Brother c. protesting to them that his Soul had greatly longed to eat that last Supper and to perform that last Christian Duty before he left 〈◊〉 and gaâ—â— thanks to God that he had liv'd to finish that blessed Work. And then drawing near his end he caus'd his 〈◊〉 to read the Confession and Absolution in the Common Prayer And the person who was reported to reconcile him Mr. Thomas Preston being examined before the A. B. of Canterbury and other Commissioners protested before God as he should answer it at the dreadfull day of Judgment that the Bishop of London did never confess himself to him nor ever received sacramental Absolution at his hands nor was ever by him reconcil'd to the Church of Rome neither did renounce before him the Religion established in the Church of England yea he added farther that to his knowledge he was never in company with the Bishop never receiv'd any letter from him never wrote to him nor did he ever see him in any place whatsoever nor could have known him from another man. The same did Father Palmer the Jesuite whom they affirmed to be one of those by whom he was reconcil'd affirm that he never saw the Bishop This Book of Musket's was known to be such a notorious forgery that Mr. Anderton an ingenious Priest expressed his sorrow that ever such a Book should be suffered to come forth for it would do them more hurâ—â—han any Book they ever wrote yet have they since altered the Title and so printed it again and a Book exceedingly admir'd among them written about fifteen years since and Dedicated as I remember to the D. of Buckingham insists much upon this Conversion which makes me beseech my Brethren of our Church that they would be carefull to what Assertion they give credit and believe nothing in the writings of these men upon their Authority for let a thing be never so false they will not stick to report it and though it be expos'd and confuted they will urge it with the same confidence as an uncontradicted truth In the same manner when Father Redmond Caron who wrote in defence of Loyalty to the King against the rebellious Opinions and Doctrines of the Court of Rome lay upon his death bed in Dublin ann 1666. the Priests raised a Report that he retracted his Signature of the Loyal Irish Remonstrance and all his Books on that Subject but they were too quick in spreading this piece of Calumny against that Loyal Man for the account came to his Ears before he died upon which in the presence of many of his own Order he protested solemnly that he was so far from recanting that the Doctrine which he had taught he looked upon as the Doctrine of Christ and that it was his duty to maintain it Thus if any of their own Church be of a sounder Principle than themselves they cannot help practising that rule of the Jesuits whereby they are directed to report that such as leave them are very desirous to be receiv'd again and although they are so often prov'd and expos'd to the world as Calumniators and Forgers they with the greatest unconcernedness invent and report anew upon the next occasion But that the World may not be always fed with false Stories they cast about for an artifice to deceive them by false Converts appointing men to pretend themselves Protestants and after some time to be reconcil'd to the Romish Church by the means of their Missionaries Thus ann 1583. at the Sessions at Glocester in the month of August one Richard Summers was apprehended who outwardly seem'd a Protestant but being one day present at a discourse between one of the Bishop of Glocesters Chaplains and a Puritan as they were then call'd us'd this Expression If this be the fruits of Protestantism I will lament my ways and turn to my Mother the Ch. of Rome seeing the Ch. of England is divided The Chaplain upon this suspecting this man one day disguis'd himself and trac'd him to an house where he found him in a Surplice and heard him say Mass after which he dogg'd him to his Lodging and had him apprehended 'T is an attempt not impossible to succeed to raise such reports of particular private Men but to tell the world of whole bodies of men whole Nations and Countries and Sovereign Princes becoming Converts when they know the contrary to be the real truth is something more amazing and able to surprise the most thinking men yet were not these Gentlemen asham'd to affirm even at Rome it self where it is an ordinary practice with great Solemnity that the Patriarch of Alexandria with all the Greek Church of Africa had by their Ambassadours submitted and reconcil'd themselves to the Pope and receiv'd from his Holiness Absolution and Benediction but tho' this was found a Fable about the same time they reported that the K. of Scots K. James had chas'd the Ministers away and executed two of them bestowing their Goods upon the Roman Catholicks that not only Beza had recanted his Religion but the City of Geneva also sought to be reconcil'd and had sent to Rome an Ambassage of Submission This news was whispered among the Jesuits two months before it became publick but at length there came a solemn account of it which run through all Italy and was so verily believed to be true that several went to Rome on purpose to see those Ambassadours and to make up the full measure of this Romish Policy there was news sent from Rome to Lyons that Q. Elizabeth's Ambassadours were at Rome making great instance to be absolv'd And there is a certain secular Priest who not long since assur'd me that he had seen an original Instrument under the hand of the late Arch-bishop of York and other Prelates with several Divines among whom he named Dr. Wallis of Oxford approving several of the Romish Doctrines and particularly Prayer to Saints or for the dead but tho' upon my earnest intreaty he promis'd to procure me a sight of it yet he never perform'd it to this day But this is usual among them when they have a design either to make or confirm Proselytes these Assertions that our greatest Men are Papists in private are never out of their mouths and within these few years they reported publickly in Ireland that not onely his late and present Majesty but all the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdom of England were privately of their Religion And no longer since than the year 1678. it was generally reported at Rome for six months together that the Armenian Patriarch with six and thirty Bishops were on their way thither to submit to and acknowledge the Apostolical See tho' this was a Sham like the rest of their Great Conversions on which I shall make some few Reflexions by a short account of the greatest of them which they are most ready to boast of at this day The
another Subject but still designing to raise Devotion in the Spectators where they bring in Lewis the Thirteenth dedicating himself and Kingdom to our Lady for which they extol him in these Lines Lewis whose Virtues Fame resounds a far Lewis the just in Peace the just in War Was ne're so just as in one glorious Deed By which he did even himself exceed And hath a Rule to other Princes given Off'ring his Kingdom to the Q. of Heaven And thus having introduc'd false Gods to honour the Virgin in the next place they endeavour the same by false Assertions for Victorie and the Virtues carrying Palms and crown'd with Laurels expose upon seven Tablets the great Actions of the present French King which he performed for the honour of the Virgin. But because the World would not easily believe that the ensuing Particulars were undertaken with that Design they pretend a revelation of it which like the old Heathen Oracles is deliver'd in verse An Inscription for Lewis the Great While the whole World his mighty Actions sees It wonders at th' amazing Prodigies Before unheard of but the true Design It cannot find because it can't Divine That lay unknown to all from all conceal'd Till Heav'n applauding it the cause reveal'd He sought not Glory for himself alone But he preferr'd the Virgins to his own To honour her more than himself he fought And won his Victories her Glory to promote Then descending to Particulars the first Tablet tells us of Churches built and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The second sets forth the taking of so many Towns in Holland and re-establishing the Worship of the Virgin in their Churches The third informs us that the Enemies of the Virgin are driven from Port Royal and out of France In the fourth they tell us that the Algerines were punished by the French Bombs for being Enemies to Mary The fifth brags of the extinction of the Hereticks in France Enemies of the Mother of God. The sixth and seventh are much to the same purpose importing that the French King hath put an end to the War which was so dishonourable to our Lady so that now they can go on Pilgrimage and pay their Devotions to her These Tablets are compos'd of so many false and ridiculous Materials that I cannot forbear inserting some Reflexions which one of the Roman Communion hath made upon them who wonders that they should pretend the War of Holland was on a Religious Account but is very much scandaliz'd at their telling the world that the Reconciliation of the Churches was in honor of the Virgin while they take no notice of the greater parts of their Worship then restor'd which passage he freely acknowledges would incline one to believe that they place all Religion in the Adoration they pay to her He positively affirms that the second Tablet is absolutely false and laughs at the Inscription of the third for if the design against Algiers had been to punish them for their Enmity to our Lady they would certainly have been obliged by the Articles of Peace to render her more Honour for the future He charges them with misrepresenting those they call Hereticks in the fifth Inscription who he says are no Enemies to the Blessed Virgin and that in the sixth they have represented that great Prince whom they design'd to flatter as an Enemy to the Q. of Heaven while they tell us that the War of Luxembourg was dishonourable to her when all the World knows the City was besieg'd and taken by that Monarch And indeed the whole Procession throughout was such a piece of Heathenish Pomp that the same Author tho' a ROMANIST complains of it as unworthy the gravity of the Christian Religion and which is sufficient to make the Worship of the Blessed Virgin be look't upon as superstitious and prophane for saith he can any one believe that it was possible for so many persons of all sorts as were Spectators out of Curiosity and little enough acquainted with spiritual things to have any serious reflexions upon the great Mysteries of Religion in the midst of so many vain Shews which continually distract the Mind and insensibly lead it to other Subjects These Considerations are so Weighty with that Reverend Prelate the Arch-bishop of Mechlin that he hath prohibited not only such profane Spectacles in their Processions but even the carrying the Images of their Saints at the same time with the Sacrament which is found by Experience prejudicial to Devotion the generality of the people being so busied in observing the curious Images and their rich Ornaments that they have no leisure for serious Devotion And this perhaps is one of the Reasons why that Bishop is said to be a Jansenist and but little esteem'd among them Neither is it altogether to be pass'd over that these Jesuits could not be content to expose those Pagan Deities under the names of Gods and Divinities to the Eyes of the Spectators but they have also published an Account of the Procession which because I could not procure I have given but an imperfect Relation from the Adviser but which I think is sufficient to the end for which I have inserted it and I appeal to all the world whether it be possible for such a representation wherein there is not one word of Scripture but several passages out of Heathen Poets nothing of Religion of the Benefits and Beauties of it but Pagan Divinities bestowing Blessings delivering from War c. and such a medly of Falsities to tend any way to promote Holiness when every particular is in it self destructive of it § 2. Every day furnishes us with fresh Instances of the strange immodesty of these Gentlemen I have shewn p. 29 30 31. that it is an usual practice among them when press'd with any passage out of the Fathers or other Writers to deny that they wrote the Book out of which it is quoted or else to set themselves to devise some interpretation by which to avoid its force the Reader will find several Instances of it and that the Inquisitors and other of their Divines defend this Method and advise to use it but Mr. Meredith without any proof affirms that when the Work of any Father is quoted by Catholicks if it were ever doubted of there is no remedy but it must pass for spurious and when it shall happen to be undoubted they will do as much as in them lies to render it dubious at least in those places which are quoted But when nothing of this will do their last shift is Interpretation And this he says is one of the methods which the Protestants use in their Disputations 'T is true the Papists have forg'd so many Authors and corrupted others to that degree that it is reason enough to be suspicious of every thing they publish but we are so far from doing this that the
Exposit. of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church Lond 1685 4 to F. Ellis's Sermon before the K. Dec. 5. 1686 4 to F. FIfth part of Ch. Government Oxf. 1687 4 to Fowlis's History of Romish Treasons Lond. 1681 fol. Franckland's Annals Lond. 1681 fol. The Franciscan Convert Lond. 1673 4 to G. GAge's new Surv. of the West-Indies Lond. 1655 fol. Gee's foot out of the Snare Lond. 1624. 4 to The Gunpowder Treas with a discourse of the manner of its discovery Lond. 1679 8 vo Good Advice to the Pulpits Lond. 1687. 4 to Gratian Edit 1518 4 to H. HOspiniani Historia Jesuitica Tig. 1670. fol. History of the Irish Rebellion Lond. 1680. fol. Dr. Harsenet's Declarat of egregious Pop. Impostures in casting out Devils Lond 1603 4 to The Hind and the Panther Lond. 1687 4 to Hunting the Romish Fox Dubl 1683. 8 vo History of Geneva by Mr. Spon Lond. 1687 fol. History of the Church of Great Britain from the Birth of our Saviour Lond. 1674 4 to History of the Powder Treason Lond. 1681. 4 to Histoire de France par Seigneur du Haillan deest mihi titulus I. INstructiones secret pro super Societ Jesu see Arcana societ Jesu Index expurg librorum qui hoc seculo prodierunt Edit 1586 12 s. Instance of the Church of Englands Loyalty Lond. 1687 4 to The Jesuits Reasons Unreasonable Lond. 1662 4 to See Collection of Treatises Important Considerations Lond. 1601. 4 to It is in the collection of Treatises concerning the Penal Laws K. Jame's Works Lond. 1616 fol. K. MR. King's Answer to the Dean of Londonderry Lond. 1687 4 to Key for Catholicks Lond. 1674 4 to L. LAst Efforts of afflicted Innocency Lond. 1682 8 vo Long 's History of Plots Lond. 1684 8 vo A Letter in answer to two main Questions in the first Letter to a Dissenter Lond. 1687 4 to Letter from a Dissenter to the Divines of the Church of England Lond. 1687 4 to Three Letters concerning the present State of Italy 1688 8 vo M. MYsterium Pietatis Vltraj â—686 8 vo Moral Practises of the Jesuites Lond 1670 8 vo Maldonati in 4 Evangelia Mogunt 1624 fol. Masoni Vindiciae Ecclesiae Anglicanae Lond. 1625 fol. Mirrour for Saints and Sinners Lond. 1671. fol. Manual of Controversies Doway 1671 8 vo Monomachia Lond. 1687 4 to Mr. Meredith's Remarks on Dr. Tennison's Account Lond. 1688 4 to N. NOvvelle de la Republique des Lettres Juin 1686 8 vo Novelty of Popery by Dr. Du Moulin Lond. 1664 fol. Nubes Testium Lond. 1686 4 to New Test of the C. of E. Loyalty L. 1687 4 to Nouvelle de la Republique des Lettres Oct. 1684 8 vo O. OGilby's Japan Lond. 1670 fol. P. PRotestancy destitute of Scripture proofs Lond. 1687 4 to Pontificale Romanum Col. 1682 8 vo Pastoral Let. of the Bish of Meaux L 1686 4 to Present State of the Controversie between the Church of England and the Church of Rome Lond. 1687 4 to Pap. misrepres and repres Lond. 1685 4 to â—ultâ—n's Remarks Lond. 1687 4 to Provincial Letters Lond. 1657 8 vo Mr. Pain 's Answer to the Letter to a Dissenter Lond. 1687 4 to Policy of the Clergy of France Lond. 1681 8 vo Pulton's account of the Confer Lond. 1687. 4 to Popery Anatomis'd Lond. 1686 4 to Parson's Treatise tending to Mitigation 1607 8 vo The Primitive Rule before the Reformation Antw. 1663 4 to A Picture of a Papist Edit 1606 8 vo Primitive Fathers no Protest Lond. 1687 4 to Preservative against Popery by Dr. Sherlock Lond. 1688 4 to Primitive Fathers no Papists Lond. 1688 4 to Papists not misrepresented by Protestants Lond. 1686 4 to Papists Protesting against Prot Popery Lond 1686 4 to Parsons's 3 Conversions out of Eng. 1604 8 vo R. RIâ—herii Histor. Concil Gener. 1683 8 vo Rushworth's Collect. P. r. Lond. 1659 fol. Reply to the Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Ch. of Eng. Lond. 1687 4 to Reflexions on Mr. Varillas Amst. 1686 12 s. Reply to the Reasons of the Oxford Clergy against Addressing Lond. 1687 4 to Ricauâ— s State of Greek and Armenian Churches Lond. 1679 8 vo Reflexions on the Answer to the Papist Misrepresent Lond. 1685 4 to Religio Laici Lond 1682 4 to Request to Rom. Cath. Lond. 1687 4 to Reynerus adv Waldenses Ingol 1613 4 to Rogers's Faith Doctrine and Religion professed in England Cambr. 1681 4 to Reasons of Fryer Neville's Conversion Lond. 1642 4 to Reflexions on the Historical part of the fifth part of Church Government Oxford 16â—7 4 to S. SUmmary of the Principal Controver bet the Church of England and the Church of Rome Lond. 1687 4 to Secret instructions for the society of Jesus Lond. 1658. 8 vo Sure and Honest Means for the Conversion of Hereticks Lond. 1687 4 to State of the Church of Rome before the Reformation Lond. 1687 4 to Saul and Samuel at Endor Oxf. 1674 8 vo Spanhemii Histor Imaginum Lug. Bat. 1686 8 vo Surii Commentar brevis 1574 8 vo Smith's acc of the Gr. Church Lond. 1680 8 vo His Miscellanea Lond. 1686 8 vo Sheldon's Survey of the Miracles of the Church of Rome Lond. 1616 4 to Dr. Stâ—ll unreas of separ Lond. 1681 4 to Speed's Chronicle Lond. 1623. St. Amours Journal Lond. 1664 fol. Seissellius adv Valden Paris 15â—0 Securis Evangelica Rom. 1687 8 vo A Supplication to the King 's most excellent Majesty Lond. 1604 4 to St. Peter's Supremacy discuss'â— Lond 1686 4 to T. TReleinie's undeceiving the people in the point of Tithes Lond. 1651 4 to Terry's voyage to East-India Lond. 1655 8 vo Tertulliani Opera Franek 1597 fol. Touch-stone of the Reform Gosp. L. 1685 12 s. Transubstantiation defended Lond. 1687. 4 to Traver's Answer to a supplicatory Epistle Lond. 1583 8 vo Toleti Instructio Sacerdoâ—um Venet. 1616 4 to Travels of Sig. de la Valle Lond. 1665. fol. V. VIndica of the Bishop of Condoms Exposition Lond. 1686 4 to Vasquez de cultu adorationis Mog 1601 8 vo Bp. Vshers Life and Letters Lond. 1686 fol. Vidicat of the sincerity of the Prot. Religion Lond. 1679 4 to Veritas Evangelica Lond. 1687 4 to The Use and great Moment of the Notes of the Church Lond. 1687 4 to W. WAlsh's Histor. of the Irish Remonstrance Lond. 1674 fol. His 4 Letters on several Subjects 1686 8 vo Wilson's Hist. of G. Britain Lond. 1653 fol. Correct the Errata thus 95. l. 19 in the Margin r. p. 12. p. 32. l. 11. r. commendavit INTRODUCTION HAving observed the difference between the Method followed by Protestant Divines and that which the Gentlemen of the Church of Rome take in their unwearied endeavours for gaining Proselytes I have several times taken notice that instead of handling particular Controversies they for the most part wholly decline them and take another course wherein what their design is will easily be apprehended if we consider that their experience tells them that Prejudice is
obedience with the humble what great imployment with stirring and metall'd spirits what perpetual quiet with heavy and restive bodies what content the pleasant nature can take in pastimes and jollity what contrariwise the austere mind in discipline and rigour what love either chastity can raise in the pure or voluptuousness in the dissolute what allurements are in knowledge to draw the contemplative or in actions of state to possess the practick dispositions what with the hopefull prerogative of reward can work what errors doubts and dangers with the fearfull what change of vows with the rash of estate with the inconstant what pardons with the faulty or supplies with the defective what miracles with the credulous what visions with the fantastical what gorgeousness of shews with the vulgar and simple what multitude of ceremonies with the superstitious and ignorant what prayer with the devout what with the charitable works of piety what rules of higher perfection with elevated affections what dispencing with breach of all rules with men of lawless conditions And so he goes on to shew how the very constitution of their Church is made up of such contrariety which I shall insist farther on in another place my business here being to shew how they are prepared to fit each temper and inclination with suitable discourses and allurements They know the greatest part of men in the world are either very much taken with gaudy and pompous sights which bewitch their senses and so wholly possess them as to take away all room for rational reflexions or so charm'd with the delights of their belov'd corruptions that they are unwilling to part with them To catch the first sort we find them boasting of the splendour and outward glory of the Church of Rome to such a degree that they have made this pomp a mark of the True Church this is observ'd by an ingenious Author of their own Communion That they insist much upon the fine Churches they have at Rome whose admirable Structure doth greatly edifie Believers and as Cardinal Pallavicini says lib. 8. c. 17. is of it self capable to convert infidel Princes this way of catching people by gaudy Shews and splendid Sights is look't on with such a favourable Eye among them that the three Bishops from Bononia in a Letter of Advice to Pope Julius the Third observe that the vulgar are given to admire and to be amused with these things in the contemplation of which their minds are as it were so intangled that they have no relish for any other Food no inclination to any other Doctrine they affirm that they were design'd for that purpose and therefore give it as their Judgment that they should be augmented and multiplied for say they if the introducing and appointing those few which we have mention'd were of such use to the Settlement of your Kingdom of what advantage would it be were there some new ones added and this Advice was so exactly observed that the excellent Richerius a Doctor of the Sorbon tells us that this was the the Scope and Design of the Reformation established by the TRENT COUNCIL nothing being effected for the Truth but external Pomp provided for so that innumerable splendid gaudy Ceremonies were dayly invented whence proceeded a magnificent and theatrical Way of adorning their Churches the Sacerdotal Ornaments glittering with Gold and Silver while the Priests who wore them were mere Stocks by which Artifices the peoples minds were amus'd and insensibly drawn from the consideration of the necessity of Reformation which made the learn'd Andreas Masius complain that Piety was extinguished and Discipline neglected while all Applications were made and Inventions used to increase their Pomp. The glittering Gold in their Temples and curious Images of Saints and Angels the numerous and stately Altars the mighty silver Statues the rich and glorious Vestments you see up and down in their Churches strike the Senses into a kind of Ecstasy which they are so sensible of that with all their Rhetorick they enlarge upon this Subject striving to perswade their intended Proselytes to see with what Magnificence they perform their Worship thus when his MAJESTY of Blessed Memory KING CHARLES the First being then Prince was in the Spanish Court there were great Summs expended in solemn glittering Processions and their Churches set out with their richest Ornaments to charm his Senses but he was too well grounded in his Religion to be caught with that Bait And I remember this is given by Capt. Robert Everard as a Motive to his Conversion as he calls it to the Roman Church The great use they make of it enclines me to believe this device is accompanied with more than ordinary Success it is also so universal that in the Indies they have these Pageants to delight the Senses and Phancies of the INDIANS Against Christmass Day they set up a thatch't House like a Stall in some Corner of their Churches with a Blazing-Star over it pointing to the three Wise Men from the â—ast within this Stall they lay a Crib and the Image of a Child the Virgin Mary standing on one side and Joseph on the other there is likewise an Ass and an Ox the three Wise Men kneel and offer their Gifts the Shepherds stand aloof off with theirs and the Angels hang about the Stall with several Instruments of Musick and there is scarce an Indian that cometh not to see this Bethleem as we are assured by one who was a Fryer and dwelt in those parts above twelve Years who gives several other Instances of the same Nature I have frequently been answered by their Converts when desiring to know what they found amiss in our Church that we dâ—d nothing to keep up the Remembrance of our Saviour which they were at the greatest Charges to effect and I have received a Relation from a Gentleman very conversant among them which for several Reasons I think worth inserting This Gentleman in his Travels being at Brussels in the Low-Countries was often invited by the Priests there to their Churches and Convents after some time spent in debating Points in difference between the two Churches they finding no probability of his Conversion one day told him there would be a great Ceremony at such a Church the Fryday following being Good-Fryday at which they desired he would be present one of them adding that he thought the sight of it alone was enough to convert any Heretick and instanced in one or two Persons on whom it had a very powerfull effect according to their desire the Gentleman went and by the motion he felt in himself the Representation being so lively that it melted him into Tears doth profess he believes the weaker sort of men who are not very well grounded in their Religion may be strangely altered by such a sight tho' upon deliberation he found it so gross a piece of IDOLATRY that it created in him a greater detestation of the Religion
of the Church of Rome than he had before It being never that I know of related by any Author I believe it will be very acceptable to the Reader to have an Account of it At the upper end of the Church there is a large Stage erected in the midst of which is set up a Cross on which is nailed an Image of our Saviour given as they say by the INFANTA ISABELLA made of Pastboard but exactly to the Life having Joynts and the Veins appearing as full of Blood it is crown'd with Thorns and hangs in the posture of a crucified Person on one side stands the Image of the Blessed Virgin all in mourning and on the other a Coffin to lay the Image in After the Sermon the Governor and most of the Nobility being present there come forth six Fryers bare-foot in their Stoles who fall prostrate before the Image frequently beating their Breasts lifting up their Heads and looking on it with all the signs of Grief and Adoration then rising by degrees two of them remain kneeling each holding an end of a large Swathe which is put under the Armes of the Image two standing under the Image to receive it and the other two ascending two Ladders which are placed at the Back of the Cross when one with a great deal of Reverence taking off the Crown of Thorns wipes it and descending brings it to the Front of the Stage where shewing it to the people they all kneel with much Devotion then approaching the Image of the Virgin he falls on his Knees and lays it at her Feet then returning up the Ladder they with a great noise and knocking take out one of the Nails upon which the arme of the Image falls exactly like the arme of a dead man this Nail he carries to the people who as before prostrate themselves and he with the same gesture presents it to the Virgin after which the other nails are shewn and presented the Body being taken down and brought by them with a slow pace and mournfull look to the people they adore again when the Fryers upon their knees present it to the Virgin and with much ceremony lay it in a glass Coffin in which it is carried round the Town the several Orders the Carthusians and Jesuits excepted who attend at no procession with lighted Candles preceding the Governour of the Netherlands and the Nobility following bare-headed what they did afterwards the Gentleman saw not Thus have the Romanists brought the most gross Pageantry into their Church to be motives to their Religion not considering that the Heathens of Japan and China and the Inhabitants of America whose Images and the inside of their Temples are all of Massy Gold have in this respect a fairer Title to be the True Church than they from whence the Heathens of old cannot be excluded if Pomp as Bellarmine and others teach be a Mark of the true Church seeing their Ceremonies and Rites of this nature are copyed from them as is confessed by Cardinal Baronius that the Offices of Pagan Superstition were purposely introduc'd and consecrated to the service of God as he calls it and true Religion And yet by this very Method they gain so much that a diligent Observer of them before cited affirms that were it not that the Musick Perfumes and rich Sights did hold the outward Senses with their natural delight surely their Worship could not but either be abandon'd for the fruitlesness or only upon fear and constraint frequented And in this particular they have their several Baits according to the several Dispositions of men for the more refin'd sort of those who are caught with these glorious and splendid sights they have such representations as I have mentioned but for the less discerning they are like their Similitudes so gross that in a person of a very moderate understanding they are fitter to excite a loathing and contempt than admiration for what other effect can proceed from such a picture as of that over the Altar at Worms which one would think was invented by the enemies of Transubstantiation to make it appear ridiculous There is a Wind-mill and the Virgin throws Christ into the Hopper and he comes out at the eye of the Miln all in Wafers which some Priests take up and give to the people But notwithstanding the coursness of this Emblem it is so agreeable to the Genius of the German Boors that it is to this day over one of their Altars there This practice of theirs in which they place so much confidence and to which they are beholden for much of their success is so far from being warrantable that it is directly contrary to the design of the Gospel whose simplicity is such as that it needs none of these gew-gaws to support it and therefore was spread by the first planters of it without them Saint Paul was so far from making use of such vanities that he durst not use the enticing words of man's wisedom in his Sermons and Exhortations which surely is much more tolerable than to endeavour to gain men to the true Religion by bewitching them with those sensual objects which the design of Christianity is to wean them from and certainly when we are caution'd not to be like children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine through the slight of men there is a particular caution included therein against suffering such vain shews and gaudy pomps to make impression on us which are the peculiar delights of children and must needs argue us very much children in understanding and religion to be intic'd by them The truth of this is so clear that those among the Romanists who endeavour to fix in their minds a right Idea of Christianity remembring that the Founder of it said His Kingdom was not of this world conceive such an indignation against these carnal and vain Methods that one of them doth not stick to say That if any man be converted by these he is a fool and assures us that he knows that upon people of understanding who apply themselves to solid things and grow in spirit and truth this hath a contrary effect for these things do debauch the mind and set it on wandering The enquiry continues he is about seeking God and finding him in those places and it is not the sight of the fine guilding or the excellent painting of an Edifice nor the hearing of a sweet Harmony but rather the lifting up of our minds above sensible objects and separating them as much as possibly we can from sense and imagination it is the fixing the eyes of our understanding with a religious attention upon that invisible spirit upon that Sun of Justice and when we do it with that Love and Reverence that is due to it we shall never fail of seeing and hearing the most delightfull things And then he goes on to lay down reasons why we ought not to be wrought upon by such external things
engine to make a battery at which Atheism may enter without opposition with all its instruments and attendants In prosecution of which design it is usual with them to recount the Riches of the Clergy while they maliciously and falsly insinuate that the Revenues Ecclesiastical in England are far greater than in Popish Countries but if we come to examine but the Wealth of eclesiastical Persons in the Popish times in this Nation we shall find that it exceeded by many degrees that poor pittance which Reformed Divines enjoyâ— among whom it is known that multitudes have hardly sufficient to buy themselves Bread several hundreds of our Livings not amounting to ten pound a year a piece and several not to five when the sole Revenues of the Monasteries and Hospitals beside the two Vniversities and several Monasteries not valued in K. Henry the Eighth's time amounted to one hundred eighty six thousand five hundred and twelve pounds odd Money besides the Bishopricks and Parishes which being joyned to the former Summ the Clergy of the Church of Rome were possessed of the yearly Summ of above three hundred and twenty thousand one hundred and eighty Pounds even in those times what would they have yielded then at this day if then the Gentlemen of the Church of Rome judge the Provisions for the Reformed Clergy too great the Possessions they enjoyed will certainly appear subject and consequently themselves to the same Accusation but upon much better grounds Especially when we consider that NEVER ANY CLERGY IN THE CHURCH OF GOD HATH BEEN OR IS MAINTAINED WITH LESS CHARGE THAN THE ESTABLISHED CLERGY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND which an ingenious Gentleman hath evidently proved To whose Arguments if our Adversaries think fit to reply they shall not want a Defender And I am ready to prove out of their own Authors that the Revenues of the French Clergy amount to above one million and two hundred thousand Pounds of our English Money yearly that they possess seven parts in twelve of the whole Revenue of the Kingdom and that the Arch-Bishoprick of Toledo in Spain is as rich as some Kingdoms And now let all the world judge to whom the Appellation of hirelings belongs which they are so ready to bestow on us But not content to cast their reproaches upon the Body of the Clergy the Oxford Writer hath attempted to bring the Charge of worldliness home to a particular Bishop but so unsuccessfully that it is evident he was forc'd to use his invention to maintain it which all his assurance tho' he hath a great Talent that way will not be able to do for whereas he affirms that the Excellent Hooper who in Q. Maries days seal'd the Protestant RELIGION with his Blood held two Bishopricks at once it is notoriously false For he never held but the Bishoprick of Worcester from which Glocester was divided by K. Henry the Eighth and reunited to it by K. Edward so that all Hooper enjoy'd was but one Bishoprick which had some years been divided into two and yet our Author pretends he held them in Commendam If this means will not do the work and our Divines still keep up their esteem in the minds of the people the next design is to expose them as guilty of some immoral Crime to this end they have in this City dress'd some of their own party in the Habit of a Minister who according to instructions resorted to houses of ill repute while others of the gang planted there on purpose pointing at the supposed Minister have been heard to say aloud there goes Dr. or Mr. such an one that the people might suppose the most eminent of their Ministers frequenters of such places and I can name some Divines whom they have by this Artifice endeavoured to defame If they have a design that any one of our Ministers should be esteemed idle and lazy men and negligent in their Office they watch till he is gone abroad then repairing to some sick person of their Acquaintance they desire them to send for him while they are in the house and when the messenger returns with an account that he is not within they take occasion to tell the sick persons that our Ministers are never to be found but always gadding abroad without minding the concerns of their people but for their parts they are always ready to perform the duty of their Office to all sorts that send for them and thus they serv'd an Eminent Divine very lately But that Gentleman had a pretty good stock of Confidence who urging a Woman to become his Proselyte told her that our Divines were men of no Learning and could not Preach but by the helps they receiv'd from hearing and reading the Sermons of the Romish Priests and yet this was very gravely urg'd by one of them not many months since I do not relate this passage that I think there is any danger of its being believ'd even by the meanest understanding to our prejudice but to let the world see that there is no Slander how improbable or sensless soever which these men are asham'd of The truth is they find Calumny their best weapon and therefore are resolv'd to use it at all adventures hence it is we find among the rest of the Directions given by the Jesuite Contzen in his Advice for bringing Popery into a Countrey that those who preach against a Toleration suspecting the design of the Papists in it be traduced as men that preach very unseasonable Doctrine that are proud conceited and enemies to Peace and Vnion And for the better managing the Popish Interest in England Seignior Ballarini directs Father Young To make it appear under hand that the Doctrine Discipline and Worship of the Church of England comes near to them that our Common Prayer is but little different from their Mass and that the ablest and wisest Men among us are so moderate that they would willingly go over to them or meet them half way for thereby the more stayed Men will become more odious and others will run out of all Religion for fear of Popery And we find even at this time they are observing this Instruction to which end one of their number hath been at the pains to shew that the Church of England and the Church of Rome are agreed and the whole Controversie lies between the Church of Rome and dissenting Protestants but I suppose since the Difference between the two Churches hath been so clearly related in the Answer to that Pamphlet they will for the time to come keep closer to the advice of doing their Business under hand for the Discourse will hardly convince any body that we are agreed with them But it is very pleasant to behold these Gentlemen labouring with all their might to asperse the Reformers when if those passages they lay to their Charge be blots indeed they are as prejudicial to the Gospel it self and to the greatest of the Romish Saints
Father Drury a noted Jesuit â—reach in the Black Fryers Oct. 26. 1623. it pleas'd God that the Chamber where they were fell down and near a hundred Persons with the Preacher were kill'd out-right and many hurt yet had they the Confidence to affirm that this was a Protestant Assembly publishing a Book relating great Iudgments shewn on a â—ort of Protestant Hereticks by the fall of an house in Black Fryers London in which they were Assembled to hear a Geneva Lecture and Dr. Gouge tells us when and where this Relation was Printed in his Account of that sad Providence I might particularize in abundance of such passages but these are enough to let the Reader see that it was not without cause I gave him Caution in the first Chapter to suspect them for into what a maze of Errors doth he run who takes the Accounts given by those men of the Lives and Deaths of their Adversaries upon their Authority who give themselves such a Liberty to devise Fables and then report them This over politick and wise sort of men reach yet a note higher and knowing of how great Consequence the Revolt of any eminent Divine is are as liberal in their Reports that such and 〈◊〉 Persons are become Catholicks as they call them in which they have as little respect to truth as in the former Instances But they find by their experience that news make their impression upon their first reporting and that then if it be good it greatly raises up the Spirit and confirms the Mind especially of the Vulgar who easily believe all that their betters tell them that afterwards when such Stories happen to be controll'd mens spirits being cold are not so sensible as before and either little regard it or impute it to common error or uncertainty of things yea and that the good news comes to many mens ears who never hear of the Check it hath and at least it may serve their turn for some present Exploit as Merchants do by their news who finding some difficulty in accommodating their Affairs have in use to forge Letters or otherwise to raise bruits either of some prosperous success in Princes actions or of some great alteration in some kind of merchandise which may serve for that present instant to expedite their business Whether the Missionaries take this piece of Policy from them or are onely imitated by them is not material but that being secure of an evasion if their report be found untrue that they were mis-informed and knowing well that hundreds who hear the account they give are never undeceiv'd by wanting opportunities to discover its falsity they are no modester in this particular than in the other Slanders is most certain Thus in the year 1597. they spread a report throughout Germany Holland and Italy that Beza had renounced his Religion before the Senate and had exhorted the Magistrates to reconcile themselves to the Church of Rome and that by his example many Citizens of Geneva had done the like whereupon he was absolv'd by the Bishop of that City before his death by special Order from the Pope This we are assur'd by several French Priests was generally believed till Beza wrote several French and Latin Letters to convince the world of the Forgery and that he was yet alive and he died not till six years after Of the very same nature was the report of the Conversion of the Reverend Peter Du Moulin which even while he was Minister of the Protestant Church in Paris and writing against Rome was publickly preach'd in the City in many Pulpits and Benefices assigned to him they asserted in their Sermons that he was preparing to go to Rome which was so generally believ'd that the people flocked to a certain Church and there waited expecting to hear him make his Recantation Upon which he observes that such tricks are apt to astonish the people for a season and an untruth that was belieâ—â—d for three days hath done some effect And I am able to prove that a Minister now in England travelling in company with others of our Nation of the Protestant Religion and making a small journey alone to a neighbour City to that they then resided in the Priests came to several of his fellow Travellers assuring them that the said Minister was become a Romanist that he was publickly reconcil'd and therefore surely they would not refuse to relinquish that Religion which he whose Profession obliged him to defend it and who understood it best durst not continue in This report was affirmed with so much confidence that upon the Ministers return several persons of the Roman Catholick Religion congratulated him for his happy Change and one of the English was ready to follow his example if he had not in time discovered the cheat And it is no longer since than the Winter 1685. that a report went current through all the Countreys in England where there are many Romanists that Dr. Burnet was at Rome become a Papist and 〈◊〉 great Preferments were bestow'd upon him this hath been 〈◊〉 to me by several for a certain truth when I made 〈◊〉 enquiry those Gentlemen affirming that they had it from very good hands and had seen some Letters from foreign parts which confirm'd it But more immodest was the pretence of the Dean of Norwich's Conversion about two years since which several Priests affirm'd to a Servant Maid whom they knew to be a great admirer of that Divine urging â—er to follow the example of such a Learned Man who was so deservedly esteem'd by her which they reiterated with so much confidence and frequency that the Maid promised to turn likewise but being convinc't by an eminent Person who carried her to hear the Reverend Dean preach that she was abus'd by a notorious untruth she was confirm'd in her aversion to that Church which is upheld by such unworthy means And I cannot but observe the Providâ—â—ce of God in this matter that the Sermon which the Maid was carried to hear was levell'd against the Popish Errors whereby she was not onely inform'd of the abuse but instructed too But their greatest traffick is in the pretended Conversion of dying persons thus they would make a Romanist of dying Beza six years before his death and this blot they have endeavoured to cast upon the Memory of that excellent Prelate Bishop King Mr. Musket the Jesuite publishing a Book of his Conversion to Rome upon his death-bed intituled the Bishop of Londons Legacy This relation we are assured did mightily shock the peoples minds but it is wholly false his Son Dr. Henry King since Bishop of Chichester Preaching a Sermon for his Fathers Vindication at St. Pauls Cross Nov. 25. 1621. where he assures the world that the Bishop before his death received the Eucharist at the hands of his Chaplain Dr. Cluet together with his Wife his Children his Family Sir Henry Martin his Chancellor Mr. Philip King his
Protestant that the Church of which he is a Member holds them there needs no great industry to prevail with such a man to leave it This course the Popish Bishop of Ferns in Ireland took to perswaâ—e Father Andrew Sall who had left the Jesuits among whom he had continued many years and about sixteen years since became a Member of our Church to return to the Romish Communion insomuch that Father Walsh confesses that he had strangely misrepresented the Church of England in his Book against that Convert But I think never did any of their Writers equal Father Porter Reader of Divinity in the College of St Isidore at Rome who this very year in a Book printed there and dedicated to the Earl of Castlemain and Licensed by the Companion of the Master of the Sacred Palace and others as a Book very usefull for the instruction of the faithfull tells us that the God of the Protestants doth not differ from the Devil nor his Heaven from Hell and that the whole Frame of our Religion is founded in this horrid Blasphemy THAT CHRIST IS A FALSE PROPHET which he attempts to prove by another Misrepresentation as great as this for saith he the English Confession of Faith asserts that General Councils GUIDED BY THE HOLY GHOST AND THE WORD OF GOD may Err for which he cites the 19. and 20. Articles of our Church the latter of which onely asserts that the Church ought to be guided in her decisions by the Word of God and tho' the former doth affirm that the Church of Rome hath erred yet it saith nothing of General Councils the 21 Article indeed affirms that they may Err and the Reason it gives is because they are an ASSEMBLY OF MEN WHO ARE NOT ALL GUIDED BY THE SPIRIT AND WORD OF GOD so that all this Fryers Exclamation of the horridness of such a Doctrine as he charg'd upon us serves onely to shew his own immodesty and to let the world see with what strange Confidence some men can advance Assertions and alledge Authorities which any one that can read will discover to be forg'd This I confess seems to be a new Charge of his own inventing but that which he brings in another place that we are not oblig'd by our Religion to pray was long since framed by the Priests at the beginning of the Reformation who perswaded the people that in England the Protestants had neither Churches nor form of Religion nor serv'd God any way and they had so possess'd them with that opinion that several persons were reckon'd Lutherans onely because they were horrid Blasphemers That the Decalogue is not obligatory to Christians and that God doth not regard our Works is one of the monstrous Opinions which Campion had the confidence to 〈◊〉 both our Vniversities was maintained by the Church of England and like a Child who to cover one untruth backs it with another he quotes the Apology of the Church of England as his voucher wherein these words are found which are so clear that they alone are enough to make those blush who by Translating and Publishing this Treatise of Campions the last year have made his Forgeries their own the words of the Apology are these although we acknowledge we expect nothing from our own Works but from Christ onely yet this is no encouragement to a loose life nor for any to think it sufficient to believe and that nothing else is to be expected from them for True Faith is a living and working Faith therefore we teach the people that God hath called us to good Works And that the Reader may see what Credit is to be given to the Romanists in this point I shall give an account of the Doctrine of the several Reformed Churches about the necessity of good Works and then shew with what confidence these Gentlemen affirm that the Protestants teach that good Works are not necessary The four Imperial Cities in their Confession of Faith presented to the Emperour in the year 1530. having explained the Doctrine of Justification by Faith onely have these words But we would not have this understood as if we allowed Salvation to a lazy Faith for we are certain that no man can be saved who doth not love God above all things and with all his might endeavour to be like him or who is wanting in any good Work And therefore enjoyn their Ministers to preach up frequent Prayer and Fasting as holy Works and becoming Christians in which the Augustan Coâ—fession agrees with them that good Works necessarily follow a true Faith for even at that time the Calumny that they denyed the necessity of them was very common as appears by their solemn disclaiming any such Opinion in the twentieth Article affirming that he cannot have true Faith who doth not exercise Repentance The same is taught by the Helvetian Churches in their Confession compos'd at Basil Ann. 1532. that true Faith shews it self by good Works and in another fram'd at the same place Ann. 1536. we find this Assertion that Faith is productive of all good Works The Bohemian Churches affirm that he who doth not exercise Repentance shall certainly Perish and that good Works are absolutely necessary to Salvation is the Doctrine of the Saxon Reformers in their Confession of Faith offer'd to the Council of Trent Ann. 1551. and in that presented to the same Council by the Duke of Wirtemberg the following year there is this Profession we acknowledge the Decalogue to contain injunctions for all good works and that we are bound to obey all the moral Precepts of it We teach that good works are necessary to be done And in particular it commends Fasting and in the twenty second Article of the French Confession it is affirmed that the Doctrine of Faith is so far from being an hindrance to a holy Life that it excites us to it so that it is necessarily attended with good works The Church of England agrees with the rest of the Reformed Artic. 12. that good works are acceptable to God and do necessarily spring out of a True and lively Faith. And the Confession of Faith subscribed by all the Churches of Helvetia Ann. 1566. and afterwards by the Reformed of Poland Scotland Hungary and Geneva gives this account of the Faith of those Churches Faith causes us to discharge our duty toward God and our Neighbour makes us patient in Adversity and produces all good works in us so we teach good works to be the Off-spring of a lively Faith. And although we affirm with the Apostle that we are justified by Faith in Christ and not by our good works yet we do not reject them But condemn all who despise good works and teach that they are not necessary And in the thirteenth and fourteenth Articles of the Scotch Confession they maintain the necessity of all good