SInce, I presume, you desire an Adversary, who use the diligence of a publick Challenge to procure one, and that none will think it strange, you should be sollicited to perform what you have so solemnly undertaken; All I have to do, is, in few words, to acquaint my Reader, (who, I think, will see it reasonable you should be oppos'd,) why you are oppos'd by me.

I am a person, by the infinite Grace of God, bred up in the Catholick Religion, from which I have learned, my Duty to God cannot be complied with, without an exact performance of my Duty to my Soveraign: To obey him, not for advantage, or temporal concerns, but out of conscience; and because such is the known will of him, the obedience to whose commands is Religion, has always made a part of mine, being a point, as all other which belong to my Faith, preached by the Apostles, and from them derived to me by the ministry of those persons his sa­cred wisdom has appointed to succeed them.

This Doctrine instill'd into my youth by Catechisms, con­firm'd to my riper years by Sermons and Conferences, and pos­sessing my soul with so setled a beleef, that I did not think any body could pretend to know what Catholick Doctrine is, and not know that this is a part of it, occasioned a strange surprize in me, when Chance seconding my Curiosity, in giving me a sight [Page 2] of [...] Sermon preached before the Honorable House of Cor­ [...] [...] Apr. 30. 1660. of which I had heard somthing before, [...] [...]nd in it a plain Challenge, and undertaking to prove against any Adversary, That a Papist must cease to be a Papist, if he will be truly or fully loyal to his Soveraign. Had you said onely, Loyalty were no part of his Religion, and that he performed his [...]llegiance by the help of some other Virtue, (though an indif­ferent Judge would wonder y [...]u should have better intelligence of their Religion, then themselves, who certainly know, and from that certain knowledge profess it teaches Loyalty to be a Divine indispensable Command) the Assertion, however it would have been altogether as false, would perhaps have ap­pear'd not altogether so exotick. But to deny Loyalty not onely an admittance into, but a consistence with his Religion, and put an unavoidable necessity upon him, of being either a Tray­tor to God, by renouncing his Faith, or a Traytor to his Sove­raign, by renouncing his Allegiance, is a Paradox of that won­derfull excess, that I know not whether is greater, the confi­dence to assert, or impossibility to maintain it. How, Sir, will you undertake to prove, A Catholick must necessarily desert ei­ther God, or his King, who, I think, cannot, I am sure, should not be ignorant, that to render what is Caesars to Caesar, does as truly belong to his Religion, as to render what is Gods to God? That he makes not distinct Duties of these, but beleeves his O­bedience to Caesar is so much a part of his Obedience to God, that the later cannot be perform'd without the former? In fine, you, who, with that strong judgment Fame, and I think De­sert, gives you to be Master of, cannot but see, were there no­thing to intercept the prospect, that a Papist, who is not truly loyal, is not truly a Papist, if the not being faithfully obedient to what is taught by a Religion, make a man cease to be of it.

But, as it is not for me, to pry into what it was that mov'd you to assert this Paradox, so your care in publishing it, suffers none to be ignorant that you have asserted it, and by doing so cast an aspersion upon a sort of people, whose try'd Loyalty in all vicissitudes of dangerous troubles, as it should have altered your judgment, so their long and grievous sufferings, whereof their Loyalty was one, and perhaps the onely cause, should, from the charity of your profession, have found, rather pity for their [Page 3] afflictions, then aspersions upon their innocence.

And yet, in the small Sphere of my acquaintance, I find [...] little forwardness to use any other defence, then silent patience hitherto their onely shield, against the many, and heavy blows, which (to borrow the mildest expression the condescendence of charity affords me,) mistaken Zeal has so long given their Fames and Fortunes; and a greater disposition to have recourse to hea­ven for an increase of strengh, as the blow grows heavier, then to endeavour to lighten the burthen they groan under. But for my part, I must confess the value I set upon Religion and Alle­giance, makes me not endure to be deprived of either of them at any rate; and however I may be reconcil'd to all other mise­ries, I am not able to bear that of deserving to be miserable.

Besides, I apprehend silence in this case would amount, or at least be mis-interpreted to a confession; and that a Charge ac­companied with such circumstances, would, if not cleer'd, be look'd upon as a Sentence, and the world take it for granted, nothing could be pleaded to it, but Guilty. I know I am Mi­nimus inter Tribus Israel, little known even among those of my own Religion; but as loyal as any, and as certain of my Obli­gation to be so. I know also the concern is general, and greater then to be trusted to any one mans ability, especially such a one as is truly conscious of his own insufficiency; Neither do I undertake this Demand of Satisfaction vainly, or without just occasion offer'd, but as I have my share in the injury, I have also a title to be righted; and, since no better Champion appears to defend me, think, I both may and ought to defend my self.

In the face of the world therefore, I require you to perform your undertaking, and desire you to reflect, and every body take notice, That if you prove not what you profess you are ready to do, viz. That a Papist must cease to be a Papist, if he will be truly and fully loyal to his Soveraign, you are guilty of the breach of charity to your Neighbour, in as great a height as cir­cumstances can improve a sin to. For to say nothing of the time, when the joyful and long pray'd for Victory of Right over Am­bition and Tyranny fils the Kingdom with comfortable hopes, That the priviledges of Birthright shall no more be forfeited, but by real and really proved misdemeanors: to say nothing of [Page 4] the [...] Auditory before whom you preacht, persons, of whose [...]dom the Nation has given so signal a Testimony, and of [...]ose Counsels his Majesty has expressed so tender a regard: Be pleased to consider, 'tis no one you asperse, but many, and those who, of all that lay claim to so regarded a Title, give the best evidence of being truly tender Consciences, since for them they suffer so generally, so constantly, so deeply. Neither is it a small fault you charge them with, but that Monster of sins, [...]reason, and that not onely by the violence of passion once com­mitted, but such as is impossible not to be alwaies committed. And all this with so notorious a publickness, that none can be ig­norant of your charge, as I hope none will be ignorant of our in­nocence.

Now I beseech you joyn all these together, and see (if yours do prove an offence) whether Chance could light upon, or In­dustry contrive greater aggravations. Consider therefore, Sir, what you have done, and what you are to do; and either prove what you have so solemnly undertaken, or practise what you have as solemnly taught; give an example to the world of that serious and true Repentance you so excellently delivered to your Auditory. But prove it effectually, and let not the Question, when we come to grasp it, vanish away by the artifice of some deceitful word. You have raised in the hearts and thoughts of as many as have either heard or read your Sermon, I conceive, an uncharitable, and unjust apprehension: If it prove so, I hope the reparation you will make, shall not be by the fallacy of some term, to which your Art may perhaps give another sense, then you have caused by it in others, to save your self from the obliga­tion of making any.

And yet, to deal plainly, I cannot but be jealous of the ex­pressions you use. For why do you call us Papists? You know we have another name, and are not perhaps such men as you make us pass for by that Term: We ow no blind servile obedi­ence to any upon earth, that can ensnare our Judgments to any thing contrary to those Divine Truths brought from Heaven by our Saviour, to bring us up to Heaven, planted by his Apostles, and preserved by his Spouse the Church. I presume you intend by it a Name of Religion, not Opinion; for 'tis the Faith of Christ I am to lay down my life for, but know no Obligation to [Page 5] lose a Pins head for the fancies of any pri [...]ate [...]

Then again what mean you by a true and full, Loyal [...] Epithetes seem to me no more then the issue of a fruitful [...] since a Loyalty which is not a true one, is truely no Loyalty▪ as false mony is no mony; and as half a pint is not a pint; so if any thing want of full Loyalty, how near soever you approach it, is not Loyalty. I do not therefore see any necessity of those termes; Loyalty in the natural acception of words, saying both true and full Loyalty: as a shilling signifies both Twelve pence and good Silver.

Under your tearm of Loyalty too, I conceive you do not com­prehend any obligations contradictory to the great one to which all others ought to be subservient; neither of us being, I hope, guilty of that impious flattery, to imagine any duty can be a duty, which is inconsistent with that first and chiefest duty we owe to our Maker and Preserver. I beseech you therefore let all these Terms be defin'd, that the Question may not vanish from us in the mist of the words we use in treating it. That which I, and I think every one else, apprehends by your words, is that this Kingdom holds a sort of people, whose Birth-right indeed gives them a title to the Protection of the Laws and pri­viledges of Community, but whose Religion, by misteaching them in their duty to their King and Country, renders them unworthy of those advantages. This is what I apprehend, and what you are to prove.

Now if you should mean by Papist something which I am not; by True and Full Loyalty, something which I either do pay, or which none are bound to pay: Your words indeed would be innocent, but the artifice of wresting them to oppose innocence, little suitable to your Condition. And that as I de­sire not to be mistaken in your meaning, none may be so in my sentiments, I conceive my self comprehended in your assertion, but know no reason why I should deserve the name you express it in, more then that I am of the Communion of those men whose Faith and Government was taught and instituted by Christ and his Apostles, and by their successors in an uninterrupted Delivery down to us. I believe, and what I profess to you in the face of the world, I am ready by Oath to confirm to all men in the face of heaven, That my Loyalty to my Soveraign [Page 6] is [...] dispensable duty from which no power Spiritual, or Tem­ [...] Domestick or Forreign, under any pretence of Excom­ [...]cation, Deposition, or any other whatsoever, can free me either wholly or in part; and till I am call'd upon to do it more solemnly, I here do in the mean time renounce heartily all Dispensations, Absolutions, and whatsoever to the contrary which may raise jealousie in my Soveraign, or dissatisfaction in my fellow Subjects, professing that notwithstanding any such pretext, if any should happen to be, I will by the grace of God, perform my Allegiance truly and fully as every good Subject is bound to do. This is my Religion; this is what I have been taught in It concerning Loyalty; and what the occasion has prom­pted me to digress into: since however the Confession I m ke be impertinent to the business I have in hand (my task being to oppose what you say, not to say all I know my self) it will not I hope be unwelcome to the Reader, at least to such an one as desires his judgment should be built upon the unmoveable foundation of Truth, of which in things of this nature, there is no greater evidence then the testimony of such as certainly know what they say, and faithfully say what they know.

But to return to our work; I utterly deny your Assertion, pro­fessing to all the world tis not true, That a Papist must cease to be a Papist, if he will be truely and fully Loyal to his Soveraign; and before all the world demand of you to prove it, as you have un­dertaken. If you shew me disloyal, I acknowledg I ought, and se­riously profess I will repent: if you cannot, lay your hand on your heart, and consider what tis to make an innocent man, nay, so many innocent men pass for guilty, and guilty of so ex­ecrable a crime as Treason; in which case I hope you will need no admonition to repent your self.