pray Sir what do we Protestants hold concerning the Law Father We hold that the moral Law commands the perfection of Godliness and Righteousness and directs us in our duties to God and Man Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left Deut. 5.32 Child I pray Sir proceed now to the Commandments in particular as they were delivered by Moses and shew me first what we Protestants teach and then what the Church of Rome teaches concerning them Father I shall do it readily The first Commandment is Thou shalt have no other Gods before me and our Protestant Doctors teach that this Jehovah one in Substance and three in Persons the Creator and Governour of all things and the Redeemer of his People is to be entertained for the only true God in all the powers of the Soul and so Christ opens it Matt. 22.37 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind Child Doth not the Church of Rome expound it so Father No. The Church of Rome teaches to make more Gods than one they pray to the Saints whereby they make them Gods in giving this Divine Property unto them to know the Heart They call the Virgin Mary Queen of Heaven and say she is a Goddess and pray to her to command her Son to help them Nay they make the Pope a God they call him Our Lord God the Pope and they are more careful to obey his commands than the commands of God Child What is the meaning of the second Command Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image nor any Likeness of things in Heaven c. Father The meaning of this Commandment is to bind all men to that solemn Form of religious Worship which God himself in his Word prescribeth that we serve him not according to our Fancies but according to his Will What thing soever I command you observe to do it thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it Deut. 12.32 Child How do the Papists expound this Command Father They leave it quite out of their Catechisms because 't is so plain against their Image-worship and they divide the tenth into two to make up the number Child What Worship do they give to Images Father The same Worship they give to those whose Image it is as they worship the holy Trinity and Christ so they worship the Images of the Trinity and of Christ Child Did not the Heathens thus worship their Images Father Yes The Papists say they worship their Images with a relative Worship and so did the Heathens and indeed an Image cannot be worshipped with any other Worship Nor does the commandment forbid any other Worship for it is a contradiction to say this is the Image of God and yet this is God and therefore it must be also a contradiction to worship an Image with any other Worship for then it must be that the Image of a thing is that thing whose Image it is But they go yet a little farther the Image of the Cross they worship with divine Honour and though this divine Worship is but relative yet the Cross it self is worshipped terminatively with divine Adoration now if this be not Idolatry I can never be told what is the notion of the word If there can be Idolatry in the Worship of an Image it is certain that a relative divine Worship is this Idolatry for no man that worships an Image can make the Image the last Object either therefore the Heathens were not Idolaters in the worshiping of an Image or else these men are Child What is the sum of the third Command Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord c. Father The Sum of this Command is That we impeach not but by all means advance the glorious name of God in all things whereby he maketh himself known to men Give unto the Lord the Glory due unto his Name worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness Psal 29.2 Child How do the Papists keep this Command Father They teach that 't is lawful to swear by the Saints and in their common talk they cry out O Lord O Jesu They use the Word Jesu thirty times together and this they take for a peice of Devotion And the Pope dispenseth with all Oaths at his pleasure and teaches that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks Child What is the meaning of the fourth Command Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day Father It challengeth at the hand of every man one day of seven in every Week and requireth all Persons to separate themselves from their ordinary Labour and all other Exercises that they may attend to the worship of God only Child How do the Papists expound this Command Father They make the Popes Holy dayes equal with the Lords Sabbath and they are more zealous for the Observation of them for they will be sure to keep them but the Sabbath they usually spend in playing at Cards Dice and Tables Child What is the meaning of the fifth Command Honour thy Father and thy Mother c. Father That the Quality of mens Persons and Places in what Estate soever Natural Civil or Ecclesiastical be truly acknowledged and respected for it requires the Performance of all such Duties as one man oweth unto another Render to all their dues Tribute to whom Tribute is due Custom to whom Custom Fear to whom Fear Honour to whom honour Rom. 13.7 Child How do the Papists keep this Commandment Father They disannul it in giving freedom and immunity to to their Clergy from subjection to Civil Authority and in dispensing with Subjects for their Loyalty and Allegiance to their Lawful Princes and with Children and Servants from yielding due help service and obedience to their Parents and Masters Child What is the summe and meaning of the sixth Commandment Thou shalt not murder Father That the Life and Person of man be by man not impeached but preserved Surely the Bloud of your Lives will I require At the hand of every mans Brother will I require the Life of man Gen. 9.5 Child How do the Papists keep this Commandment Father They have Houses of Refuge which they call Sanctuaries wherein Murderers live in Safety They hold it meritorious to poyson or stab any man for the advancement of the Catholick Cause and 't is a Position with them though a damnable one That Princes excommunicate by the Pope may be murdered by their Subjects Child What is the meaning of the seventh Commandment Thou shalt not commit Adultery Father That all Uncleanness and Impurity be avoided and Chastity by all means preserved Having these Promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the Fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 Child How do the Papists keep this Command Father They give Divorces for Marriages in the fourth degree and
the Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus and when I saw her I wondred with great Admiration Child Doth this concern the Pope and Church of Rome Father Yes So the Angel interprets v. 9.18 The seven Heads are seven Mountains on which the Woman sitteth and the Woman which thou sawest is that great City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth Child If this be the Pope and Church of Rome the Lord give me Grace to avoid Communion with them Father You say well for we have a command to that purpose Rev. 18.4 5. I heard a Voice from Heaven saying Come out of her my People that ye be not Partakers of her Sins and that ye receive not of her Plagues for her sins have reached unto Heaven and God hath remembred her Iniquities Child Is this the last Article of the Trent Creed Father No they have two more The thirteenth Article is also all and whatsoever other thing delivered by way of Tradition defined and declared by the holy Canons and the general Councils and chiefly by the sacred and holy Synod of Trent I undoubtedly receive and profess and together all contrary things and whatsoever Heresies damned rejected and accursed I also damn reject and accurse Child You have spoken something already of Tradition is there any thing more to be known Father Yes They make their unwritten Traditions and the Canons of their Councels equal to the word of God and necessary to Salvation Nay they make the Councel of Trent the only measure and rule of Faith in the Church of Rome Whereas on the contrary St. Paul instructs the Churches of Galathia Gal. 1.8 To measure their Faith by that Gospel only which from the Beginning they had receiv'd and was by himself preached unto them Child I pray Sir what is the last Article Father This true Catholick Faith without which no man can be saved which at this present I freely profess and truly hold I do promise vow and swear most constantly God assisting to retain and confess entire and inviolate to the very last gaspe of Life and to procure as much as shall lie in me that the same be held taught and preached by all my Inferiours and by those that are committed to my care and charge So God help me and those holy Gospels of God Child By this I perceive what is the Catholick Faith of the Church of Rome in the new Trent Creed or Gospel made 1500 years and more after the Death of Christ and imposed by the Pope upon his Subjects to be professed vowed sworn and maintained under Pain of eternal Damnation But can no man be saved without believing in this Creed Father So says the Pope he curses all that will not receive it But St. Paul declares him accursed Gal. 1.8 who preaches any other Gospel than that which he had preach'd unto them The Curse therefore will fall upon the Pope and his Priests except they can find a Priviledge greater than given to Apostles or Angels to make new Creeds and to preach new Gospels at Pleasure Child Do they baptize into this Creed Father No. All the Christian World have ever been baptized into the Faith of the old Creed never any that I heard of into the Faith of this new Creed If this were as needful to Salvation as the old they do men Wrong in Baptizing them but into one half of the Christian Faith therefore we are resolved to adhere to that Faith which hath been professed always every where and by all persons and particularly both by them and us at our Baptisms without Addition or Diminution This was their Faith formerly and is ours still The Result of all is this As the Sum of the Primitive Creed and Gospel is to believe in God so the sum of the Romish Creed is to believe in the Pope and as the rule of the Primitive Faith is the Word of God the holy Scriptures so the Rule of the Romish Faith is the word of man papal Definitions and as the end of the Primitive Faith is the charity of GOd to keep his commandments so the end of the Romish Faith is Slavery to man to uphold his Tyranny and maintain his Supremacy Remember therefore what the Lord Christ says to his Disciples Matt. 7.15 Beware of false Prophets which come to you in Sheeps clothing but inwardly they are ravening Wolves ye shall know them by their Fruits Math. 7.15 And that of the Apostle I know this that after my departing shall grievous Wolves enter in among you not sparing the Flock Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one Night and Day with Tears Act. 20.29 30 31. Child The Lord write your Words in my Heart and give me Grace to avoid these ravening Wolves that lie lurking in every Corner But I pray Sir having so well stablished strengthned and settled me in the Faith be pleased also to open to me the Rule of Life viz. the moral Law that I may not be insnared by the corrupt Glosses which I hear the Papists have put upon the holy Law of God And first I pray Sir what do they teach of the Law in general Father The Law as it is expounded by Christ Mat. 5. they say is a new Law far more perfect than the Law of Moses they say also that Christ delivereth new Divine Counsel to his Disciples which was not given in the Law or in the Prophets though Christ says Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fullfil Mat. 5.17 and Mat. 7.12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do you even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets Child What else do they teach concerning the Law Father They teach that 't is possible for a man to keep the whole Law of God and yet Solomon says Who can say I have made my Heart clean I am pure from my Sin Prov. 20.9 They have also a distinction of Venial and Mortal Sins some Sins they say are venial in their own Nature which if they were all together could not equal one mortal Sin nor destroy Charity And yet Jesus Christ says that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of Judgment Mat. 12.36 Child I pray Sir what Sins do they call Venial Sins Father Lying ordinary swearing by St. Mary or by the Mass and simple Fornication and such like and yet St. John says speaking of Heaven There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh Abomination or maketh a Lie Revel 21.27 Child I have heard indeed that they are very loose in their Morals and I perceive this distinction of venial and mortal Sins was invented for this Purpose But I
Dispensations to marry in the second Nay which is most abominable the tolerate Stewes publick Whore-houses even in Rome it self where every Whore pays a Julian penny to his Holiness weekly which amounts to yearly as some think 50000 l. Child What doth the eighth Commandment contain Thou shalt not steal Father It contains a charge of our own and our Neighbours Goods that we shew Love and faithfulness therein and not only not impeach or hinder but by all means preserve and further the the same Let him that stole steal no more but rather let him labour working with his hands the thing that is good that he may have to give him that needeth Eph. 4.28 Child How do the Papists keep this Command Father The Pope makes sale of all things of Heaven Hell and the Earth of Pardons for Sin and delivering men from Purgatory which is flat Robbery and most gross Deceit and Cozenage By the fulness of his Power the Pope can dispense in all things where there is cause and in many things where there is no cause under a greater price so saith the Tax of the Datary or the Book of Rates where the price of the Dispensations are set down to a farthing for the basest and vilest Sins that can be imagined Child What is the scope and end of the ninth Command Thou shalt not bear false Witness c Father The main scope and end at which God aimeth is the conservation of Truth amongst men and of our own and our Neighbours Fame and good Name Put away lying speak every man Truth with his Neighbour for we are Members one of another Eph. 4.25 Child How do the Papists keep this Command Father They allow Equivocation and mental Evasions and teach that 't is lawful to lye or deceive the Question of the Magistrate to conceal their Names and to tell a false one and to elude all Examinations Nay they hold it not onely lawful but meritorious to dye with Lyes in their Mouths if it be for the good of the Pope's Cause Child What is the summ and drift of the tenth Commandment Thou shalt not covet c Father Gods People must not harbour in their hearts any thoughts or motions against their Neighbours though the Will consent not but content themselves with that Estate that God allots them So St. Paul expounds it I had not known Lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet Rom. 7.7 Child How do the Papists expound this Command Father They hold Concupiscence before consent to be no sin If it be any they say 't is less than any venial sin which deserveth not damnation Whereupon they have forged a Limbus for such Infants as dye in Original Sin Thus they expound and keep the Commandments Child If this be their way of keeping the Commandments of God the Lord deliver me from them and their wayes and incline my heart to keep his Commandments according to the Exposition of the Protestant Doctors But are there no more Commandments but these Father No Child He declared unto you his Covenant which he commanded you to perform even ten Commandments and he wrote them upon two Tables of stone Deut. 4.13 Child Have the Papists any more Commandments Father Yes Child They have six Commands more which they call the six Commandments of the Church which are 1. To keep all Sundays and such Holy-days as are appointed by hearing Mass and forbearing to work 2. To keep Abstinence and Fasting-days appointed that is to fast Lent such Vigils as are commanded Ember-days Fridays and Saturdays 3. To confess our Sins once a Year to a Priest 4. To communicate once a year and that about the time of Easter 5. To pay Tiths 6. Not to solemnize Marriage at forbidden times and to these they say as well as unto Gods is promised the Reward of eternal Life Child Sir you have shewed me the true Doctrine of Faith which I must profess and in some measure opened and expounded the ten Commandements the Rule of Life I pray Sir proceed and instruct me how to perform the Duty of Prayer And first pray tell me Have we any Rule for Prayer Father Yes The Lord Christ hath given us a full one When you pray say Our Father c. Luc. 11.2 Wherein there is a Preface or Entrance into Prayer in the first words Our Father which art in Heaven A Body of Petitions containing the Matter of Prayer in the words following A Conclusion for confirmation and close of Prayer in the last words For thine is the Kingdom c. Child What doth the Preface put us in mind of Father Of him to whom we pray teaching us that God and God onely is to be prayed unto Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Psal 50.15 Child How many Petitions be there in the Lord's Prayer Father Six equally divided as it were into two Tables whereof three do concern God as doth the first Table of the Law three do concern our selves and our Neighbours as doth the second Table for in the three first we make Requests for those things that concern God's Majesty whose Glory and Service we are to prefer before our own Good In the three latter for those things that concern the Necessity of man and our own Welfare which we must must refer to the former Child What is the Conclusion of this Prayer Father For thine is the Kingdom c. The sum whereof is that we ground our Assurance of obtaining our Prayers in God from whom all things we ask do come and to whom therefore all Glory must return Child You have shewed me the Protestant Doctrine of Prayer do not the Papists teach the same Father No Child They teach that Prayers themselves ex opere operato or by the natural Work it self do prevail for it is not say they essential to Prayer for a man to think particularly of what he says nay 't is not necessary to the Essence of Prayer that he who prays should think of the speaking it self so that Prayers in the mouth of a Papist are like the words of a Charmer they prevail even when they are not understood so that with them Attention to or Devotion in Prayer is not necessary If the outward work be done the Church in satisfied and yet this the Lord Christ sharply reproves in the Jews This People draweth nigh unto me with their Mouths and honoureth me with their Lips but their Heart is far from me But in vain do they worship me c. Mat. 15.8.9 So that between the Protestants and the Papists the difference herein is this They pray with their Lips we with the Heart we pray with the Understanding they with the Voice we pray and they say Prayers Child Do they teach any other Doctrines concerning Prayers Father Yes They teach the People to pray with Beads and they have Books to direct them the Psalter of our Lady is 150 Ave-maries and at
day it troubles them not and they look upon it as a certain Cure therefore in their Carnavals they give themselves all liberty and licence to do the vilest things because they are to be so soon eased of their Crimes by Confession and the never-failing hand of the Priest Child But I have heard some say that they are enjoyn'd Penance Is not that troublesome to them Father Alas Child their Penances and Satisfactions as they are handled are nothing but words and ineffective sounds for if some Confessors happen to be severe they may go to a gentler or they may have them commuted to Money or they may get some body else to do them for them or they may get all supplied by an Indulgence of which there are such store in the Lateran at Rome that as P. Boniface said no man is able to number them In the Church of Sancta Maria de populo there are for every day in the year 2800 years of Pardon In the Church of St. Vitus and Modestus there are for every day in the year 7000 years of Pardon and a third part of all our sins besides and the price of all this is but praying before an Altar in that Church In a Book of theirs called The Hours of the most Blessed Virgin Mary according to the use of Sarum for the saying three short Prayers are promised 90000 years of Pardon of deadly sin If this should be neglected a little Alms to a Priest a Pilgrimage to the Image or Relicks of a Saint wearing St. Francis cord saying over the Beads with an hallowed Appendant praying at a priviledged Altar leaving a Legacy for a Soul Mass and twenty other Devices will secure the Sinner from suffering Punishment here or hereafter And if a man fail in all these things 't is but going to the Tax of the Apostolick Chamber where there is a price set down for his Absolution that hath kill'd his Father or his Mother Brother Sister or Wife or that hath lain with his Sister or Mother or committed such sins as are not fit to be named These Observations I hope Child are sufficient to keep you and every well-meaning Christian from running into or abiding in such temptations Child I beartily thank you for the Advice you have given me hoping in the Lord that I shall be stedfast and immoveable alwayes abounding in the Work of the Lord. I shall detain you no longer but only intreat you to give me the sum of what you have said in few words that I may the better remember it Father I shall readily comply with your Desires The Religion of a Christian consists in Faith and Hope Repentance and Charity Divine Worship and celebration of the Sacraments and finally in keeping the Commandments of God Now in all these both in Doctrines and Practices the Church of Rome does dangerously err and teach men so to do They do Injury to Faith by creating new Articles and enjoyning them as of Necessity to Salvation they spoil their Hope by placing it upon Creatures and devices of their own they greatly sin against Charity by damning all that are not of their Opinions in things false or uncertain right or wrong they break in pieces the salutary doctrine of Repentance making it to be consistent with a wicked Life and little or no Amendment They worship they know not what and pray to them that hear them not they not only eat what they worship but adore those things with divine Worship which are not God And as for the Commandments they leave one of them out of their Catechisms and add six new ones of their own and while they contend for the possibility of keeping them all they do not insist upon the necessity of keeping any till the danger or Article of their Death And concerning the Sacraments they take one half of the principal away from the Laity and they institute little Sacraments of their own and annex spiritual Graces to them without a Divine warrant or Institution if these things can consist with the Duty of Christians certainly we have lost the true measures of Christianity Let all therefore that desire to be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus give no heed to their seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils teaching Lies in Hypocrisie having their Conscience seared with a hot Iron forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with Thansgivings 1 Tim. 4.1 2 3 4. And let them give God Praise that they were born and bred up in the Church of England where the word of God is constantly read and preached in the Vulgar Tongue and the Sacraments duely and fully administred according to Christ's Institution where Repentance is preached according to the Measures of the Gospel Faith in Christ propounded according to the Rule of the Apostles the Commandments expounded with just Severity Holiness of Life urged upon all men as indespensibly necessary to Salvation and every thing practised therein which is useful to the saving of our Souls Consider what I say and the Lord give you understanding in all things 2 Tim. 2.7 FINIS