of this Baron Hene one of his Majestie 's Justiciaries in Ireland assured a Person of Honor that one John Curphy a Papist Condemned for a Burglary in the Year 1671. at the time of his Execution did peremptorily Deny the Fact and made solemn Appeals to God of his Innocency Yet the Contrary was thus Discovered After he had Hung some little time the Rope by Chance brake so he fell down a little Stunned Yet some Seed of Life remaining in him he was brought to his perfect Speech Hereupon Terror was so deeply imprest upon his Conscience for Lying though counted a Venial Sin before that he was forced to Confess the Fact and after some time given him for Repentance he was Executed as he deserved Thus you see that Impudent Impenitent Malefactors at different Seasons have different Sentiments of God's Omniscient Justice for Forging Lies deliberately to make the World believe that they are Innocent God is concerned in the Honor of his Justice to Vindicate his Omnisciency in some strange Discovery of such Matchless Impostors who can hardly Repent in the time of Dying Indeed it is not probable they should who Entayl upon themselves a Voluntary Curse by their pertinacious Dissimulation and their Lying Artifices These Men are of late Commenced such profound Doctors in all Treason Rebellion Cruelty and what not which may destroy a Protestant Government that they out-strip all former Monsters of Impiety Had this Unparellel'd Villainy been Effected it would have been Celebrated for a Meritorious Act in Contriving a Speedier and more Effectual Method for the Propagation of the Romish Perswasion This is not the Truly Antient Apostolical Faith but a Mushrom of Fancy started up out of an Affectation of Superstitious Novelty and cherisht or spred by the Boundless Ambition of Earthly Pomp and Grandeur How can any Man who hath not quite Extinguisht all Sparks of Reason and Ingenuity Embrace such a Religion which any Idiot may be Ashamed to Live in and Afraid to Dye in For it is a Miscellany of Blasphemies and all Absurd Opinions yea of all Impieties Hereby it comes to pass that at last they are not able to put any Difference 'twixt Light and Darkness Truth and Falshood nor to distinguish Righteousness from Violence and Injustice nor Piety it self from the Extremity of Prophaneness I have done with the Discovery of the Falseness of their Appeals Let us now see whether their Faith and Charity in Dying were of any Better Stamp The Jesuits False-Faith in Dying Detected to be Fancy and Presumption HOw many False Martyrs hath the world afforded who while they Courted Death Sacrificed only a Sturdy Body to a Stubborn Mind to keep up some Heresy in Repute Jesuits count this a brave Resolution yet it flows from the Inconsiderateness of a Sleepy secure Conscience They weigh not the after-claps of Death nor Dread the future Assizes of the Universal Judgment Hypocrits will as confidently commit and commend their Spirits into the Hand and Bosom of Christ as if they had been Washt in his Blood and changed into his Image Jesuits who are a Faithless Generation cannot really make use of the Sheild of Faith to Blunt the Sting of Death or to Quench the Fiery Dartings of Despair into their Hearts For that Faith which they pretend to is rather Carnal fancy and presumption than any well regulated Resignation of their Souls to the Conduct of the Scriptures as imbraced by a firm Belief Such Resignation flowing from a Right-bred Faith is Divinely grounded on the Sacred Authority of God Alone who is the Architype of Truth But Jesuits do not believe the Scriptures to be a perfect Rule of Faith and of the practicals of Christian Self-denyal If they esteemed the Sacred Records able to make the Man of God Compleatly wise unto Salvation then Consequently they must needs be the strongest and only Sheild to overcome the Inordinate Love of Natural Life and the Slavish fear of a Violent Ignominious Death Such a frame can never be attained unless the Purity of the Scriptures which are Divine in their Original and Authority be Assented to and Imbraced with a Faith Divinely subjected to them I must receive and defend Divine Truth to the very Death not because I believe it with an Humane Faith as giving more credit to the Churches Tradition which Consignes the Scriptures to be Canonical than to the Authority of Divine Revelation If so I ground my Faith for Eternal Life upon an Vncertain Opinion or at best upon the Rash and bold Assertion of some Pope or Council who say and unsay Decree and Abolish the same Constitution in a Breath Thus the Jesuits-Faith which is meerly or chiefly Humane in the very essence and formality of it because the Church or Pope determines So or So can never reach to the Spiritual pitch and excellency of that Divine Faith which being grounded on the Sole Authority of Divine Revelation can only Justify and Save a mans Soul and Consequently can only afford true courage and comfort in Dying But Jesuits never had their Hearts purified by believing and obeying the Truths of Christ as such for then they would have their Affections more in Heaven But spending their Conversation chiefly among Machivilians of their own Tribe and Order to promote a Secular Interest rather than to Subject themselves to the Rules of the Blessed Jesus whose name their Society Blasphemously pretends to they cannot have any Experimental Tast of the powerful joys of the World to come Their confidence therefore in Dying cannot be Hearty and Ingenuous It flows cheifly from the Effort and vigor of natural courage not from a Super-elevated Principle of Unfeigned Faith which takes a prospect of Eternal Life not only beyond the pleasing Accomodations and Advantages of this present World but also beyond the Torments of Death that so God himself may be Glorified All in All and not only a Saint-like Cannonization be Ambitiously aspired unto which without real Holiness is but the Dream of a Fools-Paradise Are not such men under the delusion of a strange Phrency and Spiritually bewicht who put on an Artificial courage and zeal in sealing a false Religion with their Blood only out of a fond Ambition to avoid Purgatory on the left hand and that the Pope may immediately Canonize them for Heroical Champions in defending the pride of his Tripple Crown Jesuits account this to be justifying Faith to Eternal Life firmly to Assont to all the Popes determinations as Infallible when oftentimes Popes have been persons neither of common Truth nor Honesty but Atheists Hereticks Conjurers Sodomites yea Incarnate Devils Platina in the Life of John the 13th Constan Concil Sess 11. Art 5. Benedict 9. vide Baronium anno 1034. N. 3. Yet the unwritten Traditions or Fancies rather of these wicked Monsters must be Imbraced as Objects of justifying Faith by all such who expect not to be sent to Purgatory when they Dye But Can Jesuitical Martyrs for the Pope's
would consider seriously of that Sacred Scripture in the Twenty eighth of the Prov. of Solomon the Thirteenth verse He who hides his sin shall not prosper in the attempting of it but rather exposes himself to a Curse But whosoever Confesses and forsakes his Sin shall obtain Mercy He said That he had Confest 'twixt God and himself and that was Sufficient I told him that in respect of the great Scandal he had given and Reproach he had brought upon Religion which Obliges to all Fidelity towards Princes and forbids the Subvertion of a Lawful Government he ought to express great Sorrow for and detestation of such Principles which destroy Humane Society But he angerly replyed What! do you undertake to instruct me or others of my Order as if we were not Men of Reason and Learning I told him that I was bound to assist him as a dying Man and to put him in mind of seeking his Souls Salvation in a Right way And that whereas he slighted my Advice he ought not to look upon any Protestant Divine to be like Their Novices whom they Traine up in Ignorance as if it were the Mother of Devotion I said that I stood Amazed that any man of his Learning should so far forfeit the Repute thereof and all the Sentiments of a Good Conscience as to adhere to principles so destructive to all Order Equity and Government establisht by Light of Nature even among Savages He was not pleased with my discourse yet I did assure him I would not desist praying for him while I could Rationally think that he was Alive and within the reach or benefit of my prayers And so we parted IV V. Mr. Gawen and Mr. Turner I Could not speak with Gawen or Turner till they were placed in the Sledge I spake but little to them Time and the Noise of the people thronging me would not permit me to say much Only I told Mr. Gawen that Now death stared him in the face and his judgement to an Eternal State was very Near therefore I advised him not to palliate or extenuate his great Crime much lesse to deny it for he would hazard his Salvation if he went out of the world with a falsity in his mouth I told him I had and would continue to pray for him and his Fellow-Criminal in the Sledge with him So wishing them a penitential frame of Heart that they might obtain Eternal Life in Christ upon the drawing away of the Sledg Mr. Gawen shewed a publick Signal of Civility to me and thankt me He seemed much more cheerful than the rest And I hope he had better grounds for it Mr. Langhorne AFter Sentence of Death past upon the said Unhappy Gentleman as being Involved in the Jesuitical Conspiracy against the King and Nation I Addressed my self in a Visit to him which he Accepted When I first came into his Chamber I told him That I came not to upbraid a Dying Man though of a contrary Religion That I pittyed him as a Condemned Criminal yet was more troubled that he should Espouse the Popish Perswasions so far as to Suspend or Renounce rather the Sentiments of Right Reason in Embracing and Adhering to so Corrupt and Absurd Opinions He answered me That he thought himself in a surer Way for to attain Salvation than any of my Opinion could set themselves in For Protestants said he follow the Mistakes of their private Judgments and then cry them up for the Genuine Interpretation of the Holy Scriptures But We said he who are Roman Catholicks have the Conduct of an Infallible Guide to Interpret obscure Ambiguities in the Scriptures For no Scripture is of any private Interpretation otherwise well-meaning Persons may propose and put off their Fancies for solid Conclusions drawn from the sacred Records of God's Word He said That therefore there was great need of an external supreme infallible Judge on Earth whose Decision upon Appeals can only state and determine all Controversies about matters of Faith and Practice I replyed That the Divine Authority of God as imprest upon the Veracity of the Scriptures was never separated from the same Spirit who did Dictate them as unto special Guydance so far as not to Desert sincere Christians that they should fall into any Damnable Heresie But I feared that the Romish Opinions were such though they be imposed to be Believed and Obeyed upon the score of the Pope's Infallibility equally with the sacred Scriptures What Blasphemy is this for a sinful Man to arrogate the Title of Infallible due only to God the Fountain and Architype of all Truth That the Father of Lights gave Mankind the Best and Safest Conduct of his own Holy Infallible Spirit in Matters aforesaid And that the Scriptures being exemplified from his Essential Purity and Veracity were not defective as Human Laws which require an External Judge and Interpreter distinct from themselves in their Original Constitution So that in all Things necessary to Salvation the Scriptures were a Perfect Rule and Standard to dictate and determine Matters of Faith and Christian Obedience Yet so arrogant is the Pope as to Challenge an Authority to Himself to give the Scriptures a Sanction yea to Over-rule them by his Corrupt Traditions which he declares Infallible Thus he Exautorats and Invalidates their Divine Original and Superintendency as if they received all the Life of their Interpretation from his Authoritative Dilucidation as the Moon doth her Light from the Sun Hence it is that when the Pope enters into any Council he hath the Bible placed under his Feet while singly himself Over-rules the Council and Exalts his sole Determination above the sacred Records of Truth Hence it is that under a Pretence that the Scriptures are Obscure and a dead Letter in themselves that they must be Animated with his Traditions though never so Absurd and Contradictory to their Divine Authority Certainty and Perfection Also I said That where the Scriptures were Obscure in one Place they explained that Ambiguity in another So that there was no need of any External Judge And that Protestant Divines did not give out their Private Sentiments and Interpretations of the Scriptures for Laws to supersede the Innate Authority of the Scriptures or to oblige Christians to an Implicit Faith and Obedience as the Pope doth who over-rules the very Scriptures Themselves So that no part of them is Canonical but only those Books which he declares to be such Thus a sinful Man judges that sacred Law by which himself and all Men must be Judged though he claim a Power to Pardon Sin and Dispose of the Eternal Rewards of Virtue or Vice accordingly as himself pleases to determine the Nature and Circumstances of Both. Hence I said It proceeded that the Opinions of the Romish Church were so Corrupt as moulded and adapted to serve and promote the Carnal Interest of his Ambition and the Licentiousness of his Followers Then he askt me Whether I did not think that the Popish and Protestant
were Committed by him may stifly Deny It although he Did It with this Reserva I am not bound to Discover It though he be upon his Oath to declare the whole Truth He may Equivocate in usual Form sayes Lopez cap. 51. pag. 264. Angel Sum. V. Confess N. 1. Yea Popish Doctors have Devices to Legitimate the worst Wickedness Bellarmine sayes If the Pope should forbid Vertue and command Vice the Church must practice Vioe or sin against Her Conscience If the Pope can dispense with Vows which are Solemn Promises made to God why not with the Guilt of False Appeals So Canus pars Sexta Relict de Paenitentia Some affirm That the Pope can Legitimate Incest If so by the same Reason he may pardon False Appeals For What are such but a Spiritual Incest committed 'twixt the Heart and Tongue which ought to agree in speaking Truth for this is the Souls-Chastity They count it better than Innocent to abuse the VVorld with Lies even in point of Religion Surely if the Injury be not Great there wherein can it be Small Yea they allow of Lies in their very Devotion Peter Abbot of Cluny declares That in one Church-Hymne in the Praise of St. Bennet he found Twenty-four Lyes at least They affirm That they may safely Lye in Confessing that they abhor the Sin confest Yet themselves look upon the Confessors Chair as the Divine Tribunal So Angelus Sylvester Navar. Cap. 21. Num. 37. Covarruvius Soto Bannes Now if they may lawfully Lye in doing Penance when or wherein will they speak Truth If such a Sacred Part of their Religion be thus Prophaned we may well conclude that wheresoever they find any Liberty for speech they must have License to Lye and that ex Officio Nor can we rationally expect from Jesuits that they will Swear the Truth at Death You will say Then Conscience is more awakned made quick and serious in the Directive and Corrective Part of its Office So that the most profligate sort of Sinners when Dying will not dare but to declare the Truth I reply Yet Jesuits are Errant Designers upon Mens Consciences to seat themselves as Over-awing Demi-Gods therein while they dictate Cheats and Dotages unto them Yea How do these Seducers Instruct their Novices to believe such strange Absurdities which Themselves deny at Death Then they detest all Lying Doctrines and Miracles as also all Dispensations for Equivocating This they pretend to do when they have a Prospect of Damnation at Death and to make the World believe that Protestants Charge them with False Imputations Yet I cannot suppose them to be Serious in Renouncing their False Tenets at Death For if they did heartily do it How could they averr that they Dyed in the Profession of the Romish Church What Contradictions are these Asseverations If they spake the Truth when Dying then were they Apostats from that Religion which themselves style Catholick and Apostolick These Jesuitical Impostors dread not Damnation it self while they turn themselves into all Forms and for their Interest affirm and deny the same thing in a Breath whereas Truth is the same Eternally and Alters not Yet these Men live by a false Religion for Earthly Interest and Grandeur But after all their Dissimulation and Intrigues seem to Dye in the right Religion Instituted by Christ Hence it was That they Disclaimed the Merit of Good Works and at their Execution did not so much as Touch upon any Thing grosly different from the Purity of the Protestant Religion Hence it was that they Pray'd not Audibly to any Saint or Angel For had they Grosly Contradicted the Scriptures at their Death their Appeals they thought would not so Cleverly have been Believed by Credulous Vulgar Minds It may be in their Appeal to God they Equivocated and meant that they Appealed to the Pope whom they style Their Lord God as seated High in the Veneration of their Hearts For they give little less than Divine Honour to Him in presuming that his Vnholyness-Absolution is an Immediate Ticket to Challenge Heaven by and to wash them clean from the Guilt and Reproach of the Greatest Villanies Doubtless these Appealers were so well known to and Approved by his Holiness as it was a Wonder that he did not work a Miracle for their Impunity However It is likely that he so far honored these Eldest Sons in the Mystery of Iniquity that they escapt Purgatory by some rare Contrivance and were Dignifyed Saints immediately after Death for being Knights of the Post Doubtless they were hardned in this presumption that the Pope hath power to Dispence with the Sentiments of right reason yea can make void the positive Duties of the Divine Law Hence it is the common Doctrine of their Church That it is not Lawful to keep Faith with Hereticks in promissory Oaths or Assertory Justifications of their Integrity Romish Doctors affirm that if the Pope constitute and declare Virtue to be Vice and the most abominable Crimes to be Innocency they are bound under the Penalty of Damnation to believe him Now this is to Arrogate a Power above God himself who cannot alter the Eternal Nature of Moral Principles which are such Fixed Truths that what is Right and Just or Wicked and Unjust in the Nature of the thing it self was such before any declaration of the Will of God concerning it was superadded Therefore to change the Measures of Good and Evil which are Originally founded in the Essential Intrinsecal Goodness and Badness of Principles is to give a Dispensation to Sin It is to Exautorate or Invalidate the Eternal Principles of Virtue although these be Establisht on the very Dictates of right Reason This is to Supersede and make void the Authority of God himself who hath Implanted those common sentiments of what is right or wrong in the Hearts of all Men. They who draw all Appeals to the Pope for the Decision of what we are to believe or practise though contrary to Divine Revelation which is to make God himself a Lyar how can such Miscreans be credited in the most solemn Asseverations of their Integrity Had these Imposters turned their Eye with an Holy Awful Reverence upon God the Prototype of Truth had they had any regard of his Omniscient Inquisition after false Appellants they durst not have Challenged his Justice to detect and punish their Impudent Assertions Surely they dreamt of being weighed in Saint Michaels Ballance which is a Popish invention to deceive dying persons as if their Meritorious Treasons for promoting the Catholick Religion should Out-weigh their Lying Appeals that so they might not bind a Curse upon their Souls but directly go to Heaven Thus they did not weigh themselves in the Even Ballance of Gods Sacred Law but flattered themselves in the Contrivances of a deceitful Heart because any one grain of Sin makes all real Good works of no value at all in Gods account when he makes a Righteous disquisition of the Nature of our Actions All the Wayes