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A41625
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A reply to the Answer of the Amicable accommodation being a fourth vindication of the Papist misrepresented and represented : in which are more particularly laid open some of the principal methods by which the papists are misrepresented by Protestants in their books and sermons.
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Gother, John, d. 1704.
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1686
(1686)
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Wing G1349; ESTC R18660
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32,565
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50
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and Impartial Reader to examine this affair of the Mannerly and This Time I 'le not judge neither for my self nor him But however notwithstanding this little displeasure of my Answerer it clears up agen with him he pardons all frankly and we are contented says he they should ridicule our Church if they will permit us truly to Represent theirs Here now we have a liberty granted of Ridiculing which I resolve never to make use of unless it be to shew how They ridicule the Church of Rome But instead of returning my thanks for this favour I am e'n resolved to beg another and 't is that the Answerer will be pleased not to take that for Ridiculing in us which in them he calls truly Representing This would be a very Signal Favour indeed if it could be obtain'd but I almost despair For by all that I can discover in their truly Representing 't is so unlike what he calls it that nothing can be more underserving that Name For let but an exact Copy be taken of what they do to the Papists when they truly Represent them as they call it with all its methods and circumstances let the same measures they use to them be applied to any other Body or Society even to their own Church of England and if it do's not appear to be down right Misrepresenting and Ridiculing instead of truly Representing I 'le e'en throw up the Cause and grant the Papists to be as Black as they make them This appears something already in the Character now examin'd which he owns to be Ridiculing tho' it be nothing but what they do to the Church of Rome and there call it Truly Representing But this I shall more clearly evince afterwards when I have examin'd some other Parts of the Answer where I shall have occasion of playing him the same Tune over agen a litle more distinctly without any Ridiculing but in very good earnest But first I must consider how he receives the Curtesie I did him in my last Reply I must confess I could not but be concern'd to see my Answerer turning and winding it first through tedious Ten Sheets and soon after through other Nine and all to prove that the Word Misrepresented in the Title of my Book was not to be taken in its Proper Sense This to me was an Object of Compassion and therefore to save him any farther Sweat I thought fit to yield to his Pretensions and give into his hands the full grasp of all that he had just before so earnestly contended for And see now how ill use he makes of this favour For having so far complied with him that the Word Misrepresented in the Title of my Book is not to be taken in its Strict and Proper Sense he would now willingly impose upon his Reader and Me and perswade the World as if I own the Protestants not to charge falsly any Doctrins or Practices on the Church of Rome which she disowns and that they do not teach their Flock that the Church of Rome believes or practices otherwise than She does This says he at last if I understand him he confesses Is not this stretching a Curtesie with a witness and Misrepresenting the Representer I yielded to him indeed for Peace sake that the Title of a Papist Misrepresented is not to be taken in its strict and proper Sense as Misrepresenting signifies ONLY downright Lying or falsly charging matter of Fact the WHOLE Character being not of that nature And this with our Answerer is the same as to confess That Protestants do not charge the Church of Rome with any Doctrins or Practices which She does not own So that it seems because the Character of a Papist Misrepresented is not wholly made up of matters of Doctrin and Practices falsly charg'd upon the Papists Therefore as our Answerer will have it it contains nothing at all wrongfully charg'd upon them and Protestants do not in any thing Misrepresent the Church of Rome And this he would have me plainly confess But I must beg his pardon for this I do not see he has made so good use of the last favour I did him as to accomodate away my Senses and Reason to do him another No Transubstantiation is not half so disagreeable to Protestant-Senses as this is to mine I could as easily confess that Protestants do not at all Write or Preach against Papists as that they do not Misrepresent them And for the truth of this Cause I dare stand to the Verdict even of a Protestant Jury I 'le give the Answerer choice-room enough Let him pick out of all England Twelve such Men who understand the Belief and Doctrin of Papists all Good Men and True and if they shall upon examination give in That they know all to be true which they have heard from Protestant Pulpits and Books concerning the Papists I 'le then yield up the Cause and sit down contented with the brand of a Misrepresenter Nay I dare put it to a farther issue If they do not own they have heard and read several things charg'd upon the Papists which they know to be false I 'le submit to the Answerer and be oblig'd never more to disturb him with the Talk of Misrepresenting But before we advance too far in this matter let 's see first how it stands with the Character of a Papist Misrepresented and examine whether there be nothing there falsly laid at the Papist's door enough for the Book to deserve such a Title And whether the fathering on them such Doctrins as are there contain'd and found in Protestant Authors be not affirming more than is True and charging on them Doctrins and Practices such as they and the Church of Rome disown And first what do's he think of Praying to Images asserted as a Practice of the Papists in the first Chap. of the Papist Misrepresented Is not this imputing more to the Papists than they either teach practice or maintain Do they believe their Sins to be infallibly remitted upon Absolution whether they resolve upon amendment or no And yet this is laid to them Chap. 7. Do they believe the Pope can give them leave for a Sum of Money to commit what Sins they please And yet this is reported as their Doctrin Chap. 8. Is it absolutely true that they are never permitted to know their Commandments but by halves Is it their Doctrin presumptuously to rely on a Death-bed Repentance Are their Sermons in Latin or do they teach in Unknown Tongues Is it true that they Fir'd the City Is he sure they Kill'd Sir Edmondbury Godfrey Or will he put in for an Evidence to Swear the Truth of the Damnable Hellish Popish-Plot And yet all these things and more stand charg'd upon the Papists in the Character of a Papist Misrepresented Why then should the Answerer thus quarrel with this Title as if the Papists had no wrong done them in such a Description I know it is the Interest of such ill men as
bene solide colligitur Wherefore says he upon this consideration from this place of St. Paul the Punishment of Souls in Purgatory is well and solidly gathered Which is little less than a Contradiction to what the Dr. asserts of him Dr. Cumber is something good at this too who in his Advice to Catholicks endeavors to make appear that St. Gregory condemns the Doctrin of Catholicks concerning the not marrying of Priests maintaining as he says that it is lawful for such of the Clergy as cannot contain to Marry And yet whosoever consults the place will find St. Gregory to speak only of such of the Clergy as are extra Sacros Ordines constituti Not yet in Holy Orders which is not at all contrary to the receiv'd Doctrin of the Church of Rome as the Dr. is willing to represent it but what at this day they teach and practice so that in this he evidently falsifies the Father Something after the same manner he in another place treats Bellarmine endeavouring to prove him a Blasphemer for saying that a Man may be his own Redeemer whereas Bellarmine in the place cited do's not say so of himself as the Dr. represents him but only sets down the words of Scripture in which Man is so call'd and by explicating in what Sense they may be understood without any injury to Christ defends the H. Scripture from the imputation of Blasphemy Which methinks is not so ill an Office as to deserve the Title of Blasphemer for doing it The Old Dr. Willet amongst many others has an excellent one of this kind who in his Synop. Papism will needs prove the Pope to be Antichrist out of St. Bernard in these words Their own Witnesses shall speak Bernard says Bestia de Apocalypsi cui datum est os loquens Blasphenias Petri Cathedram occupat The Beast in the Apocalypse to which a Mouth was given speaking Blasphemies possesses the Chair of Peter By which he will perswade his Reader that the Bishop of Rome according to the plain words of St. Bernard is the Beast in the Apocalypse and Antechrist Whenas 't is contrary to St. Bernard who in that Epistle speaks very honorably of Pope Innocentius animating him to the performance of his Duty with Courage and in the words mention'd reflects only upon a certain Usuper who by violence invaded the Chair of Peter and banish'd Innocentius the true Bishop out of Rome The late Discourse concerning the Devotions of the Church of Rome plays upon this String too where p. 52. speaking of the Papist's They tell us says he there is a vast number of Sins in their own nature Venial for the pardon of which there is no need or occasion for the Mercy of God Which is a Doctrin they neither own nor profess but absolutely contrary to their Belief And tho' he quotes here Escobar for this Absurdity there is not one word of this to be found in him in the place cited But above all in this kind I think Dr. Taylor bears away the Bell in his Disswasive from Popery in which he shews an excellent Talent of forging strange Doctrins and Fathering them on Catholick Authors And then for his quotations which he pretends to lay down out of Fathers and Catholick Writers the greatest part of them are either strangely wrested to a sinister sense or not found at all in the Original or else unpardonably corrupted As his Answerer makes appear who Examin'd them with his own Eyes as he professes in the Original Authors Another way mightily in fashion for the Misrepresenting the Papists is by putting them upon the same File with Infidels and Pagans and by such comparisons to imprint in the Vulgar a Notion of the Papists being no better than Infidels This is a great Topick with the Bishop of Kilmore in his Sermon Preach'd at St. Warbroughs in Dublin a year ago The Pagans says he p. 12 had their several Titular Gods for several places for Delphos Worship'd Apollo Crete Jupiter and Ephesus Diana And so in Popery England Worship'd St. George Scotland St. Andrew Ireland St. Patrick c. Again In Paganism they had several Gods to pray to and so in Popery In Paganism several Professions had several Gods So in Popery Lastly to these says he both Pagans and Papists build Churches erect Altars c. This is the way this Prelate has of setting forth the Papists And one reason why he deals so civilly with them as to render the Papists no worse than Heathens he gives in his Preface to the said Sermon because we have the Word of the King says he to defend our Religion An admirable return of this Royal Favor to perswade his Majesties Subjects that the Papists and Infidels are much of a Piece And yet This Sermon is deem'd by this Good Prelate a Defence of the truth and a very seasonable Intimation of our Protestant Resolution of being True and Steddy to our Laws Oaths and Duties And let the Romanists take it as they please they must expect a great many such And really as to this I think his Lordship is much in the right for a great many such we have met with But I must take the liberty to tell his Lordship that if this be the method of defending his Religion and an argument of his being True and Steddy to his Duty that besides a great deal more that might be said to it 't is only done by Misrepresenting and that tho' he 's oblig'd to Preach against Popery as he says to the utmost of his Wit and Learning that here 's no more Wit or Learning in this than what every petty Sophister might find without much adoe to make the Protestant Turk and Jew all one because they all agree in maligning and defaming the Papists However this way of calumniating his Lordship has not the honor of inventing 't was first devis'd by those Divines the Compilers of the Book of Homilies who besides this almost word for word have variety of other Scurrilous ways as comparing the Papists with the Horse and the Ass and such like exactly calculated for the Rabble 'T was afterwards taken up by the Psalm-makers who finding David to have never a True-Protestant Hymn added that of From Turk and Pope defend us Lord. And because this seem'd to some of too soft a strain 'T is since rais'd a Note or two higher and I think even to Ela in a good hearty Family Prayer to be said Morning and Evening added to the end of the singing Psalms in a common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book Printed at Oxford in the year 1683 in Twelves wherein 't is said O Lord raise up faithful Distributers of thy Mysteries contrarily confound Satan Antichrist with all Hirelings and Papists Which seems the effort of a True-Protestant Charity not only to link Satan Antichrist and the Papists together but to wish them all overtaken with the same Confusion Another way there is in pretending to declare the Devotions of Catholicks and then