if they had it would have signified nothing to the Compendianist's purpose since there is no King-Deposing or King-Killing Principle to be found in any Protestant Confessions of Faith or Articles of Communion which are the only proper Evidences to convince a Protestant Church of any Principle or Doctrine that is laid to her Charge and so it would have amounted to no more than their particular mistaking or perverting the Principles of their Religion as grosly and as wilfully as they did the Laws of their Country But this is not the Case for they did not so much as pretend any Warrant from the Protestant Religion for what they did How then can He charge Protestant Principles with the Personal Crimes of these men Or what does his Home-Blow and all his other Instances prove except this only viz. That several Protestants have been Rogues very great Rogues Murderers Rebels Traytors c. Does He not know that they are all mortal men too and subject to many other Vices which he might very clearly have prov'd upon them if he he had pleas'd by undeniable Examples There 's not a Sin the Pope pardons of what Price soever but 't is too sadly true that Protestants have been guilty of it at some time or other if that will do him any service But now in the name of a little common sense Who or what does this Raver oppose in this strenuous Argument Did ever any of our Writers assert that all the Protestants in the World were good Men and pious Christians Or is there any sort of people among us besides Quakers i. e. mad men who hold a state of Absolute Perfection in this Life He has put himself into an extraordinary Heat and made strange violent Assaults and yet no Enemy appears near him What ayles the man he has sure been combating some Giant in imagination like Don Quixote when he hack'd down the Walls of his Chamber Well whoever he be though it were Malambruno himself I 'l warrant him he 's kill'd outright this La Mancha has so laid about him with Home-Blows Another great quarrel he has to the Bishop is that he does not answer four Books nam'd in the Compendium's margin writ it seems by the Catholicks of England since the Kings Restoration about the Deposing Power of the Church His Lordship says he is so far from answering these Authors that he never so much as cites them to this purpose a great fault indeed so that we must conclude them unanswerable Well argued o' my word I see he deals in nothing but Home-Blows Mr. Bayes and this Compendianist would have made a couple of rare Disputants if they had not been spoil'd by their Tutors and ill-grounded at first they have both an admirable natural talent at Reasoning all the difference between them is Bayes loved it in Rhime and this man 's altogether for it in Prose But without Raillery does he believe the Bishop of Lincoln oblig'd to take particular notice of every idle Pamphlet of theirs that keeps a Pudder about the Deposing Power of the Church with design to make the business intricate and dark and to think them as considerable as his Party always do their own Books No doubt he takes it monstrous ill too that the Bishop has not thought him worth his Answering and perhaps concludes himself unanswerable But I hope I shall hinder him from falling into that mistake and make him sensible what an Impar Congressus Achilli what a poor contemptible thing he is when he appears in the Lists against so great a Scholar as the Bishop of Lincoln For the Pamphlets he mentions they are more than answered in the Bishops Book though it does not particularly name them and when he or any other Factor for Popery gives a tolerable Answer to those clear Testimonies I told him of before and which he never so much as cites to this purpose by which the Bishop does so plainly prove the Doctrine of Deposing Kings upon the Church of Rome I here engage my word to him these Pamphlets shall be made ridiculous by name and their Authors shew'd to the people in the Fools Coat they deserve In the next place he tells us That the Venetians have openly in their very Writings denied this Deposing Power of the Church without Censure And That several Authors have been censur'd in France and elsewhere for writing for it In answer to which First we know very well that the Church of Rome does always accommodate her Allowing and Condemning of Books to the Circumstances of her present condition and as Princes are sometimes forc'd by the necessity of their Affairs to disavow the Actions of their Ministers though done by their most expresse Command so is this interested Church frequently reduc'd to connive at Books which she does by no means like and to Censure others which she does not only approve but under-hand directs A good instance of this we have in the case of Sanctarellus's Book one of those he mentions which though at first Printed by the Approbation and special License of Mutius Vittellescus then General of the Jesuits and by the Order of the Master of the Popes Palace yet when the Pope found it would not be endur'd in France but that both the Sorbonne had condemn'd it and the Parliament of Paris had order'd it to be burnt he thought fit after it had been out so long that the Copies were almost all bought up to forbid the Sale of it at Rome but without any manner of Censure either upon the Author or Doctrine which is generally their way of condemning these kind of Books when Civil Considerations at last oblige them to it viz. a bare prohibition of them after every body has read them that cares for them Such a Condemnation as this did Mariana meet with in Spain and of this gentle nature was Becanus's Correction at Rome not for the Doctrines he maintain'd but for Oveâ—lashing as Bishop Montague expresses it in his Preface to King James's Works i. e. for speaking the mind of their Church more plainly than was at that time convenient For Secondly we know well enough that those Principles of Deposing and Killing Kings and Extirpating Hereticks are thought too precious Truths and too high Points to be ordinarily expos'd to the Vulgar and press'd upon all Occasions that they are the Arcana Imperii of their Kingdom of Darknesse and kept like Warrants Dormant among the Cabala of their wicked Mysteries to justifie Rebellions Assassinates and Massacres when the Church has very great need of them and finds it her Interest to own these Doctrines of Devils at other times it may suit better with her Designs to preach up Loyalty and Obedience to Princes and universal Charity to Mankind Lastly we know that the Venetians and the French have been always Opposers of the Pope's Encroachments upon civil Sovereigns and that they do not submit to these sort of Doctrines which are so directly calculated for
For the Promise he makes us at last in imitation of the Pishop's That he himself will turn Protestant if the Bishop shews him but one single Paragraph in all his Book in relation to their dangerous Principles that he has not fully answer'd c. I will be so civil to him at parting to let him know he need not be in any pain about it for though the Condition of his Obligation be not in the least measure nor is ever likely to be perform'd yet I can assure him there 's no body intends to take any advantage of the Forfeiture Though he has been so far from answering every single Paragraph of the Bishop's Book that he has not in truth answer'd one single word of it to any purpose as I have already show'd him yet we will not be so unmercifully rigorous to require a Person of his Form of Parts to turn Protestant and force him to be a reasonable man and a good Christian against his Conscience no no let him stay where he is we are not at all fond of his Company and the Religion he has will best suit with his Wit His little Stroke of Common Place Arguments being now spent he is at last reduc'd to Story telling and the conclusion of his loose Ramble in this Paragraph against the Bishop is an incredible scandalous Tale about a Friend of his and Doctor Taylor by which he represents that late famous and worthy Divine not only as a Papist but a Knave and implicitely throws the same dirt upon the Bishop maliciously insinuating as if neither of them believ'd their own Books His words are these To conclude says He let me once more reminde his Lordship of his Promise and then tell him for I know he is a man of Parts what Dr. Taylor said to a Friend of mine concerning his Dissuâ—sive from Popery viz. That though 't were lik'd yet 't was but turning the Tables and he could write a Book twice as good This Story has the very complexion of a Popish Lye all the Lineaments and Features of 〈◊〉 Jesuitical Slander 't is a known Artifice of the Romish Agents when they cannot deal with their Adversaries Reasons to assault their Reputations by all kind of unjust Calumnies and impudent Forgeries and finding that the absurdness of their Tenets cannot be disguis'd to men who have the use of their Faculties their despaire to proselyte the Living sends them among the Charnel Houses to make Converts of the dead This is a trick they have perpetually put upon us ever since the Reformation all Protestants of any note who dye either in their Acquaintance or Neighbourhood are sure to be of their Faith after their Deaths though all their lives they abhorr'd it the Dead are as constantly reported theirs as if they had been Baptis'd in their Names according to the custome of the Primitive Corinthians or as is they were to be reckon'd natural Escheats to that Church which contrary to the Scripture prays for them and most commonly the dying too when they are no longer able to contradict their whispers are hook'd within the Toyls of their Vniversality no sooner does a man's Reason and his Sence begin to leave him but presently the Catholick Religion lays claim to him and indeed he is then most fit for that Communion and a proper Tool for Priests and Jesuites to work their ends by and Sanctify'd Rogues to make their Markets of Wheresoever the Carcase is there will these Roman Eagles be gathered together for their Prey Protestants cannot dye quietly in their Beds nor so much as rest in their Graves for the unwearied practises of the Popes Emissaries and the endless Persecution of their false Tongues who think it meritorious to Lie for the Propagation of their Faith and a piece of Godly Zeal to defame their Neighbours for the Honour of their Church But this is one of the small Games their ill successe has forc'd them to play at rather than stick out a despicable shift to keep up some little rest of Credit to their baffled Cause and would they observe any sort of Bounds in the Spoyl and Havock they make of mens good Names and their Invasions of the best and most lasting Property of Mankind in their Unchristian Violations of the Honour of the Dead Would these lawlesse Church Corsairs these desperate Picaroons for Popery robbe with modesty and be satisfy'd with making private men their Prize we should perhaps content our selves to despise their little Pyracies and laugh at their feeble Inroades But when they endeavour to sink our strongest Men of War and take our very Admirals in the Port when they will needs have our chief Leaders to be their Followers and our most famous Champions at the Wheels of their Triumphal Chariots when like the Tartar's Scotch Captive they will pretend to hold their Goalers Prisoners and erect their ridiculous Trophies upon the Tombes of their Conquerours When nothing will serve their turns but that Chillingworth himself must be believ'd to dye a Papist and Bishop King to be reconcil'd to their Church in Articulo mortis when Dr. Taylor must now after his Death be thought a Friend to Popery who in his life was both an Honour and a Defence to the Protestant Faith their impudence is intollerable and their Lyes grow mischievous 't is then necessary to expose the folly of their vain Pretences and warne the people of their large Dispensations I shall now appeale to the Judgement of any unprejudic'd man who has read Dr. Taylors Dissuasive from Popery and if he thinks there is the least probability that the Author of that excellent Book should say he could write one twice as good against Protestants or indeed any possibility that either He or any man else though never so willing should be able to do it I will hereafter believe that Jesuites can speak Truth and that Popish Controvertists may be sometimes in the right Dr. Taylors Relations and those who did particularly know him which I had not the happiness to do otherwise than by his Reputation and his Writings are able without doubt to say much more upon this Subject than I can pretend to and I question not but some of them will take care in convenient time to vindicate his Memory from soe foule a scandall as that of being a conceal'd Papist and of Writing what he did not think I shall therefore leave it to them whose proper concern it is not having at present the means to make any enquiry my selfe into the businesse In the mean time let us suppose this Story to be true which according to all appearance is next to impossible what is here pretended to have been said by Dr. Taylor was I perceive a thing said in private conversation and probably in great trust and confidence of the person to whom 't was spoke how to Print this to the World with Design to blast the Reputation of a Divine after his Death is such a piece of
A Praefatory DISCOURSE TO A late PAMPHLET Entituled A MEMENTO FOR English PROTESTANTS c. BEING An ANSWER to that Part of the Compendium which reflects upon the Bishop of Lincoln's Book The Second Edition with several Additions and Amendments TOGETHER With some Occasional Reflections on Mr. L'Estrange's Writings LONDON Printed by Tho Dawks for the Author 1681. THIS IS HUMBLY DEDICATED TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD THOMAS LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN THE PREFACE THE Papists have of late given us such fresh Occasions by their horrid and damnable Conspiracies against the Person of our King our Government and our Religion to renounce and detest the Communion of that Church which does not only allow men but teaches them to be Murderers and Traytors And we have yet so great Reason to apprehend the dismal Consequences of their Secret and Hellish Machinations that I am confident no Discourse which tends to heighten and improve the just Prejudices of English men against that impious and absurd Religion will be thought at this time unnecessary by any good Protestant I shall not therefore make any Apology for the Collecting and Printing this Epitome of the three great Massacres in Piedmont France and Ireland which is intended chiefly for the Instruction of ignorant and unlearned People for we fear not that Scholars and men of Sence should be made Papists except such whose Morals are so wretchedly debauch'd that they are ready at all times to sacrifice their Consciences to their Civil Interests and I hope there are not so many of these desperate Prostitutes as the Papists are apt to imagine and as the Manners of the Age we live in may I confess give us just cause to fear No 't is the ordinary Rank of men who have not had the Advantage of Learning and a generous Education to defend themselves against the studied Fallacies and specious pretences of the Romish Agents who commonly become the Prey of those Wolves in Sheeps cloathing To provide therefore for their Security that they may not fall into the snares that are laid for them ought to be our chiefest Care since as 't is more Charity to strengthen the hands of the weak than to add force to the strong so in this case 't is more prudent too in order to the support of the common cause of Protestant Religion the ignorant being by far the greater number Nor is this to be done a better way then by furnishing them with such plain Arguments as they are able to apprehend and manage themselves to the confusion of the common Enemy And these can be no other than such as are drawn from matters of Fact they being easiest to be understood and hardest to be answer'd For this Reason it was that this short Narrative of the bloody Butcheries and inhumane Murders heretofore committed upon the persons of Protestants by Italian French and Irish Papists in cold blood and by the Instigation of their Church was prepared for the Press at the desire of a worthy Gentleman whose Zeal for the Interest of his Country and the Protestant Religion deserves a publick mention would his Modesty permit it in order to the being by him bestow'd among his Country Neighbours who some of them perhaps have never heard of and others may have forgot the Story of these holy Popish Cruelties these religious Villanies the design being to let such sort of People see what a horrid thing Popery is when her Vernish is taken off what a deform d and frightful face this gaudy painted whore With whom the Kings of the earth have committed Fornication this Mother of Abominations made drunk with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus I say What a deform'd and frightful face she has when her Paint is laid by and she appears by true Lights in her proper Colours What monstrous and abominable Actions Papists are capable of when the Interest of that Idol of theirs their Church requires them By which as well as by their late Plots here in England 't is not hard for men of the meanest Capacities to perceive That their Religion cannot be the Religion of Christ while it justifies them in the grossest Immoralities and engages them in the most unchristian Practices That those detestable Doctrines of Deposing and Killing Kings and extirpating Hereticks which have been so often objected to the Church of Rome by Protestant Divines are not Speculative Notions and Propositions Problematical as some of the Popish Writers and particularly the Author of that lying Libel called The Compendium would make us believe But such settled Maxims of their barbarous Ecclesiastical Policy as too often have been and again will be put in practice whenever that proud uncharitable Church has a safe occasion to do it though at other times they must be disown'd with the usual Popish Impudence especially to such Protestants as have so little wit to take what they say on Trust or so little Reading not to be able to disprove them I hope no man will understand me here as if from the bare Actions of Papists and nothing else I argued to the Principles of Popery and conclude the one from the other this were bad Charity and worse Logick and one of their own constant Topicks in their Writings against Protestants 't were to say the worst that can be of it to fall directly into the ridiculous way of Reasoning used by the Compendianist when he pretends to answer the Bp. of Lincoln's Book that admirable and learned Discourse a Discourse of so great use at this time and which does with such undeniable Evidence convince the Religion of Papists to be guilty of all their traiterous and bloody Designs against Kings and Protestants that I cannot but take this occasion to correct that troublesome Impertinent who has made such a sencelesse Buzze and rais'd such a dust about it with design to puzzle and darken those Truths which the Bishop has there made so plain and clear especially since the Bishop himself has not thought him as indeed he is not worthy of his Notice and no body else that I know off has yet expos'd that part of his impudent Pamphlet which concerns this truly Venerable and Excellent Person First then what a foolish Flourish dos he make against the Bishop endeavouring to throw that wicked Principle of Deposing Kings upon Protestants with this grosse Fallacy of Arguing from mens Practices to the Principles of their Religion Is not his Lordships meaning says he in truth this that Protestant Principles when really believ'd are destructive to all Kings especially to Catholick ones since we see that the lawful Monarchs of England Scotland Swaedland Denmark the Vnited Provinces Transylvania Geneva c. have been actually depos'd by their Protestant Subjects This c. here I guesse to be a Lye of the lowest price in their Book of Rates for Sin t is so pitifull and inconsiderable a trick He puts it down as if there
were a vast and tiresome number of Countries behind which in kindness to his Reader he forbears to mention where Princes have been depos'd by Protestants when he knew in his Conscience he could scarce have nam'd one more if it had been to gain the Popedom if he could I doubt not but we should have had it at full length Well but in those Countries he has nam'd Princes it seems have been actually deposed by their Protestant Subjects And what then Does it therefore follow that the Protestant Religion teaches the Doctrine of Deposing Kings Or may it not indeed teach the quite contrary for all that Did this wretched Trifler never hear of men who have acted contrary to the Principles of their Religion where has he liv'd In a Convent without doubt among the most Seraphick Saints of his Church I mean those mad Fanatickes of the Sect of Abbot Joachim who according to their New Evangelium Aeternum have been in a state of Perfection ever since the year 1260. I wonder when his hand was in and while he was industriously stuffing out his thin Discourse with bigge and sounding words he did not bring all the Protestant Criminals and other ill men who have been any way Famous since the Reformation upon the stage and then charge the Protestant Religion with Felony and Murder and Treason and Adultery and Perjury and what not The Consequence had been altogether as good and the Triumph as just We do not reason at this loose and absurd Rate when we accuse the Church of Rome of Principles which justifie the Deposing and Murdering of Princes and the Massacre of Millions of innocent People whom with a ridiculous affectation she terms Hereticks But we first prove her as my Lord Bishop of Lincolae has unanswerably done to have such Principles and this not only from the Books of her most eminent Writers upon whose Testimony we always lay the least weight allow'd and commended by her self but from that Law which is the Rule of Justice in her Ecclesiastical Courts from the Authentick Bulls and Decretals of her Popes and lastly which is the greatest Evidence that is possible in the case from the Cannons of her general Councils Then we urge matters of Fact conformable to them to shew that they are not things of bare Speculation and dispute amâ—ng Casuists and Schoolmen but such necessary Rules for support of her Hierarchy as have been frequently put in practise to the great scandal of the Christinn Profession To come to particulars We should not lay to her Charge the Murders of Henry III. and Henry IV. of France because they were committed by Members of her Communion if besides the publick Applause of the one by the then Pope in a Set-speech to the Colledg of Cardinals we had not first convinc'd her of holding such Principles as justify both We should not accuse her of the several Conspiracies of Papists here in England against the Lives of Queen Elizabeth King James King Charles I. and his present Majesty if besides the proving upon her the before-mention'd Principles she had not actually and formally as far as it lay in her Power Excommunicated and Depos'd them all and absolv'd their Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance We should not accuse her of the Massacres of Paris and Piedmont because her Sons were there the Brethren in Iniquity the Sons of Violence that acted unprovok'd those dismall Slaughters if as an additional proof of her holding the before-mention'd Principles she had not commended the one giving thanks to God for it and commanded the other Lastly we should not place to her Account the late Rebellion of Ireland and all those murders which were the consequences of it because the Rebels were Papists it besides that the Pope's Nuncio was known to be the chief Guid and Romish Priests the chief Contrivers and Fomenters of that desperate and bloody Revolt it were not most notorious that she has alwayes ready an Armory of execrable Principles suited to such occasions to satisfy the Consciences and encourage the Madness of her Jewish Zealots This I am confident all impartial men will judge fair Dealing and just discourse and far different from the Method of the Compendianist the Reader may see we ground not our Charge of Popery upon the bare Actions of Papists but having found this degenerate Church teaching the most disloyal and inhumane Doctrines and then observing her followers in several famous Instances to be guilty of Facts which directly answer to them We think we have reason to conclude the one to be the cause of the other and that many Papists had not been so bad men if their very Religion had not debauch'd them May we not now justly turn the Compendianist's own words of foolish Triumph upon himself and his Party What Parity is there between us and our Adversaries either in our Actions or Books of this Nature Though the Actions of many Protestants have 〈◊〉 too had to be justifi'd yet did they never go to the Church for Sanctuary Though Protestants have been Deposers and Murderers of Princes there are Rogues of all Perswasions yet had they never any Encouragement from their Religion so to do nor did any of them ever so much as pretend it except such Bedlam Fanaticks as Fifth Monarchy men a Venner or a John of Leyden and these are properly speaking as far from being right Protestants as Papists are from being right Christians But can he shew us where the Protestant Religion allows the Deposing or murdering of Princes or gives the least intimation of such a Power in the Church Can he shew it us where only it ought to be look'd after viz. in the Confessions of our Faith or in the Articles of our Communion Or lastly can he shew it us in the Writings of any considerable Protestant Divines though their private Opinions unlicenc'd and unauthoriz'd by the Church of which they are Members cannot properly be a Charge against the Protestant Religion but because we will give him more than he can justly ask in this Controversie I say can he shew it us even here I know indeed he does affirm That the Prime Leaders as he stiles them of the Reformation Luther Calvin Zuinglius Beza have in express terms held That Princes might be deposed upon the account of Religion But he has not quoted one of their Books to direct us where this scandalous Tenet which he fixes upon them might be found but leaves us to hunt after it at large among the voluminous Writings of those Authors I do not therefore think my self oblig'd to take any more notice of this Slander of his than if he had never vented it What does he expect to be believ'd upon his bare word Upon the honour of a Popish Controvertist sic notus Vlixes Does he think we know-them no better than to trust them But we will not use all the Advantages that we have against so bad a Cause
first took notice of as the chief ground of all his extravagant Raving against the Bishops Book viz. The concluding the Principles of a Religion from the Practices of her Professors Which is the very Dregs of Folly the last Running of Impertinence 'T is true the Protestant Religion i. e. the care of preserving it was no doubt the great Motive of doing what was done in every one of these three Cases but that is not here to the purpose for 't is not the Reason for which but the Authority by which a Prince is depos'd and the kind of Principle i.e. whether Civil or Religious 't is justifi'd upon that must condemn or acquit a Church of the Guilt of it though this man endeavour all along to insinuate the contrary by such a fallacious way of representing the Position charg'd on the Church of Rome as makes that seem to be the chief Point in the Controversy between her and the Bishop of Lincoln which is in truth no part of it viz. the Motive or end of deposing Princes But 't is not the Businesse of this little Pamphleter to state things fairly and reason clearly but to amuse the Reader and puzzle the Question a close way of arguing will not suit either with his Cause or his Understanding a good proof of which he gives us at the very first in these words If on the other-side sayes he the Bishop means that there have been Popish Doctors of the Opinion That Princes might be Depos d upon the account of Religion what Advantage I would fain know can that be to his Lordship or his Treatise since not only all the Prime Leaders of the Reformation c. Is it to be imagin'd now that a man should get so far out of his way unless he purposely design'd to ramble or write things so grossly impertinent to the matter he was treating of unless he studyed to confound it and render it as little intelligible as was possible This is properly playing at Cross Purposes which he very foolishly and very unjustly accuses the Bishop off when men talk what is foreign to the Question and wander from the business out of designe Never did any man take more true pains to understand a Discourse difficult in it self than he has to misunderstand the Bishop's which was plain and easy or at least to make his Reader do soe for he cannot be soe dull himself in this point as he would seem 'T is not possible that he or any man who has read the Bishop's Book should think it was the Bishop's meaning only to charge the popish Doctors with holding indefinitely That Princes might be Depos'd upon the account of Religion when 't is so palpably evident in a hundred places of his Book that he only brings their Opinions as a collateral proof of his Charge of their Church and Religion and that with a quite different Tenet as I have already show'd And as 't is the Roman Church and not the Doctors only or chiefly which the Bishop charges with holding that Princes may be Depos'd by her Authority not with holding indefinitely that they may be Depos'd upon the account of Religion So 't is the present popish Canon-Law the Bulls and Decretals of Popes and the Canons of General Councils which are the Testimonies he relies upon for the making good of his Charge and not the private Opinions of Popish Doctors though being cited out of Books licens'd and approv'd by that Church they are of considerable weight in the Argument Now what sayes the Compendianist to these strong and most convincing Proofs Why in fine as Mr. Bayes sayes upon another occasion he wont tell us He has not one word not one Syllable of Answer to them but passes them over with as deep a silence and as good a grace as if they were like most of his own not at all to the purpose This discreet and necessary Resolution being taken he bends all his little Wit and with a great deal of Chearfulnesse goes about to invalidate what the Bishop urges from the Writings of the Popish Doctors which yet the poor impotent Scribler is by no means able to do as I have made appear in my Answer to his Charge of Luther and Calvin The Attempt however was just as wise and as likely to satisfy reasonable men as if a General who had a great and well disciplin'd Army to fight with should neglect the Main Body and with his whole strength set upon the Forlorn Hope Before I proceed any farther I cannot but take Notice of a very extraordinary Passage which I meet with pag. 77. li. 12. Where the Compendianist would make the World believe That we our selves confess That our Monarchy is weaken'd by our Religion That Popery must be call'd back to support it and that Papists are hated by many on this Account all which is in it selfe so notorious a Falsehood and in him who could not but know the contrary so base a Slander of the Protestant Faith in general and of the People of England in particular that I am confident no true Protestant can read it without Indignation nor any sensible man without Astonishment at the strange Impudence of this prostitute Writer His Words are these Can it be said That the Monarchy has gotten by the Reforformation when Protestants themselves acknowledge and what desperate Enemies that has created us may be easily imagin'd that nothing but Popery or at least its Principles can make it again emerge or lasting Was there ever such a complication of Malice and Folly as this Period affords us There is a veine of impertinent arguing contrary to the known Rules of Discourse and shamelesse affirming contrary to the knowne Truth of Fact which runs through the whole Masse of his crude and indigested Pamphlet But this is a Nompareillo to use Mr Bayse's Phrase of want of Modesty and want of Sence one of his bold Strokes 'T is usual with him to tell Tales for Arguments and lay down confident Assertions in stead of Proofs but let him now rake together all the Dirt he can meet with and practise himself in Compendiums i. e. in lamentable ill reason'd lying Discourses Let him make Extracts of the Lives of popish Saints and abridge the Legends of Monks let him take short Heads of Mr. Cressy's Mystical Divinity in his Sancta Sophia and write Epitomes of the Controversies of the Schoolmen he shall never again be able to crowd so much Nonsence Libel and Untruth into so few Words as long as he lives Can it be said sayes he That the Monarchy has gotten by the Reformation c Prodigious Impudence Can any thing else be said with the least colour of Reason or Truth He cannot but know too that this has alwayes been said by Protestant Writers and prov'd beyond all contradiction except that of absurd and illogical men from whom Saint Paul pray'd to be delivered However since he will needs make a New Question of it I shall
have already discours'd is more than enough to prove the present Point viz That the Monarchy of England has gotten by the Reformation and that no body but a man who either understands not or cares not what he sayes would affirm the contrary The Compendianist possibly may here object as he seemes to do pag. 77. lib 9. That popish Princes abroad are not sensible of these Inconveniences in their Religion nor do they perceive any such ill Consequences to arise from the Profession of it as the Bishop of Lincoln's Book and this Preface charges it with but altogether the contrary For Who sayes He find themselves so flourishing and great as they I suppose he speaks this of the French King for I know no other popish Prince that is at present either flourishing or great and if he means that Popery has been the cause of his Greatness I shall not dispute it with him but this I will affirme and maintaine against all the World That 't was neither his owne Popery nor that of his Subjects though every Body knows the French Popery is much gentler and more converseable sort of thing than the Spanish or Italian more plyant and submissive to the Civil Magistrate and more hospitable to Strangers and Dissenters and consequently lesse prejudicial to the growth of Power and the greatness of a State than the other The Priviledges of the Gallican Church and the Doctrines of the Sorbonne together with the manners of the people and the Exclusion of the Inquisition have a little qualified this pernicious Imposture and temper'd the Malignity of her Influence as the most destructive Plants do sometimes lose the Virulence of their poisons by a change of Soyle and Mercury it selfe by a mixture of Ingredients is rendred innocent Physick I grant therefore that Popery in some places and under some Circumstances of alloy may not absolutely hinder but it can never be the cause nor of it self in any degree contribute to the prosperity of either Prince or people for 't is plaine That the Principles it teaches and the Consequences it draws after it do evidently tend as I have already made appear to the lessening of the one and the impoverishing of the other indeed to the ruine of both and if Popery have not at all times and in all Places so bad an effect it must be attributed to some such causes as I have now mention'd which do in France serve to take out the sting of this monstrous beast this Spawn of the Old Serpent and prevent the Mischiefe which it is otherwise so apt to doe the Blast it would infallibly bring upon the ordinary fruites of good Government and the common ends of Civil Societies To conclude this point if any Prince or State happen by some favorable conjuncture and fortunate Accidents to be great with or rather notwithstanding Popery there is no doubt but they would be either of them much greater without it 'T is now left to the Reader to judge upon a due considerat ion of the Whole what an excellent Engine this Popery would prove to buoy up a sinking Monarchy and make it again emerge as the Compendianist calls it in his pedantical Latin phrase were ours in that desperate low condition to need it which I hope 't is far from or if it do at present decline I am sure no man in his right wits except this Author will say 't is for want of Popery What kind of men are those Protestants then who if we may take the Compendianist's own word for it would recommend to his Majesty in a case of extremity this dry antiquated Drugge this uselesse Lump of Formality and Foppery this discover'd Cheat this Insulter and Braver of Crown'd Heads this Usurper upon the Rights of Princes this Enemy to God's Annointed I say what kind of Creatures must these be They are certainly a Species by themselves and have not the same common Faculties and wayes of understanding with other Christian people if at least there be any such which I will not be overpositive in upon the Authority of this Writer for some of his stories are as unlikely to use his own words about the Plot as any Romance Extant But Protestants does he term them It is impossible Why will he abuse his Friends at this Rate and call them out of their Names I 'll warrant them they are as good Catholicks as himself Does he indeed thinke to put this upon us that Protestants are for the bringing in Popery He may as well hope to make us believe Transubstantiation it self 't is a Contradiction in Terms an errant Bull. However upon this occasion I cannot but reflect that I have sometimes met with a sort of ridiculous Animals commonly call'd Protestants indeed whose Heads are giddy and whose Brains turn round with the Notion of a Catholicke Church and a visible succession of Bishops ever since the Apostles Who run stark mad in love with reverend Words holy Places consecrated Habits and godly Gestures who have abundance of odde superstitious Zeale with not one grain of true sence Disciples of Heylin and Thornedike in a word a kinde of L'Estrange Protestants men who have listed themselves in our Service and rank'd on our side only to betray our cause and give our Enemies the Victory They seem to have no other designe in the Church of England than Sampson had in the Philistines Temple viz. to pull it downe upon our Heads and bury us in the Ruines Now what discourse these sort of men have had with the Compendianist I cannot tell nor am much concern'd I will not dispute but that 't is possible they may have acknowledg'd some such thing as he affirms for their Politicks are much of a pitch with their Divinity and I know they will say or confess any thing that tends to undermine and weaken the Protestant Faith and Interest though it be never so foolish and absurd Yet do they take it hainously ill to be thought Papists and particularly Mr. L'Estrange seems more than ordinarily disturb'd when he finds himselfe charg'd with this Imputation how does he fling and flounce in his late Pamphlets like a gaull'd Hackney who can neither bear the whipp nor mend his dull Dog-Trot But let him bestow the foamings of his Rage never so fast among the Rabble and in hasty uncorrect Libells throw about the eâ—pty Froth of his Anger Let him fret himself never so lean and talk like a mad man in the overboyling of his Passion Let him make never so many professions of a Protestant Faith and never so many Good-Morrows to the Church of England we shall still believe him a Papist while he soe notoriously promotes the Designes and serves the Interests of that Party I think nothing is plainer than that the great Endeavour of the Papists ever since the Discovery of the Plot has been by all kinde of means and artifices to turn off the Publick Odium under which they have so justly suffer'd as much
his attaining an Absolute Dominion over the Christian World a long projected Fifth Monarchy at least in the same degree that other Countries which are more Jesuited and enslav'd to the Pope are forc'd to do which by the way may serve for a good Argument to convince them of Differences among themselves and overthrow their glorious pretence of Union which they do so magnifie upon all occasions to our reproach but cannot signifie any thing to the purpose for which the Compendianist here intends it viz. to shew the Bishop of Lincoln in Answer to his Challenge at the end of his Book That the Church of Rome has by publick Acts and Declarations disown'd and condemn'd those Principles which His Lordship charges upon her He very confidently indeed affirms that the Censures of those Authors he mentions p 78. l. 32. are such But what does he hope by positivenesse to face us down that the Venetians and the French are the Roman Church Or that the Universities of France and the Parliament of Paris are her Representatives Is it possible he should believe we have not Logick enough to distinguish between the Parts and Branches of a Church and the Church her self in her publick Authority and Representations Does he indeed imagine that he can at this time of day make the Judgments of particular Universities and Civil Assemblies passe upon us for publick Acts and Declarations of the Church of Rome He must needs pardon us we have been too often told it upon other occasions to be ignorant now that nothing but the Decrees of a Pope or a General Council are the publick Acts and Declarations of the Church of Rome and he has not so much as pretended to shew either of these for the Condemnation of those Principles which the Bishop has prov'd upon his Religion by both What scorn then can be vile enough to throw upon his impudent Claim of the Bishop's conditional promise of turning Papist when the termes upon which that promise was given are so far from being made good And why does he run over such a Bead-role of names The Colledge of the Sorbonne Paris Caen Rheimes c. I say to what end does he stun us with this vast Din of insignificant Words and rattle in our ears with empty Sounds I thought to have pass'd by his Quibble upon the Bishop's Title 't is so very sencelesse and thin a conceit but because I find he is apt to think every thing unanswerable that is not particularly taken notice of I shall do him the favour to make the Reader observe this ridiculous Criticism Who could think says he that His Lordships Heat against us should force him even to a Title that has confuted his whole Book viz. That Popish Principles and Positions when really believ'd are destructive and dangerous to all Kings especially Protestants for he cannot term them Principles of Faith because they were never thus Believ'd c. I suppose by Principles of Faith here he means what is commonly understood by Articles of Faith i. e. Points necessary to Salvation for the words are equivocal and may bear several sences but because this is most favourable to his Objection I shall understand them so Now why cannot the Bishop term these Positions Principles of Faith He has prov'd them to have been decreed both by Popes and Councils and if that be not enough to make any Point a Principle of Faith in their Church I know not where or how we shall find any Principles of Faith among them He says indeed here and in other places would insinuate the same That they were never thus believ'd by any Catholick nor never thus approv'd of by the Church But that 's only his word against the Bishop's Proof and signifies nothing but to convince the World of the shameless Impudence of Popish Writers who can even in Print and in the face of a learned and inquiring People affirm things contrary to direct Proofs without ever so much as endeavouring to answer those Proofs I see no reason therefore why the Bishop might not have term'd them Principles of Faith if he had pleas'd but that it was not at all material to the design of his Discourse so to do 't was enough for his purpose to prove them Principles of their Religion which he has most clearly done no matter whether they hold them necessary to Salvation or not their very holding them as Principles of their Religion does make that sufficiently dangerous to Princes which was what the Bishop undertook to show But let us suppose now that the Bishop cannot term these Positions Principles of Faith I 'le engage it shall do his Title no more hurt than 't is plain it would his Book indeed neither of them any at all This Title says he That Popish Principles and Positions when really believ'd are destructive c. has confuted his whole Book Why Because he cannot term them pray mark the Reason Principles of Faith c. Can any unprejudic'd man now whose Brains lie in their right place perceive any sort of Consequence in this Argument for my own part I can find none But if there be any little sence at the bottom of this awkard blunder it must be this viz. a supposal that the real Belief of any Principle of Religion makes it immediately a Principle of Faith i. e. in his sence of those Terms a point necessary to Salvation though it was not so before which is certainly the most extravagant Whimsey that ever got hold of any mans Imagination but our confus'd Compendianists and if this be not his meaning he talks Wild Irish and is utterly unintelligible I think I need not go about to confute such self-evident Foolery as this the very Offer were an affront to the meanest Readers Understanding there 's hardly a School-boy but knows that Christian Religion teaches many useful and true Doctrines which are not necessary to Salvation that yet are really believ'd by all those that are really of the Christian Religion The Bishop's Title therefore is very proper and very consistent with the design of his Book and this man's exception to it most abfurd and frivolous 'T is indeed not only proper but charitable and modest it implies the Bishop does not believe that all who live in the external Communion of the Church of Rome are either so disloyal to their Prince or so unmerciful to their Friends and Neighbours as those Doctrines he charges upon her really and heartily assented to must needs make them He hopes possibly that Humane Nature it self in some may check at their harshoesse and a particular sweetnesse of temper in others very much allay the Malignancy of their Poyson and hinder them from having their full effect upon the Understanding at least such an effect as is justly to be dreaded from them when they seize upon the minds of Melancholy Recluses or sink deep into the affections of her ignorant hot headed Devoto's those Christian Faquirs
honesty and good nature as is no where to be met with but in the Moralls of a Jesuite and the Christianity of a Romish Zealot For what is intended in this malicious Passage to reflect on the Bishop of Lincolne as if he were as bad a Hypocrite as Dr. Taylor is here represented to have been and could have writ if he had pleas'd a better Book on the Papists side 't is so witless a Libel such silly Slander that I think there is no need of answering it to any who have ever heard of his great Name and he must have liv'd very remote from Company who is in England a Stranger to that His Life is a sufficient proof of the honesty of his Writings and a full confutation of this and all other Lyes which the Instruments of Rome or Hell can invent to asperse him in vain do they think to answer him as they have done other men by reflections on his Person and to overthrow his Reasons by ridiculous Stories and absurd Romance these Argumenta ad Hominem which are usually their best Refuge will miserably fail them here they look like the frettings of a gaul'd Faction and do but betray an impotent Spite the Bishop of Lincolne's Honour is as much above the reach of their malice as their deserts and they may then hope to make the World think ill of him when they can so far cozen it as to be thought well off themselves 'T is true his Abilities are extraordinary enough to recommend almost any thing he would appear for though never so unreasonable and no doubt he knows how to write Sophistries as well as to confute them but we are satisfyed his Piety will no more suffer him to plead a bad Cause than his Learning will let him prejudice a good one Besides let them not flatter themselves the Knavery of theirs is now so palpably obvious their Religion has by long and constant delays grown so monstrously deform'd it has at last out-liv'd the help of Art The Writings of their best Witts and their most eminent Scholars have in my Opinion done it more hurt than good when they have adorn'd it all they can with strain'd pieces of Rhetorick out of the Fathers and daub'd it as much as possible with the forc'd Flatteries of Councils when they have set it forth in the specious colours of pretended Union and Universality and cover'd it all over with School-Distinction̄s what can an indifferent man conclude but that such vast paines would not nor need not be taken except it were to hide some notorious Defects such extream studyed Ornaments are evident proofes of great want of natural Beauty in a word this Spiritual Whore does but appeare the more Strumpet through the grosse Artifice of her Dress and the thickness of her Paint I have now done with the Compendianist and shall enlarge this Discourse no farther but to joyn with all good English men in offering up my hearty prayers to God Almighty that He would still preserve the Protestant Religion among us and continue to render fruitlesse the contrary Endeavours and Contrivances of wicked and unreasonable Men fallacious Writers and Traiterous Plotters that He would keep the most knowing and best civiliz'd Nation in the World from falling again under the Barbarism of Popery from being Opprest by the Tyranny and cumber'd with the Weight of this huge unweildy Mass of Non-sense and Puppetry This farce of Ceremonies this Counterfeit Christianity this Enemy to true Learning and free Philosophy this Discourager of Trade and usefull Industry this Troubler of agreeable Conversation and reasonable Living this Prohibiter of good Sense and this Extinguisher of good Nature in a word this Un-Christian and this Immoral Religion or rather this new Species of Irreligion which by her Doctrines of dispensing with Oaths and absolving from all manner of Crimes upon slight and ridiculous Penances as well as by those the Bishop of Lincoln has convinc'd her of has not only overthrown the Foundations of real Goodnesse and true Piety but even of necessary Faith and common Honesty loosening the very Bands and Ligaments and undermining the Props of Civil Communities FINIS * Rev. 17. 2 5 6. * Compend pag. 77. * Compend pag. 77. * Dr. Stillingfleet's Fanaticisme of the Church of Rome pag. 276. a Thuanus Hist l. 53. p. 837. b History of the Waldenses c History of the Irish Rebellon printed 1680. * Compend pag. 77. * Compend pag. 76. * Bakers Chron. * See the Compend pag. 76. * Compend pag. 78. * Compend pag. 78. * See Sanctarellus himself * See more of this in the Preface to the Jesuits Loyalty * Compend pag. 76. * A Sect of Religious Murderers among the Turks See an Account of them in Tavernier's Six Voyages pag. 199. †Compend pag. 79.