Spirit assisting in his Catholic Church to direct us while we submit to this we go safe and Rationally and being taught to understand all thus propos'd to the best of our Capacity there 's no danger of our Vnderstanding being put out 2. Popery tears out the Hearts of all others out of her Communion whom she cannot deceive she will destroy This is false too since tho' Catholics are bid to go and Teach all Nations as Christ commanded his Apostles and consequently their Successors the Pastors of his Church to the end of the World yet where Men are so obstinate as to reject all Instructions they are taught to go elsewhere and only to pity and pray for such blind Souls but not to destroy them 'T is true in the Catholic Church care is taken to preserve all such as are her Members firm in her Communion and there are not wanting Threats to keep the Inconstant from being Misled into Error as likewise Punishments to reduce such as leave her and blindly run after False Guides And if for this reason she must be said to tear out their Hearts and destroy such as she cannot deceive what is to be the Character of this Preacher's Church which by consent of Bishops is fenc'd with such Laws as punishes with Loss of Goods Imprisonment and Death not only those who leave her Communion but likewise those too who never were Members of it This is a Cruelty not to be paralell'd amongst the worst of Christians I cannot say but that Rash Zeal Headlong Revenge or Detestable Avarice may have hurried some of ours upon such Barbarous Attempts but certainly never did any Christians deliberately and with Counsel thus deeply engage themselves in Blood. 'T is one thing to shed Blood in the heat of Fury and Passion another thing to do it by Law and if ours are thus to be condemn'd of Cruelty for some Rash and unaccountable Practices of this kind which we detest upon Reflection certainly others have a better Title to this Infamous Mark who with such Severity both in Goods Liberty and Life punish those with Deliberation who never were of their Communion and are so zealous in maintaining those Laws in force by which they own themselves Bloody by Profession 3. The Absurdity of Auricular Confession is endless where a Man unlades himself of all his Sins by whispering them into Priests Ears This again is a Calumny and Misrepresentation since no Catholics teach that only Whispering Sins in the Ears of a Priest is sufficient for their Remission They own indeed Confession to a Priest in order to Absolution and the same is allow'd by the Church of England but besides this Whispering they require likewise a True and Hearty Sorrow joyn'd with a Firm Purpose of Amendment and a Sincere Resolution of avoiding thro' the help of God's Grace all Sins and the occasion of them for the future and this I hope as no body will deny to be a proper Means in order to Forgiveness so likewise every one will see how unsincere this Preacher was in saying That a Man unlades himself of all his Sins by whispering them into Priests ears To make his Followers believe the Papists to be so Sottish as to think their Sins forgiven by a Whisper only 4. Of Transubstantiation where Men must renounce all their Five Senses at once How is this true that we must renounce all our Five Senses in the belief of this Mystery since if we follow our Hearing which is the Sense by which Faith comes we are oblig'd to believe it Christ's Words expresly signifie and declare that the Sacrament is his Body These Words we hear deliver'd to us by those whom He has appointed to Teach and Instruct the Flock to wit the Pastors of Christ's Church these Words we see likewise and read in the Holy Scripture So that if we follow our Ears and our Eyes directed by the Word of God we are bound to believe this Mystery and consequently do not renounce all Five at once And thus whilst we let both our Senses and Reason be immediately directed by God's Word which is Infallible we more Reverence the Scriptures and Believe upon better Grounds than Protestants who let Natural Objects ever about Mysteries of their Faith have the direction of their Senses in which they are so often deceiv'd rather than the Word of God which cannot deceive them We acknowledge that to frame a Judgment of the Nature or Substance of a thing we must depend upon the Information of Sense and that the Common and Natural way is to Judge according to the Relation the Senses give from the External and Natural Accidents of the thing But if we desire to frame a True Judgment of what is the Nature and Substance of such an Object not according to a Natural Being but according to the Divine Power and what it may have of Supernatural the Senses ought not to be laid aside but we must consider here too the Information These give not now from the Natural Accidents but from the Word of God and the Divine Revelation for tho' the Natural Substance of the thing be connected with and best known by its Natural Qualities yet a Supernatural Being not so and therefore This is better known from what the Senses tell us from God's Word and Divine Revelation than from the External Accidents and Natural Qualities of the thing I illustrate this by an Instance in another matter If I have a Present sent me in a Letter by a Friend and I intend to make a Judgment of the True Nature of it and What it is I cannot do this without the assistance of my Senses But then These may inform me Two ways either by Looking upon the thing it self which at present I suppose is a Transparent Stone observing every Cast of the Light how Pale c. or by Reading the Letter which being sent from an Excellent Artist gives a full Account of it as likewise Hearing What the Bearer says whom I know to be a skilful Jeweller Now in both these ways I use my Senses in order to Judge of the Present as to its Nature and Value If I take the Information of my Senses from the View of the Stone in it self I Judge it to the best of my Skill to be no Precious Stone but some Counterfeit or Peble If I take the Information my Senses give me from the Reading the Letter and Hearing the Artist I Judge it to be a True Diamond upon their Authority and greater Skill who being of known Honesty do unfeignedly give me this Assurance Now in which Judgment of these ought In in Prudence finally to acquiese Certainly in this last And yet in so doing I hope I should not renounce all my Five Senses at once No even in this Judgment too I should depend upon my Senses And if in such a Case as this I prudently form my Judgment from the Account my Senses give me of such Mens Authority and Knowledge rather
than from my own because the Nature of the Thing before me consists in something above my Skill Certainly when the Question is What is the Substance or Essence of a thing not Natural but Reveal'd to be Miraculous and according to the Divine Power and Ordinance the Safest Judgment ought to be fram'd not from what my Senses tell me of the Natural Accidents but from what They tell me of God's Word and the Divine Assurance because as Dr. Sherlock says Preserv against Pop. p. 25. We may reasonably conclude that God understands the Reasons and Nature of things better than we Since therefore my Senses assure me from Scripture and the Pastor's of God's Church that the Sacrament is Christ's Body I am bound in Reason to Judge it Is so rather than from the Natural Accidents to Judge it to be Bread. So that in thus Believing this Mystery we do not Renounce but Follow our Senses Fifthly The Pope alone cannot Err and All others without some of his Assistance cannot but Err. This again is absolutely False For tho' Catholics Believe that the Catholic Church whether Diffusive or in its Representatives viz. a General Assembly of Bishops under their Head the Bishop of Rome thro' the Divine Assistance of the Holy Spirit cannot Err in declaring Matters of Faith and some School-Divines are of Opinion that the Pope is assisted with a like Infallible Direction even at other times Yet never did any Catholics Teach or Believe that all others without the Pope's Assistance were under a Necessity of Erring No Determinations indeed of others without his Consent are of Force or Obligatory on the Whole Church no more than is a Vote of Parliament without the Approbation of the King a Law to the Nation Yet there 's no necessity of Concluding them False and Erroneous but only Not Authentic Protestants believe their own Church not to be Infallible and yet they don't think it to lie under a Necessity of Erring Why therefore must it be charg'd upon us because we believe the Members of our Church without their Head to be Fallible that Therefore They cannot but Err This therefore is a most Illogical and Absurd Consequence such as the Apologizer himself knows not how to justifie and yet he has not Goodness enough to acquit us from so foul a Calumny Eighth Character of a Pulpit-Papist HE is professedly edified in Ignorance by his Church Praying Dr. Standish ibid. and Prophesying in an Vnknown Tongue They make no other use or account of Confession than what professed Drunkards do of Vomiting Thus is his Religion describ'd in a Sermon before the Judges at Hertford 1682 / 3. but most abusively 1. For tho' the Mass is said in Latin by the Priests yet the People have it translated into English they have it expounded in several Books at large and are taught to understand and have a true Sense of what is done so that if they are Ignorant 't is to be imputed to their own Neglect and not to any Design in their Church which is so careful in providing all necessary Means for the avoiding that Inconvenience But of this more afterwards But his Church besides Praying Prophesies too says the Preacher in an Vnknown Tongue Here the Apologizer p. 20. is put to it to save the Credit of the Preacher He owns that by Prophesying is meant in S. Paul 1 Cor. 14. Expounding the Scripture and Articles of Faith to the People and to be the same as Preaching and knowing that Catholics do this in the Vulgar Language if the Preacher be understood in this common Sense of the Word he cannot excuse him from abusing his Auditory with a Calumny But says the Apologizer it do's not appear to me that the Preacher here understood it of vulgar Preaching because he knew it to be otherwise Marry if They never Preach'd contrary to what they knew this would be a good Rule But suppose he did not yet he imposes upon his Hearers whilst he asserts a thing of the Papists which in the common acceptation of the Word is absolutely False and yet leaves it to them to be taken as they please And therefore whilst he says absolutely that They Prophesie in an Vnknown Tongue which is the same as Preaching he Misrepresents the Papists 2. They make no other use or account of Confession than what profess'd Drunkards do of Vomiting This is a most Putid Calumny and the Vindicator is so sensible of it p. 21. that he dares not defend what the Preacher asserts but only that so it is in the Practice of many of their Church This indeed we don't doubt but many in Practice abuse Confession as they do all other Good things but how different is it to say That many Papists abuse Confession and That the Papists absolutely make NO OTHER use of Confession than what profess'd Drunkards do of Vomiting The former I fear is too True but the later is False and a thing that no modest Man can say without Blushing out of a Pulpit It may be as truly said That the Ministers of the Church of England make no other use of Preaching than what the Profess'd Enemies of the Crown do of Libelling viz. to fill the People witb Fears and Jealousies and disaffect them towards the King and Government And then after such an Aspersion what a Come-off would it be to say I mean this only of the Practice of some of that Profession This is the Case Ninth Character of a Pulpit-Papist 1. HE pays his Devotions to Saints Canoniz'd for Money and J. Turner ib. Treason 2. In his Church they Pray to the Crucifix of Wood or Stone as well as to Christ himself and attribute as much Satisfaction and Expiation to it as they do to the Blood of their Crucifi'd Redeemer 3. Their Confession instead of keeping up a Wholsom Discipline is the way to corrupt it and tends to the Debauching both Laity and Clergy This is Popery as Painted out at Lincolns-Inn Sep. 29. 1683. As to the First Point it is only insinuated by the Preacher with an It is not lawful to Pray c. which is as good as an Assertion to the Hearers viz. That the Papists do Pray to Saints Canoniz'd for Treason The Vindicator to make this good proves First That it may so happen that Saints may be Canoniz'd for Treason Which is as much to the purpose as for one to say That the Church-of-England-men are Corrupters of God's Word because 't is possible they may be so as being in their Principles Fallible as to what they Teach and Preach to their Flock Secondly he 'll prove that it has been done and then comes in the next Line with an Instance in which it had like to have been done as he says but was not done Lastly he says that Thomas à Becket was Canoniz'd for Rebellion because he adher'd to the Pope against his Prince No 't was for his Vertuous Life and Martyrdom and the attestation of his
of it he 's no True Son of the Church of England So that tho' the Teachers of this Communion as Establish'd by Law are very industrious to dissuade their Hearers from all Implicit Faith in assenting to Divine Mysteries deliver'd by the Church but that they must be sure not to move one Step beyond their own Sense and Reason otherwise they 'll â—ot believe like Men but pin their Faith on other Mens Sleeves and blindly be led by the Nose Yet when they turn on the other Sâ—â—â— and â—â—e to hear what Popery and the Papists are here they may run oâ— as blindly as they please an Implicit Faith is now more to the purpose Upon this Implicit Faith they may Hate them on this they may Rail against them 'T is not now here Search and Examin and then Believe and Speak as far as by your own knowledge you find to be True But a Genuine Son of the Church of England is to have a good Stock of this Implicit Faith by him and to Believe and Speak tho' he knows nothing at all And this it is I have often observ'd that Those who are the greatest Begots and rail most bitterly against the Papists are They that know the least of them not so much as my Country-man above not Two Families But why this Vneven kind of Dealing in Men that pretend to so much Conscience and Reason If a Member of the Church of England must not assent to any Mystery of Christianity upon an Implicit Faith for fear of Vnmanning himself forsooth why should he so unworthily betray his own Reason in taking up Calumnies upon Trust for the ruining his Neighbor As if the believing rashly of God or of our Neighbor were not both destructive and to be avoided by every good Christian For my part all that I pretend to here is that all Good Protestant would observe the Rule so often prescrib'd from the Pulpits of Search and Examin That they would Try and see what the Papists are before they condemn them But 't is not in the Pamphlets Books and Sermons of Protestants I would have them seek for this Information for all these I look on only as so many Painted Cloths or Popular Harangues design'd for the making of Crowds and encreasing the number of Admirers No what need of taking it thus upon Trust when at this time there are none but who have opportunity enough of seeing and knowing the Papists themselves and letting their own Eyes their own Ears tell them what the Papists are instead of going to a Lecture and receiving it upon Trust from those who at the same time they are telling what the Papists are are informing their Auditory how silly and unreasonable a thing it is to take things upon Trust and to be contented with an Implicit Faith when they may with much more Security follow their own Sense and Reason their own Eyes and their Ears 'T is thus then I desire Papists should be try'd after the Protestant Way I would have every one examin and see what the Papists are with whom they Converse with whom they Trade or have any Dealing such as are of their Acquaintance or Neighborhood consider and reflect on those who are in any Public Post let them use all their Senses and Reason and strictly look into their Way of Living and Dying their Conversation the Care and Pains they take in order to Salvation and then let them speak freely upon their own knowledge whether the Papists are generally the worst of their Neighborhood whether they are less Conscientious less Humble less Charitable c. than others of any other Persuasion But especially let them have a particular regard to such as are Converts to the Catholic Communion and observe them with a watchful Eye 't is certain if Popery be as Black as 't is Painted and so many Degrees worse than Protestantism 't will be impossible for a Man of Protestant to become Papist but 't will soon be discover'd in the Immorality of his Life and Actions Let these Converts therefore be rigorously observ'd to see whether with the change of Religion they change their Lives too for the worst and appear under all those Foul Colours that are pretended to belong to Popery Let them see in particular whether upon being Papists and going to Confession they are now less scrupulous of offending God and more Debauch'd than they were before as 't is said of the Papists in Protestant Sermons viz. That Confession tends Good Advice to Pulp p. 53. Answer to it p. 21 25. to the Debauching both Laity and Clergy and that the Papists make no other use of Confession than what profess'd Drunkards do of Vomiting Let 'em see whether they take less care of Repenting than they did before or Sin now more confidently presuming upon Popes Pardons and Compounding with Heaven for Money Whether they are less Attentive at their Prayers Dumb and Sensless like Idols at their Devotions in the Church Whether they are so stupid as to Pray to Images To change Scripture into Legends To neglect Repentance because of Purgatory To esteem every thing Meritorious that is for the Church's Interest c. Let all Converts be strictly observ'd as to these and such like Points which are the common Pulpit-Characters of Popery If it be true what is thus solemnly asserted with the Bible in Hand the Truth of it must necessarily appear for these are not meer Speculations confin'd within the Heart and Head but they are such Principles as influence the outward Man and must indispensably regulate the Actions of ones Life so that if this be the common Doctrine of Popery 't will be impossible for so many Professors of that Religion every where to be found and not to discover such an abominable Belief of their Heart in the common Practice of their Lives Since therefore we are come to things of Practice and Fact of which every Man 's own Eyes and Ears may be Judge I challenge Protestants in their own Way I appeal from the Pulpits to the Pews and instead of Implicit Faith pinn'd on the Pulpits require the People to make use of their own Senses To these we are contented to stand and to their Arbitration to refer all the Debate of Misrepresenting If our Lives and Actions our Conversation Living and Dying are so much worse than all the rest of our Neighbors answerable to what we are accus'd of from the Pulpits We are deservedly evil spoken of and for my part I shall willingly receive the Sentence of having my Hands ty'd from ever Penning any thing for the future in favor of a People of such pernicious Principles and detestable Practices and the Church of England I 'll own acquitted from the Charge of Misrepresenting Now in this Appeal I cannot expect that there shall be none Wicked or Scandalous found in our Communion 't is well known that the Perfectest of Creatures the very Angels in Heaven could not pretend to this while