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
Church Representative or is so acknowledg'd by the whole Body Diffusive which is still equivalent to it And the currant passing of the Book and general Reception of it amongst Catholics argued strongly enough that it was exact as to all this But because I design'd that Book for the Public I did not content my self with the bare stating such our Avow'd Doctrins or Articles of Faith but I likewise added short Expositions in relation to some Protestant Objections generally made to each Article of How can this be Wherefore is this c. And the Expositions I own to be no Articles of Faith but only some receiv'd Notions relating to the Articles of our Faith as they are oppos'd by Protestants or search'd into by the Curious And these were so far from being my Private Sentiments that the Reader may find the same in our Ordinary Scripture-Catechisms of which there has been Printed in this Nation in a few Years not less than Twenty thousand And I hope so general a Reception is sufficient to justifie them against all Cavillers and to convince any considering Men that to Assent to the Catholic Faith as so Expounded which is so contrary to what Protestants say or to the Pulpit-Popery is sufficient for any Member of our Church And if there be other ways of Expounding the same Articles there 's no Inconvenience in this since where the Faith is the same there may be variety of Opinions as to the How 's or the Whys And this I hope the Answerer will understand if he please but to review The Exposition of the Doctrin of the Church of England in which tho' the Author undertakes to propose That Form of Faith that is openly profess'd and taught without any Disguise or Dissimulation in the Church of England as he says Pref. pag. xvii yet I fancy amongst those Expositions he 'll find several Opinions of Private Doctors instead of Points positively so determin'd by that Church Let him but look over that a while and I believe he may have as much reason to call in question the Title of that Book as that of the Bishop and that according to his way I think it ought to bear thus An Exposition of Some bodies Private Sentiments concerning the Doctrin of the Church of England I leave him to consider this a while but I beg him to be Civil with the Author and use him tenderly for if he should deal roughly with him as he do's other his Adversaries and call him Madman or Fool he might take it unkindly and tell him this do's not agree with his Coat I believe 't is better advise him to take some other honest Employment as to Dig or make Almanacks rather than write Controversie for this Gentleman can tell him that to Impose upon Men in Books of Divinity and to take a convenient Stand near the Town is much alike for the Honesty of the Undertaking I expect he 'll take some pains with him since he is resolv'd to spend no more of his time with the Vindicator or Representer These he says are like to be Priviledg'd Persons as to him since he 's resolv'd to Answer them no more they are not it seems so Good-natur'd as to be Confuted by him and he takes it unkindly at their hands But however those who know how abusively he treats his Adversaries must needs take this for no small Privilege And therefore We cannot but thank him for this his Resolution tho' late of calling us Knaves or Fools no more Which in his Language is the short of his Making Replies FINIS THE CONTENTS THE Preface to the Reader  First Character of a Pulpit-Papist Pag. 13. Second Character of a Pulpit-Papist 15. Third Character of a Pulpit-Papist 16. Fourth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 19. Fifth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 25. Sixth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 27. Seventh Character of a Pulpit-Papist 29. Eighth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 34. Ninth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 35. Tenth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 38. Eleventh Character of a Pulpit-Papist 39. Twelfth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 42. Thirteenth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 45. Fourteenth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 50.
us smooth things prophesie Deceits Did the Preachers never follow this Bent of the People Come I wish they would make a thorough Examen into themselves I fear they are Frail are under Temptations and yield to them sometimes like other Mortals Where there is so much of Division and different Interests I suspect all these Evil Qualities must have some access 't was ever so from the beginning and I apprehend 't is from the ill Direction of these our Religion has suffer'd so much For my part I seldom hear any speak of Popery now but presently a Sour and Peevish Temper appears against it and Sober Reason which ought to guide every Christian in the Concern of Religion seems to be quite laid aside and this is a sign that the Contention is more for a Party than a Zeal for Truth which needs not the assistance of these Ill Qualities to defend or enlarge its Possessions But these are only the natural Consequences of Division which under the Pretext of Religion puts Men upon the most unwarrantable Methods both for securing themselves and defeating their Neighbors And 't is not we only that are sensible of these ill Effects but others too And therefore let me here take occasion more solemnly to complain that since the Pretence to Religion has torn Christianity into Parties Animosities and Hatred have taken the place of Love and Unity Fears and Jealousies have pass'd for solid Reason and Judgment and scarce any one Body of Christians have been known by another but under false Colours and a base Disguise Hence it is that whilst few discover scarce any Beauty and Order but in their own Communion and in all others there appears so much of the Monster Heats every where encrease and Men as fiercely engage each other as if their Opposites were nothing better than Turks or Infidels and the Truth of Christianity which they so earnestly contend for is lost by their uncharitable Dissentions The truth of this let every one consider in their several Divisions and when they have been serious a while in this so lamentable a Prospect and view'd the distracted State of Christians let them compare it with the Command of Christ of Love one another and Be ye one as I and my Father are one and if the Sight do's not move to Compassion and engage as many as behold it to a zealous removal of these Differences 't is because these Schisms have destroy'd all Charity and under a false Gloss of Godliness have taught Men to forget their Duty both to God and their Neighbor For my part I have experienc'd the truth of this in Men of all Persuasions in regard to the Religion I profess I have heard and seen it rail'd at contemn'd set upon the same File with Turcism and Infidelity abandon'd even to the blackest Hell and as many as profess it reputed no better than Madmen or Fools and not made the Objects so much of Compassion and Pity as of Hatred and Scorn This I say I have seen with a confusion of Spirit and deep resentment of Soul and wondred how a Religion by which I had been taught to Love God and my Neighbor and to perform all Christian Duties should by other Christians be render'd so black and odious and her Doctrins so hellish and damnable But this was not long a Mystery a little Consideration soon discover'd that 't was none of my Religion was thus hotly decry'd but a Monster of Iniquity set up under her Name And that tho' her Members were Ridicul'd Persecuted and Defam'd yet 't was for Doctrins they were never taught by her and for Facts they were either not concern'd in or not approv'd And so it appear'd that this great disturbance of Christianity this effacing its Beauty this so wide a breach of Charity this propagating of Divisions this inverting the Doctrin of Christ and teaching Men to hate instead of love one another was chiefly occasion'd by Misunderstanding by false Dresses counterfeit Colours and imagin'd Monsters more than real ones And is not this a shame to Christendom that it should be thus torn in pieces for Dreams and Phancies to have its Peace broken to fight with Shadows and that Reasoning Men should for Fears and Jealousies run down the most Fundamental Doctrins and Commands of Christ But there 's enough of this and 't is time that as many as pretend to be Followers of Christ should now set their Hand to the recovering his Glory and the Credit of the Religion they profess that we who own our selves oblig'd to be of one Mind and one Spirit to preserve a mutual Peace and Vnity may be no longer a Scandal to Atheists Jews and Turks and by our Divisions overthrow that Kingdom which we all zealously pretend to maintain Since therefore the great occasion of this Mischief is that Christians know not one another that hence they raise to themselves Adversaries upon mistake and as fiercely engage them as if they were real nothing can possibly more contribute to the Common Peace and Unity of Christendom than that every Division of Pretenders should fairly lay open the Particulars in which they look upon themselves abus'd shew wherein they are wrong'd so to endeavor the remove of all Misunderstandings and Mistakes This I don't question would be highly advantageous for the recovering the Blessing of the Primitive Believers And because amongst all other Communions that of Popery is become the greatest Bugbear frights People into all the Extravagancies of the Heathens in defence of the Gospel makes them trample all the Commands of Christ under foot for the support of Christianity is reputed the greatest Aggrievance the common Seed of Divisions and what chiefly seems to render all amicable Compositions impossible I 'll endeavor in order to this General Good to let the World see 't is only Mistake or Passion has made her so deform'd a Monster and that tho' she be commonly pretended the Occasion of many Pagan Proceedings amongst Christians 't is not for what She really is but what She 's made to be by such unquiet Spirits who cannot make good their Posts and vent their violent Passions with Applause unless set forth under this Cloke of Religion And consequently that were She truly known as to her genuin Faith and Doctrin the greatest part of our Disturbances would be certainly prevented the Enemies of the Common Peace would be quite disabled as to their chiefest Engine and Charity and Love be so far re-establish'd amongst us This every one will conclude to be true who has taken a Prospect of Holland and those Towns of Germany in which Papists and Protestants live together in one Corporation under the same Laws and making use in some Places even of the same Churches too and this with such Freedom Amity and good Correspondence that their different Communion cannot be easily discover'd and a Man that should come out of England with his Head glowing with our Pulpit-Popery would not be easily convinc'd of
I upon examination found I had been taught by my Religion or of my self approv'd those Villanies for which under the name of Papist I with all of my Communion have suffered in our Reputation I should own all as Just and Deserv'd but since we as Papists have always before God and are ready before Men to disclaim and utterly renounce all such Facts and Principles without the least Injury to our Religion whatsoever we suffer on this score cannot be but as much against Justice against Charity and against Christianity as against Vs and the very Apostles themselves might upon as good reason be condemn'd of all the Abuses and Errors of their Reprobate Brethren as we of all the Crimes and Fopperies practis'd by Extravagant Men of our Church I cannot therefore considering how damnable a Sin Calumny is and the defaming a vast Society of Christians with the most infamous of Crimes I cannot I say but have so much Charity for the most violent of our Opposers as to think that did they but believe us Innocent in these Respects they would no longer pursue us with such Infamy and Reproach and consequently that a great reason why we are thrown out by so many from the number of Christians and degraded by others amongst Turks and Infidels by others condemn'd for Idolaters by others reputed as Bloody and Barbarous by others as Ideots and Mad by others as Blind and Superstitious by others as Ignorant as Asses Horses and Mules c. is because they know not what we are what we Teach nor what we Believe because they take the Offences of some of our Members for the Religion of all the Opinions of some Casuists for the Doctrin of the Church the Vices of Men for the Rules of the Society Abuses for Directions and Superstitions for Duties What therefore can we more commendably do for the Good of Christianity than to disabuse our Brethren remove the occasion of our so many years Disturbances and settle a right Understanding between all those who believe there 's no Salvation where there 's no Charity This I have already endeavor'd in some plain and short Tracts not long since Publish'd I 'll here go on to wipe off such Scandals as have been urg'd against us from the Pulpit which if done seriously may still contribute to the same end and make it appear the Papists are none of the Monsters they are imagin'd This I 'll do by Examining such Characters as have been of late Years given of the Papists from the Pulpits In which I shall shew that there are many things charg'd upon them without either Truth or Sincerity and consequently that 't is not without good Grounds they complain of being Misrepresented But first I must have a word or two with a late Adversary and then to the Characters of the Pulpit-Papist Pulpit-Sayings OR THE CHARACTERS OF A Pulpit-Papist EXAMINED FOR the bringing the long Debate of Misrepresenting Pref. to Third Part of Pap. Misrep to an issue I lately made a Challenge to the Pulpits of the Church of England to shew us the Papists to be like those Foul Characters that for so many years had been given of them from those High Places And tho' the Preface wherein that Challenge was publish'd was pretended to be Answer'd by one who besides the Talent he has of Railing with a good Grace has likewise so vain a Conceit of himself as to think he Answers every Line Answ to Repr Reflect upon the State of Controv. p. 5. of his Adversary yet when he comes to this Challenge tho' so Considerable and whereon depends the Proof of the Pulpit-Credit after having repeated it and Blazon'd it in Great Characters he gravely nick-names it with the Title of a Shout and an Exclamation pag. 26. and then tamely lets it slip betwixt his Fingers complaining in his next Page He can meet with nothing worth the Answering How can a Man forbear standing here a little to admire the Contrivance of some Men who when they are press'd with the Difficulty have not Humility enough to own it but like the Executioners of S. Stephen fly to their last Refuge taking up Stones to fling at their Adversary when they cannot come up to him with a just Reply I appeal here to the Unprejudic'd and Thinking part of Mankind when the Controversie of Misrepresenting was like to grow endless what could be more fairly propos'd than to require of the Pulpits to make it appear That the Papists do in all things answer the Character they had given of them The bringing this Proposal to an issue would certainly have concluded the Point If the Papists had appear'd to have been really what they had been rendred the Pulpits had been acquitted of the Charge and if it had prov'd otherwise they must as certainly been condemn'd as Guilty and Misrepresenting must have laid at their doors All the World knows that the only way to discover whether those who pretend to shew Strange and Wonderful Monsters to the World are Honest Men or Impostors is to go into the Booth and see whether what they have to shew there agrees with their Descriptions and Painted Cloths which are expos'd on the outside If it be every way alike they must have the Repute of Fair-dealers but if upon the trial it answers not the expectation and there 's no more of Monster to be found besides in the outside Painting and in Words the Shewers must certainly pass for no better than Cheats and that for want of an honester Livelihood they chose rather to Impose upon their Neighbor than Starve Such a Trial as this was the only Means left after so much Shifting and Winding to bring our Controversie to an issue The Pulpits had been for many years making Characters of the Papists and telling the World how Strange and Deform'd Monsters they were The Truth of their Characters was at length question'd and the Papists are said not to agree with those deform'd Features nor be the Monsters they had been pretended And here began the Difference the one Side positively denying the other as stiffly asserting the Truth and Exactness of the Characters What was to be done here beside making the Experiment Come therefore said I to the Pulpits and withal gave them the Challenge Shew us the Papists to agree with your Characters let us see them and then without any farther trouble we shall know whether the Papists are really the Monsters you decipher'd them or You Impostors for exposing them otherwise than They were This Challenge I made and tho' the Answerer is so throughly acquainted with Monsters as to know them to be very Remarkable things and may be shewn with a Finger ib. p. 36. yet ho's so far from joyning issue with me here that tho' the Decision depended upon so inconsiderable a Matter as the holding forth a Finger and Pointing he 'll not vouchsafe the trouble but instead of that lifts up both his Hands against me and by most
of it he 's no True Son of the Church of England So that tho' the Teachers of this Communion as Establish'd by Law are very industrious to dissuade their Hearers from all Implicit Faith in assenting to Divine Mysteries deliver'd by the Church but that they must be sure not to move one Step beyond their own Sense and Reason otherwise they 'll â—ot believe like Men but pin their Faith on other Mens Sleeves and blindly be led by the Nose Yet when they turn on the other Sâ—â—â— and â—â—e to hear what Popery and the Papists are here they may run oâ— as blindly as they please an Implicit Faith is now more to the purpose Upon this Implicit Faith they may Hate them on this they may Rail against them 'T is not now here Search and Examin and then Believe and Speak as far as by your own knowledge you find to be True But a Genuine Son of the Church of England is to have a good Stock of this Implicit Faith by him and to Believe and Speak tho' he knows nothing at all And this it is I have often observ'd that Those who are the greatest Begots and rail most bitterly against the Papists are They that know the least of them not so much as my Country-man above not Two Families But why this Vneven kind of Dealing in Men that pretend to so much Conscience and Reason If a Member of the Church of England must not assent to any Mystery of Christianity upon an Implicit Faith for fear of Vnmanning himself forsooth why should he so unworthily betray his own Reason in taking up Calumnies upon Trust for the ruining his Neighbor As if the believing rashly of God or of our Neighbor were not both destructive and to be avoided by every good Christian For my part all that I pretend to here is that all Good Protestant would observe the Rule so often prescrib'd from the Pulpits of Search and Examin That they would Try and see what the Papists are before they condemn them But 't is not in the Pamphlets Books and Sermons of Protestants I would have them seek for this Information for all these I look on only as so many Painted Cloths or Popular Harangues design'd for the making of Crowds and encreasing the number of Admirers No what need of taking it thus upon Trust when at this time there are none but who have opportunity enough of seeing and knowing the Papists themselves and letting their own Eyes their own Ears tell them what the Papists are instead of going to a Lecture and receiving it upon Trust from those who at the same time they are telling what the Papists are are informing their Auditory how silly and unreasonable a thing it is to take things upon Trust and to be contented with an Implicit Faith when they may with much more Security follow their own Sense and Reason their own Eyes and their Ears 'T is thus then I desire Papists should be try'd after the Protestant Way I would have every one examin and see what the Papists are with whom they Converse with whom they Trade or have any Dealing such as are of their Acquaintance or Neighborhood consider and reflect on those who are in any Public Post let them use all their Senses and Reason and strictly look into their Way of Living and Dying their Conversation the Care and Pains they take in order to Salvation and then let them speak freely upon their own knowledge whether the Papists are generally the worst of their Neighborhood whether they are less Conscientious less Humble less Charitable c. than others of any other Persuasion But especially let them have a particular regard to such as are Converts to the Catholic Communion and observe them with a watchful Eye 't is certain if Popery be as Black as 't is Painted and so many Degrees worse than Protestantism 't will be impossible for a Man of Protestant to become Papist but 't will soon be discover'd in the Immorality of his Life and Actions Let these Converts therefore be rigorously observ'd to see whether with the change of Religion they change their Lives too for the worst and appear under all those Foul Colours that are pretended to belong to Popery Let them see in particular whether upon being Papists and going to Confession they are now less scrupulous of offending God and more Debauch'd than they were before as 't is said of the Papists in Protestant Sermons viz. That Confession tends Good Advice to Pulp p. 53. Answer to it p. 21 25. to the Debauching both Laity and Clergy and that the Papists make no other use of Confession than what profess'd Drunkards do of Vomiting Let 'em see whether they take less care of Repenting than they did before or Sin now more confidently presuming upon Popes Pardons and Compounding with Heaven for Money Whether they are less Attentive at their Prayers Dumb and Sensless like Idols at their Devotions in the Church Whether they are so stupid as to Pray to Images To change Scripture into Legends To neglect Repentance because of Purgatory To esteem every thing Meritorious that is for the Church's Interest c. Let all Converts be strictly observ'd as to these and such like Points which are the common Pulpit-Characters of Popery If it be true what is thus solemnly asserted with the Bible in Hand the Truth of it must necessarily appear for these are not meer Speculations confin'd within the Heart and Head but they are such Principles as influence the outward Man and must indispensably regulate the Actions of ones Life so that if this be the common Doctrine of Popery 't will be impossible for so many Professors of that Religion every where to be found and not to discover such an abominable Belief of their Heart in the common Practice of their Lives Since therefore we are come to things of Practice and Fact of which every Man 's own Eyes and Ears may be Judge I challenge Protestants in their own Way I appeal from the Pulpits to the Pews and instead of Implicit Faith pinn'd on the Pulpits require the People to make use of their own Senses To these we are contented to stand and to their Arbitration to refer all the Debate of Misrepresenting If our Lives and Actions our Conversation Living and Dying are so much worse than all the rest of our Neighbors answerable to what we are accus'd of from the Pulpits We are deservedly evil spoken of and for my part I shall willingly receive the Sentence of having my Hands ty'd from ever Penning any thing for the future in favor of a People of such pernicious Principles and detestable Practices and the Church of England I 'll own acquitted from the Charge of Misrepresenting Now in this Appeal I cannot expect that there shall be none Wicked or Scandalous found in our Communion 't is well known that the Perfectest of Creatures the very Angels in Heaven could not pretend to this while
the worst of Crimes upon such poor Grounds such weak Evidence and after the evident Falsity of some of these Charges and the great Improbability of others still go on and in some manner assert them over again in Print I question not but they so far indeed get their Ends in all this as to make us Contemptible and Odious but I think the Actors and Promoters of such Vnchristian Methods are still more Injurious to themselves and that whilst they endeavor to defame the Religion of their Neighbors by Calumnies they at the same time prove themselves to be no Christians Certainly these Men are to be pitied And I wish they would consider that if their Livelihood comes in by Preaching or Writing Controversie there are many other Honest Ways of getting a Livelihood and no necessity of taking this There 's a late Adversary of mine who has had some serious thoughts upon this Subject and being convinc'd I suppose of the Unchristian Effects of such Proceedings he makes this free Declaration for himself in these words I will here take occasion to say a good word of Answ to Repr Restect upon the State of the Controv. p. 27. my self and that is That rather than prevaricate in things of this nature I would make very hard Shifts If it were too late to apply my self to Handicraft Trades yet may be I could Dig or the like But if I could not Dig I would not be asham'd to Beg. Perhaps I might get something by turning my Pen another way and writing of things where I had more liberty as by writing Almanacks or any such thing where Mistakes will be committed in abundance and are forgiven in course and will be sure to do no body any hurt but to impose upon Men in Books that treat of Divinity or to accuse Men from the Pulpit he should have added of the greatest Villanies upon vain Reports weak Presumptions or light Probabilities is one of the last Dishonest things I would take to I should think of that and taking a convenient Stand near the Town much about the same time and the reason why he that do's the one do's not the other is because all Mens Abilities do not lie the same way Thus this Good Man Meditates and Resolves with himself 't is pity he had not thought of this before for certainly he 's so far in the right that Digging Begging or making Almanacks are much more Innocent Employments than Deluding of Souls and however Murthering Men in their Reputation has been so Divine a thing of late Years yet certainly those who have their convenient Stands near the Town are not concern'd in so Extensive a Mischief And I don't question but those Few who have seriously consider'd the weight of this Crime and the blackness of the Guilt are so far from going on in that kind of Divinity that they could wish all that Pains so employ'd had been spent in Digging or Begging or making of Almanacks tho' this it may be had never turn'd to so good an Account However Mending is never out of Season and I cannot but commend these good Resolutions tho' late of our good Friend who by his requiring nothing more than a Good Example to follow I perceive is sufficiently sensible of his Guilt Fourth Character of a Pulpit-Papist THE Papists have their Emissaries up and down to Preach Good Advice to Pulp Caut. 5. Schism and Sedition into Peoples Ears By such Arts as these they insinuate themselves among the poor deluded People of our Separate Congregations and joyning with them in their Clamours against the Church of England crying it down for Superstitious and Popishly affected they pass for Gifted Brethren and real Popery is carry'd on by such Disguises Here again the Papists are set forth in a Sermon before the Honorable Judges as great Hypocrites Religious Cheats and Impostors Qualities black enough to make them Odious and Detestable For certainly tho' Dissimulation and Delusion be abominable every where yet never more than in Spiritual Matters and Concerns of the Soul there being no Impiety possibly greater than that of Preaching Schism and Sedition under the Cloak of Sanctity and Religion and thus in Sheeps Clothing to play the Wolves Yet this is from the Pulpit made to be the Character of Papists and the Judges are persuaded that the Jesuits under the Disguise of Dissenting Teachers Preach to the Separate Congregations and by this Imposture put them upon the greatest of Evils both in Church and State. A Foul Crime and if True sufficient to cast the Papists out of the number of Christians but if False and not as is here set out as sufficient on the other side to bring the Pulpits under that as black Character of Misrepresenting This Accusation was set down in the Advice to the Pulpits and all the Return that is made to it in the Answer is as above That Answ to Good Advice p. 7. we must consult the Authorities the Preachers went upon in urging this Charge against the Papists Now who would not have expected that any Answerer zealous in acquitting the Pulpits would have not only produc'd the Authorities but likewise have spent a few Lines in making good such Authorities and proving them to be Authentic beyond exception The Pulpits must needs be sensible that the Crime laid to the Papists is of the blackest Dye and that Men who pretend to Conscience and to Reforming Consciences too ought not to spread Reports of their Neighbor in a Matter of the highest Scandal but upon substantial Grounds and an Evidence of the Guilt and that 't is the Concern of their Reputation thus to make good all their Proceedings in this kind This an Apologizer for the Pulpits should have done But instead of this he sends us to consult the Quaker Vnmask'd the New Discovery and in want of these a Book call'd Foxes and Firebrands He might likewise have added the Preface to Dr. Tenison's late Account of a Conference with A. P. for as far as I can learn the Quaker Vnmask'd Foxes and Firebrands and Dr. Tenison's Gubbards are much of a Piece Good God! that Men should pretend to teach their Auditory the Gospel and expound to them the Truth of God's Word and when They are thus Challeng'd in a Particular of this moment then to fly to Foxes and Firebrands and laying by the Scripture take refuge in Libels and Street-Pamphlets This is a most surprising way of making Apologies for the Pulpits of such Pulpits too from whence there has been so many fierce Declamations made against reading of Legends believing the Inventions of Men and trusting to Idle Stories the Dreams of Melancholy Recluses Upon these Topics are the Papists run down by the Pulpits derided and expos'd as Men of a light Faith who exchange the Scripture for these empty Fables And when a Preacher is warm upon this Subject then out come the Miracles of the Great Xaverius the Wonderful Life of St. Mary Magdalen de
Pazzi the Revelations of St. Bridget c. And these are made use of to shew what unlikely Stories the Papists swallow and upon what false Grounds they build their Belief Now who would not believe that Those who make these Invectives should be careful in avoiding what they pretend to Reform and be sure not to out-doe the Papists in the very thing they condemn them And yet see their Fate Whilst they are drawing out the Character of Papists in these Colours they e'en make a most exact Resemblance of themselves and Protestant Preachers are no sooner Challeng'd in their Pulpit-Narratives but we are bid consult the Authorities they went upon and what Authorities are these We are sent to the Quaker Vnmask'd to the New Discovery to Foxes and Firebrands And these are stil'd the Authorities they go upon As if these were more Authentic than the Miracles of S. Xaverius which have been so strictly Examin'd that even some pretended Reformers themselves have judg'd them worthy of Credit And here while I am upon this Subject I cannot but admire some Protestant Preachers Writers and other otherwise sober Laymen of late who take upon them thus to Ridicule and slightingly to wonder at the Papists for this their Fond Credulity forsooth in relation to Old Legends and Modern Lives of Saints Whenas if these same Preachers and Lay-men do but look a little back over their own Shoulders they cannot but see yet in sight such a Heap of Monstrous Legends I mean the Perjuries and Contradictory Fables of Oats and Tong c. solemnly Preach'd up in Pulpits by the most Eminent Men of the Nation and as eagerly swallow'd by infinit numbers of the People that they cannot without Confusion censure the Credulity of the Papists whilst they consider how deeply they themselves have given such Credit to Impossibilities And this is very observable in the way that there is scarce any thing in all those Books objected upon this score against the Papists whether Ancient or Modern Legends but however incredible it may appear yet generally is all in order to a good End and to the working Christian Effects in the Reader scarce a Miracle related but raises the Admiration of God's Power his Goodness and Mercy scarce a Passage but is a Recommendation of some Vertue an Encouragement against Vice c. and cannot be read without a great Spiritual Advantage to every unprejudic'd Christian In such things as these it is the Papists are condemn'd for over-credulous tho' even as to all these too the Church lays no Obligation on any of Assenting or Subscribing to the Truth of them but allows them to be read as it do's other History to which every one gives credit in proportion to the Authority which they find for what is related But whilst the Papists are thus reproach'd for being of too hasty a Belief in things of this Nature see which way the Protestants lean They are taught not to be too Credulous in things relating to God to the Works of his Power and Goodness c. No here they are bid be Cautious to be Prudent not to Trust to others but be sure keep close to their own Sense and Reason and not to believe Rashly or Blindly But then let them but turn on the other side and let the Matter be nothing of God or Heaven but against Popery and the Papists here They believe without Restraint there 's no Miracle too great no Extravagancy so Improbable no Legend so full of Contradictions but 't is receiv'd without scruple and as greedily swallow'd as easily believ'd and the very Pulpits too that know how to cry down the Papists for an over-credulity in Matters of Piety and Devotion shall now in Matters of Defamation of Malice of Interest tending to the Ruin of their Neighbor tell how to be as Credulous as any And tho' they condemn the Papists for appealing to Councils the Relations of Holy Fathers and the Examination of Commissioners in taking up Miracles upon their Credit yet when they themselves are put in mind of the Improbable and Impossible Stories they have help'd to spread from their Pulpits they without Blushing fly to the Authority of Foxes and Firebrands Proclamations and Votes of Parliament as if these were more Infallible than those others and as if the Preaching and Believing Legends of Malice and Envy were Marks of a True Christian when to receive Miracles in order to the improvement of Piety and a Good Life are made to be so Ridiculous and Antichristian I must beg the Reader 's Pardon for this little Digression 't is a Subject of which the Pulpit often rings and is as often objected by Protestant Writers and so not unworthy of a short Remark for the shewing the Perverseness of their way of Reasoning and especially too because I shall have an occasion of referring to it afterwards before the close of this Discourse Fifth Character of a Pulpit-Papist THE different Orders of Religion amongst the Papists are Good Advice to Pulp Caut. 3. neither better nor worse than so many Sects and several Casts of Religion only they have that advantage in managing their Divisions which we have not to pack up their Fanatics in Convents and Cloysters and so bring them under some kind of Rule and Government Thus were the Papists set out in a Sermon at Whitehall in the Year 1675. in which the Preacher being desirous to take off that Foul Blemish of so many Sects and Divisions rending the Protestant Church of England inconsistent with the Vnity of Christ's True Church and so often objected against them by Catholics falls into that common Topic of covering the Defects of his own Church by Calumniating that of his Neighbor and therefore he boldly makes up to his Auditory and tells them That the Vnity the Papists boast of in their Communion is but a Pretence whereas says he They have readly more Divisions in their Religion than they charge ours with and then goes on in the words of the Character above cited In which he Represents the Church of Rome 1. To be divided into many Sects and different Casts of Religion 2. That the different Orders of Religion are neither better nor worse than so many Sects And that the only Advantage of that Church above Protestants is that they pack up their Fanatics into Convents so to bring them under Government Now what Protestant was there in his Auditory or what such Reader of his Sermon reflecting what the Sects and different Casts of Religion and what the so call'd Fanaticks are here in England but would presently receive this Notion imprinted as a Truth in his Head that as in in England so likewise in the Church of Rome are there different Sects of Religion and Fanatics to divide it but only that there they are shut up in Convents for better Order This is what the Preacher plainly and positively asserts and whosoever takes him at his word must necessarily believe so But because this
is nothing better nor worse than an Absolute Falshood 't was therefore set down in the Advice to the Pulpits as an unjust Character and a Misrepresentation of the Papists and Caution given of it upon that score as a thing to be avoided by all Honest Sincere Christian Preachers who desire to speak nothing of themselves nor against their Neighbors but the down-right Truth However the Apologizer for the Pulpits in his Answer pag. 11. being resolv'd to Vindicate and bring off all that has been said in those Chairs as if never any thing had been rashly bolted out there comes with a Let us try what ground the Preacher had for such Assertions And then as to that where the Preacher says Their Orders among the Papists are so many Sects that is says the Answerer So many distinct Bodies that having different Founders Rules Habits and often Opinions by which an Emulation is begot betwixt Order and Order they become divided among themselves Would not a School-boy have been Scourg'd for such a sleeveless frivolous Excuse The Preacher without mincing it says That the different Orders of Religion amongst the Papists are neither better nor worse than so many Sects that is says the Apologizer So many distinct Bodies c. How low are we fall'n below the Pulpit-Character As if Divisions in Religion and different Sects were nothing but so many distinct Bodies having different Founders Rules c. If a Preacher of the Catholic Communion should in the like terms positively declare in a Sermon That the Two Vniversities and every Colledge in them wherein are generally Educated and fitted for the Pulpit all the Parsons in England are neither better nor worse than the Seminaries of so many different Sects and several Casts of Religion and the Fellows are so many Fanatics pack'd up in an Enclosure under Rule I don't question but the Town would soon be fill'd with the News of such an Impostor for being so Impudent in infusing such False Notions into his Hearers And would not he have an Excellent Apologizer to help him out if another to vindicate the Passage should Print in his behalf say That by the Members of the Two Vniversities being so many Sects and different Casts of Religion the Preacher only meant So many distinct Bodies that having different Founders Rules Habits and often Opinions by which an Emulation is begot betwixt Vniversity and Vniversity Colledge and Colledge they become divided among themselves and when occasion is offer'd do actually war one upon another in their way What would the World say of such Doings as these but only condemn the Preacher for rashly aspersing such Bodies of Men and the Vindicator for a vain Trifler in publishing such an Idle Apology And yet this is our Case it being well known to any one that has but a grain more of Truth than what he has learn'd from the Pulpits that those several Religious Orders amongst Catholics notwithstanding their different Founders Rules Habits School-Opinions and Emulation do live as entirely within the Communion of the same Church embrace and teach all the same Articles of Faith say the same Creed Preach Pray and Administer the Sacraments in one anothers Churches and are every way in as perfect a Union as the Two Vniversities which with their different Founders Rules Habits School-Opinions and Emulation are yet Members of the same Communion and subject to the same Church of England And then let the World judge what a great Truth that was of this Preacher asserting These to be so many Sects and different Casts of Religion Dr. Sherlock could have told him That Schismatics or Sectaries in the Church are just as Rebels in a Kingdom not as part of it but as open and profess'd Enemies and consequently that the different Corporations and Bodies of Men here in London under different Founders Rules and Practices might with the same colour of Reason be Preach'd up for so many Rebels as the Religious Orders for so many Sects whilst These are only so many different Parts of the Church as Those are of the Kingdom But now for the Fanatics in Convents The Preacher declar'd that in the Church of Rome they have Fanatics too but they take care to shut them up in Convents By what is already said the Reader may perceive that such as are in Convents in the Church of Rome are Men who embracing a Retir'd Life dedicate themselves to the Service of God in Praying Fasting Mortification and the other Exercises of a Pious Christian some according to the Institution of S. Benedict others of S. Francis others of S. Dominic c. which however different in the Practice of a Religious Life yet are all in perfect Obedience to the same Church-Authority and of the same Belief as may be seen here in England where there are Monks of S. Benedict's Order Friers of S. Francis c. and yet These are so far from making any Divisions in the Church of which they are Members that they all acknowledge one and the same as their Common Mother and are only as different Parts not dividing but making up the Whole This may be seen in Queen Dowager's Chappel at Somerset-house in which Officiate Monks Friars Dominicans Jesuits and Clergy that is so many different Orders of Men and yet without any difference in Religion or disagreement in Faith. Now how unlike is this to what the Preacher delivers How different are These from what is commonly here understood and the Church of England calls Fanatics But however the Apologizer is to bring him off And therefore Fanaticism says he is a general Name and comprehends in it Superstition and Enthusiasm So that Religious Men in Convents are Fanatics forsooth because they are acted by some suppos'd Revelations Visions Raptures and unaccountable Impulses What Controversial Stuff is this Why at this rate he might make Fanatics of all the Patriarchs and Prophets of S. Joseph S. Peter and S. Paul and the rest of the Apostles and most of all of S. John whose whole Book of Revelations is nothing now it seems but so much Fanaticism Marry well-fare such Fanatics I wish the Church-of-England-men were such Fanatics too and were acted a little more by such Visions Revelations and Divine Impulses instead of those we have seen of late Years when the Visions of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey and the Suggestions of Parson Tong and Oats with some other Helps not altogether Divine mov'd the Pulpits as strongly and Fanatically as if all had come directly from Heaven But see now whither we are driven by the Conduct of a close Vindicator The Preacher told his Auditory 1. That in the Church of Rome there are really more Divisions than they charge Ours with 2. That their Religious Orders are neither better nor worse than so many Sects and several Casts of Religion 3. That they have their Fanatics pack'd up in Convents And now upon the management of the whole Matter by the Vindicator 't is all sunk into
Spirit assisting in his Catholic Church to direct us while we submit to this we go safe and Rationally and being taught to understand all thus propos'd to the best of our Capacity there 's no danger of our Vnderstanding being put out 2. Popery tears out the Hearts of all others out of her Communion whom she cannot deceive she will destroy This is false too since tho' Catholics are bid to go and Teach all Nations as Christ commanded his Apostles and consequently their Successors the Pastors of his Church to the end of the World yet where Men are so obstinate as to reject all Instructions they are taught to go elsewhere and only to pity and pray for such blind Souls but not to destroy them 'T is true in the Catholic Church care is taken to preserve all such as are her Members firm in her Communion and there are not wanting Threats to keep the Inconstant from being Misled into Error as likewise Punishments to reduce such as leave her and blindly run after False Guides And if for this reason she must be said to tear out their Hearts and destroy such as she cannot deceive what is to be the Character of this Preacher's Church which by consent of Bishops is fenc'd with such Laws as punishes with Loss of Goods Imprisonment and Death not only those who leave her Communion but likewise those too who never were Members of it This is a Cruelty not to be paralell'd amongst the worst of Christians I cannot say but that Rash Zeal Headlong Revenge or Detestable Avarice may have hurried some of ours upon such Barbarous Attempts but certainly never did any Christians deliberately and with Counsel thus deeply engage themselves in Blood. 'T is one thing to shed Blood in the heat of Fury and Passion another thing to do it by Law and if ours are thus to be condemn'd of Cruelty for some Rash and unaccountable Practices of this kind which we detest upon Reflection certainly others have a better Title to this Infamous Mark who with such Severity both in Goods Liberty and Life punish those with Deliberation who never were of their Communion and are so zealous in maintaining those Laws in force by which they own themselves Bloody by Profession 3. The Absurdity of Auricular Confession is endless where a Man unlades himself of all his Sins by whispering them into Priests Ears This again is a Calumny and Misrepresentation since no Catholics teach that only Whispering Sins in the Ears of a Priest is sufficient for their Remission They own indeed Confession to a Priest in order to Absolution and the same is allow'd by the Church of England but besides this Whispering they require likewise a True and Hearty Sorrow joyn'd with a Firm Purpose of Amendment and a Sincere Resolution of avoiding thro' the help of God's Grace all Sins and the occasion of them for the future and this I hope as no body will deny to be a proper Means in order to Forgiveness so likewise every one will see how unsincere this Preacher was in saying That a Man unlades himself of all his Sins by whispering them into Priests ears To make his Followers believe the Papists to be so Sottish as to think their Sins forgiven by a Whisper only 4. Of Transubstantiation where Men must renounce all their Five Senses at once How is this true that we must renounce all our Five Senses in the belief of this Mystery since if we follow our Hearing which is the Sense by which Faith comes we are oblig'd to believe it Christ's Words expresly signifie and declare that the Sacrament is his Body These Words we hear deliver'd to us by those whom He has appointed to Teach and Instruct the Flock to wit the Pastors of Christ's Church these Words we see likewise and read in the Holy Scripture So that if we follow our Ears and our Eyes directed by the Word of God we are bound to believe this Mystery and consequently do not renounce all Five at once And thus whilst we let both our Senses and Reason be immediately directed by God's Word which is Infallible we more Reverence the Scriptures and Believe upon better Grounds than Protestants who let Natural Objects ever about Mysteries of their Faith have the direction of their Senses in which they are so often deceiv'd rather than the Word of God which cannot deceive them We acknowledge that to frame a Judgment of the Nature or Substance of a thing we must depend upon the Information of Sense and that the Common and Natural way is to Judge according to the Relation the Senses give from the External and Natural Accidents of the thing But if we desire to frame a True Judgment of what is the Nature and Substance of such an Object not according to a Natural Being but according to the Divine Power and what it may have of Supernatural the Senses ought not to be laid aside but we must consider here too the Information These give not now from the Natural Accidents but from the Word of God and the Divine Revelation for tho' the Natural Substance of the thing be connected with and best known by its Natural Qualities yet a Supernatural Being not so and therefore This is better known from what the Senses tell us from God's Word and Divine Revelation than from the External Accidents and Natural Qualities of the thing I illustrate this by an Instance in another matter If I have a Present sent me in a Letter by a Friend and I intend to make a Judgment of the True Nature of it and What it is I cannot do this without the assistance of my Senses But then These may inform me Two ways either by Looking upon the thing it self which at present I suppose is a Transparent Stone observing every Cast of the Light how Pale c. or by Reading the Letter which being sent from an Excellent Artist gives a full Account of it as likewise Hearing What the Bearer says whom I know to be a skilful Jeweller Now in both these ways I use my Senses in order to Judge of the Present as to its Nature and Value If I take the Information of my Senses from the View of the Stone in it self I Judge it to the best of my Skill to be no Precious Stone but some Counterfeit or Peble If I take the Information my Senses give me from the Reading the Letter and Hearing the Artist I Judge it to be a True Diamond upon their Authority and greater Skill who being of known Honesty do unfeignedly give me this Assurance Now in which Judgment of these ought In in Prudence finally to acquiese Certainly in this last And yet in so doing I hope I should not renounce all my Five Senses at once No even in this Judgment too I should depend upon my Senses And if in such a Case as this I prudently form my Judgment from the Account my Senses give me of such Mens Authority and Knowledge rather
than from my own because the Nature of the Thing before me consists in something above my Skill Certainly when the Question is What is the Substance or Essence of a thing not Natural but Reveal'd to be Miraculous and according to the Divine Power and Ordinance the Safest Judgment ought to be fram'd not from what my Senses tell me of the Natural Accidents but from what They tell me of God's Word and the Divine Assurance because as Dr. Sherlock says Preserv against Pop. p. 25. We may reasonably conclude that God understands the Reasons and Nature of things better than we Since therefore my Senses assure me from Scripture and the Pastor's of God's Church that the Sacrament is Christ's Body I am bound in Reason to Judge it Is so rather than from the Natural Accidents to Judge it to be Bread. So that in thus Believing this Mystery we do not Renounce but Follow our Senses Fifthly The Pope alone cannot Err and All others without some of his Assistance cannot but Err. This again is absolutely False For tho' Catholics Believe that the Catholic Church whether Diffusive or in its Representatives viz. a General Assembly of Bishops under their Head the Bishop of Rome thro' the Divine Assistance of the Holy Spirit cannot Err in declaring Matters of Faith and some School-Divines are of Opinion that the Pope is assisted with a like Infallible Direction even at other times Yet never did any Catholics Teach or Believe that all others without the Pope's Assistance were under a Necessity of Erring No Determinations indeed of others without his Consent are of Force or Obligatory on the Whole Church no more than is a Vote of Parliament without the Approbation of the King a Law to the Nation Yet there 's no necessity of Concluding them False and Erroneous but only Not Authentic Protestants believe their own Church not to be Infallible and yet they don't think it to lie under a Necessity of Erring Why therefore must it be charg'd upon us because we believe the Members of our Church without their Head to be Fallible that Therefore They cannot but Err This therefore is a most Illogical and Absurd Consequence such as the Apologizer himself knows not how to justifie and yet he has not Goodness enough to acquit us from so foul a Calumny Eighth Character of a Pulpit-Papist HE is professedly edified in Ignorance by his Church Praying Dr. Standish ibid. and Prophesying in an Vnknown Tongue They make no other use or account of Confession than what professed Drunkards do of Vomiting Thus is his Religion describ'd in a Sermon before the Judges at Hertford 1682 / 3. but most abusively 1. For tho' the Mass is said in Latin by the Priests yet the People have it translated into English they have it expounded in several Books at large and are taught to understand and have a true Sense of what is done so that if they are Ignorant 't is to be imputed to their own Neglect and not to any Design in their Church which is so careful in providing all necessary Means for the avoiding that Inconvenience But of this more afterwards But his Church besides Praying Prophesies too says the Preacher in an Vnknown Tongue Here the Apologizer p. 20. is put to it to save the Credit of the Preacher He owns that by Prophesying is meant in S. Paul 1 Cor. 14. Expounding the Scripture and Articles of Faith to the People and to be the same as Preaching and knowing that Catholics do this in the Vulgar Language if the Preacher be understood in this common Sense of the Word he cannot excuse him from abusing his Auditory with a Calumny But says the Apologizer it do's not appear to me that the Preacher here understood it of vulgar Preaching because he knew it to be otherwise Marry if They never Preach'd contrary to what they knew this would be a good Rule But suppose he did not yet he imposes upon his Hearers whilst he asserts a thing of the Papists which in the common acceptation of the Word is absolutely False and yet leaves it to them to be taken as they please And therefore whilst he says absolutely that They Prophesie in an Vnknown Tongue which is the same as Preaching he Misrepresents the Papists 2. They make no other use or account of Confession than what profess'd Drunkards do of Vomiting This is a most Putid Calumny and the Vindicator is so sensible of it p. 21. that he dares not defend what the Preacher asserts but only that so it is in the Practice of many of their Church This indeed we don't doubt but many in Practice abuse Confession as they do all other Good things but how different is it to say That many Papists abuse Confession and That the Papists absolutely make NO OTHER use of Confession than what profess'd Drunkards do of Vomiting The former I fear is too True but the later is False and a thing that no modest Man can say without Blushing out of a Pulpit It may be as truly said That the Ministers of the Church of England make no other use of Preaching than what the Profess'd Enemies of the Crown do of Libelling viz. to fill the People witb Fears and Jealousies and disaffect them towards the King and Government And then after such an Aspersion what a Come-off would it be to say I mean this only of the Practice of some of that Profession This is the Case Ninth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 1. HE pays his Devotions to Saints Canoniz'd for Money and J. Turner ib. Treason 2. In his Church they Pray to the Crucifix of Wood or Stone as well as to Christ himself and attribute as much Satisfaction and Expiation to it as they do to the Blood of their Crucifi'd Redeemer 3. Their Confession instead of keeping up a Wholsom Discipline is the way to corrupt it and tends to the Debauching both Laity and Clergy This is Popery as Painted out at Lincolns-Inn Sep. 29. 1683. As to the First Point it is only insinuated by the Preacher with an It is not lawful to Pray c. which is as good as an Assertion to the Hearers viz. That the Papists do Pray to Saints Canoniz'd for Treason The Vindicator to make this good proves First That it may so happen that Saints may be Canoniz'd for Treason Which is as much to the purpose as for one to say That the Church-of-England-men are Corrupters of God's Word because 't is possible they may be so as being in their Principles Fallible as to what they Teach and Preach to their Flock Secondly he 'll prove that it has been done and then comes in the next Line with an Instance in which it had like to have been done as he says but was not done Lastly he says that Thomas à Becket was Canoniz'd for Rebellion because he adher'd to the Pope against his Prince No 't was for his Vertuous Life and Martyrdom and the attestation of his
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
by his Church to own the Scripture as the Word of God and obliged to assent to all therein deliver'd as of Divine Authority and of necessity to be believ'd with a Divine Faith whilst for Legends tho' he may read them if he pleases as he do's other Histories yet he is not bound by his Church or Religion to give assent to or believe any one Passage in any Legend whatsoever This the Apologizer understood very well pag. 23. where he proves out of Bellarmine and Canus that according to our own Principles all these things contain'd in the Lives of Saints tho' mention'd even in the Canonization depend upon Human Testimony as to particular Matters of Fact and consequently are subject to Error And therefore no sufficient ground for any Point of Faith which can be built on nothing less than Divine Authority And tho' some of these are inserted into our Offices yet they are not there propos'd as likewise Particular Revelations as the Scripture is to wit as matter of Faith but only as a Relation of some History in the Reading of which some Spiritual Advantage may be reap'd as is at large discours'd above Which is very different from what the Preacher says that he changes Scripture into Legends 2. How do's he change the Sacraments into Shows when in his Church the Sacraments are not only Shewn but likewise care taken that they be duly Administred to all her Members The Apologizer pretends the Charge to be True because the Cup is shew'd to the People which they don't partake of and the Host elevated at Mass and carry'd in Procession And might not a Jew here step in and with this Argument pretend that Christ Crucifi'd was another Show upon Calvary while he was there expos'd for some hours upon the Cross to the view of the World But all this is nothing but a Method to teach Atheists how to make the greatest Mysteries of Christianity Ridiculous We know the Benefit of that Oblation Christ made of his Body and Blood upon the Cross and likewise of that he Instituted at his Last Supper where he gave his Body and Blood after an Unbloody manner under the Forms of Bread and Wine for the Remission of Sins and which is now daily repeated in the Church according to the Command of Christ which he gave to his Apostles when he said to them DO THIS in Remembrance of me We know the Benefit there is in this Continual Remembrance And those who make a Show of this are within one Step of those Vnbelieving Jews who made a Show of Christ in his Passion when 't was said to them Behold the Man. 3. As for the Third of Preaching Purgatory instead of Repentance 't is absolutely False inasmuch as in the plain import of the words it imprints this Notion in the Hearers viz. That the Papists don 't Preach Repentance to the People but instead of this they Preach Purgatory This I say is False and so evidently that the Apologizer dares not vindicate the Preacher in so foul a Calumny and therefore instead of what the Preacher asserts the Vindicator minces the matter and pretends only that the Doctrin of Purgatory invalidates that of Repentance Which too is False in it self since we see Catholics both in their Lives their Books and Sermons urge the Necessity of Repentance as much and as effectually as Protestants And 't is much more False as to Preaching since amongst so many Sermons I have been at both Abroad and in our own Country I have heard Repentance so often press'd to the People and Purgatory never so much as mention'd unless it were to shew the insufferable Torments of the Place and how great the hazard is even of getting thither And amongst the Printed Sermons of Spaniards French Portuguese c. that are extant in Latin I challenge the Apologizer to find one that so sets out Purgatory to the People as to make them neglect Repentance and if he do's I 'll be bound to shew him a Hundred for his One that enforce the Duty of Repenting without the least hint of Purgatory or their considing in it 4. He says We Preach Faction instead of Faith c. This the Preacher said of the Papists at a time when the Church of England had been assisting a Faction about Four Years with all the help the Pulpit could give them in Consecrating their Villanies and finding Arguments to gain them Credit for the deluding the People And tho' they cannot be Advis'd to be more Cautious for the future without an Apology appearing in their behalf yet I hope 't is not without some Sense and Shame especially since they have seen the Cart and Pillory so often appearing in Confutation of those Truths that were then so often Dispens'd to the People with the Gospel As for the Faction they can discover in Our Preaching let them do their best to find even half so much we freely give them a Thousand Years to review for to match these Four of theirs Let them take in likewise the Sermons that are now Preach'd in our Chappels throughout the Kingdom I hope they 'll all appear Instructive as to Faith and Manners but free from Faction Can the Church of England say as much of theirs at present in which there are so many unworthy Reflections made upon the Religion of their Prince so much Animosity blown up Fears and Jealousies insinuated into the People and the Government made to them uneasie even in the very Method that dispos'd them heretofore to Rebellion and ended not but with the Murder of their Sovereign I can't imagine them to intend the like Mischief at present neither did they I believe heretofore when they made way for it by their Indiscreet Preaching But when they have seen so lately the People exasperated to that degree by the Pulpits against Popery as even in an Unnatural Rebellion to take up Arms against their Prince and never leave pursuing him under the Pretext of his being a Papist till they had brought his Royal Head to the Block under the same Notion Methinks such as are truly Loyal and boast themselves the Best Subjects in the World should be more Tender of their Sovereign than to venture upon the same Method with the Son which prov'd so Fatal to the Father and so Dangerous to the Brother But I fear the Excess of Jealousie for their Religion puts them upon being too Bold with their Prince and that by a Just Judgment of Heaven they are blindly practising the very Principles they have so often charg'd upon the Papists Making their Church's Interest the Center of their Religion Preaching Faction instead of Faith Esteeming everything Conscientious that makes for the Cause And not minding the Lawfulness of the Means provided the Thing be but done Twelfth Character of a Pulpit-Papist THERE is a great noise of Alms made in his Church but the Scope they too often vainly aim at is the Blessing of a Dr. Tenison ibid. Presumed
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.
approv'd by our Church Which is so far from being True that the only ground for it appears only in the Practice of some profligate Men which is a way of Representing that if follow'd will draw even the Infinite Mercy of God under the same Scandal there being not wanting many Christians who presuming upon This continue on in their Wickedness without Remorse The Fourth is a most odious Character of an Institution allow'd even in the Church of England a meer piece of Drollery and a Demonstration of the admirable skill these Men have in making the best of things Ridiculous And what wonder that We are set out thus Black and Deform'd by them who have no more respect for their own Church than thus to expose what she approves But of this we have spoke before The Fifth is a great Calumny and only an empty Consequence of the Preacher instead of what we Profess And tho' the Apologizer pretends to make it out viz. That we are bound to Ignorance by Vow and instances in the Monks Friers and other Religious Men yet every Library in the Christian World is an evident Confutation of this weak Pretence whilst the greatest part of Books of all sort of Learning that are extant have those very Men for their Authors who are thus confidently asserted as bound to Ignorance by Vow The Sixth is a most gross Abuse of Bellarmine who do's not say that We are bound to believe Vertue to be Bad and Vice to be Good if it shall please his Holiness to say so as the Preacher positively declares but on the contrary defends that 't is impossible for the Pope so to Err as to declare Vertue to be Bad and Vice to be Good it being his Opinion that he is thus Infallible This is the Doctrin this Author absolutely stands to and proves the former words of the Preacher are only us'd by Bellarmine not as his Assertion but only as an Inconvenience which he says would follow if this Doctrin of his were not true Just as if I to prove that the Scripture cannot Err in Commanding Vice or Forbidding Vertue should thus argue If the Scripture could thus Err in Commanding Vice or Forbidding Vertue we should be bound to believe Vertue to be Bad and Vice to be Good because we are bound to believe that to be Bad which the Scripture Forbids and that Good which it Commands And what Absurdity in thus arguing ab Inconvenienti when I have before positively asserted that 't is impossible it should so Err And yet this is our Case in which the Preacher most abusively and falsly sets out the Inconvenience from which Bellarmine argues for his Conclusion or Doctrin which is a most inexcusable Aspersion I desire the Reader to examin this Place of Bellarmine De Rom. Pont. l. 4. c. 5. to discover which Side is to be condemn'd whether Bellarmine of Impiety or the Preacher of Forgery and this because I find this same thing urg'd against Bellarmine not only in this Sermon but likewise in others and by our present Apologizer too pag. 30. The Seventh is utterly False it being no indifferent thing in our Church whether the Clergy live Honestly or not since for them to live not Honestly is certainly a most grievous Sin no less than Sacrilege And is it indifferent whether they Sin or no The Apologizer dares not undertake to make this good and therefore he falls much below the Preacher pretending only that more care is taken that they live Singly than that they live Honestly and this chiefly because the Punishment for a Clergy-man that Marries is much greater than for one that keeps his Concubine Which is as much to the purpose as if I should say that according to the Principles of the Church of England it matters not whether her Members turn Turks or no And then should bring this for Proof because she has severe Penalties even of Death it self for such as become Papists but none at all for those that turn Turks And because 't is thus evident that she takes more care in the One Case than in the Other Is this enough to justifie a Preacher in declaring that the Church of England is careful indeed to preserve her Professors from Popery but whether they turn Turks or not with her it matters not Yet this is the Method of setting out the Papists in their true Colours and if you challenge them of Misrepresenting they take it ill forsooth and with the Woman in the Proverbs c. 30. wipe their Mouths and then ask What Evil have we done For my part I cannot tell what Evil they intend or how far their Interest or Passion puts them upon Arguing in defiance to their own Conscience but this I am certain that they most grosly abuse us in setting us out thus Black and Odious to their Hearers upon such Imaginary Grounds and the vain Constructions of their own prejudic'd Phancies which are so fertil in producing Consequences such as are serviceable to their Turn that I cannot imagine any thing of Christianity so Perfect and Complete in it self beyond Exception as to be capable of standing the Test of this Church-of-England-Method of True Representing The Reader may have observ'd in the perusal of these Characters and more at large in the Advice to the Pulpits what ways they have to run down Innocence with Applause and Triumph What fly Insinuations and pretty Pretences they make use of to work the People into the Belief of what they please How safely they can Practice what they are actually condemning in their Neighbor What excellent Turns they can give to Authors bend a Text to the best Advantage Gloss to Admiration make the most Sacred things look Prophane and Ridiculous These and many other such Sleights and little Arts may be seen in these Instances and Characters which are so unjustifiable upon this score that I profess I would not be guilty of dealing thus unjustly or wronging even the most undeserving of Neighbors in this nature for a thousand Worlds since I am satisfied I must first lay aside Conscience and the thoughts of Salvation before I could enter upon so unwarrantable an Engagement I do not here accuse any Adversaries of knowingly incurring this Guilt but I fear Education innate Animosity Interest or other Passion so far biasses their Judgment as to make the most Unreasonable of Methods appear to them Just and Reasonable All that I 'll say at present is that if to be a Papist is to be that which is here describ'd in these Characters that then certainly to be a Papist is to be the Worst of Men that 't is but Just the Pulpit's should expose his Errors and Abominations and the People hate and detest them and that 't is so far from being a doubt whether he be a Christian that 't is certain he can be none and that if he be bound to Believe and Live according to the Principles here laid down he can have no Right to