Hor. As to Indulgences and large Allowances, the Roman Catholicks out-do us far, especially the Jesuits, who certainly are the most easy Casuists in the World.
Cleo. They are so; but it is only in the Management of those, whose Consciences are under their Direction. A Jesuit may tell a Man such or such Things are allow'd to Him in particular, and give him Reasons for it from his Quality, or the Post he is in, from the State of his Health, his Temperament, his Age, or his Circumstances: But he'll not deny or explain away the Self-denial and the Mortification in general, that are commanded in the Gospel. When you come to this Point, he'll not lessen the Difficulty and Irksomeness of Christian Duties to Human Nature and the Flesh; but he'll refer you to the Founder of his Order, and the great Self-denial he practis'd: Perhaps he'll relate to you, how that Saint watch'd his Arms all Night, after he had dedicated them, together with his Life, to the Virgin Mary. But that the Gospel requires a literal Mortification of the Flesh, and other hard Tasks from us, is the very Basis which the Pope's Exchequer is built upon. He could have no Colour for enjoining Fasting and Abstinence, if it was not supposed, that he had a Warrant for it from the New Testament. It is this Supposition, that brings all the Grist to his Mill; and thus a Man may eat Flesh in Lent, without a Sin; but tho' he can get the Meat perhaps for Nothing, he shall pay for the Liberty of Eating it. Buying Absolutions implies the Consciousness of having committed a Crime; and No body would give Money for Indulgences, if he thought, that what he desires to be indulged in, was lawful without them. All Multitudes will sooner believe a Man to come from God, who leads an Austere Life himself, and preaches Abstinence and Self-denial to others tho' they themselves, I mean the Hearers, don't practice it, or take any Pains to comply with his Precepts, than they will another, who takes greater Liberties himself, and whose Doctrine is less severe. This the wise Architects of the Church of Rome, who were thoroughly skill'd in Human Nature, were well aware of; and accordingly they have improved upon the Scriptures, and added Lustre to all those Precepts, which is most difficult to comply with; and in commenting on the severest Duties of Christianity, they have been so far from extenuating and explaining away our Obligations to perform them, that they have heighten'd and magnify'd them, not only by Words and in Theory, but the Practice and Example; as is so manifest from the hard and almost incredible Tasks, which many of them have actually impos'd upon themselves, and gone through. They have flinch'd at Nothing on this Head.
Hor. A Man must be very stupid to believe, that his close Attachment to the World, and the Loosness of his own Morals can be atton'd for by the recluse and strict Lives that are led in some Religious Houses.
Cleo. Not so stupid as you imagine: There is Nothing in it that clashes with the common Notions of Mankind. Ceremonies are perform'd by Proxy; Men are Security for one another; and a Debt is not more effectually discharg'd, when we receive the Money from him who borrow'd it, than when it is paid by his Bail, tho' the Principal himself runs away. If there is but real Self-denial to be met with any where in a Religion, it is no difficult Matter to make Multitudes believe, that they have, or may buy, a Share in it: Besides, all Roman Catholicks are brought up in the firm Belief of the Necessity there is of Self-denial. They are strictly forbid to eat Flesh on Fridays; and Pains are taken to inspire them from their very Childhood with a Honour against the breaking of this Commandment. It is incredible, what Force such a Precept is of, and how closely the Influence of it sticks to men, when it has been earnestly inculcated to them from their early Youth. There is no Difficulty in the Thing when they are grown up; and I'll engage, that a Roman Catholick, who always has been accustom'd to this Piece of Observance till he is Five and Twenty Years of Age, will find it more easy afterwards to continue than to leave it off, tho' he should turn Protestant, or even Turk.
Hor. I have often admired at the great Force this senseless Piece of Superstition is of; for I have seen great Reprobates and very loose Fellows among the Roman Catholicks, who stuck at no Manner of Debauchery, and would often talk prophanely, that yet refused to eat Flesh on a Friday, and could not be laugh'd out of their Folly; tho' at the same Time I could see, that they were actually ashamed of it.
Cleo. No Set of People have so artfully play'd upon Mankind as the Church of Rome. In the Use they have made of Scripture, they have consulted all our Frailties; and in their own Interpretations of it, most dextrously adapted themselves to the common Notions of all Multitudes. They knew perfectly well, not only, that all Men are born with the Fear of an invisible Cause, but likewise that it is more natural, or, at least, that the rude and ignorant of our Species are always more apt to suspect, that this invisible Cause is their Enemy, than they are to think it to be their Friend, and will sooner believe it to be an evil and malicious, than a good beneficent Being. To turn this to their Advantage, they made Use of all their Skill and Cunning to magnify the Devil, and cry up his Force and Subtlety, his supernatural Art, his implacable Hatred to Mankind, and great Influence over Human Affairs. All the strange Stories they have spread, the monstrous Fables they have invented, and the gross Lies they have maintain'd, of Spirits, of Witchcraft, and Apparitions, never had any other Tendency than to manifest the Works of Satan, and make Every body afraid of his Power and Stratagems at all Times, and in all Places; which has been a prodigious Gain to them. They never taught any Thing that contradicted Vulgar Opinions, and never gave Men any Ideas of Heaven, that were not borrow'd from Something on Earth. That Courts of Princes are not deem'd to be compleat without Women, has advanced the Virgin Mary to be Queen of Heaven. From the Influence of Mothers, and the Authority they are known to exercise of their Infants, they have drawn the most childish Conclusions to raise Superstition; for to that Notion, and the great Honour which is every where allow'd to be due to Parents, it has been owing, that the Mother of God in the Roman Communion has been all along more address'd and pray'd to, than her Son; and of the Two She seems to be the more venerable Person. All Patrons in ancient Rome had their Clients, whom the protected; and all Favourites of Princes have their Creatures, whose Interests they espouse upon Occasion: This has produced the Invocation of Saints and Angels; and that no Advocates might be wanting in the Celestial Court on any Emergency, the Church has provided, that there is no Town or Country, no Handicraft or Profession, no Pain or Disease, Danger or Distress, but there is a kind Saint for that particular Affair, whose peculiar Province is to preside over and take Care of every Thing that relates to it; which has made the Number of them equal with, if not superiour to that of the Pagan Deities. She knew, that the Incredibility of Things is no Obstacle to Faith among Multitudes; and that in believing of Mysteries, Propositions will not be the less swallow'd for being contradictory to Reason.
Hor. But I thought you was not for keeping Men in Ignorance.
Cleo. What I am for, is not the Question. Priests who would bear an absolute Sway over the Laity, and live luxuriously at their Cost, ought First to make them believe Implicitly: Whereas an honest Clergy, that will teach Nothing concerning Religion, but what is consistent with good Sense, and becoming a rational Creature to believe, ought to deal uprightly with Men throughout the Whole, and not impose upon their Understandings in one Point more than they do in another. From the real Incomprehensibility of God, just Arguments must be drawn for believing of Mysteries that surpass our Capacities. But when a Man has good Reason to suspect, that he who instructed him in these Mysteries, does not believe them himself, it must stagger and obstruct his Faith, tho' he had no Scruples before, and the Things he had been made to believe, are no Ways clashing with his Reason. It is not difficult for a Protestant Divine to make a Man of Sense see the many Absurdities that are taught by the Church of Rome, the little Claim which Popes can lay to Infallibility, and the Priestcraft there is in what they say of purgatory and all that belongs to it. But to persuade him likewise, that the Gospel requires no Self-denial, nor any Thing that is irksome to Nature, and that the Generality of the Clergy of England are sincerely endeavouring, in their Lives and Doctrine, to imitate the Apostles, as nearly as Human Frailty will let them, and is consistent with the Difference of the Age and Manners between their Time and ours; to persuade, I say, a Man of Sense, that these Things are likewise true, would not be so easy a Task. By a Man of Sense, I mean a Man likewise of some Knowledge, who, in the First Place, has read the Bible, and believes the Scripture to be the sole Rule of Faith; and, in the Second, is no Stranger to our Church, or any Thing that is openly to be seen relating to her Clergy, especially the Heads of them, the Bishops; such as their Palaces and Manner of Living; their Translations, Revenues and Earthly Power, together with the Worldly Honours, Precedency and other Privileges, which our Spiritual Lords insist upon to be their Due.
Hor. I have often laugh'd my Self at Apostles in Coaches and Six; but what must at that Rate the Men of Sense and Sincerity among the Roman Catholicks think of their Prelates, who live in much greater Splendour and Luxury than ours? What must they think of the Cardinals and the Pope himself?
Cleo. Think of them? What they please, so they dare not to open their Lips against them, or any Thing which the Clergy are pleas'd to call Sacred. In all Roman Catholick Countries, you know, no Books or Pamphlets may be publish'd, but what are Licensed; and no Man is allow'd to divulge any Sentiments concerning Religion, that are not entirely Orthodox; which in all Countries, so regulated, is a vast Ease and an unspeakable Comfort to the Clergy of the establish'd Church.