A _Dispute_ betwixt a _Doctor_, a _Vint’ner_ and a _Botcher_.
There was a _Vint’ner_ and a _Botcher_ Challeng’d a _Doctor of Divinity_
to a Tryal of Skill in his own Trade. He Ask’d them by whom they’d be
Try’d? They’d be Try’d by the _Text_ they said. The Thing was Agreed, and
the Time Set, and so they brought their _Geneva_ Bibles along with them.
The Doctor told them by way of Preface, that though St. _Paul fought
with Beasts at_ Ephesus, _it was not the Fashion for his Followers to
Fight with_ Beasts _in_ England; _and therefore if they could not prove
themselves to be_ Men, _he’d have nothing to do with them_. They stood
upon their Pantoufles, that _Men_ they were, and that _Men_ he should
find ’em to be; and they were ready to cast the Cause upon that Issue.
That’s well, says the Doctor to one of ’em, and _pray’e what are you for
a Man in the First place_? I am a _Vint’ner_, says t’other. _Very Good_,
quoth the Doctor, _and do you ever put New Wine into Old Bottles_? Yea,
I do so, says the _Vint’ner_. _Then_, says the Doctor, _You are no_ Man;
for the _Text_ says, that _No Man putteth New Wine into Old Bottles_. I
shall now come to your Companion; _Pray’e, will you tell me Friend, what
are you for a Man_? I am, says t’other, _a Taylor_. Alias a _Botcher_, I
suppose, quoth the Doctor. _Put the Case now that my Doublet were out at
the Elbows, and I have no more of the Old Cloth to Patch it up withal,
could you Mend it d’ye think?_ Yea, quoth the _Botcher_, I could get
_New Cloth_ to Mend it. _Why then_, says the Doctor, _You are no_ Man
_neither; for you shall find it in_ Another Text, _that No Man putteth
New Cloth into an Old Garment_, so that you are both Beaten here at your
own Weapons; for here are _Two Texts_, to prove that _You Two_ are No
Men; which is but according to your own Rule and Method of Interpreting
Scripture.
The MORAL.
_This Fable strikes at the Ridiculous License of Prophane Intermedlers
in Holy Matters; that is to say, a sort of Illiterate Enthusiasts, and
Mechanicks, that without either Authority or Skill, will be Correcting_
Magnificat, _and setting up the Phantome of New Lights against the
Doctrin of Christ and his Apostles_.