A Defence of the DOCTRIN AND HOLY RITES OF THE Roman Catholic Church FROM THE Calumnies and Cavils OF Dr. BURNET'S Mystery of Iniquity Unveiled Wherein is shewed The Conformity of the present Catholic Church with that of the purest Times Pagan Idolatry truly stated The Imputation of it clearly confuted And Reasons are given why Catholics avoid the Reformation With a Postscript to Dr. R. Cudworth By J. Warner of the Soc. of Jesus The Second Edition LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel And are sold at his Printing-house on the Ditch-side in Black fryers 1688. The Preface IT is now more than Ten Years since this Book was first published and althô very few Copies of it could be then conveyed into England by reason of the trouble which gives occasion for this second Edition yet one came to Dr. Burnet's Hands who having read it said He was resolved to have nothing to do with its Author These words may proceed as well from a low esteem as otherwise so they did not alter my opinion of the Book it self which I leave to the Readers Judgment I called it Anti-Haman from some resemblance betwixt Haman the Macedonian in an Eastern Court and Dr. Burnet in this Western yet I could not foresee that the Paralel would go so far as since it has done even to set G. B. fair for compleating the last Scene of that Factious Stranger I follow in my Answer Dr. B. Step by Step and to shew that I neither alter his Sense nor dissemble the Strength of his Reasons I give them in his own words I studied to be as short as I could yet I hope I say enough to satisfie an indifferent Judgment only in some few places I have enlarged the thing there treated being in a new Dress and requiring it Such is the Accusation of Idolatry brought in against the Catholic Church by the old and new Iconoclasts but by Dr. Edw. Stillingfleet so much changed that it is quite another thing The first of our late Reformers accused us of using Images and giving to them a Religious Worship not unlike that which the Idolaters gave to their Idols yet they owned this difference that Images were reverenced only for Honor due to God or his Friends the Saints whereas the Pagans in them adored Dead Men or Living Devils that is False Gods. See Calvin l. 1. Inst c. 11. n. 9. Now Dr. E. S. will have the Pagan Jupiter to have been the True God the other Pagan Deities to have been either Names of his Attributes or Spirits Mediating berwixt the Supreme God and Men. An Error so new that I scarce believe any one Christian or Pagan before him ever held it and therefore it may be called the Stillingfleetian Error To confute it it is enough to read any of those Fathers who wrote against Pagans Tertullian or Justin Athenagoras or Minutius Lactantius S. Cyprian Arnobius or Julius Firmicus there being not one of all these but convinces this gross Error But he little expected to be confuted out of any of these by any Priest having assured that none of us read more than Bellarmin and Coccius Which is not the only rash Assertion found in his Works Were this Doctrin true the whole Debate betwixt the Primitive Christians and Pagans were at an end and the Cause yielded to the later For the Pagans said Jupiter was the True God The Christians said he was not the True God but was a Man Born Dead and Buried as other Men What says Dr. E S. Jupiter was the True God Here we see the whole Body of Christians of the four first Ages all the Martyrs the Doctors the Confessors and so many Apostolical Men condemned as denying the True God and that by one who professes himself a Christian and a Doctor of Divinity and Champion of the Reformed Church Those Primitive Christians went farther yet they not only denied him to be God but accused him of grievous Crimes of Adultery of Incest of Rebellion against his own Father and of other most unnatural Sins which are so many horrid Blasphemies if Jupiter be the True God. And which is yet worse all those Blessed Martyrs continued to their last Breath in them and sealed them with their Blood. What will what can Dr. St. say to this And what can a Christian Reader judge of him In fine this bold Assertion of E. S. and some Divines of the new Stamp is contrary to the Apostles who Planted Christian Religion opposit to Jupiter and all Pagan Deities contrary to the Glorious Martyrs who watered it with their Blood contrary to the Holy Fathers who defended it with their Writings contrary to the Primitive Church which professed it amidst the severest Persecutions and Torments contrary to God who confirmed it with Miracles and contrary to that same very Jupiter himself who owned himself to be a filthy seducing Devil What can the Learned World judge of so rash an Assertion What will he stop at who to oppose Popery will contradict all the first Ages of Christianity and God himself What credit can he deserve in obscurer Points of Divinity who in so clear a Matter of Fact dares contradict all Antiquity I hope he will open his Eyes acknowledge his Error and give Glory to God by renouncing that Arch-Devil otherwise it may be written on his Tomb Here lieth E. S. who owned no other God but the Pagan Jupiter This Epitaph will be very Honorable to the Church of England in which he makes so great a Figure There was published lately a Treatise in which the Idolatry as found in Scripture is very Learnedly and Solidly Explicated Some fancied a disagreement in our Sentiments because that Honorable Person says the Pagan Deities were Stars and I say they were Men. Yet in this there is no contradiction at all for he explicates that Idolatry which is mentioned in Scripture and reigned in the East and he adds that the Greeks to get the reputation of Antiquity to their Nation cut off the Heads of those Idols and set on them others of their Kings that is they retained the Gods but called them by the Names of such as have been famous amongst them either for Regal Power or for War or for inventing some useful Arts. And it is known to all the World that the chiefest Gods of the Romans were taken from the Greeks Now that I confined my self to the Idolatry of the Greeks and Romans is evident for Chap. 7. Sect. 3. pag. 52. I say Our only Dispute is about the Greeks and Romans whose Idolatry was banished the World by Christian Religion And Sect. 5. pag. 83. Our Dispute is not of the first Beginners and Planters of Idolatry but of those who lived at and since the time of Christ till Christianity prevailed But in my Revision of D. M. his Second Letter pag. 122. I distinguish these two sorts of Idolatry and give the precedency in Time
of Opinions opposite to the Power and Life of Christianity I know none who hath a better Title to it than your Reformation For the Life of Christianity is Faith and Charity and you have destroy'd the first by Heresie and the second by Schism as shall be proved hereafter Children delight in edged Tools which serve only to cut their fingers and you and your Brethren use weapons against us which wound your selves Fatal Experience might have taught you more Discretion than to be still moving that stone which hath once crush'd both your Church and State to pieces And truly the Reproach of Antichristian will fall on your Church if prov'd against ours For say what you please of the ancient Britans the first Apostles of the English who brought us the light of Faith and planted the Gospel amongst us came from Rome The Hierarchy you pretend to came from thence By Authority from the Pope my Lord of Canterbury is Primate and my Lord of London is his Suffragan By the same Authority the Country is divided into Dioceses your Deans and Chapters setl'd your Universities founded and several Degrees instituted in them If the Pope be the Antichrist both Universities and Hierarchy amongst you is Antichristian Moreover the Livings you enjoy were for the most part if not altogether given by the pious Liberality of Persons who profest that Faith we profess and lived and died in the Communion of our Church Gratitude to such Benefactors may teach you to judge less severely to suspend your Judgment till you have more convincing Arguments to ground it on than your own bare and bold Assertion CHAP. III. The true Designs of Christian Religion THe Design of God in establishing Religion was that Men should serve him in this World and enjoy him in the next that they (a) Psal 126.5 here sow with tears there reap with joy now run (b) 2 Tim. 4.7 8. their race and fight their battel then receive their crown Rivers (c) Eccles 1.7 receive their waters from the Sea and return to it again And Religion receives its beginning from God runs through all Ages to return to God again Each Man before his Creation is Creatrix essentia says S. Anselm From which by Creation he is separated and by Regeneration and the good Works which follow it he returns to him again never more to be separated from him The first Action is of God alone the rest are of God and Man For God (d) Aug. Qui te creavit sine te non te salvabit sine te will not compleat the Work of our Salvation with out the Cooperation of Man. God (e) Subest tibi cum volueris posse can do all without Man but will not Man (f) Sine me nihil potestis facere Jo. 15.5 can do nothing without God from whom he must expect prevenient concomitant and subsequent Graces for all and every meritorious Action That Bliss which God prepares for us in the next Life contains God himself and when enjoy'd renders the thrice happy Soul like (a) Similes ei erimus 1 Jo. 3.2 unto God and we must attain to it by means proportionable which partake of the resemblance Wherefore our Understanding must be like that of God believing him and our Will loving him The first is Faith the second Charity to which add Hope to keep our Soul steady amidst the Difficulties of this Life as an Anchor (b) Heb. 6.19 fixes a Ship And you have the three Vertues call'd Theological because they rely immediately on Almighty God Faith on his Veracity or Truth in affirming Hope on his Fidelity in promising and Goodness as he is our Chief Good And Charity on his Goodness in its self Which Three Vertues contain what is required of us in this Life Whatsoever is required to a good life is known as we know what to believe to hope and to love Says (c) Aug. Ench. c. 4. Omnia quae requiris proculdubio scies diligenter sciendo quid credi quid sperari debeat quid amari Haec enim maximè imò verò sola in Religione sequenda sunt S. Austin Which are the only things Religion regards as being designed only for these three Vertues But are we not oblig'd to keep the Commandments Or do not they advance towards Heaven who run (a) Psal 119.32 in the paths which God hath traced out And how come these to be omitted Answer They are not ommitted but are contained in Charity (b) Rom. 13.8 9. He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law our whole Duty to our Neighbour and the Commandments relating to him being briefly comprehended in this Saying Love thy Neighbor as thy self As our whole Duty to God is contained in that other Saying Love God above all things (c) Matt. 22.40 On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets These are the two Rootes (d) Matt. 7.17 of the good tree which brings forth good fruit As love of our selves is the root of the bad tree which brings forth bad fruit The (e) Aug. Serm. 44. de Temp. Radix omnium bonorum est Charitas sicut radix omnium malorum est Cupiditas root of all good is Charity as the root of all evil is Concupiscence Again (f) Aug. l. de moribus Eccl. c. 25. Nihil aliud est bene vivere quam toto corde totâ animâ totâ mente Deum deligere To live well is to love God with all our Heart with all our Soul with all our Mind I should as easily write out the whole new Testament as endeavour to cite all the passages which directly or indirectly commend Charity Seeing all tend to extinguish in us self-Love and to kindle Divine Love. In it Divine Love sometimes is preferr'd before (a) 1 Cor. 13. the Tongues of Men and Angels before Faith working Miracles before knowledge of the greatest Mysteries Almsgiving c. It is call'd (b) Col. 3.14 The bond of perfection the end (c) 1 Tim. 5. or intent of the Commandments c. I end with the Words of the beloved and loving Disciple (d) Jo. 4.16 God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Wherefore with Reason S. Austin (e) Aug l. de laudibus Charitatis said Ille tenet quicquid latet quicquid patet in divinis sermonibus qui servat Charitatem in moribus I should not have been so long upon a Point of which I thought none could be ignorant who reads the Scriptures or knows the Rudiments of Christianity did not I perceive that you either never knew it or have forgotten it And When (f) Heb. 5.12 for the time and your Vocation you should be a teacher you have need that one should teach you which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God. For how happens it that in relating the Designs of Christian Religion there is not one clear
word of the love of God which is the main design of it you speak of Purity Ingenuity Patience Generosity and something of the love of our Neighbour but why are you silent of the Love of God which gives Vertue to all the rest which without it avail us nothing (a) 1 Cor. 13. how perfect soever they be in their kind Do you intend to make that fall under the Notion of Antichristianism as being with you no part of the Designs of Christianity I shall expect a satisfactory Answer to these Doubts and proceed to CHAP. IV. G. B. His Explication of the Designs of Christianity G. B. Pag. 4. THe first Design of Christian Religion is to give us right apprehensions of the Nature and Attributes of God. Pag. The second branch is to hold forth the method of Mans Reconciliation with his Maker You mean that the intent of Christian Religion is to teach us that there is One God and One Mediator which are Objects of our Faith. Pag. 7. The third is to teach the perfectest clearest and most Divine Rules for advancing of the Souls of Men to the highest perfections of their Natures it giving clearer Rules and fuller Directions than either moral Philosophers or the Old Testament The Lessons of Purity Chastity Ingenuity Humility Meekness Patience and Generosity Not one word of Charity but Generosity I know not whence comes in to take its place Pag. 8. The fourth to unite Mankind in the closest Bonds of Peace Friendship and Charity which it doth tempering our Passions forgiving Injuries loving our Enemies teaching Obedience to those in Authority over us and by associating us into one Body call'd the Church Answer This is indeed a Design worthy of Christian Religion but imperfectly explicated by you seeing you omit the love of God the God (a) 2 Cor. 1.24 of Peace who alone can give us perfect Peace Humane Wills are naturally opposite to one another they cannot meet but in their natural center God. And the Love of our Neighbor is never sincere and lasting but when it is grounded on the Love of God. The first effect of Self-love is to separate us from God. The second to divide us among our selves Both are the effects of Sin and nothing can prevent them and link us together in the Bonds of Charity but he who can remit Sins That Peace then which Christian Religion teaches which the Church recommends to her Children which in her Prayers she demands of God is not an effect of humane industry but of Grace It proceeds from the Mercy of God it is a sequel of Purity of Conscience and the Crown of real and true Justice In fine it is the work of the unspotted Lamb (a) 1 Pet. 1.19 at whose Birth (b) Luk. 2.14 Peace was announced in his Name to the World by the Angels who left Peace (c) Jo. 14.27 as a Legacy to his Disciples before his Death and who was sacrificed on the Altar of the Cross to reconcile us to his Heavenly Father and restore Peace betwixt Heaven and Earth which the Sin and Rebellion of Men had banisht You see Sir how insufficient your Explication of Peace is for the end you propose You leave out the chief and most necessary Ingredient for purging our Dissentions and to use a Prophets Comparison (d) Ezech. c. 13.10 you build with untempered Mortar You (e) Jerem. 6.14 heal the hurt of the people slightly saying Peace Peace when there is no Peace You hint indeed at a good humane means to Peace Obedience to those in Authority It was to prevent Schism (f) Inter Apostolos unus eligitur ut capite constituto schismatis tolleretur occasio Hieron l. 1. adversus Vigilantium c. 14. that God establish'd one Apostle over the rest But your endless Divisions and Subdivisions amongst your selves shew how inefficacious this means is in your Reformation And how can it be otherwise when all your People have before their Eyes the Example of your first Patriarkes who began your Reformation by rejecting all Authority over them and breaking the Rules of Divine Worship setled all over the World and till that time acknowledged by themselves Cur non licebit Valentiniano quod licuit Valentino de arbitrio suo fidem innovare Tert. l. de praescript c. 40. p. 338. Why may not not a Lutheran do what was lawful to Luther Your first Reformers rejected some Articles of Faith then universally believed because they seemed not to be contain'd in Scripture why may not the same motive authorise their Followers to reject some others which you would retain altho they are as little to be found in Scriptures Why may not a modern Protestant retrench some unnecessary Ceremony used by you at present seeing you have cut off so many others Let others live by that law which you publish think not so highly of your own Authority as to make your Dictamens not only the Rule of Actions but of the Laws themselves It shall be lawful to dissent from this Article of Faith but not from that other to quit this Ceremony and not that when the same rule is applicable to both Is not this properly (a) 2 Cor. 1.24 To lord it over the Faith of the People What wonder you find your Laity refractory to your Ordinances They are in this directed by your Rule and encouraged by your Example Wherefore look no where abroad for the root of these tares Your Reformers planted them they laid the Egg out of which this Cockatrice is hatched They eat the sower Grapes which set all your Teeth an Edge Neither appears there any possibility of a Remedy while your Reformation subsists this Principle of Discord and Schism being laid in its very Foundation and consequently it cannot be removed without the ruine of the whole Structure nor retained without perpetual Danger of renting it in pieces I wish these troublesome Schisms and endless Discords amongst your selves may make you seek a proper Remedy by a Reunion to the Center of Union God and his Church CHAP. V. Of the Characters of Christian Doctrin G. B. P. 8. I Shall add to this the main distinguishing Characters of our Religion which are Four. Pag. 8. First its Verity Pag. 10. The Second its genuine Simplicity and Perspicuity The Third its Reasonableness and the Fourth its easiness Thus you Answer Are these the only or even the chief Characters of Divine Truths whether you take them as they are delivered in holy Writ or as taught in the Church Can you find no other quality peculiar to them not common to others Then human Learning may equal if not surpass Divine Take for Example some Principles naturally known as Two and two make four or The whole Body is greater than any part of it These are true it is impossible they should be false they are perspicuous and easie no Man can doubt of them who understands the terms They are reasonable For what more reasonable than
but his heavy Body keeps him on the Ground and his dull Spirits serve only for a slow Motion there For let a Man read your Book observe your disesteem of others and your insulting over them and he shall think you Eagle-like to be towring above the Clouds whence you with disdain look down on us poor Ignoramus's Yet your heighth is discernible without the help of a Telescope For after all your striving and straining Endeavors we still find you on the Ground equal nay inferior to many whom you insult over without any thing extraordinary but your boldness to Print in so Learned an Age as this is of things you understand not If what I have written already and what I shall write doth not make this clear I will give you leave to apply that Comparison to me I have already spoken Chap. 3. 4. of the Designs of God in delivering Christian Religion that it was to teach Men to serve God in this Life and enjoy him in the next That this Service consisted chiefly in Faith Hope and Charity yet so as Charity gives a value to the other In fine that the End of the Gospel was to unite us to God by Charity in this World and by Glory which is the last perfection of Charity in the other Love is the root of all our Actions As Weight (a) Aug. l. 13. Confes c. 9. Amor meus pondus meum eò feror quocumque feror Aug. l. 11. de Civit. Dei c. 28. Sicut corpus pondere ita animus amore fertur quocumque fertur in Bodies gives them their Motion towards their Center so Love in Men but with this difference that Weight is restrained to local Motion an Action of one species but Love as partaking of the nature of the Soul whose it is reaches to several and those of an opposit nature for all we do proceeds from some Love. All our Passions are only Love in a several disguise (b) Aug. l. 14. de Civ Dei cap. 7. Is the thing we love absent the love of it is called Desire is it in danger to be lost it is Fear are we in a probability of attaining it it is Hope is it looked on as irrevocable it is Despair are we stirred up to overcome the Difficulties opposing us it is Anger do we possess it it is Joy do we lose it Love is changed into Grief or Sadness c. The same Love putting on several Dresses and transforming it self Proteus like conformable to the nature and condition of its Object So that it would be impossible to reckon all its Species which are reduced to some Heads both by Philosophers and Divines Philosophers draw it to three Species according to three sorts of Good Honor Profit and Pleasure But much more to our purpose is the Distinction of Love used by Divines which in order to a Mortal Life in this World and Eternal Life in the next divides all Mankind viz. The love of God and the love of our selves commonly called Self-love We received the love of our selves from Adam the love of God from Christ that is an effect of corrupt Nature this of repairing Grace from that spring out the works of the Flesh from this grow those of the Spirit that ends in Death this is the Seed of Life By these two Loves two Cities are built (a) Aug. l. 14. de Civit. Dei c. 28. Fecerunt Civitates duas amores duo terrenam scilicet amor sui usque ad contemptum Dei coelestem verò amor Dei usque adcontemptum sui Jerusalem and Babylon Heaven and Hell. In the next World these Loves are pure for in Heaven reigns the Love of God without any Self-love in Hell Self-love rages without any curb from the Love of God. In this Life they are commonly mingled neither so absolutely possessing the Heart of Man as to suppress all motion of its Corrival For even the greatest Sinners feel some motions to Good and the greatest Saints must say Dimitte nobis Forgive us our Sins as we forgive And as betwixt the two Brothers in Rebecca's Womb so betwixt these two Loves there is a combat within our Breast For the spirit covets (a) Gal. 1.17 against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit and these are contrary to one another And this is that perpetual combat which we undergo by reason of which this Life is termed (b) Job 7.1 Militia est vita hominis super terram a warfare And (c) Aug. l. 11. de Civit. Dei c. 28. Bonum est homini ut illo proficiente quo benè vivimus ille deficiat quo malè vivimus donec ad perfectum sanetur in bonum commutetur omne quod vivimus we are conquered when Self-love prevails over the Love of God but we conquer wuen the Love of God gets the better Wherein then doth consist the perfection of a Christian In a Heart pure from bad Love not yielding consent to the Motions of Self-love but resisting them and a Heart filled with the Love of God following in all things the motions of Divine Grace and the guidance of the Holy Spirit And (d) Aug. in Psal 64. Interroget si quisque quid amet inveniet undè sit civis could we certainly discover which of the two Loves rules in our Heart we should certainly know the state of our Soul. Supposing these Principles let us attend to Mr. G. B. G. B. pag. 76. Religion elevates the Souls of Men to a participation of Divine Nature whereby they being inwardly purified and the outward Conversations regulated the World may be restored to its primitive Innocence and Men admitted to an inward intimate fellowship with their Maker Answ What you say of participation of Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 is out of Scripture likewise our souls being inwardly purified and our inward fellowship with God. All which is true althô you neither tell what they mean nor understand it your self But that by Christianity the outward Conversation should be regulated or primitive Innocence restored is alien or untrue That by Christianity outward Conversation is regulated is alien orderly Conversation being a meer external Quality many times as excellent in Infidels as Christians Certainly the perfection of Christianity may be found in Anchorets and preserved in a Desert Whence a good Conversation appears not to be a very material Ingredient of Perfection And that Christianity should aim at restoring the World to its primitive Innocence is absolutely false for that Innocence cannot be attained unto neither in this Life nor the next not in this in which the greatest Saints have their (a) Rom. 7. Combats from which Man in the State of primitive Innocence was free not in the next the State of Glory being above that of Innocency So neither of these is the End of Christianity G. B. pag. 76. What Devices are found out to enervate Repentance Sins must be divided into mortal and venial
his Superior Christ Jesus I never heard S. Ambrose suspected of Pride for refusing to admit Theodosius the Great into the Church before his Penance for the Slaughter at Thessalonica or for excluding him the Cancels after it It was a Zeal of the Glory of God and the good of the Church which moved him the Emperor himself understood it so As for precious Ornaments of the Church I will own ours to be too costly when you shall have proved that any thing is too good for God's Service not till then The infinit Majesty of God is ground sufficient to oblige us to bear him the greatest Respect interiorly and express our Duty to our Creator and our Gratitude to so great a Benefactor by returning to him in the best manner we can an Acknowledgment of his most bountiful Gifts This serves also to stir up in the Auditory Submission Respect and Adoration which otherwise would fail CHAP. XXVII Vnity of the Church in Faith and Sacraments G. B. owns that Protestants are Schismatics Of Severity against Dissenters And of Hugo Grotius G. B. p. 100. A Fourth Design of Christian Religion was to unite Mankind under one Head into one Body not by Love and pardoning Injuries only but also by associating the Faithful into one Body the Church which was to be united by Bonds of Love governed by Pastors and Teachers and cemented with the Ligaments of the Sacraments Answ You say something thô disorderly but not all For 1. You omit Faith by which we are inserted into the Body of Christ 2. You put Charity which doth not make us parts but living parts of that Body whose parts we are by Faith. 3. You add Sacraments which are only exterior Signs of interior Communication 4. You confound Charity and Sacraments as equally concurring to the Vnity of the Church yet there is a vast difference betwixt them the one formally quickning the Members of the Church interiorly the other only effecting it interiorly and testifying it exteriorly 5. Betwixt the Sacraments there is a vast difference as to this and you confound them for Baptism being our Regeneration in Christ is an esficient Cause of our Union with him and makes us his Members the others are designed only to nourish those who are already united to and in him When you speak of being Governed by Pastors I hope the Pope may find place amongst them he being the prime Pastor G. B. pag. 101. The Gospel pronounceth us free and no more Servants of Men but of God. Answ Free from the Ceremonial Law of Moses not from that of the Gospel and Obedience to the Governors of the Church How changeable are your Sentiments In the foregoing Page 100 the Church was to be Governed by Pastors and Teachers now she is to obey none but God and if any Man pretend to Command he changeth the Authority of the Church into a tyranical Yoke So we must have Governors without Authority to Command and Subjects without any Duty to Obey A new Model of Government G. B. ibid. Those things for which we withdrew from the Church are Additions to our Faith. She added to Scriptures Tradition to God Images to Christ Saints to Heaven and Hell Purgatory to two Sacraments five more to the Spiritual Presence of Christ his Corporal Presence Ans Never Man spake more and proved less than you who offer not one word in proof of these disputed Points which we declare to be evident untruths Is not this a poor begging of the thing in question But they are say you Additions to your Faith. Did we add to your Faith or you cut off from ours and that of the whole Christian World before your Deformation How could we add those things to your Faith when they were in peaceable possession all over the Christian World as you own your selves many Ages before Protestancy was thought on You have here only one Truth viz. That you withdrew from the Church Which convincingly proves the Guilt of Schism to lie at your Door G. B. pag. 105. If a Society of Christians visibly swerve from Christ so that Communion cannot be retained with it without departing from Christ then the departing from the Corruptions brought in can be no departing from the Church If then it appear that the Roman Church hath departed from the Truth of the Gospel those who separated from her cannot be said to separate from the true Church Answ Here we have a Paralogism which might better become a Junior Sophister than a Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty You will see it in these Instances The Communion of that Church ought to be renounced which obligeth her Children to Mahometism If then the English Protestant Church oblige hers to that her Communion ought to be renounced Another That Man deserves the greatest Contempt who writes Controversie and hath nothing to write but Calumnies and Sophisms If then Mr. G. B. hath nothing else but such stuff to fill his Books with he knows his Deserts What think you Sir of such Arguments which serve only to delude an unwary Reader into an assent of what you would but cannot prove There is no Logician but knows that Conditional Propositions signifie only the Connexion betwixt two things under such a Condition but they assert nothing absolutely unless the Condition be proved For Example If a Man flies he hath Wings If the Heavens fall we shall catch Larks These I say are granted to be true althô the Condition be impossible Yet those who grant them do not expect those Wings to go a Journey nor rely on those Larks for a Supper In like manner suppose we should grant your Conditional Illation yet the Guilt of Schism would lie on your Consciences because you neither do nor can prove the Condition upon which your Excuse relies G. B. pag. 106. The Cruelty of Papists extendeth to as much bloudy and barbarous Rage as ever sprung from Hell. Answ You mean the Laws made against Heretics which being made by the Secular Power and not by Churchmen I think my self not obliged to vindicate them Yet seeing the most severe of them all the Faggot was till of late as I am informed in force in England and hath been actually executed upon some since the Reformation I leave you to answer to our Honorable Judges for your pragmatical Boldness in censuring them so severely Another would take notice of the Laws in force against Papists but I let that pass it is enough to vindicate our Churchmen that they never made those Laws they never condemned any Man by them all they do is to judge of the matter of Fact whether a Person be guilty of Heresie and if they find him so to leave him to the Secular Power This is the most that ever the Inquisition did as far as ever I heard G. B. pag. 108. Grotius says that in Charles the Fifth's time more than One hundred thousand were butchered on the accout of Religion And in his Son Philip 's time the
to Star-Worship Primum omnium Stellas admirationi fuisse propter pulchritudinem venerationi propter utilitatem Hinc Sap. XIII primo refertur refutatur Astrorum Adoratio deinde Idolorum Althô it be hard to foresee when these contentious Disputes will end Passion and Interest fighting against Truth yet I do not despair that some alive may be so happy as to see it For many Objections against us are grounded on Mistakes others are not against Faith which alone we are bound to defend but Discipline Such is the Free use of Scripture in the Vulgar Language prohibited by the Council of Trent says Dr. E. S. in his Council of Trent Examin'd and Disprov'd by Catholic Tradition And then in a long elaborate Discourse with many Examples of ancient Translations of the Scripture he endeavors to prove there is no Catholic Tradition for that Prohibition Against whom is this I acknowledge I am to seek For 1. We pretend Catholic Tradition for Points of Faith not for each Point of Discipline of which this is one 2. This Point is not universally received in the Church as may be seen pag. 26. of this Edition 3. I find no such Prohibition in the Council of Trent This Council did order Sess 18. an Index to be made of Suspected or Pernicious Books by a Committee of some of the Fathers who Sess 25. reported what Progress was made in it But the Council left the Consideration of what was by them done to the Pope without any other Decree and immediately determined Whence I gather 1. The Scripture in no Vulgar Language was consider'd in that Congregation or Committee it never having been looked on either as Pernicious or Suspected by the Catholic Church or any General Council 2. Scripture in a Vulgar Language was not prohibited by the Council for the Council left all that Matter to the Pope's Determination 3. The Index finished in Rome was never proposed to the Council an end being put to it immediately after that Reference of the Index to the Pope so the Index is no Act of the Council By which it appears that the Learned Doctor in all that Discourse disputes against no Catholic Doctrin nor against the Council of Trent Now this framing Phantôms and then combating them may amuse the People for a time but it will soon be insignificant and therefore laid aside It is time we hearken to Dr. Burnet's Lamentation which if it be real it is a work of Charity to comfort him CHAP. I. G. B. His Design and Disposition when he writ this Book Of the Wickedness of the World. MR G. B. Pag. 1. He that increaseth Knowlege increaseth Sorrow is an observation which holdeth true of no part of Knowledge so much as of the Knowlege of Mankind it is some relief to him who knows nothing of foreign Wickedness to hope there are other Nations wherein Vertue is honored and Religion is in esteem which allays his regrets when he sees Vice and Impiety abound in his Country but if by travelling or reading he enlarge his Horizon and know Mankind better his regrets will grow when he finds the whole World lies in Wickedness Answer We need not travel or read much to know that the whole World lies in Wickedness Seeing those are the Words of the beloved Disciple 1 Jo. 5.19 This is indeed an occasion of Sorrow But in the same place the B. Apostle comforts us by saying We know that we are of God. So that the World there is understood of Vnbelievers who are in Wickedness by original and actual Sin for which they have no lawful and efficacious Expiation no Sacrament instituted by Almighty God lawfully administred But we who are in the true Church are of God unto whom we are regenerated by Baptism and if by humane frailty we die to God falling into any grievous Sin we have the holy Sacrament of Penance to raise us again to the Life of Grace Yet it is not the Apostles meaning that in the true Members of the Catholic Church there is nothing reprehensible or that in those who are not in it there is nothing Good. In Heaven there is nothing but Vertue those Blessed Souls having their will so united to that of God that they cannot offend him In Hell there is nothing but Sin the Wills of those wretched Spirits being so obstinate in the Love of themselves that they cannot do any thing which should please God. This present Life is a mean betwixt those Extreams and in it there is a mixture of Perfections atd Imperfections of Vice and Vertue Those who are most wicked have something good and in those who are most vertuous there are some remainders of Human Frailty for their Humiliation which we ought neither to esteem nor imitate (a) 1 Kings 21.25 There was none like unto Achab which did sell himself to work Wickedness in the sight of the Lord. Yet he humbled himself and put on sackcloth and fasted S. Paul (a) Act. 9.15 The chosen vessel unto God to bear his Name before the Gentiles and Kings and the children of Israel yet (b) 2 Cor. 12.7 there was given to him a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet him And who can without Compassion read his Seventh Chapter to the Romans in which he describes the conflict he felt interiourly betwixt the Spirit and the Flesh Which he concludes with these pathetick Words O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Which renew the memory of that torment to which Mezentius the Tyrant (c) Virgilius Aeneid 8. condemn'd his innonocent Subjects And the Hetruscans (d) Aug. l. 4. contra Jul. c. ult exercised upon their Captives binding living Bodies to rotten putrified Carkases and leaving them so But the Apostle who describes his Pain relates his Ease and having explicated his Sickness acquaints us with its Remedy The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So that if the Combat affrights us by this Assistance we may be encourag'd and comforted Yet tho I grant that there is occasion enough to lament on what side soever we cast our eyes on Mankind in this State of corrupt nature if we consider how little Men use the means designed for their Improvement in Vertue and resisting their bad Inclinations Yet there is little appearance of Grief in your Book which hath more of a Satyr than of a Lamentation your Stile being rather bitingly invective than mourningly compassionate you discover more of Diogenes or of Democritus than of Heraclitus Were there no Objects of regret nearer home Doth your own Church afford you no occasion to shew your Zeal in blaming the Faults of her Children in order to get them corrected Sure it doth or the World is very much misinformed How comes it then that you neglect her Cure of whom your Character obliges you to have a Care and search the Sores of the Roman Church with which you have
nothing to do Do you not see that you give us Reason to say your Charity is disorderly not beginning at home and that (a) Luke 6.42 as the Hypocrit you labor to shew in or take out of anothers eye a mote while you neglect a beam in your own G. B. Pag. 1. It argues a cruel and inhumane Temper to delight in beholding Scenes of Horror and Misery Answer What temper then doth it argue to delight in representing them and that in the most horrible tragical and dismal colours which Art and Study can invent For what can even the most inventive Imagination fancy more dismal that what you write Pag. 2. Indignities done to God and his Son Christ the Enemy of Mankind triumphing over the World with absolute Authority and enraged Cruelty Satan having a Seat where Christs Throne should be Christendom fallen from its first Love and the greatest part of it made shipwreck of its Faith That Church whose Faith was once spoken of throughout the World become Mother of the Fornications of the Earth In fine Falling away Mystery of Iniquity Antichrist Babilonish Rome Bewitching Sorceries And what not Add but Obstinacy in these horrid Crimes which is a Circumstance aggravating them without altering their Species and the Pains due to Sin which are not horrible if compared with Sin and we here have a Picture of Hell. Your temper is very merciful and humane which prompts you to make such a Map of the far greatest part of Christianity This will appear more clearly when we come to consider your Charge in retail and examin your Proofs when we see you are forced to seek them in the obscure withdrawing-roomes of Mans heart which are inaccessible to all but God of which nevertheless you speak as confidently as if God had led you by the Hand into them and made you Partaker of his Knowledge Purgatory was invented on design to enrich the Clergy Transubstantiation on design to make it more esteemed The Primacy of the Pope on design of Grandeur c. And altho we vouch Scripture for all these Points yet you are pleased to say we do not ground them on Scripture but on Ambition and Avarice Nay you not only fain Proofs for our Doctrins but fix on us Doctrins themselves which we disown as that we teach to break the Commandments So that we may profess that all that is ugly and dismal in the Scene of Horror and Misery which you represent comes from your own Pencil and is an effect of your own Brain See what is your Temper and how much your Reader is obliged to you CHAP. II. Of Antichrist G. B. Pag. 3. BEing warned of so much danger to the Christian Religion it is a necessary Enquiry to see if this Antichrist be yet come or if we must look for another Answer Do you then think it as necessary to know Antichrist as to know Christ That you express your earnestness in enquiring after Antichrist in those Words (a) Luke 7.19 of S. John the Baptist's Inquest after the Messias Nay yours are more pressing and urgent than those of that great Saint For he said only Art thou he that should come or look we for another But you say or must we look for another As if it were a more pressing Duty to enquire after the Antichrist than the Messias We are warn'd indeed of Antichrist and we are also warn'd of the Danger hanging over the Church from (a) Mar. 13.21.22 false Prophets and false Christs Who should say Lo here is Christ Lo he is there All Sectaries pretend to him You will doubtless say he is in your Prelatical Church The Presbyterian says he is in his Assemblies The Independent is for his Conventicles The Quaker claims him also What shall a Roman Catholic do what choice shall he make Our blessed Savior having forewarned us of the Danger arms us against it Ne credideritis Believe none of them but stick to the old Doctrin and the Catholic Church Which I cite as more against you than any thing you can bring against us out of your Contemplations on Antichrist or the Apocalypse to which you would never recur had you any clear grounds against us in Scripture I suspect the cause of any man which to decide a Suit in Law produces obscure dubious and for that reason insignificant deeds I should on that score had others been wanting suspect the Cause of the Sectaries Millenaries Fifth-monarchy-men and the like And that reason is sufficient to make me suspect you who recur to those obscure Prophecies of the Antichrist which at best are extremely obscure as appears by the Errors grounded on it as you acknowledg For you say G. B. Pag. 3. Some have stretched the Notion of Antichristianism so far that things harmless and innocent come within its compass and others have too much contracted it that they might scape free Answer It seems the limits of the notion of Antichristianism are very arbitrary seeing they are extended or contracted according not to Scripture or Tradition but to the Fancy and Caprichio of every pragmatical Head. When you consider more impartially the things harmless and innocent which you blame in us as Antichristian very probably you will find your self to be of the number of those who stretch its Notion beyond its nature and those limits which God hath designed for it G. B. Pag. 3. Antichristianism is not only a bare Contradiction to some branches or parts of the Gospel but a design and entire complex of such Opinions and Practices as are contradictory to and subversive of the Power and Life of Christianity Answer Never did Junior Sophister amongst illiterate Pesants deliver his Sentiments or Apollo amongst his deluded Adorers speak his Oracles more magisterially than you deliver your Opinions in controverted Matters of Faith For such is this Point seeing it is deliver'd in Scripture and there are such variety of Perswasions concerning its true meaning as you your self said even now You give us a new Notion of it and what Scripture what Tradition what Decree of a Council what Father do you allege for it None not so much as any reason offer'd Is not this to Lord it over the Faith of your Reader To beg the thing in Question and to expect the World should be so stupid as to be taken with such a Slight that you should meet with Belief because you boldly assert To your bare Assertion I will oppose my Negation and why should not my Negation be of as much weight as your Affirmation Especially seing I speak with all those whom you blame for enlarging or contracting too much the Notion of Antichristianism and you stand alone I confirm my Negation with Scripture 1 Jo. 4.3 where those are said to be Antichrists who denie Christs coming in the flesh Which is only one article of Christianity howsoever it be of the most fundamental Yet let us grant what you so confidently beg that Antichristianism is a complex
Gods let them know how much better the Lord of them is But if they were astonish'd at their power and vertue let them understand by them how much mightier he is who made them There is yet another Species of Idolatry of such who Deified and Adored all Creatures which was grounded on that Opinion of the Stoicks that God was the Soul of the World which is exprest by Virgil Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem magno se corpore miscet But nothing about this occurring in Scripture and not much in Fathers I let it pass These are the several Species of Idolatry which occur and are most conspicuous amongst Pagans All were absolutely inexcusable for leaving the Creator for the Creature Yet amongst all methinks the cause of those who adored the Sun was somewhat more excusable than the rest for altho Reason teaches it evidently not to be a God yet Experience shews it to have one Property of God for the Sun gives Light and Life to all that have Eyes and Heart it gives without Interest it never appears but as a common good and besides its visible effects produces many other by hidden Influences These Considerations do not excuse but they somewhat diminish the guilt of those who adored that wonderful Instrument the work of the most High. Ecclesiastici 43.2 To sum up what we have said we find that even the wisest Men have been guilty of the greatest Folly that can enter into man's head how weak soever to take for a God a thing so much inferiour to them in nature that they expected help of a thing helpless and direction from what is senseless To this they were disposed by the humane Shape striking their fancy they were moved to it by love of a dead Master Fear of a living Tyrant Flattery to one on whom their fortune depended and these altogether heightened by the Illusion of the Divel Sometimes Gratitude to beneficial Creatures enclined Men to renounce the great Benefactor Yet these motives how powerful soever could never have made Men so prodigiously to renounce the use of Reason had they not by former sins so far left God as to deserve to be left by him not that they received no Grace at all from him but that they had not such Graces as would keep them in what was good and prevent their fall into those sensless Errors SECTION III. What were the Gods of the Pagans Or What things were represented by their Idols where it is proved that Pagan Gods had been Men. THE Occasion I have to treat of this Quaestion is given by G. B. and E. Still who pretend that Chiefly one and he the true God was adored by the Idolaters who used several Statues and Names only to represent his several Atributes And that by Jupiter they understood the true God. What I have cited out of Scripture and Fathers is sufficient to convince the contrary seeing that it appears that dead Men Stars c. were adored Vossius l. 1. de Idol cap. 5. p. 30. says Idolatry began with the Adoration of Angels thence past to the Souls of Men. Lactantius l. 2. c. 14. says the Aegyptians first adored the Stars afterward their Kings S. Cyril of Alex. l. 1. contra Jul. p. 17. saith the same of the Chaldaeans But the Aegyptians whilst the Israelites lived amongst them adored either Apis or Joseph under the shape of an Ox or Calf And in imitation of them the Israelites in the Desert Exod. 32. and the ten Tribes at their Schism from the Temple of Hierusalem the third of Kings 12.28 which continued amongst them till they were removed quite out of the Country Altho that was not the only Idolatry they were guilty of for they had Baal 3. Reg. 18. and the host of Heaven toward the end of their Kingdom as appears 4 Reg. 17.16 which they learnt probably of the Assyrians After the Transmigration of the Tribe of Juda we find those who remained in their Country much addicted to the Star-worship Hieremy 44. as to a Superstition ancient amongst them which I guess they learnt of their King Achaz and that he receiv'd it from Damascus 4 Reg. 16. where a Copy of an Altar was sent to the High-Priest to have another made like it and placed in the Temple But this being a matter of no moment I do not trouble my self with further examining it Our only Dispute is about the Romans and Greeks whose Idolatry was banish'd the World by Christian Religion which our modern Adversaries pretend that we have renewed again You say then that they by Jupiter adored the true God Creator of Heaven and Earth we say that all the Gods of the Pagans were Men and that Jupiter himself was such and that they were Divels who took upon themselves those persons Names to delude the World I will prove this 1st out of Scripture 2ly out of such Fathers as lived with Pagans and consequently had more occasion to know their Theology than we who must gather it only out of their Writings 3ly out of the Confession of Pagans 4ly out of the Acknowledgment of the Gods themselves who were adored and lastly by the Confession of Protestants My First Proof is taken out of Scripture Psal 95. 96. 5. All the Gods of the nations are divels Omnes Dii Gentium Daemonia So it is in the vulgat Edition and was so from the beginning while Paganism slourish'd and yet Pagans never accused the Christians for imposing upon them Opinions which they did not hold See S. Augustin upon that place The English Translation is somewhat different viz. All the Gods of the Nations are Idols Which notwithstanding confutes sufficiently the contrary Error for if this be true All Gods of Nations are Idols as it must being in Scripture E. S. his Proposition being contradictory to it must be false Jupiter the chief God of Nations is no Idol nor Devil Moreover if the Sacrifice the Idolaters offered which was always held to be the Prime Act of Religion was offered by them to the Devils and not to God then it follows they did not worship the true God but only Divels But they sacrificed to Divels and not to God Ergo they did not adore the true God but Divels I prove the Minor. Denter 32.17 They sacrificed to Divels not to God to gods whom they knew not to new gods who came newly up whom your fathers feared not Psal 105. 106 37. They sacrificed their sons and their Daughters unto Devils And 1 Cor. 10.20 The things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Devils and not to God. Hence Aug. l. 20. contra Faust c. 18. ait Nihil in sacrificiis Paganorum Deo displicuisse nisi quod fierent daemoniis Nothing in Sacrifices of the Pagans was displeasing to God but those to whom they were offered viz. the Devils My Second Proof is taken out of those Fathers who living with the Pagans and conversing familiarly
the Cross Do this in memory of me As for the joint Communion it can only be a secondary Intention of the Institution the first and chief being our union with Christ out of which flows the second our union amongst our selves As Lines in a Circle meet in the Center and so knit together CHAP. XX. Regal Office of Christ where of Transubstantiation Dispensing in Vows e. G. B. p. 66. I Advance to the opposition made to the Regal Office of Christ And first How far is it from his Glory in Heaven to believe that five words muttered by a Priest should put him under the Elements This is a new kind of Humiliation Answ You are very much mistaken if you think Humiliations inconsistent with the Regal Office of Christ (a) Heb. 1.7 When God brought his first-begotten into the world he said And let all the Angels of God worship him Yet he was then humbled to the condition of a Man a private obscure Man and even below it Psal 21.7 Opprobrium hominum abjectio plebis Certainly there is more shew of Majesty as he is placed on our Altars enrironed with Lights adored by the People Prelates and Princes the greatest Monarchs laying their Crowns and the greatest Bishops their Crosiers and Miters at his Feet than as he was in the little Cottage of his reputed Father a Carpenter picking Chips at his Mothers command or following his Father's Trade to get a Subsistence known to none regarded by none slighted by all as is ordinary to Men of that humble Calling And what shall I say of the Death of the Cross when his very Disciples disowned him G. B. pag. 67. What low thoughts of his Person must it breed in such Minds as are capable of believing this Contrivance Answ You speak like a Pagan to whom the Cross of Christ is folly 1 Cor. 1.23 rather than like a Christian to whom Christ crucified that is under the greatest Humiliation is the vertue and wisdom of God. We who have learnt to look on him as God blessed for evermore even when on the Cross and dying we can take out of all his Humiliations occasion to admire his Love and adore his Goodness to us but not to disesteem his Person or diminish our thoughts of his Majesty And let me tell you you are the first Christian I know of who ever made such Unchristian Reflections on the Humiliations of the Son of God. G. B. pag. 67 68 69 70. In these you charge us with three Crimes 1. With adding to the Laws of Christ 2. Dispensing with the Laws of God. And 3. Commanding things indifferent contrary to Christian Liberty I answer to the First and Third the Apostles did the same Acts 15.29 forbidding strangled Meat and Blood which were things indifferent and not forbidden by the Law of Christ And as to your Objection that this intrenches upon Christian Liberty I Answer out of a Person very dear to you even your self in your Vindication Confer 2. p. 172. Christian Liberty is stated in an Exemption from the Laws of Moses Shew that we impose the Law of Moses and you will say something to the purpose to our entrenching upon Christian Liberty As for Dispensing in Divine Laws when you prove what you object I will consider what to answer Your Instances are not sufficient For first as for Dispensing of Vows there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in them as in Laws which is an Interpretation of some Circumstances in which they do not oblige For Example a Man vows to fast next Lent with Bread and Water and before that time falls sick and continues so why may not the Church declare his Vow not to oblige or change it into something else Item he vows a Pilgrimage and his Wife Family and Affairs require his presence at home If this doth not satisfie you call to mind the Proceedings of your first Reformers who opened all Cloisters and dispensed with so many Vows at one time Is it not strange that you should charge us with Dispensing with some Vows when you annul all Secondly Dissolving Wedlock Bond. I know none who practise dissolving consummated Marriages If you do accuse them if you do not ask pardon for this false Accusation Thirdly Allowing Marriages in forbidden Degrees The Degrees hindring Marriage were contained in the Ceremonial Law which expired with Christ the end of that Law. Those which now bind are established by Canon Law which was made and doth depend on the Church Fourthly The Communion under one Kind or The Chalice taken from the People contrary to the Command of Christ You can never prove that Command to all to drink of the Cup. G. B. pag. 71. Another Invasion of the Regal Power is the Pope's pretence to be universal Bishop which is termed by S. Gregory the Great to be Antichristian Answ I know no Pope who pretends to it I know none who give it them If there be any such let them answer for themselves The Popes are so far from pretending to that Title that to this day in our Canon Law it is expresly condemned C. Nullus C. Ecce D. 99. And I challenge you or any Man else to shew me any one Pope who ever required it of others or took it to himself Du-Val a Learned Doctor of Sorbon censures that Title as severely as any Protestant can do who yet is esteemed as great a Favorer of the Papal Grandeur as any of the Faculty of Paris Now I desire you to make good Sense of something you say First pag. 67. Christ hath delivered us from the bondage of corruption How is this done already when the Apostle whose words those are Rom. 8.21 promises it only after the Resurrection Secondly pag. 68. Anathema is the mildest of the Spiritual Censures we thunder against such as comply not with our tyranny What Spiritual Censure is more severe I think that the severest of all as we believe after Tertul. Apolog. cap. 39. pag. 68. Thirdly p. 69. No Authority besides Christ can reach the Conscience S. Paul was of a different opinion when he enjoins Obedience to the Commands of Princes not only for wrath but for Conscience CHAP. XXI Of Love and its two Species Repentance Mortal and Venial Sins Attrition and Contrition G. B. p. 75. I Proceed to the Third Part of my Enquiry which is the opposition made to the great Design of Christian Religion for elevating the Souls of Men into a participation of the Divine Nature Answ I never knew a Man promise more and perform less than you Your Words and Phrases are great and high your Reason and Sense low and little yet that delivered with so much Confidence as may persuade your ignorant and credulous Reader you have Reason on your side when you are to seek in the first Principles of the Matter you Discourse on You may with a homely yet a very proper Metaphor be compared to a Flying Ox whose Wings stretcht out promise a Flight
but only on such Occasions for as for such who do absent themselves either for Ambition or Envy or Pleasure or Friendship or any other unlawful Design or for some good but so little as not to countervail that of their Duty to their Flock we no less blame them than you our Canons for Residence are as severs as can be and those often executed with the utmost rigor What do you more Commendams offend you that is the recommending the Means of Abbeys to those who are not Monks Yet we give them only to Clergy you to meer Laymen Secondly we give them only for their Lives you give them to their Heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns Thirdly we leave the Abby and its legal Superiors a competent Subsistence for the Monks you turn them a begging out of God's Blessing into the warm Sun. When you have proved that it is more lawful for your Church to steal a Goose than for ours to pluck a Quill I shall believe your Procedure legal and ours illegal G. B. ibid. They strugled hard against the honest Attempt of those who labored to have had Residence declared to be of Divine Right in the Council of Trent Answ What might the Catholic Church do to please you Had she pass'd that Declaration you would have clamored at your ordinary rate against new Definitions of Faith now she rejected that Definition she opposed the honest Attempt to promote it and she must be in the wrong and those who oppose her in the right whatever she or they do because she is the Church and they a discontented Party in her In fine as the Jews proceeded with our Saviour the Bridegroom so do you with the Bride the Catholic Church her Actions whatever they are are blamed To what are the men of this genertion like They are like unto children sitting in the market-place and saying We have piped unto you and ye have not danced we have mourned unto you and you have not wept Luc. 7.32 For doth the Church make a Decree you blame her for it doth she not make it you blame her for that too But Wisdom is justified by all her children A Conclusion of the First and Beginning of the Second Part. G. B. p. 116. I Have run around the great Circle I proposed to my self and have examined the Designs of Christian Religion and have found great contradiction given to them by the Doctrins of that Church Answ You have indeed run a Round and that so long that you are giddy with it as appears by your frequent and great Falls so evidently against common Sense as I have all along observed and yet I have not observed all for that would have been too tedious to the Reader and have taken up more time than I can bestow upon Trifles You have shewn no Contradiction betwixt the Doctrin of the Catholic Church and the Designs of Christianity I have shewn their Conformity But your Book discovers a Design against Charity which is the Heart of Religion it being a heap of rash Judgments evident Calumnies or uncharitable Surmises I say nothing of your Faults against Reason your incoherent Notions groundless Judgments and perpetual Sophisms because althô these are great Faults in themselves yet not considerable in presence of those others against Charity And these Faults are the greater for being brought to uphold a Schism a Design contrary to Christianity it being a most certain Truth that No Man can have the Love of God who withstands the Vnion of all Men in one Church Non habet Dei Charitatem qui Ecclesiae non diligit unitatem Aug. l. 3. de Baptis cont Donat. c. 16. And all your Pretences of Causes given of your Separation are but frivolous this tearing in pieces the my stical Body of Christ is so great a Sacrilege that no Pretext can excuse it Apparet saith S. Austin l. 2. contra Epist Parmen c. 11. non esse quicquam gravius sacrilegio schismatis quia praecidendae unitatis nulla est justa necessitas When I saw you reflect on your running so long round in a Circle I hoped you would come out of it and was in hopes that either I might have been a Spectator of your following Course or else that you would have led me a more pleasing Walk The Design of S. Austin Lib. 1. Retract cap. 7. came to my Mind who represented the Piety of Catholics and the vicious Lives of the Manichees in his two Books De moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae and De moribus Manichaeorum and I imagined you might design the like in the two Parts of this Book I expected you would have given us a Panegyric of your own Church after you had spent your Satyrical Vein in your Invective against ours I thought we should have seen described the Beauty of the Protestant Church the Advantages of Communion with it the Perfection of its Faith the Decency of its Ceremonies the Majesty of its Hierarchy the Reasonableness of its Canons the Fulness of its Conducency to Piety in this Life and Bliss in the next and all these confirmed with Examples of the vertuous Lives of its Devotes But how much have I been mistaken for casting an Eye a little farther after some few words in commendation of your Faith I find you throwing Dirt again as fast as before or rather faster as if in the First Part you had only essayed what in the Second you act in earnest Doth your Garden the Church Cant. 4.12 is compared to one afford only that one Flower Is the Soil so barren or so ill cultivated as none else should be found in it Or if there be any other do they thrive so ill as not to be worth being pointed to Or doth it come from a morosity of Nature which inclines you to blame and reprehend Or from a propensity to entertain thoughts only of Faults and Imperfections as Flies pitch upon Ulcers and some other Creatures wallow in Mire Or from another Quality worse than that which turns all to bad as a foul Stomach turns all Food into peccant Humors and a Spider draws Poyson from that Flower whence a Bee draws Hony Something of this must be for I will neither say there is nothing reprehensible in the Lives of Catholics it is a Propriety of the Triumphant Church to be free from any Spot or Wrinkle nor that all is bad in Protestants besides their Faith that being the Condition of the Damned Spirits in Hell. But I supersede these Personal Reflections and follow thô with little comfort you in the new Maze you lead me into CHAP. XXX Catholic Faith delivered by Men Divinely Inspired Rules to know true Tradition Faith never changed G. B. p. 116. THE first Character of our Faith is that it was delivered to the World by Men sent of God and Divinely Inspired who proved their Mission by Miracles Answ All Divine Faith is built on the Veracity of God the Men who delivered it at first were but the
ravenous wolves and gives us a sign to know them by their works Catholics considered the Works of the first Reformers and by them judged of their Persons whether they were Sheep or Wolves Imprimis They had a great Motive to suspect the whole Reformation because the occasion of it was evidently reproachful In Germany Luther's Motive was Emulation betwixt his Order and the Dominicans and Envy that these later should have the Preaching of the Jubilee In England Lust began it under Henry VIII and Avarice and Pride compleated it under Edward VI. By whom was it most hotly embraced and promoted By Apostates in whom the Flesh prevailed over the Spirit and the first Step they made was shaking off the Yoke of Obedience to their lawful Superiors to become Independant This is one Sacrilege which was accompanied with two others breaking their Vows of Chastity and Poverty What Motives did they use to draw People to joyn with them Propose Liberty from all Ecclesiastical Laws that were any way burdensom or contrary to Sensuality as Fasting Praying on certain Days Penances c. freeing Men from the Obligation of Divine Laws by teaching they were impossible and rejecting some of them in particular as that for Confession Indulging Sensualities trampling on all that seemed burthensome under pretence of Christian Liberty What Effects followed the Reformation A neglect of God's Counsels an insensibility of his Inspirations a contempt of Religion an unwillingness to be Ruled Rebellion in Church and State a losing of the Spirit of Prayer a slighting of all good Works and an entire abandoning themselves to bad ones The Light of the Gospel promised and that darkned with irreligious Interpretations The Word of God held forth and a great part of it cut off A Reformation pretended in the Church and the Church robbed of its Revenues The Church-Worship purged and the chief Action of it Sacrifice abolished The Glory of God promised and his Sacred Name by Blasphemy prophaned Faith so commended as by it Hope was destroyed by Presumption and Charity by Schism In fine if any thing like Zeal appeared in the first Times of Reformation it shewed it self by Avarice Rapine Sacrilege Pride Dissensions Schisms Rebellions Incontinences Drunkenness in a word Libertinism Which the sincerer part of your Communion deplore with true Tears not with such as you shed for our Errors If these are works of sheep what are the works of wolves And if by works we must judge of men what could they say of these Reformers Let us lay aside what is past and look on what is present Is it not true that thô you talk much of Christianity yet all Marks of it seem blotted out of the Lives of your Flock That there never was more Impurity in Marriages more Corruption in Families more Debauchery in Youth more Ambition amongst the Rich more Pride amongst the Gentry more Dishonesty in Commerce more Sophistication in Merchandises more Deceit amongst Tradesmen more Intemperance amongst all That Fornication is thought a Peccadillo Adultery good Fortune Chastity a Reproach to the Sex Cheating and Treachery Court Vertue Impiety and Libertinism Strength of Wit Oaths and Blasphemies Ornaments of our Language Perpetual Gaming a lawful Divertisement for Men Contempt of their Husbands Neglect of the Education of their Children and of the Care of their Families a Privilege of Women who have some advantage of Birth and Fortune And Drunkenness for all who have Time and Mony to cast away The prodigious numbers of Houses designed for Tipling is a sufficient convicton of the greatness of this Vice there be more in London alone than in any ten Catholic Towns in Europe and probably more than served the whole Kingdom in Catholic Times which are so many Nurseries of Idleness whence all Vices flow and the thriving Condition they all live in shews which way the Riches of the Nation go and on what their Hearts are setled You will say these are Faults of the Reformers but not of the Reformation But in this you are mistaken for it comes from the very substantial Parts of your Reformation so that if any do well it is to be attributed to the goodness of their Nature if ill it is to be charged upon your Religion which hath retrenched on several Pretences almost all Helps of Devotion Christ to apply to us the Merits of his Passion instituted seven Sacraments which are Administred in the Catholic Church To regenerate us Baptism To strengthen us in Faith Confirmation To nourish our Souls Eucharist To restore us to God's Grace if by frailty we have lost it Penance To prepare us for a Passage to the other World Extreme Vnction To confer Grace necessary for a Churchman or a Married Man Order and Matrimony Of those you have cut off five and of the two remaining that of the Eucharist which Christ said was his Body and Blood you make only a bit of Bread and a Spoon-ful of Wine The Catholics have every day the unbloody Sacrifice of the Altar offered at which they can assist they are taught that Mass is composed out of the Law and Prophets the Gospel and Canonical Epistles That it is a Summary of the Life of Christ and Commemoration of his Death That when they see the Sacred Host elevated they must call to mind his Elevation on the Cross for their sakes and that they must offer him and themselves with him to God the Father as S. Austin teaches us lib. 10. de Civit. Dei cap. 20. This daily Sacrifice you have cut off having something in Cathedrals on Sundays in other Churches seldom So the whole Week in all Places and a great part of the Year in most Places passes with out that great Exercise for your Devotion Ceremonies in Divine Service are necessary to fix our Fancy on the things in hand and to help to raise our Soul to God. This they do first by their Signification as knocking our Breast is a sign of Grief and Contrition Kneeling and Bowing of our Adoration of God Lifting up our Hands and Eyes to Heaven of raising our Wills to God c. They likewise increase within us those Dispositions they signifie by a sympathy betwixt the Soul and Body These you have retrenched as Superstitious which hath opened a Door to the Contempt of your Holy Service and Places where it is celebrated to which many of you shew little more Respect than at other Civil Actions nay many would not enter into a Friend's House with so little Respect as they shew entring into the House of God. G. B. pag. 135. Religion consists in few things Ans T is true nay it consists in one thing as to its perfection The Love of God above all things But what then Are helps to stir up that Love of God to be neglected It is Pharisaical to place our Confidence in the Ceremonies or consider them as the Substance of Religion but to look on them as its Ornaments and Means to stir up and
Falsitatis Greg. lib. 11. Moral cap. 15. which is no where more certain than in Revealed Truths Non indiget Deus nostro mendacio ut pro illo loquamur dolos Job 13.7 You thought doubtless that to represent that all Religions and all publick Laws had owned One God would be a Choak-Pear to Atheism and confound the Atheists whereas this being not true it hath a contrary effect The other part is much more cogent drawn from Fathers that all Men have a natural Knowledge of One God and that so deeply imprinted in their Soul that maugre all the pleasant Fables of the Poets the Pomp of Ceremonies and Religious Rites the Force of bad Education the Sophisms of Philosophers the Blasphemies of wicked Men the Strength of Laws the Rigor of Torments the Terror of Death and the Wiles of the Devil it persevered and so possessed the Heart as in some Occasions to force its Profession out of the Mouth Certainly this Voice of Nature triumphing over all the Force and Art of Men and Devils is a clearer Testimony of One God preserving his Possession in and over his Rational Creatures and controlling all adjectitious Notions than any Demonstration Man's Wit can invent Especially some Atheists laboring to weaken this Argument from the Notion of a Deity by saying that Idea is not of Nature but raised by Education and Human Laws Which Plea is evidently defeated by that Truth that Laws Religion and Custom were once against it and all concurring to promote the Opinion of Many Gods thô all in vain Secondly I advise you not so easily to draw from a resemblance in Name or Number Pagan Errors to the Mysteries of Christian Faith. With what little ground you drew from Jupiter the Name of God hath been seen pag. 451. You say the Roman Capitol was Dedicated to the Blessed Trinity because a Poet said Trina in Torpaeo fulgent consortia Templo viz. Jupiter Minerva and Juno And pag. 454. so it should be thô it be marked 414. you find the Trinity in Agypt viz. Eicton Memphta and Osyris You might as well find the same Mystery in the Three Graces Three Parks Three Gorgons Three Furies Three Judges Three Rivers Three-headed Cerberus Three-bodied Geryon if that number be sufficient for it I doubt not but the Mystery was revealed in the Old Testament nor that some Platonicks knew it S. Austin assures they did thô he doth not acquaint us in what Age these lived so they may have learnt it from the Christians Yet I think it most certain that there never was any Temple Dedicated or Sacrifice Offered by Pagans to the Three Divine Persons for out of the Scripture I have learned that What they sacrificed they sacrificed to Devils and not to God. I am Yours as much as I can be Salvâ Veritate J. W. An INDEX of the Chapters CHAP. 1. Mr. G. B. his Design and Disposition when he writ this Book Of the Wickedness of the World. Page 1. Chap. 2. Of Antichrist Page 6. Chap. 3. The true Designs of Christian Religion Page 10. Chap. 4. G. B. his Explication of the Designs of Christianity Page 15. Chap. 5. Of the Characters of Christian Doctrin Page 19. Chap. 6. Scriptures supprest Page 22. Chap. 7. A Digression touching the Idolatry of the Pagans ill represented by E. S. D. D. Page 29. Section 1. That Pagans thought their Idols to be Gods. Page 30. Section 2. The Beginning and Occasions of Idolatry Page 41. Section 3. What were the Gods of the Pagans Or What things were represented by their Idols Where it is proved that Pagan Gods had been Men. Page 51. Section 4. That the Jupiter O. M. of the Greeks and Romans was not the True God. Page 67. Section 5. Whether all or the greatest part of the Pagans believed the one True God Page 83. Section 6. Of the unknown God at Athens Page 96. A Conclusion of this Treatise Page 98. Chap. 8. What G. B. says to prove Catholics Idolaters Page 102. Chap. 9. Of Mediating Spirits Page 105. Chap. 10. Of the Intercession of Saints Page 113. Chap. 11. Pretended Charms Where of Holy-Water Wax-Candles Agnus Dei's c. Page 124. Chap. 12. Of Ceremonies Page 128. Chap. 13. Scripture and the Church Where of the Resolution of Faith. Page 134. Chap. 14. Of Merits Page 148. Chap. 15. Of Temporal Punishment due to Sin forgiven Page 150. Chap. 16. Of Purgatory Page 154. Chap. 17. Priestly Absolution Page 162. Chap. 18. Of Penances Fasting Prayer and Pilgrimages Page 167 Section 1. Fasting Page 169. Section 2. Prayer Page 171. Section 3. Pilgrimages Page 174. Section 4. Two Objections Answered Page 179. Chap. 19. Sacrifice of the Mass Page 180. Chap. 20. Regal Office of Christ Where of Transubstantiation Dispensing in Vows c. Page 184. Chap. 21. Of Love and its two Species Repentance Mortal and Venial Sins Attrition and Contrition Page 188. Chap. 22. Theological Vertues Page 196. Section 1. Of Faith. Page 197. Section 2. Of Hope Page 201. Section 3. Of Charity or Love. Page 204. Section 4. An Answer to what G. B. objects Page 207. Chap. 23. Efficacy of Sacraments Page 210. Chap. 24. Probable Opinions and Good Intentions Page 212. Chap. 25. Whether Papists allow to break the Commandments Page 219. Chap. 26. Riches and Pride of Churchmen Page 225. Chap. 27. Vnity of the Church in Faith and Sacraments G. B. owns that Protestants are Schismatics Of Severity against Dissenters And of Hugo Grotius Page 229. Chap. 28. Zeal of Souls in our Bishops And concerning Reformers Where of S. Cyran Arnaud and Jansenius Page 235. Chap. 29. Other small Objections Page 247. A Conclusion of the First and Beginning of the Second Part. Page 250. Chap. 30. Catholic Faith delivered by Men Divinely Inspired Rules to know true Tradition Faith never changed Page 353. Chap. 31. Revelations and Miracles Page 262. Chap. 32. Whether all Mysteries of Faith ought to be common Page 268. Chap. 33. Faith not dependant on Senses Page 275. Chap. 34. Mr. G. B. his Intention in his Books and his Meekness to Catholics Page 281. Chap. 35. Reasons why Catholics do not embrace the Communion of the Protestant Church Page 287. Chap. 36. Greater Exercise of Piety amongst Catholics than Protestants Page 295. Chap. 37. No Houses of Devotion nor Spiritual Books amongst Protestants Page 301. Chap. 38. Protestant Doctrins contrary to Piety Page 308. Postscript to Mr. Cudworth D. D. Page 315. FINIS