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A67644
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A defence of the doctrin and holy rites of the Roman Catholic Church from the calumnies and cavils of Dr. Burnet's Mystery of iniquity unveiled wherein is shewed the conformity of the present Catholic Church with that of the purest times, pagan idolatry truly stated, the imputation of it clearly confuted, and reasons are given why Catholics avoid the Reformation : with a postscript to Dr. R. Cudworth / by J. Warner of the Soc. of Jesus.
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Warner, John, 1628-1692.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing W907; ESTC R38946
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162,881
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338
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Duke d'Alva did in a short time cut down Thirty six thousand Answ Grotius was an eminent Man for several things but not renowned for his Skill in Arithmetick I have heard from one well acquainted with him that he could not count Ten that he knew not the ordinary currant Mony of his Country that when he escaped out of Prison he had like to have been discovered by a Ferry-man by that ignorance he was so noted for it So I should not wonder that he were mistaken in his Calculation of so many thousands Secondly It is probable he reckons into the number of those butchered such as perished in the Boors War in Germany and Wars of the Low-Countries whose Death must be put to the Account of their Rebellion not to that of Religion Thirdly he writ in favor and defence of the States Cause to whose vindication it was necessary that the Motives of their taking Arms against their Sovereign should be aggravated to the utmost We all remember the infamous Inscription put over the Niche where the Statue of the late King of Happy Memory stood All the World knows that without any disparagement to the rest There never before had been a King who less deserved such a Title yet no doubt had that usurped Government continued Stories would have been invented to prove it and those concerned in the Rebellion would have believed them as you do Grotius Lastly Suppose all Grotius says true it follows only that it was the Misfortune of those great Princes to have many Offenders in that kind in their time provoke the Sword of Justice As if in England a Spirit of Thieving should spread it self amongst the People for which in the time of the best of Kings many suffer yet without reflecting on the Honor of the King or Equity of the Laws These are not Crimes of the Government but Misfortunes for which Princes are to be pitied not reproched with them CHAP. XXVIII Zeal of Souls in our Bishops And concerning Reformers Where of S. Cyran Arnaud and Jansenius G. B. p. 111. WHAT do Popes about Feeding of Souls When do they Preach the Gospel or Dispence the Sacraments Answ They do it daily by all those Persons who by Authority derived from them do it As our Kings Administer Justice by their Judges And did you enquire of those who have been at Rome you would hear that Popes do Administer Sacraments in Person Ibidem Cardinals Bishops and Abbots imitate their Holy Father abandoning wholly the Work of the Gospel Answ You cannot discover better who is your Master and what a Proficient you are in his School than by venting such palpable Untruths Cardinal Barbarin Dean of the Sacred Colledge hath been known to accompany many times Malefactors to the Gallows heard their Confessions moved them to a detestation of the Sins which brought them to that Punishment raised them up to hopes of pardon thrô the Merits of our Blessed Saviour and comfort them with hopes of a happy Life after that tragical end of this I name him in particular because he is known to many of our Nation who have and do acknowledge his Civility to them althô of a different Persuasion In time of the great Plague under Alexander VII he visited in Person Places Infected enquired after the Wants informed of the Diligence of the Officers appointed for the Relief of the Sick and provided according as Occasions required both for Soul and Body S. Charles Borromeus a Cardinal and Archbishop gave so great Examples of Pastoral Vigilancy and Apostolical Zeal that none of our Reformed Prelates ever will imitate them Your Confidence is admirable in relating such evident Untruths which all who have seen France or Flanders can contradict Enquire of the Life of the present Lord Bishop of Gant of several in France and if you have one ounce of good Blood in your Body some of it will appear on your Face G. B. pag. 112. I deny not but even these last Ages have produced great Men amongst the Papists who seem to have designed the reviving of the ancient Discipline both among the Clergy and the People But as these Instances are rare so they were hated and persecuted witness Arnaud 's Book of the frequent Communion Jansenius and S. Cyran Answ There is no Pretence more dangerous or even fatal both to Church and State than that of Reforming Abuses and Reviving antiquated Laws which serves every Pragmatical Head assoon as he hath read the ancient Statutes or Canons thô he understands the Sense of neither to detract from the present Government and if by meeting others as rash as himself he is enabled for such a Work to endeavor the change of it under the specious Pretext of Reformation You must own the truth of this unless you will justifie the late Rebellion in England which was begun carried on and finished under that Colour The Opinions Men are as different as their Faces scarce ever two alike Education Diet Company Friends Business and other extrinsick Occasions alter our Judgment of things many more have influence on our Judgment of Governments but most of all Love and Hatred have an imperceptible yet unresistible force over our Understanding so that one and the same Action will to one seem to deserve a Panegyrick which to another shall be the Subject of a Satyr meerly because they are variously affected to the Person who acts Some in fine are so wayward humorsom and peevish as to be displeased with whatever is done by others who can agree with no body not because every body gives but because they take from every body occasions of offences It is a great error to think that every one who blames another hath reason for it No Man ever was so holy so persect so wise as to satisfie every body and find no Momus who blamed him S. Paul was held a Blasphemer and an Enemy not only to the Ephesian Diana Act. 9. but also to the Temple of Jerusalem Act. 24. What less guilty than the Apostles yet some thought to do God good service in killing them Joh. 16.2 What more innocent than Jesus newly born yet he was forced to a Flight to save his Life Mat. 2.13 What less reprehensible than his Doctrin his Manners his Miracles his Person yet his Doctrin hath been accused of Blasphemy Mat. 26.65 his Manners of Gluttony Mat. 11.19 his Miracles of Magick Luc. 11.15 and his Person of being beside himself Mar. 3.31 None ever had a Mission from Heaven with more convincing Proofs of Miracles than Moses and Christ yet both had their Schismaticks Moses not only Core and his Fellows but also Aaron and Mary and Christ had the Capharnaits Scribes and Pharisees and one of his Apostles And if we do not shut our Ears we shall hear God himself by horrid Blasphemies censured for bad Governing the World and even for not Creating it well Man by a presumptuous Folly preferring his own dim Lights before the inaccessible Light of God
verisimile est ut tot ac tantae Ecclesiae in unam fidem erraverint Nullus inter multos eventus est unus exitus variasse debuerat error doctrinae Ecclesiarum Caeterùm quod apud multos unum invenitur non est erratum sed traditum Suppose says he that all Churches have erred that the Apostle was deceived in the Testimony he gave to some the Holy Ghost looked to none to lead it into Truth to which intent he was sent by the Son and demanded of the Father to be the Doctor of Truth Let the Steward of God the Vicar of Christ neglect his Duty and permit the Churches to understand and believe otherwise than he had taught by his Apostles Is it probable that all Churches should by Error fall into one and the same Opinion When there are so many By-ways those who lose the High-way would scarce wander into the same Error So that certainly what is found one and the same in many Churches is no Error newly invented but it is Faith of old delivered Thus Tertullian Answer you to his Discourse if you can G. B. pag. 108. A late ingenious Writer whose sincere Zeal had drawn Censures on himself and his Book took a way to repair his Reputation by a new Method of proving Popish Doctrins that they had them from their Ancestors they from theirs But this pretence hath been baffled by Mr. Claud as all know who have been so happy as to read his Works Answ I am persuaded that your Prelates will scarce think it sincere zeal in Mr. Arnaud of him you speak that he stood out so long against his Spiritual and Temporal Superiors But let that pass You discover your Ignorance in saying that Method was new or that Arnaud invented it Mr. Tho. White had it before Arnaud Mr. Fisher a Jesuit before T. W. Bellarmin before him and S. Austin S. Stephen Pope and Tertullian before them all I have read Mr. Claud's Works and was far from finding so much Satisfaction as you promise your Reader I believe rather upon Hear-say than on your own Experience Nay I have from one of the eminentest Wits of the French Hugenots that Claud was not much esteemed amongst his own for those Works which would have been neglected had not Arnaud's Enemies commended them You say Claud Baffled him others are of a different opinion I confess Mr. Arnaud thô very Learned yet seemed not qualified to manage a Controversie in defence of Church-Authority and Tradition having as much as lay in him weakned both by his Writings and Practice during the time he stood out against the Censure and the Formula which gave such advantage to Mr. Claud who industriously gathered together and cunningly returned upon him his own Arguments that some thought he had foiled his Adversary yet without any prejudice to the Catholic Cause which is not concerned in Mr. Arnaud's Personal Failings Let us now hear what you can alledge against the Authority of Tradition to prove a Change unobserved in our Faith. G. B. pag. 121. We know the Chalice was taken from the People 250 Years ago Answ 1. You are mistaken in your Epocha S. Thom. 3. p. q 80. a. 12. assures it was in his time taken away in many Places and he lived 400 Years ago and from the beginning some Persons and on some Occasions received but one Species 2. This is an Argument that Changes cannot happen without some notice taken of them as in this We know when it begun with the Schools who opposed it the Hussits what Council commended it and condemned its Opposers that of Constance Which confirms our Rule That when none of this appears there hath been no Change. G. B. ibid. All once Worshipped in their Mother Tongue but after by the overthrow of the Empire the Latin Tongue decayed the barbarous Worship was obtruded on the World. Answ This proves a Change in the People whose Language was spoiled with the mixture of barbarous Terms not in the Service which continued the same it continuing in Latin as it was before that Inundation of Barbarians G. B. pag. 122. We know that for the first seven Centuries the Christian World abhorred Images Answ In what Age did S. Gregory the Great live Sure within the first seven Centuries And he Lib. 7. Epist 109. Lib. 9. Epist 8. rebuked Serenus Bishop of Marseilles for casting them out of the Church Was not S. Austin within the first seven Centuries He Lib. 1. Consens Evang. cap. 10. speaks of the Pictures of Christ and the holy Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul. Thus I have pass'd your three Instances to prove a Change in the Faith of the Church which you usher in with that emphatical Term We KNOW If you have many other such Points of KNOWLEDGE for the Divertisement of the Learned World I wish you to publish them I am persuaded few besides your self know such things most know them to be false CHAP. XXXI Revelations and Miracles G. B. p. 123. THE Papist Church pretends to Revelations for some of her most doubtful Opinions which are the Visions and extraordinary Inspirations of some of their Saints from which they vouch a Divine Confirmation to their Doctrin Answ If you know of any Decree made in matter of Faith upon a private Revelation shew it Till you do so I will not believe it S. Tho. 1. p. q. 1. a. 8. ad 2. absolutely excludes all private Revelations from grounding Faith. Innititur Fides nostra revelationi factae Apostolis Prophetis non autem revelationi si qua fuit aliis Doctoribus facta Our Faith relies on Revelations made to the Apostles and Prophets and not on such as are made to other Doctors G. B. pag. 124. S. Paul being put to glory of Visions and Revelationt was to run back fourteen Years for one Ans S. Paul says that he had fourteen Years before that great Revelation but he never said he had no others either before or after And that Revelations were not so extraordinary in his Days as you think not only amongst the Apostles but even amongst ordinary Christians you may learn out of S. Paul 1 Cor. 14.30 32. If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his peace for you may all Prophesie one by one that you may all learn and all be comforted And the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets And can you think the Apostle should have no Revelation for so many years when the meanest Christians had them even in the middle of their publick Assemblies where they met with so many Distractions What will you say to excuse your Ignorance if other Revelations made to S. Paul be recorded in Scripture Now so it is For 1. A Macedonian Act. 16.9 appeared to him 2. Our Lord spoke to Paul in a Vision Act. 18.9 Nay the very place you cite to prove your Error confutes it for he says Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance