Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A41623
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Pulpit-sayings, or, The characters of the pulpit-papist examined in answer to the Apology for the pulpits and in vindication of the representer against the stater of the controversie.
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Gother, John, d. 1704.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing G1347; ESTC R18623
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55,138
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78
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by his Church to own the Scripture as the Word of God and obliged to assent to all therein deliver'd as of Divine Authority and of necessity to be believ'd with a Divine Faith whilst for Legends tho' he may read them if he pleases as he do's other Histories yet he is not bound by his Church or Religion to give assent to or believe any one Passage in any Legend whatsoever This the Apologizer understood very well pag. 23. where he proves out of Bellarmine and Canus that according to our own Principles all these things contain'd in the Lives of Saints tho' mention'd even in the Canonization depend upon Human Testimony as to particular Matters of Fact and consequently are subject to Error And therefore no sufficient ground for any Point of Faith which can be built on nothing less than Divine Authority And tho' some of these are inserted into our Offices yet they are not there propos'd as likewise Particular Revelations as the Scripture is to wit as matter of Faith but only as a Relation of some History in the Reading of which some Spiritual Advantage may be reap'd as is at large discours'd above Which is very different from what the Preacher says that he changes Scripture into Legends 2. How do's he change the Sacraments into Shows when in his Church the Sacraments are not only Shewn but likewise care taken that they be duly Administred to all her Members The Apologizer pretends the Charge to be True because the Cup is shew'd to the People which they don't partake of and the Host elevated at Mass and carry'd in Procession And might not a Jew here step in and with this Argument pretend that Christ Crucifi'd was another Show upon Calvary while he was there expos'd for some hours upon the Cross to the view of the World But all this is nothing but a Method to teach Atheists how to make the greatest Mysteries of Christianity Ridiculous We know the Benefit of that Oblation Christ made of his Body and Blood upon the Cross and likewise of that he Instituted at his Last Supper where he gave his Body and Blood after an Unbloody manner under the Forms of Bread and Wine for the Remission of Sins and which is now daily repeated in the Church according to the Command of Christ which he gave to his Apostles when he said to them DO THIS in Remembrance of me We know the Benefit there is in this Continual Remembrance And those who make a Show of this are within one Step of those Vnbelieving Jews who made a Show of Christ in his Passion when 't was said to them Behold the Man. 3. As for the Third of Preaching Purgatory instead of Repentance 't is absolutely False inasmuch as in the plain import of the words it imprints this Notion in the Hearers viz. That the Papists don 't Preach Repentance to the People but instead of this they Preach Purgatory This I say is False and so evidently that the Apologizer dares not vindicate the Preacher in so foul a Calumny and therefore instead of what the Preacher asserts the Vindicator minces the matter and pretends only that the Doctrin of Purgatory invalidates that of Repentance Which too is False in it self since we see Catholics both in their Lives their Books and Sermons urge the Necessity of Repentance as much and as effectually as Protestants And 't is much more False as to Preaching since amongst so many Sermons I have been at both Abroad and in our own Country I have heard Repentance so often press'd to the People and Purgatory never so much as mention'd unless it were to shew the insufferable Torments of the Place and how great the hazard is even of getting thither And amongst the Printed Sermons of Spaniards French Portuguese c. that are extant in Latin I challenge the Apologizer to find one that so sets out Purgatory to the People as to make them neglect Repentance and if he do's I 'll be bound to shew him a Hundred for his One that enforce the Duty of Repenting without the least hint of Purgatory or their considing in it 4. He says We Preach Faction instead of Faith c. This the Preacher said of the Papists at a time when the Church of England had been assisting a Faction about Four Years with all the help the Pulpit could give them in Consecrating their Villanies and finding Arguments to gain them Credit for the deluding the People And tho' they cannot be Advis'd to be more Cautious for the future without an Apology appearing in their behalf yet I hope 't is not without some Sense and Shame especially since they have seen the Cart and Pillory so often appearing in Confutation of those Truths that were then so often Dispens'd to the People with the Gospel As for the Faction they can discover in Our Preaching let them do their best to find even half so much we freely give them a Thousand Years to review for to match these Four of theirs Let them take in likewise the Sermons that are now Preach'd in our Chappels throughout the Kingdom I hope they 'll all appear Instructive as to Faith and Manners but free from Faction Can the Church of England say as much of theirs at present in which there are so many unworthy Reflections made upon the Religion of their Prince so much Animosity blown up Fears and Jealousies insinuated into the People and the Government made to them uneasie even in the very Method that dispos'd them heretofore to Rebellion and ended not but with the Murder of their Sovereign I can't imagine them to intend the like Mischief at present neither did they I believe heretofore when they made way for it by their Indiscreet Preaching But when they have seen so lately the People exasperated to that degree by the Pulpits against Popery as even in an Unnatural Rebellion to take up Arms against their Prince and never leave pursuing him under the Pretext of his being a Papist till they had brought his Royal Head to the Block under the same Notion Methinks such as are truly Loyal and boast themselves the Best Subjects in the World should be more Tender of their Sovereign than to venture upon the same Method with the Son which prov'd so Fatal to the Father and so Dangerous to the Brother But I fear the Excess of Jealousie for their Religion puts them upon being too Bold with their Prince and that by a Just Judgment of Heaven they are blindly practising the very Principles they have so often charg'd upon the Papists Making their Church's Interest the Center of their Religion Preaching Faction instead of Faith Esteeming everything Conscientious that makes for the Cause And not minding the Lawfulness of the Means provided the Thing be but done Twelfth Character of a Pulpit-Papist THERE is a great noise of Alms made in his Church but the Scope they too often vainly aim at is the Blessing of a Dr. Tenison ibid. Presumed
Sanctity by undeniable Miracles 'T is not adhering to the Pope is enough to be Canoniz'd after Death But if adhering to the Pope was Rebellion in that Bishop what do's he think of a Doctor who adheres to a Neighboring State against his Liege Prince And what of Those others here at home who help to spread and are so satisfi'd in Seditious Libels design'd on purpose against the King and Government Besides their Industry to uphold in open opposition to their Sovereign a Device which was laid by ill Men on design to exclude his Present Majesty from the Crown If Thomas à Becket was a Traitor for adhering to the Pope in some Ecclesiastical Privileges how far from Traitors and Rebels are These who joyn Hands with declar'd Traitors and espouse the same Cause against their Prince How might this be set out if there were but Ten thousand Pulpits to Paint it to the best Advantage 2. They Pray to a Crucifix of Wood or Stone as well as to Christ himself and attribute as much Satisfaction to it as to the Blood of Christ This is every word an Infamous Falshood And tho' the Vindicator here to acquit the Preacher from casting so unworthy and worse than Heathenish Scandal upon us appeals to the Words and Forms of some of our Prayers and then says That if Words will make it plain the Preacher was not mistaken pag. 24. Yet this is so childish a Plea that me-thinks it ought to be beneath a Divine especially a Man of Conscience to charge so Gross an Abomination upon such a Frothy Pretext For what if there are some Words in our Addresses that taken literally import as much Is this any more than what is found in Scripture Deut. 32. 1. where Moses thus cries out Give ear O ye Heavens and I will speak and hear O Earth the words of my mouth Is Moses for this Form presently to be accus'd of Calling upon the Material Heaven and Earth to hear him If this way of Arguing were enough pray what might be said of the Church of England too A Controvertist with a Forehead to the Temper of one of Those who makes up against us might positively accuse her in her Solemn Devotion and most Religious Way of Worship of Addressing themselves to the Sun and Moon Stars Showrs and Winds and calling upon to their Assistance the Birds the Beasts and the Fishes And then for to make all this good beyond exception he has no more to do than to make this Plea that This being a Charge of Words and Forms we must know whether the Charge be True or False by considering those Forms and if Words will make it plain the Arguer is not mistaken For see all this in their Canticle Benedicite in the Morning Prayer What Stuff is this And yet these are some of the Methods which the Church of England takes up to justifie her self to defame her Mother-Church and to fill the World with Confusion 3. Making a Particular Confession of our Sins to Men instead of keeping up wholsom Discipline is the way to corrupt it and tends to the Debauching both Laity and Clergy To see whither an Indiscreet Zeal and Blind Passion hurries Men even to the blackning their own Church whilst they inveigh against their Neighbors Thus infamously is Confession painted out and yet this very Auricular Confession was allow'd to all and at all times as a good Protestant Practice in the First Common-Prayer-Book of Edward the Sixth And the Church of England now at this time refuses no sort of Confession as the Expounder of her Doctrins says p. 42. whether Public or Private And even now in her present Liturgy is the Minister order'd in the Visitation of the Sick to move the Sick Person to make a Special Confession of his Sins Certainly if it were true as the Preacher says that Confession tends to the Debauching both Laity and Clergy his Church is very much to blame for appointing such a Preparative for Death and ordering its Members thus to be Debauch'd at the last hour But this I consider as the Preacher's Heat who instead of reproving some Abuses thus blindly falls foul upon the Best of Institutions And the Apologizer has the Grace to follow him Tenth Character of a Pulpit-Papist THE Churches Interest is the Center of Their Religion and W. Wray ib. Their Consciences turn upon the same Pin. Every thing is Pious Conscientious and Meritorious that makes for their Cause In this Colour was Popery set out in the Year 1682. A time when the Church of England was with such blind Zeal and Devotion both in Desk and Pulpit pursuing her own Interest in the Unjust Defeating the Papists that if the Preacher had turn'd his Eyes nearer home he might have seen Himself and his Hearers an Instance of that Crime he was even then charging upon his Adversaries And tho' the Apologizer will have this True of the Papists by a wrested Interpretation of a Constitution of the Fathers of the Society contrary to the plain meaning of it Yet after that and all he can say he cannot but own it to be a receiv'd Maxim amongst all even the Loosest of our Divines and Casuists that No Evil is to be done that Good may come of it And there 's no Protestant but upon Reflection may call to mind how Religiously the Catholics of this Nation have observ'd it who for so many Years have been excluded the most considerable Places of Honor Trust and Profit which might have been so much to their own Private Advantage as likewise to that of their Church and yet have quietly and constantly quitted them all rather than do an ill thing take Oaths Tests or go to Church against their Conscience Thus have they acted like the Best of Christians in the face of the World without respect to the Interest of themselves or their Church and yet upon I know not what Speculation and Pulpit-Inferences are they most unjustly render'd as Men without Conscience as moving only upon Interest and scrupling at nothing nay making the worst of things Meritorious so it be but for the Advantage of Mother-Church Wicked Men of his Church as of any other may act upon such Principles but to set out his Religion in these Colours is a most Abusive Slander and more becoming the Rudeness of Street-Lectures than the Gravity and Sincerity that ought to be in the Pulpit Eleventh Character of a Pulpit Papist 1. HE changes Scripture into Legends 2. Sacraments into N. Bisby ib. Shews Priests into Puppets 3. Preaches Purgatory instead of Repentance 4. Faction instead of Faith never minds the Lawfulness of the Means provided the thing be but done Thus was the Papist drawn in 1683. but without Truth or Charity every Line being either absolutely False or drawn with so much Disingenuity that no more would be requir'd to make the Best of things Ridiculous For how do's the Papist change the Scripture into Legends when he is commanded