Worship in the greatest detestation and abhorrence because they know 't is impossible that Popery should ever return upon Us or be establisht again in England while our Common-Prayer-Book is kept unaltered For the whole Form of our Worship is point blank contrary to Image-Worship praying to Angels and Saints Propitiatory Sacrifice Doctrin of their Sacraments Transubstantiation c. And this is the true Reason why they do so mortally hate both Vs and our Religion And again those Prayers in our Liturgy which were taken out of the Mass-Book are many of them the Collects and Devotions of the Antient Fathers which were in use before ever Popery was known in the World which being purged from the Popish Superstition by our Reformers are now lawfully used by the Church of England according to their Original Institution Insomuch that those who cavil at our Service because some part of it is used by the Papists may as well find fault with the Epistles and Gospels Psalms Chapters Creeds Commandments Lords Prayer c. these being also in the Papists Mass-Book Having fully cleared this first Objection we pass to the 2. And they charge Us again with many Corruptions Additions Defects and circumstantial Errors in our Set Form of Worship and Discipline for they have no Objections against our Doctrin and Fundamentals and for those seeming Reasons they think themselves obliged to withdraw and separate from our Communion Answer This may seem to be a weighty Objection at the first sight and the most plead it being joined with the former which we have answered to the full as the Cause why they think and speak so hardly of our Church and desert our Communion But they might be persuaded to alter their Opinion if laying aside all Prejudice they would but seriously and impartially consider these few Things And 1. 'T is a true and undoubted Maxim that all Persons are obliged to hold Communion with the National and Establish'd Church where they live and must by no means separate from it tho there be some circumstantial Additions Errors and Defects in its external Worship Politie or Discipline For 't is plain that the Prophets and People of God did not separate from but held Communion with the Jews in their Publick Worship tho there were very many and great Defects and Corruptions c. both in their Doctrin and Practice This is clear in many Instances For the solemn Ordinances of God as Circumcision and the Passover were for a long time a-wanting and such Monuments of Idolatry were set up as not only the People thereby became superstitious and immoral but even the Priests also as Eli's two Sons c. brought a Scandal upon their Religion Were not these greater Faults than any of our fiercest Adversaries can charge upon us And yet for all that we sind not one President of so much as any single Person that departed from their Communion 2. At the time of our B. Saviours coming into the World the Jewish Worship was exceedingly corrupted with the Leaven of the Pharisees the Heresie of the Sadduces who denied the Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection of the Body Besides the whole Service of God was intolerably prophaned the Temple polluted Religion subverted Judgment and the Love of God trampled upon and neglected many needless and superstitious Ceremonies interlarded with their Worship the People addicted to all manner of Wickedness and even the Priests themselves very heterodox and dissolute both in their Faith and Manners And yet at that time we find several religious Persons both Men and Women with great Zeal and Devotion worshiping God in the Temple as Zachary and Simeon Hannah and Elizabeth c. And our Blessed Saviour himself was by his pious Parents presented in the Temple according to the Custom and Law of Moses He afterwards kept the Passover and all the Festivals of the Jewish Church frequented and taught daily in the Temple in their Synagogues gave Honour and Reverence and paid Tribute to their Rulers nor did he ever desert their Communion till he was forced to retire to save his own Life So that he thought it necessary and so did those other Votaries to join in Gods Publick Worship notwithstanding those great Errors and Defects which thanks be to God are not chargeable upon Us. But 3. There were many Errors and Defects both in the Doctrin and Practice of the then slourishing Churches of Corinth Galatia c. and yet the Apostle S. Paul was so far from encouraging a Schism in and Separation from the Communion of those Churches that he threatens those Persons with the severest Punishments who were the Instruments in fomenting and promoting those Animosities and Divisions Nor is there any one Instance or President in the whole Scripture to warrant our departure from any Church that is Sound and Orthodox in her Principles however erroneous and corrupt in the Politie and Circumstantials of Divine Worship We might hereunto add 4. The concurrent Judgments and Opinions of the most Eminent and Reformed Divines beyond Sea who have unanimously declared their Dislike of a Separation from our Communion as Calvin Bullinger Bucer and many others And tho they dissented from Us in lesser Things yet held Communion and Correspondence with our Church Church-men as may appear by their several Letters to our Reformers and would have been glad if their Circumstances would have allowed our Form of Church Politie and deservedly preferr'd it to any Church Government in the World. But to argue yet more closely 5. If any will refuse our Communion and separate from Us because there are some pretended Errors in the Discipline and Circumstantials of our Worship which yet none have ever been able to prove against Us they 'l be obliged upon the same score to withdraw their Communion from all the Churches in Christendom For what Church Government shall they be ever able to assign that 's so pure and sincere as to be wholly exempted from Circumstantial Errors and Defects And were there not more Faults in the Worship of the Primitive Churches for the five first Centuries than are at present in Ours Are there no Errors in the Worship Constitutions and Ecclesiastical Government of Geneva and Amsterdam I 'm sure many of their Learned Divines have ingenuously acknowledg'd that all things were not according to their Desire and yet did not think it Prudence to alter the Government for the sake of some small Errors In short our Dissenting Brethren must either disclaim these Conceits or turn Hermits and Anchorets live in a Cell or Wilderness and even depart from themselves who as I could easily shew them are guilty of as many if not more and greater Faults and Errors in their little Assemblies than can be justly charged upon Vs or the Liturgy and Government of the Church of England Whither would not these wild and extravagant Fancies carry any Man that shall give way to them So that they must either prove their own Churches
with all the Laws and Constitutions of our admirable Government both in Church and State is absolutely necessary not only for our own sakes but the Peace and Preservation of the whole Body 2. 'T is a strange Mistake then which some have run upon that nothing is to be admitted in our Publick Worship and Ecclesiastical Discipline and Politie of our Church but what is plainly exprest in the Holy Scriptures hereby excluding all human Laws and Constitutions in Matters and Things indisserent Which wild Hypothesis has been the Original of all those untenable Opinions now on foot and the very most of our unchristian Divisions which have almost torn in pieces our Church are owing to this unreasonable and groundless Conjecture Whereas on the contrary the Writers of the greatest Note and Eminence amongst our Brethren of the Non-conformity are forced to acknowledge that there are many Circumstances in the Public Service of God and the Government of the Church which must be regulated and order'd according to the Light of Nature and Laws of Christian Prudence as the holy Apostle directs in those general Rules Let all things be done decently in order and for Edification And do also confess that even in their own Assemblies and we know it to be true and certain there are many such Circumstances for which they have no express Rule in Scripture but do use them prudentially for the Honour and Interest of Religion and the Order Uniformity of Gods Worship Besides 't is observable that the Holy Scriptures treat chiefly of the Essentials of Faith and Worship and only mention the Governours and Government of the Church with some general Rules as before for the ordering of its Politie and Discipline Insomuch that many Persons of great Learning and Judgment are of opinion that there 's no one Set-Form of Government for the Christian Church to be found in the whole Bible but must be left to our Governours to order and appoint according to the Rules and Dictates of sound Judgment and Discretion Which the Learned and Judicious Hooker gives a most admirable Account of in his Ecclesiast Polit. Nor can this in the least impeach as some have vainly objected the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures or the Fidelity of Christ in not leaving a perfect Model of Church Government behind him For we have seen already that the Holy Scriptures were primarily intended to instruct us in the Fundamentals of Faith and Christian Morality and speak only overtly of Church Discipline and Government And for the Fidelity of Christ herein 't is plain that the Church in our Saviours Time was in her Minority which must afterwards by degrees grow up to a state of greater Liberty and Perfection What others have urged from the Form of Church Government under the Jewish Oeconomie concludes nothing For the Jews lived all under one Politie and in one Nation whereas Christianity is dispersed all over the World under many disserent Civil Governments and therefore the Circumstances of Religious Worship and Church Discipline must be suited to the State and Condition of different People within their several Jurisdictions as may appear most just and reasonable to the Judgments and Discretion of their lawful Governours Therefore 3. Tho every Person be obliged to hate and flie from Idolatry Heresie c. yet none should be affrighted from his Duty with meer Buggs and Scar-crows or the empty Appearances of Error without sufficient Grounds For tho our Liturgy and Set-Forms of Worship have been extreamly cavil'd at by some of our Adversaries yet 't is evident that neither the Prophets of old nor our Saviour and his Apostles nor the Primitive Fathers did ever find fault with the Stated Methods and Forms of Prayer but did practise and appoint 'em themselves and highly encourag'd them in others For there are many Set-Forms of Prayer Benedictions and Thanksgivings in the Writings of the Prophets our Saviour composed a Form of Prayer to be used by his Apostles and Followers tho they were doubtless as able to pray by the Spirit as the most Seraphick Enthusiast which Method also was observed by John the Baptist for the direction and assistance of his Disciples in God's Worship All which Stated Forms became Patterns and Presidents to the Churches of Christ in after Ages who had all their several Liturgies as we have nor is there any thing in our Service Book which is contrary to but most exactly conformable to those Rules 4. Let not the bare Pretence then of some small Errors in and about the Circumstances of Publick Worship prevail with any Man to separate from the Communion of his National Church seeing there have been and are as many and probably greater Errors in all the Churches of Christ in all Ages of the Gospel For tho our Blessed Saviour promis'd that the Gates of Hell should not prevail against the Vniversal Church that he will be with her to the end of the World send his Spirit to lead her into all Truth and abide with her for ever yet these Promises do only respect the Fundamental Doctrins of the Catholic and Universal Church of Christ or a People professing the Truth however they may err as all of them do in Opinions not essential to Religion And seeing every particular Church may be guilty of some Errors and Mistakes in outward Circumstances of Religion therefore fore he that will separate upon this Account can scarce hold Communion with any National Church upon Earth And those fickle and fanciful Persons might have had the same Plea to have separated from the Christian Church in the time of the Apostles that they have now from Us Nor is there any one that understands the State of our Church but will readily acknowledge that our Orders of Bishops Priests and Deacons and Set Form of Worship and Discipline are if not of Apostolical yet of Primitive Institution 5. No meer Inconveniences or circumstantial Errors or Defects and those only alledged not proved against Us can justifie or excuse a Departure from Us since I have made it fully evident that our Church holds and maintains all the Essentials both of Faith and of Worship For we have seen already that all Men are oblig'd to conform themselves to the Constitutions of their National Church tho some of the external Modes Forms be inconvenient disorderly and defective rather than not be of any Church at all And what they cannot reform without disturbing the Peace of the Church 't is their Duty to tolerate seeing there 's no National and Particular Church in the World as we have already observed whose Constitutions and Government are absolutely perfect Therefore 6. Those Persons are extreamly to blame that require greater Purity in Gods Public Worship than the Holy Scriptures have commanded or our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles or the Primitive Orthodox Fathers have recommended to Posterity And tho there were some things amiss in the outward Rules and Laws of Worship and Government Yet
several Speeches Declarations Tryals and Transactions occasion'd by the late unhappy Wars in England wherein you 'l find more natural and useful Knowledge than is ordinarily to be met with in all the mouldy Records of antient Statists and Polititians Eighthly There will be no need to advise you what Authors you shall read in Divinity for I know sufficient care is taken for that already yet in my Opinion next to the Holy Scriptures and our Churches Catechism Dr. Hammonds Practical Catechism and those Books by the Author of the Whole Duty of Man are the best And indeed all our modern Writers of the Church of England for the last fifty or sixty years who have imploy'd their Parts Faculties and Time in treating de omni ente and out-done the greatest part of the World if accurately read and well digested will furnish you with variety of Matter all sorts of Methods and a delicate Style But then you should take Advice in the choice of such Books as are approved and most authentick upon every Subject that the whole Time of your Study may be profitably imployed for a few Books well read and throughly digested will more improve your Reason and Judgment than hundreds superficially turned over as many young Students do Yet there 's abundance of Pleasure in variety of Books for when your Faculties grow dull and weary of one you may pass to another as your own Genius and Inclination shall direct whereby the whole Time and Business of your Study will become a delight and benefit rather than a burthen to you Nor can any Recreation be so pleasant this I find by experience nor any Labour so profitable to a Scholar as Study And Lastly You 'l find it of singular use and advantage for the improvement of your Parts to imploy and exercise your Pen upon every Occasion Write often to your Relations and Friends for the neglect of that is a general fault in young Students Have always a Common-Place Book by you your Tutor will direct you to the most useful Heads and note therein the most remarkable quaint and ingenuous Passages you meet with in any Author which you may afterwards have recourse to immediately upon every occasion Observe likewise and note in writing all the Remarkable Occurrences in your Travel particularly the Situation of Places the Customs and Manners of the People their Religion Government Policies Traffique c. This will be of great ease to your Memory and of singular use and advantage in the whole Progress of your Life besides you 'l find that your Parts Style and Method will be the best improved by much Writing All Learned Men can witness this from their own Experience and is very remarkable in all our English Worthies insomuch that I dare be confident if you 'l apply your self to this method your Reason and Judgment will by degrees attain to such a Habit as will not dare to present you with any thing but what 's very curious and excellent Yet I would not hereby engage you to be so earnest in the pursuit of your Studies as to prejudice your own Constitution for there 's a Time for all things and too much reading may prevent the Access of a newer nearer and quicker Invention of your own Besides if your Body be strong as you 'l rather complain of the shortness of the Day than be wearied with Study so if it be weak and feeble the Decays of Nature may be repaired being also allowed to the strongest Constitutions either First By a sutable Conversation or Secondly By moderate and innocent Recreations For the first of these namely a sutable Conversation When you are wearied and indisposed with your Studies a door of Conference is open and the Conversation of learned wise and good Men is a greater Refiner of the Spirit than Books Yet let not this tempt you from your Studies in the Forenoon which is the most proper Time to be reserved and at your Book however whilst you continue in the Vniversity And herein let me advise you to lay down such Rules to your self in observing those stated Hours as no Man shall be able to persuade you to recede from them for that when your Resolutions are once known as no Person of Ingenuity will disturb you so you 'l find this Method of keeping this best part of the Day to your self will become not only practicable but very commendable and of singular benefit to you in more instances than I can readily mention But when Dinner is over so soon as you can with convenience and civility to the Company retire to your Closet and pray as in the Morning always concluding your Devotions in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the Lords Prayer Again read some portion of the Holy Scripture in the Old Testament and the Psalms for the Day and as before with attentive Observation And be as careful in performing your Evening Devotions with Thanksgivings for the Blessings of the Day and earnest Prayer for your Safety and Protection that night and for ever I do not doubt but you have good * As Common Prayer Book Patrick's Devotions c. Helps and particular Devotions by you for Morning and Evening which you may use with your own as God shall be pleas'd to enable you But be sure that you never lie down to rest till you have made your Evening Oblation that whether you sleep or wake you may be always safe under the shelter and protection of a gracious Providence But to return having performed your Devotions after Dinner then you may either go to or send for such Companions as you think fit and see that they be always choice and few for as the vitious and unlearned are not worthy of your Company and Acquaintance so too many of the more learned wiser and better sort will but increase the expence both of your Time and Money besides the Examples of others do usually prevail more and have a greater Influence than their Precepts and Counsels and by the opportunities of Converse either good or bad we commonly imbibe all the Tinctures of Vice or Vertue insomuch that 't is almost impossible for the most prudent Man to hold out long against the forcible Batteries of Custom and Opportunity But There are no certain Rules to be prescribed for Converse seeing all Discourses of that Kind are Occasional and depend much upon the Circumstances of Time Place Persons c. yet a Gentleman has usually the freedom to be as inquisitive as he pleases and what would be censured in others as humorous Moroseness or pragmatical Sawciness will be interpreted in you as an ingenuous desire and thirst after Knowledge Therefore 't is a singular and extraordinary Priviledge you have in this Kind above Persons of a lower Rank which being improved to the best Advantages may very much conduce to your Interest and Satisfaction for he 's a very weak Companion from whom you may not receive some benefit and
not indulge your self in any one Lust neither commit the least sin with delight and approbation because even those which we think are the smallest will prove Decoy's and Incentives to greater vain and sinful Thoughts proceeding to Words and Words to Deeds So that in this Progress of Wickedness a Man knows not where to stop till he has plunged himself into the most dangerous and irreparable Mischiefs And then on the other hand for your Positive Duties you should always propose God's Glory the happiness of your self and others as the End and his infallible Word and the Dictates of sober Reason as the Rule and Standard to govern all your Affairs by For without this your best Endeavours will prove either unprofitable or sinful Whereas if you observe this Method and your Intentions be sincere tho you fail in many Instances of Duty and unwillingly fall into some Sins and Errors yet God will be gracious in not imputing them and pass Judgment upon you according to the general Frame and Tendency of your Life if you do not wilfully and wickedly continue in any known Sin or the neglect of any known Duty 'T is observable hence what Obligations you lie under to avoid the most accursed and tempting Company of profane Swearers gluttonous Persons Wine-Bibbers unchast Men and Women c. I have singled out those Vices on purpose which are most incident to Youth and given you the most seasonable Advice I can think of to vanquish and overcome them Reject therefore every Temptation to sin and wickedness in the first Assault and the Conquest will be easie and certain Lament and deplore your past Failings and humbly beg the assistance of God's Grace and Spirit that you may be more watchful over your self and ways for the future Now the best and most certain Means to avoid greater Sins is to make Conscience of the less For the least Sin is damnable in the sight of God and when the work of Regeneration is wrought in you beware of Relapsing consider the dangers of habitual Sin and Apostasie from Grace and exert all your Endeavours to live in the exercise of a Conscience void of offence both towards God and Man For so the whole Time of your short aboad in this World will be pleasant and comfortable and your Death happy There are some other little things I desire to note to you before I leave this Point And First Beware of Swimming which you 'l probably be allured to in those Low Countries the most being dexterous in that Art For tho it may save a Mans Life in case of necessity yet a vain Currosity herein may expose you to the greatest Dangers and Hazards Therefore if you should attempt it for your Pleasure exceed not your own Depth and in seeking to save another have a care you drown not your self Secondly Your Gesture and Deportment should neither be light nor insolent nor wanton For the Life and Soul of true Honour is in generous Qualities and a modest and affable Carriage but yet with a comely regard to your self and such as becomes a Gentleman whose Mind is furnished with worthy and generous Spirits But in this Point as in his abstinence from the Vices and practice of all the Vertues hitherto recommended you have an admirable Pattern in your dear and worthy Father almost beyond Example whose temper and sweetness of Disposition has deservedly recommended him to the Favour and made him honourable and respected amongst all Persons of all Ranks and Conditions Yet be careful to avoid the other Extreme of affected Easiness or Compliance lest your good Disposition should be imposed upon by others Deceit and your own too much Credulity For too much Familiarity and Fawning is always rewarded either with Flattery or Contempt Thirdly What concerns your Bodily Deportment Wrestling Fencing and other Feats of Arms and Military Skill and how far all or any of these are expedient or necessary to be understood or practised I must leave to your self and better Judgments for Advice and Direction for these are not my Province What other Vertues or Vices may occur in your Conversation with others which my designed Brevity and the Occasion I write upon have persuaded me to omit you should note and observe them and make that use of them at least to improve and correct your own For what you dislike or admire in others study and endeavour to avoid the Evil and strive to imitate what is vertuous and commendable And when you have seriously consider'd all those several Rules and Arguments which under this Head do concern your Manners and Deportment you 'l be pleas'd to go one step farther to the last Branch of this faithful and friendly Advice which will have a more peculiar Respect to your Religion The End of the Second Part. ADVICE TO A YOUNG GENTLEMAN Of an Honourable FAMILY Now in His TRAVELS Beyond the SEA'S c. PART III. Of RELIGION THE Business of Religion is the grand Concernment that all of us are sent into the World to mind and our eternal Happiness or Misery depends on the right knowing and acknowledging of God or mistakes about it We had need therefore be very accurate in the choice of that Religion we intend to live and die in and venture our eternal Salvation upon Now there are many Opinions in the World concerning Religion and we may be easily imposed on and deluded if we make not a prudent and wise Choice I shall not trouble you with an account of Heathenism Mahometanism and Judaism For these are all false Religions and contrary to the whole scope and design of the Gospel which being without the Lines of Christian Communication we leave 'em to themselves and the righteous Judgment of God. We Christians know no other way to Salvation but One and that 's by Faith in Christ Jesus and therefore we think our selves obliged to believe the Principles of Christianity with all our Hearts and live according to them For there 's no other name under Heaven whereby we can expect or hope for Salvation but the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 4.12 Yet there are many Differences not only Circumstantial but Fundamental even amongst those that are called Christians which disturb the Peace of the Church and ruine the Souls of many private Persons as will appear more fully afterwards But 't is more immediately my Design to recommend to you and inforce the Belief and Practice of the truly Primitive and Reformed Religion as now solemnly and publickly profess'd and by Law establish'd in the Church of England I have not the least cause to doubt or suspect but that your Parents did seriously weigh and consider when they sent you abroad the Minority of your Age and Judgment which yet without your own extraordinary care and caution may hurry you unawares into the peril of Miscarriage For alas how many young Gentlemen have lost their Hopes and themselves in Foreign Adventures and return'd home as empty
to the Roman Catholicks and wholly unknown to the Old Church of Rome in her Primitive and Gospel Purity For these Errors and Delusions seem to have been contrived on purpose for the Support and Maintenance of the Pride and Covetousness of the Bishop of Rome and his Clergy as well as the Advancement of the Stateliness and Grandeur of their Church I could easily make it appear to you in all the Particulars that there 's not one of these Articles that has any Foundation in Scripture or Primitive Antiquity but are contrary to both and do undermine and overthrow almost all the Articles of our Christian Faith. But what I have said already concerning these Doctrins may be a sufficient caution to you not to venture your eternal Salvation upon such a Bottom lest you communicate with them in their Plagues Rev. 18.4 I have taken some pains to digest the whole Body of Popish Controversie into Order and Method for the satisfaction of my Self and Friends which I thought of necessary use at this time There are other excellent Authors which may be more valuable but you may command this if you please 't is not very large yet Methodical But to return As the Doctrin and Principles of the Church of Rome in those Instances wherein they differ from Us are heterodox absurd and erroneous so Secondly Their Practices are the natural and genuin Results and Consequences of such Principles Not to mention their private and personal Immoralities which may consist well enough with that Religion especially considering the Liberty and Indulgence allowed them which do more professedly belong to those of that Communion than any other we shall consider their Practices as Popish which are warranted to them by the Examples and Sanctions of their Superiours And of this Rank are Their Worshiping of Images Relicks Crosses Angels Saints and particularly the Virgin Mary all which are a most direct Violation of the Second Commandment and therefore they leave it out of all their Catechisms Manuals Mass-Books c. lest it should rise up in Judgment against them which Practices are also contrary to the whole Word of God and the Doctrin both of the Old and New Testaments Such also are their Dealings with the Laity who rob them of the Bread of Life in denying them the reading of the Holy Scriptures the Cup in the Sacrament and in commanding the whole Worship of God to be celebrated and perform'd in an unknown Tongue which few of their Laity and perhaps some of their Priests do not understand Tho they cannot but know that our blessed Saviour has expresly commanded that all indefinitely both Priests and People should search the Scriptures drink of that holy Cup and pray with the Spirit and pray with the Vnderstanding also Which no Person can in their Communion unless he understands Latin well and the strange Mumblings of their Priests who being generally too ignorant themselves are afraid that the People should know it O horrendum Nefas that such Practices as these should be so much as tolerated by those that are call'd Christians And yet there are still others as bad or worse than the former viz. Their Spiritual Tyranny in exacting a blind Obedience in Matters of Faith their innumerable Ceremonies and Superstitions which almost swallow up the whole Substance of Religion their notorious Schism many degrees worse than that of the Donatists and Novatians in separating from all other Churches far more Pure and Orthodox than themselves and yet because they cannot be the Pope's Subjects therefore they shall be none of Christs To say nothing of their School Points and Casuistical Divinity 't is evident that their whole Religion is only the bare shadow and outsides of Christianity and meer Pageantry and Formality of Devotion For alass their poor simple and ignorant Laity say hear and do they know not what and return from their Churches as void of Instruction and Christian Admonition and Edification as when they went and yet for all this which is the highest aggravation of their Sin and Misery they are obliged to believe that this their blind Devotion is not only acceptable but meritorious Besides how many notorious and damnable Sins pass for Venial and how easily are they atton'd for Insomuch that a few Drops of Holy Water and Cross upon their Breasts or Foreheads will throughly wash off the Stain according to their groundless Apprehensions and expiate the guilt of all their heinous and crying Sins Their notorious Equivocations have scarce left any room for Truth whereby they deceive others and offer violence to their own Consciences But tho poor ignorant and unwary Souls may be imposed upon and deluded yet it cannot be so with an All-seeing God who will one day convince all Men and expose their Sophistical Villanies and Reservations to the open and publick view both of Men and Angels Now this Liberty and Indulgence of theirs is so pleasing and acceptable to sensual and carnal Men that 't is no great wonder that they gain so many Proselytes to their Party as some do presumptuously and vainly boast But then if we give our selves the trouble to enquire what sort of Persons they are whom they have perverted we shall find that many of 'em are silly Women and Men notoriously debauched or ignorant or of mercenary Spirits who expect Preferment in that Way And therefore we have no great cause to regret the loss of them and if our number be less yet we are not the worse For if all our Licentious Hypocrites and Malefactors who are not worthy to live in the World should go over to their Communion we shall have no great cause to complain But alas these erroneous Principles and worse Practices of the Papists who being the more intelligent and judicious sort of that Communion cannot be so much the error and mistake of their Judgments as the perverseness of their Wills And tho a simple and ignorant Popeling who lies under such Temptations and Obligations as before may be saved yet I am afraid the more Learned and Discreet having made Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience are in a very dangerous State if they live and die according to those corrupt Principles because they are in the number of those damnable Heresies the Scripture speaks of What I have already offer'd are Truths as clear as the Sun nor can any thing in the World be more demonstrative to a Person throughly acquainted with the Principles and Practices of Popery And yet for all this 't is a thousand to one you 'l meet with some bold and cunning Sophisters who 'l tell you a great many plausible Stories and endeavour to elude the most clear and convincing Reasons which can be urg'd against them whereby they do strangely impose upon and many times entrap poor ignorant and unwary Souls To instance in some Particulars And First A Catholick say they so living and dying even by the Confession of the Protestants themselves may be saved