their Priest tells them as Men do Wives for better for worse and must marry their Faith to their Churches infallibility which allows that only to be Gospel which their Church says shall be not what the Apostles write is so for the Papists must obey the Pope though no where commanded in the Gospel but must not read the Gospel though they are commanded there to do it Nay when once the Papist can but touch the small Needle of any ones reason with the great Loadstone of the Harmonious Doctrine of a necessary Obedience to their infallible Church then they make such follow it to every point of the Compass be it good bad or indifferent and so they fail all their life in a Trade-wind of ignorance and superstition and must believe their Priests words before their own senses in the plainest objects of them as in the Miracle of Transubstantiation where you must have eyes and see not and hands and feel not but must believe in a moment real Bread and Wine to be turned into perfect Flesh and Blood though you cannot see the least change whatsoever yet they are bound to believe their Priest before their eyes smell tast nor dare their Priest say that the Consecrated Bread which they esteem the real Body of Christ will be less mouldy or more uncertain of corruption after Consecration than before and the jest of it is that at the same time the Papists believe that Miracle they also believe this Scripture That God will not suffer his Holy One to see corruption And tho for these and many other reasons I cannot believe this Transubstantiation-Miracle yet I cannot but admire this Miracle that belongs to Transubstantiation which is how the Pope can bring so many that have sense and reason to believe it But I shall pass by their adoring this Sacrament their praying to Saints and a multitude of their superstitious observances never used in the Primative Church shall only desire you Madam to observe in general that the Papists follow the Gospel just as they read Hebrew that 's backward for God plainly commands that all should search the Scripture And our Blessed Saviour ordered the Sacrament to be administred in both kinds 1 Cor. 11. 28. And St. Paul forbids publick Prayers in an unknown Language but that which is most for Edification 1 Cor. 14. 15 16. But these plain positive commands do not hinder the Church of Rome from declaring that unlearned men shall not read and search the Scriptures but if we believe St. Paul before the Pope we may read in the 17th of the Acts 11. how he commended the noble Bereans for searching the Scriptures and therefore if searching the Scriptures had not been not only lawful but a commendable act certainly St. Paul would never have commended them for so doing So that the Popish Clergy forbids the reading the Scriptures under pretence that their Laity might not truly understand them Next the Church of Rome allows only their Clergy except free Princes for they are excepters of Persons though God is not to receive the Communion but in one kind tho our Saviour commands that all drink of the Cup and the Papists cannot deny but that the Communion was taken in both kinds in all Christian Churches for above a Thousand Years after Christ And lastly for the poor vulgar sort they shall only hear their publick Prayers in an unknown Tongue viz. Latine which a Tenth part of them do not understand and therefore how that can be most for Edification let the Papists tell if they can I am sure we cannot nor do we believe they can without the help of another Transubstantiation-Miracle and making an unknown Language to most to be chang'd at the same time into a common known Language to all And now Madam I shall humbly desire you to consider in general that tho the Papists do out-noise us as shallow Rivers do still the deepest with the high and mighty Rodomontades of their Churches Infallibility yet such high Rants without true proof are but like School-boys paper-Kites which soar high and lofty but have nothing else worth taking notice of They will have the confidence to tell you that their Popish Church â—…s the Roman Catholick and only true Christian Church â—…n the whole World But the Protestants Answer to this their boasting is that all the Christian Churches in the whole World besides the Popish Churches tho more in number than they declare quite contrary They will ask you where your Protestant Church was before Luther which was wittily answered by one where the Papist Church never was in the Bible The Papists do divert themselves very much at our stiling our King Head of the Church as we do for their doing so for we esteem our King Head only in his own Dominions without the Popes title of infallible and sure 't is more rational that those of a Kingdom should allow their King to be Head of the Church in his own Kingdoms than that a few Cardinals should make the Head of the Church over all Kingdoms And for all their jeasting I am sure we can shew in sober earnest Scripture-presidents for Kings being Heads of Churches in their own Dominions which is more than the Papists can shew for their Pope or his Churches infallibility For sure they cannot object against it as new Doctrine though Doctrine that 's new is their greatest Trade that the Kings of Judah and the first Christian Emperors were Heads of the Jewish Churches and in their own Dominions And Solomon tells us That a Divine Sentence is in the lips of the King and his mouth transgresseth not in Judgment which I am sure Popes have not witness Liberius and Solomon gives the reason because the Heart of the King is in the Hand of the Lord. If the Papists will pretend so much Scripture for their Pope I shall only answer 'T is more than ever Protestants read or the Apostles writ The Papists will tell you with a great deal of confidence though we say the Bible is the Religion of Protestants yet there is no Protestant Religion or Church mentioned in the whole Creed which are the Articles of the Christian Faith And they will tell you that their Church is the Catholick Church and to believe the Catholick Church was an Article of the Christian Faith from the very infancy of the Church in the beginning of the Apostles time Now let the Papists tell us if they bring this as an Argument against the Protestant Religion in the Bible or not if not what cause have they to name it or what need have we to answer it but iâ—… it be one we make this reply That the Roman Church iâ—… no more named in the Apostles Creed than the Protestanâ—… Church is for the Apostles Creed was made before thâ—… Roman Church was a Church and this I am sure they cannot deny so that since the Catholick Church waâ—… then in being and the Roman Church not in being
Invocating Saints and Angels in denying the Lay-men the Communion in both kinds as was commanded by our blessed Saviour in celebrating their Church-Service in an unknown Tongue which was condemned by St. Paul in adoring the Sacrament and in all these a rational Papist cannot deny but he is on the more dangerous side as to the committing of sin and the Protestant in the more secure way as to the avoiding it For in all these things if Protestants say true the Papists do that which is impious but on the other side if the Papists were in the right yet the Protestants might be secure enough too for their fault would be only this that they should only not do some things which the Papists themselves confess is not altogether necessary to be done And truly the Protestants are so Charitably civil as only to say of Papists as St. Austin did of the Donatists That Catholicks approved the Doctrine of the Donatists but abhorred their Heresie of Rebaptization So Protestants approve the Fundamental and necessary Truths which the Papists retain by which many good Souls among them may be saved but abhor the many superstitions they use in their Religion And supposing these Errors of the Popish Church were in themselves not damnable to them that believe as they profess yet for us Protestants to profess what we do not believe and esteem those as Divine Truths which we believe not to be either Divine or true would be doubtless damnable as to us for 't is certain Two men may do the same thing and it may be sinful to one and not to the other as suppose a married Woman gives herself out to be a Widow and one knowing her Husband to be alive marries her doubtless his injoyment of her was adulterous but a second man comes and after seeing her pretended Husband buried marries her and dies without the least information of her first Husbands being then alive his ignorance sure protected him from sin and the second Husbands knowledg of the sin he acted condemned him of Adultery tho his fault might be palliated with some excuses yet it can never be defended by any just Apoligy And so tho we read in Scripture that it was St. Paul's Judgment that meat offered to Idols might lawfully be eaten yet he says if any should eat it with a doubtful Conscience he should sin and be condemned for so doing And supposing we Protestants ought not to have forsook the Papists Church for sin and errours if she had not injoyn'd and imposed them on us yet since she does maintain them with such obstinacy and imposes them with such tyranny we ought certainly to say with St. Peter and St. John 'T is better to forsake men than God and leave the Popish Church-Communion rather than commit or profess known errors as Divine Truths for as the Prophet Ezekiel tells us that to say The Lord hath said so when the Lord hath not said so is a high presumption and great sin be the matter never so small and therefore when St. Paul spoke concerning Virgins abstaining from marriage he said He had no commandment of the Lord but I declare my own judgment of it Now if St. Paul had given this as God's command surely we might have justly contradicted him and made a distinction between Divine Revelation and Humane Judgment So that for a Protestant to abide in the Communion of the Roman Church is so far from securing him from errour as that if I or any Protestant should continue in it I am confident I could not be saved by it and the reason is because the Papists will not admit of my Communion without professing the entire Popish Doctrine to be true and profess this I cannot but I must perpetually exulcerate my Conscience tho the errours of the Roman Church were not in themselves damnable yet for me to resist known Truths and to continue in the Profession of known errours and falshoods is certainly a capital sin and of great affinity with the sin which shall never be forgiven In short if the errours of the Roman Church did not warrant our departure yet the tyrannous imposition of them would be our sufficient justification for they force us either to forsake the Papists Communion or profess as Gospel-truths what our Conscience assures us is very little akin to them so that the Protestants were oblig'd to forsake those errours of the Popish Church and not the Church but the errours and we Protestants did and do still continue members of the Church having only left what appeared most plain to us to be superstitious and impious And we separate no more from the Popish Church thant she has separated from the Ancient Church and indeed to speak properly our difference is more against the Court than Church of Rome which has introduced so many new ceremonies and practises in the Popish Church as was never heard nor practised in the Primitive Times as for one instance of a Thousand I might give you Their denying the Cup to the Laity which was never practised in the Church a Thousand years after our Saviour But because the Papists brag so much of and depend so entirely on the Infallibility of their Church I shall pass by their Out-works and search a little into this their Grand Fort the Infallibility of their Church for except they prove that they prove nothing but in proving that they prove all and if the Papists could satisfie me either by Scripture or Reason that their Church is infallible I should not only be of their Church to morrow but repent I was not sooner but really by all that I ever heard or read for their making it good I find cause only to admire their confidence but not at all to esteem their reasons The cheif method they take and degrees they use to prove the Infallibility of their Church are by whole-sale these First that St. Peter was head and cheif amongst the Apostles and there was given to him and his Successors by our Saviour Universal Authority over his Militent Church That the Pope or Bishop of Rome is St. Peter's Successor and has his Authority of Vniversal Bishop and consequently the Roman Church being built upon this Rock is infallible all which I doubt not but to prove to be inconsistent with and contradictory both to Scripture and Reason As to the first point of St. Peter's being Head of the Apostles which the Papists all stile him and say he was called from thence Cephas which is derived from the Greek word Head it is a most gross mistake for Cephas is a Syriack word that signifies Stone but this is only by the by Now we Protestants say tho we allow St. Peter might have primacy of Order yet we cannot grant he had supremacy of power over the other Apostles for sure it cannot stand with the least reason that St. Peter should have authority over all the Apostles and yet never act the least authority over
said to have done Countries A Convert nevertheless we may allow him to be and to beâ—…ieve him to be chang'd also from what he was as he had often â—…een and done before But though he be thus become a Saint â—…he Kn e is as Visible and Obvious as ever and Honest H. H. is the same Envious Plodding Treacherous Sycophant in his Looks Words and Actions Query If ever H. H. since his pretended Conversion hath ask'd the Pardon of any one person whom he has Libell'd or Defam'd Or so much as acknowledged the wrong we speak not of satisfaction for the same And also whether he can be deemed any other than an Hypocrite or Dissembler until he hath done this God cannot be mocked but the World and his Father-Confessor may To shew that according to the Title H. H. is the same as heretofore and that he the said H. H. was ever for the Mercenary interest part Religion he still making use of upon all changes only to serve that end for he having Printed by Order the Papers found in the late Kings Closet and a Bookseller having likewise got incouragement to Print the same which being accordingly done H. H. still the same sends one on purpose to Trepan not only the said Bookseller but Printer and used all underhand means to ruin them This I hope cannot be thought by any of the same Religion he now professes himself to be of done through a true zeal to that Persuasion And to the end that none that take the pains to read this Book may think these are falsities put upon the said H. H. â—…hrough envy to his Greatness the Publisher will prove to 〈…〉 H's face the truth of each particular if he hath the confidence to deny any of them FINIS A LETTER OF ADVICE To A Young Lady BEING Motives and Directions To Establish Her In the Protestant Religion WRITTEN By a Person of Honour AND Made Publick for the Vse of that Sex. LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Richard Baldwin 1688. Price Three Pence Licensed May the 7th 1688. A Letter of Advice c. MADAM I Know the law of Custom has made it not only an usual favour but an expected duty to complement at least if not flatter such Women as Men write to especially the Great Ladies who think none write well that do not praise them much and those write best who extol them most high Praises being like good Poetry Musick in words the sound of which may be agreable but truly to deserve them requires such a Gygantick size of merit as is very unproportionable to the slender-wasted Vertues of most Ladies who are over-eager to receive Praises and over-careless in meriting any and the grand reason is because they know they usually have them without it and that Custome must give it though Reason cannot So obliging is the common courtesie of England to Ladies that it allows them to pretend to all praises as their due though few deserve any as their right In a word our English Ladies must have their Characters writ just as the Dutch Madams will have their Pictures drawn that is very handsom though they themselves be never so ugly But Madam for your part I know your perfections so abundantly and my own heart so truly as I must beg the Law of Custome pardon here it being beyond my power to flatter or complement since I can neither over-praise your high merit or outspeak the real love and true esteem I have both for you and them so that knowing all manner of praises to be justly due to your merits I find I cannot here make you a present of any without doing you an injury by intitling you to those praises by gift which all know are your own by right For truly Madam the whole progress of your actions have still been so highly vertuous and religiously strict and ever believed and proclaimed such that though your Beauty might make bad Men wish you ill yet your Vertues hinder the worst from daring to think you so for if they did their own hearts must at the same time condemn their own thoughts and declare your innocency like Pilate who with the same breath he condemned our Saviour said he found no fault in him But Madam tho your vertuous life is so transparantly excellent yet for all that you ought to look on your unsoil'd Reputation as no small blessing of preservation in these scandalous times where so few handsom Ladies escape censure and so many deserve it for now the extravagancies of Romance-Amours are not only daily read but almost hourly practised and Women act more than Romances can write whilst the sober Rules of Vertue and pious Duties of Religion are seldom thought on and most ralely practised our Youth being generally grown such fond friends of Mr. Hobbes his Books as they are become meer strangers to our Saviour's Gospel they living as if they were all bodies and had no souls or had them but to lose turning Religion into Raillery and Gospel into Romances for thus in short they mangle Scripture that part which is chiefly Historical that is their meer Gospel-part and that which is the Gospel-part is their meer Historical-part and because they cannot bring the Gospel to prove their Atheistical reasons pretend to prove by Reason that there is no Gospel and if some of them now and then look over a Chapter they only pass through it as a Spie doth an Enemies Country with a mischievous design and if they can but find in Scripture a seeming Contradiction that they presently bring on the Stage as they do Fools in Plays to railly with and make sport at so great a Jest our Young Sparks now make of their Salvation as to be pleas'd in the meer displeasing God without considering 't is not onely Atheistical madness but Devillish folly to make that their Jest which they may be damn'd for in earnest Thus our Youth throw away their Souls and for their Time they care not how they spend it always provided it be not religiously and therefore they wast it most in the company of vain Women and are so eager and zealous in their pursuit and so constant in their service as if they fancied God was mistaken and intended creating man for the woman rather than the woman for the man. But though all know God made the Woman for the Man yet what Critick can tell us whether our New Mode has made the Gallant for the Mistress or the Mistress for the Gallant But of this we are all sure They are so plentifully made for one another that the Eastern Country-Laws allow not with more freedom plurality of Wives than our new English Customs admit plurality of Mistresses Nay I may yet venture to say more That the Liberty of our men exceeds theirs for they are permitted no more Wives than they can well keep but ours allow themselves as many Mistresses as they can any way get For indeed the Names of Tom