have not believed were not men willing to be contentious might End the Controversie And for the Authority you speak of that it was rediculous to pretend prescription for that which has not the least foundation neither in Holy Writ nor in Primitive Christianity of which not one instance appears for the first Three Hundred years after Christ and much to the contrary 103. Reply p. 21. §. 16. To this you now reply in your Margin with great Assurance Protestants destitute of Scripture Proofs against the Doctrine of Invocation of Saints But all you have to say in the Book is That you do not give Divine Worship to the Saints nor call upon them in that strict sense in which they are Duties only to be paid to God. That is to say you play with Words and make use of such distinctions as if they were allowed a man might evacuate any other of Gods Commands without a possibility of being confuted And I desire you to tell me what answer you would make an Impudent Woman that should give her Husbands Bed to another and being charged by you for breaking the Seventh Commandment should tell you that you were not to be so uncharitable as to judge of what she did by the External Act that the Law forbad only lying with another man as with her Husband and that in this strict sense she was still Innocent by reserving that highest Degree of Conjugal affection to him only the giving whereof to another would make her guilty 104. But since you are so desirous to know what our Reasons against this Invocation are I will now very freely lay them before you if you will first give me leave only to prepare the way for them by stating truly the difference between us in this matter which you are wonderfully apt either to mistake or to palliate 105. You tell us in your Vindication Vind. p. 30. Repl. p. 11. Expos Sect. IV. p. 5. Papist Rept N. 2. p. 2. That All you say is that it is lawful to pray to the Saints and so again in your Reply The difference you say between us is Whether it be lawful for us to beseech or intreat them to pray for us Monsieur de Meaux in the same moderate way tells us that the Church teaches that it is profitable to pray to the Saints And the Representer from the Council of Trent says of a true Papist That his Church teaches him and he believes that it is Good and profitable to desire the intercession of the Saints reigning with Christ in Heaven In your Discourses with those of our Communion there is nothing more Ordinary with you than to make them believe that you value not praying to the Saints nor Condemn any for not doing it That if this be all they scruple in your Religion they shall be received freely by you and never pray to a Saint as long as they live Nay I have heard of some who have gone so far in this matter as to venture their Religion upon it that you do not necessarily require the practise or profession of this service at all nor pronounce any Anathema against us for opposing of it 106. But this is not ingenuous nor as becomes the Disciples of Christ For tell me now I beseech you If we unite our selves to your Church will you not oblige us to go to Mass with you Or can you dare for our sakes to alter your Service and leave out all those things that relate to the Blessed Virgin and to the Saints in it Shall we be excused from having any thing to do with your Litanies and Processions your Vespers or your Salves Or will you purge all these too in Order to our Conversion When we lie in our last Agonies will you be content to Anoint us in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and leave the Angels Arch-Angels Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles Martyrs Confessors Virgins and all the Saints out of the Commission And when our Souls are now expiring shall we be sure you will not then at least trouble us with that long Beadroll which your Office prescribes to be call'd upon in that Ceremony If you have indeed the Liberty to do this why do ye not use it and remove so great a stumbling block as this out of our way But if you cannot dispense with these things for our common Conversion how shall we believe that you can do it to satisfie a private Proselyte 107. The truth is Invocation of Saints in your Church is not esteemed so indifferent a matter as you would have it thought to be It is a Worship you suppose due to them And to which they acquire a right by their Canonization So Cardinal Bellarmine informs us And therefore in your Profession of Faith set forth by the order of Pope Pius IVth you are obliged with a firm Faith to believe and profess that the Saints who reign together with Christ are to be Venerated and Invoked And tho the Alarm which the Council of Trent was in upon the News of the Popes sickness and the haste which thereupon they made to conclude that Synod permitted them not to frame any Canons in this last as they had done in the other Sessions yet the materials put together in the Chapter shews us what Anathema's would have been thunder'd against us Concil Trid. Sess 25. For to take it only as it lies in that Session There we find the Bishops and Pastors of the Church commanded to teach what therefore I hope is undoubtedly the Churches sense in this point That the Saints who Reign together with Christ offer up their Prayers to God for Men That it is Good and Profitable in a suppliant manner to call upon them And that for the obtaining benefits of God by his Son Jesus Christ our Lord who is our only Saviour and Redeemer we should flie to their Prayers Aid and Assistance They declare that those who deny which you know we all do that the Saints who enjoy Eternal Happiness in Heaven are not to be invoked or say that this Invocation is Idolatry as we generally believe it to be or that it is contrary to the Word of God or derogatory to the Honour of the One Mediator between God and Man Christ Jesus or that it is foolish to supplicate those who Reign in Heaven in word or in mind do think WICKEDLY 108. These are the words of your Council If therefore you permit your Prosolytes to profess what they do not believe if you receive those as good Catholicks into your Church whom nevertheless you know to remain still infected with wicked Opinions contrary to the Doctrine and Practise established amongst you If you allow them to assist at your prayers without any intention to joyn in them nay in an Opinion that they could not pray with you without committing a grievous sin Then go on to make folks believe as you do that you oblige no body to pray to the Saints
some kind of impropriety in the Speech and we must understand it so not as if Divine Worship were due to the Cross but to Christ crucified upon it A strange liberty of interpreting this which turns plain Affirmatives into downright Negatives and this contrary to the sense not only of your greatest Authors as I have shewn but in their opinion contrary to the sense of your Church too These all say with the Rubrick that a Divine Worship is due to the Cross you declare 't is no such thing No God forbid Such Worship is upon NO ACCOUNT WHATSOEVER to be given to the Cross but only to Christ represented by the Cross I will not desire you to consider what wise arguing you make of what your Pontifical here says That the Cross must take place of the Emperor's Sword because Christ is to be worship'd with Divine Worship It shall suffice me to leave you to the Censures of your own Learned Writers and Inquisitors who have already pronounced this Exposition to be false scandalous and savouring of Heresie Only let me once more caution you to remember the hard fate of poor Monsieur Imbert of Aegidius Magistralis and the French Traveller I just now mention'd For however it may be safe enough to dissemble with us here yet will it behove you to take great heed that you alter your tone if ever you should chance to fall into those Parts where the Old Popery Doctrine is still the measure of the Inquisitors Proceedings 36. My next Instance was from your form of blessing a New Cross To your Cavil about my omitting some words I have said enough heretofore but the dear Calumny must be continu'd tho not only those two words were added but so many more set down that you seem as much dissatisfied with my length here as you pretended to be with my brevity before 37. You pray That the Wood of the Cross which you bless may be a wholsome remedy to mankind a strengthner of Faith an increaser of Good Works the Redemption of Souls a Comfort Protection and Defence against the Cruel Darts of the Enemy You incense it you sprinkle it with Holy Water you sanctify it in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and then both the Bishop and People devoutly ADORE it and Kiss it 38. This is in short the sum of that Ceremony In which you desire to know what is Amiss I answer That take this whole Office together with the Ceremonies Prayers and other Circumstances of it and it is Superstitious and Idolatrous and I shall not doubt once more to repeat what before so much offended you That the Addresses you here make look more like Magical Incantations than Christian Prayers For 39. First If we enquire into the design of this Ceremony it is to Consecrate a piece of Wood or Stone that it may become a fit Object of Adoration which being directy contrary to the Second Commandment cannot be done without a very great Sin. 40. 2dly To this End secondly you pray that several benefits may proceed from this Wood of the Cross and if those words signify any thing whereby you beseech God that it may be a wholsome remedy to Mankind a strengthner of Faith c. We must then look upon it that you do believe that by this Consecration there is a Virtue if not residing in it for all these purposes yet at least proceeding from it which your Council of Trent confesses was one of the things that made the Worship of Images among the Heathens to be Idolatrous Nor will your little Evasion here stand you in any stead Reply p. 32. that you pray only that the Cross may be a means for the obtaining all these Benefits and that this is no more than a Preacher may desire for his Sermon or the Author of a good Book for what he is about to publish For 1. A piece of Wood or Stone carve it into what Figure or Shape you please is not certainly so proper a means for the conveying of such Benefits to men as a good Book or a good Sermon are And therefore what may be very naturally desired for the One cannot without great Superstition be applied to the Other I may and I heartily do pray that what I am now writing may be a saving remedy to you by correcting your Faith and encreasing your Charity because I am perswaded here are Arguments proper to such an End if it shall please God to dispose you impartially to consider them but now I believe you would think me very Extravagant should I pray to God to sanctify the Paper on which 't is printed or my Bookseller's Sign that sells it as you pray to God to sanctify the WOOD of the Cross that as often as you see the leaves of this Book or look upon the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard these good effects may be wrought in you 41. Again 2. As the thing it self is not a proper means of producing these Effects in us so the manner by which you pray it may be done renders it yet more Superstitious To get instruction by hearing or reading to have ones Faith confirm'd or Charity enlarged or Zeal heightned by pious Considerations or powerful Motives all this is very natural and we may therefore lawfully pray to God for to bless them to us in order to these Ends. But to pray to God that by bowing our selves down before a Cross we may find health of Soul and Body to sanctify a piece of Wood that by ITS MERITS it may free men from all the Sins they have committed this must be more than a natural Effect neither the thing nor action being proper to produce it and whether such Requests be not more like Magical Incantations than Christian Prayers I shall leave it to any indifferent person to consider 42. But 3dly That this which you pretend is not all that your Church designs by those Prayers is evident in that this Exposition cannot possibly be applied to several of those things which you ask of God in those Addresses For instance you pray That the blessing of the Wood upon which our Saviour hung may be in the Wood of the Cross which you consecrate and that by the Holiness of that he would Sanctify this that as by that Cross the World was delivered from Guilt so by the Merits of this the devout Souls who offer it may be free from all the Sins they have committed Now tell me in Conscience if you dare speak the truth Is not all this somewhat more than to pray that the Cross may accidentally become a means of working good Effects in you Reply p. 32 33. by putting you in mind of the price of your Redemption Do you not here see somewhat which your Council of Trent calls the Idolatry of the Gentiles viz. an encouragement to Worship the Cross as if some Divine Virtue were in it for which it ought to be Adored For so certainly
IMPRIMATUR Liber cui Titulus A Second Defence of the Exposition of the Church of England H. Maurice Rmo in Christo P. D. Wilhelmo Arciepiscopo Cant. a Sacris Jan. 24. 1687. A SECOND DEFENCE OF THE EXPOSITION of the DOCTRINE OF THE Church of England Against the New EXCEPTIONS Of Monsieur de MEAVX AND HIS VINDICATOR The Second Part. LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXVIII THE CONTENTS THE ANSWER to the PREFACE What little Cause those of the Church of Rome have to complain of the Evils of Heresie and Schism num 2 3. Whether Papists or Protestants have sought the most advantagious Means for the redressing of them n. 4. The Holy Scripture the only sure Foundation whereon to build our Faith n. 6. How vain the Attempts of those of the Church of Rome have been in their Disputes against us n. 9. Of the several Methods that they have taken in them n. 10. Their Complaints of our Misrepresenting their Doctrines and Practices groundless n. 18. Of the first CONVERSION of the English by AUSTIN the Monk n. 22. 47. That neither did Austin teach nor the British Churches believe or practise as the Church of Rome do's now n. 24. That for a long time after Austin both their Belief and Practice was different from that of the Church of Rome at this day n. 28. Of King HENRY VIIIth EDWARD VIth Q. MARY Q. ELIZABETH and the State of Religion in their days n. 35. That the Papists have been under-hand the Causes of our Divisions n. 42. Of the State of Religion under K. CHARLES Ist n. 45. How far we allow that Salvation is to be had in the Church of Rome n. 48. Of the Original of our CIVIL WARS in K. CHARLES Ist's time n. 51. Of the State of Religion under K. CHARLES IId and K. JAMES IId and what was the occasion of our present Controversies and how they have been carried on n. 52. What use our READERS ought to make of these Discourses n. 60. And the Method of my present DEFENCE n. 64. The Vindicators Apology for their NEW FRIENDS n. 67. And his Presumption why they cannot be supposed to palliate their Doctrine considered and refuted n. 68. The OATH to be taken by a NEW CONVERT at his admission into the Church of Rome n. 77. Introduction THat our Adversaries advance nothing New against us but repeat the same things over and over without taking the least notice of the Answers that have been given to them The ANSWER TO THE First ARTICLE THe VINDICATOR an Instance of this His first Article entirely stolen out of T. G. and confuted by Dr. Stillingfleet above 11 Years since pag. 45. num 1. That the true and genuine Sons of the Church of England have constantly charged those of the Church of Rome with IDOLATRY n. 3. In particular those whom he quotes to the contrary viz. Dr. Jackson n. 5. Dr. Field A. B. Laud. Dr. Heylin Mr. Thorndyke n. 7 8. and Dr. Hammond n. 9. His other little Cavils as to this Point consider'd n. 12. And the Authority of the Book of HOMILIES asserted n. 13. His particular Exceptions against my DEFENCE as to this Article answered And his shuffling exposed n. 19 c. The ANSWER TO THE Second ARTICLE COncerning the Object of Religious VVorship p. 55. That the VINDICATOR has in vain new modelled the B. of MEAUX's Position n. 2. The Scheme which he has laid down to justify the Doctrine and Practice of the Ch. of Rome in giving Religious Worship to others besides God consider'd in some short Reflections upon the several Parts of it The ANSWER TO THE Fourth ARTICLE OF the INVOCATION of SAINTS Of the State of the Question between us and the VINDICATOR's three Positions for the clearing of it pag. 65. n. 1 2. The Sum of this Article reduced to II. General Points I. POINT Whether it be lawful to pray to the Saints to PRAY FOR US Our Adversaries confess it not to be necessary n. 4. That it is unlawful upon the VINDICATOR 's own Principle so to do viz. That we may not give any religious Service strictly and properly so called to any other than God ONLY n. 5 6. That the Act of invoking the Saints is strictly and properly a Religious Act shewn 1st From the very Nature of the Act it self n. 7. It is not an Act of the same kind with that of desiring of our living Brethren to pray for us n. 8. But attributes to the Creature the Perfections proper to God. ib. The Bp of Meaux 's shuffling upon this occasion more particularly laid open n. 11. 2dly From the Circumstances of it n. 15. Of the Time Place and Manner in which the Romanists invoke their Saints n. 16. Of their offering up the Mass to their HONOUR and desiring its Acceptance through their MERITS n. 17 c. Of their making VOWS to the Saints n. 19 c. II. POINT What the true Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Rome is as to the Point of INVOCATION of SAINTS The Sum of this Part reduced to IV Considerations SECT I. Whether all the Prayers that are made to the Saints by those of the Church of Rome can fairly be reduced to this One Sense PRAY FOR US That they cannot shewn 1st From the Doctrine of the Council of Trent and of its Catechism n. 25. 2dly From the Opinion which those of the Church of Rome have of the State and Power of the Saints departed n. 30. 3dly From the neglect of the Council of Trent and of the Governours of the Church of Rome either to establish any such Interpretation or to Censure those that have taught otherwise n. 33. 4thly From the words of the Prayers themselves which utterly refuse such an Exposition n. 35. And from the other Service which the Church of Rome allows to the Saints and which cannot be reconciled with these Pretences n. 39. 5thly From the Opinions and Practice of some of the greatest Saints in the Roman Calendar and of other Persons of especial Note amongst them n. 40. Examples of all this n. 41 c. That the Holy Scripture is in vain alledged to countenance this Superstition n. 46. SECT II. After what manner it is that the Church of Rome prays to God through the Merits of her SAINTS The VINDICATOR's Pretences n. 49. That the Church of Rome do's truly pray to God for Mercies through the Merits of her Saints n. 51. The VINDICATOR's Excuses for this considered and exploded n. 53. That the Holy Scripture do's by no meanes countenance any such Practice n. 54. SECT III. In which the VINDICATOR's Arguments for the Establishing of this Worship are particularly consider'd and their Weakness laid open pag. 102. That the practice of Invocation of Saints is not to be proved by Holy Scripture n. 55. Nor has it the Antiquity that is pretended shewn in two periods I st PERIOD That the Custome of Praying to Saints
Plots Persecutions and such like 2. The Means of Fraud and Deceit your false Expositions and Misrepresentations of your Doctrine to deceive the ignorant and unwary till you get them into your Nets 3. The Means of Confidence and Vncharitableness your bold Anathema's and vain thundrings of Damnation against all that differ from you your assuming the Name and Priviledges of the Church Catholick to your single Communion and excluding all others out of it as Schismaticks and Hereticks And lastly to mention no more the Means of gross Ignorance and blind Obedience by depriving Men of their liberty of reading the Holy Scripture by keeping your Service in an unknown Tongue by teaching Men to depend intirely upon your Churches Dictates and not to depart from them tho Sense Reason Scripture all be contrary to them These are I confess some of those peculiar Means whereby you have sought to procure Christian Peace and Experience tells you that they are indeed the most advantageous of any to the Cause you have to defend And if these be the Means which you say we have opposed I hope we shall always continue so to do and rather bear all the Evils of these Divisions than either buy Peace upon such Terms or pursue it by such Means as these 5. Ad p. 2 3. To what I observed from the late Methods that had been taken up in our Neighbour Country to avoid the entring upon particular Disputes which I said you were sensible had been the least favourable of any to your Cause you reply That you have never declined fighting with us at any Weapon which how true it is the account before given of your managing the present Controversie with us sufficiently declares And indeed you seem in some sort to have been sensible of it and therefore recur to your Antient Authors for proof of your Assertion The Sum of what you say is this 6. Reply That there have been three sorts of Protestants since the Reformation 1. Some who appealed to Scripture only neither would they admit of Primitive Fathers nor Councils 2. Others who perceived that they could not maintain several Tenets and Practices of their own by the bare words of Scripture and despairing of Fathers and Councils of latter Ages pretended at least to admit of the first four General Councils and of the Fathers of the first three or four hundred Years 3. Others finally who ventured to name Tradition as a useful Means to arrive at the true Faith. And all these you say you have convinced of their Errors 7. Answ It has always been your way to multiply Sects and Divisions among Protestants as much as ever you were able and then to complain against us upon the account of them and here you have given us a notable Instance of it The three Opinions you have drawn out as so many different Parties amongst us do all resolve into the very same Principle That the Holy Scripture is the only perfect and sufficient Rule of Faith So that all other Authorities whether of Fathers or Councils or unwritten Tradition are to be examined by it and no farther to be admitted by us than they agree with it This is in effect the common belief of all Protestants whatsoever as appears from their several Confessions and might easily be shewn out of the Writings of our first Reformers and the most eminent of those who have lived since and built their Faith upon the same Foundation It is true indeed there have been some who the better to maintain their Separation from the Church of England have from this sound Principle That nothing is to be received by us as a Matter of Faith but what is either plainly expressed in the Holy Scripture or can evidently be proved by it drawn a very ill Consequence viz. That nothing might lawfully be done or used in the Worship of God unless there were some Command or Example for it in Scripture and have by this means run themselves into great Inconveniences But the Rule of Faith which an uninterrupted Tradition by the common consent of all Parties of Christians however otherwise disagreeing in other Points has brought down to us and delivered into our hands as the Word of God this has among all Protestants been ever the same viz. The Holy Scripture And if for the farther proof of the Truth of our Doctrine we have at any time put the issue of our Cause to the decision of the Church of the first three or four hundred Years it is not because we suppose that those Fathers who then lived have any more right to judg us or determine our Faith than those that follow'd after but because upon examination we find them to have yet continued at least as to the common Belief received and establish'd amongst them in their Purity and that what was generally establish'd and practised by them was indeed conformable both to their and our Rule the Word of God. 8. This then is our Common Principle and this you cannot deny to be most reasonable For whatsoever Authority you would have us give to those Holy Fathers yet it cannot be doubted but that 1st Being * Durandus l. 4. Sent. d. 7. q. 4. de S. Gregorio Nescio cur non possit dici quòd Gregorius cum fuerit Homo non Deus potuerit Errare Men subject to the same Infirmities with our selves they were by consequence obnoxious to Errors as well as we and therefore may not without all examination be securely follow'd by us Especially if we consider 2dly That we are expresly forbid in Holy Scripture to rely on any Persons whatsoever without enquiry whether what they teach be true or not Dearly Beloved says St. John believe not every Spirit 1 John 4.1 but try the Spirits whether they be of God or no. The same is St. Paul's Doctrine To prove all things and then hold fast that which is good 1 Thess 5.21 St. Peter exhorts all Christians to be ready to give a reason of the Hope that is in them 1 Pet. 3.15 And our Blessed Saviour himself once gave the same encouragement of examining even his own Doctrine And why says he of your selves do you not judg that which is right Luke 12 57. Nay but 3dly these Holy Fathers were not only capable of Erring but in many things they actually did Err and are forsaken by you upon that account The Millenary Opinion was generally received in the first Ages of the Church They derived it from St. John to Papias from him to Justin Martyr Irenaeus Melito Tertullian c. Yet is this Opinion now rejected by you The Doctrine of the necessity of Communicating Infants was the Common Doctrine of the Fathers in S. Austin's Time and is confess'd by your most Learned Men Cardinal Perron and Others to have been generally practised in the Church for the first six hundred Years Concil Trid. Sess 21. Can. 4. Yet have you Anathematized those who shall now assert with
those Fathers that there is any necessity at all of communicating Children before they come to Years of discretion I need not say what Heats arose between One of your own Popes and St. Cyprian about rebaptizing of Hereticks and both of them in the wrong The Ancient Fathers generally believed that the Souls of the Blessed do not yet enjoy the Vision of God But from the time of Pope John the XXII the contrary is become the Catholick Doctrine among you De Consecr Dist 2. Sess 13. The necessity of communicating in both kinds was believed in the Time of Pope Gelasius and the Council of Constance in that very Canon in which it took away the Cup from the Laity Conc. Trid. Sess 21. Can. 1. yet confess'd that Christ had establish'd it in both kinds and the Church constantly administred and received in both kinds in obedience to his Institution but 't is now no less than damnation to say that one kind alone is not sufficient In the primitive Church it was generally received that the Souls of the Faithful after they are deliver'd from the burden of the Flesh are in Joy and Felicity Now you teach that they go first to Purgatory a place of Pain and Sorrow inferior in nothing but the duration to Hell it self Other Instances I might add to shew that you your selves do no otherwise follow the Fathers than as you esteem them to have follow'd the Truth and therefore have thought fit to forsake them in the several Points I before mentioned And therefore certainly you ought not to condemn us if we pay no other deference to them nor appeal to them but only as Witnesses of the Doctrine of the Church in those Times not as Judges and Masters of our Faith. 9. Ad Pag. IV. Reply And in all these several ways you say you have shewn us to be Mistaken insomuch that there has not been any thing like an Argument produced aginst your Faith or to justify your Schism but what has been abundantly Answer'd and Refuted 10. Answ This Sir is a Boast which I believe the World will think you might very well have spared at this time I need not send you back as you have done us to our Ancient Authors and desire you once more to consider what has been offer'd both from Scripture and Antiquity by Monsieur de Mornay Aubertine Chamiere Blondell Daillé Larrogue and Others abroad by Bishop Jewel Bishop Morton A. B. Vsher Dr. J. Forbes Dr. White Dr. Barrow and many more of our own Country and whose Names among the wisest even of your own Church are much more valued than for a Coccius or a Brerely to be able to obscure them I appeal only to the present Times to witness against you and would intreat you before you tell us any more of your Performances to give some good Reply to that Catalogue I have sent you of above fourty Treatises lately published in all these kinds of Arguments that you speak of and your declining of which do's not very well suit with such vain Pretences 11. Ibid. You add That you have so far complied with the Infirmities of your Adversaries that you have left no Stone unturn'd to reduce them to the Vnity of the Faith and that by meekness as well as powerful Reasoning 12. Answ It must be confess'd indeed that you have not been wanting in your Endeavours to convert us Your Zeal has even equall'd that which our Saviour Christ once remark'd or rather reproved in your Predecessors the Scribes and Pharisees and I would to God it had not too often produced the same Effect also As for the Means that you have made use of for the carrying on of this Work I have already in part recounted them to you And shall only now add that if your Meekness has been no greater than your Arguments have been powerful we shall have as little cause to applaud the One as we have hitherto had to be convinced by the Other And indeed whosoever shall consider your behaviour towards those you call Hereticks will find that some Other word would better have suited your Character than that of Meekness If there be any who deluded by your present pretences of Moderation doubt this let them look only upon the Actions of a neighbour Kingdom and whose Clergy has ever been esteemed the most moderate of your Church For if such a deportment as theirs towards our Brethren be the Meekness you boast of I shall only beg leave to say with Solomon Prov. 12.10 that then the tender Mercies of some Men are Cruel But you go on to shew us wherein you have made a testimony of this Meekness You say 13. Ibid. You have not only condescended to satisfy the curiousity of them that have more leisure by writing large Volumes upon every particular Controversy but you have gone a shorter way to work and to some have manifested the unerrable Authority of the Church of Christ against which he had promised that the Gates of Hell should not prevail Others you have shew'd it from the nature of Truth and Error and the Impossibility that a Universal Tradition could fail especially when God had promised that the Words He would put into their Mouths should not depart out of their mouths nor out of the Mouths of their Seed nor out of the Mouth of their Seeds seed from hence forth and for Ever To others you have proved the Innocence and Antiquity of your Doctrine from the testimony of learned Protestants themselves 14. Answ This indeed was a great Condescension that being so well satisfied on all these accounts that you had the Truth your selves you should so far vouchsafe as for our sakes to prove that you had so But truly unless you can produce some better proof that your Church cannot Error than this that our Saviour once said of his Church That the Gates of Hell should not prevail against it you will never satisfy any reasonable Man of it How often Sir have you been told that here is something indeed to establish the Perpetuity of the Church but nothing of its Infallibility Unless you will suppose what you know we utterly deny that the Church cannot subsist except it be infallible in every Point The Church may fall into many Errors and yet continue a Church still A Man is never the less a Man because he has an Ague or some other Distemper upon Him. And whilst the Church thus subsists Christ's Promise is made good that the Gates of Hell should not prevail against it Though now 2dly Were the Infallibility of the Church in this Text clear to a Demonstration yet still the main Thing would be wanting how to prove your Church to be the Catholick Church and to have alone the right to this Promise which for ought appears from this Passage any Other may pretend to upon as good grounds as She. 15. Again As to the Point of Tradition With what confidence can you say it is
impossible that should fail seeing the Instances I have before given of your departure from the Tradition of the Primitive Fathers in so many particulars plainly show that it has fail'd For your argument which you alledge from Isa 59.20 It has the same Faults with the foregoing and one more For that passage 1st If it speaks any thing at All of these Matters it is for the Perpetuity not Infallibility of the Church 2dly That there is not One word in it of any priviledg either in the One or the Other kind bestow'd upon your Church in particular and the Greek or any other Church may as reasonably argue from it as your selves Nay 3dly 'T is plain from the Context that it do's not belong to any of us the Covenant here spoken of being made with Zion and those that turn from Transgression in Jacob that is as St. Paul himself applies it Rom. 11. to the Convert Jews when they shall come in and embrace the Gospel of Christ 16. And for your last Method the Concessions of Protestants themselves this will but little avail you seeing if it could be proved that any of our particular Writers had said some things in favour of your Doctrine this would be of no force against any but themselves any farther than their Arguments shall upon Examination be found to warrant their Assertions We have often told you that our Faith depends not on any Humane Authority Such Concessions may shew the weakness or Error of him that made them but they are nothing available to prescribe against the Truth of the Gospel And this I say supposing that you could produce the Opinions of Protestants as you pretend in favour of your Doctrines But now let me tell you the Collection to which you refer us has been found so very insincere by those who have had occasion to examine it that should we allow these kind of Authorities to be as conclusive against us as you can desire you would not yet be able either to advantage your selves or to convince any others by them 17. Ad Pag. 5. You see Sir what little reason we have to expect very much from these Methods which in your great Humility you have condescended to make use of in order to our Conversion And we cannot but congratulate our good Fortune that you seem to tell us you have yet some better Arguments in reserve those which you say MIGHT have been brought to prove the Authority of your Church And though you think us so fond of flying off to particular Disputes that no Arguments can keep us from them yet I do hereby promise you that when-ever you shall have clearly made out this Proposition That the Church of Rome is Infallible and whatsoever she proposes to be received by us is the truly Catholick Faith without which there is no Salvation and then shew me How I shall infallibly know amidst so many different Proposals of her Doctrine what that Faith is which this Church teaches as necessary to that End I will from thenceforth become as blindly obedient a Disciple as the most implicit Believer whose Credulity you have ever yet imposed upon with these Pretences 18. Ibid. For your next Allegation That you could never get us to take your Doctrine aright if what I have heretofore said be not sufficient I will once more put you in mind that you must first resolve to answer from Point to Point the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome truly Represented before you can expect to be credited by us And if from what we have truly said concerning you you are indeed grown to be look'd upon in your own words to be as bad as Devils and your Doctrines as the Dictates of Hell it self though I believe in this excess you do something misrepresent both your selves and us you may attribute it if you please to our Calumnies against you but I believe all indifferent Persons will be able to find out some better Reasons for it 19. Ad Pag. 6. As for your Expositions which you from hence thought fit to publish to the World as your last reserve for our Conversion the World is sufficiently satisfied with what sincerity you have proceeded in them And for what you add in the close of this first Point concerning the Character of the Times that we are fallen into such as you say S. Paul foretold in which Men will not endure sound Doctrine it is indeed too true but withal it is such a Complaint as is equally made on all hands whilst every one thinks his own way the best But I will in return send you to another Character of the same Apostle concerning these Days which is all your own 2 Thess 2. vers 3 to the 13th and I think it is so plain that you may without an infallible Interpreter understand the meaning of it 20. And thus far you pursue the former Consideration of the state of the Controversy between the Papists and Protestants in general Your next work is to give some accounts of your Disputes with us of this Church in particular 21. You begin with the History of the first Conversion of the English by Augustine the Monk sent hither by Pope Gregory the Great But your account of it is so very uncertain that I would willingly hope however you quote Bede for it yet that you never read one word of him but took it upon the Credit of one of your New Converts Reason and Authority whose Errors in this Point you have as blindly embraced as his Book testifies him to have most implicitly taken up your Prevarications 22. Ad Pag. 7. Reply You tell us That notwithstanding the long want of intercourse with Rome and the Members of that Communion occasion'd by great Oppressions and Persecutions during the reign of Pagan Kings yet had there not many Errors crept into this Christian part of the Nation For S. Augustine found only two Customs amongst them which he could not tolerate the One their keeping Easter at a wrong time and the Other some Errors in the Ceremonies in Administring Baptism These two he earnestly sollicited them to Amend but they were Obstinate and would not suffer any Reformation in those two Points TILL God was pleased to testify his Mission and the Authority he came with by the Authentick Seal of Miracles 22. Answ In which Relation you are many ways mistaken For 1st As to the intercourse that you say was a long time lost between Rome and the British Churches by reason of the Persecutions of Pagan Kings this is not easy to be credited It being the middle of the 5th Century e're the Romans left this Island and the Saxons were called into it It was near the middle of the 6th before the Britains were dispossess'd of the rest of their Country and forced to retrench themselves within the Mountains of Wales During all this time their intercourse with Rome if they had any might well have continued and it was not
fifty Years after that Austin the Monk came into England 2dly you say that Austin found only two Customs among the Christians here that he could not tollerate 'T is true indeed upon the second meeting that he had with the Brittish Bishops Bede Lib. 2. c. 2. he told them That though in many things they were contrary to the custom of his Church yet if in those two mentioned they would obey him and joyn with him in preaching the Gospel to the Saxons he would bear with them in the rest But did they therefore acknowledg his Authority in complying with his Desires so you would make us believe They were Obstinate say you TILL God was pleased to testify his Mission and the Authority he came with by the Authentick Seal of Miracles As for his Miracles we have no great Opinion of their Authority since we read in the passage to which I just now referr'd you that Antichrist himself shall come with this Attestation Gal. 1.9 It is the Doctrine that must give credit to the Miracles not these to the Doctrine Should an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel than that which we have received St. Paul has commanded us for all the Wonder to bid him be Anathema But I return to the History in which you so notoriously prevaricate that I cannot imagine how one that pretends in this inquisitive Age to deliver the Antiquities of his own Country durst betray himself so notoriously ignorant of it See Sir Bede Loc. cit the words of your own Author Bede expresly contrary to your Allegation But they answer'd that they would do nothing of all this nor receive him for an Arch-Bishop Insomuch that Austin came to high words with them threatning them with that Destruction which they afterwards to their cost met with from his new Saxon Converts And your illustrious Annalist Card. Baron Annal. Tom. 8. An. 604. Baronius cannot forbear making some severe Reflections upon the State of our Island at that Time as if God had therefore given it into the hands of the Barbarians because of the refractory and schismatical Minds of these Bishops 23. Ibid. Reply Your Adversaries you say acknowledg that when St. Austin came into England he taught most if not all the same Doctrines the Roman Catholick Church now teaches c. 24. Answ If S. Austin as you call him taught the same Doctrine which Pope Gregory the Great taught who sent him hither and whose Disciple we are told he was I must then put you in Mind that a very Learned Man has lately shew'd you and I may reasonably presume you could not but know it that he did not teach most much less all the Doctrines which you now teach No Sir the Mystery of Iniquity was not yet come to Perfection and tho your Church had even then in many things declined from its first Faith yet was it much more pure than now it is Protestants Apology p. 57 c. 2d Edit Had you when you took this Pretence from your Friend Mr. Brerely look'd into the Answer that was at large made to it I am perswaded you would have been asham'd to have again advanced so false and trifling an Objection Look Sir I beseech you into the Protestants Appeal Prot. Appeal lib. 1. cap. 2. or if that be too much for one of your Employments look into the Treatise to which I refer you There you will find 1. Vind. of the Answ of some late Papers p. 72 c. That the Scripture was yet received as a perfect Rule of Faith. 2. The Books of the Maccabees which you now put into your Canon rejected then as Apochryphal 3. That Good Works were not yet esteem'd meritorious Nor 4. Auricular Confession a Sacrament That 5. Solitary Masses were disallow'd by him And 6. Transubstantiation yet unborn That 7. The Sacrament of the Eucharist was hitherto administred in both kinds And 8. Purgatory it self not brought either to certainty or to perfection That by consequence 9. Masses for the Dead were not intended to deliver Souls from those Torments Nor 10. Images allow'd for any other purpose than for Ornament and Instruction 11. That the Sacrament of Extreme Vnction was yet unform'd and even 12. The Pope's Supremacy so far from being then establish'd as it now is that Pope Gregory thought it to be the fore-running of Antichrist for one Bishop to set himself above all the rest These are the Instances in which you have been shewn the vast difference there is between Pope Gregory's Doctrine and that of the Council of Trent and which may serve for a Specimen to satisfie the World with what Truth you pretend that we acknowledg that S. Austin when he came into England taught most if not all the same Doctrines that you now teach And this may also suffice for your next Argument founded upon it viz. 25. Add pag. 7 8. Reply That these Doctrines and Practices were either then taught and exercised by the British Christians also or they were not If they were not taught by them certainly we should not have found them so easily submitting to them If they were taught by the British Bishops also then they were of a longer standing than S. Austin's time and we must either grant they were introduced by the first Preachers of the Gospel here or evidently shew some other time before St. Austin when this Church embraced them 26. Answ A Dilemma is a terrible thing with Sense and Truth but without them 't is a ridiculous one as I take this to be For 1. It is evident from what I have before said that Austin did not teach the same Doctrines nor establish the same Practices that you do now teach and establish but did indeed in most of your Corruptions differ from you So that like the unwise Builder you have erected a stately Fabrick and founded it upon the Sand. 2. Had he been as very a Romish Missionary as your self yet is your Argument still inconclusive For whereas you suppose the Brittish Bishops submitted to him they were on the contrary so far from either obeying his Authority or following his Prescriptions that as I have shewn you they utterly rejected both and I will presently add that for above a hundred Years after his Death they utterly refused so much as to communicate with his Proselytes nor esteem'd them any more than Pagans So that I may now turn your own Argument upon you that seeing they had such an Abhorrence for Austin and his Followers that they look'd upon them no better than Heathens it very probably was because they neither approved what he taught nor saw any cause to submit to that Authority to which he pretended You see Sir what an admirable Argument you here flourish with and how little cause we have to expect any great Sincerity from you in other matters when in the very History of your own Country you so wretchedly prevaricate and against the express Authority
of that very Person whom you quote for your Relation 27. Having thus given us a proof either of your Skill or your Integrity in the account of the first Conversion of our Island under Pope Gregory the Great you next make a very large step as to the progress of your Religion and such as still confirms me more and more how very unfit you are to turn Historian 28. Add pag. 8. Reply This Faith and these Exercises say you taught and practised by St. Austin were propagated down even till King Henry the VIIIth's time Answ In which account whether we are to complain of your Ignorance or your Vnsincerity be it your part to determine this I am sure they cannot both be excused 29. I have already shewn you that that Faith which was found in the Church of England in King Henry the VIIIth's time could not have been propagated down from the time of Austin's coming hither seeing that Monk neither taught nor practised the greatest part of those Corruptions which were afterwards by degrees brought into ours as well as into the other Churches of the Roman Communion But however not to insist upon this Fundamental Mistake Can you Sir with any Conscience affirm that the Doctrine which you now teach was till King Henry the VIIIth's time without interruption received and practised in this Country 30. First For the Brittish Bishops whom you before bring in as submitting themselves to Austin your own Author Bede expresly declares that in his time which was an hundred Years after the Death of Austin they entertain'd no Communion with them Lib. 2. cap. 20. Seeing says he to this very day it is the Custom of the Britains to have no value for the Faith and Religion of the English nor to communicate with them any more than with Pagans Which Henry of Huntingdon thus confirms Lib. 3. Hist That neither the Britains nor Scots i. e. Irish would communicate with the English or with Austin their Bishop any more than with Pagans So that for one Age at least the British Bishops then neither own'd the Authority of your Church nor had any manner of Communion with the Members of it But 31. Secondly Have you never heard of some other Kings of England who with their Parliaments have most stifly opposed the Pretences of the Pope and refused all Messages from Him and made it no less than High-Treason for any one to bring his Orders or Interdicts into the Kingdom What think you of another Henry no less brave than his Successor whom you so revile in his Defence of himself against his Rebellious Subject but your Saint Thomas a Becket I could add many Acts of Parliament made long before King Henry the VIIIth's time to shew you that tho he indeed proved the most successful in his Attempts to shake off the Pope's Authority yet that several other of our Princes had shewn him the way and that the Usurpations of that See were neither quietly own'd nor patiently submitted to by his Royal Predecessors And then 32. Thirdly For the matter of your Doctrine it must certainly be a great piece of Confidence in you to pretend that this came down such as you now believe and practise from the time of Austin the Monk to King Henry the VIIIth's days I speak not now of the great Opposition that was made to it by Wickleffe tho supported by the Duke of Lancaster the Lord Marshall of England and divers others of chiefest note in this Kingdom in the time of Edward the Third and Richard the Second I need not say in how many Points he stood up against the Doctrine of your Church what a mighty Interest he had to support him against the Authority of the Pope and the Rage of the Bishop of London and his other Enemies on that account so as both freely to preach against your Errors and yet die in Peace in a good old Age. The number of his Followers was almost infinite and tho severe Laws were afterwards made against them yet could they hardly ever be utterly rooted out But yet least you should say that Wickleffe was only a Schismatick from your Church which constantly held against him I will rather shew you in a few Instances that even the Church of England it self which you suppose to have been so conformable to your present Tenets was in truth utterly opposite to your Sentiments in many Particulars And because I may not run out into too great a length I will insist only upon two but those very considerable Points 33. The first is the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which as it came but late into the Roman Church so did it by Consequence into ours too Certain it is that in the 10th Century the contrary Faith was publickly taught among us Now not to insist upon the Authority of Bede who in several parts of his Works plainly shews how little he believed your Doctrine of Transubstantiation this is undeniably evident from the Saxon Homily translated by Aelfrick and appointed in the Saxons time to be read to the People at Easter before they received the Holy Communion and which is from one end to the other directly opposite to the Doctrine of the Real Presence as establish'd by your Council of Trent And the same Aelfrick in his Letters to Wulfine Bishop of Scyrburne and to Wulfstane Archbishop of York shews his own Notions to have been exactly correspondent to what that Homily taught The Housell says he is Christes Bodye not bodelye but ghostlye Not the Bodye which he suffred in but the Bodye of which he spake when he blessed Bread and Wyne to Housell a night before his suffring and said by the blessed Bread Thys is my Bodye and agayne by the holy Wyne This is my Bloud which is shedd for manye in forgiveness of Sins Vnderstand nowe that the Lord who could turn that Bread before his suffering to his Bodye and that Wyne to his Bloude ghostlye that the self-same Lorde blesseth dayly through the Priestes handes Bread and Wyne to his ghostlye Bodye and to his ghostlye Bloud All which he more fully explains in his other Letter H. de Knyghton de Event Anglice l. 5. p. 2647 2648. Nay it appears by a Recantation of Wickleffe mention'd by Knyghton that even in the latter time of that Man's Life there was no such Doctrine then in England as Transubstantiation publickly imposed as an Article of Faith. By all which it is evident that your great Doctrine of the Real Presence with all its necessary Appendages was not as you pretend propagated down from Austin's to King Henry the Eight's time but brought in to the Church some hundreds of Years after that Monk died 34. The other Instance I shall offer to overthrow your Pretences is no less considerable viz. the Worship of Images It is well known what Opposition was made not only by the Emperor Charles the Great and the Fathers of the Synod of Franckfort but by the French
Authority of his Church and to have whatsoever she proposes pass for fundamental confesses that we do indeed hold a PART but not ALL those Articles that are fundamental THIS therefore must be put upon the issue So that whereas you accuse me of perverting the Bishop of Meaux's Sense it is indeed you that have I fear wilfully perverted mine What I said both of you acknowledg viz. that what we hold is the ancient and undoubted Truth and you cannot deny the State of the Question to be just as I have said Whether what you farther advance and what we-reject be not so far from being Fundamental Truth that it is indeed no Truth at all but rather contrary to and destructive of that Truth which is on both sides allow'd to be Divine 20. Ad p. 5. Reply But you go yet farther in this Point against me and accuse me in the next place of perverting your own Sense too by saying that you confess that those Articles which you hold and we contradict do by evident and undoubted Consequence destroy those Truths that are on both sides agreed to be fundamental And you wonder with what Spectacles I read this Answ The Spectacles I use are plain Honesty and plain Reason if you have better I envy you not In stating the Question between us I said * Expos C. E. p. 5. Def. p. 5. the thing to be put upon the issue was Whether those Additions which the Church of Rome has made to the ancient and undoubted Faith were not so far from being Fundamental Truths that they do even by your own Confession overthrow those Truths that are on both sides allow'd to be Fundamental This you deny you ever said and yet in the very next words you confess the contrary †Reply p. 5. Vindicat. p. 23. 'T is true say you I tell him that were the Doctrines and Practices which HE ALLEDGES the plain and confess'd Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome he would have reason to say that they contradict our Principles But I tell him also that we renounce these Doctrines and Practices But this is not now the Question whether you renounce these Doctrines and Practices or no Did not you confess that those Doctrines which I charge you with do overthrow the Truths that are on both sides allow'd to be Divine This you cannot nay you do not deny And this was what I asserted and for which you most injuriously accuse me of perverting your Sense As to your denial of these things that I have already shewn to be a groundless Pretence and shall yet farther prove you to be as guilty of prevaricating in your Evasion as it is evident you have been in your accusing of me 21. Ibid. For the Parallel you add between our charging you as guilty of Idolatry upon the account of your Worship and the Fanatick's Clamours against us for our Ceremonies and against the Justice of which you think we have little to say it still more confirms me that the ancient Poet I before mention'd was a wise Man For after so full a Confutation as has been given to this Parallel by * Answer to the Amicable Accommodation The View of the whole Controversy c. two several Hands for you to presume still to say that we have little to reply to it this would certainly have made any other Creature in the World blush but a Man that has taken his leave of Modesty 22. Ad pag. 6. For your last little Reflection which you have dubb'd with the Title of Protestant Charity and Moderation I shall only tell you that to charge you with adoring Men and Women Crosses Images and Relicks is no more a breach of Charity than it would be to charge a Man with Murder or Theft whom I actually saw killing his Neighbour or stealing away his Goods If you are indeed guilty of doing this 't is Charity to admonish those of their danger whom you might otherwise ensnare by your confident denying of it But the truth is it is the Justice of this Reflection that so much troubles you and you could be well enough content we should accuse you of doing this if you could but find out any means to prevent our proving of it The ANSWER to the SECOND ARTICLE That Religious Worship terminates ultimately in God alone 1. AD p. 6. Reply In the beginning of this Article you seem a little concern'd that I took no more notice of what you had said in your Vindication concerning your Distinctions of Religious Worship You pretend that I did not do it because if I had all my Quotations out of your Liturgies would have signified just nothing neither could I have made so plausible an Excuse for my Calumnies and Falsifications And you conjure me not to obstruct the Hopes of a Christian Unity by a future Misapplication of these Terms 2. Answ It is perhaps none of the least Instances of that Perplexity into which Sin and Error commonly lead those who have been involved in them to consider what a multiplicity of obscure and barbarous Terms the Iniquity of these latter Ages has invented to confound those things which are otherwise in themselves of the greatest Clearness and Evidence Whilst Men kept to that Primitive Rule of the Gospel * Mat. iv 10. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him ONLY shalt thou serve the Law was simple and easie and there was no need of any Distinctions either to excuse or to condemn the Worship of any other besides him The Command was so plain that the Devil himself had nothing to say to it As for the Sophistry we are now to encounter and by which you would have been able to have taken that offer which our Saviour refused and yet have salved your Conscience of any breach of the Precept too he was either yet to learn it or else it appeared to him so thin and contemptible that however he has since inspired others with it yet he was ashamed himself to insist upon it But however seeing Mens words are their own and let them express their Conceptions after what manner they please it is enough for us that we understand their meaning I shall content my self to draw up a short Summary of what you here offer and which indeed is all that your Party has to insist upon on this occasion and we shall hereafter see when you come to the Application of these Distinctions whether there be any thing in them to excuse you of that Guilt we here charge you with 3. But before I enter upon this Enquiry I cannot but observe the Change you make in the Title of this Article Hitherto we have had it in these words †Monsieur de M. Expos Art. 3. Vindic. Art. 2. Religious Worship is terminated only in God Now you add another Restriction ‖ Reply Art. 2. That Religious Worship terminates ultimately in God alone By which you would seem to imply that Religious
this Custom of Praying to Saints been introduced in the Fourth Age it would certainly have been condemned in the following I reply First That this is at most but a meer Presumption against plain and undoubted Matter of Fact and such as not only this but too many other Corruptions which have crept into the Church without any notable Opposition for some time made to them abundantly overthrows But Secondly Tho your Argument therefore if we should allow it would be good for little yet it has another Misfortune too which most of your Proofs labour under that it is as false as it is unconclusive For Good Sir did you never in your Enquiry into these Matters hear of such a Canon as the Thirty fifth of the Council of Laodicea Anno 364. expresly condemning the Worship of Angels Did you never meet with such an Order as that of the Third Council of Carthage in S. Austin's time Can. 23. commanding all the Prayers that were made at the Altar to be directed to the Father At least I am confident you cannot be ignorant what Vigilantius did in opposition to this Superstition and whose Piety S. Hierome himself tho his hot Antagonist could not but acknowledge Nor was he alone in this Quarrel S. Jerome speaks of several Bishops that were of his Party and join'd with him in his Endeavours against this growing Evil. Even S. Austin himself as appears from many Places of his Works spoke not a little contrary to it Vid. Epist ad Januar. Ep. 119. and plainly insinuates he would have done more had not this Practice already so possess'd Mens Minds that it was not safe so to do 83. But to quit all these The publick Declaration which Epiphanius made against the Collyridians a sort of Women in those days Superstitious in their Honour of the Blessed Virgin is alone enough to shew that this practice did not pass without Opposition in those times 'T is true says he the body of Mary was holy Epiphan Haeres 79. pag. 1061. C.D. but She was not therefore God. She was a Virgin and highly honour'd but She was not set forth to us to be worshipped but She her self worshipped him who was born of her flesh And therefore the holy Gospel has herein armed us before hand Joh. 2. our Lord himself saying Woman what have I to do with thee Wherefore do's he say this But only least some should think of the Blessed Virgin more highly than they ought He called her Woman as it were foretelling those Schisms and Heresies that should arise upon Her account But neither is Elias to be adored tho he be yet alive Nor is St. John to be adored nor Tecla Ib. 1062. C. nor any of the Saints If God will not permit us to worship Angels how much less the daughter of Anna Let Mary be held in Honour Ib. 1064. D. but let the Father Son and Holy Ghost be worshipped Ib. 1065. B. Let no one worship Mary For tho She were most fair and Holy and Honourable yet She is not therefore to be adored In a word Ib. 1066. D. Let Mary be held in Honour but let God be Adored 84 To conclude this Point you tell us Reply That it seems most extravagant to you that Protestants should demand of you to shew them some testimonies of the Fathers of the first Three Hundred years Reply pag. 18. who lived under persecution few of whose Writings remain the greatest part being lost and destroy'd and yet reject the Fathers of the IVth Age who wrote when the Church began first to be in a flourishing Condition Can any one imagine that the Church when in Grots and Caverns taught one thing and when She came into the light practised another 85. Answ What meer Harangue is this But we must be contented where better is not to be had And therefore I reply 1st As to your insinuation which since Cardinal Perron first invented it has been the constant common place of the little crowd of Controvertists that have follow'd after viz. That the Fathers of the first Three Hundred years lived under persecution and therefore wrote but little and of that little the greatest part was lost too tho I can easily excuse this in you as a Sin of Ignorance yet I must needs say of the Cardinal and Others that they have herein greatly injured those Holy Men who were neither so lazie nor fearful as they have represented them to have been 86. For not to say any thing of the foundation of all our Religion the Holy Scriptures which were written within this period how large a Catalogue has Eusebius alone preserved of the works of those Holy Fathers And yet how many of the Latin Church has he omitted Look into his History and there you will find those great names Clemens Romanus Papias Quadratus Aristides Hegesippus Justin Martyr Dionysius of Corinth Pinytus Apollinarius Melito Modestus Irenaeus Theophilus Tatian Bardesanes Clemens Alexandrinus Rhodo Miltiades Apollonius Serapion Heraclitus Moscarinus Candidus Sextus and Arabien all to have been Writers of the Second Century Tertullian Judas Beryllus Hippolytus Caius Africanus Dionysius Alexandrinus Nepos Cyprian Origen in the Third And the Writings of which last Author only were said to have amounted to Six Thousand Volumes and which tho St. Jerome retrench'd to a third part yet still he left Two Thousand to him 87. In what sort of Writings were these Holy Men defective Some publish'd Apologies for our Religion Others disputed against the Heathens the Jews the Heretick's of those times Some wrote of the Discipline of the Church Others moral Discourses for the direction of Mens Lives and Manners Their Histories their Accounts of the Holy Men who suffer'd for the Faith their Comments on the holy Scripture their Sermons are yet upon Record And when such was their diligence why should it be insinuated as if living under persecution they wrote but little and therefore that it is unreasonable to appeal to them 88. Nor is your next pretence any better that their Writings are lost and destroyed For tho it be indeed in great measure true that in respect of what they wrote there is but a small part brought down to us and we have some reason to believe that the Opposition they made to your Corruptions has been in some measure the Cause of it See Def. of the Expos p. 127. c. yet have we still enough to shew us what the Faith of those times was and how vastly you have declined from it And when both the Writings of Holy Scripture and of those Fathers that do remain speak so plainly against you we have no great reason to believe that those which are lost were at all more favourable to you 89. But can any one Imagine Reply p. 18. that the Church when in Grots and Caverns should teach one thing and when it came into the light practise another I answer yes this is very easie to be
good Intention to stop the Course of Heresy in that Country Upon this he dismiss'd them but from that time began seriously to apply himself to read the Holy Scriptures telling them that he would no longer trust his Salvation to Men who defended their Religion by such pious Frauds so they called them but which were indeed Diabolical Inventions And in a short time after both himself and his whole House made open Profession of the Reformed Religion Anno 1564. And thus much be said in Answer to your IVth Article FINIS Books lately Printed for Richard Chiswell A Discourse concerning the Celebration of Divine Service in an Unknown Tongue Quarto A Papist not Misrepresented by Protestants Being a Reply to the Reflections upon the Answer to A Papist Misrepresented and Represented Quarto An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England in the several Articles proposed by the late BISHOP of CONDOM in his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church Quarto A Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the Exceptions of Monsieur de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator 4o. A CATECHISM explaining the Doctrine and Practices of the Church of Rome With an Answer thereunto By a Protestant of the Church of England 8o. A Papist Represented and not Misrepresented being an Answer to the First Second Fifth and Sixth Sheets of the Second Part of the Papist Misrepresented and Represented and for a further Vindication of the CATECHISM Quarto The Lay-Christian's Obligation to read the Holy Scriptures Quarto The Plain Man's Reply to the Catholick Missionaries 24o. An Answer to THREE PAPERS lately printed concerning the Authority of the Catholick Church in Matters of Faith and the Reformation of the Church of England Quarto A Vindication of the Answer to THREE PAPERS concerning the Unity and Authority of the Catholick Church and the Reformation of the Church of England 4o. Mr. Chillingworth's Book called The Religion of Protestants a safe way to Salvation made more generally useful by omitting Personal Contests but inserting whatsoever concerns the common Cause of Protestants or defends the Church of England with an exact Table of Contents and an Addition of some genuine Pieces of Mr. Chillingworth's never before Printed viz. against the Infallibility of the Roman Church Transubstantiation Tradition c. And an Account of what moved the Author to turn Papist with his Confutation of the said Motives An Historical Treatise written by an AUTHOR of the Communion of the CHVRCH of ROME touching Transubstantiation Wherein is made appear That according to the Principles of THAT CHVRCH This Doctrine cannot be an Article of Faith. 4o. The Protestant's Companion Or an Impartial Survey and Comparison of the Protestant Religion as by Law established with the main Doctrines of Popery Wherein is shewed that Popery is contrary to Scripture Primitive Fathers and Councils and that proved from Holy Writ the Writings of the Ancient Fathers for several hundred Years and the Confession of the most Learned Papists themselves 4o. A Sermon preached upon St. Peter's day By a Divine of the Church of England Printed with some Enlargements The Pillar and Ground of Truth A Treatise shewing that the Roman Church falsly claims to be That Church and the Pillar of That Truth mentioned by S. Paul in his first Epistle to Timothy Chap. 3. Vers 15. 4o. The Peoples Right to read the Holy Scripture Asserted 4o. A Short Summary of the principal Controversies between the Church of England and the Church of Rome being a Vindication of several Protestant Doctrines in Answer to a Late Pamphlet Intituled Protestancy destitute of Scripture Proofs 4o. An Answer to a Late Pamphlet Intituled The Judgment and Doctrine of the Clergy of the Church of England concerning one Special Branch of the King's Prerogative viz. In dispensing with the Penal Laws 4o. A Discourse of the Holy Eucharist in the two great Points of the Real Presence and the Adoration of the Host in Answer to the Two Discourses lately Printed at Oxford on this Subject To which is perfixed a Large Historical Preface relating to the same Argument Two Discourses Of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead The Fifteen Notes of the Church as laid down by Cardinal Bellarmin examined and confuted 4o. With a Table of the Contents Preparation for Death Being a Letter sent to a young Gentlewoman in France in a dangerous Distemper of which she died By W. W. M. A. 12o. The Difference between the Church of England and the Church of Rome in opposition to a late Book Intituled An Agreement between the Church of England and Church of Rome A PRIVATE PRAYER to be used in Difficult Times A True Account of a Conference held about Religion at London Sept. 29 1687 between A. Pulton Jesuit and Tho. Tenison D. D. as also of that which led to it and followed after it 4o. The Vindication of A. Cressener Schoolmaster in Long-Acre from the Aspersions of A. Pulton Jesuit Schoolmaster in the Savoy together with some Account of his Discourse with Mr. Meredith A Discourse shewing that Protestants are on the safer Side notwithstanding the uncharitable Judgment of their Adversaries and that Their Religion is the surest Way to Heaven 4o. Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist wherein is shewed that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation overthrows the Proofs of Christian Religions A Discourse concerning the pretended Sacrament of Extreme Vnction with an account of the Occasions and Beginnings of it in the Western Church In Three Parts With a Letter to the Vindicator of the Bishop of Condom The Pamphlet entituled Speculum Ecclesiasticum or an Ecclesiastical Prospective-Glass considered in its False Reasonings and Quotations There are added by way of Preface two further Answers the First to the Defender of the Speculum the Second to the Half-sheet against the Six 〈◊〉 A Second Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England against the new Exceptions of Mons de Meaux late Bishop of Condom and his Vindicator The FIRST PART In which the Account that has been given of the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition is fully Vindicated the Distinction of Old and New Popery Historically asserted and the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in Point of Image-worship more particularly considered 4o. The Incurable Scepticism of the Church of Rome By the Author of the Six Conferences concerning the Eucharist 4o. Mr. Pulton Considered in his Sincerity Reasonings Authorities Or a Just Answer to what he hath hitherto Published in his True Account his True and full Account of a Conference c. His Remarks and in them his pretended Confutation of what he calls Dr. T 's Rule of Faith. By Tho. Tenison D. D. A Full View of the Doctrines and Practices of the Antient Church relating to the Eucharist wholly different from those of the Present Roman Church and inconsistent with the belief of Transubstantiation Being a sufficient Confutation of CONSENSVS VETERVM NVBES TESTIVM and other Late Collections of the Fathers pretending to the Contrary 4o. An Answer to the Representer's Reflections upon the State and View of the Controversy With a Reply to the Vindicator's Full Answer shewing that the Vindicator has utterly ruin'd the New Design of Expounding and Representing Popery