BX 1780 
 .G73 
 1860 
 
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 PRKSKNTKI) UY 
 
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2. 
 A PAPIST 
 
 MISREPRESENTED 
 
 REPRESENTED: 
 
 OR, A 
 
 TWO-FOLD CHARACTER 
 
 OF 
 
 POPERY: 
 
 -at/ 46 
 
 The one containing a sum of the superstitions, idolatries, 
 
 cruelties, treacheries, and wicked principles laid 
 
 to their charge : 
 
 The other laying open that religion which those termed 
 
 Papists own and proOjss, the chief articles of their 
 
 faith, and the principal grounds and reasoiis 
 
 which attach them to it. 
 
 BY THE REV. JOHN GOTHER. 
 
 CINCINNATI: 
 
 rUBLISIIED FOR THE CATHOLIC SOCIETY FOR THE 
 DIFFUSION OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 Stercotj-ped I»y Munfort & Conahans. 
 
^^i't: 
 
 
 APPROBATION. 
 
 The " Papist Misrepreseiited and Eepre- 
 sented " published for the " Catholic Society 
 for the Diffusion of Religious Knowledge" 
 is an excellent work, and as such I recom- 
 mend it to the faithful of this diocess. 
 
 E. T. COLLINS, V. G. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The father of lies is the author of mis- 
 representation. He first made the experi- 
 ment of this black art in Paradise: having 
 no surer way of bringing God's precepts 
 into contempt, and making our parents 
 transgress, than by misrepresenting the 
 command which their Maker had laid upon 
 them. And so unhappily successful was he 
 in this first attempt, that this has been his 
 chief stratagem ever since, for maintaining 
 himself in his usurpation, and propagating 
 error and vice amongst men, by discrediting 
 virtue and truth; and therefore there has 
 nothing of good yet come into the world, 
 nothing been sent from heaven, but what 
 has met with this opposition, the common 
 enemy having employed all his endeavours 
 to bring it into discredit, and render it 
 infamous by misrepresenting it. Of this 
 there are frequent instances in scripture, 
 and more in church history. The truth 
 of this was experienced on the person of 
 Christ himself, who, though he was the Son 
 of God, the immaculate Lamb, yet was he 
 not out of the reach of calumny, nor ex- 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 empt from being misrepresented. See in 
 the gospel how he was painted by mali- 
 cious men, the ministers of Satan, as a pro- 
 fane and wicked man, a breaker of the Sab- 
 bath, a glutton, a friend and companion of 
 publicans and sinners, a conjuror, a traitor, 
 a seducer, a raiser of seditions, a Samari- 
 tan, and full of the devil: he hath Beelzebub, 
 said they, and by the prince of the devils 
 casteth he out devils; (Mark iii. 22.) there 
 being no other way of frightening the peo- 
 ple from embracing the truth, and follow- 
 ing the Son of God, but by thus disfiguring 
 him to the multitude, reporting light to be 
 darkness, and God to be the devil. The 
 disciples of Christ every where met with 
 the like treatment. The people were stir- 
 red up against St. Stephen by misrepresen- 
 tation, because they heard he had spoken 
 bJasp)e7nous words against Moses and against 
 God; (Acts vi. 11.) and against Paul, be- 
 cause they were told he taught all men 
 every ichere against the people, and polluted 
 the holy place. (Acts xxi. 23.) They charg- 
 ed him also with being a pestilent fellow, 
 and a mover of sedition amongst all the 
 Jews throughout the world. (Acts xxi v. 5.) 
 Neither did these calumnies, these wicked 
 misrepresentations stop here: he that said 
 the disciple is not above his master, and if 
 they have called the inaster of the house 
 Beelzebub, hoiv much more shall they call 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 iliem of his household? (Matt. x. 21, 25.) did 
 not only foretel what was to happen to his 
 followers then present, but also to ihe faith- 
 ful that were to succeed them, and to his 
 Church in future ages, they being all to 
 expect the like treatment; so that though 
 they should be never so just to God and 
 their neighbour, upright in their ways, and 
 live in the fear of God, and the observance 
 of his laws; yet must they certainly be 
 reviled and hated by the world, made a 
 byeword to the people, have the repute of 
 seducers, and be a scandal to all nations. 
 And has not this been verified in all ages? 
 See what was the state of Christians in the 
 primitive times, when as yet vice had not 
 corrupted the morals of the generality of the 
 faithful. It is almost impossible to believe 
 in what contempt they were, and how ut- 
 terly abominated. Tcrtullian, who was an 
 eye-witness, gives us so lamentable an ac- 
 count of the Christians in his time, that, 
 were it possible, it would move compassion 
 in stones. lie tells us so malicious slanders 
 were dispersed abroad concerning the man- 
 ner of their worship, and their whole reli- 
 gion described, not only to be mere folly 
 and foppery, but also to be grounded on 
 most hellish principles, and to be so full of 
 impieties, that the heathens believed a man 
 could not make profession of Christianity, 
 without being tainted with all sorts of 
 1* 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 crimes; without being an enemy to the 
 gods, to princes, to the laws, to good man- 
 ners, and to nature itself. So that Chris- 
 tianity was wholly infamous amongst the 
 heathens, condemned and detested by all, 
 and most bloody persecutions raised against 
 the professors of it, whilst they were guilty 
 of no other crime but adhering to the truth. 
 And it was these calumnies, these false ac- 
 cusations, invented to cry down the Chris- 
 tian religion, that obliged Tertullian to 
 write his Apology, wherein he declared to 
 the world, that Christianity was nothing 
 like that which the heathens imagined it 
 to be; that idolatry, superstition, impiety, 
 cruelty, treachery, conspiracies, &c.were 
 none of their doctrine, but condemned and 
 detested by them; that these crimes were 
 only the malicious inventions of the hea- 
 thenish priests, who finding themselves 
 unable to withstand the force of Christian- 
 ity, had no other way to preserve them- 
 selves in repute, and keep the people in 
 their error than by an ugly, odious, and 
 most horrible vizor, a damnable scheme of 
 religion; and then holding this forth to the 
 world, and crying out, "This is the reli- 
 gion of Christians: these are their princi- 
 ples; behold their ignorance, their stupi- 
 dity, their profaneness; behold their inso- 
 lence, their villanies, a people insufferable 
 in a commonwealth, enoinies to their coun- 
 
I 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 try and their prince:" and thus represent- 
 ing it as monstrous as they pleased, they 
 brought an odium upon as many as owned 
 that name, and condemned them for follies 
 and crimes that were no where but in their 
 own imagination. And now, when by the 
 propagation of Christianity, and the labo- 
 rious endeavours of its professors, heathen 
 ism was pretty well extinct; yet was not 
 the mouth of malice stopped, the calumnies 
 which had been invented by the infidels, be- 
 ing taken up by evil Christians; no one go- 
 ing out from the communion of the Church 
 of Christ, but what did, by the revival of 
 old scandals, and the addition of fresh 
 ones, endeavour to make her infamous, and 
 blacken her with such crimes as could be 
 thought most convenient for rendering her 
 odious to all: it being looked upon by as 
 many as went out of her, the best means 
 to justify their separation, and to gain to 
 themselves the character of orthodox Chris- 
 tians, to paint her in all the antichristian 
 colours, and represent her as hellish as 
 wickedness could make her. It is strange 
 how much she suffered in this point from 
 the Manichees, and from the Donatists; and 
 how much pains it cost St. Augustine to 
 prove the accusations to be mere calumnies, 
 principally intended to raise prejudices in 
 the minds of the people against her; that so 
 being convinced by these hellish artifices, 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of her teaching unsound and profane doc- 
 trine, wicked principles and human inven- 
 tions instead of divine faith, they might 
 never think of going to her to learn the 
 truth, nor even so much as to suspect her 
 to be the Church of Christ. This, St. Au- 
 gustine complains, was the chief cause of 
 his continuing in the errors of the Manic- 
 hees so long, and that he impugned with so 
 much violence this church: and therefore, 
 after he was come to the knowledge of the 
 truth, he discovered this to the world, for 
 the undeceiving of others who were caught 
 in the same snare; making it a part of his 
 confessions: — ''When I came to discover 
 the truth," says he, " I mingled joys and 
 blushes, and was ashamed that I had now 
 for so many years been barking and rail 
 ing, not against the Catholic faith, but only 
 against the fictions of my carnal conceits. 
 For so temerarious and impious was I, that 
 those things which I ought first to have 
 learned from them by enquiry, I charged 
 upon them by accusation; readier to impose 
 falsehood than be informed of the truth. — 
 And thus I so blindly accused the Catholic 
 Church, now sufficiently cleared to me, that 
 she taught not the opinions I so vehemently 
 persecuted." And this he did, deluded and 
 deceived by the Manichees. — And now since 
 it is certain that this has not been the case 
 of St, Augustine alone, but of as many al- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 most as have given ear to the deserters of 
 this Church; — nay, is at this day the case 
 of infinite numbers who, following that 
 great father when as yet in his errors, do 
 not enquire how this thing is believed or 
 understood by her, but insultingly oppose 
 all, as if so understood as they imagine; not 
 making any difference betwixt that which 
 the Catholic Church teaches, and what they 
 think she teaches; and so believing her to 
 be guilty of as many absurdities, follies, 
 impieties, &c. as the heathens did of old : 
 it is evident there is as much need now of 
 apologies as ever there was in Tertullian's 
 or St. Augustine's time: not apologies to 
 vindicate what is really her faith and doc- 
 trine, but rather to clear her from such 
 superstitions, profaneness, and wicked prin- 
 ciples, as are maliciously or ignorantly 
 charged upon her. And though the num- 
 ber of calumnies, the insincerity of adver- 
 saries, the obstinacy of a biassed education, 
 render a performance in this kind a just 
 task for a Tertullian's or St. Augustine's 
 hand; yet because I find no such eminent 
 pen engaged in this design at present, and 
 the shewing the true religion in its own 
 colours, seems a duty incumbent on every 
 one that is a lover of truth; I will endea- 
 vour to pull off the vizor from suffering 
 Christianity, and apologise for the Catholic 
 Faith; that faith 1 mean maintained by the 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 primitive fathers with so much vigour and 
 zeal, which being planted in the head city 
 of the world by St. Peter, hath been propa- 
 gated throughout the universe, and derived 
 down to us by many Christian nations in 
 communion with that See, under the pro- 
 tection of the Holy Ghost, and the charge 
 of a chief pastor, which beginning in that 
 great apostle, has continued in a visible 
 succession to these our days. This faith it 
 is for which at present I design to make 
 an apology, which having been in all ages 
 violently opposed, does at this time most 
 wrongfully suffer under calumnies and false 
 imputations. I will endeavour therefore to 
 separate these calumnies and scandals from 
 what is really the faith and doctrine of that 
 church; I will take off the black and dirt 
 which have been thrown upon her, and set- 
 ting her forth in her genuine complexion, 
 let the world see how much fairer she is 
 than she is painted; and how much she is 
 unlike that monster which is showed for 
 her. And because the members of this 
 church are commonly known by the name 
 of Papists, I think I cannot take a more 
 sincere, open, and compendious way, in or- 
 der to the completing of this design, than 
 by drawing a double character of a Papist; 
 the one expressing a Papist in those very 
 colours as he is painted in the imaginations 
 of the vulgar, most foul, black, and anti- 
 
INTRODUCTION. II 
 
 christian, with the chief articles of his ima- 
 gined belief, and imputed pinciples of his 
 profession : — the other representing a Papist 
 whose faith and exercise of religion are ac- 
 cording to the direction and command of 
 his Church; that so these two being thus 
 set together, their difference and dispropor- 
 tion may be clearly discerned, and a dis- 
 covery made how unlike calumny is from 
 truth, and how different a Papist is from 
 what he is said to be. The former charac- 
 ter is that of a Papist misrepresented; the 
 other is that of a Papist represented. — The 
 former is of a Papist so deformed and mons- 
 trous, that he justly deserves the hatred of 
 as many as own Christianity; the other Pa- 
 pist is one that lives and believes accord- 
 ing to what is prescribed in the Council of 
 Trent, in the Catechism set forth by Catho- 
 lics, and other spiritual books for the direc- 
 tion of all in their communion, whose faith 
 and doctrine I have here set down, with 
 some grounds and reasons of it, and so will 
 leave it to apologise for itself In draw- 
 ing out the character of the former I have 
 quoted no authors, but have described him 
 exactly according to the apprehension I 
 had of a Papist, framed by me when I 
 was a Protestant; with the addition only 
 of some few points, which liave been vio- 
 lently charged against me by some intimate 
 friends of late, to show the unreasonable- 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ness of my choice, after the quitting of that 
 communion. The latter is wholly copied 
 from the Papist that I am now; being the 
 sum of what I was taught when reconciled 
 to the Church of Rome; and which, after 
 sixteen years conversation with men of 
 that communion, in hearing their sermons, 
 in being present at their catechising, in read- 
 ing their books and discoursing with them, 
 I have found to be their doctrine. I have 
 done both, I hope, with sincerity and truth, 
 and without passion. For as my endea- 
 vours have been that my religion should 
 lose nothing by lies, so neither do I desire 
 that it should gain any thing by them; and 
 did I but know of any thing in the follow- 
 ing pages, that has any relation to the anti- 
 christian artifice, I would strike it out im- 
 mediately; and do here pledge myself upon 
 information, either from friend or adver- 
 sary, to acknowledge the mistake, as it 
 shall be made appear, and make a public 
 recantation. — But it is time we should see 
 what these Papists are. 
 
A PAPIST 
 
 MISREPRESENTED AND REPRESENTED. 
 
 OF PRAYING TO BIAGES. 
 
 A Papist misrepresented worships stocks 
 and stones for gods : he takes no notice of 
 the Second Commandment, but setting up 
 pictures and images of Christ, the Virgin 
 Mary, and his other Saints, he prays to 
 them, and puts his trust and confidence in 
 them; much like as the heathens did in their 
 wooden gods, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, &c. and 
 for this reason he erects stately monuments 
 to them in his churches, adorns them sump- 
 tuously, burns candles, offers incense, and 
 frequently falls down prostrate before them, 
 and with his eyes fixed upon them, cries 
 out, help me, Mary; assist me, Anthony; 
 remember me, Ignatius. 
 
 A Papist truly represented believes it 
 damnable to worship stocks and stones for 
 gods, to pray to pictures or images of 
 Christ, of the Virgin Mary, or of any other 
 Saints, to believe any virtue or divinity in 
 
14 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 them, or to put any trust or confidence in 
 them. He is expressly taught the contrary 
 to all this by the Council of Trent, {Sess, 
 25.) and his very children are instructed in 
 their Catechisms, which are in I he hands 
 of all, that they must " by no means pray 
 to pictures or images, because they can 
 neither see, nor hear, nor help them. See 
 Abstract of the Douay Catechism^ upon the 
 first Commandment; Abridgement of the 
 Christian Doctrine, chap. iv. &c. But what 
 use then does the Papist make of pictures 
 or images of Christ, of the blessed Virgin, 
 or other Saints? Why, he keeps them by 
 him to preserve in his mind the memory of 
 the person represented by them,- as people 
 are wont to preserve the memory of their 
 deceased friends by keeping their pictures. 
 He is taught to use them, so as to cast his 
 eyes upon the pictures or images, and thence 
 to raise his heart to the things represented, 
 and there to employ it in meditation, love, 
 and thanksgiving, desire of imitation, &c. 
 as the object requires: as many good Chris- 
 tians, placing a deatWs head before them, 
 from the sight of it, take occasion to reflect 
 upon their last end, in order to their better 
 preparing for it; or by seeing Old Time, 
 painted with his fore-Jock, hour-glass, and 
 scythe, turn their thoughts upon the swift- 
 ness of time, and that whosoever neglects 
 the present, is in danger of beginning then 
 
AJ^D REPRESENTED. 15 
 
 to desire to lay hold of it when there is on 
 more of it to come. These pictures or ima- 
 ges have this advantage, that they inform 
 the mind by one glance, of what in reading 
 might require a whole chapter; there being 
 no other difference between them, than that 
 reading presents leisurely, and by degrees, 
 and a picture all at once. Hence he finds a 
 convenience in saying his prayers with 
 some devout pictures before him, he being 
 no sooner distracted but the sight of these 
 recall his wandering thoughts to the right 
 object; and as certainly brings something 
 good into his mind, as an immodest pic- 
 ture disturbs his heart with filthy thoughts- 
 And because he is sensible that these holy 
 pictures and images, represent and bring to 
 his mind such objects as in his heart he 
 loves, honours, and venerates, he cannot 
 but on that account love, honour, and re- 
 spect the images themselves; as whosoever 
 loves their husband, child, or friend, cannot 
 but have some love and respect for their 
 pictures: whosoever loves and honours his 
 king, will have some honour and regard for 
 his image. Not that he venerates any im- 
 age or picture, for any virtue or divinity 
 believed to be in them, or for any thing 
 that is to be petitioned of them; but because 
 the honour that is exhibited to them is re- 
 ferred to those whom they represent. — So 
 that it is not properly the image he honours, 
 
16 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 but Christ and his saints by the images: as 
 it is not properly the images or pictures of 
 kings or other men that we respect or in- 
 jure; but by their images or pictures we 
 respect or injure the persons themselves. 
 All the veneration therefore he expresses 
 before all images, whether by kneeling, 
 lifting up the eyes, burning candles, in- 
 cense, &c. is not at all done for the image, 
 but is wholly referred to the things repre- 
 sented, which he intends to honour by these 
 actions: and how by so doing he breaks the 
 second Commandment, he cannot conceive, 
 for he acknowledges only one God, and to 
 him alone gives sovereign honour; and 
 whatsoever respect he shews to a crucifix, 
 picture, or image, seems to him no more 
 injurious to any of the Commandments than 
 it is for a Christian to love and honour his 
 neighbour, because he bears the image of 
 God in his soul; to kiss and esteem the 
 Bible, because it contains and represents to 
 him God^s word; or to love a good preach- 
 er, because he reminds him of his duty; all 
 which respects do not at all derogate from 
 God Almighty's honour, but are rather tes- 
 timonies of our great love and honour of 
 him, since, for his sake, we love and esteem 
 every thing that has any respect or relation 
 to him. 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 17 
 
 OF WORSHIPPING SAINTS. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented makes gods of 
 dead men: such as are departed hence, and 
 are now no more able to hear, or see, or 
 understand his necessities. And though 
 God he so good as to invite all to come to 
 him, and to apply themselves to their only 
 and infinite Mediator Jesus Christ,* yet so 
 stupid is he, that neglecting, and, as it were, 
 passing by both God and his own Son, and 
 all their mercies, he betakes himself to his 
 Saints, and there pouring forth his prayers, 
 he considers them as his mediators and re- 
 deemers, and expects no blessing but what 
 is to come to him by their merits, and 
 through their hands; and thus, without 
 scruple or remorse, he robs God of his 
 honour. 
 
 The Papist, truly represented^ believes 
 there is only one God, and that it is a most 
 damnable idolatry to make gods of men 
 either living or dead. His church teaches 
 him indeed, (and ho believes,) that it is good 
 and profitable to desire the intercession of 
 Saints reigning with Christ in heaven: but 
 that they arc gods, or his redeemers, he is 
 no where taught; but detests all such doc- 
 trine. He confesses that we arc all re- 
 deemed by th.e blood of Christ alone, and 
 that he is our only Mediator of redemption: 
 
18 
 
 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 but as for mediators of intercession, (that is, 
 such as we may lawfully desire to pray for 
 us) he does not doubt but it is acceptable to 
 God we should have many. Moses was such 
 a mediator for the Israelites; Job for his 
 three friends; Stephen for his persecutors. 
 The Romans were thus desired by St. Paul 
 to be his mediators; so were the Corinthi- 
 ans; so the Ephesians; Ep. ad Roju. Cor, 
 Eph. So almost every sick man desires the 
 congregation to be his mediators by remem- 
 bering him in their prayers. And so the 
 Papist desires the blessed in heaven to be 
 his mediators; that is, that they would pray 
 to God for him. And in this, he does not at 
 all neglect coming to God, or rob him of his 
 honour; but directing all his prayers up to 
 him, and making him the ultimate object of 
 all his petitions, he only desires sometimes 
 the just on earth, sometimes those in heaven, 
 to join their prayers to his, that so the num- 
 ber of petitioners being increased, the peti- 
 tion may find better acceptance in the sight 
 of God. And this is not to make them gods, 
 but only petitioners to God; it is not to make 
 them his redeemers, but only intercessors 
 to his Redeemer, he having no hope of ob- 
 taining any thing but of God alone, by and 
 through the merits of Christ; for which he 
 desires the Saints in heaven, and good men 
 upon earth, to offer up their prayers with 
 his; the prayers of the just availing much 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 19 
 
 before God. But now, how the saints in 
 heaven know the prayers and necessities 
 of those who address themselves to them, 
 whether by the ministry of angels, or in 
 the vision of God, or by some particular 
 revelation, it is no part of his faith, nor is 
 it much his concern that it should be deter- 
 mined. For his part he does not doubt, but 
 that God, who acquainted the prophets with 
 the knowledge of things that were yet to 
 come many hundred years after; that in- 
 formed Elisha of the king of Syria's coun- 
 cils, though privately resolved on in his 
 bed-chamber, and at a distance, (2 Kings, 
 vi. 12.) can never want means of letting the 
 saints know the desires of those who beg 
 their intercession here on earth; especially 
 since our Saviour informs us, (Luke xiv.) 
 that Abraham heard the petition of Dives, 
 who was yet at a greater distance, even in 
 hell; and told him likewise the manner of 
 his living, while as yet on earth. Nay, 
 since it is generally allowed, that even the 
 very devils hear those desperate wretches 
 who call on them, why should we doubt that 
 the Saints want this privilege, who, though 
 departed this life, are not so properly dead, 
 as translated from a mortal life to an im- 
 mortal one, where enjoying God Almighty, 
 they lose no perfections which they enjoyed 
 while on earth, but possess all in a more 
 eminent manner, having more charity, more 
 
20 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 knowledge, more interest with God than 
 ever, and becoming like angels. — {Luke xx. 
 36.) And as these offered up their prayers 
 for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, {Zech. 
 i. 12.) so undoubtedly they likewise fall 
 down before the Lamb, having every one of 
 them harps, and golden vials full of odours, 
 which are the prayers of the saints, Apoc. v. 8. 
 
 OF ADDRESSING MORE SUPPLICATIONS TO THE 
 VIRGIN MARY THAN TO CHRIST. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes the 
 Virgin Mary to be much more powerful in 
 heaven than Christ, and that she can com- 
 mand him to do what she thinks good: and 
 for this he honours her much more than he 
 does her Son, or God the Father; for one 
 prayer he says to God, saying ten to the 
 holy Virgin. 
 
 The Papist truly represented believes it 
 damnable to think the Virgin Mary more 
 powerful in heaven than Christ; or that she 
 can in any thing command him. He hon- 
 ours her indeed, as one that was chosen the 
 mother of God, and blessed amongst all 
 women; and believes her to be most accep- 
 table to God in her intercession for us, but 
 owning her still as a creature, and that all 
 she has of excellency is the gift of God, pro- 
 ceeding from his mere goodness. Neither 
 
AND PwEPRESENTEB. 21 
 
 does he at any time say even so much as 
 one prayer to her, but what is directed more 
 particularly to God, because offered up as a 
 thankful memorial of Christ's incarnation, 
 and acknowledgement of the blessedness of 
 Jesus the fruit of her womb; and this with- 
 out imagining there is any more dishonour- 
 ing of God in his reciting the Angelical 
 Salutation, than in the first pronouncing it 
 by the Angel Gabriel and Elizabeth; or 
 that his frequent repetition of it is any 
 more an idle superstition than it was in 
 David to repeat the same words over twen- 
 ty-six times in the 126th psalm. 
 
 OF PAYING DIVINE V^ORSHIP TO RELICS. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes a kind 
 of divinity to remain in the relics of his 
 reputed sauits, and therefore adores their 
 rotten bones, their corrupted flesh, their old 
 rags, with divine honour, kneeling down to 
 them, kissing them, and going in pilgrim- 
 age to their shrines and sepulchres. And 
 he is so far possessed with a conceited deity 
 lying in those senseless remains, that he 
 foolishly believes they work great miracles, 
 and raise more to life than ever Christ 
 himself did. 
 
 The Papist truly represented believes it 
 damnable to think there is any divinity in 
 
22 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 the relics of saints, or to adore them with 
 divine honour, or to pray to their rotten 
 bones, old rags, or shrines, or that they can 
 work any strange cures or miracles by any 
 hidden power of their own. But he be- 
 lieves it good and lawful to keep them with 
 veneration, and to give them a religious 
 honour and respect. And this he thinks 
 due to them, inasmuch as knowing himself 
 obliged to respect and honour God Almighty 
 from his heart, he looks upon himself as 
 obliged to respect and honour every thing 
 that has any particular relation to him, but 
 this with an inferior honour, such as the 
 Jews showed to the Ark, to the Tables of 
 the Law, to Moses's rod, to the Temple, to 
 the Priest. Such as we generally allow 
 the Bible, because it contains God's word; 
 to the Church, because it is God's house; to 
 holy men and priests, because they are 
 God's servants. And so he does to relics, 
 because they appertain to God's favourites; 
 and being insensible things, are yet sen- 
 sible pledges, and lively memorials of 
 Christ's servants, dead indeed to this w^orld, 
 but alive with him in glory. And more 
 especially because God himself has been 
 pleased to honour them, by making them in- 
 struments of many evident miracles which 
 he has visibly worked by them, as is evi- 
 dent upon undeniable record. And this he 
 believes as easy fur God Almighty now. 
 
AND RJEPRESENTED. 23 
 
 and as much redounding to the honour of 
 his holy name, as in the old law, to work 
 such miraculous effects by Moses's rod, by 
 Elias's mantle, after he was taken up into 
 heaven, (2 Kings ii. 14.) Eliseus's bones, 
 (2 Kings xiii. 21.) and infinite other such 
 insensible things; and also in the new law, 
 by the hem of his own garment, (Matt. ix. 
 22.) by the shadow of St. Peter, (Acts v. 
 12.) by the napkin and handkerchiefs that 
 had but touched the body of St. Paul, cast- 
 ing out devils, and curing diseases, (Acts 
 xix. 22.) and such like. And thus by hav- 
 ing a veneration and respect for these, he 
 honours God, and does not doubt, but that 
 they that contemn and profane these do the 
 like to God, as much as they did who pro- 
 faned the bread of propitiation, the temple, 
 and vessels that belonged to it. 
 
 OF THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes it law- 
 ful to commit idolatry, and makes it his dai- 
 ly practice to worship and adore a broaden 
 god, giving divine honour to those poor, 
 empty elements of bread and wine. Of 
 these he asks pardon for his sins; of these 
 he desires grace and salvation; these he ac- 
 knowledges to have been his redeemer and 
 saviour, and hopes for no good but what is 
 to come to him by means of these liousc- 
 
24 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 bold gods. And then, for his apology he 
 alleges such gross contradictions, so con- 
 trary to all sense and reason, that whoso- 
 ever will be a Papist, must be no man; 
 fondly believing that what he adores is no 
 bread or wine, but Christ really present 
 under those appearances; and he makes as 
 many Christs, as many Redeemers, as there 
 are churches, altars, or priests. When ac- 
 cording to God's infallible word there is but 
 one Christ, and he not on earth, but at the 
 right hand of his Father in heaven. 
 
 The Papist truly rejjreseiited believes it 
 abominable to commit any kind of idolatry, 
 and most damnable to worship or adore a 
 breaden god, or to give divine honour to 
 the elements of bread and wine. He wor- 
 ships only one God, who made heaven and 
 earth, and his only Son Jesus Christ our 
 Redeemer, who being in all things equal 
 to his Father in truth and omnipotency, 
 he believes made his words good pro- 
 nounced at his last supper, really giving 
 his body and blood to his apostles, the spe- 
 cies or accidents of bread and wine remain- 
 ing as before. The same ho believes of 
 the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist, 
 consecrated now by priests, that it really 
 contains the body of Christ, which was de- 
 livered for us, and his blood, which was 
 shed for the remission of sins; which being 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 25 
 
 there united with the divinity, he confesses 
 whole Christ to be present. And him he 
 adores and acknowledges his Redeemer, 
 and not any bread or wine. And for the 
 believing of this mystery, he does not at all 
 think it meet for any Christian to appeal 
 from Christ's word to his own senses or 
 reason, for the examining the truth of what 
 he has said, but rather to submit his senses 
 and reason to Christ's words in the obse- 
 quiousness of faith; and that being the son 
 of Abraham, it is more becoming him to 
 believe as Abraham did, promptly, with a 
 faith superior to all sense or reason, and 
 whither these could never lead him. With 
 this faith it is he believes every mystery 
 of his religion, the Trinity, Incarnation, &c 
 With this faith he believes that what de- 
 scended upon our Saviour at his baptism in 
 Jordan, was really the Holy Ghost though 
 senses or reason could discover it to be no- 
 thing but a dove. With this faith he believes 
 that the man that Joshua saw standing over 
 against him with his sword drawn, {Joshua 
 v. 13.) and the three men that Abraham 
 entertained in the plains of IMambre, (Gen. 
 xviii.) were really and substantially no 
 men; — and that notwithstanding all the in- 
 formation and evidence of sense, from their 
 colour, features, proportion, talking, eating, 
 &c. of their being men, yet, without any 
 discredit to his senses, he really believer 
 3 
 
26 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 they were no such thing, because God's 
 word has assured him of the contrary. 
 And with this faith he believes Christ's body 
 and blood to be really present in the bless- 
 ed sacrament, though, to all outward ap- 
 pearance, there is nothing more than bread 
 and wine: thus, not at all hearkening to his 
 senses in a matter where God speaks, he 
 unfeignedly confesses, that he who made 
 the world out of nothing by his sole word, 
 that cured diseases by his word, that raised 
 the dead by his word, that commanded the 
 winds and the seas, that multiplied bread, 
 that changed water into wine by his word, 
 and sinners into just men, cannot want 
 power to change bread and wine into his 
 own body and blood by his sole word. And 
 this without danger of multiplying his body, 
 of making as many Christs as altars, or 
 leaving the right hand of his Father; but 
 only by giving to his body a supernatural 
 manner of existence, by which, being with- 
 out extension of parts, rendered indepen- 
 dent of place, it may be one and the same 
 in many places at once, and whole in every 
 part of the symbols, and not obnoxious to 
 any corporal contingencies. And this kind 
 of existence is no more than what in a man- 
 ner he bestows upon every glorified body; 
 than what his own body had, when born 
 without the least violation of his mother's 
 virginal integrity; when he arose from the 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 27 
 
 dead, out of the sepulchre, without remov- 
 ing the stone; when he entered amongst his 
 disciples, the doors being shut. And though 
 he cannot understand how this is done, yet 
 ,he undoubtedly believes that God is able to 
 do more than he is able to understand. 
 
 OF MERITS AND GOOD WORKS. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes Christ's 
 death and passion to be ineffectual and insig- 
 nificant, and that he has no dependence upon 
 the merits of his sufferings, or the mercy 
 of God for obtaining salvation, but that 
 he is to be saved by his own merits. And, 
 for this reason, he is very zealously busy 
 in fasting, in watching, in going in proces- 
 sion, in wearing hair-shirts, and using a 
 thousand such like mortifications; and hav- 
 ing done this, he thinks himself not at all 
 beholden to God for his salvation, and that 
 to give him heaven will be no favour; it 
 being now his due, upon the account of his 
 meritorious achievements, without any of 
 God's mercy through Christ's passion or 
 his Maker's goodness. 
 
 The Papist Iruhj represented believes it 
 damnable to say that Christ's death and 
 passion are ineflcctual and insignificant, and 
 that it is the doctrine of devils to believe 
 that he has no dcpendance for his salvation 
 
28 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 upon the merits of Christ's sufferings, or 
 the mercy of God; but only upon his own 
 merits and good works. It is his faith to 
 believe that of ourselves we are not suffi- 
 cient so much as to think a good thought; 
 that the grace by which we are justified is 
 given us purely gratis, upon the account of 
 Christ's merits: moreover, that no man, how 
 just soever, can merit any thing either in 
 this life or in that to come, independent of 
 the merits and passion of Jesus Christ; 
 nevertheless, that through the merits of 
 Christ, the good works of a just man pro- 
 ceeding from grace, are so acceptable to 
 God, that through his goodness and promise 
 they are truly meritorious of eternal life; 
 and this he has learned from the apostle, 
 (2 Tim. iv. 8.) where he is taught that there 
 is a crown of justice, which our Lord, a 
 just judge, will render at the last day; not 
 only to St. Paul, but also to all those that 
 shall have fought a good fight, and consum- 
 mated their course, kept ^:he faith, and loved 
 his coming; knowing, therefore, that at the 
 day of judgment he is to receive according 
 to his works J he endeavours by good works 
 to make his vocation and election sure, (2 
 Peter i. 10.) and in following this counsel, 
 he thinks he no more offends against the 
 fullness of the merits of Christ or God's 
 mercy, than the apostle does in giving it. 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 29 
 
 OF CONFESSION. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes it part 
 of his religion to make gods of men, fool- 
 ishly thinking they have power to forgive 
 sins. And therefore as often as he finds 
 his conscience oppressed with the guilt of 
 his offences, he calls for one of his priests, 
 and having run over a catalogue of his sins, 
 he asks of him pardon and forgiveness; and 
 what is most absurd of all, he is so stupid 
 as to believe that if his ghostly Father, 
 after he has heard all his villanies in his 
 ear, does but pronounce three or four Latin 
 words over his head, his sins are forgiven 
 him, although he had never any thoughts 
 of amendment, or intention to forsake his 
 wickedness. 
 
 The Papist truly represented believes it 
 damnable in any religion to make gods of 
 men. However, he firmly holds, that when 
 Christ speaking to his apostles, said, {John 
 XX. 22.) receive ye the Holy Ghost ^ lohose 
 sins you shall forgive, they are forgive?!, 
 and ivhose si7is you shall retain, they are 
 retained; he gave them and their succces- 
 sors, the bisliops and priests of the Catho- 
 lic Church, autiiority to absolve any truly 
 penitent shiner from his sin. And God 
 having thus given them the ministry of re- 
 conciliation, and made them Christ^s legates, 
 
30 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 (2 Cor. V. 18, 19, 20) Christ's ministers, 
 and the dispensers of the mysteries of Christ, 
 (1 Cor. iv.) and given them poicer that what- 
 soever they loose on earth shall he loosed in 
 heaven, (Matt, xxviii. 18.) he undoubtedly 
 believes, that wliosoever comes to them 
 making a sincere and humble confession 
 of his sins, with a true repentance and firm 
 purpose of amendment, and a hearty reso- 
 lution of turning from his evil ways, may 
 from them receive absolution by the au- 
 thority given them from heaven,* and no 
 doubt but God ratifies above the sentence 
 pronounced in that tribunal; loosing in 
 heaven whatsoever is thus loosed hy them on 
 earth. And that whosoever comes without 
 the due preparation, without a repentance 
 from the bottom of his heart, and a real 
 intention of forsaking his sins, receives no 
 benefit by the absolution, but adds sin to 
 sin, by a high contempt of God's mercy, 
 and abuse of his sacraments. 
 
 OF INDULGENCES. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes that 
 his holy father the Pope can give him leave 
 to commit what sin he pleaseth; especially 
 if he can make him a present of a round 
 sum of money, he never need doubt of in- 
 dulgence or pardon for himself and his heirs 
 for ever, for all sorts of crimes or wicked- 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 31 
 
 ness, he or any of his posterity may have 
 convenience of falling into, and having his 
 commission in his pocket, under the Pope's 
 broad seal, he may be confident th?.t Christ 
 will confirm and stand to all that his Vicar 
 upon earth has granted, and not call him to 
 any account for any thing he has done, 
 although he should chance to die without 
 the least remorse of conscience, or repen 
 tance for his sins. 
 
 The Papist truly represented believes it 
 damnable to hold that the Pope, or any 
 other power in heaven or earth, can give 
 him leave to commit any sins whatsoever; 
 or that for any sum of money he can obtain 
 an indulgence or pardon for sins that are 
 to be committed by him, or his heirs, here- 
 after. He firmly believes that no sins can 
 be forgiven without a true and hearty re- 
 pentance; but that still there is a power 
 in the Church of granting indulgences, by 
 which, as he is taught in his Catechism, 
 nothing more is meant than a releasing, to 
 such as are truly penitent, the debt of tem- 
 poral punishment which remained due on 
 account of those sins, which as to the guilt 
 and eternal punishment had been already re- 
 mitted by rc[)cntance and confession. For 
 we see in the case of King David, (2 Sam, 
 xii. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.) that the debt of 
 temporal punishment is not always remitted 
 
32 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 when the guilt of the sin is remitted; and 
 as the Church of God from the beginning 
 was ever convmced of this truth, therefore, 
 besides the hearty repentance and confes- 
 sion which she insisted upon in order for 
 the discharge of the guilt of sin, she also 
 required severe penances, sometimes of 
 three, seven, ten years, or more, for the 
 discharge of the debt of the temporal pun- 
 ishment due to divine justice. Now the 
 releasing or nioderating for just causes 
 these penalties incurred by sin, is called an 
 indulgence. And the power of granting 
 such indulgences is visibly implied in the 
 promise of the keys, and of binding and 
 loosing made to the pastors of the Church, 
 {Matt, xvh 19.) And the exercise of this 
 power was frequent in \.\\b primitive church, 
 and is even authorized by the example of 
 St. Paul himself, who granted such an in- 
 dulgence to the incestuous Corinthian, (2 
 Cor, ii. 10.) forgiving, as he says, in the 
 person of Christ; that is, by the power and 
 authority he had received from him. Now 
 the good works usually required for the 
 obtaining indulgences are, prayer, fasting, 
 visiting churches, confession, communion, 
 and alms-deeds: but what money there is 
 given at any time on this account, concerns 
 not at all the Pope's coffers, but is by every 
 one given as they please, either to the poor, 
 to sick, to prisoners, &c. where they judge 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 33 
 
 it most charity. As to the rest, if any abuses 
 have been committed in granting or gaining 
 indulgences, through the fault of some par- 
 ticular persons, these cannot in justice be 
 charged upon the church, to the prejudice of 
 her faith and doctrine,- especially since she 
 has been so careful in the retrenching them, 
 as may be seen by what was done in the 
 council of Trent. Decreta de indulgentiis* 
 
 OF SATISFACTION. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes very 
 injuriously of Christ's passion, being per- 
 suaded that his sufferings and death were 
 not sufficiently satisfactory for our sins, but 
 that it is necessary for every one to make 
 satisfaction for themselves. And for this 
 end, after he has been at confession, the 
 priest enjoins him a penance, by the per- 
 formance of which he is to satisfy for his 
 oflcnces, and thus confidently relying upon 
 his own penitential works, he utterly eva- 
 cuates Christ's passion, and though he pro- 
 fesses himself a Christian, and that Christ 
 is his Saviour, yet by his little trusting to 
 him, he seems to think him to be no better 
 than what his crucifix informs, that is, a 
 mere wooden one. 
 
 The Papist truly represented believes it 
 damnable to think injuriously of Christ!s pas- 
 
M A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 sion: nevertheless he believes, that though 
 condign satisfaction for the guilt of sin, and 
 the pain eternal due to it, be proper only to 
 Christ our Saviour; yet that penitent sin- 
 ners being redeemed by Christ, and made 
 his members, may in some measure satisfy 
 by prayers, fasting, alms, &c. for the tem- 
 poral pain, which by order of God's justice, 
 sometimes remains due after the guilt, and 
 the eternal pains are remitted; so that trust- 
 ing Christ as his Redeemer, he yet does 
 not think that by Christ's sufferings every 
 Christian is discharged of his particular 
 sufferings, but that every one is to suffer 
 something for himself, as St. Paul did, who 
 by many tribulations, and by sufferings in 
 his oion Jlesh, filled up that ivhich ivas want- 
 ing of the passion of Christ, and this not 
 only for himself, but for the whole church. 
 (Coloss. i. 24.) And this he finds every 
 where in scripture, I'z;:. people admonished of 
 the greatness of their sins, doing penance in 
 fasting, sackcloth, and ashes, and by volun- 
 tary austerities, endeavouring to satisfy the 
 divine justice; and these personal satisfac- 
 tions God has sufficiently also minded him 
 of in the punishments inflicted on Moses, 
 Aai'on, David, and infinite others, and even 
 in the afflictions sent by God upon our own 
 age, in plagues, icars, fires, persecutions, 
 rehellions and such like ; which, few are so 
 atheistical,, but they confess to be sent from 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 3^5 
 
 neaven for the.just chastisement of our sins, 
 and which we are to undergo, notwithstand- 
 ing the infinite satisfaction made by Christ, 
 and without any undervaluing it. Now be- 
 ing thus convinced of some temporal punish- 
 ments being due to his sins, he accepts of 
 all tribulations, whether in body, name, or 
 estate, from whencesoever they come, and 
 with others of their own choosing, offers 
 them up to God for the discharging this 
 debt, still confessing that his offences de- 
 serve still more; but these penitential works 
 he is taught to be no otherwise satisfactory 
 than as joined and applied to the satisfac- 
 tion which Jesus made upon the cross* in 
 virtue of which alone, all our good works 
 find a grateful acceptance in God's sight. 
 
 OF READING THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes it part 
 of his duty to speak irreverently of the 
 Holy Scripture, to do what he is able to 
 lessen the repute of it, and bring it into 
 disgrace; and for this end, he says it is ob- 
 scure, full of ambiguous expressions, and 
 not fit to be read by the vulgar, nor fit to 
 be translated into vulgar languages; and 
 without respect to Christ or his apostles, 
 profanely teaches, that no ten books in the 
 world have done so much mischief to Chris- 
 tianity, as this one; and under a vain pro- 
 
36 A. PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 tcnce of preventing farther inconveniencies, 
 endeavours to deprive all of this spiritual 
 comfort, of this divine food, of this heavenly 
 light, that so being kept in darkness, they 
 may be also preserved in ignorance, and 
 damned eternally. 
 
 The Papist truly represented believes it 
 damnable in any one, to think, speak, or do 
 any thing irreverently towards the scrip- 
 ture, or by any means whatsoever to bring 
 it into disrepute or disgrace: he holds it in 
 the highest veneration of all men living, he 
 professes it to be the pure oracles of God, 
 and that we are rather bound to lose our 
 lives than concur any way to its profana- 
 tion. It is true he does not think it fit to 
 be read generally, by all, in the vulgar ton- 
 gues; not for any disrespect to it, but, 1. 
 because he understands that private inter- 
 pretation is not proper for the scripture, (2 
 Pet. 1. 20.) 2. Because in the epistles of 
 St. Paul are certain things hard to he un- 
 derstood, lohich the unlearned and unstable 
 unrest, as also the rest of the scriptures, to 
 their own perdition, (2 Pet. iii. 16.) 3. Be- 
 cause God has given only sojne to be apos- 
 tles, some prophets, other some evangelists, 
 and some pastors and teachers, (Eph. iv. 11.) 
 For these reasons he is taught that, it is not 
 convenient for the scripture to be read in- 
 differently by all men, but only by such as 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 37 
 
 are humble, discreet, and devout, and such 
 as are willing to observe directions in the 
 perusing this sacred volume; that is, to take 
 notice of all godly histories, and imitate 
 examples of humility, chastity, obedience, 
 mercy to the poor, &c. and in all hard, ob- 
 scure, and disputable points, to refer all to 
 the arbitration of the church, to the judg- 
 ment of those whom God has appointed pas- 
 tors and teachers; never presuming to con- 
 tend, control, teach, or talk of their ow^n 
 sense and fancy in deep questions of divin- 
 ity, and high mysteries of faith ; but expect- 
 ing the sense of these from the lips of the 
 priest^ who shall keep knowledge^ and from 
 whose mouth they shall require the law. (Mai. 
 ii. 7.) This caution is used, lest the scrip- 
 ture coming into the hands of a presuming 
 sort of proud, curious, and contentious peo- 
 ple, be abused and perverted, who make it 
 their business to enquire into high and hid- 
 den secrets of God's counsels, and upon the 
 presumption of I know not what spirit, 
 immediately become teachers, controllers, 
 and judges of doctors, church, scripture and 
 all; and acknowledging no authority left by 
 Christ, to which they are to submit, under 
 pretence of scripture and God's word, make 
 way for all sorts of profanencss, ir religion, 
 and atheism; so that it is not for the pre- 
 serving ignorance he allows a restraint up- 
 on the reading the scripture, but for the 
 4 
 
S8 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 preventing a blind ignorant presumpti<m, 
 and that it may be done to edification and 
 not to destruction, and without casting what 
 is holy to dogs, or pearls to swine. 
 
 OF THE SCRIPTURE AS A RULE OF FAITH. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes it his 
 obligation to undervalue the scripture, and 
 take from it that authority which Christ 
 gave it. For whereas Christ left this to the 
 world as the rule of faith, and as a sacred 
 oracle from whence ail his followers might 
 be instructed in the pi^ceptsof a good life, 
 learn all the mysteries of their faith, and 
 be resolved in all difficult and doubtful 
 points of religion; he is taught flatly to 
 deny all this, and to believe that the scrip- 
 ture is not capable of deciding any one 
 point of controversy, or reconciling the dif- 
 ferent sentiments of men in religion; and 
 thus he demeans himself towards the word 
 of God in a manner unbecoming a Christian. 
 
 The Papist truly rej^resenfed believes it 
 damnable to undervalue the scripture, or to 
 take from it the authority given it by 
 Christ. He gives it all respect due to the 
 word of God; — he owns it to be of the 
 greatest authority upon earth, and that it is 
 capable of leading a man to all truth, 
 where it is rightly understood. But to any 
 
AND REPKESENTED. 39 
 
 one that understands it, and takes it in any- 
 other sense than it was intended by the 
 Holy Ghost, he believes it to such a one to 
 be no scripture, no word of God; that to 
 such a one it is no rule of faith, nor judge 
 of controversies; and that what he thinks 
 to be the doctrine of Christ, and command 
 of heaven, is nothing but his own imagina- 
 tion and the suggestions of the devil-. And 
 since by the experience of so many hundred 
 heresies since our Saviour's time, all pre- 
 tending to be grounded on scripture, he 
 finds that almost every text of the Bible 
 and even those that concern the most essen 
 tial and fundamental points of the Chris- 
 tian religion, have been interpreted several 
 ways, and made to signify things contrary 
 to one another; and while thus contrary 
 meanings are by several persons drawn 
 from the same word, the scripture is still 
 silent, without discovering which of all 
 these senses is that intended by the Holy 
 Ghost, and agreeable to truth; and which 
 are erroneous and anti-christian: he con- 
 cludes that the scripture alone, without 
 taking along with it the interpretation of 
 the Church, cannot be to every private per- 
 son the whole rule of his faith. Not that 
 there is any authority wanting on the scrip- 
 lure side, but because no private person can 
 be certain whether, amongst all the several 
 meanings every text is liable to, that which 
 
40 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 he understands it in is right or not. And 
 without this certainty of truth, and secu- 
 rity from error, he knows there is nothing 
 capable of being a sufficient rule of his] 
 faith. 
 
 OF THE INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes that 
 his church, which he calls Catholic, is above 
 the scripture; and profanely allows to her 
 an uncontrolable authority of being judge 
 of the word of God ; and being fondly abus 
 ed into a distrust of the scriptures, and that 
 he can be certain of nothing, not even of 
 the fundamentals of Christianity, from what : 
 is delivered in them though they speak 
 never so plainly; he is taught wholly to | 
 rely upon this Church, and not to believe i 
 one word the scripture says, unless his 
 church says so too. 
 
 The Papist truly represented believes that 
 the Church is not above the scripture; but 
 allows that order between them as is be- 
 tween the judge and the law; afid is no 
 other than what generally every private 
 member of the reformation challenges to 
 himself, as often as he pretends to decide 
 any doubt of his own, or his neighbour, in 
 religion, by interpreting the scripture. — 
 Neither is he taught at all to distrust the 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 41 
 
 scripture, or not to rely on it, but only to 
 distrust his own private interpretation of it, 
 and not to rely on his own judgment in the 
 resolution of any doubt concerning faith or 
 religion, though he can produce several 
 texts in favour of his opinion: but in all 
 such cases he is commanded to recur, to the 
 Church; and having learned from her the 
 true sense of all such texts, how they have 
 been understood by the whole community 
 of Christians, in all ages since the apostles; 
 and what has been their received doctrine 
 in such doubtful and difficult points; he is 
 obliged to submit to this, and never pre- 
 sume on his own private sentiments, how- 
 ever seemingly grounded on reason and 
 scripture, to believe or preach any new doc- 
 trine opposite to the belief of the Church; 
 but as he receives from her the book, so 
 also to receive from her the sense of the 
 book; with a holy confidence, that she that 
 did not cheat him in delivering a false book 
 for a true one, will not cheat him in deliv- 
 ering a false and erroneous sense for the 
 true one; her authority, which is sufficient 
 in the one, being not less in the other; and 
 his own private judgment, which was insuf-^ 
 ficient in the one, that* is, in finding out the 
 true scripture, and discerning it from all 
 other books, being as incapable and insuffi 
 cient in the other, that is, in certainly dis- 
 covering the meaning of the Holy Chost, 
 4* 
 
^ A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 'and avoiding all other heterodox and mis 
 taken interpretations. 
 
 1 
 
 OF TRADITION. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes the 
 Holy Scripture to be imperfect; and for the 
 supplying of what he thinks defective in it, 
 he admits human ordinations and traditions 
 of men; allowing equal authority to tliese 
 as to the scriptures themselves, thinking 
 himself as much obliged to submit to these, 
 and believe them with divine faith, as he 
 does whatsoever is written in the Bible, 
 and confessedly spoken by the Author of 
 all Truth, God himself Neither will he 
 admit any one to be a member of his com- 
 munion, although he undoubtedly believes 
 every word that is written in the scripture, 
 unless he also assents to the traditions, and 
 gives as great credit to them as to the word 
 of God, although in that there is not the 
 least footstep to be found. 
 
 The Papist truly represented believes the 
 scripture not to be imperfect, nor to want 
 human ordinations, or traditions of men, for 
 the supplying any defects in it; neither does 
 he allow the same authority to these as to 
 the word of God, or give them equal credit, 
 or exact it from others that desire to be 
 admitted into the communion of his churck. 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 43 
 
 He believes no divine faith ought to be 
 given to any thing but w^hat is of divine 
 revelation; and that nothing is to have 
 place in his creed but what was taught him 
 'by Christ and his apostles, and has been be- 
 lieved and taught in all ages by the Church 
 of God, the congregation of all true be- 
 lievers, and has been so delivered down to 
 him thiN>ugh all ages. Rut now whether 
 that which has been delivered down to him 
 as the doctrine of Christ and his apostles, 
 has been by word of mouth or writing, is 
 altogether indifferent to him, he being ready 
 to follow, in this point, as in all others, the 
 command of St. Paul, that is, to stand fast, 
 and to hold the tradition he has learned, 
 whether hy ivord or epistle, (2 Thess. ii. 25.) 
 and to look upon any one as anathema that 
 shall preach otherwise than he has (thus) 
 received. (Gal. i. 9.) So that as he un- 
 doubtedly holds the whole Bible to be the 
 word of God, because in all ages it has 
 been so taught, preached, believed, and de- 
 livered successively by the faithful, al- 
 though they are not, nor have at any time 
 been able to prove what they have thus 
 taught and delivered with one text of scrip- 
 t'Ur^; in the like manner, he is ready to 
 receive and believe all this same conijrega- 
 tion, together ^vith the Bible, in all ages 
 successively, without interruption taught, 
 preached, believed, and delivered as the 
 
44 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 doctrine of Christ and his Apostles; and 
 assents to it with divine faith, just as he 
 does to the Bible; and esteems any one* 
 anathema that shall preach otherwise than 
 he has thus received. 
 
 OF COUNCILS. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes that 
 the faith of his Church may receive new 
 additions every day, and that he is not only 
 obliged to believe what Christ and his apos- 
 tles taught, but also. every definition or 
 decree of any general council o.ssembled by 
 the Pope; so that as often as any thing is 
 issued out by the authority of any of these 
 church parliaments, and ordered to be be- 
 lieved, he thinks himself under pain of 
 damnation, immediately bound to receive 
 it, and having added it to his creed, to as- 
 sent to it with as firm, steadfast, and divine 
 a faith, as if it had been commanded by 
 Christ himself, and decreed in the consis- 
 tory of heaven. 
 
 The Papist tnily represented believes that 
 the faith of the Church can receive no 
 additions, and that he is obliged to believe 
 nothing besides that which Christ and his 
 apostles taught, and if any thing contrary 
 to this should be defined and commanded to 
 be believed, even by ten thousand councils^ 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 45 
 
 he believes it damnable in any one to re- 
 ceive it, and by such decrees to make addi- 
 tions to his creed. However, he maintains 
 the authority of general councils lawfully 
 assembled, whose business it is, not to coin 
 new articles of faith, or devise fresh tenets, 
 but only as often as any point of received 
 doctrine is impugned or called in question, 
 to debate the matter, and examine what has 
 been the belief of all nations (who are there 
 present in their prelates) in that point, and 
 this being agreed upon to publish and make 
 known to the world which is the Catholic 
 doctrine left by Christ and his apostles, and 
 which the new broached error; and by 
 this means to prevent the loss of an infinite 
 number of souls, which might otherwise be 
 deluded, and carried away after new inven- 
 tions. And in this c^se he believes he is 
 obliged to submit, and receive the decrees 
 of such a council: the pastors and prelates 
 there present being by Christ and his apos- 
 tles appointed for the decision of such con- 
 troversies, they having the care of that 
 flock committed to them, over which the 
 Holy Ghost has made them overseers to feed 
 the Church of God, (Acts xx. 28.) and to 
 watch against those men who should arise 
 fro?n among themselves, spcaldug perversa 
 things to draw disciples after tlicm, (Acts v. 
 30.) and he having received command, as 
 likewise the whole /lock of Christ, to obey 
 
45 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 their prelates, and to be subject to them who 
 xvatch and are to render an account for their 
 souls, (Heb. xiii. 17.) with an assurance, that 
 he that heareth them hearelh Christ, and he that 
 despiseth them despiseth Christ, (Luke x. 16.) 
 
 OF INFALLIBILITY IN THE CHURCH. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented bejieves that 
 the pastors and prelates of his Church are 
 infallible, and that like so many divine 
 oracles, or petty deities, they are exempt 
 from error, and cannot deceive, or be de- 
 ceived; but this especially when they are 
 met together in a general council. It being 
 a main part of his^ faith, that then they are 
 secure from all mistake, and it is as impos- 
 sible for them, how ignorant or wicked so- 
 ever, to decline either to the right hand or to 
 the left in any of their definitions and decrees 
 as it is for God to become the author of lies- 
 
 The Papist truly represented believes tha^t 
 the pastors and prelates of his Church are 
 fallible; that there is none of them but 
 what may fall into error and heresies, and 
 consequently liable to be deceived. But 
 that the whole Church can fail or be de- 
 ceived in any one point of fjyth, this he 
 believes impossible, knowing it to be built 
 on better promises, such as secure her from 
 all error and danger of prevarication; herr 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 47 
 
 foundation being laid by Christ, against 
 which the gates of hell shall not prevail; 
 {Matt. xvi. 18.) the power that protects 
 her being Christ himself: Behold I avi with 
 you all days; [Matt, xxviii. 20.) the spirit 
 that guides and teaches her being the Com- 
 forter, the Holy Ghost, who shall teach her 
 all things, and suggest to her all things that 
 Christ has said to her; (John xiv. 26.) the 
 time that she is to be thus protected, taught, 
 and assisted, being not only while the apos- 
 tles lived, or for the first three, four, or five 
 hundred years next after, but for ever to 
 the end of the world : Behold I am with you 
 all days, even unto the end of the world; 
 {Matt, xxviii. 20.) He will give you an- 
 other Paraclete J that he may abide with you 
 for ever J {John xiv. 16, 17.) the Spirit of 
 Truth; and the thing, that she is to be 
 thus taught to the end of the world being 
 all truth : He shall teach you all truth. {John 
 xvi. 13.) Now being assured by these pro- 
 mises, that the Church of Christ shall be 
 taught all truth by the special assistance of 
 the Holy Ghost to the end of the world, he 
 has faith to believe that Christ will make 
 his words good, and that his Church shall 
 never fail, nor be corrupted with anti-chris- 
 tian doctrine, nor be the mistress of errors; 
 but shall be taught all truth, and shall teach 
 all truth, to the consummation of the world 
 and that whosoever hears her, hears Christy 
 
J 
 
 48 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 and whosoever despises her, despises Christ 
 and ought to be esteemed as a heathen or 
 publican. (Matt, xviii. 17.) The like assist- 
 ance of the Holy Ghost he believes to be in 
 all general councils, which is the Church 
 representative, (as the Parliament is the 
 representative of the nation.) by which they 
 are specially protected from all error, in 
 all definitions and declarations in matters 
 of faith. So that what the apostles pro- 
 nounced concerning the result of their 
 council, (Acts xv. 28.) it hath seemed good 
 to the Holy Ghost, and to us, he does not 
 doubt, may be prefixed to all the determi- 
 nations in point of faith resolved upon by 
 any general council, lawfully assembled, 
 since that time, or to be held to the world's 
 end; the assistance being to extend as far 
 as the promise. And though it be possible 
 that several of the prelates and pastors in 
 such an assembly, as also many others in 
 communion with the Church of Christ, 
 should at other times, either through pride 
 or ignorance, prevaricate, make innovations 
 in faith, teach erroneous doctrines, and en- 
 deavour to draw numbers after them, yet 
 he is taught that this does not at all argue 
 a fallibility in the Church, nor prejudice 
 her faith, but only the persons that thus 
 unhappily fall into these errors, and cut 
 themselves off from being members of the 
 mystical body of Christ upon earth. Whilst 
 
 St, I 
 
 •a f 
 
AND EEPRESENTED. 49 
 
 the belief of the Church remahis pure and 
 untainted, and experiences the truth of what 
 St. Paul foretold, that ravenous wolves shall 
 enter in amongst you^ not sjxtring the fock; 
 also of your own selves shall men arise, 
 speaking perverse things, to draio away dis- 
 ciples after them, (Acts xx. 29, 30,) which, 
 as it proved true even in the apostles' time, 
 by the fall of Nicholas and several others, 
 so it has been verified in all ages since, by 
 turbulent and presuming spirits broaching 
 new doctrines, and making separations and 
 schisms; but this without casting any more 
 aspersion on the Church or congregation of 
 the faithful, than the fall of Judas did on 
 the apostles, or the rebellion of Lucifer on 
 the hierarchy of angels. Neither does it 
 reflect at all on the Church's authority, or 
 make the truth of her doctrine questionable 
 to him, that many of her members and pre- 
 lates have been or are enormous sinners; 
 because he is convinced that the promises 
 of God's continued and uninterrupted as- 
 sistance to his Church are not to be made 
 void by the wickedness of particular men, 
 in how great dignity soever. 
 
 OF THE porE. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes the 
 Pope to be his gi-cat (lod, and to be far 
 above all the angels; that Christ is no long- 
 
50 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 cr head of the Church, but that this holy 
 father hath taken his place, and that what- 
 soever he orders, decrees, or commands, is 
 to be received by his flock with the same 
 respect, submission, and awe, as if Christ 
 had spoken it by his own mouth. For this, 
 his Holiness having once received the triple 
 crown on his head, he is now no longer 
 liable to error, but is infallible, and can do 
 nothing amiss. 
 
 The Papist, truly represented^ believes the 
 Pope to be none of his God, neither great 
 nor little, that he is not above the angels, 
 but only a man. He believes that as Christ 
 is supreme master, governor and Lord of 
 all created things, so also of his Church, 
 of which he acknowledges him to be the 
 founder and head. But, as notwithstanding 
 this lordship and headship of Christ over 
 all things, every father of a family owns 
 himself to be master of it under Christ; 
 and every king is confessed supreme lord 
 and governor of his dominions under God; 
 so also, he believes that there is a pastor, 
 governor, and head of Christ's Church un- 
 der Christ, to wit, the Pope or Bishop of 
 Rome, who is the successor of St. Peter, to 
 whom Christ committed the care of his 
 flock, and who hath been followed now by 
 a visible succession of above two hundred 
 and fifty bishops, acknowledged as such in 
 
AND REPRESENTED, 51 
 
 all ages by the Christian world. And now 
 believing the Pope to enjoy this dignity, he 
 looks upon himself obliged to show that 
 respect, submission, and obedience, which 
 are due to his place,- a thing no body can in 
 reason or conscience deny to any one in 
 rule, or that has any superiority. Neither 
 does he make any doubt but God assists 
 those who have this high charge, with a 
 particular helping grace with respect to 
 their office and function for the benefit of 
 the whole flock; though he is not obliged to 
 believe them infallible, this being a point 
 never defined by the Church, much less 
 impeccable. 
 
 OF DISPENSATIONS, 
 
 The Papist inisrepresented believes that 
 the Pope has authority to dispense with the 
 laws of God, and absolve any one from the 
 obligation of keeping the commandments; 
 so that if he has but his holy father's leave, 
 he may confidently dissemble, lie, and for- 
 swear himself in all whatsoever he pleases, 
 and never be in danger of being called to 
 an account at the last day, especially if his 
 lying and forswearing be for the common 
 good of the Church; there being then a 
 sure reward prepared for him in heaven, 
 as a recompense for his good intentions and 
 heroic achievements; and if at any time he 
 
5-2 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 should chance to be caught in the manage- 
 ment of any of these public Church con- 
 cerns, and being obnoxious to penal laws, 
 should have sentence of death passed on 
 him, he has liberty at his last hour on the 
 scaffold or ladder, to make a public detesta- 
 tion of all such crimes, to make protesta- 
 tions of his innocence, to call God to wit- 
 ness that he dies unjustly, and that as he is 
 immediately to appear before the supreme 
 judge, he knows no more of any such de- 
 signs, and is as clear from the guilt of them 
 as the child unborn. And this, though the 
 evidence against him be as clear as noon 
 day, and the jury be never so impartial, 
 and the judge never so conscientious: for 
 that he having taken the sacrament and 
 oath of secresy, and received absolution, or 
 a dispensation from the Pope, may then lie, 
 swear, forswear, and protest all that he 
 pleases without scruple, with a good con- 
 science, christian-like, holy and canonical ly. 
 
 The Papist truly represented believes that 
 the Pope has no authority to dispense with 
 the law of God, and that there is no power 
 upon earth that can absolve any one from 
 the obligation of keeping the command- 
 ments, or give leave to lie or forswear, or 
 make that the breaking of any the least 
 divine precept shall not be accounted for 
 g.t the day of judgment. He is taught by 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 53 
 
 bis Church in all his books of direction, in 
 all catechisms, in all sermons, that every 
 lie is a sin, that to call God to witness an 
 untruth is damnable, that it ought not to be 
 done to save the whole world, that whoso- 
 ever does it either for his own personal 
 account or for the interest of Church or 
 Pope, or whatsoever else, must of necessity 
 answer for it at the last day, and expect his 
 portion with the devil and his angels, if un- 
 repented of; and that no one can give leave 
 for lying, perjury, or committing any sin, 
 or even pretend to it, unless it be the devil 
 himself, or some devilish ministers of his, 
 (the Catholic truly represented,) such as he 
 detests in his heart, and utterly abominates. 
 And in consequence of this, he believes that 
 whosoever at the hour of death denies any 
 crime of which he is guilty, and swears 
 himself to be innocent, when he is not so, 
 can have no hope of mercy, but departing 
 out of this world an enemy to God and the 
 truth, and with a lie in his mouth, can ex- 
 pect no reward but from the father of lies. 
 And this, whatsoever his crime was, whe- 
 ther incurred by an undertaking for mother 
 Church or not, and whatsoever his pretences 
 for the denial of the truth were, whether 
 absolutions, dispensations, the sacrament, 
 or oath of secresy, or whatsover else, no- 
 thing of these being capable of excusing 
 him in lies or perjuries, or making them to 
 5* 
 
54 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 be innocent, and not displeasing to God. 
 Nor indeed did he ever hear of* these so 
 much talked of dispensations and absolu- 
 tions from any priest in his Church, either 
 in sermons or confessions; he never read of 
 them in his books and catechisms; he never 
 saw the practice of them in any of his com- 
 munion; it having been their custom ever 
 since oaths were first devised against them, 
 rather to suffer the loss of their goods, 
 banishments, imprisonments, torments, and 
 death itself, than forswear themselves, or 
 protest the untruth. And it is not out of 
 the memory of man that several might have 
 saved their estates, and lives also, if they 
 would have subscribed to, and owned but 
 one lie, and yet they refused it; choosing 
 rather an infamous death than prejudice 
 their conscience with an untruth. So it 
 seems a great mystery to him, that those 
 of his profession should have leave and dis- 
 pensation to lie and forswear themselves at 
 pleasure, and yet that they should need 
 nothing else but lying and perjury for the 
 quiet enjoyment of their estates, for the 
 saving their lives, for the obtaining places 
 of the highest command and dignity, such 
 as would be extraordinarily advantageous 
 for their cause, and the interest of their 
 Church; and yet that they should generally 
 choose to forego all these so considerable 
 conveniences rather than once lie or for- 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 55 
 
 swear themselves. And is it not another 
 great mystery, that these dispensations for 
 lying and swearing should be according to 
 the received doctrine of his Church; and 
 yet that he or any of his communion, were 
 never instructed nor informed of any such 
 diabolical point? nay, had never come to 
 the knowledge of it, had it not been for the 
 information received from some zealous ad- 
 versaries, either such as relate merely up- 
 on trust, or else such as have received a 
 dispensation for lying from the devil, that 
 they might charge the like doctrine on the 
 Pope and the Church of Rome. 
 
 OF THE DEPOSING POWER. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes that 
 the Pope has authority to dispense with his 
 allegiance to his prince; and that he needs 
 no longer be a loyal subject, and main- 
 tain the rights, privileges, and authority 
 of his king than the Pope will give him 
 leave. And that if this mighty father 
 should think fit to thunder out an excom- 
 munication against liim, then he shall be 
 deemed the best subject, and most christian, 
 that shall take up arms ngainst him, and 
 make him a sacrifice to Home: so that there 
 can be no greater danger to a king than 
 to have popish subjects, he holding his life 
 amongst them only at the Pope's pleasure. 
 
56 A PAPIST MISREPKESEKTEi) 
 
 It is no part of the faith of the Papist 
 truly represented to believe that the Pope 
 has authority to dispense with his allegi- 
 ance to his sovereign, or that he can despose 
 princes upon any account whatsoever; or 
 give leave to their subjects to take up arms 
 against them, and endeavour their ruin. 
 He knows that the deposing power has 
 been maintained by some divines of his 
 Church, and that it is, in their opinion, an- 
 nexed to the papa! chair. He knows like- 
 wise that some Popes have endeavoured to 
 act according to this power; but he also 
 knows, that this doctrine is so far from be- 
 ing looked upon as an article of the Catho- 
 lic Faith, that it is as earnestly opposed by 
 the French Papists as it is by English Pro- 
 testants. And as for any danger arising to 
 kings from having popish subjects, it is very 
 well known that princes in popish countries 
 sit as safe on their thrones, and enjoy as 
 much peace and security as any princes 
 whatsoever; and the Papists here in Eng- 
 gland can give as good proofs of their loyal- 
 ty, and that to Protestant kings and princes, 
 as the best of those that clamour so loud 
 against them. 
 
 OF COMMUNION IN ONE KIND. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes, that 
 he is no longer obliged to obey Christ's com- 
 
ATfD REPRESENTED. 5-? 
 
 mands than his Church will give him leave; 
 and that therefore, though Christ instituted 
 the sacrament under boih kinds, and com- 
 manded it to be so received by all, yet he 
 thinks it not necessary for any to do so 
 now but Priests; because his Church, for- 
 sooth, hath forbidden the cup to the laity, 
 and put a stop to the precept of Christ, 
 Brink ye all of this. (Matt. xxvi. 27.) 
 
 The Papist truly'^represented believes that 
 he is obliged to obey all the commands of 
 Christ; and that neither his Church, nor 
 any other power upon earth, can limit, 
 alter, or annul any precept of divine insti- 
 tution, contrary to the intention of the Law- 
 giver. Neither is the denial of the cup to 
 the laity a practice any ways opposite to 
 this his belief, he being taught that though 
 Christ instituted the blessed sacrament un- 
 der both kinds, and so delivered it to his 
 apostles, who only then were present, and 
 and whom he then made priests, yet he 
 gave no command that it should bo received 
 by all the faithful, but left this indiflerent, 
 as it is evident from his own words, where 
 he attributes the obtaining life everlasting, 
 which is the end of the institution, no less 
 to the receiving in one kind, than to the 
 receiving under both kinds; as when he 
 says, If any man cat (f this bread, he shall 
 live for ever. JIc that calcth mc, the sama 
 
58 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 shall live hy vie. He that eatelh this bread 
 shall live for ever, (John vi. 51, 57, 58;) 
 and a curious reader may find as many 
 texts for thus receiving under one kind as 
 for the other. Thus St. Augustine was of 
 opinion, that Christ himself administered 
 the sacrament to some of his disciples un- 
 der one kind only, viz. to the two going to 
 Emmaus, (Luke xxiv. 30.) and that the 
 apostles afterwards did often practise the 
 like, when they assembled to break bread, 
 (Acts ii, &c.) which places he and other 
 fathers explain of the sacrament, Aug. L. 
 Conf. Evatig. c. 49.; and that it was the 
 custom of tlie primitive Christians to give 
 it under one kind to children, to the sick, 
 and to the faithful in time of persecution; 
 and that men on a journey used to carry it 
 with them, is attested both by ancient wri- 
 ters and modern historians. Nay, he finds 
 it was the practice of the Church to com- 
 municate under one kind only, or else un- 
 der both, as every one thought good, for 
 the first four hundred years after Christ: 
 and that the first precept of receiving un- 
 der both kinds was given to the faithful by 
 Pope Leo I. in the year 443, and confirmed 
 by Pope Gelasius in 490, not for the cor- 
 recting any abuse that had crept into the 
 Church, but for discovering the Manichees, 
 who being of the opinion that Christ had 
 no true blood, and that wine was the gall 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 59 
 
 of the devil, used to lurk among the Chris- 
 tians, and receiving under the form of 
 bread only, as the rest did, remained un- 
 distinguished, till by this obligation of all 
 receiving the cup, which they judged un- 
 lawful and abominable, they were detected. 
 And now, if a thing, till that time indiffe- 
 rent, was for these motives determined by 
 ecclesiastical precept, and so observed for 
 some hundred years without scruple or 
 questioning the authority, why should he 
 doubt to submit to the same authority, when 
 upon different motives and circumstances 
 they issue forth another precept? Few 
 doubt of this in the manner of eating stran- 
 gled meats and blood, which, though for- 
 bid by the apostles, (Acts xv.) and so at 
 that time unlawful, is now, and upon other 
 circumstances, becom.e a thing indifferent, 
 like other things. And why then should 
 he scruple in this, especially since there is 
 no injury done, nor he defrauded of any 
 thing? For believing the real presence of 
 Christ in the sacrament, he consequently 
 believes whole and living Jesus to be en- 
 tirely contained under either species; and 
 that receiving one kind, he is truly parta- 
 ker of the whole sacrament, and not de- 
 prived of cither the body or blood of 
 Christ. 
 
A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 OF THE MASS. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes that 
 there is an insufficiency in the sacrifice 
 made by Christ upon the cross, and that 
 his death will little avail us in order to our 
 redemption, unless we, by daily sacrificing 
 .him to his Father, perfect what he began; 
 and therefore, taking little notice of St. 
 PauPs words to the Hebrews, chap. x. 14. 
 where he says, that Christ our High Priest 
 hy one ohlaiion hath perfected for ever them 
 that are sanctifed, he thinks he shall never 
 be sanctified iDut by the offerings made by 
 his Mass Priests, upon their altars, when 
 they say Mass. 
 
 The Papist truly represented believes that 
 the sacrifice made by Christ upon the cross 
 was altogether sufficient; that by it he saved 
 and redeemed us, paying the debt of sin, 
 and satisfying the infinite justice of his 
 Father; that by it he procured for us all 
 means for our salvation; all graces in order 
 for faith and good works; all the sacra- 
 ments; and which of all things is most 
 honourable to God, the offering of a sacri- 
 fice. But as Christ's worshiping of God, 
 his fasting, praying, and su fie ring for us, 
 do not hinder or evacuate our worship- 
 ing of God, our fasting, sufiering, or pray- 
 ing for ourselves; so neither did his sacri- 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 61 
 
 fice hinder or evacuate all sacrifice for ever. 
 And as he instituted fasting, praying, and 
 suffering for his followers, that by so doing 
 they might apply what he did to them- 
 selves; so also he instituted a sacrifice, that 
 by it they might apply the merits of his 
 sacrifice, and make it beneficial to their 
 souls. So that though he firmly believes 
 that Christ offered sacrifice for our redemp- 
 tion, and by the one only offering, spoken 
 of by St. Paul, perfected, by way of re- 
 demption, the sanctification of all those that 
 are sanctified ; yet he also believes, that to 
 receive the benefit of this offering, we must 
 also do our parts, by our good works con- 
 curring with Christ, and in some manner 
 purifying our ov/n souls, (1 John iii. 3.) 
 and therefore not omit the best of all works, 
 v/hich is sacrifice, which our Saviour Jesus 
 Christ instituted at his last supper, when 
 leaving to us his body and blood under the 
 two distinct species of bread and wine, he 
 bequeathed as a legacy to his apostles, not 
 only a sacrament, but also a sacrifice, a 
 commemorative sacrifice, lively represent- 
 ing, in an unbloody manner, the bloody 
 sacrifice which was offered for us upon the 
 cross; and by a distinction of the symbols, 
 distinctly showing forth his (Christ's) death 
 until he come. This he gave in charge to 
 his apostles, as to the first and chief priests 
 of the New Testameiit, and to their succcs-- 
 
 
62 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 sors to offer,* commanding them to do the 
 same thing he had done at his last supper, 
 in commemoration of him. And this is the 
 oblation or sacrifice of the Mass, which has 
 been observed, performed, frequented by 
 the faithful in all ages, attested by the ge- 
 neral consent of all antiquity, universal 
 tradition, and the practice of the whole 
 Church; mentioned and allowed of by all 
 the fathers, Greek and Latin, and never 
 called in question till of late years, being 
 that pure offering which the prophet Ma- 
 lachi foretold should he offered among the 
 Gentiles in every place, (Mai. i. 11.) as this 
 text was ever understood by the ancient 
 fathers. 
 
 OF PURGATORY. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented believes (con- 
 trary to all reason, to the word of God, and 
 to all antiquity) that besides heaven and hell, 
 there is a third place, which his Church is 
 pleased to call purgatory; a place intended 
 purely for those of his communion, where 
 they may easily have admittance after this 
 life, without danger of falling into hell; for 
 that though hell was designed first for the 
 punishment of sinners, yet that now, since 
 the blessed discovery of purgatory, hell 
 may be easily skipped over, and an eternal 
 damnation avoided, for an exchange of 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 63 
 
 some short penalty undergone in this the 
 Pope's prison. 
 
 The Papist truly represented believes it 
 damnable to admit of any thing for faith 
 that is contrary to reason, the word of God, 
 and all antiquity; but that the existence of 
 a third place, called purgatory, is so far 
 from being contrary to all, or any of these, 
 that it is attested, confirmed,- and estab- 
 lished by them all. It is expressly taught 
 in the second of Maccabees, c. xii. where 
 money was sent to Jerusalem, that sacrifice 
 might be offered for the slain, and it is re- 
 commended as a wholesome practice to pray 
 for the dead, that they may be loosed from 
 their sins. Now these two books of Mac- 
 cabees were certainly held in great vene- 
 ration by all antiquity; and as St. Augus- 
 tine informs us, L, xviii. Be Civ. Dei, were 
 then accounted canonical by the Church. 
 The existence also of a third place is plainly 
 intimated by our Saviour, (Matt. xii. 32.) 
 where he says, whosoever speaks against the 
 Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven hini^ 
 neither in this world, nor in the ivorld to 
 come. By which words Christ evidently 
 supposes, that though these shall not, yet 
 some sins are forgiven in the woild to come; 
 which, since it cannot be in heaven, where 
 no sin can enter, nor in hell, where there 
 is no remission, it must neccs-'^arily be in 
 
64 A PAPIST 1\IISREPRESENTED 
 
 some middle state; and in this sense it was 
 understood by St. Augustine about 1300 
 years ago, (Civ. Dei, L 21. c. 13. aiid 24. L. 
 6. coiit. Julian, c. 15.) and also by St. Gre- 
 gory the Great.- L. 4. Dial. c. 39. In the 
 same manner does St. Augustine under- 
 stand these words of St. Paul, (1 Cor. iii. 
 1 5.) he himself shall he saved, yet so as hy 
 fire, where he thinks him to be speaking 
 of a purging fire. (Aug. m Psal. 37.) So 
 the same lather understands that prison of 
 which St. Peter speaks, (1 Pet. iii. 19.) to 
 be some place of temporary chastisement. 
 Aiig. Ep. 99. And if this great doctor of 
 the Church, in those purer tiines, found so 
 often in the Bible a place of pains after this 
 life, from whence there was release, how 
 can any one say without presumption, that 
 the being of a third place is contrary to the 
 word of God? Neither can the antiquity 
 of this doctrine be more justly called in 
 question, of which is found so early men- 
 tion, not only in this holy father, but in 
 divers others his predecessors, who came 
 not long after the apostles, and were the 
 best witnesses of this doeti'ine. See Acta 
 SS. Perpet. et Felicit. mentioned and ap- 
 proved by St. Augustine, /. \. de Aiiima et 
 ejus Orig. c. 10. 7.^3. c. 9. et t. 4. c. 18. Ter- 
 tullian, I. de Cor. Mil. c. 3. et. I. de Mono- 
 gamia; S. Cuprian, Ep. Q^. ad Cler. Arno- 
 bius, I. 4. contra Gen. (^^c. S^-c. As to the 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 65 
 
 reasonableness of this tenet his reason con- 
 vinces him, 1. That every sin, how slight 
 soever, though no more than an idle word, 
 as an offence to God, deserves punishmentj 
 and will be punished by him hereafter, 
 if not previously cancelled by repentance 
 here. 2. That such small sins do not de- 
 serve eternal punishment. 3. That few 
 depart this life so pure as to be totally 
 exempt from spots of this nature, and from 
 every kind of debt due to God's justice. 
 4. Therefore, that few will escape without 
 suffering something from his justice for 
 such debts as they may have carried with 
 them out of this world, according to that 
 rule of divine justice by which he treats 
 every soul hereafter according to their 
 works, and according to the state in which 
 he finds them in death. Thus his reason 
 convinces him that there must be some 
 third place; for since the infinite goodness 
 of God can admit no one into heaven that 
 is not clea^i and pure from all sins, both 
 great and small, and his infinite justice can 
 permit none to receive the reward of bliss, 
 who as yet are not out of debt, but have 
 something in justice to sufierj there must 
 of necessity be some place or state where 
 souls departing this life, pardoned as to the 
 eternal guilt or pain, yet obnoxious to some 
 temporal penalty, or with the guilt of some 
 venial faults, are purged and purified before 
 
w 
 
 A PAPIST WrSREPRESENTED 
 
 their admittance into heaven, l^is is what 
 he is taught concerning purgatory, which, 
 though he knows not where it is, nor of 
 what nature the paiiis are, nor how long 
 each soul is detained there, yet he believes 
 that those that are in this place, being 
 the living members of Jesus Christ, are 
 relieved by the prayers of their fellow 
 members on earth, as also by the alms and 
 masses offered up to God for their souls. 
 And as for such as have no relations or 
 friends to pray for them, or to give alms, 
 or procure masses for their relief, they are 
 not neglected by the Church, which makes 
 a general commemoration of all the faith- 
 ful departed in every mass, and in every 
 one of the canonical hours of the divine 
 office. 
 
 OF PRAYirs^G IN AN UNKN0%\T^ TONGUE. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented is counselled 
 by his Church to be present at sermons, but 
 never permitted to hear any he is able to 
 understand, they being all delivered in an 
 unknown tongue. He is taught to pray, 
 but it must be in Latin. He is commanded 
 to assist at the Church service and to hear 
 Mass, but it must be without understanding 
 a word, it being all performed in a language 
 of which he is altogether ignorant. And 
 thus he is miserably deprived of all the 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 67 
 
 comfortable benefits of Christianity, hear- 
 ing but without understanding, praying but 
 without reaping any fruit, assisting at any 
 public assemblies, but like a stock or stone, 
 without feeling, or any the least sense of 
 devotion. 
 
 The Papist truly rejjresenled is counselled 
 by his Church to be present at sermons, 
 such as he is able to understand, they being 
 always delivered in the vulgar language 
 of every country: — in France, French; in 
 Spain, Spanish; in Italy, Italian; and in 
 England, English: they being purely in- 
 tended for the good instruction of the con- 
 gregation present. He is taught to pray, 
 and is always provided with such books of 
 devotion as he is capable of understanding; 
 every nation being well furnished with such 
 helps extant in the language proper to the 
 country. He is commanded to assist at the 
 Church service, and to hear Mass; — and in 
 this he is instructed, not so much to under- 
 stand the words as to know what is done. 
 For the Mass being a sacrifice wherein are 
 daily commemorated the death and passion 
 of Christ, by an oblation made by the 
 priest, of the body and blood of the imma- 
 culate Lamb, under the symbols of bread 
 and wine, according to his own institution; 
 it is not so much the business of the con- 
 gregation present to employ their cars in 
 
^ A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 attending to the words, as their hearts in 
 contemplation of the divine mysteries, by 
 raising up fervent affections of love, thanks- 
 giving, sorrow for sins, resolutions of 
 amendment, &c. That thus having their 
 hearts and intention united with the priest's, 
 they may be partakers of his prayers, and 
 ihe sacrifice he is then offering, than which 
 he believes nothing is more acceptable to 
 God, or beneficial to true believers. And 
 for the raising of these affections in his 
 soul, and filling his heart with love and 
 devotion, he thinks in this case there is lit- 
 tle need of words; a true faith, without 
 these, is all sufficient. Who could but have 
 burst forth into tears of love and thanks- 
 giving if he had been present when our 
 Saviour was tied to the pillar, scourged and 
 tormented, though he opened not his mouth 
 to the bye-standers, nor spoke a word? 
 Who would have needed a sermon, to have 
 been filled with grief and compassion, if he 
 had seen his Saviour exposed to the scorn 
 of the Jews, when he was made a bloody 
 spectacle by Pilate, with an Ecce Jwmo, Be- 
 hold the man! Who could have stood cold 
 and senseless under the cross upon Mount 
 Calvary, when his Hedeemer was hanging 
 on it, though he had not heard or under- 
 stood a word that he spoke! Does any one 
 think that those holy women who followed 
 our Lord in these sad passages, and were 
 
AND REPRESENTED. <59 
 
 witnesses of his sufferings, wanted holj 
 affections in their souls because he spoke 
 not? Were they scandalized at his si- 
 lence? Was not their faith in him that 
 sruffered, by which they believed him to be 
 Christ Jesus, true God and man, laying 
 down his life for the redemption of man, 
 sufficient to excite in their souls all the pas- 
 sions due from a sinful creature to his 
 bleeding Redeemer, his crucified Jesus? 
 The like faith is also sufficient to fill him 
 with devotion, when he is present at the 
 holy sacrifice of the Mass; for believing 
 that Christ is there really present before 
 him, under the species of bread and wine, 
 and that he who lies upon the altar is the 
 Lamb of God that takes away the sins of 
 the world, what need of more to quicken in 
 his soul all the affections of a devout lover? 
 Can he behold his Redeemer before him 
 and not break forth into love and thanks- 
 giving? Can he see him that gives sight 
 to the blind, health to the sick, and life to 
 the dead, and yet stand still senseless and 
 unmoved, without putting up any petition 
 to him, without asking any thing for his 
 blind, sick, and sinful soul? Can he believe 
 that he wiio gave his life for the world, 
 and died for our sins, is there befoixi him, 
 and not be touched with sorrow and con- 
 trition for his offences? — Can he see every 
 doleful passage of his Saviour's sufferings 
 
70 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 commemorated in the several mysteries of 
 the Mass, and yet not be filled Avith grief 
 and compassion? Is not Jesus welcome to 
 a devout soul, although he come in silence? 
 Is not the presence of Christ a more forci- 
 ble motive to a Christian than any human 
 words could be? And if he must needs 
 have words, let him behold with the eye of 
 faith the gaping wounds of his Redeemer, 
 and see if they speak nothing to his soul. 
 If they do not, it is because he Avants faith. 
 It nothing therefore concerns his devotion 
 that the Mass is said in Latin : if the Church 
 has ordered it thus, to preserve unity, as in 
 faith, so in the external worship of God,* 
 and to prevent the alterations and changes 
 which it would be ex^>osed to if in the vul- 
 gar language, and for other good reasons; 
 what is that to him? He should receive 
 but little advantage if it were in his mother 
 tongue. For, besides that ihe greatest part 
 of it is said in so low a voice that it is not 
 possible he should hear it; the words do not 
 belong to him, but to the priest's office only; 
 his obligation is, to accompany the priest in 
 prayer and spirit, to be a joint ofierer with 
 him, to contemplate the mysteries there 
 represented, and to excite in his soul devo- 
 tions according to the exigency of every 
 passage; according to the directions he fmds 
 in his English prayer-books, of which there 
 is a great variety extant, set forth for the 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 71 
 
 help of the ignorant; by which they are 
 taught the meaning of every part and cere- 
 mony of the Mass, and how to apply their 
 devotions accordingly. And if at any time 
 he be present at other public devotions 
 which are performed in Latin; or should 
 say any private prayers, or sing a hymn 
 in the same language, which he understands 
 not; yet is he taught that this can be done 
 with great benefit to his soul, and the ac- 
 ceptance of God, if on these occasions he 
 does but endeavour to raise his thoughts to 
 heaven, and to fix his heart upon his Maker; 
 for that God does not respect the language 
 of the lips, but of the heart; does not attend 
 to the motion of the tongue, but of the 
 mind; and if these be but directed to him 
 in thanksgiving, in praising or petitioning, 
 in humiliation, in contrition, and such like 
 acts as circumstances require, he need not 
 doubt that God accepts his prayers and de- 
 votions; it being an undeniable thing, that 
 to say prayers well and devoutly, it is not 
 necessary to have attention on the words, 
 or on the sense of the j)r-ayers, but rather 
 purely on God, of these three attentions, 
 this last being approved by all, as of great- 
 est perfection and most pleasing to God. 
 And this he can have, whether he under- 
 stands the words or not, it being very usual 
 and easy for a ipctitioner to accompany his 
 petition with an ^caroie&t desire of obtaining 
 
72 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 his suit, though the language in which it is 
 worded be unknown to him. 
 
 OF THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented is kept in igno- 
 rance as to the essential part of his duty 
 towards God, never being permitted to 
 know the commandments but by halves; for 
 in the books delivered to him for his in- 
 struction, such as catechisms and manuals, 
 the second commandment is wholly left out, 
 and he by this means is taught to fall into 
 all sorts of superstitious worship, and down- 
 right idolatry. 
 
 The Papist truly represented is instructed 
 in his whole duty towaards God, and most 
 especially in the ten commandments. He 
 is taught to understand them all and every 
 one; that there is an obligation of observ- 
 ing them under pain of eternal damnation, 
 and that whosoever breaks any one of them 
 loses the favour of God, and as certainly 
 hazards the loss of his soul as if he broke 
 them all. And though in some short cate- 
 chisms in which the whole Christian doctrine 
 is delivered in the most compendious and 
 easy method in condescension to weak me- 
 mories, and low capacities, the second com- 
 mandment, as it is reckoned by some, be 
 omitted; yet it is to be seen at length ia 
 
AND REVRESENTED. T3 
 
 Other catechisms, manuals, and doctrinal 
 books, to be met with every where in great 
 plenty. And if any one should chance not 
 to see any of these, yet would he be out of 
 all danger of falling into any superstitious 
 worship or idolatry; for that having read 
 the first commandment. Thou shall have no 
 other Gods before 77ie, he is taught by this, 
 that he is commanded to serve, love, adore 
 and worship one only true living and eter- 
 nal God, and no more; that it is forbidden 
 him to worship any creature for a God, or 
 to give it the honour due to God; and that 
 whosoever worships any idols, images, pic- 
 tures, or any graven thing, whatsoever the 
 object be, whether in heaven above, in the 
 earth beneath, or iia the waters under the 
 earth, for God, breaks the commandment, 
 by committing idolatry, and stands guilty 
 of an inexcusable and most damnable sin. 
 Now having been taught that this is the 
 intent of the first precept of the decalogue, 
 he thinks there can be but little danger of 
 his becoming superstitious in his worship, 
 or an idolater, for want of the second; 
 there being nothing in this but what he is 
 fully and expressly instructed in, by having 
 learned the first;, it being rather an- expli- 
 cation of this than any new and distinct 
 precept, and for this reason he finds them 
 in his books j)ut together as one, or rather 
 as the first commandment, with its cxplicu 
 7 
 
74 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 tion, by which means it comes about that 
 there are only three in the first table, teach- 
 ing him his ^uty towards God; and seven 
 in the latter, concerning his duty to his 
 neighbour, which is the division assigned 
 by St. Augustine. And though St. Jerome 
 observes not this method, but divides thera 
 into four and six; yet there being no direc- 
 tion in scripture concerning the number of 
 the commandments to be assigned to each 
 table, nor to let us know which is the first, 
 which the second, which the third com- 
 mandment, or which the last commandment; 
 he is taught that it is but an unnecessary 
 trouble to concern himself about the num- 
 ber or division of them, when his whole 
 business ought to be the observance of them 
 in his life and conversation. 
 
 OF MENTAL RESERVATIONS. 
 
 The Papist misrepresenled is taught to 
 keep no faith with any that are reputed 
 heretics by his Church, and that whatever 
 promise he has made, though ever so posi- 
 tive and firm, with this sort of people, he 
 may lawfully break, and cheat and cozen 
 them without any scruple; and though he 
 must not do this by downright lying and 
 idling untruths, for this would be a sin, 
 yet he may make use of any indirect ways, 
 such as dissimulations, equivocationsj and 
 
ATiD REPRESENTED. 75 
 
 mental reservations, and by these means 
 draw them into his snares; and this with- 
 out fear of offending God, who is well 
 pleased with these kinds of pious crafts, 
 and allows of these holy cheats. 
 
 The Papist truly represented is taught to 
 keep faith with all sorts of people, of what- 
 soever judgment or persuasion they be, 
 whether in communion with his Church or 
 not; he is taught to stand to his word, and 
 observe his promise given or made to any 
 whatsoever; and that he cannot cheat or 
 cozen, whether by ^ dissembling, equivoca- 
 tion, or mental reservation, without defi- 
 ance of his own conscience, and the viola- 
 tion of God's law. This is the instruction- 
 he receives from the pulpit, the confessio- 
 nal, and his books of direction, and nothing 
 is more inculcated in his Church than sin- 
 cerity and truth. But as to the doctrine 
 and practice of equivocations and mental 
 reservations, so far from being approved 
 by his Church, he fmds it expressly cen- 
 sured by Pope Innocent XI. in a decree 
 issued forth March 2, 1679, prohibiting the 
 teaching or maintaining of it, under pain 
 of excommunication. He is taught there- 
 fore to speak plainly and sincerely, without 
 any such artifices, which cannot but be 
 very injurious to all society, and displeas- 
 ing to the first truth. And now if any 
 
76 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 authors in communion with his Church be 
 produced as patrons and abettors of these 
 mental juggles, let them hold up their hands 
 and answer for themselves; their Church 
 has approved of no such doctrine, and is no 
 more to be charged with their particular 
 opinions than with the unexemplary lives 
 of other of her members, whose irregula- 
 rities are not at all derived from their reli- 
 gion, but from following their own corrupt 
 inclinations, and giving way to the temp- 
 tation of the enemy. 
 
 OF A DBATH-BED REPENTANCE. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented h bred up in a 
 total neglect of the service of God, and of 
 all virtue and devotion, while he is well 
 and in good health, upon presumption of a 
 death-bed repentance, and a confidence that 
 all his sins will certainly be forgiven, if he 
 can but once say Lord have mercy upon 
 me at the last hour. And it is a sufficient 
 encouragment to him to rely wholly upon 
 this, to see that there is no such proHigate 
 villain, none that has lived though to the 
 height of wickedness and debauchery in his 
 communion, but at his death he shall be 
 assisted by a priest, and shall receive aa 
 absolution from all his sins, with an abso- 
 lute promise of being soon admitted to blisSy 
 and reigning with Christ, if he can but once 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 77 
 
 say he is sorry, or if his voice fail him, 
 signify as much by a nod of his head or 
 the motion of his fingers. 
 
 The Papist Iruhj represented is bred up in 
 the service and love of God; taught to work 
 out his salvation with fear and trembling; 
 to provide in time of health against the 
 last hour, and by no means to rely upon 
 a death-bed repentance; for that as men 
 (generally speaking) live, so they die, and 
 it is to be feared greatly, that those who 
 neglect God Almighty, and forsake him 
 all their life-time, will never find him at 
 their death; so that (with St. Augustine) 
 he doubts the salvation of as many as defer 
 their conversion till that hour. However, 
 if any be found that have been so neglect- 
 ful of their duty, as to put off this great 
 business of eternity t-o the last moment, he 
 is taught that in charity they ought to have 
 all assistance possible to put them in mind 
 of their condition, to excite them to a de- 
 testation of all their offences; to let them 
 know that though they deserve hell-fire in 
 punishment for their wickedness, yet they 
 ought by no means to despair, for that 
 God is merciful, and who knows but if they 
 heartily call upon him, and endeavour by 
 sincere repentance, with an humble confi- 
 dence in the merits and passion of Jesus 
 Christ, he may hear their prayers, show 
 
78 A PAPIST MISnEPRESENTED' 
 
 them mercy, and give them time to repent. 
 These are all the promises tliat can be 
 given in this point, and this is what he sees 
 daily practised, and if some by these means 
 are [)reserved from falling into despair it is 
 well; but as for any receiving from hence 
 encouragement of coming into the like cir- 
 cumstances, he thinks there is but little 
 danger, especially since there is nothing so 
 often repeated in books, no more common 
 subjects for sermons, than the displaying 
 the manifold perils of delaying one's con- 
 version, and putting off repentance till the 
 last hour. 
 
 OF FASTING. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented is contented 
 with the appearance of devotion, and look- 
 ing not beyond the name of mortification, 
 he sits down well satisfied with the shadow, 
 without ever taking care for the substance. 
 And thus being a great pretender to fasting 
 and the denial of himself, he thinks he has 
 sufficiently complied with his duty in this 
 point, and made good his claim, if he has 
 but abstained from flesh; and though at the 
 same time he regales himself at once with 
 all variety of the choicest fish, and stuffs 
 himself with the best conserves and most 
 delicate junkets, and drinks all day the 
 pleasantest Avines and other liquors; yet 
 
ANT) REPRESENTED. 79" 
 
 he persuades^ himself that he is a truly 
 mortified man, and that he has d^ne a work 
 of great force, in order to the suppressing 
 his corrupt inclinations, and satisfying for 
 the offences of his past life. Nay, he has 
 such a preposterous conceit of things, that 
 he helieves it is a greater sin to eat the 
 least bit of flesh on a fasting day, than ta 
 be downright drunk, or to commit any other 
 excess, as having less scruple of breaking 
 the commandments of God, than of violat- 
 ing any ordinance of the Pope, or any law 
 of his Church. 
 
 The Papist truly represented is taught by 
 his Church that the appearance of devotion, 
 the name of mortification, and pretence to 
 it, are only vain and fruitless things, if 
 they are not accompanied with the sub- 
 stance; and that it is but a very lame com- 
 pliance with the ecclesiastical precept of 
 fasting, to abstain from flesh, unless all 
 other excesses are at the same time care- 
 fully avoided. It is true his Church has 
 not forbidden on these days the drinking 
 of wine, but permits a moderate use of it,. 
 as at other times, but is so far from giving 
 liberty to any of her flock, of committing 
 excesses, that she declares drunkenness and 
 all gluttony whatsoever, to be more heinous 
 and sandalous sins on such days than on 
 any other; they being expressly contrary,, 
 
€0 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 not only to the law of God, but also to ihe 
 intention of the Church, which appoints 
 these times for the retrenching debauche- 
 ries, and conquering our vicious appetites 
 And now, if any of his profession make less 
 scruple of being drunk on a fasting day, 
 than of eating the least bit of flesh, he 
 knows nothing more can be said of them 
 than of many of another communion, who 
 will not break the sabbath day by doing 
 any servile work on it, for all the world, 
 looking on this as a most damning sin, and 
 yet at the same time have but little scruple 
 of swearing, cursing, lying, or revelling 
 the greatest part of the day, which is not 
 because they have nTore libei'ty for these 
 than the former, they being all most wick- 
 ed offences; but because they that do thus 
 are but Christians by halves, who with a 
 kind of Pharisaical and partial obedience, 
 seem to bear some of the commandments 
 most zealously in their hearts, whilst they 
 trample others under their feet; scrupling 
 many times at a moat, and on other occa- 
 sions passing by a beam undiscerned; for 
 which their Church is not to be account- 
 able, but they themselves, as being guilty 
 of a wilful blindness, and a most unchris- 
 tian negligence. This is the real case of 
 such of his communion, who, on days of 
 humiliation, whilst they abstain from flesh, 
 yet give scandal by their intemperance. 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 81 
 
 They have a command of God, by which 
 they are obliged on all days to live soberly, 
 and to avoid all gluttony and drunkenness, 
 and on fasting days, besides this command 
 of God, they have a Church precept, by 
 which they are bound, if able, to eat but 
 one meal in a day, and that not of flesh. 
 And now if some are so ignorant and care- 
 less as to be scrupulously observant of one 
 of these commands, and wholly negligent 
 of the other, it is not because their religion 
 teaches them to do so, (which detests and 
 condemns all such scandalous partiality, 
 and complying with their duty by halves) 
 but because they shut their ears to all good 
 instruction, and choose rather to follow their 
 own corrupt appetites, than the wholesome 
 doctrine of their Church. 
 
 OF DIVISIONS AND SCHISMS IN THE CHURCH. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented is of a religion 
 in which there are a3 many schisms as 
 families; and they are so divided in their 
 opinions, that commonly, as many as meet 
 in company, so many different tenets are 
 maintained. Hence arise their infinite and 
 endless disputes, and the disagreement of 
 their divines, who pretend to give a true 
 and solid explication of the mysteries of the 
 Christian faith, and yet differ in as many 
 points as they write of. Besides, what 
 
8^ A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 variety of judgments are there in their re^ 
 ligious houses and cloisters, no one agree- 
 ing with another in their foundation, insti- 
 tution, and profession, this being of the re- 
 ligion of St. Dominic, that of St. Francis, a 
 third of St. Bernard, others of St. Benedict, 
 and so on without number, so that there 
 are as many religions as orders. And yet 
 they pretend to Christian unity^ amidst this 
 diversity growing upon them every day. 
 
 The Papist truly represented is of a reli- 
 gion in which there are no schisms or sepa- 
 rations, all the members of it, however 
 spread throughout the world, agreeing like 
 one man in every article of their faith, by 
 an equal submission to the determination 
 of their Church; and no one of them, though 
 most learned and wise, ever followed any 
 other rule of their' faith besides this, of 
 assenting to all that the Church of God, 
 planted by Christ, and assisted and protect- 
 ed by the Holy Ghost, proposes to the faith- 
 fi-il, to be believed as the doctrine of the apos- 
 tles, and received as^ such in all ages :. that 
 is, all unanimously believe as the Church 
 of God believes; no one of his communion 
 ever doubting of this, or scrupling to re- 
 ceive any thing after his Church's declara^ 
 tion. And now, though they all thus con- 
 spire in every point of faith, yet there is a 
 great diversity among schoolmen in their 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 8^ 
 
 divinity points, and opinions of such mat- 
 ters as are no articles of faith, and which 
 never being defined by their Church, may 
 be maintained severally, either this or that 
 way, without any breach of faith, or injury 
 to their religion; and of these things only 
 they dispute, and have their debates in 
 manner of a school-exercise, without any 
 disagreement at all in their belief, but with 
 a perfect unity. The like unity is there 
 amongst their religious orders, all of which 
 say the same creed, own the same authority 
 in the Church of Christ, and in every thing 
 profess the same faith, and have no other 
 differences than as it were of so many steps 
 or degrees in the practice of a devout and 
 holy life: some being of a more severe and 
 strict discipline, others of a more gentle 
 and moderate; some spending more time in 
 praying, olhors more in watching, others 
 more in fasting. Some being intended for 
 the catechising and breeding up of youth, 
 others for taking care of hospitals and look- 
 ing after the sick; others for going among 
 infidels, and preaching to them the gospel 
 of Christ, and for suck like pious and chris- 
 tian designs, to the greater glory and hon- 
 our of God. Which dif!ercnces make no 
 other difference in the several professions 
 than there was between Mary and Martha, 
 who expressed their love and service to 
 Iheir Lord in a very different employ, but 
 
84 A PAPIST ]VI1SREPRESE?ITED 
 
 both commcndably, and without any dan- 
 ger of prejudicing the unity of their faith. 
 
 OF FRIARS AND NUNS. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented is taught to 
 have a high esteem for those of his own 
 communion, who cloistering themselves up, 
 become Friars and Nuns, a sort of people 
 who call themselves religious, and are no- 
 thing but religious cheats; under the cloak 
 of piety and pretence to devotion, deceiving 
 the world, and living to the height of wick- 
 edness, under the notion of saints. 
 
 The Papist truly represented is taught to 
 have a high esteem for those of his com- 
 munion, who undertake that sort of life, 
 which, according to Christ's own direction, 
 and his apostles, is pointed out as the best: 
 a sort of people who endeavour to perform 
 all that God has commanded, and also what 
 he has confessed as the better, and in order 
 to more perfection. They hear Christ de- 
 claring the danger of riches, they therefore 
 embrace a voluntary poverty, and lay aside 
 all titles to wealth and possessions. St. 
 Paul preaches, that he that giveth not his 
 virgin in marriage, doth better than he that 
 does; and that she that is unmarried, cares 
 for the things of the Lord, how she may 
 be holy both in body and in spirit; they 
 
AJJD REPRESENTED. 85 
 
 therefore choose a single state, consecrating 
 their virginity to God, that so they may be 
 wholly intent on his service, and careful 
 how to please him; — while she that is mar- 
 ried careth for the things of the world, how 
 she may please her husband. (1 Cor. vii. 32, 
 33, 34, 38.) The gospel proclaims, that 
 those that will follow Christ, must deny 
 themselves; they therefore renounce their 
 own wills, and without respect to their own 
 proper inclinations, pass their life in perpet- 
 ual obedience. And because the world is 
 so corrupt, that to a pious soul every busi- 
 ness is a distraction, every diversion a 
 temptation, and more frequently the pro- 
 vocations to evil, than examples to good; 
 they therefore retire from it as much as 
 possible, and confining themselves to a little 
 corner or cell, apply themselves wholly to 
 devotion, making prayer their business, the 
 service of God their whole employ, and the 
 salvation of their souls their only design. 
 And now, if in these retirements, where 
 every thing is so ordered as to be most 
 advantageous for the promoting of virtue 
 and devotion, and nothing permitted that 
 is likely to prove a disturbance to godli- 
 ness, or allurement to evil, some (for, God be 
 praised, it is far from being the case of the 
 generality,) live scandalously, and give ill 
 example to the world, what can be said, bu* 
 that no state can secure any man, and that 
 8 
 
86 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 no such provision can be made in order to 
 a holy life, but may be abused? But yet 
 he does not think that such abuses, and the 
 viciousncss of some, can be argument enough 
 to any just and reasonable man, to condenin 
 the whole, and the institution itself. Is 
 not marriage abused an infinite number of 
 ways, and many forced to embrace this 
 state, or at least to accept of such particuh'ir 
 persons, contrary to their own choice and 
 liking? Is there any state in this world, 
 any condition, trade, calling, profession, de- 
 gree, or dignity whatsoever, which is not 
 abused by some? Are churches exempt 
 from abuses? Are not bibles and the word 
 of God abused: Is not Christianity itself 
 abused, and even the mercy of God abused? 
 If, therefore, there is nothing so sacred or 
 divine in the whole world, which wicked 
 and malicious men do not pervert to their 
 ill designs, to the high dishonour of God, 
 and their own damnation, how can any one, 
 upon the mere consideration of some abuses, 
 pass sentence of condemnation against a 
 thing which otherwise is good and holy? — 
 It is an undeniable truth, that to embrace a 
 life exempt, as much as can be, from the 
 turmoils of the world; and in a quiet retire- 
 ment to dedicate one's self to the service of 
 God, and spend one's days in prayer and 
 contemplation, is a most commendable un- 
 dertaking, and very becoming a Christian* 
 
 1 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 87 
 
 And yet, if some who enter upon such a 
 course of life as this, fall short of what they 
 pretend, and instead of becoming eminent 
 in virtue and godliness, by their unexem- 
 plary lives prove a scandal to their profes- 
 sion — is this rule and institution to be con- 
 demned, or rather they who swerve from 
 it? No: let not the dignity of an apostle 
 suffer for the fall of Judas, nor the com- 
 mandments lie under an as[)orsion upon the 
 account of those that break them. 
 
 OF WICKED PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented is member of a 
 church which is called holy, but in her doc- 
 trine and practices so foul and abominable, 
 that whosoever admires her for sanctity, 
 may upon the same grounds do homage to 
 vice itself. Has ever any society, since 
 Christy's time appeared so black and de- 
 formed with hellish crimes as she? Has 
 she not outdone even the most barbarous 
 nations and infidels with her impieties, and 
 drawn a scandal upon the name of Chris- 
 tian by her unparalleled vices? Take but 
 a view of the horrid practices she has been 
 engaged in; consider the French and Irish 
 massacres, the murders of Henry HI. and 
 IV. kings of France, the Holy League, the 
 Gunpowder Treason, the cruelty of Queen 
 Mary, the firing of London, the death of 
 
88 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, — and an infinite 
 number of other such like devilish con- 
 trivances; and then tell me, whether that 
 church which has been the author and pro- 
 moter of such barbarous designs, ought to 
 be esteemed holy, and respected for piety 
 and religion, or rather to be condemned for 
 the mistress of iniquity, the whore of Baby- 
 lon, which hath polluted the earth with her 
 wickedness, and taught nothing but the doc- 
 trine of devils? — i^nd let never so many 
 pretences be made, yet it is evident that all 
 these execrable practices have been done 
 according to the known principles of this 
 holy church, and that her greatest patrons, 
 the most learned of her divines, her most 
 eminent bishops, her prelates, cardinals, 
 and even the popes themselves, have been 
 the chief managers of these hellish contri- 
 vances. And what more convincing argu- 
 m.cnt that they are all well proved, than 
 that they are conformable to the religion 
 taught by their church. 
 
 The Papist tnilij represented is a member 
 of a Church, which, according to the ninth 
 article of the Apostles's Creed, he believes 
 to be holy, and this not only in name, but 
 also in doctrine; and for witnesses of her 
 sanctity he appeals to her councils, cate- 
 chisms, pulpits, and spiritual books of direc- 
 tion, in which the main design is^ to in> 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 89 
 
 print in the hearts of the faithful this com- 
 prehensive maxim of Christianity, that they 
 ought to love God ahove all things, with 
 their whole heart and soul, and their neigh- 
 hour as themselves; and that none should 
 flatter themselves with a confidence to be 
 saved by faith alone, without living soberly, 
 justly, and piously, as it is taught in the 
 Council of Trent, Sess, 6. c. 11. So that 
 he doubts not but that as many as live ac- 
 cording to the direction of his Church, in 
 observance of her doctrine, live holily in 
 the service and fear of God, and with an 
 humble confidence in the merits and pas- 
 sion of their Redeemer, may hope to be 
 received after this life into eternal bliss. 
 But that all in communion with this Church 
 do not live thus holily, and in the fear of 
 God, he knows to be too evident, there being 
 many in all places, wholly forgetful of their 
 duty, giving themselves up to vice, and 
 guilty of most horrid crimes. And though 
 he is not bound to believe all to be true that 
 is charged upon them by their adversaries, 
 there being no narrative of any such devil- 
 ish contrivances and practices laid to them, 
 wherein passion and fury have not made 
 great additions; wherein things dubiou.-s arc 
 not improved into certainties, suspicions in- 
 to realities, fears and jealousies into sub- 
 stantial plots, and downright lies and re- 
 corded perjuries inlo pnlj)it, nay gospel 
 
^0 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 truths; yet he really thinks that there have 
 been men of his profession of every rank 
 and degree, learned and unlearned, high 
 and low, secular and ecclesiastic, that have 
 been scandalous in their lives, wielded in 
 their designs, without the fe&r of God in 
 their hearts, or care of their own salvation. 
 But what then? Is the whole Church to 
 be condemned for the vicious lives of some 
 of her professors; and her doctrine to stand 
 guilty of as many villanies as those com- 
 mit who neglect to follow it? If so, let the 
 men of that society, judgment, or persua- 
 sion, who are not in the like circumstances, 
 fling the first stone. Certainly if this way 
 of passing sentence be once allowed as just 
 and reasonable, there never was, nor ever 
 will be, any religion or Church of God 
 upon earth. A confident undertaker would 
 find no difficulty in proving this, especially 
 if he had btit the gift of exaggerating son^e 
 things, misrepresenting others, finding au- 
 thors foT every idle story, chargrng the 
 extravagant opinions of evei-y single writer 
 upon the religion they profess, raking to- 
 gether all the wickedness, cruekies, treach- 
 eries, plots, conspiracies, at any time com- 
 mitted, by ambitious desperadoes, or wicked 
 villains, and then positively asserting, that 
 what these did was according to the doc- 
 trine of that Church of which they were 
 members,* and that the true measures of 
 
I 
 
 AND REPRESENTED. 91 
 
 the sanctity and goodness of the Church in 
 whose communion these men were, may be 
 justly taken from the behaviour of such 
 offenders. But certainly no man of reason 
 or conscience can allow of such proceed- 
 ings. No sober man would ever go to 
 Newgate or Tyburn to know what is the 
 religion professed in England according to 
 law J nor would he look into all the sinks, 
 Jakes, dunghills, and common sewers about 
 town, from such a prospect to give a true 
 description of the city. Why therefore 
 should the character of the Church of 
 Rome and her doctrine be taken only from 
 the loose behaviour and wicked crimes of 
 such, who are in communion with her, yet 
 live not according to her direction? She 
 teaches holiness of life, mercy to the poor, 
 loyalty and obedience to princes, and the 
 necessity of keeping the commandments; 
 witness the many books of devotion and 
 direction made English for public benefit, 
 written originally by Papists; and great 
 numbers there are, God be praised, who 
 practise this in their lives. And now if 
 there be many also who stop their ears to 
 good instruction, and following the sugges- 
 tion of tlieir own ungoverned appetites, of 
 pride, ambition, covetousness, luxury, 6zc. 
 who lay aside all concern of salvation, and 
 become so antichristian both to God and 
 their neighbour, that they are a shame ta 
 
\f4 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 their profession; why should the Church be 
 represented according to the wickedness of 
 those that neglect her doctrine, and not ra- 
 ther by the piety and exemplary lives of 
 such as follow it? Let the character of the 
 Church be given according to what she teach- 
 es, and not according to the writings of every 
 positive opiniator, or the practice of every 
 wicked liver, and there is no fear of its 
 coming out so ugly and deformed. — Neither 
 let any one pretend to demonstrate the faith 
 and principles of Papists, by the works of 
 every divine in their communion, or by the 
 actions of every bishop, cardinal, or pope, 
 which are not any rule of their faith. They 
 own that many of their writers are too loose 
 in their opinions; that all bishops and car- 
 dinals are not so edifying as becomes their 
 state, and that Popes also may have their 
 failings. But what then? The actions of 
 Popes concern not the faith of those who 
 are in communion with them; they may 
 throw a scandal indeed upon their religion, 
 but they can never alter its creed. But 
 what need of any other return to the nume- 
 rous clamours made daily against the wick- 
 edness of the Papists? It is a sufficient 
 vindication of their chief pastors and popes, 
 to use the words of Lord Castlemain in 
 his apology, that amiOng two hundred and 
 fifty that have now successively borne the 
 charge, there are not above ten or twelve 
 
AND KEPKESENTED. 93 
 
 against whom their most malicious adver- 
 saries can find occasion of spitting their 
 venom; and that a challenge may be made 
 to the world, to show but the first part of 
 so many successive governors, since the 
 creation, of which there have not been far 
 more that have abused their power. And 
 as for their flock, and people owning this au- 
 thority, it is true that many wicked things 
 have been done by some of them; and too 
 many like libertines neglect the care of 
 their fold, but, however, the generality of 
 them live like Christians; few come to 
 them, but with their religion they change 
 also their manners for the better; few desert 
 them but such who seem to be fallen out 
 with all Christianity; and whoever looks 
 into any of our neighbouring popish towns, 
 as Paris, Antwerp, Ghent, &c. will find in 
 any one of them more praying, more fast- 
 ing, more receiving the sacraments, more 
 visiting of prisoners and the sick, more 
 alms-giving, than in any ten towns of the 
 Reformation. 
 
 OF MIRACLES. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented is so given up 
 to the belief of idle stories and ridiculous 
 inventions in favour of saints, which he 
 calls miracle:^, that nothing can be related 
 ever so absurd; foolish, or almost impossible, 
 
9^i A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED * 
 
 but it gains credit with him; and he is 
 so credulously confident of the truth of 
 them, that there is no difference to him 
 betwi'xt these tales and wliat he reads in 
 scripture. 
 
 The Papist truly represented is not obliged 
 
 to believe any one miracle besides what is 
 
 in the scriptuTe, and to aU others^ he may 
 
 give the credit which in prudence he thinks 
 
 they deserve, considering tl>e honesty of 
 
 the relator, the authority of the witnesses, 
 
 and such other circumstances, which on the 
 
 like occasions use to gain his assent. And 
 
 now if upon the account of mere history, 
 
 and the consent of authors, none make any 
 
 doubt but that there was such a one as 
 
 Ccesar, Alexander, Mahomet, Luther, &c. 
 
 or of many particulars of their lives and 
 
 actions, why should he doubt the truth of 
 
 many miracles which have not only the 
 
 like consent of authors and history, but also 
 
 have been attested by a great number of 
 
 eye-witnesses, examined by authority, and 
 
 found upon record with all the formalities 
 
 due to such a process? St. Augustine re- 
 
 \ lates many miracles done in his time, so 
 
 -jj' does St. Jerome, and other fathers, and if 
 
 |! they doubted nothing of them then, why 
 
 »m! should he question the truth of them now? 
 
 .'♦■; He finds that in the time of the old law, 
 
 5? God favoured many of his servants by 
 
 h 
 
 .11 
 
 II 
 
AND REPRESENTED. f)5 
 
 working miracles by their hands, and he 
 thinks that God's hand is not shortened 
 now; that the disciples of Christ are no less 
 favourites of heaven than those of Moses, 
 and that the new law may be very well 
 allowed to be as glorious, and as particu- 
 larly privileged as the old, especially since 
 Christ promised that they that believed 
 in him should do greater miracles than 
 ever he himself had done, {John xiv. 1.2.) 
 And what if some miracles recounted by 
 authors are so wonderfully strange as to 
 seem to some ridiculous and absurd, are 
 they less true upon this account? Is not 
 every thing ridiculous to unbelievers?. The 
 whole doctrine of Christ is a scandal to the 
 Jews, and a folly to the Gentiles. And 
 what more absurd to one that wants faith 
 than the miracles recounted in the Old Tes- 
 tament? Might not such a one turn them 
 all into ridicule and buffoonery? Take but 
 faith away, and what becomes of Balaam 
 and his ass, Sampson and his jaw bone, 
 Elias and his fiery chariot, Elisha's mantle, 
 axe-head, and dead bones, Gideon's pitchers, 
 lamps, and trumpets, the fall of the walls 
 of Jericho, Moses' holding up his hands for 
 the victory over his enemies, his parting of 
 the Red >Sea,. and Joshua commanding the 
 sun to stand still, &:c. Might not these and 
 all the rest be pointed out as ridiculous as 
 any supposed to be done since Christ's tinie?i" 
 
4 
 
 90 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 A little incredulity, accompanied with a pre- 
 sumption of measuring God's works by hu 
 man wisdom, will really make the greatest 
 part of them pass for follies and absurd im 
 possibilities. And though he is so far from 
 giving equal assent to the miracles related 
 in scripture, and the others wrought since, 
 that the former he believes with a divine 
 faith, and the rest with an inferior kind of 
 assent, according to the grounds and au- 
 thority there is m favour of them, like as 
 he does in profane history; yet the strange- 
 ness of these never makes him in the least 
 doubt of the truth of them, since it is evi- 
 dent to him that all the works of heaven 
 far surpass all his reasoning, and that while 
 he endeavours but to look even into the 
 very ordinary things daily wrought by 
 God Almighty, he quite loses himself, and 
 is bound to confess his own ignorance and 
 folly, and that God is wonderful in all his 
 works, a God surpassing all our knowledge. 
 Whatever therefore is related upon good 
 grounds, as done by the extraordinary pow- 
 er of God, he is ready to assent to it, al- 
 though he sees neither the how, the why, 
 nor the wherefore; being ready to attribute 
 all to the honour and praise of his Maker, 
 to whose omnipotent hand poor man's im- 
 possibilities are none. 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 97 
 
 OF HOLY WATER. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented highly ap- 
 proves the superstitious use of many inani- 
 mate things, and attributes wonderful effects 
 to such creatures, which are in a very in- 
 ferior rank, and able to do no such things. 
 Holy water is in great esteem with him, 
 so are blessed candles, holy oil, &c. in all 
 which he puts so much confidence, that by 
 the power of these he thinks himself secure 
 from w^itchcraft, enchantment, and all the 
 power of the devil. 
 
 The Papist truly represented utterly dis- 
 approves all sorts of superstition, and yet 
 is taught to have an esteem for holy water, 
 blessed candles, and holy oil, not doubting 
 but that such men as have consecrated 
 themselves to the service of God in the 
 preaching the gospel, and administration of 
 the sacraments, have a particular respect 
 due to them above the laity, as churches 
 dedicated to God are otherwise to be looked 
 on than other dwelling-houses; so likewise 
 other creatures which are particularly de- 
 puted by the prayers and blessings of the 
 priest to certain uses for God's own glory, 
 and the spiritual and corporal good of 
 Christians, ought to be respected in a de- 
 gree above other common things; and what 
 superstition is there in the use of them? 
 9 
 
98 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 Has not God himself described such inani- 
 mate things, and holy men made use of 
 them for an intent above their natural 
 powers,. and this without any superstition? 
 \Vas there superstition in the waters of 
 jealousy, (Niifn. v. 17.) or in the salt used 
 by Elisha for sweetening the infected wa- 
 ters? Was it superstition in Christ to use 
 clay for opening the eyes of the blind; or 
 in the apostles to make use of oil for curing 
 the sick? {Mark vi. l^.). And though there 
 be no express command in scripture for 
 blessing water, candles, &c. yet there is 
 this assurance that every creature is sancti- 
 fied hy the icord of God and j^rayer, (1 Tim. 
 iv. 5.) and frequent promises that God will 
 hear the prayers of the faithful. Why 
 therefore should he doubt but that these 
 creatures on which the blessing of God is 
 solemnly implored by the word of God, and 
 the prayers of the priest and people, for 
 their sanctification, are really sanctified, 
 according to the assurance of the apostle, 
 and the promises of God? St. Cyril of 
 Jerusalem, who lived in the beginning of 
 the fourth century, made no question but 
 that, as those things that are offered to 
 idols, though pure in their own nature, are 
 made impure by the invocation of devils; 
 so, on the contrary, simple water is made 
 holy, and gets a sanctity, by virtue received 
 from the invocation of the Holy Ghost, of 
 
 J 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 99 
 
 Christ our Lord, and his eternal Father. 
 Cyr, Catech. And that the blessed water 
 was capable, by virtue received from heav- 
 en, of working effects above its own nature, 
 was certainly the sentiments of the Chris- 
 tians in the primitive times. St. Epiphanius, 
 (torn. 2. I. \.cont, Hcer. 30.) relates a passage 
 at length, how water being blessed in the 
 name of Jesus, and sprinkled upon fire, 
 which by witchcraft was made inactive, 
 and hindered from burning, immediately 
 the enchantment ceased, and the fire burn- 
 ed; as also, that a possessed person being 
 sprinkled with blessed water, was imme- 
 diately cured. Theodoret has the like nar- 
 rative of the devil hindering fire from burn- 
 ing, and how he was chased away, and the 
 charm dissolved by blessed water being 
 thrown on it, lib. 5. Eccles. Hist. c. 21. And 
 St. Jerome relates, in Yit, Hilarion, how 
 Italicus took water from blessed Hilarion, 
 and cast it on his bewitched horses, his 
 chariot, and the barriers from which they 
 used to run, and that the charms of witch- 
 cry did cease upon the sprinkling of this 
 water, so that all cried out, Marnus victus 
 est a C/u'lsto, Christ has conquered Marnus 
 the idol. And now, there is no jeering or 
 ridiculing those things, that will ever make 
 them look like idle superstitions, to one that 
 considers seriously how much they are 
 grounded upon reason, tlie word of God, 
 
100 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 »fir»o^ 
 
 antiquity, and the authority and practice 
 of the Catholic Church, which approves the 
 use of them, yet so as plainly to teach that 
 there is no confidence to be put in any 
 thing, but only in Jesus Christ; and that 
 whatever power these things have, they 
 have it not of themselves, but only from 
 heaven, and by the invocation of the name 
 of Jesus, who, as by his heavenly blessings 
 he enables us to do things above the power 
 of nature, so also, by the prayers of his 
 Church, he blesses these things in order to 
 the working effects above their own natural 
 qualities, that by them his fatherly benefits 
 may be applied to us, and that so the faith- 
 ful may more particularly honour and bless 
 him in all his creatures. 
 
 OF BREEDING UP PEOPLE IN IGNORANCE. 
 
 The Papist misrepresented is trained up 
 in ignorance; and it is the chief means 
 made use of by his Church for preserving 
 men in that communion, to hide from them 
 the manifold mysteries of iniquity, her sot- 
 tish superstitions, her unchristian doctrines, 
 by performing all in unknown tongues, and 
 not permitting the poor misled people to 
 look into or understand any thing that they 
 believe or profess. And by this blindness 
 they are persuaded to embrace such infinite 
 numbers of gross errors, that were but the 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 101 
 
 veil taken from their eyes but for one half 
 hour, and they but permitted to have one 
 fair prospect of their religion, thousands 
 and thousands would daily desert her, and 
 come over to the truth. 
 
 The Papist truly represented has all the 
 liberty, encouragement, and convenience of 
 becoming learned, of any people or persua- 
 sion whatsoever. And none that has ever 
 looked over any library, but has found that 
 the greatest number and choicest books of 
 all sciences have had men of his communion 
 for their authors; none, that in his travels 
 has taken a thorough view of the universi- 
 ties in Popish countries, of Paris, Louvain, 
 Salamanca, Bologna, &c. and considered 
 their laborious studies in philosophy, divin- 
 ity, history, the fathers, councils, scriptures, 
 &c. — and, besides the students here, has 
 seen how many thousands there are in re- 
 ligious houses, who, free from the disturb- 
 ances of the world, make virtue and learn- 
 ing the business of their whole life, will 
 ever lay ignorance to the charge of the 
 Papists, but must in justice confess, that 
 amongst them are to be found as many and 
 as good scholars as amongst any people or 
 societies in the world. And as for the vul- 
 gar or common sort of that profession^ 
 though they understand not Latin, yet they 
 are not trained up in ignorance of their 
 
102 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 religion, nor led along in blindness, but are 
 so well provided with books, in their own 
 mother tongue, of instruction and devotion, 
 wherein are explained the whole duty of a 
 Christian, every mystery of their faith, and 
 all the offices and ceremonies performed in 
 the Church, that they must be very negli- 
 gent, or else have very mean parts, who do 
 not arrive at a sufficient knowledge of their 
 obligation in every respect. And whoever 
 has seen the great pains and care some good 
 men take abroad in explaining on Sundays 
 and holy days, in their churches, and on 
 week-days in the streets, the Christian doc- 
 trine to the crowds of the ignorant and 
 meaner sort of people, not omitting to re- 
 ward such as answer w-eW ^vith some small 
 gifts, to encourage youth, and provoke them 
 to commendable emulation, will never say 
 that the Papists keep the poor people in 
 ignorance, and hide from them their reli- 
 gion; but rather that they use all means for 
 instructing the ignorant, and omit nothing 
 that can any way conduce to the breeding 
 up of youth in the knowledge of their faith, 
 and letting them see into the religion they 
 are to profess. Neither does it seem to him 
 even so much as probable, tiiat if the Church 
 offices and services, &c. were performed in 
 the vulgar tongue, that upon this the now 
 ignorant people would immediately discover 
 so many idle superstitions, senseless devo* 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 103 
 
 tions, and gross errors, that they would in 
 great numbers, upon the sight, become de- 
 serters of that communion of which they 
 are now professed members. For since 
 there is nothing done but in a language 
 which the learned, judicious, and leading 
 men of all nations every where understand, 
 and yet these espy nothing to fright them 
 from their faith; but notwithstanding the 
 seeing all through and through, they yet 
 admire all for solid, holy, and apostolical, 
 and remain stedfast in their profession — 
 how can it be imagined that the vulgar, 
 weak, and unlearned sort, did they under- 
 stand all as well as they, w^ould espy any 
 such errors and superstitions, which these 
 others, with all their learning and judg- 
 ment, cannot discover? No, — he thinks 
 there is no reason to fear that what passes 
 the test among the wise and learned, can 
 be groundedly called in question by the 
 multitude. 
 
 OF THE UNCHARITABLENESS OF THE PAPISTS. 
 
 The Papist mlsrcpresenlcd is taught by 
 his Church to be very uncharitable, and to 
 damn all that arc not of his persuasion, — 
 so that let persons be ever so just in their 
 dealings, ever so charitable to the poor, ever 
 so constant in their devotions, — though they 
 ^coofcss Jesus Christ, and believe his incar- 
 
104 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 nation, passion, resurrection, and ascension, 
 yet if they are not in the communion of 
 his Church, or if they disbelieve any one 
 article declared by any of his general coun- 
 cils, he marks them out for schismatics and 
 heretics, and sends them to hell without 
 mercy. 
 
 The Papist truly represented is taught by 
 his Church to have a universal charity for 
 all mankind; to wish well to all, to pray for 
 all, to exercise both the corporal and spiri- 
 tual works of mercy, according to his abil- 
 ity, to all of what persuasion soever. But 
 then charity and truth are not to be sepa- 
 rated; and it would be a false charity to 
 promise heaven to any of those whom the 
 word of God condemns to hell. Hence he 
 thinks it no part of the duty of charity to 
 judge favourably of the salvation of any 
 of those who die in mortal sin unrepented 
 of; for such a judgment as this would do 
 them no service, and would hurt himself. 
 Now if we believe plain scripture, and the 
 universal tradition of the fathers, and all 
 antiquity, — heresy and schisms are mortal 
 sins; and therefore, in saying that heretics 
 and schismatics are out of the state of sal- 
 vation, his judgment is not uncharitable, 
 because he advances nothing but a scripture 
 truth. St. -Paul in plain terms declares the 
 $au)e, {Galat, v. 20, 21.) where he reckons 
 
 t 
 
 J 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 105 
 
 sects and heresies among those sins of which 
 he pronounces that they that do such things 
 shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Nor 
 is he uncharitable in thinking those guilty 
 of heresy that obstinately refuse to believe 
 any part of the divine revelation; or those 
 guilty of schism, that wilfully separate them- 
 selves from the communion of the Church, 
 and refuse a due subordination to its pastors, 
 since scripture and all antiquity give no 
 other definition of heresy and schism. 
 
 In what then are Papists uncharitable? 
 Is it because they charge all with heresy 
 and schism that arc not in their commu- 
 nion? No; for they except all those whose 
 being out of their communion is owing, not 
 to any obstinacy^ carelessness, ivorldly inte- 
 rest, or human respect, — but purely to their 
 being deprived of the means of knowing 
 the truth, which they would gladly em- 
 brace if they knew it; for such as these in 
 the desire and disposition of their souls are 
 in the Church, and therefore are neither 
 heretics nor schismatics. Or are they un- 
 charitable in restraining the whole Church 
 of Christ to one communion, and believing 
 that to be their own? No: for nothing 
 is more evident in scripture; nothing is 
 more unanimously received by all antiquity 
 as a first principle in our religion, than 
 that the Church of Christ can be but one, 
 cno fold, under one shepherd, one body, 
 
106 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 one spouse, one house, one city, one king 
 dom, and consequently one society, united 
 in one faith, and in one communion, at first 
 established by Christ and his blessed apos- 
 tles, and descending by an uninterrupted 
 succession from them, ever one, holy, ca- 
 tholic and apostolical; and that the wilful 
 breaking off from this original communion 
 is the crime of schism, as the departing 
 fiNDm its faith is the crime of heresy. So 
 that it is evident that many sects, disagree- 
 ing in faith, and divided in communion, 
 cannot compose the one, holy, catholic, and 
 apostolical church of Christ; and thei^fore 
 it cannot be uncharitable to maintain that 
 the whole Church is but one in communion. 
 And as all the marks of the Church agree 
 to no other communion but his, it cannot be 
 uncharitable in the Papist to believe that 
 his Church is the true Church of Christ, and 
 upon this conviction to invite all to her com- 
 munion. For she alone has an uninterrup- 
 ted succession of her pastors from the apos- 
 tles of Christ, — She alone has always been 
 one, by her members professing one faith, 
 in one communion, under one chief pastor, 
 succeeding St. Peter, to whom Christ com- 
 mitted the charge of his whole flock, (John 
 xxi. 15, &c.) and the keys of heaven. (Matt. 
 xvi. 19.) She alone has been always holy, 
 and teaching all holiness, by inviting all to 
 holiness, by affording all helps -and means 
 
r 
 
 AND REPRESENTED. 107 
 
 of "holiness, and by having in all ages in- 
 numerable holy ones in her communion. 
 She alone is catholic or universal, by sub- 
 sisting in all ages by teaching all nations, 
 and by maintaining all truths. She alone 
 is apostolical, hy deriving her doctrine, her 
 communion, her orders and mission from 
 the apostles of Christ. She alone has con- 
 verted infidel nations with their kings to 
 the faith of Christ; and to this day sends 
 her priests and missionaries into all parts 
 of the world, to propagate the kingdom of 
 Christ. — She alone has been in all ages 
 illustrated by innumerable miracles, and by 
 the wonderful lives and deaths of innumer- 
 able saints. — All other sects began by sepa- 
 rating from her; their first teachers went 
 out from her, and had before acknowledged 
 her authority; they were all censured by 
 her at their first appearance; but she never 
 departed or separated from any more an- 
 cient church, or was ever censured by any 
 lawful authority. In a word, she is the 
 great body of Christians, descending from 
 the primitive Apostolical Church, conse- 
 quently she is the One, Holy, Catholic, and 
 Apostolical Church. 
 
 OF INNOVATIONS IN MATTERS OF FAITH. 
 
 The Popish Church as misrepresented has 
 nwde several innovations in matters of laith; 
 
lOS 
 
 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 and howsoever she lays claim to antiquity, 
 with a pretence of having preserved the doc- 
 trine of the apostles inviolable and entire, 
 yet it is evident to any serious observer, 
 that the greatest part of her belief is mere 
 novelties, not bearing date from Christ or 
 his apostles, but only from some of her 
 more modern synods, there scarce having 
 passed any age yet, wherein there has not, 
 in these ecclesiastical mints, been coined 
 new articles, which with the counterfeit 
 stamp of Christ and his apostles, are made 
 to pass for good and current amongst her 
 credulous and undiscerning retainers. And 
 besides these, what a great number of errors 
 have been introduced at other times; how 
 many did Pope Gregory bring in, and how 
 many the ignorance of the tenth age? So 
 that if we compare the Church of Rome 
 now, with the primitive times of the first 
 throe or four hundred years, there are no 
 two things so unlike; she is a garden now, 
 but quite overgrown with weeds; she is a 
 field, but where the tares have perfectly 
 choked up the wheat, and has little in her 
 apostolical besides the name. 
 
 The Papist's Church truly represented has 
 never made any innovations in matters of 
 faith; what she believes and teaches now 
 being the same that the Catholic Church be- 
 lieved and taught in the first three or four 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 109 
 
 centuries after the apostles. — And though 
 in most of her general councils there have 
 been several decisions touching points of 
 faith, yet can no one, without an injury to 
 truth, say that in any of these have been 
 coined new articles, or Christians forced 
 to the acceptance of novelties, contrary to 
 scripture or ancient tradition. They have 
 only trodden in the apostles' steps, as of- 
 ten as they have been in like circumstan- 
 ces with them, doing exactly according to 
 the form and example left to the Church 
 by those perfect masters of Christianity. 
 And therefore, as the apostles, in their as- 
 sembly, (Acts XV.) determined the contro- 
 versy concerning the circumcision, and pro- 
 posed to the faithful what was the doctrine 
 of Christ, in that point, of necessity to be 
 believed, of which, till that decision, there 
 had been raised several questions and doubts 
 that are now no longer to be questioned, 
 without the shipwreck of faith; so to all 
 succeeding ages the elders of the Church, 
 to whom the apostles left the commission 
 of watching over the flock, in their councils 
 have never scrupled to determine all such 
 points as were controverted among Chris- 
 tians, and to propose to them what of neces- 
 sity they were to believe for the future, 
 with anathema pronounced against all such 
 as should presume to preach the contrary. 
 Thus in the year 325, the first Niccnc 
 10 
 
110 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 Council declared tlie Son of God to be con- 
 substantial to his father, against the Arians; 
 with an obligation on all to assent to this 
 doctrine, though they till then never pro- 
 posed or declared in this form. Thus in 
 the first Ephesian Council, anno 431, Nes- 
 torius was condemned, who maintained two 
 persons in Christ, and that the blessed Vir- 
 gin was not mother of God; with a declara- 
 tion that both these his tenets were contrary 
 to the Catholic Faith. Thus in the second 
 Nicene Council, anno 787, iniage- breakers 
 were anathem.atized. Thus in the great 
 Council of Lateran, anno 1215, transub- 
 stantiation was declared; the sufficiency of 
 communion in one kind, in the Council of 
 Constance; purgatory in the Council of Flo- 
 rence; and all these, together with the sa- 
 crifice of the ]\Iass, the invocation of Saints, 
 6;:c. in the Council of Trent, ogainst Luther, 
 Calvin, &c. Now, though in all these and 
 the other general councils, the persons con- 
 demned took occasion, from these new de- 
 clarations, ta cry out ''Novelties, novelties," 
 to fright the people with the noise of new 
 coined articles, and that the inventions of 
 men were imposed upon them for faith; ^et 
 it is evident that these declarations contain- 
 ed nothing but the ancient faith; and that 
 there would never have been any such de- 
 clarations madcy had not the ancient doc- 
 trine proposed to them been opposed and 
 
AND REPRESENTED. Ill 
 
 contradicted by some seducing spirits, who 
 going out from the flock, endeavoured by 
 making divisions, to draw numbers after 
 them. So that the new proposal of a tenet 
 is but a fallacious proof of the doctrine be- 
 ing lately invented, but a good argument of 
 its being lately opposed. It is certain from 
 scripture, (Acts xv.) that the apostles had 
 never declared the non-necessity of circum 
 cision, had not certain men come down from 
 Judea, and taught the brethren the contrary. 
 And that the consubstantiality of the Son 
 had never been defined by any of the Ni- 
 cene fathers, had not Arius with his fol- 
 lowers opposed this Catholic doctrine. And 
 as certain it is the Council of Trent had 
 been altogether silent as to transubstantio.- 
 tion, praying to saints, &c. had not Luther, 
 Calvin, and their disciples, once professors 
 of this doctrine, gone out from the flock, 
 and upon the presumption of a new light, 
 endeavoured to persuade the faithful that 
 these tenets, then believed by the whole 
 Christian world, were no longer to be own- 
 ed, but to be thrown quite aside as unchris- 
 tian and diabolical. It was this obliged the 
 pastors to watch and take care of their flock, 
 and therefore not flying away as the hire- 
 ling does when the wolf catchcth and scat- 
 tereth the sheep, they assembled together 
 in a body,, and declared to all under their 
 charge, that they ought not to follow strau- 
 
112 A PAPIST MISREPRESENTED 
 
 gers; and however these came pretending 
 to the shepherd's voice, yet since they came 
 not by the door into the sheepfold, but 
 climbed up some otlier way, they were not 
 shepherds, but thieves and robbers; such 
 whose business was not to feed, but to steal 
 kill, and destroy. It was this made them 
 encourge all under their care not to waver 
 but to stand fast and hold the profession of 
 of their faith; and notwithstanding all pre- 
 tences, by no means to suffer themselves to 
 be deluded and led away with strange doc- 
 trine; and that they might the better secure 
 them from falling into errors, they gave 
 them a draft of their Christian doctrines, 
 especially of all those points which these mo- 
 dern self commissioned apostles did preach 
 against and endeavour to undermine; parti- 
 cularly declaring to them the faith they had 
 been brought up in, which they had received 
 from their forefathers, and which had been 
 derived even down from the apostles — as- 
 suring them that whatsoever was contrary 
 to this was novelty and error. And now, 
 in the pastors declaring this to the faithful 
 where was the innovation? The council 
 did nothing but propose fully and explicitly 
 what, before their meeting, was the doc- 
 trine of all Christendom, and had been so 
 amongst the primitive fathers. It was they 
 made the innovation, who preached contrary 
 to the doctrine thus believed and received, 
 
AND REPRESENTED. llS 
 
 wliich Luther was not ashamed to own him- 
 self guilty of, plainly acknowledging that he 
 had separated himself from the whole world. 
 But it seems that the whole world was 
 then corrupted, and that the religion every 
 where professed was overgrown with super- 
 stitions, errors, and abominations, such as 
 had crept into the Church, some five hun- 
 dred years before, some nine hundred, and 
 some a thousand ; and it was from these Lu- 
 ther separated, intending to reform Chris- 
 tianity, and bring it to the purity of the pri- 
 mitive times, of the first tliree hundred years. 
 Now, was it not strange that so many gross 
 fooleries, wicked superstitions, — and even 
 downright idolatry, should creep into tho 
 Church, and spreading itself through all 
 nations, infect the whole world, becoming 
 the public profession of Christendom for so 
 many hundred years, and be confirmed and 
 established by thr laws of every kingdom; 
 and that nobody should take notice of such 
 a change, either at its first rise, or in all its 
 progress of so many ages, — insomuch that 
 had not Luther made the discovery, it is 
 likely we should never have come to the 
 knowledge of these thousand years of er- 
 rors and corruptions? Surely no thinking 
 man can judge it possible that the very fun- 
 damentals of Christianity should be shaken, 
 and the religion planted by the apostles 
 turned into idolatry, and yet that no le^rn- 
 10* 
 
ir4 A. PAPIST MISRErRESENTED' 
 
 ed man should any where appear to con 
 tradict these abominations, no zealous pas- 
 tors to withstand them, no pious princes 
 to oppose them. History sufficiently satis- 
 fies any curious reader, that from the first 
 planting of the Church, there has not been 
 in any age any man yet that has preached 
 any heterodox and erroneous tenets, and by 
 introducing novelties has endeavoured to 
 infect the minds of the faithful with her- 
 esy and superstition, but immediately there 
 have stood up virtuous and learned men in 
 defence of the truth, in their writings and 
 sermons publicly confuting and condemn- 
 ing the errors, and giving an alarm to the 
 world to beware of such deceivers and their 
 wicked doctrine; and withal, never omit- 
 ting to record their names to posterity, 
 with an account of the time when they 
 began to preach, under what emperors, 
 and what v/as the occasion of their revolt. 
 Was not all this, and even more, done against 
 Arius? How many appeared against the 
 Manichees? How many against the Do- 
 uatists, against the Novatians, against the 
 Macedonians, the Nestorians, the Eutychi- 
 ans, the Pelagians, the Berengarians? So 
 that never any thing had made so much 
 noise in the world, so many commotions, 
 so many disturbances — nothing has been so 
 iinpossible to be carried on with secresy 
 ' and silence, as the broaching any new her- 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 115 
 
 esy, or making a schism by the alteration 
 of religion, or the starting up of some new 
 society and pretenders to reformation. — 
 What tumults did the forementioned secta- 
 ries raise in preaching their new gospel? 
 What stirs and commotions ensued at the 
 reformation of church and faith, pretended 
 by Luther, Zuinglius, and Calvin? How 
 then can it be judged in the least probable, 
 that a great variety of erroneous tenets and 
 unchristian doctrines should be introduced 
 by the Papists, contrary to the sense and be- 
 lief of all Christianity, either in the fourth, 
 fifth, sixth, or tenth century, and yet that 
 there should not be the least disturbance 
 occasioned by it, no tumult or opposition; 
 but all done with so much quietness — in 
 such profound peace and silence, — that had 
 it not been for the news brought some ages 
 after, we had never suspected the alteration? 
 And is this possible? — Is it possible that the 
 whole Christian world should change their 
 religion, both as to its internal belief and 
 external profession and. exercise, and no- 
 body be sensible of the change, so as to 
 withstand the abomination, or to transmit 
 to posterity even so much as the least word 
 of its beginning or propagation? Let any 
 man upon some consideration tell me whe- 
 ther it be possible that this one little king- 
 dom of England should fall from the pure 
 apostolical doctrine it now professes, inta 
 
116 A PAPIST MISREPRESEKTED 
 
 downright Popery, or any way alter the 
 whole scheme of its religion, and have the 
 alteration confirmed by several acts of par- 
 liament, and continue in the public exercise 
 of it for 1000, 600, or even 100 years, and 
 yet no one in the kingdom, or out of it, 
 should be sensible of the alteration, but all 
 to be managed with such policy and craft 
 that the whole business should remain se- 
 cret for many ages? And if this be scarce 
 to be thought possible of this kingdom, — 
 what can be imagined when it is affirmed 
 of many nations, of the whole Christian 
 world? Can any thing look more like a 
 fable or romance? Or can any rational 
 man, barely upon such a report, condemn 
 the faith and religion of his ancestors, for 
 novelty and human inventions; and quite 
 laying aside this, take the man for the rule 
 of his reformation, who thus, without rea- 
 son, justice or truth, has thrown such in- 
 famy upon all the Christians preceding him 
 for a thousand years. 
 
 But not to insist upon these reasonings 
 for the wiping off the scandal of novelty 
 from the doctrine of the Church of Rome, 
 it would not be amiss here to look beyond 
 the tenth century, as also beyond the time 
 of Pope Gregory. And if in those earlier 
 Christians nothing can be found of that 
 faith and profession which are charged as 
 .^oyelties and errors against the Church of 
 
AND EEPRESENTED. 117 
 
 Rome, all the Papists in the world shall 
 join with their adversaries, and condemning 
 Pope Gregory for a seducer, and all the 
 tenth age as ignoramuses, shall in one voice 
 with them cry out against all such doctrine, 
 — 'Novelty, novelty !- Error, error!' But 
 if, on the contrary, every point thus chal- 
 lenged of novelty shall appear to have been 
 the profession of the faithful in the time of 
 the purity of the gospel; if before Pope 
 Gregory we find that the invocation of 
 saints, the real presence, transubstantiation, 
 purgatory, prayers for the dead, the use of 
 holy images, relics, the sign of the cross, 
 i&;c. were the received doctrine and common 
 practice of Christians in those primitive 
 times — then shall the Papists remain as 
 they now do, being of the same faith and 
 religion with those ancient believers, with- 
 out any additions or alterations; and all their 
 adversaries ought in justice to retract their 
 imputation of novelty to the ancient faith. 
 
 In order to this, I intended in this place 
 to have given the reader a fair prospect of 
 the doctrine and belief of the fathers, of the 
 fir&t five hundred years after Christ; but 
 finding the matter to increase so much be- 
 yond expectation upon my hands, I have 
 reserved them for another occasion.* But 
 
 * Sec Mr. Gothcr's ** Nubes Teatium," and 
 ** the Faith of Catholics,'^ by Rev. Messrs. Ber- 
 rin^ton and KirU» 
 
118 A PAPIST MISREPnESENTEU 
 
 however, upon confidence of what I am abfe 
 to produce on this point, I cannot omit to 
 assure the reader that the chief and most 
 material points charged upon the Church 
 of Rome for novelty, the primitive fathers 
 do so plainly own to have been the faith 
 and profession of the Church in their days; 
 and to have been delivered down and taught 
 as the doctrine of the apostles; that an im* 
 partial confidence need Hot take much time 
 to conclude which ai>e the greatest innova- 
 tors, those that now believe and profess 
 these tenets and practices, or they who dis- 
 own and reject them. It is evident that 
 every point of this doctrine wliich is now- 
 decried for Popery, and basely stigmatized 
 with the note of errors introduced of late, 
 and a modern invention, is by many ages 
 older than those who are charged with be- 
 ing the authors of them; that every par- 
 ticular article laid to the ignorance of the 
 tenth century, or to the contrivance of Pope 
 Gregory, are as expressly and clearly own- 
 ed, and taught some ages before, as they 
 are now at this day; that those great men 
 were as downright Papists in these points 
 as they are now, and that any disturber of 
 Christianity might have as well defamed 
 them for believers of novelties and errors, 
 as we are at this present day. The faith 
 that they professed then, we profess no%v, 
 and if any of our doctiines be novelty, it is 
 
AND REPRESENTED. 119 
 
 Ti novelty of 1800 years standing,- and who 
 can question it to be of an older date? If 
 it was the public belief of the Christian 
 world in the fourth century, who can be 
 better witnesses of what was believed be- 
 fore them in the three first centuries than 
 they? They tell us that the doctrine they 
 maintained and delivered is the doctrine of 
 the Catholic Church, received from their 
 forefathers, and as it was taught by the 
 apostles; and we do not find that in any of 
 these points they were challenged by any 
 authority, or opposed by the pastors of the 
 Church, or any writers then living or suc- 
 ceeding them, but received always with 
 great veneration; and upon what grounds 
 can any one challenge them now? Is it 
 possible that any one now living can give 
 a better account of what was believed and 
 practised in the third age, than they that 
 immediately followed it? Which will be 
 the more credible witnesses of what was 
 done in forty-three — those that shall be 
 •alive fifty years hence, or they that are 
 not yet to come these thousand years? If 
 therefore, these holy men declare to us the 
 doctrine they believed, with an assurance 
 that it was the faith of the Catholic Church, 
 so believed by their ancestors, and as they 
 had received from the apostles and their 
 successors; do not they deserve better cre- 
 .dit than lOtliers, vWho coming a thousand 
 
I 
 
 120 CONCLITSION. 
 
 years after, cry cut against all these seve- 
 r§il points, that they are nothing but novel- 
 ty and error? It is evident therefore that 
 this noise of novelty was nothing but a 
 stratagem for the introducing of novelties, 
 and that those that brought infamy upon 
 these points, by this aspersion, might with 
 as great applause, and as easily have laid 
 a scandal upon every other article of the 
 Christian faith, which they have thought 
 fit to retain, and have had them all ex- 
 ploded for novelty; and this has been so far 
 done already, that even three parts of their 
 doctrine picked out by the first reformers 
 for apostolical, and conformable to the word 
 of God, we have seen in our days clamour- 
 ed against for novelty, and thrown by with 
 a general approbation, and as clear an evi- 
 dence of the charge as ever they laid to 
 transubstantiation and the supremacy. 
 
 THE CONCLUSION. 
 
 These are the characters of the Papist 
 as he is misrepresented* and' as represent- 
 ed; and as different as the one is from the 
 other, so different is the Papist as reputed 
 by his maligners, from the Papist as he is 
 himself. The one is so absurd and mons- 
 trous, that it is impossible for any one to 
 he of that profession without first laying by 
 
CONCLUSION. 12fl 
 
 all thoughts of Christianity, and his reason 
 loo. The other is just contradictory to this, 
 and without any further apology may be 
 exposed to the perusal of all prudent and 
 dispassionate considerers, to examine if 
 there be any thing in it that deserves the 
 hatred of any Christian, or if it be not in 
 every point wholly conformable to the doc- 
 trine of Christ, and not in tlie least con- 
 trary to reason. The former is a Papist, 
 as he is generally apprehended by those 
 who have a Protestant education; such as 
 whensoever reflected on, is conceived to 
 be a perverse, malicious sort of creature, 
 superstitious, idolatrous, atheistical, cruel, 
 bloody-minded, barbarous, treacherous, and 
 so profane and every way inhuman, that 
 it is in some measure doubted whether he. 
 be a man or not. The other is a Papist 
 whose faith is according to the proposal 
 of the Catholic Church, which by Christ^s 
 command he is obliged to believe and hear; 
 and whose whole design in this world is for 
 obtaining salvation in the next. And is it 
 not strange, that these two characters, so di- 
 rectly opposite, so wholly unlike one to the 
 other that heaven and earth' are not more 
 unlike, should agree to the same person? 
 It is certainly a strange piece of injustice, 
 and yet not at all strange to those who 
 know, that they that follow Christ shall be 
 bated by the world; that those who study 
 11 
 
lis CONCLrSION. 
 
 the wisdom of heaven shall have the repute 
 of fools; and that as many as attend the 
 Lamb shall be painted in the livery of Sa- 
 tan; our forefathers were so before us, so 
 Avere all the primitive Christians, the Apos- 
 tles, and even the Lamb himself, our Ee- 
 deemer. Calumny ever followed them, mis- 
 representation waited upon them — and what 
 wonder then that infamy was their con- 
 stant attendant? And now, if the orthodox 
 Christians have thus in all ages had their 
 double character — one of justice, exactly 
 drawn from what they really believed 
 and practised; the other of malice, copied 
 from them as misrepresented; it is not at 
 all strange to find it so in our days, when 
 calumny, malice, ignorance, dec. are as 
 ► powerful as ever: which though from the 
 beginning of the world, that is above five 
 thousand years, they iiave it their chief 
 business to paint, copy, ^nd misrepresent 
 things and persons; yet they never did it 
 with so much injury, so aUogether unlikely, 
 lis they do now to the Papists, there being 
 scarce any point of their faith or profession 
 which they do not either blindly mistake, 
 or basely disguise. — The Papists believe it 
 is convenient to pray before holy images, 
 and give them an inferior or relative re- 
 spect. These describe the Papists as pray- 
 ing to images, and worshiping them as 
 idols. — The Papists believe it is good to 
 
CONCLUSION. 123 
 
 desire the prayers of the saints, and honour 
 them as the friends of God. These paint 
 out the Papists as believing the saints to be 
 their redeemers, and adoring them as gods. 
 — The Papists believe that Christ left a 
 power in the priests of his Church to ab- 
 solve all penitent sinners from their offences. 
 These represent the Papists as believing that 
 the priests can infallibly forgive all such as 
 come to confession, whether they repent or 
 not. — The Papists believe there is power in 
 the supreme pastor, upon due motives, of 
 granting indulgences; that is, of releasing 
 to the faithful such temporal penalties as 
 remain due to their past sins, already 
 remitted as to their guilt, on condition they 
 perform such christian duties as shall be 
 assigned them, i. e. humble themselves by 
 fasting, confess their sins with a hearty 
 repentance, receive worthily, and give alms 
 to the poor, &c. These make the Papists 
 believe that the Pope, for a sum of money, 
 can give them leave to commit what sin 
 they shall think fit, with a certain pardon 
 for all crimes already incurred; and that 
 there can be no danger of damnation to any 
 that can but make a large present to liome 
 at his death. — The Papists believe, that, by 
 the merits of Christ, the good works of a just 
 man are acceptable to God, and through his 
 goodness and promise, meritorious of eter- 
 nal happines:.'. These report, that the Pa- 
 
124 CONCLUSION. 
 
 pists believe they can merit heaven by their 
 own works, without any dependance on 
 the works of our redemption. — The Papists 
 worship Christ really present in the sacra- 
 ment, true God and man. These say they 
 fall down to, and worship a bit of bread. 
 Some Papists maintain the deposing power. 
 These will have it to be an article of their 
 faith, and that they are obliged to it by 
 their religion. — Some Papists have been trai- 
 tors, rebels, conspirators, &c. These make 
 these villanies to be meritorious among the 
 Papists, and that it is the doctrine of their 
 Church. Thus there is scarcely one thing 
 belonging to their faith and exercise of their 
 yeligion which is not wronged in the de- 
 scribing it, and injuriously misrepresented. 
 But are not the Papists then such as they 
 are represented? No: they are no more 
 alike, than the Christians of old were, under 
 the persecuting Emperors, to what they ap- 
 peared, when clothed with lions' and bears' 
 skins they were exposed in the amphithea- 
 tre to wild beasts, under those borrowed 
 shapes to provoke their savage opponents 
 to greater fury; and that they might infal- 
 libly, and with more rage be torn to pieces. 
 Let any one but search into the Councils 
 of the Chureh of Rome, even that of Trent, 
 than which none can be more Popish ; let 
 them peruse her Catechisms, that ad Paro- 
 cJwSj.Qx others set forth for pastors to in- 
 
CONCLUSION. 125 
 
 struct their flocks, and for children, youth, 
 and others, to learn their Christian doc- 
 trine, of which there is extant a great 
 variety in English. Let them examine 
 Veron's Rule of Faith, and that set forth 
 by Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux. Let them 
 look into the spiritual books of direction; 
 those of St. Francis de Sales, the Following 
 of Christ, the Spiritual Combat, Granada^s 
 Works, and infinite others of this sort, 
 which Papists generally keep by them for 
 their instruction; and then let them freely 
 declare, whether the Papists are so ill prin- 
 cipled, either as to their faith or morals, 
 as they are generally made to appear. A 
 little diligence of this kind, with a serious 
 enquiry into their own conversation, their 
 manner of living and dying, will easily 
 discover, that that of the Beast with which 
 they are commonly exposed in public is not 
 theirs, but only the skin that is thrown 
 over them. The Papists own that there 
 are amongst them men of very ill lives, 
 and that if every corner be narrowly sift- 
 ed, there may be found great abuses even 
 of the most sacred things; that some in 
 great dignities have been highly vicious, 
 and carried on wicked designs; that some 
 authors maintain and publish very absurd 
 opinions, and of ill consequence. But these 
 things are no part of their religion; they 
 are the imperfections, indeed, the crimes,. 
 11* 
 
126 CONCLUSION^. 
 
 the scandals of some in their communion: 
 but such as they are, so far from being 
 obliged to approve, maintain or imitate, 
 that they wish with all their heart there 
 had never been any such thing, and desire- 
 in these points a thorough reformation. 
 Though the imprudences, the failings, tlie 
 extravagancies, the vices, that may be pick- 
 ed up throughout the whole society of Pa- 
 pists, are very numerous and great, and 
 sufficient, if drawn together, for the com- 
 posing a most deformed antichristian mons- 
 ter; yet the Popery of the Roman Catholics 
 is no such monster as it is painted. Those 
 things which are commonly brought against 
 them being as much detested by them as by 
 the persons that lay the charge to their 
 disfavour; and having no more relation 
 to them than weeds and tares to the corn 
 amongst which they grow, or chaff to the 
 wheat with which it lies mixed in one heap. 
 A Papist the r fore is no more than he is 
 above represented ; and whosoever enters 
 that communion is under no obligation of 
 believing otherwise than is here specified. 
 And though in each particular I have cited 
 no authorities, yet for the true and exact 
 conformity of the character, I appeal to the 
 Council of Trent, with which if in any 
 point it should be found to disagree, I again 
 promise, upon notice, publicly to own it. 
 As to the other part, it contains such tenets. 
 
ANATHEMAS. 127 
 
 aB ai'e wrongfully charged upon the Pa- 
 pists; and in as many respects as it is op- 
 posite to the other character, in so many 
 it is contrary to the faith of their Church; 
 and so far they are ready to disown them, 
 and subscribe to their condemnation. And 
 though any serious enquirer may be easily 
 satisfied as to the truth of this, yet for pub- 
 lic satisfaction, to show that these abomin- 
 able unchristian doctrines are no part of their 
 belief, however extravagant some men may 
 be in their opinions, the Papist acknow- 
 ledges, that a faith assenting to such tenets 
 is wholly opposite to the honour of God, 
 and destructive to the gospel of Christ. 
 Wherefore, since it is lawful for any Chris- 
 tian to answer Amen to such anathemas as 
 are pronounced against things apparently 
 sinful, the Papists, to show to the world 
 that they disown the following tenets com- 
 monly laid at their door, do here oblige 
 themselves, if the ensuing curses be added 
 to those appointed to be read on the first 
 day of Lent, they will seriously and heart- 
 ily answer Amen to them all. 
 
 ANATHEMAS. 
 
 r. — Cursed is he who commits idolatry ;. 
 who prays to images or relics, or worships^ 
 them, for God. R. Amen, 
 
128 AI^ATHEMAS. 
 
 II.— Cursed is every goddess worship- 
 per, who believes the Virgin Mary to be 
 any more than a creature; who worships 
 her, or puts his trust in her more than 
 God, who believes her above her Son, or 
 that she can in any thing command him. 
 R. A7ne7i, 
 
 111. — Cursed is he who believes the saints 
 in heaven to be his redeemers; who prays 
 to them as such; or who gives Code's honour 
 to them, or to any creature whatsoever. 
 R. Amen, 
 
 IV. — Cursed is he who worships any 
 breaden god, or makes gods of the empty 
 elements of bread and wine. R. Amen. 
 
 V. — Cursed is he who believes that priests 
 can forgive sins, whether the sinner repent 
 or not; or that there is any power on earth 
 or in heaven that can forgive sins -without 
 a hearty repentance, and serious purpose 
 of amendment. R. Amen, 
 
 VI. — Cursed is he who believes there is 
 authority in the Pope, or any other person, 
 that can give leave to commit sin; or that 
 for a sum of money can forgive him his 
 sins. R. Amen. 
 
 VII. — Cursed is he who believes, that 
 independent of the merits and passion of 
 Christ, he can obtain salvation by his own 
 good works, or make condign satisfaction 
 for the guilt of his sins, or the eternal pains 
 due to them. R. Amen. 
 
Anathemas. i2§ 
 
 VIII. — Cursed is he who contemns the 
 word of Gbd, or who hides it from the peo- 
 ple, in order to keep them from the know- 
 ledge of their duty, and to preserve them 
 in ignorance and error. R. Amen, 
 
 IX. — Cursed is he who undervalues th^ 
 word of God, or that, forsaking scripture, 
 chooses rather to follow human traditions 
 than it. R. Amen. 
 
 X. — Cursed is he who leaves the com- 
 mandments of God to observe the constitu- 
 tions of men. R. Amen. 
 
 XI. — Cursed is he who omits any of the 
 ten commandments, or keeps the people 
 from the knowledge of any one of them, 
 to the end that they may not have occasion 
 of discovering the truth. R. Amen. 
 
 XII. — Cursed is he who preaches to tho 
 people in unknown tongues, such as they 
 understand not, or uses any other means to 
 keep them in ignorance. R. Amen. 
 
 XIII. — Cursed is he who believes that 
 the Pope can give to any, upon ahy occa- 
 sion whatsoever, dispensations to lie or 
 swear falsely; or that it is lawful for any 
 at the last hour to protest himself innocent, 
 in case he be guilty. R. Amen. 
 
 XIV. — Cursed is he who encourages sin, 
 or teaches men to defer the amendment of 
 their lives on presumption of a death-bed 
 repentance. R. A7?ie7i. 
 
 XV. — Cursed is he that teaches me A 
 
130 ANATHEMAS. ' 
 
 that they may be lawfully drunk on a 
 Friday, or any other fasting day, though 
 they must not taste the least bit of flesh. 
 R. Amen, 
 
 XVI. — Cursed is he who places religion 
 in nothing but a pompous show, consisting 
 only in ceremonies; and which teaches not 
 the people to serve God in spirit and truth. 
 R. Amen. 
 
 XVII.— Cursed is he who loves or pro- 
 motes cruelty; that teaches people to be 
 bloody-minded, and to lay aside the meek- 
 ness of Jesus Christ. R. Amen, 
 
 XVIII. — Cursed is he who teaches it to 
 be lawful to do any wicked thing, though it 
 be for the interest and good of Mother 
 Church; or that any evil action may be 
 done that good may ensue from it. R. 
 Amen, 
 
 XIX. — Cursed are we, if amongst all 
 those wicked principles and damnable doc- 
 trines commonly laid at our doors, any one 
 of them be the faith of our Church; and 
 cursed are we if we do not as heartily de- 
 test all those hellish practices as they that 
 so vehemently urge them against us. R. 
 Amen. 
 
 XX. — Cursed are wo, if in answering or 
 saying Amen to any of these curses, we use 
 any equivocations, or mental reservations; 
 or do not assent to them in the common and 
 obvious sense of the words. R. Amen. 
 
ANATHEMAS, 131 
 
 And can the Papists then thus seriously 
 and without check of conscience say Amen 
 to all these curses? Yes, they can, and are 
 ready to do so, whensoever and as often as 
 it shall be required of them. What then 
 is to be said of those who, either by word 
 ^r writing, charge these doctrines upon the 
 faith of the Church of Eome? Shall I call 
 it a lying spirit in the mouths of all their 
 prophets? I will say no such thing, but 
 leave it to the judgment of the impartial 
 considerer. One thing I can safely affirm, 
 that the tenets of the Papists are as egre- 
 giously misrepresented, and shewn in pub- 
 lic as much unlike what they really are, as 
 were those of the Christians of old under 
 the slanders of the Gentiles: that they are 
 shamefully calumniated, and severely suffer 
 in good name, person, and estate, for prin- 
 ciples they as much and as heartily detest 
 as those who lay them to their charge. 
 But their comfort is — Christ has said to his 
 followers. Ye shall he hated hy all men^ 
 (Matt. X. 22.) and St. Paul, We are inade a 
 spectacle unto the world; and can we doubt 
 but that whosoever suffers with patience, 
 shall, for every loss and contempt here, 
 receive a hundred-fold reward in heaven. 
 
 THE END, 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction . 
 
 Of Praying to Images 
 
 Of Worshiping Saints 
 
 Of Praying to the Virgin Mary 
 
 Of Relics ... 
 
 Of the Eucharist. . 
 
 Of Merits and good Works 
 
 Of Confession . 
 
 Of Indulgences 
 
 Of Satisfaction 
 
 Of Reading the Holy Scriptures 
 
 Of the Scripture as a Rule of Faith 
 
 Of the Interpretation of Scripture 
 
 Of Tradition . 
 
 Of Councils . 
 
 Of Infallibilty in the Church 
 
 Of the Pope . 
 
 Of Dispensations 
 
 Of the deposing power . 
 
 Of Communion in one kind 
 
 Of the Mass . 
 
 Of Purgatory . 
 
 Of Praying in an Unknown tongue 
 
 Of the Second Commandment 
 
 Of Mental Reservations . 
 
 Of a Death-bed Repentance . 
 
 Of Fasting .... 
 
 Of Divisions and Schisms in the Church 
 
 Of Friars and Nuns 
 
 Of Wicked Principles and Practic 
 
 Of Miracles .... 
 
 Of Holy Water 
 
 Of breeding up People in ignorance 
 
 Of the Uncharitableness of the Papi 
 
 Of Innovations in Matters of Faith 
 
 The Conclusion 
 
 Anathtmas .... 
 
 ists 
 
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