and divert the Inquisitive from the examination of particular Controversies Prejudices have been published against the Reformed Religion and pompous Arguments of external Convenience daily urged in favour of the Church of Rome The principal of these is the pretended excellence of the Constitution of that Church tending to preserve an intire unity of Faith and universal decency of Discipline in the Church and free all private Persons from the danger of entertaining any pernicious Error or at least infusing it into others continuing in the Communion of the Church while every one submits his private Reason to the Iudgment of the Church and with a blind obedience receives directions from the Living Rule of Faith whether Pope or Council This supposed Advantage hath been often and with great ostentation produced in behalf of the Church of Rome and a natural tendency to Disorder Heresie and Schism with great vehemence charged upon the Church of England It is objected that she allows to every man an unlimited power of using his own Reason in deciding matters of Faith that she constitutes every Person a supreme Iudge of the most momentous Controversies from whom lyeth no Appeal to any Visible Iudge on Earth That she subjects the Faith of all private Christians to infinite uncertainty and fluctuation since the Infallible Direction of the Holy Ghost is promised only to the Representative Church and the Iudgments of men may be as various as are their Humours and Vnderstandings That hereby a door is opened to infinite Heresies and Errors and the Christian Religion exposed to the danger of being divided into as many several Systems as it contains Proselytes That by this disorder all Rules of Faith are rendred useless since whatsoever they may propose in their genuine sense men will adapt them to their own pre-conceived Notions and frame to themselves a belief from the Dictates and Inclinations of their private Spirit whereby unity of Faith will be totally destroyed and Religion will degenerate into downright Enthusiasm Indeed the danger of Enthusiasm when rightly understood is so fatal to Christianity and destructive to the Reason of Mankind that we cannot but conclude any Church which is guilty of it to be grosly corrupted and degenerate and shall willingly put the whole Controversy upon this issue But then Enthusiasm consists not in allowing to every private Person the power of judging for himself in matters of Religion For this the Nature as well as Interest of Mankind requireth which received the use of Reason chiefly for this end and even our Adversaries themselves must at last recur to this principle but it consists in pretending to receive the Articles of Faith by extraordinary Illumination and in irrational and extravagant actions of Devotion and Piety which a fond Imagination mistaketh for the Impulses and Dictates of the Divine Spirit Such Pretences and Actions as they are most remote from the Genius and Constitution of the Church of England so they naturally flow from the Principles of the Church of Rome and are fomented and promoted by her This appears upon many accounts but chiefly from the consideration of her most Illustrious Saints whom she admired when living and reverenceth when dead consulted them then as Oracles and proposeth them now to her Followers as Patterns of the most consummate Perfection and by canonization of them and solemnizing their Memories hath set a publick stamp of authority and approbation upon their Life and Conduct The most eminent of these were extravagant Enthusiasts who distinguished themselves from the rest of Mankind by nothing else but the continued exercise of a blind Fanaticism The proof of this Charge is the design of this present Treatise which hath therefore assumed for the Subject of it the Actions of Ignatius Loyola as the greatest and most illustrious of all the latter Romish Saints If our Arguments shall be convictive and the most admired Saints of the Church of Rome shall be found to be in the highest degree guilty of Enthusiasm many considerable Conclusions may be drawn from thence in relation to other Controversies which I shall not here insist to prove The so much boasted Order and Discipline of the Church of Rome will be intirely ruined For if the pretence of a private Impulse be once publickly admitted and countenanced in any Church all Impulses whatsoever must be allowed without distinction whether agreeable or contrary to decency and the established Discipline of the Church which will open a wide door to all licentious Disorders since it is the nature of Enthusiasm ever to affect somewhat extravagant and irregular The certainty of Oral Tradition will be overthrown since if Persons of so great authority and repute as Saints are supposed to be received not the Catholick Faith from any precedent Tradition but from extraordinary Inspiration that is in truth the whimsies of their own Brains and so delivered it to vast multitudes of credulous Hearers Oral Tradition will be interrupted and the grossest Heresie might be easily introduced in the Church But to omit other Consequences prejudicial to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome the Invocation of Saints will hence receive a fatal blow For it would be highly irrational to address our Prayers to any Saint to desire his intercession in Heaven unless we were probably assured that the Saint hath already obtained a place in Heaven But if the Church can so far err in the Canonization of Saints as to bestow that sacred Character upon publickly address Prayers to and exhort the People in their private Devotions to desire the intercession of such foolish Enthusiasts as are utterly unworthy the lowest seat in Heaven and perhaps never got so far as Purgatory then Invocation of Saints altho we should grant it to be lawful in the Theory cannot but be infinitely unsafe in the practice of it If the imputation of Enthusiasm renders the Invocation of these Saints unsafe and dangerous much more will the evidence of some notorious Crime unrepented of incapacitate other Romish Saints from receiving our Addresses That there have been such the Examples of St. Thomas Becket and St. Dominick put past all dispute the first of which violently opposed the lawful power of his Prince over the Clergy the last employed his whole life in inciting Armies of holy Pilgrims to the slaughter of the innocent Albigenses But what if after all great numbers of Saints placed in the Roman Calendar and invoked in the publick Offices of the Church had never any existence and are the meer Inventions of Romantick Legends A Learned Person hath lately instanced in some few of them as St. George St. Sebastian St. Longinus St. Viarius c. to which perhaps some hundreds might be added I will instance but in one but him most remarkable and not yet observed by any as being such a Monster of a Saint as Pagan Superstition would have never thought of and which may perhaps at the first sight seem incredible The Church of Rome hath
A. Pulton Jesuit and Th. Tenison D. D. as also of that which led to it and followed after it 4 o. The Vindication of A. Cressener Schoolmaster in Long-Acre from the Aspersions of A. Pulton Jesuit Schoolmaster in the Savoy together with some Account of his Discourse with Mr. Meredith A Discourse shewing that Protestants are on the safer Side notwithstanding the uncharitable Judgment of Adversaries and that Their Religion is the surest Way to Heaven 4 o. Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist wherein is shewed that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation overthrows the Proofs of Christian Religion A Discourse concerning the pretended Sacrament of Extreme Vnction with an Account of the Occasions and Beginnings of it in the Western Church In Three Parts With a Letter to the Vindicator of the Bishop of Condom A Second Letter from the Author of the Discourse concerning Extreme Unction to the Vindicator of the Bishop of Condom The Pamphlet entituled Speculum Ecclesiasticum or an Ecclesiastical Prospective-Glass considered in its False Reasonings and Quotations These are added by way of Preface two further Answers the First to the Defender of the Speculum the Second to the Half-sheet against the Six Conferences A Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the new Exceptions of Mons. de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator The FIRST PART In which the Account that has been given of the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition is fully Vindicated the Distinction of Old and New Popery Historically asserted and the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in Point of Image-worship more particularly considered 4 o. A Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the New Exceptions of Mons. de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator The SECOND PART In which the Romish Doctrines concerning the Nature and Object of Religious Worship of the Invocation of Saints and Worship of Images and Relicks are considered and the Charge of Idolatry against the Church of Rome upon the account of them made good 4 o. The Incurable Scepticism of the Church of Rome By the Author of the Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist 4 o. Mr. Pulton Considered in his Sincerity Reasonings Authorities Or a Just Answer to what he hath hitherto published in his True Account his True and Fuâ— Account of a Conference c. His Remarks and in them his pretended Confutation of what he 〈◊〉 Dr. Tâ—â— Rule of Faith. By Th. Tenison D. D. A Full View of the Doctrine and Practices of the Ancient Church relating to the Eucharist wholly different from those of the Present Roman Church and inconsistent with the belief of 〈…〉 Bâ—ing â— sufficient Confutation of Consensus Veterâ—â— Nâ—bis 〈◊〉 and other late Collections of the Fathers pretending to the Contrary 4 â— An Answer to 〈…〉 Reflections upon the State and View of the Controversy With 〈…〉 Vâ—â—dicator's Fâ—ll Answer shewing that the Vindicator has utterly ruâ—â—â—d the New Design of Expanding and Representing Popery 4 o. An Answer to the Popish Address presented to the Ministers of the Church of England 4 o. Popery not founded in Scripture or the Texts which Papists cite out of the Bible for Proofs of the Points of their Râ—â—iâ—iâ—n examin'd and shew'd to be alledged without Ground In twenty Discourses Four whereof are published the rest will follow weekly in their Order An Abridgment of the Perogative of St. Ann Mother of the Mother of God with the Approbations of the 〈◊〉 of Paris thence done into English with a PREFACE concernining the Oâ—iginâ—l of the Story The â—â—â—â—nitive Fathers no Papiâ—tâ— in Answer to the Nubes Testium to which is added a Discourse concerning Iâ—vâ—cation of Saints in Answer to the Challenge of F. Sabran the Jesuit wherein is shewn that the Invocation of Saints was so far from being the Practice that it was expresly against the Doctrine of the Primitive Fathers 4 o. An Answer to a Discourse concerning the Celibacy of the Clergy lately Printed at Oxford 4 o. The Virgin Mary Misrepresented by the Roman Church In the Traditions of that Church concerning her Life and Glory and in the Devotions paid to her as the Mother of God. Both shewed out of the Offices of that Church the Lessons on her Festivals and from their allowed Authors Reflections upon the â—â—oks of the Holy Scripture in order to establish the Truth of the Christian Religion in 3 Parts 8 vo 〈…〉 Dr. Tenisons Sermon of Discretion in giving Alms. 12 o. A Discourse concering the Merits of Good Works The Enthusiasm of the Church of Rome demonstrated in some Observations upon the Life of Ignatius Loyala Founder of the Order of Jesus A Vindication of the Answer to the Popish Address presented to the Ministers of the Church of England 4 o. Vid. 2d part of the Vindication of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England (a) De Divin Offic. c. 4. (b) Not. in Martyrolog Rom. p. 3. Edit Paris 1645. (c) Annal. ad an 395. n 20. (d) Hist. Eccl. l. 6. c. 26. (e) Ap. Euseb. Praep. Evang. l. 3. c. 4. Paulo post princip In vita Aedesii prope fin (a) Superstitio error insanus est quos colit violat Quid enim interest utrum Deos neges an infames Epist. 123. (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Superstitione Vid. Histoire de l' Inquisition de Goa chez Hortemels Paris 1688 cum Privilegio ⸫ De la vie de St. Ignac lib. 1. Vid. Orlandin Hist. Soc. Jesu l. 1. num 9. c. * Ibid. †De vita Ignat l. 1. c. 2. * Bouhours l. 1. ‖ Id. ibid. Bouhours l. 1. Maffeius l. 1. c. 2. Vie de St. Ignace l. 2. c. 5. Bouhours l. 2. Bonaventura de vita Fran. cap. 3. Id. cap. 1. Bouhours l. 3. Id. l. 4. Bouhours l. 1. * Ibid. Maffeius l. 1. c. 3. Bouhours l. 1. L. 1. c. 3. (a) L. 1. (b) Cap. 2. Rome 1629. â— vo Maffeius l. 1. c. 3. (a) Hist. Soc. Jesu l. 1. (b) Lib. 3. Philostratus de vit Apoll. â— â— c. 12. Id. l. 3. c. 15. Bonaventura cap. 15.6 †De vita Fr. cap. 14. Bussieres l. 2. c. 16. Philostrat l. 1. c. 15.9 Bonavent cap. 8. Vitelleschi cap. 7. Philostrat l. 1. c. 9. Philostrat l. 7. c. 6. Bonavent cap. 8. (a) L. 3. c. 3. (b) cap. 5. Bouhours l. 2. Id. l. 6. Philostr l. 8. c. 2. Bouhours l. 1. Id. l. 2. Gloria S. Ignatii Rothomagi 1630. cap. 8. Id. c. 14. Ribadeneira in vit ejus Philostrat l. 1. c. 13. l. 7. L. 1. l. 7. Bonaventur c. 7. Golden Legend fol. 262. London 1527. Bouhours l. 1. Id. l. 6. Gloria S. Ignatii cap. 7. Bouhours l. 6. * Vite ejus per Jac. Baccium Romae 1645. Bouhours l. 1. Gloria S. Ignatii cap. 8. * Bouhours l. 6. Vitelleschi c. 20. †Jac. Baccius in Vit. ejus l. 2. c. 19. Vitelleschi c. 19. Bouhours l. 6. *
aim at an extraordinary perfection and purity propose to themselves long pilgrimages terrible austerities continual prayer and a thousand other ridiculous actions which their deluded fancy suggests to be meritorious They employ their thoughts in the perpetual meditation of these imaginary perfections and in their extasies and raptures are amused with them and form pleasing Ideas of them arising from the apprehension of any exceeding merit or veneration to be obtained by the practice of them In this religious phrensy they imagine to have received the Divine approbation of them mistaking a foolish satisfaction of a deluded judgment for the suffrage and voice of the Holy Spirit acting in them and at last proceed so far as to fancy the reception of a Divine Command for the commission of these extravagancies No wonder then if after such a false perswasion they proceed to act all the whimsies and follies which a disturbed brain and violent imagination can suggest if they put off all sense of shame and modesty and setting no bounds to their extravagance deliver themselves up to the conduct and direction of an irrational fancy which inciteth them to commit such follies and trifles as are beneath the dignity of a rational Being and contrary to the dictates of common sense such ridiculous fopperies and elaborate extravagance as may justly provoke the laughter of sober Heathens and indignation of wiser Christians Such ridiculous Fanaticism is the utmost degeneracy of Christian Religion than which nothing can be more contrary to its Genius and destructive of its Principles Christianity was intended to exalt and perfect the Reason of mankind to create true notions of the nature of all moral and religious Actions and introduce the practice of a manly and rational Piety Whereas this Enthusiasm debaseth the Reason and Understanding of mankind introduceth false Ideas of Religion and Piety and exposeth both to the scorn and derision of the more judicious and intelligent World as if none but Fools and Ideots could be perfect Christians and the highest degree of madness were the most certain mark of piety Such absurd Opinions cannot but scandalize all considering Persons and cause them to conclude that either these absurdities are gross corruptions and deviations from Christianity or else Christianity it self is a grand Imposture unworthy the belief and veneration or even attention of mankind The former is not easily discernible by those who have no other notions of Christianity than what they receive from the general practice and currant opinions of their Countrey and are from their infancy prepossest that there is no true Christian Society besides their own where if such Fanaticism be publickly practised or countenanced it cannot but create in them a detestation of all Christianity But as for those who are convinced of the truth of Christianity in general and enquire after the true Doctrines of it among so many divided Communions of the Christian World they may rationally and infallibly conclude that particular Church which favours or promotes this Superstitious Enthusiasm to be infinitely corrupted and degenerate from the true Spirit and Principles of Christianity If we view the several Churches and Communions of the Christian World we shall find no Society of Christians more free from Fanaticism than the Church of England or more guilty of it than the Church of Rome It hath been the peculiar happiness of the Church of England to create a right sense of Religion and Piety in all her Communicants and secure to them the practice of a rational Devotion She makes no pretensions to private Inspirations and extraordinary Illuminations of the Holy Ghost and all her Children are more apt to deride than admire the follies and extasies of Enthusiasts If any of her Members have at any time through ambition or ignorance embraced Fanaticism they have at the same time departed from the Communion of the Church and becoming Schismaticks proclaimed themselves her Enemies Yet so far hath the sober and judicious practice and example of the Church of England influenced even their conduct that the most extravagant among them have been less Fanatical than the most admired Saints of the Church of Rome and whensoever the sense of their Duty and Providence of God shall induce them to return to the bosome of the Church which we heartily wish they can do it no otherwise than by deserting even all Reliques of Fanaticism Not so the Church of Rome which in all her Offices and publick Ceremonies promotes and foments it hath on many occasions given publick applause and approbation to it and oweth the greatest part of her peculiar Doctrines and present prosperity to the Enthusiasm of her Followers If we consult the publick Offices of that Church we shall find nothing intelligible directly proposed to the common People but the Prayers performed in an unknown Tongue and their Senses in the mean while amused with antick Gestures Images Processions and pompous Representations The first enforceth the minds of ignorant Persons to betake themselves to the entertainment of their own thoughts and direct their Devotion according to their own crude and indigested Ideas and then the latter inspires them with childish and absurd notions of Religion and Divine Matters and both together cause them to form wild and Enthusiastick Apprehensions of Religious Actions and direct their Conduct according to those Apprehensions If we examine the peculiar Doctrines of the Church of Rome we shall find many of them to derive their original from Enthusiastick Visions and Revelations I will instance only in Purgatory and Transubstantiation whereof the former however at this day defended was at first set a foot upon the sole Authority of these Fanatick Visions which imaginary Visions of this kind were so frequent among the Enthusiastick Monks of the sixth seventh eighth and tenth Ages that large Volumes might be compiled of them as indeed I have seen several voluminous Collections of them in Manuscript composed before the Reformation in proof of Purgatory As for Transubstantiation as it was first forged in the Cell of a Visionary Monk so it chiefly gained credit and belief in the World from the pretended Visions of supposed Saints for whose sake God divested the Sacramental Elements of their usual Accidents and offered them to their sight under the very Species of an Humane Body Scarce a Monkish Saint of any eminence after the ninth Age can be found in whose life such a Vision is not related Lastly if we view the Religious Orders of the Church of Rome where Religion and Piety is supposed to flourish in its utmost perfection and which are esteemed the grand Patterns of refined Christianity we shall find them to be so many Societies of Fanatical Enthusiasts who if we except vicious and irreligious Persons among them wholly busie themselves in wild Imaginations and ridiculous Ceremonies If any religious Persons among them escape this contagion and surmount this imperfection it is owing to the excellency of their Genius and advantage of their
of Discourses of Purity and Charity of Repentance and of seeking the Kingdom of God. Published by Dean Tillotson 8 o. His Second Volume of Discourses on several Practical Subjects 8 o. Sir Thomas Mores Vtopia newly made English by Dr. Burnet 8 o. Mr. Sellers Devout Communicant assisted with Rules Meditations Prayers and Anthems 12. Dr. Towerson of the Sacraments in General Of the Sacrament of Baptism in particular 8 o. The History of the COVNCIL OF TRENT in which besides the ordinary Acts of the Council are declared many notable occurrences which hapned in Christendom for 40 Years and particularly the Practices of the COVRT of ROME to hinder the Râ—formation of their Errors and to maintain Their Greatness Written by Father Paul of the Servi To which is added the Life of the Author and the History of the Inquisition Dr. Bâ—rnets History of the Reformation of the Church of Eng. in 2 Vol Fol. A Collection of sixteen several Tracts and Discourses written in the Years from 16â—8 to 1685. inclusive by Gilbert Barnet D. D. To which is added A Letter written to Dr Barnet giving an Account of Cardinal Pools secret Powers The History of the Powder Treason with a Vindication of the Proceedings thereupon An Impartial Consideration of the Five Jesuits dying Speeches who were Executed for the Popish Pâ—ot 1679. 4 o. A Dissertation concerning the Government of the Ancient Church more particularly of the Encroachments of the Bishops of Rome upon other Sees By WILLIAM CAVE D.D. 8 vo An Answer to Mr. Serjeant's Sure Footing in Christianity concerning the Rule of Fâ—ith With some other Discourses By WILLIAM FALKNER D. D. 4 o. A Vindication of the Ordinations of the Church of England in Anâ—wer to a Paper written by one of the Church of Rome to prove the Nullity of our Orders By GILBERT BVRNET D D. An Abridâ—ment of the History of the Reformation of the Church of England By GILB BVRNET D D. 8 vo The APOLOGY of the Church of England and an Epistle to one Signior Scipio a Venetian Gentleman concerning the Council of Trent Written both in Latin by the Right Reverend Father in God IOHN IEWEL Lord Bishop of Salisbury Made English by a Person of Quality To which is added The Life of the said Bishop Collected and written by the same Hand 8 vo The Life of WILLIAM BEDEL D. D. Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland Together with Certain Letters which passed betwixt him and Iames Waddesworth a late Pensioner of the Holy Inquisition of Sevil in Matters of Religion concerning the General Motives to the Roman Obedience 8 vo The Decree made at ROME the Second of March 1679. condemning some Opinions of the Iesiuts and other Casuists 4 o. A Discourse concerning the Necessity of Reformation with respect to the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome 4 o. First and Second Parts A Discourse concerning the Celebration of Divine Service in an Unknown Tongue 9 o. A Papist no Misrepresented by Protestants Being a Reply to the Reflections upon the Answer to A Papist Misrepresented and Represented 4 o. An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England in the several Articles proposed by the late BISHOP of CONDOM in his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church 4 o. Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the Exceptions of the Mons. de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator 4 o. A CATECHISM explaining the Doctrine and Practices of the Church of Rome With an Answer thereunto By a Protestant of the Church of England 8 vo A Papist Represented and not Misrepresented being an Answer to the First Fifth and Sixth Sheets of the Second Part of the Papist Misrepresented and not Represented and for a further Vindication of the CATECHISM truly Representing the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome 4 o. The Lay-Christian's Obligation to read the Holy Scriptures 4 o. The Plain man's Reply to the Catholick Missionaries 24 o. An Answer to THREE PAPERS lately printed concerning the Authority of the Catholick Church in matters of Faith and the Reformation of the Church of England 4 o A Vindication of the Answer to the said THREE PAPERS 4 o. Mr Chillingworths Book called The Religion of Protestants a safe way to Salvâ—tion made more generally useful by omitting personal contests but inserting whatsoever concerns the common cause of Protestants or defends the Church of England with an exact Table of Contents and an Addition of some genuine Pieces of Mr. Chillingworths never before Printed viz. against the Infallibility of the Roman Church Transubstantiation Tradition c. And an Account of what moved the Author to turn Papist with his confutation of the said motives An Historical Treatise written by an Author of the Communion of the Church of Rome touching Transubstantiation Wherein is made appear That according to the Principles of that Church this Doctrine cannot be an Article of Faith 4 o. The Protestants Companion or an Impartial survey and comparison of the Protestant Religion as by Law established with the main Doctrines of Popery Wherein is shewn that Popery is contrary to Scripture Primitive Fathers and Councils and that proved from Holy Writ the Writings of the Ancient Fathers for several hundred Years and the Confession of the most Learned Papists themselves 4 o. The Pillar and Ground of Truth A Treatise shewing that the Roman Church falsly claims to be that Church and the Pillar of that Truth mentioned by S. Paul in his first Epistle to Timothy chap. 3. ver 15.4 o. The Peoples Right to read the Holy Scriptures Asserted 4 o. A short summary of the principal Controversies between the Church of Engl. and the Church of Rome being a Vindication of several Protestant Doctrines in Answer to a late Pamphlet intituled Protestancy destitute of Scripture proofs 4 o. An Answer to a late Pamphlet intituled The Judgment and Doctrine of the Clergy of the Church of England concerning one special Branch of the Kings Prerogative viz. In dispensing with the Penal Laws 4 o. A Discourse of the Holy Eucharist in the two great Points of the Real Presence and the Adoration of the Host in Answer to the Two Discourses lately Printed at Oxford on this Subject To which is prefixed a large Historical Preface relating to the same Argument Two Discourses Of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead The Fifteen Notes of the Church as laid down by Cardinal Bellarmin examined and confuted 4 o. With a Table to the Whole Preparation for Death Being a Letter sent to a young Gentlewoman in France in a dangerous Distemper of which she died by W. Wake M. A 12 o. The Difference between the Church of England and the Church of Rome in opposition to a late Book Intituled An Agreement between the Church of England and Church of Rome A Private Prayer to be used in difficult Times A True Account of a Conference held about Religion at London Sept. 29. 1687. between