A papist mis-represented and represented, or, A twofold character of popery the one containing a sum of the superstitions, idolatries, cruelties, treacheries, and wicked principles of the popery which hath disturb'd this nation above an hundred and fifty years, fill'd it with fears and jealousies, and deserves the hatred of all good Christians : the other laying open that popery which the papists own and profess, with the chief articles of their faith, and some of the principle grounds and reasons, which hold them in that religion / by J.L. one of the Church of Rome ; to which is added, a book entituled, The doctrines and practices of the Church of Rome, truly represented, in answer to the aforesaid book by a Prote

HE is not oblig'd to believe any on•• Miracle, besides what is in the Scripture; and for all others, he may give the credit, which in prudence he thinks they deserve; considering the Honesty of the Relator, the Authori••y of the Witnesses, and such other circum∣stances, which on the like occasions use to gain his assent. And if upon the account of meer History, and the con∣sent of Authors, few make any doubt, but that there was such a one as Caesar, Alexander, Mahomet, Luther, &c. Why should he doubt of the truth of many Miracles, which have not only the like consent of Authors and History, but also are attested by great numbers of Eye-witnesses, examin'd by Authori∣ty, and found upon Reco••d, with all the formal••ties due to such a Process? St. Augustine relates many Miracles done in his time, so does St. Ierom, and other Fathers; and if they doubted nothing of them then, Why should he question the truth of them now? He finds, that in the time of the Old Law, God favour'd many of his Servants, working Miracles by their hands; and he thinks now that God's hand is not shortned; that the Disciples of Christ are no less Favourites of Heaven, than those of Moses; and that the new Law may be ve∣ry well allow'd to be as Glorious, and as particularly priviledg'd as the Old: es∣pecially since Christ promised that his Apostles should do greater Miracles than ever He himself had done. And what if some Miracles (recounted by Authors,) are so wonderfully strange, to some they seem Ridiculous and Absurd? are they the less true upon this account? Is not every thing Ridiculous to Unbelievers? The whole Doctrine of Christ is a Scandal to the Iews, and Folly to the Gen∣tiles. And what more Absurd to one that wants Faith, than the Miracles re∣counted in the Old Testament? Might not such a one turn them all into

Ridicule and Buffoonry? Take but Faith away, and see what becomes of Bala∣am and his Ass. Sampson and his Iaw-bone, Elias and his Fiery Chariot, Elijah's M••ntle, Ax-head, and Dead Bones, Gideon's Pitchers, Lamps and Trumpets in demolishing the Walls of Iericho, Moses and his Burning Bush, his holding up his hands for the Victory over his Enemies, his parting of the Red-Sea, and Ioshua's commanding the Sun to stand still, &c. Might not these, and all the rest be painted out as Ridiculous as any supposed to be done since Christ's time, and be put in the same List with the History of Bevis, or Guy of Warwick? A little incredulity, accompanied with a presumption of measuring God's Works by Humane W••sdom, will really make the greatest part of them pass for Follies, and Absurd Impossibilities. And thô he is so far from giving equal assent to the Mi∣racles related in Scripture, and the others wrought since, that the former he be∣lieves with a Divine Faith, and the rest with an inferiour kind of assent, accord∣ing to the Grounds and Authority there is in favour of them, like as he does in Prophane History: Yet the strangeness of these, never makes him in the least doubt of the Truth of them, since '••is evident to him, that all the Works of Hea∣ven far surpass all his reasoning, and that while he endeavours but to look even into the very ordinary things daily wrought by God Almighty, the Motion of the Sun, Moon and Stars, the Flowing of the Sea, the Growing of an Ear of Corn, the Light of a Candle, the Artifice of the Bees, &c. he quite loses himself, and is bound to confess his own Ignorance and Folly, and that God is Wonderful in all his Works, a God surpassing all our knowledge. Whatsoever therefore is related upon good grounds, as done by the extraordinary Power of God, he is ready to assent to it, although he sees neither the how, the why, nor the wherefore; being ready to attribute all to the Honour and Praise of his Maker, to whose Omnipo∣tent Hand, most of poor Man's impossibles, are none.