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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41614	A papist mis-represented and represented, or, A twofold character of popery the one containing a sum of the superstitions, idolatries, cruelties, treacheries, and wicked principles of the popery which hath disturb'd this nation above an hundred and fifty years, fill'd it with fears and jealousies, and deserves the hatred of all good Christians : the other laying open that popery which the papists own and profess, with the chief articles of their faith, and some of the principle grounds and reasons, which hold them in that religion / by J.L. one of the Church of Rome ; to which is added, a book entituled, The doctrines and practices of the Church of Rome, truly represented, in answer to the aforesaid book by a Prote	Gother, John, d. 1704.; Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1686 (1686)	Wing G1336; ESTC R21204	180,124	215

because the Church doth not forbid it but this last he saith is not the general but the more probable Opinion 3. A Man may eat something when he drinks to prevent its doing him hurt besides his good Meal he may take what quantity he pleases of Sweet-meats or Fruit he may have a good Reflection at Night and yet not break this strict Precept of Fasting For the eating as often as one drinks it is the common Opinion saith the same Casuist who was no Iesuit That it is not forbidden because it is taken by way of a Medicine and he quotes a great number of their Casuists for it A Collation at evening is allowed saith he And Lessius saith There is no certain Rule for the Quantity of it And Card. Tolet saith very large ones are allowed at Rome by the Pope's Connivence even in the Court of Rome saith Reginaldus And now I leave the Reader to judge of the severity of Fasting required in the Church of Rome XXIX Of Divisions and Schisms in the Church HE is of a Religion in which there are as many Schisms as Families And they are so divided in their Opinions that commonly as many as meet in company so many several Tenets are maintain'd Hence arise their infinite and endless Disputes and disagreement of their Divines who pretend to give a true and solid explication of the Mysteries of the Christian Faith and yet differ in as many Points as they write of Besides what variety of Iudgments are there in their Religious Houses and Cloisters none agreeing with another in their Foundation Institution and Profession This being of the Religion of St. Dominick That of St. Francis a third of St. Bernard Others of St. Benedict and so without number so that as many Orders as many Religions And yet they pretend to Christian Unity amidst this diversity growing upon them every day HE is of a Religion in which there are no Schisms or Separations all the Members of it however spread through the World agreeing like one man in every Article of their Faith by an equal submission to the Determinations of their Church And no one of them tho' most Learned and Wise ever following any other Rule in their Faith besides this of assenting to all that the Church of God planted by Christ assisted and protected by the Holy Ghost proposed to the Faithful to be believ'd as the Doctrine of the Apostles and receiv'd as such in all Ages Which is all unanimously to believe as the Church of God believes No one of his Communion ever doubting of this or scrupling to receive any thing after his Churches Declaration And now tho they all thus conspire in every point of Faith yet there is great diversity among School men in their Divinity-points and Opinions of such matters as are no Articles of Faith and have no relation to it but as some circumstance or manner which being never defin'd by their Church may be maintain'd severally either this or that way without any breach of Faith or injury to their Religion And of these things only they dispute and have their Debates in manner of a School-Exercises without any disagreement at all in their Belief but with a perfect Unity The like Unity is there amongst their Religious Orders all which say the same Creed own the same Authority in the Church of Christ and in every thing profess the same Faith and have no other differences than as it were of so many several steps or degrees in the practice of a Devout and Holy Life some being of a more severe and strict Discipline others of a more gentle and moderate some spending more time in Praying others more in Watching others more in Fasting some being intended for the Catechising and breeding up of Youth others for taking care of Hospitals and looking after the Sick others for going amongst Infidels and Preaching to them the Gospel of Christ and for such-like Pious and Christian Designs to the greater Glory and Honour of God which differences make no other difference in the several Professors than there was between Mary and Martha who express'd their Love and Service to their Lord in a very different Imploy but both commendably and without any danger of prejudicing the Unity of their Faith XXIX Of Divisions and Schisms in the Church TWO things he saith upon this Head 1. That they are all agreed in matters of Faith 2. That they only differ in some School Points from whence he infers That they have no Schisms or Separations among them But that this is no just consequence will appear by the Schisms and Separations among us made by such who profess to agree in all matters of Faith Yet let us see how he proves that they agree in all matters of Faith because they agree to submit equally to the Determinations of the Church Now this very way evidently proves that they do not all agree because they do not equally submit to the Churches Determinations For 1. Some say they are bound to submit to the Churches Determinations as it represents the Universal Church Others say no but as the Churches Power is virtually lodged in the Guides of it Now this is a very material Difference for if it be on the former Account then not the Popes and Councils Declarations are to be regarded but as they express the sense of the Universal Church and so the Majority of Votes the Numbers in the Representative and Diffusive Church is chiefly to be regarded And on this Ground some reject the Deposing Power tho plainly decreed by Popes and Councils but they unhinge their Churches Authority by it Now how is it possible for them to agree about matters of Faith who differ fundamentally about the way how any things come to be matters of Faith If they be decreed by Popes and Councils say some and so the Deposing Power is become an Article of Faith No such matter say others for a greater Number in the diffusive Church oppose it as in the Gallican Church and elsewhere Very well But how then can these Parties be said to agree in matters of Faith and an equal Submission to the Determinations of the Church 2. Some again say That it is not the consent of the present Church can make any Article of Faith but there must be an Universal Tradition from the Apostles times And so they tell us the Deposing Power can never be an Article of Faith because it wants the Consent of all the Ages before Gregory VII So that upon this Ground there can be no Article of Faith which cannot be proved to be thus delivered down to us Others again say this is in effect to give up their Cause knowing the impossibility of proving particular Points in this manner and therefore they say the present Church is wholly to be trusted for the sense of the foregoing Now these differences are still on foot in their Church and from these do arise daily disputes about matters of Faith

of it should be sensible of the Alteration but also to be manag'd with such Policy and Craft that the whole business should be a Secret for many Age And if this be scarce to be thought possible of this one Kingdom what can be imagin'd when 't is affirm'd of many Nations of the whole Christian World Can any thing look more like a Fable or Romance Or can any rational man barely upon such a Report condemn the Faith and Religion of his Ancestors for Novelty and Humane Inventions and quite laying aside this take him for the Rule of his Reformation who thus without Reason Justice or Truth has thrown such an Infamy upon all the Christians preceeding him for a thousand years But not to insist upon these reasonings for the wiping off the scandal of Novelty from the Doctrine of the Church of Rome 't would not be amiss here to look beyond the Tenth Century as also beyond the time of Pope Gregory And if in those earlier Christians nothing can be found of that Faith and Profession which is charged as Novelty and Error against the Church of Rome all the Papists in the World shall join with their Adversaries and condemning Pope Gregory for a Seducer and all of the Tenth Age for so many Ignoramus's shall in one voice with them cry out against all such Doctrine Novelty Novelty Errour Errour But if on the contrary every Point thus challeng'd of Novelty shall appear to have been the Profession of the Faithful in the time of the Purity of the Gospel if before Pope Gregory we find that Invocation of Saints the real Presence Transubstantiation Purgatory Prayer for the Dead the use of Holy Images Relicks the Sign of the Cross Procession c. were a receiv'd Doctrine and common Practice of Christians in those Primitive times Then shall the Papists remain as they are as being of the same Faith and Religion with those Antient Believers without any Additions and Alterations and all their Adversaries ought in justice to return again to their Communion and making up one Q●ite cry out with them Blessed are they who believe as our Forefathers believ'd who receiv'd their Faith from the Apostles and their Successors and Accursed be they who separate from this Faith and upon the Noise of Novelty and Errour make Divisions in the Church and fall from her Communion believing Lies rather than Truth In order to this I intended in this place to have given the Reader a fair prospect of the Doctrine and Belief of the Fathers at the first five hundred years after Christ but finding the matter to increase so much beyond expectation upon my hands I have reserv'd them for another occasion But however upon confidence of what I am able to produce in that point I cannot omit to assure the Reader that the chief and most material Points charg'd upon the Church of Rome for Novelty the Primitive Fathers do so plainly own to have been the Faith and Profession of the Church in their days and to have been deliver'd down and taught as the Doctrine of the Apostles that an impartial Considerer need not take much time to conclude whether are the greater Innovators those that now Believe and Profess these Tenets and Practices or they that disown or rej●ct them 'T is evident that every Point of that Doctrine which is now decry'd for Popery and basely stigmatiz'd with the note of Errors introduc'd of late and of a modern invention is by many Ages older than those who are reputed to be the Authors that every particular Article laid to the Ignorance of the Tenth Century and to the contrivance of Pope Gregory are as expresly and clearly own'd and taught some Ages before as it is now at this day That those Great Men were as down-right Papists in these Points as we are now And that any disturber of Christianity might have as well def●n'd them for believers of Novelties and Errours as we are now at this present The Faith that they profess'd then we profess now and if any of our Doctrine be Novelty 't is a Novelty of above twelve hundred years standing And who can question it not to be of an older date If it was the publick belief of the Christian World in the fourth Century who can be better Witnesses of what was beli●v'd before them even in the third Age than They They tell us that the Doctrine they maintain and deliver is the Faith of the Catholick Church receiv'd from their Fore-fathers and as it was taught by the Apostles and we don't find that in any of these Points they were challeng'd by any Authority or opposed by the Pastors of the Church or any Writers either then living or succeeding them but received always with great veneration And upon what grounds can any challenge them now Is it possible that any living now can give a better account of what was believ'd and practis'd in the third Age than They that immediately follow'd them Which will be more credible Witnesses of what was done in Forty Eight those that shall be alive fifty years hence or they that are not yet to come these thousand years If therefore these Holy Men declare to us the Doctrine they b●liev'd with an assurance that it was the Faith of the Catholick Church so believ'd by their Ancestors and as they had receiv'd it from the Apostles and their Successors do not they deserve better credit than others who coming a thousand years after cry out against all these several Points that they are nothing but Novelty and Errour 'T is evident therefore to him that this noise of Novelty was nothing but a stratagem for the introducing of Novelties and that those that brought an Infamy upon these Points by this aspersion might with as great applause every and as easily have laid a scandal upon other Articles of the Christian Faith which they thought sit to retain and have had them all exploded for Novelty And this has been so far done already that even three parts of that Doctrine pick'd out by the first Reformers for Apostolical and conform to the Word of God we have seen in our days clamem'd against for Novelty and thrown by with as general Approbation and as clear Evidence of the charge as ever they laid by Transubstantiation and the Primacy The first Reformers cast off the Authority of the first Bishop as being a Novelty Others soon alter cry'd down the Authority of all Bishops for a Novelty The First disown'd a great part of the Priestly Function as being lately crept in the Others disown'd all the rest and even Ordination it self as having all crept in together The First threw out a great number of Ceremonies as being not Apostolical but of a modern Institution The Others threw out even what they had retain'd for being no more an Ordination of the Apostles than the former The First laid by five of the Sacraments the Others laid by the other two And thus Novelty was the

be so much rather questioned because those who assert the Pope may dispense go upon this ground Because Circumstances may alter the Obligation of a Vow and when a greater good is to be attained it ceaseth to oblige which to my Apprehension doth not prove the Pope's Power to dispense but the dispensable Nature of the Vows themselves 3. Whether all things of this nature being liable in continuance of time to great Degeneracy and Corruptions and the numbers of such Places being unserviceable either to Church or State it be not in the Power of the King and States of the Kingdom to dissolve and reduce them to ways more suitable to the Conveniences of both As to what he discourses about Councils of Perfection the Distractions of the World the Corruptions of the best Things c. they reach not the main Points but are only general Topicks which we are not concerned to debate XXXI Of Wicked Principles and Practices HE is Member of a Church which is called Holy but in her Doctrine and Practices so Foul and Abominable that whosoever admires her for Sanctity may upon the same grounds do homage to Vice it self Has ever any Society since Christ's time appear'd in the World so black and deform'd with hellish Crimes as she Has not she out-done even the most Barbarous Nations and Infidels with her Impieties and drawn a scandal upon the name of Christian by her unparallel'd Vices Take but a view of the horrid Practices she has been engag'd in of late years consider the French and Irish Massacres the Murders of Henry III. and IV. Kings of France the Ho●y League the Gun-powder Treason the Cruelty of Queen Mary the Firing of London the late Plot in the Year 1678. to subvert the Government and destroy His Majesty the Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and an infinite number of other such-like Devilish Contrivances And then tell me whether that Church which has been the Author and Promoter of such barbarous designs ought to be esteem'd Holy and respected for Piety and Religion or rather be condemn'd for the Mysteries of Iniquity the Whore of Babylon which hath polluted the Earth with her Wickedness and taught nothing but the Doctrine of Devils And let never so many Pretences be made yet 't is evident that all these Execrable Practices have been done according to the known Principles of this Holy Church and that her greatest Patrons the most Learned of her Divines her most Eminent B●shops her Prelates Cardinals and even the Popes themselves have been the chief Managers of these Hellish Contrivances And what more convincing Argument that they are all well approved conform to the Religion taught by their Church HE is Member of a Church which according to the ninth Article of the Apostles Creed he believes to be Holy and this not only in Name but also in Doctrine and for witness of her Sanctity he appeals to her Councils Catechisms Pulpits and Spiritual Books of Direction in wh●ch the main design is to imprint in the Hearts of the Faithful this comprehensive Maxim of Christianity That they ought to love God above all things with their whole Heart and Soul and their Neighbour as themselves And that none flatter themselves with a confidence to be sav'd by Faith alone without living Soberly Iustly and Piously as 't is in the Council of Trent Sess. 6. c. 11. So that he doubts not at all but that as many as live according to the Direction of his Church and in observance of her Doctrine live Holily in the Service of and Fear of God and with an humble confidence in the Merits and Passion of their Redeemer may hope to be receiv'd after this Life into Eternal Bliss But that all in Communion with his Church do not live thus Holily and in the fear of God he knows 't is too too evident there being many in all places wholly forgetful of their Duty giving t●emselves up to all sorts of Vice and guilty of most horrid Crimes And though he is not bound to believe all to be Truth that is charg'd upon them by Adversaries there being no Narrative of any such Devilish Contrivances and Practices laid to them wherein Passion and Fury have not made great Additions wherein things Dubious are not improv'd into Certainties Suspicions into Realities Fears and Iealousies into Substantial Plots and downright Lies and Recorded Perjuries into Pulpit nay Gospel-Truths Yet really thinks that there has been Men of his Profession of every rank and degree Learned and Unlearned High and Low Secular and Ecclesiastick that have been scandalous in their Lives wicked in their Designs without the fear of God in their Hearts or care of their own Salvation But what then Is the whole Church to be condemn'd for the vicious Lives of some of her Professors and her Doctrine to stand guilty of as many Villanies as those commit who neglect to follow it If so let the Men of that Society Iudgment or Perswasion who are not in the like circumstance fling the first stone Certainly if this way of passing Sentence be once allow'd as just and reasonable there never was nor ever will be any Religion or Church of God upon the Earth 'T is but reck'ning up the Idolatries Superstitions Cruelties Rebellions Murders of Princes Impieties and other such like Enormities committed by the Iews as they stand recorded in Scripture and 't is immediately prov'd that the Iews were never the chosen People of God nor their Law the Dictates of Heaven 'T is but making a Lift of the Misdemeanours Irregularities Abuses Excesses Treacheries Simony Separation Discords Erroneous Doctrines to be found even in the time of the Apost●es and their Followers and they are all effectually prov'd to be the Disciples of Antichrist and that the World's Redeemer had no sooner ascended into Heaven but his Apostles left him and began to set up for Schism and Vice By this way Constantine may be evidently condemn'd for an Heathen because he murdered his Wife and his Son And the Religion of Theodosius be mark'd out for Atheism because by his Order seven Thousand Thessalonians were treacherously Massacred in three hours space without distinction of Sex or Age or the Innocent from the Guilty A confident Undertaker would find no difficulty in proving all this especially if he had but the Gift of exaggerating some things misrepresenting others of finding Authorities and Texts for every idle Story o● charging the ex●ravagant Opinions of every single Author upon the Religion they profess of raking together all the Wickedness Cruelties Treacheries Plots Conspiracies at any time committed by any ambitious Desperado's or wicked Villains And then positively asserting that what these did was according to the Doctrine of that Church of which they were Members and that the true measures of the Sanctity and Goodness of the Church in whose Communion these Men were may be justly taken from the Behaviour of such Offenders But certainly no Man of Reason and Conscience can

what power these things have they not of themselves but only from Heaven and by the Invocation of the Name of Iesus who as by his heavenly Blessing he enables us to do things above the power of Nature so also by the Prayers of his Church he blesses these things in order to the working effects above their own natural qualities that by them his Fatherly Benefits may be appl●ed to us and that so the Faithful may more particularly honour and bless him in all his Creatures XXXIII Of Holy Water THE Misrepresenter charges him with approving superstitious uses of inanimate things and attributing wonderful effects to them as Holy-Water Candles Oyl Bread c. In Answer our Author 1. declares That the Papist truly represented utterly disapproves all sorts of Superstition But it he had designed to have represented truly he ought to have told us what he meant by Superstition and whether any Man who observes the Commands of the Church can be guilty of it 2. He saith That these things are particularly deputed by the Prayers and Blessing of the Priest to certain uses for God's Glory and the Spiritual and Corporal Good of Christians This is somewhat too general but Marsilius Columna Archbishop of Salerno who hath taken most pains in this matter sums them up 1. As to Spiritual they are Seven 1. To fright Devils 2. To remit Venial sins 3. To cure Distractions 4. To elevate the Mind 5. To dispose it for Devotion 6. To obtain Grace 7. To prepare for the Sacrament 2. As to Corporal 1. To cure Barreness 2. To multiply Goods 3. To procure Health 4. To purge the Air from pestilential Vapours And now as our Author saith What Superstition in the use of it He names several things of Gods own appointing to Parallel it as the Waters of Iealousy the Shew-bread the Tables of Stone but the first was miraculous the other had no such effects that we ever heard of Elisha's Salt for sweetning the Water was undoubtedly a Miracle Is the Holy-Water so As to the Liver of the Fish for expelling the Devil in the Book of Tobit he knows the Book is not owned for Canonical by us and this very place is produced as an Argument against it there being no Ground from Scripture to attribute the Power of expelling Devils to the Liver of a Fish either naturally or symbolically Vallesius offers at the only probable account of it that it must be a Divine Power given to it which the Angel Raphael did not discover and yet it is somewhat hard to conceive how this Liver should have such a power to drive away any kind of Devil as it is there expressed unless by a Devil there no more be meant than some violent Disease which the Iews generally believed to arise from the possession of evil Spirits But however here is an Angel supposed who made this known to Tobit but we find not Raphael to discover the virtue of Holy Water against Devils As to Christ using Clay to open the Eyes of the Blind it is very improperly applied unless the same miraculous Power be supposed in it which was in Christ himself And so is the Apostles laying on of Hands and using Oyl for miraculous Cures unless the same Gift of Miracles be in every Priest which consecrates H●ly Water which was in the Apostles And Bellarmine himself confesses That no infallible effect doth follow the use of Holy Water because there is no Promise of God in the case but only the Prayers of the Church But these are sufficient to sanctifie the Water saith our Author And to what end For all the spiritual and corporeal benefits before mentioned Is no promise of God necessary for such purposes as those How can any Church in the World dispose of God's Power without his Will It may appoint significant and decent Ceremonies but it can never appropriate divine Effects to them and to suppose any divine Power in things which God never gave them is in my Opinion Superstition and to use them for such ends is a superstitious use St. Cyril whom he quotes speaks of the Consecration of the Water of Baptism Càtech 3. St. Augustine only of a consecrated Bread which the Catechumens had De Peccat Merit Remiss l. 2. c. 26. but he attributes no divine Effects to it Pope Alexanders Epistle is a notorious Counterfeit Those Passages of Epiphanius Theodoret and S. Ierom all speak of miraculous effects and those who had the power of Miracles might sometimes do them with an external sign and sometimes without as the Apostles cured with anointing and without But this is no ground for consecrating Oyl by the Church or Holy Water for miraculous Effects If these Effects which they attribute to Holy Water be miraculous then every Priest must have not only a power of Miracles himself but of annexing it to the Water he consecrates if they be super-natural but not miraculous then Holy Water must be made a Sacrament to produce these Effects ex opere operato if neither one nor the other I know not how to excuse the use of it from Superstition XXXIV Of Breeding up People in Ignorance HE is train'd up in Ignorance and 't is the chief means made use of by his Church for preserving Men in that Communion to hide from them her manifold Mysteries of Iniquity her sottish Sup●rstitions her un-christian Doctrines by performing all in unknown Tongues and not permitting the poor misled People to look into or understand any thing that they Believe or Profess And by this blindness they are perswaded to embrace such infinite numbers of gross Errors that were but the Vail taken from their eyes but for one half hour and they but permitted to have one fair prospect of their Religion thousands and thousands would daily desert her and come over to the Truth HE has all the liberty encouragement and convenience of becoming learned of any People or Perswasion whatsoever And none that has ever look'd over any Library and found that the greatest numbers and choicest Books of all Sciences have men of his Communion for their Authors None that in his Travels has taken a thorough view of the Universities in Popish Countries of the Sorbon Louvain Salamanca Boloign c. and consider'd their laborious Studies in Philosophy Divinity History the Fathers Councils Scripture c. and besides the Students here has seen how many thousands there are in Religious Houses who free from the disturbances of the World make Virtue and Learning the business of their whole Life will ever lay Ignorance to the charge of the Papists but must in Justice confess that amongst them are to be found as many and as great Scholars as amongst any People or Societies in the World And tho the vulgar and common sort of that Profession understand not Latin yet are not they train'd up in ignorance of their Religion nor led along in blindness but are so provided of Books in their own

were ob●ig'd to receive his Prescriptions but with a prompt submission accepted his Orders not doubting but since it was God's Will to place Rulers and Governours over them it must be God's Will that they should be obedient to them in following their Decrees and observing their Constitutions And with this Doctrine of Obedience Humility and Submission all the Primitive Christians were train'd up by the Apostles who zealously laboured by this means to preserve them in Peace and Unity that so they might think all the same thing and be of one mind and one judgment and without Divisions insomuch that there is not any one thing so often repeated in their Writings as Exhortations to this Obedience and Submission See how going through the Cities they deliver'd to them the Faithful the decrees for to keep that were ordain'd by the Apostles and Elders which were at Ierusalem Acts ●6 4. See how St. Paul commands the Thessalonians to hold fast the Traditions they had been taught by word or by Epistle 2 Thess. 2.15 See how he commands the Hebrews Obey them that have the rule over you Remember them which have the Rule over you Heb. 13.7.17 See with what earnestness St. Iohn urges this He that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth us not 1 Joh. 4.6 hereby know we the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error And then again does not St. Paul commend the Corinthians for their Obedience Now I praise you Brethren that you remember me in all things and keep the Ordinances as I deliver'd them to you 1 Cor. 11.2 And then having given them directions as to their Behaviour in their Assemblies he adds But if any man seem to be contentious We have no such custom neither the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11.16 And now it being thus evident that the Church of Christ in the Apostles time was founded and preserv'd by a Submission and Obedience of the Flock to their Pastors the Papists teach and believe that what was taught and commanded by the Apostles to the Faithful then living ought to be receiv'd as a Doctrine necessary for all succeeding Ages and that Submission and Obedience ought to have been as much the Duty of Believers ever since as it was then the Commands and Practice of that time being undoubtedly the best and only Pattern for the Faithful for all times even to the end of the World And they do not only teach this Doctrine of Submission in their Books and Sermons but also observe it in their Lives having in all Ages depended on their Elders and Prelates in all matters touching the Discipline and Government of the Church leaving Rule to those whose Charge and Office it is to Rule and never believing that they who are under Charge and Command expresly by St. Paul to Remember and Obey those who have the Rule over them can upon any pretence whatsoever nay thô an Angel from Heaven should come and Preach otherwise be discharg'd from this Christian Obligation and be exempted from Remembring and Obeying whom thus by God speaking by his Apostle they are Commanded to Remember and Obey And upon this ground it is that in things concerning the Order to be observ'd in the Divine Service in all Ceremonies Holy Rites Ecclesiastical Constitutions and Ordinances they have neither Nill nor Will of their own but always receive and think that the best which is Order'd and Appointed by those to whom by Divine Law they owe this Submission and Obedience and to whom the Ordering and Appointing these things appertains And therefore if these appoint a Day of Humiliation for imploring God's Mercy or averting his Judgments they never scruple to observe it if a day of Thanksgiving in memory of some signal Benefit they likewise Obey If these judge it fit that on every Friday should be commemorated the Death and Passion of our Redeemer in Fasting and command Lent to be observ'd in remembrance and imitation of our Lord 's 40 days Fast in the Desart they think it their obligation to do so If these order such and such days to be set apart and kept holy in Remembrance and Thanksgiving for the Incarnation Nativity Circumcision Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and for other such like Intentions they esteem it sinful to oppose it If these judge it decent that the Faithful shou'd bow at the Name of Iesus stand at the reading of the Gospel prostrate or incline themselves at the Confession If they appoint Tapers and Lamps to be used in Churches to represent our Saviour who came to enlighten the World and Incense to be used to mind the People that their Hearts and Prayers should l●ke the Smoak ascend d●rectly toward Heaven If in the Administration of the Sacraments in Exorcisms in the Offices and the Celebration of the Mass these determine several Rites and Ceremonies to be observ'd for more Decency greater Solemnity and that by such exteriour helps the minds of the Faithful may be moved to the contemplation of the Sacred Mysteries and rais'd more sensibly to the Apprehension of the Majesty of God in whose Honour all is pe●form'd they look upon themselves bound to allow and embrace all these things without Reluctance or Opposition always thinking that to be most proper which is instituted by such who have the Rule over them And if any endeavour to raise Disputes and be contentious concerning the Necessity of these Institutions they have no such Custom neither the Churches of God One thing they know to be necessary that is that they should be Obedient and that in the Service of God they must not honour him as the Iews did Isa. 58.13 by doing their own ways finding their own Pleasure and speaking their own words but as Christians are commanded in a true Self-denial a sincere Humility and Obedience submitting to those whom God has left to rule and govern the Flock Neither is there any danger of falling back into the Iewish Law by approving the allow'd Ceremonies of the Church it being certain that in the Abrogation of the Old Law all Ceremonies were not at the same time extinct but only such as were mere Types and Figures of things to come in the New Law which are now fulfill'd Whilst others fit for the raising Devotion and expressing the affections of the Soul and other such ends are still commendably retain'd as lawful and equally necessary now as heretofore such are Kneeling Fasting lifting Hands and Eyes to Heaven Sighing knocking the Breast days of Humiliation Thanksgiving Watching Hair-cloth Singing Impositions of Hands Benedictions using Oyl Spittle Breathing c. all which ●re as lawful convenient and necess●ry for Christians as they were for Iews and no more to be neglected because they were us'd in the Old Law than praying meeting Reading the Law Singing Psalms Humility and Obedience c. are to be laid by and disown'd by Christians because they were observed by the Iews especially since these with many others have been

Word whensoever any receiv'd Doctrine of Christianity was to be outed and may to be made for a Novelty And he does not doubt but that if the noise of Novelty continue long so unhappily successful as of late and the liberty be permitted to every presuming Spirit to fix this scandal upon whatsoever Doctrine or Institution they shall think fit that all Christianity is in a fai● way of being thrown out of doors And the Bible Preaching Catechising Christ's Incarnation and Passion c. is as likely to b● cast off for a Novelty as all the rest have been Those that will but shew to the People that even these things have been all receiv'd from Rome and that the Papists by their Missionaries spread these Doctrines over the World may soon perswade them they are nothing but Popish Inventions meer Novelties that those that began the Reformation did their business by halves and that the World will never be throughly Reform'd till all these Romish Superstitions are laid by with the rest they being of the same date He takes no notice thereof of all the clamours rais'd against several points of the receiv'd Doctrine of his Church his Faith is founded on better Principles than to be shaken with such a Vulgar Engine Novelty Novelty is a cry that may fright unthinking Men from their Religion but every serious Man will require better Motives than a Noise before he forsake any point of his Faith and 't is impossible he should joyn with any in condemning such things for Novelties which he finds the Profession of all Antiquity XXXVII Of Innovation in matters of Faith THE Substance of his Discourse on this Head may be reduced to these things 1. That the Church in every Age hath Power to declare what is necessary to be believed with Anathema to those who Preach the Contrary and so the Council of Trent in declaring Transubstantiation Purgatory c. to be necessary Articles did no more than the Church had done before on like Occasions 2. That if the Doctrines then defined had been Innovations they must have met with great Opposition when they were introduced 3. That those who charged those points to be Innovations might as well have laid the scandal on any other Article of Faith which they retained These are things necessary to be examined in order to the making good the charge of Innovation in matters of Faith which we believe doth stand on very good Grounds 1. We are to consider Whether the Council of Trent had equal Reason to define the necessity of these points as the Council of Nice and Constantinople had to determin the point of the Trinity or those of Ephesus and Chalcedon the Truth of Christ's Incarnation He doth not assert it to be in the Churches Power to make new Articles of Faith as they do imply new Doctrines reveal'd but he contends earnestly That the Church hath a Power to declare the necessity of believing some points which were not so declared before And if the Necessity of believing doth depend upon the Churches Declaration then he must assert that it is in the Churches Power to make points necessary to be believed which were not so and consequently to make common Opinions to become Articles of Faith But I hope we may have leave to enquire in this Case since the Church pretends to no new Revelation of matters of Doctrine therefore it can declare no more than it receives and no otherwise than it receives And so nothing can be made necessary to Salvation but what God himself hath made so by his Revelation So that they must go in their Declaration either upon Scripture or Universal Tradition but if they define any Doctrine to be necessary without these Grounds they exceed their Commission and there is no Reason to submit to their Decrees or to believe their Declarations To make this more plain by a known Instance It is most certain that several Popes and Councils have declared the Desposing Doctrine and yet our Author saith It is no Article of Faith with him Why not since the Popes and Councils have as evidently delivered it as the Council of Trent hath done Purgatory or Transubstantiation But he may say There is no Anathema joined to it Suppose there be not But why may it not be as well as in the other Cases And if it were I wou●d know whether in his Conscience he would then believe it to be a necessary Article of Faith thô he believed that it wanted Scripture and Tradition If not then he seees what this matter is brought to viz. That althô the Council of Trent declare these new Doctrines to be necessary to be believed yet if their Declaration be not built on Scripture and Universal Tradition we are not bound to receive it 2. As to the impossibility of Innovations coming in without notorious opposition I see no ground at all for it where the alteration is not made at once but proceeds gradually He may as well prove it impossible for a Man to fall into a Dropsy or a Hectick-Fever unless he can tell the punctual time when it begun And he may as well argue thus Such a Man fell into a Fever upon a great Debauch and the Physicians were presently sent for to advise about him therefore the other Man hath no Chronical Distemper because he had no Physicians when he was first sick as because Councils were called against some Heresies and great Opposition made to them therefore where there is not the like there can be no Innovation But I see no Reason why we should decline giving an Account by what D●grees and Steps and upon what Occasions and with what Opposition several of the Doctrines defined at Trent were brought in For the matter is not so obscure as you would make it as to most of the Points in difference between us But that is too large a Task to be here undertaken 3. There is no colour for calling in Question the Articles of Faith received by us on the same Grounds that we reject those defined by the Council of Trent for we have the Universal Consent of the Christian World for the Apostles Creed of the 4 General Councils for the Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation who never pretended to determine any Point to be necessary which was not revea●ed in Scripture whose sense was delivered down by the Testimony of the Christian Church from the Apostles times But the Council of Trent proceeded by a very different Rule for it first set up an Unwritten Word to be a Rule of Faith as well as the Written which althô it were necessary in order to their Decrees was one of the greatest Innovations in the World and the Foundation of all the rest as they were there established The CONCLUSION THese are the Characters of the Papist as he is Mis-represented and as Represented And as different as the One is from the Other so different is the P●pist as reputed by his Maligners