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A25674
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A vindication of the Roman Catholicks from the foul aspersions thrown upon them by John Tillotson ... in a sermon preached by him in November, 1687 ...
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Antoine.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing A3517; ESTC R6580
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11,687
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16
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It is convenient for many of the Clergy and Laity To the Clergy because they are often sent from one country to another of different Speeches for the common good who if the Liturgie were in the Vulgar Tongue they for many years could not be able to assist at any Solemnity of the Church The same Reason is proportionally for the Laity 4 thly For Uniformity 5 thly Because the Latin is not mutable as other Speeches are Lastly Because it hath been so from the Beginning as these following Fathers do Witness St. Cyprian insinuates that in his time the publick Liturgie was in Latin. St. Austin insinuates the same to have been in his time St. Hierome affirms that all the Eastern Church used the Greek Language There are many more Reasons to be given some the Doctor gave such as he thought he could easily refute The last Argument which the Doctor brought fell indeed to the Ground for want of a Friend to support it The other three Reasons which the Doctor says the Catholicks pretend for themselves I suppose the Doctor had from the Irish Popish Collier a Man who had more Devotion than Learning But what if the Church gave no Reason and should say Stat pro ratione voluntas It is my Will and you are to Obey I am impower'd by God and assisted by his Spirit you are to submit captivantes intellectum This Method would not please my Doctor at all Arbitrary Power Egyptian Slavery He would raise up Old Cora with all his Arguments that were used against Moyses and Cora would come in with a Why and a Wherefore against every thing that pleased not his Humour But must a King give a Reason to every Subject why he makes such or such a Decree If not a King why the Church The Liturgie which the Church used in England the Doctor will not deny was in Latin from St. Austin's time till the Reign of King Henry the Eighth and were all Damned in those Nine Hundred Years Perhaps the Doctor will answer with his Book of Homilies that all the World Men Women and Children were Drounded in Idolatry and Superstition Uncharitable Doctor The World will neither believe your Homilies nor you without some proof at least a seeming one like your caracterised self But let us consider what were the Works of these Egyptian Slaves as the Doctor is pleased to call the Roman Catholicks whilst they were in Slavery under their hard Task-Masters Some abandoning the World retired into Monasteries dedicating themselves intirely to God by solemn Vows passing their whole Life in Prayer Fasting Contemplation Day and Night praising God. Others building and endowing Religious Houses Hospitals Alms-Houses Cathedrals Collegiate and Parish Churches And from whence have you all your Fat Benefices but from these Egyptian Slaves If these Men were Idolaters then are you with your Wives and Children like those Heathenish Priests in Daniel Who devoured those Meats which were offered to Idols If these Men were Workers of Piety then may you justly fear to be called to an account by the great Task-Master for not fulfilling the intentions of your Egyptian Benefactors But we will now pass from the Egyptian Slavery and Darkness to the Liberty and light of the Reformation I fear to assert any thing positively lest I should Err for I cannot find in this Protestant Land of Promise any terra firma upon which I can build any Position I will therefore ask the Doctor who perhaps may be better acquainted with the Principles of the Reformation than I am First Whether God by any Miracle or any thing like a Miracle gave testimony of the Truth of the Reformation If God did not how will the Doctor convince me that this is not ignis fatuus a false Light and a real Egyptian Darkness The Doctor may perhaps answer that he needeth no Miracles it sufficeth that their Reformation is conformable to Scripture but is not this Doctor the plea of every Heretick and cannot they see as well as you You are then to justifie all Heresies or to bring a plea for your selves such as they cannot use for their justification I suppose the Doctor will allow every Reformer the same Liberty which he takes himself and then I ask him if he can shew me a Heretick in the World and by what Rule he declares him an Heretick 2 dly Are all the Reformations of Christ's Church true If not all how many Had there been any right and true Reformation of God's Church if the Church of England had not reformed And did the better Livers of the English people begin and pursue the reformation of England Do the reformed live better than the Old Egyptian Slaves How many Holy Days and Fasting Days have they added to that Egyptian Calendar 3 dly What Benefit hath the World found by the reformation If it be a deliverance from Egyptian Darkness how uncharitable are you to hide this Light under a Bushel and it is so little indeed that a Bushel may easily hide it Why do you not let it shine to the World Why do you not send your Missioners to unslave and enlighten the World with the knowledge of your true new Gospel Why do you not oppose the Romish Missioners in all Kingdoms of the World Strange that all the true Ministers of the Gospel should be so much wedded to Benefices and Wives that none should have the Spirit of Paul The charity of God urgeth me to diffuse the truth of the Gospel over the Face of the Universe And now how many Countries have they Converted How many Kings have obeyed the Church of England How many Mores have ye Christened and instructed in the Indies When doth the Doctor think that there will be of all Tribes and People Tongues and Nations of his belief There must certainly be more Apostolical endeavours used than have been hitherto For in truth I never found any Protestant Missioners besides the Penal Laws the Charity of the Reformation to free Papists from Tyranny Slavery and Darkness and bring them into the Light and Liberty of the Reformation Liberty to believe what ye please so ye believe not the Pope Liberty to do what ye please so ye do not please the Pope Liberty to excuse all Errors provided ye blame Popery I find in the Writings of many of the Church of England Men that they are ready to excuse the Pagans to suppress Popery to Embrace all Hereticks to strengthen their party and prove their universality He is the worst of Men who seems any way to favour the Roman Catholicks I met the other day with a little Protestant Champion a Three-penny Book who briskly contended for the Validity of the Orders of the Church of England He own'd indeed that they had them by Succession from the Church of Rome but in my Opinion if they had not found fallen Priests from the Church of Rome they would have gone to Monsieur Calvin both for Articles and Orders and have then
it there But let the Doctor leave Canting and give a solid reason if he can why the Church which declared Authoritatively the Scripture to be the Word of God hath not Authority enough and Knowledge to instruct us in the Will of God if there were no Scripture The Doctor proceeds in the same Page and says the Teachers of the Jewish Church did not proceed so far as to deprive Men of the use of the Holy Scripture in the 2d Page he cannot avoid a Contradiction For he says that the Jewish Teachers did take away the Key of Knowledge from the people which the Doctor insinuates was the Scripture Then they took away the Scripture and did not But suppose they did not take away the Scripture yet the Doctor says they took away the Key of Knowledge then a Man may have the Scripture and yet not have the Key of Knowledge then the Jews might have the Scripture and yet not see Christ in it as in fact did not So may the Vulgar have the New Testament and yet not see the they New Law in it So may a Protestant Cobler have the Bible and yet want the Key of Knowledge and to whom shall he go to for it What if he should go to the Pope For the Doctor owns in his Sermon the Pope had the Key and indeed I cannot tell how the Doctor should come by it unless he stole it Or perhaps it was found in the Ruins of the Monasteries here in the beginning of the reformation which were broke down the Doctor may say to seek for this Key and it was found there all rusty as the Doctor says and they have been rubbing it ever since But to come to my purpose How is it that the Scriptures alone can perfectly instruct us in the Will of God as this Doctor says when a whole multitude may have them and yet not see the Will of God in them as the Jews had the Scripture and yet saw not the Will of God in it Now why may not the Doctors of the Church of England put the Scripture into the Hands of all the Vulgar and yet teach them false Doctrine from their Pulpits and keep the true sense and meaning of the Scripture from the people as well as the Scribes and Pharisees then the people may have the Bible and yet not know the Will of God. Then is the Pastor more necessary for the people than the Bible We see the Quakers Anabaptists Presbyterians Sweet-Singers Lutherans Church of England c. all these differ in Faith and that they are not all of the right Faith. I suppose the Doctor will own all these have the Bible How come it that they do not testifie themselves by it The Doctor must answer that the Teachers of these Men do give the people the Bible but keep from them the Key of Knowledge as the Scribes and Pharisees did And if any one should accuse the Doctor of acting like a Scribe and Pharisee in this Sermon how will he vindicate himself I will undertake to prove him guilty of above 40 false Reflections and above-right lies against his Neighbours in this one Sermon which is more than he can prove upon either Scribe or Pharisee Towards the end of this Page the Doctor says it is a horrible impiety to interpret the Scripture in a wrong sense to the people God forgive the Doctor for it the Roman Catholicks do own it a Crime But he says it is more horrible not to permit the people to read it He thinks this must be taken upon his bare Word for he brings not one thing like a proof for it In the 5th Page the Doctor doth intermix Prayers in an unknown Tongue with the not reading the Scripture and says that the people for these two Errors are sure to perish and surely damned and that the Scripture is necessary to save them and that the Church of Rome in these two points doth contrive the Eternal Ruin and Destruction of the peoples Souls For these uncharitable and extravagant expressions the Doctor brings not any thing like a Proof This I will prove upon the Doctor according to his own Tenent that whatsoever Protestant reads not the Scripture is surely Damned And whatsoever Pastor of the Protestant Church doth not take such care of all and every one of his Flock First That he be instructed to read 2 dly That he have the Bible 3 dly That he read it This Pastor for neglecting his Flock in a thing so necessary to Salvation must be surely Damned also This must follow if the Scripture be necessary to Salvation And if the Protestant Religion had started up before Printing was found out how many poor Protestants would this Doctor have Damned then I ask'd the Doctor why a vigilant Pastor cannot instruct his Flock in all things conducing to Salvation without giving them the Bible Until the Doctor answers I say he may and that it had been done in all Ages and I know not why it may not be done in the Protestant Church unless it be because Truth and the Will of God are not in the Protestant Ministers The Reader may be perhaps desirous to know the truth of the Roman Catholick practice in these two points As to the first to wit The reading the Scripture the Church doth not debar the Laity from it She alloweth it to every one whom the Pastors judge will use it with respect and submission to the Church through the Motive of Piety not Curiosity Where the Scripture may be ill used there it is not generally suffered to be read And what slavery is in this The Vulgar of the Roman Church do believe that they are to be fed by their Pastors neither to feed themselves nor to be fed by Bibles St. Paul saith That Christ appointed Pastors lest his people should stray into Errors The Doctor appoints the Bible The Roman Church appoints the Bible for the Pastor chiefly and the Pastor for the people The Doctor appoints the Bible for the people and the Pastors are useless If an Indian should come into England which would soonest make him of the Protestant Church the Doctor or the Bible If the Doctor then is the Bible not necessary to Salvation If the Bible how comes it that so many Millions of well inventioned people in the World could never see the Protestant there who notwithstanding were no strangers to the Bible This I admire in the Church of England who since the reformation are much more solicitous to get Estates and keep them than those things which belong to the next World and for this I appeal to their Consciences that every one should not claim a right to be Judge of the Laws of the Land to preserve their Estates as well as to be Judge of the Scripture in order to preserve the Soul. In the next place the Doctor brings Scripture for his Tenent If any one shall think any Text he brings to be like a proof if