guilty of wilful and malicious Lies and Calumnies, which I should chastise them for. But, as their Names are supprest, they know, it's to no Purpose for me to expose their Malice, because no body can be put to shame for it.

The Bishop of St. David's acts here a more glorious Part: He comes not behind me, like other Cowards, to give me a secret Knock on the Pate, but like a courageous Champion, looks me in the Face, and admonishes me to stand upon my Guard. This is bravely done in him! And I have no Fault to find, but that he is providing himself with Seconds in the Controversy, I mean the Civil Powers, and calling upon them to destroy me, before the Battle is well begun, and whether he gets the better of me or not. This is not fairly nor honourably done of the Bishop, and I have Reason to complain of it. Tho' I think my self equal, if not superior in the Dispute, to any of our Bishops, yet I am not a Match for the King's Power, neither would I lift up my Hand, or use my Pen against him for all the World. If the Bishop will yield to a fair Combat, and desire the Civil Authority to stand by and see fair Play between us, I will engage with him upon any Terms. But to make the Civil Powers Parties in our Quarrel, and to bespeak them, right or wrong, to favour his Side, is intolerable, and what we spiritual Gladiators ought to abhor and detest.

I liked the Bishop, when he proposed to the Queen to be Arbitress of our Controversy. As I will not here question her Qualifications to judge in it, so the first Opportunity I have of waiting on her Majesty, I will join my Requests to her to accept of the Trouble and Office. After she has fix'd the Terms of Disputation, and thought of a proper Reward for the Victor, or a Punishment for the Conquer'd, then will we proceed, and either dispute the Matter from the Press, or scold it out in the Queen's Presence, as she shall think it most conducive to the Edification of herself, and of her Court-Ladies.

But the Bishop's Proposal here, and Compliment on the Queen, is but the Copy of his Countenance. He'll submit to no Arbitration: No, no, he's for having the Civil Powers to be immediate Executioners (without further hearing what I have to say for my self) of his Wrath and Vengeance upon me. He's for having them to take it for granted, that he has proved me an Infidel and Blasphemer, and would have them to inflict some exemplary Punishment upon me, so as to incapacitate me for ever writing more. Wherefore else does he say thus?[339] "Indeed a more proper Occasion cannot possibly happen in a Nation, where Christianity is establish'd by human Laws, to invigorate the Zeal of the Magistrate, in putting the Laws in Execution against so flagrant a Sort of Profaneness, that tramples with such Indignity on the Grounds of the Christian Faith; and to convince the World that the Minister of that God, who is so highly affronted, bears not the Sword in vain. And certainly the Higher Powers have great Reason to exert their Authority on this and the like Occasions."

I was astonish'd at this Passage, with some others, in the Bishop's Dedication, and could hardly believe my Eyes when I read it; that a Scholar, a Christian, and a Protestant Bishop, should breath so much Fury and Fire for the kindling again of Smithfield Faggots! That any Thing of human Shape should so thirst after that Destruction of another, which would turn to the Ruin of his own Reputation and Honour! Does the Bishop believe that he has clearly confuted me, or does he not? If he believes, and others know that I am absolutely confuted, then there's an End of the Controversy, the Danger of my blasphemous Books is over; and why should I undergo any Punishment, which would move the Compassion of many, and give a greater Reputation to my Writings than they do deserve? Does the Bishop think he has confuted me? This is Honour and Triumph enough to him; who, of all Men, should not desire me to be otherwise punish'd, for fear of getting the Character of a merciless and implacable Conqueror. Am I in my own Opinion confuted and baffled? This would be Pain and Mortification enough, even worse than Death. For, however we polemical Writers may pretend a Readiness to part with our Errors upon Conviction, as if we could easily yield to our Adversaries, yet it goes to the Hearts of us to be out-done in Reason and Argument. As it is said of Bishop Stillingfleet, that, being sensible of his Insufficiency to contend with Mr. Lock, he grieved and pined away upon it: So I, upon Supposition the Bishop of St. David's has confuted me, must not only necessarily afflict my self, but undergo the Shame of the Reproaches of the People, for my wicked and impotent Efforts to subvert their Religion: And what would the Bishop have more? He could desire no more, if he had absolutely confuted me: But it's plain he dares not trust to his own Confutation of me; it's plain he's afraid of, what he is conscious may be made, a smart Reply to him, and therefore he calls upon the Civil Magistrate for his Help to prevent it.

After that the Bishop of London had publish'd his Pastoral Letter, and it was reported that the Bishop of St. David's was preparing a strenuous Vindication of the litteral Story of Jesus's Miracles, I concluded that the Prosecution would immediately be dropp'd, and that the Clergy were betaking themselves to that Christian, Rational, and Philosophical Course of Confutation, and would no longer make use of Persecution, which is the Armour of hot, furious, and ignorant Bigots. And there is one Passage in the Bishop's Pastoral Letter, which I interpreted as a Grant of full Liberty; but, whether I am apt to mistake the Sense of the Fathers of the Primitive Church or not, I find I did misconstrue the Words of a Father of our English Church, and turn'd them to another and better Purpose than he aim'd at. His Words are these[340] "And as to the blasphemous manner, in which a late Writer has taken the Liberty to treat our Saviour's Miracles, and the Author of them; tho' I am far from contending, that the Grounds of the Christian Religion, and the Doctrines of it, may not be discuss'd at all Times in a calm, decent, and serious Way (on the contrary, I am sure that the more fully they are discuss'd, the more firmly they will stand) yet I cannot but think it the Duty of the Civil Magistrate, at all Times, to take Care that Religion be not treated in a ludicrous or reproachful Manner, and effectually to discourage such Books and Writings as strike equally at the Foundation of all Religion, &c." What the Bishop of L. here says, of his thinking it the Duty of the Civil Magistrate at all Times, to take Care that Religion be not treated in a ludicrous manner, I understood as an Excuse for what he had done in stirring up the Civil Magistrate to a Prosecution of me; and that now, like a Philosopher, he was for letting Truth and Religion to take its Course, and for leaving it to a free Discussion, whether in a ludicrous or in a calm, decent or serious Way. But I confess, I have mistaken the Bishop's Words, finding by Experience, that (for all the natural Import of his Expression, that Liberty should be used to discuss the Grounds of Religion in a serious Manner) he'll no more suffer it, if he can help it, to be contested in a serious, than in a ludicrous Way; wherefore else did he move for the Prosecution of a late London Journal, which was all calm, decent, and serious Argument. And the Bishop of St. David's his furious Dedication now, confirms me in this Opinion, that our Clergy (for all their preaching up Liberty with as much Force and Strength of Reason as any Men, and for all their Invitations to Infidels, to say and print their worst against Christianity) will by no means, if they can hinder it, suffer any Attacks to be made upon their Religion, nor cease their Importunities and Solicitations of the Civil Magistrate to Persecution. Blessed be God, the Bishops are not my Judges as well as my Accusers, or I know, what would become of me.