his attaining an Absolute Dominion over the Christian World a long projected Fifth Monarchy at least in the same degree that other Countries which are more Jesuited and enslav'd to the Pope are forc'd to do which by the way may serve for a good Argument to convince them of Differences among themselves and overthrow their glorious pretence of Union which they do so magnifie upon all occasions to our reproach but cannot signifie any thing to the purpose for which the Compendianist here intends it viz. to shew the Bishop of Lincoln in Answer to his Challenge at the end of his Book That the Church of Rome has by publick Acts and Declarations disown'd and condemn'd those Principles which His Lordship charges upon her He very confidently indeed affirms that the Censures of those Authors he mentions p 78. l. 32. are such But what does he hope by positivenesse to face us down that the Venetians and the French are the Roman Church Or that the Universities of France and the Parliament of Paris are her Representatives Is it possible he should believe we have not Logick enough to distinguish between the Parts and Branches of a Church and the Church her self in her publick Authority and Representations Does he indeed imagine that he can at this time of day make the Judgments of particular Universities and Civil Assemblies passe upon us for publick Acts and Declarations of the Church of Rome He must needs pardon us we have been too often told it upon other occasions to be ignorant now that nothing but the Decrees of a Pope or a General Council are the publick Acts and Declarations of the Church of Rome and he has not so much as pretended to shew either of these for the Condemnation of those Principles which the Bishop has prov'd upon his Religion by both What scorn then can be vile enough to throw upon his impudent Claim of the Bishop's conditional promise of turning Papist when the termes upon which that promise was given are so far from being made good And why does he run over such a Bead-role of names The Colledge of the Sorbonne Paris Caen Rheimes c. I say to what end does he stun us with this vast Din of insignificant Words and rattle in our ears with empty Sounds I thought to have pass'd by his Quibble upon the Bishop's Title 't is so very sencelesse and thin a conceit but because I find he is apt to think every thing unanswerable that is not particularly taken notice of I shall do him the favour to make the Reader observe this ridiculous Criticism Who could think says he that His Lordships Heat against us should force him even to a Title that has confuted his whole Book viz. That Popish Principles and Positions when really believ'd are destructive and dangerous to all Kings especially Protestants for he cannot term them Principles of Faith because they were never thus Believ'd c. I suppose by Principles of Faith here he means what is commonly understood by Articles of Faith i. e. Points necessary to Salvation for the words are equivocal and may bear several sences but because this is most favourable to his Objection I shall understand them so Now why cannot the Bishop term these Positions Principles of Faith He has prov'd them to have been decreed both by Popes and Councils and if that be not enough to make any Point a Principle of Faith in their Church I know not where or how we shall find any Principles of Faith among them He says indeed here and in other places would insinuate the same That they were never thus believ'd by any Catholick nor never thus approv'd of by the Church But that 's only his word against the Bishop's Proof and signifies nothing but to convince the World of the shameless Impudence of Popish Writers who can even in Print and in the face of a learned and inquiring People affirm things contrary to direct Proofs without ever so much as endeavouring to answer those Proofs I see no reason therefore why the Bishop might not have term'd them Principles of Faith if he had pleas'd but that it was not at all material to the design of his Discourse so to do 't was enough for his purpose to prove them Principles of their Religion which he has most clearly done no matter whether they hold them necessary to Salvation or not their very holding them as Principles of their Religion does make that sufficiently dangerous to Princes which was what the Bishop undertook to show But let us suppose now that the Bishop cannot term these Positions Principles of Faith I 'le engage it shall do his Title no more hurt than 't is plain it would his Book indeed neither of them any at all This Title says he That Popish Principles and Positions when really believ'd are destructive c. has confuted his whole Book Why Because he cannot term them pray mark the Reason Principles of Faith c. Can any unprejudic'd man now whose Brains lie in their right place perceive any sort of Consequence in this Argument for my own part I can find none But if there be any little sence at the bottom of this awkard blunder it must be this viz. a supposal that the real Belief of any Principle of Religion makes it immediately a Principle of Faith i. e. in his sence of those Terms a point necessary to Salvation though it was not so before which is certainly the most extravagant Whimsey that ever got hold of any mans Imagination but our confus'd Compendianists and if this be not his meaning he talks Wild Irish and is utterly unintelligible I think I need not go about to confute such self-evident Foolery as this the very Offer were an affront to the meanest Readers Understanding there 's hardly a School-boy but knows that Christian Religion teaches many useful and true Doctrines which are not necessary to Salvation that yet are really believ'd by all those that are really of the Christian Religion The Bishop's Title therefore is very proper and very consistent with the design of his Book and this man's exception to it most abfurd and frivolous 'T is indeed not only proper but charitable and modest it implies the Bishop does not believe that all who live in the external Communion of the Church of Rome are either so disloyal to their Prince or so unmerciful to their Friends and Neighbours as those Doctrines he charges upon her really and heartily assented to must needs make them He hopes possibly that Humane Nature it self in some may check at their harshoesse and a particular sweetnesse of temper in others very much allay the Malignancy of their Poyson and hinder them from having their full effect upon the Understanding at least such an effect as is justly to be dreaded from them when they seize upon the minds of Melancholy Recluses or sink deep into the affections of her ignorant hot headed Devoto's those Christian Faquirs
have already discours'd is more than enough to prove the present Point viz That the Monarchy of England has gotten by the Reformation and that no body but a man who either understands not or cares not what he sayes would affirm the contrary The Compendianist possibly may here object as he seemes to do pag. 77. lib 9. That popish Princes abroad are not sensible of these Inconveniences in their Religion nor do they perceive any such ill Consequences to arise from the Profession of it as the Bishop of Lincoln's Book and this Preface charges it with but altogether the contrary For Who sayes He find themselves so flourishing and great as they I suppose he speaks this of the French King for I know no other popish Prince that is at present either flourishing or great and if he means that Popery has been the cause of his Greatness I shall not dispute it with him but this I will affirme and maintaine against all the World That 't was neither his owne Popery nor that of his Subjects though every Body knows the French Popery is much gentler and more converseable sort of thing than the Spanish or Italian more plyant and submissive to the Civil Magistrate and more hospitable to Strangers and Dissenters and consequently lesse prejudicial to the growth of Power and the greatness of a State than the other The Priviledges of the Gallican Church and the Doctrines of the Sorbonne together with the manners of the people and the Exclusion of the Inquisition have a little qualified this pernicious Imposture and temper'd the Malignity of her Influence as the most destructive Plants do sometimes lose the Virulence of their poisons by a change of Soyle and Mercury it selfe by a mixture of Ingredients is rendred innocent Physick I grant therefore that Popery in some places and under some Circumstances of alloy may not absolutely hinder but it can never be the cause nor of it self in any degree contribute to the prosperity of either Prince or people for 't is plaine That the Principles it teaches and the Consequences it draws after it do evidently tend as I have already made appear to the lessening of the one and the impoverishing of the other indeed to the ruine of both and if Popery have not at all times and in all Places so bad an effect it must be attributed to some such causes as I have now mention'd which do in France serve to take out the sting of this monstrous beast this Spawn of the Old Serpent and prevent the Mischiefe which it is otherwise so apt to doe the Blast it would infallibly bring upon the ordinary fruites of good Government and the common ends of Civil Societies To conclude this point if any Prince or State happen by some favorable conjuncture and fortunate Accidents to be great with or rather notwithstanding Popery there is no doubt but they would be either of them much greater without it 'T is now left to the Reader to judge upon a due considerat ion of the Whole what an excellent Engine this Popery would prove to buoy up a sinking Monarchy and make it again emerge as the Compendianist calls it in his pedantical Latin phrase were ours in that desperate low condition to need it which I hope 't is far from or if it do at present decline I am sure no man in his right wits except this Author will say 't is for want of Popery What kind of men are those Protestants then who if we may take the Compendianist's own word for it would recommend to his Majesty in a case of extremity this dry antiquated Drugge this uselesse Lump of Formality and Foppery this discover'd Cheat this Insulter and Braver of Crown'd Heads this Usurper upon the Rights of Princes this Enemy to God's Annointed I say what kind of Creatures must these be They are certainly a Species by themselves and have not the same common Faculties and wayes of understanding with other Christian people if at least there be any such which I will not be overpositive in upon the Authority of this Writer for some of his stories are as unlikely to use his own words about the Plot as any Romance Extant But Protestants does he term them It is impossible Why will he abuse his Friends at this Rate and call them out of their Names I 'll warrant them they are as good Catholicks as himself Does he indeed thinke to put this upon us that Protestants are for the bringing in Popery He may as well hope to make us believe Transubstantiation it self 't is a Contradiction in Terms an errant Bull. However upon this occasion I cannot but reflect that I have sometimes met with a sort of ridiculous Animals commonly call'd Protestants indeed whose Heads are giddy and whose Brains turn round with the Notion of a Catholicke Church and a visible succession of Bishops ever since the Apostles Who run stark mad in love with reverend Words holy Places consecrated Habits and godly Gestures who have abundance of odde superstitious Zeale with not one grain of true sence Disciples of Heylin and Thornedike in a word a kinde of L'Estrange Protestants men who have listed themselves in our Service and rank'd on our side only to betray our cause and give our Enemies the Victory They seem to have no other designe in the Church of England than Sampson had in the Philistines Temple viz. to pull it downe upon our Heads and bury us in the Ruines Now what discourse these sort of men have had with the Compendianist I cannot tell nor am much concern'd I will not dispute but that 't is possible they may have acknowledg'd some such thing as he affirms for their Politicks are much of a pitch with their Divinity and I know they will say or confess any thing that tends to undermine and weaken the Protestant Faith and Interest though it be never so foolish and absurd Yet do they take it hainously ill to be thought Papists and particularly Mr. L'Estrange seems more than ordinarily disturb'd when he finds himselfe charg'd with this Imputation how does he fling and flounce in his late Pamphlets like a gaull'd Hackney who can neither bear the whipp nor mend his dull Dog-Trot But let him bestow the foamings of his Rage never so fast among the Rabble and in hasty uncorrect Libells throw about the eâ—pty Froth of his Anger Let him fret himself never so lean and talk like a mad man in the overboyling of his Passion Let him make never so many professions of a Protestant Faith and never so many Good-Morrows to the Church of England we shall still believe him a Papist while he soe notoriously promotes the Designes and serves the Interests of that Party I think nothing is plainer than that the great Endeavour of the Papists ever since the Discovery of the Plot has been by all kinde of means and artifices to turn off the Publick Odium under which they have so justly suffer'd as much
honesty and good nature as is no where to be met with but in the Moralls of a Jesuite and the Christianity of a Romish Zealot For what is intended in this malicious Passage to reflect on the Bishop of Lincolne as if he were as bad a Hypocrite as Dr. Taylor is here represented to have been and could have writ if he had pleas'd a better Book on the Papists side 't is so witless a Libel such silly Slander that I think there is no need of answering it to any who have ever heard of his great Name and he must have liv'd very remote from Company who is in England a Stranger to that His Life is a sufficient proof of the honesty of his Writings and a full confutation of this and all other Lyes which the Instruments of Rome or Hell can invent to asperse him in vain do they think to answer him as they have done other men by reflections on his Person and to overthrow his Reasons by ridiculous Stories and absurd Romance these Argumenta ad Hominem which are usually their best Refuge will miserably fail them here they look like the frettings of a gaul'd Faction and do but betray an impotent Spite the Bishop of Lincolne's Honour is as much above the reach of their malice as their deserts and they may then hope to make the World think ill of him when they can so far cozen it as to be thought well off themselves 'T is true his Abilities are extraordinary enough to recommend almost any thing he would appear for though never so unreasonable and no doubt he knows how to write Sophistries as well as to confute them but we are satisfyed his Piety will no more suffer him to plead a bad Cause than his Learning will let him prejudice a good one Besides let them not flatter themselves the Knavery of theirs is now so palpably obvious their Religion has by long and constant delays grown so monstrously deform'd it has at last out-liv'd the help of Art The Writings of their best Witts and their most eminent Scholars have in my Opinion done it more hurt than good when they have adorn'd it all they can with strain'd pieces of Rhetorick out of the Fathers and daub'd it as much as possible with the forc'd Flatteries of Councils when they have set it forth in the specious colours of pretended Union and Universality and cover'd it all over with School-Distinction̄s what can an indifferent man conclude but that such vast paines would not nor need not be taken except it were to hide some notorious Defects such extream studyed Ornaments are evident proofes of great want of natural Beauty in a word this Spiritual Whore does but appeare the more Strumpet through the grosse Artifice of her Dress and the thickness of her Paint I have now done with the Compendianist and shall enlarge this Discourse no farther but to joyn with all good English men in offering up my hearty prayers to God Almighty that He would still preserve the Protestant Religion among us and continue to render fruitlesse the contrary Endeavours and Contrivances of wicked and unreasonable Men fallacious Writers and Traiterous Plotters that He would keep the most knowing and best civiliz'd Nation in the World from falling again under the Barbarism of Popery from being Opprest by the Tyranny and cumber'd with the Weight of this huge unweildy Mass of Non-sense and Puppetry This farce of Ceremonies this Counterfeit Christianity this Enemy to true Learning and free Philosophy this Discourager of Trade and usefull Industry this Troubler of agreeable Conversation and reasonable Living this Prohibiter of good Sense and this Extinguisher of good Nature in a word this Un-Christian and this Immoral Religion or rather this new Species of Irreligion which by her Doctrines of dispensing with Oaths and absolving from all manner of Crimes upon slight and ridiculous Penances as well as by those the Bishop of Lincoln has convinc'd her of has not only overthrown the Foundations of real Goodnesse and true Piety but even of necessary Faith and common Honesty loosening the very Bands and Ligaments and undermining the Props of Civil Communities FINIS * Rev. 17. 2 5 6. * Compend pag. 77. * Compend pag. 77. * Dr. Stillingfleet's Fanaticisme of the Church of Rome pag. 276. a Thuanus Hist l. 53. p. 837. b History of the Waldenses c History of the Irish Rebellon printed 1680. * Compend pag. 77. * Compend pag. 76. * Bakers Chron. * See the Compend pag. 76. * Compend pag. 78. * Compend pag. 78. * See Sanctarellus himself * See more of this in the Preface to the Jesuits Loyalty * Compend pag. 76. * A Sect of Religious Murderers among the Turks See an Account of them in Tavernier's Six Voyages pag. 199. †Compend pag. 79.