that those words of Representing and Misrepresenting had rung in his Head so long that while he is awake he thinks of nothing but chastising Misrepresenters and Dreams of it when he sleeps and can find nothing but Misrepresentation in every Line of ours that he reads and as if there were some cause to fear that he may happily forget every Name that he has but that of a Representer To pretend as he does that that Author had not taken care to shew the State of the Controversy as it was and that he intends to make this appear as far as concerns the Representer and then presently to fall upon the Dissenter's Case is such a confusion of things that there must be a disturbance in a Man's head to put them together And 't is still a worse sign that he speaks of that Author 's calling upon him Now of late says he an upstart sort of a Misrepresenter has called upon me For what should it be but the working of his own Head that made him fancy that Author called upon him where I dare say he never so much as thought of him For who would think that the Representer should be at all concerned for the true stating of matters that concerned the Dissenters It must be confessed that these are ill tokens when they come thick upon one another for some such disorder as I am speaking of appears in the very first Line of his Preface which is so much the more remarkble because that which is uppermost usually comes first 'T is my fate says he always to have to do with Misrepresenters By which it should seem that this conceit is never out of his Head. If he does but touch a Book written by any of us his Imagination presently transforms it into a Misrepresenter And what is meerly his own Fancy viz. That he has always to do with Misrepresenters he takes to be his Fate as if he were destined to be the scourge of this sort of men And so The Present state of the Controversy coming cross in his way the Author of it seemed to him to be an upstart sort of Misrepresenter as the Flock of Sheep seemed an Army of Giants to the wise Don who also thought himself called upon to redress the wrongs that were done any where in the World. But I will not peremptorily conclude what the Man ails all this it may be is but design and the Man has a serious meaning tho' at first sight one would be apt to think that he is a little too much shattered to have any meaning at all It may be said that there is this pertinence in his matter that it seems to serve a General end viz. to do the Church of England a good turn which he has been owing to her ever since he fell off to the Church of Rome and this may be all the pertinence that he very much cares for only because 't is good to keep to a point or at least to seem so to do therefore when he has raked up a few more materials he knows how to dispose them under these words of Misrepresenting and Representing and then out comes a Book If it be thus he was only to blame for streightning himself at first and for promising long since that he would keep to his Representing Post He should have called that Book of his which led the way to the rest The First Part of Miscellanies against the Church of England For this Title would have served him to have written Books Part after Part as long as he should live And I think the pertinence of 'em would never have been questioned But what has the Author of the Present State said to bring upon himself the charge of Misrepresenting Why it seems he made bold to say that some of the Clergy of this City had written Cases for the satisfaction of the Dissenters in the plainest and most inoffensive manner they could But where is the Misrepresentation Was not the manner plain and inoffensive Yes says the Representer Pref. p. 2. as to the Method and Stile in which those Tracts were penned for all as I know there was plain and inoffensive writing So that for all as he knows the Matter too might be as plain and inoffensive as the Method and Stile of those Books for I perceive he never read them What then can be the Misrepresentation To be short it lies in this That the Dissenters were at that time urged with other Persuasives P. 3. by Writ by Summons by Seising of Goods c. Well but did that Author deny this No but he did not mention it and therefore he did not represent the state of the Controversy between the Churches of England and of Rome P. 2. as it is but as he would have it thought to be viz. because he did not at all Represent the state of the Dissenters with respect to the Laws when the Divines wrote for their satisfaction He that can hale and pull in things in this fashion will never want matter but to let that pass and to wander along with him for a while as every man is bound to do that will keep him company I cannot understand that it was that Author's Duty to make the least mention of the execution of the Laws upon the Dissenters unless the Representer can prove That because he either studies to be impertinent or cannot help it therefore we are all bound to be so too The Stater's business was to give an account to his Friend how the Controversie stood between us and the Church of Rome and he introduced his Matter by shewing That the Divines having written some Discourses for the sake of the Dissenters and that with good success did then apply themselves to the Controversies with the Romanists But because he did not enter upon an Enquiry whether the Laws had not more to do in this matter than the Discourses of the Divines therefore the Representer talks of that Author 's imposing upon his Reader with poor shifts in a matter so well known P. 3. and that he must not pass for a true Stater of Controversie who thus tells the Story by halves so that unless we drag in matters that are nothing to the purpose as he does we tell Stories by halves and no body will be ever able to State Controversie right that cannot foresee what rambling thoughts will come into the Representer's head the next time he writes a Book But since he is fallen upon this business he may now please to observe That neither the Stater nor any of those Divines of whom he made mention used any of those Perswasives of which the Representer speaks but saved the Dissenters from them as far as it consisted with their Duty and were by some people called Names for their pains But I perceive his trouble is that the Stater should believe those Discourses had good Success For says the man 't is very probable that these sort of Perswasives sent
Present State the Author of it either made but very small faults in drawing it up or he is very much obliged to the Representer for letting the great ones pass His next quarrel with the Stater is for making the Roman party the Aggressors P. 6. and the Papist Misrepresented c. the beginning of this Book-War For this Man will have the Onset to have been given by Dr. Sherlock in his Sermon before the House of Commons which was published as near as I can learn about Two Months before the Representer came forth The Author of the Agreement c. concurs with him in this Objection as he does in Humour to admiration tho' they have their several ways For one of them proves that we are Agreed with the Church of Rome and the other that we Misrepresent the same Church and yet so like one another as if the same Planet govern'd them both But as to the Doctor 's Sermon I do acknowledg that there was one passage in it that grated upon the Papists And I have two things to say to it First the Stater assures me that he did not think of that Sermon at all when he was at work and could therefore have no design in omitting it but withal now that he is told of it he cannot grant that a single Reflection in a Sermon that was afterwards Printed at the desire of the House ought to be esteemed the beginning or the occasion of those Controversies And he believes that if we had published such a like Book for this Church as the Representer did for his Party and one of their Sermons had been not long before published by Command with a like Reflection upon us they would for all that have thought us to be the Agressors He says farther that he spake only of Discourses that professedly treated of these Controversies and therefore that if he had thought of that Sermon he thinks it was not his Duty to take notice of it and he wonders that the Representer should be so overset with a Cavilling humour as not to observe those words State p. 4. that from the Death of our late Royal Sovereign our Divines thought fit to be of the Defensive side and for some time published no more DISCOVRSES OF THAT KIND but waited to see c. In the next place I must tell the Representer my thoughts and leave others to judge of them as they see cause I say then that the Representer published indeed his Book about two Months after the Sermon but if the Truth could be known I would venture all that little I am worth that the Representer had been hammering out that Book some Months before that Sermon was made For not to insist upon it that he has taken more time to write Books that are a great deal worse for perhaps he was otherwise imployed or gave himself some convenient Relaxation This I believe all considering persons will grant me that to represent Popery in a kind of Protestant dress is so nice and withal so dangerous tho' now it seems so necessary an undertaking that no performance can require greater Art and Application of mind Between the danger of giving up a point which the Church must not quit under the penalty of forfeiting her Infallibility and the danger of guarding it too plainly to the offence of Protestants the Undertaker is obliged to have his Eyes about him and to look on every side Every expression must be exactly weighed It will sometimes happen that but one will please which will not be thought of till many others are tried and rejected Sometimes again when the first of all is not liked after the rejecting of many others that are found more liable to exception the first must be taken with all its faults So that here will be much altering and some restoring and not a little sining and superfining And when one Man has done what he can one Man's judgment in a Cause so perillous is not to be trusted It must be revised by others and because faults will come in one upon the neck of another where every place is a place to let them in it must be revised again and again as the Bishop of Condom can tell this Man if he needs that any body should tell him Now tho' the Papist Misrepresented and Represented does not rise up to the Spirit and the Art of the Exposition of the Catholick Faith yet considering the untractableness of the Matter it was no ill wrought piece of work and excepting that blunder of his that when he was a Protestant he believed the Sermons of the Papists to be in un unknown Tongue as well as their Prayers and two or three less considerable misfortunes it was conveniently contrived for its end which was to amuse less thinking people In a word it appears to be a work of so much labour and time that I believe few will question but tho' the Doctor 's Sermon was first rigg'd out yet the Papist Misrepresented and Represented was upon the Stocks a good while before And then the Representer's Conscience should have forbidden him to find fault with the Stater for intimating that the Gentlemen of the Roman Communion were first guilty of breaking the Peace This I think is enough in return to a small exception but whether it be or not the Stater is resolved to put himself upon the mercy of the World for the future rather than he will run out into any more Apologies upon so slender an occasion To proceed it was said in the Present State that we were surprized to find no notice taken of the former Tracts against Popery in the Representer's first Book This he turns well enough P. 7. confessing that it must needs be a matter of surprize That the Papists now enjoying the Royal Favour should after so many provocations be contented to make no other return than in a short moderate and peaceable Tract to give an account of their Faith and Doctrine c. And so he takes occasion to praise their Meekness and Charity To all which it might be enough to say that so long as it does no body any hurt other men may be safely allowed to commend themselves and let them consider whether it will do them any good But that if it were not more difficult to Answer some Books than to give a Reason for not Answering them in all likelyhood we had heard the Victories of these Writers more celebrated at this time than their Meekness and Charity But whereas he magnifies the Good Spirit of his short moderate and peaceable Tract upon this score That there was no upraiding the Church of England Divines in it notwithstanding Abusive Reflections c. he does in effect confess of the first View p. 65. what was proved of all his Books but the first That the Church of England Divines were intended in them as we were very sure that they were He has for some time lost that wariness which
such a Representer as he sets up for should be always provided with Well but however the Tract was moderate and peaceable without any severe Word or Expression in it or any upbraiding of the Church of England Divines of the mischiefs they suffered from their hands Now indeed the Tract does not call them Knaves and Villains but only insinuates from one end to the other that they had abused the people and made them believe that the Church of Rome owns those things which she utterly disowns Which how Moderate and Peaceable a Charge it was I might almost appeal to himself or to the Agreement-maker when I have put him in mind that what he at first called Misrepresentation after his anger had made him speak out he bluntly calls Lying and Calumny and what not Now this I acknowledg to be a short but sure it is no moderate and peaceable way of managing Controversies And this was some reason for wise men to be a little suprized at it But this was not all For there was no colour whatever the Representer pretends for neglecting those Tracts against Popery and beginning a new Representation of it For they proceeded upon the old and received Representations of Popery and such as had been allowed by Bellarmin Becanus Harding Stapleton and all the renowned Champions of the Popish Church for an Age and half before us whom this Man does by necessary consequence Arraign of Misrepresenting Popery whilst he accuses our Divines of doing so altho their Discourses went upon that state of the Fact which was agreed to by those old Disputers Had these Books been written in their days we should have had no Representations in return to 'em but down-right disputing upon the several points as they are stated there For to give them their due when our Divines came up to their own side of the Question those Gentlemen came up to theirs and maintain'd it as well as it could be maintain'd But our Friend the Representer has taken another way which is in peaceable and moderate terms to give us the Lye for calling that Popery which we dispute against and which they disputed for Having thus commended Himself and His for their Meekness and Charity it came presently in his mind to say something in praise of his Book tho' it did not mention those Discourses P. 7. Which he says could be no surprize but only to some half-witted men who read things without understanding and to whom plain sense is a Riddle and not to any others tho' but of moderate parts And thus in pure kindness to his Book he does in the first place take the size of our understandings by it and from this time forward whoever shall question the pertinence of his Book must go for a half-witted man and one that has not so much as moderate parts So that our business is presently done and then the Discourses are brought to the Test of the Book as you shall hear There was says he scarce any controversial Point or Matter of moment in them but what was spoke to and opened in this one little Tract And they must needs be in an evil condition if there is scarce any Point of theirs but what was spoken to and opened in so dangerous a Piece as that one little Tract But it were well for 'em to scape so if they might For by and by the Stater is told that if he will compare these Discourses with the Chapters of that Treatise he may find them All there spoke to as to the substance and something to spare Now if after scarce any point was omitted the truth is that All the Discourses were spoken to and something to spare then it is like to go very hard with ' em All the comfort is That the Discourses and the Points are as yet said to be but spoke to For there are divers ways of speaking to things P. 8. and some of 'em harmless enough And therefore now comes the killing stroke The true Reason of the surprize was that in so little room and so plain a method there was enough to ANSWER those Discourses Nay he affirms that there was a Noise about it throughout the Nation not for Answering too little but for Answering too much So that the Discourses are gone beyond redemption for there was enough to Answer them and if that would not do they were Answered too much And which is more wonderful there was enough to Answer not only those Discourses but a great part of the Books and Sermons that had ever been Writ or Preached against Cathâ—licks to which if he had but added or that ever shall be Written or Preached against Catholicks he had made an end of his work once for all and his one little Tract had made a pretty Triumph over Ages past present and to come Were I so happy as to grow upon an Adversary in the way of Reasoning as this Man does in boasting and pressing forward with new and greater confidence I should not yet take my self to be a match for him For I now perceive that he carries such Invincible Force in his Face that no modest man tho' fortified with the Conscience of Honesty and the Advantage of a Good-Cause can always bear up against it but must at length let his Countenance fall and turn away from him As to every Article of this so much magnified Tract he has been twice distinctly Answer'd and the World has seen that he neither replied to the particulars of the first nor of the second Answer but that at length he fairly dropt the defence of his Charge upon every one of the Thirty seven Points he began with as the Author of the View has shewn beyond contradiction But what cares the Representer for all this Still he goes on proclaiming what Execution his Tract has done upon us There says he are laid open all the Little Tricks and Artifices c. P. 84. There 't was seen how often abuses in practice were condemned as the Faith of the Church c. Here the surprise first began c. It began now to appear that the Papists were not what they had been render'd c. Suppose now that another View of the whole Controversy were taken and it were discover'd yet more particularly if that were possible that there were no such sights to be seen in his Book as he proclaims still it would hold good that Tricks are laid open there that there it may be seen how Principles are mistaken Doctrines confounded and Imaginary Monsters knocked down and that that is the Book which can Inform people of the Truth and discover to them all the Pulpit-delusions For by what I can see he intends to talk on at this rate as long as he lives if any Man does but give him occasion and for his part he desires no better occasion than to have it shewn him that there is not the least ground for all this boasting We have a comfortable
can and to follow good Examples where they are to be had In these Reflections of his a man must have very good luck that meets with any thing that is worth answering but if he cannot find what he would he must learn patience and be content with what he can get I. He would make us believe That the only way of giving his first Book a just Reply P. 9. was to have shewn that the Faith as there stated was not really the Faith of Catholicks Now this indeed might have been the Only way according as the Representer might have drawn his Characters but as he has ordered the matter 't is not the only way for he has for the most part told stories hy halves in the Character of a Papist Represented and surely one Misrepresenting Trick is discovered on his side if it be shewn that the Faith of a Papist as stated under this or that Article P. 15. is not all his Faith but that it seems there was something concealed which was too bad to be shewn For instance The Representer takes occasion to bring in this Character of a Papist under the head of Indulgences The Papists teach That neither the Pope nor any other Power upon Earth can give leave to sin for a sum of money Nay in his first Book the Papist believes it damnable to hold that any Power in Heaven or Earth can do it Now we will suppose this to be the Faith of a Papist But then to represent him as he is he should have added thus much at least That he does not believe it damnable to hold that an Indulgence or Pardon of sins can be obtained for a Sum of Money after they are committed nor that the Tax of the Apostolick Chamber which sets the pardons of the most horrid sins at very reasonable rates is a Damnable Scandal nor that they who trust in the Popes Bulls for plenary remission of sins are damnably deceived Now all this is concealed and yet I doubt it will be found to belong to the Character of a Papist with respect to the matter of Indulgences and Pardons and in all like cases to shew what the Representer concealed is a Just Reply to his Characters but whether it be a just Reply to Him is a point wherein he is more concerned than we need to be II. He seems to lay great weight upon this That to this pitch of Confidence if not more are some Church of England Divines arrived that they pretend to know what the Religion of Papists is better than they Is it likely says he the Jews can tell better what Christ teaches than Christ himself or his Apostles Can Protestants tell better what Catholicks believe than Catholicks themselvrs If the Character of a thing is best received from professed interested and bitter Enemies then indeed they may put in for the best Informers of our Faith. Much more he says to this purpose just as he cried out Pulpits and Popery without adding any thing of new matter Now where no Answers are needful I am sure these that follow may suffice 1. 'T is false that I for instance pretenâ— to know what the Religion of Papists is better than he the Representer But for all that 't is true that unless he mends his Characters of a Papist Represented I do pretend to represent Popery with more honesty than he does I cannot tell what this Man believes better than he does himself nor so well neither but I can tell as well as he what their Trent Council their Catechisms their Pontifical their Missal their Breviary and their established Offices say Are these Mysteries that no Man must pretend to understand but a Representer and some few besides For 2. Why must we be brought in as pretending to know what Popery is better than Papists know it Was Bellarmin with all those of the old strain a Protestant Is Father Crasset a Protestant or Cardinal Capisucchi who approved the Bishop of Condom's Exposition too Are they Protestants in Spain or Italy Do we represent their Worship of Images so grosly as that very Cardinal does Do we represent Popery otherwise than as all these have and do profess and practise 3. It had been an Impudent thing in the Jews to pretend that they could tell better what Christ taught than Christ himself or his Apostles And it was silly in the Representer to run to so high an instance unless he would insinuate that we are as it were Jews and himself a kind of an Apostle I would have him observe that we are not so sensless as to think that we can tell what a Representer and an Expositor teach better than themselves but in many things we can tell as well as they by the same token that they teach some things for Catholick Doctrines which in their Church have been accounted little better than Heresies and suppress others which their predecessors scorned to suppress But tho' some Romanists do now think fit to palliate their Religion in this manner yet Christ and his Apostles did no such thing and were not therefore liable to that Reproof which these men must bear in spite of their hearts 4. For what he says That Bitter Enemies are not to be believed in the Characters they give of others I Answer That neither are designing and self-interested men to be believed in the Characters they give of themselves Animosity says he sets a Biass upon the Heart And is there nothing that does it beside What thinks he of the Design to reconcile a Nation so averse to Popery as this is and of the several conveniencies that will follow such a Change Nor is it so certain that we are their Bitter Enemies as that they are very great Lovers of themselves I am so far from being a Bitter Enemy to the Representer that I am now doing him the Office of a severe Friend by telling him the Truth which he cares not to hear but it may be I may bring him to blushing which he seems to have taken his leave of and he may in time thank me for it I tell him that in this place he talks wretchedly and I desire him to reflect upon himself before he pretends to make any more Reflections upon us Don't every body know says he that the Church of England has proclaim'd her self an open and professed Enemy to the Church of Rome Does not this unqualify her for a True Representer Now admitting our Church to be as open and professed an Enemy to his as she is to the Errors and Abuses of it yet who does not know that this can only unqualify her for a Representer to be believed upon her own word But she may Represent truly for all that Which is so plain a Case that this Man if he was in his right mind when he wrote those things could not but know it The most therefore that he could honestly make of this supposed enmity of our Church against his is that we
who saw Misery before them which they had already so deeply tasted of that their Hearts were quite sunk with the apprehension of what was just coming But is this dealing for the Credit I will not say of the Managers but of the Cause they serve and of the Method that is now taken to serve it by Expositions and Representations Why if no more sincerity were used in Fairs and Markets than this comes to in the Concerns of Everlasting Salvation Men had better live alone and make what shift they can each one for himself than to have any thing to do with one another I was going to descant upon every one of the other seven Articles but to shew the Intrigue of them though never so gravely would look so like a Farce that I count it decent to forbear lest I should seem to make sport with the Sins and Miseries of Men. I shall only give the Reader this Note that the Relation only says there were Difficulties on both Sides but that by the wording of the Conditions it appears very probable that the Citizens had brought them in another Form when the Capitulation began but that this was all they could obtain and now that they are reduced to this Form the sagacity and watchfulness of one side is no less discovered than of the other But O God to what a pass is the State of Religion brought amongst Christians I have here given the Representer an Example of reconciling Protestants to the Church of Rome upon Terms much after his own way only 't is something finer though the Application I confess was more rugged the Principality having felt the Dragoons to the ruin of it and the utmost Extremities being threatned in two hours in case of refusal to subscribe Thus much at least they gained that they might not be obliged to go to Mass for three Months nor to be present at the Offices of the Church which was a plain demonstration that these miserable Persons had subscribed with an unsatisfied Mind and that Vnion and Submission was the thing aimed at by the Reconcilers but whether it was done upon the Convictions of the Citizens what cared they I can give no farther account of this Matter but shall only put the Representer in mind of one Passage in the State of the Controversy which he cared not to reflect upon State. p. 23. viz. That after the Bishop of Meaux had treated of a Reconciliation upon Terms more moderate than his own Exposition while the Dragoons were at the Gates he came in three Months and treated them now as Persons Reconciled and without any regard to his own Promises or to their Consciences let the Dragoons loose upon those that refused to compleat their Conviction by going to Mass The Representer may from all this pick out some Reason why he ought to be ashamed of his Offer that we shall be received upon the Terms of his Book IV. I come next to his Quotation of Mr. Montagu from whence he would prove that the Church of England began too early to Misrepresent Papists to deserve now much credit in her Representings Appello Caesarum c. 23. p. 60 c. But what shall I call our Representer here Not the modestest thing in Nature for Mr. Montagu is most vilely abused by him while he makes him bring in the Homilies as representing the Papists That which he says of them is this That they contain certain godly and wholesome Exhortations to move the People to Honour and Worship Almighty God but not as the publick Dogmatical Resolutions confirmed of the Church of England And again They have not Dogmatical Positions or Doctrine to be propugned and subscribed in all and every Point as the Books of Articles and of Common Prayer have Then follow the words which the Representer begins with They may seem secondly to speak somewhat too hardly and stretch some Sayings beyond the use and practice of the Church of England both then and now which last words the Representer mentions not nor these that follow immediately And yet what they speak may receive a fair or at least a tolerable construction and mitigation well enough For you have read peradventure how strangely some of the Ancientest Fathers do speak and how they hyperbolize sometimes in some Points in their popular Sermons which in Dogmatical Decisions they would not do nor avow the Doctrine by them delivered resolutivè Now the occasion of all this was that Mr. Mountagu was charg'd by his Adversaries for granting an allowable use of Images contrary to the Homilies of the Church of England in the Sermon against the Peril of Idolatry which seemeth to inveigh against all use of them To this Mr. M. answered as before producing the Homilies not as speaking of what the Papists do or not do but as universally condemning the use of Images in Churches P. 262. And he gives this account of it more fully than I need to transcribe viz. That as the Fathers spake against Images with some tartness and inveighing sort lest the Christians who had been Pagans themselves and now lived amongst Pagans might learn to worship Idols So our Predecessors coming late out of Popery and conversing with Papists and knowing that Images used to be crept unto incens'd worshipped and adored amongst them might if they were suffered to stand as they did induce them to do as they had sometime done and therefore in a godly Zeal such as moved Ezekias to destroy the Brazen Serpent they spake thus vehemently and indeed hyperbolically against them For the People with whom they then dealt were by all means â—o be preserved from the taint and tincture of their Superstitious Practices This is the whole truth of the business which the Representer did not think fit to shew but without taking the least notice of the occasion and subject of this Chapter runs away with a few Phrases that he pick'd out from the rest as best fit for his purpose such as hyperbolizing stretching upon the Tenters by all means and the like and would make as if Mr. Mountague confessed the Church of England regarded not how she represented Papists and Popery Which wretched dealing is according to no common Honesty but his own and whoever goes on at this rate will write himself out of all Credit and there will be no need of answering his Books 'T is to the same purpose that he brings in Mr. M. Pref. p. 19. again not thinking it any Reflection upon him if he does not altogether agree or subscribe to the Doctrine of the Book of Homilies in his time because it being a Book fitted for a Season and declared necessary for THESE Times what great wonder if what was a good Doctrine under Edward VI. was not so in the time of King James c. For thus he would perswade us that we alter and change our Religion according to Times and Seasons which is what we justly charge upon them The Compilers of
Misrepresenters This Design he largely pursued in his long Bill The Author of the View having shewn him that he was foully to blame in charging even those Protestant Writers whom he singled out took a course to divert him for the future from this wild and unprofitable way of proceeding and that by letting him see that if he was resolved to persist in this way he would lose by it since he would not be able to excuse his own from those Faults which he had without just cause charged upon our Men. And so he shewed by a few Instances how Protestants had been used by Papists Now one would have thought that at least he should have reinforced his Charge upon our Men and defended his own against the Answerer if he was still resolved to continue his Clamours of Misrepresentation But what has he done He has taken about a Years time to consider of the Matter and at last replies not to any one Defence that had been made for those whom he had put into his Long Bill and do's not offer the least Syllable for one of those that the Answerer had put into his Short One. I confess he says that the Answerer made but Forced Excuses for our Friends Now as the Representer has behaved himself I think my Credit may be good enough to encounter his I say therefore that the Answerer made no forced Excuses because for the most part there were no Excuses at all but down-right Vindications And as for the Excuses that are there if there be any such I do not desire the Reader to take my word for them if he will promise not to take the Representers neither but to go to the View and Judg for himself After all the Representer is to be commended for one thing that he says the Answerer drew him back to his first Book in reality to put a stop to this part of the Controversy and that we might hear no farther of the Church of England 's Misrepresenting For though he meant this to the Answerer's Disgrace yet 't is true that this was one part of his Design for he saw the Representer was got upon an Idle Haunt and therefore shewed him that it would turn to no better account for him than any Body else But this was not all for the Answerer would have drawn him to his First Book that he might either like an able Man defend his Characters or like an honest Man confess that he could not which had been something towards the settlement of the State of the several Questions Though I think they must be acknowledged to be well setled by the Learned Answerer that first appeared against him since the Representer dares not go about to stir them But whereas he thinks he was fetched up to his First Book under a pretence of shewing him that he had drop'd his Cause and gone out of the way I confess all that too excepting the word Pretence For his Answerer did the Business so effectually that I forbid the Representer so much as to pretend to vindicate himself against those plain and particular Proofs of this thing that were brought against him For that he is well resolved against any such Pretence is plain to me from the Similitude wherewith he has fortified himself against all thoughts of any thing like a Reply to the View For says he this is nothing but what we see by daily experience that when two have been debating a Point a great while at length one that finds himself aground begins to unravel the whole Dispute from the beginning with you said this Pref. p. 23. and I said this and then you said this and I said this and you said this I hope the Reader will not so much as suspect that I have abused him in this but if he thinks it incredible that a Man in his Wits should put such silly stuff into a Book I cannot help it if he takes him to be out of his Wits but as for these Sayings I am sure he may find them in the Preface to his Third Part and though the Pages are not numbred he may find them in that Page to which I have referred in the Margin if he will please to number them himself And yet after all he would not have it thought that he is afraid to go back as far as to the Papist Misrepresented and Represented P. 23. Which he does for a notable Reason viz. to give us an account once more of his Design in writting that Book and of his Motive to it P. 24. His Design was to describe a Catholic as he is and as he is thought to be His Motive was an Observation of his that his Catholics suffered very much by Protestant Misrepresentations But that which follows is rare that he did not think himself obliged to give an account of both his Characters to Protestants Indeed as for the Character of a Papist Misrepresented he looked upon that as something relating to them But as for that of a Papist Represented it belonged not to Protestants to meddle with that at all but only to his pretended Catholics For says he to whom should the examination of a System of any ones Faith belong besides those whose Faith it is said to be I thank him heartily It seems we are to take from him a System of Popery without examining whether it be as he speaks exact and true or not and the reason is plain because as yet 't is not our Faith and therefore the examination of it belongs not to us But when we are become Papists upon his Terms then if we please we may examine whether it was wisely or foolishly done of us to take a System of the Popish Faith upon his Word And therefore he could not be obliged to justify his Character of a Papist Rrepresented after we had shewn it was not a sincere Character because we meddle with a Matter that belonged not to us and was none of our Concern But for one thing we are not a little beholden to him that though in truth we were busy where we had nothing to do viz. in the First Second and Third Answers to him yet he mended the Matter for us by looking upon those Answers as chiefly relating to the Character of a Papist Misrepresented in which he confesses we had something to do So that though those Answers chiefly related to one as we thought yet he did but look upon them and forthwith they chiefly related to the other And so care is taken for the Character of a Papist Represented We will go to the other Character presently when I have given him a necessary Item upon this great Occasion viz. that when he draws any more double Characters he would take very great care that his Papist Misrepresented be drawn very honestly that we may the more easily swallow what he says of a Papist Represented lest if we find as hitherto we have done that he plays tricks in a Business
that does belong to us to examine we should have the less reason to take his word for a Business that does not belong to us to examine till we have taken his word for it And now for the other Character he observed it feems that the Answers appeared to be all from Church of England hands who seemed much concerned to clear themselves from being thought Misrepresenters and therefore they denied the Charge which as he says was part of their Plea. But therefore it might be expected that he should either make good his Characters against the Church of England-Men or hold his hand till some other Protestants came forth to clear themselves who had Misrepresented Popery just as he pretended some Protestants at least to have done But being resolved to write on and not being able to fasten any of his First Misrepresentations upon the Church of England he fell to ransack some Protestant Writers of our Communion for new Misrepresentations And so the Misrepresenting side of his Characters was left to shift for it self as well as the other But why were not his first Characters of a Papist Misrepresented either proved against us or charged upon some Body else or confessed to be impertinent and foolish as the second Answer shewed most of them to be What excuse has he for troubling the World with a Book of two Columnes neither of which he thought it his Duty to defend Why he tells you that he Fathered not the Character of a Papist Misrepresented upon the Church of England P. 25. but upon his own APPREHENSIONS So that he wrote half a Book against his own Apprehensions and as long as he was sure that his own Apprehensions would not write against him he was secure also that he should never be obliged to defend his Character of a Papist Misrepresented against any Body and therefore not against the Church of England Indeed he tells us some time after P. 26. that he set down some former Apprehensions of his own concerning Popery with some little Addition of what he had heard from others And again I said P. 27. that Character was according to the Apprehensions I had formerly of a Papist and if I extended it any farther than my self it was because I had found the same in others But he is as secure from being called to account by those others as by his former Apprehensions For if those others be some Body they must needs be ashamed to appear in this Business nor do I think they are capable of writing Books who charge the Consequences of what the Papists hold and do upon them as their declared and avowed Doctrines and Practices But if those others be No-body then there is No-body to hurt him He understood his Advantage in all this perfectly well For says he This i. e. that he had heard the same from others was no more to be denied or disproved than the other part as it related to himself 'T is enough says he for my purpose that in the Misrepresenting Character a Papist is expressed and made to appear otherwise than he is and that I apprehended a Papist something after that manner while I was a Protestant When this is disproved I have something to Answer but till then I can have forsaken no Defence because nothing has been said against me c. If this Man can forbear disproving himself all the World can not touch him whatever he makes bold to write But let him alone and he will in time do his own business as he has begun to do it here For now he tells us that he apprehended a Papist something after that manner Something is a dangerous word in this place For if he did not apprehend a Papist altogether or very much after that manner I wonder who is to answer for the rest For I reckon that his something and the little Addition he heard from others will hardly save half his Characters from being an Imposture if we judg of it by his own words But says he what then signifies all the noise of my having forsaken the Defence of the thirty seven Chapters in my first Book P. 25. I know not truly what else it should signify but an undeniable Truth that he has forsaken it For he has forsaken the Defence of the Papist Represented because that belonged not to us to meddle with but only to his Catholicks And he has forsaken the Papist Misrepresented too for though this Character something related to us as he once thought yet upon better consideration that belonged to us no more than that other but only to his own Apprehensions and to some others in the Clouds that are never likely to give him any disturbance Well but he has shewn however that the Church of England has misrepresented Papists though perhaps not according to his first Characters of a Papist misrepresented Now though this be a Charge which we might be concern'd upon other accounts to confess against those particular Men that are arraign'd by him or to disprove it Yet still it remains true that he has forsaken the Defence of both sides of his 37 Chapters as the Author of the View has unanswerably proved And in his wretched way of shifting it off he has confessed it as much to his shame as a plain Confession of it had been something for his credit But then I add that neither is it true that he has proved his new Charge of Misrepresentation either upon the Church of England or upon Church of England-Men For his saying that the Author of the Veiw seemed to give up the Point and that he freely owned it and the like is a stretch beyond what is at any time done for Mony. For the World sees that on the other hand that Author pretended to shew that the Man was in this also an egregious Misrepresenter of our Writers And one would think it was done effectually for the Man has dropt also the Defence of that his last Charge against the particular Answers that were made to it just as he dropt all before only with this Addition of Face now that the Author of the View had freely owned it and ingenuously confess'd it If this Answer of mine should fall into the hands of any of our Communion that have not read these his Reflections I must once more confess my self a little afraid lost they should think I banter him in this account of his shuffling off one thing after another And therefore I do solemnly assure the Reader that he does not say these things once only but he comes over with them again And because 't is an extraordinary case I must transcribe him and first where he speaks of his Character of a Papist Misrepresented Well says he but in so doing i. e. in proving his new Charge of Misrepresentation I left it seems the Defence of the thirty seven Chapters How so As to the first Character in all these Chapters I only undertook to set down