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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52246	Foxes and firebrands, or, A specimen of the danger and harmony of popery and separation wherein is proved from undeniable matter of fact and reason that separation from the Church of England is, in the judgment of papists, and by sad experience, found the most compendious way to introduce popery and to ruine the Protestant religion.	Nalson, John, 1638?-1686.; Ware, Robert, d. 1696. Foxes and firebrands. Part 2.	1682 (1682)	Wing N104; ESTC R7745	85,255	246

FOXES AND FIREBRANDS OR A SPECIMEN OF THE DANGER and HARMONY of POPERY and SEPARATION Wherein is proved from undeniable Matter of Fact and Reason that Separation from the Church of England is in the judgment of Papists and by sad experience found the most compendious way to introduce Popery and to ruine the Protestant Religion Tantum Religio potuit suadere Malorum The Second Edition In Two Parts Dublin Printed by Joseph Ray for a Society of Stationers and are to be sold by the Booksellers of Dublin 1682. TO THE READER Christian Reader HAving about the year 1678. set forth in Print the two Examinations of Faithful Commin and Thomas Heath not with a design to exasperate or provoke any party in Religion but partly to lay open the Plots and Contrivances of the Romish Emissaries to dash Protestants amongst themselves and cunningly undermine that Reformation by divisions which they were not able to subvert by a more open assault It pleased the Learned Dr. Henry Nalson to publish these Examinations together with few judicious Remarks and Collections of his own under the Title of Foxes and Firebrands and dedicate it to Mr. Baxter and Mr. Jenkins the two great Pillars of our present Separations And finding that the First Part was so kindly received by the World that the Impressions were so suddenly bought up and thereby an encouragement given to proceed in adding some more materials in order to a Second Part as upon the same subject I have therefore for thy information caused the First Part to be Reprinted and a Second added to it that so the History of these Jesuitical divisions might be more compleat and absolute The Collections in this Second Part are most of them either out of the Memorials of that great Minister of State the Lord Cecil or from the testimonies of persons that are still living and also able to attest the truth of what is here related I am not conscious to my self of any injury that I have done either to Religion in general or the true sincere Professors of it since neither the Reputation of the one nor the Interest of the other are concerned in the evil designs of those parties that have a form of Godliness but deny the power of it in their practices I may perhaps have disobliged the two extreme Factions in Religion the Papist and the Puritan by exposing their Combinations for the ruine of that Protestant Faith which is by Law happily established and setled among us And if I have done so it is because I tell them the truth and lay the scene of things nakedly before them and I hope the Reader will look upon it as an argument of my candor and sincerity that I do not study to gratifie any party in Religion but have rather invited their prejudices upon my self by saying these things that are disobliging to them both The truth is my chief aim and design in the whole affair is to have our dissenting Brethren disabused and to pull away the scales from their eyes which obstructs their prospect into the danger of their separations to let them know that the first feuds of their divisions were sown by the Priests and Jesuits that whilst they are carrying on the same designs of Schism and Separation they are introducing Popery though they do not think of it and making a way for the admission of that mystery of Iniquity into the Churches of Great-Britain which cost their fore-Fathers so much Blood to cast out If they did seriously consider of these things I am confident they would return to the bosom of the Church and no longer endanger the safety of the Protestant Religion by aspersing Episcopacy and libelling the Government of the Church of England and continuing the course of that Separation which was begun by the Papists cherished by the Separatists and will in the end tend to the utter ruine both of the Conformists and the Nonconformists which hath already brought one good King to the Block and was again like to shake the Crown and Scepter of a second Almighty God make us all-wise to foresee and to prevent our danger R. W. To Mr. Richard Baxter Mr. William Jenkins c. SIRS WIse and Good Men are always wont to look at and consider the consequences and ends of things where our divisions and separations will terminate is but too obvious things cannot long stand in this posture our vain jangling will come to the Umpirage either of the sharpened Sword of the Law or the terrible Law of the Sword the one is grievous the other intolerable upon which Party soever it shall fall for the ill influences of Religious Quarrels are such upon the Civil Government as will oblige that for Self-preservation to prevent the last by the use of the first and by timely severities to obviate future miseries I have yet seen nothing offered by Dissenters which will not necessarily increase rather than cure our Divisions and above all that Toleration which is so warmly pleaded for by those Nonconformists who pretend to give an old Answer to a new Sermon of Dr. Stillingfleet's is certainly the most intolerable It is a Door which will let in infinite Divisions and Subdivisions Errors and Heresies and by giving people liberty to go either to Church or Conventicle will give the lazy profane and Atheistical liberty to go to neither to the great dishonour of God and the inevitable decay of Christian Religion it will infallibly give the Papists all the advantage these following Papers discover they desire to introduce Popery upon the ruine of Protestant Religion it will oblige the Supreme Magistrate to act against his own and the publick Conscience of Christianity and to establish Iniquity by a Law For such are the Doctrines and Practices of some Dissenters in the judgment of all but themselves and of all Dissenters in what they oppose one another I know not how they come now to unite so close against the Episcopal Party for I know their Breaches are incurable and the time was when Presbytery was as much Babylon to Independents as Episcopacy was to the Presbyterians and so of the other Sects and Schisms which makes some people apply that of the Psalmist to this Confederation Psal 83. against the Church of England For my own particular I know but one Remedy for these growing Evils and that is to permit the Sovereignty to lodge where God Almighty has placed it and to submit to it for Conscience sake I think the Authors of the Political Catechism allow his Majesties Power to be of God He is the Minister of God for our good Now who is to be judge of the goodness and fitness of laws Religious Moral or Political either the Prince or the people If the people then is not the King Supreme contrary to St. Peter 1 Ep. 2. cap. 13. If the King be the Umpire in the case every private Conscience is bound to submit to the publick Conscience which is the Law

of the Nation which the King with the advice and by the consent of the wisdom of the Nation has judged and therefore established for the publick good So that the Contest of Dissenters appears to be for Empire and Sovereignty and who shall be the Supreme Judge of the Goodness and Expediency of Laws Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet's Sermon and they do very ill to quarrel at Clergie-mens Coaches and Liveries who themselves are grasping at Crowns and Scepters And if any or many private men shall not judge these Laws so good as those they would have imposed they ought to submit and study to be quiet and not make the greater Duty of Mercy and Peace of the Church submit to the Sacrifice of what may be is but Opinion and still sub Judice I have a Theme before me too copious for an Epistle and shall therefore that I may not transgress the bounds of one dismiss the other I only offer these following discoveries of the Danger to which Protestant Religion and these Nations are exposed by obstinate Separation to your cool and retired thoughts and hope you are too good men and Christians to esteem me Your Enemy because I tell you the Truth Philirenes ERRATA PAge 34. line 24. for her read his p. 39. l. 1. for Cecil read Civil p. 69. l. 6. for Coronensis read Connorensis p. 80. l. 14. for their read you p. 129. l. 26. for Lord read Letter FOXES AND FIRE-BRANDS c. THat the Papists have ever since the Reformation of Religion in Europe The restless design of Papists to regain England to Rome been most invincibly industrious in these Kingdoms to bring the Church of England to ruine and a total subversion there cannot remain the least doubt or scruple For besides apparent matter of undeniable Fact during the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles the First and our present Gracious Sovereign whom God long preserve there are these Reasons which have and do animate them in the repeated prosecution of that desperate Enterprize First A vain Enthusiastick Opinion The Reasons moving them vigorously to prosecute their wicked Design which in this last Century they have generally embraced That there shall be a Fifth Monarchy of their Church For the erecting of which they embroil their Brains 1. An Enthusiastick Belief of the Fifth Monarchy of the Church of Rome and the whole Christian World wrest the Prophecies of the Scripture and the pretended Writings of the Sybils to countenance this beloved Chymaera Now they look upon the English Nation become Heretick and revolted from the Faith as too potent and considerable in this part of the World to permit them to hope for any success till that Church and State be either so broken as to be disabled to oppose them or be reduced to the Roman Faith and Obedience Secondly 2. The Church of England the only Bulwork of the Protestant Religion and their most potent Enemy They look upon the Church of England therefore as the only Bastion or Bulwork of the Protestant Religion and Interest from whence there have sprung so many and such a constant succession of able Champions for Truth and so long as that Church continues are like to do as will eternally baffle all the Arguments and Reasons they have hitherto or can produce to support their tottering Cause and in all probability will in time so expose them as to convince the World of the Apostacy of Rome from the ancient Primitive Christianity and induce them to knock off the shackles of blind Obedience which their Ignorance and the Romish Artifice have fastened upon the hands of all Princes and People under the Papal Jurisdiction and whatever some people may imagine * This is apparent because they raise them themselves there is nothing formidable to Rome in these little Sects of Separatists who being by their own Eternally sub-dividing Principles like the Sheaf of Arrows in the Apologue unbound will be broken without any great difficulty but the Church of England being a Body compact firm and well put together and wearing so much of the Primitive Purity and Antiquity both in Doctrine and Discipline is the Gordian knot which till by the Sword of Pope Alexander they can untie they can never hope to conquer the World by that of Peter and therefore that Church is the constant mark of their Hate and Envy and to undermine her Foundations they set themselves and all their Engines to work with all possible Diligence and Application I remember to have heard a pretty odd Relation An Instance of a Pope's Charity to the English Hereticks which came from a Person of Quality of this Nation who was at Rome in the time of our late Troubles This Noble Person having demanded liberty to have an Audience of his Holiness obtained it and was treated with great Civility and Respect After the Formalities of the Visit were over the Pope enquired what News from England to which the Gentleman replied with great testimonies of Compassion and gave him a short recital of the Tragical Adventures of the Civil War at which the Pope fell into such an indecent laughter that the English Gentleman smartly repartee'd Sir Certainly this is a Scene for Pity not for Laughter Well young man said the old Pope having gravely composed himself you say true and I take your reproof in good part but added he I cannot forbear this testimony of Joy when I consider that God is about to convince you of your Errors by these severe Methods and by their own hands to destroy one of the best drest Heresies that ever appeared in the World since that of the Arians Thirdly 3. Secular Interest Ambition and Honour the Romish Clergy look upon themselves to be extreamly injured in point of Interest and that they are unjustly and violently dispossessed of all the Dignities and Revenues of the Bishopricks Cathedrals Abbeys Monasteries and other religious Houses and these Promotions Dignities and Revenues are from time to time conferred by the Pope upon titular Bishops Deans c. who de jure pretend a Right to them and hope de facto to possess them so soon as they can by any Arts or Ways reduce these Nations to the Obedience of the See of Rome Nay the Pope himself has the Vanity or Impudence to be tickled with the sweet imagination of Sovereignty and to pretend from the Resignation of King John to Pandulphus his Legate a Title to the Imperial Crown of these Realms Now ambitious men animated by these Hopes and professing as matter of Faith that they are free from all the Obligations of Duty and Allegiance to Heretical Princes and Vsurpers as they term ours and at least in pretence being inflamed with an ardent Zeal for the conversion or confusion of us poor Hereticks and having always the dazling beams and lustre of Interest and secular Advantage in their eyes together with the hopes of Heaven as the merits

from this evident matter of Fact that they have been as industrious among the English Nonconformists to sow dividing Principles and animate them against the Government and Governors both in Church and State And that this may not pass for a bare supposition without ground I I have heard Mr. Prance affirm that both Gavan and Whitebread used to Preach frequently in Conventicles in Southwark and other places and I am able to prove Whitebread aliàs White the Provincial of the Jesuits who was executed for the Plot did not many months before the Discovery and his Apprehension Preach in a Conventicle as a Nonconformist at Spaldwick within five miles of Huntington and that he had several times done the like before as was attested by several of the Congregation before divers Gentlemen in the County of Huntington and if the shame of Dissenters did not smother the further discovery of this Truth for fear of the just reproach and infamy it would bring upon them among the miss-led people I doubt not but we should find these Friars and Jesuits in disguise of Nonconformists and by false Names as frequent in the Pulpits of Separatists as their ordinary Teachers And indeed nothing is more feasible or easie for it is no more than for a Jesuit to bring a counterfeit Letter of Recommendation from some known Nonconformist either out of the Town if he designs to travel and Preach in the Countreys as an Itinerant or out of the Countrey if he will Preach in the Town or a Certificate that he has Preached in such or such Congregations with their Approbation which he is sure to have if he inveigh against Popery Bishops Ceremonies Common Prayer and for Liberty of Conscience and the business is done and without further Examination he is admitted into their Pulpits and shall pass for a zealous Protestant and an heavenly man in the opinion of the undiscerning Auditors as Father Commin and Father Heth have done and many others before Whereas the Church of England takes care that none be admitted to the Charge of Souls without all the Caution imaginable against Popery they must take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy have Testimonials from Persons that know them of their Ability and foundness of Judgment they must shew their Letters of Ordination before they are admitted to Preach in an unknown Congregation and have a License from the Bishop of the Diocess before they can regularly Preach in a Congregation whereinto they are by Law instituted and inducted The natural Inferences which follow from this unquestionable matter of Fact here faithfully related and offered to the serious consideration of all sober People of what perswasion soever are these First That the Pope and Papists have ever since the Protestant Reformation endeavoured to raise up Sects and Differences in Opinion amongst Protestants by sending their disguised Emissaries among the zealous and well-meaning people to seduce them into Separation and Schism Secondly That they look upon these practices as most effectual means to bring the people back to the Romish Religion and to introduce Popery among us Thirdly That for this purpose they have been all along industrious in this course by depraving the Government of Episcopacy as Tyrannical the Established Prayers as Popish by extolling Extempore Prayers as Spiritual by encouraging an unlicensed Ministry by preaching up Liberty of Conscience and that it is to be obtained and maintained at any rate and it is worth observation that Coleman dates the Aera of all the misfortunes like to happen to Catholicks from the fatal rescinding of the late Toleration therein agreeing exactly with Dissenters who were no less Querulous for the stopping of that door though from him nothing can be more evident than that the Jesuits designed to bring in Popery at it which they could not do being openly excluded from the benefit of it but by pretending to be Dissenters Fourthly It is most manifest that all our late horrid Civil Wars Rapines Bloodshed and the execrable and solemn Murther of his late Majesty and the banishment of our present Sovereign were affected according to the fore-contrivance of the Papists by the assistance which Dissenters gave them and the opportunities they had to preach them into Rebellion under the pretence of a thorough Reformation that all the late Commotions and Rebellions in Scotland sprung from the same Counsel and Conduct and that the Papists will never out of the hopes of effecting our ruine nor without the same opportunities they have hitherto had so long as our Divisions are kept up and maintained which give them the advantage of dashing us one against another Fifthly That therefore obstinate Dissenters are before God and according to the judgment of the strongest Reason built upon plain matter of undeniable Fact guilty of all the real danger of Popery prevailing again in these Nations by the ruine of the Protestant Religion Sixthly That the Church of England in Doctrine and Discipline is the greatest enemy the Papists have according to their own declared sense and judgment and consequently wholly innocent of any such designs and complyances or approaches to the Church of Rome as Father Du Moulin and other Brain-sick or worse people endeavour to fix upon her and that it is impossible to give a clearer demonstration of the innocence of the Bishops and Clergy of England than Dr. Oats has in the 72 Paragraph of his Narrative before recited concerning the Pope's Bull or Breve bestowing all the considerable Promotions and Dignities in England upon Papists there mentioned which could not be done without turning out the present Bishops and Dignitaries of the Church And there cannot be a more demonstrative argument that he esteems them Hereticks and Enemies for there is no doubt but if the Pope had any hopes of their complyance with Popery he would not only have consented to their continuance in those promotions but have promised high Rewards and Encouragements to them Seventhly That therefore it is the joynt Interest both of Prince and People of these Nations to support and defend the Church of England as now by Law established those of her Communion being by a tract of Experience of equal date with the Reformation found to be both in Principles and Practice the most peaceable and Loyal Subjects and foundest Protestants of unshaken Allegiance and unblemished Loyalty the ablest Champions against Popery and the only bulwork of the Protestant Religion as is but too evident by the constant endeavours of the Papists both by their own power and the assistance of Dissenters to undermine and overthrow it To conclude as I have here impartially related matter of Fact and drawn necessary inferences from it without animosity or bitterness of language so I hope good men will without prejudice or partiality weigh it in an equal balance and make that charitable use of it for which it was intended that it may be a means by discovering the source and original of our Divisions and Distractions