Center [147]

Double Rule

Center A
Center CATHOLIC

[S]AYS his Prayers often, but never prays, and
[S] worships the Cross more than (i) Christ (i). He
prefers his Church merely for the Antiquity of
it, and cares not how sound or rotten it be,
s
o it be but old. He takes a liking to it as
some do to old Cheese, only for the blue Rot-
tenness of it. If he had lived in the primitive
Times he had never been a (i) Christian (i); for the
Antiquity of the (i) Pagan (i) and (i) Jewish (i) Religion
would have had the s
ame Power over him
against the (i) Christian, (i) as the old (i) Roman (i) has
against the modern Reformation. The weaker
Ves
sel he is, the better and more zealous Member
he always proves of his Church; for Religion,
like Wine, is not s
o apt to leak in a leathern
Boraccio as a great Cask, and is better pre-
s
erved in a small Bottle stopped with a light
Cork, than a vessel of greater Capacity, where
the Spirits being more and s*tronger are the
#Center L2


148 #Center A CATHOLIC./ more apt to fret. He allows of all holy Cheats,/ and in content to be deluded in a true, ortho-/ dox, and infallible Way. He believes the (i) Pope (i)/ to be infallible, because he has deceived all the/ World, but was never deceived himself, which/ was grown so notorious, that nothing less than/ an Article of Faith in the Church would make/ a Plaster big enough for the Sore. His Faith/ is too big for his Charity, and too unwieldy/ to work Miracles ; but is able to believe more/ than all the Saints in Heaven ever made. He/ worships Sainst in Effigie, as (i) Dutchmen (i) hand/ absent Malefactors ; and has so weak a Me-/ mory, that he is apt to forget his Patrons,/ unless their Pictures prevent him. He loves/ to see what he prays to, that he may not mis-/ take one Saint for another ; and his Beads and/ Crucifix are the Tools of his Devotion, with-/ out which it can do nothing. Nothing staggers/ his Faith of the (i) Pope's (i) Infallibility so much,/ as that he did not make away the Scriptures,/ when they were in his Power, rather than/ those that believed in them, which he knows/ not how to understand to be no Error. The/ less he understands of his Religion, the more/ violent he is in it, which, being the perpetual/ Condition of all those that are deluded, is a/


Center A CATHOLIC. #JustifyLeft 149
great Argument that he is miſtaken. His Re-
ligion is of no Force without Ceremonies, like
a Loadstone that draws a greater Weight
through a Piece of Iron, than when it is naked
of it s
elf. His Prayers are a kind of Crambe
that uſed to kill Schoolmaſters ; and he values
them by Number, not Weight.














#center L3