thought their Church altogether as good as it is now But to return to my Little Champion he had no sooner proved the Protestant Ordination valid and that by a Succession of Bishops in the Romish Church till the beginning of the Reformation but presently reflects upon Popery with a protestant Eye and crys out I will retort my argument upon the Papists and prove their Ordination invalid and did prove that for many hundred years before the Reformation they had no valid Ordination and so annulled his own Thus Acts my Doctor he cares not what he Preaches to the people provided it be against Popery he cares not what they Learn so they Learn not Popery or Learn to Hate it He cares not how many Lies he tells in his Pulpit so he can but belie Popery Witness this Sermon and Witness the World whether these Tenents which follow Collected out of the Doctor 's Sermon be not notorious Lies First in the Title of his Book Insinuating that the Roman Catholicks are Idolaters in his Text That their Clergy are Scribes and Pharisees Ignorance amongst them is a Virtue They keep Men in Ignorance of their Religion They hinder Men to be saved They forbid Men to know God and serve him The Priests hide God's Light under a Bushel Antiquity is against the Papists and they own it That in the Ninth and Tenth Century the Pope took away the Key of Knowledge from the people cruel usage in the Church of Rome The Pope thought it better the people should be Kill'd than they should understand their prayers The Church of Rome wishes there were no Bible in the World The Church of Rome Cruel and Tyrannical upon Mens Souls The Bishop or Inquisitor alone can give people leave to read the Scriptures and whosoever should presume to do it without License under their Hands cannot be absolved They instruct the people sparingly and slightly Their Sermons are made up with Stories They leave out the Second Commandment The Roman Church yields Antiquity to the Protestants They decline all manner of Tryal The Roman Priests take the Childrens Bread from them Doctor What if they were Married what would they do then would there not soon be in the Roman Church such a Collection for the Children as was presently after the Reformation for the poor This then must certainly reflect upon those Church-men who have Wives Children They make Market of the peoples sins The Rector of Colchester will inform the Reader of the practice of the Church of England if he will give himself the trouble to read his Book they pay Mony for Mistakes The Scripture the chief and ancient Adversary of the Roman Church The Roman Church Egyptian Bondage and Darkness cruel Task-Master denying Men sufficient Means to Salvation These and many other uncharitable false aspersions the Doctor in one Sermon did presume to cast upon the Catholicks at the very time when his Prince and the Head of his Church did openly profess that Religion Surely he was instructed by Luther's familiar Angel And I find indeed much of Luther's Spirit in the Doctor and a great deal of Luther's Angel's Truth I admire with what Face the Doctor can thus belie God's Church especially at such a time when all those injuries must reflect necessarily upon the Head of his own Church our King as that he is an Idolater that his Worship is superstitious that he is ignorant That he shall be Damned That he is in Egyptian Darkness and the like I have here briefly run over the Doctor 's Book To reflect upon every particular Cant was not my Business I was only desired to answer the principal Heads which are the not reading the Scriptures and Prayers in an unknown Tongue If any one shall think there is any material point not answered I will endeavour to satisfie him or them if I may be worthy to know it in the interim I leave what is written to the impartial Reader and return to conclude with my Doctor giving him this Admonition and Exhortation Dura cervice incircumscisis cordibus auribus vos semper spiritui sancto resistitis That is the Doctor should not stuff up his Sermon with Canting Reflections upon his Neighbours much less with down right Lies that he should be cautious how any thing he preaches might reflect upon the sacred person of his King. That he should take care no Argument might be retorted upon himself for then he fouls his own Nest I exhort him to teach his people sound Doctrine and good Morality for that is the way to keep the people in Union which is all he exhorts them to in his Sermon and if they be not in Union it will bring them to it and at length to the knowledge of the Truth which I wish the Doctor with his Flock FINIS Numb 16. V. 3. Meâ—â—â—â— c. 1. v. 10. Ephes 4. Hiero. in expl quest dam. E 15. In. prolog supra lib. in paralepo De mob Ericlesiae In câ—mpeud de fidei doctrina Nasian lib. 2. Sud Theolog. Serm de spiritu sancto Isid lib. 2. de summo bono Berard supra cantica In expos Orat. Dom. De Doct. Christ c. 13. Praefa in para lip Page 3. P. 4.5.6 8.10.12.14.15.91
A VINDICATION OF THE Roman Catholicks From the foul Aspersions thrown upon them BY John Tillotson D D And Dean of CANTERBURY In a SERMON Preached by him in November 1687. WITH ALLOWANCE LONDON Printed for John and Thomas Lane and are to be Sold at the Sign of the Golden-Anchor the Corner Shop of VVild-street next Dukesstreet MDCLXXXVIII THE PREFACE SVCH is the Nature of a Sermon as that the Principles and Tenents of a Religion are no way better discovered than by it It being the Exposition of what is to be believed and practised in order to Eternal Salvation And what the Preachers do generally most insist upon that generally is chiefly presumed to be believed or practised in the Church Now in most Protestant Sermons it is observed that their chief business is railing against the Pope and Popery then that may be presum'd the chief Tenent of the Protestant Church With such Protestant Doctrine this Doctor hath filled his Sermon from the beginning to the ending falsly aspersing the Roman Catholick Church with the Notions of Slavery and Bondage no better arguments than Cora used against Moyses flattering the people with a false liberty which produceth nothing but Confusion and Distraction Not considering that this his Doctrine is contrary to the practise of his own Church For he doth not only make every ignorant Man or Woman a competent judge of Scripture and Religion but prefers their judgment before their Pastors whilst their Church obligeth every one to submit to her decrees I find in this Doctor 's Sermon many false and uncharitable Reflections upon Roman Catholicks Conclusions drawn from false Suppositions things unworthy of a Scholar And which is unworthy of a Preacher not one Word of Exhortation to Piety until he comes to the 21 page where he speaks thus It concerns us mightily for the Honour and Support of our Religion to be at a better Union amongst our selves Insinuating to the people the necessary effects of this Doctrine which are Division and Distraction All the rest of his Sermon is Bearing false Witness against his Neighbour THE TITLE OF THE Doctors BOOK The indispensible necessity of the knowledge of the holy Scripture in order to Mans Eternal Salvation c. THis Proposition in the sense of the Doctor is thus rendred plain There is no Salvation to be had without the knowledge of the Scripture which Proposition is notoriously false For at this present many thousand Protestants know not one line of it unto whom I presume the Doctor will not deny Salvation 2ly There was no Scripture heard of until the time of Moyses and were all Damned before his time 3dly From the time of Moyses till Printing was found it is not probable that every one of the Vulgar could have the Bible and will the Doctor Condemn them all If he doth not then the knowledge of the Scripture was not necessary If not necessary then why is it now The Doctor may say the knowledge of the Scripture is necessary not the reading of it and so annuls my last instance I answer the Doctors whole drift is at Damning all those that do not read it from the beginning to the end of his Sermon for if he were not for Damning those who read not his argument would be of no force against us for the vulgar sort of Roman Catholicks may have as much knowledge of the Scripture as needful without reading it The Doctor is then for imposing a necessity upon the vulgar of knowing the Scripture by their own reading But he doth not tell how much they must know of it if all I fear the Doctor hath Damned himself if not all How much must they know under pain of Damnation As much as the Doctor will assign the Papists shall know without Book I would willingly know of the Doctor why the people might not be saved if they know it by the Mouth of their Pastor without reading The Doctor seems to answer thus The people might know it but the Priests do interpret it falsly to them but the Doctor when he said so did not remember the Story of the Old Woman who sought her Daughter in the Oven The Doctor 's TEXT Woe be to you Scribes and Pharisees c. Mat. 23. V. 15. THe Scribes and Pharisees were Men as the Doctor owns who were teachers of the Law and under pretence of interpreting the Scriptures had perverted them and kept the true knowledge of them from the people I put this question to the Doctor Whether if those Scribes and Pharisees had faithfully interpreted the Scriptures to the people and yet had not put the Bible into the hands of every Milk-Maid to interpret whether Christ had denounced that Woe to them The Doctor must prove the affirmative before he can reflect upon the Roman Catholicks I will put down the practice of the Pharisees the Protestants and Roman Catholicks as to this point The Doctor says in his second Page that the Pharisees were teachers of the Law and under pretence of interpreting the Scriptures did pervert them and keep the knowledge of them from the people The Protestant Ministers are reformers of the Law and do interpret the Scriptures to the people and give the people the liberty to interpret them by the private spirit in opposition to their Pastors if they think fit which hath brought such a fertility of Faiths into this Nation that there are as many as Reformers and as many Reformers almost as Men. The Catholick Priests do confine the Scripture to the reading only of the prudent Laity and doth not think every Cobler a competent Judge of the sense of it nor able to guide himself in matters of Faith and Practice but the Pastors by the Bible are to guide him and to read and expound the Scriptures to him Which of these three doth the Impartial Judge think is the best in all respects in the 3 d. Page the Doctor speaks of knowledge and ignorance What he says of Knowledge is right Canting What of Ignorance is a false Imposition I never understood Ignorance a vertue in Roman Catholick Divinity If the Doctor had read the Manual of our Laity he might have found it there in the exposition of the Ten Commandments a sin Now if the Doctor thinks as he speaks we must be all lovers of Ignorance not only the Laity but the Priests themselves I humbly offer to the Doctor my self for an Experiment of his Protestant speculation to be examined if he knows how in all or any part of Divinity For if he pleases I will bring him Tradsmen who shall readily answer him with an Objection whatsoever he shall be pleased to ask In the 4th Page the Doctor saith the Scripture alone can instruct us in the Will of God perfectly I ask the Doctor Whether it be the Will of God that we should keep Sunday for Saturday and Christen Infants If it be where doth the Scripture instruct us so perfectly as that every Milk-Maid can see
I may be worthy to know it I will readily answer it Then he brings Fathers If the Doctor will be so kind as to let me know out of what part of their Writings he took his Quotations I will readily answer him Then follows his Bold Challenge to his Adversaries to bring him any Father who discourages the Vulgar from reading the Scripture I answer his Challenge producing these following The whole Epistle to the Romans wants interpretation and is involved in so great abscurities that we want the aid of the H. Ghost to understand it The same Father confesses that in Scripture he never trusted to his own knowledge nor believed upon his own strength but where he thought he knew yet there he asked the learned This Saint had no Protestant spirit St. Augustin saith That the Exposition of the Holy Scripture is to be asked of those who profess themselves Doctors St. Epiphanius commits the scrutiny of the Scriptures to the Learned St. Gregory saith the Word of God abhors carnal and rude Men and that the Law is partly manifest and partly hidden To the Weak Faithful we ought to open those things which are more perfect and when they are become proficients and have clear sight then to put the light before them The reasons why Heresies are is the obscurity of the Divine Scriptures The unlearned ought not to presume to read the Holy Scriptures before they have despised and cast off the pomp of the World. I conclude with St. Hierome When there is no one Art that any of Vulgar can say they know yet this the knowledge of the Scriptures every old prating Woman every old doting Fellow every talking Sophister pretends to know They tear the Scripture and teach it before they have learnd it I could have given farther testimony out of the Fathers if it had been needful but these will suffice to vindicate the Roman Catholick Practice in contradiction to the Doctor who so boldly affirmed that we had not one rag of Antiquity to cover our Nakedness in this point I assure the Doctor that some would have been glad of such Rags to have made the Church of Englands Wedding Garments The Roman Catholick Practice in the second point which the Doctor calls Prayers in an unknown Tongue is thus The chief part of the Roman Liturgie is the Mass the substance of which is an Action to wit An Offering to God of the Body and Blood of his Son under the form of Bread and Wine by the Hands of the Priest A Sacrifice commemorative and applicative of the great Sacrifice of the Cross The Doctor dares not deny us Antiquity and Universality as to the truth of this Doctrine The rest of the Roman Liturgie is subservient to this That part of the Liturgie which the Vulgar do frequent is the Mass as Morning Prayer Even-song Compline and Litanies as Evening Prayers The rest of the Liturgie is said by Church-Men at Mid-night or at three four or five of the Clock in the Morning or at such hours as the Vulgar is seldom present and perhaps the Doctor would not leave his warm Bed and Wife to hear it although he pretends to understand Latin. Now that part of the Liturgie which the Vulgar do frequent they do understand as well as the Vulgar in the Protestant Church do their Common-Prayer for the Mass I told the Doctor it was an Action and Seeing is their most proper sense for it and the Vulgar may have as good Eyes as the Doctor As to that part which is properly Prayer it is Translated into the Vulgar Tongue and they have it in their prayer-Prayer-Books and being obliged to Church-Service every Sunday and Holy day they understand it as well as their daily Prayers The Epistles and Gospels of the Mass are likewise in the Vulgar Tongue with the meaning of every Circumstance And as to the understanding of every word of the Mass which the Doctor was pleased to reflect upon I answer that the greatest part of the Words of the Mass are the Priest's secret Prayers to God for himself and the people There is moreover daily Preaching and Catechising in the Church by which there is enough given to the weakest Capacitie to let him understand what he ought to believe and do in order to Salvation To the Question Must the Vulgar be acquainted with every thing which is done in and belongs to the Church before they can or will be satisfied edified or no If they must then the Church of England Edifieth not the greatest part of her Children in her Cathedrals where when they sing Musically few understand them neither are the Vulgar satisfied and edified in the Protestant Ceremonies neither am I edified that the Doctor should so much extoll Knowledge when not one in ten thousand ever read the Protestant Profession of Faith Nor one in the like Number knows how much he is obliged to believe So that when we rightly examine things we shall find ignorance a Protestant Vertue And is it not to stumble at a Straw and leap over a Block to Damn the people if they read not the Scripture but let the Tenents of those who read it be ever so perverse so they protest against Popery they are Members of Crist's Church as the Bishop of Bath and Wells called the French Hugonots in his Pastoral-Letter and go to Heaven And is not this Pharisaical in the Doctor to Damn people for not reading the Scripture a Protestant Tradition and not Condemn them for their Schismatical and Heretical Opinions things Condemned by God his Son his Apostles and his Church in all Ages I argue farther thus It is not necessary that the Vulgar understand explicitly all and every thing that is believed in the Church as such decrees of the four first General Councils as are de Fide or the Thirty Nine Articles in the Protestant Church destinctly If the Doctor denys this Proposition he must Condemn most of the Ministers and Laity of his Church so by parity of Reason a Man may be a true Worshiper and yet not understand distinctly and verbatim every Word which is spoken in the Church Farther the Doctor cannot shew any Divine precept or decree of any General Council which contradicts the practice of the Roman Church in this point which he should have done if he had spoken Doctor like before he had pronounced Damnation upon the people Now where there is no precept contradicted the Church is to be obeyed These reasons I give the Doctor for the Latin Church Liturgy being every where in Latin. 1 st That the Governours of the Church may have a certain knowledge of the true practice of it which they could not conveniently have if it were in every petty Speech 2 dly To avoid danger of the nullity of the Sacraments which would happen if the Priest should not pronounce the Words rightly of which there is danger when the Priest is not perfect in the Language 3 dly