No doubtless not where your Church expresly contradicts God and his holy Apostle The Spirit of God by S. Paul commands Men to pray with understanding and forbids any to use an unknown Tongue in Christian Assemblies enjoyning the Priest so to make his Prayers and Praises that the most unlearned may joyn in them be edified by them and say Amen to them 1 Cor. xiv 14 15 16 17. and 26. and your Church bids men pray without understanding and prescribes an unknown Tongue for the Priest to Pray and Praise God in wherein the People cannot joyn and whereby they are not edified yea to which they cannot with understanding say Amen In such a case to obey the Church is to disobey God and a great Impiety Po. You must know Latin was the Language of the ancient Christians at Rome and we have not altered our Prayers but only kept them in that Tongue in which they were made at first by the Apostles who planted our Church Prot. Now you have yielded the Cause for if the Apostles who were Jews did not set up the Hebrew Prayers at Rome but Latin because that was the Language which the People then understood if you were of their Spirit or followed their steps you ought now to turn them into other Languages because the People do not understand Latin and because it is necessary they should pray with understanding Is this your Apostolical Church which acts contrary to the Writings and Example of the Apostles or could the Apostles leave you any Tradition to contradict their own Commands and Practice Po. May not the People think of God and good things and so be very devout at these Prayers though they do not understand the words Prot. They may think of God and good things at home and so need not come to the Publick Service at all if this be sufficient We think Publick Prayers were designed for the People to come and unite their particular and hearty desires to the Petitions made by the Priest and this praying with one accord Acts i. 14. makes them more prevalent than private Prayer S. Math. xviii 20. But your People are thinking of one thing when the Priest is saying another and cannot desire the particular things asked by the Priest because they do not know them So that this turns the publick Prayers into private and the Priest might as well pray without a Congregation Po. It is to God we speak in Prayer and since he understands us it is no marter whether the People understand them or no. Prot. By this Argument you need not Pray at all because God knows your necessities before you ask Yet he bids us ask that by the words of our Prayers we may stir up our Desires exercise our Devotion and excite our Faith not that we may instruct him Wherefore your People are robbed of all that comfort and benefit which ours find so sensibly in our English Prayers meerly because your Church scorns to reform any thing and you can never expect that those who by Experience have found the sweetness and advantage of our pious and plain Liturgy will endure your dry unprofitable Latin Prayers Po. Well but some of your People think Sermons the main thing in Publick Worship and we hope to gain them however because we Preach in English Prot. Possibly some of these may be catcht by this Bait but all wise Protestants will ask you why there is not as much reason for the People to know what they are to speak to God as what the Priest is to speak to them and will also desire to know why you should read the Psalms and Lessons and other parts of Scripture in Latin which God writ for our Learning and Instruction 1 Cor. x. 11. and so make it as impossible the People should learn any thing from it or be instructed by it as for Boys in Horn-Books to be made any wiser by reading a Latin Author to them Po. I have told you before This is lest the People should wrest the Scriptures if they were in a Language they understood Prot. Why then do you preach in English May they not wrest your Sermons as well as Holy Scripture Is there more danger now than in the Apostles times Or is your Church wiser than they Did not they write it in a Language generally understood And was it not soon after turned into Latin because the Romans best understood that Language Did they not deliver it to all and command all to read it and search it to meditate on it and teach it to their Children Though some are Gluttons and Drunkards we must not deny all Men the use of Meat and Drink nor would you thus keep the Scriptures from the People but only for fear that such plain Men as I should discover your Corruptions Po. Methinks you should discover your own Corruptions there For what is more plainly expressed in Scripture than these words concerning the Sacrament of the Altar This is my Body Luke xxii 19. and yet you will not own the real Flesh of Christ to be there Is not this to deny Christ's words and disbelieve the Scripture Prot. We may as well charge you with denying Christs words and disbelieving Scripture since you affirm his real Blood to be there though he tells us This Cup is the new Testament in my Blood Luk. xxii 20. 1 Cor. xi 25. You must confess there is a Figure in this Expression or else you must affirm the Wine is Transubstantiated into the New Testament and if there be a Figure in one Verse why may there not be one also in the other in regard this substantial Change which you pretend is either in both parts or in neither Po. However we have much the advantage of you because we take the Literal sense which is both the more common and the more easie sense whilst you are forced to fly to Tropes and Figures Prot. You must consider this Sacrament is a Mystery and in discoursing of Mysteries it is more common in Scripture to speak Figuratively than Literally yea what is more usual there than to call the Sign by the name of the thing signified and the thing signified by the name of the Sign So the Rock is said to be Christ 1 Cor. x. 4. and Christ is said to be Bread John vi 48. yet none are so absurd to say the Rock is substantially changed into Christ or Christ into Bread And when the Church is called The Body of Christ Colos i. 24. your selves do not affirm that there is any change made of the Church into Christs Flesh and Blood though there be more said of this than of the Sacramental Bread viz That we are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones Ephes v. 30. So when Christ is called a Vine a Door a Way a Branch c. it is very certain the Expressions are Figurative and there are a thousand places in the Holy Bible which cannot be otherwise understood
THE PLAUSIBLE ARGUMENTS OF A Romish Priest ANSWERED BY AN English Protestant Seasonable and Useful for all Protestant Families Licensed May 24. 1686. LONDON Printed for R. Clavell at the Sign of the Peacock in S. Pauls Church-yard 1686. TO THE READER IN the following Dialogue though not All yet the most Material Points wherein the Roman Church differs from the Church of England are briefly and plainly discoursed So that while by their little Tracts and short Catechisms daily Printed and sent abroad the Romish Emissaries do labour to Seduce the Weaker sort of Protestants They may be provided with short and satisfactory Answers to their most usual Fallacies Their Assaults are generally in the Dark and because it is impossible always to stand by those particular Persons whom they labour to Draw-in it is thought fit to publish this little Manual to enable those that are Attacked readily to defend themselves To which end the Holy Scripture is here recommended as the best Touch-Stone to justifie our Doctrines and discover their Corruptions And the more their Guilt makes them fly from it the more our Sincerity should make us cleave to it For this is in every Protestants Hand and there are so many and so plain Places of it which condemn the Opinions and Practices of the Roman Church that it requires no great Skill nor Art to discern how different they are from Gods Word And all the Learning and Artisice of their greatest Doctors will not be able to hide it from a plain and honest Enquirer that will take but the Pains to read this Divine Vnalterable Vniversally received and Infallible Book of God I know they pretend especially to the Vnlearned That all Antiquity is clearly for them but it is best for those who are not Read in Ancient Authors to leave that Province to the Clergy of the Church of England who have hitherto always worsted them at that Weapon also And since we can prove both by Scripture and Antiquity That all their Additional Articles of Faith are False and Erroneous and yet they do acknowledge all those Articles of Faith which we hold as necessary to Salvation to be True Doubtless Ours must be the safer Religion in which both Sides do agree Again The plain Words of Holy Scripture prove Our Religion but all those Points wherein they differ from us cannot be proved but by pretended Traditions some of which are expresly contrary to Gods Written Word The Scripture was not made by us but by the GOD of Truth and it is owned not by us alone but by them and all Christians to be the Word and Will of God and this is clearly on Our Side But those Traditions which they fly to for their Evidence are of their own Making and in their own Keeping No other Christians do allow them and We have nothing but their own Word in their own Cause to prove them to be Genuine Which being the Case I hope none will ever be perswaded to leave a certain plain and evident Religion of Gods own prescribing for an uncertain obscure and Ill-proved Religion which is no more but a meer Human Invention as the ensuing Pages will more fully declare THE CONTENTS THe Religion of the Church of England Taught by Christ and his Apostles Page 1 Concerning the Scriptures in an Vnknown Tongue p. 2 Concerning the Pretended Roman Catholick Church p. 3 Concerning St. Peter's Superiority and Jurisdiction over the rest of the Apostles p. 4 Concerning the Popes Supremacy p. 6 Concerning the Popes Infallibility p. 7 Concerning Implicit Faith or Believing as the Church Believes p. 8 Concerning Oral Tradition or the Faith delivered down by Word of Mouth from Age to Age p. 9 The Church of Rome full of gross Errors p. 13 Concerning Image-Worship p. 14 Concerning Invocation of Saints and Angels p. 17 Concerning the Worship of the Blessed Virgin p. 22 Concerning the Adoration of Relicks p. 23 Concerning Divine Service in an Unknown Tongue p. 24 Concerning Transubstantiation p. 27 Concerning Half-Communion or denying the Cup to the Laity p. 35 Concerning the Doctrine of Concomitancy or the Blood always accompanying the Body p. 36 Concerning Auricular Confession or that which is privately whispered into the Ear of the Priest p. 37 Concerning Priestly Absolution p 38 Concerning Satisfaction or Penances p. 39 Concerning Indulgences p. 42 Concerning Purgatory p. 44 Concerning the Sanctity of Religious Orders p. 50 Cencerning Exorcisms or Casting-out Evil Spirits p. 52 The Conclusion p. 53 A DIALOGUE BETWEEN A Popish Priest AND A PROTESTANT OF THE Church of England Popish Priest WHat Religion are you of Protestant Of the same that Christ and his Apostles taught which is professed by the Church of England whereof I am a Member Po. How do you know that the Religion you profess is the same that was taught by Christ and his Apostles Prot. By the Scriptures wich they left behind them Po. How can you tell whether they writ and left that Book behind them or no Prot. The Book is worthy of such Authors and all Christians though they differ in other things agree in this nor dare you deny it Po. We do not deny it only we say you ought to confess you received this Book from the Roman Church and must learn the meaning of it from her Prot. This Book hath been preserved in all Christian Churches but we received it from those good Protestants who translated it into English whereas your Priests as I am informed kept it in Latin and withheld it from such plain Men as my self while they had power here Po. Though they did â—o it was only for fear you should wrest the Scripture to your own destruction 2 Pet. iii. 16. Prot. That danger is only in some places hard to be understood and which I may safely be ignorant of But in all things necessary to Salvation it is so plain as to give understanding to the Simple Psal cxix 130. Wherefore I rather think they concealed it all from us to keep us from seeing their Errors because the more I read it the less I like your Religion Po. Is it not a strange presumption in you that are but a Lay-man to read that which you cannot rightly understand Prot. It is no presumption to obey the Command of Christ who bids us Search the Scriptures John v. 39. and declaring the not knowing them to be the cause of Error Math. xxii 29. And the Beraeans are commended for examining the Apostles Doctrine by Scripture Acts xvii 11. Now surely if we have Commands and Examples of Reading the Scripture it must be supposed we can in some measure understand it Po. Well you read that Christ will be with his Church to the end of the World Math. xxviii 20. and therefore you ought to believe the Catholic Church can only give you the true sense of Scripture Prot. I do believe this and am a Member of this Catholic Church being rightly baptized into it and holding the
Law and Equity of the Gospel or the Goodness of our Lord as a Legislator Delivered first from the Pulpit in two plain Sermons and now Repeated from the Press with others tending to the same end to which is added The Grand Inquiry to be made in these Inquisitive Times together with the Resolution of Paul and Silas as also an Improvement of that Inquiry containing in its Parts a Resolution unto it self and a Scriptural Prognostick of Jesus Christ's Second Advent to Judge the World Lastly A Preservative against Ambition By Thomas Pierce D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty and Dean of Sarum The Excellency of Monarchical Government especially of the English Monarchy Wherein is Treated The several Benefits of Kingly Government and the Inconvenience of Common Wealths Also of the several Badges of Soveraignty in General and Particularly according to the Constitution of the Laws of England likewise of the Duty of Subjects and the Mischiefs of Faction Sedition and Rebellion In all which the Principles and Practices of our late Common-Wealths-Men are considered By Nathaniel Johnson Doctor in Physick An Historical Vindication of the Divine Right of Tithes from Scripture Reason and the Opinion and Practice of Jews Gentiles and Christians in all Ages designed to Supply the Omissions Answer the Objections and Rectifie the Mistakes of Mr. Selden's History of Tithes Part I. A further Vindication of the Divine Right of Tithes Proved by Scripture and Antiquity and Illustrated by the Solemn Consecration and great Conveniency of them with an Answer to the Objections of other Authors against them Part II. To which is added A Discourse of Excommunication By Thomas Comber D. D. Precentor of York A Church Catechism with a brief and easie Explanation thereof for the help of the meanest Capacities and weakest Memories in order to the Establishing them in the Religion of the Church of England A Treatise of Spousals and Matrimonial Contracts wherein all the Questions relating to that Subject are ingenuously debated and resolved By the late Famous and Learned Mr. Henry Swinborn Author of the Treatise of Wills and Testaments Sir William Dugdales Summons to all Parliaments since the 49th Year of King Henry the Third The Dean of Durham's Counsel and Directions Divine and Moral in Letters of Advice to a Young Gentleman soon after his Admission into a Colledge in Oxford Archbishop Stern's Logick The Popes Bull concerning the Damnation Excommunication c. of Queen Elizabeth with Observations and Animadversions thereon By Thomas Lord Bishop of Lincoln There is also Printed with it the Popes Bull for the Damnation and Excommunication of King Henry the Eighth ☞ The Plausible Arguments of a Romish Priest Answered by an English Protestant Written by an Eminent Hand Seasonable and Useful for all Protestant Families Price Stich'd Six pence Newly Published FINIS * The Religion of the Church of England taught by Christ and his Apostles The Scriptures in an unknown Tongue The pretended Roman Catholick Church St. Peter's Superiority and Jurisdiction over the rest of the Apostles The Popes Supremacy The Popes Infallibility Implicit Faith or Believing as the Church believes * Oral Tradition or the Faith delivered down by Word of Mouth from Age. to Age. The Church of Rome full gross Errors Image-Worship Invocation of Saints and Angels The Worship of the Blessed Virgin The Adoration of Relicks Divine Service in an unkown Tongue Transubstantiation Half-Communion or denying the Cup to the Laity The Doctrine of Concomitancy or the Blood always accompanying the Body Auricular Confession or that which is privately whispered into the Ear of the Priest Priestly Absolution Satisfaction or Peâ—nances Indulgences Purgatory 〈…〉 of Religious 〈◊〉 Exorcisms or Casting out Evil Spirits The Conclusion