against the Twelve Commandments together are not half so Foul and Damning with them as that one of Popery as they conceive it is by it self For these Means that have been taken to effect this are so well proportion'd to this end and do so naturally work People into this Aversion and Hatred that were Christianity it self treated and expos'd to the People for some years in the same manner and method only as Popery already has been I am confident 't would be the same crime within a while with them to become a Christian as now 't is to turn Papist But in the mean time this Method is so Vnjust and so unbecoming all true Christian Candor under which the Papists have been suffering these so many years that I cannot in Charity wish it to befal the Worst of Enemies And did Charity allow me to seek any expedient for the ruin of any ones Credit and Reputation and rendring him the Object of a Popular Hatred I would consult no farther but only desire he might take his portion with the Papists and be treated no worse than they have been all along by their adversaries After what manner this has been I hope the Considering Reader who has perus'd what has been already said in this Discourse do's by this time comprehend I gave some hint of it before in a former Answer call'd the Amicable Accommodation in which under the Person of a Dissenter arguing against and Defaming the Church of England I discover'd in what manner the Papists are handled by the Protestants But this is taken by some by the wrong handle and therefore can afford it no better a Title than of Light Scurrilous and Jesting and are willing to persuade their Readers that the Character of the Church of England as 't is there drawn is nothing better than a Controversial Lampoon and that since every Idle word is to be given account of what apprehensions ought the Author of it to be seiz'd with who instead of having any True Zeal for Truth has made a Droll of Religion widens the Divisions of the Church and finds a harmony in her groans This is a very severe Charge but the Comfort is I am in good Company for 't is not only the Amicable Accommodation stands thus endited but the Vindication of the Bishop of Meaux and the Defence of the Late Kings Papers which if any one will be so Civil as to take this Authors word for'r do's not Vindicate but Ridicule and is both void of Charity to his Adversaries and of respect to the Persons and Church He defends Besides this he has urg'd the charge against them all in the bitterest expressions imaginable Nothing is heard of in Two whole pages but of their art of Palliating want of Fairness and Civility laying aside Moderation falling into a vein of Lightness and Scurrility forgetting that Religion is the Subject and Christians and Scholars their Antagonists Their Mean Reflections and Trivial jestings their Ridiculing their want of Charity and Respect their Writings Accommodated to the Genius of Sceptics who divert themselves at the expence of all Religion and being not design'd to satisfie the Sober and Consciencious of either Side c. Now what This Author seems here at first sight to require being nothing but Moderation Candidness and Civility in Answerers of all sides I cannot but highly commend but then agen when I look farther into him and see him wishing for Moderation in the deepest Satyr condemning the want of Civility in Others with the most Exasperating Reflections of his One writing against the Passion of his Adversaries with his own Pen steept in Gall when I hear him desirous of laying down his Dearest Blood for the redressing the Evils of the Divided Church and at the same time most Uncharitably exposing Antagonists even such as nothing belong'd to his Province under the most Odious Characters imaginable I cannot tell how to take him in earnest he seems but to make a serious Droll and brings into my mind what I have heard of one who Preaching on Ship-board to correct the extravagant Swearing of the Mariners after many arguments to convince them of their Prophaness at length to press the matter home to them Swore Bloodily They would be all Damn'd if they did not leave off Swearing But however it be I le Answer for my self and do here assure this Zealous Author notwithstanding all his hard words that there 's no more of jesting in my last Papers than he may find in any Parable or Emblem in which tho' the Persons may be feign'd as in that of the Trees choosing a King yet the thing signified or intended is real and serious So that tho' it may be never any Dissenter press'd all those things against the Church of England in the manner I have there urg'd them yet that there is shewn the Exact Method how the Church of Rome is struck at by Protestants is what is intended most Seriously and without any drolling in the least And therefore if he finds any Ridiculing in the Arguments Mean Reflections or Trivial Jestings in the urging them I can only tell him that the Copy must be like the Original and that he that undertakes to shew how Protestants Ridicule the Church of Rome do's not Jest when he does it in something that looks Ridiculous And if he is sensible that this way of handling Controversies do's rather exasperate than heal our Divisions I am sincerely of his mind But then think that for the preventing it he ought rather spend his Zeal upon such of his Brethren who by thus Ridiculing play the Controvertists in good earnest with their Bibles in hand than upon Adversaries who only detect the Sophistry and by Emblem shew how 't is done If he has therefore so much esteem for the Salvation of Mens Souls and the Truth of Religion as he pretends let him shew himself so in a most Christian Action Let him but turn to such of his own Communion who have given this bad Example and win so far upon them as Publickly to make Restitution to such Innocent Persons of the Credit and Good Name which They have Publickly helpt to take away To remove that Uncharitable Opinion they have Imprinted in the very Souls of their Hearers against their Neihgbors by vain Rumors and groundless Surmises let him prevail upon them never more to Preach to Peoples Passion instead of their Reason never more to enflame the multitude by Preaching to them Dreams and Visions nor to advance every un-soul'd Informer to the Authority of an Evangelist Let him see that they play not with their Neighbors Reputation and Religion and run them both down with idle Stories such as are Authentick enough for a Plot-Catechism but not for a Pulpit Let him endeavor that their Arguments and Methods for the defeating of Popery be not such as any Jew may take up to strike aâ— Christianity and every Atheist to make a sham of all Religion Let him advise them with a late Preacher That their Zeal against Popery betray them not into some of the worst Principles that are charg'd upon that Church That while they are Zealous for their Church They continuâ— Loyal to their King That whilst they Preach up the principles and Loyalty of their Church they have a care of proving themselves no Members of it by their instilling Suspitions and Jealousies by their telling their Flock of a Cloud hanging over their Heads and at the same tiâ—â— Prognosticating its Dissipation Let him employ his best endeavors oâ— this side a while to redress these evils and I dare engage notwithstanding all the complaints he has against his Adversaries The Natioâ— will enjoy more Peace His Church will have less Divisions and the King better Subjects FINIS Answ to Pap. protest pag. 131. Answ to Am. Accom p. 16. Answ to Am. Accom p. 16. Ib. Pag. 17. Pag. 19. Pag. 21. Pag. 18. Pag. 21. Pag. 16. Pag. 17. Pag. 24. Pag. 24. Answ p. 4. 7. 8. 30. alib Amic Accom p. 6. Ans p. 5. Am. Accom p. 6. Pag. 10 11 13. Answ to Papist Pro. p. 17. Answ to Pap. protest pag. 11. A Catech truly representing the Doctrins of the Church of Rome Pag. 56. Pag. 17. Ib. Pag. 21. Last Edit 1686. Ep. 125. Escob trac 2. exam 1. c. 4. Pref. Pref. Deeay of Christian Piety Sermon at the Visitation of the Bishop of Norwich by Sam. Crisp 1686. p. 25 Sir Rich. Baker p. 475. Printed An. 1653. Jovian p. 96. Baker in the beginning of Queen Mary K. J. p. 36. In the Plates of Common-Prayer-Book Printed at Oxford An. 1680. Def. of the Expos of the Doct. of the Ch. of Eng p. 85 86. Crisp â—isit Ser. p. 23.
A REPLY TO THE ANSWER OF THE Amicable Accommodation BEING A Fourth Vindication of the Papist Misrepresented and Represented IN Which are more particularly laid open some of the Principal Methods by which the Papists are Misrepresented by Protestants in their Books and Sermons Published with Allowance LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty for his Houshold and Chappel 1686. A REPLY TO THE ANSWER OF THE Amicable Accommodation THE Answerer in his last seems to take his leave of me And thus says he p. 30. I take a fair leave of the Representer But me-thinks if he be not gone too far I would fain have a word or two with him before we part And 't is chiefly in civility to ask him How he does For throughout his last Reply he seems sick of Answering having said but very little throughout the whole and yet assuring his Reader he has driven the matter as far as it will go p. ib. Well and is there no more then to be said to that manifold Charge summ'd up against the Church of England in my last Discourse Is that matter driven as far as it will go I there drew out a Character of the Church of England as lying under the same Charge of Scandals Innovation and Idolatry from a Dissenter as the Church of Rome does generally from Protestants And almost every Point urg'd with the same Proofs of Scripture and Reasons which Protestants produce against the Papists And all this he passes over with a light touch and the most artificial way of Answering with saying nothing as can possibly be met with And first tho' amongst the many Divisions of Dissenters there are several from whom the whole Charge might forcibly be urg'd as the Rigid Anabaptists the Quakers c. yet because this would oblige him to answer all the Arguments and to shew they are not of equal force against the Church of England as against the Papists he upon good consideration takes it as spoken from such a kind of Dissenter which agreeing in many of the Points with the Church of England cannot reasonably be thought to urge them against her And so instead of giving them any farther Answer he comes off with The Dissenters did never charge the Church of England with this The Dissenters do the same themselves There is no Dispute between the Dissenters and Vs about that Did ever the Dissenters charge us with this And so lets them drop without any farther Reply tho' still standing in their full force against the Church of England from most other Dissenters excepting those he has pick'd out for better Expedition Thus he gives the goe-by to the greatest part of the Instances And for such other Arguments as are there press'd against the Church of England and that equally from all sorts of Dissenters those he prudently says nothing to In observance I suppose of a Rule he had laid down before in a former Discourse viz. The Greatest Wits can do no more than the Cause will bear tho' a little Prudence would teach ME to say NOTHING in such a Cause as will admit of no better a Defence And therefore he says not one Word in Vindication of his Popish Prelates of their Mitres and Crosiers not a Word of praying to be defended by the Angels Nothing of their calling upon the Birds the Beasts and Fishes of their crying out to Dead Men in their most Solemn Devotions of inserting the Apocrypha into their Liturgy of their not wearing the Rochet the Albe and Tunicle of their prescribing Fasts and not keeping them of their formerly Praying for the Dead c. Not one word to all his own Reasons which in his Discourses against me he has formerly advanc'd to prove us Superstitious and Idolaters and yet there pressing with the same weight against himself and his own Church And yet he 's taking his leave on me because the matter is driven as far as it will go And is it possible then that the Disputing Humour is so soon off We have heard of nothing hitherto so much as of Disputing and Defending and Justifying your Reasonings of these repeated Challenges to the Representer We 'll Dispute it when you will And now as far as I see when the Answerer is put to defend his own Church and justifie his own Reasonings he 's as cool and as unwilling dispute as the Representer No We are not say he for pursuing every new Game but will keep to our old Scent Could any thing possibly be said more cooly than this Here 's not a word now of Disputing or Justifying if his Reasonings be shewn to fly in his own face as much as against his Adversary he 's well enough content to hear it with scarce a word of Reply because he 's resolv'd to keep to his old Scent And is not this something strange now that He that should draw me out to dispute over the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition and run over the whole body of Controversie as to matter of Right or de Jure when I undertook for no more than to declare what our Church holds as to Matter of Fact and would not take my waving it without many a Flurt and a Jeer Now when it comes to his own turn of Disputing and Defending his own Reasonings in a Case directly appertaining to our main Point of Representing le ts the matter fall very cautiously and will scarce touch at it forsooth because he 'll keep to his old Scent So that tho' he 's for beating up for me as many new Games as he can possibly find for my diversion for his part he 'll not follow the old one unless the scent be very agreeable which truly 't is not when it comes to press him to the standing his Ground and justifying his own Cause I must pardon him therefore it seems as to this But however tho' he will not offer any defence against a Character which seems to reflect upon his own Church yet he 'll endeavour to prevent all misunderstanding betwixt Her and the Dissenters that might possibly be occasion'd by such a Character And because he finds it much easier to work upon their Affections by Fawning than to convince their Judgments by Reasoning He first tells them how Wise they are and how Cautious nay how much Wiser they are grown now of late and he hopes they will grow wiser and wiser every day Especially so as not to suspect Them or their Church of any Inclinations to Popery For whatever they have formerly suspected I believe says he they will call it Popish and Antichristian no longer And here he gives them a Reason or two with which if they are not mov'd they are much to blame For he tells them in how many things the Church of England agrees with the Dissenters And first as for their calling their Churches by Saints Names that 's much the same with what the Dissenters did themselves and tho' they give them
and Impartial Reader to examine this affair of the Mannerly and This Time I 'le not judge neither for my self nor him But however notwithstanding this little displeasure of my Answerer it clears up agen with him he pardons all frankly and we are contented says he they should ridicule our Church if they will permit us truly to Represent theirs Here now we have a liberty granted of Ridiculing which I resolve never to make use of unless it be to shew how They ridicule the Church of Rome But instead of returning my thanks for this favour I am e'n resolved to beg another and 't is that the Answerer will be pleased not to take that for Ridiculing in us which in them he calls truly Representing This would be a very Signal Favour indeed if it could be obtain'd but I almost despair For by all that I can discover in their truly Representing 't is so unlike what he calls it that nothing can be more underserving that Name For let but an exact Copy be taken of what they do to the Papists when they truly Represent them as they call it with all its methods and circumstances let the same measures they use to them be applied to any other Body or Society even to their own Church of England and if it do's not appear to be down right Misrepresenting and Ridiculing instead of truly Representing I 'le e'en throw up the Cause and grant the Papists to be as Black as they make them This appears something already in the Character now examin'd which he owns to be Ridiculing tho' it be nothing but what they do to the Church of Rome and there call it Truly Representing But this I shall more clearly evince afterwards when I have examin'd some other Parts of the Answer where I shall have occasion of playing him the same Tune over agen a litle more distinctly without any Ridiculing but in very good earnest But first I must consider how he receives the Curtesie I did him in my last Reply I must confess I could not but be concern'd to see my Answerer turning and winding it first through tedious Ten Sheets and soon after through other Nine and all to prove that the Word Misrepresented in the Title of my Book was not to be taken in its Proper Sense This to me was an Object of Compassion and therefore to save him any farther Sweat I thought fit to yield to his Pretensions and give into his hands the full grasp of all that he had just before so earnestly contended for And see now how ill use he makes of this favour For having so far complied with him that the Word Misrepresented in the Title of my Book is not to be taken in its Strict and Proper Sense he would now willingly impose upon his Reader and Me and perswade the World as if I own the Protestants not to charge falsly any Doctrins or Practices on the Church of Rome which she disowns and that they do not teach their Flock that the Church of Rome believes or practices otherwise than She does This says he at last if I understand him he confesses Is not this stretching a Curtesie with a witness and Misrepresenting the Representer I yielded to him indeed for Peace sake that the Title of a Papist Misrepresented is not to be taken in its strict and proper Sense as Misrepresenting signifies ONLY downright Lying or falsly charging matter of Fact the WHOLE Character being not of that nature And this with our Answerer is the same as to confess That Protestants do not charge the Church of Rome with any Doctrins or Practices which She does not own So that it seems because the Character of a Papist Misrepresented is not wholly made up of matters of Doctrin and Practices falsly charg'd upon the Papists Therefore as our Answerer will have it it contains nothing at all wrongfully charg'd upon them and Protestants do not in any thing Misrepresent the Church of Rome And this he would have me plainly confess But I must beg his pardon for this I do not see he has made so good use of the last favour I did him as to accomodate away my Senses and Reason to do him another No Transubstantiation is not half so disagreeable to Protestant-Senses as this is to mine I could as easily confess that Protestants do not at all Write or Preach against Papists as that they do not Misrepresent them And for the truth of this Cause I dare stand to the Verdict even of a Protestant Jury I 'le give the Answerer choice-room enough Let him pick out of all England Twelve such Men who understand the Belief and Doctrin of Papists all Good Men and True and if they shall upon examination give in That they know all to be true which they have heard from Protestant Pulpits and Books concerning the Papists I 'le then yield up the Cause and sit down contented with the brand of a Misrepresenter Nay I dare put it to a farther issue If they do not own they have heard and read several things charg'd upon the Papists which they know to be false I 'le submit to the Answerer and be oblig'd never more to disturb him with the Talk of Misrepresenting But before we advance too far in this matter let 's see first how it stands with the Character of a Papist Misrepresented and examine whether there be nothing there falsly laid at the Papist's door enough for the Book to deserve such a Title And whether the fathering on them such Doctrins as are there contain'd and found in Protestant Authors be not affirming more than is True and charging on them Doctrins and Practices such as they and the Church of Rome disown And first what do's he think of Praying to Images asserted as a Practice of the Papists in the first Chap. of the Papist Misrepresented Is not this imputing more to the Papists than they either teach practice or maintain Do they believe their Sins to be infallibly remitted upon Absolution whether they resolve upon amendment or no And yet this is laid to them Chap. 7. Do they believe the Pope can give them leave for a Sum of Money to commit what Sins they please And yet this is reported as their Doctrin Chap. 8. Is it absolutely true that they are never permitted to know their Commandments but by halves Is it their Doctrin presumptuously to rely on a Death-bed Repentance Are their Sermons in Latin or do they teach in Unknown Tongues Is it true that they Fir'd the City Is he sure they Kill'd Sir Edmondbury Godfrey Or will he put in for an Evidence to Swear the Truth of the Damnable Hellish Popish-Plot And yet all these things and more stand charg'd upon the Papists in the Character of a Papist Misrepresented Why then should the Answerer thus quarrel with this Title as if the Papists had no wrong done them in such a Description I know it is the Interest of such ill men as
have run down the Papists with these Charges and Accusations and pass'd them upon the People for Gospel to have them still reputed as Truths lest the falsity of them being once confess'd they themselves should appear the Deceivers But however they may be willing to pursue such Unchristian methods to save their own Reputation 't is not for us to own the Belief of such Doctrins which we acknowledge to be Injurious to Christ nor to maintain such Practices which would be a Scandal even amongst those who know not God And therefore because the Character of a Papist Misrepresented contains such Doctrins and Practices which Catholicks neither own teach nor believe nay such as they abominate and detest and are ready to lay down their lives rather than embrace or approve such a Character of a Papist is nothing less than a False Character a Misrepresenting Character and fit only for the use of those who have a mind to dispose their Followers into a temper of giving a better welcome to Turks Atheists and Jews than to Papists I know 't is thought necessary for the Establishment and Security of the Protestant Religion that the People should be Preach'd into a dread of Popery but let it be so is it a Christian method to make use of Artifices to encrease the horror Why should every thing the Papists do be stretch'd and strain'd and forc'd to make ti ugly Why should the worst be made of all that belongs to them 'T is true this is proper enough to win upon the Mobile who make no distinction between Real and Artificial Monsters 't is well enough where the interest is best maintain'd by the Madness of the People But where 's the Christianity all the while where 's Truth and Charity Why should Praying to Images Leave to Sin for Money Forgiveness without Repentance Trusting in a Death-bed Lord-have-mercy c. Why should seign'd Crimes and Imaginary Contrivances c. be urg'd against them to make them the Object of hatred and the Subject of a Popular fury Why should it be pretended that where these things stand charg'd against the Papists they are not Misrepresented I am sure where Protestantism is either grounded or confirmed by thus bug-bearing of Popery 't is not built upon the Gospel nor is its strength from the power of Truth and the using such unwarrantable methods and taking so much pains for the dressing it into a Monster is argument enough with Considering Men to suspect something of the Undertakers The Answerer therefore is mightily out when he supposes it confess'd by me that there 's no proper Misrepresenting or false charge of Matter of Fact upon the Papists in the Character of the Papist Misrepresented I only yield to him that the Character is not wholly made up indeed of these forg'd Accusations but that 't is a mixt Character describing the Papists as they lie under the false Charges the Calumnies Reproaches Misconstructions and Mistaken Judgments of their both Malicious and Ignorant Adversaries And therefore I inform'd him that the Title of the Papist Misrepresented was not to be taken in its strict and proper sense as Misrepresenting signifies only down-right lying or falsly charging matter of Fact But in its larger or less proper sense as it comprehends both Lying Calumniating Mis-interpreting Reproaching Misconstruing Mis-judging and whatever else of this kind But this condescendence which would have oblig'd an Ingenuous Adversary has made my Answerer something peevish And therefore now instead of his old Complementing Humour he 's grown very four he 's full of grudges and something seems to grate upon his Stomach Well and what 's the matter now What reason of this so sudden Change Why it seems the Representer said that the Papists are strangely Misrepresented that many matters of Fact are falsly charg'd upon them that they are calumniated reproach'd their Doctrin and Practices mis-interpreted misconstrued misunderstood c. as was shewn in his Character of the Papist Misrepresented And all this the Answerer unhappily takes to himself as if He were the Man accus'd for doing all this against the Papists as if He and His were Arraign'd of Lying Calumniating c. Whenas the Representer spoke only in general without so much as hinting upon any Party or Person in particular and if I may vouch any thing for him never thought of reflecting upon the Answerer much less of giving him the Lie 'T is true the Representer says for the running down the Papists and Misrepresenting them besides their being Calumniated and their Doctrins mis-interpreted many Falsities and Lies have been rais'd against them But what does this concern the Answerer Is this Complaint any Accusation against him Suppose the Representer had gone a step farther and had said that the Papists have been injur'd by Perjury Forgery and Subornation too would the Answerer have thought himself touch'd in this and labour'd to clear himself 'T is true for a Man to be over-eager in quitting himself when the Accusation is only General is not the best Argument of his Innocence But for my part I never design'd to accuse the Answerer for I knew not the Man neither have I any thing now to say against him as to this Point only that his over-solicitude to prove his Innocence before he was accus'd will be likely with some to breed a suspicion of Guilt The Answerer therefore must remember that the Character of the Papist Misrepresented contains several unjust Charges of Doctrin and Practices tho' it be not wholly made up of these such as the Papists neither own nor believe And that he is over-hasty in persuading his Reader that this Point is gain'd and confess'd by me No he must pardon me for this I l'e go as far as any Man for an Accommodation but never so as to subscribe to a falsity in a Complement Hitherto as to what concerns the Character Now we are to consider how true that is which he so often repeats of the fair dealing of WE in relation to the Papists For some it seems there are if he says true that are so just and kind to the Papists as not to Misrepresent them For throughout the Answer we meet with nothing oftner than WE are not Misrepresenters in a strict and proper notion of Misrepresenting WE do not charge the Church of Rome with any matter of Fact with any Doctrins or Practices which she does not own WE charge them with nothing that is false WE do not mis-report the Doctrins of their Church WE do not charge men with saying or doing what they never said or did WE are no Misrepresenters And truly I should be glad to know who these WE are to return them my thanks for this so kind Office for really as the World goes 't is no small favour done to the Papists to say no more of them than they own and believe themselves For my part did I know the Men I would never permit them to lie obscur'd under the General name
of WE no I would particularize them to the World and have their Names blazon'd in every Street upon Pillars erected to their Memory For why Are not such Men Prodigies of Vertue of Truth Honesty and Justice Men that never charg'd the Church of Rome with any matter of Fact with any Doctrin or Practice which she does not own Men that never said the Church of Rome teaches what she does not teach that never condemn'd the Papists for believing what they do not believe nor accus'd them of saying or doing what they never said or did Men that never Misrepresented the Papists Why these are Admirable Men indeed and not to be heard of every day Were I assur'd of the being of such Men I should begin to think Astrea was return'd again and that our Nation would in all likelyhood recover her Credit lost in the unhappy times of our late Credulous Madness But I wish there be no mistake in this it being so hard to imagine who these We should be For now if he should mean by his We We Protestants We never accus'd the Papists of any Doctrin or Practices which they do not own never charg'd them with any thing that is false who could believe it Would not this look like a Paradox which if the Answerer will affirm I believe he 'll scarce find more than one to swear to For is it possible that We Protestants never said any thing of the Papists but what is exactly true We never said they believe what they do not believe that they teach what they do not teach or that they did what they never did Is it possible this should be true I would willingly give something for the sight of the Man that thinks so For my part I think it very hard to be believ'd And if this be the meaning of the Answerer and what he endeavours to persuade his Reader I think of all the Mis-representations of the Papists that ever I met with this of affirming all to be true that has been said of the Papists is the greatest and I wish the Answerer much Joy for the Improvement For this is nothing else than to vouch for the truth of all that has been ever alledg'd against them and in three lines to assert and approve all that has been invented against them these hundred and fifty Years But I think upon consideration I may take it for granted that his WE that charge the Papists with nothing that is false and are no Misrepresenters are WE Protestants for 't is these he seems to vindicate throughout his Books and endeavours to wipe off from them the imputation of being Misrepresenters And besides if he speaks properly the Answerer himself must come in and make one of the WE and for him one may swear he 's a stanch True Protestant as never scrupling at any thing that 's for running down the Papists tho' it be currying favour with and colloguing the Phanaticks as he seems plainly to do in his last Answer p. 16. 18. And more particularly because being to speak against Popery he 's as large as loud as long-winded as you please and is ready to Dispute against it without end could he but find any that would think it worth their while to try him But being to speak in defence of the Principles and Practices of his own Religion as he had occasion sufficient from the Accommodating Sermon in my last Answer he 's as Flat as Short and as willing to wave the disputing for it as any Adversary can desire which is as plain an Argument to me of his Perswasion as if 't was writ in his Forehead there being only one Perswasion as I know of amongst Christians which has its Name Being and Support not from what it is in it self but from what it is not in defying and Protesting against their Neighbours We must suppose therefore now that his WE which are pretended so clear throughout his Answer from being Misrepresenters of the Papists are WE Protestants but because he disclaims all Title to Infallibility there 's no need of taking his word for the truth of what he asserts nor danger of affronting him tho' we call in question the verity of what he says he has prov'd And really as my Case stands I am oblig'd to question it For if it be confess'd true what he says that the Protestants are no Misrepresenters of the Papists Then I must needs own I have highly injur'd the Protestants in complaining against them as Mis-reporters of the Doctrin and Practices of the Church of Rome and holding out against them so long the charge of Misrepresenting Why should I injure any body especially so considerable a Number as challenge that Name No I will do them no such wrong and therefore however Innocent our Answerer may pretend he has prov'd them I 'le here shew the Papists have been always Misrepresented and that ever since they have had Protestant Adversaries their greatest Suffering has been not so much from the force of Truth and Reason as from Calumny and Slander and all sorts of Misrepresentations For the clearing of this we must take along with us the true Notion of Misrepresenting as 't is now agreed on by our Adversary who owns in his last Answer That whosoever undertakes to declare any Action Doctrin or Practice of Papists and does not deliver it as cloath'd with all its Circumstances with the right Motives due End and Intention is in a proper and strict sense a Misrepresenter Again in his former Anser he has this laid down as a Principle If we says he speaking of We Protestants put our own Opinions of the Papists Faith and Practice into his Character this is Misrepresenting because a Papist has not the same Opinion of these things which we have and this makes it a False Character So that here 't is now to be suppos'd that whatsover Protestant in any thing relating to the Papists either leaves out or alters any material Circumstance the Motive Intention End puts any false Construction or thrusts in his own Opinion into what he relates is forthwith a Misrepresenter And now to discover how much the Papists have been always Sufferers from this Unchristian Artifice of Misrepresenting we can take no better way than to make enquiry into the several Methods us'd in Misrepresenting and this not only in relation to Points of Doctrin and Belief but likewise in matters of Fact and History and tho' it be impossible to give an exact Catalogue of These they being as Numberless as the Ways are of Ignorance to mistake of Envy to make false Constructions of Malice to deceive yet to touch at some few will be sufficient to evince whether the WE of the Answerer are as clear from misrepresenting and wronging the Papists as he pretends Or Whether the Papists are really what they pretend to shew them And first one way of Misrepresenting the Papists is by charging their Doctrin with Blasphemy and Prophaness not
Blood should not be expos'd alone to the People but likewise the occasions and provocations given even according to Law and then let things go as far as they will but to Misrepresent the Papists Stories must be Told and Preached by halves otherwise they will turn to no account with the People and serve nothing to the Interest of the Cause But to see now how much there go's in the telling a Story Queen Elizabeth put to death Two hundred persons upon the score of Conscience without any actual Crime or Misdemeanor against the Ancient Statutes of the Land but only against the Law of her own contriving a Law so cruel that the like is scarce to be found even among the Mahometans who tho' they have conquer'd many Christian Nations yet never as I have heard of made it Treason for the Natives to profess their own Religion or maintain their Pastors And tho' this and much more was done by this Princess yet she is set forth with that advantage that she is a Meek Merciful Tender-hearted Saintlike true-Protestant Queen While her Sister who put to death not Three hundred of which number those of the greatest Note were Traytors in the highest Degree others Guilty of the most intollerable abuses both to Church and State and liable to death by the Ancient and known Laws of the Nation such as Dr. Heylyn and Dr. Pocklington both Protestants in their Book Licensed and set forth by Authority stile Schismatical Hereticks Factious Fellows Traytors and Rebels and She is no better than a Cruel Bloody Hard-hearted Popish Tyrant Thus according to this Reform'd Method there needs no more for the making a Protestant Saint or a Popish Fiend than a little turn of the breath and the meer knack of making the Narrative And if there be not Misrepresenting in this I never heard of any Another way there is in spreading the guilt of some few Papists upon the whole of that Communion so that if any of them are catch'd in a Villany 't is immediately suggested that what These did was according to the Principles of their Religion and not so much to be charg'd on them in particular as on their Church which encourages them to such wicked undertakings After this manner the Powder Plot is manag'd which tho' it was in all likelyhood a contrivance of the good Lord Cecil as Osborne a Protestant Historian plainly confesses yet because a few Papists were prov'd Actors in it the guilt is forthwith thrown upon the whole body of them their Religion Calumniated and they Condemn'd as Destructive to Monarchy and unfit to live under a Protestant Prince Now however it may be nothing but truth that Digby Faux and their complices were as black with this Treason as they are commonly Painted yet hence to spread the Scandal upon the Papists without distinction to cry out against the Bloody Papists the Barbarous Papists and by such innuendos to incense the Multitude and lead them into false conceits that this was a design of the Catholicks in general according to their profess'd Principles and Doctrin is an unwarrantable proceeding unbecoming the Desk and nothing better than a Misrepresentation Yes as unjust a Misrepresentation as it wou'd be in any one at this day who to drive on a Faction should get up into the Pulpit with the Bible in hand and after having given a large display of the Trayterous Bloody and Inhumane doings of the late Rebels in the West should at last throw it upon the Church of England crying out against the Bloody Church of England men the Cruel Church of England men their Rebellious Principles abominable Doctrins and Practices of Men not to be tolerated in a Monarchical Government and this because he proves the Duke that Headed that Rebellion to have been a Member of that Church with some others that joyn'd hands with him For be it never so true that some were thus really chargeable with this Rebellion nay that at their deaths they never own'd it as a Crime which yet the Powder Plotters did yet still to charge the guilt upon the whole of that Communion can be done no otherwise than by the fashionable Artifice of Misrepresenting Another way there is in putting malitious Constructions upon indifferent things and running down a Party upon false surmises This was the Case of the Papists some years since When they enjoying a little rest by the merciful Indulgence of the late King of Blessed Memory behold on a Sudden they are rendred obnoxious to the Government as abusing the Royal Favor and Plotting against his Majesties Subjects A great quantity of long divelish Knives are discover'd made on purpose by the Papists for the cutting all the Protestants Throats this was the Protestant cry and thus was the matter fairly Represented by them Upon this the Papists the Cruel Bloody Papists are to be no longer suffer'd their Priests are order'd into Banishment and so the point was gain'd When the whole truth of the Story was only some parcels of Knives made publickly to be transported for the use of the Plantations But this serv'd the Protestant Interest and the Peoples heads by this are full of the Bloody-minded Papists Another way is by making a Plot of every thing Thus in the year 1666. was that dreadful Judgment of the Fire improv'd into a Plot of the Papists How many Papists were taken with Fire-balls in their Pockets How many apprehended in the very Act of throwing Fire-balls into Windows How many Thousand Papists were in Arms at Temple-bar and the Country allarm'd to suppress them And at the latter end not one word of all this true but only a true Protestant Representation of a thing that never was And yet very much to the purpose of enraging the multitude against the Cruel Bloody Papists For by the frequent buzzing of these kind of Gospel-truths the Vulgar within a while became so throughly convinc'd of the damnable industry of the Papists in throwing Fire-balls that they began to think that Heaven it self could not now consume a Protestant Sodom without making use of a Jesuits hand to throw the Fire and Brimstone No Fire therefore happens after this but the Papists have a hand in 't If Southwark be Fired 't is the damnable Papists do it if the Temple be Burnt 't is the Devilish Papists are blowing the Coals And thus these repeated Misrepresentations are made use of to create an aversion in the Peoples hearts against Popery and are the Evangelical proofs to convince the Multitude that its Doctrin and Practices come all out of the School of Antichrist Another Text out of the same Gospel was that Anniversary Misrepresentation of the Papists contriving the Death of King Charles the First This was an unparallel'd Barbarity Acted in the face of the Sun the Actors and Contrivers are as publick as the noon-light and yet those who at other times are Scrupulous of distrusting their Senses in a Case where God himself speaks here in