the Bishop of Condom's Exposition c. with Refletions on his Pastoral Letter The only Excuse I can think of for the other Parties not replying to this Answer was because another came out before it which is yet but a lame pretence since the Book is not only a direct and full Answer to all that was offered by the Bishop of Condom either in the way of Exposition or Argument but has also a considerable variety of useful Reflections which perhaps made it more advisable to let it alone than to go about to consult it The other is II. An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England in the several Articles proposed by the Bishop of Condom in his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Faith This Answer was so exquisite in all its parts that it could not fail of gaining a general esteem but the suddenness in which it was dispatch'd rais'd the admiration of all And that which made it yet more taken notice of was the preface prefix'd to it in which the worthy Author who had the advantage of informing himself of these matters by living some time in France gives a large account of this Bishops Exposition and of a suppress'd Edition which it seems had carried the Trick a little too far and therefore was not permitted to see the Light together with some other matters of Fact that very much laid open the Design But to those particulars wherewith you are already well acquainted I beg leave to add another piece of History which I have learn'd concerning this matter You must understand then the project of Converting the French-Protestants which has been more or less carried on ever since Henry the Fourth's time was more especially agitated at the conclusion of the Pyrenean Treaty almost 30 years since The Spaniards being apprehensive of the French Power and willing to divert it by an undertaking which they thought might find them work at home and not leave them at leisure to disturb their Neighbours It was resolved there at the same time that the Civil Power began to oppress them the Church should offer some Terms of a Reunion to them and all possible endeavours be used to encline them to accept it To this end Money was secretly given to several of the Ministers to favour this Project but the Design being discover'd by a Minister of Bas-Languedoc the Synod of Nismes Ann. 1662. and that of Cevennes being assembled not long after appeard so vigorously against it that they were forc'd to lay aside the Design for some time About Ten years after it broke out again but the Ministers of Languedoc and the Synod of the Isle of France opposing it as those of Nismes and Cevennes had done before it came to nothing Now this second attempt was dated precisely at the same time that the Bishop of Condom's Exposition began to see the Light And that which convinces me that it was purposely contriv'd for the advancing this Design is this that the Marshal de Turene who was this Bishops Convert and the principal Defender of this Exposition was also at the same time the great Undertaker for this Project 'T is well known how to this end he sent a Person through the several Provinces of France with private Instructions to those Ministers which he thought he could most influence to close with it And in effect he did obtain several of their Subscriptions whom when the Protestant Synods would afterwards have censur'd for their so doing the Kings Commissioners took their parts and would not suffer them to do it And here I ought not to forget one particular which may be worth your knowledg and that is this Among others to whom the Marshal sent one was the famous Monsieur le Blanc he was at that time Prisoner at Sedan and the moderation that he shewed in stating the Controversies of Grace Free-Will Predestination c. gave them great hopes that he might easily be drawn in to the favouring their Project of an Accomodation with the Church of Rome by meeting one another half way The Agent brought him a Letter from Monsieur de Turene to this purpose but was mightily surprized when instead of what he expected hee found him stiff and inflexible and absolutely resolved not to relax any thing Indeed the very attempt that was made upon him so disturbed him that he could not be satisfied with his private resentmeut of it but in the year 1673. published a Disputation to them that the re-union which they had attempted with the Lutherans made nothing to one with the Papists which he there shews to be impossible This with what you have read in the Preface to the Tract which has occasiond this Digression may seem to satisfie you what the Quality of the Bishop of Condom's Exposition is and what intreague it was designed to serve You have the Politiques of the Clergy of France in which Book you may see the very Propositions that were made for this Accommodation and which are a pure Original of New Popery and so conformable to the French Expositor and our English Misrepresenter that you cannot doubt but that they all designed to carry on the same Design For the little value that is to be set upon the Approbations prefix'd to it The Author of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England has I think said enough to satifie you To which you may add that in the late Divisions between the Jansenists and their Opposers in France the Books on both sides have been very solemnly approved and the Jansenists above any And in the present Case either the Approbations of the Bishop of Condom's Exposition signifie nothing or those heretofore prefix'd to Cardinal Bellarmines Works and their other learned Controvertists are become super-annuated for all these cannot possibly stand together But I run too far from my business and must return to our Expositor who was not long without an Answer entituled IV. A Vindication of the Bishop of Condom's Exposition with a Letter from the said Bishop I will not tire you with giving my own sense of the Performances of any whose Titles I send you and whose Books I leave you to judg of when you read them I will only observe to you that we are very much beholding to the Bishop with confessing the particulars wich his Adversary had charged him with and which there are many that before did hardly believe And for his Excuses which he makes the truth is they are so little to the purpose that he has gain'd but little credit even among his Friends by them And if this be as they say the first notice he ever took of any Adversary that appeared against him he would do very well to have a care of setting out Vindications of his Works at which he appears to be so horribly unlucky But for all this you may recur to the Reply that has been made by the same Author who wrote the Exposition of our Doctrine in
his second undertaking alled V. A Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the Exceptions of the Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator In which besides an Answer to the Bishops Letter and a particular review of all the several Articles in debate you will find in the Appendix some Pieces that will gratifie your Curiosity relating to the Point of the Invocation of Saints And in the close of all the Epistle of S. Chrysostome to Caesarius which had been indeed very basely suppress'd by by them but is now happily recovered to the everlasting reproach of those who have so often and confidently urged the Authority of that Father for to support their new Heresie of Transubstantiation and which he here in as plain words speaks against as if Peter Martyr had not only first produced but as some of them have said had written the Epistle for him And thus far this Controversie has proceeded which at present stops here though the Reverend Father who writ the Vindication had prepar'd us to expect that it should not long do so But we now begin to think that both the Vindicator and the Representer are sensible that their design will not bear being driven on any further But tho we have done with the business of the Exposition yet we must not so soon part with the Bishop For since the Publication of that these new Popery-men have favour'd the World with two other of his Pieces the 1. A Pastoral Letter to the New-Converts of his Diocess The 2. A Treatise of Communion under one kind The latter of these which had drawn in French an admirable Answer heretofore from that exact Historian Monsieur Larroque which 't is said the Bishop himself thought too strong to be answer'd with any advantage has also not long since produced us a Treatise very worthy your perusing in our own Language intituled A Discourse of the Communion in one Kind in Answer to a Treatise of the Bishop of Meaux of Communion c. And in the two Discourses I mean the Bishops and the Answer you may expect to find whatever Artifice and Insincerity can do on one side or Truth and Learning reply on the other For what concerns his Pastoral Letter I have seen several Answers to it in French and one particularly very accurately done called Reponse à Monsr L'Eveque de Meaux sur sa lettre Pastorale which if you think fit I will send you I do not know that any one has particularly undertaken it here any farther than what was done by the Author of the second Answer to his Exposition who made some Reflections upon the Pastoral Letter too In this Letter there is one notable passage and the account of which because you may not perhaps meet with elsewhere I will run the hazard of another Digression to offer it you here In the 3d page there is set in Capital Letters this notable Declaration Not one of you hath suffer'd Violence either in his Person or Goods And page 4. So far says he have you been from suffering Torments that you have not so much as heard them mentioned I hear other Bishops affirm the same You are returned peaceably to us you know it I doubt not but this Passage a little surprised you as it did all the World that ever read it being so contrary to all the Accounts that have come from thence Indeed His Mâ—jâ—sties Brief alone may serve for a Confutation to so shameful an Assertion and shew us how little we can rely upon those Gentlemen when they talk to us of things that were done 12. or 14. years ago that make no scruple of dealing thus with us in a matter of Fact in the sight of the World before whose Eyes these things are acted Nay to tell the very Protestants themselves that they had suffer'd no Violence that they knew it when the contrary was as evident to them as that their Host is not the Body of a Man and no doubt the Bishop might as easily be able to prove the one as with all his fine Words perswade the other But I will open to you the Mytery of this You must know then That as far as I can learn the Dragoons were not lodged in the Bishoprick of Meaux but yet they came up to the very Gates of the City Being thus in sight of their Danger and expecting every minute when it would fall upon them the Bishop thought that certainly now if ever they would be disposed to compliance With this advantage he invites them to a Conference appears more moderate than even his own Exposition and desires very little more of them than what any one might venture to subscribe Such advances backt with so good an Authority as the Dragoons at the Gates could not but prevail upon them they subscribed as he desired and so the Dragoons were dismissed without doing them any farther mischief In this state they continued for about three months when the Bishop began to Visit his Diocess and especially those parts in which there were the most Protestants His carriage upon this review was very different from what it had been before He was now no longer the free relaxing good natur'd Bishop of Meaux that held the Conference with them but rigid as any little Emissary He threatned those who refused to go to Mass and assist at the other Offices of the Church and tho several told him that this was not what he had promised them yet he took but little notice of it Mons de Soguier Lord of Charmoi and Cousin to the late Chancellor Soguier and several others more obstinate than the rest both had the Dragoons quarter'd upon them in his Diocess and are at this day Prisoners upon this Account This I have read in some late French Pieces which have taken notice of it but the main of what I send you is an extract of a Letter which was written to a Friend of mine out of France and who being himself not long since there confirm'd to me several of those Particulars as to this Bishops Diocess I presume you have heard how this Bishop who in his Pastoral Letter dated March 24. denies as you see that there has been any thing of violence used to the Protestants in France did in another Letter to a Person of Quality that had escaped thence and whom he desired to draw back if possible to his Country and his Church both own and justifie the Persecution This Letter was dated but Apr. 4. after the other This Honourable person had such indignation against him for his double dealing that he has permitted the Bishops Letter to him to be printed and which agrees as well with his Pastoral Letter as his Exposition does with Cardinal Bellarmine's Controversies the Old Popery from whence we reformed with the New by which they would now seduce us A third subject there has been for a more important Controversie than either of the foregoing occasioned by
the Papers left by His Majesty concerning the Authority of the Catholick Church and the Method of which lies thus The two Papers written by the late King Charles the Second 1. The Answer intituled An Answer to some Papers lately printed concerning the Authority of the Catholick Church in matters of Faith and the Reformation of the Church of England To these there came out almost at the same time two Replies A Defence of the Papers written by the late King of Blessed Memory In which there is little remarkable besides the unhandsome levity of the stile and the ungrateful drolls in a matter of so much seriousness A Reply to the Answer made upon the Three Royal Papers This is much more to be commended both for its strength and decency and they would perhaps much more have served the interest of their Cause and shewn their respect to His late Majesty had they suffer'd no other to appear But to both of them the same worthy Author who wrote the former Reply has very lately publisht a most Learned and Excellent Answer and which I would very much recommend to your careful consideration Entituled 2 A Vindication of the Answer to some late Papers concerning the Vnity and Authority of the Catholick Church and the Reformation of the Church of England A Discourse so Learnedly and clearly written that we ought to thank our Adversaries for their importunity that has produced us so excellent a Treatise in a Point of such importance I think I have now set down all the Disputes that have proceeded to any length this last year For the rest they are either such as you may call Occasional Treatises only or such as are not advanced into any set and regular debates I. Of the former kind I understand these following First concerning St. Peter's Supremacy a Discourse Intituled A Sermon preacht upon Saint Peter's Day printed at the desire of some that heard it with some Enlargements The Occasion of which was this Dr. Godden had the last year published a Sermon on this Subject which he preacht in the Q. Dowagers Chappel whereupon the Reverend Author of this Discourse having likewise preacht on the same day and upon the same Text was prevailed with to print his too Another Subject that has Occasionally produced us two or three very good Treatises is The Worship of Saints Our late Misrepresenter and the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition having been pleased very much to palliate the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome as to this matter and pretending that what they now do is no more than what was done even in the Fourth Age of the Church it was necessary some particular discovery should be made of this Artifice and it has accordingly been done very effectually in the following Tracts 2 Speculum B. Virginis A Discourse of the due Praise and Honour of the Virg. Mary In which is clearly set forth what we allow and what the bold extravagancy of the Church of Rome has carri'd them to do in the Worship of the Blessed Virgin. 3 A Discourse of the Worship of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints with an account of the beginning and rise of it among Christians in Answer to Monsieur de Meaux's Appeal to the Fourth Age in his Exposition and Pastoral Letter 4 Wholsome Advices from the Blessed Virgin to Her indiscreet Worshippers This last is but a Translation It was written originally by a Papist one Mr. Widenfelt a Person of good Esteem and Reputation in his Country who being Scandalized at the extravagant Practices of his Church in this matter wrote this little Treatise to awaken their Consideration and if possible reduce the People from their usual extravagance to the Temper and Moderation of the present Advocates for their Cause as to this matter But alas He found them too fond of their Old Popery to leave it so easily Instead of doing any good upon them his Book was censured in a very extraordinary manner and the Honour of the Blessed Virgin vindicated against these new Hereticks by her faithful Champion Father Crasset the Jesuit A short Specimen of whose Book you may see at the end of the Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England or if you had rather have it from their own Pens as indeed none can better expose their Extravagancies of this kind than they have done themselves you may then consult a late Popish Book called Contemplations on the life and glory of Holy Mary the Mother of Jesus With a daily Office agreeing to each Mystery thereof By J. C. D. D. To which he has since added An Apology for his Contemplations c. But of all this you will find a particular account in an excellent Preface prefixt to these Advices by the Translator of it who professes himself to be a Lay-man of our Church and has the character of a very worthy as he has sufficiently shewn himself to be a very ingenious Gentleman It may be proper here to remark that this Preface has been attacked by the Catholick Representer or the Misrepresenter transformed in his 4th Chapter of his Second part and to which he has returned a smart Reply called 5. A Letter to the Misrepresenter of Papists Another occasional Treatise came forth not long since intituled 6. A Discourse concerning a Judg of Controversies in matters of Religion With an Address to wavering Protestants shewing what little Reason they have to think of any change of their Religion It was written in Answer to some Papers that had been sent to the Learned Author by a Person of Quality asserting the necessity of such a Judg. If I should tell you from whose Pen this Treatise came you would need no other inducement carefully to read it And to encourage you to it I will only say thus much that it has been generally received with great Applause here and do's certainly as well deserve it as any thing that has hitherto been publish'd among us Here has been published likewise a short Tract concerning the nature of the Catholick Church and the Authority of it It is not level'd against any particular Author but design'd to answer the little captious Arguments now much in vogue and therefore necessary to have been thus prevented The chief points handled in it are these three 1. What is the Nature of the Catholick Church 2. That the Church of Rome is not the Catholick Church 3. That the Holy Scriptures and not the Church are the Rule of Faith. The Title of this Treatise is this 7. A plain and Familiar Discourse by way of Dialogue betwixt a Minister and his Parishioner concerning the Catholick Church To these I may add a Treatise concerning the defection of the Church of Rome from what it once was It is an Answer to a Popish Paper which the Author has Printed at the beginning of his Book given about it seems by those of that party and sent by way of Letter to a Gentleman It is
called 8. An Answer to a late Paper given about by some of the Church of Rome Another Subject that has occasionally been handled is concerning Schism and Heresy It is an Answer to some things in a Popish Pamphlet called Why are you a Catholick The Author treats of the Nature of these two and enquires to which Church it is that they really do belong In short Whether the Papists or we are Schismaticks and Hereticks The Title is this 9. A Vindication of the Church of England from the foul Aspersions of Schism and Heresy unjustly cast upon Her by the Church of Rome In two Parts The last Subject that has occasionally but yet more copiously been handled and which upon that Account I reserved to this place is concerning the Worship of Images c. It began by this means A Reverend Divine of our Church took occasion from the late Pretences of our Misrepresenting the Opinions of the Papists to set forth an excellent Catechism called 10. A Catechism truly representing the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome with an Answer unto them It is not to be wonder'd that such a Book as this should be thought proper to be set forth When the whole business of those of the other Communion was to palliate by any means the true Doctrines and Practices of their Church it certainly became us to represent them to the World as indeed they are This has here been done from their own Authors and with great Sincerity But notwithstanding this the Misrepresenter that then was in one of his Answers to the first great Controversy I have mentioned took him to task for it In the close of a new Edition of this Catechism an answer was made to his Exceptions Not long after this the Misrepresenter began a new undertaking to oblige the World with a Sheet a week first called the Second Part of the Papist Represented and Misrepresented and after of half a Sheet which he has continued to the number of sixteen Chapters under the new Character of the Catholick Representer In his 1st 2d 5th and 6th Sheets or Chapters he falls upon the Author of this Catechism with reference to the Point of the Worship of Images and of the Cross which has produced us three short but yet excellent Answers called 11. 1. The Papists Represented and not Misrepresented in Answer to the first Sheet of the Second part 2. The like to the Second And 3. To the Fifth and Sixth The business of all which is the same viz. to shew what the true Doctrine of the Church of Rome is in the Points hefore mention'd Of the Worship of Images and of the Cross For the other sort of Tracts that have been written II. More immediatly in Answer to some of their set Discourses They have also been on different Subjects Such as these 1. Concerning Transubstantiation Upon which their late Attempts either to set up that or to ruin the other Mysteries of the Gospel but especially that of the Trinity have occasioned several short but accurate Discourses I shall send you the Titles of them 1. The Answer to the Popish Dialogue between a new Catholick Convert and a Protestant to prove the Mystery of the Trinity to be as absurd a Dâ—ctrine as Transubstantiation By way of short Notes upon the said Dialogue 2. The Doctrine of the Trinity and Transubstantiation compared as to Scripture Reason and Tradition In Answer to the same and in two Parts To which I will add for the Affinity of the Subject two other Treatises viz. 3. A Paraphrase with Notes and a Preface upon the 6th Chapter of St. John shewing that there is neither good Reason nor sufficient Authority to suppose that the Eucharist is discoursed of in that Chapter much less to infer the Doctrine of Transubstantiation from it 4. An Historical Treatise of Transubstantiation written by an Author of the Communion of the Church of Rome Wherein is made appear that according to the Principles of that Church this Doctrine cannot be an Article of Faith. To these Discourses upon this subject we cannot more fitly add any thing than what has lately been done on another relating to the Holy Eucharist viz. 2. Concerning the Real Presence and Adoration of the Host You ought to know very well what gave occasion to this Controversie viz. the two Discourses set out by Mr. W at Oxford on this Subject As for the Answer to them it was sent you into the Country and bears this Title 5. A Discourse of the Holy Eucharist in the two great Points of the Real Presence and of the Adoration of the Host in Answer to the two Discourses set forth at Oxford on the same Subject It was I believe expected that this Controversie would have either exposed our Church had we own'd the extravagant notion of the Real Presence Mr. W would put upon us and which is indeed Cousin German to Transubstantiation or have raised it may be a Civil War amongst us if we did not But I believe both their expectations will fail them for certainly whatever some particular persons may have believed themselves yet the Doctrine of the Church of England is plainly as the Answerer has represented it and as we expect it will be farther proved in the other Reply which we are told is preparing at Oxford by an Eminent Person there to the same Book There is prefixt to this extant a very large Preface which has properly enough retorted Mr. W's Argument and shewn the World that if other Divines as he pretends have believed a Substantial Presence of Christ's Natural Body in the Holy Eucharist 't is more than many of the most Eminent of theirs have done who are here plainly discover'd not to have believed Transubstantiation A third Subject that has given occasion to another Answer is what they have called a Protestants plea for a Socinian The design was to prove that in interpreting Scripture by Reason and not submitting to the Infallible Interpretation of what they call the Church we make an Apology for the Socinians and all other Hereticks whatsoever The falseness of this Pretence has been at large shewn in the Answer which an Eminent person of our Church has lately put out to it called 6. The Difference between the Protestant and Socinian Methods in Answer to a Book Entituled A Protestants Plea for a Socinian In which besides a full account of this matter you will find many other Curiosities relating to the Method and Principles of the Socinians which you have never it may be elswhere met with To these I may add the Answers that have been set forth by way of Notes on some Papers called Lucilla and Elizabeth or the Donatist and Protestant Schisms parallel'd And A Request to Protestants to produce plain Scripture directly authorizing certain Tenets which he there subjoins The Answers are called 7. A Protestant of the Church of England no Donatist 8. An Answer to the Request to Protestants c. Which last Answer has had a Reply called Protestancy destitute of Scripture-proof against which there is I am told a Defence of the Answer now in the Press There are some other little things which I ought not to forget because they have done a great deal of good As The plain mans Reply to the Catholick Missionaries And An Answer to the Eighth Chapter of the Representers second Part in the first Dialogue between him and his Lay-friend Published by the Lay-man of whom I have spoken above As for the Conference at the D. of P. which you have heard of one Mr G. who maintained the Roman side tried to resolve the Infallibility of the Church into Oral Tradition and afterwards boasted so unmeasurably of the Advantages he had made of the Controversie that he drew upon himself a just rebuke in a Printed Paper called A Letter to Mr. G. concerning the Conference at the D. of P. Which having produced two Letters from the other side there presently came forth A second Letter to Mr. G. in Answer to Two Letters lately published concerning the Conference at the D. of P. There is also lately published a Discourse by an Ingenious and worthy Gentleman concerning the Authority of Councils c. to which is added a short but an effectual Answer to the Eighth Theses by which Mr. W. in his Part V. of Church-Government pretends to try the English Reformation The Title is Of the Authority of Councils and the Rule of Faith. By a Person of Quality With an Answer to the Eight Theses laid down for the Trial of the English Reformation in the Book that came last Week from Oxford After which there came forth a Discourse which is here exceedingly well received and the Design whereof is sufficiently explained by the Title Viz. An Apologetical Vindication of the Church of England in Answer to those who reproach her with the English Heresies and Schisms or suspect her not to be a Catholick Church upon their account I ought not to conceal the Answer to that Libel upon the Reformation which you have seen called Pax Vobis though it is not a just Answer to the Book but a Preface rather to more that is to follow The Title is Some Dialogues between Mr. G. and others with Reflexions upon a Book called Pax Vobis When the Answerer has finished his design you may have what remains as I am told under the same Title I shall conclude your Trouble at present with telling you of a Sett of Discourses concerning the Notes of the Church as they are laid down by Bellarmine Thus far the Design has proceeded already 1. A Brief Discourse concerning the Notes of the Church with some Reflexions on Cardinal Bellarmine's Notes 2. Bellarmine's first Note of the Church concerning the Name of Catholick examined 3. The 2d Note of the Church examined viz. Antiquity 4. The 3d Note of the Church examined viz. Duration I perceive we may expect the rest in Order I am Sir Yours c. THE END Imprimatur Liber cui Titulus An Answer to the Representer's Reflections upon the View of the Controversie with a Reply to the Vindicator's Full Answer Jan. 21. 1687. H. Maurice R mo in Christo P. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. a Sacris
THE Present State OF THE CONTROVERSIE BETWEEN THE Church of ENGLAND AND THE Church of ROME OR An Account of the Books written on both sides In a LETTER to a Friend Imprimatur Guil. Needham May 7. 1686. LONDON Printed for Tho. Basset James Adamson and Tho. Newborough 1687. THE Present State OF THE CONTROVERSIE BETWEEN THE Church of ENGLAND AND THE Church of ROME c. In a LETTER to a Friend SIR IN pursuance of my promise made to you to send you such an account as you desire of what has been lately published here with reference to the Points in Controversie between us and the Church of Rome I now give you the trouble of this Address It was you know the design of the Clergy of this City some years since to reduce the matters in debate with the Dissenting Party to a certain number of Cases and in the plainest and most inoffensive manner that they could to shew them how little cause they had to separate from our Communion upon any of those pretences which were said to be the cause of Separation I need not tell you what their Performances were for you have read their Tracts and are therefore able to judg from your own knowledg concerning them As to the Success which they have had we that live here have not only observed that our Churches have been more charged since but do also know that several for whose sake those Discourses were principally intended have declared themselves abundantly satisfied both with the strength and temper that appear'd in them When this first undertaking was finished their next resolution was to run through the principal Points of difference between the Papists and us after the same manner that those who had not the liesure or opportunity to consult longer Books might here in short be led to a true knowledg of the Controversie and stand the firmer in the truth by being better acquainted with the grounds of it It was also hoped that many who had hitherto been detained in their Errors for want not so much of a Will to embrace the Truth as of Light to discern it by might possibly take this opportunity of seeing with their own eyes and discover that way of Error in which their ignorance or their prejudices had so long detained them But before they had finished this their second undertaking the sudden and unexpected Death of our late Royal Sovereign broke their measures and from thenceforth they thought fit to be of the Defensive side and for some time published no more Discourses of this kind but waited to see whether the Gentlemen of the Roman Communion would make any Attaques upon us or be contented that the Controversie shoud rest as it was But because you desire an Account of all that has been done of this nature I will let you know how far they advanced in their design and give you a Catalogue of their Tracts tho not just in the order as they came out yet in that order which seems to have been design'd and is most natural for you to peruse them And in the first place as a preparatory to all the rest there is a little Tract intituled I. A Perswasive to an ingenuous Trial of Opinions in Religion c. and which they who know the unreasonable prejudices of those of the Roman Communion as to any free enquiry cannot doubt to have been exceeding necessary To which I must add II. The difference of the Case between the separation of Protestants from the Church of Rome and the separation of Dissenters from the Church of England For both these Tracts as you may easily discern were design'd to remove such Mistakes and Prejudices as are common to Papists and to Dissenters and were therefore thought to be a proper transition from the first undertaking to the second Then follow those Treatises that relate to the Questions about the Church and for which our Adversaries of late seem the most concern'd III. A Discourse of the Unity of the Catholick Church maintain'd in the Church of England IV. A Discourse about the Charge of Novelty upon the Reformed Church of England made by the Papists asking of us the Question Where was our Religion before Luther V. The Protestant Resolution of Faith being an Answer to three Questions 1. How far we must depend on the Authority of the Church for the true sense of Scripture 2. Whether a Visible Succession from Christ to this day makes a Church which has this Visible Succession an infallible Interpreter of Scripture 3. Whether the Church of England can make out such a Visible Succession VI VII Two Discourses concerning the necessity of Reformation with respect to the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome Another sort of general Questions necessary to have been premised to the particular Disputes do refer to the principle on which we are to proceed in the management of them And to this purpose there were published the two following Tracts VIII A Discourse about Tradition shewing what is meant by it and what Tradition is to be received and what Tradition is to be rejected IX A Discourse concerning a Guide in matters of Faith with respect especially to the Romish pretence of such a one as is infallible Thus far they proceeded upon general Points and no farther tho more were design'd to be debated as one may see by the dividing and managing of the Arguments which they finished and as I my self have been told by some that were best able to inform me But as these general Discourses were coming abroad into the World the particular Disputes were prepared and those that follow were published X. A Discourse concerning the Object of Religious Worship or a Scripture Proof of the unlawfulness of giving any Religious Worship to any other Being besides the Supreme God. XI A Discourse concerning the Devotions of the Church of Rome especially as compared with those of the Church of England in which it is shewn that whatsoever the Romanists pretend there is not so true Devotion among them nor such rational provision for it nor encouragement to it as in the Church established by Law amongst us XII A Discourse concerning the Invocation of Saints XIII Of Prayer in an unknown Tongue XIV Of Auricular Confession as it is prescribed by the Council of Trent XV. A Discourse against Transubstantiation XVI Of the Adoration of the Host These are the Tracts that were published in pursuance of that Design I mention'd before since which time our Divines have kept themselves as I told you upon the Defensive Part their whole Work having been little else than to answer such printed Books or Papers scatter'd about in writing as the Romanists have from time to time sent abroad I need not tell you that at length we were surprised with a Book published by some Romanist which has made no little noise all over the Kingdom and has been the occasion of many more But that which surprised us was this
that there was not the least notice taken in it of those Discourses now mentioned and not long before published in behalf of the Church of England against the Church of Rome The discreet Persons of that Communion acknowledged they were above Contempt and it was the general perswasion of our Communion that they would not admit of any just and reasonable Answer and for this very reason some appearance of an Answer was generally expected to save if it might be the reputation of the Roman Cause or at least of the Ability of our Adversaries to maintain it unless they should think fit to let the Controversie lye still which if they had done I believe our Divines had thought themselves obliged by the example not to publish new Books upon it but to content themselves with that diligence in their Parochial Stations that might be sufficient to countermine any secret endeavours to draw People from the Communion of this Church But it seems our Adversaries thought fit to begin a Dispute and that without taking the least notice of what had been so lately done on our side Which tho we wondred at at first yet we have given over wondering at it now that we are something used to their way of Controversie For some of them as the Representer knows can without blushing for the matter drop the Defence of Arguments and the maintaining of Disputes begun by themselves and yet they write on still as if the Cause went for them and they had not made one false step in the management of it But I must now give you a particular account how these Gentlemen began and in what manner they carried on that Assault of which it is possible they may have had some cause to repent them since The first that led the way was one that calls himself R. L. with a Book full of Cunning and Dissimulation intituled A Papist Misrepresented and Represented In which he runs through most of the Points in Controversie between us in a two-fold Character in one of which he pretends to shew that which Papists are commonly misunderstood to be in the other that which as he says they really are The real design of this Method you must know is this Popery in its proper colours is so unlike Catholick Christianity that it is in vain ever to hope to promote it if it appear in its own shape It is necessary therefore that the Religion like the Prophet should come to us in Sheeps cloathing and the Heresie to be made look as Orthodox as is possible Some things are denied others mollified all disguised and a double benefit thereby obtaind Popery is to be received as a very innocent harmless thing and the Protestants especially the Ministers and first Reformers represented to the World as a sort of People that have supported themselves by Calumnies and Lies and made a noise about Errors and Corruptions which are no where to be found but in their own Brains or Books but which the Church of Rome detests no less than We. But this Trick was quickly discovered and the design laid open by an excellent hand in a Treatise which he called I. The Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome truly represented in answer to a Book intituled A Papist Misrepresented and Represented c. In which the Author passes through every Point of his Characters and truly states the Question between us and gives a short yet sufficient account of our Reasons against their Tenets I shall not need enlarge my self to give you any account of this Controversie which has been lately summed up to satisfie the World that this Author has taken as little care to defend his Characters as he shew'd Sincerity in the first drawing of them The Books themselves that have passed on both sides are these Reflections upon the Answer to the Papist Misrepresented c. II. A Papist not Misrepresented by Protestants being a Reply to the Reflections c. Papists protesting against Protestant Popery in Answer to a Discourse intituled A Papist not Misrepresented by Protestants III. An Answer to a Discourse intituled Papists protesting against Protestant Popery containing a particular Examination of Monsieur de Meaux late Bishop of Condom's Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in the Articles of the Invocation of Saints and Worship of Images An Amicable Accommodation of the difference between the Representer and the Answerer in return to his last reply IV. An Answer to the Amicable Accommodation of the Difference between the Representer and the Answerer A Reply to the Answer to the amicable Accommodation To which has lately been returned V. A View of the whole Controversie between the Representer and the Answerer with an Answer to the Representers last Reply This is in short the Sum of what has hitherto pass'd in this Dispute the Misrepresenter not having yet taken any notice of this new Antagonist who it's thought by some has summ'd up this Controversie so effectually as to put an end to it As for his second Part which he acted afterward under the Character of the Catholick Representer I shall have occasion to give you some farther account of it when I come to those Pieces of our own Divines that have either been the occasion of or the Answers to his Sheets and half Sheets The next that appeared upon the Stage was the famous Bishop of Condom the great Abettor if not Founder of this new Sect of Expositors of their Religion and the occasion of his appearance this Our Misrepresenter being answer'd the first time as has been said by the Learned Author of the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome truly represented The new Method of Expounding and Representing i. e. Dissembling the good Old Doctrine of the Church began to sink and the People who were principally design'd to be seduced by it generally discovered the Snare that had been laid for them It was now too late to recede into the old Popery again The Misrepresenter had not only forsaken but in good measure Anathematiz'd that and profess'd that they abhorr'd it no less than we and therefore to own it now was in effect to confess that we had reason to reform those Errors which themselves were once ashamed to abet So that what remained was to put a good face upon the matter and see if the Original Pattern the pompous Exposition of this Bishop with the long Relation of an Advertisement and the glorious Trains of Briefs and Approbations before and behind might not possibly support the undertaking and keep up the credit of their new Popery which must otherwise necessarily fall Such was the occasion or rather the necessity of publishing this Bishpps Book which you have seen under the Title of The Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church in matters of Controversie To which there have been two Answers made of one of which there has been no notice taken by the other Party 'T is called I. An Answer to