THE PEDALTO INSTITUTION FOR INCORPORATED ART

 
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MINISTRY OF ADMINISTRATION

DIRECTOR   Bernard Vanderbussy

ABOUT

I,perswaded by reasons of another nature, do verily believe, that there is nothing moire pernicious, nothing more destructive to the well-being of Men, or to the Saltation of our Souls, than the Arts and Sciences themselves. And therefore quite contrary to what has been hitherto practized , my Opinion is*, That these Arts and Sciences are so far from being to be extoll'd with such high applauses and Panegyricks, that they are rather for the most part to be disprais'd and viliti'd : And that indeed there is none which does not merit just cause of Reproof and Censure , nor any one which of it self deserves any praise or commendation, unless what it may borrow from the Ingenuity and Virtue of the first possessor. However, I would have you take this Opinion of mine in that modest Construction, which may imagine,that I neither go about to reprehend those who are of a contrary judgment, or that I intend to arrogate any thing singly singular to my self,above others: Therefore I shall entreat you to suspend your Censure of me, differing in this one thing from all others; so long as you find me laying an auspicious Foundation of proofj not upon Vulgar Arguments drawn from the Superficies and out-fide of things, but upon the most firm reasons dedue'd from the most hidden bowels of secret- Knowledge j and this not in the sharp stile of Demotihenex or CbrysippHs, which may not so well beseem a Professor of Christianity, but would rather shew me to be a vain pursuer of Battery and ostentation, while 1 endeavour to varnish my Speech with the Fucus's of Eloquence. For to speak Properly, not Rhetorically, to intend the truth of the Matter, not the ornament of Languages the duty of one Protesting Sacred Literature. For the feat of Truth is not in the Tongue, but in the Heart.