Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN
 

 
 Jacobite and Nonjuring PRINCIPLE 9j 
 
 freely examined ; 
 
 I N A 
 
 LETTER 
 
 TO THE 
 
 MASTER-TOOL 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FACTION 
 
 A T 
 
 MANCHESTER- 
 
 With Remarks on fome Part of a Book lately 
 
 published, intitled, a Chriftian Catechifm^ &c. 
 
 faid to be wrote by Dr. Dc-n. 
 
 By J. O W E N. 
 
 Quid Homines ( fuftintbitis enim me Impetufufcept/e Aftit- 
 
 nls libtrius exerentem ) Homines inquam deploratz, illicit^, ac def- 
 peratae Falionis t gre/ari in Deot non ingemifcendum tjl ? 
 
 M. Min. Felic. Odav. 
 RiJicuIum Acri 
 Fortiut ft tne/ius magnaf flerumq\ fecat Rts. 
 
 Hor. Sat. 10. 
 
 MANCHESTER: 
 Printed by R, WHITWORTH, Bookfeller. MDCCXLVII.
 
 A 
 
 LETTER 
 
 TO THE 
 
 MASTER-TOOL, 
 
 SIR! 
 
 HAVE fomewherc read 
 of an Order of Knighthood 
 amongfl the Hottentots^ 
 where the Perfon inftall'd 
 is plentifully befpatter'd in 
 a very ungenteel and inde- 
 cent Manner ; which he re- 
 ceives with great Alacrity, 
 as the more Indecency, the more Honour. In 
 a Light fomething analogous to this, I confider 
 your Treatment of me, in a late Epiftle to a 
 Friend. The more Abufe, the more Honour; 
 the more Scurrility you have given Vent to, 
 the more Diflinftioa you have paid me. Jaco- 
 
 A 2 bittt 
 
 107;
 
 
 bites and Nonjurors I have always look'd upon 
 as a Race of Britifli Hottentots, as blind and 
 bigotted as their Brethren about the Gape, but 
 more favage in their Manners. A Specimen 
 of this from their Writings? Take one as 
 follows: 
 
 cc 
 
 Leave to the lew-bred O ns of the Age, 
 Senfe to belye, and Loyalty to rage ; 
 Wit to make Treafon of each Cry and Chat, 
 And Eyes to fee falfe Worftiip in a Hat; 
 Wifdom and Love to conftrue Heart and Mien* 
 By the new Gofpel of a Magazine." 
 
 Epiftle to a Friend, p. 26. 
 
 Your polite and elaborate Notes upon the a- 
 bove Lines are as follow. 
 
 cc 
 
 cc 
 
 <c 
 
 Line 335. Leave to the low-bred. Allud- 
 <{ ing to a furious, fanatic Preacher, in the 
 <c Neighbourhood of Manchefler y who has late- 
 " ly publifh'd fome Sermons in the Spirit here 
 " defcribed. 
 
 " Line 340. A aMgazi?2e. Alluding to Mr. 
 " Owen's mentioning me Story above-mcntion- 
 C ed" [i. e. Dr. Deacon's worshipping the Re- 
 bel Skulls nVd up on the Exchange at Man- 
 defter] " in his Ranting Sermon on the Thanks- 
 gtving-Day ; and citing for it a paltry News- 
 Paper, intitled the Manchefler Magazine' 9 
 
 Thefe 
 
 <c
 
 (5) 
 
 Thefe few Traits of your Genius illuftrate 
 and confirm my Obfervation above; that 'Ja- 
 cobites and Nonjurors are but a Race of Britifb 
 Hottentots, as blind and bigotted as their Bre- 
 thren about the Cape, but more &vage in their 
 Manners. Why elfe fo much Rage and Viru- 
 lence, exprefs'd by you Sir, the Mouth and 
 Matter- Tool of the Faction, in the Neighbour- 
 hood of Manchejhr, againft a Perfon to whom 
 you are a Stranger ? Exprefs'd againft him ; for 
 what ? For blafpheming the Character of faint- 
 ed Traytors, and even daring to profcribe Re- 
 bellion. For thefe high and mighty 
 
 Crimes, I am what am I not ? A Fury j 
 a Fanatic k, a low-bred Fellow. Go on Sir ; a 
 little more of the fame Billingsgate Oratory ; 
 -. a few more of the fame Bear-Garden De- 
 corations of Language. They well become 
 the Caufe that you plead ; they are the ftrong- 
 eft Pillars that fupport, the nobleft Ornaments 
 that grace, and the moft concluiive Arguments 
 that defend it. Impudent Puppy ; Son of a 
 B ch ; Son of a W re ; are fome other Fi- 
 gures of Speech, which when decently inter- 
 larded with well-moHth'd Oaths, have done ex- 
 cellent Service to your Caufe, againft it's two 
 
 moft inveterate Enemies, the Love of our 
 
 Country and common Senfe. As you have 
 fome Military Friends among you, fince the 
 Aft of Indemnity took Place, 'tis not doubted 
 but you will be taught how to employ the Fi- 
 gures
 
 (6) 
 
 However as Loiers are allow'd to complain, 
 and Culloden was a fatal Day ! if a Man cannot 
 {hew his Wit, yet why (hould he not fhew his 
 Teeth ? Believe me, Sir, I {hall never attempt 
 to reftrain you from the free Exercife and En- 
 joyment of this glorious Privilege. Hard Lan- 
 guage and foft Arguments, (I'll fay nothing of 
 the Heads that form them) can never wound 
 that Caufe which has Truth to fupport it. But 
 whilft the Enemies of the Government endea- 
 vour to poifon Mens Minds with all Manner 
 of flavifh, abfurd, and rebellious Principles, 
 fhall there be no Antidote difpens'd by the 
 Government's Friends? Shall a Man fit down, 
 indolent and neutral in his Houfe, while he 
 beholds Thieves rifling his Property, or Incen- 
 diaries fetting his Houfe on a Flame ? Shall 
 State Incendiaries ', you know who I mean, be 
 propagating the Flame of DifafFeftion to the 
 beft of Governments and the beft of Kings, and 
 none endeavour to extinguiih it's Rage and Fu- 
 ry ? Yes Sir, I dare plead the Caufe of Liberty, 
 of Virtue, of Religion, of Mankind, and of 
 my Country, in Spite of all Oppoiition. You 
 have invited, you have provoked me into the 
 Field; and I dare let you know that I am not 
 akin to your fugitive Hero ; that I fhall not 
 flinch in the Combat. I dare tell you that our 
 prefent Government has Enemies, and what 
 
 Kind
 
 (7) 
 
 Kind of Men they are. Be it at Bokgne, <tf 
 j4vignon, or whatever other Place, that your 
 vagrant Idol keeps up the mock State of a Court, 
 I dare tell you that the Man who vifits it to 
 procure an Abfolution for having abjur'd Popery 
 and the Pretender, and fworn Allegiance to King 
 GEORGE, and yet calls himfelf a good 
 Protejlant and a good Subjcfl, either affronts 
 other Men's Understandings, or betrays the 
 Weaknefs of his own. I dare tell both you, 
 and your Friends, that the Features of bafi-born 
 Superftition, arc as different from thofe of true 
 Religion, as the hcdloring, fwaggering Rant of 
 your Party over their Cups, is different from 
 true Magnanimity and Courage. I dare tell 
 you that jtcobitts and Nonjurors fliould always 
 herd together, that they pine after the fame 
 Yoke, court thejame Chains, and meet in the 
 fame Center : I cannot fay, with your 'Brother 
 Wit and Patriot, Dr. Sacheverel, that like two 
 Parallel Lines, they will meet in one Center.(a) 
 If your Libels againft the Government and 
 Common Senfe, have from Time to Time efcap- 
 cd Notice ; if they have received no Anfwer, 
 'tis not becaufe they have been unanfwerable, 
 but becaufe they have not defirtid one. How- 
 ever your late Attack upon me, urges me to 
 examine a little into Jacobite and Nonjuring 
 Principles, and to give fuch an Account f 
 
 them 
 
 (a) Satlrvtrtrs Sermon, which his Impeachment was ground.
 
 them as may be of fome Service to the Pub- 
 lick. The two Points I propofe, at this Time 
 to join Iffue with you upon, are, 
 
 Whether Jacobite and Nonjuring Principles 
 do not ftand juftly chargeable with Fanaticifm, 
 and whether this Fanaticijm is not, of all o- 
 ther, the moft fovereign and accomplim'd ? 
 And, as I diibwn the Authority of all Gofpels 
 but Chrift's, 
 
 Whether Cbri/t's Gofpel or the Nonjuror's 
 Gofpel, be the new one, and which of the two 
 is the more rational and authentick ? 
 
 As to the firft : J fhali not take upon me to 
 enquire whether the Word Fanatic boafts of a 
 Greek or Latin Extraction. Be that the applaud- 
 ed Talk of fome fublime Genius like your 
 
 own, whofe Leifure and Talents render him e- 
 qual to Enquiries of fuch folemn Importance. 
 'Tis enough for my Purpofe, that whatever its 
 Etymology be, the Meaning which Ufe has 
 
 flamp'd upon it is this one who covers bad 
 
 or the very ivorft Purpofes with a great Shew 
 of Goodnefs and Devotion. The true Spirit of 
 Panaticifm difcovers itfelf in fuch a wild, out- 
 rageous Zeal for Abfurdities, as grows even in- 
 to devout Madnefs. 'Tis a Spirit that raifes 
 Tumults and Seditions in States, without any 
 
 juft Provocation ; that diflurbs the Peace 
 
 of Societies, and folcmnly invocates Heaven to
 
 (9) 
 
 aid in effectuating their Ruin. Fanaticijm is a 
 fanftify'd Phrcnzy, that pretends much to ex- 
 traordinary Influences and Communications; to 
 immediate Infpirations j to & familiar and Jul- 
 fome Commerce with the Deity. It receives 
 Dreams for divine Truths, and pafles off wild 
 Reveries for Gofpel Revelations. It's Lan- 
 guage is a lufcious, unintelligible Jargon. The 
 Fanatical Inamorato feel*, what he looks upon 
 to be, a facred Rage of Paffion fvvell in his 
 Bread. The Fire of Entbufiafm glows within 
 him, and he cherifhes and feeds it with as 
 much Zeal, as the Vellal Virgins of Rome did 
 the facred Fire in their Temple. In fhort, he 
 riots in all Manner of fpiritual Debaucheries, 
 and talks to his God as the Gallant doth to his 
 Miftrefs. Fanaticifm urges its Votaries to the 
 Obfervance of the moll abfurd and unnatural 
 Rites ; to cut and flam their own Bodies for 
 the Good of their Souls ; (a) to Jacriftce their 
 own Children, (b) and makes natural Delirium 
 to be an infallible Token of fupernatural Grace. 
 Such were the Fanatic Priefts of Eellona ; nay 
 
 Sir, if you read any Poetry but your own, me- 
 
 thinks you might learn that the Fanatic Priefts 
 of Eellona were but Types of the 'Jacobite and 
 Nonjuring Fanatics of our Day. Speak Juvenal 
 
 B " Sed 
 
 (a) Bellonae fervientes, vere exfecare Brachium, praecepit Studio 
 Crudelitatis: Caufabon in Lamp. 
 
 (b) Vid. Lucian de Dea Syria,
 
 (1) 
 
 " Sed ut Fanaticus 
 
 <c PercufTus, Bellona tuo divinat ; et ingens 
 " Omen habes, iniquit, magni clariq; Triumphi 
 ce Aliquem capies, ant de Temone Britain 
 " Excidit Avirargus. (a) 
 
 Florus gives us an 'Account of one Eunus, 
 who by counterfeiting a fanatical Fury, bran- 
 difhing about the Locks of the Syrian Goddefs, 
 pretending to a divine Impulfe, (and indeed 
 moft Fanatics make God a Party in their 
 Quarrels), kindled a bloody War in the "Roman 
 Commonwealth, and induced 60000 Men to 
 take up Arms againft the State, (b) 
 
 A learned Writer obferves that Weigelius and 
 "Bebmen ; your intimate Acquaintance, 'Jacob 
 Bebmen, he muft mean, were the Leaders of 
 the Fanatics in Germany, and both thefe were 
 pupill'd by one Paracel/us a Phylician. Now 
 Sir, fuppofe I could name a modern Dr. Para- 
 celfus that teaches and propagates fuch Principles 
 as the above, that, like your Dark Lanthorn ya- 
 ob^ inculcates a ftrange Kind of Myftic Divinity 
 upon the Minds of his deluded Votaries -, that 
 is for raifing Tumults and Infurreclions in the 
 
 State ; whofe Religious Catechifms are 
 
 LefTons 
 
 (a> Juvenal Sat. 4. 
 
 (b) Syrus quidam Nomine Eunus (Magnitude Cladium faclt 
 at meminerimus) fanatico Furore, fimulato, dum Syrise DeJE co- 
 j^as fpeftat ad Libertatem et Ajma Servos quafi Numinum Impe- 
 3 concitavit. Florut Lib. 3. c. 9.
 
 Leflbns of Abfurdity and Superftition, and 
 
 whofe political ones are the Fate of his 
 
 unhappy Sons will tell what ? who 
 
 dreams of nothing but dethroning of Britifb 
 Princes, and who, like theWorfhippers of the Sy- 
 rlan Goddefs,vvill facrifice his own Children to his 
 
 Idols. Will not you call this Man a Fana- 
 
 tick ? Would not yuvenal j would not Florus 
 
 have call'd him fo had he liv'd in their Days ? 
 
 * 
 
 But you will fay, do you take me for a 
 School- Boy to read Lectures to me out of fuch 
 moth-eaten Authors as thefe? Well Sir, to 
 attone in fome Meafure for putting you under 
 the fevere Discipline of a School-Boy, I'll wave 
 for a while, referring you to any more heathen- 
 //Z>, greek and latin Authors, and remit you to 
 an ILnghJh one, to learn what Fanaticism is, 
 and to one who lias juftly been efteemed one of 
 the politeft Writers of this Age. 
 
 " Fanatici/m is a Compofition of Superftiti- 
 " on and Enthufiafm. It overbears all Order 
 " and Government, all Virtue and found Re- 
 
 " ligion It implys an uncommon Pretence 
 
 c to Religion and Sanctity, arid fometimes In- 
 cc fpiration itfelf, with an evident Mixture of 
 " Madnefs or Infatuation, accompany'd, for 
 ' the moft Part, with a Reftlefsnefs and Tur- 
 " bulency of Spirit, which is inconfifrent with 
 ** the Peace of Society and any fettled Form 
 c< of Government. The true Fanatic is always 
 B 2 " moft
 
 " 
 
 (12) 
 
 <e moft earneft about fome palpable Superfti- 
 " tion, which is not only no Part of found Re- 
 c< ligion, but even deftruclive of it He con- 
 <e tends with Vehemence for Opinions notori- 
 <e oufly abfurd, and cannot live in any Degree 
 <e of Charity with fuch as differ from him. <- 
 ce His religious Syftem is chequer 'd with Con- 
 ditions. He is hurry'd on by the Impc-iu- 
 tuofity of his Zeal, to break through all Re- 
 " gards of the moft facred Importance, that 
 <{ feem to thwart his extravagant Schemes, ne- 
 " ver confidering the Lawfulnefs, the Exocdi- 
 <c ency, or the Wifdom of the Means he ufes, 
 * nor attending to the Mifchiefs or fatal Confe- 
 c ' quences that manifeftly threaten either him- 
 " iclf, o, Numbers of People, or even whole 
 < States and Kingdoms. - The moft irnpi- 
 ct ous as well as the moft ridiculous Notions 
 ct will be received with Veneration, by Per- 
 " ions of a fanatical Difpolition. There was 
 " a Set of Fanatics for Inftance, who took a 
 <c Fancy to be godly and naked y in Imitation of 
 " our firft Parents in their State of Innocency. 
 <e Their Congregations were held in a warm 
 " Stove. They put off their Clothes at the 
 " Door, and the Men and Women, the Prieft 
 " not excepted, fat promifcuoufly upon Bench- 
 *' es raised one above another, without the leaft 
 " Covering. When their Devotions were en- 
 
 c
 
 ('3) 
 
 " dcd, they drefs'd and went to their Houfes 
 c< in the Sinfulnefs of worldly Garments, (a) 
 
 " How limple and inoffenfive foever, the 
 " Phrenzy of fome Fanatics may be, in the In- 
 
 " fancy of their Religion yet as they 
 
 " make Profclytes, it generally appears that 
 11 cunning and ambitious Men mix in their 
 " AfTemblies, and lead the poor Ignorants by 
 "' Degrees into Projects, for modelling the 
 " Laws and the Government according to their 
 " own wild Fancies, the firft Step to which, 
 " is by teaching them to queftion the Author!- 
 " ty of the Civil Magiftrate. 
 
 <c The Fanatics of moll Kinds, have a&u- 
 " ally taken the Advantage of fome great Con- 
 " vulfion or Divifion in the State, to broach 
 <c their Extravagancies, as being on feveral Ac- 
 <c counts the moft fuitable Seafon for favouring 
 " a weak or a wicked Caufe ! 
 
 I might Sir reft the Matter here, and appeal, 
 
 whether from thefe Charaderiflics, Jacobite 
 
 and Nonjuring Fanaticifm doth not appear to 
 be of all other the moft fovereign and accom- 
 plim'd ? But a few more Extracts from the 
 
 fame 
 
 (a) Thefe Adamttu were a Seft that fprung up as early as 
 the fecond Century. They recommended the Monaftic Life, 
 and made Vows of Continence as our Nonjurors do, .tho' if 
 Credit be due to fome Hiftorians, they were Examples of the 
 greateft Incontineney in Practice,
 
 (14.) 
 
 lame polite Writer, will not at this Time, and 
 upon this Occafion, be unacceptable or unenter- 
 taining to the Friends ofthzprefent Government, 
 
 whatever they may be to Tours. The 
 
 Doctors of this Church, (i. e. the Nonjurors 
 Church, adds he,) " tell us loudly there is no 
 " coming at Salvation, but thro* their Permif- 
 " fion. Beware oj Counterfeits, is in EffecT: 
 " their Cry to the People. We have a Patent 
 " for a Monopoly of Grace, and it is not to 
 " be had pure in this Nation but thro* our 
 " Hands." Is not this the very Language of 
 our Modern Pulpit Dr. Paraceljus, in hit 
 late Catechifm of bulky Reputation. " A full, 
 * e true, and comprehenfive View of Cbriflianity, 
 * c in Relation to Faith, Practice, Worflnp and 
 < Rituals, fet forth fincerely without Regard 
 <e to any Modern Church, Setf, or Party, as it 
 <l 'was taught in the Holy Scriptures, 'was de 
 * c liver d by the Apo files, and received by the 
 " Univerfal Church of Chri/i, during the four 
 " firjl Centuries." Well fpoken Dr.! What 
 could Dr. Green, the famous Stage Orator, 
 have faid more ! What could the eminent Dr. 
 lay lor, the Oculift, have faid more, as to 
 couching a Cataract, than this Brother Doffor 
 of his has faid, as to curing us of our Spiritual 
 Blindnefs ! 
 
 There is likewife a Mixture of Madnefs in 
 "Jacobite and Nonjuring Schemes; C their cer- 
 
 <e tain Hopes have been long fruftrated 
 
 " but
 
 c< but ftill thefe Nonjuring Fanaticks, are of fo 
 " fanguine a Complexion, that repeated Difap- 
 < e pointments are a Cordial to their Spirits, and 
 <c they grow through Delays more confident of 
 " Succefs j they never fo much as reflect on the 
 <e Medly of concurring Incidents, both abroad 
 <c and at Home, which are to combine in their 
 " Favour , any of which failing, their Chimc- 
 ce rical Project vanifheth into Smoke. Befides, 
 <e their Madnefs overlooks the Bloodfhed and 
 <e Confufion it muft coft to accomplish their 
 <e wicked Intentions ; and after all in the up- 
 " fhot, it is not likely they can be Gainers, 
 " but highly reafonable to imagine they them- 
 " felves would fall the foremofl Sacrifice to 
 " their own Infatuation. 
 
 " That they are of a reftlefs and turbulent 
 c< Spirit, appears by the late unnatural Rebel- 
 " lion, (a) in which they were fo active j by 
 " the frequent Riots and Tumults, they have 
 <l excited thro' the Nation j by the Seditious 
 " and Treafonable Books, Pamphlets and Pa- 
 <c pers, they have publifh'd ; by their virulent 
 " and reviling Speeches, againft the King and 
 " his Government ; and laftly, by the notori- 
 * ous Evidence of their unwearied Endeavours, 
 " to engage Foreign Powers to affilt their cruel 
 
 " Projeds 
 
 (a) The Effays from whence thefe Paflages are extra&ed, were 
 wrote foon after the 15 Rebellion: Upon comparing them with 
 the Conduft of our prefent Jacobites and Nonjuron, ic will be 
 found the Spirit of the Part/ is ftill the fame.
 
 " Projects, for embroiling their Native Cotm- 
 " try in a Civil War." 
 
 As to their Abfurd Notions ; " do not the 
 * c Doctors of thefe deluded People teach the 
 e< abfolute Neceffity of Confeffion, and facer- 
 " dotal Abfolution 5 the uncontroulable Vali- 
 <e dity of human Benedictions and Denuncia- 
 * ' tions ; and even the Ule of Prayers for the 
 " Dead : And all thefe manifold Superftitions, are 
 " to the Deftruction of found Religion, palm'd 
 " upon their Difciples for the more rerm'd 
 * Doctrines of the Church of England! Do 
 e they not vehemently contend for abfurd O- 
 " pinions, when they write and preach, and 
 " talk fo warmly for the exalting of their par- 
 s' ticular Scheme of Church Authority, to not 
 te only the over ruling, but the Subverfion of 
 <c the Civil Power ; as likewife when they 
 ** make the Salvation of Mankind, as well as 
 * e their whole Title to Chriitianity, depend 
 " upon fuch a Succeffion of Priefls as cannot 
 
 be proved. 
 
 " Is it not a Contradiction to common Senfe, 
 " to pretend to infure the eftablifh'd Proteftant 
 * e Church, by endeavouring to fet a declared 
 
 <c Papift on the Throne. Is it not likewife 
 
 < a notorious Contradiction to preach up the 
 * imminent Danger of this Church from the 
 " Proteftant Succeflion, which is the only hu- 
 " man Security {he can have. 
 
 Their 
 
 ct
 
 " Their Zeal is as defperate as their Princi- 
 " pies are abfurd ; fooner than quit their mad 
 <c Project they will lay afide all Regard to the 
 " Laws of their Country, to Religion^ and to 
 ee every focial and moral Virtue. The hazard- 
 " ing of their own Lives and Fortunes, as well 
 <c as the ruining of others; nay the Defolation 
 tc of the whole Ifland, and even of Mankind, 
 <c would probably not give the leaft Check to 
 " their Fanatical Phrenzy, could they find a 
 " favourable Opportunity to exert it in its full 
 <e Vigour. 
 
 From what has been faid, it appears, " that 
 " the Denomination of Panaticijm, tho' the 
 " vulgar have been taught otherwife, is by no 
 " Means applicable to People of any Commu- 
 <e nion, who live foberly, within an orderly 
 " Regulation, and in due Obedience to the 
 " Laws of their Country. Men may degene- 
 " rate into Fanatics, under any Form of 
 <c Church Discipline, as well as they may be- 
 tc come Slaves under the mew of any Confti- 
 " tution of civil Government. Inafmuch as 
 " the Members of any Church approach the 
 " Religious Phrenzy particularized above, in- 
 <c fomuch do they difcolour their Devotion with 
 " Fanaticifm. (a) 
 
 C Thus 
 
 (a) Freethinker, publifh'd by Dr, Bwlltr, la{ Abp, <rf 
 '#& fr imate of Irelwd*
 
 Thus Sir you fee I have dar'd to make Re- 
 prizals upon you, and have thereby transferr'd 
 the Scene of the War into the Enemies Coun- 
 try. I have retorted the Charge of Fanaticifm 
 in the Language of a very Mafterly Writer. 
 If you are flill commanded to Print away (the 
 Expreflion will pleafe, it is your own) it will 
 be neceffary for you to fummon your whole 
 Political Poffe to meet in a full Houfe, that 
 they may club Wits, and throw their Brains 
 into one common Shot, for the Difcharge of 
 this Reckoning. I have chofen a Metaphor the 
 moft familiar to your Party ; had the Caufe ow'd 
 greater Homage to Mars than to Bacchus, I 
 fhould have faid, it will be neceiTary to Mufler 
 all your Forces together, to {land upon the De- 
 fenfive againft fo formidable an Author. 
 
 Were it requifite to add any more, to difplay 
 "Jacobite and Nonjuring Fanaticifm, in it's pro- 
 per Drefs, it could not be done to greater Ad- 
 vantage than by tranfcribing the Language and 
 Sentiments of the Party, as publifh'd in their 
 own Writings. But I have no competent Op- 
 portunity at prefent, of doing this; however 
 fome Extracts out of one of their admir'd Chiefs, 
 the late Dr. Hicks, lie now before me ; after 
 having condemn'd the whole Frame of our Go- 
 vernment, in Church and State, He proceeds 
 thus ; " it is upon a wrong Bottom from the 
 " very firft Foundation, of it. Many falfe Max- 
 
 " ims
 
 (-9) 
 
 ce ims, hurtful to the Church, and extremely 
 " detrimental to the Chriftian Religion, are 
 " receiv'd for Law and Truth ; as that Tythes 
 " may become a Lay-fee ; that Patronage is a 
 cc Lay-fee ; that the King is fupreme ordinary. 
 " The Acts of Parliament touching the Election, 
 <e and Confecration of Bifhops," adds he " arc 
 " Unchriftian, and have been the naturals well 
 ' zs judicial Caufe of all the Mifcries in Church 
 cc and State, amongft us for many Years." 
 And as if this was not enough, his Thunder 
 grows louder and hotter, till at laft it breaks 
 upon us in Flames of infernal Fire and Fury, 
 They" fays he, meaning the E/labliJh'd Cler- 
 gy, " can perform no valid Acts of Priefthood ; 
 " their very Pr dyers are Sin ; their Sacraments 
 lf are no Sacraments; their Abfolutions are null, 
 '* and of no Force-, God ratifies nothing in. 
 " Heaven, which they do in his Name upon 
 cc Earth ; they, and all that adhere to them, 
 " are out of the Church ; they can claim no 
 ce Benefits of God's Promifes ; no, not of his 
 " affifting Grace, nor of Remirlion of Sins, 
 " thro' the Merits of Chrift's Blood ; nay, tho* 
 c| they mould die Martyrs in the Schifm, their 
 " Martyrdom would not be accepted ; if they 
 lc could die Martyrs more than once, they could 
 " not make amends for their Sin t with their 
 <f Blood.'' Here the Clergy of the Church of 
 
 England are all damn'd in a Breath : The 
 
 Hands of Omnipotence are ty'd up from flrew-
 
 (20) 
 
 ing them any Favour ; and Salvation itfelf can- 
 not fave them. Heavens preferve all Prote- 
 
 Jlants, from falling a Sacrifice to the Tyranny 
 of fuch an uncatholick, Catbolick Church as this ! 
 When he talks of the Priefthood, his favourite 
 Phrafes, are thefe, " the Kingdom of the 
 " Church-, the Ihrones of Royal Pri efts ; Vice* 
 " ge rents of the Eternal Melchezideck j Spiri- 
 " tual Principalities. Thou k " fays he, " may- 
 < eft fee the Necks of Kings and Princes, bow- 
 ee ed down to the Knees of Rifhops : The Em- 
 <e peror fubmits his Head to the Hands of the 
 " Priefl: Let the Bifhop be honoured as God." 
 Is not this pure and Orthodox Doctrine ! He 
 proceeds to tell us his Sentiments, (and I make 
 no doubt Sir, but they are yours too) that it is 
 lefs heinous to be prefent at divine Offices, 
 where Aoe Marias &c. are fa id, than to pray 
 for our Proteftanf Sovereigns. Nay, for my 
 own Part, fays he, " I had rather as a Priefl:, 
 c * fay Prayers in a Congregation to Saints and 
 " Angels, which is only forbid by a pofitive 
 ct Law, than thofe Prayers by which my King 
 " is abus'd, abjur'd, curs'd, and the righteous 
 " King of Kings moft horribly Blafphemed."{a) 
 Thefe are fome of the Doctrines of the Nonju- 
 rors ; fanatical ones I take leave to call them ; 
 that are palm'd upon Mankind for the Truth, 
 
 as it is, in Jefus. And what can we think 
 
 of thofe Perfons amongft us, who call them- 
 
 felves 
 
 (a) Collection of Dr. fliVJ's Letters, referr'd to by Dr. Ktnntt, 
 in his Letter to the JBp. of Carliflt.
 
 (21) 
 
 felves Proteftants, join in Communion with 
 Proteftants, and yet adopt fo portentous a Syf- 
 
 tem ? What {hall we think of thofe who of* 
 
 ficiate at our Proteflant Altars, and yet are for 
 eftabliihing fuch Antiproteftant Tyranny , Prieft* 
 craft, Ab/urdities and Superftitions ? Muft they 
 not be Hypocrites ; as true and yet deceivers ? 
 
 Nay, rather muft they not be Athei/ts? 
 
 However, this we may fafely lay, 
 
 Their Lives make dtheijls, and their DoSrines Slaves! 
 
 But I fhould be glad to learn, iS/'r, what it 
 is upon your Principles that conftitutes a Fana- 
 tic? Will you charge Fanaticifm upon any 
 Set of Opinions, that are confiftent with the 
 Peace and good Order of Society j and with 
 that Obedience which is due to the Civil Ma- 
 gi/Irate? Doth Fanaticifm confift in wearing a 
 Coat or a Cloak, rather than a CafTock ? or in 
 wormipping God in a Structure, where there 
 is no Bell or no Organ ? Be tender how you 
 affert thefe Things, leaft you bring your Non- 
 juring Friends under the fame Imputation. But 
 Should you give fuch a fatal Stab to their Or- 
 thodoxy, you'll only ftand convifted of 
 
 Chance Medley, and not of premeditated Mur- 
 der. 'Tis taken for granted, that to charge 
 Nonjurors with Fanaticifm, is as ivide of your 
 Intention, as a Nonjuror's Creed is wide of com- 
 mon Senfe, and the Bible. 'Tis prefumed you 
 mean no more by Fanatics, than that they are 
 a Set of Men whom you cordially and devoutly
 
 (22) 
 
 hatc y and would have God do fo too. But, 
 however, you and your Friends arrogate to 
 yourfelves, the Name of the true CbHftian, Ca- 
 tholick Church, you'll excufe me, if for on,ce 
 I remit you for Inftruction, I had almoft faid 
 to the more Chriftian, but I muft fay to the 
 more Catholick Pagans. 
 
 'Tis a Principle among the Perfian Bram- 
 mines, that whoever feeks God with Sincerity 
 and Uprightnefs, whether he believes him to 
 be the Sun, or the Moon, or fome other Being, 
 fhall be acceptable to him. Accordingly, fay 
 they, on a certain Time, a Muffulman, feeing an 
 Hindoo, i. e. a Pagan Prieft in Heaven, he 
 afk'd God how that Infidel, whom Mahomet 
 calls by the Name of bitter Roof, came thither ? 
 - The Deity anfwers : If a bitter Root bring 
 forth Jweeter Fruit than any of you, why 
 (hould I not receive him ; whereupon, the Muf- 
 fulman was Speechlefs. (a) Now, Sir, whilfl 
 you charge any of your Proteftant Neighbours, 
 (it would be a Solecifm in me to fay your Fel- 
 low P rot eft ants,) with Fanaticifm, without of- 
 fering any Evidence to fupport the Charge ; or 
 whilft you call them bitter Root in the Ortho- 
 dox Muffulman's Language j if thefe very Men 
 bring forth fweeter Fruits than you, what Au- 
 thority have you to condemn them? If they 
 are better Friends to rational Religion, to the 
 
 Civil 
 
 (a) Btddaris Phil. Tranf. Vol 3- P
 
 (23) 
 
 Civil and Sacred Rights of Mankind, to the 
 Government under which they live ; better 
 Friends to the Conftitution, to their Country, 
 
 and to King GEORGE, than you ; or 
 
 even fuppofing that they are no better Friends 
 to all thefe than you ; whatever others have a 
 Right to do, I cannot fee with what Decency 
 you can profcribe them. Will you allow no 
 Roots to bring forth fweet Fruits, but thofe 
 whofe Branches have been lopp'd off by Rebel- 
 lion ? Where is there one of thofe you call Fa- 
 natics, (produce me a fingle Inftance in all 
 England if you can!) that, during our late 
 Diffractions, was even fufpected of DifafFcclion 
 to the Proteftant Prince that fits on the Briti/h 
 Throne ? Where can you produce an Inftance, 
 among any of our Fanatical Clergy, of one who 
 went on his Knees in the pub lick Streets, (as 
 you know who did,) to pray for the Young Pre- 
 tender as he paraded it thro' Salford, at the 
 Head of his Highland Rabble ? 
 
 Will you have any more upon this Subject ? 
 Compare your own Principles, and the Princi- 
 ples of thofe you brand with Fanaticifm, toge- 
 ther; and then toReafon let us appeal which 
 
 are the more Fanatical of the two ? As your 
 charge of Fanaticifm is directly pointed at me, 
 I may for once be allow'd to perfonate that 
 Party, you would wound thro' my Sides. 'Tis 
 one of my Principles, that all Party Cant, and 
 Watch Words, propagated with a View to di- 
 
 fturb
 
 fturb the Peace of Society ; to inflame and ex- 
 afperate Men's Minds againft the eftablifh'd 
 
 Government, are the Language of Sedition, 
 
 that all fuch Seditious Cries are the Seeds of 
 Treafon, and want only to be cherifh'd by the 
 Sun- (hine of fuccefsful Faction, in order tori- 
 pen into Rebellion. 'Tis one of yours, that 
 fuch Seditious Cries are only decent Expreffions 
 of Zeal for the Church j and that to be a bad 
 Neighbour, or a bad Citizen, is of great Im- 
 portance towards conftituting the Character of 
 a good Churchman. 'Tis one of my Principles, 
 that if a Man fwears Allegiance to the Govern- 
 ment that protects him, God will not be fo 
 fevere as to damn him for paying it $ and that 
 therefore he is not oblig'd to perjure himfelf 
 for Conference fake. 'Tis one of yours, that 
 Perjury, when practis'd by Jacobites is no Sin, 
 nay the greateft of all Political Virtues ; and 
 that Jacobite Rebellion is no Act of Treafon. 
 'Tis one of my Principles, that mewing religi- 
 ous Honours to Rebel Skulls, as empty now 
 they are fix'd on the Exchange, as they were 
 when fix'd on the Shoulders that once wore 
 them, is falfe Worfhty in the Chriflian Senfe, 
 but true Nonjuring and Jacobite Devotion. 
 'Tis one of yours, that preferring a Prayer to 
 thefe up-flart Deities, is worfhipping the Lord 
 in the Beauty of Holinefs, is worshipping him 
 in Spirit and in 'Truth. 'Tis one of my Prin- 
 ciples, that the Church of England's greateft 
 
 Enemies
 
 jimmies are her pretended Friends, who always 
 fpread abroad tumultuous Alarms of her Dan* 
 ger, and aflert the Body to be independent cf 
 ie Head that governs it 'Tis one of yours, 
 that the Church of England's beft Friend f are 
 her avow'd and open Enemies ; that damn and 
 hereticatc her as a Schi/matical, Antichriftian 
 Church ! 'Tis one of my Principles, that a Pro- 
 teflant Church requires a Proteftant Prince to 
 be her Faith's Defender j but is it not one of 
 Your's, ^deny it if you can) that the Puppet of 
 Rome, would be a Guardian Angel to' the 
 Churches of Britain ? Juft fo, the Sheep can 
 never be fafe till they are undef the Wolf's 
 Patronage and Protection ! The Dove can never 
 be fafe till the Hawk has her for his Quarry! 
 'Tis one of my Principles, that the Authority 
 of a paltry Magazine, is at all Times as in- 
 fallible, as that of y9ur good Friend the Pope. 
 
 But is it not one of yours, that a paltry 
 
 Magazine, inverts the Nature of Things, and 
 makes Truth Falfhood ; acknowledged, and in- 
 difputable Fafts, to be notorious and fcandalous 
 impofture \ Surely, Sir, it might have been a 
 Popifi Magazine, by it's working fuch Miracles' 
 as thefe ! You confefs, that Devotion has been 
 paid to the Gods Jpik'd up on the Exchange^ 
 and yet, it is a Crime in me, to refer to a Para- 
 graph in a Magazine that fays fo. Would' 
 
 you gravel an Adverfary, engaged in a bad 
 Caufe? Speak Truth , nothing gravels him, 
 
 P more
 
 (a6) 
 
 more. But I'll not prefs you on this Head 
 any further. As then, I difown the Authori- 
 ty of every Gofpel, but Chrift's 5 fufFer me next 
 to examine, 
 
 Whether Cbrift's Gofpel or the Nonjuror's 
 Gofpel, be the new one j and which of the two 
 is the more rational and authentic ? And now 
 the new Catechifm, (a) whofe pompous Title 
 was taken Notice of above, falls under Confi- 
 
 * 
 
 deration. It would be no difficult Matter to 
 unprofelyte all the learned Doffor's Profelytes, 
 nnd to overturn the Foundation of his Unive?-- 
 Ja/> Catholick Church, built up at Manchefter, 
 would his Difciples but make this previous 
 Conceflion, that there is no Herefy in being 
 guided by common Senfe, in Matters of Reli- 
 gion ; that a Man may be devout, without re- 
 nouncing his Reafon ; very good, without being 
 very^//y, and fit for Heaven, without being fit 
 for Bedlam. 
 
 The firft Chapter I {hall take Notice of in 
 this new Go/pel, is, the Chapter of Tradition. 
 This, our Author looks upon as more facred 
 and infallible, than the infpired Writings, as 
 appears from his giving it the Preheminenct a- 
 
 bove 
 
 (a) This Catcchifm, is not only faid to be wrote by Dr. Deacon 
 a Nonjuring Prieft or Bifhop, and Phyfician at Manchejier, but 
 is acknowledg'd as his by his Friends ; which juftifies my wnfi- 
 Uring him as {he Author of it.
 
 (27) 
 
 bove them, (a) 'Tis entirely foreign to my 
 Purpofe, to ranfack the Reveries of the Fathers* 
 To feek for unadulterated, found Learning, and 
 good Senfe among them, would be as abfurd 
 and fruitlefs, as to ranfack for jewels in a Dung- 
 hill, 'Tis allow'd, that, even in the early A- 
 ges of Chriftianity, Corruption grew apace in 
 the Church, as the rankeft Weeds always grow 
 in the richeft Soil. However, were it of any 
 confiderable importance, it might eafily be 
 /hewn, that in the fecond Century, and fome time 
 after, there was no Divinity ftamp'd upon Tra- 
 dition. " If you are Chriftians (in the Origi- 
 nal, Difciples of the Gofpel, fays one of the 
 Fathers) " make the Scriptures your Rule? 
 " but if you will talk of unwritten Traditions, 
 te what Bufmefs have you with us, who pay 
 " no Regards to any Thing, but what is writ- 
 " ten. (b) We affirm nothing without the Scrip- 
 " tures" (c) faith another, " The holy Scrip- 
 et tures are fufficient to propagate the Truth ; 
 <c and it is fufficient to believe what is writ- 
 " ten," is the Language of a Third, (d) But if 
 you would fee fome more Authorities of this 
 Kind, I refer you to the Margin. 
 
 D z Such 
 
 (a) Of TraJitioKt and Scriptures. Cat. p. 34. 
 
 (b) Chns de Incar. Chrijli cont. Afoll. Tom. I. p. 6*1. 
 
 (c) Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. 6. 
 
 (d) Atban. contr. Gentes et de Incarnat. Chrifti. 
 
 To the fame Purpofe. Quae pertinent ad verara Religionem quaeren- 
 damet tenendam divina Scriptura non tacuit. Augufl. Epift. 42. 
 In iis qu apcrte in Scriptura pofita funt, inveniuncur Ilia Omnia
 
 Such is the Force of Truth, that it even ex- 
 torts from Bellarmine, the great Champion 
 of Romifi Infallibility ; the following Confef- 
 fion, "All tnofe Things are commited to 
 " Writing by the Apoftles, which are necef- 
 " fary for all Men, and which they generally 
 " preach'd to all.*' fa) But were all the Fa- 
 thers to be enliftcd into this Gentleman's Ser- 
 vice, what would that prove ? What, but 
 this, that thefe Fathers of the Church, as fome 
 affect to call them, were mere Children in Un- 
 derftanding. Thefe Fathers, whofe Names 
 are fo venerable, whofe Doctrines are fo infal- 
 lible, and whofe Authority is fo facred, 
 
 who, or what were they ? They were a 
 
 Set ot weak, but one would hope well- deigning 
 Men, who entertained ten thoufand wild and 
 
 ridiculous 
 
 Cuae continent Fidem, Morefqj vivendi. Aug. de Doft. ChrifU. 
 2. c. q Side describing a venerable Body of antient Chrifti- 
 ns, fays, Tantum ea quae in Propheticis, Evangelicis, et Apofto- 
 Jicis Literis, difcere poterant, obfervantes. Hiji. 1. 3. c. 4. Om- 
 ia ea qua; abfq; Teftimoniis Scripturarum afleruntur, percutiun- 
 tur Gladio Dei. Hieron in Agge. c. i. and P. Gregory the firft 
 fays, In hoc Volunine, cuncta quae edificant, Omnia quas erudi- 
 uat, Scripta continentur. Homil. ^. in Ezek. Gratian a Benedic 
 tine Monk, who lived in the i'2ih Century, expreffes himfelf to 
 the fame Purpofe. Si folus Chnftus audiendus eft, non debemus 
 mttendere, quid aliquis ante nos faciendum putaveric, fed quid prius, 
 qui ante Omnes eft Chriftus prior fue'rit, neque ehim'hujus Con- 
 fuetudihem fequi oportet, fed Dei Veritatem, cum djcat fine Caufa 
 eolunt me, Mandata et Doftrinas Hominom docentes. Qrat. Dift. 
 e. 8. Veritati eonfueludo cedat.-^ -Si Confuecudinem fortaffis 
 bpponas, advertendum eft quod Dominusdicit, ego fum Via Veri- 
 tas et vita, non dixit ego fum Confuetudo fed veritas. 
 
 Gratian Djftin. c. 8. 
 (a) Sell, de Verb. Dei non Script. 1. 4, c. 1 1.
 
 (29) 
 
 ridiculous Fancies, foolifh and extravagant O- 
 pinions, which they believ'd themfelves ; and 
 palm'd upon others, who had Credulity e- 
 nough to believe upon their Authority, for the 
 Doctrines of Religion. They faid, and unfaid 
 the fame Things, folemnly contradicted each 
 other; inftead of arguing, they allegoriz'dj 
 they rav'd, inftead of reafoning ; and did all 
 in the Name of the Lord. " Whoever," fays 
 an ingenious Author, " has feen Solomon's Tem- 
 " pie allegoriz'd by John Bunyan, may find 
 f * there, a Specimen of the Sagacity and Abi- 
 t{ lities of the Fathers, in explaining of Scrip- 
 <c ture. According to John, there was not a 
 " Nail in that Temple but had its Typical 
 " Purpofe; and every Bafon, and Pair of 
 " Tongs prefigured fome great Myftery to come : 
 " In fhort, every Stone, and every Tool in the 
 " Temple prophefied. And in all this, the 
 tf poor pious Tinker treads in the Steps of the 
 " Fathers, without knowing it. As he had 
 ** much more Hone/iy, and a more quiet and be* 
 <{ nefaent Spirit than any of themj fo he had 
 *' as much Invention, and was full as equal to 
 <c the Bufinefs of Allegory, as the beft of them ; 
 cc and his Fancy was not more heated than 
 * * theirs -, and whoever reads his Pilgrim's Pro- 
 " grefs, need only fuppofe himfelf reading one 
 of the brighteft Fathers in Engti/h, and he'll 
 make them no ill Compliment j for his Ima- 
 gination, which was a very good one, was 
 
 *< more 
 
 c<
 
 (30) 
 
 " more regular and correct than theirs." Thefc 
 venerable Fathers, or if you pleafe, venerable 
 Mothers^ of your learned Friend's Catbolick 
 Church ; for thefe, he allures us, conceivd and 
 brought herjorth, what abfurd Doctrines have 
 they not taught, and inculcated in their Writ- 
 ings? One of them tells us, that formerly 
 
 wicked Demons, not known to be fuch, de- 
 bauch'd Women, defH'd Boys, and were all 
 this while miitaken for Gods, (a) .Or/gr/z, one 
 of the wifeft among them, had more Charity 
 for the Devil, than your learned Catechift has 
 for the Members of the Church of England, 
 and Proteftants of every other Denomination. 
 He believ'd that the Devil might be fayed; 
 whilft your Catholick Friend will difpenfe Sal- 
 vation to thofe only of his own Party and Com- 
 munion : For he affures us, that there is no 
 Salvation ordinarily to be obtained by any o- 
 ther. (b) But if fo much Deference be due to 
 fome of the Doctrines and Practices of the Fa- 
 thers, why not to all ? Origen, you'll remember 
 I call'd him one of the wijc(l % thro* a miftaken 
 Interpretation of a Text of Scripture, and a 
 frantic, incontinent Zeal, was literally made an 
 Eunuch for the Kingdom of Heaven. He got 
 
 himfelf 
 
 (a) For Want of Greek Types fubftitute the following Tranfla- 
 tion. Olim mali Daemones per Speftra apparentes, mulieres con- 
 
 ftuprarunt, et Pueros imminuerunt, Dziuones malos effc ne^ 
 
 fciebant, Decs illos vocarcnt. Tuft. p. 10. 
 
 (b) Cat. p. i6z.
 
 himfelf caftrated for God's fake, like the Priefts 
 of the Phrygian Goddefs. 
 
 Phrygio 
 
 More, Supervacuam cultris abfcinderc Carnem (a) 
 
 j 
 Why, doth not your learned Friend the Dr. 
 
 and his Difciples follow this Example, whiLft 
 they pretend fo much Devotion to the Fathers, 
 efpecially as he allows Matrimony to be only 
 like Silver, but Continence like Gold, which is 
 much better ? But I correct myielf ; if fo, 
 there would be none left to raife up a Seed of 
 Martyrs. But whatever Deference, any may 
 pay to the Opinions of the Fathers, we owe 
 a fiill greater Deference to Truth. The Au- 
 thority of St. Cyprian fhould be of very little 
 Weight, when it ftands in Oppofition to the 
 Authority of Chrift Jefus ; and having Clemens 
 ^ilexandrinus on your Side, is nothing at all to 
 the Purpofe, whilft common Senfe is againfl 
 you. The Truth is, as a learned Church Hi- 
 Jiorian obferves, (b) The Church maintained 
 her Virgin Purity s in the Apoflle's Days, and 
 
 Error 
 
 (a) Javen. Sat. 2. 
 
 (b) Ecclefia ad hsec ufq; tempera inftar cujusdam Virginia in- 
 ttaram atq; incorruptam permanfifle : ad hue in obfcuro Receffu 
 deliteicentibus, quicur.q; redftam przdicationis evangelicz Regu- 
 lam dcpravare niterentur. Sed poflquam Sacer Apoitolorum Cz- 
 tus vano Mortis genere extinftus eft, effluxeracq; jam -<Etas Homi- 
 num illorum qui Divinam ipfam Sapientiam fuis Auribus aufcul- 
 tare merueranc : tune demum exona eft, impii error is Confpiratio, 
 Fraude e{ Malitu falforum Doctor am. 
 
 Eufcb, Eccl. Hift. lib. 3. c. 32.
 
 Error could at moft but ikulk about m Cor- 
 ners, when it endeavoured to corrupt pure 
 Christianity ; but after the Apoftolical Age, all 
 Manner of Error and Impofture, made a rapid 
 Progrefs, and had a diffufive fpread. Return 
 we then to the Hinge, upon which this Con- 
 troverfy turns ; to that which is the Sheet An- 
 chor of our Author's Caufe. Would you know 
 what new Gofpel is the Mint, in which he 
 coins all his Superftitions ? What fhould it be, 
 but the Gofpel of Tradition. The Council of 
 Trent (a) requires, that the Oral Traditions of 
 the Church of Rome, Jhould be received with 
 tbejame Reverence and pious AJfeftion, as a writ- 
 ten Revelation. But your learned Friend in his 
 
 new more enlarged and improved Edition of 
 
 Popery , not only fets Tradition on a Level 
 
 with the Scriptures, but by the Precedence he 
 gives it in the Titles to his Leflbns, plainly fets 
 it above them. But why doth not our Catecbiji 
 fpeak out, as a Man of Integrity ought to doj 
 and declare his Sentiments plainly ? Why doth 
 he not declare, that the Scriptures are not a fuf- 
 ficient Rule of Faith and Manners ; that they 
 do not contain all that is necejfary to Salvation ; 
 that the Old and New Teftament Revela- 
 tion is of itfelf imperfeft, and wants a fupple- 
 mental, Traditionary Revelation, deliver'd by the 
 Mouth of a Nonjuring Prieft, to mend it ? The 
 
 Reafon 
 
 (a) Pari Pietatis Affeftu, ac ReveiWtia SufcipH ac veneratur. 
 
 Cone, Trid, Ssff. 4r
 
 (33) 
 
 Reafon is obvious ; his Pills and his Super* 
 
 flitions, when gilded o'er, are fvvallow'd down 
 more glibly ! Were it it not for this, would 
 he not with the Council of Trent y (aj devoutly 
 curfe all who refmfe to receive his Tradition 
 ble! But then, what muft we do, when 
 find that the Pope's Catholic Church, and the 
 Nonjuror's Catholic Church, militate againft each 
 other, that the different Seels in the Romijh 
 Church, for Infallibility herfelf has her Sects 
 and Parties, are much divided in their Senti- 
 ments as to Apoftolical Tradition, (b) Thus fome 
 Romanics plead Apoftolical Tradition, for the 
 Ufe of Incenfe ; and others are as peremptory, 
 that it has no fuch Apoftolical Tradition to fup- 
 port it. Some pretend Apoftolical Tradition 
 for the Pope's Supremacy > and this Apoftolical 
 Tradition is by others as confidently exploded. 
 Some urge, infallibly be fure, Apoftolical Tra- 
 dition for offering the Sacrifice of Mafs for 
 Souls in Purgatory ; and this fame Apoftolical 
 Tradition is by others as infallibly rejected. 
 Nay, which is more, the Afian Churches a!- 
 ledg'd Apoftolical Tradition for obferving Ea- 
 Jler t in Imitation of the Jeiviflj Paffbver, on the 
 J4th Day of the Moon ; the Weflern Church- 
 es produced Apoftolical Tradition againft it. 
 
 E Each 
 
 (a) Si quis Traditiones contempferit, Anathema fit. 
 
 Cone. Trid. Seff. 4, 
 
 (b) Nulla Religionis Sefta eafdem obfervat Ccremonias, licet 
 eandem de Deo Sententiam ampledatur : Etenim qui ejusdam funt 
 f idei. iifdcm in Ritibus inter fc difcntiunt. 
 
 Sttr. Hift. Eccle. 1. ^
 
 (3+) 
 
 Each Party in this Cafe pleaded Apoftolical 
 Tradition, to fanclify their Rage, and confecrate 
 their DhTentions, till at laft in the 4th Century, 
 the Nicene Council put it to the Vote, which 
 Apoftolical Tradition was mofl' * Apoflolical of the 
 two, and determined it in Favour of the We- 
 fern Churches. Now, if it be afk'd, what 
 muft a Man do amidft the Contrails of Infalli- 
 bility in different Churches, and amidft the 
 Clafliings of Apoftolical Tradition ? Why, he muft 
 do as well as he can. He muft believe the Pope's 
 Church Infallibility to be in the Right when 
 he is at Rome, and the Dotfor's Church Infal- 
 libility to be in the Right when he is at Man- 
 chefter, and then he is fure to be in the Right 
 In both Places. Now, who can doubt of the 
 Infallibility of Tradition, when its Evidence is 
 fo plain, and indifputable in Matters that the 
 Church determines to be of the laft Importance, 
 as we have now fhewn it to be ? Your learned 
 Friend's Patients, would they not, when their 
 Lives are in imminent Danger, think it fuffici- 
 cnt that He mould chafe -away Death from their 
 Bodies, as He drives away the Devi/ from their 
 Souls, with a mere Oral Prefcription ? Would 
 not his Heirs think it fufficient, that they have 
 an Oral Title to their Eftates ? And would not 
 the World be as wife, as it is now likely to be, 
 had his Catechi/m been handed down to Man- 
 kind only by the Medium of Oral Tradition ? 
 Beyond - all Manner of doubt it would ! 
 
 An
 
 (35) 
 
 An unanfwerabls Argument in his Service ! 
 'Tis Demonstration itfelf, and what would 
 your Ranting Fanatics have more ! 
 
 I mould be glad, if your learned Friend the 
 
 Catechift, would inform me, he'll eafily learn 
 
 it from the Gofpel of Tradition, how many of 
 the Faithful^ that is, how many Nonjurors 
 there were at Mancbefter in 1688, that refu- 
 fed Allegiance to King William ? If Tradition 
 be a fure Guide to go by, when its Doc- 
 trines are tranfmitted down thro* a long Sue- 
 ceffion of Ages, much more muft it be infalli- 
 ble in its Teftimony, in Relation to Affairs 
 tranfacted in the prefent Age. If we may rely 
 upon it's Authority, as to what was practis'd 
 or believ'd 1700 Years ago, much more will 
 it inform us as, to the determinate Number of 
 Nonjurors in Manchefter t in 1688 ! I do not 
 know of any written Records that has tranf- 
 uiitted down to us this important Piece of Hifto- 
 ricai Knowledge. Now to know what was the 
 State of your Friend's Catholic Church, in a 
 Time of general Apoftacy and Defection, is 
 certainly a Point of Religion, a Point of very 
 great Importance too ; and upon your Friend? $ 
 Principles, worthy of the peculiar Interposition 
 of Heaven. -If you have no written Record? 
 
 to produce, undoubtedly you can fupply the; 
 
 Want of them in this Cafe, from the Gofpel 
 ofcumoritten Tradition ! What are new Go/pels 
 qr new Fafiions for, if they do not fupply the
 
 (36) 
 
 Defeats and Imperfections of thofe old exploded 
 Caft-aiuay Go/pels and Fa/bidtis, that were in 
 
 vogue before them? Your learned Friend 
 
 the Ctitecbifti who 'tis prefum'd mud be well 
 vers'd in HJfpoerflte? s Writings, yet would in- 
 difputably allow, that he had Authority fuffi- 
 cient to believe, that Hippocrates was no . . 
 Phyfician, if it was but handed down to him 
 by Tradition, that his Grandmother^ Great 
 Grandmother^ and Great Great Grandmother 
 believ'd fo before him. The Miracle of Loret- 
 to y and you know what a jweet i j enny that 
 Miracle brings in to the Priefls,, is built upon 
 as ftrong a Foundation. A certain Countryman 
 recollected, that his Grandfather once told him, 
 that his Great Great Grandfather faw Angels 
 convey Santa Cafa, the Bleffed Virgin's Houfe, 
 over the Sea, to Loretto> when he was a Boy, 
 and at Work in the Fields, (a) 
 
 I might proceed to obferve, that the Religi- 
 pn of Tradition is fo far from being fubfervi- 
 ent to, that it is quite deftruclive of the Reli- 
 gion of Virtue and Goodnefs. That it only 
 
 teaches Men to rely on a finfcl Sanctity, inftead 
 
 of Sterling Piety and Devotion, that it an- 
 
 fwers no other End, than to make good Churchmen , 
 without being good Men; and that inftead of 
 reforming the World, it improves and multiplies 
 its Corruptions 5 that a Man may put on a 
 
 white 
 
 (a) Labels, apud Harris's Collection of Voyages, Tojn. ?.
 
 (37) 
 
 Garment, and at the fame Time wear a 
 black Confcience j that he may feed upon Ho- 
 #ey y and yet be in the Gall of Bitternefs dill ! 
 And that he may have the Devil fir % d away from 
 bis Soul, and yet be afterwards more a Child of 
 Hell than before 1 
 
 I might further urge, that if the Religion of 
 Tradition had been of any real Importance it 
 would have been committed to Writing, ei- 
 ther by the Apoflles, or fome of their Imme- 
 diate Siicceflbrs, in order to preferve it entire 
 and free from all fophifticated Mixture. Are 
 not the Decrees of our Courts of Juftice, the 
 Experiments made in Natural Philofophy, and 
 the Hiftory of Difeafes of the human Body all 
 committed to Writing, in order to perpetuate 
 the Knowledge of them among Mankind? 
 Strange, that none of the Apoftolical Colledgc 
 had the Benevolence or Publick Spiritcdneis, to 
 do as much in Regard to this Religion of Tra- 
 dition, had a Standing Revelation been imper- 
 fect or infbfficient without it ! So much for 
 the Authority of the Gofpel of Tradition . Now 
 for lome of its Doftrines : I (hall fpecify but a 
 few. It would be an Affront upon the Under* 
 landings of my Readers to fpecify many. 
 
 Let us begin with the Church. The Church, fay ; 
 our Catechiji, " is the Aflembly of the Faithful, 
 <c that is, of thofe who profefs to ferve the true 
 " God according to the true Religion which he 
 " himfelf hath taught, and which they have learn- 
 
 "ed
 
 (38) 
 
 fc ed from their Forefathers, and preferv'd /#//- 
 "fully without Alteration." (a)The Religion of 
 this One, holy. Catholic and Apojlolic Church, 
 you may find in the Breviaries, Rituals, and 
 Miffals of Rome, but no where fo compleat- 
 Jy as in our Doctor's new Syftem, built up- 
 on the Rock of Tradition. Thofe who fcpa- 
 rate from this Church, as the far greater!: 
 Part of Mankind do, the Lord have Mer- 
 cy upon them, for the Prieft has none. 
 They are Heretics and Schematics in his Ef- 
 teem. (b) Out of this pure Church that damns 
 the great eft Part of the World for Confci- 
 ence Sake, Salvation is not ordinarily to be 
 obtain' d. But why faid I, the Lord have 
 Mercy upon them ? It feems God cannot fave 
 them if he would, and the Priefl will not 
 fave them if he can : Who then would 
 not be a Member of this damning, heriticat- 
 ing Church ? Who would not fall into the 
 Hands of the Doftor, rather than into the 
 Hands of the Devil? But would you alk, 
 who are the Members of this Church, or 
 this Ajfemblj of the Faithful, who profefs to 
 ferve the true God? Our learned CatechiH an- 
 fwers, its Members are <c God the Father, Son, 
 <c and Holy Ghoftr Thefe are three of the Per- 
 fons, thatprofejs to ferve the true God. Item, " All 
 " the blejfed Angels and all the holy Men and Be- 
 " lievers that have been in the World ;" thefe too 
 
 " are Members of the Church : All the holy 
 
 *' Men 
 (a) Cat. p. 47. and i6u (b) Cat, p. 47,
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 " Men and Believers that ever Jhatt be in the 
 " World." Thefe too are Members of the One^ 
 holy, Catholic, Apoftolic Church, (a) But as to You 
 .Members of the Church of England-, as to You 
 Proteftants of all Denominations ; You have 
 heard your Doom ! Hear again, and tremble ! 
 You are in our Catecbift's Account Heretics 
 and Schifmatics from his Church, and ordina 
 rily that is, unlefs you purchafe it extrava- 
 gantly dear, there is no Salvation for you ! 
 Unlefs you give your Confcience and your 
 Understanding to the Prieft, your Eftates to 
 the Church, and your Children to the Pa- 
 rifi, this Gentleman will not upon any cheap- 
 er Terms hire out his Salvation to you : 
 Whatever Friendfhip Jacobites may exprefs 
 for Nonjurors, fincerely I doubt not at all, 
 yet let thofe Jacobites who call themfelves 
 Members of the Church of England, know 
 that the Nonjurors look upon them to be all 
 Heirs of Deftruclion. Epifcopal Baptifm as prac- 
 tis'd by the Church of England, our Author calls 
 an heretical Adminiftration. (b) The Ordinati- 
 on of the Church of England, he likewife treats 
 as an heretical Schi/matical Adminiftration. (c^ 
 Countrymen and Fellow- Proteftants, you know 
 what Judgment the Church of Rome, moft of 
 whofe Superftitions and Extravagancies our Au- 
 thor adopts and improves upon ; you know 
 
 what Judgment fhe pafles upon Heretics, 
 
 There 
 
 |a) Cut, p, 191, (b) Cat. p. 226, (c) Cat. p, 431^ 
 
 v 
 
 \
 
 (40) 
 
 There is no Faith to be kept with 
 
 There is no more Sin in killing of Heretic** 
 
 than there is in killing of Dogs. Thefe are 
 
 her Sacred Maxims, Hemp and Heretics are 
 
 the Averfion of all good Catholics^ unlefs it 
 
 be Rebellion Hemp, that has a Crown of 
 Martyrdom to conjecrate and blefs it. 
 
 In the famous Council of Lateran, con-' 
 yen'd by Pope Innocent the Third, Ann. 
 1215, it was ordained ; that all Secular Pow- 
 ers fliould oblige themfelves to exterminate 
 all Herefe out of their Dominions, and in 
 Default thereof, fuch Secular Powers to be 
 excommunicated, and their Subjects to be 
 abfolved from their Allegiance, (a) Here we 
 have a glaring Inftance of the Spirit of your 
 Friend's Mother Church, and the Spirit of 
 the Daughter if it be improved, doth not in 
 the leaft appear to be improved for the bet- 
 ter. --- The Decrees of this Council, were 
 not the Acts of a few, defpicable, unauthorized 
 Ecclefiaftics, but the Determinations of one 
 of the greateft Ecclejlaftical Conventions in the 
 World. It con fitted of the AmbafTadors of 
 mofl Sovereign Princes, the Patriarchs o f Je- 
 
 ritjalem 
 
 (a) Potefktes Seculares perpetuas vel temporales jurare tenentur 
 unirerfos Haeredcos ab Ecclcfia damnatos, pro viribus extermi- 
 nare, et temporalis Dominus non purgans terrara fuam Hasreticis, 
 excommunicatur, et fi perfiflcrit in excommunicatione per Annum, 
 nuntiatur Papse, qui fideles ejus a Juramento abfolvet et ejus Ter- 
 ram Fidelibus cxpone:, 
 
 Dtcrft, Gre^ lib, 5, (it. 7. C- 13,'
 
 (4O 
 
 rttfalem and Conftantinople in Perfon, the Pa- 
 triarchs of Alexandria and Antioch in their Re- 
 prefentatives, 71 ArchbiJhopSy 340 Biflwps, 
 and 800 Abbots or Priors. A goodly Herd 
 of ghoftly Cattle ! but better/^ than taught ! 
 or it had never been decreed in fuch an il- 
 luftrious Affembly, that all Secular Princes 
 fhould upon Oath be obliged to exterminate 
 Herefy and Heretics out of their Territories, 
 .under Pain of being treated, in Cafe of Dif- 
 
 obedience as the ivorft Heretics themfelves , 
 
 This is the Spirit, theie are the Features of 
 that holv, Catholic^ and Apoftolic Church that our 
 learned Cat ec hi ft would eftablith. What a fo- 
 lemn Abfurdity is it for any Members of the 
 
 Church of England, A Church that is the 
 
 Bulwark of the Reformation, to mourn for the 
 Eftablimment of a tyrant on the Britift 
 Throne, which would bring the Eftablimment 
 of this barbarous, bhod-thir(ly y and butchering. 
 Religion with him ! For Proteftants too, to 
 plead Conjcience for introducing a Scheme of 
 Slavery and Superftition, that would do all that 
 it can to exterminate the very Name of Protef- 
 
 tantijm from the Face of the Earth ! , Are 
 
 thefe Men's Conferences, or their Heads the 
 more fojt and tender? 
 
 Proceed we to fome other Parts of fliis 
 
 new Syftem of devout Rant, and ' (firitual 
 
 Qttackery, extracted out of the new Gojpel of 
 
 Tradition. Here the good Proteflant may have 
 
 F Sacraments
 
 (42) 
 
 Sacraments by Wholefale, Sacraments dealt out 
 by the Dozen. Amongft thefe, Exorcifm 
 muft not be pafs'd over in Silence. Exor- 
 ci/m> what is that ? 'Tis blowing in the Face of 
 the Infant or adult Per/on baptiz'd j figning 
 bim 'with the Sign of the Crofs, and ufing Au~ 
 thoritative Words to drive away the Devil, (a) 
 Unhappy Infants that come out of their Ma- 
 ker's o*wn Hands, poflefs'd with the Devil ! More 
 unhappy Proteflants, that for Want of Exor~ 
 elfm muft be Devil- rid all the Days of their 
 Lives \ by a poor contemptible Devi/, that is 
 to be blown and banimed out of his Domi- 
 nions, by the Breath of a Nonjuring Priejl \ 
 But what if he fhould prove to be a fturdy 
 refolute Devi/, that is not to be Fly-blown out 
 
 of his Empire ? What muft the Priefl do 
 
 then ? Be it fo. Exorcifm, not only drives \ 
 
 but fires away the Evil Spirit \ (b) Right ! It 
 feems, a burnt Devil like a burnt Child dreads 
 the Fire ! A Man would no more commit a 
 Kape upon his Countenance, than he would 
 commit a Rape upon the Fair. You muft al- 
 low me then Sir, to be a little ludicrous upon 
 proper Occafions. A little while ago, a Par- 
 ty of your Highland Friends were oblig'd ta 
 take up with Accommodations at an Inn, in 
 an Apartment which they were told was haunt- 
 ed i on this Occafion, they ordered Plenty of 
 
 \ Liquor 
 
 Catecft. p. 70; (!>) Cat. f>,
 
 (43) 
 
 Liquor, Tobacco, and every Thing elfe Into 
 the Room that was neceflary to fhield them 
 from the Devil. Here they regaled themfclves 
 very freely. AJorry Fellow belonging to the 
 Houfe, who was the Devil that haunted it, 
 came in the Dead of the Night (talking in, 
 Chains, and perfonating an Apparition. The 
 Highland Po/fe were all got afleep over their 
 Cups, one only excepted. His Spirits being 
 elated with Mirth and Wine, he receives his 
 new Gueft very civilly thus, ' Your humble 
 *' Servant Mr. De'el ; pray fit down good Mr, 
 <e De'el j fmoak a Pipe with us ; here's a Pipe as 
 
 *' black as your Honour , Mr. De'el, you are 
 
 * e extremely welcome, I never had the Dif- 
 <c tinction (hewn me of your Company before." 
 The Fellow more amaz'd at the Highlander^ 
 than the Highlander was at the Devi/, retires 
 in great Confufion. Hereupon the Highland 
 Hero awakes his Neighbour 5 Sawney the 
 
 De'el has been here, and what then, cries 
 
 Sawney, yawning ; . why fays the Hero, I 
 
 confoowted him fairly with a Text of Scrip' 
 ture ; I aik'd him to fmoak a Pipe, and the 
 De'el could neither ftand Fire, nor Smoak. 
 Now Sir, pray tell me what Gofpel did the 
 Highlander find this Text of Scripture in, un- 
 lefs he met with it, when upon his Expedition 
 thro' Manchetter, in Dr. Paracelfus's new Gof>* 
 pel y that fires away the Devil from the Soul ? 
 Jt mufl be fo, beyond all Queftion, Sf. Dun-
 
 Jlan, of old, play'd fome very bold Pranks with. 
 the Devil of the fame Nature with this. The 
 Devil having long tempted, but ftill tempted 
 him in vaiu I at laft thought of an Expedi- 
 ent which he promis'd could not fail. " He 
 affumes the Appearance of a fine Lady, and in 
 that Shape renews the Temptation : And you 
 know Sir he muft be a Saint indeed ! more 
 than a Saint I He muft be an Angel, diverted 
 of Fle/h and Blooa, that can refift the Attrac- 
 tions of thofe fweet Charmers ! However >;/- 
 flan was even invulnerable and unconquerable 
 by thefe. Unnatural as he was, he took the 
 Jair Devil by the Nofe with a Pair of red 
 hot Pincers, and led her, or him, whatever 
 Gender you give it, round, round and round 
 again about the Room, till the Devil was rea- 
 dy to fwoon away, and roar'd out in great A- 
 gony and Anguifh. (a) Poor Devil, well he 
 'might, to be led thus by the Nofe! 
 
 Our Authors firing away the Devil from the 
 Soul, being a Preface to Baptifm, and one of 
 his folemn Seafons for the Adminiftration of 
 Baptifm being on Eafter Eve, would induce 
 one to believe, that in this, as well as in many 
 Inftances more he has a fecret Allufion to 
 n Juperftitious Imposture tranfacled on the fame 
 Dey, and for the fame furpoje, viz. driving a* 
 
 (a)
 
 '( 4S ) 
 
 the Devil, by the Greek and Armenian 
 Priefts. The Farce (or the Miracle as they ex- 
 prefs ft) is call'd, that of the holy Fire. It 
 is pretended, that on Easter Eve, a miraculous 
 Flame defcends from Heaven into the holy Se- 
 pulchre, and kindles all the Lamps and Can- 
 dles there, which in the Prefence of the 'Turks 
 and other Witnefles, had, for the Difplay of 
 the Miracle, been previoufly extinguished. This 
 devout Forgery is carry'd on by the Greek Pa- 
 triarch of Jerujalem, the Armenian Patriarch 
 of the fame, and the Coptijb Bifhop. Tbeve- 
 not fays, the Turks faw through the Cheat and 
 would have prevented it for the future, but 
 the Patriarchs reprefented they could not pay 
 them as much Money as they did, if the Pro- 
 fit of the holy Fire was taken away ; and there- 
 upon the Turks agreed to let them continue 
 the Juggle. The Purport of my Author's (a) 
 
 Account of it, is as follows. Coming to 
 
 the Church of the holy Selpulchre, we found it 
 crouded with a diftracied Mob, making hide- 
 ous Clamours, violently running to and fro, 
 crying out Huia, a Word emphatically 
 expreffive that theirs is the true Religion. 
 Their Heads being grown vertiginous, and their 
 Zeal en flamed into Phrenzy, they acted a 
 thoufand antic Extravagancies, in ten thoufand 
 more, as antic and extravagant Poltures. Some- 
 times 
 
 ^) Maundreirs Journey from Altfto to Jtrufaltm p. 96. 97^
 
 (46) 
 
 times they dragg'd each other round the Floor, 
 and fometimes march'd around in Mock- State 
 upon each others Shoulders. Sometim^ they 
 play'd the Part of Tumblers on a Stage, and 
 fometimes plac'd Men with their Heads and 
 Heels inverted, in fuch Attitudes as moft inde- 
 cently expos'd what Nature vails. When the 
 Proceflion begun, they marched thrice round 
 the holy Sepulchre, with Standards, Streamers, 
 Crucifixes, embroider'd Habits, and all the 
 Furbery Superftition could invent or furnim. 
 The Greeks went firft, and the Armenians fol- 
 lowed after. Prefently a Dove (not an Em- 
 blem of Innocence neither, but one properly 
 train'd for the Service) flutter'd into the Cupo- 
 la over the Sepulchre, which was received with 
 Shouts of Joy by the frantic Throng, believ- 
 ing it to be a vifible Dejcent of the Holy Gboft. 
 The Proceflion being ended, the Ecclefiaftics 
 mentioned above, advanc'd with folemn Mien 
 and moft reverend Pace towards the Sepulchre, 
 the Doors whereof had been fealed up when 
 the Lights were extinguifhed , under Pretence 
 of guarding againft all Impofture. Thefe Doors 
 being now unfealed, no fooner had the Priefts 
 enter'd in, but they (hut them again and al- 
 lowed Admiflion to none but themfelves. 
 
 The Acclamations of the People grew louder 
 and louder, as the Miracle was expected to be 
 drawing near its Crifis. Every one rufh'd ea- 
 gerly towards the Sepulchre to meet the Priefts
 
 (47) 
 
 as they came out of it, with the holy Fire in 
 their Hands ; ambitious who mould be the firft 
 in lighting their Tapers at the celeflial flame. 
 The Miracle-mongers, faith my Author, " had 
 " not been above a Minute in the holy Se- 
 " pulchre when the Glimmering of the holy 
 " Fire was feen, or imagined to be feen thro" 
 " fome Chinks of the Door, and certainly 
 *' Bedlam itfelf, never faw fuch an unruly 
 <f Tranfport as was produced in the Mob 
 " at this Sight. Then came out the 
 " Priefts with blazing Torches in their Hands, 
 <f which they held up at the Door of the 
 " Sepulchre, while the People throng'd about 
 " with inexpreflible Ardour, every one ftriv- 
 * c ing to obtain a Part of the firft and pu- 
 " reft Flame," believing that to have moft, 
 wonder-working Virtues to attend it. The 
 lurks in the mean Time that were fet as 
 Guards at the Door, <c with huge Clubs laid 
 " them on without Mercy j but all this could 
 " not repel them, the Excefs of their Tran- 
 " port making them infenfible of Pain. Thofe 
 " that got the Fire, immediately apply'd it to 
 " their Beards, Faces and Bofoms, pretending 
 ct that it would not burn like an earthly 
 <f Flame; but I plainly faw, none of them could 
 tc endure this Experiment long enough to make 
 * c good that Pretenfion. Innumerable Tapers 
 " were foon lighted ; the whole Church and 
 " Galleries and every Place feemed inftantly 
 
 c<
 
 cc 
 
 (48 ) 
 
 f< to be in a Flame, and with this Illuminate 
 " on the Ceremony ended.- They within 
 te the Sepulchre, performed their Part with 
 
 " great Quicknefs and Dexterity. *Tis the 
 
 * c deplorable Unhappinefs of their Priefts t that 
 having acted the Cheat fo long already, 
 they are forc'd now to ftand to it, for 
 " fear of endangering the Apoftacy of the 
 
 " People. After the Rout was over, we 
 
 " faw feveral People gather'd about the Stone 
 " of Unction, who having got a good Store 
 " of Candles lighted by the Holy Fire, were 
 <e employed in daubing Pieces of Linnen with 
 cc the Wicks of them and the melting Wax j 
 <e which Pieces of Linnen were defigned for 
 < Winding Sheets ; it being the Opinion of 
 " thefe poor People, that if they can but have 
 <c the Happinefs of being buried in a Shroudy 
 " fmutted with this Celeflial Fire, it will cer~ 
 " tainly fecure them from the Flames of Hell.'"' 
 Now as our learned Author's Exorcijm, is to 
 be practis'd on the fame Day with this fcan- 
 dalous Impofture, practis'd by the Greek and 
 Armenian Priefts, and as the Fire of the holy 
 Sepulchre is deemed by their fuperftitious De- 
 votees to be a Prefervative from the Flame of 
 
 Hell ; further, as our learned Catechijl 
 
 doth adopt many other of their ridiculous Rites, 
 'tis probable, to fay no more, that if his 
 Church was once eftablifhed here, we mould 
 have this Miracle of the Holy Fire tranfplanted 
 
 into
 
 (49) 
 
 into Britain as an infallible Method 
 whereby to pre/erve from the Flames of Hell, 
 or, in our Autbtr** Phrafe, to drive away the 
 Evil Spirit. If the Devil be driven away foon 
 enough to refcue the Sinner from eternal Per* 
 dition, 'tis not quite fo material whether it be 
 done at Baptijm or at Burial. All that can 
 be laid, is, that the longer your holy, Catholic 
 and Apo/lolic Priefl has him in Play, the bet- 
 ter Chance he has of making a good Penny 
 of Satan. But perhaps He may underftand 
 how to make a good Penny of Satan without 
 requiring his perfonal Attendance. If fo, 
 I can but think, upon the whole, that our 
 Author has the Advantage of the Greek and 
 Armenian Priefts, and that the fooner the De- 
 vil is Jird away the better ! 
 
 Another remarkable Kind of Exorcifm, (for I 
 am upon a copious Subject) is one made Uie 
 of by the yefuits to fanclify Regicides, and 
 confecrate the Affirmation of Princes. This I 
 am the more inclined to give you, as 'tis not 
 improbable, but fomethrng of the Kind was 
 praftis'd upon the Rebel Herd at Manchejler^ 
 before they inlifted under the Banner of Re- 
 bellion, with a Defign to murder our Royal 
 Sovereign, his Family, our Conftitution, our 
 Religion, our Liberties, all together. 'Tis ex- 
 tracted out of a Procefs printed at Delfdf y ' 
 by John Andrew, arid runs thus in the Au- 
 thor from whom I tranfcribe it, " The Per- 
 
 G
 
 t ion perfuaded by the Jefuits to affaffinate ci- 
 " ther a King or a Prince, is brought by them 
 " into a fecret Chappel, where they have pre- 
 " pared upon an Altar a great Dagger wrapt 
 * up in LinTien Cloth, together with an Ag- 
 <c nus Dei : Drawing it out of the Sheath they 
 " befprinkle it with Holy Water, and faften 
 " to the Hilt feveral confecrated Beads of Co- 
 * ral, pronouncing this Indulgence j that as 
 " many Blows as the Murderer mall give with 
 " it to the Prince, he fhall deliver fo many 
 <c Souls from Purgatory. After this Ceremo- 
 4{ r.y, they put the Dagger into the Paricide's 
 <c Hand, and recommend it to him thus : 
 " Thou chcfen Son of God, take the Sword 
 
 * 
 
 " of Jepthe, the Sword of Sampjon, the Sword 
 ct of David wherewith he cut off the Head of 
 " Gcliabt the Sword of Gideon , the Sword of 
 " Judith, the Sword of the Maccabees^ the 
 " Sword of Pope Julius the Second, where- 
 " with he cut off the Lives of feveral Princes his 
 ec Enemies ; filling whole Cities with Slaugh- 
 " ter and Blood : Go, -and let Prudence go a- 
 *' long with thy Courage. Let God give new 
 *' Strength to thy Arm. After which, they 
 " fail down on their Knees, and the Superior 
 * of the Jefuits pronounces the following Ex- 
 <c crciim : Come ye Cherubims, ye Seraphims, 
 <c Thrones and Powers ; come ye Holy Angels 
 *' and fill up this bleffed VelTel ( i. e. the 
 execrable Parricide ) with an immortal Glo- 
 
 cc 
 
 cc
 
 f5') 
 
 " ry. Do ye prefent him every Day with the 
 <e Crown of the blefled Virgin Mary, of the 
 " holy Patriarchs and Martyrs. We do not 
 < ( look upon him now as one of ours, but as 
 " one belonging to you. And thou O God 
 < e who art terrible and invincible, and haft 
 ?c infpir'd him in Prayer and Meditation, to 
 <e kill the Tyrant and Heretic, for to give 
 c < his Crown to a Catholic King ; comfort we 
 C{ befeech thee, the Heart of him whom we 
 <e have oonfecrated for this Office. Strengthen 
 " his Arm that he may execute his Enter- 
 C{ terprize. Cloath him with the Armour of 
 ^' thy Divine Power, that having perform'd his 
 " Defign, he may efcape the Hands of thole 
 *< who iTball go in Purfuit of him,, Give 
 " him Wings that his holy Members may fly 
 {< away from the Power of impious Heretics* 
 " Repleniili his Soul with Joy, Comfort and 
 <c Light, by which his Body having banifhed 
 " all Fear, may be upheld and animated in 
 <* the Midft of Dangers and Torments, This 
 " Exarcifm being ended, they bring the Par- 
 " ricide bsfore another Altar, whereto hangs an. 
 < Image of yames Clement, a Dominican Fryar, 
 (t who with a venemous Knife kili'd King 
 " Henry the third. This Image is furrounded 
 <e with Angels who protect and bring him to 
 " Heaven. The Jefaits (hew it him, and 
 " put afterwards a Crown upon his Head 
 11 iaying, Lord regard here the Arm and the 
 
 G 2 " Executor
 
 " Executor of thy Juftice : Let all the Saints 
 *' arife, bow and yield to him the moft ho- 
 " nourable Place amongft them. Afterwards 
 " he is permitted to fpeak to none but to four 
 " 'Jefuits deputed to keep him Company. 
 " They are not wanting to tell him oft that 
 ." they perceive a Divine Light that furrounds 
 *. c him, and is the Caufe why they bow 
 " to him, kifs his Hands and Feet, and con- 
 c< fider him no more as a Man but as a Saint ; 
 <c nay they make a Shew as if they envy'd 
 c< the great Honour and Glory attending him, 
 " and fay fighing, Oh ! that God had been 
 ?' pleafed to make Choice of us inftead of 
 " you, and given us fo much Grace, that as 
 c< you we might be tranflated into Heaven 
 cc without going into Purgatory" (a) Here ends 
 the folemn Farce. 
 
 I muft not omit, for the Sake of my Protef- 
 tant Reader, the Hiftory of one Exorcifm more. 
 Prince Chriftopher of the Family of the Dukes 
 of Ratzeil being a great Devotee to the See 
 of Rome, and extravagantly fond of Romifb 
 Trincktts and Superftitions, waited on the 
 Pope to kifs his Holinejs's Feet. On this Oc- 
 cafion, his Holinefs prefcnted him with a Box 
 of Reliques as an Acknowledgment of his Do- 
 cility and Obedience to the holy See. Upon 
 the Prince's Return flome, the Reliques grew 
 
 into 
 
 (a) Emilliaiu's HUU Monaft. p. 206. i*
 
 
 ( S3) 
 
 into great Reputation, and he became famous 
 over all the Country. Hereupon fome Monks 
 came to him, pretending they had a Man un- 
 der their Care poffefs'd with a Devil, which 
 with all their holy Feats and Zeal they had not 
 been able to ferret out of him. They there- 
 fore follicited the Prince for his Reliques, to 
 try whether they were powerful enough to e- 
 ject this obftinate Devi/, to which he readily 
 confented. The Reliques being apply'd with 
 the ufual Solemnity and Devotion, the Devil 
 foon made it appear, that their Virtue was 
 too powerful for him to withftand it. With 
 all the Diftortion of Features, Grimace, and 
 Gnafhing of Teeth ufual on the like Occafions, 
 he quitted Poffeffion. The People prefent, 
 cried a Miracle, a Miracle, and the Prince ex- 
 alts God, and was himfelf exalted beyond Mea- 
 fure, for the facred wonder-working Treafure 
 wherewith he was entrufted. 
 
 Some Time after, the Prince with great 
 Zeal and Eloquence, was difplaying the bleiTed 
 Efficacy of his Reliques, one of his Gentle- 
 men prefent, betray'd his Difoelief of what he 
 (aid, both by the Manner of his Action and 
 his Smile. Being queftioned about it (after a 
 iolemn Promife of Forgivenefs) he ingenuoufly 
 confefs'd, that in their Return from Rome, he 
 had unfortunately loft the Box of Reliques pre- 
 lented to his Higbnefs by the holy Father ; 
 and to prevent the Storm of Difpleafure he 
 
 dreaded
 
 dreaded in Confequence of it, he had ordered 
 another Box to be made as like it as he could. 
 This, faith he, I fill'd with rotten Bones and 
 other fuch venerable Trinckets ; and this, adds 
 he, is the Box of Reliques that your Monks and 
 Priefts work Miracles with. 
 
 The Prince no Doubt equally amaz'd and 
 confounded at the Difcovery, next Morning 
 fent to the Fathers, enquiring if they had any 
 other poffefs'd Perfon that he might contri- 
 bute to the Restoration of, by the Mediation 
 of his Reliques. Imagining they were playing 
 upon his Superftition (till, they were not at a 
 Lofs where to find a proper Perfon, to repeat 
 the fame Kind of Farce as had been acted be- 
 fore. The Prince required that the poffefs'd 
 Perfon might be exorcis'd in his Prefence. 
 But the Devil he was poffefs'd with, had In- 
 ftruclions what Game to play, and prov'd to be 
 a fturdy Devil, that would not relinquifh his 
 Tenure. The Monks being ordered to retire, 
 the Prince delivered over the poffefs'd Perfon to 
 the Hands of a more honeft, tho' lefsfpiritu a! 
 
 Kind of Exorcifts fome Tartars that be- 
 
 long'd to his Highnefs's Stable. Thefe were 
 authoriz'd to fcourge and difcipline him, till he 
 fhould confefs the Impofture. The Demoniac 
 by his horrible Grimaces and Geftures would 
 gladly have conceal'd the Fraud, and fancli- 
 fy'd the Collufion. But the Tartars renewing 
 their Difcipline, ihepoor Devil could not ftand 
 
 Proof
 
 (55) 
 
 Proof againft the Violence of their Rage and 
 Fury. Without the Help either of Reliques, or 
 of holy Water^ the Man was difpoffeffed. He 
 confefs'd the Cheat, and afk'd the Prince's Par- 
 don for the . Part he had afted in it. 
 
 The holy Monks and Priefts were next fent 
 for, who were as yet wholly ignorant of what 
 had happen'd. When they came, the reftored 
 Demoniac proftrated himfelf in Sight of them at 
 the Prince's Feet, acknowledg'd that a wicked 
 Confederacy with the Monks was the only De- 
 vil that poffefs'd him, and that he never had 
 been poffefs'd with any other. At firft thefe 
 good Men, who have always been more bufy, 
 as well as more fuccefsful in cafting in any De- 
 vil of Superftition, than in cafting out any o-> 
 ther, would have perfuaded the Prince, that 
 this was only the Language of the Devil, who 
 made Ufe of the Man's Organs of Speech with 
 a View to deceive them. But the Prince faith 
 my Author > calling for his 'Tartars to exorcife 
 another Devi/, the Father of Lies, out of them 
 too, they foon relented and confefs'd the Cheat, 
 but urg'd that it was a pious Fraud, and done 
 with a good Intention, to check the Progrefs of 
 Herefy in that Country. This was in the 
 Year 1654. Hereupon the Prince became a 
 Profelyte and a Patron to the reform'd Religi- 
 on, (a) I 
 
 (a) Arcbifliop Waki* Defence againft the JSxceftjeng qf .the 
 fiiihop of Meant) zd. Part, p. igb, 7.
 
 (56) 
 
 I (hall no doubt be gravfly told upon this 
 Head, that Exorcifm was eftablimcd by the 
 Council of Carthage, (a) But I alk upon what 
 Foundation ? Evidently upon no other than 
 this ; that the miraculous Power given by 
 our Saviour to his Difciples, to difpoflefs Evil 
 Spirits, or to caft out Difeafes, for it probably 
 meant no more, was to be a ftanding Gift in 
 the Church. Casting out of Devils they turn- 
 ed into Allegory and Figure, to fet forth the 
 moral Effeds of the Chriftian Difpenfation, in 
 cafting out Men's Lufts and Corruptions. This 
 was the Origin of the Practice, and as the Prac- 
 tice grew thofe fuperftitious Rights, fo gravely 
 ridiculous, grew with it. Pity but we could 
 exorcife away the Devil of Superftition, which 
 is the moft difficult to be difpoflefTed out of 
 fome Men's Souls, of all others. The Name 
 of this Species of Devils is Legion, for read 
 your learned Friend's Gatechifm, and you'll find 
 them to be very many. 
 
 'Tis recorded among the Papifts t that St. 
 Graf, a Saint of great Eminence and Diftinc- 
 tion, exorcis'd away all the Rats found in the 
 County of Aofl, and three Miles round it. 
 Now 'tis a Tradition, that Rats, like falfc 
 Friends, fly from you when Danger approach- 
 es, and defert the Ship that leans, or the Houfc 
 
 that is ready to tumble. The young Cheva- 
 * .-**] 
 
 her 
 
 * 
 
 (a) Ann; 25 *(
 
 (57) 
 
 Her 'tis faid, complained bitterly during thd 
 Courfc of his Engli/h Expedition, offome po- 
 litical Rats that had long drank and fwore 
 in his Service, that had fought many Cam- 
 paigns for him over the Bottle j but when he 
 invited them to join his Standard, and make 
 the Campaign of Danger, they all fled away and, 
 forfook him. Now as your learned Friend can 
 initiate you into all the Myfieries of Exorcifm 9 
 what think you, if you fhould be rewarded for 
 your diftinguimed Zeal, with the Poft of Rat- 
 catcher General to his R-- y--l H gh fs ? But 
 I only mention this en paJJ'ant, as a Hint that 
 may be of Service. 
 
 Before I difmifs this Subject, it may not be 
 improper to take Notice, that when the Cate- 
 chumen is going to receive Exorcijm, he h not 
 at firft admitted into the Church, but to ftand 
 at the Door orfomewhere near it t (a) till his Pro- 
 fefiions have been examined and approved of by 
 the fpiritual Co?nmiJjary-General of the Muflers, 
 This done, the holy Conjuration begins ; the - 
 i)il Spirit is fird cut of the Soul, a Terror is caft 
 itpon him, and be flies from his PojjeJJlon, (b) 
 and becomes a poor "Bankrupt Devil. Could 
 not our learned Author, inftead ofjiring a^ay 
 his Devil, fuffocate him as one would a Ncft 
 
 of Hornets ? Then we mould never be 
 
 plagued with him aay more : But I re- 
 
 H collect 
 
 (a) Cc. . 227. (b) Cat. p. 227,
 
 (53) 
 
 colled: myfelf and aflc this Gentleman's Pardon. 
 I had not duly coniider'd the Conftitution of 
 his Catholic Church. A Bankrupt Devil makes 
 a rich Priefthood, but a J'ujfocated Devil would 
 make a Bankrupt Prieft. 
 
 Our learned Author having already form'd 
 two different Attacks upon the Enemy, and 
 both driven away the Devil, and fir'd him from 
 the Soul ; next he afts the Part of an Ecclefi- 
 aflical Man-Midwife, and delivers you from 
 Satan. And now it is, and not before, that 
 you are admitted into the Privilege of entering 
 God's Houfe. *tbe Prie/l takes the Cate- 
 chumen by the right Hand, (a) and brings him 
 into the Church, leading him into the Baptiftery 
 or Place where he is to be baptized, and pray- 
 ing that God 'would receive him into his holy 
 Houfiold and keep him in the fame. Being thus 
 admitted into the Church, he muft renounce the 
 Devil towards the Weft, becaufe that being di 
 reSllj oppojite to the Eaft, the Place of Light 9 
 doth fymbolically reprefent the Prince of Dark- 
 nefs whom he renounces, and this he is to do like 
 a true Ecclefiaftical Prize-fighter, with his Hands 
 
 ftretch'd out, and in Defiance of the Devil. 
 
 He is likewife to perform fome other devout 
 Pranks with his Face towards the Eaft, with his 
 Hands and Eyes lifted up towards Heaven. He 
 looks towards the Eaft, becaufe as Jbon as he 
 
 has 
 
 k) Cat, p. 227.
 
 (59) 
 
 has renounced tie Devil, the Paradife of God 
 which was planted in the Ea/t, and out of which 
 our fir ft Parent was banifloed, is now open to kim y 
 and his turning about from the Weft to the Ea/l 
 is a Symbol of this. Be fides the Raft, or the ri- 
 Jing Sun, is an Emblem of the Sun of Righte- 
 ou/nejs, to whom the Catechumen is now turned 
 
 from Satan, and the Defign of our fpiri- 
 
 tual Merry- Andrew in all this is, would 
 
 you have thought it ? to make Men fenfible of 
 the Nature of the Cbriftian Religion. fa) But 
 what if our Catechumen, whiltt he is officiating 
 with Chrift with his Face towards the Eaft, 
 fhould be turning his Back upon Paradife ? 
 Your learned Friend has not thought fit to 
 inftruft us where Paradife Hood. Some of 
 his adored Fathers will not allow it to have had 
 any local Situation at all, but explain a- 
 waythe whole Hiftory into Allegory and Figure. 
 Others plac'd it in the third Heaven, and the 
 Mahommedans place it in the ytli. Some of the 
 Fathers plac'd it in the middle Region of the 
 Air, above the Earth, under the Earth, in fome 
 hidden Recefs not to be difcovered by us, in 
 the Tract poffefs'd at prefent by the Cafpian 
 Sea, under the Artie Pole, and under the E- 
 quator. Some have difcovered it in Afia, fome 
 in Africa, fome in Europe, America, in Tarta- 
 ry, upon the Banks of the Danube, and the 
 'Ganges. Others we are told have difcovered it 
 
 H 2 in 
 
 (a) Cat. p. 22$.
 
 (6o) 
 
 in the Ifle of Ceylon, in Perfia, in Armenia, in 
 Mefopotamia, in Chaldea, in Arabia, in Palej- 
 tine, in Syr/j, about the Mountains of Z//- 
 &*#j and Antilibanus, near the City of 
 Damafcus and Tripoly, in ^Ethiopia, and 
 which will doubtlefs be thought as ftrange 
 in Sweden, or which is ftranger ftill, in 
 the World in the Moon, (aj Now what ligni- 
 fies believing in Chrift towards the Eaft, as an 
 Emblem of Paradife, if your learned Catechift 
 cannot tell us where Paradiie lay. He'll tell me 
 it was Eaft of Judea* Be it fo. But pleafe 
 Sir to inftrucl: your moft learned Friend, that 
 the fame Place may be Eajt of one Country 
 and Weft of another. If Paradife be Eaft of 
 Judea, 'tis Weft of Perfia. It follows then, 
 that if all Men mould make their Vows to God, 
 facing towards Paradife, which is our Author's 
 Intention, when he directs you to face to- 
 jyards the Eaft, in different Countries they 
 mufl face different and oppolite Ways, and 
 what then becomes of his Symbol Worihip ? 
 But is not the whole Earth the Lord's y or 
 doth He keep his Court only in one particular 
 Corner of the Globe ? Are you, in your folcmn 
 Devotions, to mind which Way the Wind 
 blows, left if it mould be in a wrong Quar- 
 ter, it mould obftruc~t the wafting of your 
 AddrelTes to the Almighty's Throne ! Your 
 learned Friend no Doubt will affert roundly, 
 
 that 
 
 ty Vfc. Vniv. Hijt. Vol. jft.
 
 ( 6' ) 
 
 that God is not God of the Weft; for how 
 (hould he, when the Weft is the Symbol of the 
 Devil. What a pitiful Cafe then are we in, in 
 thefe We/tern Nations, where all but the Priefts 
 'who are God's Representatives, (z) muft in fome 
 Sort be the Reprefentatives of the Devil : At 
 leaft, if the Weft be the Devil's Image, as our 
 learned Author affures us it is, muft not the In- 
 habitants of the West be the Image of the Devil's 
 Subjects ? But why after all, fo much wheel- 
 ing about to the Left and to the Right, and to 
 the Left and the Right again, whereby a Qz- 
 tbolic Saint's Exercife becomes more difficult 
 than a Soldier's ? Pity but thefe Symbol Religi- 
 onifts, would now and then look towards Golgo- 
 tha in their Devotions j would it not exhibit 
 their own Likenefs, under the Symbol of the 
 Place of Skulls ? 
 
 I fhall be poffibly told, that the Church of 
 England, a Church which I have confefs'd to 
 be a Bulwark to the Reformation, adopts the 
 very Practice I have been decrying, of bowing 
 towards the Eaft, tho' not of renouncing the 
 Devil towards the Weft, in her Devotions. I 
 anfwer ; whatever fome overgrown Zealots may 
 practife, I cannot learn from the Canons or 
 Rubrics of the Church of England, that this 
 Practice is any Part of her Confritution. Tis 
 only a Corruption of her Worfhip, and as it is 
 no where prefcrib'd in the Book of Common 
 Prayer, is forbidden tQ be us'd in divine Scr* 
 
 vice 
 t) Cat. p. 63.
 
 vice, by an exprefs Statute of ift of Elizabeth, 
 c. 2. which enadls, that no other Rite or Cere- 
 mony fhall be us'd in Time of divine Service, or 
 Sacraments, than thofe prefcrib'd in the Book 
 of Common Prayer, under Pain of Imprifon- 
 ment, and other Penalties and Forfeitures 
 therein mention'd. 
 
 Tho* our learned Doffor, has both driven 
 and pr'd the Devil from his Spiritual Pa- 
 tient> and delivered him too, yet it (hould 
 feem that he has not been able to foil him. 
 He has not been fo ill fcar'd orfcorcbed, bat 
 he dare return to the Charge, and renew the 
 
 Combat. Make Way then clear the Field 
 
 for another Engagement, and patiently wait for 
 
 the Iffue. Next then comes anointing with 
 
 holy Oy/, for why may there not be Holinefs 
 in Oy/, as well as in Water ? Bat the Ration- 
 ale of this ? Why, becaufe the Pagans of old 
 anointed their Wreftlers and Runners in their 
 Gymnic Games, in order to give their Bodies 
 greater Agility and Vigour, fo, in oar Popifh 
 Paganifm, we are taught to anoint the baptiz'd 
 with Oy/, that they may in the Spiritual Race 
 run fafter from the D^vil. Bsfides, will it not 
 give the baptiz'd th^t Lubricity or Sleeknefs, 
 that will enable them' fb elude Satan's Attacks, 
 
 and flip like an Eel thro' his Clutches ?(a) 
 
 Bat our Author in this, as in many other In- 
 
 ftances, 
 
 {a) Cat. p. 229. make their Limbs Supple, that their A^- 
 .Ugonifts nMghs take lefs hold of them .
 
 fiances, has only exhibited to our View fomc 
 Outlines of his Scheme. It will be foon enough 
 for the Monfter to (hew himfelf in his full 
 Proportion, when he has fhaken off his Chains, 
 and you can no more refill his Rage ; that is, 
 when this Catholic, dntiproteftant Church is 
 eftablifli'd. Befides, weak, Protefiant Under- 
 fhndings, could no more bear a Flood of Su- 
 perftition breaking in upon them all at once, 
 than a weak Eye could bear a fudden and rapid 
 Flood of Day Sir John Cbardin in his Tra- 
 vels, has given us a very intelligible Account 
 of the Importance and Ufefulnefs of holy Oyl. 
 "Tis an unexhauftible Fountain of facred Trea- 
 fures to the Church, that difFufes itfelf into ten 
 thoufand rich and refrefhing Streams ! 'Tis an 
 Article that Priefts of ur Author's Complexion 
 trade largely in, who make Merchandize of 
 Souls, and fet to Sale the holy Gbofl. 'Tis 
 us'd in the Greek and Armenian Churches, in- 
 flead of Water in Baptifm, as well as for the 
 Purpofe of Extreme Unction. 
 
 This occafions a very great Confumption of it, 
 and confequently as great a Demand for it. 'Tis 
 faidtwo of a Trade feldom agree. . This was the 
 Cafe in the Inftance that follows. During the 
 Courfe of Sir John's Travels, a Competition of 
 Interefts arifing from the Merchandize of this ho- 
 ly Oyl, caus'd great Difputes and Contentions be- 
 tween the Perjian Patriarch, and the Armenian 
 Patriarch of Jerujalem. Not being abk to bring 
 
 their
 
 (6 4 ) 
 
 their Differences to an amicable Accommoda- 
 tion, thcfe two Pr*flfefe*BHhaffcj as Catholic-* 
 Bimops have been oft wont to do, excommu- 
 nicated and gave each other to the Devil round- 
 ly ; and not fatisfy'd with giving each other to 
 the Devi/, they commenc'd litigious Suits, and 
 gave each other to the Lawyers, as if their 
 Hell had been the hotteft of the two. Vaft was 
 the Confufion which this Affair occafion'd.(a) 
 Our learned Catechift has not thought it as yet 
 expedient to let the World know, that his Soul- 
 
 faying Oy/ is a Marketable Commodity. 
 
 However, he has dropt a broad Hint, from 
 whence we may infer that it is. Ble//ingo{Qy\ 
 and of Ointment he afferts to be the fole Pre- 
 rogative, the unalienable Prerogative of his Ca- 
 tholic- Bimops. (b) And if it be fuch a gainful 
 Trade to fell it, whofe Prerogative mould it be 
 
 to make it but theirs ? He has not indeed 
 
 told us they may make Merchandize of it, but 
 flep to the Salvation Market of Rome, you'll find 
 how it is. Selling of Sacraments is an Orthodox 
 Practice there. Infallibility itfelf approves of it. 
 And if the facred Liquid brings in a large Re- 
 venue to the Priefts, muft it not be an ill O- 
 men to the Devil to fee his fworn and declared 
 Enemies, God's Reprefentatives, thus rioting irf 
 Wealth and Power? ~ This is fufficient to 
 Account for the Efficacy of the holy Qyl. 
 
 Irf 
 
 (a) Cbardin's Travels p. 333. 334. 
 
 ft) Father Paul's Council ot Trent, p. 247,
 
 In our learned Catechi/l's LefTon upon Bap- 
 tifm, we have fome other very fignificative 
 Rites. Putting off the old Garment wore before 
 Baptifm, iignifies What? What mould it 
 fignify, but Mens putting off the old Rags of 
 their Corruptions. This Practice has Antiquity 
 to countenance and fupport it. Thus the 
 antient Arabs, before Mahommed's ^ Time, 
 caft off their Cloaths in fome Part of their 
 Devotions, as an Emblem of their carting off 
 their Sins, (a) But our Author will icarce own 
 that he has adopted this Rite from the Prac- 
 tice of the antient Arabs. Again the baptiz'd 
 cloathing themfelves after Baptifm with white 
 Garments, denotes their putting on Jefus Chrift 
 Then comes the Kifs of Peace, and feed- 
 ing upon confecrated Oyl and Honey. Unra- 
 vel me the Myftery of this ? In the Eaftern 
 
 Countries it feems, the Inhabitants live much 
 upon Milk, Oyl, and Honey, the Nature of 
 their Clime and Constitutions, not allowing the 
 Ufe of that grofs Diet which is familiar to us 
 in colder Regions, (b) Hence it follows, 
 that Oyl and Honey, which was the common 
 Food of the Jews, mould be the Cbriftian's 
 
 Spiritual Diet. " At this Rate," fays an 
 
 ingenious Writer , {< every Madnefs would be 
 
 " made a Myftery. , We might be made 
 
 I " to 
 
 (a) Salis Koran, p. 121. 
 
 (b) Maundreirs Journey from dleppo to Jtrufalem.
 
 (66) 
 
 " to walk barefooted into the Church, to fig. 
 " nify the Sanctity of the Place, and to crawl 
 <f upon all four out of it, to fignify the Hu- 
 " miliation of our Hearts. A Match of Cud- 
 " gel playing every Sunday, might be inftitut- 
 '* ed to fignify our Spiritual Warfare, and a 
 " Game at Blind Man's Buff, to fignify the 
 " Darknefs of our Underftandings." A Pull 
 at Back Gammon, might be inftituted as fome 
 Part of your Nonjuror's folemn Devotions ; as 
 a proper Emblem of the Inftability of Fortune, 
 and the Viciffitude of all human Affairs ; and a 
 Sunday's Foxhunting Chace might be moft de- 
 voutly appointed to fignify their hunting down 
 their Corruptions, and unkennelling he Wiles 
 of the Devil. Agreeable hereto, if I am right- 
 ly inftructed, the Portuguese have in St. An- 
 thony^ Church in Lijbon, a Picture of Jefus 
 Chrift, and the Devil playing a Game at Putt t 
 or fome other analogous to it, for the Salvation 
 of Mankind : The Virgin Mary ftands behind 
 Jefus Chriftj and patts him on his Shoulder en- 
 couraging him to ftand his Game. And if I 
 remember right, Bimop Burner, in his Travels, 
 tells us, that in the City of Worms^ in Ger- 
 many, they have in one of their Churches as 
 holy and farcical an Emblem of Tranfubftan- 
 
 tiation. It is this, a Windmill, and the 
 
 Virgin Mary with the Infant Jejus in her Arms, 
 landing at the Hopper, into which (he cafts 
 him, and he comes out at the Eye of the Mill 
 
 in
 
 (6 7 ) 
 
 in a huge Multitude of Wafers, the holy Priefls 
 ready waiting to fcramble them up as faft as 
 they can. Thus likewife the Papifts tells us, 
 that their feven Sacraments are typify'd and fet 
 forth by the Book in the Revelations, fealed 
 with the feven Seals ; and by the feven Trum- 
 pets given to the feven Angels ; and by the 
 feven Stars the Son of Man had in his Right 
 Hand j and by the feven I /oaves with which 
 our Saviour fed the Multitude ; and by the fe- 
 ven Eyes upon one Stone mention'd by the 
 Prophet ; and by the feven Lamps fet on the 
 Candleftick of the Tabernacle ; and by Jofoua's 
 comparing the City of Jericho feven times, 
 when about to beftege it ; and by Naamans 
 dipping himfelf feven times in Jordan, (a) 
 Iraneus one of your FfiettiT* ador'd Oracles, the 
 Fathers, proves that there are four Gofpels, be- 
 caufe there are four principal Regions of the 
 Earth, Eaft, We^ North, and South t or be- 
 caufe the Building of the Church is founded 
 on the Gofpel, and there mud be four Pillars 
 to fupport a Building. Tbeopbylaci's Strength of 
 
 I 2 Genius 
 
 (a) Septem Sacramenta quae figurantur per fcptcm fignacula 
 quibus fuit veteris Tellamenti Pagina Sigillata. Apoc. 5. Item per 
 feptem Tubas, quibus Angeli cecinerunt. Apoc.S.et per feptem Bel- 
 las quas habuit Similes filio Hominis in dextra iua. Apoc. i. Item 
 per feptem Panes quibus Dominus turbas fatiavit. Mat. ^. Item 
 per feptem Oculos fuper unam Lapidcm. Zech. 3. et per feptcm 
 Lucernas Tabernaculi luper poluas Landelabro. Zach. 4. Item per 
 feptem Circuitiones Jeirichulinas. Joih. 6. Item per icptem Lotio- 
 nes Naaman in Jordanc. 
 
 Lj'nw. Prov. p. 43.
 
 (63) 
 
 Genius foars no higher, who alledges, that 
 there are four Golpels, becaufe Chriftiani- 
 ty teaches four Cardinal Virtues ; or becaufe it 
 contains Doctrines, Precepts, Promifes, and 
 Threatnings. (a) Thus I find a National Coun- 
 cil, and Councils cannot err, playing as facred- 
 
 ly on the Number three. In three Cafes 
 
 a Wife may legally leave her Hbfband, if he 
 has a Leprofy, a {linking Breath, or be unable 
 to give her due Benevolence. In three Cafes 
 it was like wife decreed, to be lawful for a Man 
 to kifs his Neighbour's Wife, at a Banquet, at 
 a Game mention'd by the Council, and upon 
 Return from a Journey, by Way of Salutation. 
 Such were the Importance of thefe Canons, 
 that the King, the Archblfkop, and three Bijhops y 
 went to Rome, to engage the Pope to ratify and 
 confirm them, (b) As in the former Inftances, 
 fo here, there was beyond all doubt fome em- 
 blematical Myftery couch'd under the Number 
 three. Even fo our learned Author has a ftrange 
 Medley, a goodly Groupe of Myfteries couch'd 
 under .his trine Baptifmal Immerftcn. (c) The 
 Armenians, whofe Corruptions of Christianity 
 
 he 
 
 (a) Bayrbeyrac's Spirit of the ant. Fathers. 
 
 (b) This was held by Hoel. Ddha for Wales in 970. 
 
 Spel. Cone. 411. 
 
 (c) See Cat. p. 231. By the Defcent into the Water, is re- 
 prefented drift's Death. By our being totally covered with it 
 Chriit's Burial, and by the Rifing out of it again Chrift's Refur- 
 reftion. This Immerfion adds our Author, is perform 'd thrice, 
 which reprefents the Baptiz'd Perfon's Faith in the holy Trinity, 
 Chriit's three Days Burial, and his Refurredion on the third Day.
 
 (6 9 ) 
 
 he always imitates, and oft improves upon, 
 
 give you as inftrudtive and edifying an Emblem 
 
 in the following Relation. They tell you 
 
 that Jefu* Cbrift being at School to learn the 
 Armenian Tongue, would never pronounce the 
 firft Letter of their Alphabet, unlefs his Mafter 
 would give him a Reaion why it reprefented an 
 m inverted. The good Man not knowing who 
 the Infant Jefus was, gave him a Box on the 
 Ear. Well, faid Jejus without any Emotion! 
 fince you do not know I'll tell you ; this Let- 
 ter reprelents the Trinity by it's three Legs, (a) 
 The Matter of the Scrjpol admir'd his Know- 
 ledge, and fent him to his Mother, confefling 
 the Child was wifer than himfeif ! Not fo wile 
 as our learned Doftor neither. 
 
 Now by fuch Spiritual Legerdemain, fuch 
 Thimble and Button Logic as this, a Man may 
 illuftrate every Thing out of any Thing ; may 
 prove the very fame Thing to be either a God 
 or a Broom/lick. 
 
 But. to return to the Ufe of Oyl, as a prepa* 
 ratory Sacrament, to the Sacrament of Baptifm. 
 Should not our learned Author, tinder this 
 Head, have led his Difciples thro' a Proccfs of 
 Cbymiftry, in order to enable them more fuc- 
 cefsfully to confront the Devil ? Should he not 
 have inform *d them, whether Ejential, or 7 
 
 fyrettmatic 
 
 (a) Tourncfbn's Voyage to the Levant Vol. 3. p. 236.
 
 (7) 
 
 pyreumatic Oyls are to be us'd on the folemn 
 Occafion ? Whether Animal, Vegetable , or Mi- 
 neral Oyl is moft fit for the Purpofe ? Whether it 
 fhould be Oyl obtain'd by Emulfion, Expref- 
 fion, Coction, or fevere Torture : And as fome 
 of our Aromatic Oyls are feldom to be met 
 with unadulterated, fhould he not have given 
 fome Rule whereby to know whether the De- 
 vil and the Chymifl be not join'd in a Confede- 
 racy, to fophifticate the facred Oyl, and there- 
 by rob Mankind of its Divine Efficacy and 
 
 Virtue? But I (land corrected. Thefe are 
 
 Myfteries not to be frufted with tinferlEtify'd 
 Laymen. It belongs only to Bi/hops and Priejh 
 to God's Repre/entatives, to Chrift's Vicars, to 
 the Prime Stewards of God's Revenues ; to the 
 Chief Majiers of his Houfehold ; and to his (a) 
 Almoners to know them. 'Tis enough for the 
 Afs, that he can eat his Provender without 
 knowing how to drefs it ; and 'tis enough for 
 ChrijTs Champion againft the Devil, for fuch 
 your learned friend calls him, (b) that he 
 knows where to buy holy Oyl : If he doth but 
 
 know further where, any one may tell how, 
 
 to get a Purje y to pay the Prieft for it. 
 However, tho' our Author has moft religioufly 
 kept us in the Dark, as to the Procefs made 
 ufe of for the Preparation of the holy Oyl, I 
 prefent my Reader with fome Account of it, 
 and Jirft how it is managed by the Armeuians. 
 
 It 
 
 ^ 
 
 ) Cat. p, 207. (b) Cat. p. 229.
 
 (7O 
 
 It will not be unentertaining to the good Pro- 
 teftant, to fee with what devout Eclat and Su- 
 perftitious Parade the whole Bufinefs is con- 
 ducted. 
 
 It is prepar'd between the Vefpers on Palm- 
 Sunday, and the Mafs on Holy Thurfday j which 
 is celebrated' on this Day on a great Veffel, 
 wherejn this Liquor is preferv'd. They ufe 
 neither common Wood nor common Coals. to 
 boil the Kettle, left the Sacredneis of the Oyl, 
 fhould be tainted by any unfanclified Drofs, 
 or Rubbim. Inftead thereof, they boil it with 
 Wood that has been blej's'd and with any 
 Thing thas been us'd in Churches. Old I- 
 mages, worn-out and decay'd Ornaments, torn 
 Books, are moft religiouily preferved for, and 
 appropriated to this facred Service. This Fire 
 cannot fmell very agreeably j but the Oyl is 
 perfum'd with Herbs and odoriferous Drugs, 
 which are mix'd with it. They are not or- 
 dinary Clerks, or your little Hackney Pettifog- 
 gers in Divinity, who are employed in mak- 
 ing this wonderful Compolition. 'Tis the Pa* 
 trlarch himlelf, cloathed in his Pontifical 
 Veftments, attended at leaft by three Prelates, 
 in their Pontifical Habits, who altogether re- 
 cite certain Prayers during the whole Cere- 
 mony. (%) Here is pure and undefiled Re- 
 ligion ! But 
 
 (a) Tournefort's Voyage to the Levant Vol. 3. p.' 2*2.
 
 (7O 
 
 But 'tis prefum'd, your Catholic Friend has 
 not his holy Oyl imported hither from Arme- 
 nia. Befides other Inconveniences j in Times 
 of War the facred Treafure might fall into E- 
 nemies Hands, as was the Cafe with 500 Bules 
 of Bulls, taken on board a Spanijh Galleon., 
 by the Briftol Privateer in 1709. Sixteen 
 Reams made up a Bale, fo that the whole 
 Number was computed to amount to three 
 Million, eight Hundred and/or/y Tboufand In- 
 dulgences. What a Pity, that fuch a rich Soul- 
 faying Cargo, mould ever have fallen into the 
 Hands of Heretics ! To guard againft fuch 
 fatal Difafters, we'll fuppofe that the Catechift 
 blejj'eth his own Oyl. Why then, doth he not 
 inform us that, according to the Conftitutions 
 of his Mother Church, this Oyl mutt be blefb'd 
 not once or twice, but nine Times together, in 
 order more effectually to purge away the Devil 
 out of it, and to exterminate its impregnated- 
 ejfential Pollution ? Why doth he not inftruct 
 us, that it is to be blefled thrice with an Ave, 
 Santfum Oleum ; thrice with an Ave, SancJum 
 Chrifma j and thrice with an Ave y SancJum Bal- 
 famum ? As he is faid to be one of the Catho- 
 lic-Church Bifhops, to whom thefe Conjecra- 
 tions belong, he cannot be fo much a Stranger 
 to the Duties of his Function, as to be un- 
 acquainted with thefe Maigic, Devi I- con front- 
 ing Rites ! Why has he not further given us 
 the Form us'd in exorcijing the Devil out of 
 
 the
 
 (n) 
 
 the Oyl, which runs thus, <c I exorcift 
 " thee O unclean Spirit, and all Incurfion of 
 " Satan or Phantom, in the Name of the Fa- 
 tc ther, &c* that thou depart from this Oyl, 
 cc that it may be a fpiritual Unclion, to corro- 
 <e borate the Temple of the living God, that 
 <c the holy Spirit may dwell therein, in the 
 " Name &c." 
 
 And this leads me to obferve, befides the 
 Sacrament of anointing the Perfon to be baptiz'd 
 with holy Oy/, there is another as near akin to it, 
 as Madjtefs is to Super/lit ion ; and that is, anoint- 
 ing the fame Perfon with Chryfm or Ointment. 
 fpiritual Phyfic prepar'd one Way, or pre- 
 fcrib'd in one Form, will not do, we muft 
 try how it operates in another. An old chro- 
 nical Devil, it feems, like old chronical Dif* 
 tempers, is not eafily to be expelPd, or con- 
 quer'd: Every Method mutt be effay'd, in 
 order to ejeft him out of PoiTeffion. Tho* 
 we are not favour'd by our learned Author, 
 with the Procefs of making holy Oyl ; yet 
 to {hew his great Abilities in both his Pro- 
 feffions. he has given us the Subftance of a 
 
 C3 
 
 Prefcription for Ecclejiaftical Chrifm j or, if 
 
 you pleafe, for his fpiritual Ointment. 
 
 Only he would avoid all Shew of Pedantry 5 
 
 
 K other wife
 
 (74) 
 
 otherwise in the Style of the learned Facul- 
 ty, it would run thus, 
 
 R 01 Olivar. Bals. Gilead. pur. ana. q. s. mifc. a. a. fiat 
 Unguent, fecund. Pharmacopoeiam Papalem i 
 
 Unguent. Catholic. Antidiabol. (a) 
 
 But the Misfortune is, genuin and unfophif- 
 ticated Balm of Gilead, how rarely is it to 
 be met wkh ? This Liquid flows in Summer 
 from the Trunk of a certain Shrub former- 
 ly found in that Part of the World from 
 whence it takes it Name. Since the Turks 
 were Matters of the Holy Land, they tranf- 
 plantcd this Shrub into their Gardens at Grand 
 Cairo 5 which are not only guarded with ftrong 
 Walls but likewife wiih Soldiers, during that 
 Seafon, in which the Balfbm flows If then 
 it be fo difficult to get at in the Holy Land, 
 what muft it be to procure it unfophif 
 ed mOurs? 
 
 You may learn from your good Friend the 
 D^r, or, if not from him, you may lear 
 from any Botany Profeffor, that the Plant called 
 Scabious or DeviFsM, has only fome fmall 
 fibrous Roots, and upon Examination, appear 
 as if the Mafter Root was bit off dole 
 
 the Stalk Accordingly, Tradition is my 
 
 Authority, (your learned Friend has no Right 
 
 (a) Confecrated Chrifm or Ointment is cornposM of fwcrt Og 
 qf Olive* and precis Balfoo, commonly ulld W^r^;
 
 (75) 
 
 to infift upon a better) that the Mafler Root 
 was bit off by the Devil, in order to rob Man- 
 kind of its many falutary and fanatfVe Virtues. 
 And do you not think Sir, that 'tis owing to 
 this fame wicked and intriguing Devil, who 
 be fure hates holy Oyl, as much as holy Water \ 
 that our learned Catechi/l's divine Balfom is 
 fo wretchedly adulterated, as we are told it 
 oft is ? No Wonder that the Dev II dreaas 
 holy Oyl and Ointment ; for pour Oyl upon 
 a Flame, and will it not rage with the great- 
 er Force and Fury ? Pour Oyl upon the 
 
 unextinguimable Flame ; this accounts for 
 
 our learned Author's firing away the Devil! 
 
 As I am now upon the Subject of Uncti- 
 on, I would not pafs over in Silence our Au- 
 thor's Unction of the Sick. Anointing with 
 Oyl, upon fome particular Occafions, 'tis al- 
 low'd, was antiently practis'd, both by Jews 
 and Heathens : Whence it derived its Origin, is 
 a Point at this Diftance of Time not eafy to 
 determine. 'Tis philofophical to fuppofe, that 
 their Oyl and odoriferous Ointments would, in 
 the warm Ea/lern Climates, operate in a me- 
 dicinal Way, far more efficacioufly than they 
 can in our colder Regions. Perhaps anoint- 
 ing with Oyl might be us'd, as Oyl was of 
 fo fubtle, delicate, and penetrating a Contexture, 
 that it would eafily infinuate itfelf thro' all 
 the Pores of the Body, would invigorate the 
 Motion of the Fluids, quicken the Animal 
 
 K 2 Powers,
 
 (76) 
 
 Powers, brace the Nerves, or ftimulate the 
 Fibres. The Pfalmift, when he imprecates, or 
 rather proprieties Vengeance upon the Enemies 
 of the State, fays j let it come like Oyl into 
 his Bones. Solomon gives his Teftimony to the 
 fame Purpofe ; Ointment rejoices the Heart. 
 The Prophet Amos, likewife reprefenting the 
 wanton Luxury of the Jews, fays j they drank 
 Wine in Bowls, and anoint themfelves with 
 chief Ointments ; and in the Hiftory of the Sa- 
 maritan, his Benevolence is difplay'd by 
 
 this elegant Figure, of pouring Oyl and Wine 
 into the diftreffed Stranger's Wounds, which 
 implies, that it had a fanative, refreshing Vir- 
 tue ; and when the Apoftle James, fummons 
 the Elders (Prefbyters if you pleafe) to pray 
 over the Sick, anointing them with Oyl, it 
 feems not to refer fo much to a miraculous, as 
 to a medicinal Efficacy and Power. This ap- 
 pears the more probable, as Unction was not 
 pra&ifed by the Apoftles, in healing all Difea- 
 fes, but in fome particular Indifpofitions. Where 
 the Nature of the Diftemper made warm, 
 cordial, and refreming Medicines necelTary, 
 here it was proper to anoint with Oyl. In 
 this View St. James's Advice amounts only 
 to this. Pray for the Sick, and, if needful, 
 fupply them with Phyfick, as it becomes the 
 Difciples of a benevolent Lord and Mafter to 
 do. But whether this was the Defign of anoint- 
 ing with Oyl, or whether it related, as Pro- 
 
 teftants
 
 (77) 
 
 teftants generally fuppofe, to any miraculous 
 Powers then fubfifting in the Church, the 
 Reafons for this Practice muft have long ceaf- 
 ed among us, and confequently the Practice 
 itfelf mould ceafe with them. To apply a 
 Precept or Example, that relates only to fome 
 peculiar Circumftances, as a general and ftated 
 Rule of Action, is the fure Way to foiter and 
 cberim all Manner of Superflition. If our 
 learned Catechift would follow the Inductions 
 of Sf. James in anointing the Sick, why doth 
 he not likewife follow the Example of our Sa- 
 viour, when he is fummoned to attend them, 
 and ride on an Afs ? 
 
 I am next to enquire of our learned Author ^ 
 whether any Perfon~ anointed with holy Oyl, 
 if he recovers from his Illnefs, would be allow- 
 ed by him afterwards to pay due Benevolence 
 to his Wife ? I fufpect from the main Scope of 
 his Principles, that he will not allow it. 'Tis 
 true, if it be Benevolence, it would be unchari- 
 table to deny ; if it be due Benevolence, it 
 would be more than barely uncharitable j it 
 would be unjuft to detain it. However, it 
 was a Sentiment that prevaiPd much in the 
 Days of Superftition, that if any Per/on re- 
 covered from Sicknefs, after he hid been a- 
 nointed with bofyQy], he mould from thence- 
 forth abftain from all conjugal Commerce asul 
 Duty, and live in a State of wedded Widow- 
 hood. This Point was oft canvafs'd in our
 
 (78) 
 
 EngUJh Councils, (a) and at laft, to prevent 
 the Inconveniencies arifing from fo unnatural 
 
 an Inhibition ; it was decreed, that the 
 
 Unction of the Sick mould no more be admi- 
 niftred but under the Extremity of Nature, 
 when a Perfon was paft all Hopes, and all 
 Probability of Recovery. This is now the 
 Practice in the Church of Rome ; and for the 
 fame Reafon it is prefum'd, in the Armenian 
 Churches, Extreme Unction is adminiftred to 
 none, till they are actually dead, (b) But as 
 our learned Catechift adheres to the earlier 
 Practice, which was attended with the unna- 
 tural Reftraint I have mentioned, in Cafe of 
 a Man's Recovery, this fufficiently accounts 
 for the Queftion I have urged above. Suffer 
 me further to afk him, whether in anointing 
 the Sick, he does not, as prefcrib'd by the 
 Council of Florence, anoint the Feet, the Seats 
 of the five Senfes, and the Reins as the Seat 
 of Concupifcence ? 
 
 But mould it be afk'd, why is it neceflary 
 that Oyl fhould be confecrated, before it is ap- 
 plied to thefe fpiritual Incantations, our learn- 
 ed Author anfwers, " 'Tis confecrated in 
 
 " order to be fanftified : " I thought confe- 
 crating it had been fanctifying it ; but it feems 
 
 I 
 
 (a) The Councils of Wonefier and Exeter in the Year 1287; 
 that of Wincbefttr in 1308, and that si Oxford in 1322. vid. 
 Spelman, 
 
 (b) Tournefort's Voyage to the Lwani, Vol. 3. p. 248.
 
 (79) 
 
 I am miftaken. " 'Tis confecrated, or by 
 " folemn Defignation, appropriated to that fa- 
 " cred Ufe, to be fanctified and cleans'd from 
 " that Impurity, with which, iince the Difo- 
 " bedience of our firft Parents, all the Parts 
 " of the created World are defiled/' (a) De- 
 fil'd Fields, defil'd Gardens, defil'd Fruits, de- 
 fil'd Flowers, defil'd Temples, defil'd Houfes, 
 defil'd Hufbands, defil'd Wives, defil'd Vir- 
 gins ; and nothing pure but the Catholic Prieft, 
 who is God's Representative, and the Catho- 
 lic Pr left's Concubine. As to the Prieft's Con- 
 cubine, her Perfon is facred as well as the 
 Prieft's who fanftifies her. She is, as Pope 
 Paul the third allured the Duke of Mantua, 
 exempt from all fecular Cognizance, and fub- 
 ject only to Eccle/iaftical Jurifdiction. fb) From 
 tiie Sacrednefs of her Character and Office t one 
 may therefore infer, that no Defilement can, 
 reach her. But can you inform me Sir, whe- 
 ther it be a natural, or a moral Defilement, 
 that all the Parts (thofe only already excepted) 
 of the created World are polluted with ? If 
 our Author means the former, as from the 
 Connexion it mould feem he muft, wherein 
 doth this natural Pollution confift, and what 
 Certainty have we, that by Dint of Confecra- 
 tion, our Cburch-Chymift can extract it ? How- 
 ever, if Confecration be attended with fuch re- 
 generating 
 
 (a) Catech. p. 229. 230.' 
 
 (b) F;hcr /W's Counc, of Trt*t> p. 82,
 
 (8o) 
 
 generating Powers, and if all the Farts of the 
 created World are deffid by the Fall, would it 
 rot be humane j would it riot be charitable, 
 friendly and generous, to confecrate our Food, 
 as well as our fpiritual Phyfick ; to confecrate 
 our Houfes j our Gardens, our Fields, our 
 Herds and our Cattle j to confecrate whole 
 Families, whole Villages, whole Towns, whole 
 Parimes, whole Counties, whole Kingdoms, 
 nay, and even the whole World ? ~ But, 
 perhaps, your learned Friend will fay, mould 
 this be done the old Serpent, as well as the 
 young Chevalier, would be banifhed out of his 
 hereditary Dominions ; and then the two va- 
 grant Adventurers might be oblig'd to herd to- 
 gether. For my own Part, I am at a Lofs 
 to conceive, how the Appropriation of a Thing 
 for facred Ufe, can purge away any inherent 
 Uncleannefs. But we have your learned Friend s 
 infallible ipfe dixit for it, that it can. How- 
 ever, thefe are Difficulties Men muft boggle 
 at, if they are weak enough to be guided by 
 Reafon and common Senfe in Religion. 
 
 " The Fall" continues our Author, t{ im- 
 tr pregnated all the Fruits of the Earth with 
 * an inherent and ejjential Pollution, as with- 
 <c out Confecration, by fome facred and reli- 
 <c gious Rites, muft render them utterly unfit 
 <{ to be uied in the Service of the Majefty of the 
 <e Supreme Being." Heavens preferve us all, 
 from having our Brains impregnated with fuch 
 
 an
 
 an inherent, efftnfyl holy Delirium, as cannot 
 be (onfecrated away! EiTential Impregnations ', 
 or if you pleafe eflential Accident^ for one is 
 as good Senfe as the other, like Popift Protef- 
 tants, or Proteftant Papifts, are fuch folid Ab- 
 fur di tics as can be palm'd upon no Believer s % 
 but thofe who'll believe Contradictions to be 
 true ! But this Wonder -working Confecration, 
 that deftroys the inherent t effential Pollution of 
 the Fruits of the Earth, muft it not of Con- 
 fequence deflroy the very Nature and Subftance 
 of the Things confecrated ? The Fruits of 
 the Earth, it feems, are not jit to be appro- 
 priated to the Service of that God whofe 
 Workmanfoip and Creatures they are, till they 
 are new made, and regenerated by the more 
 Jacred Hands of a Nonjun'ng, fanatical Clergy, 
 Nature before the Fall was in her Virgin State, 
 but the Difobedience of our firft Parents de- 
 flowered her. However our Con[ecrator y our 
 Spiritual Conjurer^ I fhould have faid, (only out 
 of Reverence to his high Ecclejjajlical Dignities 
 and Function) can reftore loft Goods. He'll re* 
 ftore to Nature her loft Virgin- Charms and 
 Purity ! and conjecrate away^an impregnated- ef- 
 Jential Pollution. 
 
 , 
 
 As your learned Friend can ccnfecrate away 
 e inherent, ejj'ential Properties of Things, 
 could he think you conjecrate a Block of Lead, 
 or any other heavier and fojter Block that, (hall 
 be ^~, namclefs, into fome more ufejul Sub- 
 
 L ftance?
 
 (*') 
 
 fiance ? Could he ccnfecrate it into a Statue 
 of Silver, which like Matrimony I mould look 
 upon to be very goody or into a Statue of 
 <?0A/, which like Continence is undoubtedly 
 #/2/ft& better ? (a) 'Tis not difputed but that, 
 at all Times, he can confecrate away the Guilt 
 of Treafon and Rebellion ; but that he can 
 confecrate away the Tyrannies and Ufurpati- 
 ons, the SuperfHtions, Follies and Frenzies of 
 his holy, Catholic, Apojlolic Church ; but that 
 he can confecrate Grimace into Godlinefs, wild 
 and monftrous Abfurdities into pure and or- 
 thodox Doctrine ; and devout Dreams and 
 Rhapfodies, into Divine Revelations. P0- 
 pifli Cajuifls tell us, the Pope can confecrate 
 Vice into Virtue, and whenever he pleafeth 
 unconfeerate it again. And cannot our learned 
 Catechift do as much, who confecrates away 
 
 an ejjential Pollution ? He may further 
 
 confecrate the Living into their Graves, but 
 can he, confecrate the Dead out of them ? If 
 he can confecrate away an ejjential Pollution, 
 he may do this, and more ! Shame on the 
 Philofophy of a Newton^ who could never 
 teach us how to deftroy, or confecrate away 
 the Eflence of Things : Had he confulted fome 
 of our modern Divinity "Jugglers, what Won- 
 
 ders might he not have done? 
 
 Next 
 
 .(a) Marriage like Silver is gqod, Continence like Gold is 
 tetter, Cat, p. 433.
 
 Next to the Confecration of 0>7, comes the 
 Confecration of Water j whereby faith our 
 learned Catecbifa "it is rendered capable of 
 " wafhing away Sins and purifying Souls." 
 More Miracles ftill ! For a natural Element 
 to waih away moral Pollutions is extraordina- 
 ry, very extraordinary I confefs ! For the E- 
 
 lement of Water to warn away an E- 
 
 vil Thought, a Lye, Principles of Ra- 
 pine and Extortion, out-miracles t the Mi- 
 racles of Rome ! It outftrips all her fanctify'd 
 Legends ! But Faith to believe thefe Things, 
 is a Imgular Gracf, which like the Gift of 
 Continence is not be flowed upon all. fa) 'Twas 
 the Sentiment of the Roman Orator , that the 
 Spots of the Mind are neither to be wafh'd a- 
 way with Water^ nor with Length of Time, (b) 
 But Cicero was only a learned Pagan. He 
 was no Catholic Prieft, and Nonjaror. Ci- 
 cero knew no better. Admitting, that neither 
 Water nor Length of Time will ivafi away 
 Sin, yet it muft be confefs'd, that they'll do 
 more, that is, they'll prevent it. They'll pre- 
 vent the crying Sin of premeditated 
 
 Murder , by wafhing away the Charms of an* 
 tiquated Maids and Faces ! Return we then 
 to our Author. " Confecration doth not'* 
 
 L 2 faith 
 
 (a) Cat. p. 92. 
 
 (b) Animi Lakes nee DiuturnitatC ncc Manibus ullis elui poteR, 
 
 Ci(. de Leg. Lib, *
 
 faith he, " change the Sub/lance, but the 
 M Qualities of Water." Whence comes it to 
 pafs, that he doth not confecrate away the 
 EJJence, or which is the fame, the Subftance of 
 Water, as well as confecrate away the Ej'ence 
 and Subftance of Oyl ? Is there any greater 
 Difficulty or Abfurdity in doing of the for- 
 mer, than there is in doing of the latter ? 
 But what means the Catecbi/t by Conjccrati- 
 cn's changing only the Dualities of Water ? 
 Will it make that hard, which was foft before ? 
 Give that a clear chriftalline Hue, which was 
 dark and dufkifli before ? Or make that frefh 
 and fweet, which was briny and rancid. before? 
 Or, doth Confecration give it fome myfterious 
 Divine Quality, whereby like the Philofopher's 
 Stone, it tranfmutes every Thing it touches in- 
 to Gold ? It fhould feem fo by what fol- 
 lows ; for after the Water has been confecrated, 
 or which I take to be the fame, fanttijy'd by 
 the Priefl y that it may be thoroughly purged 
 zr\& fublimatedy " the Holy Ghoft immediate- 
 " ly defcends from Heaven, and retting up- 
 " on it, fanclifies it himfelf ; and it being fq 
 " fandlified," twice over! firft by the Prieft^ 
 to whom we ought to give the Precedence be 
 furc, and next by the Holy Gboft> 
 
 La it
 
 (85) 
 
 " it imbibts the Power of fanftifying. (a) 1$ 
 not this Myftery in the Superlative ? What 
 Pleasure would it give me to meet with fbrne 
 My fie Divinity Decipherer, that could explain 
 ^ what is couch' d under fuch Ecclefia/licnl 
 Riddles ! But thefe Things are to be under* 
 flood only by the Affembly of the Faithful! (b) 
 They are too facfed for the profane Vulgar 
 to pry into. 
 
 Odi prcfafium Vulgus & arceo, 
 
 Thus much, fays our learned Author, for the 
 Ceremonies preceding Baptifm. Enough of all 
 Confcience, unlefs he could have furniihed us 
 with fomcthing better. Next for Baptifm it* 
 felf. 
 
 Adult Perfons have no Right to call God 
 their Father according to our learned Author , 
 till they are baptized, (c) That is, God dare 
 not recognize them as bis Children^ till the 
 Prieft grants him a ^Toleration, or Letter of 
 Licenfe fo to do. They are none of God's 
 Children, till the Prieft who is God's Repre- 
 
 Jentati've 
 
 (a) Confecration works a Change, tho' not ift its , 
 yet in its Qiralities and Powers, for th Italy Spirit immediate- 
 ly defcends from Heaven, and reiling npon it, fanftifies it by 
 himfelf, and it being fo fandified, imbibes the Power of fane- 
 tifying. Cat. p. 232. 
 
 (b) This is one Part of our Author'* Definition of bis 
 Church. Cat, p 47. 
 
 (0 Till Perfons are baptized, they are not allowed to call 
 Cod their Father, Cat. p. 233.
 
 (86) 
 
 fintative, adopts them into a State of Sonflrip. 
 'Tis he that authorizes and commijfions God to 
 receive them ! Our learned Author feems upon 
 this Head to be either afraid, or ajhamed of 
 fpeaking his Sentiments freely. From his 
 Manner of Expreffion, One would fufpect that 
 he is inclined to purfue the fame Track of 
 Thinking with his Brother Nonjuror, the tru- 
 ly learned Mr. Dodwell. That learned En- 
 thufiafl fpeaks out honeftly and plainly. His 
 Notion is this, that the Soul of Man is nafu- 
 rally mortal, but that it is immortaKz'A by 
 Baptifm adminiftrcd by Priefts or Biiliops, 
 and by fuch Priefts or Bifoops only, as can 
 boafl of a lineal, uninterrupted Succejfion from 
 Chrift and his Apoftles. Thofe who are not 
 fo happy as to be baptized by thefe Givers of 
 Life and Immortality are a Herd of heretical 
 Beads that perifi. Unlefs this be your learned 
 Friend's Opinion, I cannot account for it upon 
 what Principle it is, that he allows none but 
 fuch as are baptized, to fay the Lord's Prayer, 
 or to addrefs God as their Father. Auftin one 
 of this Gentleman s fainted Fathers, afTerts 
 
 roundly, it would edify me much to hear 
 
 our learned Author do the fame, that if a 
 Child die in the Way as his Parent is carry- 
 ing him to receive the Adminiftration of Bap- 
 tifm, that Child is damn'd, irremediably damrfd 
 for ever ! (a) But whatever be the Fate of the 
 
 unbaptiz'd 
 
 (a) Father Paul's Counc. of Trent, p. 239.' ^
 
 unbaptiz'd, or whatever Portion our learned 
 Catechift may out of his great Catholicifm af- 
 fign them, yet we are aflur'd, that Baptifm 
 adminiftred by a Bifhop or Prieft, that is, a 
 Nonjuring Prieft or Bi$op> " impreffes a Cha- 
 " rafter which can never be done away: What- 
 cc ever Crime the baptiz'd Perfon may after- 
 " wards commit, it will be always true to 
 " fay, that he was regenerated and confecrated 
 <c to God as his Child by Adoption," not by 
 Creation you'll obferve, but by Prieftly Adop- 
 tion \ " and he will nsver want to be baptiz'd 
 " again, in order to obtain Forgivenefs of his 
 " Sins, and be reftor'd to God's Favour.'* (a) 
 Rejoice O ye Saints of Rome, Rejoice O ye 
 AJjembk of the Faithful at Manchefler^ that you 
 are in PoiTeflion of fo invaluable and unaliena- 
 ble a Bleffing ! Ye Heretics of Britain fee what 
 you are deprived of for Want of being the Sons 
 of Superftition, and our learned Cafecbi/t's 
 Church ! The Privileges of Baptifm rightly ad- 
 miniftred, are never to be loft or forfeited. No! 
 fays the ranting Fanatic \ what means the Con- 
 fifient Doctor \ when he fays, " the Difcipline of 
 <c the Church confifts in a Power to deprive us 
 " of all the Benefits apd Privileges of Bap- 
 " tifm." (bj Are the Privileges of Baptifm 
 fuch as never can be done away, and yet, can 
 the Church deprive Men of all thefe Privileges 
 
 which 
 
 (a) Cat. p. 225, (b) Cat, p. Sa,
 
 (88) 
 
 which never can be done away f 1 es, but 
 
 thefe two different Tales are told in two diffe- 
 rent Pages. If a Man's Jugdment be / 
 
 jallible, it doth not follow from thence that his 
 Memory fliould be fo too. But allowing thefc 
 PafTages to be contradictory, if the Ghurch re- 
 quires us to believe Contradictions, furely we 
 ought to believe them ! Have we not the Tefti- 
 mony of St. Bellarmine, as able a Champion 
 againft Herejy, as our Catechi/i is againft the 
 Devil-, that if the Pope fliould chance to err in 
 enjoyning the Practice of Vice for Virtue, or 
 forbidding the Practice of Virtue, the Church 
 is in Confcience bound to believe Vice to be 
 Virtue, and Virtue to be Sin. (a) And elfe- 
 where he afferts roundly, that Chrifl gave un- 
 to Peter, and confequently to Peter's SucceJJcrs^ 
 full Power and Authority to make that a /;/, 
 which is no Sin ; and to make that to be no 
 Sin, which is in it's own Nature Sinful, (b) 
 As thefe are, a Catholic Churchman s Decisions, 
 
 You and your learned Friend, having fuch 
 
 Authority on your Side, will undoubtedly ex- 
 pect me to believe, that the Privileges of Bsp- 
 
 tifm are unalienable, and that thofe una- 
 
 Uenable Privileges the Church has an indifputa- 
 ble Power to alienate and take away from whom 
 (he pleafes, He muft be a Heretic indeed r 
 
 that 
 
 (a) Bellarm. de Rom. Pontif. Lib. 4. c. 5. 
 {b} Bellarra. Lib. in Barklun, <;, 13.
 
 that will not fubmit to fuch Almighty Convic- 
 tion ! Would not a little Modefty teach us to 
 judge as King James the firft did, on a fimilar 
 Occafion, when he heard Council plead on the 
 two oppofite Sides of a Queftion ; By my Sawl 
 Man they are both in the Right as to their 
 Caufe, and take Care that they both get it. 
 
 As to the proper Officers to adminifter Bap- 
 tlfm : Deacons are allow 'd by the Gatechift to 
 baptize, but never any unhallowed Laics. Here 
 our learned Author improves upon the Bigotry 
 and Superstition of his Mother Church of Rome ; 
 for in Cafes of Neccfftty (he allows the Vali- 
 dity of Baptifm adminiftred by unclean Beafls of 
 all Kinds ; by Laymen, Pagans, Heretics, and 
 Mid wives, fa) But this would, in our Author's 
 Eftcem, derogate too much from the Power 
 and Authority of God's Representatives, the 
 Priefthood. Our learned Catechifl therefore, 
 out of his great Zeal for the Honour of God's 
 Rcpre/entatives, Chrift's Vicars, the Prime 
 Stewards of Gods Revenues, the Chief Maflers 
 of his Houflold, and his Almoners, (b) refcues 
 this Office out of all unfanctify'd Hands ; and 
 reforms, as He beyond all Queftion fays, but J 
 fhould rather fay itnproves upon^ the Corrupti- 
 
 M ons 
 
 (a) Minifter huj us Sacrament! eft Sacerdos, cui ex Officio corf 
 petit baptizare. In Caufa autem Ncceflitatis, non folum Sacer- 
 dos, vel Diaconus fed etiam Laicus, vel Mulier, imo etiara Pa- 
 ganus ct Hsereticuj baptizare poteft. U Abbf* Cone. Tom, 13. 
 p. 535- (b)Cat.p. 207.
 
 (9) 
 
 ons of his holy Mother the Mother of Har- 
 lots and Abominations. 
 
 It may not be improper in this Place to take 
 Notice of the Enumeration our learned Author 
 makes, of the different Orders of Officers in 
 
 the Tradition Church he would eftablifh. . 
 
 There are, " Bifbops, Priefts, Deacons, and 
 " Subdeacons" whofe Province it is, to pre- 
 pare the Sacred Veffels and Utenfils of the 
 Altar, and deliver them to the Deacons, but 
 they are neither allow'd to Minifter c< at the 
 * c Altar as Deacons, nor even to come within 
 " the Rails of it, to fet a Paten, a Cup, or 
 <{ Oblations of the People thereon." Next 
 come the Readers, the Singers, and the Door- 
 keepers, (a) In fome other Churches, faith 
 
 he, there are other Orders ; fuch as Catecbifis, 
 Exorci/ls, and Acolythijls. (b) Thefe Acolythifts 
 appear to me to be a Kind of Ecclefia/Ucal 
 Scullions, whofe Duty it is to carry about In- 
 cenfe-Pots and Candlefticks, to light Candles, 
 Tapers, &c. Tonfure and ptfkobric are two 
 Orders more which fome Canonifts have added, 
 but are patted over in Silence by our Author. 
 Tonfure is the firft Step of Admiffion into 
 Church Dignities and Honours, and is perform'd 
 by the Bifhop's clipping either the Beard or 
 the Hair, and blejjing it with fome Prayers and 
 
 Benedictions, 
 
 (a) Vid. Spanhem Hift. Eccle. p. 739. Ct Paflim, 
 
 (b) Cat, . 428.
 
 (9O 
 
 Benedictions, as he doth the Work. The 
 
 curious Reader may find in Father Paul's Hi- 
 ftory of the Council of Trent, fome laboured 
 Difquifitions, whether all the Holy Orders of 
 the Church are not fo many Holy Sacraments ? 
 
 to which I refer him, . and return to 
 
 our learned Author. The Council of Conflan- 
 tinople, if I remember right, prohibits any one 
 being put in PofTefTion of the Epifcopate, with- 
 out afcending gradually thro' all the federal Or- 
 ders, till at Lift he arrives at the Mitre. Our 
 
 learned Author, Tradition avers it, is 
 
 cloathed either with Epifcopal or Archiepifcopal 
 Honours. I mould be glad Sir, to be in- 
 ftructed, whether he arofe Step by Step from 
 the lowefi Order, that of an Eccle/iaflical Scul- 
 lion ? I am fo far from intending to eclipfe his 
 Merit, by putting the Queftion, that I rather 
 think if that be the Cafe, it gives his Reputa- 
 tion a fuperior Dignity and Luftre. They 
 make the beft Commanding Officers, whether it 
 be in the War againft his Friends the French, 
 or againft his E?2emy the Devil, who are gra- 
 dually rais'd by Dint of Merit, from the lowe/t 
 Ranks, to the highejl Military Promotions. If 
 our Author has fuch a Progreffion of Services 
 and Characters to value himfelf upon, I congra- 
 tulate him upon the Honour it doth him, and 
 queftion not but he was as exemplary in the 
 
 M 2 Capacity
 
 (9*) 
 
 Opacity of a Church Scullion^ as he is in that 
 of a El (hop. 
 
 But there are another Species of Church 
 Officers mention'd by our learned Author, that 
 is IPeacpntffes. Concerning thefe, I am folli- 
 citous to learn, whether they too, like Bi/hops 
 and Priefts, are to defcend in the right Line of 
 Succeffion ? If not, whence derive they their 
 Extraction ? But I aft Pardon ; I recoiled my- 
 
 felf Thefe, efpecially if they be fair and 
 
 pretty ones, mufl needs be ~- the Angels of 
 his Churches ! 
 
 Having glanc'd at the different Officers of 
 our Author's Catholic Church, return we to 
 
 reconfider it's Sacraments. Befides the two 
 
 which Proteftants acknowledge as inftituted by 
 Chrift, your learned friend's Church has in- 
 ftituted ten more ; and indeed upon the fame 
 Footing it might have inftituted ten Times as 
 many, nay, ten tiooufand Times ten more ! One 
 would wonder that fo folemn an Admirer of 
 the fathers^ doth not with St. Bernard, and 
 St. Auftin^ make the wafting of his Feet into a 
 Sacrament : (b) Tho' indeed amidft all his 
 Zeal for Hieroglyphic Piety, he would be at a 
 Lofs to inftrudt us, what wafiiing of Feet 
 
 fhould be a Sign of, unlefs it be a Sign 
 
 that they want it. But the Sacraments he 
 
 I has 
 
 (a) Father Paul's Hift. of Council of Trent, p. 234.
 
 (93) 
 
 has given us, you are to look upon as fo many. 
 EC clefiaftical Conduit Pipes, that cc convey Grace 
 " to us." (a.) Which are they? Exorcifm ; 
 anointing with Oyl j the White Garment ; a afte 
 of Milk and Homy ; anointing 'with Cbrylm or 
 Oyntment-, the Sign of the Crofs j Impofition of 
 Jlands ; Unffiion of the Sick j Holy Orders ; and 
 Matrimony, (b) Excrciftn, as obferv'd before,. 
 drives or fires away the Devil. Anointing <witb 
 holy Oyl makes the Saint fupple and fleek, that 
 the Devil cannot grafp him in his Clutches. 
 The White Garment reprefents baptifmal Rege- 
 neration. Milk and Honey is good Ipiritual 
 Diet. Confirmation is a Deed of Gift, where- 
 by the Bifiop (or in Cafe of Neccflity the 
 Prieft) makes you a Conveyance of the Holy 
 Gbofl. " He enters into the Perfons confinn'd, 
 " dwells with them, and becomes the Soul of 
 " their Soul." (c) Chrijm or Oyntment fignifies 
 an internal Undtion perform'd upon you by 
 the Holy Ghofl. The Ufe of the Sign of the 
 Crofs is, <c that the Devils upon feeing that royal 
 " Sign, fly trembling away." (d) Impofition of 
 Hands is bleffing you by Divine Authority, (e) 
 Untfion of the Sick is for the Recovery of 
 Health, and for Strength to out -cudgel tiie De- 
 vil. (f) Holy Orders furniiheth " Jpiritual Fa* 
 " thers for the Church," (g) and fometimes 
 
 natural 
 
 (a) Cat. p. 69. (b) Cat. p. 69. 70. (c) Cat. p. 73, 
 (d) Cat. p. 418. (e) Cat, p. 421, (f) Cat. p. 422. 
 (g) Cat. p, 123.
 
 (94) 
 
 'natural ones too! Matrimony makes up the 
 Rear in this fpiriiual Militia , rais'd to wage 
 War with the Devil. But tho' this Sacrament in 
 common with the reft conveys Grace into us j yet 
 as to the Grace it conveys, according to our 
 learned Author, we had better 'want than have 
 it ! For c< Matrimony" fays our Catechift, 
 < like Silver is good, but Continence like Gold 
 <c is better." (a) However tho' this be your 
 learned Friend's Doctrine of Perfection, (b) yet 
 St. Paid calls it, was he not low- bred think 
 you for doing fo ? the Doctrine of Devils. 
 
 In our Engli/h Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, we 
 read of St. Dunftan the great Patron of Mon- 
 kery and Superftition, caufmg the following Mi- 
 racle to be wrought for the difcountenancing 
 of Marriage amongft the Clergy. In a Coun-> 
 cil held at Winchefler about 974, the Debates 
 ran high between \hzfecular Prtefts that mar- 
 ried and left their Eftates to their legitimate 
 Iflue, and the Monks, good Men ! who re- 
 nounced Marriage for the Good of their Souls 
 and the Church, and judg'd it a higher Degree 
 of Perfection to debauch other Men's Wives, 
 than to have Wives of their own. The fecular 
 Priefts urg'd fuch Arguments in Favour of the 
 Marriage of Ecclefiaftics, as had well nigh de- 
 termined the Council to ratify and confirm 
 
 them. 
 
 (a) Cat. p. 433." Cat, p. 222?
 
 (95) 
 
 them. To prevent which, Dun/I an t Saint as 
 he was, had plac'd a proper Perfon on the 
 Roof of the Hall where the AfTembly met ; 
 who being himfelf invijible, cried out loudly 
 thro' a Hole.- Non bene fentlunt qui Prejby- 
 teris Javent. They are not Orthodox in the 
 Faith, who favour the Marriage of the Clergy. 
 Hereupon the Monks cried out a Miracle! a 
 Miracle ! and declar'd that nothing more was 
 necelliry to determine the Affair, fince it was 
 thus decided by the Voice of an Angel from 
 Heaven ! (a) 
 
 The Reader will perhaps enquire, what is 
 the Policy of the Church of Rome and her 
 Daughter ^Churches, fuch as our Author's; to 
 prefer a State of Celibacy to Marriage. The 
 Reafon is obvious ; Marriage would alie- 
 nate the Affections of Ecclefiafiics from the 
 Church and their Concubines j and fix them on 
 their Wives and Offspring. At the Council of 
 Trent it was pleaded, that Marriage would de- 
 ftroy the Hierarchy y prove fatal to the Pope's 
 Authority, and that inilead of Univer/al Bifiop, 
 he would come to be only a mere Bijbop of 
 Rome, (b) 
 
 Be fides 
 
 (a) EmiJlianes Monaft. Vid. Preface. 
 
 (b) father Paul'a Hift. p. 460, and 680.
 
 Betides, if the Church can fir/I rob the Laity 
 of their Under ft andings^ by impofing unnatu- 
 ral Vows of Continence upon them, this is the 
 fure Way in the next Place to rob them of 
 their Eftates. If Men have no Families of 
 their own to provide for, whom (hall they be- 
 queath their Subftance to, but to God? And 
 who (hall be deputed to receive it for God, 
 but the Priefts y who are Chrift's Vicars> God's 
 Reprejentatives, the Prime Stewards of his Re- 
 uenues, the Chief Maflers of, his Houfkold, and 
 his Almoners. I need only exemplify this in 
 the Cafe of the Saint, that is, One of the Saints 
 of Rome, laft mention'd above. A certain La- 
 dy, who by the Bye, feem'd to have been link- 
 ed to St. Dunftan, by fome other Bonds than 
 thofe of Spiritual Affection, advis'd with him 
 what would be the beft Difpofition {lie could 
 make of her Eflate, to pious Ufes ? The Saint 
 recommends it to her, to leave it to yejus 
 Chrift, and to make him Chrift's Executor. It 
 was accordingly fettled, and Jefus Chrift not 
 putting in his Claim, the Executor carry'd off 
 
 all. . If Matrimony contributes to obftruct 
 
 fuch Donations to the Church, what good Ca- 
 tholic, that has the Intereft of God's Reprejen- 
 tati'ves at Heart, can approve of the Infiitu- 
 tion ? Allowing Marriage as a Sacrament ', doth 
 bring in fome Silver to your Fricjxfs Church ; 
 
 vet
 
 (97 
 
 yet Celibacy, I'll not fay Continency, brings 
 in much Gold> which is certainly better* 
 
 A Writer of great Reputation gives us a very 
 remarkable Inftance, and Hiftory would furniih 
 us with ten thoufand more, of the Fruits of 
 prieftly Celibacy. In 1689 a Ghoft haunted the 
 Convent of the Monks of St. Anthony, in the 
 City of MarfeilUs. This Ghoft prov'd to be of 
 a very martial Spirit ; knock'd down every 
 Thing that flood in his Way, and bailinadoM 
 every Pcrfon that was fo unhappy as to meet 
 him. If a Monk ftraggted out of his Cell at 
 Night, the 'vigilant Ghoft Was fure to find him 
 out, and as fare decently to chaflife him for it. 
 In (hort, he dealt Blows and Terrors very plen- 
 tifully around him. By his Rcfentment of all 
 
 nocturnal Perambulations but his own, He 
 
 was concluded to be the Ghoft of their dtceafed 
 Prior-, aG^J/?ofgreat Dignity and Diftinc- 
 tion \ Mafles were faid to be deliver'd from 
 his unwelcome Vifits j and a large Reward of- 
 fered to any one who durft accoft him and eil- 
 quire what important Errand he came upon, of 
 what important Commiffion he was to execute 1 
 The Print of the Spirit's Hand was difcovered 
 on a Wall. Nothing but the Ghoft now en- 
 groffed all Attention. Every Mouth was open 
 with the Talk of him by Day j arid upon the 
 Approach of Night every Door \vv&fkut for fear 
 of an Interview with him. Cue Evening fome 
 Chairmen in the Suburbs of the Convent being 
 
 N .(urpriz'3
 
 (98) 
 
 by a violent Shower, carried the Chaif 
 within the Gates of the Monaftery^ and placed 
 themfelves with it under a Portico, for Sanctuary 
 from the Weather, One of the Men having 
 feated himfelf in the Chair fell sfleep in it, and 
 never awoke till Midnight. The Gates being 
 (hut, inftead of giving the holy Fathers any uri- 
 feafonable Difturbance, he determin'd to con- 
 tinue where he was, and wait till the Return of 
 ^/lorning (hould bring him a Return of his Free- 
 dom with it. Anon the Ghoft having opened 
 the Gate with a Key, advances forward in a 
 long fweeping black Train, walking to and fro, 
 as you know Sir, Ghofts do, and cough'd very 
 foftly. The Chairman, before hand poffefs'd with 
 the Thoughts, was now alarm'd much more at 
 the Sight of the Apparition -, opprefs'd with Fear, 
 he kept folemn Silence ! Prefently a Monk ap- 
 pears at the Window, and with a gentle Voice 
 a fits are you there ? Yes, anfwers the Ghoft , 
 throw down the Rope. You have ftaid very 
 long, replies the Father ; and letting down a 
 Ladder of Ropes, the Spirit got into the Con- 
 uent) and in three Hours Time return'd the 
 fame Way. This Difcovery being made, the 
 whole Farce was unravell'd. The Monk, and 
 his Courtezan acting in Concert, was the Ghofl 
 that haunted the Place ; and the Terrors he had 
 fpread, was only a Scheme form'd to keep e- 
 very Body within Doors, and prevent his re- 
 ceiving any Dijlurbance or Interruption in his 
 
 Pleafures.
 
 .(99) 
 
 Pleafures. Hereupon it grew into a. proverbial 
 Phrafe at Mar/eiiles t when they would ibften the 
 Name of a common Proftitutc, to call her St. 
 Anthony's Ghoft. (a) 
 
 Should it be afk'd upon fuch an Occafion as 
 this, what is it that denominates a Perfon a 
 common Proftitute ? A learned GloJJator upon 
 the Cannon Law anfwers, No Woman, till Ihe 
 nas beftow'd her Favours upon more than three 
 and twenty thoufand Men, demerits the Appel- 
 lation of a IPhore. (b) Would not a Proieflant % 
 look upon a lefs notorious Proftitute than this, 
 to be like your Friend's Church, a truly Catho- 
 lic Harlot? But you'll tell me, Proteflants 
 Principles, are much too fever e for their Mo- 
 rals. Let Proteftants blum for the future at 
 their giving Perfons infamous Names, only be- 
 caufe they have not committed a Rape upon 
 Nature. Let Prrtejlants learn, that there may 
 be Chaflity in Stews ; and to their Confufion, 
 let them confefs, that there is Charity for all 
 Sinners, but thofe who lin againft the Prieft> 
 at Rome. But to return from this Digreffion. 
 
 Remarkable is the Spirit of the Biftayans in 
 the Kingdom of Spain. They'll not tolerate 
 
 N 2 any 
 
 (a) Dugout's Voyage to the Levant, p. 96. 7. 
 
 (b) Meretrix eft, qu admifcrit plures, quam Vigentl tria ho-' 
 minum Millia, 
 
 D^cret, Diftinft. 34. c. 4,'
 
 ( 100 ) 
 
 fcny Priefl to live in their Villages unlefs he 
 brings his Concubine to refide with him. The 
 Reafon of it is, becaufe they apprehend, that 
 Without fuch a Precaution, their Wives are in, 
 imminent Danger of being ravifi'd by Ecclejia- 
 Jiical Enchantment / (a) 
 
 Before I difmifs the Sacrament of Matrimo^ 
 fly ; I would add, that if your learned Friend 
 appears any more upon this Subied:, it would 
 oblige me to receive from his Hands an Account 
 of the whole Prpcefs of the Prieft's blejjmg and 
 confeprating the Wedding-Sheets previous to the 
 Cpnfummatjon of Marriage, which is a Rite 
 pradtis'd by his Mother Church of Rome. This 
 Account muft be extremely edifying and in- 
 ftrucTiive. What a fuperior Relim muft it give 
 to every foft Enjoyment, to have the very nup- 
 tial Sheets hallow'd by God's Reprejentativc 
 for their proper Service ? 
 
 Confejion is another Chapter in your learned 
 friends new Gojpel, which he reads to his .D//C 
 ciples with great Solemnity and Devotion ; un- 
 der this Head our Author might have inform'd 
 us, that it has been a common Practice in the 
 Church of Rome , when Women or Boys at their 
 facramental Devotions have confefs'd their ha-* 
 ying been engag'd in Scenes of Gallantry -, or in 
 
 (a) HtyJins Cqfinog. p. t\q.l
 
 (lor) 
 
 lewd unnatural Intrigues, for the Prieft Confeffbr 
 
 to addrefs them fince you have beftow'd 
 
 fuch Favours upon others, beftow the fame up- 
 on me. Pope Pius the Fourth publim'd a 
 Bull againft this Practice. So Catholic it feems. 
 was the Practice grown, Pope Gregory the Fif- 
 teenth publilh'd another upon the fame Occa- 
 fion. (a) In Confequence of that exhibited by 
 Pope PiuSy in Spain all Wives and Women 
 were firstly enjoin'd to difcover before the holy 
 Tribunal within thirty Days after the faid In- 
 junction, all fuch Priefts as had thus proftituted 
 and profaned the facramental Confeffions. The 
 fevereft Cenfures and Anathema's were pronoun- 
 ced againft fuch as refufed a Difcovery. This 
 work'd upon Super/lit ion fo far, as to bring in 
 fuch Crowds to give Evidence againft the Father 
 
 a 
 
 Confeffors, that twenty Secretaries and as many 
 Inquifitors appointed to take Depofuions were 
 too few for the Purpofe. Hereupon the Lords 
 Inquifitors allow 'd thirty Days more for receiving 
 and regiftering Convictions j and when thofe 
 Days were expir'd, they found it nectflury a 
 third and a fourth Time to repeat the Line In- 
 dulgence. This was done that Perlbn? of better 
 Figure might fteal an Opportunity to confefs 
 without the Knowledge of their Hufbands, and 
 
 ^ 
 
 without routing their Jealoufy, in which how- 
 ever they very feldom tucceeded. But after fuch 
 
 Numbers 
 
 (a) Contra Sollicitantcs in Confefiiont.
 
 (I02> 
 
 Numben of ConvictioQS regularly receiv'd, and 
 legally fupported, when Judgment was expected 
 to have been iffued out by the holy Tribunal, 
 the whole Affair Was qua(ftd t and never exa- 
 min'd into, never heard of any more, (a) 
 
 To make Gain of Godlinefs, feems to be 
 the main Drift and Defign of our learn ed Ca- 
 ttcbifts Scheme. Only it would not have com- 
 ported with that View, other wile he might 
 
 likewife have inform' d' us, that in the 
 
 qtb Century > a Lady of Diftinction, a noble 
 Matron Sozomon calls her, (b) wickedly or weak- 
 b confefs'd an Intrigue that had pafs'd between 
 / arf'. -Ecc lefiaftic and herfelf, which was not a 
 proper Subject of Confeffion. This Intrigue 
 becoming public, Oh ! fatal Confeffion / gave 
 great Umbrage to poor unfanctify'd Laymen ! 
 It was thereupon adjudg'd inexpedient y that the 
 Liberty of privately confeffing Sins before the 
 Sacrament, which might bring fuch Reproach 
 upon God's Reprefentatives, mould be any 
 longer tolerated in the Church. Nor do I find 
 any Traces thereof in the Greek Churches 
 fmce; nor indeed doth our learned Author 
 plead for fuch Sacramental Confeflions. But 
 the Proteftant Reader will afk, is it not enough 
 for the Sinner to confefs to God? For the Sick 
 Perfon to reprefent his Cafe, to the fupreme 
 
 and 
 
 (a) C&aW/^'s Hifl. of Perfectt, p, 215, 
 
 (b) Sewn. Lib, 7. c. 16.
 
 and Sovereign Pbypcian? and to him 
 
 . Our learned .Author will anfwer, by 
 
 no means. As in our Courts of Juliice, being 
 acquitted by the Judge, will not rclcafe the 
 Perfon arraign'd, till he has difcharg'd the Fees 
 of the Jay/or -, fo conferTing to God {hall not 
 fave you, unlefs you humbly and penitently 
 confefs to the fried who is God's Representative / 
 And who would part with fueh an invaluable 
 fpiritual Prerogative, as that of knowing the 
 Secrets of every Family and every Soul in a Pa-* 
 rifh ? When once God's Reprefentative, the Prieft, 
 is in Poffeffion of Mens Confidences., one Step 
 more, and that but a fhort one, puts him in 
 Pofleffion of their Honour, their Virtue, their 
 Reputations, their E/lates, their Fortunes, their 
 Bodies, and their Souls all together : When EC- 
 clefiailical Prerogative runs lo high, and common, 
 Senfe ebbs fo low as to fubmit to fuch Ufurpa- 
 tions, it doth by no Means iurprize me to lee 
 your learned Friend all Extacy and Trantport ! 
 " To caft out the Devil of Luft, or to throw 
 " down the Pride of Lucifer, to beat down 
 " Satan under our Feet, or to triumph over 
 " our fpiritual Enemies, to cure a difeas'd Soul, 
 " or to keep unharm'd from the Affault of a 
 <c Temptation or the Infection of an ill E\* 
 " ample," by which he means no more th 
 to make Men fuperftitious Fools and Bigots, to 
 prevail upon them to renounce their Realba
 
 and Underftanding, and to devote themfelves 
 
 without Referve to the Will of the Priefl, 
 
 the Power to do thefe Things faith our learned 
 Author, " is much more advantageous and be- 
 " neficial to us, that is the Priefts, than the 
 " Power of working the greateft Miracles." (a) 
 Well fpoken Priefl ! So it is ! By this Craft wf 
 get our Wealth, and our Devotees loje their 
 Senfes. Pliny tells us, and 'tis probable he wrote 
 only the Language of Tradition, that if a Man 
 be wounded by a Scorpion, going forthwith and 
 whifpering in an Afs*s Ear, will relieve his Pain, 
 mitigate his Anguifh, and heal his Wound, (b) 
 Now, as your learned Friend delights much in 
 Symbolical Reprefentations, is not this a beauti- 
 ful Symbolical Image of Confeffion to the Prieft ? 
 Is the Poifon of Vice more deadly than that of 
 the Scorpion ? What is to be done, but to have 
 
 immediate Recourfe to an Ajs if you can 
 
 find one for your ghoftly Doctor ? Whifper in the 
 Ear of an Eccleftaflical Afs, the Wound is heal- 
 ed, and the Work is done i 
 
 Well, Confeffion being made Your Sins 
 
 rated according to the current Price they bear in 
 Rome's Difpenfation- Market, and all your Jpiri- 
 tual Debt* being honeftly difcharged to the 
 Prieft, Abfolution follows of Courie. ' For- 
 
 46 givenefs 
 
 (a) Cat. p. 236. 
 
 (b) Nat. Hift. Lib, 28, c, ro.
 
 105 
 
 " givencfs of Sins," faith our learned Divinity* 
 Fatfor, " is to be obtain'd in the Catholic 
 " Church, by the Miniftry of Bifhops and 
 " Priefts, who are authored Mediators and In* 
 " tercej/ors under Chrift for Men," (a) Journey- 
 men Saviours Sir, if you pleafe J " They arc 
 Cf Subftitutes and Vicegerents, binding and 
 f< loofeing, opening and (hutting with the Keys 
 <c of the Kingdom of Heaven," and the beft 
 comes laft, " their Sentence is a prejudging 
 " Forerunner of the Sentence to be paft on the 
 <c laft Day." (b) Here you fee a Man's eter- 
 nal Doom fix'd, by whom? By God? 
 No. But 'tis all the fame, by the Prieft, (jjpd's 
 Reprefentative ! God is no more than an humble 
 Executioner of the Sentence which his Reprc-* 
 fentative denounceth. The Prieft, whatever he 
 be in Name, is in Authority and Power the fu 
 preme God and fupreme Judge. His Voice is 
 a " prejudging Forerunner of the Sentence of 
 " the laft Day." If the Prieft condemn, {hall 
 God juftify ; or if the Prieft acquit, mall God 
 condemn ? Who then dare affront a Prieft, that 
 has the Keys of Heaven and Hell at his Girdle ? 
 Ye Generation of Nonjurors, Generation of 
 
 wife Men fliall I call you ? When you hear 
 
 your Prieft fay, Let us bow down and wor- 
 fhip, before the Lord QUX Judge ! Our Salvation 
 hangs on his facred Lips ! Let us ftand in Awe 
 and tremble before him ! 
 
 O This 
 
 (a) Cat. p. 165, (b) Cat, p. 85,
 
 (io6) 
 
 This Doctrine of Autboritaftw prieftly Abfo- 
 lution, is fuch an Infult upon Common Senfc, 
 as well as daring Impiety and Irreligion, that 
 even wife and virtuous Heathens have treated 
 it with fovereign Contempt and Abhorrence ! 
 Attilius ReguluSy the Roman Conful, having 
 been defeated by the Carthaginians and taken 
 Prifoner in Battle, was fent to carry Offers of 
 Peace to the Romans, having firfl been folemn- 
 ly fworn to return to the Enemy's Camp, in 
 Cafe thefc Offers were rejected. The Over- 
 tures he was fent with, being accordingly 
 rejected, the Roman High-Priefts urg'd him to 
 violhte his Oath, and offer'd to abfohc him 
 from the Guilt of Perjury. But how doth he 
 refent the Motion ? He receives it with Indig- 
 nation, and rejects it with Difdain. (a) This 
 furely he woulid never have done, had he con- 
 ceived them to have been, what our Author 
 in his new Go/pel reveals them to be 
 inverted with Power to forgive all Sin, but the 
 Sin of - deriding the Prieft and fcoffing at 
 Cod's Reprefentative, for forming fuch injolent 
 and ujurping Claims ! 
 
 Your good Friend y I am too much in Earn- 
 eft to call him your learned Friend any longer, 
 will plead that Fathers and Councils are on his 
 Side. Juft fo, have I known a Tyburn Con- 
 
 (a) Suppl. Livy. Dec, ii. L, 18, c, 62^ HOT. Lib. 3. Od. 5.
 
 (io 7 ) 
 
 feffor plead that Alexander and Cefar were as 
 great Robbers as he ! However the Truth of 
 the Fatt is granted ! The Council of Trent 
 pronounces a folemn Anathema, upon fuch as 
 deny the facramental Abfolution of the Prieft 
 to be z judicial Act. And yet, tho' all the Sa- 
 craments of Rome confer Grace ; by whofc 
 Ble fling do they confer it ? By God's ? No, but 
 by the Bleffing of the Prieftbood ! 'Tis the good 
 Intention of the Prieft that is to give EfHcacy 
 to the Administration, fays the Council of Flo- 
 rence, (a) If the Prieft be not well paid, can 
 you expect him to be well pleas' d ; and if he 
 be not well pleas' d, whatever good Words he 
 may amufe you with, you'll have Reafon to 
 fufpeft the Goodnefs of his Intention ! When 
 you come to be weigh'd in the Ballance, ac- 
 cording as the Prie/l is in good or bad Hu- 
 mour, Heaven or Hell will preponderate in the 
 Scale. Whatever you have been told before of 
 the Efficacy of Sacraments ; you may fafe- 
 
 ly believe what you are told now you 
 
 have the Word of a Council for it, and Coun- 
 cils, like Tradition, cannot err; that Sacra- 
 ments are no Sacraments, unlefs you are in 
 fuch clofe League with the Prieft as to be af- 
 fur'd of his good Intention to blcjs them. 
 
 02 To 
 
 (a) Ha:c Omnia Sacramenta tribus perficiuntur, videlicet rebus 
 tanquam Maceria, verbis tanquam Forma et Perfona miniftri con- 
 ferentis Sacrmncntum, cum Intentiont faciendi quod facit Eccle- 
 fia. Si dtfu, non pe/fkicur Sacramentum. 
 
 Lobe's Coqc. Tom 13. p. 535,
 
 (168) 
 
 To e^pofe the Abfurdity of this Doctrine, 
 it was urg'd at the Council of frent, that if a 
 
 Prieft mould want a good Intention, fuch 
 
 Catholic Priefts there were in thofe Days, what- 
 ever there may be in ours ! all the Sacra- 
 ments he adminifters, muft want the facr amen- 
 ta! Efficacy. If he baptizes Children, or ab- 
 folves Penitents j fuch Eaptifm is no Baptifm, 
 fuch Absolution is no Abjblution t confequently 
 thofe who are cursed with his Admin iftration, 
 dying unbaptiz'd, or unabfolv'd, muft be loft 
 for ever ! Nay, if an Infant, that receives fuch 
 unintentional Baptifm^ mould afterwards be- 
 come a Eifkop ; as many as he ordains, have a 
 Nullity ftamp'd upon all their Adminflrations ; 
 fo that Millions may eternally perifi, thro* 
 the Conduct of one Jingle Prieft, in one fingle 
 Inftance only ! But all fuch Arguments as thefe 
 were ealily overut'd, tho' not fo eafily anfwer'd. 
 The Council was under the Pope's abfolute Di- 
 rection ; which occafioned this bold Pafyui- 
 nade upon it, that the Synod was guided in 
 all its Decifions by the Holy Ghoft, fent thither 
 from Time to Time in a Cloak- bag from 
 Rome, (a) 
 
 But to return to our Author. I have one 
 very ccnfiderable Objection againft his Doc- 
 trine that the Sentence pronounced by his 
 
 Catholic 
 
 (a) Father Paufs Counc. of Trent, p. 497.
 
 Catholic Prieft, " (hall be a prejudging Forc- 
 " runner of the Sentence pafs'don the laftDay." 
 If Chriftianity be in the Right, he muft be in 
 the Wrong. 'Tis not Cbrift's Vicars, God's 
 Reprefenfatives, the Prime Stewards of his Re~ 
 venues, the Chief M afters of his Hou/hold arid 
 his Almoner^ but another Sort of Men> Men 
 of a very different Character and Complexi- 
 on, 'Tis the Saints that muft judge the 
 
 World. But if this refers only to Civil Judi- 
 catories by Chriftian Magiftrates, oar Author 
 no doubt, will ftill maintain his Church Pre- 
 rogative^ of fitting as fupreme Judge of the 
 
 World : mould we then appeal to the Bar 
 
 of God t rather than to the Tribunal of the 
 Prieft^ who knows but we may fubject our- 
 felves to a Premunire for appealing to a fo- 
 reign Jurifdidlion ? 
 
 Be it afk'd what Family are thefe Priefts of, 
 \vhofe irreverfible Decrees fix and direct the 
 Sentence of the laft Day ? The Catecbift anfwers 
 roundly, t{ From ye/us we have an uninterrnp- 
 tl ted Chain of Bimops, the Sttcceffors of the A- 
 <l poftles down to this Time." (a) The Line of 
 
 Succeffion is as ft rait as a Ram's Horn, and 
 
 ranting Fanaficks add, as oft broke into, and 
 indented. However let them glory in the Name 
 of the Apoftles Succeffors, as well as of God's 
 Refrefentatives ! Did You ever read of a Pope 
 
 who 
 
 Cat. p, 47,
 
 (no) 
 
 who directed a Painter to Draw him Peter 
 and Paul> and exert all the Force of his 
 Genius on the Occafion. The Painter draws 
 them with a ftrong Vermillion Blufh in their 
 Faces. And had They fays the holy Father 
 fuch ruddy Complexions as thefe ? No, re- 
 ply's the Virtuojb, but were they here riotv, 
 to fee what a Ragamuffin Race fet up for their 
 Succeffbrs, they would blufh with Surprize and 
 Slftonijhment as thefe Piffures do ! I leave Your 
 ' Friend and his uninterrupted-Succeffion Tribe to 
 apply this. We have known the Times Sir, 
 Times that You and Your Party ftill adore, 
 when it was the Language of one who call'd 
 himfelf a Proteftant Divine, one of the Paul's 
 Coppock's, or Clytns of that Age, that if 
 the Devil bimfelf was to put on holy Order s^ he 
 would be injpird of the Holy Gho/i. (a) From 
 the whole Turn of our Author's Sentiments, I 
 queftion, if it were put to him, whether he 
 would not aflert the fame ! 
 
 Praying for the Dead brings in a frefh Flow 
 of Treafures to the Church, and therefore muft 
 be^another fundamental Article in the new Gof- 
 pel, this Gentleman would eftablifh. " The 
 " Dead pray for us, and why mould we not 
 <c pray for the Dead ? Surely one good Turn 
 requires another ! But mould it be afk'd, how 
 
 know 
 
 (a) Emanl. Utty. D. D. Vid, Century of fcandalous and 
 lewd Minitlers, p. 2, 1643.
 
 (II!) 
 
 know you that the "Dead pray for us ? ^*- 
 You have our Author's Word for it in his Cj- 
 techifm > and who, but a Heretic, can difpute 
 the infallible Word of an infallible Prieft or 
 Bifiop? The Authority of Tradition itfelf is 
 not more venerable and facred than the Autho- 
 rity of this our Tradition Believer! " The 
 cc Saints," faith he, " pray for us more after 
 " their Death than before." Did he, think 
 you, ever fee or hear them at their Devotions in 
 the other World ? Has he any Correfpondence 
 with the Saints there ? Whatever he may have 
 with the Saints of Rome, 'tis prefum'd he has 
 none with the Saints of Heaven. 
 
 Another Argument in Juftification of praying 
 
 for the Dead is, that it was the Practice among 
 
 the Antient Jews. That I deny, and call upon 
 
 our Author to prove it. It fliall be done 
 
 * - as follows. Mofesjorbids the Jews offer- 
 ing Oblations for, (or to) the Dead-, (a) or, 
 in other Words, he warns them againft apofta~ 
 tizing- into the Idolatry of the Gentiles, among 
 whom it was ufual to facrifke to their dead 
 Idols, or Hero Gods-, therejore praying for 
 the Dead is a Duty prefcrib'd in the Jeivifb 
 Inftitution. Now Sir permit me to illuftrate 
 the Force of this Reafoning by one or two/>#- 
 ralell Inftances. God fays to Mofes thou fliall 
 have no other God but me ; therefore Ido- 
 latry 
 
 (a} Dcut. 26. 14,
 
 (112) 
 
 iafry is of divine Appointment. Thou fhali 
 
 not worfhip any graven Image ; therefore 
 
 bowing to an Idol's Shrine is paying Obedience 
 to the Commands of Heaven. Was our Au- 
 thor think you, pupill'd by a learned Divine^ 
 (not a fanatic one, Jor it is a Cafe that has 
 been argrfd in Councils^) who could prove the 
 Illegality of Commendams, and Nonrejtdences y 
 from any one Text in his Bible ? Once he was 
 to entertain his Audience with a Difcourfe up- 
 on this, you will expect me to call it proli- 
 fic^ rather than barren Subject ; Abraham 
 begat Ifaac . After having difplay'd much ge~ 
 nealogical Learning, and holy Zeal over his 
 Text, he inferred from it, and fo natural was 
 the Inference that any one of your venerable 
 Church Deaconeffes would have infer r'd the 
 
 fame, the Unlawfu/nffs of Nonrefidences. 
 
 For how mould Abraham have begat Ifaac, 
 had he not been a Rejident with his Wife Sa- 
 rah? Our Catechift*s Reafoning, has more of 
 the marvellous in it than this, tho' I can by no 
 Means allow it: to be as clear and conclujtve ! 
 
 Some other Authorities, Scripture ones he 
 calls them, he has deduced out of the Apocry- 
 phal Writings. In Imitation of the Council of 
 Trent, he has fcifted the Apocrypha into the 
 Sacred Canon, tho', as might be fhewn at 
 large, all antient Councils and Authorities are 
 
 again (I
 
 I ("3) 
 
 againft him. (aj 'Tis prefum'd, that with the 
 Council of Trent likewife, he'll curje and a- 
 nathematize all fuch as refufe to receive thefc 
 Books as canonical Scriptures, and to believe 
 the Legends they contain to be, like his own 
 Catechijm^ the Language of a Divine Revela- 
 tion. But what has he advanc'd from them in 
 Defence of Praying for the Dead ? The firfl 
 Text he has urg'd bids as fairly to prove the 
 Divinity of the Alcoran, or the Truth of 
 Tranfub/tantiation, as it doth to prove the 
 Point he would eftablim. The next Authori- 
 ty he adduces, is taken out ofihefecond Book 
 of Maccabees; a fpurious Performance, com- 
 
 pil'd by an unknown Hand, by a Writer, 
 
 whoever he be, of no Reputation. But be the 
 Hi/tory wrote by whom it will, it is probable 
 that the Paragraph refer'd to is an Interpola- 
 tion. Jofephus, in his Account of the Defeat 
 of the Jamnites, never mentions the FacT: of 
 Judas, now under Confideration, as 'tis highly 
 probable he would, had the Hiftory of it been 
 authentic. But allowing our Author to make 
 the moft of the Paflage that he can ; the Pray- 
 ers and Sacrifices there mention'd, might be of- 
 fer'd and feem to be offer'd for Sin, as that 
 might be hurtful to the living, as was the Sin 
 
 of Achan. Yet after all fuch Apocryphal 
 
 Authority is of as little Weight with a Man 
 
 P who 
 
 
 (a) Vide Cofins's Canon.
 
 (*) 
 
 ivho is guided by Common Senfe, as the Autho- 
 rity of your Friend's Tradition Bible. 
 
 But St. Paul who was no Apocryphal Wri- 
 ter, exhorts that Eucbarifts be made for all 
 Men, and Supplications for all Saints ; therefore 
 infers our Author, St. P#&/ recommends it to 
 us to pray for the Dead. What then, doth 
 St. Paid mean that we mould pray for Dead 
 Kings that are in Authority, as well as for 
 the Living ones that are ? Doth he mean that 
 we mould lead quiet and peaceable Lives under 
 the Government of dead Kings, as well as under 
 the Government of the Living? According to 
 our Author he doth ; and you know Sir, Infal- 
 libility cannot be miftaken. Should any Per- 
 ibn of Diftindtion call in all the Phyficians in 
 Manchejler to join in a Confultation upon his 
 Cafe, would not you underfland that he meant 
 to fummon all the dead Phyficians, as well as 
 all the living to attend him ? All thofe whofe 
 Bodies lie rotting in the Ground, as well as 
 any others whofe Names rot above it ? I take 
 all becoming Confulion to myfelf, unable any 
 longer to combat fuch Catholic Church-De- 
 monjlration as this. 
 
 Another Piece of Artillery our Catechi/l 
 brings out of his Catholic Arfenal, to batter 
 down Herefy and eftablifli Prayer for the Dead, 
 is that Text in St. Jebn, " There is a Sin un- 
 " to Death, I do not fay you fliall pray for 
 
 4CC 
 
 Jt.
 
 c< it." Becaufe there is a very heinous ag- 
 gravated Sin, called here a Sin unto Death t 
 which we are not bound by Precept to pray 
 for ; therefore we are to pray for the Dead. 
 Remarkable are the Words of our learned Light- 
 foot, referring to this very Text. " When" 
 fays he " I fee thefe Men's Annotations on thig 
 < c Scripture, they often put me in Mind of 
 " Bfnbadad's Servant with Ropes about their 
 " Necks, catching at. any Word that fell from 
 c< the King of Ifrael's Mouth, that might be 
 " of any Advantage to their forlorn and loft 
 " Caufe and Condition. Thefe Men's popifk 
 " Caufe, has had the Rope about its Neck now 
 " a long Time, and been in a loft and for- 
 <c lorn Cafe ; and I cannot tell whether I 
 " fhould laugh or frown, to fee what pitiful 
 " Shifts and fhameful Scrambling they make 
 <{ for it, by catching at any Word or Syllable 
 " in the Scriptures or Fathers, and wrefling, 
 " and twifting, and twineing it to any feeming 
 " or colourable Advantage to their condemned 
 " Caufe, to fave it from Execution. 
 
 <e Certainly they are at a very hard Pinch for 
 " Proof of praying for the Dead, when they 
 " make fuch a Scraping in this Portion of 
 * c Scripture to rake it out thence ; whereas the 
 <c Words are as far from meaning the Living 
 " praying for the Dead, as the Dead praying 
 " for the Living: 1 (a.) 
 
 P 2 But 
 
 {a) JLightfoot's Works Vol. 2. p, 1094;
 
 (u6) 
 
 But if we muft pray for the Dead, what are 
 the proper Seafons for this Kind of Devotion ? 
 Our Author anfwers : <{ If you would cornrne- 
 " morale any of the faithful departed in as fo- 
 " lemn and particular Manner, let it be done 
 " with Almfgiving, on the third, ninth> and 
 <c fortieth Day after the Perfon's Deceafe, 
 " and on the Anniverfary Day of his or her 
 " Death." We are told that our Pagan An- 
 ce/lors in this L-and, and Herodotus gives 
 the fame Account of fome other Nations, 
 as foon as any of their Friends were dead, 
 inftead of consigning them to their Mother 
 Earth, as a Prey to Worms, feafled themfelves 
 upon their Remains, which they look'd upon 
 as an Act of great Piety and Devotion. With 
 great Solemnity they invited their moft inti- 
 mate Friends to feed with them upon the Bo-* 
 dies of their dead Relations, to regale them- 
 felves with a Fricafee, cook'd out of the Re- 
 mains of a dead Neighbour, Father, or Bro- 
 ther, (aj Our Gatechijt's Prayers for the Dead, 
 have not that /avage Complexion which this 
 Kind of Devotion wears, but they are equally 
 indefeniible and fuperftitious. He has not 
 thought it expedient to entertain his Readers 
 with the Reaions alledg'd by the Daughters of 
 Superftition in Favour of the Periodical Devo- 
 tions mentioned above. However as I find 
 
 the 
 
 (a) Mum's Funeral Ceremonies,
 
 the fame Practice in the Greek Churches, and 
 the Reafons urg'd by them in Support of the 
 Practice, I'll beg Leave to fupply our Author's 
 Omiflion. 
 
 Their third Day's Devotions for the Dead, 
 are perform'd for two Reafons. _. Firft, in 
 Confideration that the Dead Body in that /Space 
 of Time, begins to. change, its Form and Fea- 
 tures ; and next becaufe our Saviour rofe from 
 the Dead on the Third 'Day. Their Prayers 
 on the Ninth Day after a. Perfon's Deceafe are 
 offer'd, fay they, became by that Time the 
 whole Body, excepting the Heart only, which 
 was the chief . Seat and Inftrument of the vi- 
 tal Functions, is grown putrifv'd and noifome ; 
 and likewife Prayers are. renewed then, becaufe 
 one of the Times our Saviour appeared to his 
 Difciples, when he had rofe from the Dead, 
 was on the Ninth Pay after his /aid Refurrec- 
 tion ; and the Solemnities of the fortieth Day 
 are perform'd, becaufe, then the Heart and the 
 whole Body is become corrupt and putrified \ and 
 becaufe alfo our Saviour afcended to Heaven 
 the fortieth Day after his Refurrection. (a) 
 If our Author will not abide by thefe Reafons, 
 for the Practice he recommends, I call upon 
 him, to afOgn ivorfe if he can y for I defp.iir as 
 to his afligning any better. If this be Religion, 
 
 I no 
 
 (a) Muret's Funeral Ceremonies,
 
 ("9) 
 
 I no more wonder at the Turks, who reverence 
 Idiots and Madmen, as Saints and Prophets'. 
 
 Sir John Chardin, in his Travels to Per/ia, 
 gives us an Account of fome Funeral Ceremo- 
 nies of the Mingretians, in the County of Col- 
 &is. One of them is _ to perform, after 
 the Manner of our Author, Acts of Devotion 
 over the Dead on the fortieth Day after his 
 Deceaie. Their Motives to this Practice are 
 very fub/lantial zndfolid. I'll not prefume to 
 fay that our Author's are the fame. After fomc 
 Jrantic Lamentations, that infpire indifferent 
 Spectators with Pity and Horror, and which 
 are continued till the fortieth Day after the 
 Perfons Deceafe, that being the appointed Day 
 for his Interment ; the Bifhop fays Mafs over 
 him, and then moft devoutly /eizeth on his 
 Horfe, Wearing Apparel, Plate, and every 
 Thing he left behind him, and appropriates, 
 or, if you like the Expreffion better, con fe crates 
 the whole to his own immediate Service, (a) 
 Thus the Goods which the deceafed has left be- 
 hind him, become the Property of God's Re- 
 prefentative -, and the more there is left for 
 God's Reprefentatiw the better I I appeal to our 
 Author, whether this is not, upon his own 
 Principles, pure, primitive Religion ! 
 
 The next Thing I would take Notice of in 
 your Friend's tradition Go (pel is, the Zeal he 
 
 exprefles 
 
 (a) Chardtn's Travels, p. 105;
 
 (120) 
 
 cxpreflcs for the Commands of the Church. 
 " You are to obferve the Laws of the Catholic 
 " Church, and all the Rubrics and Canons of 
 * e the particular Church of which you are Mem- 
 " bers ; and befides thefe general Laws, you are 
 <c to regard the following particular Commands : 
 
 <c . To abftain from eating Blood; to offer 
 
 " to God our Tythes, Firft Fruits, and volun- 
 <c tary Oblations; to obferve the Feafts and 
 <c Fafts of the Church ; to offer and receive 
 <e the Eucharift every Holy Day, at leaft not 
 " to omit any of the great Fcftivals ; and to 
 " pray (landing on all Sundays, and every Day 
 " between Eafter and Penteco/t" (a) The ho- 
 neft Proteftant will afk, will it not be fuffici- 
 ent for -a Man if he endeavours to pay a fincere 
 and uniform Regard to the Commands of Goo 1 ; 
 tho' he mould be a Stranger, or even an Infi- 
 del as to the Commands of the Church ? Cannot 
 God fave me without the Church's Confent, or 
 the Church*s Interpoftion ? But let the Quari/l 
 confider, who fhould the Church be, but the 
 Priefls ; and who are the Priefls ', but God's Re~ 
 prefentatiiies ? In an Affair of fuch Importance 
 therefore 'tis neither /afe nor prudent, to fay no 
 more, to run any Hazards. *Hndal y one of our 
 firfl Reformers, whofe Tranflation of the Bible 
 into Englijfb, was burnt in Queen Mary's Reign, 
 by tfie Hands of the Common Hangman, difput- 
 ing with a learned Papift, and mewing him 
 
 that 
 
 (a) Cat. p, 60;
 
 ( 120 ) 
 
 that Popery was a mofl horrid Corruption of 
 Chriftianity ; his Adverfary replies, ive had bet- 
 ter be without God's Laws, than without the 
 Pope's Laws. And would not your Catholic 
 Friend were he put to it, as roundly affert, 
 that we had better negleft God's Commands, than 
 negledt the Commands of the Church. I make- 
 no Doubt but he- would. One of thefe Com- 
 mands I would briefly animadvert upon at pre- 
 fent, that is, the fecond. The Catechi/l and 
 his Difciple talk thus. 
 
 <J. What Refpedl are we oblig'd to pay to 
 God, befides worfhipping him with our Hearts 
 and Mouths? 
 
 A. We are to Honour him with our Subflance. 
 
 4J. What Part of our Income mufl we offer 
 to him? 
 
 A. The Tythe or Tenth Part. 
 
 <$>. What mufl we offer to God befides ? 
 
 A. The Firft Fruits of all our Increafe. 
 
 >. What doth God expeft from us befides ? 
 
 A. That we mould offer him fomething of 
 our own Free- Will. 
 
 ^ How much, and when ? 
 
 A. The more and the of tern r the better.
 
 (121) 
 
 ^. To whom are thefe Tythes, Ftrjl Fruits^ 
 and Oblations to be offer'd ? 
 
 A. To God's Reprefentatives, his Prie/ls. (a) 
 
 Here Sir you fee, that what is given to the 
 Prieft, is given to the Lord, and that the Prieft, 
 like him whole Reprefentative he is, loveth a 
 chearful and liberal Giver. The Tenth Part 
 of all your Revenues is but a fmall Matter to 
 give him. The Fir/I fruits of all your In- 
 creafe is fomething better,; but it is your vo- 
 luntary Oblations that muft crown all. For 
 your Comfort, you cannot err by giving too 
 much, even tho' you give away more than your 
 all ; for the more and the oftmer you give, the 
 better. Your Offspring, your Family, your 
 Creditors may not blefs you for it ; but the 
 Prieft will. 
 
 The Ecclefiaftical Flrft Fruits, that is, the 
 Jirft Years Profits of Bi(hoprics and Benefices 
 after their Avoidance, as they ftand rated in the 
 King s Book, was formerly in this Kingdom 
 paid to the Pope, but alienated to the Crown. 
 at the Reformation. Queen Anne^ in the third 
 Year of her Reign, fettled the Revenue ariiing 
 from fuch Fir ft Fruits^ and Tenths, as a per- 
 petual Fund for the Augmentation of poor Liv~ 
 tngs, and the better Maintenance of the poorer 
 
 Oat. p. 62, (13,
 
 ( 122) 
 
 Clergy, whereby they have once more reverted 
 to the Church. This Grant,, however ujeful 
 it may be at prefent ; fhould it always be con- 
 tinued, the Confequences that may arife from 
 
 it in future Ages, I dread to mention; 
 
 but you, and your Catholic Friend will mention 
 with Pleafure. Nothing lefs it feems will fatisfy 
 his Appetite, and a voracious one it is, than the 
 Tythes and firft Fruits of all our PoffefTions. 
 
 Nor are thofe alone fufficient j , when he has 
 
 fleec'd his Flock, by 'Tythes and Jirft Fruits-, 
 
 next they are to devote the Remainder of 
 
 their Subilance to him, in voluntary Oblations. 
 This Gentleman's Stomach would digeft Church 
 Revenues, as a Wolf would Lambs, or a Kite 
 
 Chickens. I truft Sir, I can fafely pro- 
 
 phefy, that his Wifhes will never be fully gra- 
 tify 'd in Britain, At Paraguay, in South A- 
 merica, the Miffionary Jefuits have a Settle- 
 ment that muft be moft excellently adapted to 
 our Catech[/ls Taft. Thither I would recom- 
 mend it to him to tranfport himfelf, and if he 
 pleafes, he may take his R-y-1 Mafter, France's 
 political Foot- ball with him. This Settlement, 
 which is computed to contain two Millions of 
 Indians, is divided into 42 petty Principalities, 
 govern'd by that Number of Ecclefiaftical So- 
 vereigns, who are both Priefts and Kings. It 
 abounds with Sheep and bkck Cattle, Timber, 
 Corn, Pulfe, Flax, Cotton, Indigo, Sugar, and 
 Fruit, and with Silver and Gold Mines, tho' 
 
 it
 
 ( 1*3 ) 
 
 it feems the Gho/tly Fathers will not own the 
 latter. The Inhabitants, whom they have 
 in the moft abject and abfolute VafTalage, 
 have no Property of their own, and nothing 
 allow'd them but Food and Rayment. Not- 
 withftanding this, they are an active and labo- 
 rious People. They bring all the Produce of 
 the Mines ; all the Provifiona of the Land ; 
 and all the Manufactures they work, into EC- 
 clefiajlicalWarehoiifes appointed to receive them. 
 Not even a Chicken of his own Rearing^ is a 
 poor Slave fuffer'd to eat, unlefs it be cater'd 
 out to him in the Courfe of the Church- royal 
 Allowance. The Trade thefe Holy Fathers 
 carry on at the Expence of their Slaves, and 
 the Re-venue it brings them, not to mention the 
 Gold Duft gathered by the Indians, out of the 
 Wafhes, when the Rivers ebb, is incredible. 
 To keep thefe Slaves in Obedience, as well as to 
 guard againft Livafions, they have a large ftand- 
 ing Military Force, and a right Reverend Ge- 
 neralijfimo to head them. In a Week's Time 
 they can collect an Army of 60,000 Troops, 
 to fight the Battles of the Pnejl and the 
 Lord, againft all Enemies or Invaders, (a) 
 Now 5Vr, would not our right Reverend Ca- 
 techi/l think you, relifh fuch a Settlement as 
 this, where he need not preach up Tytbes, 
 fir ft Fruits, and voluntary Oblations, becaufe, 
 
 all 
 
 (a) Betagh's Voyaj-e ">'"* the World 1719. p. 3*3.
 
 di the Treafures of the Land, and all the ta- 
 bour of its Inhabitants, are the Inheritance of 
 Catholic Priefls, and their Subjefts have nothing 
 but the Sweat of their Brows which they can 
 call their own ? What pure Orthodox Religion 
 muft that be, which would conftitute him a 
 
 Royal Prieft ? Were he advanced to fuch 
 
 hurcb Royalty as this, and who knows but 
 
 he may, if he tries; the Scene would be 
 
 probably chang'd, and God muft then become 
 the Pr^e/i s Representative, inftead of the Priefts 
 cpndefcending to be God's! 
 
 In the Kingdom of Pegu in the Eaft, the 
 fuperftitious Inhabitants worfhip the Devil, 
 and offer their Addreffes to him by the Medi- 
 ation of the Prieft, whom they call, not as 
 our Catecbift doth, God's Reprefentative, but 
 the Devil's father, (a) Our Author will con- 
 clude, that thefe Idolaters are very much out in 
 their Church Heraldry, and derogate much from 
 the Dignity of his Heaven.born Extraction ; and 
 yet I confefs a Devil that is to be blown orjir'a' 
 out of his Dominions* one can fcarce forbear 
 inferring, that he is created only to Jerve a 
 Turn ; and is, as the Inhabitants of Pegu fug- 
 geft, a Devil of the Catholic Pri eft's own be- 
 getting. 
 
 In 
 
 [ (a) Atl, A(U p. 66a.
 
 ( "5 ) 
 
 In fome of the preceding Pages it has been 
 obferv'd, that Baptifm gives God a Property in 
 his Creatures, which he had not before. Now 
 we come to Excommunication, which according 
 to our Author is an Ecclefiaftical Rite, that 
 robs God of all Property in his Creatures, and 
 makes them the Property of the Devil. This 
 fays he, <c is difcinguifhed by the Names of 
 " total Separation, and Anathema or Curfe, it 
 " being the greateft Curfe that can be laid 
 " upon Man," and in relation to it, he otv 
 ferves, that " cafting out of the Church" 
 more Myfteries or Sacraments flill ! "is an I- 
 <c mage of cafting out of Paradife, and to be 
 < paralell'd with it, that when a Man is ex- 
 <e communicated out of one Church, he is ex- 
 " communicated out of all ; and any Church 
 *' that receives an excommunicated Perfon de- 
 <e Jerves the very fame Sentence ;" that is, a- 
 ny Church that receives a Perfon that has been 
 devoted to the Devil, when the Devil rejufes 
 to receive him, dejerves to be given to the De- 
 vil itfelf. (a) " When Perfons are thus excom- 
 " municited, they are not only excluded from 
 " Communion in facred Things, but are to be 
 " fhunn'd and avoided in civil Commerce and 
 <c ordinary Conversion j no one is to receive 
 *' them into^ their Houfes or eat at the fame 
 
 Tuble 
 
 (a) Catech. p. 406.
 
 (126) 
 
 tc Table with them ; they are not to converfe 
 <c with them familiarly whilft living, nor per- 
 " form the Funeral Obfequies for them when 
 
 *' dead : . They can neither have a Chrifti- 
 
 <c an Burial, nor a Chriftian Commemoration 
 " among thofe who are departed in the true 
 ct Faith and Unity of the Church." This 
 dreadful Sentence of Excommunication which 
 our humane and benevolent Author bandies a- 
 bout, feems to be but a new Edition of the old 
 Pagan Excommunication, practis'd in this Land 
 by the Britifo Druids, as related by Cefar. 
 " This Punimment" fays he " is, of all 
 <e others the moft dreadful, for they who lie 
 " under* the Sentence of Excommunication, are 
 " number'd among the moft reprobate and a- 
 " bandon'd : All mun them and fly from them 
 " as from a Peftilence, leaft they mould be 
 " tainted with the Infection. They are ex- 
 <e eluded from all the Privileges, and from the 
 " Protection of Law, and from all the Ho- 
 " nours of the State," (a) But fevere as this 
 Pagan Excommunication was, our Catholic 
 Chriftian' s is much feverer of the two. This 
 Ecclefiaftical thunderbolt as hurFd about by our 
 
 Author 
 
 (a) Sacrificiis interdicunt. Hsec Psena apud eos e(l gra- 
 
 viffima, quibus ita eft imerdiclum ii Numero Itnpiorum ac Sce- 
 leratorum habentur, iis omnes decedunt, aditumq; eorum fermo- 
 nemq; defugiunt, ne quid ex Contagione incommodi accipiant, 
 neque iis petentibus jus redditur, neque Honos ullus communica- 
 tur.
 
 has in former Times been a dreadful 
 Inftrument in the Hands of fpiritual Tyrants. 
 However, blefleci be God and the Reformation 
 for it j amongft Pro tell ants 'tis confider'd at 
 prefent.only as rufty Armor, fitter for Parade 
 than Service ; fitter to be hung up in Ter- 
 ror, than to do any great Execution. But a- 
 mongft our Cafecbiji's Difciples, I am inclin'd 
 to believe it may have its Ufe ftill. It may 
 contribute to preferve and increafe that Spirit 
 of Devotion to Wooden Gods and Wooden Shoes, 
 and Prie/ls more Wooden than either, which 
 this Gentleman would propagate. 'Tis hard to 
 account upon any other Footing, how fo fo- 
 lemn an Admirer of early Church Antiquity t as 
 our Author profeffes himfelf to be, mould be 
 for the Eftablimment of this Kind of Church 
 Difcipline^ which boafts of no fuch Antiquity 
 tf> recommend it; for I find no Tracks of it in 
 the Chriflian Church, till near 200 Years 
 after Chrift Pope ViBor made Ufe of it as an 
 Ecclefiaftical Racket, wherewith to play off the 
 Bali of Contention. 
 
 Should it be afk'd what black and atrocious 
 Crimes thofe Perfons have been guilty of, a- 
 gainft whom your Friend's Catholic Fathers, the 
 Popes of Rome y have from Time to Time pro- 
 nounced this dreadful Sentence ? Why truly 
 
 their Crimes have been fuch as thefe : 
 
 Celebrating Rafter on a wrong Day ; Want of 
 Orthodoxy in the Cut of the Beard - t being 
 
 guilty
 
 (128) 
 
 guilty of fhilofipbicalHereJy, in maintaining the 
 Doctrine of Antipodes j transferring a Branch 
 of Trade from one Country to another. Thefe, 
 and ten thoufand more fuch Sins as thefe, have 
 from Time to Time provok'd the Catholic 
 High Priefts of Rome, to devote obftinate OfYen- 
 cnders, that is, thofe who will not, or cannot 
 buy Grace and Par 'don , without Pity and with- 
 out Redemption to the Devil ! No Hell then 
 like an empty Purfe ; that fhuts all the Bowels 
 of the Catholic Priefl's Compaffion, and opens 
 all the Sluices of Perdition, to pour down 
 Floods of eternal and relentlefs Vengeance upon 
 the poor penny Jefs Sinner! 
 
 By the Ecclefiaftical Laws of this Realm^ 
 Excommunicated Perfons are not allowed Chrifti- 
 an Burial. In the Days when Monkery and Su~ 
 perftition reign'd like Twin Sifters, or rathar 
 rag'd like baleful Meteors without Controul in 
 our Land ; thole who died under the Sentence 
 of Excommunication had their Bodies caft into 
 a Ditch, or cover'd with a Heap of Stones, 
 which according to Hoveden they calPd Imblo- 
 care Corpus. In thofe Times it was the facred 
 Language of Tradition, and Tradition like its 
 nurfing Father the Pope cannot errj that fuch 
 Bodies, however expos'd to the Weather, could 
 not perifh, but would continue incorruptible, 
 as dreadful Monuments of the Divine Venge- 
 ance, that overtook the Contumacious Of-
 
 fenders, (a) Abfurd and extravagant as fuel? 
 Pretenfions were, yet mould your Friend's Ca- 
 tholic Faith ever become eftablifhed in our Land, 
 it would not all furprize me, to fee him plead- 
 ing Tradition and Antiquity in fupport of ths 
 fame Priefl-tvor/hip Superftition. 
 
 Whilft I am upon this Subject, a Subject 
 that muft be very grateful to the Catechift's 
 *Taft, as Church Power and Authority appear 
 to be the darling Idols he wor flips : I would 
 beg Leave to tranfcribe, a Very holy and piou$ 
 Form of Excommunication us'd in the Church 
 of Rome. It was wrote by Ernuflus the 5;- 
 fiop, one of the Succe/ors of the Apoftles in the 
 uninterrupted Line, tho* indeed one would fcarce 
 imagine fo, from his meek and merciful Spirit. 
 A Tranjlatlon of it (which I mail make Ufe of 
 here, with fome little Variation) was publim'd 
 in feveral Papers in 1745. It is to be met 
 with, not only in Sir Henry Spetmatfs Gloffary, 
 but like wife in the Leger Book of the Church 
 of Rocbe/ter, now in Cuftody of the Deari 
 and Chapter there. 
 
 The Account given of the Original Occafion 
 of it is this : An Allom Worker that belong'd 
 to his tiolinefs the Pope's Allom Works, was 
 brought over to f,ngland ) who difcover'd the 
 Secrets of that Trade to the Evglifk Nation, 
 
 R fe 
 
 () M&tth.
 
 ( 13) 
 
 In vengeful Commemoration whereof, the At- 
 lorn Workers, Englifh ones my Author muft 
 mean, aremoft devoutly curs'd one certain Day 
 in the Year as follows. 
 
 By the Authority of God Almighty, Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghoft $ and of the Holy Ca- 
 nons ; and of the immaculate Virgin Mary, 
 the Mother and Patronefs of our Saviour ; and 
 of all the Celedial Virtues, Angels, Archang- 
 els, Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Cherubims, 
 and Seraphims j and of all the Holy Patriarchs, 
 and Prophets ; and of all the Apoftles and E- 
 vangelifts 5 and of the Holy Innocents, who in 
 Sight of the Holy Lamb, are found worthy 
 to fmg the new Song j of the Holy Martyrs, 
 and Holy Confeflbrs; and of the Holy Virgins j 
 and of all the Saints ; and together with all the 
 Holy and Elect of God j we excommunicate and 
 anathematize this Thief, or this Malefactor N. 
 And from the Threfholds of the Holy Church 
 of God Almighty, we fequefter him, that he 
 fnay be tormented, difpos'd, and deliver'd over 
 with Dathan and Abiram, and with thofe who 
 fay unto the Lord God, depart from us, <we 
 de/ire not to kmw thy 'ways. And as Fire is 
 quenched with Water, fo let the Light of him 
 be put out for evermore, unlefs it (hall repent 
 him, and he make Satisfaction. Amen. 
 
 May God the Father who created Man, 
 curfe him. May the Son who fuffer'd for us, 
 
 curfe
 
 ('3') 
 
 curfe him. May the Holy Ghoft who was 
 given for us in Baptifm, curfe him. May the 
 Holy Crofs, which Chrift for our Salvation 
 triumphing over, afcended, curfe him. May 
 the Holy and Eternal Virgin Mary, Mother of 
 God, curfe him. May St. Michael, the Ad- 
 vocate of Holy Souls, curfe him. May St. 
 John the Chief Forerunner and Baptift of 
 Chrift, curfe him. May St. Peter, St. Paul, 
 and St. Andrew, and all other Chrift's Apof- 
 tles, together with the reft of his Difciples, and 
 four Evangelifts, curfe him. May the Holy 
 and wonderful Company of Martyrs and Con- 
 fefTors, who by their Holy Works are found 
 pleafmg to God, curfe him. May the holy 
 Choir of the holy Virgins, who for the Honour 
 of Chrift have defpis'd the Things of the 
 World, curfe him. May all the Saints, who 
 from the Beginning of the World to Everluft- 
 ing Ages, are found to be the Beloved of God, 
 curfe him. May the Heaven and Earth, and 
 all the holy Things therein remaining, curfe 
 him. May he be curs'd wherever he be, whe- 
 ther in the Houfe ; or in the Field ; or in the 
 Highway ; or in the Path ; or in the Wood ; 
 or in the Water ; or in the Church. May he 
 be curs'd in Living; in Dying; in Eating; in 
 Drinking ; in being Hungry ; in being Thirfty ; 
 in Fading; in Sleeping; iii Slumbering; in 
 Waking; in Walking; in Standing; in Sit- 
 ting ; in Lying; in Working ; in Refting ; 
 
 R 2
 
 Here for Decencfs Sake I fubftitute the Or- 
 ginal y in the room of the Translation, - 
 iningendo cacando t and in Blood-letting. May 
 he be curs'd in all the Powers of his Body. 
 May he be curs'd within and without. May 
 he be curs'd in the Hair of his Head. May 
 he be curs'd in his Brain. May he be curs'd 
 in the Crown of his Head ; in his Temples j 
 in his Forehead ; in his Ears j in his Eye- 
 brows; in his Cheeks; in his Jawbones; in. 
 his Noftrils ; in his Foreteeth or Grinders ; in 
 his Lips ; in his Throat ; in his Shoulders ; in 
 his Wrifts ; in his Arms ; in his Hands ; in his 
 jFingers ; in his Bread; in his Heart; and in 
 all the interior Parts to the very Stomach ; in 
 his Reins ; in his Groin ; in his Thighs ; in 
 his Genitals ; in his Hips; in his Knees ; in 
 his Legs ; in his Feet ; in his Joints ; and in 
 his Nails. May he be curs'd- in the whole 
 Structure of his Members. From the Crown 
 of his Head to the Sole of his Foot, may there 
 be no Soundnefs in him. May the Son of the 
 Living God, with all the Glory of his Ma- 
 jefty, curie him ; and may Heaven with all the 
 Powers that move therein, rile againft him to 
 damn him, unlefs he (hall repent and make fulj. 
 Satisfaction. Amen* Amen* So be it. (a) 
 
 This Excommunication, Mutatis 
 is to be apply'd to one or more, or to any 6- 
 
 ther 
 
 (a) Spelra. Gloflf. p. 206,
 
 ( '33 ) 
 
 ther Occafion, as well as that recited above. 
 Here we have a flagrant Inftance of the Spirit 
 of the Catholic Church of Rome t and I 
 wifli there be any better Spirit that reigns in 
 you i Friend's Catholic Church at Mane be ft er. 
 Even our prefent gracious Sovereign, whom 
 may God long preferye ! is every Year excom- 
 municated at Rome, in the famous Bui la C&n&, 
 It is withal therein ordain'd, that Catholics^ 
 that is Believers of your, or of your Friend's 
 Complexion, mail not be oblig'd to attempt de- 
 throning him, till the Affiftance of a French 
 Power gives them a Profpect of Succeis in tae 
 Enterprize : But if they ihould make any Vo- 
 lunteer Attempts, and mifcarry, their Zeal (Lull 
 be adjudg'd IS^eritorious ; and thofe who fall 
 a Sacrifice to it, mall b^ enroll" d as Martyrs^ 
 that fuffer'd in a glorious Caufe. 'Twas proba- 
 bly this, that tempted your lite unhappy Man- 
 chefter Friends, when executed for their Trt.-;:- 
 ions, to ape the Character of Martyrs: 
 this likewife Accounts for the Religious 
 pours fince paid them j for why may not 
 Wormip them, as the Inhabitants of Goa -Jo 
 dpes, who builds Pagods or Temples, in which 
 to ferve them, (a) Upon clofing the Recital of 
 the above truly G?//;0//V Bull,a Cannon isdifcharg- 
 ed, at which it is faid, the more Superrtitious 
 blind and bigottcd Papifls believe, all the fcV- 
 retics of the Earth tremble ! (b) And 
 
 (a} Tavernier's Travels in India, p. 77. 
 jb) Bcnnct of" NewcalUe againft Popery ,p. so,' 
 
 i
 
 ('34) 
 
 And now we are at Goa y a Learned Writer gives 
 us a recent Illuftration in an Inftance he met with 
 there, of that Spirit we have beenjuft defcribing. 
 A Prieft, a Catholic one you may be fare, came 
 to buy Fifh in the Market, and finding none 
 left, he demanded a Gentleman's Bargain who 
 had juft bought fome before, The Gentleman 
 civilly excus'd himfelf, alledging that he had 
 fome Friends to dine with him that Day. In- 
 ftead of admitting the Propriety of the Apolo- 
 gy, God's Reprefentative gave him a Repri- 
 mand in very fcurrilous Language; to which 
 he replied with becoming Dignity and Spirit. 
 Hereupon God's Repre/entafivf, the Prieft, let 
 fly the Dart of Excommunication, which pierc'd 
 fo deeply, that befides the Gentleman's begging 
 Pardon on his Knees before the Archbifhop, it 
 coft him above Jeven Pounds Sterling, to procure 
 his Abfolution, (a) and redeem himfelf from 
 the Power of the Devil. - K good-natur'd 
 and merciful Devil too ! Quoth Pafquin ; that 
 will relinquifh his Rights, and releafe his Pri- 
 foners upon any pecuniary Confiderations what- 
 foever ! But I dare not dwell any longer upon 
 this Subject, leaft I mould Wreftle down upon 
 rayfelf, this very Sentence I have been expo- 
 fing, and provoke your Catholic Friend, in his 
 great Catholicifm t to deal out his holy Curfes 
 
 like 
 (a) Hamilton's Voyage to the We ft -Indies, p, 253;
 
 (i35> 
 
 like his Sacrcments, by WMefale ; by the Do~ 
 zen againft me ! 
 
 I could eafily point numberlefs more, 
 fur dities and Super /iitions y that abound in your 
 Friend's New Gojpel. I could give you not a 
 Jew Specimens only, but a large Mufter-Roll 
 of the Magical Forces he employs, to 'wage 
 War with the Devil. I could lead you through 
 the whole of his Church Difcipline : Shew you 
 what Part of the Tear you are to pray /land- 
 ing, if you would have God to hear your Pray- 
 ers : And what Part of the Tear you are to 
 pray kneeling, if you expect Heaven to be pro- 
 pitious. But I need not inftruct Tou in thefe 
 Things. 'Tis prefum'd Tou muft be properly 
 inftrucled in them already ! And what has been 
 already offer'd, is more than fufficient to con- 
 vince my Proteflant Readers, mould the Revo- 
 lution long mecV;tated by your Friends, take 
 Place j what kind of Religious Principles muffc 
 take Place with it. With New Governors we 
 muft have New Gofpels, and New Gods : And 
 as to Civil Affairs, we muft have all our Old 
 Taxes, and ten thoufand New ones befides 
 them. 
 
 The Lands alienated to the Crown at the 
 Reformation, muft likewife revert to the Church. 
 How elfe mould we be able to feed and fupport 
 Swarms of hungry Priejls, of your Friend's 
 Complexion? Swarms of Exorcift-De t uil-dri t u~ 
 
 ing
 
 'ing Ecclefia/ltcs, that demand your Money, 
 not with Piftoh levell'd at your Breaft, but 
 with Anathema s levell'd at your Conference, 
 and let you kno\V what you are to expett y if 
 you do not believe, that the more you give 
 them the better. What a happy Exchange 
 would it be ! I do not mean for you Sir, but 
 for rational confident Protefla?its y to barter a- 
 way their Eftates and their Senfes, for Old 
 Wives Fables, and New Go/pel Revelations? 
 
 But as much Fanatic as I am, 'tis hop'd 
 
 by this Time you are convinc'd, that I have no 
 great Fondnefs for either ! Of all Frauds, there 
 are none fo enormous as devout Frauds j of all' 
 Cheats and Impoftures, your fanclify'd ones 
 are the moft dangerous, as well as the moft 
 accompli fti'd. Know you not Sir, that what 
 thole who practice Slight of Hand, call Hocus 
 PocuS) is nothing elfe but a Corruption of the 
 Words Hoc efi Corpus meum y made ufe of by 
 the Papijis, when they pretend to tranfubftan- 
 tiate Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood 
 of Chrift ? Sojuft/ycontemptttottshzs the Church 
 of Rome render'd herfelf, by her Legerdemain 
 Practices and Pretenfions ! If your Friend the 
 Catechift has done the fame, let him not blame 
 others for pouring Contempt on his Principles, 
 but let him blame thole Principles that jufify 
 and dejerve it. To paint a Monfter in his pro- 
 per Colours and full Proportions, is a fure Way 
 to expofe him ! 
 
 Relight.
 
 ( '37 ) 
 
 Religion, and the Religion of Jefus Chnft 
 in particular, is a plain, eafy, and intelligible 
 Thing ; adapted not only to the Tafte of Pri?(ls t 
 Pbilofophers, and Poets,, but to the loweft Ca- 
 pacity. 'Tis plain and uniform, like the Coat 
 which Je/us wore. It derives a nobler Luilre 
 from its own Native Simplicity, than all the 
 Airs belonging to Super/iitious Grimace, or 
 Theatrical Pageantry can give it. Indeed 
 Religion doth not, cannot confift in Rites and 
 Modes, or any pretended Orthodoxy of Opini- 
 on, but in Reftitude of Life and Manners ; in 
 Purity of Converfation, and the Adornment of 
 our Nature. Suppofing that the Worfhip of 
 Saints or Angels, the Confecration of rotten 
 Bones, or the Bleffing of old Clouts and Rags, 
 were no Part of your, or of your Friend the 
 Cat f drift's Religion j would your Reverence for 
 the Deity be diminifftd? Would the Springs 
 of Benevolence be impaired thereby ? Or would 
 the Contempt of fuch devout Farce and fanfti- 
 Jied Fopperies, contribute in the leafl to wound 
 focial Affections ? 
 
 Is living upon Vegetables not from pbilofophi- 
 cal but from fuperjiitioits Motives, a Token 
 of Divine Grace ? Muft he be an Enemy to 
 God, who is a Friend to Englijb Beef and 
 Mutton ? Muft he hate his Neighbour who doth 
 not hate Fowl or Venifon ? Or muft he be a 
 bad Man who eats a good flejh Dinner ? Thefe
 
 Sir are the Principles if I am rightly inftrudt- 
 ed, that prevail among fome gf your Friends, 
 
 and thefc are Principles but I forbear. 
 
 To argue cooly with an Enthu/iaft, is gene- 
 rally as little to the Purpofe, as it would be to 
 read Lectures of Philofofby to a Man in a Fe- 
 ver. 
 
 As it appears from the Language of our Ca- 
 techift, that there are no Treafures too great, 
 o: too grofs for thofe Church Cormorants^ his 
 Prie/ts to devour, for the more they Jiva/loiv the 
 better -, fo it feems there are no Principles 
 either in Church or State fo abfurd, but you 
 and your Nmij tiring and Jacobite Brethren can 
 digeil them. Sometime ago, I had the Ho- 
 nour to converfe with a Gentleman of your Ca- 
 tholic Friend's Complexion. To mew his great 
 Skill in Politics and Jockeyfiip, he very grave- 
 l\ afTur'd me, that our Breed of Horfes in this 
 Kingdom, was as much degenerated as our Mo- 
 rals, and that we had rear'd no Good ones fince 
 the Revolution. I could not on this Occafion 
 foibesx imagining, that my new Acquaintance 
 had been pupil'd by Mr. Addijorfs Foxhunter -, 
 one of whole political Maxims it was, that 
 there had been no Good Weather lince the Re- 
 idittion. (a) You'll imagine, my Curiofity 
 would prompt me, to learn upon what Grounds 
 he advanced fo extraordinary a Proportion ; 
 
 and 
 
 (a) Freeholder Number 21,
 
 ( '39 ) 
 
 and Reafons he had for it too ; as good ones no 
 Doubt as any he could have aiTign'd, for fet- 
 ting up his Idol- Knight- Adventurer on the Bri- 
 tifh Throne ! The Papifts are prohibited by 
 Law, from keeping Horfes of Value ; and they, 
 poor unhappy Gentlemen^ vvhofe Misfortunes our 
 very Horfes and our Country groan under to 
 this Day ! were the only Graziers that could 
 preferve or improve our Breed. To reafon wi'h 
 Perfons of this Stamp, is to talk to the Winds. 
 Their Zeal is as blind and undiftinguifking, 
 but more raging and boifterous. 
 
 Amidft our late national Diftra<5tions, the 
 Nonjurors, confidered as an Eccle/lafiical 6V#, 
 and their faithful Friends and Allies that call 
 themfelves Church of England Ncnjurcrs, have 
 been treated with great Tendernefs. This, in- 
 flead of infpiring them with Sentiments of Gra- 
 titude ', -the natural Effect of fuch Treatment up- 
 on generous Minds, has fill'd them with dif- 
 dainful Iniult and Triumph. They have upon 
 all Occafions, enjoy'd the Protection of thofe 
 Laws which they daily trample upon, and of 
 that Government which they daily i:ifu!t. And 
 I am very far from envying them any Privi- 
 leges they enjoy, or any Liberty they can. plead 
 for, but the Liberty of -. cutting their Neigh- 
 bours Throats, and making a free People 
 
 a Nation of Staves. The leail Senfe of Gra- 
 
 S 2
 
 ( '4) 
 
 ^ Generofity and Honour, would be a ftrong 
 Tie upon them, to preferve at leaft an exfer- 
 tial Shew of Decorum, towards that Govern- 
 ment, and that Government's Friends, which 
 protects them. Ingratitude wears that black and 
 monftrous Complexion, that an antient Lawgi- 
 ver look'd upon it to be too aggravated a 
 Crime, for human Nature to perpetrate j which 
 was the Reafon affign'd, why he enacted no 
 Laws to profcribe or punifh it. fa) But the 
 antient Persians who had not the fame roman- 
 tic Ideas of the Perfection of human Nature, 
 confidered Ingratitude as a Crime againft the 
 State, and decreed it to be punifhable by the 
 Civil Magistrate. Thofe who were convicted 
 of it, were adjudged deftitute of all Regards 
 to their Friends, their Parents, their Country, 
 and to the Gods -, and as fuch, were punifhed 
 with peculiar Severity and Rigour, (b) Perhaps 
 Sir, you would greatly rcfent it, fhould I in 
 Aliufion to the above, charge the Nonjuring 
 and Jacobite Faction, with being defKtute of 
 all Regards to their Friends, their Parents^ 
 their Country y and to the Gods. However, 
 it would give every Lover of Proteflantifm and 
 Liberty true Pleafure, to fee that Faction con- 
 vince Mankind, that fuch a Charge is not pro- 
 perly fupported. Gratitude, Generofity, and 
 Honour, are Plants that will not thiive in 
 
 () Lycurgus. (b) Vid. Xenoph. Op.
 
 (HO 
 
 every Soil. In Nonjuring and Jacobite Soils, 
 they feldom or never flourim. 
 
 Herodotus tells us, that the Scythians having 
 made an Expedition to 4fia, which prov'd of 
 long Continuance ; their Slaves in their Abfence 
 invaded their Beds, and upon their Return, re- 
 iblutely took up Arms againft their Lords and 
 Matters. Their Rencounters were attended 
 with various Succefles. At length one of the 
 Scythian Lords aliedg'd, it would be fcandalous 
 to wage War with Slaves upon equal Terms, 
 and propos'd that they fhould be attack'd with 
 thofe Whips and Scourges wherewith they for- 
 merly chaftis'd them. The Scheme took Place, 
 and Succeeded. They who had made a vigo- 
 rous Defence againft warlike Inftruments and 
 Weapons, fled in Confufion before thofe Badg- 
 es of Servility, whofe Smart they had been u- 
 fed to feel. Our 'Tribes of Difajf'e&ion cannot 
 pretend that They are enjlav'd, unlefs it be by 
 their own Vices. Their great Grievance is, that 
 they are not fufFer'd to enjlave others, fo as to 
 enrich themfclves upon the Wreck and Ruins 
 of their Country ! The only Whips und Scourges 
 known to our Conftitution arc, the Inflictions 
 of Juftice, temper'd with Sovereign Mildnefs. 
 But as to our Nonjuring and 'Jacobite Slave s, 
 Slaves to the Slave of France and Rome^ tho* 
 they dread not, yet do they not lighte- 
 oully de/erve the fame contemptuous Punifhment 
 with their Fellow- Traitors the Scythian Slaves ? 
 
 Should
 
 Should France's Duke become Britain's King, 
 
 . O' 
 
 'tis not our "Wives only, that muft be ravim'd 
 from us : No, we muft be robb'd of every 
 Property; of our Eftates ; our Confciences 5 
 our Laws ; our Liberties ; and even our Lives 
 too ; which indeed are not worth preferving, 
 when our Liberties once become the Prey of 
 luftful Tyranny, and are devour'd by the /&- 
 vage Jaws of Oppreffion. But whatever thefe 
 Men deferve, they enjoy that Protection which 
 they have no grateful Senfe of, and which it 
 would be well for their Country, if they had 
 but the Hearts and Honefty to improve. Thefe 
 Sir are the Men, that by their fecret Confpira- 
 eies, and open Factions, clog and embarafs the 
 Meafures of the Administration ; render it ne- 
 ceffary to increaje the National Expence, to 
 countermine their deftruclive Schemes ; and then 
 rail moft floridly againft thofe Taxes and Debts 
 which themjehes only, have occaiion'd. They 
 do all that they can to debauch and corrupt the 
 Age, by their wicked Principles, and then in- 
 troduce a Spirit of Political Methodijm, and 
 bowl lamentably over our Political Corruptions ! 
 They firft do all that they can to ruin us, and 
 then cry aloud and fpare no.t to complain, that 
 we ate an undone and ruin'd People ! Heavens 
 preferve the Land from being fet on a Flame 
 by fuch State Incendiaries as thefe ! Heavens 
 preferve us from falling a Sacrifice to fuch State 
 Crocodiles^ if I may be allow'd the Metaphor, 
 
 that
 
 (H3) 
 
 that weep over their Country, whilft they eager^ 
 ly labour to devour it ! 
 
 I am not infenfible of its having been the 
 Cant Language of your Friends , that to charge 
 Jacobites and Nonjurors with Difaffeftion to the 
 prefent Government, or with any Seditious 
 Practices, is mere Party Rant and Ribaldry. 
 The Manchefter Jacobites and Nonjurors in 
 particular, are upon all Occafions reprefented as 
 the mofl loyal Subjects in the Kingdom. ^~ 
 *Next in Loyalty be fure to thofe whofe Blood 
 fay you, (I venture to translate your Afterijkt 
 into Frenchify 'd EnglifJ^ (aj was unjufily fhed, 
 for being engag'd in the late Rebellion. But 
 Metals are known by their Weight ; Trees by 
 their Fruits ; and Men by their Actions : If 
 you are the loyal People you reprefent your- 
 ielves to be, whence happens it that there has 
 been fuch a Flufh of Joy difcover'd by Tour 
 Friends, I will not fay for the taking of Bergen, 
 
 that was a grand Affair ! . but for a 
 
 little Seditious Priefl, by Virtue of the Adi of 
 Indemnity, efcaping that Juftice which was 
 upon the Wing to purfue him? Whence was 
 it that the Bells rung on the Occafion, for 
 Days together ? Was it not by Way of grate- 
 ful 1e Deum t for the great and unde- 
 
 (a) Alluding to thefe Lines in the Epiftle to a Friend. 
 
 Not Content with Blood. 
 
 Juflly perhaps, perhaps, *** fted, 
 (Do them determine Judge of Quick and Dead.)
 
 ('44) 
 
 ferved Deliverance ? Whence is it that this,, 
 mall I call him Reverend, Teacher of Babes? 
 has fuch Numbers of his young Fry, as I 
 am inform'd he has, clad in the Livery of 
 Rebellion ? Is it not to convince the World, 
 that there is no Herefy in Scotch Plaid, when 
 wore only as a Badge of Romifh Superflition > 
 It muft be fo, unlefs you can believe, and 
 believe it who can ! that Plaid Politics and 
 Popery are this Gentleman's Averfion ? Whence 
 is it that your Ladies difarm themfelves of 
 that native Softnefs, that repnes and confecrates 
 all their other Attractions, and diftinguifh 
 themfelves by Party Drefs and Rage, in a Na- 
 tion where there are no Slaves by Conquefr, 
 but fuch as are Theirs j and no Chains but thofe 
 of Love and Devotion to their Charms ? Can 
 it be imagin'd they would purfue fuch a Courfe 
 were they properly apprized, that the Small- Pox 
 itfelf, feldom proves fo fatal and unpropitiou& 3 
 as the four and malignant Principles of Ja$obi- 
 tifm do to a fweet and lovely Face ! Whence is 
 too, that the Military Gentlemen at Manchefier 
 have been fo loudly exclaim' d againft j as if 
 frowning upon "Jacobite Faction, was an Inroad 
 upon the Constitution, and an Ad: of Trea/on 
 againft the State ? Are thefe, and ten thoufand 
 more I could mention, Charafteriftics of Loy- 
 alty to a Proteflant Prince and State? For 
 Shame Sir y let fuch Jejuitical Chicanry be no 
 more in Fafhion among you j at lead let it be 
 
 in
 
 (H5) 
 
 in Fafhion no more, till you fucceed in getting 
 that Religion which approves of, and recom* 
 Mends it, eftablifh'd, Accept a Word of Ad- 
 vice. It doth not pretend to Infallibility, but 
 may have its 17/e. In Cafe of another Rebelli* 
 on, it may crown you with a Crown of Mar* 
 tyrdont, and what would you have more ? My 
 
 Advice is this. Be hone/I. Let thole ne* 
 
 ver pretend to be Members of a Proteflant 
 Church who labour to undermine her Jacrea 
 Foundations. Throw off the Ma/k, that fits 
 fo awkardlj upon your Faces. Appear td 
 
 be what you arc< If you cannot poifon 
 
 with your Breath^ try what your Pens cart 
 do. And if the Bluntnefi of your pens be un- 
 propitious to your Caufe, have Recourfe ttf 
 the Edge of your Swords. Inftead of facrifi- 
 cing Ink, be ready to faerifice your Blood irt 
 the Service. Set up the Banners of Rome and 
 Rebellion , and animate your priends to joirf 
 you. Tell them they can never exp'eft any 
 good Days, till we have our Laws written irt 
 French^ and our Prayer* in Latin* Tell themj 
 that if Popery takes Place, it will be your 
 peculiar Privilege to f ray without Under/land- 
 ing, to obey without Reafbn, and believ* with* 
 out Senfe } that you'll be allowed to pradtife, 
 what both King James and King Charles the 
 Firft t of blejjed Memory, endeavoured to effa- 
 
 blim in vain Carding and Dancing on Sun* 
 
 Jays, Tell them that the Devotion of our
 
 (I 4 6) 
 
 reformed Churches, is a dead, dull, and fpirit- 
 lefs Devotion ; but that the Puppet-Shew Wor- 
 fhip of Rome is all Life ! all Spirit and Ac- 
 tion ! Tell them that this holy Catholic Church, 
 has a CuJlom-Houfs for Sin, and that the Rates 
 are fix'd, for which you may commit all Man- 
 ner of Wickednefs without doing wickedly* 
 Tell them that Popery once eftablimed in the 
 Land, will bring in innumerable Bleffings in 
 
 her Train that even her facred Reliques, 
 
 confifting of rotten Rags, and rotten Bones, fo 
 immenfely valuable to all good Catholics ! will 
 be more than an equivalent for the Debts of 
 the Nation ; and if thofe mould be fpung'd ojf y 
 will be in Value > tho' not in Kind^ more than an 
 adequate Compenfation for them ! Tell them, 
 that Popery will be fo far from darkening ou r 
 Underftandings, that it will illuminate the whole 
 Land ; , our Streets as well as our Tem- 
 ples, by the infinite Number of facred Candles 
 and Tapers, made ufe of in folemn Prayers and 
 Proceffions! Tell them, that the Priefts of 
 Rome will fwap Salvation for ready Rhino ; 
 that in the Mother Church of Rome the 
 moft abandorfd Sinners are canoniz'd for the 
 mod diftinguifh'd Saints ; and that Heaven can 
 ffcape none, who are rich enough to Traffic 
 fbr> or wicked enough to Merit it. Tell the 
 Devotees of your Faffion, that they, good Men ! 
 may devoutly faft upon the moft delicate Fifb 
 .id Oyl, whilil your low-bred Proteftants are 
 
 glad
 
 ('47) 
 
 glad to fea/t upon infinitely lefs delicate Mor- 
 fels ! Tell them, that the Highland Target is 
 the Shield of the Faithful-, that the Scotch 
 Plaid is the Garment of Righteoufnefs and 
 Salvation; that to be executed for Treafons is 
 the narrow Way that leadeth to Life, tho* 
 confidering how many of Tour Friends have 
 been traveriing its By Paths, 'tis ftr? ige, and 
 methinks 'tis pity too, no more of them have 
 found it ! Tell them, that Popery, inftead of 
 impoverifliing and ruining the State, as Fanatics 
 pretend it would, will make our Fields more 
 fruitful^ by manuring them with Protejlant 
 Blood. Tell them, that if once the Catholic 
 Faith of Rome becomes eftablim'd in our Land, 
 we need not idly lavim away Money and Time, 
 
 in purchafing and in reading of Bibks, 
 
 Tell them, that the Bible has a black Mark 
 Yet upon it in the Council of Trent's expurga- 
 tory Index, as .one of thofe Books, (wicked 
 and Heretical ones no doubt,) that all good 
 Catholics mould refrain from reading of. 
 Tell them, that whoever is convicted of read- 
 ing, or harbouring a Bible in his Hoitfe, with- 
 out a fpecial Licenfe obtain'd for that Purpoie, 
 which Licenfes are granted only to /launch and 
 orthodox Believers ; is pronounc'd by De- 
 cree of Council, for ever incapable of all the 
 
 Benefits of Abfolution I Tell them, that 
 
 always worfhipping of one Deity, like always 
 eating of one Pifh, muft clog the Moral Ap- 
 
 Ta
 
 petite, and difguft a delicate Taft ; that to 
 guard againft fuch Inconveniences, you have 
 in the Churches of Rome, as many Image- Gods 
 as there are Worfhippers ! and that in their 
 folemn Devotions, every Man bows before the 
 Shrine of that Divinity he likes beft 5 be it 
 that which engages his Miftrefs to look kind, 
 or that which renders Heaven propitious ! 
 Tell them, how happy thofe Popifh States, 
 where they have no ' Merchandize, but that of 
 Souls ! Where they are not over-ftock'd with 
 Inhabitants, and confequently where there is 
 no Danger, if there be no Heretics to devour, 
 of Men's eating up one another ! Exemplify 
 
 this in the Ecclefiaftical States of Italy. 
 
 Tell them, that tho* Meagrenefs overfpreads 
 thofe Countries whofe delightful Vales are na- 
 turally rich and fertile, yet as a Counterbal- 
 lance to this, you are fure to meet in their 
 Temples with whole Crowds of fat and buxom 
 Gods ! Tell them, as to thefe States, as Petro~ 
 nius fays of Greece, that under any peculiar Ex- 
 igency, you may fooner find out in them, a 
 Cod than a Man to help you ! Tell them, that 
 poor Britain may inherit the fame, nay, great- 
 er Bleffings than thefe, if Britain's Rebel 
 Sons, the Friends of Liberty and King 
 GEORGE, would but apoftatize into Grace, 
 and put your R-y-1 Matter in PofFeffion of a 
 Maintenance and a Throne! And tell them, 
 ~ - but my Breath and my Patience fail me ;
 
 ( H9) 
 
 apply to your good Friend the Catechift, and 
 he'll affift you in telling them ten thoufand 
 good Things more ! 
 
 Every Man who is a fincere and ftcddy 
 Friend to the Laws, and Liberties of his 
 Country will confefs, tha-t the Security of Pro- 
 tenants is their Union, their Union their 
 Strength, and their Strength their Glory. When 
 the old Britons were divided among themfelves, 
 Cej'ar came and decided the Controverfy, by a 
 Conqueft of them all. A neighbouring Common- 
 wealth that from refuming a Confiflency of Cha- 
 racter, we hope may once more become formi- 
 dable to your Friends, has, if I miitake not, a 
 Bundle of Arrows ty'd up clofely together, for 
 a Device in her Arms, to fignify that the Una- 
 nimity of a People is the true Source of their 
 Greatnefs. This you are well appriz'd of, and 
 whence but from this proceeds it, that Tou and 
 Tour Confederates, the Devotees and Penfwnaries 
 of France and Rome, induitriouliy endeavour 
 to play off one Party of Protejlants again ft a- 
 nother, to raife Dilhufts, and foment Jealoufies 
 among them ; to reprefent Separatist from the 
 Church, as engag'd in a Conspiracy to overturn 
 it ; to ipread fal/'e 3.\v\fcandalous Alarms among 
 the Populace that the Church is in Danger ! 
 Are not thefe Methods purfucd with a View to 
 exajpe.rate and inflame Mens Minds againil the 
 prej'ent Government, to difcipline and train them 
 up for another Rebellion ? Divide et Impera is 
 
 your
 
 your Maxim ; firft divide Proteflants y and next 
 deftroy them ! Bat we truft 5z>, that Heaven 
 which has fo oft baffled your Projects and blafted 
 your Defigns, will continue to baffle and blafl 
 them ftill ! We truft that the Proteftant Blood 
 which has been med in our Land byfavage and 
 rapacious Hands, will be a Cement that will bind 
 all Proteftants more firmly together, agaififtany 
 future Attempts of thofe who are fo far from 
 being glutted with the Blood they fhed, or fick 
 with the Difappointment they have met with, 
 that Difappointment doth but whet their Rage, 
 and tho' they made themfelves drunk with Pro- 
 teftant Blood, they ftill thirft for more ! But 
 whilft you are plotting the Deftruction of others, 
 take Heed you do not court your own : Whilft 
 you are erecting in your Imaginations, Racks, 
 Gallows, and Gibbets to convert or to chaftife 
 Heretics with, remember the Fate of Haman. 
 
 Putting the Cafe, which yet cannot be ad- 
 ' mitted as Faft y that the Jacobite Faction had 
 fome plaufible Provocation to cherifh a Spirit of 
 Rage and Rancor again ft any Party of Protef-* 
 tants whatfoever ; yet were not thefe Men - 
 nemies to Proteftantifm itfelf, as well as to P ro- 
 te ft 'ant Dijfenters, a Senfe of common Danger, 
 would unite the moft divided Parties in one 
 common Intereft, and allay little Differences ra- 
 ther than exafperate and inflame them. The 
 Profpeft of the Stake and the Faggot united 
 Ridley and Hooper^ who were irreconcilable be- 
 fore.
 
 
 ('SO 
 
 fore. The Flame that threatned to confume 
 their Bodies, purged away the Drois of their 
 Zeal, and render'd it more refin'd and noble ! 
 Amongft the old Romans it was an inviolable 
 Maxim, Donare Inimicitias Reipublic<z % to fa- 
 orifice all private Animofities and Contentions 
 to the Glory and Happinefs of their Country : 
 And were our Church of England Jacobites fin- 
 cere Friends to that Church whole Name they 
 proftitute and bla/pheme, would they not afpire 
 after the Patriotism of an old Roman, and Jacri- 
 fee every Intereft^ or every Pofjion that ftood in, 
 Competition with Love of the Public, and 
 
 with Zeal for the public Good ? They 
 
 undoubtedly would. But the Truth is, - 
 
 'tis that Catholic Church they would eftablifh, 
 that has no Salvation for any, but thofe who 
 are within her own Pale. Catholic has been 
 the Cry of their Leaders ; and fince the Doftor'b 
 Catechifm has been publifh'd, the' Cry of their 
 Mob has been the fame. They are no longer a 
 Nonjuring or 'Jacobite Mob they tell you ; No ! 
 they are all Catholics, a truly Catholic Rabble. 
 
 By this Time 'tis expefted that you'll renew 
 your Charge againft me, and fwear by the Blood 
 of the Rabble Martyrs, that has been unjuflly 
 flied, that I am a low-bred Fellow with a Ven- 
 geance. Low -bred! that is as clear as that 
 
 the young Cardinal is a good Proteflant^ as plain 
 
 as the Do&rine of Tranfubflantiation. Be 
 
 it fo. 'Tis more than I ihall fay of you. Ton 
 > are
 
 fire high-bred, it is acknowledged. Bred in the 
 Maxims of that City, feated on the feven Hills ; 
 bred in thehighPIaces where fpiritual Wickednefs 
 reigns, in the Temples of Bigotry and Super- 
 ftition ! Lowbred ! Bravely fcorn Sir, to have 
 any Thing low about you, but your Wit and 
 your Poetry. Thofe are low, extremely low be 
 fure ! (a) Thefe remind me of William Prynne, 
 I afk Pardon for comparing you to a fanatical 
 Scribbler, who in Reward of his Di (loyalty, had 
 his Ears as clofely clipp'd as his Mufe's Wings, 
 I would not infmuate, I do not mean that the 
 Comparifon fhould hold good throughout. But 
 his Poetry, as painted in the Dunciad, runs in 
 fmQOth and harmonious Strains like yours. 
 
 __- . one lately did not fear, 
 
 With the Mufe's Leave to plant verfe here : 
 But it produc'd fuch bafe rough crabbed Hedge 
 Rhymes as e'en fet the Hearers Teeth on Edge J 
 Written by William Prynne, Efqui-re the, 
 Year of our Lord fixteen hundred thirty three j 
 Brave Jerfey Mufe, and he's for his high Style, 
 Call'd to this Day the Homer of our Ifle. 
 
 Many 
 
 (a) The following Specimens of our Autfior's Profe-Verf<V 
 ivij] juftify the Obfervation above. 
 
 But among them who never wifh'd him Harm. 29 
 
 I am furpriz'd atone of his good Senfe. 41 
 
 How was it poffible to think of them. 269 
 Of Happinefs, all Hope of being bleft.
 
 ('S3) 
 
 Many different Cities difputed the Honour of 
 having given Birth to the old blind Grecian 
 Bard. But Oh ! Manchefler^ undif pitted, unri- 
 val'd be thy Glory, who haft a modern Ho~ 
 mer, a Ballad-maker of thy own, whofe Merit 
 {Hall (hine in the fafl'ry Cooks, and the Annals 
 
 of Fame till minc'd Pyes and Jellies {hall 
 
 be no more.- Shall I recommend to you Sir, 
 for the farther Promotion and Eftablifhment 
 of your Poetical Glory, a Machine that is now 
 contriving by a very ingenious Friend of mine, 
 wherewith to make Verfes by the Dozen. It 
 may be greatly ufeful to relieve Poverty of 
 Meafures and Invention^ in different Claffes of 
 Writers ; from your Courant, three half-penny 
 Wits, up, I (hould rather fay down, as they 
 Jink in proportion to their Size, to your Quarto 
 live foe- penny Poetafter. By Reafon of the vaft 
 Erudition required to perfect fuch a Machine, 
 and its ftill vafter Importance, He intends to 
 follicit an Att of 'Parliament , to fecure to him- 
 fel.f the fole Right of vending it for 21 Years. 
 I have fomewhere met with a Precedent, for 
 an adl of this Nature: (a) The only good Act, 
 you'll poffibly fay, that has taken Place fmce 
 the Revolution. This will be confefs'd as va- 
 lid t by thofe who look upon all the Hanover- 
 
 U Succeffion 
 
 (*} See an Aft of Parliament ijth of Geo. II. to fecure 
 to John Byrom A. M. and F. R. S. the fole Right of teaching 
 his Short-Hand for the Term 0/21 Years.
 
 ('54) 
 
 Succejfion Afts, to be only fo many Ads of 
 TJjurpation* 
 
 But the mofl unpardonable Crime that I have 
 been guilty of, remains laft to be confider'd ; a 
 Crime that is big with all others. 'Tis not Se- 
 dition, Sacrilege, Perjury, Murder, or Rebel- 
 lion, but a Crime blacker than them all ; . 
 I have rag'd for Loyalty. And is not this the 
 worft kind of Treafon ? A Complication of 
 Yreafons? Ten thou j and Treafons in one? To 
 be chargeable with it, is to be low-bred in- 
 deed ! This is as demon ftrable as the Clown's 
 
 Syllogifm in the Comic Poet : " Thou art 
 
 " damn'd for not being at Court : If thou 
 
 ** never waft at Court, thou never faweft good 
 ve Manners j then thy Manners muft be wick- 
 te ed ; and Wickednefs is Sin ; and Sin Dam- 
 ct nation. Thou art in a parlous Cafe Ske- 
 " pherd" Rage againft the Government, that 
 protects you ; that is Patriotijm : Rage for a 
 Royal Martyr, that upon Nonjuring Principles 
 could be no Cbriftian t and coniequently no 
 Chriflian Martyr y becaufe he wanted Chriftian 
 Baptifm, (which we have been oft told by 
 Your Friends, Prejbyterian Baptifm is not ;) - 
 This is pure Orthodoxy ; Rage for France, and 
 France's Penfion-Tooi, the Young Pre- 
 tender in my low-bred Style j but the Pr-nce 
 R-y-1 in Tours j that is, Love of our Country. 
 But to rage for Loyalty to a Proteflant Go- 
 vernment, the Tongue that can be guilty of it, 
 
 deferves
 
 deferves to be cut out. And yet after all, if 
 one may whifper you a Secret ; methinks, 'tis 
 at leaft as defenfible and confiftent a Part, to 
 rage for Loyalty, as 'tis to plunder Mens Pro- 
 perties for the Reftoration of invaded Rights, to 
 take up Arms for Nonrefiftance ; and rebel for 
 Paffiroe Obedience. 
 
 Thus Sir, low-bred as I am, I have pre- 
 futn'd to intrude without Leave, and without 
 Ceremony, into your Company : You'll there- 
 fore think it high Time for me to withdraw, 
 and difmifs you from fo ungrateful an Attend- 
 ance ; and I think fo too. Whenever you fee 
 about to rhyme Sedition ^ again, the Prblick has 
 
 a Right to demand your Name. . Thig 
 
 Demand you'll readily comply with, unlefs Tbu 
 would approve yourfelf to be, what I could tell 
 you who^ takes you to be, a Rebel in Maf- 
 querade ! Permit Me in particular, to call upon 
 you, to challenge you, to father your Intellec- 
 tual Brats, and not turn them adrift like a 
 Baflard Race that dare not confefs their Pa- 
 rentage. The Affajjin that ftabs and murders 
 Reputations in the Dark^ who knows but by 
 Degrees he may commence a Fclton, or a Ra- 
 villiac? If you do me further Honour , as I am 
 in Expectance you will ; I ilmll be glad to re- 
 turn it in all faithful and becoming Homage. 
 In the mean Time, I kils your Hand, with as 
 much Devotion, as I would his Ilolinefs's fa- 
 cred and infallible 'Toe ; for Infallibity, like the 
 
 Schoolman's
 
 ( '56 ) , 
 
 Schoolman's Soul, is, *Totum in Tofv, et Totutn 
 in yualibet Partc -, and am, 
 
 SIR, 
 
 Tour very bumble ', 
 
 J. O W B*fr; 
 
 P. S. Should the Reader be at a Lofs to 
 judge who that good Proteftant is, mention'd 
 in the 7th Page of this Letter, who vifited the 
 Pretender's Court, to procure an Abfolution, 
 for having fworn Allegiance to King GEORGE 5 
 I refer him Sir, to You, as my Interpeter. 
 
 ERRATA. Befides fomc literal Miftakes, 
 correct thofe which follow. 
 
 Page Line for read 
 
 42 
 
 44 
 52 
 53 
 
 56 
 
 64 
 
 66 
 
 67 
 
 19 -has - have 
 1 2 - by - But 
 21 Authors-Author's 
 zz--RadKeil--Radxecil 
 2 3 a ^ ter Reliques 
 place a Colon; 
 28 - leans leaks 
 23 after there, place 
 the Reference (b) 
 15 --- blot out he 
 Wiles of 
 31 -- Jerichuntis 
 
 Page Line for read 
 
 73 
 
 99 
 
 105 
 
 117 
 
 133 
 142 
 
 14^ - before fpiritua! 
 add If 
 
 10 blot out lad Comma 
 9 c-nas - has f 
 27 -- after Prieft add 
 's AeciTive Voice ; 
 
 jl.^ **' HS "*"*""" "" M 
 
 1 4 - feared feafted 
 
 25 - builds build 
 
 i - Duke Dupb 
 2; after i add it