their Obedience to their Sovereign I have now done with our Author 's 14 Characters which consist partly of matter of Fact and Observation partly of Doctrine of their own and partly of Inferences from and Arguings upon them In the two former of which which are the proper Subject of Representation I have shew'd there has been nothing charged upon them by the Preachers as to Principle Practice or Fact which they had not good Evidence for and was so far from being a Fiction of their own that they condemn them out of their own mouths As for the latter it belongs not to the Case before us but yet that nothing might be wanting to give our Author satisfaction the Arguments produced by the Preachers against the Church of Rome have been considered and justified So that in Conclusion I may here challenge him to shew that there is any Principle or Doctrine which is not a Principle of theirs or a Practice which is not a Practice or a Consequence which is not truly inferr'd from them I do not think that a Misrepresentation can be justly chargeable upon a mere Mistake no more than it is upon the inconsequence of an Argument But it 's a Wonder to me that amongst the Ten thousand Pulpits as he reckons them and the multitude of Writers in the Church of England and under all the Provocations they have met with and in the heat of Argument there can be nothing material produced against them notwithstanding the utmost diligence could be used and the reading of Volumes of Sermons on purpose to make a Discovery Were they indeed guilty of Misrepresentation and that there was No praying to Images in the Church of Rome No compounding with Heaven for Vnforsaken Sins No worshipping Bread and Wine as God himself No saying Prayers without Attention No Divisions among themselves No renouncing their Senses c. Yet we know where these would be match'd when our Adversaries tell us The Protestants have no God no Faith no Religion but are meer Atheists and worship the Devil as Possevine and Prateolus teach That to run down Popery tho he know nothing of it is to be a true Son of the Church of England That Interest and Passion puts the Preachers upon arguing in Defiance to their own Conscience which our Author it seems knows better than themselves Or as a late Author That Libertinism is the sole Profession and the very soul of all Sectaries that is those that are not in Communion with the Church of Rome That the false Church that is all but themselves and Religion hath no other but vile Hypocrites That it Professeth the broad and large way leading to Destruction granting Libertinism to the highest degree of Wickedness in one kind or another Into which whoever enters for saking the true begins presently to leave all Goodness and becomes an outcast and scum of the Earth as to all Wickedness and Prophaness That it enjoys no true Spirituality but brainsick Phancy and there was never any sound Spiritual Book written by them They have the Lord in their Mouth but their hearts are far from him That by reason of its wicked Obstinacy and Libertinism it brings all the Professors thereof to Disobedience and takes away all neighbourly Love and just Dealing one with another and hereby bringing Ruin and Confusion upon all Commonwealths c. If so much had been said of the Church of Rome what a rout had here been What a mustering up of Misrepresentations Calumnies and Abuses What arguing in Defiance to their own Conscience But I will here excuse the Author of the Mirror for he that can be so ignorant as to tell us that the Creed of Pius 4 th which he at large rehearses was the constant Profession of Faith in the days of Austin the Monk An. 596. and can quote that Monk's Letter to Pope Gregory for it may for ought I know think as he writes and so his Representations of the Sectaries and of the Profession of Pope Gregory's Faith be equally true and what he equally understands But our Author is not alike excusable For whatever he may know concerning the Days of Austin the Monk I know not but what he writes about belongs more to his own and so if he falls in with Misrepresentation his Conscience must be the more concerned And which after all he is so far from making good that he is forced to use all the Shifts that one conscious to himself of infirmity and subtle enough to conceal it can contrive which for a Conclusion to the whole I shall now a little enquire into 1. The first Artifice he uses is Disclaiming and Renouncing after this manner If to be a Papist is to be that which is describ'd in these Characters I declare I am none and that I am so far from undertaking Apologies for men of such Practices and Belief that I here profess a hearty Detestation of all such Engagements If this was so I concluded I had certainly fall'n into the very mouth of Hell-Doctrines I as much abhor as Hell and Damnation it self If this be to be a Papist then certainly to be a Papist is to be the worst of Men. And 't is so far from being a doubt whether he be a Christian that 't is certain he can be none and that if he be bound to believe and live according to the Principles here laid down he can have no right to Salvation Whatever Church would receive him with the Profession of all those scandalous Doctrines the Pulpits charge against us I would be sure to be no Member of it and if there were no other but that Church amongst Christians I would then begin to look towards Turky Nay he advances further Whoever will be a good Papist must instead of assenting to disclaim every point that is here set down by the Pulpits as Articles of his Religion Let us now try our Author in some one of these Scandalous and Abominable Doctrines who comes thus arm'd Cap-a-pie with Detestations Abhorrencies Disclaimings and see whether he be invulnerable What thinks he of the first of those he calls Follies and Abominations viz. praying to Images and attributing Satisfaction and Expiation to a Crucifix of Wood and Stone What doth he think of the Office of Consecration where it 's pray'd that God would bless the Wood of the Cross that it may be a saving Remedy to Mankind a Stability of Faith the Redemption of Souls c How would he behave himself in the Company of Cardinal Capisucci who maintains that the Worship is to the Image How in the presence of the Arch-Bishop of Bourdeaux who defended the Curate's to the Word the Wood against Imbert's to Christ and not to the Wood Could he bear up to them and tell them it 's Infamous that they are no Christians and have no right to Salvation Which doth he think would there be the Misrepresenter our Author that
Dooms this to the Pit of Hell or those that defend it Of this Artifice see the View p. 51. 2. Another Artifice is to confound the Consequences drawn by the Protestants from their Principles with their Principles and to make the Consequence to be their Principle This he was formerly tax'd with in Doct. and Pract. and View p. 63. And yet he proceeds still in the same order So because they are accus'd of Idolatry therefore he makes that to be part of the Character of a Papist and then disavows it Thus he saith Were Popery so foul as 't is in the Opinion of the Vulgar did it teach Men Idolatry to worship any Creature for God to neglect the Commandments I would chuse rather to be a Jew Turk or Infidel than a Papist All which signifies nothing unless the Papist should believe himself to be an Idolater 3. We must beware again that we follow him not too close or think after all these Disclaimings and Abhorrings that he is plainly to be understood for there are certain Reserves and Expositions carefully couch'd in that he may retire to upon occasion Such as these A Papist is bound to disclaim every point here set down as Articles of his Religion and as they are obliged to the Profession of them so to believe and live according to the Form asserted in the Characters as here set down So that tho they are never so plainly prov'd upon them yet if they are not Articles of his Religion nor what they are obliged to believe and do or agree not precisely with the Form and as set down in the Characters he may safely abhor detest and damn them 4. If he be press'd home and the Authorities come thick or the Practice and use be urg'd a little too close he has yet a relief I found saith he a great number of Matters of Fact as Massacres Vsurpations Murders of Princes Treasons Plots Conspiracies Persecutions and other such unwarrantable Practices charg'd against the Members of this Church of Rome I found again the vicious and scandalous Lives of some of her chief Prelates their Pride Covetousness and Luxury laid home as likewise the ill Examples of other Ecclesiastical Dignitaries as of Cardinals Bishops Priests their Ignorance Simony Oppression Cruelties Excesses c. Then the loose and extravagant Opinions of many of her Doctors Lastly many Superstitions and Abuses found amongst the People their being impos'd upon by some with idle Inventions the noise of Relicks and Miracles and being Priest-ridden a thousand other ways This is in truth a Charge as he saith laid home It 's worth attending how he brings himself off why Here saith he I began to lay aside all Trouble and Scruples concerning my Religion being now well satisfied How that all this was false Not so quick but that the frightful Character which surprized me before the matter of which it seems is true was not taken from her Faith and Doctrine but only from the Vice and Wickedness of such who tho perchance in her Communion yet follow'd her Direction And that 't was rather a black Record of as many villanous Practices as ever had been committed by any of her Members sham'd upon the People What as false That he dares not say but for a draught of such things the Church taught encourag'd and approv'd What work is here for a Protestant Representer A Bedroll of Abominations But saith our Author by way of Prevention and Alleviation It 's a Character taken from the Vice and Wickedness of such who were perchance in her Communion How Popes Cardinals Bishops Priests but perchance in her Communion Has our Author at last got possession of the Keys of the Inquisition and can he bring even Popes c. before his Bar That may sound a little too harsh therefore the result is that it 's sham'd upon the People for such things the Church taught encourag'd and approv'd So that let the Doctrine prevail never so much the Teachers be never so many the Practice never so bad yet here is a Shield The Church has not taught c. I remember it was once put to him and I find it not answer'd We are often blam'd for charging particular Doctrines upon their Church but we desire to know what it is makes a Doctrine of their Church He tells us we are not to charge upon them every Opinion of Authors for the profess'd Religion of Papists Not the loose and extravagant Opinions of many of her Doctors Not the different Opinions of School-Divines nor the Niceties a Parson designedly enters amongst but if we come to set Authority against Authority I know not why an Aquinas a Bellarmin a Suarez c. may not vye with our Author and as soon be heard And why a Profession of his own That I have declar'd nothing as an Article of Faith but what has been thus positively determined by the Church Representative or is so acknowledged by the whole Body Diffusive which it seems he has consulted should bear down the Authority of many of her Doctors and School-Divines when they both have come forth with the Approbation of their Church and never were condemn'd by it for teaching against it And now the Controversy is depending betwixt them and we are to attend which gives the most faithful account of the Doctrine and Practices of the Church of Rome the Schoolmen of old time or the Representers of this 5. When all other helps fail he has one yet in reserve for the ending of this Controversy which is a Challenge he throws out to the Author of the Answer to the Representers Reflection upon the State and View and not to him but to all the Ministers nay to all the Protestants of this Nation Shew us the Papists to agree with those Characters that have been given them out of the Pulpits This is the Sum of no less than ten Pages he has wrote in Reply to this But now besides the uncharitableness of this Course which is to enquire into the Lives of those of his Communion and to make Descants upon them and which when he appeals to he gives a Provocation not to be very overly in Besides this it 's of no use here For 1. It 's an Argument that is contingent and 1. which any sort of People may venture at Thus the Turks may Challenge the Christians whether they be the People the Christians represent them Let them come and see may they say whether we are not as Temperate as Just c. as the Greeks among whom we live and if Religion were to be judg'd of as to its truth and goodness by such a comparison whether we might not as well pretend to it as the other And if they find us in all things like the rest of Mankind without more horns and heads then who are the Misrepresenter And yet thus our Author argues This the Protestants may turn upon the Papists after this manner Shew us the
Pulpit-Popery TRUE POPERY BEING AN ANSWER To a BOOK Intituled PULPIT-SAYINGS AND IN VINDICATION OF THE APOLOGY for the PULPITS AND THE STATER of the CONTROVERSIE against the REPRESENTER LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Randall Taylor near Stationers-Hall MDCLXXXVIII THE CONTENTS THE whole Controversy is resolv'd into the Author himself Page 1. The Vnreasonableness of charging Misrepresentation on the Pulpits p. 2. None more guilty of Misrepresentation than those of the Church of Rome and our Author in particular p. 3 4. Our Author's mistake in framing Characters p. 6. Character I. About the Popish-Plot p. 7. Character II. About the Murther of K. Charles the 1st with an Answer to the Challenge p. 8. Character III. About the Fire of London ibid. Character IV. Of Popish Emissaries p. 9. Character V. Of the Divisions and Fanaticism in the Church of Rome p. 12 15. Character VI. Of a proper Propitiatory Sacrifice in the Sacrament p. 17. Mr. Thorndike Vindicated p. 18. Of a Sacramental Presence and breaking of a true Body p. 20. Character VII Popery puts out the understanding of those of her Communion p. 21. The Difference betwixt the Severity of the Church of England and Rome p. 23. The Absurdity of Auricular Confession p. 24. In Transubstantiation they renounce their Senses p. 25. The Popish-Plea That Hearing is for Transubstantiation ibid. The Pope alone cannot Err and all others cannot but Err. p. 26. Character VII Of Praying and Prophesying in an Vnknown Tongue p. 27. Of the Sense of Prophesying p. 29. Of the ill Vse made of Auricular Confession p. 30. Character IX Of Saints Canonized for Money and Treason ibid. Of Praying to a Crucifix p. 31. Auricular Confession tends to the debauching Laity and Clergy And of Confession in the Church of England p. 32. Character X. The Churches Interest the Centre of their Religion p. 33. Character XI Of the Legends in the Church of Rome p. 34. Of the turning Sacraments into Shews p. 37. Of Preaching Purgatory instead of Repentance p. 38. And Faction instead of Faith. p. 39. Of the Preachers in the Holy League p. 40. Character XII Of Alms in the Church of Rome p. 40. Of Exorcisms p. 41. Of the Difficulty of knowing the Doctrine of the Church of Rome p. 42. Of compounding for unforsaken sins p. 43 45. Dr. T. Translation of Poenitentia Vindicated p. 44. Indulgences for Thousands of years to come p. 46. Indulgences not a Relaxation of Canonical penances p. 48. Character XIII If a Papist be false and deceitful yet Euge c. p. 49. No man can be a Papist but he that 's blinded by Education c. p. 50. About Picturing the Divinity ibid. Of Praying to an Image p. 52. Of Worshipping Bread and Wine as God p. 53. Of the Passion of Christ taking away the guilt and not the punishment ibid. Of the Non-necessity of Repentance till the point of death ibid. Bare saying of Prayers without attendance to what they say is sufficient to Divine Acceptance p. 54. Of Prayers in an Vnknown Tongue and the Translation of the Mass-Book p. 55. Character XIV They take away the second Commandment p. 56. 'T is not necessary to be sorry for the sin but the penance p. 57. An Indulgence serves instead of a Godly life ibid. Auricular Confession the great Intelligencer p. 58. Ignorance the Mother of Devotion ibid. They must submit to an Infallible Judg so as to believe Vertue to be bad and Vice good p. 59. Their Clergy must lead a single life whether honestly or no it makes no matter p. 60. Of the several Artifices used by our Author p. 64. Of his Reply to the Answerer of his Reflections p. 65. His appeal to the Lives of Papists amongst us shew'd to be impertinent ibid. A further Account of his Artifice p. 67. His Answers all along insufficient p. 70. Of his insincerity in the offers he makes to receive us into his Church upon the Representing Terms and detesting some Principles and Practices charged upon the Church of Rome p. 71 72. ADVERTISEMENT TRansubstantiation contrary to Scripture or the Protestant's Answer to the Seeker's Request The Protestant's Answer to the Catholick Letter to the Seeker Or a Vindication of the Protestant's Answer to the Seeker's Request An Apology for the Pulpits being in Answer to a late Book Intituled Good Advice to the Pulpits Together with an Appendix containing a Defence of Dr. Tenison's Sermon about Alms in a Letter to the Author of the Apology ERRATA PAg. 22. l. 5. r. 15. p. 33. l. 35. r. in terminis p. 41. l. 6. a bringing p. 43. l. 2. r. saith he Pulpit-POPERY True POPERY IN ANSWER TO Pulpit-Sayings WHEN the Author of the Pulpit-Sayings first appeared in the World he undertook to shew what the Papist is not or how he is Misrepresented and what he really is and how he is to be Represented The first he tells us He exactly describ'd according to the Apprehension he had when a Protestant And the latter he represents according to his own private Opinion when a Papist as he is told So that in the issue the whole is resolv'd into himself Thus it was and thus he still maintains the Humour for what are the Characters he gives of a Papist but for the most part the fruits of his own Imagination And what doth he bring to confirm it but it is the Papist I am What course doth he take to confute his Adversaries to confront their Authorities but if that be a Papist I am none I profess I renounce such Popery Nay as if he acted sub sigillo Piscatoris and had by Deputation the Authority of the Chair to determine and renounce and the Keys of St. Peter to bind and loose to let in and out of their Communion as he sees fit he assures us that whoever will be a good Papist must disclaim every point that is here set down by the Pulpits as Articles of Religion And again the Papist Represented I own it it 's the Papist I am and whoever assents to that Character in that very Form of the Papist Represented has done what is required as to those particulars to be made a Member of our Communion So that if I declare I profess I renounce on one side and I am I do own on the other is sufficient to determine the Point and will be taken for an Answer by his Adversaries there is no more to be said But though our Author may suitably enough to the temper of the Church he is now of be thus assuming and dogmatical and may for ought we know thus expound transform and determine with Allowance yet there is no reason why he should prescribe to the Church he has forsaken and that his Apprehensions be taken for the Apprehensions of all of that Communion This he now thinks a little unreasonable and could be content for once to own it if his present Undertaking be allowed to come in the place
of it For thus he saith If any make Exceptions against the Character of a Papist thus disguis'd as 't was drawn there in the Papist Misrepresented I 'le never quarrel upon that score let that be raz'd out But however tho he thus drops his own Apprehensions as well as he had his 37. Points of Representation and at once gives away half his Labour yet like a true Master of Defence he mounts the Stage again and renews the Fight for by the help of some Pulpit-Sayings he thinks he has given life to his otherwise dying Cause Let that saith he be raz'd out and these others take place which 't is likely are more Authentick What! more Authentick than his own Apprehensions O yes for its such a Popery and such a Papist as is describ'd by Ministers in their Pulpits In which there are many things charged upon them without either Truth and Sincerity and consequently 't is not without grounds they complain of Misrepresenting 1. But why the Pulpits Are not the same things in Books of Controversy and are they not there more fully explain'd and debated Thither therefore in reason we ought to be sent to understand how the Protestants Represent the Papist But then our Author had not had the opportunity of exclaiming against those high Places as he Phrases it from whence it seems they have received no little Damage or which is worse he had been engaged in a Dispute which is not his Province as he tells us p. 28. 2. But if some Pulpits have misrepresented them in some cases what is that to the Pulpits in general What is that to our Church He has been already told that we are far from defending such Misrepresentations if such there be That which we adhere to is the Doctrine and Sense of our Church as it is by Law established and what Representations are made agreeable thereto we undertake to defend and no other Can he think we are any more concern'd in the mistakes or infirmities of others then he thinks himself to be in the loose and extravagant opinions of their own Doctors Schoolmen and Casuists And is it not reasonable he should allow the same Law to others he is forced so frequently to plead in his own defence 3. But further supposing that some of the Pulpits have Misrepresented the Papist in some points and in those points he disclaims yet are there no points besides they differ in And if these were set aside would the Church of England and Rome be one What thinks he of the many points I find in the same Sermons he quotes that he civilly passes by Such as these That the Church of Rome is alone the Catholick Church out of which is no Salvation That the Pope is the Universal Head of that Church That that Church is Infallible What thinks he of Transubstantiation Purgatory Invocation of Saints Communion in one kind Divine Service and Scriptures in an Unknown Tongue Merit and Works of Supererogation the Worship of Images Implicit Faith Indulgences Deposition of Princes c. Lastly What thinks he of the great point he all along omitted as he is charged that a Papist doth not only believe the Doctrines defin'd in the Council of Trent to be true but also to be necessary to Salvation Are not these the Doctrines of the Church of Rome And are not the Pulpits as much employ'd in confuting these as those of praying to Images and putting their trust in them and the other Follies and Abominations as he calls them charged on his Church And do not the Protestants think as ill of those points he owns as of those he disclaims 4. But how come they of the Church of Rome to start this charge of Misrepresentation who are of all Churches in the world the most guilty of it Or how comes our Author to continue it who neither durst so much as vindicate others or himself when convicted of it The learned Author of the View enter'd the Field and threw down the Gantlet but our Author fairly slinks aside and leaves his Brethren to sink under the imputation of the soulest Misrepresentations And this is not to be wonder'd at when he has not one word of Reply to all the Accusations of that kind there produced against himself And yet to give a further Specimen how far this disingenuous quality has prevail'd upon his temper he still proceeds in the same course and to be quit with the Pulpits which he saith are forward in making characters of the Papists he is as forward in making characters of the Pulpits The business of so many Pulpits ten thousand open every week he saith is chiefly to make exceptions pick holes quarrel ridicule and the more excellent they are at their work the more they gain upon their Auditory And that he may not be wanting he will be at his Plots too and follow what he calls Oat's Divine way of Information He had tried once before to form a design of this kind when he would have Sermons preach'd many years ago against Popery to contain severe reflections upon his present Majesty But that he was soon made sensible of and has not a syllable to excuse And yet he will be again at his Innuendo's for thus he lays the Scene Methinks the Pulpits saith he should be more tender of their Soveraign than to venture upon the same Method which he before charges them with with the Son which prov'd so fatal to the Father and dangerous to the Brother But I fear the excess of jealousie for their Religion puts them upon being too bold with their Prince and that by a just judgment of Heaven they are blindly practising the very principles they have so often charged upon the Papists making their Churches Interest the center of their Religion Preaching Faction instead of Faith c. Such expressions as these are not thrown out at all adventure and we may soon guess what they tend to and it 's a fair warning Thus far for the Pulpits but to shew what a Talent he has at Character-making he will furnish us also with that of the true Son of the Church of England viz. A Genuine Son of the Church of England is to have a good stock of this implicit Faith by him and to believe and speak though he knows nothing at all Again This is to the Protestant Tune If a man can't tell how to run down Popery though he knows nothing of it he 's no true Son of the Church of England So that quarrelling and ridiculing is the work it seems of the Preachers and a delight in it the temper of their Auditors and to speak all at once Ignorance and Arrogance Slander and Impudence are in his opinion the Ingredients of a true Son of the Church of England This is the faithful Representer the soft Adviser the prudent Cautioner the impartial Character-maker the Preacher of Charity the Detecter of Impostures
has been made to all sorts of Protestants to produce even Ten Papists I may say Two that in all that Confusion of Civil Wars ever drew Sword against him I shall not here offer him the Instances of Capt. Tho. Preston and Capt. Wright mentioned in Foxes and Firebrands both because they served under Oliver and also because it 's one of his Street-Pamphlets as he calls them but shall lay before him undeniable Authorities Such is that of the Royal Martyr himself who in a Declaration of his saith All men know the great number of Papists which serve in their Army Commanders and others We are confident a far greater number of that Religion is in the Army of the Rebels than our own The other shall be that of Rob. Mentet de Salmonet a Secular Priest who in his History of the Troubles of England saith That at the Battel of Edge-hill several Priests were found slain on the Parliament side For although in their Declarations they called the King's Army a Popish Army thereby to render it odious to the people yet they had in their Army two Companies of Walloons and other Roman Catholicks The Book perhaps may not lye in every ones way but the passage is transcribed into Sir William Dugdale's View of the late Troubles in England P. 564. An. 1642. As for the Authority of the French Preacher let it be as it will but I think it would have been a greater satisfaction to the World if they had accepted his Challenge Printed and Reprinted and questioned him for it when alive rather than after his death to appeal to Protestants whether it be not a Fable Third Character of a Pulpit-Papist The Papists were the Instruments in the Fire of London c. This he charges upon the Preacher as an Aggravation of his Misrepresentation That he should vent this almost Twenty years after 1683 when the whole matter had been throughly consider'd And tho there were no other grounds whereon to build this charge besides the clamour and affected jealousies of the people and the confession of a distracted man whose Religion was not much of any kind but still professedly a Protestant Yet upon these grounds c. I am not so well acquainted with the History of this as to know when this whole matter was througly consider'd And it 's likely the Preacher was as ignorant as I am Nor do I know upon what grounds he proceeded but tho it might be as our Author saith That the distracted Man's Religion was not much of any kind yet I have been assured upon good grounds that he did not dye a Protestant Fourth Character of a Pulpit-Papist The Papists have their Emissaries up and down to preach Schism and Sedition into the Peoples ears By such Arts as these they insinuate themselves among the poor deluded People of our separate Congregations and joyning with them in their Clamours against the Church of England crying it down for Superstitious and Popishly affected they pass for gifted Brethren and real Popery is carry'd on by such Disguises Here our Author first of all inveighs against the thing and then against the Pulpits for charging it upon them Here saith he the Papists are set forth in a Sermon before the Honourable the Judges as great Hypocrites Religious Cheats and Impostors A foul Crime and if true sufficient to cast the Papists he should say such spiritual Factors out of the number of Christians but if false and not as here set out as sufficient on the other side to bring the Pulpits under that as black Character of Misrepresenting This is indeed to come up to the point and I shall readily close with him upon it The Apologist to shorten his Work and to take down the Confidence of the Adviser without bearing too hard upon the Party contented himself with pointing his Adversary to three or four Authors for Information in this Case such as the Quaker Vnmask'd the New Discovery the false Jew and Foxes and Firebrands Now to this he replies Who would not have expected that the Answerer would have spent a few Lines in making good such Authorities and proving them to be Authentick beyond Exception And then after his manner breaks forth into a wonderful Exclamation Good God! that Men should pretend to teach their Auditory the Gospel and when they are thus challenged in a particular of this Moment then to fly to Foxes and Firebrands and laying by the Scripture take Refuge in Libels and Street-Pamphlets Now who would not have expected that he would have spent a few Lines in disproving these Authorities If he could have done this he had done somewhat but it 's easier to call a thing a Libel than to prove it Well! What is the proof he expects That it be Authentick beyond Exception But when shall it pass for Authentick beyond Exception Nothing less it seems than Scripture is sufficient For saith he when they are thus challenged laying by the Scripture they take refuge in Libels and Street-Pamphlets Here I must ingenuously confess that we are at a loss and that we read no more in the Scripture of such Emissaries as Faithful Commin and Thomas Heth than he does of the Miracles of Xaverius or the Revelations of St. Bridget and the Extasies of Magdalen de Pazzi But did ever any man in the World before our Author put a case upon this issue and require Scripture-proof for matters of Fact or charge his Adversary with laying aside Scripture because he brings not Scripture to prove it But supposing they have as good Authority as what they can produce for the Legends of their Church will it not be as Authentick Let us therefore proceed as he calls it to the Examen The first Book which he has a particular pique against is what is call'd Foxes and Firebrands which is full of Relations of this kind There we read of one Faithful Commin a Dominican who in the year 1567. came over to England pretending to be a Protestant refused to be present at the Prayers of the Church alledging that they were but the Mass translated had a separate Congregation prayed for hours together with much Groaning and many Tears and in his Sermons spoke as much against Rome and her Pope as any of the Clergy as he pleaded before the Queen and Council And yet all this while acted a part to delude the People and do Service to his Church This Narrative is an Extract out of the Memorials of the Lord Cecil and was transmitted to Bishop Vsher and among his Papers came into the hands of Sir James Ware late one of His Majesties Privy Council in Ireland and published by his Son Robert Ware Esq In the next year 1568. there was another of our Author's Impostors detected Thomas Heth a Jesuit who pretended much to spiritual Prayers declaiming against Set-Forms and when brought before the Bishop of Rochester said he thereby endeavoured to make Religion the purer and
that he laboured to refine the Protestants and to take off all smacks of Ceremonies that in the least do tend to the Romish Faith and the better to conceal himself spoke against the Jesuits and declared that he was fallen from that Society And yet all this while was as much theirs as ever and did all by Allowance For he was discovered by a Letter drop'd out of his Pocket in the Pulpit at Rochester and written from one Samuel Malt a Jesuit of Note which after Directions given to him how to govern himself in these matters thus concludes This we have certified to the Council and Cardinals That there is no other way to prevent People from turning Hereticks and for the recalling of others back again to the Mother Church than by the Diversities of Doctrines There was besides found in his Boots a License from the Jesuits and a Bull dated the first of Pius Quintus to teach what Doctrine that Society pleased for the dividing of Protestants And in his Trunk were several Books for denying Baptism to Infants c. This was a Cause openly heard and he openly punish'd for it and in our Author's Opinion very deservedly for as he well observes upon this occasion Tho Dissimulation and Delusion be abominable every where yet never more than in spiritual Matters and concerns of the Soul. So much for this Book and its Authority Proceed we to the next the False Jew this Book contains the History of one Thomas Ramsey Son to Doctor Ramsey Physician to the King who being bred up in the Jesuits College in Rome and well instructed in the Hebrew Tongue was sent forth and became a pretended Jew under the name of Joseph Ben Israel having been also Circumcised and coming for England at Newcastle professed himself a Christian Convert but soon struck in among the Anabaptists and was baptized by them at Hexham The whole cause after the Discovery was heard before H. Dawson the Mayor 1653 where this was partly prov'd against him and partly confest The Narrative was published by the Ministers of Newcastle at that time The two other Books The Quaker Vnmask'd and the New Discovery were publisht by Mr. Pryn 1656. In which he gives an account of one Coppinger a Franciscan that with others of the same Order were chief Speakers among the Quakers this was deposed upon Oath If our Author is curious this way I shall soon furnish him with other Authentick Testimonies of this kind But I suppose this may be more than he desires For if this be true how will he reconcile this to Christianity and who are they that in his opinion deserve to be cast out of the number of Christians As for his long Excursion about Legends I shall reserve it to its proper place Fifth Character of a Pulpit-Papist The different Orders of Religion amongst the Papists are neither better nor worse than so many Sects and several Casts of Religion only they have that advantage in managing their Divisions which we have not to pack up their Fanaticks in Convents and Cloysters and so bring them under some kind of Rule and Government Here the Apologist had charged the Adviser with a Falsification but he is so kind to himself as to pass it over and truly so will the Apologist in consideration of the kindness he hath now done in giving him a further account of the Sermon here quoted which for want of direction as to Author or Bookseller he could not procure The Preacher being desirous saith our Author to take off that foul blemish of so many Sects and Divisions rending the Protestant Church it seems there is now in his opinion another Church of England inconsistent with the unity of Christ's true Church and so often objected against them by Catholicks falls into that common Topick of covering the defects of his own Church by calumniating that of his Neighbour and therefore he boldly makes up to his Auditory and tells them That the Vnity the Papists boast of in their Communion is but a pretence whereas they have really more Divisions in their Religion than they charge ours with and then goes on in the words of the Character above cited Out of this Discourse of the Preacher our Author draws three Particulars pag. 27. 1. That in the Church of Rome there are more Divisions than they charge ours with 2. That their Religious Orders are neither better nor worse than so many Sects and several Casts of Religion 3. That they have their Fanaticks packt up in Convents And he should have added another from the Apology 4. That thus to pack them up in Convents is an advantage their Church makes of it Our Author having thus drawn out the sense of the Preacher and made what he will of the sense of the Apologist concludes He must give me leave to set down these three Assertions of the Pulpit for so many clear Instances of most foul Misrepresenting But by his leave I shall review his account of this matter I am not obliged in strictness to concern my self in the first Head being neither charged upon the Preacher in the Good Advice nor so much as mentioned in the Apology but yet he shall find me a fair Adversary and not willing to stand upon my Terms but take the work as he has cut it out for me 1. The Vnity the Papists boast of is but a pretence whereas they have really more Divisions in their Religion than they charge ours with This our Author saith is a Calumniating of them and is one of his Foul Misrepresentations And yet after all I doubt it will return upon himself For if there be a real and perfect Union it 's surely to be seen in their present obedience to the same Church-Authority as our Author words it pag. 26. or in a perfect Union of Members among themselves in charity Or in being of the same belief as our Author suggests And yet if we come to examine it in this Method we shall find Breach upon Breach For 1. What Schisms have there been in that Church-Authority no less than thirty as Onuphrius reckons in the Papacy some of which continued ten some twenty and one fifty years 2. What actual Disobediences to that Authority in the times of Innocent 4 th Vrban 8 th and at this season are in the Gallican Church 3. What infinite Quarrels betwixt the Bishops and the Friers the Friers and Parish-Priests in the times of Gregory 9 th Innocent 4 th Alexander 4 th Martin 4 th Boniface 8. Clement 5 th Benedict 10 th c. from age to age even to that infamous one in the last age here betwixt the Seculars and Regulars One Pope revoking anothers Decrees and oftentimes annulling their own as did Innocent Martin and Boniface c. 4. Come we to their Union in Doctrine and we shall find that but a pretence For where have there been sharper conflicts than among them about the Seat and Extent of Infallibility Predetermination
and the Immaculate Conception c Each charging the other with Heresie as the Jesuits and Jansenists about the First the Dominicans and Jesuits about the second the Franciscans and Dominicans about the third Thus far therefore we are not agreed with our Author for if actual and material Divisions betwixt Head and Head Head and Members Members and Members will make a plea to Union to be but a pretence then so it is with them 2. Their Religious Orders are neither better nor worse than so many Sects and Casts of Religion This saith our Author is an absolute Falshood and the Vindicator that undertakes to defend the Preacher is in his opinion no better than a vain Trister in publishing such an idle Apology But why so Because when the Preacher had said that the Orders among the Papists are so many Sects the account he gives of it is that they are so many distinct Bodies that having different Founders Rules Habits and Opinions by which an Emulation is begot betwixt Order and Order they become divided among themselves and when occasion is offer'd do actually war upon one another in their way Now saith our Author would not a School-boy have been scourged for such a sleeveless frivolous excuse which he saith may be as well applied to our Colleges in the Universities as to their Convents But was this all the Apologist undertook and did he thus conclude his defence of the Preacher When he had thus shewn what is meant by their Orders and how Emulations and Quarrels might arise and what occasions were given for them in point of Rules Habits and Opinions did he not proceed to shew of what sort these Differences were in the very next words after those quoted by the Sayer Surely he might in his Transports have so far condescended as to touch upon those points and shewed a little of his skill in proving the Differences betwixt the Franciscans and Dominicans about the Immaculate Conception to have been no other than a School-opinion in our Colleges and that notwithstanding all the Feuds betwixt the Jesuits and Dominicans the Franciscans and the Jesuits there mentioned they are as he would have it only different parts not dividing but making up the whole He complains of the Preacher that he so worded it that no Protestant of his Auditory but must receive this Notion that as in England so likewise in the Church of Rome there are different Sects of Religion and Fanaticks to divide it And let any Protestant or other read the History of their long contentions about the size of their Hoods and the Immaculate Conception and he will read a notable Comment upon the Preacher's words and see that he has not misrepresented them I would fain know of our Author what he thinks of a Controversie that hath filled Kingdoms Cities Universities Cloysters with Tumults and Disorders Pulpits and Schools with contentions Invectives and Revilings that hath concerned Kings Popes and Councils in composing and at last grew to that height that after 300 years bickerings Popes themselves though solicited from time to time not only by the Heads of the Faction but by Princes themselves yet either could not or thought it not safe and adviseable to determine it Let me sum it up in the Words of the King of Spain's Embassador to the Pope to move him to come to a Resolution upon it Consider the loss of many Souls the Discord of the Church the Dissentions of Cities the great Dangers that hang over the Kingdom Let our Author consider this and tell me for what reason he took no notice of this case laid before him or how he could after he had read it charge the Preacher with an absolute Falshood For this I shall refer him further to a late Book call'd The Virgin Mary Misrepresented by the Roman Church § 3 and 4. But here our Author relieves himself That this may be seen in the Queen Dowager ' s Chappel in which officiate Monks Friers Dominicans Jesuits and Clergy that is so many different Orders of Men and yet without any difference in Religion or disagreement in Faith. But will he say there are no differences between the Friers and Dominicans the Jesuits and the Clergy in those Cases when they charge each other with Heresy or because they seem to agree or do there agree there is then nothing of this between Order and Order This is much such an Argument as if one that had seen the Fox and the Sheep and other Creatures quietly sitting upon one and the same Hill in the West when drove thither by a sudden Inundation should from thence conclude and would perswade others to believe that these were all at a perfect Accord and that there was no Enmity in their Nature nor had ever been in Fact. I shall conclude this with what Antoninus A.B. of Florence saith in this case Let every one take heed of preaching on this matter the immaculate Conception before the People with a charge upon the contrary Party because it 's Scandalous to 〈◊〉 People and accordingly it was forbidden by several Popes Another of the Falshoods charged upon the Preacher is the asserting they have Fanaticks pack'd up in their Convents The best Answer I can give to the Sayer upon this is to set before the Reader an account of the Method taken by the Apologist in handling this Argument 1. Who shew'd what Fanaticism is and that it 's a general Name comprehending in it Superstition and Enthuasiasm The former is the placing Religion in those things which Religion is not concerned in The latter is when Persons are acted and governed by some suppos'd Communications from Heaven by Revelations Visions Inspirations by Raptures and Illuminations and unaccountable Impulses 2. He shew'd there was such Fanaticism amongst them and in their Convents of the former sort he instanced in their Monkish Orders Habits Rules and Privileges granted to them and depended upon To which our Author gives not one word of Reply To the latter Enthusiasm the Apologist refers 1. The Institution of their Orders which with their Rules they say were first instituted by the Holy Ghost 2. Many of their Doctrines as Purgatory Transubstantiation and the Immaculate Conception c. 3. Many of the things defined and observed in the Church as Sacraments Festivals Canonizations c. for which they plead Revelation 3. He shewed further that these Revelations were only suppos'd not truly so And that 1. Because it derogates from Divine Revelation And 2. Because they agree not amongst themselves Of which there is given a notorious Instance in the case of the Immaculate Conception where Revelation is pleaded on both sides and each side charges the other with Imposture about it But here our Author is wholly silent However something must be said upon this Head and that amounts to this 1. That those in Convents in the Church of Rome embrace a retired Life dedicate themselves to the Service of God in Praying Fasting
in the Church of England and in exclaiming against his Adversaries for falling foul upon what he calls the best of Institutions As if either of them were against that which their own Church encourages and which the Preacher himself calls a wholesome Discipline But the beginning of the Paragraph shews what Confession the Preacher thus Censures viz. Auricular Confession as it is practiced in the Church of Rome at this day that Confession which the Apologist elsewhere describes from themselves that requires beforehand a diligent Examination of the Conscience about all and singular mortal Sins even the most Secret with all their circumstances so far as may change the nature of the Sin and then to discover all those they can call to mind to the Priest from whom they expect Absolution and without which Absolution is not to be expected nor can they have any benefit of the Absolution It 's of this the Preacher saith That the Consequence of it is to run an apparent hazard of being undone in many Cases by Knaves for Interest or by Fools out of Levity and Inconstancy and a blabling Humor that lets them into the Secrets of Families c. Besides instead of keeping up a wholesome Discipline it 's the way to corrupt it and tends to the debauching both Laity and Clergy in as many ways as there are Sins to be committed when the Confessor and the Penitent begin to discover and understand one another And this the Apologist confirmed from the Complaints made by good Men of their own Communion from the shameful Cases to be found in their Casuists from the Bulls of Popes Contra solicitantes in Confessione And of which I find a late Instance Tenth Character of a Pulpit-Papist The Churches Interest is the Center of their Religion and their Consciences turn upon the same Pin. Every thing is Pious Conscientious and Meritorious that makes for their Cause What is said as to the first of these by the Apologist That the Churches Interest is the Center of their Religion Our Author has not thought fit to recite and much less to confute As to the latter the Apologist produced a Constitution of the Jesuits but this the Sayer saith is a wrested Interpretation contrary to its plain meaning But why then did not our Author venture to assign this plain meaning of it and to shew the meaning the Apologist thought belong'd to it to be thus wrested Who without doubt would have thought one good Argument of much better Authority than a hundred bare Affirmations tho never so positive But he has two things yet in reserve 1. That after all the Apologist can say He cannot but own it to be a received Maxim among all even the loosest of our Divines and Casuists That no Evil is to be done that God may come of it To speak ingenuously I do not find him so forward to own it but if he did as we cannot think they will interminis run so counter to the Apostle yet the Question is what is Evil and Good and whether that is not Good which makes for their Cause or whether the making for the Cause makes not that which was Evil to be Good. And if so our Author doth but beg the Question 2. He appeals to his Catholicks of this Nation who quitted all rather than do an ill thing take Oaths Tests or go to Church against their Conscience The main part of this lies in the last words against their Conscience for else that many of them did take Oaths go to Church receive the Sacrament is I suppose out of Question Eleventh Character of a Pulpit-Papist This he breaks into four parts 1. He changes Scripture into Legends Hereby the Apologist shew'd was understood either that the Legends are of as good Authority in the Church of Rome as Scripture or that in their publick Offices they used Legends where they should have used the Scripture He shews there is too much occasion given for the former amongst them as when they own in their publick Offices that St. Bridget's Revelations came immediately from God to Her. But here our Author interposes and saith How does the Papist change the Scripture into Legends when he 's commanded by his Church to own the Scripture as the Word of God But if he owns the Scripture as the Word of God because it 's commanded by his Church then wherein is the difference if he be commanded by his Church to believe a Legend to be of Divine Revelation Our Author would have done a kind part if he had set us right in this matter between Divine Revelation and Divine Revelation between the Revelation for Scripture and the Divine Revelation for the Legends But he saith for all this a Person is not alike obliged to assent No! altho the Church requires it But that saith he the Church doth not for tho he may read Legends if he pleases yet he is not bound by his Church or Religion to give assent to or believe any one passage in any one Legend whatsoever If he has no better Authority for the latter Branch than the former for he is not bound to assent than for he may read them if he pleases his Cause is uncapable of his support For how can he be at Liberty whether he will read hear them if he pleases when they are inserted into the Body of their Church-Service and are Lessons chosen out for their Instruction And he can as little say they are not obliged to Assent to them when the Church it self saith in its publick Office They come immediately from God. Is it at last all come to this that when things are instituted by Inspiration of the Holy Ghost as the Orders of St. Benedict and were received from the Holy Ghost as the Rules of those Orders and that the Popes were moved by the Holy Ghost as in ordaining some Festivals and declar'd others to be divinely inspired as St. Brigit and St. Catherine and to come immediately from God as their Offices Is it all I say come to this that he is not bound to give assent to or believe any one Passage in any Legend whatsoever Nor so much as to believe any one to be a Saint their Church has Canonized no not St. Brigit St. Catherine nor even the Great Xaverius For tho some pretended Reformers as he calls them have been so easy and forward it seems as to have judged those things worthy of Credit which he was Canonized for yet no Member of the Church of Rome is bound to assent or believe but he may believe as well as read the Legends of them if he pleases and if he pleases he may forbear and suspend And this our Author doth abundantly confirm by approving what the Apologist produced out of Bellarmin and Canus That all things contained in the Lives of the Saints tho mentioned even in the Canonization depend upon human Testimony as to matters of Fact and consequently are subject to
exposing the Sacrament in their publick Processions and their Adoration of it may by the same reason A Jew step in and with this Argument pretend that Christ crucified was another shew upon Calvary But may not the Jew and the Atheist both step in and deride the Mysteries of Christianity when they are thus dress'd up for the Stage and are turn'd into empty Shows When they pretend to show our Saviour as upon Mount Calvary and that concludes in showing the Host and when the Sacrament is call'd a Communion and it concludes in the Elevation Procession or Sacerdotal Participation only I am loth to return him his own words Those who make a shew of this are within one step of the unbelieving Jews It had certainly better become our Author to have vindicated the Practice of his Church in the Charge exhibited against them and proved it absolutely false or tho it was true that they do not change the Sacrament into a shew by advancing other ends than it was instituted for and neglecting those that were proper to it 3. He preaches Purgatory instead of Repentance Our Author here replies 'T is absolutely false inasmuch as in the plain import of the Words it imprints this Notion in the Hearers viz. That the Papists don 't preach Repentance to the People but instead of this they preach Purgatory But our Author may remember that when it was said upon occasion that if Words will make it plain the Preacher was not mistaken it was put by with this that it was a Childish Plea. And why should not this Priviledg be allowed of retorting in the same way But how comes this to be more the plain import of the Words than what immediately precedes For would it not equally follow that when the Preacher said They change Scripture into Legends Sacraments into Shews Priests into Puppets That the plain import of the Words is they have no Scripture but Legends no Sacraments but Shows no Priests but Puppets But if there be no reason to take the Words in that Sense in the three former there is none to take them so in the last And therefore the meaning of the Preacher is no other than that whereas they should preach Repentance sincerely according as the Gospel teaches they preach Purgatory which invalidates it as the Apologist shewed This our Author saith is a mincing the Matters but however it 's the true Representation of it But if we so take it it 's yet he saith False in it self Here I expected a smart Answer to the Apologist who undertakes the Proof of what he asserted four ways 1. As the Doctrine of Purgatory takes People off from one of the most powerful Arguments to Repentance which is the fear of Hell. 2. It makes them more studious of what will set them safe than what will make them happy 3. It makes them defer their Repentance because of a further Allowance of time in another state 4. As they may be delivered thence by the Masses Alms and Prayers of the Living Surely these are points of some Consequence and if they are truly infer'd do shrewdly shake the Foundations of a Purgatory If false it would have been some gratification to have the Proof of it attempted But our Author is here silent and falls to the proving it false in it self forasmuch as he himself has heard many Sermons of Repentance and Purgatory never so much as mentioned unless it were to shew the insufferable Torments of the place and how great the hazard is even of getting thither But how doth this Answer the Apologist's Arguments to the contrary He adds further a Challenge to the Apologizer to find out one Sermon of Spaniards French c. in Latin that sets out Purgatory to the People as to make them neglect Repentance But this is to beg the Question for the Point in dispute is whether the Doctrine of Purgatory doth not invalidate Repentance and dispose People to neglect it And then the preaching Purgatory as it 's set out in the Roman Church is the preaching People into a neglect of Repentance 4. He preaches Faction instead of Faith. If either the Preacher or the Apologist thought it worth the while to write a Comment upon this and to enlarge upon the subsequent Discourse in the Sermon Volumes might be fill'd beginning at the Apostolical Chair as it 's call'd and so descending to the parts belonging to that Communion but the Apologist contented himself with a bare mentioning of the Pope's Jurisdiction over Princes and the Power be challenges of deposing them But here instead of relieving his Church our Author carries the War amongst his Neighbours always serving himself of a point which he knows he may be safe in However at length he appeals to their own Sermons and fairly offers As for the Faction they can discover in our preaching let them do their best to find even half so much we freely give them a thousand years to review for to match these four of theirs And I will dare to return the Challenge to find even half so much said for Obedience and Loyalty to Princes in all their Sermons for a Thousand years as in the Sermons of those Four years preach'd amongst us We find among them Sermons upon Sermons abâ—â—â— the Exaltation of the Pope's Power and the Power of Holy Church over Princes but as to Allegiance and Fealty to Princes whether of their own or of another Religion it 's a difficult Theme and rarely handled But for that saith he Let them take in likewise the Sermons that are now preached in our Chappels as if they would there preach up Faction when it is to preach against themselves But if we would know what their Zeal can do that way let us look back to the blessed times of Hildebrand nay but step over Sea and review the times of an Holy League and there we may see it venting it self in a Torrent of Disloyalty against their Princes in the Sermons of Poncet Prevost Bâ—ucher c. and without doubt had it been for the Glory and Quietof the Church to have had them published we should have found some glorious things of this kind in the Sermons even of Bellarmin himself who we are told was employ'd as a Preacher in that busy time of the League As for what he would fix upon the Sermons at present amongst us if he could find any Disloyalty of that kind he would not be put to the hard but his common Shift of saying They make unworthy Reflections upon the Religion of their Prince and insinuate Fears and Jealousies into the People Twelfth Character of a Pulpit-Papist There is a great noise of Alms made in his Church but the Scope they too often vainly aim at is the blessing of a presumed Saint security from the external force of evil Spirits by the Charms and Spells of Monkish Conjuration a sort of Ecclesiastical Magick Nay sometimes the Scope is that very wicked one of compounding