But any thing must pass now to deceive the vulgar tho' Men of Sence see the contrary Another Argument he brings to delude the Authority of the Church of Rome is to make her apss only for a particular Church But how often have they been told that Catholics do not take the Church of Rome as it is the Suburbican Diocess to be the Catholic Church but all the Christian Churches in Communion with the Bishop of Rome And that this is the true Church appears by the marks of it deliver'd in the Nicene Creed no other Church being able to pretend to that Unity Sanctity Universality and Antiquity which she is manifestly invested with The true Church must be one and by conquence free from Schism which destroys that notion which some of late have held that the true Church is that Catholic Church which is composed of all Christians the Roman the Grecians the Armenians Prtoestants c. all which they acknowledge to be Members of the True Church tho' they may be rotten ones and this notion our Author seems to have of it when he tells us that the Roman Church has in all ages made up but a part of the Church Pag. 77. and that not always the greatest neither The true Church must be also Holy and must by consequence be free from Heresie and teach no Erroneous Doctrine which how it stands with that Idea which this Author insinuates that the Church of Rome has erred event in necessary points of Faith and is yet a Member of the True Church is worthy a mature Consideration This indeed made the first Reformers who accused the Roman Catholic Church of Idolatry and Superstition say that the Church of JESUS CHRIST was hidden fled into the Wilderness See the Protestant Authors cited by Brereley in his Protestant Apology Tract 2. Cap. 1. Sect. 4. and invisible for 1000 or 1200 years that the Pope was Antichrist and the Church of Rome Antichristian But the Men of our Age being sufficiently convinced that the Church of Christ was to have Kings and Queens for Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers that she was to have Pastors and Teachers in all Ages Whitakers contra Duraeum l. 3. p. 260. that the Administration of the Sacraments and the Preaching of the true word of God were the Essential Proprieties of the Church c. and that all these marks do necessarily denote a Visible Church and finding moreover they could never prove any Christian Kings before Luther Converted to Protestancy or any visible Pastors or Teachers of their Doctrine or any Assembly that Administred the Sacraments as they do or Preached the word of God in their Sence and finding they could not deny the Conversion of many Kings and Nations to the Religion established in the Church of Rome found themselves obliged also to admit her as a part of the True Church tho' a corrupted one and would rather destroy the Sanctity of Christs Church and her Vnity than acknowledge themselves to be justly cut off from being Members of her The third Mark is Catholic which is universal as to Place Time and Doctrine that Church cannot be the true Church the sound whereof is not gone through the whole Earth and is not it self spread over and visible in all Nations that cannot be the true Church which has not continued in all Ages Visible Holy and Uniform neither lastly can that be the true Church which either adds or diminishes from the Doctrines revealed by God to the Prophets and Apostles so that those are as guilty of the Breach of Faith who refuse to believe what has been taught as those who impose new Doctrines The last mark of the Church is that she must be Apostolic that is grounded upon the Doctrines and Faith of the Apostles and deriving a continual Succession from them All which marks are so far from being applicable to the Church of England or to the Universal Church according to the notion given of it be these late Writers that a Man of the smallest judgment if Impartial cannot but see the fallacy thereof ART XXII Authority of the Holy See and of Episcopacy AS for his two other Articles The Opinion of the Church of England as to the Authority of the Church and that of the See Apostolic and Episcopacy I have nothing to say to him but to desire him to remember his promises Pag. 81. and to enquire what is the Authority the Antient Councils of the Primitive Church have acknowledged and the Holy Fathers have always taught the Faithful to give to the Successour to St. Peter and whether the first Four General Councils might not be termed neither General nor Free with as much Reason as the Council of Trent or those others acknowledged by all the Western World and most of the Eastern Churches before the new pretended Reformation The Conclusion I Come now to his Close in which he sums up all the Poison of his Book lays what he pleases to our charge and draws what Consequences he will to inflame his Reader He tells us of Bitter and Vnchristian Hatred we have conceiv'd against them Pag. 82. and desires to know what warrant we have for it I desire all unprejudic'd Persons to consider whether we have not more reason to complain than he Here was a Church established in England Truths delivered to her with Christianity it self were here Practis'd and Preach'd Religious Houses were here endow'd with ample Revenues c. when behold a Pretended Reformation comes destroys this Church dissolves all the Constitutions of it changes the established Doctrines and alters many of its antientest Practices pulls down Religious Houses and Churches alienates the Revenues turns the Religious Inhabitants into the wide World make Laws against all those who should defend that Doctrine Imprisonment loss of Goods and Fortunes nay even of Life it self are the Punishments ordained for them who are found guilty of Practising or Preaching that Religion And what less could such a Church do than Excommunicate they who thus Renounc'd her Doctrines Contemned her Authority and persecuted her Children But this Excommunication must be called Severity and unchristian hatred And if we declare that all those who forsake the Unity of the Church are guilty of Schism and they who will not acquiess to those Points of Faith which God has Revealed and the Church which is the Pillar and Ground of Truth has declar'd to have been so Reveal'd are guilty of Heresie and that Heresie and Schism will bring inevitable damnation to all those who die without repenting of them we must be esteem'd uncharitable I must therefore Retort his Popular Argument and ask him and all unprejudic'd Protestants what they can find in all our Doctrines when truly Represented to warrant that bitter and unchristian hatred they have conceiv'd against us a hatred which has occasioned so many Penal and Sanguinary Laws and still makes them use all endeavours to keep them in full force against
conceived and born in Sin none can enter into the kingdom of God except he be regenerate and born anew of Water and the Spirit What reason therefore they have to break Communion with an established Church because she will not be more Charitable than JESVS CHRIST whose Law this is I cannot understand But says he This Law as well as others must be interpreted according to the Rules of Natural Equity and since the Roman Church acknowledges that God sometimes accepts of the Will for the Deed the ardent Desire of Baptism for Baptism it self when it cannot be had why should we not think he will accept of the Desire of the Church and of the Believing Parents to satisfie for the want of Baptism in Children who die without it seeing St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 7. That the Seed of faithful Parentage is Holy from the very Birth I must confess I am astonished to see this Argument and to hear the Church condemned for her Uncharitableness in this Point by one who pretends to give us the Doctrine of the Church of England whereas she determines nothing of it Pag. 37. as he confesses If he had been a Huguenot or Puritan it might have seemed reasonable to justifie a Breach with the Church of Rome for a Doctrine which they condemn But for a Church of England Man to justifie a Breach for a Doctrine which he affirms his Church has determined nothing of is to me a Riddle but shews how little he esteems the Sin of Schism Certainly there is a vast difference betwixt the ardent Desire of those who are by Age capable of receiving Baptism and the Desire of the church or Parents The one proceeds from Faith working by Divine Charity already infused into the Soul of the Unbaptized Person which if he extinguish not by the neglect of a Precept will no doubt of it produce a good Effect The other is wholly extrinsecal to the Child and cannot affect the Soul of it unless by the application of that Sacrament which by the Institution of JESVS CHRIST must wash away our Original Guilt So is there also a vast difference betwixt a Legal Purity of which St. Paul speaks in the above-mentioned Text and a Cleanness from Original Sin of which we treat ART X. Confirmation HE acknowledges Confirmation Art 11. pag. 39 40. or Imposition of Hands upon those who had been Baptiz'd to have been very Antient in the Church and which the very Apostles themselves practis'd as also that the use of Chrism in Confirmation was very antient He tells us they allow none that is not of Episcopal Order to Confirm and that they piously hope the Blessing of the Holy Spirit descends upon those who receive it through the Prayer of the Bishop to enable them to keep their Baptismal Covenant to Arm them against Temptations and to assist them in the way of Vertue and Religion c. All which shew an outward visible Sign of an inward Spiritual Grace and the Divine Institution of this Sacrament seeing none but God can promise Grace to an outward Sign such as the Imposition of Hands and Chrism are and certainly strength to keep our Baptismal Covenant to resist Temptations and to practice Vertue are no small Graces which he at least piously hopes are granted by God through the Prayer of the Bishop he might have added Imposition of Hands also and should have given us a reason why they left off the use of Chrism which he grants was early in the Church and why they will not call this a Sacrament which has all these marks of it and which the Antient Fathers frequently termed so But if he will have it only to be a Sacrament not so generally necessary to Salvation as some others are we will not dispute about the name under so strict a notion tho' we affirm it to be a Sacrament properly speaking ART XI Of Penance and Confession HE wishes their Discipline were both more strictly required Art 12. p. 40. and more duly observ'd as to Penance and Confession than it is He tells us that their Canons require perhaps as much as the Primitive Christians themselves did but that it proceeds from the decay of Piety in the People rather than any want of care in their Church that they are not as well and as regularly practised He cannot deny but that Confession both public and private were very antiently practis'd both in the Eastern and Western Churches but supposes them to have been only a part of Christian Discipline and therefore tells us the Primitive Christians interpreted these Passages cited by the Bishop of Meaux Matth. 18.18 Joh. 20.23 with respect to Public Discipline If he had produced those Fathers and shown that they taught it to be only the Orders of a Public Discipline of the Church and not an obligation upon a Sinner either to confess publicly or privately to the Priest which was sometimes called Confession to God as Absolution was called Absolution from God it would have been some satisfaction to the Reader He insinuates as if we permitted every Priest to hear Confessions and only just to hear them and then without any more ado to say Pag. 41. I ABSOLVE THEE But this it is not to understand our Discipline which permits none to hear Confessions but such as are approv'd of after a diligent examen of their Learning and Capacity that they may be not only as Judges to pass a right Sentence upon the Enormity of the Crimes the various species of them the Obligations of Restitution c. but also as Physicians to prescribe wholesome Remedies to prevent Relapses c. which cannot be done without the Knowledge of the Case And therefoe tho' we assert the great convenience of Private or Auricular Confession to take away the occasions of Fear Shame and Scandal yet our Dispute is not so much upon that as upon a necessity of declaring our Sins to a Spiritual Physician which whether it be publicly or privately matters not so it be done and without doing which we say neither can a Judge pronounce a just Sentence nor a Physician prescribe wholesome Remedies We grant therefore that Public Confession was much in use in the Primitive Church for Public Sins and that it was follow'd with a Public Penance for them but that was most commonly either after or accompanied with Private Confession of their Secret Sins also That this Public Confession was a part of Discipline and therefore alterable at pleasure we deny not but that either Public or Private Confession were necessary we affirm He tells us Pag. 4â— That the Church of England refuses no sort of Confession either Public or Private which may be any ways necessary to the quieting of Mens Consciences or to the exercising of that Power of binding and loosing which our Saviour CHRIST has left to his Church That her Absolution is so full Pag. â—â— that the Church of Rome it self could
Father would be much troubled I should think there was For Cardinal Capisucchi he is so far from being contrary to the Doctrine I have taught that his express Approbation is to be found among those which are Printed in my Edition of 1676 and it is he who as Master of the Sacred Palace Licens'd the Impression of the Italian Version in the Year 1675 Printed at the Congregation De Propagandâ Fide These are them my Adversaries bring against me As for that Monsieur Imbert and the Pastor of St. Maries at Mechlin whom they pretend to have been condemn'd tho' they alledg'd my Exposition as a Warrant for their Doctrines the Question is whether they alledg'd it right or wrong And such Matters of Fact as these advanc'd without Proof * * Or bringing the Propositions maintain'd by them and Condemn'd merit not any further Information But because you desire to know something concerning them I must tell you that this Imbert is a Man of no Renown as well as of no Learning who thought to justifie his Extravagances before the Archbishop of Bourdeaux his Superior by alledging my Exposition to this Prelate who had Subscribed to the Approbation in the Assembly of 1682. But all Mankind saw very well that Heaven and Earth was not more opposite then my Doctrine from that which this daring Person has presum'd to broach Moreover it never enter'd into the Mind of any Catholic that we ought to adore the Cross after the same manner as JESVS CHRIST in the Sacrament of the Eucharist nor that the Cross with JESVS CHRIST was to be ador'd as the Human Nature of our Saviour with the Divine in the Person of the Son of God And if this Man gives out he is Condemn'd for denying those Errors which no body ever sustain'd he shews his Malice to be as great as his Ignorance For the Pastor of St. Mary of Mechlin who I am inform'd is a Person of Merit I have seen a little Printed Treatise of his call'd Motivum Juris where he advances this Proposition That the Pope is in the Church as the President in a Council and the Major or Bourghemaster as they call them in the Low-Countries amongst the Company of Aldermen A Proposition very different from my Exposition where I acknowledge the Pope to be as a Head Establish'd by God to whom we owe Submission and Obedience If then the Faculty of Louvain has Censur'd this Book * * Or any other Proposition of that nature which this Author if he had been Ingenuous ought to have mentioned I am not engag'd in that Dispute And on the other hand my Exposition is so far from being rejected in the Low-Countries that on the contrary it has been Printed at Antwerp in their own Language with all the Marks of Public Authority as well Ecclesiastical as Secular As for those Passages which they pretend I have Corrected in a second Edition for fear of offending the Sorbon it is as you see a chymerical Invention and I do here once more repeat it That I neither publish'd nor conniv'd at nor caus'd to be made any Edition of my Book but that which is well known in which I never alter'd any thing 'T is true this little Treatise being at first given in Writing to some particular Persons for their Instruction many Copies of it were dispersed and it was Printed without my order or knowledge No body found fault with the Doctrine contai'nd in it and I my self without changing any thing in it of importance and that only as to the order and for the greater neatness of the Discourse and Stile caus'd it to be Printed as you now see If upon that account they will have me in some manner to have been contrary to my self they show themselves to be too credulous But suppose it had been so and that to free my Book from the danger of all Attempts I had in some places Corrected my Expressions which God be thanked I had no occasion to do the Work ought to be so far from being disesteem'd upon that account that on the contrary it would be a Proof I had at last brought it to that Exactness that neither the Sorbon nor any other could find any thing to say against it as in reality no Catholic Reprehends any thing contained in it The last Objection which this English Minister brings against me is That I am fertile enough in producing new Labours but steril in Answering what is written against my Works from whence he concludes that I am conscious they cannot be Defended 'T is true I have written three little Treatises of Controversie one of which is this of the Exposition As the principal Objection against this was That I had palliated and prevaricated the Catholic Doctrine the best Answer I could make to it was to relate the Approbations which were sent me undesignedly from all Parts of Europe and that from the Pope himself repeated This Answer will bear no Reply and I have said what was necessary upon that Subject in the Advertisement prefix'd to the Edition of 1676. If he who has sent you the Objections of the English Minister has not seen this Advertisement I desire you would take it up at Cramoisy's in virtue of this Order and send it to him as it is Printed this Year 1686 because I have there added the Approbation of the French Clergy These Approbations are added in the Edition publish'd by his Majesty's Command and a second Approbation of the Pope's very Authentic And if he will but take the pains to joyn this Advertisement and the Approbations to his Translation of the Exposition he will render his Labour more profitable to the Public and stop the Mouths of all those who contradict it Concerning the two other Treatises which I writ upon Matters of Controversie one of them is upon Communion under both Species and the other is my Conference with M. Claude Minister of Charenton upon the Authority of the Church with Reflections upon the Answers of that Minister In these Treatises I have endeavour'd to prevent the principal Objections and to give Answers to them so that all Men of sence are satisfi'd After which to multiply Disputes and to compose Books after Books to embroil the Question and quit the first Design neither do's Charity require it of me nor do's my Employment give me leisure You may send this Letter into England that he who desires this Information may make use of what he thinks convenient and if he think it may be beneficial to mention he has had what concerns these Matters of Fact and my Intentions from me he may do it and also assure them without the least apprehension that there is nothing in this Letter but what is public and certain c. From Meaux April the 6th 1686. SIR Your very humble and affectionate Servant ✚ J. Benigne E. de Meaux BEhold what the Bishop of Meaux himself has thought good to Answer to a
from granting this to them that on the contrary we always accuse them of Innovations and denying those Articles which are Fundamental and as necessary and as plainly revealed as many of those others which they admit We always affirm We are in possession of our Doctrines and our Practices that these have been delivered down to us by our Predecessors as Truths revealed to the Prophets and Apostles we always tell them We have the Decisions of a Church in our behalf a Church I say 1 Tim. 3.15 which is the Pillar and Ground of Truth Matth. 16.18 a Church against which the Gates of Hell by the express Promise of JESUS CHRIST was never to prevail Eph. 4.11 12 c. and in which Pastors and Teachers were to remain for ever lest we should be led away with every wind of Doctrine We tell them He who denies one Article revealed by God and proposed by his Church as so revealed is as guilty of the Breach of Faith as he who denies them all because he rejects God's Veracity upon which that Faith is grounded And by consequence we cannot but tell them That whilst they renounce those Articles which we believe are revealed Truths they are guilty of Fundamental Errors and hold not the Ancient and Vndoubted Foundation of the Christian Faith So that the true State of the Controversie in general betwixt Catholics and Protestants is whether they or we do Innovate they in refusing to believe those Doctrines we profess to have receiv'd with the Grounds of Christianity or we in maintaining our Possession And the Dispute is Whether Roman Catholics ought to maintain their Possession for which many Protestants themselves grant they have a Prescription of above 1000 Years or whether the Authorities brought by Protestants against the Roman Catholic Doctrine be so weighty that every Roman Catholic is oblig'd to renounce the Communion of that Church in which he was bred up and quit his Prescription and Possession Which certainly they are not obliged to do unless it can be plainly prov'd they have innovated or taught such Doctrines as overthrow those Truths which are on both Sides allow'd to be Divine This the Bishop of Condom knew they could never do and that our Doctrines when truly represented were so far from contradicting those mutually-received Articles of our Faith that on the contrary they confirm'd our Belief of them And therefore he undertook to separate the Articles of our Faith from what was falsly imputed to us and resolved to propose them according to the received Sence of the Church declared in the Council of Trent And whether he has faithfully perform'd this Undertaking or no is our present Question which we are to examine in these following Articles What do's it therefore avail this Author to tell us Pag. 6. he will in the following Articles endeavour to give a clear and free Account of what they can approve and what they dislike in the Doctrines of the Catholic Church unless he first shew us and that by some Authentic Acts of the Church that those are her Doctrines and secondly give us some assurance of greater Authority then the Prescription of the Roman Catholic Church that they are Novelties or Erroneous ART II. Religious Worship is terminated only in God THat all Religious Worship is terminated in God alone is the Biship of Condom's Assertion Art 2. and the Churches Doctrine to which both this and another later Author agree Answer to a Discourse entituled Papists Protesting c. but both of them will have the Invocation of Saints and the Honour which we pay to Images and Relics to be inconsistent with that Maxim What the Bishop has said is enough to satisfie any one who is not obstinate his Words are these The same Church teaches us Expos p. â— That all Religious Worship ought to terminate in God as its necessary End and that if the Honour which she renders to the Blessed Virgin and to the Saints may in some sence be call'd Religious it is for its necessary relation to God From which Words it is plain the Bishop thought Religious Honour or Worship might be taken in a double sence the first strict and that he acknowledges is only due to God the other in a larger sence which may be paid to Creatures But how this other may be called Religious Honour he tells us is because of the reference which it has to God Thus that Civil Honour or Obedience which we pay to Magistrates if we do it for Conscience sake that is purely to obey the Ordinance of God may be not improperly call'd a Religious Honour or Obedience because by Honouring or Obeying them for God's sake we Honour and Obey God Thus to visit the orphan and the widow in their tribulations is called by St. James a clean and unspotted Religion James 1.27 But if we take Religion in a stricter sence for a Supreme and Sovereign Honour or an adhesion to an Independent Being with all the Powers of our Soul c. it is only proper to God and cannot be paid to Creatures and in that sence the Honour which we pay to our Blessed Lady and other Saints is far from being a Religious Honour Let Mary be Honoured Epiph. Haer. 79. but let God be Adored was the Saying of an ancient Father not with Divine Honour for that is due to God alone Soli Deo honor gloria but with an Inferiour Honour which if our Authors will not have us call Religious we will not dispute about the Name We ought not to deprive God of any thing that is due to him alone that we may give it to his Creatures neither Honour nor Worship nor Prayer nor Thanksgiving nor Sacrifice But yet we may honour those whom God has honoured we may give an inferiour Degree of Worship to those who are in some Degree of Honour above us in this World and why not to the Invisible Inhabitants of the other so it elevate them not above the State of Creatures We may pray to our Friends and Parents here on Earth to pray for us without derogating from our Duty to God and why the same may not be addressed to Saints and Angels who are no less our Friends without robbing God of what is his due is I must confess to me unintelligible If you tell me the first is only Civil or if it may be called a Religious Love or Honour Answ to Papist Protest p. 38. when it is done for God's sake yet it is but an extrinsecal Denomination from the Cause and Motive not from the Nature of the Act and therefore cannot make Gods of them we affirm the same of the second and renounce any other sort of Religious Worship which is so from the nature of the Act and by consequence only due to God This Distinction reflected on will be sufficient to answer all the Objections brought against our Doctrine by both those Authors And we cannot
paid to them is referred to the Originals which they represent So that by means of those Images which we kiss and before which we uncover our Heads and Kneel we adore CHRIST and venerate those Saints whose resemblance they bear which Doctrine has been taught by the Decrees of Councils against all Oppugners of Images Conc. Nicen. 2. Actio 3 4 6. especially by the second Synod of Nice But above all let the Bishop◠diligently teach That by the Historical Representations of the Mysteries of our Redemption painted or expressed in other forms the People are taught the Articles of our Faith and confirmed in them by a frequent Commemoration and Recollection as also That great Fruit is reaped from the use of all Holy Images not only because the People are admonished by them of the Benefits and Gifts which are bestowed upon them by JESVS CHRIST but also because the Miracles and salutary Examples which God has been pleased to shew us by his Saints are visibly represented to the Faithful that they may give God thanks for them and may conform their Lives and Manners to the Examples of the Saints and may be excited to adore and love God and practise Piety But if any one do teach or think contrary to these Decrees let him be Anathema But if any Abuses should chance to creep in amongst these holy and wholesom Observances the Sacred Synod earnestly desires they maybe entirely abolished so that no Images shall be permitted which may give the ruder People occasion of believing false Doctrines or dangerous Errors But if it shall sometimes happen to be expedient for the Instruction of the unlearned People to express or figure out some Histories or Relations of the Holy Scripture let the People be taught the Divinity is not therefore figured to them as if it could be seen with our corporal Eyes or expressed by Colours or Figures c. This is our Doctrine all other Additions or particular Doctrines we are not to answer for and this is what the Bishop of Condom has expresly taught ART V. Of Justification IN his Article of Justification he tells us Art 5. p. 19. That the Doctrine of Justification is one of those Points that deserves their careful Consideration as being not only one of the chiefest of those Points wherein they suppose the Church of Rome to have prevaricated the Faith but one of the first that gave occasion to that Reformation that was made from it If therefore the Doctrine of the Church Catholic when rightly explicated be clear from those gross Apprehensions they had of it and be in it self innocent and pure I hope he will grant the first Reformers to have been strangely out in their Measures and that all those who have followed their Footsteps in that Schism are obliged to return to their Mother-Church He speaks of wonderful Extravagances in Pardons Indulgences c. in former times and that generally the People put more confidence in the Inventions of Men than in the Merits of JESVS CHRIST but allows us to be better instructed since or at least more cautious for which he says we may thank the Reformation But I believe he will find that all those strange Extravagances were only the Fictions of their own Brains and Calumnies raised on purpose to make us odious and that if he look into our Councils and Doctors of those Ages he will find our Doctrines to have always been the same and our Practices conformable I need not take notice how much he consents to the Exposition of the Bishop of Condom nor of the nice Distinction which he gives us betwixt Justification and Sanctification which he tells us is the Doctrine of their Church but I believe will be hard put to to prove it neither need I tell you how much he imposes upon us as if we made our inward Righteousness a part of Justification and so by consequence said that our Justification it self is wrought also by our Good Works for since he tells us That were these things clearly stated and distinguished the difference betwixt us considered only in the Idea would not be very great and that they might safely allow whatsoever M. de Meaux has advanced upon this Point provided it be but well and rightly explained we need not make any further demur but go on with him to see how the following Doctrines will stand upon this Foundation ART VI. Of Merits HEre he tells us Art 6. Pag. 22. That if what the Bishop of Condom has explicated be all the Church of Rome ascribes to Good Works that is That our Justification proceeds absolutely from Gods Bounty and Mercy and but accidentally only in as much as God has tied himself by his Word and Promise to reward them from our own performances they need no long Exhortations to receive a Doctrine which they have always defended But he presently dashes these our hopes of Union by flying to the particular niceties of the Schools and thinks it sufficient to shelter the Justice of their dissent in those Particulars from our Accusations because some of those niceties have not been censured by the Church I need not here say any thing more to him than what I have said before that it is sufficient the Church has declar'd her Doctrine in the Council of Trent and that the Bishop of Meaux has explicated it accordingly The niceties of the Schools when truly represented as they make no Division in the Church so ought they not to make any amongst Christians But however if this Author had been so ingenuous as to have given us the Words or the true Sence of those Authors he cites the World would have seen no such great difference as he pretends there is betwixt them and the Church of Rome He tells us first That Maldonate the Jesuit upon Ezek. 18.20 says That we do as truly and properly merit Rewards when we do well as we do merit Punishments when we do ill But had he read Maldonate he would have found his Words when taken as they lie to carry with them a very different sence from what he seems to conclude they bear For being to explicate this part of the twentieth Verse Justitia justi super eum erit impietas impii erit super eum The justice of the just shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him he tells us Ex hoc loco perspicuum est in nobis aliquam esse nostram ut vocant inhoerentem propriamque justitiam quamvis ex Dei Gratia largitate profectam nos tam proprie ac verè cum Gratia Dei bene agentes proemia mereri quam sine illa male agentes supplicia meremur De proemio enim justi supplicio impii eodem prorsus modo loquitur i. e. From this Passage it is very clear both that there is in us an Inherent as they call it and Proper Justice of our own altho' proceeding from the
his Mystical Body that is his Church but the visible species are the Sacrament or Sign of both these things Then in his Ninth Distinction speaking of a two fold Manducation the one Sacramental in which the good and bad do Eat the Body of Christ and the other only Spiritual in which only the good are made partakers of it which is by Faith he proceeds to tell us of the Errours of some who held that the bad did not receive the Body of Christ and affirms that it must be undoubtedly held that it is received by the good not only Sacramentally but Spiritually whereas the bad receive it only Sacramentally that is under the visible species of Bread and Wine they receive that Flesh of Christ which he took from the Blessed Virgin and the Blood which he shed for us but not the Mystical Body that is the benefits of his presence All which he there proves from St. Gregory and St. Augustin and explicates some ambiguous terms which might give occasion of errour His next Distinction cited by this Author which Bist 10. treats De hoeresi aliorum c. Of the Heresie of others who say that the Body of Christ is not upon the Altar but in Sign tells us That there are others who transcend the madness of the former Heretics who measuring the Power of God according to the manner of natural things do more audaciously and dangerously contradict the truth affirming that the Body and Blood of Christ are not on our Altars and that the substance of Bread and Wine are not converted into the substance of his Flesh and Blood and take occasion of erring from the words of Truth whence began the first Heresie against this Truth amongst Christ's Disciples Then shewing what pretensions they make for their Errour both from Scripture and Fathers and having solved them he says Satis responsum est Hoereticis objectionibus eorum We have sufficiently answered Heretics and their Objections who deny the true Body of Christ to be on our Altars and the Bread to be changed into his Body and the Wine into his Blood by a Mystical Consecration Then setting down his proofs out of the Fathers to confirm our Doctrine he concludes this Distinction with these words Ex his aliisque pluribus constat c. From these and many others it is manifest that the true Body and Blood of Christ is on our Altars yea that whole Christ is there under both species and that the Substance of Bread is converted into his Body and the substance of Wine into his Blood Having thus confirm'd the substance of our Faith as to the thing Dist 11. Lib. A. he proceeds in his next Distinction cited also by this Author to treat of the manner how this Conversion is made whether it be Formal or Substantial or of some other kind and this being a pure Scholastic Nicety he tell us he dare not undertake to define it but declares that if we ask him about the manner he will give us this short answer Lit. C. Mysterium fidei credi salubriter potest investigari salubriter non potest A Mystery of Faith may be safely believ'd but not safely searched into This is the Doctrine of Lombardus who lived before the Council of Lateran and this is the Doctrine we now hold without the least alteration and this Doctrine was always held ever since the Institution tho' it was thought convenient by the Primitive Fathers to conceal it from the Enemies of Christianity and from those who were not Initiated so that it may be said that it is now more publicly taught than it was then but was always equally believ'd by the Faithful These things being thus cleared and the charge he has made against us being found to be thus false the consequences he has drawn from thence will fall upon himself and we must needs tell him that we cannot but admire the Power of Truth and hope that God has permitted him thus to misrepresent our Tenets to disguise the Truth and to cite Authors contrary to their Intentions that the Eyes of of all those of his Communion may be opened and that they may see what blind guides they follow who either take up things upon trust or wilfully prevaricate the Text that they may keep them in Ignorance Moreover this Author affirms Pag. 61. the Church never taught nor practised the Adoration of the Sacrament for above 1000 years that the Elevation of it was not heard of till the Seventh Century and then used not to expose it to the People to be adored but to represent the lifting up of CHRIST upon the Cross that all the Circumstances of this Worship are but Inventions of yesterday that the Primitive Christians did several Actions which seem inconsistent with Adoration c. And we must take all these Assertions upon his bare word for Truths I shall nto go about to swell this Answer by proving an Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament within the first 400 years and the Expressions of the first Ages which argue an Elevation nor the other Proofs we have for a Real Presence nor the Consent of the most Learned Protestants this has been too frequently done to repeat it here The Reader who is desirous of searching into the Truth may see if he understand French what M. Arnold has writ in Three Volumes of the Perpetuity of Faith or else what Brierlay has written concerning the Sacrifice of Mass what Coccius in his Thesaurus and what many others have published upon those Accounts in which they will find that our Doctrine is conformable to Scripture that it has been continued down to our time by an uninterrupted Succession and that our Practices have been always conformable to our Doctrine which is sufficient to evince the Truth of it and shew the unjust Pretences of a Reformation ART XVI Of the Sacrifice of the Mass IN his Twentieth Article Of the Sacrifice of the Mass Pag. 62. which he tells us is justly esteemed one of the greatest and most dangerous Errours that offends them he yet acknowledges That seeting aside the Foundation of the CORPOREAL PRESENCE on which the Bishop builds and his Consequence That this Service is a TRVE AND REAL PROPITIATORY SACRIFICE which he says they are persuaded his manner of Expounding it will never bear there is little in it besides but what they could readily assent to but if he cannot allow of the Corporeal Presence will be with the Church of England in her Catechism allow a Real Presence If he do I would gladly know whether that Foundation be not solid enough to build those Doctrines on which M. de Meaux has founded upon that Reality If he will not allow of a Real Presence how is he of the Church of England Again I would gladly know of him what the Church of England holds concerning her Priests whether they be truly Priests or no whether she acknowledge a Sacrifice and an Altar truly
and properly speaking tho' not possibly in such a rigorous sence as may be put upon the Words If she do not what means her Ordination and the Title of Priesthood which her Ministers challenge with so much earnestness And if she do why will he quarrel with the Council of Trent for calling it a True and Proper Sacrifice Sess 22. c. a True and Proper Priesthood especially since the same Council tells us that this Sacrifice is instituted only to represent that which was once accomplished upon the Cross to perpetuate the Memory of it to the end of the World Sess 22. c. r. and so apply to us the saving virtue of it for the remission of those Sins which we commit every day In a word The Bishop of Meaux has expressed himself so clearly and consequently to the Doctrine of the Council of Trent and of the Catholic Church that I cannot but admire any one who affirms as this Author do's that the Doctrine the Bishop of Meaux has express'd Pag. 63. is truly the Doctrine of the Catholic Church and such as the Church of England has never refus'd and except it be their doubt of the Corporeal Presence Mons de Meaux had certainly reason to expect there was nothing in it which they could justly except against I cannot I say but admire he should upon no better grounds than a pure Cavil about the Name and Nature of a Sacrifice when taken in the strictest Sense and the word Corporeal instead of Real Pag. 62. affirm this to be one of the most dangerous Errours that offend them But the Breach must be kept open and widened too if possible And because the offering of Christ once made is that proper Redemption Propitiation and Satisfaction for all the Sins of the whole World and because there is no other Satisfaction for Sin but that alone Article 31. as their Article expresses it and we allow therefore this Author must from thence conclude that the Representation Commemoration and Application of that first Offering by those who are Members of that Priesthood according to the Order of Melchisedec which the Apostle tells us was to be perpetual must not be called a True Heb. 6. Proper and Propitiatory Sacrifice tho' it be only Commemorative and Applicatory ART XVII Of the Epistle to the Hebrews BUT the next Article shews us more manifestly Art 21. p. 67. that all this Dispute is purely de Nomine In which it manifestly appears that he mistakes the Sence of the word Offer Pag. 32. as used by the Catholic Church in this place for the Bishop of Meaux tells us the Catholic Church forms her Language and her Doctrine not from the sole Epistle to the Hebrews but from the whole body of the Holy Scripture and therefore tho' in that strict sence in which the Epistle to the Hebrews uses the word Offer JESUS CHRIST cannot be said to be now offered neither in the Eucharist nor any where else yet because in other places of Scripture the word is used in a larger signification where it is often said we offer to God what we present before him therefore she do's not doubt to say that she offers up our Blessed JESVS to his Father in the Eucharist in which he vouchsafes to render himself present before him But this must not suffice for then that which he calls the principal and most dangerous Errour would appear to be none at all and therefore because the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of one Offering which has fully satisfied for our Sins of one Offering which was no more to be offered that is of an Offering in a strict Sence in which there must be a Real Suffering and Death of the Victim therefore this Epistle must be against the Doctrine of the Roman Church tho' she speak only of an Unbloody Sacrifice of a Commemorative Sacrifice which without the Sacrifice of the Cross would be no Sacrifice which takes its Virtue Efficacy and very Name from it because it refers to it and applies the Virtue of it to our Souls Let any one judge if this be not next door to a wilful misunderstanding of our Tenets Pag. 63. especially when he had before confessed that the presenting to God Almighty the Sacrifice of our Blessed Lord is a most effectual manner of applying his Merits to us and that if this were all the Church of Rome meant by her Propitiatory Sacrifice there is not certainly any Protestant that would oppose her in it This is what she means by it that is an application of the Merits of the Sacrifice of the Cross which was to be but once offered and from whence it takes all its value But this he will not have to be our Doctrine and I see no reason for it but because if he admit it to be so one of the greatest grounds of their pretended Reformation must needs vanish ART XVIII Reflections upon the foregoing Doctrine HIs Reflections upon this Doctrine run altogether upon the same strain Art 22. p. 69. and therefore what I have said will suffice in answer to that Article If he admit a Real Presence with the Church of England Reason must necessarily assure us that where Christ is really he ought to be Ador'd and where he really presents himself to his Father to render him Propitious to us he may be said to offer up himself a Propitiatory Sacrifice And those who will admit the Reality or not condemn the belief of it in others ought not to condemn the necessary Consequences of it in us into which we have penetrated better than they ART XIX Communion under both Species COmmunion under one kind being also a Consequence of the Doctrine of the Real Presence Art 23. p. 72. Those who admit the Real Presence or condemn it not ought not to condemn the Consequence of it He refers us to the Answer to M. de Meaux's Book of Communion and I refer him to M. de Meaux's Book which so fully explicates and proves this Doctrine that all the effects against it are but vain But if the Church of England allow the Communion to be given under one Species in case of necessity See Art 30. how will it stand that she esteems it to be the express Command of JESUS CHRIST which is certainly indispensable Edw. Sparrows Canons p. 15. the Sixth in his Proclamation before the Order of Communion ordains That the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Saviour JESUS CHRIST should from thenceforth be commonly deliver'd and administred unto all Persons within our Realm of England and Ireland and other our Dominions under both kinds that is to say of Bread and Wine except necessity otherwise require And after the Order of Communion there is this Annotation Note that the Bread that shall be Consecrated shall be such as heretofore hath been accustomed And every of the said Consecrated Breads shall be broken into two pieces at
least or more by the discretion of the Minister and so distributed And Men must not think less to be received in part than in the whole but in each of them the whole Body of JESVS CHRIST In the Proclamation it is ordain'd that it shall be commonly deliver'd under both kinds except necessity otherwise require which shews manifestly that the Church of England thought then that one kind was sufficient in case of necessity and that whole Sacrament was contained under one kind for half a Sacrament is no Sacrament And if a necessary occasion be sufficient to dispense with the Administration of it in both kinds who ought to be Judge but the Pastors and Teachers in every Age or the Church Representative which shews that this is a part of Discipline and not of Faith since both sides confess that in case of necessity it may be given in one kind and that by receiving each Particle one receives the whole Body of JESUS CHRIST as appears by the Annotation so that the Bishop of Condom's Argument against the Calvinists of France has its full force against the Church of England ART XX. Of the wrÃtten and unwritten Word IN the next Articlé we are agreed in the main Art 24. p. 75. We both acknowledge the unwritten Word to have been the first Rule of Christians and that it was so far from losing any thing of its Authority by addition of the Written Word that it was indeed the more firmly established We receive with equal veneration the Written and the Unwritten Word when we are assured they come from the Apostles And as we do not admit of every thing which is called Tradition so what is made appear to have been received in all Churches and in all Ages we are ready to embrace as coming from the Apostles Our difference consists only in this who shall be judge when this Tradition is Universal We rely upon the Judgment of the present Church in every Age either assembled in the most general Council that Age can afford or else declaring her Doctrine by her constant practice and the uniform Voice of her Pastors and People and are assured it is not sufficient for any Private Persons or Church to say we suppose or we are persuaded they are contrary to the Written Word or we find it not there to make the Churches Sentence void or justifie a dissent ART XXI Of the Authority of the Church IN his next Article Art 25. p. 76. of the Authority of the Church he grants many things which the Bishop of Meaux had asserted from which we might expect great Fruit but he presently nips all our hopes in the very bud He grants the Catholic Church to be the Guardian of the Holy Scriptures Pag. 76 77. and of Tradition and that it is from her Authority they reeeive both That they never deny the Church to have an Authority not only in matters of Order and Discipline Pag. 78. but even of Faith too That they neither fear the entire defection of the Catholic Church nor that she should fall into such an entire Infidelity as should argue her not to be a Church Pag. 80. And in his next Article he allows the Church a just Authority in matters of Faith and declares as a Doctrine of his Church that they allow such a deference to a Churches Decisions as to make them their directions what Doctrine they may or may not publicly maintain and teach in her Communion that they shew whatever submission they can to her Authority without violating that of God declared to us in the Holy Scripture And lastly that whatsoever deference they allow to a National Church or Council the same they think in a much greater degree due to a General In which none shall be more ready to assist nor to which none shall be more ready to submit These are fair offers to establish a Church-Authority and did he manifestly destroy all he has here said by some other exceptions we might have hoped some good effects of such a Submission He tells us Pag. 79. and that truly that any particular Church may either by errour lose or by other means prevaricate the Faith even in necessary points of it And yet notwithstanding he do's not only set up a particular Church to examin the Churches Decisions Pag. 78. which he tells us after all may err but even every individual Person who according to his Doctrine may not only examine the Decisions of the whole Church but glory in opposing them if he be but evidently convinced that his belief is founded upon the undoubted Authority of Gods Holy Word His words are these Pag. 79. Tho' we suppose the Scriptures are so clearly written that it can hardly happen that in necessary Articles of Faith any one Man should be found opposite to the whole Church in his Opinion He had told us a little before that any particular Church such as he esteem'd the Church of Rome to be might either by Errour lose or by any other means prevaricate the Faith even in necessary points of it and yet what he there wishes they had not too great cause to fear the Church of Rome has in effect done he here tells us can hardly happen to one particular Man But what follows is more intolerable and since he gives us it as a Doctrine of the Church of England I desire him to tell us in what Canon Article or Constitution it is contain'd But says he if such an one were evidently convinc'd that his belief was founded upon the undoubted Authority of Gods Holy Word so far would it be from any Errour to support it against the whole Church that it is at this day the greatest Glory of St. Athanasius that he slood up alone against the whole World in defence of Ghrists Divinity when the Pope the Councils the whole Church fell away Behold here a Doctrine which if admitted will not only maintain all the Dissenters that are but that ever can be from a Church a Doctrine which will establish as many Religions as there are Persons in the World every one of which may if he be but evidently convinced that is if he have but impudece enough to think he is so that his belief is founded upon the undoubted Authority of Gods Word not only oppose the whole Church but glory in it And a Doctrine backed by as false and Authority as the Assertion it self is false and scandalous for never any one yet before this Man said that the Pope the Councils and the whole Church fell in St. Athanasius his time on the contrary it is manifest to all those who have read any thing of History that the Pope and all the Western Churches and the approved General Councils of those times all stood up for St. Athanasius and if he said he was against all and all against him it was only to express the great number of Eastern Bishops that oppos'd his Doctrine
us Do we not firmly believe the Holy Scriptures according to the Sence and unanimous consent of the Antient and Primitive Fathers Do we not embrace the three Creeds nay and believe all the fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion Do you not acknowledge us to be true Members of the Catholic Church and by Consequence your Brethren tho' you will have us to be unsound and weak If we maintain any Doctrines different from yours do we not shew you plain Texts of Scriture for most of them and the consent of Primitive Fathers and the acknowledged Practices of the Church for above 1000 Years for every one of them Do we not fix our Grounds upon the undoubted Word of God deliver'd down to us either by Writing or uninterrupted Tradition and explicated by the unanimous consent of the Pastors and Teachers in all times and places If we tell you a due Honour is to be paid to Images purely upon the account of being Representatives and not for themselves is it not agreeable to your own Practice who bow to the Altar keep uncover'd in a Church bend the Knees at the Name of JESVs not for the sake of the Altar Fabric or Sound but with a reference to the Victim which Consecrates the Altar to God who is in a peculiar manner present in the Church and to JESVS CHRIST the Son of God understood by that sound which Honour if it may be called Religious in some respect it is not manifestly because it tends ultimately to God himself If we desire the Saints and Angels who Reign in Heaven to Pray with us and for us to their and our Common Creator and if we acknowledge such Prayers are good and beneficial to aid and help us in our necessities we know no more injury is done to JESVS CHRIST our sole Redeemer by such Addresses than by your own to a Parent or a Friend we detest that Religion of Angels mentioned by the Apostle Col. 2. 18. accoding to that Sence that place manifestly bears and as the Antient Fathers understood it but we think with the same Fathers that a due Honour ought to be given them as to the Messengers and Friends of God And any undue Worship which elevates them above the pitch of our fellow Creatures we detest What more can any one in reason desire of us And if we pronounce Anathema's against those who deny it to be lawful to make such innocent Addresses or to pay such a due and limited Honour it is because they contradict Antiquity and the approved Fathers of the Church We acknowledge 't is true a Real Presence of the Body and Blood of JESVS CHRIST under the Species or Appearances of Bread and Wine and are we not assured of it by the very Words of JeSVS CHRIST by the manifest consent of Antiquity by the continual practice of both the Greek and Latin Churches If we be ignorant of the manner at least we are not of the thing And do's not your Chatechism and your most Learned Divines acknowledge as much your Confession of your ignorance of the manner of his being present do's not hinder you from acknowledging the Body and Blood of our Blessed Saviour to be verily and indeed taken and receiv'd not only by Faith but by the Faithful in the Lords Supper This Real Presence is grounded upon the Words of our Blessed Saviour This is my Body taken literally from whence also it necessarily follows that after the words of Consecration 't is not more Bread and Wine but the Body and Blood of JESVS CHRIST This Consequence of the Real Presence many Protestants themselves confess and acknowledge that if the words must be taken literally they must necessarily grant both Transubstantiation Adoration and all the rest of our Doctrines about this Sacrament And if any one ask us why we take it literally we may with the Bishop of Condom say they may as well ask us why we keep the High Road that is all the Fathers of the Church in all Ages having taken it in that Sence we ought no more to deviate from it than from a beaten Road. If we adore our Blessed Saviour in the Sacrament it is but a necessary Consequence of his Real Presence and what they who believe him present cannot but think themselves oblig'd to do We acknowledge that where Gods Commands are Positive they are indispensible and therefore if we judge Communion under both kinds not to be positively Commanded we judge so because the Church in all Ages dispensed with it and you your selves grant that in cases of necessity eveyr Pastor may give it under one kind only and is he not left judge when that case occurs and when he may make use of it These things considered I must use your own words Men and Brethren Pag. 84. consider we conjure you these things and if you please consider us too what we are and what our Manners and Conversation amongst you has been even when Perjury and Faction loaded us with all the Injuries Hell it self could invent and exercised their utmost severities upon us What also we are at present and how our change of Fortune makes us neither remember former Injuries nor desire to revenge them Believe us at least that we have no other ends but Truth no designs but to convince your Judgments and if we dare not be over curious in enquiring into the manner how the Mysteries that are revealed can possibly be true 't is because we know they are revealed and doubt not of Gods Veracity Believe us that we have no other Interest but the Salvation of our own Souls and those of others by endeavouring to represent our Doctrines as they truly are and soliciting the Children of the Church to return to their Mothers Bosome We are in possession the Proofs you bring against us are only Negatives and meer Conjectures you think them convincing Arguments but are not certain but that you may fail in your Concjectures You cannot shew one positive Argument against the Invocation of Saints either from Scripture or from Fathers Not one against the Doctrine of the Real Presence Transubstantiation Veneration of Images upon account of their Representations not one against the number of Sacraments not one to prove Communion under both kinds to be indispensible or that Children dying without Baptism are saved In a word you cannot shew one positive Argument against any one Doctrine of our Church if you state it right All you can say is it do's not appear to us out of Scripture it do's not appear to us from Antiquity shew us you say your Authentic Records your Deeds of Gift your Revelation and we will believe as if uninterrupted possession were not sufficietn Proof Our Plea is good olim possidio prior possidio If you will dispute our Title you must shew your positive Records of a more Antient Date But what need of so much bitterness whilst you plead your Cause Is it not enough to dispossess us
order to which the best Method will certainly be to keep close to the Point in Question which is whether the Bishop of Condom has truly represented the Doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church without either Palliating or Perverting it I say the Doctrine of the Church for we have nothing here to do with the Doctrine of the Schools Seeing therefore the Bishop of Condom professes to conform himself to the Doctrine of the Church as delivered in the Council of Trent to which all Catholics do submit They who will oppose his Exposition must if they will bring any solid Arguments against him shew he has corrupted that Council and given us a Doctrine which is neither conformable to that of this Council nor consistent with some other Public Authentic and Universally receiv'd Definitions and Decisions of the whole Church If any thing of this nature be produc'd I promise an Ingenuous return shall be made without the least Cavil or reflecting Language To aovid which I have one thing earnestly to beg of you that before you publish any thing of this nature you would be pleas'd to take the pains your selves to peruse the Authors cited by you and not to Transcribe Quotations nor take up things by hear-say You cannot be ignorant but it has ofen been objected to Protestant Writers by us that they are faulty in this and subject to great mistakes if not wilsul Prevarications I hope therefore you will hereafter consult at least your Reputations if the search after Truth be not a sufficient motive and take nothing from any of them without a serious examination of the Sence of the Authors quoted by them and a sincere Application of it to the Point in Question If you please to take that necessary Advice along with you for profitably reading Books of Controversie extracted out of Walsingham 's search into matters of Religion Part 3. c. 10. Printed at the end of the Second Edition of the Complaint of the French Clergy and follow it precisely I hope you your selves will one Day see the Truth and to the Glory of God profess it However this benefit will come by it that you will save others the pains of examining so many different Authors that you will remove that just occasion which is now given of censuring your Religion as not maintainable without such sinister doings and lastly you will free me from that troublesome and ungentile Office of demonstrating to the World that unsincerity which you have shewn in your Quotations the falsications of which I would not have taken notice of in this had not Truth and Religion been at Stake FINIS THE CONTENTS PART I. COntaining an Answer to the Preface Pag. 1 PART II. Art 1. Introduction 22 Art 2. Religious Worship is terminated in God only 27 Art 3. Invocation of Saints 29 Art 4. Images and Relics 31 Art 5. Of Justification 46 Art 6. Of Merits 48 Art 7. Satisfactions Purgatory and Indulgences 54 Art 8. Of the Sacraments in general 59 Art 9. Of Baptism 61 Art 10. Of Confirmation 63 Art 11. Of Penance and Confession 64 Art 12. Of Extream Vnction 68 Art 13. Of Marriage 70 Art 14. Of Holy Orders 71 Art 15. Of the Eucharist 72 Art 16. Of the Sacrifice of the Mass 94 Art 17. Of the Epistle to the Hebrews 96 Art 18. Reflections upon the foregoing Doctrine 97 Art 19. Communion under both Species 98 Art 20. Of the written and unwritten Word 100 Art 21. Of the Authority of the Church 101 Art 22. Authority of the Holy See and of Episcopacy 106 The Conclusion Ibid. A Catalogue of Books Printed for Henry Hills Printer to the King 's most Excellent Majesty for his Houshold and Chappel 1686. And are to be Sold next door to his House in Black-fryers at Richard Cheese's REflections upon the Answer to the Papist Mis-represented c. Directed to the Answerer Quarto Kalendarium Catholicum for the Year 1686. Octavo Papists Protesting against Protestant-Popery In Answer to ā Discourse Entituled A Papist not Mis-represented by Protestants Being a Vindication of the Papist Mis-represented and Represented and the Reflections upon the Answer Quart Copies of Two Papers Written by the late King Charles II. Together with a Paper Written by the late Dutchess of York Published by his Majesty's Command Folio The Spirit of Christianity Published by his Majesty's Command Twelves The first Sermon Preach'd before their Majesties in English at Windsor on the first Sunday of October 1685. By the Reverend Father Dom. P. E. Monk of the Holy Order of S. Benedict and of the English Congregation Published by his Majesty's Command Quarto Second Sermon Preached before the King and Queen and Queen Dowager at Their Majesties Chappel at St James's November 1. 1685. By the Reverend Father Dom. Ph. Ellis Monk of the Holy Order of S. Benedict and of the English Congregation Published by his Majesty's Command Quarto The Third Sermon Preach'd before the Kind and Queen in their Majesties Chappel at St. James's on the third Sunday in Advent Decemb. 13.1685 By the Reverend Father Dom. Ph. Ellis Monk of the Holy Order of St. Benedict and of the English Congr Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty Published by His Majesties Command Quarto Sixth Sermon Preach'd before the King and Queen in their Majesties Chappel at St. James's upon the first Wednesday in Lent Febr. 24.1685 By the Reverend Father Dom. Ph. Ellis Monk of the Holy Order of St. Benedict and of the English Congregation Publish'd by his Majesty's Command Quarto An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church in Matters of Controversie By the Right Reverend James Benigne Bossuet Counsellor to the King Bishop of Meaux formerly of Condom and Preceptor to the Dauphin First Almoner to the Dauphiness Done into English with all the former Approbations and others newly published in the Ninth and Last Edition of the French Published by His Majesties Command Quarto A Sermon preach'd before the King and Queen in Their Majesties Chappel at St. James's upon the Annunciation of our Blessed Lady March 25.1686 By Jo. Betham Doctor of Sorbon Published by His Majestics Command Quarto An Abstract of the Douay Catechism for the Use of Children and Ignorant People Now Revis'd and much amended Publish'd with Allowance Twentyfours A Pastoral Letter from the Lord Bishop of Meaux to the New Catholies of His Diocess Exhorting them to keep their Easter and giving them neeessary Advertisements against the False Pastoral Letters of their Ministers With Reflections upon the Pretended Persecution Translated out of French and Publish'd with Allowance Quarto The Anser of the New Converts of France to a Pastoral Letter from a Protestant Minister Done out of French and Publish'd with Allowance Quarto The Ceremonies for the Healing of them that be Diseased with the Kings Evil used in the time of King Henry VII Published by His Majesties Command Quarto in Latin Twelves in English A Short Christian Doctrine Composed by the R. Father Robert Bellarmin of the Society of Jesus and Cardinal Published with Allowance Twelves ERRATA PAge 8. l. 15. dele to p. 10. l. 23. r. Are the men p. 22. l. 18. r. Misrepresentations p. 98. l. 14. r. Efforts p. 108. l. 31. r. is it not