these Colours were the Papists Represented from the Pulpit by these Preachers in the Year 1681. when the time was not of confuting them by Gospel and Reason but by barbarously knocking them in the Head like Beasts But all these Colours are either False or Deceitful as might be easily shewn at large but I am quite tir'd as I fear the Reader is too by staying so long in this nauscous Stuff I 'll therefore pass them over as such Calumnies deserve with as short a Reflection as may be but yet in order And therefore as to the First it is absolutely False for Falshood and Deceit are no where recommended or taught by his Church and are so far from sitting Men for Heaven that I am certain no Man of what Church soever guilty of those wicked Qualities can possibly have admittance there till they have first discharg'd their Conscience by a sincere Repentance and made Restitution to the Parties Injur'd to the best of their power This is the Receiv'd Doctrin of his Church and I hope in their Dealing they practise it as much as any I don't question but there are still Knaves of his Communion but then let that Teacher who has no such of his Coat or in his Church come and sling the first Stone The Second is False too since 't is known that there are great numbers of Papists who were never so by Education And is it not an abominable and wicked Slander to accuse all such of Atheism and that had it not been for their blinding themselves by this they had never become Papists Since such as have made the Observation find that those who were of a good Life when Protestants continue to be so when Papists and that many who liv'd like Atheists when Protestants become better Christians by being Papists The Third is likewise False since the Council of Trent do's not allow the Picturing the Divinity it self as the Preacher says but takes particular care if it happen says the Council that the Histories of the Holy Scripture be Painted or Figur'd that the People be taught that the Divinity is not therefore Figur'd or Painted as if that could be seen with Corporeal Eyes or represented in Colours Sess 25. which is just contrary to what the Preacher delivers And therefore tho' sometimes in our Churches there may be seen Figures to put us in mind of the Blessed Trinity yet the like may be seen too in the Frontispiece of some Bibles and Common-Prayer-Books of the Church of England to which the Preacher's Exclamation of O Hateful Sight may be as properly apply'd as to any thing of that nature in our Churches The Fourth of Praying to Images is false too for we are taught to Pray to none but God alone and to desire the Intercession or Prayers of such holy Persons as are acceptable to God whether in Heaven or Earth These we own may be assisting to us by the Prayers they offer up to the Throne of God where St. John saw an Angel offering Incense with the Prayers of all the Saints upon the Golden Altar which was before the Throne Revel 8. 3. But for Images we confess them to be nothing but Wood or Stone c. that they can neither Hear See nor Understand they are of some use indeed inasmuch as they are Sacred Remembrances of Christ or his Saints but are still devoid of all Power of Helping or Praying for us And we acknowledge it a like Absurdity to Pray to an Image as to offer a Petition to the Statue of the King. The Apologizer has found an odd Notion pag. 32. of leaving Prayers with an Image which I suppose is the same as leaving ones Grace in a Hat when a Man gives Thanks with that before his Mouth and his Eyes And if this be his meaning of our Praying to Images I wish he would expound it so to his Hearers at his next Meeting otherwise I shall still take him for a Misrepresenter If I charg'd any thing farther than due in relation to this Point in the Advice to the Pulpits I ask the Preacher's Pardon resolving to do him all the Right he shall require for I assure him 't was nothing of Design but Mistake only and therefore I do not here set this Calumny under his Name but quote the Apologizer who both asserts and pretends to defend it And I wish the Pulpits would do us the same Right in retracting and owning the many Wrongs they have done us if Repenting be not beneath their Station The Fifth is False since we worship only God himself and not the Bread and Wine which we believe not to be in the B. Sacrament And therefore this Charge is to be reckon'd for Misrepresenting by the Judgment of a former Adversary who gives this Sentence If we put our own Opinions of his a Papists Faith and Practice into his Character this says he is Misrepresenting because a Papist has not the same Opinion of these things which we have and this makes it a false Character Answ to Pap. Prot. pag. 17. Let the Apologizer examin this Rule and see whether it be not our Case whilst the Preacher gives a Character of us not according to ours but his own Belief The Sixth is False for tho' we confess a Temporal Punishment sometimes to remain due to Sin after the Guilt is remitted yet the Eternal Punishment is releas'd through the Influence of the same Cause by which the Guilt is discharg'd to wit the Passion of Christ and whatsoever Satisfaction we attribute to Human Means yet nothing of this can find acceptance or prevail with God but through the help of his Divine Grace and the Merits of Christ our Redeemer who gave himself a General Ransom for the World and yet requires we should apply it to our selves which Application of ours do's not at all derogate from the Plenitude of Christ's Satisfaction The Seventh is absolutely contrary to the Doctrin and General Practice of our Church whose Members do generally go to Confession many times in the Year and are under an Obligation of doing it at least Once a Year which cannot be perform'd as is directed by our Spiritual Books but by a Sincere and Hearty Repentance how then is the Non-necessity of Repentance before the Imminent Point of Death a Doctrin of ours when all in our Communion are bound by Precept not to defer it past the Year All our Divines indeed own Repentance to be absolutely necessary at the Point of Death but that it is not necessary till then I am certain is contrary both to the Receiv'd Doctrin of our Church and the Practice of her Professors And tho' we acknowledge that a Hearty Repentance even at the Point of Death is accepted by God according to that At whatsoever hour a Sinner Repents c. Yet this is not to be rely'd on and we hear nothing so much discourag'd in our Books and Sermons as deferring Repentance to the last there being but One as S.
the being of any Papists there Now 't is certain the Papists here and there are of the same Church Principles and Faith and 't is no Difference in this kind makes them there like other Men and here like Monsters but 't is because there the Papists are what they are and here they are made to be what they are not but what their Maligners please to render them And as long as they are only look'd on through this false Glass and shewn to the People under the Deformity of many Heads and Horns and with the Beast all over what hopes of their being receiv'd into the Bond of Common Charity Or what greater encouragement for Feuds and unchristian Animosities than that these should be so mark'd out for Disciples of Antichrist to be pursu'd with Contempt and Hatred by their Neighbors in the Service and Fear of the Lord I must needs confess that were Popery so foul as 't is in the opinion of the Vulgar were its Principles so cruel and bloody did it teach Men Idolatry to worship any Creature for God to neglect the Commandments c. I would choose rather to be Jew Turk or Infidel than a Papist I would willingly subscribe to all the Comparisons betwixt Paganism and Popery I would own that a Man must of necessity lay by both Sense and Reason before he could take up such a Religion and that to Preach against it and endeavor its ruin would not be only laudable but even a necessary Duty But if this black Character should no otherwise agree to it than by Mistake if the Papists should not really teach nor believe those Fopperies and absurd Doctrins which are laid to them but utterly abhor and disclaim them then 't is certain our little World has been fill'd with Confusions upon Imagination it has been frighted into most unaccountable Practices by idle Jealousies and there can be no surer way for retrieving the past and preventing all such like Mischiefs than by more closely examining the thing we fear and seeing whether it be a real Monster we dread or else something artificially dress'd up for to fright the unwary For my part I am not asham'd here to own that my Religion is Popery as taught and deliver'd by the Church of Rome I embrac'd it without the influence of any Temporal Motive and I continue in it upon the hopes of obtaining Salvation in the Profession of her Faith and observance of her Doctrins through the Merits and Passion of my ever Blessed Redeemer And 't was no small surprise to me to hear this very Church the Purity of whose Belief and Doctrin I admir'd so positively decry'd for the Whore of Babylon for the Promoter of all Inhuman Barbarities rank'd with Paganism and Turcism the Prophaner of God's Holy Word and Propagator of the Doctrin of Devils c. I was alarm'd at this Character and immediately concluded that if this was so I had been greatly mistaken and instead of putting my self into the way of Heaven had certainly fall'n into the very Mouth of Hell. This put me upon some Reflections and oblig'd me to enter into a more strict Scrutiny of my Religion and my self I did both with seriousness knowing that the Concern was of Eternity and whereon depended my Soul's Salvation or Damnation Upon examination of my self I could not find that I had been taught any of those Hellish Doctrins charg'd against my Church or that She any where deliver'd them but on the contrary that I had been directed by Her To worship and adore one only Living God To serve him with fear and trembling To love him above all things To keep his Commandments To love my Neighbor as my self and in all things to fulfil the Law of Christ That nothing was so contradictory to this Law as to commit Idolatry to prophane the Word of God or any ways to propagate Superstition or the Doctrin of Devils And that I ought rather to suffer Death a thousand times than once incur the Guilt of any of these Crimes Now here what could I think finding my Church wholly opposit to the Character given of it and my self lying under the Scandal of such Doctrins which I did as much abhor as Hell and Damnation it self I was convinc'd of the falsness of the Charge and that the Accusation was a Calumny but whether proceeding from Mistake Misunderstanding Ignorance Faction Interest Passion or Malice I was not able to determine But a farther enquiry into the Proofs produc'd for the making good this Charge gave me some satisfaction For here amongst these I found a great number of Matters of Fact as Massacres Vsurpations Murders of Princes Treasons Plots Conspiracies Persecutions and other such unwarrantable Practices charg'd against the Members of this Church I found again the vicious and scandalous Lives of some of her chief Prelates their Pride Covetousness and Luxury laid home as likewise the ill Examples of other Ecclesiastical Dignitaries as of Cardinals Bishops and Priests their Ignorance Simony Oppression Cruelties Excesses c. Then the loose and extravagant Opinions of many of her Doctors Lastly many Superstitions and Abuses found amongst the People their being impos'd on by some with idle Inventions the noise of Relics and Miracles and being Priest-ridden a thousand other ways These I say I found with others of the same blackness urg'd against Men in Communion with my Church And hence a Conclusion drawn upon the whole Church upon her Doctrin and all in her Communion of their being as foul as Hell of the same Tincture with these Villanies and Crimes And here it was I began to lay aside all Troubles and Scruples concerning my Religion being now well satisfi'd that the frightful Character of my Church whlch surpris'd me before was not taken from her Faith and Doctrin but only from the Vice and Wickedness of such who tho' perchance in her Communion yet follow'd not her Direction and that 't was rather a black Record of as many villanous Practices as had ever been committed by any of her Members Shamm'd upon the People for a Draught of such things the Church taught encourag'd and approv'd And here upon the whole I could not but lament these uncharitable Proceedings to see so great a Body of Believers such an infinit number of Christians of which I was one lie under so base so scandalous a Reproach to see them condemn'd for the Abettors of such Principles which they detested and abhorr'd and the Crimes of their Ancestors made to be their Religion For my part this Method appear'd to me much beneath all Reason and Religion I thought if this were once allowable and just we might all be Indicted for Felons and Horse-stealers because many of our Church had been convicted of those Crimes that the Debaucheries of the Stews Whitefriers and the Mint might be prov'd to be according to Precept and the Rules of Christianity be exactly drawn by the Offences of those that transgress them I must confess had
Sanctity by undeniable Miracles 'T is not adhering to the Pope is enough to be Canoniz'd after Death But if adhering to the Pope was Rebellion in that Bishop what do's he think of a Doctor who adheres to a Neighboring State against his Liege Prince And what of Those others here at home who help to spread and are so satisfi'd in Seditious Libels design'd on purpose against the King and Government Besides their Industry to uphold in open opposition to their Sovereign a Device which was laid by ill Men on design to exclude his Present Majesty from the Crown If Thomas à Becket was a Traitor for adhering to the Pope in some Ecclesiastical Privileges how far from Traitors and Rebels are These who joyn Hands with declar'd Traitors and espouse the same Cause against their Prince How might this be set out if there were but Ten thousand Pulpits to Paint it to the best Advantage 2. They Pray to a Crucifix of Wood or Stone as well as to Christ himself and attribute as much Satisfaction to it as to the Blood of Christ This is every word an Infamous Falshood And tho' the Vindicator here to acquit the Preacher from casting so unworthy and worse than Heathenish Scandal upon us appeals to the Words and Forms of some of our Prayers and then says That if Words will make it plain the Preacher was not mistaken pag. 24. Yet this is so childish a Plea that me-thinks it ought to be beneath a Divine especially a Man of Conscience to charge so Gross an Abomination upon such a Frothy Pretext For what if there are some Words in our Addresses that taken literally import as much Is this any more than what is found in Scripture Deut. 32. 1. where Moses thus cries out Give ear O ye Heavens and I will speak and hear O Earth the words of my mouth Is Moses for this Form presently to be accus'd of Calling upon the Material Heaven and Earth to hear him If this way of Arguing were enough pray what might be said of the Church of England too A Controvertist with a Forehead to the Temper of one of Those who makes up against us might positively accuse her in her Solemn Devotion and most Religious Way of Worship of Addressing themselves to the Sun and Moon Stars Showrs and Winds and calling upon to their Assistance the Birds the Beasts and the Fishes And then for to make all this good beyond exception he has no more to do than to make this Plea that This being a Charge of Words and Forms we must know whether the Charge be True or False by considering those Forms and if Words will make it plain the Arguer is not mistaken For see all this in their Canticle Benedicite in the Morning Prayer What Stuff is this And yet these are some of the Methods which the Church of England takes up to justifie her self to defame her Mother-Church and to fill the World with Confusion 3. Making a Particular Confession of our Sins to Men instead of keeping up wholsom Discipline is the way to corrupt it and tends to the Debauching both Laity and Clergy To see whither an Indiscreet Zeal and Blind Passion hurries Men even to the blackning their own Church whilst they inveigh against their Neighbors Thus infamously is Confession painted out and yet this very Auricular Confession was allow'd to all and at all times as a good Protestant Practice in the First Common-Prayer-Book of Edward the Sixth And the Church of England now at this time refuses no sort of Confession as the Expounder of her Doctrins says p. 42. whether Public or Private And even now in her present Liturgy is the Minister order'd in the Visitation of the Sick to move the Sick Person to make a Special Confession of his Sins Certainly if it were true as the Preacher says that Confession tends to the Debauching both Laity and Clergy his Church is very much to blame for appointing such a Preparative for Death and ordering its Members thus to be Debauch'd at the last hour But this I consider as the Preacher's Heat who instead of reproving some Abuses thus blindly falls foul upon the Best of Institutions And the Apologizer has the Grace to follow him Tenth Character of a Pulpit-Papist THE Churches Interest is the Center of Their Religion and W. Wray ib. Their Consciences turn upon the same Pin. Every thing is Pious Conscientious and Meritorious that makes for their Cause In this Colour was Popery set out in the Year 1682. A time when the Church of England was with such blind Zeal and Devotion both in Desk and Pulpit pursuing her own Interest in the Unjust Defeating the Papists that if the Preacher had turn'd his Eyes nearer home he might have seen Himself and his Hearers an Instance of that Crime he was even then charging upon his Adversaries And tho' the Apologizer will have this True of the Papists by a wrested Interpretation of a Constitution of the Fathers of the Society contrary to the plain meaning of it Yet after that and all he can say he cannot but own it to be a receiv'd Maxim amongst all even the Loosest of our Divines and Casuists that No Evil is to be done that Good may come of it And there 's no Protestant but upon Reflection may call to mind how Religiously the Catholics of this Nation have observ'd it who for so many Years have been excluded the most considerable Places of Honor Trust and Profit which might have been so much to their own Private Advantage as likewise to that of their Church and yet have quietly and constantly quitted them all rather than do an ill thing take Oaths Tests or go to Church against their Conscience Thus have they acted like the Best of Christians in the face of the World without respect to the Interest of themselves or their Church and yet upon I know not what Speculation and Pulpit-Inferences are they most unjustly render'd as Men without Conscience as moving only upon Interest and scrupling at nothing nay making the worst of things Meritorious so it be but for the Advantage of Mother-Church Wicked Men of his Church as of any other may act upon such Principles but to set out his Religion in these Colours is a most Abusive Slander and more becoming the Rudeness of Street-Lectures than the Gravity and Sincerity that ought to be in the Pulpit Eleventh Character of a Pulpit Papist 1. HE changes Scripture into Legends 2. Sacraments into N. Bisby ib. Shews Priests into Puppets 3. Preaches Purgatory instead of Repentance 4. Faction instead of Faith never minds the Lawfulness of the Means provided the thing be but done Thus was the Papist drawn in 1683. but without Truth or Charity every Line being either absolutely False or drawn with so much Disingenuity that no more would be requir'd to make the Best of things Ridiculous For how do's the Papist change the Scripture into Legends when he is commanded
Salvation And of this I desire the Defender of the State of the Controversie to take notice that in this I answer his Challenge and here do declare to him that these Doctrins as here set down by his Fellow Ministers and charg'd upon the Papists I do detest and abominate and that since to be a Papist according to the Notion of the Pulpits is to believe according to the Form asserted in their Characters I would be a Turk as soon as their Papist This Declaration I make for his Satisfaction since he desires it and if it be the thing I ought to have done as he says I here do it now if this will end the Controversie but I must caution him to be a little more Reasonable than when he made the late Resolution of thinking nothing to be detestable amongst all the Doctrins laid to us besides such as I expresly reject since 't is impossible I should ever sum them up there being scarce a Sermon or Book of theirs but what furnishes fresh Matter and like ill Weeds grow every day however if he 'll but send me word when the Guides of his Church are become such Lovers of Sincerity and Truth as to leave off Calumniating and throwing Dirt against us I shall then be in some hopes of bringing the Detestable Doctrins into Number but till then he must never expect to see it And in the mean time I desire him to draw me up an exact Catalogue of all and every Sin by which the Commandments are broken if he 'll but offer at this he may fall something into the account of the unreasonable Task he has put upon me By this time I hope the Reader is satisfi'd that 't is not without Reason the Papists complain of being Misrepresented and tho' some have had the Confidence to pretend that we have not produc'd One clear Instance of it yet that now we have Many and Many more they may have if it be requir'd And this I hope is sufficient to put an end to one half of the Controversie which was the Subject of the First Book to wit that the Papist is Misrepresented And if any make Exceptions against the Character of him thus disguis'd as 't was drawn there I 'll never quarrel upon that score let that be ras'd out and these others take the Place which 't is likely are more Authentic As for the other Part to wit of the Papist Represented I here own it again that it is the Papist I am and whoever assents to that Character in that very Form has done what is requir'd as to those Particulars to be made a Member of our Communion This Offer may be said to have been Answer'd over and over But the Matter of Fact defeats all those Answers and is a Demonstration that they are nothing but Shuffling For whilst a Man may be receiv'd upon those Terms and yet cannot be receiv'd unless he assents to the Faith of the Church 't is evident that in that Character the Faith of the Church is Truly Represented Our new Adversary has one Cavil here to put in viz. That the Character of the Papist Represented is not a good Character because the Faith of a Papist as stated under each Article is not All his Faith. And may not he upon the same score reject the Gospel of S. John for being no True Gospel because it do's not contain All that Jesus did or spoke If it be true as far as it goes and rectifies the most Considerable of those Mistakes and prejudic'd Opinions which are either designedly or ignorantly laid against Catholics it do's as much as was intended by it but to think that it ought to reach to every Particular was more than ever I could pretend to And to this Difficulty I desire this Answerer to let me know his Opinion of the Exposition of the Doctrins of the Church of England whether it contains under each Article All that is of Faith in that Church and whether if any thing be omitted it is to pass for a Misrepresenting Trick as 't is here term'd But this Man has still another Scruple pag. 33. That if he should come into our Church upon the Terms I have propos'd whether I will be Security that he shall not be press'd to profess and practice that Popery which I have either deny'd or conceal'd Marry if he means by that Popery the Pulpit-Popery a part of which is set down in the Characters above I 'll give him the same Security I have my self viz. the Assistance of the Holy Ghost promis'd to his Church which will never permit it to lead her Members into such Abominations he may have the Security too of a good Conscience which cannot be press'd to the profession of so much Evil. And in this he may see his other material Question Answer'd pag. 34. Whether he may be admitted into our Communion with that which he calls Old Popery For if his Old Popery be the Pulpit-Pulpery he sees we reject it and I tell him that whatsoever Church would receive him with the Profession of all those Scandalous Doctrins the Pulpits charge against us I would be sure to be no Member of it and if there were no other but that Church amongst Christians I would then begin to look towards Turky And here this Answerer may now begin to perceive how unsuccessful he is in his last Trick of endeavoring to make a Difference betwixt me and the Learned Vindicator of the Bishop of Meaux whilst he now sees that the Popery I detest and abominate is this Pulpit-Popery as describ'd by the Parsons in which there is so much of Insincerity and Passionate Deductions with other worse sort of Dealing that I again own it to him that I cannot but declare against it I meddle not here with the Different Opinions of School-Divines I leave them exercising their Wits in Speculations but when a Parson designedly enters amongst those Niceties and picks out such of them as he knows will look absurd to his Auditory and having play'd with them a while in the Pulpit shewing all Sides but the Right displaying them into most Monstrous Consequences leaving the People to take all according to their own Vulgar Notions without expounding to them the Sense of the Schools and after all concluding Do you see what the Papists Believe Do you see what they Teach Here I step in and cry out Misrepresenting whilst 't is by these Means insinuated into the People as if to be a Papist were to believe all as they have laid it out in their Pulpits And for the rendring these kind of Religious Frauds Unsuccessful I in my First Book presented the Reader with a View of the greatest Part of our Doctrins as Receiv'd and Profess'd in our Church And in assigning Matters of Faith I observ'd not a different but the same Rule with the Vindicator whilst I have declar'd nothing as an Article of our Belief but what has been thus positively determin'd by the