mean I should look upon him as the most immodest man that ever wrote who after the Confutation of the others Assertion hath the face to renew it again and publish it to the world but when I consider 't is want of knowledge in History that makes him so bold I am willing to excuse him upon that account from wilfull imposture tho' all the world cannot clear him from strange rashness and confidence I will therefore bate him all but near two hundred years and undertake to prove whenever call'd to do it that the Râ—manists Treasons owned by their Popes and great Men since the Reformation do far out number all the Plots and Insurrections they can lay to the Protestants Charge which notwithstanding have been condemned by the whole body of our Divines Mr. Pulton himself affirmed to Mr. Cressener that all good Princes ought to consent to the Church to which it being returned what if Princes have no mind to part from their Right in obedience to the Churches decrees must they be dispossess'd against their will he asserted that in such a case the Church hath power to decide in favour of it self This relation had been given the world of their discourse before Mr. Pulton published his Remarks in which he doth not once deny this passage though he makes Reflexions upon others 〈…〉 Cressener's Vindication But Mr. Pulton is not alone in this Opinion for there is a certain Jesuite who highly brags of the Loyalty of his Church that very lately affirmed in my hearing that in case of oppression of the Subjects by their Prince it is but reasonable that the Pope being the common Father of Christendom should have a power to depose or other ways punish the Oppressor and another great stickler for that Church a Convert never attempted to clear his Church of this Charge it being very plain as he affirmed that such a power must reside some where and the Pope was certainly the fittest to be intrusted with it And indeed I cannot see how men of any ingenuity can condemn it when they pretend the Pope's Approbation of M. De Meaux's Book is a clear Evidence that the Doctrine contained in it is the Doctrine of their Church for not to mention at present the Actions of former Popes this very Pope who approv'd that Book doth at this time notoriously assert his power over Kings by Excommunicating his Majesty of France in the matter of the Franchises thereby approving of that Doctrine as much as the Bishop's and giving us the same Authority for the deposing power that the Papists pretend for that Prelates Exposition Let Mr. Pulton or any for him make good his bold Slander against our Church and find so many Treasons and Rebellions in the Protestant Communion if he can as I will undertake to prove upon the Romanists affirming confidently is a Talent possess'd by most of the Missionaries but proving what they affirm is beneath them there have been above six and fifty open Rebellions raised and Parricides committed upon great Princes in about one hundred and sixty years and eighty two Bulls Indulgences and Supplies of the Popes for the furtherance of those Treasons besides an infinite number of horrid Conspiracies upon which I cannot but observe that at the beginning of the Reformation they own'd these Doctrines publickly and till the Pope gave them leave would never pay Obedience to our Princes but by all the traiterous Conspiracies imaginable endeavoured to depose and murder them they had the Pope's Bulls and Resolution of many Vniversities to satisfie their Consciences which mâ—y be well put into the ballance with the late Decrees of the Sorbonne against the deposing power for if their Decrees of late be Evidence enough to acquit the Roman Catholicks from the imputation of disloyal Principles as some affirm they are then surely so many Decrees of the same Faculty defending those Principles so many censures of other Vniversities pass'd upon the Opposers of them and so many Bulls and Breves of Popes to the same purposes may well justifie us in affirming that there is no security of their obediences any longer than the Pope pleases Till he forbad them they took the Oath of Allegiance and defended it but ever since have refus'd it with a strange Obstinacy and what security is there that his Orders shall not have the same obedience rendred to them in other points nay since that we have seen the Romanists of England who before were ready to subscribe the Remonstrance decline giving the King any assurance of their obedience because the Pope commanded them not to do it Could they have been prevailed on to renounce these Doctrines as sinfull and unlawfull they would have at least shewn that at present their principles were such as become faithfull Subjects but when they cannot be perswaded to do this all their profession that it is not their Doctrine gives no assurance of their Loyalty But if they should do this it is well observ'd by a late Writer that while they found their Loyalty upon this Supposition that the deposing Doctrine is not the Doctrine of the Roman Church doth not this Hypothesis afford a shrewd suspicion that if it were the Doctrine of the Church of Rome or ever should be so or they should ever be convinc'd that it is so then they would be for the deposing of Princes no less than those who at this day believe it to be the Doctrine thereof And I wonder how the Gentlemen of that Church can alledge the Decrees of the Sorbonne as an Evidence that they hold not the Doctrine of the deposing Power for the same Faculty Aug. 9. 1681. and the 16 th of the same Month approved the Oath of Allegeance and condemned the Pope's temporal Power over Princes as Heretical and yet our English Romanists will not take the Oath nor be perswaded to condemn the deposing power though they pretend to disclaim it And indeed it would be folly to expect that the decree of one single Faculty should be of more Authority than the Bulls of so many Popes and Canons of Councils the Supream Heads of the Roman Church But as I observ'd before it is more strange to hear these men affirm that the Doctrine contain'd in the Bishop of Condoms Exposition is the Doctrine of their Church and yet deny that the deposing power is so when all the Authority that Exposition hath is from the Pope and Cardinals approbation which in a more solemn manner hath been often given to that Doctrine so that either their Argument for the Bishops Book concludes nothing or it is an evident Demonstration that the Roman Catholick Church teaches the Doctrine of deposing Princes I offer to prove against them that the Popes power in that point was universally believed as a matter of Faith in that Church for near five hundred years now let them answer this Argument nothing can be believed as a matter of Faith but what was taught them
by their Fathers and so upward from the Apostles times but the Doctrine of the deposing power was believed as a matter of faith therefore it was deliver'd from the Apostles times let them either answer this Argument which is their own upon other points or confess that the deposing power is an Article of Faith in that Church for if the Argument be good it proves that to be an Article of Faith as well as others if it be not thâ—y give up all their brags of the Evidence of Oral Tradition from hand to hand so much insisted on by Mr. G. and others of their Champions among us But because it may be objected that the deposing Bulls were the effects of the passionate Tempers of those Popes I desire that one of their own Communion may be heard in that point who speaks thus I maintain that all these disasters proceeded not only from the pettish humour of any one Pope but were the natural effects of the principles of the Papacy and though we do not see it visibly break forth every day by some bloody Example yet we ought not to believe that the habit or the will is ever the less but that there is some external extraordinary Reason which suspends the Action and which doth sometimes make them act directly contrary to their own Inclination How can any man maintain that Princes need not stand in the fear of the Pope when three Popes of this present Age have condemned the opinion that the Pope cannot depose Kings as wicked and contrary to the Faith And now I have examined and refuted their Calumny of our Disloyalty in general and Mr. Pulton's Charge in particular which I have known asserted by others with so peculiar a confidence that it hath stagger'd many Loyal but weak Protestants in which as in All the rest of this Discourse I once again challenge the whole Body of the Romish Clergy to find one false Quotation and by the falsity of Mr. Pulton's Assertion I beg the Reader to judge what Credit the rest of their defaming Insinuations deserve CHAP. V. Of their laying Doctrines to our charge which we never taught AFter such a bold Assertion as that of Mr. Pultons which I refuted in the preceding Chapter we need not wonder if we meet with the same Treatment which the Christians in Tertullian's time under went seeing we have to do with a sort of Men who repeat their Slanders the oftner they are reprov'd and not asham'd to impute Doctrines to the Reformed which their Confessions disclaim and the Writings of their Divines confute At a time when the Gentlemen of that Communion make so loud Complaints of being misrepresented as to their doctrines and practices and with the utmost of their Rhetorick exaggerate the Injury which by such Misrepresentations is done to Truth and their Church it might rationally be expected that they should believe what they say and have some Sense of such injust proceedings or at least should in policy take care that their own Writings be not stuffed with false Charges against their Adversaries But it is somewhat surprizing to find no care taken in so material a point and that they are no more solicitous to represent our Doctrines right than to defend their own which they seem wholly to abandon if any pains be taken by them it is to bespatter the Protestants and coin opinions for them for they find it much more easie to refute those imaginary Positions than overthrow the well-grounded Tenets of the Reformed Churches Hence it is that that there is no Calumny so absurd which they blush to publish and that the old Charge against the Waldenses and Albigenses is renued by the Author of Popery Anatomiz'd who copies from the Jesuit Parsons affirming that they denyed the Resurrection of the dead or that there is any such place as Hell that with the Manichees they held two Gods and that it avails a man nothing to say his Prayers with several other Doctrines of a horrid nature but if we consult the Authors that wrote in and near the time we shall find a quite contrary Account that they were to all appearance a very pious people living righteously before men and believing all things rightly concerning God and all the Articles of the Creed and that their lives were more holy than other Christians insomuch that when the King of France sent Commissioners to enquire of and inspect their Life and Doctrine and they inform'd him that they baptiz'd and taught the Articles of the Creed and Precepts of the Decalogue observ'd the Lord's Day preached the Word of God and that they were not guilty of those abominable Crimes imputed to them he SWORE that THEY WERE BETTER THAN HE OR HIS PEOPLE WHO WERE CATHOLICKS But though the Romanists have no Authority for their Charge yet they have a motive which is always prevalent in that Church the Waldenses and with great freedom reprov'd the Vices of the Pope and Clergy and this was the chief thing which subjected them to such an universal hatred and caused several wicked Opinions to be father'd upon them which they never own'd For they agreed with the Faith of the Protestants at this day as Popliniere affirms who alledgeth the Acts of a Disputation between the Bishop of Pamiers and Arnoltot Minister of Lombres written in a Language favouring much of the Catalan Tongue affirming that some had assured him that the Articles of their Faith were yet to be seen engraven 〈◊〉 certain old Tables in Alby agreeing exactly with the Reformeâ— Churches And Mr. Fountain Minister of the French Church at London told Arch-bishop Vsher that in his time a Confession of the Albigenses was found which was approved of by a Synod of French Protestants Thus as the Romanists have brought most of the Heathens Rites and the ceremonious part of their Worship into theirs so they seem to be actuated by the same Spirit which taught the Pagans to represent our Holy Religion in the most odious manner and they have found such success attending this unchristian Artifice that it is hugg'd as their darling and when any party discovers their Corruptions they endeavour to expose them as men of seditious Principles which will effectually render Princes jealous of them and draw upon them the displeasure of those under whose protection they might otherwise be secure that the common people may entertain as great an Aversion to them it is not onely their practice but a principle of their Policy laid down by a famous Jesuite to charge them with such Opinions as are absurd in themselves and abhorr'd by all men By this means they are sure to possess the vulgar with such prejudices that they will lend no Ear to the other side whom they look upon as a sort of Monsters according to the Character these Politicians have given of them And such Opinions being easily confuted if they can but once perswade an ignorant
Protestant that the Church of which he is a Member holds them there needs no great industry to prevail with such a man to leave it This course the Popish Bishop of Ferns in Ireland took to perswaâ—e Father Andrew Sall who had left the Jesuits among whom he had continued many years and about sixteen years since became a Member of our Church to return to the Romish Communion insomuch that Father Walsh confesses that he had strangely misrepresented the Church of England in his Book against that Convert But I think never did any of their Writers equal Father Porter Reader of Divinity in the College of St Isidore at Rome who this very year in a Book printed there and dedicated to the Earl of Castlemain and Licensed by the Companion of the Master of the Sacred Palace and others as a Book very usefull for the instruction of the faithfull tells us that the God of the Protestants doth not differ from the Devil nor his Heaven from Hell and that the whole Frame of our Religion is founded in this horrid Blasphemy THAT CHRIST IS A FALSE PROPHET which he attempts to prove by another Misrepresentation as great as this for saith he the English Confession of Faith asserts that General Councils GUIDED BY THE HOLY GHOST AND THE WORD OF GOD may Err for which he cites the 19. and 20. Articles of our Church the latter of which onely asserts that the Church ought to be guided in her decisions by the Word of God and tho' the former doth affirm that the Church of Rome hath erred yet it saith nothing of General Councils the 21 Article indeed affirms that they may Err and the Reason it gives is because they are an ASSEMBLY OF MEN WHO ARE NOT ALL GUIDED BY THE SPIRIT AND WORD OF GOD so that all this Fryers Exclamation of the horridness of such a Doctrine as he charg'd upon us serves onely to shew his own immodesty and to let the world see with what strange Confidence some men can advance Assertions and alledge Authorities which any one that can read will discover to be forg'd This I confess seems to be a new Charge of his own inventing but that which he brings in another place that we are not oblig'd by our Religion to pray was long since framed by the Priests at the beginning of the Reformation who perswaded the people that in England the Protestants had neither Churches nor form of Religion nor serv'd God any way and they had so possess'd them with that opinion that several persons were reckon'd Lutherans onely because they were horrid Blasphemers That the Decalogue is not obligatory to Christians and that God doth not regard our Works is one of the monstrous Opinions which Campion had the confidence to 〈◊〉 both our Vniversities was maintained by the Church of England and like a Child who to cover one untruth backs it with another he quotes the Apology of the Church of England as his voucher wherein these words are found which are so clear that they alone are enough to make those blush who by Translating and Publishing this Treatise of Campions the last year have made his Forgeries their own the words of the Apology are these although we acknowledge we expect nothing from our own Works but from Christ onely yet this is no encouragement to a loose life nor for any to think it sufficient to believe and that nothing else is to be expected from them for True Faith is a living and working Faith therefore we teach the people that God hath called us to good Works And that the Reader may see what Credit is to be given to the Romanists in this point I shall give an account of the Doctrine of the several Reformed Churches about the necessity of good Works and then shew with what confidence these Gentlemen affirm that the Protestants teach that good Works are not necessary The four Imperial Cities in their Confession of Faith presented to the Emperour in the year 1530. having explained the Doctrine of Justification by Faith onely have these words But we would not have this understood as if we allowed Salvation to a lazy Faith for we are certain that no man can be saved who doth not love God above all things and with all his might endeavour to be like him or who is wanting in any good Work And therefore enjoyn their Ministers to preach up frequent Prayer and Fasting as holy Works and becoming Christians in which the Augustan Coâ—fession agrees with them that good Works necessarily follow a true Faith for even at that time the Calumny that they denyed the necessity of them was very common as appears by their solemn disclaiming any such Opinion in the twentieth Article affirming that he cannot have true Faith who doth not exercise Repentance The same is taught by the Helvetian Churches in their Confession compos'd at Basil Ann. 1532. that true Faith shews it self by good Works and in another fram'd at the same place Ann. 1536. we find this Assertion that Faith is productive of all good Works The Bohemian Churches affirm that he who doth not exercise Repentance shall certainly Perish and that good Works are absolutely necessary to Salvation is the Doctrine of the Saxon Reformers in their Confession of Faith offer'd to the Council of Trent Ann. 1551. and in that presented to the same Council by the Duke of Wirtemberg the following year there is this Profession we acknowledge the Decalogue to contain injunctions for all good works and that we are bound to obey all the moral Precepts of it We teach that good works are necessary to be done And in particular it commends Fasting and in the twenty second Article of the French Confession it is affirmed that the Doctrine of Faith is so far from being an hindrance to a holy Life that it excites us to it so that it is necessarily attended with good works The Church of England agrees with the rest of the Reformed Artic. 12. that good works are acceptable to God and do necessarily spring out of a True and lively Faith. And the Confession of Faith subscribed by all the Churches of Helvetia Ann. 1566. and afterwards by the Reformed of Poland Scotland Hungary and Geneva gives this account of the Faith of those Churches Faith causes us to discharge our duty toward God and our Neighbour makes us patient in Adversity and produces all good works in us so we teach good works to be the Off-spring of a lively Faith. And although we affirm with the Apostle that we are justified by Faith in Christ and not by our good works yet we do not reject them But condemn all who despise good works and teach that they are not necessary And in the thirteenth and fourteenth Articles of the Scotch Confession they maintain the necessity of all good
works because they are commanded by God which is likewise the Doctrine of the Dutch Churches as appears by the Profession of their Faith in the Synod of Dort affirming that it is impossible that True Faith should be without works seeing it is a Faith working by love which causes a man to do all those good works which God hath commanded in his word And the same Doctrine is delivered in the Articles of the Church of Ireland but because I have not those Articles at hand I omit the words Thus by an VNIVERSAL CONSENT of ALL the PROTESTANTS we find the NECESSITY OF GOOD WORKS maintained and I CHALLENGE OUR ADVERSARIES TO PRODUCE ANY ONE ALLOWED AUTHOR WHO HOLDS THE CONTRARY AMONG US WHICH IS A UNITY BEYOND WHAT THEY CAN SHEW IN THEIR CHURCH FOR ANY ONE POINT though if they could it would not justifie their Charge who so often tell us that we must not take the Faith of any Church from private writings but their publick Confessions But these Gentlemen scorn to be tyed by any Rules tho' never so just even in their own opinions and therefore in a Supplication directed to King James by several Romish Priests they affirm that whosoever leaveth their Communion for ours beginneth immediately to lead a worse life so it is grown into a Proverb that the Protestant Religion is good to live in but the Papist Religion good to dye in And indeed they made it their business to possess their people with that Opinion so that Father Francis de Neville a Capuchin confesseth That he did imagine for a long time that they of the Reformed Churches admitting Justification by Faith alone did it to exclude good works from the way of Salvation and shew themselves in that to be Enemies of Charity and of other Virtues and did therefore extreamly condemn them but when he came to sound their Doctrine and see how they judge good Works necessary to Salvation and that the Faith whereof they speak is not a dead Faith but a lively Faith accompanied with good Works He acknowledged they were wrongfully blam'd in this as in many other things also But though this Gentleman was so sincere yet there are but few among them who tread in his steps for to pass by all the Controvertists of the last Age we need go no farther than these late years to find instances of their Misrepresentations in this Particular one of them in a Book dedicated to her Majesty tells the world that the Principle of our Religion takes from us the yoke of fasting freeth us from all necessity of good works to be saved and of keeping the Commandments of God and that we might not think he asserted these onely to be consequences of our Doctrines he adds that most Protestants hold that position and that it is our express Doctrine and in another place he affirms that praying watching and fasting are wholly out of use among Protestants and not only contrary to the liberty of their new Gospel but even fruitless vain superstitious Toys according to the Tenets and Principles thereof Another sets it down as one of the Protestant Articles That good works are not absolutely necessary to Salvation Which Father Turbervill confirms by being more particular The Catholick Church saith he teacheth much Fasting Prayer and Mortâ—â—â—cation she exhorts to good works voluntary Poverty Chastity and Obedience the contrary to all which holy Doctrines are taught by Protestants And a very late Author insinuates that it is all one to Protestants whether God be served with Fasting Watching Mortifying or without But the Roman Divine Father Porter is more express that one of the Causes which renders the Reformed so averse to Popery is that they abhor Fasting and Repentance and account Prayer and other Offices of Religion tedious that our Religion allows us to believe that good works are not necessary to Salvation that by our Doctrine Thieves Murderers Blasphemers c. may attain Heaven BY THEIR BEING SO if they will but believâ— and that BY BEING SVCH they are as much the Sons of God as the Apostles were with abundance more of such abominable stuff fit only for carrying on a most malicious Design When with their best Rhetorick these Gentlemen have endeavoured to perswade the world that they are abus'd in the account given of their Doctrines by our Divines all they pretend to complain of amounts to no more than this that we have drawn Consequences from our Doctrine which they will not hear and we find not that their greatest malice can pretend to much more surely then it is high time for them to reflect a little upon that Counsel of our SAVIOUR first to pull the Beam out of their own Eye 'T is not for want of Materials but because I would not be prolix that I produce no more particulars in this point of good works for I do not remember to have seen any one of their writings which is not guilty in this kind I have more need to make an Apology for insisting so long upon this one particular but I was easily induc'd to it knowing that one of their great Designs is to possess the devouter sort of men with a belief that we left their Communion to have greater Liberty for the Flesh in prosecution of which they are so strangely immodest as to publish such false Opinions for us as directly contradict our publick Confessions the discovering of which I look'd upon the best way to oppose their Slanders But to take a short view of other particulars The Author of Veritas Evangelica before cited runs wholly upon this point that we believe the whole Church hath failed and thence argues that Christ had no Church for some years into the same Error Father Mumford the Jesuit runs and another affirms that we teach the Church of all Nations is confin'd to England Because we reject all Traditions that are not according to the Rule of Lirinensis received every where at all times and by all Father Porter laies this down as one of our Principles that all Traditions of all sorts are the inventions of men though he could not but know that we receive the Scriptures from such an universal Tradition and are ready to embrace any other Doctrine conveyed to us as they are With the same sincerity and modesty he affirms that we pretend that the EXPRESS WORDS of Scripture are our RULE OF FAITH without any interpretation or consequence drawn from them tho' not to mention other Churches the Church of England declares that we are to be guided not onely by the express words of the Scripture but by the consequences drawn from it and yet this Gentleman affirms that our Confessions of Faith pretend onely to the express words It is notoriously known that our Differences about Church Government are no Articles of our Faith and yet this Author tells us that the equality of power in
the Pastors of the Church is one of the fundamental Articles of the Reformation A way of misrepresenting which hath been sufficiently blacken'd by themselves so that I need say nothing to expose it But to leave this Fryer whose whole Book consists of little else but as bad or worse Assertions one of their Champions could perswade the world that we account the belief of Transubstantiation to be Idolatry a cunning Artifice to draw the people from considering where the Charge is laid not against the Doctrine of the corporal Presence but the Adoration of the Host. And his fellow Advocate seems resolv'd not to be behind hand when he affirms that we believe there is nothing to be hoped for of substance in the Sacrament We dispute with great earnestness against the Idolatrous Worship given to Angels and Saints in that Church and our Adversaries have found it impossible to make a fair defence for it therefore they betake themselves to prove that those happy Spirits pray for us which we acknowledge as well as they and yet a very celebrated writer affirms that we deny it We profess to believe the Article of the Communion of Saints but Mr. Ward hath the assurance to tell the world That Protestants believe no Communion of Saints Hitherto we have had Instances of their direct way of misrepresenting but they are not so unskilfull as not to be furnished with finer Methods and which are not so easily discovered by the vulgar when they are eagerly disputing 'tis an easie thing to drop some Assertion which in the heat of Discourse shall pass unheeded by the warm Adversary but they will be sure to resume it and make their Advantage of it s not being contradicted either during the conference or afterwards to some of the persons then present which renders it necessary for those who engage with them to watch every word and not onely attend to the main Question for by this method they gain one of these two points if their Insinuation be not answered at first they will urge the point as granted and if the disputant deny it they presently cry out that he is now reduc'd to a strait and so denies what he own'd before which observation shall be surely seconded and applauded by their Adherents and often leaves an impression in the weaker Hearers on the other hand if when they find themselves pressed and at a stand which is their usual time to drop such a bye assertion and that their Artifice is discovered and their position denied they leave the first point and pursue the other and so engage insensibly in a desultory dispute from one thing to another never fix'd by which they render most disputations ineffectual so that whether stopt in their design or not they make their Advantage either to misrepresent our Doctrine or extricate themselves from the difficulties they can't resolve Thus one of their Divines urging the Authority of the Fathers to a Protestant and not willing to expose himself so far as to affirm in express terms that we thought those Holy Men divinely inspired us'd this Expression that seeing we owned the Authority of the DIVINELY INSPIRED FATHERS he would prove the Infallibility of the Church from their Writings to this the Gentleman not regarding the Epithete answered that he could not and so proceeded in the dispute they had not been parted many hours but the Fryer desired some of the company to observe how the Protestants contradicted themselves about their Rule of Faith professing to receive whatever was inspired by the Holy Ghost and yet not admitting the writings of the Fathers into the Rule tho' the opponent had acknowledged that they were inspired from above and when it was reply'd that there was no such Concession he urg'd that when he termed them Divinely inspir'd there was no exception taken at it which was a tacit affirming them to be so But the Gentlemen were too wise to be caught with so very slight an Appearance I shall have occasion to give a farther account of this under another Head therefore I shall at present onely observe that how thin soever this Artifice is in it self they use it in their publick discourses as well as private Conversation Mr. Clench arguing for the Infallibility of Councils hath these words speaking of our Appeal to the four first General Councils I know no reason why the Church should be credited in the four first General Councils and slighted and dis-believed in the following Christ promised he would be with them to the consummation of the world I can find no place where Christ promis'd to be with them for a limited time so as to direct them in their first Assemblies and to leave them for the future to themselves Here he would make the Reader believe that we receive those Synods as believing them secur'd from Error by Christ's promise for else his Argument is impertinent but we do not receive them on any infallible Authority of theirs not because they could not err but because they did not and therefore we reject others because they have err'd for we know of no promise made to them but are yet ready to receive any such Councils as the first were who govern themselves by the Holy Scriptures They find no great difficulty in confuting imaginary Opinions which makes them so very dexterous in this Method to dispute against our Doctrine of Justification by Faith was too hard a task and therefore F. T. coins a new definition of it in the middle of his Argument and immediately runs away with that endeavouring to prove that Faith is not an assured Belief that our sins are forgiven learnedly arguing against his own imagination however he had what he aim'd at for he made a shew of saying somewhat and if he could but perswade any ignorant Protestant that the definition was own'd by the Reformed he was sure he had overthrown it With the same sincerity another of their Champions would insinuate that the Protestants left the Communion of Rome because of the wickedness of the Members of that Church and therefore heaps up Authorities to prove that it is not a sufficient motive for a separation from them but all his Labour is to very little purpose for we know the Tares and Wheat are to grow together till Harvest and not onely the wickedness of their Priests and Bishops but the Errors and monstrous Corruptions of their Church could not have justified our Separation if they had not endeavour'd to force us to be partakers of those Abominations which we durst not do least we should be partakers of those Plagues which are denounc'd against them It was an easie matter to prove the former no ground for Separation but some thing hard to undertake the other Point so that our Author wisely wav'd it It was observ'd by the Duke of Buckingham that these Gentlemen serv'd themselves of hatefull Nick-names when they are pressed in disputes about Religion
obedience with the humble what great imployment with stirring and metall'd spirits what perpetual quiet with heavy and restive bodies what content the pleasant nature can take in pastimes and jollity what contrariwise the austere mind in discipline and rigour what love either chastity can raise in the pure or voluptuousness in the dissolute what allurements are in knowledge to draw the contemplative or in actions of state to possess the practick dispositions what with the hopefull prerogative of reward can work what errors doubts and dangers with the fearfull what change of vows with the rash of estate with the inconstant what pardons with the faulty or supplies with the defective what miracles with the credulous what visions with the fantastical what gorgeousness of shews with the vulgar and simple what multitude of ceremonies with the superstitious and ignorant what prayer with the devout what with the charitable works of piety what rules of higher perfection with elevated affections what dispencing with breach of all rules with men of lawless conditions And so he goes on to shew how the very constitution of their Church is made up of such contrariety which I shall insist farther on in another place my business here being to shew how they are prepared to fit each temper and inclination with suitable discourses and allurements They know the greatest part of men in the world are either very much taken with gaudy and pompous sights which bewitch their senses and so wholly possess them as to take away all room for rational reflexions or so charm'd with the delights of their belov'd corruptions that they are unwilling to part with them To catch the first sort we find them boasting of the splendour and outward glory of the Church of Rome to such a degree that they have made this pomp a mark of the True Church this is observ'd by an ingenious Author of their own Communion That they insist much upon the fine Churches they have at Rome whose admirable Structure doth greatly edifie Believers and as Cardinal Pallavicini says lib. 8. c. 17. is of it self capable to convert infidel Princes this way of catching people by gaudy Shews and splendid Sights is look't on with such a favourable Eye among them that the three Bishops from Bononia in a Letter of Advice to Pope Julius the Third observe that the vulgar are given to admire and to be amused with these things in the contemplation of which their minds are as it were so intangled that they have no relish for any other Food no inclination to any other Doctrine they affirm that they were design'd for that purpose and therefore give it as their Judgment that they should be augmented and multiplied for say they if the introducing and appointing those few which we have mention'd were of such use to the Settlement of your Kingdom of what advantage would it be were there some new ones added and this Advice was so exactly observed that the excellent Richerius a Doctor of the Sorbon tells us that this was the the Scope and Design of the Reformation established by the TRENT COUNCIL nothing being effected for the Truth but external Pomp provided for so that innumerable splendid gaudy Ceremonies were dayly invented whence proceeded a magnificent and theatrical Way of adorning their Churches the Sacerdotal Ornaments glittering with Gold and Silver while the Priests who wore them were mere Stocks by which Artifices the peoples minds were amus'd and insensibly drawn from the consideration of the necessity of Reformation which made the learn'd Andreas Masius complain that Piety was extinguished and Discipline neglected while all Applications were made and Inventions used to increase their Pomp. The glittering Gold in their Temples and curious Images of Saints and Angels the numerous and stately Altars the mighty silver Statues the rich and glorious Vestments you see up and down in their Churches strike the Senses into a kind of Ecstasy which they are so sensible of that with all their Rhetorick they enlarge upon this Subject striving to perswade their intended Proselytes to see with what Magnificence they perform their Worship thus when his MAJESTY of Blessed Memory KING CHARLES the First being then Prince was in the Spanish Court there were great Summs expended in solemn glittering Processions and their Churches set out with their richest Ornaments to charm his Senses but he was too well grounded in his Religion to be caught with that Bait And I remember this is given by Capt. Robert Everard as a Motive to his Conversion as he calls it to the Roman Church The great use they make of it enclines me to believe this device is accompanied with more than ordinary Success it is also so universal that in the Indies they have these Pageants to delight the Senses and Phancies of the INDIANS Against Christmass Day they set up a thatch't House like a Stall in some Corner of their Churches with a Blazing-Star over it pointing to the three Wise Men from the â—ast within this Stall they lay a Crib and the Image of a Child the Virgin Mary standing on one side and Joseph on the other there is likewise an Ass and an Ox the three Wise Men kneel and offer their Gifts the Shepherds stand aloof off with theirs and the Angels hang about the Stall with several Instruments of Musick and there is scarce an Indian that cometh not to see this Bethleem as we are assured by one who was a Fryer and dwelt in those parts above twelve Years who gives several other Instances of the same Nature I have frequently been answered by their Converts when desiring to know what they found amiss in our Church that we dâ—d nothing to keep up the Remembrance of our Saviour which they were at the greatest Charges to effect and I have received a Relation from a Gentleman very conversant among them which for several Reasons I think worth inserting This Gentleman in his Travels being at Brussels in the Low-Countries was often invited by the Priests there to their Churches and Convents after some time spent in debating Points in difference between the two Churches they finding no probability of his Conversion one day told him there would be a great Ceremony at such a Church the Fryday following being Good-Fryday at which they desired he would be present one of them adding that he thought the sight of it alone was enough to convert any Heretick and instanced in one or two Persons on whom it had a very powerfull effect according to their desire the Gentleman went and by the motion he felt in himself the Representation being so lively that it melted him into Tears doth profess he believes the weaker sort of men who are not very well grounded in their Religion may be strangely altered by such a sight tho' upon deliberation he found it so gross a piece of IDOLATRY that it created in him a greater detestation of the Religion
of the Church of Rome than he had before It being never that I know of related by any Author I believe it will be very acceptable to the Reader to have an Account of it At the upper end of the Church there is a large Stage erected in the midst of which is set up a Cross on which is nailed an Image of our Saviour given as they say by the INFANTA ISABELLA made of Pastboard but exactly to the Life having Joynts and the Veins appearing as full of Blood it is crown'd with Thorns and hangs in the posture of a crucified Person on one side stands the Image of the Blessed Virgin all in mourning and on the other a Coffin to lay the Image in After the Sermon the Governor and most of the Nobility being present there come forth six Fryers bare-foot in their Stoles who fall prostrate before the Image frequently beating their Breasts lifting up their Heads and looking on it with all the signs of Grief and Adoration then rising by degrees two of them remain kneeling each holding an end of a large Swathe which is put under the Armes of the Image two standing under the Image to receive it and the other two ascending two Ladders which are placed at the Back of the Cross when one with a great deal of Reverence taking off the Crown of Thorns wipes it and descending brings it to the Front of the Stage where shewing it to the people they all kneel with much Devotion then approaching the Image of the Virgin he falls on his Knees and lays it at her Feet then returning up the Ladder they with a great noise and knocking take out one of the Nails upon which the arme of the Image falls exactly like the arme of a dead man this Nail he carries to the people who as before prostrate themselves and he with the same gesture presents it to the Virgin after which the other nails are shewn and presented the Body being taken down and brought by them with a slow pace and mournfull look to the people they adore again when the Fryers upon their knees present it to the Virgin and with much ceremony lay it in a glass Coffin in which it is carried round the Town the several Orders the Carthusians and Jesuits excepted who attend at no procession with lighted Candles preceding the Governour of the Netherlands and the Nobility following bare-headed what they did afterwards the Gentleman saw not Thus have the Romanists brought the most gross Pageantry into their Church to be motives to their Religion not considering that the Heathens of Japan and China and the Inhabitants of America whose Images and the inside of their Temples are all of Massy Gold have in this respect a fairer Title to be the True Church than they from whence the Heathens of old cannot be excluded if Pomp as Bellarmine and others teach be a Mark of the true Church seeing their Ceremonies and Rites of this nature are copyed from them as is confessed by Cardinal Baronius that the Offices of Pagan Superstition were purposely introduc'd and consecrated to the service of God as he calls it and true Religion And yet by this very Method they gain so much that a diligent Observer of them before cited affirms that were it not that the Musick Perfumes and rich Sights did hold the outward Senses with their natural delight surely their Worship could not but either be abandon'd for the fruitlesness or only upon fear and constraint frequented And in this particular they have their several Baits according to the several Dispositions of men for the more refin'd sort of those who are caught with these glorious and splendid sights they have such representations as I have mentioned but for the less discerning they are like their Similitudes so gross that in a person of a very moderate understanding they are fitter to excite a loathing and contempt than admiration for what other effect can proceed from such a picture as of that over the Altar at Worms which one would think was invented by the enemies of Transubstantiation to make it appear ridiculous There is a Wind-mill and the Virgin throws Christ into the Hopper and he comes out at the eye of the Miln all in Wafers which some Priests take up and give to the people But notwithstanding the coursness of this Emblem it is so agreeable to the Genius of the German Boors that it is to this day over one of their Altars there This practice of theirs in which they place so much confidence and to which they are beholden for much of their success is so far from being warrantable that it is directly contrary to the design of the Gospel whose simplicity is such as that it needs none of these gew-gaws to support it and therefore was spread by the first planters of it without them Saint Paul was so far from making use of such vanities that he durst not use the enticing words of man's wisedom in his Sermons and Exhortations which surely is much more tolerable than to endeavour to gain men to the true Religion by bewitching them with those sensual objects which the design of Christianity is to wean them from and certainly when we are caution'd not to be like children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine through the slight of men there is a particular caution included therein against suffering such vain shews and gaudy pomps to make impression on us which are the peculiar delights of children and must needs argue us very much children in understanding and religion to be intic'd by them The truth of this is so clear that those among the Romanists who endeavour to fix in their minds a right Idea of Christianity remembring that the Founder of it said His Kingdom was not of this world conceive such an indignation against these carnal and vain Methods that one of them doth not stick to say That if any man be converted by these he is a fool and assures us that he knows that upon people of understanding who apply themselves to solid things and grow in spirit and truth this hath a contrary effect for these things do debauch the mind and set it on wandering The enquiry continues he is about seeking God and finding him in those places and it is not the sight of the fine guilding or the excellent painting of an Edifice nor the hearing of a sweet Harmony but rather the lifting up of our minds above sensible objects and separating them as much as possibly we can from sense and imagination it is the fixing the eyes of our understanding with a religious attention upon that invisible spirit upon that Sun of Justice and when we do it with that Love and Reverence that is due to it we shall never fail of seeing and hearing the most delightfull things And then he goes on to lay down reasons why we ought not to be wrought upon by such external things
Vnderstandings but so they get them to their side they have their end but this I refer to the SECOND PART where I design to treat more particularly of this Method There is yet another effect which the readiness of the MISSIONARIES to OBLIGE those they deal with is design'd to produce the creating such a good opinion of them as shall incline men to be guided by their Directions this I mention'd before but chose to insist upon it here because it is usually furthered by the opinion of Zeal and Love to Souls which by their words and gestures they endeavour to drive the people into a belief of But here it is to be considered that a fair Carriage is not the sign of a messenger of Truth but may be and is found in deceivers and false Prophets our Saviour having long since told us that false prophets come in sheeps clothing and the great Apostle of the Gentiles informs us that with good words and fair speeches they deceive the Hearts of the simple and therefore is the more earnest with the Colossians because he knew deceivers would use enticing words such going about for that end who have a form of Godliness though not the power and for these who go about in the name of Christ to promote their own ends with words smoother than Butter our Saviour when he told us of them gave us likewise a rule how to deal with them ye shall know them by their fruits not by their outward actions for none are more outwardly strict than deceivers but by their Doctrines if they be not of God all the rest is but sheeps cloathing but pretence to innocence and sincerity when the Essence of it is wanting that sheeps cloathing being expounded by the Romanists themselves to imply an affected simplicity and sincerity enticing words and specious works Now for any man to be caught with these which are the special properties of false prophets and deceivers would appear incredible if Experience did not shew how little the Cautions of our Saviour are reflected on which renders such weak persons the less capable of excuse because though they were warn'd of this Snare they would not avoid it This shew of Zeal and Piety we are told by the Jesuite Acosta will be industriously affected by the Messengers of Antichrist whereby he says they will ensnare many heedless and unthinking Souls which makes that caution of the Wise Man absolutely necessary to be frequently reflected on and diligently observed when he speaketh fair believe him not for if the ANTICHRISTIAN EMISSARIES shall bid as fair for the good opinion of men by such specious preserve how great an indifference ought every one to preserve for all persons till they see their fruits This is equally the duty of all sides neither can we be too suspicious in matters of our Eternal Concern where nothing but evident proof from Divine Authority should prevail with us For in obedience to the command of St. John to try the spirits whether they are of God it is our business to receive no Doctrine till it is confirmed by the word of God this suspicion and caution is recommended to us by the great Champion of the Romanists at OXFORD so that all reason concurs to excite us to that diligence for which the Apostle Paul so highly commends the Inhabitants of BEREA that they would not believe what he taught till by searching the Scriptures they found he agreed with them I know indeed the Gentlemen of the Church of Rome will not allow such a search but the aforesaid Author expresly affirms that when new Doctrines come into the world Christians are directed to try such Doctrines whether they be of God which is all I at present plead for If I should urge to this end the same reason which SOLOMON does where he gives this Advice He that hateth dissembleth with his Lips and layeth up deceit within him when he speaketh fair believe him not for there are seven Abominations in his Heart I could find several Instances given by their own Divines to justify such a Caution but because this Chapter is lengthen beyond what I at first intended I shall remit them to another place and mention onely the instance of Mr. Parsons the famous Writer against K. James's Succession to the Crown and in defence of the Pope's deposing power of whom several French Divines observe that no mans Writings are fuller of Spite than his But it is mixt with such floods of Crocdiles Tears when he is most spitefull that he then always pretends so much Charity and tenderness as if every hard word he uses went to his very heart by which the simpler sort are greatly blinded Nay they are so us'd to this pretence of love to Souls that in the INQVISITION when they are tormenting a Heretick as they call him with the greatest Torments they pretend all is out of love to his Soul though all the WORLD KNOWS that Tortures make no real Converts and consequently seeing they can have no effect upon the Soul they can do that no good I know it is very hard for one whose disposition is ingenious to guard himself from such Insinuations and therefore have been the more prolix in setting forth the COMMAND of our SAVIOVR and the NECESSITY of being very WATCHFVLL over our selves lest out of a piece of good nature we throw away our Souls and make shipwrack of the Faith. Let us endeavour to have a real Love for them and our desires for their Salvation be sincere and fervent but till they can shew us a CHVRCH that doth more sincerely advance the great ends of HOLINESS and PIETY let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering and not throw away our selves out of love to others as those unfortunate Gentlemen who purely out of love to Catesby became partakers of his Guilt in the GVNPOWDER-TREASON and so lost their Fames their Lives and greatly hazarded their Souls CHAP. II. Of their strange Confidence in asserting any thing that may tend to their Advantage TO strengthen that Advice with which I concluded the former Chapter it is an excellent Observation no less true than ingenious made by an eminent Divine who lived seventeen Years abroad among the ROMANISTS that the proper Genius and as it were the universal Spirit of that Church consists much in a confidence to raise any thing which they have although that were but a Dung-hill into a Castle and by the noise of strange Expressions to perswade you out of your own knowledge that you may believe the Enchantment Transubstantiation c. had been as soon tumbled down as started up had they not been kept on foot by this kind of ROMAN-HECTORING Which is so fit a name for their Carriage that there are no men in the world to whom the Appellation of SPIRITVAL HECTORS so properly belongs as to these Gentlemen all the
name of Bonarscius had published his Book wherein he defended the power of Popes over the Lives and Temporalities of KINGS finding how ill it was resented at the Court of France confidently asserted that it was a Book written by the Hereticks and published only to make the Jesuits odious and yet the same man when he had opportunity highly commended the very same Book as very fit for the instruction of youth and was a means of dispersing many Copies of it Let the impartial Reader but reflect on this carriage which is so universally approv'd among them and he will find it was not without reason that I desir'd of him in the former Chapter TO DISTRUST EVERY THING THEY SAY It was a Habit I was very unwilling to endeavour after till my experience of their way of writing and observations of their discourses convinc'd me of the absolute necessity all who deal with them lie under to attain it for I cannot call to mind any one of their Books nor remember any particular Conversation which I have been engag'd in with them wherein I have not met with such shuffling and insincere Answers offered with as grave a countenance and as much assurance as if there was no jugling at the Bottom To alledge all the instances which the late passages of this nature furnish us with would be as troublesome to the Reader as tedious to me The Oxford Champion gives Luther the Lye for quoting a passage which though this Civil Gentleman is pleas'd to deny it is in the Author he professes to take it from The late Bishop of Meath assures us There are who contrary to all evidence confidently aver write and openly proclaim to the world that there was no Rebellion in Ireland in 1641. but they themselves the IRISH and PAPISTS of Ireland were then the SUFFERERS and the PROTESTANTS the first AGGRESSORS which they back with such confidence that the Bishop assures us it hath already gain'd great belief with many An eminent Divine lately discoursing with some of the Roman Church and producing the Roman Breviary in confirmation of the point he was insisting on one of them very confidently told him that it was forg'd by the Protestants and when he offer'd the Passion week printed in English at Paris he met with the same Answer And at this day they spread among their people a report that the reason of the few hardships for they strive to represent them as few as possible of the French Protestants is because they designed to Rebell against the King. It is almost incredible what a multitude of such instances might be given and as strange that men who pretend to so much Religion should be guilty of them but they find the effects of them so pleasing that there is no hope they should ever be prevail'd on to relinquish these unhandsome Methods and behave themselves with more modesty and respect to Truth For hereby they have so possess'd their people with false notions and fill'd their heads with such invented stories that they look upon us as a parcel of men who can neither write nor speak truth insomuch that but a few days ago when I offer'd to a Gentleman of that Communion to prove his Church guilty of FORGING AVTHORS and altering the genuine works of the ancient Fathers and modern Divines he reply'd that he was so sure of the contrary that tho' I should swear it he would never believe it true nay if I should shew him the very Books he was sure they must be some of our own making and therefore would givâ— no credit to them just such an encounter Mr. Crashaw had with some of the same Religion upon this Subject when objecting the INDEX EXPURGATORIUS they presently reply'd it was never done by the Catholick Church but it was some trick of BEZA or JUNIUS devised to disgrace the Catholick Cause To justifie his Accusation he produced STELLA on Luke which was purged as the Title it self declared according to the rules of that Index they answered the Title might be put in by some of us in malice to make the world believe the Romish Church did what they have not done Nay when he produc'd Possevine the Jesuite affirming that he was so purg'd they would not be satisfied but still declar'd there was no such thing And this is the case of many thousands at this day among them Neither is this confident trick of asserting whatever they fansie may advance their Cause practis'd onely when they are pressed with an Argument or Authority but in their own Arguments against us they will not stick to publish the greatest Falsities if it may either create an ill opinion of us or enhance their peoples esteem for them Their usual entrance is with great boasts of their Cause and that if their Enemies dare meeâ— them the world shall see with how much ease they will baffle all their Arguments though the Jesuite Gontiere was sadly foil'd when having so far prevailed upon Monsieur Liembrun that the Gentleman had promis'd to become a Romanist after a conference which he desired the Jesuite would hold with Dr. Du Moulin when the conference began he was so puzz'ld to prove his own mission that after much turning over the Bible he retir'd â—â—lent and in confusion to a Corner of the Room upon which Monsieur Liembrun in indignation addressed himself to Gontiere Father said he you told me that if I brought a Minister before you you would confound him here is one and you stand dumb Upon which the Gentleman was confirmed in his Religion And Mr. Campion notwithstanding all his brags and vain challenges was so miserably baffl'd in the four conferences held with him in the Tomes that whoever reads the Relation published by his own party will have other thoughts of his Abilities and Learning than he could possibly form from the Idea the Commendations given of him by the Missionaries might prevail with him to entertain These brags having raised the expectation of the people to admiration they are well prepar'd to feed the humour in which the description given of Monsieur Maimbourg is a character of their conduct that they have no regard to truth or likelihood in what they assert and tho' I know there are many among them who abhor such practices yet the much greater number of them do all copy after the same pattern when the ingenious Author of the Pap. Misrepresented and Represented would establish the Books which our CHURCH rejects for Apocrypha as a part of the Canon of Scripture he cites St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Ambrose neither of whom have any thing to the purpose the first onely mentions the persons of the Maccabees and commends them and the latter quotes them as we do any other books but hath not the least tittle of their being part of the sacred Canon but thinking to establish two points by one Authority he tells us in the same Chapter that St. Jerome doubted
of the Book of Judith which for some time seem'd to him Apocryphal till the Council of Nice declar'd it otherwise now tho' I doubt not it was his design to establish the Authority both of a General Council and the Book of Judith by this one instance yet he hath unhappily fail'd in both the confidence with which he backs this Affirmation being all the strength of it for it was impossible there should be any truth in it seeing when the Council of Nice sate St. Jerome was either not born or but two years old and the Council made no Decree at all about the Books of Scripture yet doth that witty Author venture these three untruths in one Chapter as if because setting a good face on the matter prevails with the people of his Communion who are kept from examining what they hear affirmed we must therefore believe all he saith with the same implicit Faith. But when Baronius and Bellarmine those Champions of the Church of Rome care not by what means they establish the Doctrine of the Pope's power which is the character given of them by a learned man of their own Communion their unfaithfulness being so obvious that a Franciscan Fryer yet living observes that the great Annalist Baronius seems to have had no other end in writing his twelve laborious Tomes than to heap together how well or ill soever all the Topicks he could imagin for asserting to the Bishop of Rome the universal Monarchy when we find that Pillar of the Cause pointing out the way to the inferior Missionaries 't is no wonder if an exact imitation of these great Examples be affected by them And indeed this disposition is so natural to the Guides of that Church that no sooner can a Proselyte breath among them but he is running in the same path thus Mr. Cressy very seriously attempts to perswade the world that when examination is made of Miracles in order to the Canonization of any Saint the Testimony of women will not be received for which he gives this reason because naturally imagination is stronger in them than judgment and whatever is esteemed by them to be pious is easily concluded by them to be true but though there be very much weight in this reason yet the matter of Fact is so notoriously false that there is scarce any of their noted Saints in the process of whose Canonization we do not find the Oaths of women pass current nay sometimes without any other Testimony to confirm them for as his Right Honorable and Learned Answerer observes the single Testimony of the Nurse was the only evidence of the first Miracle that St. Benedict Mr. Cressy's great Patron wrought and in the Canonization of Ignatius Loyala the Founder of the Jesuits the Attestation of Isabella Monialis was taken to confirm his working Miracles and yet no doubt this plausible Assertion of Mr. Cressy's passes for truth among very many who being destitute of opportunities to discover the mistake yield firm credit to it because it is confidently advanc'd There is nothing more frequent in these Gentlemens mouths than ALL THE FATHERS are of this opinion ANTIQVITY is VNANIMOVS in this point and such like bold expressions though they deserve as much credit as Mr. Cressy's pretence and very little more For though Mr. Mumford the Jesuite tells us that the Text of St. Paul Let a Bishop be the Husband of one Wife was only a permission at that time when it was impossible to find fit men for that office who were single an Assertion perfectly false that the Apostle would have no man who married a second Wife be made a Bishop and that the Text is so interpreted by the COVNCILS and FATHERS VNANIMOVSLY St. Chrysostome will tell him that this Text is so far from being only a permission of Marriage for a time that it is designed for encreasing the esteem of it and if he pleases to consult him in another Homily upon the same Subject he will find that the interpretation he calls ridiculous is given by that great Divine the Apostle saith he forbiddeth excess because among the Jews the Association of a second Marriage was lawfull and to have two Wives at once so that all the Fathers we see are not unanimous in his Exposition though he is pleas'd to say they are and if we are as he tells us in the same place ridiculous in interpreting the words of Saint Paul in this Sense that a Bishop should have but one Wife at once we have very good Authority for being so though his Consideration or Sincerity was but small when he tells us ALL the Fathers are VNANIMOVS of his side and that 't is ridiculous to dissent from him With the same briskness we are told by the IRISH Animadverter on the Bishop of Bath and Wells's Sermon that Melchisedeck's Bread and Wine is own'd by all to be a Type of the Sacrament I suppose he meant ALL of his Communion for he must be very ignorant not to know that the Protestants deny it and yet by his telling the Bishop that he durst not meddle with that point because of this VNIVERSAL Consent he seems to extend his ALL beyond the narrow â—ounds of the Roman Church But we may well expect such a spirit of Confidence in the Members of a Church in whose RVLE OF FAITH the COVNCIL OF TRENT we find this Assertion that the ancient Fathers when they gave the Eucharist to Infants did not teach it was necessary to Salvation that they should receive it An affirmation which we may in some sort excuse the Fathers of that Council for being so hardy as to advance their Skill in Antiquity being so very small that it is more than probable very few of them knew the contrary though a little more modesty might have been expected than so rashly to pronounce against the whole current of the Fathers and the universal Tradition of the Church for some Ages nay against the decree of Pope Innocent the First who as Saint Augustine assures us taught that little children cannot have eternal Life without Baptism and the participation of the Body and Blood of Christ with which place when Mr. Campion was press'd he after the example of this Council as positively answer'd there is no such Decree though the very work of Saint Augustine was brought and this passage shew'd him With the very same Sincerity doth Bellarmine affirm that the WHOLE CHVRCH and ALL the Greek and Latin Fathers teach that when Christ said upon this Rock will I build my Church he thereby meant Peter and Alexandre Natalis that the Fathers with a NEMINE CONTRA DICENTE interpret the Rock to be that Apostle there needs but very little reading to confute this notwithstanding all the assurance it is back't with for not onely particular Fathers tell us that when our Lord said upon that Rock he meant upon the Faith of the Confession Peter had
ancient Orders of the Roman Church for if such happen to be an hindrance to their ambitious Designs by standing in their way the rule is let their faults be diligently noted and they represented as dangerous to the publick peace which as is observed by one no enemy to their Order was a succesfull means of their enlargement and succeeding greatness their instilling into the minds of Princes by false insinuations an evil opinion of the other religious Orders Among the same instructions they are directed that all those who hinder and disswade men from giving ESTATES or MONEY to the SOCIETY should be turned out and to prevent their doing mischief after their ejection LET THEIR FAULTS BE EXPOSED saith the eleventh Rule EVEN SUCH AS IN DISCHARGING THEIR CONSCIENCES THEY HAVE REVEALED TO THEIR SUPERIORS and let Strangers be possess'd that they were guilty of those Crimes which the people are wont to hate us for this made Mariana a famous Member of that Society affirm That if the Apostle St. Paul himself should contradict the Jesuits and not approve their Errors they would be sure to represent him as an extravagant and restless Disturber of and enemy to Peace The observation of which Spirit and Doctrine made one who had been many years a Priest declare They do not account it evil as I verily think to calumniate the Protestants by any device whatsoever that may carry any probability with it nor make any conscience to tell and publish any untruths which they think being believ'd may advance and promote such points and matters as they take upon them to defend for the honour of the Church of Rome and dignity of their Priesthood which he affirmed upon Oath the 25 th of June 1602. § 3. This is observ'd to be their way of treating their Adversaries by the Ingenious and Loyal Father Peter Walsh a Fryer of the Franciscan Order who acknowledges that their Catholick Writers are generally hurried on to exorbitant Passions and barbarous Language besides many DOWN-RIGHT LIES and MEER CALUMNIES often against all those that leave their Church Neither is the treatment they afford those who continuing Members of their Church oppose any of their designs more Christian and sincere an example whereof we have in a French Bishop who had been a great Benefactor to the Jesuits insomuch that in their Poems and Panegyricks they had magnified and extolled him for an excellently learned and very pious Prelate but when he refus'd to joyn with them in their Conspiracy against King HENRY the Third they set themselves to defame him both in their ordinary Discourses their Books and Sermons affirming they had discovered four and forty Heretical Tenets in three single Leaves of his works which drew such a Vindication from the Bishop as will be a blot to their whole Order while the remembrance thereof remains in the minds of men And indeed it cannot be supposed they will let slip any occasion of discrediting their Enemies when as you have sâ—en before they believe they may do it without hazarding their Salvation and that by the Credit they have in the world they may calumniate without any great fear of being accountable to the justice of men When Monsieur Puys Pastor of St. Niceer at Lyons translated into French a Book concerning the duties of Christians towards their Parishes against those by whom they are diverted from them The Jesuits esteeming themselves to be reflected on though no mention was made of the Society one of that Order Father Alby wrote against the Translator affirming that he was become SCANDALOVS lay under the suspicion of IMPIETY of being an HERETICK and EXCOMMUNICATED and deserved to be cast into the FIRE But all these imputations were only the pure Off-spring of their own Inventions for some time after in the presence of several Divines and Persons of Quality who all signed the Declaration made by both the Fathers viz. Sep. 25. 1650. when Mr. Puys declared to the Jesuit that in what he had written he designed no reflexion upon that SOCIETY for which he had a very great esteem Father Alby immediately reply'd Sir the belief I was in that your quarrel was against the Society of which I have the honour to be a Member oblig'd me to take pen in hand to answer it AND I THOUGHT THE MANNER OF MY PROCEEDING LAWFULL AND JUSTIFIABLE But coming to a better understanding of your intention I do now declare That there is not any thing that might hinder me from esteeming you a man of a very illuminated judgment of sound Learning and ORTHODOX as to manners UNBLAMABLE and in a word a WORTHY PASTOR of your Church So that by the Jesuit's own Confession he had no ground for his Calumnies but thought it a LAWFULL and JUSTIFIABLE manner of proceeding to represent a person IMPIOUS and an HERETICK in whom he knew no fault but that he suppos'd him no friend to his Order This passage is so generally known that the Jesuits who pretended to Answer the Provincial Letters durst not deny it and therefore pass it over In the same manner is that pious and venerable Prelate the late Bishop of Pamiers treated by them whose Life was an exact Copy of the Primitive Holiness and Simplicity yet the Jesuits affirm he was damn'd for he had excommunicated three of their Order and put them all under an interdict of hearing Confessions in his Diocese Whatsoever Crimes they can imagine will render the PROTESTANTS odious to the people they with all imaginable diligence pronounce them guilty of in which they act as Sir Edwin Sands observes like a supernatural Artist who in the sublimity of his refin'd and refining Wit disdains to bring only mere Art to his work unless he make also in some sort the very matter it self so these men in blacking the Lives and Actions of the Reformers have partly devised matter of so notorious untruth that in the better sort of their own Writers it happens to be check'd partly suborned other Postmen to compose their Legends that afterwards they might cite them in proof to the world as approved Authors and Histories Because they supposed it would be a means to render the Reverend Dr. Du Moulin contemptible to the world they reported as he tells us himself that he was a Fryers Son though the whole City of Orleans knew the contrary where his Father was born and of very good note And I know a Minister who travelling in some Popish Countries and having been a means to recall a Person to our Church who was near seduc'd by the continual Importunities of some English Priests had a report rais'd of him that he was a Drunkard and continually spent his time in an Alehouse or a Tavern which report the very Priest that rais'd it was afterwards asham'd of when it was prov'd to his face that the Gentleman had not been within the doors of a publick House
as if we allow'd them in their full latitude they can be to us Thus the Considerer upon the Spirit of LUTHER spends much time and pains to prove that Luther's Doctrine was not of God because he relates several Arguments which the Devil us'd against the Mass thereby attempting to drive him to despair because he had for many years been a Romish Priest upon which Mr. Pulton puts this question Now I ask whether the Doctrine delivered by the Spirit of untruth can be from the Holy Ghost Now tho' we tell these Gentlemen that Luther spoke this by way of parable yet seeing that they are deaf on that ear let it be for once allowed that it was a Real Conference and all they can draw from it is either that knotty question of Mr Pulton Whether the Doctrine delivered by the spirit of untruth can be from the Holy Ghost or that Luther could not be an Holy Man because the Devil was so often with him which is the great Argument of the Oxford Considerer and Mr. Pulton himself in the tenth page of his Remarks As for the Question I find in the Gospel the Devils themselves bearing testimony to our SAVIOUR that he was Christ the Son of the living God acknowledging him to be the Holy One of God and an whole Legion of these unclean spirits crying out what have we to do with thee Jesus thou Son of God And when to St. Paul the spirit of Divination bore the same witness That he was the servant of the most high God and shewed the way of Salvation nay I find also that God made use of the evil spirit's Testimony for the Conversion of many when the Sons of a Jew undertook to call upon a man who was possess'd the name of the Lord Jesus saying we adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth the evil spirit answered Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are ye And the man in whom the evil spirit was leap't on them and overcame them And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus and fear fell on them all and THE NAME OF THE LORD JESVS WAS MAGNIFIED of which the following verses give particular Instances Now the same Answer which Mr. Pulton will make to an Heathen putting the same Question in this case will give full satisfaction to that which he puts to us for if it be a good evidence to prove the Doctrine of LVTHER false because the Devil owned the truth of it the conclusion will hold as firm against the Deity of Christ and Truth of the Gospel which the Devil was forced to confess And if the second inference concludes against Luther what shall we think of their admired St. Anthony to whom the Devil frequently appear'd and using an articulate voice spake to him acknowledging that he had often attempted to corrupt him but was not able nay that he was seldom without the company of the Devil either beating him or discoursing with him the Author of that Life informs us in a multitude of Instances and yet for all this the Papists will maintain his Saintship so that the Devil's molestation is no Argument against Luther or his doctrine and there is hardly any of their noted Saints whom the Writers of their lives do not affect to represent to us as persons from whom the Devil was seldom or never absent Nor is it any wonder these Gentlemen should be so busie in scandalizing our Divines though the reflexion falls as severely upon their own Canoniz'd Saints when they have so little consideration as to charge us with those things which others of their own writing at the same time and on the same Subject do acquit us of an instance of which we have in their frequent cries that the Exclusion Bill was managed in the House of Commons by the Sons of the Church of England and that the Rebellion was to be laid to their Charge that if we look to the excluding Party they were five to one Church of England men so that our Church must take the shame of all those things to her self these loud Clamours have made more noise in the world than all their new Tests and Instances of the Church of England's Loyalty which I shall examine in another place But to the comfort of our Church her Adversaries agree not together so that she needs no vindication but what she is able to bring from her greatest enemies therefore one of them tells the Dissenters that they were the Actors not onely in 48. but in the business of the Rye and the West too and one who pleads the very same cause assures us that the Dissenters appear'd so rigorous in choosing their Representatives that they carried it for three Parliaments successfully against the Church of England and it was in those three Parliaments that the Exclusion Bill was promoted and stickled for which is a clear demonstration that the Exclusioners were not five to one of the Church of England But as these Gentlemen contradict themselves in this point so by the same assertion they overthrow their great work of perswading the Dissenters that the Church of England never was nor never will be willing to ease their Consciences by a Comprehension when by affirming the Exclusion Parliaments to have been compos'd of Church of England men they give themselves the lye seeing all the world knows it was in those Parliaments that the Bill of Comprehension was promoted As they will coin immoral Actions for us so likewise with the same sincerity they make a great complaint of our FALSIFICATIONS when he that examines into the matter will find no such thing thus the Vindicator of Monsieur de Meaux fills part of a page with a list of his ADVERSARIES Falsifications and Calumnies c. of which you may judge by this instance That ingenious Gentleman tells us that Mr. de Meaux had affirmed that the denying of Salvation to Infants dying unbaptiz'd was a truth which never any one before Calvin durst openly call in question this the Vindicator calls a corrupting the Bishops words which are these the Lutherans believe with the Catholick Church the absolute necessity of Baptism and are astonish'd with her that such a Truth should be denied which never any one before Calvin durst openly call in question now I APPEAL to all the world whether it be not the same thing to affirm that Baptism is absolutely necessary to Salvation and that those who dye unbaptiz'd are not sav'd for if it be absolutely necessary then without it there can be no Salvation and whoever asserts that denies Salvation to those who have it not let our Vindicator then defend himself from the imputation of Calumny which I lay to his charge in this particular the calling that a Falsification and Corruption which is the true meaning of the Bishops words I shall end this head with two Instances of their
Father Drury a noted Jesuit â—reach in the Black Fryers Oct. 26. 1623. it pleas'd God that the Chamber where they were fell down and near a hundred Persons with the Preacher were kill'd out-right and many hurt yet had they the Confidence to affirm that this was a Protestant Assembly publishing a Book relating great Iudgments shewn on a â—ort of Protestant Hereticks by the fall of an house in Black Fryers London in which they were Assembled to hear a Geneva Lecture and Dr. Gouge tells us when and where this Relation was Printed in his Account of that sad Providence I might particularize in abundance of such passages but these are enough to let the Reader see that it was not without cause I gave him Caution in the first Chapter to suspect them for into what a maze of Errors doth he run who takes the Accounts given by those men of the Lives and Deaths of their Adversaries upon their Authority who give themselves such a Liberty to devise Fables and then report them This over politick and wise sort of men reach yet a note higher and knowing of how great Consequence the Revolt of any eminent Divine is are as liberal in their Reports that such and 〈◊〉 Persons are become Catholicks as they call them in which they have as little respect to truth as in the former Instances But they find by their experience that news make their impression upon their first reporting and that then if it be good it greatly raises up the Spirit and confirms the Mind especially of the Vulgar who easily believe all that their betters tell them that afterwards when such Stories happen to be controll'd mens spirits being cold are not so sensible as before and either little regard it or impute it to common error or uncertainty of things yea and that the good news comes to many mens ears who never hear of the Check it hath and at least it may serve their turn for some present Exploit as Merchants do by their news who finding some difficulty in accommodating their Affairs have in use to forge Letters or otherwise to raise bruits either of some prosperous success in Princes actions or of some great alteration in some kind of merchandise which may serve for that present instant to expedite their business Whether the Missionaries take this piece of Policy from them or are onely imitated by them is not material but that being secure of an evasion if their report be found untrue that they were mis-informed and knowing well that hundreds who hear the account they give are never undeceiv'd by wanting opportunities to discover its falsity they are no modester in this particular than in the other Slanders is most certain Thus in the year 1597. they spread a report throughout Germany Holland and Italy that Beza had renounced his Religion before the Senate and had exhorted the Magistrates to reconcile themselves to the Church of Rome and that by his example many Citizens of Geneva had done the like whereupon he was absolv'd by the Bishop of that City before his death by special Order from the Pope This we are assur'd by several French Priests was generally believed till Beza wrote several French and Latin Letters to convince the world of the Forgery and that he was yet alive and he died not till six years after Of the very same nature was the report of the Conversion of the Reverend Peter Du Moulin which even while he was Minister of the Protestant Church in Paris and writing against Rome was publickly preach'd in the City in many Pulpits and Benefices assigned to him they asserted in their Sermons that he was preparing to go to Rome which was so generally believ'd that the people flocked to a certain Church and there waited expecting to hear him make his Recantation Upon which he observes that such tricks are apt to astonish the people for a season and an untruth that was belieâ—â—d for three days hath done some effect And I am able to prove that a Minister now in England travelling in company with others of our Nation of the Protestant Religion and making a small journey alone to a neighbour City to that they then resided in the Priests came to several of his fellow Travellers assuring them that the said Minister was become a Romanist that he was publickly reconcil'd and therefore surely they would not refuse to relinquish that Religion which he whose Profession obliged him to defend it and who understood it best durst not continue in This report was affirmed with so much confidence that upon the Ministers return several persons of the Roman Catholick Religion congratulated him for his happy Change and one of the English was ready to follow his example if he had not in time discovered the cheat And it is no longer since than the Winter 1685. that a report went current through all the Countreys in England where there are many Romanists that Dr. Burnet was at Rome become a Papist and 〈◊〉 great Preferments were bestow'd upon him this hath been 〈◊〉 to me by several for a certain truth when I made 〈◊〉 enquiry those Gentlemen affirming that they had it from very good hands and had seen some Letters from foreign parts which confirm'd it But more immodest was the pretence of the Dean of Norwich's Conversion about two years since which several Priests affirm'd to a Servant Maid whom they knew to be a great admirer of that Divine urging â—er to follow the example of such a Learned Man who was so deservedly esteem'd by her which they reiterated with so much confidence and frequency that the Maid promised to turn likewise but being convinc't by an eminent Person who carried her to hear the Reverend Dean preach that she was abus'd by a notorious untruth she was confirm'd in her aversion to that Church which is upheld by such unworthy means And I cannot but observe the Providâ—â—ce of God in this matter that the Sermon which the Maid was carried to hear was levell'd against the Popish Errors whereby she was not onely inform'd of the abuse but instructed too But their greatest traffick is in the pretended Conversion of dying persons thus they would make a Romanist of dying Beza six years before his death and this blot they have endeavoured to cast upon the Memory of that excellent Prelate Bishop King Mr. Musket the Jesuite publishing a Book of his Conversion to Rome upon his death-bed intituled the Bishop of Londons Legacy This relation we are assured did mightily shock the peoples minds but it is wholly false his Son Dr. Henry King since Bishop of Chichester Preaching a Sermon for his Fathers Vindication at St. Pauls Cross Nov. 25. 1621. where he assures the world that the Bishop before his death received the Eucharist at the hands of his Chaplain Dr. Cluet together with his Wife his Children his Family Sir Henry Martin his Chancellor Mr. Philip King his
their part that they may catch at an occasion to make the world believe that they have forfeited that Protection his MAJESTY hath so graciously promised to afford them But our Loyalty hath a better Foundation than to be shaken by such malicious Arts it being founded upon the same Bottom with our Church the Apostles and Prophets and our Blessed Saviour the chief Corner-Stone of the building which all the Arts of men and Devils shall never overthrow not upon the will of man as theirs is Yet these Gentlemen think it sufficient to prove us disloyal to cull out a few Instances of men of rebellious Practices and this they charge upon the Church of England but with what justice let the world judge They cry out upon us as misrepresenters of their Doctrines because we affirm they teach the deposing power to rest both in the Pope and in the People and shew their Practices to accord with that Doctrine when ever they had occasion If this be to misrepresent what name may we call their dealing by who charge us with Rebellion when we freely condemn all such practices and that openly and that in our Religion there is no Rule to be found that prescribeth Rebellion nor any thing that dispenseth Subjects from the Oath of their Allegiance nor any of our Churches that receive that Doctrine When on their side several General Councils have asserted above TWENTY of their Popes pronounc'd that right inherent in them and I am able to prove that above three hundred of their Divines defend and plead for either the Popes or Peoples power to depose their Princes And though I know there are many in that Church who at least at present do heartily disown that Doctrine yet I will not stick to affirm that it hath all the Characters of an Article of Faith nor doth the dissent of so many hinder it from being so for there are multitudes among them who disown Transubstantiation others the Pope's Supremacy and several other points which others amongst them acknowledge to be Articles of their Faith. Neither will a late Author's plea that if it were such an Article the opposers of it would not scape without a brand of Heressie prove the contrary for we know that they have been often mark'd with that Brand and are once a year Excommunicated at Rome in the Bulla Coenae wherein all persons who hinder the Clergy in exercising their jurisdiction according to the decrees of the Council of Trent which France does all secular powers who call any Ecclesiastical Person to their Courts all Princes that lay any Taxes on their people without the Popes consent are declar'd Excommunicate and if they remain so a whole year they shall be declar'd Hereticks We are told by one of themselves that a Doctrine when inserted in the body of the Canon-Law becomes the Doctrine of their Church now in the Canon-Law we find it asserted that the Pope may absolve persons from their Oath of Allegiance that Pope Zachary deposed the K. of France not so much for his Crimes as that he was unfit to rule that we are absolv'd from all Oaths to an Excommunicate Person and it is our duty to yield no obedience to him That Clergymen ought not to swear Allegiance to their Prince and that they are exempt from the jurisdiction of the secular Magistrate And the Council of Trent hath confirmed all these Canons to the observation of which all their Priests and dignifyed men are sworn Let the world then judge whether this doctrine be an Article of Faith or no. But they have not onely taught and establish'd this treasonable Principle upon the same foundation with their other Doctrines but though often call'd upon to joyn in a denial of it and to condemn it as sinfull they could never be prevail'd on to clear themselves from such an odious Charge as hath been all along justly brought against them This was once thought the only way they had to justifie themselves by a person who hath since made himself a Member of their Church who tells us 'T is not sufficient for the well-meaning Papist to produce the Evidences of their Loyalty to the late King Charles the First I will grant their Behaviour to have been as loyal and as brave as they can desire but that saying of their Father Cress. is still running in my head that they may be dispenc'd with in their obedience to an Heretick Prince while the necessity of the times shall oblige them to it for that as another of them tells us is onely the effect of Christain Prudence but when once they shall get power to shake him off an Heretick is no lawfull King and consequently to rise against him is no Rebellion I should be glad therefore that they would follow the advice which was charitably given them by a Reverend Prelate of our Church namely that they would joyn in a publick act of disowning and detesting those Iesuitick Principles and subscribe to all Doctrines which deny the Pope's Authority of deposing Kings and releasing Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance And a late Author of their own Church judges this so necessary that he affirms NO CLERGY MAN OUGHT TO BE RECEIVED WITHOUT SUBSCRIBING THE CONDEMNATION OF THE BULL DE COENA DOMINI AND TILL THE MONKS AND JESUITS SHALL SOLEMNLY RENOUNCE AND CONDEMN IT IT WILL BE NO GREAT INJUSTICE DONE THEM TO ACCUSE THEM OF ATTEMPTING AGAINST THE LIVES OF KINGS If any man did suspect me to be an Arian and I knew it and could justifie my self from such cursed opinions and did it not the world would have reason to impute to me all the Consequences of this pernicious Heresie and the same Author tells us it is well known all the Monks and especially the Jesuits have by their fourth Vow obliged themselves to the Execution of this INFERNAL BVLL Nor is it onely by private men they have been exhorted to such a Renunciation of those Doctrines but in publick Courts of justice both in France and England It is indeed very usual with them to deny this Doctrine in discourse but that it is onely a formal denial when they really maintain it I offer to prove against them from their own Principles and Practices a plain instance whereof Mr. Sheldon gives us of his own knowledge who was one morning denied Absolution by a Sussex Jesuit because he would not acknowledge the Pope's Power to depose Princes and yet the very same day at dinner in the presâ—â—ce of several this Jesuit denied any such power in the Pope But the Doctors of Rome have been very carefull to provide against any such scrupulous persons as cannot perswade themselves of the lawfulness of this point and therefore have found out a way to discharge the Conscience from any guilt and set men at liberty to follow an opinion which they believe unsound upon which Principle there is no manner
of security from such men for they may declare their judgment of the unlawfulness of any Action and yet do it the next moment by virtue of the rare Engine of PROBABILITY by which they can do any thing in that Church For it is a Doctrine taught by almost all their Divines and insinuated into the Peoples minds by the Confessors that the Authority of a Learned Doctor makes an opinion probable and that every one without hazarding his Soul may follow what opinion he pleases provided that it be taught by some Eminent Doctor yea he is obliged to follow the opinion of his Confessor if he be learned and if he do not he sins And when the Author of the Provincial Letters complain'd of this Doctrine his Answerers defended it for Lawfull and Orthodox Now as one of their own Church observes the Generals of Orders can raise whole Legions of Divines to speak what they have a mind should pass for probable but there is no need of it in this case where so many Councils Popes and so many hundred Doctors have maintain'd the Treasonable Doctrines we charge upon them which accordding to them is a sufficient warrant for any to reduce these Speculations into practice as hath been asserted by them in this very case and with reference to his late Majesty for when Father Walsh pressed the Irish Clergy to subscribe the Loyal Formulary Father John Talbot and others told him That it was to no purpose to expect any Profession Declaration or Oath of Allegiance from them being it was in point of Conscience Lawfull enough for such as would or did take such Oath to decline from retract and break it even the very next day or next hour after having taken it provided onely they followed herein the Doctrine of probability that is if they followed any Divines who hold such an Oath to be unsafe and unsound in Catholick Religion or otherwise unlawfull or sinfull And by the same Argument did the Romish Bishop of Ferns in the year 1666. defend all that was done in the Irish Rebellion and refuse to acknowledge it any sin because saith he the Authority of those who teach the contrary is great their Learning great their Sanctity great the Light they had from God great and their Number great I might instance in a great number of such Doctrines confirm'd by the highest Authority among them but I think this sufficient to let the world see how confidently the Missionaries attempt to cast the odium of Disloyalty upon us whose Doctrines disallow and detest all such Principles as damnable and heretical which for many hundred years they have maintained with the greatest vigour But that Church is too politick to content her self with teaching such Doctrines onely for she hath provided such means for putting them in practice in any Countrey whatsoever as were too subtile for any other Politicians to invent to which end she obliges all her Clergy to a single life that so they may continue in a more absolute Subjection This could not be hop'd for while they were married and the Princes and several States of Christendom had such a pawn of their Fidelity as their Wives and Children therefore having rais'd the esteem of the Clergy that their persons were counted sacred and liable to no punishment that there might be nothing so nearly related to them wherein they might be punish'd as their Wives and Children they have prohibited marriage to them all by which means being ready for any desperate Attempt they have such multitudes of them as are sufficient to make a good Army in most Princes Dominions but 't is not the Clergy alone who are thus at their Devotion but by Dispensations and Tolerations to be Administrators of Abbeys and Bishopricks and other Benefices given to Lay-men they oblige them to uphold their Interest as for their Religious Orders they especially the Jesuits give their Generals an account of all Occurrences of State in those Provinces and Kingdoms whereof they are the Respective Assistants to which end they have Correspondents in the Principal Cities of all Kingdoms who sending all their Informations to the General they ballance the interests of every Prince and then resolve that the Affairs of such a Prince shall be promoted the designs of another oppos'd as is most for their own Advantage to effect which the Confessors of great Men give intelligence of the Inclinations of those whose Consciences are unfolded to them whereby they become acquainted with all determinations concluded in the most secret Councils and have a particular account of the Power Possessions Expence and Designs of every Prince of their Communion and the very same advantage they make of Confession by diving into the peoples Inclinations and thereby discovering who stand well affected to their Prince who dissatisfy'd and exasperated by which means they sow discord between Princes and their Subjects rendring them odious to and fearfull of one another wherever they find their advantage by such distrusts thus knowing all the discontented people in a State they are able at any time to raise a party and being acquainted with the Princes Designs they know how to defeat them that the insurrection may be more successfull But Mr. Pulton tells us that it is expresly prohibited the Jesuits to speak of the deposing Power even in private discourses but it is then to be observed that the Doctrine it self is not blam'd only silence impos'd concerning it this Order was made in the year 1616. since which several of that Society have defended that point and even in Rome it self where Sanctarellus's Book that pleads for it was printed Ann. 1625. and that it was onely for France is affirmed by a Papist who answers this Objection of Mr Pulton's when the Jesuits asserted that by that Order they were bound under pain of Damnation not to speak of that Subject that none in the Church were bound under the like penalty not to teach it but they wherein he observes their immodesty in the assertion when none of their Rules bind under so much as a venial Sin and their Concession that none in the Church think it damnable to teach that the Pope may depose PRINCES I suppose Mr Pulton was conscious of his imposing upon the world in this point therefore he presently shifts from that to lay a grievous Charge to our door That it was manifest from History that the Reformers had deposed and endeavoured to depose more Princes in the space of one hundred and fifty years than the Roman Catholicks had done in 1600. wherein he hath back't that hardy assertion of the Author of Philanax Anglicus who affirm'd that in the last Century there haâ—e been more Princes depos'd and murder'd for their Religion by Protestants than have been in all the other since Christ's time by the Attempts and Means of Roman Catholicks If it were not that I know Mr. Pulton's Skill in History to be very