A defence of the doctrin and holy rites of the Roman Catholic Church from the calumnies and cavils of Dr. Burnet's Mystery of iniquity unveiled wherein is shewed the conformity of the present Catholic Church with that of the purest times, pagan idolatry truly stated, the imputation of it clearly confuted, and reasons are given why Catholics avoid the Reformation : with a postscript to Dr. R. Cudworth / by J. Warner of the Soc. of Jesus.

A Conclusion of the First, and Beginning of the Second Part.

G. B. p. 116. I Have run around the great Circle I pro∣posed to my self, and have examined the Designs of Christian Religion, and have found great contradiction given to them by the Doctrins of that Church.

Answ. You have indeed run a Round, and that so long, that you are giddy with it, as ap∣pears by your frequent and great Falls, so evi∣dently against common Sense, as I have all a∣long observed, and yet I have not observed all; for that would have been too tedious to the Reader, and have taken up more time, than I can bestow upon Trifles. You have shewn no Contradiction betwixt the Doctrin of the Catholic Church, and the Designs of Christianity: I have shewn their Conformity. But your Book disco∣vers a Design against Charity, which is the Heart of Religion, it being a heap of rash Judgments, evident Calumnies, or uncharitable Surmises. I say nothing of your Faults against Reason, your incoherent Notions, groundless Judgments, and perpetual Sophisms; because althô these are great Faults in themselves, yet not consi∣derable,

in presence of those others against Charity.

And these Faults are the greater, for being brought to uphold a Schism, a Design contrary to Christianity; it being a most certain Truth, that No Man can have the Love of God, who with∣stands the Ʋnion of all Men in one Church. Non habet Dei Charitatem, qui Ecclesiae non diligit uni∣tatem. Aug. l. 3. de Baptis. cont. Donat. c. 16. And all your Pretences of Causes given of your Separation, are but frivolous; this tearing in pieces the my stical Body of Christ, is so great a Sacrilege, that no Pretext can excuse it. Appa∣ret (saith S. Austin, l. 2. contra Epist. Parmen. c. 11.) non esse quicquam gravius sacrilegio schis∣matis, quia praecidendae unitatis nulla est justa ne∣cessitas.

When I saw you reflect on your running so long round in a Circle, I hoped you would come out of it; and was in hopes, that either I might have been a Spectator of your following Course, or else that you would have led me a more plea∣sing Walk. The Design of S. Austin (Lib. 1. Retract. cap. 7.) came to my Mind, who repre∣sented the Piety of Catholics, and the vicious Lives of the Manichees, in his two Books De moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae, and De moribus Mani∣chaeorum; and I imagined you might design the like in the two Parts of this Book. I expected you would have given us a Panegyric of your own Church, after you had spent your Satyrical Vein in your Invective against ours. I thought

we should have seen described the Beauty of the Protestant Church, the Advantages of Commu∣nion with it, the Perfection of its Faith, the De∣cency of its Ceremonies, the Majesty of its Hie∣rarchy, the Reasonableness of its Canons, the Fulness of its Conducency to Piety in this Life, and Bliss in the next; and all these confirmed with Examples of the vertuous Lives of its De∣votes.

But how much have I been mistaken! for casting an Eye a little farther, after some few words in commendation of your Faith, I find you throwing Dirt again as fast as before, or rather faster; as if in the First Part you had only essayed, what in the Second you act in earnest.

Doth your Garden (the Church, Cant. 4.12. is compared to one) afford only that one Flower? Is the Soil so barren, or so ill cultivated, as none else should be found in it? Or if there be any other, do they thrive so ill, as not to be worth being pointed to? Or doth it come from a mo∣rosity of Nature, which inclines you to blame, and reprehend? Or from a propensity to enter∣tain thoughts only of Faults and Imperfections, as Flies pitch upon Ulcers, and some other Crea∣tures wallow in Mire? Or from another Qua∣lity worse than that, which turns all to bad, as a foul Stomach turns all Food into peccant Humors, and a Spider draws Poyson from that Flower, whence a Bee draws Hony? Something of this must be: for I will neither say there is

nothing reprehensible in the Lives of Catholics, (it is a Propriety of the Triumphant Church to be free from any Spot or Wrinkle) nor that all is bad in Protestants besides their Faith, that be∣ing the Condition of the Damned Spirits in Hell. But I supersede these Personal Reflecti∣ons, and follow (thô with little comfort) you in the new Maze you lead me into.