Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	church_n	roman_a	rome_n	3,452	5	6.8287	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69763	The present state of the controversie between the Church of England and the Church of Rome, or, An account of the books written on both sides in a letter to a friend.	Clagett, William, 1646-1688.; Tenison, Thomas, 1636-1715.	1687 (1687)	Wing C4390; ESTC R2767	15,641	40

THE Present State OF THE CONTROVERSIE BETWEEN THE Church of ENGLAND AND THE Church of ROME OR An Account of the Books written on both sides In a LETTER to a Friend Imprimatur Guil. Needham May 7. 1686. LONDON Printed for Tho. Basset James Adamson and Tho. Newborough 1687. THE Present State OF THE CONTROVERSIE BETWEEN THE Church of ENGLAND AND THE Church of ROME c. In a LETTER to a Friend SIR IN pursuance of my promise made to you to send you such an account as you desire of what has been lately published here with reference to the Points in Controversie between us and the Church of Rome I now give you the trouble of this Address It was you know the design of the Clergy of this City some years since to reduce the matters in debate with the Dissenting Party to a certain number of Cases and in the plainest and most inoffensive manner that they could to shew them how little cause they had to separate from our Communion upon any of those pretences which were said to be the cause of Separation I need not tell you what their Performances were for you have read their Tracts and are therefore able to judg from your own knowledg concerning them As to the Success which they have had we that live here have not only observed that our Churches have been more charged since but do also know that several for whose sake those Discourses were principally intended have declared themselves abundantly satisfied both with the strength and temper that appear'd in them When this first undertaking was finished their next resolution was to run through the principal Points of difference between the Papists and us after the same manner that those who had not the liesure or opportunity to consult longer Books might here in short be led to a true knowledg of the Controversie and stand the firmer in the truth by being better acquainted with the grounds of it It was also hoped that many who had hitherto been detained in their Errors for want not so much of a Will to embrace the Truth as of Light to discern it by might possibly take this opportunity of seeing with their own eyes and discover that way of Error in which their ignorance or their prejudices had so long detained them But before they had finished this their second undertaking the sudden and unexpected Death of our late Royal Sovereign broke their measures and from thenceforth they thought fit to be of the Defensive side and for some time published no more Discourses of this kind but waited to see whether the Gentlemen of the Roman Communion would make any Attaques upon us or be contented that the Controversie shoud rest as it was But because you desire an Account of all that has been done of this nature I will let you know how far they advanced in their design and give you a Catalogue of their Tracts tho not just in the order as they came out yet in that order which seems to have been design'd and is most natural for you to peruse them And in the first place as a preparatory to all the rest there is a little Tract intituled I. A Perswasive to an ingenuous Trial of Opinions in Religion c. and which they who know the unreasonable prejudices of those of the Roman Communion as to any free enquiry cannot doubt to have been exceeding necessary To which I must add II. The difference of the Case between the separation of Protestants from the Church of Rome and the separation of Dissenters from the Church of England For both these Tracts as you may easily discern were design'd to remove such Mistakes and Prejudices as are common to Papists and to Dissenters and were therefore thought to be a proper transition from the first undertaking to the second Then follow those Treatises that relate to the Questions about the Church and for which our Adversaries of late seem the most concern'd III. A Discourse of the Unity of the Catholick Church maintain'd in the Church of England IV. A Discourse about the Charge of Novelty upon the Reformed Church of England made by the Papists asking of us the Question Where was our Religion before Luther V. The Protestant Resolution of Faith being an Answer to three Questions 1. How far we must depend on the Authority of the Church for the true sense of Scripture 2. Whether a Visible Succession from Christ to this day makes a Church which has this Visible Succession an infallible Interpreter of Scripture 3. Whether the Church of England can make out such a Visible Succession VI VII Two Discourses concerning the necessity of Reformation with respect to the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome Another sort of general Questions necessary to have been premised to the particular Disputes do refer to the principle on which we are to proceed in the management of them And to this purpose there were published the two following Tracts VIII A Discourse about Tradition shewing what is meant by it and what Tradition is to be received and what Tradition is to be rejected IX A Discourse concerning a Guide in matters of Faith with respect especially to the Romish pretence of such a one as is infallible Thus far they proceeded upon general Points and no farther tho more were design'd to be debated as one may see by the dividing and managing of the Arguments which they finished and as I my self have been told by some that were best able to inform me But as these general Discourses were coming abroad into the World the particular Disputes were prepared and those that follow were published X. A Discourse concerning the Object of Religious Worship or a Scripture Proof of the unlawfulness of giving any Religious Worship to any other Being besides the Supreme God. XI A Discourse concerning the Devotions of the Church of Rome especially as compared with those of the Church of England in which it is shewn that whatsoever the Romanists pretend there is not so true Devotion among them nor such rational provision for it nor encouragement to it as in the Church established by Law amongst us XII A Discourse concerning the Invocation of Saints XIII Of Prayer in an unknown Tongue XIV Of Auricular Confession as it is prescribed by the Council of Trent XV. A Discourse against Transubstantiation XVI Of the Adoration of the Host These are the Tracts that were published in pursuance of that Design I mention'd before since which time our Divines have kept themselves as I told you upon the Defensive Part their whole Work having been little else than to answer such printed Books or Papers scatter'd about in writing as the Romanists have from time to time sent abroad I need not tell you that at length we were surprised with a Book published by some Romanist which has made no little noise all over the Kingdom and has been the occasion of many more But that which surprised us was this

that there was not the least notice taken in it of those Discourses now mentioned and not long before published in behalf of the Church of England against the Church of Rome The discreet Persons of that Communion acknowledged they were above Contempt and it was the general perswasion of our Communion that they would not admit of any just and reasonable Answer and for this very reason some appearance of an Answer was generally expected to save if it might be the reputation of the Roman Cause or at least of the Ability of our Adversaries to maintain it unless they should think fit to let the Controversie lye still which if they had done I believe our Divines had thought themselves obliged by the example not to publish new Books upon it but to content themselves with that diligence in their Parochial Stations that might be sufficient to countermine any secret endeavours to draw People from the Communion of this Church But it seems our Adversaries thought fit to begin a Dispute and that without taking the least notice of what had been so lately done on our side Which tho we wondred at at first yet we have given over wondering at it now that we are something used to their way of Controversie For some of them as the Representer knows can without blushing for the matter drop the Defence of Arguments and the maintaining of Disputes begun by themselves and yet they write on still as if the Cause went for them and they had not made one false step in the management of it But I must now give you a particular account how these Gentlemen began and in what manner they carried on that Assault of which it is possible they may have had some cause to repent them since The first that led the way was one that calls himself R. L. with a Book full of Cunning and Dissimulation intituled A Papist Misrepresented and Represented In which he runs through most of the Points in Controversie between us in a two-fold Character in one of which he pretends to shew that which Papists are commonly misunderstood to be in the other that which as he says they really are The real design of this Method you must know is this Popery in its proper colours is so unlike Catholick Christianity that it is in vain ever to hope to promote it if it appear in its own shape It is necessary therefore that the Religion like the Prophet should come to us in Sheeps cloathing and the Heresie to be made look as Orthodox as is possible Some things are denied others mollified all disguised and a double benefit thereby obtaind Popery is to be received as a very innocent harmless thing and the Protestants especially the Ministers and first Reformers represented to the World as a sort of People that have supported themselves by Calumnies and Lies and made a noise about Errors and Corruptions which are no where to be found but in their own Brains or Books but which the Church of Rome detests no less than We. But this Trick was quickly discovered and the design laid open by an excellent hand in a Treatise which he called I. The Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome truly represented in answer to a Book intituled A Papist Misrepresented and Represented c. In which the Author passes through every Point of his Characters and truly states the Question between us and gives a short yet sufficient account of our Reasons against their Tenets I shall not need enlarge my self to give you any account of this Controversie which has been lately summed up to satisfie the World that this Author has taken as little care to defend his Characters as he shew'd Sincerity in the first drawing of them The Books themselves that have passed on both sides are these Reflections upon the Answer to the Papist Misrepresented c. II. A Papist not Misrepresented by Protestants being a Reply to the Reflections c. Papists protesting against Protestant Popery in Answer to a Discourse intituled A Papist not Misrepresented by Protestants III. An Answer to a Discourse intituled Papists protesting against Protestant Popery containing a particular Examination of Monsieur de Meaux late Bishop of Condom's Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in the Articles of the Invocation of Saints and Worship of Images An Amicable Accommodation of the difference between the Representer and the Answerer in return to his last reply IV. An Answer to the Amicable Accommodation of the Difference between the Representer and the Answerer A Reply to the Answer to the amicable Accommodation To which has lately been returned V. A View of the whole Controversie between the Representer and the Answerer with an Answer to the Representers last Reply This is in short the Sum of what has hitherto pass'd in this Dispute the Misrepresenter not having yet taken any notice of this new Antagonist who it's thought by some has summ'd up this Controversie so effectually as to put an end to it As for his second Part which he acted afterward under the Character of the Catholick Representer I shall have occasion to give you some farther account of it when I come to those Pieces of our own Divines that have either been the occasion of or the Answers to his Sheets and half Sheets The next that appeared upon the Stage was the famous Bishop of Condom the great Abettor if not Founder of this new Sect of Expositors of their Religion and the occasion of his appearance this Our Misrepresenter being answer'd the first time as has been said by the Learned Author of the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome truly represented The new Method of Expounding and Representing i. e. Dissembling the good Old Doctrine of the Church began to sink and the People who were principally design'd to be seduced by it generally discovered the Snare that had been laid for them It was now too late to recede into the old Popery again The Misrepresenter had not only forsaken but in good measure Anathematiz'd that and profess'd that they abhorr'd it no less than we and therefore to own it now was in effect to confess that we had reason to reform those Errors which themselves were once ashamed to abet So that what remained was to put a good face upon the matter and see if the Original Pattern the pompous Exposition of this Bishop with the long Relation of an Advertisement and the glorious Trains of Briefs and Approbations before and behind might not possibly support the undertaking and keep up the credit of their new Popery which must otherwise necessarily fall Such was the occasion or rather the necessity of publishing this Bishpps Book which you have seen under the Title of The Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church in matters of Controversie To which there have been two Answers made of one of which there has been no notice taken by the other Party 'T is called I. An Answer to