A Defence of the Dissertation on the Validity of the English Ordinations, by the Author of the Dissertation - Softcover

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1728 Excerpt: ... reconciled with them; or if in order to restore their authority, it was absolutely necessary to remove that opposition, I should vainly endeavour to justify the genuiness of the Registers, and secure their authentickness: But at this rate it would follow that ignorance, prejudices, and want of enquiry and information, would be sufficient to discredit the most cre, dible monuments. If ever such a rule of criticisim should be allowed, could any Fact in the world be proved? We fee every day Facts altered'and disfigured by those who relate them. Can those oversights of private men weaken the authority of publick Acts? And must we doubt of every thing, because Writers have often relied upon mere reports, without proving the Facts published without any examination? A man who seeks truth, can very well discern among that mixture of unaccuracies what is certain; and the authority of those Writers of a bad stamp, was never made use of to discredit publick monuments, and attested by reputable Historians.. The Reader has already seen in the Dissertation, and will see it better still hereafter, how the name of Richard instead of John crept into the Letters Patent, and how that fault might have been mended in the Lambeth Register. It were needless to repeat here what shall be said upon this head. I shall only observe that this opposition is, perhaps, the plainest proof of the integrity with which that Register has' been preserved; since nothing was more, easy than to leave the word Richard, it there had been a design to deceive the Publick by a seeming resemblance. But they did not so much as think of it, and were so fond of truth, that they rather chose to seem to contradict themselves than to do any thing inconsistent with faithfulness. Now let Writers differ, if th...

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