their Priest tells them as Men do Wives for better for worse and must marry their Faith to their Churches infallibility which allows that only to be Gospel which their Church says shall be not what the Apostles write is so for the Papists must obey the Pope though no where commanded in the Gospel but must not read the Gospel though they are commanded there to do it Nay when once the Papist can but touch the small Needle of any ones reason with the great Loadstone of the Harmonious Doctrine of a necessary Obedience to their infallible Church then they make such follow it to every point of the Compass be it good bad or indifferent and so they fail all their life in a Trade-wind of ignorance and superstition and must believe their Priests words before their own senses in the plainest objects of them as in the Miracle of Transubstantiation where you must have eyes and see not and hands and feel not but must believe in a moment real Bread and Wine to be turned into perfect Flesh and Blood though you cannot see the least change whatsoever yet they are bound to believe their Priest before their eyes smell tast nor dare their Priest say that the Consecrated Bread which they esteem the real Body of Christ will be less mouldy or more uncertain of corruption after Consecration than before and the jest of it is that at the same time the Papists believe that Miracle they also believe this Scripture That God will not suffer his Holy One to see corruption And tho for these and many other reasons I cannot believe this Transubstantiation-Miracle yet I cannot but admire this Miracle that belongs to Transubstantiation which is how the Pope can bring so many that have sense and reason to believe it But I shall pass by their adoring this Sacrament their praying to Saints and a multitude of their superstitious observances never used in the Primative Church shall only desire you Madam to observe in general that the Papists follow the Gospel just as they read Hebrew that 's backward for God plainly commands that all should search the Scripture And our Blessed Saviour ordered the Sacrament to be administred in both kinds 1 Cor. 11. 28. And St. Paul forbids publick Prayers in an unknown Language but that which is most for Edification 1 Cor. 14. 15 16. But these plain positive commands do not hinder the Church of Rome from declaring that unlearned men shall not read and search the Scriptures but if we believe St. Paul before the Pope we may read in the 17th of the Acts 11. how he commended the noble Bereans for searching the Scriptures and therefore if searching the Scriptures had not been not only lawful but a commendable act certainly St. Paul would never have commended them for so doing So that the Popish Clergy forbids the reading the Scriptures under pretence that their Laity might not truly understand them Next the Church of Rome allows only their Clergy except free Princes for they are excepters of Persons though God is not to receive the Communion but in one kind tho our Saviour commands that all drink of the Cup and the Papists cannot deny but that the Communion was taken in both kinds in all Christian Churches for above a Thousand Years after Christ And lastly for the poor vulgar sort they shall only hear their publick Prayers in an unknown Tongue viz. Latine which a Tenth part of them do not understand and therefore how that can be most for Edification let the Papists tell if they can I am sure we cannot nor do we believe they can without the help of another Transubstantiation-Miracle and making an unknown Language to most to be chang'd at the same time into a common known Language to all And now Madam I shall humbly desire you to consider in general that tho the Papists do out-noise us as shallow Rivers do still the deepest with the high and mighty Rodomontades of their Churches Infallibility yet such high Rants without true proof are but like School-boys paper-Kites which soar high and lofty but have nothing else worth taking notice of They will have the confidence to tell you that their Popish Church â—…s the Roman Catholick and only true Christian Church â—…n the whole World But the Protestants Answer to this their boasting is that all the Christian Churches in the whole World besides the Popish Churches tho more in number than they declare quite contrary They will ask you where your Protestant Church was before Luther which was wittily answered by one where the Papist Church never was in the Bible The Papists do divert themselves very much at our stiling our King Head of the Church as we do for their doing so for we esteem our King Head only in his own Dominions without the Popes title of infallible and sure 't is more rational that those of a Kingdom should allow their King to be Head of the Church in his own Kingdoms than that a few Cardinals should make the Head of the Church over all Kingdoms And for all their jeasting I am sure we can shew in sober earnest Scripture-presidents for Kings being Heads of Churches in their own Dominions which is more than the Papists can shew for their Pope or his Churches infallibility For sure they cannot object against it as new Doctrine though Doctrine that 's new is their greatest Trade that the Kings of Judah and the first Christian Emperors were Heads of the Jewish Churches and in their own Dominions And Solomon tells us That a Divine Sentence is in the lips of the King and his mouth transgresseth not in Judgment which I am sure Popes have not witness Liberius and Solomon gives the reason because the Heart of the King is in the Hand of the Lord. If the Papists will pretend so much Scripture for their Pope I shall only answer 'T is more than ever Protestants read or the Apostles writ The Papists will tell you with a great deal of confidence though we say the Bible is the Religion of Protestants yet there is no Protestant Religion or Church mentioned in the whole Creed which are the Articles of the Christian Faith And they will tell you that their Church is the Catholick Church and to believe the Catholick Church was an Article of the Christian Faith from the very infancy of the Church in the beginning of the Apostles time Now let the Papists tell us if they bring this as an Argument against the Protestant Religion in the Bible or not if not what cause have they to name it or what need have we to answer it but iâ—… it be one we make this reply That the Roman Church iâ—… no more named in the Apostles Creed than the Protestanâ—… Church is for the Apostles Creed was made before thâ—… Roman Church was a Church and this I am sure they cannot deny so that since the Catholick Church waâ—… then in being and the Roman Church not in being
the discourse it self I know in writing a Play to have Rank'd the plot in the Front of it and to make the whole design of the Prologue to be the Key to uncipher the plot of the Play though anciently in use had been now not only out of fashion but beside reason For the design of Plays aiming chiefly to please the senses they ought to be compounded and mixt with hopes and fears certainties and uncertainties expectations and delays of the event of the plot which being all so interwoven together creates the agreeableness of the Play for when once the whole plot is discovered the pleasure of the Play is ended like Hare-Hunting the sport lies not in presently taking the Hare but in following him in all his Rings and Doubles And those that love Plays and such Huntings resemble jealous men who eagerly pursue what they apprehend to overtake or as old Age which we all pray to attain but fear to approach But now I come to soar my discourse to a much higher pitch and a more Elevated Subject and to treat of the most noble part of man the Soul and of true Religion the only way to Heavenly felicity For without Holiness no man shall see the Lord. We must therefore now Madam change the Scene of sense for a spiritual one and climb where earthly nature can never follow us to the pure and high Region of Heaven which will inform us that the earlier discovering our plot of attaining Heaven will but better the play and the more speed the better success For the joys of Heaven are everlasting and admit of no increase or diminution not like the divertisements of Stage-plays or Hunting or any earthly delights which cannot last but for a season and decay in our very injoying them and must soon leave us or we them But Heavenly thoughts the more and longer we practice them the better we shall like them Heavenly joys so far exceeding all we can here leave as they are all we can ever aspire to have This we all know but few of us practice and we all love God but few love to keep his Commandments I shall therefore now Madam tell you as the Prologue to my insuing discourse that the grand Plot and whole design of it moves chiefly on these two hinges First in confirming you that the foundation of the Protestant Religion is built on God's holy Word the Scriptures which we Protestants esteem to be a perfect Rule of Faith and guide to our actions and true Touch-stone to try all matters by that relate to the good of our Souls as certainly containing in it all â—…hings necessary to our salvation The second thing I â—…hiefly design to prove is that neither the Pope or the Popish Church are infallible and these two shall make â—…p the principle stories in the little Model of this small â—…uilding The pretended infallibility of the Church of Rome is the grand perswasive Argument and lure to inâ—…ite men to it and the strongest commanding Garrison 〈…〉 all the Popes power and all other Arguments and â—…erswasions are but like the small open Villages about â—…his Garrison which must be servants to them that are â—…asters of it and if a Papist can be but once convinc'd â—…hat neither the Pope nor the Popish Church are inâ—…llible they will soon be brought to reason and our reâ—…aining differences will not be very considerable I â—…hall therefore only lightly discourse on them and shall â—…o further trouble you Madam than briefly to answer â—…hem in my own defence as I meet them or as they â—…ollow me and shall only do as the Wolf does when â—…ursued snap and bite in his own defence against all â—…pposers without altering his pace or changing his â—…oad I shall neither meddle with the Papists but as 〈…〉 meet them in the way or towards making of my way â—…o my two designed points which are as I said before â—…o prove the Scripture to be a perfect Rule of Faith and â—…uide to our actions and to answer as I go the Papists â—…ain Arguments and Objections against it Next that 't is against all Scripture and Reason that eiâ—…her the Pope or the Popish Church should be infallible which is the main design of this discourse and if I can by God's assistance make but the Papists believe reason when â—…gainst their own Church I doubt not but by this little Pigmie-discourse as very dwarfish as 't is not only to â—…inder many tottering Protestants from turning Papists â—…ut to bring some stubborn Papists to turn Protestants or â—…t least not to have such an infallible good opinion of their Church and so damnable a bad one of ours And now Madam 't is requisite that this my discourse â—…hould be ended as soon as your Patience and therefore â—…ll that I shall add either to the excusing my self or justifying Mr. Chillingworth is that thus far of this discourse being my own writing I confess deserves only my Apology and scarce your perusal but the following discourse being extracted out of Mr. Chillingworth deserves your reading but needs not any Apology And because I find the word Protestant is so badly and over-largely interpreted I shall first acquaint you that wâ—… are not to understand by the word Protestant the Doctrinâ—… of Luther or Calvin or Geneva or only the Articles oâ—… the Church of England but that wherein they all agreâ—… with perfect Harmony That the Bible is a perfect Rulâ—… of our Faith and guide to our Actions and this afteâ—… having made the most diligent and impartial search of thâ—… true way to Eternal happiness I fully believe and thaâ—… we can never find any convincing satisfaction but on thiâ—… Rock of God's word the Bible which I conceive to bâ—… the only true Religion of Protestants If the Pope were indeed what he unjustly says he is and the Papists unreasonably believe him to be an infallible guide then there needed no Bible but if the Bible be then there needs no Pope For if I were to go a Journey anâ—… had a guide that could not err what need I be taught thâ—… way and having such a guide what need I apply mâ—… self to another So that in a word let us inform ouâ—…selves the best we can and consider as much as we please 〈…〉 the more consideration we take the more confirmation we shall find that there is no other foundation foâ—… a considering Christian to build an assured dependency onâ—… than the Scriptures For I am fully assur'd that God doeâ—… not and therefore man ought not to require of anâ—… more than this to believe the Scripture to be the word 〈…〉 God to use our best indeavours to find the true sensâ—… of it and to live to our utmost according to it This I am sure in reason we ought to believe a wiser choice than if I should guide my self by the Romaâ—… Churches Authority and Infallibility when really they have nothing of certainty but their uncertainty
rule of Faith may be written If the Papists cannot see this plain Conclusion they had best desire more light to be added to the Sun. The Papists pretend their Church to be the infallible teacher of all Divine Truths and an infallible Interpreter of all obscurities in the Faith But the Papists will I hope give us leave to admire how they can pretend to Teach them in all places without writing them down that is certainly beyond the reach of their power to do as well as our belief that 't is to be done And for the Papists saying there must be a living authority beside the Scripture or else controversies cannot be ended Protestants answer Necessary controversies are and may be decided and if they be not 't is not the defect of the rule in Scripture but the default of men so that if necessary controversies be ended 't is no matter if the unnecessary be not for doubtless if God had required it he would also have provided some means to effect it but sure it does not stand with any reason it should be the Pope because he cannot be a Judge being a party indeed in civil controversies a Judge without being a party may end them but in controversies of Religion a Judge of necessity must be a concerned party and I am sure the Pope to us iâ— the chief and most concerned party being really concerned as much as his Popedom is worth Now we Protestants make the Papists this plain answer that the means of agreeing differences must necessarily be either by the appointment of God or men men sure it cannot be for then rational wise Protestants may do as well as Papists for let the Papists shew us if they can where God hath appointed that the Pope alone or any confirm'd by the Pope or that Society of Christians which adhere to him shall be the infallible Judge of Controversies we desire the Papists if they can to let us see any of those assertions plainly set down in Scripture as in all reason a thing of this nature ought to be or at least delivered with a full consent of Fathers nay let them so much as shew us where 't is in plain terms taught by any one Father in Four hundred years after our blessed Saviour Christ and if the Papists cannot do this as we believe they cannot where I pray is their either Scripture or Reason that the Pope or his Councils should obtrude themselves as Judges over us Protestants Next we would desire to know from the Papists whether they do certainly know or not the sense of those Scriptures by which they are led to the knowledge of their Church for if they do not how come they to know their Church is infallible but if they do then sure they ought to give us leave to have the same means and ability to know other plain places in Scripture which they have to know theirs for if all Scriptures be obscure how come they to know the sense of those places but if some place of it be plain why pray may not Protestants understand them as well as Papists The Papists say That the Scriptures are in themselves true and infallible yet without the direction of the Church we have no certain means to know which Translations be faithful and Canonical or what is the true meaning of Scriptures and this is the common Argument and general Belief of all Papists To which the Protestants answer That yet all these things must first be known before we can know the directions of their Church to be infallible for the Papists cannot pretend any other proof of it but only some Texts of Canonical Scripture truly interpreted therefore either they must be mistaken in thinking there is no other means to know these things but their Churches infallible direction or else we must be excluded from all means of knowing her directions to be infallible for the proof must be surer than the thing to be proved or 't is no proof And upon better consideration I am confident the Papists dare not deny but that 't is most certain Faith hath been given by other means than the Church for sure they will not say that Adam received Faith by the Church nor Abraham nor Job who received Faith by Revelation and also the Holy Apostles who received Faith by the Miracles and Preaching of our Blessed Saviour So that you see and they cannot deny but their general Doctrine is contradictory And to make it yet plainer I desire to know of the Papists if they should meet with a man that believed neither Scripture Church nor God but declares he is both ready and willing to believe them all if the Papist can shew him sufficient grounds to build his Faith upon will the Papist tell such a man there are no certain grounds how he may be converted to their Church or there are if the Papists say there are none they make Religion an uncertain thing but if they say there are then they must necessarily either argue woman-like that their Church is infallible because it is infallible or else shew there are other certain grounds besides saying the Church is infallible to prove its Infallibility The Papists demand of the Protestants If they believe the Apostles wrote all the Scriptures for if they did not how come we to call and believe them Apostolical and not the Writings of those that writ them To which we answer Though all the Scriptures were not written by the Apostles themselves yet they were all confirm'd by them and tho a Clerk writes a Statute and the King Lords and Commons confirm it in Parliament I believe they would esteem it very improper to call it the Statute of such a Clerk tho writ by him but an Act of Parliament because it was confirm'd by all their censents and becomes their Act not the Clerks The Papists desire us to tell them in what Language the Scriptures remained incorrupted and we desire them to satisfie us whether it be necessary to know it or not necessary if it be not I hope we may do well without it but if it be necessary we desire first that they will please to tell us what became of their Church for One thousand five hundred Years together all which time they must confess they had no certainty of Scripture till the time that Pope Clement the 8th set forth their approved Edition of the vulgar Translation and none sure can have the confidence to deny but that there was great variety of Copies currant in divers parts of their Church and read so which Copies might be false in some things but more than one sort of them could not possibly be true in all things And Pope Sixtus Quintus his Bible differ'd from Pope Clement his Bible in a multitude of places which makes us desire to be satisfied of the Papists whether before Pope Sixtus Quintus his time their Church had any defined Canon of Scriptures or not for if they had not
general censure one another not as they are really faulty but as they appear and are esteemed handsom and therefore ugly Women have the priviledge of Popes who cannot err but may do what they will and take what liberty they please and handsom Women will be as far from censuring their actions as Young Men from praising their persons So that really in effect we find most Womens censures are not proportionable to the ill others act but rather suitable to the Beauty they possess which by their leave is a way of judging that 's both iriational and uncharitable since I am sure none can deny but there are some unhandsom Women unchast and some chast Women handsom For Vertue and Beauty are not so declar'd enemies but they sometimes meet though I cannot deny but that Vertue which in former Ages was esteemed one of the greatest adornments of the soul is now so Eclipsed by the outward Beauty of the Body as Vertue and Piety the true inward Beauty cannot shine out A good Soul being nothing now in comparison of a good face Beauty being now the Great Empress that commands the whole World and makes the Supremest of men become subjects to Her. And yet this so ador'd Beauty which all Women are so ambitious of and all Men so court has at best no intrinsick value in it but just like riches they enjoy most that are contented with least since 't is not much but enough that 's the true measure of satisfaction But Madam 't is now more than time to beg your pardon for I find I am stray'd both beyond the time and beside the road of my design'd Discourse which is not to present you a Character or List of the fine Ladies and Mode-vices of the times they will require a much wittier Pen than I pretend to be Master of and a larger Volume than I design to trouble you with but this Character which indeed merits Volumes of Praises I am sure I can give you without needing wit or abusing of time and if I could here cast up the sum total of all the vices that your Sex are eitheir guilty of or scandaliz'd with which I 'le assure you are more than a few their number might be tedious to read but need not be disagreeable for you to hear since by naming all those faults they are infected with I should but tell all those you are free from But Madam my design is now to remove my Battery and change my Scene of Writing as you have your place of Living and to level my Discourse not at the vices and pleasures of London nor the pastimes of the Court but at your Country-Neighbours the Woods and Mountains of Macroome which renders it a place much fitter to exercise your past-time than satisfie your delight were you of the humour of most Ladies but all know you are not only an excellent Woman but an extraordinary wife I mean in Goodness for 't is rare now to meet a wife that 's not extraordinary for you take as much satisfaction in the cares of well managing and improving your Estate as most other Ladies delight in the lavishing theirs so that I can truly say you have not only brought your Lord a large sum of money for your Portion but a continued increase of Rent by your Industry And I am sure Madam if you were now askt as the Philosopher was Where was his home you would answer now as he did then My home is still where my chief business is So that now your chief Concerns and Family which is still the good Wives Treasure being at Macroome I must conclude your heart is there also A place where in lieu of London crowds of good Company and swarms of divertisements you must prepare to meet with and do Penance to your self among the Flocks of Priests and Fryars against whose Popish insinuations and infectious perswasions I here present you a small but necessary Collection of Arguments to carry about you as a Preservatitive in your own Religion and an Antitode against theirs and though I cannot pretend this pocket-Pistol is a sufficient Battering-piece to beat down their infallible Church yet I doubt not but it will at least be a sufficient Life-guard to defend you and your Chamber against their assaults They are most of them argumentative reasonings I pickt out of Mr. Chillingworth as one that reasons best and satisfies me most of any I ever read and knowing you want a Collection of choice Flowers I heartily wish that these I have gathered out of his Garden and here sorted and made up to present you in a Nosegay may serve you against the unpleasing savour of Popish Doctrine And I wish they may not altogether degenerate from common nature of Flowers which the Naturalist tells us grow larger and better by being transplanted so that I hope you will not find them the worse nor like them the less for being transplanted but receive these Arguments just as you do your Rents without caring whether your Tenants have the Money out of their own bags or borrow it so you have it to supply your occasions Truly Madam I have taken some pains and spent much time in reading the Discourses of Papists against our Religion and though I have consider'd their Arguments without the least Byas or antedated prejudice yet I can give no better a character of them than I do of ill Dealers The more I have to do with them the worse I like them They savour much of Self-interest teaching Church-Government before Gospel-Obedience witness their holding Marriage a greater crime in a Priest than Fornication The one is but forbid by their Churches Law which they all know is disputable the latter by the Law of Christ which they cannot but know ought to be past all dispute And truly Madam if you please to admit your reason to make but a short progress into the Popish Religion you shall find much to create your wonder but little to satisfie your reason or belief for the Gospel of Christ is the Gospel of Truth and therefore ought still to be pictur'd naked as Truth without any Art of Roman Dresses which are only obscure shadings of the true light of Scripture by making dark Paraphrases on the plainest Gospel-Commands which in all reason ought to be plain enough for the meanest capacity For God forbid it should be otherwise for the meanest Christian must be saved or damned for keeping or not keeping them and sure God's Justice will never send persons to Hell for not doing what they could not understand was his Will they should do that were such a cruelty as if a man should torment his Servant for not doing his Errant when he knew he did not understand his Message yet the Papist must not take these plain Gospel-Commands as such but as they are distill'd in the mysterious politick Lymbeck of the Popish interest Indeed Mystery and Obedience is so interwoven in that Religion that Papists must take what
Invocating Saints and Angels in denying the Lay-men the Communion in both kinds as was commanded by our blessed Saviour in celebrating their Church-Service in an unknown Tongue which was condemned by St. Paul in adoring the Sacrament and in all these a rational Papist cannot deny but he is on the more dangerous side as to the committing of sin and the Protestant in the more secure way as to the avoiding it For in all these things if Protestants say true the Papists do that which is impious but on the other side if the Papists were in the right yet the Protestants might be secure enough too for their fault would be only this that they should only not do some things which the Papists themselves confess is not altogether necessary to be done And truly the Protestants are so Charitably civil as only to say of Papists as St. Austin did of the Donatists That Catholicks approved the Doctrine of the Donatists but abhorred their Heresie of Rebaptization So Protestants approve the Fundamental and necessary Truths which the Papists retain by which many good Souls among them may be saved but abhor the many superstitions they use in their Religion And supposing these Errors of the Popish Church were in themselves not damnable to them that believe as they profess yet for us Protestants to profess what we do not believe and esteem those as Divine Truths which we believe not to be either Divine or true would be doubtless damnable as to us for 't is certain Two men may do the same thing and it may be sinful to one and not to the other as suppose a married Woman gives herself out to be a Widow and one knowing her Husband to be alive marries her doubtless his injoyment of her was adulterous but a second man comes and after seeing her pretended Husband buried marries her and dies without the least information of her first Husbands being then alive his ignorance sure protected him from sin and the second Husbands knowledg of the sin he acted condemned him of Adultery tho his fault might be palliated with some excuses yet it can never be defended by any just Apoligy And so tho we read in Scripture that it was St. Paul's Judgment that meat offered to Idols might lawfully be eaten yet he says if any should eat it with a doubtful Conscience he should sin and be condemned for so doing And supposing we Protestants ought not to have forsook the Papists Church for sin and errours if she had not injoyn'd and imposed them on us yet since she does maintain them with such obstinacy and imposes them with such tyranny we ought certainly to say with St. Peter and St. John 'T is better to forsake men than God and leave the Popish Church-Communion rather than commit or profess known errors as Divine Truths for as the Prophet Ezekiel tells us that to say The Lord hath said so when the Lord hath not said so is a high presumption and great sin be the matter never so small and therefore when St. Paul spoke concerning Virgins abstaining from marriage he said He had no commandment of the Lord but I declare my own judgment of it Now if St. Paul had given this as God's command surely we might have justly contradicted him and made a distinction between Divine Revelation and Humane Judgment So that for a Protestant to abide in the Communion of the Roman Church is so far from securing him from errour as that if I or any Protestant should continue in it I am confident I could not be saved by it and the reason is because the Papists will not admit of my Communion without professing the entire Popish Doctrine to be true and profess this I cannot but I must perpetually exulcerate my Conscience tho the errours of the Roman Church were not in themselves damnable yet for me to resist known Truths and to continue in the Profession of known errours and falshoods is certainly a capital sin and of great affinity with the sin which shall never be forgiven In short if the errours of the Roman Church did not warrant our departure yet the tyrannous imposition of them would be our sufficient justification for they force us either to forsake the Papists Communion or profess as Gospel-truths what our Conscience assures us is very little akin to them so that the Protestants were oblig'd to forsake those errours of the Popish Church and not the Church but the errours and we Protestants did and do still continue members of the Church having only left what appeared most plain to us to be superstitious and impious And we separate no more from the Popish Church thant she has separated from the Ancient Church and indeed to speak properly our difference is more against the Court than Church of Rome which has introduced so many new ceremonies and practises in the Popish Church as was never heard nor practised in the Primitive Times as for one instance of a Thousand I might give you Their denying the Cup to the Laity which was never practised in the Church a Thousand years after our Saviour But because the Papists brag so much of and depend so entirely on the Infallibility of their Church I shall pass by their Out-works and search a little into this their Grand Fort the Infallibility of their Church for except they prove that they prove nothing but in proving that they prove all and if the Papists could satisfie me either by Scripture or Reason that their Church is infallible I should not only be of their Church to morrow but repent I was not sooner but really by all that I ever heard or read for their making it good I find cause only to admire their confidence but not at all to esteem their reasons The cheif method they take and degrees they use to prove the Infallibility of their Church are by whole-sale these First that St. Peter was head and cheif amongst the Apostles and there was given to him and his Successors by our Saviour Universal Authority over his Militent Church That the Pope or Bishop of Rome is St. Peter's Successor and has his Authority of Vniversal Bishop and consequently the Roman Church being built upon this Rock is infallible all which I doubt not but to prove to be inconsistent with and contradictory both to Scripture and Reason As to the first point of St. Peter's being Head of the Apostles which the Papists all stile him and say he was called from thence Cephas which is derived from the Greek word Head it is a most gross mistake for Cephas is a Syriack word that signifies Stone but this is only by the by Now we Protestants say tho we allow St. Peter might have primacy of Order yet we cannot grant he had supremacy of power over the other Apostles for sure it cannot stand with the least reason that St. Peter should have authority over all the Apostles and yet never act the least authority over
is the only beginning of wisdom and not consume it in studying and maintaining of Disputes and Factions but if we must still differ let Protestants and Papists differ in Opinions but as Aristotle and Cicero did who tho they were of differing Judgments touching the natures of Souls yet both of them agreed in the main that all men had Souls and Souls of the same nature And as Physicians though they dispute whether the Brain or the Heart be the principal part of a man yet that all Men have Brains and Heart they sufficiently agree in So though Protestants esteem one part of the Church-Doctrine and Papists set a higher value on another part yet the Soul of the Church may be in both of them and though the Papists account that a necessary truth which the Protestants account neither necessary nor perhaps ture yet in truth truly necessary they both agree viz. The Apostles Creed and that Faith Hope and Charity are necessary to salvation And lastly though Papists hold they may be justified by their Works and Protestants hold none can be justified barely by them in regard of the Imperfections of their Works yet on the other side we so much agree with the Papists as to esteem none can be justified without them for without Repentance and Charity none can be good they being both like Health to our Bodies the want of which is sufficient to disturb all other pleasures Therefore when we read St. Pauls Treatise of Justification by Faith without the works of the Law let us at the same time read what he writes to the Corinthians concerning the absolute necessity of that Excellent Vertue of Charity and they will reconcile one another And I wish that we were all so reconciled in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace And thaâ—… you Madam may be the sooner reconcil'd to me for thiâ—… tediousness I shall now make a Conclusion which afteâ—… such an overgrown Letter must needs be the best Complement that can be made by Madam Yours c. FINIS Errata Page 9. line 27. for past-time read patience The Tryal of Philip Standsfield Son to Sir James Stansfield of New-Milns for the Murther of his Father And other Crimes Libell'd againg him Feb. 7. 1688. For which he had Judgment c. price 1 s. An Historical Relation of several Great and Learned Romanists who did Imbrace the Protestant Religion with their Reasons for their Change deliver'd in their own words 6 d. A Seasonable Collection of plain Text of Scripture for the Use of English Protestants price 2 d. ROME'S RARITIES OR THE Pope's Cabinet UNLOCK'D And Expos'd to View BEING A true and Faithful Account of the Blasphemy Treason Massacres Murders Lechery Whoredom Buggery Sodomy Debauchery Pious Frauds c. of the Romish Church from the Pope himself to the Priest or inferiour Clergy TO THE Triple-Crown'd Prelate OF ROME HOLY SIR I Do here with all imaginable Deference and Humility present you I will not be so unmannerly as to say with a Pig of your own Sow but with a Rich Cabinet and good reason too because your own for 't is unjust that you should be the Proprietor and another the Usufructuary A Cabinet wherein are display'd all the commendable Qualifications and inimitable Perfections of some of your Famous Predecessors that have had the Honour to sit in St. Peter's Chair and in some particulars a weak Character or Adumbration of your Holiness's Endowments which no Pen can fully delineate Nor can you any way complain of foul play herein since this Tract contains no Quotations but what are collected from the most Authentic and rigid Romanists that ever espoused the Catholic Cause and Persuasion The Candid Reader by a serious perusal of this Treatise will I presume not onely receive satisfaction thereby but also make a Discovery of those rare Vertues which embellish the minds of St. Peter's Successors more to their renown and Glory than the resplendent Diamonds and Rubies that shine in and adorn the Triple Diadem and therefore I hope that your Sanctity will leave the Author out when you presume to Curse all Hereticks as you miscall them once a Year in the Bulla Coenae or otherwise you shall hear of him agen in a more Sarcastic Style and Satyrick Humour this being only at present Joco-serious If any thing herein clinch too close and offend let those of your own Party beg your pardon whose Duty it is that afforded the Materials which compiled together and collected make up this Epitome of your Memorable Acts and Monumental Transactions But withall I must needs confess that no Bigoted Protestant who moves in the highest Sphere of Ecclesiastical Dignity dares presume or pretend to arrive to the height of those Excellencies herein mentioned which are only peculiar to the Roman Miter If the subordinate Clergy storm at the Contents of this Book let them thank themselves for exposing to the Public their Cheats and Chicaneries so apparently that an inconsiderable Lay-Protestant could not possibly avoid taking notice of he being only the Amanuensis of their own Authors and hath taken the pains to transscribe out of them such Memorials as he thought convenient to reduce to the Method observ'd in this small System or Collection I bequeath this Aurea Legenda to your Holiness first and then to the rest of the Inferiour Clergy it being a Brat of their own Brain a Babe of their own Procreation and so bid you all farewel who subscribe my self Philanax Misopapas THE Pope's Cabinet UNLOCK'D APapa Principium Why not this as good an Invocation now-a-days as à Jove Principium in times of Yore for my part I know no reason to the contrary since the former is styled God by some and Vice-God by most Romanists the latter known by all to be no God at all or at best a false one Therefore to begin with Holiness must needs be commendable nay with His Holiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that cannot prove successless Avaunt then fond Protestant and do not hit him so often in the teeth with the flurting Nick-name of the Man of Sin. No no he 's the Man of Sanctity there 's the Mistake nor with that frequent unmannerly Title of the Whore of Babylon for that is both incoherent with Sense and inconsistent with the Sex but be not too bold with that Argument whatever you do good Papist for fear some blunt Protestant round you in the Ear and that he is like enuf to do with the Story of Pope Joan and tell you to your face when you say you are abus'd herein that it is with a matter of truth and shew you good reason for it too iâ—… there be either Truth or reason in a great many of your own Popish Writers who allow the History to be authentick buâ—… of that more anon An ordinary Physician by the Indisposition of the Head can soon judge of the Temper of the Body and no doubt when the Reader understands how
of the Duke of Guise with Cossin the Gascoign and others rush'd in with Swords Targets and Coats of Male. Benvese presenting his Sword to the Admiral after he had first blasphem'd God ran him in the breast and then cowardly struck the aged Gentleman on the Head Attin Shot him with a Pistol and Benvese gave him the third Wound on the Thigh and so he fell down Dead upon the Spot The Duke of Guise that staid in the Court call'd to him and bid him throw him out at the window which he accordingly did Then he commanded the sign to be given by ringing the Tocksein or great Bell of the Palace which is never done but on extraordinary occasions the mark whereby the Murderers were distinguished was by a general consent to be a white linnen Cloth tied about their Arm and a white Cross on their Caps Then an Italian Souldier of Captain Lewis Gonzagua's Duke of Nivers cut off the Admiral 's Head and sent it to Rome preserv'd with Spices to the Pope and Cardinal of Lorrain others cut off his Hands and some void of all modesty his Privities Then the rude Rabble for three days together drew the dead Body thus mangled and weltering in Gore thorow the Streets and afterwards out of the Town to the common Gallows and there hang'd it up by the Feet In the interim the rest brake into the other Chambers of the House and slaught'red all they met with among others there were two young Pages of honour of noble Birth Count Rochfoucaut and young Theligius who was Guilty of no other crime but being the Admiral 's Son in Law. So they ran about from morning till night ransacking 400 Houses sparing neither Age nor Sex and threw the Bodies out of the windows so that the Streets were strewed with murd'red Carcasses and ran down with Blood. The next day the Butchery was renewed those disperate Villains stripping the dead Bodies of their Garments and throwing them into the River of Sein Nor was their Blood-thirstiness yet quenched for Messengers were sent Post to all Cities commanding them to imitate Paris and to kill all of the Religion Many Women with Child Ladies and Gentlewomen Advocates Physicians and other eminent Men of Learning and Piety among the rest Peter Ramus and several Students were assassinated without Plea Sentence or Condemnation I must not omit one passage that deserves a marginal Asterism in blood that is of Ma'sson de Rivers a Pastor and the first that laid the foundation of the Protestant Church at Paris Mansorel a mortal Enemy of the Religion as soon as the Slaughter was began in Paris was sent Post to Angiers to prevent the News of Massacre by others as soon as he arriv'd there he was conducted to Masson's House in the very Entry he meets with his Wife and there saluted her very ceremoniously a right Judas kiss for he came to betray her Master he demanded where her Husband was she replied in the Garden and being brought to him they mutually and lovingly as to outward appearance embraced each other Mansorel told him in plain terms like a bloody Butcher I am come hither by the King's command to kill you as you may perceive by these Letters producing his Dague ready charged Masson answer'd I have committed no Crime however I beg the favour of a little time to call upon God and recommend my self to his merciful hands Which short Oraison being soon concluded he with a meek Christian temper receiv'd his Death-Wound being Shot through the Body but to return to Paris We left the Admiral 's Body hang'd up the Parisians went thither in great Multitudes and the Queen Mother carried the King along with them and her other two Sons to glut their eyes with that barbarous Spectacle but the next night the Body was conveyed away and interr'd as 't is conjectur'd Their cruelty not being yet satiated they bring some to publique Tryal to efface the blot of dishonour that might justly reflect upon the King and there was a parcel of Judges call'd out for that very purpose who made an Order that a man of Hay since the Admiral 's Body could not be found should be made and be dragg'd by the Boureau through the Streets in Effigie which was accordingly done his Arms and Ensigns of Honour broken his Memory blasted his Castles and Farms razed to the ground his Issue declar'd Ignoble Infamous and Intestate and all the Trees in his Woods to be cut down to the height of six Foot. Thus in all Towns great Murthers were committed but none more horrid or devillish than the Massacre at Lions Mandolet being Governour As soon as he received the Letters he by a Trumpet and Cryer summoned those of the Religion to appear before him which they readily did Then he committed them to several Prisons and desir'd the common Executioner to call some to his assistance and to murther them in Prison but he refus'd it saying he executed the Law on none but such as were publickly condemned a goodly Governour indeed more cruel than the common Hangman Upon this denial he commanded the Garrison Souldiers of the Castle to take upon them that worthy action and they refus'd it likewise upon a punctilio of Honour that they did not use to fight with naked men but the Butchers and Water-men at last verifying the old Saying that they are pessimum genus hominum were the wretched Actors of his Bloody Design committing unheard of Cruelties and sporting with them in the midst of their misery Insomuch that the Blood which came out of the Goal call'd the Arch-bishop's Prison was seen in the day-time to the horrour of the standers by to flow reaking hot in the Channels of the Streets and so into the River of Seine Thus for the space of thirty days complete there was no intermission of Murther and Slaughter all over France so that there were about 100000 Persons slain The * Guignard in his Oration said It was a great mistake that they did not cut the Basilisk Vein Bridegroom and the Prince of Conde who were secur'd and turn'd Papists to escape their fury yet could not avoid it for the one was poison'd and the other stab'd by the Papists But now to the purpose His Holiness surely could not but detest and abhorr such barbarous Inhumanity yet since this was done upon the account of Religion and he is held to be the only competent Judge of it let us give ear to his Opinion which we find recorded in Thuanus a Papist and an Authentick Historiographer Hist l. 53. The Pope's Legate at Paris gave him an exact Relation of this Massacre which he received with great Joy and Satisfaction read the Letter openly in the Consistory of Cardinals and fell to consultation about the matter where it was concluded and decreed nemine contradicente that they should go to St. Mark 's Church and return solemn thanks to God for so great a blessing bestowed on the Roman
mouth and his own certain Knowledge and Experience A Gentleman of the Religion whose Wife was one of the Popish Frie sends for his own Pastor to discourse with him being upon his last bed of Sickness and ready to depart she likewise appoints a Jesuit to be there who appears accordingly and both meet at the Bed's-side both plead for their own different Religion and perswade the Man to come over to their Party but after two hours smart Disputation at the Bar before these Judges the Gentleman was very well satisfied with the Religion that he had hitherto embraced and his Consort also by the prevalence of the Protestants Arguments began to incline to his Judgement The Jesuit finding himself foil'd went away discontented but returns a few hours after when the storm was blown over and the Coast clear desiring a private Conference with the Gentlewoman which was granted and her Garden was the Scene appointed for the ensuing Tragedy where they took a turn or two together and the Jesuit very earnestly expostulated with her and used all the perswasive and inclining Arguments imaginable to keep her from that supposed and falsely termed Defection from the Truth viz. the change of Religion and in the close of all his Discourse did very much importune her to do him that signal Favour as to accept of a little Box like Pandor'as as it fell out which he then and there presented to her and to wear it constantly about her for his sake which she received as innocently as courteously little dreaming of the ensuing mischief that after befell her for she no sooner had followed his direction but she fell into so great and absolute a Detestation of her Husband that she could never endure the sight of him afterwards and within two days died in this miserable condition an Act fitter for the sharp Sword of revenging Justice than the Pen of an Historian They are a People disesteemed and ill thought of in most Places where-ever they get footing for their Impieties and and wicked Practices They have been banisht France Hungary Germany Venice nay the Grand Turk upon the relation of their Vileness by Queen Elizabeth's Ambassador exiled them out of Pera near Constantinople They are hated by the common People in Spain tho the Subjects of the most Catholick King as appears by this Libel Los mandamientes de los Teatinos Mas humanos son que Divinos The Precepts of the Jesuits Teatine Are much more Humane than Divine And after the enumeration of their Decalogue or ten Commandments as to grow Rich feed well c. it concludes thus Estos diez mandamièntes se encierrian en das Todo para mi y nada para vos These ten are compris'd in two All for me and nothing for you I did not promise you as I remember to give you an Essay of Jesuitical Piquancy but yet if you please take this as an Argument of their pregnant Wit related by the deceased Author of the Holy State who speaking of Queen Elizabeth stiles her deservedly the Paragon of spotless Chastity whatever some Popish Priests who count all Virginity hid under a Nun's Veile have feigned to the contrary He proceeds farther and says One Jesuit made this false Anagram on her Edmund Campian by name Elizabeth Jezabel false both in matter and manner for allow it the abatement of the H as all Anagrams must Sue in Chancery for moderate favour which proved tho no Letter a guttural aspiration to the Composer yet was it both unequal and ominous that T a solid Letter should be omitted the Presage of the Gallows whereon the Anagrammatist was afterwards justly executed When Flies grow once so blind as to play with the Candle they either sindge their wings or burn themselves and when ill-boading Ravens dare be so haughty and proud as to fly at the Eagle the King of Birds may they all have the same fate as the Brother of this Jesuitical breed before mentioned Now let us anatomize and diffect the Members of this Catholick and Universal Head of the Church and see how they stand affected whether they are fit for Physick or Amputation Of their Priests Friars Nuns and Laymen WE will still continue our Method and begin with the Blasphemies Oaths and Execrations of the inferiour Clergy the Monks and Friars those Cannibals of the Crucifix Italy abounds in Blasphemies more than any other Country and therein the Clergy are far better Proficients than the Laity or else He swears like an Abbot would not be Proverbial Nor do I think as it is that is to be matcht that was belch'd out by a Priest at Rome Al dispetto di quel Can che pendeva nella croce I forbear the English of it because 't is so horrid an Expression and what should move him to this think you Nothing as he confess'd but that his Strumpet had played him a slippery Trick as if there were no way to be even with his Whore but to revile his God. A ghostly Father Preaching at Tours in France said These Hugonots are so impudently wicked as to renounce the Pope and his Authority but I 'll be bold to tell you that if Christ and the Pope were both here upon Earth and the one should command me to do a Thing and the other forbid me I would sooner obey the Pope than Christ An Italian Preacher broacht this blasphemous Doctrine in the Pulpit before a great Auditory that the Virgin Mary would have crucified our Saviour rather than he should go without Crucifixion strengthning his blasphemous Discourse with this strange Allegation that it did proceed from the longing desire that his blessed Mother had to hasten the Salvation of Mankind There is another story related by the same Priest much of the same nature That the Apostles drew up Articles of Impeachment against Christ and presented them to his Mother complaining that he was not as good as his word in sending the Holy Ghost upon them and that there was a Dissention between the Father and the Holy Ghost who feared to descend from Heaven and come into the World lest he should have the same course Entertainment as our Saviour had from the murthering Jews Another Priest by relating the Agony that our Saviour endured at his painful and shameful Death on the Cross drew Rivulets of Tears from the Eyes of his compassionate Auditory but he dried up all their Sorrow with this point of Consolation Weep not my Beloved for perhaps it is not true But the Devil himself with all his Hellish Assistance could never invent such Blasphemies as are found in the Book of Conformities printed at Milain by Gotard Pontice Anno 1510. As that Christ changed Water into Wine but once St. Francis thrice Christ felt the Pain of his Wounds but a small time St. Francis two whole Years compleat As for Miracles Christ did nothing comparatively to St. Francis for he cured a 1000 Blind and as many Lame both Beasts and Men cast