against his Conscience in changing who had declar'd That he would not have chang'd in case he had been bred a Catholic And the Reason he gives is made of the same yielding Metal viz. That he had his Baptism in the Protestant Church for that Argument in it self is of no weight since the Right Reverend well knew that the Baptism even of Heretics is good so that if he had been Christn'd in the Lutheran the Abyssine or the Russian Church he must for that reason have continu'd in it But he timerously pleads his fear of giving Scandal which is as I said no Justification of himself no Dissuasive to Her but only a mean interessed Apology for his not changing As for his intimating That all things necessary to Salvation were to be had in the Church of England let any reasonable Man be Judge whether he could possibly have said less in defence of himself for continuing in it For this only shew'd that he thought Salvation was to be had in both Churches as even this Author himself is forc'd to confess afterwards in these words The utmost that can be made of this is That a certain Bishop of our Church who in the mean time has prov'd himself an uncertain one held both Churches so far Parts of the Catholic Church that there was no necessity of going from one Church to another That which he calls the utmost we can make of it is in truth the least which the Bishop's Words will naturally bear and I may safely put the Cause upon this Issue Whether such a Discourse might not reasonably add more to the desire she had to be a Catholic Let us hear now what he has to answer and I will reply briefly because I have taken away the Strength of his Argument already First He says in effect That the Bishops Authority and Example ought to have prevail'd with her on the one side more than his Concessions on the other I reply Not his Authority because he spoke more for the Church of Rome than against it Nor his Example for he gave her no encouragement to follow it by saying That if he had been bred a Catholic he would not have chang'd His Example of Praying daily for the Dead shew'd his Opinion at the bottom but his not publicly owning that he did so has prov'd him little better than a Black Bishop who was enter'd privately into the White ones Walk Our Author asks in the second place Why any Person should forsake the Communion of the Protestant Church wherein the Bishop affirm'd were all things necessary to Salvation And I enquire How she could be bound to believe him since Confession and Prayers for the Dead are wanting in it one of which he had before acknowledg'd to be commanded of God the other to be one of the ancient things in Christianity Thirdly He urges That the Bishop had told her it was an ill thing to leave the Church of England And I reply That the Answerer has falsified his Words The Bishop only thought it very ill to give that Scandal as to leave the Church wherein he was Baptiz'd First he spoke of himself only not of her Mark that Fallacy And then he said not It was ill to leave the Church but very ill to give that Scandal as to leave the Church relating again to his own particular Fourthly He says 'T is evident that the Bishops Concessions could have no influence upon her tho' she positively says those Discourses in which were those Concessions did but add more to the desire she had to be a Catholic This is full upon the Vizor but the Dead are to take all things patiently Well! How if he can convince her of Falsity from her own Words Why then he will carry his Argument as well as his Good Manners to the height and how broad soever the Word may be which he has slily given her yet he will tell you That Freedom ought to be permitted him as sustaining the Honour of the Church of England His Argument is this She declares afterwards That she would not have chang'd if she had thought it possible otherwise to have saved her Soul But the Bishop had told her That all things necessary for Salvation were in the English Church Therefore the Bishop contributed nothing to her Change So the Miter be safe in its Reputation no matter what becomes of the Ducal Coronet Now I can be very well content that the Bishop should have no part in the Honour of her Conversion for 't is plain that he desir'd it not and why should he do good against his will I wish my Author would have furnish'd me with an Argument to have brought him wholly off but I will bring him on his way as far as by the help of the Answerer's Scarf I can fairly drag him I say therefore That tho' her Highness chang'd not her Belief upon the Concessions of the Bishop yet his Concessions were an occasion of her farther Scruples in order to her Change For she says they added to the desire she had to be a Catholic The Bishop did indeed tell her That all things necessary to Salvation were in the English Church but tell me Sir I beseech you was that all he told her By your favour you have left out the better half of what he said for he told her also That if he had been bred a Catholic he would not have chang'd And she had reason to believe what he said to the advantage of a Church of which he was no Member as being sure he would say no more than scanty Truth And he acknowledges into the Bargain That Confession was commanded of God and that Praying for the Dead was one of the ancient things in Christianity What a shameful way of arguing is this to make a general Negative Conclusion from half the Premises Or in other Words to maintain that the Bishops Concessions could have no influence upon her because they had not the greatest influence And you in a manner confess it before you were aware in the close of your Argument where you say There must therefore have been some more secret Reason which increas'd her desire to be a Catholic after these Discourses Now some more secret Reason do's not hinder the Bishops Concessions from being one nay it argues that they were one of the Reasons though not the most prevalent because there was one more secret You have now contradicted your self so plainly that you have wholly justified the Duchess and the broad Word without naming it is fairly brought back to your own door After this our Answerer do's but piddle and play at small Game as if her Highness might possibly take encouragement from the Bishop's calling the Church of Rome the Catholic Religion But she was too much in earnest to lay hold upon a Word Neither is more advantage to be taken from his calling the Church of Rome the Catholic Religion than we receive disadvantage from the playing upon
her words which he hath falsifi'd in this place are these I would never have chang'd if I had thought it possible to have sav'd my Soul otherwise He never misquotes without design Now by altering these words If I had thought it possible to save my Soul into these If I could have sav'd my Soul he would shuffle off her true meaning which was That her Conscience oblig'd her to this change And that 's a Point he would not willingly have touch'd for he cannot deny upon his own Principles but that after having examin'd the Scriptures as she professes to have done as well as she was able concerning the Points in dispute and afterwards using the assistance of her Spiritual Guides the two Bishops she was to judge for her self in the last resort and the Judgment she made according to her Conscience was That the Scripture spoke clearly in behalf of the Catholic Church or Church of Rome as he calls it Therefore according to his Principles and her Conscience she was to be of that Church of whose Truth she was thus convinc'd so that whether she could be otherwise sav'd or no was not the Proposition to be advanc'd but whether she thought it possible to be otherwise sav'd And therefore though it were true that she could otherwise be sav'd yet she had a sufficient reason for her change though he says she had none which was her Conscience and supposing that were erroneous yet upon his Principles she must be the Judge of it without appeal Her Scruples began upon reading Dr. Heylin 's History of the Reformation and there she found such abominable Sacriledge upon Harry the Eighth's Divorce King Edward 's Minority and Queen Elizabeths Succession that she could not believe the Holy Ghost could ever be in such Councils Thus he compendiously quotes her Paper as being it seems asham'd of the Particulars therein mention'd but for once I will follow him his own way To read Dr. Heylin's History in order to settle her he confesses was none of the best Advices given to such a Person He is much in the right on 't as appears by the success and I add nor any other either Protestant or Catholic Writer then extant for no Paint is capable of making lovely the hideous Face of the pretended Reformation But says he there are two distinct Parts in the History of it the one Ecclesiastical the other Political the first built on Scripture Antiquity and the Rights of particular Churches the other on such Maxims as are common to Statesmen at all Times and in all Churches who labour to turn all Revolutions and Changes to their own Advantage But why might not her Highness consider it her own way which is that of Nature in the Causes which produc'd it and the Effects which it produc'd though I doubt not but she consider'd it his way too because a Child could not have mist it that very Distinction being inserted into the History by the Author himself Now the immediate Cause which produc'd the Separation of Harry the Eighth from the Church of Rome was the refusal of the Pope to grant him a Divorce from his first Wife and to gratifie his Desires in a Dispensation for a second Marriage Neither the Answerer nor I nor any Man can carry it so high as the original Cause with any certainty for the King only knew whether it was Conscience and Love or Love alone which mov'd him to sue for a Divorce But this we may say that if Conscience had any part in it she had taken a long Nap of almost Twenty years together before she awaken'd and perhaps had slept on till Doomsday if Anne Bullen or some other fair Lady had not given her a Jog so the satisfying of an inordinate and a brutal Passion cannot be deny'd to have had a great share at least in the production of that Schism which led the very way to our pretended Reformation for breaking the Unity of Christ's Church was the Foundation of it I pass over the manner of those first Proceedings and the Degrees by which they came to terminate in Schism though I doubt not but her Highness was sufficiently scandaliz'd in both and could not also but observe some of the concomitant Causes as Revenge Ambition and Covetousness all which and others drew with a strong Biass towards it But the immediate Effects even of this Schism were Sacriledge and a bloody Persecution of such as deny'd the King's Supremacy in Matters wholly Spiritual which no Layman no King of Israel ever Exercis'd as is observ'd by my Lord Herbert As for the Reformation it self what that produc'd is full as obvious in the Sequel of History where we find that Chanteries and Hospitals undevour'd by Henry the Eighth were left only to be Morsels for Edward the Sixth or rather for his Ministers of State and the Reason was given That the Revenues of them were fruitlesly spent on those who said Prayers for the Dead Now this was as naturally produc'd from the Reformation as an Effect is from the Cause so that as it is observ'd by some had that young King Reign'd any considerable time longer the Church of England had been left the poorest of any one in Christendom the rich Bishoprick of Duresme having been much retrench'd by him and 't is probable those of Rochester and Westminster Harry the Eighth had indeed eaten so much of the Churches Bread out of his Son's Mouth beforehand that even Calvin complains of it in a Letter to Cranmer concerning the paucity of good Pastors in England in these words Vnum apertum obstaculum esse intelligo quod praedae expositi sunt Ecclesiae redditus One open obstacle I find to this he meaneth the increase of good Pastors is That your Church Revenues are expos'd to Rapine Besides these things what an Usurpation this change of Religion caus'd is most notorious that of the Lady Iane Gray being evidently grounded on the Testament of Edward the Sixth by which she was made his Successor because she was of the Protestant Religion As for the Title of Queen Elizabeth to the Crown the Histories lie open and I shall not be over forward to meddle with the Rights of Princes especially since the Answerer has avoided that Dispute 'T is enough in general to say that her Interest carry'd her against the Pope whose Power if good she was Illegitimate She had also been inform'd by the English Resident at Rome that the Pope expected she shou'd acknowledge her Crown from him and not take upon her to be Queen without his leave These were strong Solicitations in a new unseâ—â— led Succession for her to shake off a Religion whereof his Holiness is Head on Earth What matter of Conscience was in the case I say not but her Temporal Interest lies bare-fac'd and uppermost to view in reassuming of the Supremacy and to make the Breach yet wider in subverting the Foundations of the Faith For the Affront is the same
bare word without Repetition Yet this notwithstanding he might have some inward grudgings that his Pupil thought him not so great a Doctor But it is not fit that a Matter of such importance should end in a bare Ay and No on either side for though the Parties have been so long dead yet there is a Witness still alive and such a one that all Loyal Subjects are bound to joyn with me in Prayers for the long continuance of His Life and even for His continuance in the True Religion as far as the English Liturgycan oblige them The Duchess thought her self bound to make his Royal Highness acquainted with every one of these several Conferences which she had either with Archbishop Sheldon or Bishop Blandford and that account was the very same in substance with what she communicates to her Friends in this present Paper as he is pleas'd to permit me to assure the World after having had the Honour to hear him solemnly affirm it which puts an end to the whole Matter of Dispute and this which follows is as Authentic The Day it pleased Almighty God to call her Highness to his Mercy some Relations of hers who are yet living were desirous that she should speak with the Bishop of Worcester which the Duchess did not absolutely refuse upon their importunity but requested the then Duke to stop the Bishop a little in the Anti-chamber and prepare him according to her directions before he enter'd the Bed-chamber accordingly His Highness having met the Bishop acquainted him That she was actually reconcil'd to the Catholic Church he then enquir'd Whether she were fully satisfied in all Points of the Doctrine which she had embrac'd and the Duke answer'd that she was entirely satisfied in the Doctrine of the Catholic Church at length the Bishop ask'd Whether she had already receiv'd the last Sacraments of the Church naming particularly those of the Blessed Eucharist and the Extreme Vnction and it being reply'd by the Duke that she had receiv'd them the Bishop answered That then he doubted not but that her Soul was in a very safe condition before they parted His Royal Highness told him That it was the desire of the Duchess he would not trouble her with any Matter of Dispute nor offer to Pray with her but if he had any Spiritual Counsel fitting for a Person in her condition in order to prepare her for her Death he might freely tender it upon this he was admitted to her Bed-chamber and made her a brief Exhortation after which his stay there was very short This being matter of Fact and of unquestionable Truth I hope the Answerer will acquiesce in it What he will think of his Bishop concerns not me but as a Protestant he has reason for his thanking God that the Cause of his Church do's not depend on the singular Opinion of one Bishop in it It appears plainly by this Relation that the Bishop of Worcester was ignorant almost to the last of her Conversion so that if that will serve our Authors turn he is acquitted from intending any such Act of Charity but that he contributed to it without any such intention is apparent Yet our Author will not so sit down he will condemn her Highness from her own words again and prove from her saying that she ow'd the Blessing of her Conversion to God Almighty that therefore the Bishop could have no hand in it What obligation has he to defend the Honour of his Church by a piece of Sophistry she ow'd it wholly to Almighty God for of our selves we can do nothing but as the Answerer confesses this excluded not her own endeavours God inspir'd her with a desire of being reconcil'd to his Church in answer to her frequent Prayers not by immediate illumination or shewing her the right belief miraculously but by affording her the ordinary means and conducting her by his good Spirit in the use of them If she had been immediately enlightn'd she needed not to have recourse to any of the Bishops but it pleas'd God who often works Good out of Evil that the Arguments they us'd or rather the Answers which they made produc'd a contrary effect and added more to the desire she had to be a Catholic in this sense therefore it may be said that the Bishops sent her to the Priest for an unresistable over-ruling Power made them contribute to her change by opposing it and the very hands which labour'd to hold her fast in the Protestant Perswasion carried her half Seas over and put her into other Hands which carried her the other half Truly they would have receiv'd hard measure if they had been found guilty on the Statute of Perswasion who far from endeavouring to make her change disswaded her from changing tho' the Protestant Flints happen'd to strike Catholic Fire So that I cannot but think there was an extraordinary Hand of Providence in her Case and of which she had reason to be extraordinary sensible But we must have I perceive a care of Praying and owning benefits from God for that or nothing made her pass for an Enthusiast with the Answerer She did nothing besides Praying which our Author do's not acknowledge it her duty to have done She read the History which was put into her Hands to confirm her in her first belief she examin'd the Scripture she conferr'd with her Divines and yet he can make an obstinate Woman of her for doing that very thing to which he wou'd advise her But says our Author All pretenders to Enthusiasm do as solemnly and wholly ascribe the Blessing to Almighty God and look on it as the effect of such Prayers as she made to him in France and Flanders They ascribe it indeed wholly to God in our Authors Sense but not in hers for she meant not immediate illumination by the word wholly as I have already prov'd they may look on their false light as the effect of their Prayers but she looks on her Conversion as the effect of hers after having used the means He had thought he says that the pretence to a private Spirit or Enthusiasm for he joyns them both afterwards had not been at this time allowed in the Church of Rome Somebody once thought otherwise or he had never diverted the young Gallants of the Town with his merry Book concerning the Fanaticism of the Church of Rome He next enquires what need she had of an infallible Church if she owed her Change so wholly to Almighty God Wholly is already explain'd to him and then his Argument is of no more force against her then against all Catholics who have once been Protestants which is a new Subject of Dispute and forrein to the Argugument in hand Her Conclusion as he tells us is That she would never have chang'd if she could have sav'd her Soul otherwise Whereupon he infers If this were true she had good reason for her change if it were not true as most certainly it was not she had none But