this Noise of Misrepresenting the Papists have not been able to produce any one clear Instance to support the Charge the Point is clearly gain'd and He that has but had Face enough to deny all to make a few poor Shifts and Excuses and call them Vindications is brought off in Triumph and nothing can be said bad enough of the Representer who is now suppos'd to be left without a word to say for himself For my part I was always unwilling to employ my self in stirring in the Mire 't was enough once to point at it I thought without being oblig'd to rake in it as long as I liv'd But it seems now my Hand is once in I must either choose to dwell there or else be shouted at for deserting the Post Much good may it do those who long for so lasting an Entertainment in such kind of Matter However the Boasts of a Noisie Adversary oblige me something to cross my Inclination his clamouring Triumphs of the Cause being lost and that we cannot produce One clear Instance of our being Misrepresented force me upon the Public Score to return to the making good the Charge Having therefore here again recommended the Decision of this present Controversie to the Observation of every sincere and unbiass'd Protestant desiring them to compare such Papists as are of their Acquaintance with the Character of Papist they have heard from the Pulpit thereby to judge whether we without reason complain whether we are in reality Misrepresented or no. I 'll once more enter upon that ungrateful Employment of Examining some Protestant-True-Representing Characters of Popery to see how near they come to Truth and whether it be possible to find One clear Instance to support the Charge of our being Misrepresented But because there have been some Fresher and more Authentic Instances publish'd in a late Book Entitl'd Good Advice to the Pulpits than those I mention'd in my Last Reply I 'll rather choose to Examin some of These and consider the Vindication that has been made of them that so we may discover whether not only the Vulgar among Protestants are deceiv'd in their Notions of Popery but likewise what is of more importance whether those who are oblig'd by their Station and Character to be more Sincere I mean their Guides do not most evidently contribute to the imprinting these wrong Notions in the People and upon such false Grounds lay the Foundation of a great part of that Vncharitableness Animosity and Hatred which too often they express to Fellow-Christians more than becomes the True Professors of the Gospel of Peace I proceed therefore to this Examen in the Method of the Book now mention'd and first as to some Matters of Fact. First Character of a Pulpit-Papist 1. THE Papists in the Years 1679 80 81 were engag'd in a Horrid Execrable and Hellish Plot they pursu'd it Good Advice on with Insolence Implacable Vigor and Malice 2. The Priests abroad in Forreign Nations procur'd Money to carry on that Devilish Work. 3. Being Blood-thirsting Men they then design'd to take away the Life of our late Sacred Majesty 4. They treacherously murder'd one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace in cold Blood with great Contrivance and Deliberation hoping by his Death to stifle the Evidence that was brought against them and prevent a farther Discovery And they whom his Death doth not convince neither will they be convinc'd tho' he should rise again from the Dead In these Colours were the Papists set out by the Pulpits in the Years above mention'd throughout the Nation as Guilty of a most Hellish and Execrable Design as Thirsting the Blood of their Sovereign As Barbarous Murderers Engag'd in a Devilish Work Men of Insolence Implacable Malice A Generation of Vipers Devils of Sedition and Faction of Treason and Rebellion Blood-thirsty and Deceitful Men c. Now all this having been since prov'd False the Invention of Wicked Politicians and supported only by the Oaths of Perjur'd Men the Question is Whether the Papists were not in all this time Misrepresented And whether my Boasting Adversary has a Face to deny that after all our Complaint of being Misrepresented we cannot produce One clear Instance to make good the Charge Certainly if to assert White Men to be Black and to set out the Innocent as Guilty and that of the most Hellish of Crimes be not Misrepresenting there is then I confess no such thing in the World. And yet however the Papists have been most barbarously us'd upon the suppos'd Guilt of these Crimes attested only by Profligate Wretches and asserted by the Pulpits Yet the Answerer in his Apology pag. 5 6. is so far from the Humility of doing the Papists Right in the Case and compassionating them for the Cruelty that by these Means was most unjustly drawn upon them that he only minces the matter with his Iss and his And 's and being resolv'd to say something in favor of the Pulpits he concludes That if They err'd in Preaching thus against the Papists they err'd with those before whom they Preach'd that is with the greatest Tribunal and greatest Part of the Nation And what is this but only by way of Defence in some manner to acknowledge that the Papists did not only wrongfully suffer in their Reputation from the Pulpits but likewise in the Opinion of the greatest Tribunal and greatest Part of the Nation And this is the very thing I have all along pretended to prove So that I hope now after the Conviction of the Evidence of Perjury and the Contradictions and Impossibilities of the Plot expos'd by a worthy Pen we have One clear Instance at least of the Papists being Misrepresented I am not for dwelling long upon this ungrateful Subject only one thing I have to wonder at and 't is That since the Pulpits had so great a share in imprinting these False and Vnjust Notions in the People concerning the Papists how it happens that there is not one word heard from those Places in satisfaction of the Wrong that was done their Neighbor Those certainly who pretend to teach others should not be backward in giving good Example And especially such who pretend to be clear from the Imputation of Misrepresenting ought to do something in this kind and declare the Innocence of those whom they have help'd to proclaim Criminals If they have err'd with those before whom they Preach'd 't is but reason with the same to revoke the Sentence they pass'd and restore the Reputation of those who suffer'd by their Error The Judges and Bar have done this The great Tribunal of Parliament too has not been wanting in Overtures of this kind Only Tong died without Repentance and Oats so lives And excepting these there are scarce any that were concern'd in that Error but what have most Christian-like made Satisfaction besides the Gentlemen of the Pulpits who should have been the first in leading the way I can't tell how far these may think Satisfaction and
the being of any Papists there Now 't is certain the Papists here and there are of the same Church Principles and Faith and 't is no Difference in this kind makes them there like other Men and here like Monsters but 't is because there the Papists are what they are and here they are made to be what they are not but what their Maligners please to render them And as long as they are only look'd on through this false Glass and shewn to the People under the Deformity of many Heads and Horns and with the Beast all over what hopes of their being receiv'd into the Bond of Common Charity Or what greater encouragement for Feuds and unchristian Animosities than that these should be so mark'd out for Disciples of Antichrist to be pursu'd with Contempt and Hatred by their Neighbors in the Service and Fear of the Lord I must needs confess that were Popery so foul as 't is in the opinion of the Vulgar were its Principles so cruel and bloody did it teach Men Idolatry to worship any Creature for God to neglect the Commandments c. I would choose rather to be Jew Turk or Infidel than a Papist I would willingly subscribe to all the Comparisons betwixt Paganism and Popery I would own that a Man must of necessity lay by both Sense and Reason before he could take up such a Religion and that to Preach against it and endeavor its ruin would not be only laudable but even a necessary Duty But if this black Character should no otherwise agree to it than by Mistake if the Papists should not really teach nor believe those Fopperies and absurd Doctrins which are laid to them but utterly abhor and disclaim them then 't is certain our little World has been fill'd with Confusions upon Imagination it has been frighted into most unaccountable Practices by idle Jealousies and there can be no surer way for retrieving the past and preventing all such like Mischiefs than by more closely examining the thing we fear and seeing whether it be a real Monster we dread or else something artificially dress'd up for to fright the unwary For my part I am not asham'd here to own that my Religion is Popery as taught and deliver'd by the Church of Rome I embrac'd it without the influence of any Temporal Motive and I continue in it upon the hopes of obtaining Salvation in the Profession of her Faith and observance of her Doctrins through the Merits and Passion of my ever Blessed Redeemer And 't was no small surprise to me to hear this very Church the Purity of whose Belief and Doctrin I admir'd so positively decry'd for the Whore of Babylon for the Promoter of all Inhuman Barbarities rank'd with Paganism and Turcism the Prophaner of God's Holy Word and Propagator of the Doctrin of Devils c. I was alarm'd at this Character and immediately concluded that if this was so I had been greatly mistaken and instead of putting my self into the way of Heaven had certainly fall'n into the very Mouth of Hell. This put me upon some Reflections and oblig'd me to enter into a more strict Scrutiny of my Religion and my self I did both with seriousness knowing that the Concern was of Eternity and whereon depended my Soul's Salvation or Damnation Upon examination of my self I could not find that I had been taught any of those Hellish Doctrins charg'd against my Church or that She any where deliver'd them but on the contrary that I had been directed by Her To worship and adore one only Living God To serve him with fear and trembling To love him above all things To keep his Commandments To love my Neighbor as my self and in all things to fulfil the Law of Christ That nothing was so contradictory to this Law as to commit Idolatry to prophane the Word of God or any ways to propagate Superstition or the Doctrin of Devils And that I ought rather to suffer Death a thousand times than once incur the Guilt of any of these Crimes Now here what could I think finding my Church wholly opposit to the Character given of it and my self lying under the Scandal of such Doctrins which I did as much abhor as Hell and Damnation it self I was convinc'd of the falsness of the Charge and that the Accusation was a Calumny but whether proceeding from Mistake Misunderstanding Ignorance Faction Interest Passion or Malice I was not able to determine But a farther enquiry into the Proofs produc'd for the making good this Charge gave me some satisfaction For here amongst these I found a great number of Matters of Fact as Massacres Vsurpations Murders of Princes Treasons Plots Conspiracies Persecutions and other such unwarrantable Practices charg'd against the Members of this Church I found again the vicious and scandalous Lives of some of her chief Prelates their Pride Covetousness and Luxury laid home as likewise the ill Examples of other Ecclesiastical Dignitaries as of Cardinals Bishops and Priests their Ignorance Simony Oppression Cruelties Excesses c. Then the loose and extravagant Opinions of many of her Doctors Lastly many Superstitions and Abuses found amongst the People their being impos'd on by some with idle Inventions the noise of Relics and Miracles and being Priest-ridden a thousand other ways These I say I found with others of the same blackness urg'd against Men in Communion with my Church And hence a Conclusion drawn upon the whole Church upon her Doctrin and all in her Communion of their being as foul as Hell of the same Tincture with these Villanies and Crimes And here it was I began to lay aside all Troubles and Scruples concerning my Religion being now well satisfi'd that the frightful Character of my Church whlch surpris'd me before was not taken from her Faith and Doctrin but only from the Vice and Wickedness of such who tho' perchance in her Communion yet follow'd not her Direction and that 't was rather a black Record of as many villanous Practices as had ever been committed by any of her Members Shamm'd upon the People for a Draught of such things the Church taught encourag'd and approv'd And here upon the whole I could not but lament these uncharitable Proceedings to see so great a Body of Believers such an infinit number of Christians of which I was one lie under so base so scandalous a Reproach to see them condemn'd for the Abettors of such Principles which they detested and abhorr'd and the Crimes of their Ancestors made to be their Religion For my part this Method appear'd to me much beneath all Reason and Religion I thought if this were once allowable and just we might all be Indicted for Felons and Horse-stealers because many of our Church had been convicted of those Crimes that the Debaucheries of the Stews Whitefriers and the Mint might be prov'd to be according to Precept and the Rules of Christianity be exactly drawn by the Offences of those that transgress them I must confess had
Church Representative or is so acknowledg'd by the whole Body Diffusive which is still equivalent to it And the currant passing of the Book and general Reception of it amongst Catholics argued strongly enough that it was exact as to all this But because I design'd that Book for the Public I did not content my self with the bare stating such our Avow'd Doctrins or Articles of Faith but I likewise added short Expositions in relation to some Protestant Objections generally made to each Article of How can this be Wherefore is this c. And the Expositions I own to be no Articles of Faith but only some receiv'd Notions relating to the Articles of our Faith as they are oppos'd by Protestants or search'd into by the Curious And these were so far from being my Private Sentiments that the Reader may find the same in our Ordinary Scripture-Catechisms of which there has been Printed in this Nation in a few Years not less than Twenty thousand And I hope so general a Reception is sufficient to justifie them against all Cavillers and to convince any considering Men that to Assent to the Catholic Faith as so Expounded which is so contrary to what Protestants say or to the Pulpit-Popery is sufficient for any Member of our Church And if there be other ways of Expounding the same Articles there 's no Inconvenience in this since where the Faith is the same there may be variety of Opinions as to the How 's or the Whys And this I hope the Answerer will understand if he please but to review The Exposition of the Doctrin of the Church of England in which tho' the Author undertakes to propose That Form of Faith that is openly profess'd and taught without any Disguise or Dissimulation in the Church of England as he says Pref. pag. xvii yet I fancy amongst those Expositions he 'll find several Opinions of Private Doctors instead of Points positively so determin'd by that Church Let him but look over that a while and I believe he may have as much reason to call in question the Title of that Book as that of the Bishop and that according to his way I think it ought to bear thus An Exposition of Some bodies Private Sentiments concerning the Doctrin of the Church of England I leave him to consider this a while but I beg him to be Civil with the Author and use him tenderly for if he should deal roughly with him as he do's other his Adversaries and call him Madman or Fool he might take it unkindly and tell him this do's not agree with his Coat I believe 't is better advise him to take some other honest Employment as to Dig or make Almanacks rather than write Controversie for this Gentleman can tell him that to Impose upon Men in Books of Divinity and to take a convenient Stand near the Town is much alike for the Honesty of the Undertaking I expect he 'll take some pains with him since he is resolv'd to spend no more of his time with the Vindicator or Representer These he says are like to be Priviledg'd Persons as to him since he 's resolv'd to Answer them no more they are not it seems so Good-natur'd as to be Confuted by him and he takes it unkindly at their hands But however those who know how abusively he treats his Adversaries must needs take this for no small Privilege And therefore We cannot but thank him for this his Resolution tho' late of calling us Knaves or Fools no more Which in his Language is the short of his Making Replies FINIS THE CONTENTS THE Preface to the Reader  First Character of a Pulpit-Papist Pag. 13. Second Character of a Pulpit-Papist 15. Third Character of a Pulpit-Papist 16. Fourth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 19. Fifth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 25. Sixth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 27. Seventh Character of a Pulpit-Papist 29. Eighth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 34. Ninth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 35. Tenth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 38. Eleventh Character of a Pulpit-Papist 39. Twelfth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 42. Thirteenth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 45. Fourteenth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 50.