dead and that he sent two thousand Drachmes of silver to Jerusalem to offer a sin-offering doing therein very well and honestly in that he was mindeful of the resurrection for if he had not hoped that they that were slain should have risen again it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead and also in that he perceived that there was a great favour laid up for those that dyed godly it was a holy and good thought whereupon he made a reconciliation for the dead and that they might be delivered from sin 2 Tim. 1.16 18. But if you will deny the authority of this book you will not sure deny that of S. Paul who prays for the whole household of Onesiphorus some whereof were dead in all probability and Onesiphous himself dead in history before the writing of that Epistle wherefore he prays to the Lord to give mercy unto them and that Onesiphorus himself may finde mercy of the Lord in that day it is plain from hence that there is a capacity for mercy at the lastday by consequence therefore there must be a third place that is nesther Heaven nor Hell and so by consequence again prayer for the dead must be a a very good devotion and available to the case and release of those poor souls And to this truly if all Scripture were perfectly silent the practise of the Church of Christ has been cleer and universal that no prudent Christian can deny his assent if he be not resolved to shake the very foundations of Christianity it self which the gates of bell shall never prevail against Thus my Lady having dispatcht her answer and replies to this paper made hast to open the next which she found to this purpose following Madam this is the last paper that I shall be bold to offer to your Ladiship which indeed might have served for all the rest for it striks at the very root of all your Religion and what a pitiful weak and sandy foundation you have you shall see if you shall please impartially to confider what followes That your Pope or Bishop of Rome is not nor can be head of the Church of Christ nor S. Peter successor as you pretend nor has any priminary or superiority over other Bishops I prove out of Scripture thus 1 S. Rom. 12.5 Paul tells the Romans plainly that we being many are one body in Christ and every one members one of another Heer the Apostle acknowledgeth no head but Christ and concludes Peter to be as much a member as any one of the faithfull and that not onely in respect of Christ we are members but in respect of our selves is cleer by those words every one members one of another so that Peter Pope or Bishop be he what he will is not onely a member of the body of the Church as he has relation to Christ the head but as he does relate to the other faithfull members 2 Again as the head and the other members make up one entire naturall body 1 Cor. 12 so Christ and his Church make up one entire mysticall body which is so made up of head and members as the Apostle tells us therefore all others besides Christ who is the head are but members of the body of the Church and none but Christ can be the head of the Church 3 We finde in the Gospells Math. Mark Luke John that Jesus Christ does equally commend the care of his Churh to all his Apostles for he said to all the rest as well as Peter as the father sent me so send I you again go ye and teach all Nations c. then again we know that he did teach and instruct them all equally and sent the holy Ghost to them all equally and indifferently at the time of Pentecost therefore Peter had no priveledge nor prehemminence over the rest 4 S. Gal. 2.11 Paul tells us that when Peter was come to Antioch he withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed therefore Peter was not then taken for the head of the Church For S. Paul had he beleived that would not have shewed such arrogancy and perversness as to resist the head of the Church in such an open manner 5. Then it is manifest that the Church of Christ could not be built upon the person of Peter for then the gates of Hell had prevailed against it and him when he was terrified from his faith by the voice of a silly wench And so by consequence it cannot be built upon his successors who are dayly guilty of such personall crimes 6 Again we finde that the Church of Christ is built upon a Rock and that Rock was Christ 1 Cor. 3. 1 Cor. 10 therefore it could never be understood of Peter for another foundation can no man lay besides that which is already laid as the Apostle tells us 7 Then it is very disputable whether Peter was ever at Rome and sure we are out of Scripture that he was eighteen years at least after our Saviours passion in and about Jerusalem where was then the Romane Church 8 Then again how could Peter be the Rock upon which he would build his Church when our Saviour himself said to him Mat. 16. get thee behind me satan he never intended sure satan should be the head of his Church as it is too much to be feared he makes himself now to be of yours 9 We cannot finde that S. Peter did ever exercise any power or jurisdiction over the other Apostles Acts 8. but they did plainly over him when they sent him and John into Samaria 10 Again Peter knew fullwell that such a power or superiority was expresly forbiden by our Saviour himself Mat. 20.25 Mark 10.46 Luke 22.24.25 in all the Gospeles you know saith he that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentils exercise Lordship over them and their great ones exercise authority upon them but so shall it not be amongst you but whosoever will be great amongst you shall be your Minister who soever of you will be the cheifest shall be servant of all All which our Saviour spok rebuke a strife that was amongst them who should be the greatest Nay it is plain by the Text in all those Gospells that it is onely for the Kings and rulers of the Earth to take upon them power and Authority Bishops therefore of the Church have nothing to do with it therefore not the Pope 11 Nay our Saviour shews such a detestation of this affected superiority that he rebukes the Diciples for it and warnes them against it in severall other places of the Gospells and set a little child before them and tellls them Mot. 18.4 Mark 9.46 that whoosever shall humble himself as that little child the sames is greatest in the Kingdome of heaven c. How well your Pope is an immitator of Jesus Christ and follower of his commands I will leave your self to judge who takes upon him
head that is her natural one befides her husband shall we therefore say that every married woman is a Monster with two heads To the second I answer as before that a head is taken two ways in relation to the Members first according to the internal influence which proceeds from the head into the other members and so there can be but one head of one body Secondly as to the external Government so there may be two heads of one body so the body of a woman as aforesaid has but one head from which it receives the influence of sensitive spirits but has two as to the Government of her external actions for in the one she is govern'd by her own natural head and in the other by her husband who is her moral head It is just so in the Church which has but one head as to the influx of grac but two as to its Government whereof one supplies the place of the other the first was only Christ is head and all others are members the last way not only Christ but Peter is head who the former way is so far from being a head that he is but a common member When therefore the Apostle tels the Corinthiaus that Christ and his Church make but up one entire mystical body which consist of head and members this must be understood in the former sence for the Apostle speaks plainly there of Christ as he is head of the Church by the internal division of his gifts of grace as is plain by the context and so in that case it cannot be denied but all besides Christ are Members of the Church and none besides him can be head of it But if you speak as to the external Gouernment then Christs Vicar may be head and all others Members as in Kingdoms Govern'd by a Deputy or Vice-king as aforesaid To the third I freely grant what you urge out of the Gospels that Jesus Christ did commend the care of his Church to all his Apostles but I deny that he commanded it equally to all for only to Pater he said Feed my sheep therefore the Supream Pastorship was only committed to Peter and to none of the rest Nor do I understand any force in that argument of yours which follows thus All of them were equally taught and instructed by Christ and all of them received the holy Ghost equally therefore one had no more jurisdiction then another For it is one thing to speak of the Learning and Sanctity of the Apostles and another to speak of their power or jurisdiction It is not necessary that all which have equality of one should have equility of the other Otherwise a King in his Kingdom if he had not more learning and holiness than his Subjects should not have a greater power and authority which you know how absurd it is to say and the reason is plain for power and jurisdiction do not necessarily and of themselves depend upon Learning and Sanctity and suppose we grant that all the Apostles were equal before Christ said to Peter Feed my sheep it does not follow that they were all equal afterwards but that Peter had ever after that his just preheminence To the fourth I grant that Paul did resist Peter and justly for Peter was in an errour and yet not in any Article of faith neither for in that he could not err for Christ assured him that he had askt his Father that his Faith should not fail but his errour was in matter of Fact only because he did unadvisedly dissemble Judaism to the scandall and offence of the Gentiles but from hence it follows not that Peter was not the head of the Church no more then this is a consequence David was rebuked by Joah therefore David was not the Head of his Kingdom Nay all good men will collect rather this from the reprehension that Paul gave to Peter that Superiours when they are in fault may be reproved by Inferiours when they shall do it with due humility and charity Now can this be called perversness or arrogance in St. Paul because he pid it with a good zeal to take away a scandal that was like to rise by the unwary dissimulation of St. Peter Beside this was no more then what belonged to the Apostleship of St. Paul to look to the edification of Faith and as to the duty of Apostleship and the honour of it they were all equal though not in point of power and Government for therein Peter had the Primacy To the fifth Your Inference does not hold that Peter having offended in his person therefore the gares of Hell prevailed against his power so the succession of the just jurisdiction will hold as due to the successors of St. Peter though their persons be never so sinfull For Christ gave the power of the Keys to his Church in the person of St. Peter so St. Peter had the power of the keys as he bore the person of the Church onely Besides all this it is plain that when Peter deny'd Christ the Church was not then founded upon him but to be founded for Christ said upon this Rock I will build my Church that was to be understood after his Resurrection To the Sixth It is most true that Christ himself is the principal Rock and primary foundation of his Church yet he may have Vicars and Substitutes for secundary Rocks for though saint Pauls saying be true that Christ is the only Foundation the saying of saint John must be as true that the Wall of that City had twelve Foundations and in them thennees of the twelve Apostles To the Seventh It would be too long abusinesse and out of the Road that we have proposed to our selves to prove out of antiquity that St. Peter was at Rome which no question is more sure then that you and I were once in London and never was denyed till some upstart Doctors of yours were pleased to make a Question of it I am inform'd that all the Antient Doctors of the Church do understand the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans as sent on purpose to confirm them in that Faith which they had received by the Preaching of St. Peter there and was so famous as to be spoken of throughout the whole World for so he himself implies when he said he writ to them some spirituall gift to the end that that they might be established c. Paul would confirm what Peter had preached that by the Testimony of two Apostles their faith might be strengthned And as for his so late comming to Rome it is as great an errour It is true he was five years in Pontus and Asia and seven years in Antioch before he went to Rome but then he did go and in Eighteen years after Christs Passion he return'd again to Jerusalem to preside in a Councell there which is the groand of your errour in saying that he was eighteen years in and about Jerusalem before he went to Rome But howsoever all that
dare presently to thrust himself before his divine Majesty that he has offended but by mediators and intercessors The wisest of Kings Solomon rose up to meet his mother and bowed himself unto her 1 Kings 2.19 and caused a throne to be set for his mother and she sate on his right hand and shall not Jesus Christ a greater and a wiser than Solomon honour his mother in the like kinde It is most manyfest that the Angells are assisting to us and pray for us Mat. 2.8 Mark 12 Psalm 33 then why should not we pray to them and there is the same reason for the saints as for the Angells who are their equalls in heaven as we finde in the holy Gospells Psalm 90. how freequently in the Psalmes does the Royal prophet speak of Gods sending his Angells to snatch us out of dangers to gard us and to keep us in all our ways c. Then we finde in the Prophet Zachcariah Zach. 1.12.13 how the Angel of the Lord interceded for the people in these words O Lord of Hoste how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem Heb. 1.7 and on the Cities of Judah against which thon hast bad indignation these threescore and ten years and the Lord answered the Angell with good words and comfortable words Then S. Acts 12.12.7 8. Paul calls the Angels minnistring spirits and we finde how freequently they have delivered Gods servants as S. Peter out of prison c. now I say if it be in the power of the Angells in heaven to help us by their prayers the same reason will hold for the saints who are as the Evangelists aforesaid tell us their equalls both in their favour and power with God And that they do too is as manifest for the Lord has sometimes sought for a saint to stand in the gap as he saies himself in Ezeckiel Ezek. 22.30.31 and I sought for a man amongst them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it but I found none therefore have I powred out mine indignation upon them I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath c. therefore did the Lord do it for want of an acceptable intercesor But it is most cleer in the Apocalyps Revel 4. 5. how the four beasts and four and twenty elders are continually falling down before the Lamb and interceding for the faithfull on earth with their Violls full of precious oyntments which are the prayers of the saints And then again it is expressly said that another Angell came and stood at the Altar haveing a golden censer Revel 8.3.4 and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden Alter which was before the Throne and the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the faints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand c. If yet there be any doubt remaining me thinks meer reason raised from a most undoubted Scripture should cleer this point as first we finde and I thinke no body questions it that Jesus Christ as he is man does continually interde for all mankinde especially his faithfull ones if any man does doubt let him look into S. Paul to the Romans Rom. 8. Heb. 7. and Hebrews where it is positively said in divers places that Jesus Christ does constantly interecde for us And S. John tells us if any man have sinned 1 John 2. we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins nor for our sins onely but for the sins of the whole world If therefore Christ our head according to his humanity pray for us why should not his members the saints that rain with him and are conformable to him intercede likewise in their proportion for their fellow members uppon earth for we are all members of the same mysticall body Again the liveing pray for one another and frequently obtain Exod. 17 31. Mat. 15. Luke 7. Acts 17. Collos 4.2 2 Thes 3.1 as Moses pray'd and obtained for the people the woman of Canan for her daughter the Centurion for his servant Paul for those that sailed with him Nay S. Paul desired the Colossians to be instant in prayer and particularly for himself and so to the Thessalonians he says finally hretheren pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course c. If therefore the living may pray for one another why may not the glorifyed saints in heaven do the same for us who are more perfect in charity more powerfull with God and more pure in understanding for if they may not pray for us as the living do it would appear unworthy of Christs grace and favour to them which we cannot apprehend or it must be because it is a purpose of the excellency that it is fiting onely for Christ himself to do it and no person else and then it will not be lawfull for us mortals to pray for one another But that we know the contrary by what has been before set down and as S. Paul does earnestly beseech the Romans Rom. 15.30.31 James 5.16 for the Lord Jesus Christ sake and for the love of the Spirit that they pray to God for him So I do humbly beseech the blessed mother of God and all the saints of heaven to pray for me and all the world besides And so as S. Iames adviseth us let us pray one for another that we may be saved I pray you heer take notice that I have made use of no Scripture out of Baruch the Machabees or any parts of Scripture which you question for Apocrypha though by all the Canons of the Church they are received so I proceed To what you alledge against our use of images which you call an abominable and idolatorrious doctrine I answer thus To the first I say that God Allmighty in that commandment has sufficiently explained his own minde both in the precedent and subsequent words for as he did forbid the worship of strange Gods so he forbide the Images of them to be erected But we worship not the saint for Gods therefore we are not at all prohibited by that commandment to set up their Images For in the first place he saies thou shalt have no strange Gods before me then follows thou shalt not make to thee any graven Image c. then last of all thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them see then the whole drift of that commandment is evident that Images should not be made to that end and purpose and so we concur with you For if to make and erect Images were absolutly and in it self unlawfull then it would follow that Moses himself had sinnd immediately after the giving of that commandment nay that God Almighty had shewed the first way to breake his own commandment for God commanded
unknown thing Apostles Creed and that is impossible for the eyes of men to discover or no find it out where it is That not onely your Church which I take to be but a part but the whole Church of Christ may and must erre sometimes in faith I prove thus The Jewish Synagouge where was the true Church of God and which was the true Type of the Church of Christ made often saylings in â—â—â—ch as first in the time of Moses when Aaren with all the people worshipt a Calf Exod. 32.4 Again in the time of Elias when there remain'd none faithfull but himself as he himself complains I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts because the Children of Israell have forsaken thy Covenant thrown down thy Altars 1 Kings 19 14. slain the Prophets with the sword and I even I only am left and they seek my life to take it away Then in the time of the Prophets Isaiah and Jeremy Isai 1.7 when we see there was an universall revolt of the people from the Lord. And Isay complains how the Ox knew his owner and the Ass his Masters Crib But Israel ha's not known me c. And the Prophet Jeremy complains thus for my people have committed two evills Jer. 3.13 they have forsaken me the fountains of living waters and heat'd them out Cisterns broken Cisterns that can hold no water c. And yet more plainly we may see in the Chronicles 2 Chro. 15.3 how Azariah the Prophet says that for a long season Israell was without a true God and without a teaching Priest and without Law And then last of all the Synagogue was seen to fail when it felf and all it's devises were abolisht by Jesus Christ And I hence conclude that if the Jewish Church did so grosly fail then the Christian Church may for the reason is the same of one and th' other Again that the Church shall fail in the time of Antichrist is rertain 2 Thes 2. for so the Apostle foretells thus Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sins be revealed the Son of Pertution c. that is agreed on all sides to be Antichrist Dan. 9.27 but now Antichrist is revealed long time to the Bishop of Rome therefore your which you pretend to be universall ha's fail'd in faith long since We find it says again in Daniell that he shall cause the sacrifice and the Oblation to sence and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate c. Here is a plain Prophets of the fayling of the Church 4. The Church is frequently compar'd to the Moon in the Scripture Cant. 10. Revel 12.1 now the Moon we know is often fayling therefore the Church is not amiss compar'd to it and it's failings we have manifestly seen by the oppositions that some one or two honest and godly men have ever made to it as of Late John Wickliffe John Huss Luther Calvin and others to this very day 3. Lastly that your Church may and must erre I shall adde but this one Argument to prove out of Scripture that your Pope is Antichrist therefore your whole Church must be Antichristian and by consequence the most failing Church in the World The first not of Antichrist is that he must fall away from the faith 2 Thes 3. and that hee ha's done wee in defending of Purgatory invocation of Sauls sacrifice of the Mass c. vers 3. The second Note is that he shal sit in the Temple of God so the Pope sits in Rome as the Head Church of Christ vers 4. The third mark is that he shall shew himself as God and this the Pope plainly does when he makes himself the visible head of Christs Church The fourth mark is to exalt and oppose himself to and above all that is called God This the Pope does whilst he exalts himself above all Ecclesiasticall and civill power All these marks we have of him in that Chapter of the Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians 1 John 2.23 Then a fifth mark we have of him out of St. Iohn that he must deny Jesus Christ This we know by the corruption of the Doctrine that concerns the mediation of Christ and introducing of new Mediators The sixth mark we have again that he is a Lyar and a worker of false miracles and that we see your Pope to do still at Lorettoy and other places The seventh and last is plainly set down by the same St. John in his Revellation that he causeth all both small and great Rich and poor free and bound to receive a mark in their Right-hands or in their Fore heads and the Pope plainly does when he imposeth his Character upon some and marks upon all when by the unction of his Chrisme hee signs the Fore heads of Christians when they take your Sacrament of Confirmation Revel 13.16 c. If this be not enough to prove your Pope to be the great Beast that leads you all into perdition I must profess I know not what is so I shal forbear to offer any further Arguments My Lady had no sooner read this Paper but she fell to work upon it as formerly and she was the rather encouraged being promis'd to be the last of her troubles upon this occasion So she proceeds To what you alledge against our Pope or Bishop of Rome that he neither is nor can be head of the Church of Christ or St. Peters Successor or have any power over other Bishops I answer thus To the first I answer that the Apostle there in that Chapter to the Romans speaks of Christ only as he is head of the Church by the internal influencies of his gifts of grace and so it is true that all the faithfull are fellow members as well Saint Peter himself and the Pope too as any other Christians nor in this sense can the Pope be thought to be head at all for all are to receive grace from Christ the head not from Saint Peter or the Pope But if you speak of Christ as he is head of the Churrh by his eternal Government of it then not only he himself but Peter also is the head for though to him Primarily and in his proper power the Government belongeth so secondarily it belongs to the other and by a power derived from him And whereas I know here you will be ready to reply that the Church has two heads which is monstrous I answer that a Kingdom is not to be said to have two heads when the King is absent and a Vice-king present with it for one is subordinate to another so the Church may have two heads one primary and the other secondary as aforesaid I le give you another example out of the Apostle who tels us that the man is the head of the woman yet the woman has another
World And just as each single Sheep so long as it remains in the society and Communion with the Flock and under the aare and custody of the Shepherd is safe and secure from the mouths of wolves so is each single Christian so long as he remains joyned and tyed up in the unity of the Church that is submits to the sence and doctrine of the whole Church is never err'd yet in matter of faith nor ever can now I presume you may require to know of me whether all and every one of this Church hath this great assistance and direction of the Holy Spirit that he cannot erre in matter of Faith I do readily answer that every one of the faithfull has it but by way of dependance upon the Church and from it So long therefore as any man remains in conjunction with the Church he cannot erre if he separates or dissents from it he must needs of necessity fall into an errour which I 'le thus explain to you by two Examples or similitudes The one may be taken from the proportion of a humane body in which we see that all the members do jointly and severally paticipate of the vitall and sensitive spirits by which life is preserved in them all but yet they have these spirits derivatively from and by way of dependency upon the head and heart for it is from them as from a double Fountain those spirits are derived into the other members so that when the Channells and passages by which that derivation and distribution is made are stopt or intercepted it must follow necessarily that the other Members must be left destitute of spirits and be rendred incapable of performing their Office but being open all will be well So likewise in the Church all the faithfull which are as it were Members of it have a certain assistancy and direction from the holy Ghost but by way of dependency upon the Pope who is as the head of the Church and from Councils which are safe and secure from all danger of errour and infidelity In the last place as sheep that go astray from the flock are out of the protection of the Shepherd and by consequence must fall into the danger of Wolves so Christians which depart from the common sence and doctrine of the Church must of necessity fall into millions of errours for want of the assistance of the holy spirit which is the Judge and Guardian of that I pray you good Mistriss N. have a care how you expose your self to this terrible danger To the Fifth I utterly deny that generall Councells have er'd in matters of faith it is possible that some particular Councells might or some false Councells more truely call'd conventicles Then that some councills have determined variously as to discipline and Ecclesiasticall government I grant for variety of times requires diversity of Laws and God himself gives the president of that who changed many things in the new Testament that were commanded in the Old And as for Lay-men to be present in Councels we do not at all deny so they be as witnesses defenders Counsellors Suggestors or Executioners of their decrees but never as to have a Voyc in any Councill or Church businesse and this is plain by those Gouncils that we find in the Acts celebrated by the Apostles and so clearly in every Age since and why should Lay-men have to do more now Now give me leave to reply something to you and I 'le be short in my proof having been so long in my answers That the Pope with a generall Council may detrmine what is of Fath and what is not I pove by expresse Scripture thus We find in Scripture some Councils celebrated by the Apostles that have actually made such determinations As first for the taking off the burthen of Circumcision and other Indaicall obligations we find the result thus For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us Act. 15.28 29. to lay upon you no greater burthen than these necessary things that they abstein from meats offered to Idols and from blood and from things strangled and from Fornication from which if ye keep your selves ye shalde well See here the form of an Apostolical Councell First the Text tells us that the Apostles and Elders came together and that St. Peter was President and Prolocutor then they issued out their decrees with this authoritative preface It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us Now do you find that any faithfull Christians then did question their authority ver 6.7 as you do now that of other Conncells assembled in like manner and assisted by the same spirit Thus you see that Councell did decree somethings to be necessary for a time which were not simply and of themselves matters of faith and to take off from the Jews many things that were to them before matters Faith as circumcision and other mosaicall Statutes Why should not I say the Church now have the same power when the same necessity shall require we have I 'm sure the same Christ the fame holy spirit the same faith the same Church why not the fame power in Councills We read again of another Council celebrated by the Apostles when they wer to part one from another Apostles Creed and to go preach the Gospel as the Lord had commanded them over the whole World when they met together and upon a large debate delivered to us the Creed which you your selves and I 'm sure the whole Church of Christ submits to as as points of faith and is to this day called the Apostles Creed and for some of those Articles we have no Scripture at all nor any other authority but this that they were so delivered by the Apostles and I conceive it a duty incumbent upon all good Christians what the wise Man adviseth Prov. 22.28 not to remove the antient Land-marks which our Fathers have set In what respect a Councill or Convocation of Elders was with God and ever taken for the representative body of the Church is plain in many places of Exodus Exod 19.3 7 8. especially that where God commands Moses to say to the House of Jacob and tell the Children of Israell c. And yet afterwards it is said of Moses that he came and call'd for the Flders onely of the people and laid before their faces all these Words which the Lord commanded him c. And though it is plain that the Elders of the people onely answered with whom Moses was talking Deut. 32.7 yet the Text tell us That all the people answered together and said c. Which could dot be â—nless onely so representatively by their convocation of Elders How well therefore does the same Moses express this in his fong when he saith Remember the days of old confider the years of many generations Ask thy Father and he will shew thee thy Elders and they will tell thee c. I should be infinite to run through all the
civil conversation which heavenly content if your Ladyship would once please to give us we should all think our selves arrived at a blessedness beyond any people in the earth Lady M. O Mrs. N. I do very much acknowledge my self indebted to you and all my good neighbours here for your great respects towards me and I 'le assure you I shall be always willing to impart my estate amongst them for their worldly advantages but much more for their souls good aod that we may be all again reduced into one I mean that old blessed communion which was not full two ages since apparently perfect amongst us all here but since our breaches now are grown so great and that happiness without an extraordinary miracle is not to be restored to us you must give me leave to keep my own soul to God and his Church for my Faith which you are pleased to call so odious and Idolatrous words that I must confess I little expected to hear fall from you is built upon such a foundation as can never fail no not though heaven and earth should or an Angel from heaven should preach another doctrine as the Apostle forewarns us Mrs. N. Deer madame in consideration of the integrity of my heart towards you I hope your Ladiships goodness will pardon that rudeness of any words that may fall from me But sure sweet madame there can be no such foundation as you speak of unless in the undoubted word of God which you have most cleerly and intirely against you in all particulars and therefore your Church does all it can to blind you by keeping that from you so leading you on still in errours by an implicite faith in its doctrines which are meer humane inventions Lady M. Indeed Mrs. N. you are very much mistaken in the whole drift of your discourse and that I conceive occasioned by the continual slanders thrown upon us both from your Prints and Pulpits For our Church hinders none from reading the Scripture that can satisfie their Pastors that they have a temper fit for it and humility enough to resign up their faith to mysteries that wil not make such use of it as most of you do by giving of your own shallow interpretations to it and opposing your single sence against the current of the Church As for my part I have a liberty asmuch as I would desire to read the holy Scripture and am I thank God conversant in it both day night I do likewise finde unexpressible comfort by it and a confirmation of my faith every day more and more Mrs. N. Why then it seems your Ladiship reads it with strange prejudice and partiality for other wise it were impossible but you should find the grossness of those errours that are delivered to you for matters of faith if you shall please good madame to give me leave I will be bold to offer some collections of my own out of Scripture to save your Ladiship a further trouble in the search as I shall from time to time have occasion to wait upon you so I shall communicate them to your Ladiship and make that the whole business of our future discourse till we shall be otherwise satisfied and I 'le promise you my husband shal not be knowing to it Lady M. Mrs. N. I do most willingly accept your offer but care not much whether your husband be assistant to you or not in the mater for I am sure it s not in the power of men or devils to change the word of God however they may pervert the sence of it for a time and so possess the souls of their unhappy disciples Mrs. N. Well then madame I shall be bold to wait on you again within these few days and shew you some Scriptures that shall quite overthrow your so much fancied foundation and I hope by consequence bring your Ladyship into our Religion Lady M. I pray you do sweet Mrs. N. and I shall promise onely this that you shall finde my reason not at all refractory to any thing and we will manage this controversie as you say by our selves and as women in labour use to do never cry out for the help of man till we shall be highly enforced Mrs. N. Indeed Madame I doubt not but you will finde the business so clear that we shall never need to come to that So the combate being mutually imbraced on both sides with very great kindness they at that time parted some days after Mrs. N. came again to visit my Lady and brought her weapons with her and so began again to accost her Madame the greatest things indifference as I humbly conceive between us is about that which is indeed the greatest concernment of our salvation the most holy Sacrament of our Lords Supper wherein your Church hath brought so many visible and palpable abuses and against known Scripture that when your Ladyship shall be once satisfied in those I hope we shall not need to proceed much further I have here reduced those abuses into four heads as first your doctrine of Transubstantiation and affirming your Eucharist to be the very body of Christ Secondly your giving half the Sacrament to the people and depriving them of the Cup. Thirdly making your Mass a sacrifice and Lastly for saying your Mass in Latine and not in English or other mother tongues and to all these particulars I have brought you as I conceive such apposite Texts and here in order set down in this paper that I doubt not will give your Ladyship just reason to suspect the frauds and gross collusions of your Church in all things else Lady M. Well deer Mrs. N. I thank you heartily for this favour and I promise you faithfully that I will very carefully and impartially examine this paper which if upon a just consideration I shall not be able to answer I will then very fairly and honestly declare my submission to it within three or four days I will by Gods help repay your kinde visit and bring you the best satisfaction I shall be able to do and so I pray God to enlighten us both to see his faith and truth so for the present they parted and the Lady fell to the perusual of the paper that Mrs. N. had left with her which was to this effect as followeth That the very body of Christ is neither in or under the Eucharist or Sacrament of the Lords Supper is apparant by these few texts taken out of and reasons deduced from Scripture Our Saviour Christ himself saith Matth. 29. For ye have the poor always with you Mat. 26.11 but me ye have not always Now if he were as you believe you have him in the Eucharist we should have him always He saith again John 6. It is the Spirit that quickneth John 6.63 the flesh profiteth nothing if therefore the flesh profiteth nothing what need is there of that great contention you make to have it in the Eucharist We have it frequently
plain in this particular as we see it is for St. Peter and his Successors the very Analogy of reason would induce that Jesus Christ should appoint somebody for that great charge to govern his whole Church First let us look upon the Anology of the Christian Church and that of the Jews The Mosaicall synagogue was but a Type or shadow of the Church of Christ but the Synagogue was always govern'd by one visible head Namely the High Priest to whom all others were subject as is apparent out of the Books of Exod. Levit. Deut. Therefore the Church of Christ ought to be so governed For it is not fit that the more perfect government which by all is acknowledg'd to be Monarchy should be over the shadow that we know is more imperfect then the substance and and not over the substance it self which is the Church of Christ And as the Jewish Synagogue was the Type of our Church so undoubtedly their High Priests were the Types of our Popes and as they presided over the whole Jewish Nation as to the externall government so our Popes in like manner do over all Christian people Now I ask you how it can stâ—â— with reason That Moyses Peut 17.8 9. who was a Type of Christ too should provide for the Synagogue that if there should arise a matter of difficulty that they should come unto the Priests and Levites and to the Judge that shall be in those dayes and enquire and they shall shew thee the sentence of Judgement which are his own words and that Jesus Christ should neglect to provide in the same manner for his own beloved Spouse his Church Since then Monarchical Government both in Church and state is the best of Governments and was the practis'd government of the Synaogue and amongst the jews and is the only government in the triumphant Church in heaven why should not the same provision be made by Iesus Christ for his poor Militant Church upon Earth Or why should you or any body else oppose that happiness of ours which Christ has appointed for us unless it be out of a design to bring your selves and the whole Church to confusion and to do as was done in those days when there was no King in Israel when every one did what seem'd good in his own eyes which unhappy licence that you call liberty shall be ever part of my Litany Judg. 17.6 Judg. 21.25 that God would please to deliver me and all his faithfull servants from To what you alledge against the power of the Pope that he can neither by himself nor with all his Cardinalls and councills about him he able to determine any matter of Fath. I answer thus To the First I say that you are clearly in a great errour to think thiâ— the Law and the Testimony or any written thing was or could be judge of any controversie or difficulty whatsoever but the High Priest as appears by the Text aforecited out of Deuteronomy Then those words to the Law and to the Testimony are to be understood far otherwise than you imagine as is plain by the precedent words which are these and when they shall say unto you seek unto them that have familiar spirits and to wizards that peep and that mutter should not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead then immediatly follows to the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them c. Now it is plain that the Prophet speaks here only against those who were wont to consult witches wizards and Sorcerers about future events and therefore they were remitted partly to the Law Deut. 18.9 1 Kings 22 7. which did expresly prohibit all that and partly to the Testimony of the Prophets who were appointed by God to foretell futurities to them The sense therefore of those words to the Law and to the Testimony 1 Sam. 28.7 is this if you will be inform'd of future events you ought not to consult witches wizards or sorcerers as Saul did because God had forbidden that by his Law to which I therefore remitted you but consult ye the Prophets of God whose office it is to foretell all future things that ye ought to know What does this make to the derision of difficult controversies or determination of matters of Faith Nothing at all sure unless you can think this Argument to be good It is not Lawful to consult Witches Wizards and Sorecters therefore onely Scripture is to be the Judge of controversies This sure is a very pitifull Argument and yet such as that do your great Rabbins and principall Doctors make use of to abuse you and themselves To the second I grant that Jesus Christ disputing with the Jews who denyd him to be the Son of God does remit them to the Scriptures but not to them only neither for he proves himself to be so by other Testimonies First he appeals to the Testimony of John the Baptist saying you sent to John and he gave witnesse to the truth Joh. 1.34 now his Testimony was this Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the World and again I have given witnesse to the truth Joh. 5.36 because this is the Son of God Secondly he refers them to the Testimony of the miracles that he wrought amongst them But I saith he have greater witnesse then that of John for the Works which the Father hath given me to finish the same works that I do Mat. 3.27 Luk. 9.35 Joh. 5.39.40 bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me Thirdly he refers them to the Testimony of God the Father saying And the Father that sent me he hath given Testimony of me that was when he said from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him Fourthly and Lastly hee refers them as you urge to the Testimony of the Scriptures saying Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternall life So much as to say if you will not accept of the three first Testimonies of me which sure are most efficatious ones otherwise I had never produced them yet at least ye cannot reject the Testimony of the Scriptures in which you glory so much they themselves if you search and examine them as you should do give Testimony of me that Jame the Messias promis'd by God Why therefore will ye not believe c. Thus in my Opinion your Argument retorts it self upon you more then oppugneth us For you contend that only Scripture is necessary for the decision of controversies and difficulties in faith and yet you see that Christ himself does not so but remits us to those other Testimonies as well as Scripture now the Catholick Church does in this as in all things else imitate our blessed Lord and Saviour for in those controversies which she hath with all Adversaries she does not use the testimony of Scriptures
only but likewise the testimony of the most antient and holy Fathers the invincible evidence of the true Mother-Church and the testimony of divine miracles which are frequently one for the confirmation of our faith But you forsooth as if you were wiser than Christ himself will neither admit or hear of any thing but out of Scripture alone in which you shew your selves like those Jews against whom our Saviour so disputes for the Jews casting off all other testimony would admit onely of Scripture 2 Cor. 3.14.15 â— and yet they neither understood it then nor yet do or ever will as the Apostle tels us when he says but their minds were blinded for untill this day remaineth the same Vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament c. and again when Moses is read the Vail is upon their hearts c. To the third For what you urge so hard out of the Acts you shall find to be to as little purpose as the other if if you but please to examine the Context which tells you That there being a Synagogue of Jews at Thessalonica St. Paul as his manner was went in unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures opening and alledging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead Act. 17.2 3. and that Jesus whom he preacht unto them was Christ c. But the Word so preacht did but little profit those of Thessalonica then follows that they of Berea were more Neble then those of Thessalonica in that they received the Word with all readinesse of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so c. Now I would fain know what you wil conclude out of this as to your purpose unless thus Those of Berea searched the Testimonies of Scripture concerning Christ that were quoted by St. Paul therefore Scripture alone must determine faith and be the only Rule and Judge between us That is just as if you would say that one of your Doctors searcheth all the testimonies of St. Austin that are quoted by Bellarmin therefore St. Austin is the only Judge of Controversies Or thus one of your Congregation searcheth all the testimonies which are produced against a great Doctor of yours as they are quoted by a greater of your own therefore that great Doctor is the only judge of Controversies Or thus one of your Doctors searcheth all the Traditions that are alledged in the Councill of Yrent thefefore only Tradition is to be receiv'd for a Judge of Controversies I pray you forbear these pitiful consequences and yet your great Doctors seldommake be tter are not asham'd of them so I may well excuse you andothers seduced by them To the Fourth I say that your Argument if it had any weight at all would serve altogether as well agianst your self as us for if as you understand it every man be a Lyar add may erre it will follow necessarily that Moses with the Prophets Apostles and Evangelists nay that your Friends Luther and Calvin nay all your Preachers to be Lyars and may erre because they are men therefore there is no credit to be given to any of them no confidence to be put in them but all things that are said by them must be taken for suspected and uncertain where then is faith Nor matters it though they say that the Word which they tell us is not their own but Gods Word for if they be Lyars they may as well lye in the delivery of Gods message as in any thing else of their own nothing therefore can be certain But God forbid that any Christian should think so for it is far otherwise First we confesse the Scripture to be certain and infallible because it is the Word of God but we adde that it is so obscure that the true sence and meaning cannot easily appear to every man Therefore of necessity there must be some other Judge that must infallibly determine what is the clear and genuine sence of the Scripture it self Now this infallible Judge cannot possibly be every private man for then there would be so many Judges as there be men and diversities of Opinions and so there would be an utter impossibility to agree to any thing or compose any difference in Religion every one being apt to favour his own opinion It is necessary therefore that there should be a publick Judge agreed upon who should have a power of decreeing defining and determining all things between differet parties Gen. 8.21 Psal 38.6 Then again we says that we must consider men in two respects Num. 11.17 Deut. 17.9 Aug. 2.12 Malac. 2.3 Jerem. 1.7 first as men and the sons of Adam so obnoxions to many naturall corruptious so without doubt they are all prone to lying and falshood In the next place we must consider them as they are directed and goveâ—n'd by the Holy Ghost for the instruction of others so they are infallible and without possibility of lying such as Moses in the Old Testament with bis Congregation of Elders about him So were divers other High Priests that succeeded him such were the Prophets Isaiah Jeremiah Ezechiel Daniel and all the rest Such in the New Testament were the Apostles to whom it was said I wil from the Father send you the spirit of truth and again when the of Spirit of truth shall come he shall teach you all truth Iohn 16.6.13 now where there is all truth there can be no lye Such ever was now is and still must be the Church of Christ which having the perpetuall assistance and government of the same Holy Spirit ha's as it were the heart of it so long therefore as the faithfull Christian shall continue in the unity of the Church and keep close to the Doctrine of the supream Bishop and Councells he shall participate of the assistance and government of the holy Ghost nor can erre in faith but if through any pride or perversity of spirit he shall disagree and depart from that head and heart then he shuts all those passages and Chanels by which that divine assistency and direction is to be derived and so must of necessity be seduced from truth and led into a Labyrinth of errours as we have sadly seen in all the antient and modern Hereticks The next similitude may be drawn from a flock of sheep which indeed is the best representation of the Church Ioh. 10.14 math 28.20 as our Saviour himself is pleas'd to attest in the Gospel for as the whole flock being in one Fold or place collected together has the perpetuall assistance and guard of the Shepherd and so are defended from the malice fierceness of wolves so the Universall Church of the faithfull being collected in one faith and spirit has the perpetuall care and assistance of that divine Shepherd who said I an the good Shepherd and know my Sheep and again and I am always with you to the end of the
the second I deny that there shall be an universal falling away of the faithfull in the time of Antichrist but of some onely And in that methinks you contradict your self for you say that Antichrist is already come and yet you affirm that there are some faithfull lest Then it is a great dispute as I have understood amongst the learned whether the Apostle out of whom you take your proofe speaks there of a falling away from the faith for many of the most learned are of opinion that he only speaks of a falling away from the Romane Empire But that euriosity I shall not further meddle withall it being out of our road and above our pitch To the Third In truth methinks it is a very sad course of arguing that most of your Church are pleased to use that is if you can find any one Text that is never so obscure if it can be fashioned at all for your turn you will entirely insist upon it though there be hundreds of clear Texts to the contrary As for example This Text you urge out of Daniel is very dark That he shall cause the Sacrifice and oblation to cease I am sure these Texts are very clear That the gates of hell shall not prevail against it again I am alwayes with you to the end of the world and again I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and again The Church is the pillar and foundation of truth These Texts I say are clear and need no Interpreter the other that you quote is so obscure that the greatest learning in the world may be at a stand to understand it For most understand that place of the failing of the Synagogue and the cessation of the Jewish Sacrifices not at all of the Christian Church And those that do interpret it of the Christian Church make it to be the cessation of publick worship only not of the Christian faith To the Fourth I grant that the Church is frequently compared to the Moon but never as to her failings but in these respects following First as the Moon in the beginning of the moneth is very litle and so by litle and litle encreaseth till she grow full andperfect so the Christian Church in the beginning of its rise took up but very litle room afterward encreased and spead it self by degrees that at last it should diffuse it self over the face of the whole world Secondly as the Moon receives corporeal light from the Sun so the Church receives its light of faith and holiness from the Sun of righteousness that is Christ Thirdly as the Moon is subject to changes so is the Church in this life for sometimes she flourisheth in the splendor of peace sometimes is oppressed with persecutions but never totally fayles it may be clouded for a while but never quite extinguished You see then in what the similitude between the Moon and the Church consists and no similitude as I am informed is obliged to run upon four feet The Church cannot at all be like the Moon in her failings but more resembles the earth as she is likewise called in Scripture for her firmness stability unmoveableness Then why should you bring that similitude to the prejudices of the Church when there are so many to the favour and honour of her throughout the sacred Scripture where you may find that she is as frequently called the Sun as the Moon an enclosed Garden a Fountain a Paradise a fair Dove the City of God the Land of the living the woman cloathed with the Sun the Queen in a vesture of gold c. and many more such honorable titles as those you cannot but your own reading find out in Scripture and those methinks all dutifull children should be more ready to give to their Mother then to throw dirt in her face or to asperse her with calumnies as for the honesty goodness of Wicklif Huss Luther and Calvin I will not meddle but only ask you who were the one or two honest and godly men that in the ages before them did ever so contradict the Church if you know not any such why do you so rashly affirm it if you do I should desire you to name them and let us know whereabouts they lived Howsoever by your argument you make the Church of Christ to be in a worse condition then the Synagogue of the Jews Gal. 4.11 when we know the Church is our Mistress and the Synagogue but a servant but the Synagogue was never so deserted that but two onely were to be found in it Nay in the time of Elias Rom. 9.4 when it was thought to be most forsaken yet there were found in it seven thousand how can you possibly think the Church of Christ should be ever left so desolate as but two honest and godly men should be found in it when we find it so clear said in the Prophesie of Isay Isay 54.1 that the Church should be of a far larger extent and more fruitfull in its children than ever the Synagogue was so I pass to your last and grand concluding argument which proves the Pope to be Antichrist and then I hope I shall make an end with you To your last argument and that which you presume will conclude me as you have layed it I look upon it to be the weakest and least signifycant that you have alledged yet for truly all those markes of Antichrist that you produce upon the Pope are meer trifles and tricks of some of your Doctors invention and truly would agree better in the application to themselves than to his holiness and how imposible it is that they should be applicable to him I 'le pass through every particular The first note that you give of Antichrist is that he must fall away from the faith now defending of purgatory invocation of saints and sacrifice of the Mass cannot be called falling from the faith because the most ancient fathers of the Church have allways been of that opinion Your Doctors therefore are most manifestly fallen from the faith that so expressly oppose those received Doctrines The second mark you give of the Beast is that he shall sit in the Temple of God and that you say the Pope does as the head of the Church at Rome Truly I doe humbly conceive the case to be very different between sitting in the Temple of God at Hierusalem and sitting in the Church of Christ at Rome Antichrist shall sit in the Temple of Hierusalem and be adored of the Jews the Pope sits in the Church of Christ at Rome which all you have most unhappyly forsaken The third marke you say is that he shall shew himself as God and that the Pope plainly does you say whilst he makes himself the visible head of Christs Church but sure that is not all one as to shew himself as God For Peter himself shewed himself as visible head as we have proved already but onely Antichrist shall shew himself as God The
fourth marke you make is to exalt and oppose himself to and above all that is called God and that you say the Pope does when he exalts himself above all ecclesiastical and civil power here give me leave to tell you that Moses was above all ecclesiasticall and civil power and yet in that he was not exalted above God Thus four markes of Antichrist you are pleased to take out of the Epistle of S. Paul to the Thessalonians your fifth marke followes out of S. John That he must deny Jesus Christ which you say the Pope does by the corruption of the doctrine that concernes the mediation of Christ and introducing of new mediators but that I have proved to be a corruption of yours as you wil see in my last paper The sixth marke again you make to be that he is a Lyer and worker of fals miracles so you say the Pope does at Loretto and other places I wonder your understanding is so weak as to think that we think that the Pope does the Loretto miracles but God If you would prove any thing as to this point you should prove indeed that the Pope does those very miracles which the Scripture foretells that Antichrist shall do Revel 13.13.15 as that he should make fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men Then that he should make the Image of a beast to speak c. neither of these miracles as ever I heard of hath been attempted yet by any pope The seventh and last marke you give is that he causeth all both small and great rich and poor free and bond to receive a mark c. and the pope you say plainly does that Revel 16.13 ch 14.9 when he imposeth his Character upon some and marks upon all as by the Sacrament of confirmation wherein he useth the unction of his Chrisme to sign the foreheads c. Here are cleerly three conditions required by the text to the accomplishment of this mark first that it should be common to all great and little rich and poor bond and free Secondly that he should impose his Character either in their foreheads or right hands Thirdly that none but he that has his mark or character shall be priviledged to buy or sell Now let any man shew that those conditions do at all suite with the unction of Chrisme and Isle rest fully satisfied otherwise this argument which you so fondly boast of hath no force at all So according to my former method I shall be bold to reply and to conclude your trouble and mina upon this occasion That the whole Church of Christ cannot possibly erre and that the Roman Catholick Church is that Church disperst over all the world I prove by most express Scripture thus How that the Catholick Church is the body of Christ the spouse of Christ and the kingdom of heaven is clear by many Scriptures what probability then nay what possibility is there that a thing so nearly related to him and in so high dear and honorable relations should be forsaken by him First That the Church is his body is plain out of S. Paul who tells us Eph. 4. that God laid all things under his feet and gave him to be head of the whole Church which is his body and the fulnesse of him who filleth all in all wherefore walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called with all humility and meekness with patience and long suffering supporting one another in charity Cap. 5. and carefull to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace there is one body and one spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling one Lord one Faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all who is above all and through you all and in you all Then to the Corinthians again 1 Cor. 11. Rom 12. and to the Romanes he sayes ye are the body of Christ and members one of another Then that the Church is the Spouse of Christ is plain out of other Texts as first out of the Canticles My Dove Cantic 6.9 my undefiled is but one she is the onely one of her mother she is the choice one of her that bare her c. And in another place A garden inclosed is my Sister my Spouse Cant. 4.11 a spring shut up a fountain sealed and therefore S. John sayes of the new Hierusalem which is the Church of Christ Rev. 21.2 that he saw her coming down out of Heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband And S. Paul more largely and plainly yet tells the Ephesians thus Wives submit your selves unto your Husbands as unto the Lord for the Husband is the head of the Wife even as Christ is the head of the Church Ephes 5.22 23 24 25 26 27. and he is the Saviour of the body therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ so let the Wives be to their own Husbands in every thing Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy without blemish Now examine I pray you what a prety piece of Christianity it is to impute impurity and errour to it Then that the Church is called the Kingdome of Heaven too Mat. 20. is as plain by Scripture first out of S. Mat. 22.2 3. Matthews Gospell For the Kingdome of Heaven is like unto a man that is an householder which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard Then again The Kingdome of Heaven is like unto a certain King Mat. 25.1 2 3. which made a marriage for his Son and sent forth his servants to call them that were bid to the medding c. Then again The Kingdome of heaven shall be likned to ten Virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the Bridgroome and five of them were wise and five were foolish c. Many more such Parables we find in the Gospells but these three will be enough for our purpose to draw from thence these three conclusions first if the Church be called the Kingdome of Heaven how should errour falsity and uncleaness raign in it so many hundred years as you pretend it has when the Kingdome of Heaven we know is the Kingdome of truth and purity Secondly It is plain that God goes out even untill the evening to hire labourers whereas you do and must maintain that none were hired in the Church for above a thousand years but your late upstart Doctors Thirdly It is plain that the Church here militant is a collection of good and bad for our Saviour saies plainly that of the Virgins five were wise and five foolish and so fishes good and bad come to the net of the
that the sum of all the controversies that our English Schools have been wrangling and the Pulpits railing about this hundred years is here perfectly represented on both sides nor is it to be wondred at that women should arive to such a perfection in divinity in this age wherein all learning is almost become prostitute when above a thousand years ago we finde one of the curiousest peices of divinity written by Athenais who seemed to be that which the Poets feigned of Pallas she was bred in Paganisme better acquainted with the Theogony of Hesiod than the genealogy of Jesus Christ better skil'd in Homers Illiads then the books of the Gospel and better in the Apothegmes of Pythagoras then the commandments af God but she became afterwards so skilful in the Christian Law that she wrote in Homerick verses the principal Acts of Jesus Christ and even as the blessed Magdalen with the same hair wherewith she had weaved nets for wanton love did afterwards turn into a Towel to wipe the feet of our Saviour so she consecrated all the Graces of her wit and learning which she had before misimployed in vanities to the Trophy of Jesus Then as to the devotion of that sex I conceive it less questionable when women are right set none can go beyond them for that The Church hath always given to them the title of the devout sex Their blessing is in the dew of Heaven they resemble Bees which are born in hony or rather those birds of the fortunate Islands that breath no air but perfumes and are onely nourisht with incense they grow wholly Angelical insomuch as forgetting their sex and all their natural imperfections they furnish themselves with the most perfect Ideas of divinity and scarce retain any thing in them common with matter We find likewise that great priviledges and prerogatives are given to them by our Saviour for as the chast womb of a woman served him for a lodging at his first entrance into the world so when he was to issue out of it amongst so many horrors and terrible images of death when stones were rent in sunder for grief under his feet and heaven it self distended with sorrow over his head women also were found near to the Cross as witnesses of his last words and survivers of his bloud nay they were the first likewise that he would do the honour to appear to after his resurrection Now I must confess that the prejudicators of this piece and all the devotion and divinity of that sex carry with them a great deal of reason too for there is a sort of fisking Gossips who imagine devotion to he nothing but an ordinary practise of motions and gestures such as little puppets would make if annimated with a quantity of Quicksilver whilest the true virtues of devotion we know according to S. Thomas is nothing else but a prompt will to the service of God others there are of them whose devotion is altogether silken and very fine forsooth in all things so coy and curious they will be in the choice of persons that Sacraments themselves are good for nothing if they he not tyed to such and such hands where vanity seeks its interests nay forsooth their dovotion is such that they will plant their prettie petite pride upon the very hair cloth of Penance and if God would chastise such creatures to their liking he must be forced to tye up his rods with silk or else they will never receive correction from his hands Though they rise not till noon yet as if they feared the vapours of the serain they must be armed before they come out of their beds with restoratives from the Kitchin to keep their colours more fresh Then they will set themselves down to be cloathed with their Lookingglasses before them as if their fingers were too good to touch their own clothes and yet will be drest up like Idols and so adored too by their servants who are to stand about them admiring of their beauty which they have more ado too to preserve then the Vestals of Rome had to maintain the sacred fire one presents their Ladyships with white another with red this with some Serous that with some Fucus another attends the Looking-glass to hold it or remove it at their Ladyships pleasure whilest another stands behind to he the tell-clock but dares not tell their Ladyships that the hour of the Curch is ready to be past whilst their Ladyships are fastening on their Pennons Necklaces or Bracelets yet must the Canons of the Church be as easily broken as a glass to obey the humors of these women and the celebration begin when it is to be doubted whether the Sun begin not then to bend towards its setting prayers in the Church must be past over with making of some sowre faces and looking scornfully with a good grace with some slight ceremonies of devotion it may be which go no further neither then the outward parts There it is where resolutions are made of entertainments of time to be chosen for the next day then follow visits gaddings coachings dancings c. besides what passeth behind the Curtain their husbands in the mean time are very uncivil as they say if they give them not permission to do any thing and as it is said of the Moon that she never agrees in qualities with the Sun but when she hath ecclipsed him so they find no concord in marriage but in the diminution of their husbands authority These are the Lady-birds that will make their husbands sell a large patrimony to buy them a little Cabinet lay out thousands of pounds upon a rope of Pearl to wear about those necks that do better deserve a halter nay their very ears which they take a pride to shew little and slender yet they must have whole Lordships hanging upon them A man would say to see how they pamper their bodies that they were discended from heaven and that thither they intended to return without passing through the sepulchre so they deifie their flesh and to fatten and gild a dunghill covered with snow they sport with the blood and sweat of men what a sight it is to see these Ladies groan as at a torture under the weight and straightness of their garments and yet for all this will court and adore their own punishments He that will take the pains to examine well the furniture of them will think that they resemble those birds that have no body almost under a great deal of feathers then their apparrel is made rather to sell their bodies then to cover them I know not for my part what may be reserved for the eyes of their husbands when through all the streets and markets the secret parts of their wives bodies are exposed as open as if they were ready to be delivered over to the best bidders Then the cloaths they wear are so extravagant in their head dressings flying elbows great gorgets and farthinggals that the Church dores
must be made wider to receive them These are the devotes of this age that spend a fourth part of their life in dressing and besmearing themselves to make themselves gross in one part and little in a nother to raise terrets on their heads and shackles on their hands and heels to be as solicitous about adress as if they had a Venetian Common-wealth to manage Then they are so imperious and proud withall that they must be no more offended than those Stars which are thought to send tempests upon such as have not humbly saluted them So many hundred Communions and exhortations have not taken off one hair of their vanities they will eat the immortal Lamb once or twice a week it may be and yet daily upon all occasions they will become Lionesses in their houses They will lay the holy Eucharist on their tongues as the seat of the spouse and yet will not bridle or restrain them from one evil word and will speak more slanders in one dinner time then they eat morsels This was the reason sure that Solomon so divinely assures us Prov. 19. domus divitiae dantur a parentibus a domino autem uxor prudens houses and riches come from Parents but a wise and virtuous wife from the hand of God and such doubtless as Solomon speaks of were our divine Duelists here as for the Doctors wife here she was not after the rate of other Parsons wives who must always be the best women in the parish and take place of their Landlords and Patrons wives if they be not Ladies forsooth and wear better cloths two then they no her husband was not of the common rate of Churchmen neither who take a pleasure to employ the patrimony of Jesus the sweat and blood of the faithful in good cheer excess and play and suffer their Churches to fall to decay the Altars to become naked the windows shivered to pieces the walls to weep and Spiders there to spin their webs Rats to run up and down and the poor of their parish famish whilest I know not what little wives or wenches drag silk at their heels at the charge of the Crucifix Nor was our Roman Catholick Lady here of a much different make being a true widdow indeed and wholly taken up with hospitalities and charities notwithstanding she was always under a most severe persecution here for her conscience Vinegar is said to be used for precious stones which have their fire frozen over and their luster ecclipsed so she was to have a little touch of acerbity to enlighten her virtues she was indeed like a Pearl that comes from the salt sea and beheld her self involved almost from her birth in great perplexities and horrible confusions of the age from whence she alwaies arose with so much luster as she made still her adversities to be steps to the Temple of glory Sports and feasts were punishments to her she was seldome found in the company of men unless it were some beggers whose miseries she relieved and persons assisted in sickness and in health Her whole heart went towards God her feet to the divine service her hands to alms her eyes to reading books of devotion her arms to the exercise of huswifry and works of her sex and her whole body to the sacrifices and victims of her soul Thus because I was obliged not to publish our Duelists names I have been bold to give you an imperfect character of some of their qualities which I hope will discharge you of a prejudice against their following discourses and obtain at least a pardon from them if not acceptance from you which I should most humbly beg likewise that your candour would please to bestow upon the Publisher Your most humble Servant THO. TOLL THE FEMALE DUEL Or the Ladies LOOKINGLASS Representing a Scripture combate about business of Religion THe occasion of this feminine encounter is related thus Mirs N. wife to a Dr. of Divinity and a dignified person in the Church of England a woman highly honored by all her neighbours for her Religion virtue and discretion came one day to visit my Lady M. of the same Parish though of another perswasion yet equally esteem'd for her great piety and prudence a Person wholly made up of charity and good neightbourhood and was truly that widdow indeed which S. Paul would have Now after the common complements of such visits were past between the Doctors wife was pleased to assault her Ladyship with these or the like words Mrs. N. Madame it would prove I fear but a pitiful piece of flattery I me sure impertinency to tell your Ladyship how much you are beloved and honour'd by all your neighbours for those great charities and hospitalities that your goodness is pleased here daily to dispence amongst us for your Ladyship cannot but know it your self But one thing now I must be bold to tell your Ladyship which it may be you yet know not and I presume your excellent good nature will not be offended at it for I am sure it proceeds from a true zeal to your Ladyships service Lady M. Truly Mirs N. you needed not have troubled your self with so much apology to usher in your discourse you know that I love nothing like a friendly neighbourly freedome and faults as I know I have enough so I desire to hear and to amend Mrs. N. Nay Madame it is no fault that by your Ladyships favour I am about to tell you but a meer misfortune onely and so it is humbly conceived by all those that as I said before do so cordially love and honour your Ladyship and might be with as much ease and happyness to your self remedied as we all do apprehend L. M. Deer Mrs. N. I prethee make hast to take me off the thorns of my longing expectation to know the issue of your desires and I 'le promise you faithfully my best endeavours to the very utmost of my power to render you and all the world besides what satisfaction is desired in that particular Mrs. N. O madame that you would so say and hold I should then be the happiest woman in the world Lady M. Why Mrs N. I hope you never yet found me worse then my word I pray you therefore be cleer with me and you shall be sure of an equal return Mrs. N. Why then dear Madame give me leave to say that I am but the voyce of many thousands more who have so perfect a love and honor for your Ladyship that they would think their lives too little to serve you and are doubly troubled first for your Ladiships sake whom they take to be the pattern of all noble goodness and so perfectly amiable in your self that you should yet remain in such an odious and idolatrous Religion then for themselves that they cannot have the happiness to enjoy your Ladiships company and family in our Churches as well as in our Markets and that our souls do not meet in a spiritual as well as