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
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
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