tice can permit none to receive the reward of bliss, who as yet are not out of debt, but have something in justice to suffer; there must of necessity be some place or state, where souls departing this life, pardoned as to the eternal guilt or pain, yet obnoxious to some temporal penalty, or with the guilt of some venial faults, are purged and purified before their admittance into heaven. This is what he is taught concerning purgatory: which, though he knows not where it is, nor of what nature the pains are, nor how long each soul is detained there; yet he believes that those that are in this place, being the living members of Jesus Christ, are relieved by the prayers of their fellowmembers on earth, as also by the alms and masses offered up to God for their souls. And as for such as have no relations or friends to pray for them, or to give alms, or procure masses for their relief, they are not neglected by the church, which makes a general commemoration of all the faithful departed in every mass, and in every one of the canonical hours of the divine office.

23. Of the Second Commandment.-The Papist truly represented is instructed in his whole duty towards God, and most especially in the ten commandments. He is taught to understand them all and every one, that there is an obligation of observing them, under pain of eternal damnation; and that whosoever breaks any one of them loses the favour of God, and as certainly hazards the loss of his soul, as if he broke them all. And though in some short catechisms in which the whole christian doctrine is delivered in the most compendious and easy method, in condescension to weak memories and low capacities, the second commandment, as it is reckoned by some, be omitted; yet it is to be seen at length in other catechisms, manuals, and doctrinal books, to be met with every where in great plenty. And if any one should chance not to see any of these, yet would he be out of all danger of falling into any superstitious worship or idolatry; for that having read the first commandment, Thou shalt have no other Gods before me, he is taught by this, that he is commanded to serve, love, adore and worship one only true, living and eternal God, and no more: that it is forbidden him to worship any creature for a God, or to give it the honour due to God; and that whosoever worships" any idols,

images, pictures, or any graven thing, whatsoever the object be, whether in heaven above, in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth, for God, breaks the commandment, by committing idolatry, and stands guilty of an inexcusable and most damnable sin. Now having been taught that this is the intent of the first precept of the decalogue, he thinks there can be but little danger of his becoming superstitious in his worship, or an idolater, for want of the second; there being nothing in this, but what he is fully and expressly instructed in, by having learnt the first; it being rather an explication of this than any new and distinct precept: and for this reason he finds them in his books put together as one, or rather as the first commandment, with its explication; by which means it comes about, that there are only three in the first table, teaching him his duty towards God; and seven in the latter, concerning his duty to his neighbour; which is the division assigned by St. Augustine. And though St. Jerom observes not this method, but divides them into four and six; yet there being no direction in scripture concerning the number of the commandments to be assigned to each table, nor to let us know which is the first, which the second, which the third commandment, or which the last; he is taught that it is but an unnecessary trouble to concern himself about the number or division of them, when as his whole business ought to be the observance of them in his life and conversation.

24. Of mental Reservations.-The Papist truly represented is taught to keep faith with all sorts of people, of whatsoever judgment or persuasion they be, whether in communion with his church or not; he is taught to stand to his word, and observe his promise given or made to any whatsoever; and that he cannot cheat or cozen, whether by dissembling, equivocations, or mental reservations, without defiance of his own conscience, and the violation of God's law. This is the instruction be receives from the pulpit, the confessionary, and his books of direction, and nothing is more inculcated in his church than sincerity and truth. But as to the doctrine and practice of equivocations and mental reservations, so far from being approved by his church, he finds it expressly censured by Pope Innocent XI. in a decree issued forth March 2, 1679, pro

hibiting the teaching or maintaining of it under pain of excommunication. He is taught therefore to speak plainly and sincerely, without any such artifices, which cannot but be very injurious to all society, and displeasing to the first truth. And now, if any authors in communion with his church, be produced as patrons and abettors of these mental juggles, let them hold up their hands, and answer for themselves: their church has approved of no such doctrine, and is no more to be charged with their particular opinions, than with the unexemplary lives of other her members, whose irregularities are not at all derived from their religion, but from following their own corrupt inclin ations, and giving way to the temptations of their enemy.

26. Of Fasting.-The Papist truly represented is taught by his church that the appearance of devotion, the name of mortification, and pretence to it, are only vain and fruitless things, if they are not accompanied with the substance. And that it is but a very lame compliance with the ecclesiastical precept of fasting, to abstain from flesh, unless all other excesses are at the same time carefully avoid ed. It is true, his church has not forbidden on these days the drinking of wine, but permits a moderate use of it, as at other times: but is so far from giving liberty to any of her flock of committing excesses, that she declares drunkenness and all gluttony whatsoever, to be more heinous and scandalous sins on such days, than any other; they being expressly contrary, not only to the law of God, but also to the intention of the church, which appoints these times for the retrenching debaucheries and conquering our vicious appetites. And now, if any of his profession make less scruple of being drunk on a fasting-day, than of eating the least bit of flesh, he knows nothing more can be said of them, than of many of another communion, who will not break the sabbath-day, by doing any servile work on it, for all the world, looking on this as a most damning sin; and yet at the same time, have but little scruple of swearing, cursing, lying, or revelling the greatest part of the day; which is not, because they have more liberty for these than the former, they being all most wicked offences; but because they that do thus are but Christians by halves, who with a kind of pharisaical and partial obedience, seem to bear some of the commandments most zealously in their

hearts, while they trample others under their feet; scrupling many times at a mote, and on other occasions passing by a beam undiscerned; for which their church is not to be accountable, but they themselves, as being guilty of a wilful blindness, and a most unchristian negligence. This is the real case of such of his communion, who, on days of humiliation, while they abstain from flesh, yet give scandal by their intemperance. They have a command of God, by which they are obliged on all days to live soberly, and to avoid all gluttony and drunkenness; and on fasting-days, besides this command of God, they have a church precept, by which they are bound, if able to eat but one meal in a day, and that not of flesh. And now if some are so ignorant and careless, as to be scrupulously observant of one of these commands, and wholly negligent of the other, it is not because their religion teaches them to do so (which detests and condemns all such scandalous partiality, and complying with their duty by halves) but because they shut their ears to all good instruction, and choose rather to follow their own corrupt appetites, than the wholesome doctrine of their church.

28. Of Friars and Nuns.-The Papist truly represented is taught to have a high esteem for those of his communion, who undertake that sort of life, which, according to Christ's own direction, and his apostles, is pointed out as the best. A sort of people who endeavour to perform all that God has commanded, and also what he has counselled as the better, and in order to more perfection. They hear Christ declaring the danger of riches; they therefore embrace a voluntary poverty, and lay aside all titles to wealth and possessions. St. Paul preaches, that he that giveth not his virgin in marriage, doth better than he that does; and that she that is unmarried, cares for the things of the Lord, how she may be holy both in body and in spirit; they therefore choose a single state, consecrating their virginity to God, that so they may be wholly intent on his service, and careful how to please him; while she that is married cares for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. The gospel proclaims, that those that will follow Christ, must deny themselves: they therefore renounce their own wills, and without respect to their own proper inclinations, pass their life in perpetual obedience.

And because the world is so corrupt, that to a pious soul every business is a distraction, every diversion a temptation, and more frequently provocations to evil, than examples to good; they therefore retire from it as much as possible, and confining themselves to a little corner or cell, apply themselves wholly to devotion, making prayer their business, the service of God their whole employ, and the salvation of their souls their only design. And now, if in these retirements, where every thing is so ordered as to be most advantageous for the promoting of virtue and devotion, and nothing permitted that is likely to prove a disturbance to godliness, or allurement to evil, yet if some (for, God be praised, it is far from being the case of the generality) live scandalously, and give ill example to the world, what can be said, but that no state can secure any man; and that no such provision can be made in order to a holy life, but may be abused? But yet he does not think that such abuses, and the viciousness of some, can be argument enough to any just and reasonable man, to condemn the whole, and the institution itself. Is not marriage abused an infinite number of ways, and many forced to embrace this state, or at least to accept of such particular persons contrary to their own choice and liking? Is there any state in this world, any condition, trade, calling, profession, degree, or dignity whatsoever, which is not abused by some? Are churches exempt from abuses? Are not bibles and the word of God abused? Is not Christianity itself abused, and even the mercy of God abused? If therefore there is nothing so sacred or divine in the whole world, which wicked and malicious men do not pervert to their ill designs, to the high dishonour of God, and their own damnation, how can any one, upon the mere consideration of some abuses, pass sentence of condemnation against a thing, which otherwise is good and holy? It is an undeniable truth, that to embrace a life exempt, as much as can be, from the turmoils of the world; and in a quiet retirement to dedicate one's self to the service of God, and spend one's days in prayer and contemplation, is a most commendable undertaking, and very becoming a Christian. And yet if some, who enter upon such a course of life as this, fall short of what they pretend, and instead of becoming eminent in virtue and godliness, by their unexemplary lives, prove a scandal to their profession; is the