THE PLAUSIBLE ARGUMENTS OF A Romish Priest ANSWERED BY AN English Protestant Seasonable and Useful for all Protestant Families Licensed May 24. 1686. LONDON Printed for R. Clavell at the Sign of the Peacock in S. Pauls Church-yard 1686. TO THE READER IN the following Dialogue though not All yet the most Material Points wherein the Roman Church differs from the Church of England are briefly and plainly discoursed So that while by their little Tracts and short Catechisms daily Printed and sent abroad the Romish Emissaries do labour to Seduce the Weaker sort of Protestants They may be provided with short and satisfactory Answers to their most usual Fallacies Their Assaults are generally in the Dark and because it is impossible always to stand by those particular Persons whom they labour to Draw-in it is thought fit to publish this little Manual to enable those that are Attacked readily to defend themselves To which end the Holy Scripture is here recommended as the best Touch-Stone to justifie our Doctrines and discover their Corruptions And the more their Guilt makes them fly from it the more our Sincerity should make us cleave to it For this is in every Protestants Hand and there are so many and so plain Places of it which condemn the Opinions and Practices of the Roman Church that it requires no great Skill nor Art to discern how different they are from Gods Word And all the Learning and Artisice of their greatest Doctors will not be able to hide it from a plain and honest Enquirer that will take but the Pains to read this Divine Vnalterable Vniversally received and Infallible Book of God I know they pretend especially to the Vnlearned That all Antiquity is clearly for them but it is best for those who are not Read in Ancient Authors to leave that Province to the Clergy of the Church of England who have hitherto always worsted them at that Weapon also And since we can prove both by Scripture and Antiquity That all their Additional Articles of Faith are False and Erroneous and yet they do acknowledge all those Articles of Faith which we hold as necessary to Salvation to be True Doubtless Ours must be the safer Religion in which both Sides do agree Again The plain Words of Holy Scripture prove Our Religion but all those Points wherein they differ from us cannot be proved but by pretended Traditions some of which are expresly contrary to Gods Written Word The Scripture was not made by us but by the GOD of Truth and it is owned not by us alone but by them and all Christians to be the Word and Will of God and this is clearly on Our Side But those Traditions which they fly to for their Evidence are of their own Making and in their own Keeping No other Christians do allow them and We have nothing but their own Word in their own Cause to prove them to be Genuine Which being the Case I hope none will ever be perswaded to leave a certain plain and evident Religion of Gods own prescribing for an uncertain obscure and Ill-proved Religion which is no more but a meer Human Invention as the ensuing Pages will more fully declare THE CONTENTS THe Religion of the Church of England Taught by Christ and his Apostles Page 1 Concerning the Scriptures in an Vnknown Tongue p. 2 Concerning the Pretended Roman Catholick Church p. 3 Concerning St. Peter's Superiority and Jurisdiction over the rest of the Apostles p. 4 Concerning the Popes Supremacy p. 6 Concerning the Popes Infallibility p. 7 Concerning Implicit Faith or Believing as the Church Believes p. 8 Concerning Oral Tradition or the Faith delivered down by Word of Mouth from Age to Age p. 9 The Church of Rome full of gross Errors p. 13 Concerning Image-Worship p. 14 Concerning Invocation of Saints and Angels p. 17 Concerning the Worship of the Blessed Virgin p. 22 Concerning the Adoration of Relicks p. 23 Concerning Divine Service in an Unknown Tongue p. 24 Concerning Transubstantiation p. 27 Concerning Half-Communion or denying the Cup to the Laity p. 35 Concerning the Doctrine of Concomitancy or the Blood always accompanying the Body p. 36 Concerning Auricular Confession or that which is privately whispered into the Ear of the Priest p. 37 Concerning Priestly Absolution p 38 Concerning Satisfaction or Penances p. 39 Concerning Indulgences p. 42 Concerning Purgatory p. 44 Concerning the Sanctity of Religious Orders p. 50 Cencerning Exorcisms or Casting-out Evil Spirits p. 52 The Conclusion p. 53 A DIALOGUE BETWEEN A Popish Priest AND A PROTESTANT OF THE Church of England Popish Priest WHat Religion are you of Protestant Of the same that Christ and his Apostles taught which is professed by the Church of England whereof I am a Member Po. How do you know that the Religion you profess is the same that was taught by Christ and his Apostles Prot. By the Scriptures wich they left behind them Po. How can you tell whether they writ and left that Book behind them or no Prot. The Book is worthy of such Authors and all Christians though they differ in other things agree in this nor dare you deny it Po. We do not deny it only we say you ought to confess you received this Book from the Roman Church and must learn the meaning of it from her Prot. This Book hath been preserved in all Christian Churches but we received it from those good Protestants who translated it into English whereas your Priests as I am informed kept it in Latin and withheld it from such plain Men as my self while they had power here Po. Though they did â—o it was only for fear you should wrest the Scripture to your own destruction 2 Pet. iii. 16. Prot. That danger is only in some places hard to be understood and which I may safely be ignorant of But in all things necessary to Salvation it is so plain as to give understanding to the Simple Psal cxix 130. Wherefore I rather think they concealed it all from us to keep us from seeing their Errors because the more I read it the less I like your Religion Po. Is it not a strange presumption in you that are but a Lay-man to read that which you cannot rightly understand Prot. It is no presumption to obey the Command of Christ who bids us Search the Scriptures John v. 39. and declaring the not knowing them to be the cause of Error Math. xxii 29. And the Beraeans are commended for examining the Apostles Doctrine by Scripture Acts xvii 11. Now surely if we have Commands and Examples of Reading the Scripture it must be supposed we can in some measure understand it Po. Well you read that Christ will be with his Church to the end of the World Math. xxviii 20. and therefore you ought to believe the Catholic Church can only give you the true sense of Scripture Prot. I do believe this and am a Member of this Catholic Church being rightly baptized into it and holding the
same Creeds which were anciently and universally believed in it so that I am as likely to come to know the true sense of Scripture as any others Po. Not so by your favour for you are no Member of the Roman Church which I will prove to be that Catholic Church mentioned in the Creeds and then it must follow that you neither have the true sense of Scripture nor can you be saved out of this Catholic Church Prot. I shall yield your Consequences when you prove the Antecedent but then you must not take it for granted without any Proof as your Priests use to do Po. I do not think it needs much proof for it is as visible as that the Sun is in the Firmament Prot. That cannot be for no body doth or can deny this but the far greater part of Christians utterly deny the Roman Church to be the Catholic Church yea and say it is Non-sense to affirm a part to be the whole or a particular to be universal And it must be well proved from Scripture which all Christians agree to be Gods Word be fore I can be perswaded that Christ who died for his whole Church will suffer three parts of four of those which he redeemed to be damned for not believing this Opinion as you most uncharitably affirm Po. Well for your satisfaction I will undertake to prove that S. Peter was the Chief of the Apostles and that Christ gave him the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and built his Church on him as on a Rock and that the Bishop of Rome is S. Peters Successor and Head of that Church which Christ promised to lead into all truth and then you must confess the Roman Church to be that Catholic Church which is mentioned in the Creeds Prot. I hope you will give me leave to hear and examine your Proofs and on that condition pray proceed Po. Do not the Scriptures naming S. Peter in the first place shew he was the Chief of the Apostles Prot. This shews he was an Eminent Apostle but cannot imply any Superiority over the rest because Christ makes them all equal Judges sitting together upon twelve Thrones Math. xix 28. and forbids any of them to pretend any Superiority over the others and though there was one Emperor then over many lesser and inferiour Princes Christ saith It shall not be so among his Apostles Math. xx 26. Luke xxii 26. Nor would S. James have finally determined in the Council of Jerusalem in S. Peters presence Acts xv 13. or S. Paul have so openly opposed and reproved him if Christ had made him Superiour over all the Apostles Galat. ii 11 14. Po. Do you not read that Christ gave to him first and singly the Keys of the Kingdom of heaven and promised to build his Church on him as on a Rock so firm that the Gates of Hell should never prevail against it Math. xvi 18 19. Prot. I read that Christ in that place to Math. xvi 19. did not give but only promise to give him those Keys afterwards which promise he made also to all the Apostles Math. xviii 18. and when he came to perform it he gave the power of the Keys to them all alike John xx 22 23. And it was upon S. Peters Confession of Faith that Christ built his Church not upon his Person since we see the Gates of Hell immediately prevailed too far against him first in his labouring to tempt Christ not to suffer Math. xvi 22. and secondly in his denying him with many Imprecations Math. xxvi 24. But if I should grant all the Priviledges you heap on S. Peter without any good evidence from Gods Word that will not prove the Popes sole right to them all Po. Yes without doubt for the Bishop of Rome is certainly the Successor of S. Peter and consequently the Vicar of Christ and supream Head of the Catholic Church Prot. The Bishop of Antioch hath a better Title to be S. Peters Successor because the Scripture which never mentions his being at Rome says expresly he was there but if the Bishop of Rome had been S. Peters Successor that could not make him Head of the whole Catholic Church because S. Peter himself never pretended to any such Power or Title yea he was peculiarly the Apostle of the believing Jews who had been Circumcised Galat. ii 7. and to them he writes Nor doth Christ any where tell us he would leave one such Head on Earth or give any Orders to all Christians to obey any one Apostle Po. But we do believe the Bishop of Rome to be S. Peters Successor and if so how can our Lord make good his Promise to be with his Church to the end of the World if he do not make S. Peters Successor as infallible as S. Peter himself was by his presence and assistance Prot. If we grant an inspired Apostle to have been Infallible in order to setling the Faith and writing the Rule of it it doth not follow that his uninspired Successors should have this Priviledge now the Faith and Rule of it are fixed For then the Bishops of Antioch Jerusalem and Alexandria must be Infallible now And Christs Promise is not made to S. Peter or to any particular Apostle but to the whole Catholic Church so that as long as the true Faith is held in any one or more Churches Christs Promise is made good though other particular Churches fall away Po. But the Catholic Church in the Creed is an Apostolical Church and it was promised to the Apostles that he would lead them into all truth John xvi 13. which Priviledge belongs to Rome as being now the only free Apostolical Church in the World Prot. All Churches in the World at first were planted immediately or mediately by the Apostles and Christ did certainly make this Promise good to his Apostles who were led into all Truth and so long as any particular Church keeps close to this Truth which the Apostles taught the Promise is still made good to that Church and there were many particular Apostolical Churches under Pagan Emperors and may be now under the Turks it being not temporal Freedom but adhering to the Apostles Doctrine which makes a particular Church Apostolical and made the whole Catholic Church to be called so at first when the Creed was made Po. However you must grant it is most prudent to take the best way to come to the knowledge of the Truth Now it is both the easiest and certainest way for the People to come to this knowledge by believing as the Church believes Prot. It is neither so easie nor so certain a way as to Search the Scriptures Po. This is a strange Assertion Is it not easier to let your Pastors who are fitted for it by their Profession judge of matters of Faith than for you to take pains to find them out in Scripture Prot. My Assertion is not so strange as true For it is much more difficult for
Law and Equity of the Gospel or the Goodness of our Lord as a Legislator Delivered first from the Pulpit in two plain Sermons and now Repeated from the Press with others tending to the same end to which is added The Grand Inquiry to be made in these Inquisitive Times together with the Resolution of Paul and Silas as also an Improvement of that Inquiry containing in its Parts a Resolution unto it self and a Scriptural Prognostick of Jesus Christ's Second Advent to Judge the World Lastly A Preservative against Ambition By Thomas Pierce D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty and Dean of Sarum The Excellency of Monarchical Government especially of the English Monarchy Wherein is Treated The several Benefits of Kingly Government and the Inconvenience of Common Wealths Also of the several Badges of Soveraignty in General and Particularly according to the Constitution of the Laws of England likewise of the Duty of Subjects and the Mischiefs of Faction Sedition and Rebellion In all which the Principles and Practices of our late Common-Wealths-Men are considered By Nathaniel Johnson Doctor in Physick An Historical Vindication of the Divine Right of Tithes from Scripture Reason and the Opinion and Practice of Jews Gentiles and Christians in all Ages designed to Supply the Omissions Answer the Objections and Rectifie the Mistakes of Mr. Selden's History of Tithes Part I. A further Vindication of the Divine Right of Tithes Proved by Scripture and Antiquity and Illustrated by the Solemn Consecration and great Conveniency of them with an Answer to the Objections of other Authors against them Part II. To which is added A Discourse of Excommunication By Thomas Comber D. D. Precentor of York A Church Catechism with a brief and easie Explanation thereof for the help of the meanest Capacities and weakest Memories in order to the Establishing them in the Religion of the Church of England A Treatise of Spousals and Matrimonial Contracts wherein all the Questions relating to that Subject are ingenuously debated and resolved By the late Famous and Learned Mr. Henry Swinborn Author of the Treatise of Wills and Testaments Sir William Dugdales Summons to all Parliaments since the 49th Year of King Henry the Third The Dean of Durham's Counsel and Directions Divine and Moral in Letters of Advice to a Young Gentleman soon after his Admission into a Colledge in Oxford Archbishop Stern's Logick The Popes Bull concerning the Damnation Excommunication c. of Queen Elizabeth with Observations and Animadversions thereon By Thomas Lord Bishop of Lincoln There is also Printed with it the Popes Bull for the Damnation and Excommunication of King Henry the Eighth ☞ The Plausible Arguments of a Romish Priest Answered by an English Protestant Written by an Eminent Hand Seasonable and Useful for all Protestant Families Price Stich'd Six pence Newly Published FINIS * The Religion of the Church of England taught by Christ and his Apostles The Scriptures in an unknown Tongue The pretended Roman Catholick Church St. Peter's Superiority and Jurisdiction over the rest of the Apostles The Popes Supremacy The Popes Infallibility Implicit Faith or Believing as the Church believes * Oral Tradition or the Faith delivered down by Word of Mouth from Age. to Age. The Church of Rome full gross Errors Image-Worship Invocation of Saints and Angels The Worship of the Blessed Virgin The Adoration of Relicks Divine Service in an unkown Tongue Transubstantiation Half-Communion or denying the Cup to the Laity The Doctrine of Concomitancy or the Blood always accompanying the Body Auricular Confession or that which is privately whispered into the Ear of the Priest Priestly Absolution Satisfaction or Peâ—nances Indulgences Purgatory 〈…〉 of Religious 〈◊〉 Exorcisms or Casting out Evil Spirits The Conclusion
such a man as I am to know what these Pastors have judged about these matters than to know what the Scripture saith of them Po. Have not Councils set this down and is not the Pope always ready to declare the Churches true Sense Prot. But how can I know which are lawful Councils or what they have determined or if I did know the Words and doubted of the Sense it would be very hard for me to get the Pope to tell me in words or writing what it was and if the Pope did this he cannot speak or write plainer than God hath done in holy Scripture and therefore I am told there is as much difference among you about the Sense of Councils and Popes as there is among us about the Sense of Scripture Po. Well but your own Catholic Bishop or Priest can tell you the true meaning of both Councils and Popes in all these matters Prot. So can our Protestant Bishops and Priests tell us the true meaning of Scripture But if you be forced to resort at last to particular fallible Men for the certainty of your Faith why do you boast of a better way to be infallibly assured of the Truth than Protestants can ever have and upon that false ground urge Men to come over to your Church Po. Because we rely upon that Oral Tradition which hath been delivered down through all Ages in the Roman Church and can never fail so long as we have living Witnesses to declare it and is not this certainer than a dead written Rule that may be interpreted as every man pleases Prot. No sure for all Men put things of greatest concern in Writing and do not trust things for Posterity to be told by word of Mouth A written Rule says always the same words and can have no ends upon us but your living Witnesses by forgetfulness or to serve their Pride and Covetousness may deliver Tradition variously And you have no Evidence that those things are Apostolical Traditions which your Church says are so but either ancient Writings which are of far less credit than Scripture and then also you must suppose those ancient Writings to be more evident than your Traditions because you prove these by them or else you must trust to fallible Men whose Interest it may be and is to deceive you and thus your present living Witnesses bear sole Testimony to themselves which is very suspicious at the best So that your way is neither certainer nor easier than ours Po. I know not what your way is unless you make every private Man to be judge of Scripture when that declares The People must enquire the Law from the Priests Mouth Malach. ii 7. And Commands us to obey them that are over us in the Lord Hebr. xiii 17. affirming that no Scripture is of any private Interpretation 2 Pet. i. 20. Prot. Our way is to read diligently and pray heartily to be directed And if we doubt then to go to our Protestant Bishops and Priests for they and not your Clergy are over us in the Lord and they are as able as willing and of as great Integrity as any among you to give us Satisfaction And though we do not pretend that every private Man may interpret difficult places without the advice of his Pastor Yet you are mistaken in your Interpretation of that Place of S. Peter 2 Pet. i. 20. Where the Apostle is proving the Scripture is a sure Rule because it was not written or first Interpreted by any private Mans Will or Fancy but the Authors spake by the Holy Ghost and according to the Will of God Which is nothing to your purpose Po. However it seems you are forced to rely on these Priests of yours for the true meaning of Scripture and the final certainty of your Faith and yet you call this a slavish thing in Catholics Prot. Our Priests do not barely tell us this or that is the Sense of Scripture and then forbid us all further enquiry which would really be an enslaving of their People But they compare one Scripture with another and give us sound and solid reasons for all their Expositions desiring us no further to believe them than the clearness of their evidence deserves and this allows us the freedom of rational Beings Po. But is it not contrary to Scripture and reason both that the People should judge of their Pastors Proofs and Declarations Prot. It is not contrary to Scripture for there all Christians are expresly commanded To prove all things and hold fast that which is good 1 Thess v. 21. and to try the Spirits 1 John iv 1. St. Paul bids the Corinthians Judge what he said 1 Cor. x. 15. And likes those who tried his Declarations by the Scripture Acts xvii 11. So that no doubt God will expect Men shall have something more to say for that Faith on which they trust their Souls than that their Priest barely affirmed that it was true Po. Is not the Priest judge of the People and can it be reasonable then that they should be his Iudges Deut. xvii 9. Prot. We do not pretend to judge our Priests but only to use our Reason which God gave us not in vain in judging meerly for our selves because we read that every Man shall bear his own burden and therefore every man must prove his own Work Galat. vi 4 5. and this gives us not any power over either our Priests or Fellow Christians 't is no judgment of direction for others but only a judgment of discretion which to strip us of is to degrade us into the rank of Brutes Po. Well though you seem fond of your own way yet even the good effects of our Method may convince any impartial Man it is better For do you not see how quiet and unanimous we are by our Peoples intire relyance on their Pastors Prot. This may prove it a cunninger but not a safer Method The Turks are as unanimous as they are in your Church but they may thank ignorance and severities for it And for our parts we envy not their happiness who have found out a way not prescribed by Christ to live peaceably in gross Errors and to be unanimous in their Mistakes Po. I know you aim at your Church and wonder how such a Man as you dare charge the Roman Church with gross Errors and Mistakes Prot. Because I can make my Charge good For if Scripture be the Rule of what we ought to believe and practise then your kneeling and praying before Images your Invocation of Angels and Saints adoring Relicks praying in an unknown Tongue Transubstantiation Half Communion Auricular Confession Indulgences and your Doctrine of Purgatory with divers others which I can name are gross errors and corruptions believed and practised in the Roman Church Po. You are very bold But I doubt not to justify all these opinions and practices and to convince you so fully of the truth and innocency of them that I hope you will own
to be sufficient to add so many other Mediators to him Yea it seems you believe they have more power with God or love for us than Christ hath otherwise you would not think it necessary to joyn their Prayers to his nor make more addresses to these Servants than to the Son We know as Christ is God he is most able and as Man most willing to help us Hebr. ii 18. and are assured he is able to serve to the uttermost all that come unto God by him Hebr. vii 25. And when the Father hath provided so All-sufficient a Mediator to fly to others and desire them to add their interest to his is both ingratitude to the Father and a disparagement to the Son when you have laid all the fine colours on it you can Po. I will convince you by a practice of your own that herein you censure us unjustly Do not you desire the Saints on Earth to pray for you though Christ be your Mediator and is this any injury to Christ why then may we not as well desire those in Heaven to do it Prot. We have many Precepts and Examples in Scripture to desire holy Men on Earth to pray with us and for us which shews that is according to Gods Will 1 Joh. v. 14. but you have not one word to direct you to desire this of the Saints in Heaven Besides we do not kneel to good Men and put their Names into the same Litanies and Prayers with God Almighty nor desire to be heard by their Merits They pray with us and for us as our Fellow-sufferers who see and hear our wants in particular and pray only in Christs Name and through his Merits and so are joynt Petitioners with us not joynt Mediators with Christ And withal every particular Man goes to them and tells them his case and then he is sure they know his wants but Scripture is very clear that those who are dead even the best Men know not the particular wants of their dearest Friends 2 Kings xxii 20. Job xiv 2. Eccles ix 5. Isai lxiii 16. Nor is it possible for any Creature to hear the Petitions of many thousands at one time in divers places and if they cannot hear you what are you better for praying to them Po. This is easily answered for since God knows all things and they are with him always cannot he without any difficulty make our Prayers known to them Prot. We question not Gods power but why should he do this since you pray to them without his direction and by doing so accuse the way which he prescribed of being insufficient nor have you any Promise that God will acquaint them with your Prayers Besides you cannot but think it absurd if not ridiculous to pray to the Saints to pray to God for you and yet till God tell them first they cannot tell him what it is they are to desire of him this is to employ God to inform the Saints of our wants and looks like writing to a Courtier which cannot read to desire him to beg a Favour of the King for us because we were unworthy to write immediately to the King and yet knew before hand this Courtier must go to the King himself to read the Letter Po. We value not your idle Comparisons Our Church tells us the Saints do hear us and it is no matter whether or no we know how they do hear us Prot. The Scripture tells you they do not hear you and Reason tells you they cannot and will you believe your Church against both Your Church never durst define the way how they come to hear you because many Absurdities follow upon all methods that ever yet were devised And a wary man would scarce credit a thing of this consequence that cannot be proved or made out much less would he go to Mediators of whose hearing him he can have no other assurance than the bare word of those Men who gain by the Doctrin when he hath an All-sufficient Mediator who he is sure can always hear and help him and to whom he may pray without any doubts to damp his Devotion Po. Did not the Virgin Mary prophecy that all Generations should call her blessed Luke i. 48. and have we not reason to believe that the Mother of God hath great power in Heaven Prot. We call her Blessed and bless God for her but she never said All Generations should pray to her or impertinently repeat that Salutation which was proper to the occasion of her Conception of Christ as if it were a formal Prayer to her now Nor is there one word in Scripture to direct us to pray to her at all much less to say more Ave's to her than Pater nosters to God and to make larger Offerings to her than to Jesus who declares he hath all Power in Heaven and Earth so that all your worship of her is an Invention of your own and meer Superstition Po. We find it makes the People more devout to propose so many glorified Saints to them to be adored than if we confined them to adore only one invisible God Prot. You may observe if you would own the Truth that this impious Device makes the Worship of God to be neglected inclining your People to rely more on the Saints help than on Gods and to give them the honour due to him for those Blessings which he alone bestows on them and since God hath confined us only to worship and serve him Math. iv 10. it is Superstition and Idolatry not Devotion for to make any other Beings the Objects of your Worship Po. Well but since God hath wrought so many Miracles by the Relicks of the Saints doubtless he is well pleased with our adoring them and their Relicks Prot. There have been many false Relicks proposed for true ones and many forged Miracles invented by cunning Priests for gain as hath been undeniably proved and if there be any true Relicks of real Saints and any certain Miracles it is not the Saint or his Relicks but God by whose power the Miracle was wrought as S. Peter tells us Acts iii. 12. who is to have the glory And though we find in Scripture that Miracles were wrought by Moses Rod Elijahs Mantle the Hem of Christs Garment S. Peters Shadow and S. Pauls Handkerchief we never read that any of the Faithful adored these things Po. Perhaps you have been told we wholly neglect making Prayers to God by Christ Iesus whereas we have many Prayers in our Publick Offices like yours directed to God in Christs Name and I hope you have no Objection against these Prot. You ought to have no other Prayers but such and yet though these Prayers be right as to their Matter there is one intollerable Fault in them all that they are made in Latin which the People do not understand Po. Is not the Church to direct in what manner Publick Prayers shall be made and are we not to obey her Orders Prot.
1. 'T is evident it hugely derogates from Gods Mercy and Christs Merits to teach Men That after all Gods Promises to justify us freely by his Grace Rom. iii. 24. And after Christs blotting out the Hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us Coloss ii 14. they must still smart so long and so severely and are left to pay so great a part of it themselves Po. You are mistaken again for we hold that because of the Communion of Saints one man may satisfy for another and that the Alms and Prayers of the Living and especially of Holy Fryers and Nuns will avail for the delivering the Dead out of Purgatory Prot. You may hold what you please but Scripture tells us Every one shall bear his own burden Galat. vi 5. and that no Man can redeem his Brother nor make agreement to God for him because it cost more to redeem their Souls so that he must let that alone for ever Psal xlix 7 8. And that all the good Works of the best Men are little enough for themselves Math. xxv 9. So that we wonder the wiser Lay-men will be deluded by a Doctrin which is so ill proved and tends so Apparently to make the People put off their Repentance till their Death and to give the Monks an opportunity to draw Legacies from the dying and large Gifts from their living Friends that is to make the Laity Wicked and the Clergy Rich and to hazard the Salvation of both Po. We do not think the Money ill bestowed which we give to our Priests and Fryers whose Prayers are more pure and prevalent than those of your Clergy because they are under those three Holy Vows of Chastity Poverty and Obedience Prot. Vows without observing them are but a snare and an aggravation of the Sin when they are broken as two of these most notoriously are by your Priests and Religious Orders who are infamous in all Countries for those Artifices they use to get Wealth and for their unnatural and scandalous Lust and your Church is justly taxed with all the infamous Consequences of the Vow of Chastity because she imposes it on young Persons before they know their own strength and connives at Fornication in them rather than she will allow them to Marry that the Church may be their Heir and that they may have less dependance on Kings and States as being single Persons Po. You would fain make this a piece of Policy whereas it is Religion for S. Paul declares single persons are fittest to wait upon the Lord without distraction 1 Cor. vii 35. and on that account it is most proper for the Religious and Priests Prot. The Apostle advises all Christians and not Priests only to continue single if they were so as best for those Times of Persecution and provided they found they could live Chastly Unmarried otherwise to avoid Fornication he Commands them even then to Marry 1 Cor. vii 2. Whereas you forbid it to all your Religious in all Times and all Cases Besides he laid no Vow upon them Ver. 35. Nor was he himself under any Vow but was free to Marry if he had pleased 1 Cor. ix 5. And he allows a Bishop to be the Husband of one Wife 1. Tim. iii. 2. and supposes Deacons then had Wives Ver. 11. Nor doth he count Marriage impurity in any but affirms It is honourable in all and the Bed Undefiled Hebr. xiii 4. he excepts not the Clergy so that we doubt not our Married Clergy's Prayers who live soberly according to Gods Ordinance are more pure and prevalent than yours most of which live in Perjury burning Desires and Fornication Po. But your Priests have not power by their Prayers to cast out Evil Spirits as ours have which shews that Ours not Yours are the true Successors of the Apostles to whom Christ gave power over Unclean Spirits Mark xvi 17. Prot. Christ gave his Apostles power then to drink Poyson and take up Serpents without harm as also afterwards to Speak with Tongues Heal the Sick by a Touch and Raise the Dead yet your Priests dare not pretend to any of these Miracles which are all ceased long since 1 Cor. xii 8. Only they keep up the Pretence to Cast out Evil Spirits because that is more easily counterfeited than any of the rest And if this alone would serve 't is likely Conjurers might prove themselves the Apostles Successors as well as your Priests for they can Cast out Evil Spirits better than the Romish Priests who as may be noted do Cast out the Devil as often out of the same Party in divers places as there is occasion to make a Proselyte or work upon the Superstitious Now this must be done either by Compact with the Devil or the Party pretended to be Possessed and either way it is little to their Honour Besides I have known a good Physician by Natural Means Cure those whom these Priests pretended were Possessed which shews they often cast the Devil out when he was never in Po. Well I cannot but pity your Obstinacy and pray for you who wilfully shut your Eyes against the plainest Arguments for Catholic Truth Prot. There is more Reason for me to pity and pray for you who in all these Points do contradict Holy Scripture which cannot deceive us and believe false and feigned Traditions invented by designing Men for Evil ends and for my part I count it a wise Resolution and no Obstinacy to give credit to God rather than Men. Po. You flatter your self with Scripture taken in your own sense but you did own the Catholic Church was the best Interpreter of Scripture and I assure you the Holy Fathers who in all Ages have delivered down to us the Sense of the Catholic Church agree exactly with us in all these Opinions and Practices which you Protestants reject and can you think all these holy Ancient Doctors were deceived and that a few obscure Modern Reformers are in the right Prot. Truly I have but little skill in these Writings of the Fathers but I have heard our Clergy who are as well read in them as any of you declare That all these Fathers condemn your Opinions as much as Holy Scripture doth and that these Opinions and Practices were late Inventions of your Church and were set up in Times of Ignorance and Superstition meerly to gain Power and Wealth by them And though I am not able to make this out I promise you whenever you please to bring one of our Churchmen that shall prove what I say In the mean time because the Scripture was before the Fathers I am well satisfied that mine is the oldest and the best Religion and am resolved therefore by Gods Grace never to forsake it and if you lov'd your own Soul above your Worldly Interest you would embrace it also which I heartily pray you may and so bid you Farewell Books newly Published Printed for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1686. THE