as that of his Body which was to be broken for us From hence 't is apparent that the Breaking and the Communion are so firmly joyned to this Action that without them 't is not indeed a Sacrament Let those who so frequently urge that He hath said it teach us after what manner He gave his Body to his Disciples during his Weakness before his Resurrection and Glory as also before his Passion and Death Is it not in breaking Bread for 'em himself who was in some sort broken before he suffer'd and that by his own hands and not by those of his Enemies since the Sacrament preceded the Sacrifice Is it not according to the custom of all Sacraments that he spake of it in giving it a Name expressive of the Effect and in saying that 't is not only what he represents but that which he offers to those who desire to receive it Who perceives not that our Corporal eating does assist at the same time and is a means to excite our â—ouls to a â—piritual one which is absolutely dependent on Faith 'T is certain that many have been afraid after the Blessing to give the Bread the name of Bread lest it should be taken for ordinary Bread But St. Paul calls it Bread four times at least for fear that as by the Capernaites or Romans it should be taken for Flesh he said also the Cup is the Communion of the Blood of Christ for fear it should be believ'd the Blood it self We cannot doubtless approach these Sacred Signs with too great Reverence since by their means the things they signifie are convey'd to us or at least so offer'd that 't is but desiring 'em and we may receive ' em Faith serves as a Mouth to us and our Souls in some sort eat and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ as our Bodies eat and drink the Bread and Wine which represent ' em Thus the Fathers to stir up a Peoples Devotion and engage 'em to the profound Respect of Holy Things used certain ways of speaking which were not to have been believed had they not been figurative Their mighty Zeal which perswaded 'em they could never say too much left 'em no room to imagine that their Metaphors Metonymies and Hyperboles would one day pass for Articles of Faith They could never have thought that from the Flowers of their Rhetorick would have grown such a monstrous Doctrine or that from the Weakness or Malice of men their serious and devout Meditations would have been turn'd into Chimerical Notions But having endeavour'd to improve each others Expressions they have unhappily contributed without thinking of it to a Mystery they as yet knew not and have by their Arguments helped to strengthen it's Abuse Their Evidence is every day cited to this purpose the Transports of their Thoughts and their extraordinary heights of Speech are urged as undoubted Testimonies of the simple Truth Though the same Writings of these Fathers are so expounded that we may say of them as of the Holy Scriptures That those things which are clear and manifest remove the Scruples raised by such which are difficult and obscure yet the great Doctors of the Age whatever Reasons have been shewn 'em to the contrary forbear not to impose on the Credulity of the People who as the highest Peice of Devotion daily worship a bit of Bread and in this are so far prevail'd with by Custom that they are even ready to massacre those who will not believe it Add to the Errors of Speech the long Conversation the Primitive Christians held with the Heathens of whom they have not only borrowed Temples Altars and Images but also Habits Gestures Numbers and Mysteries you 'll find that after their Example they have omitted nothing that may render their Religion pompous and suitable to the Grandeur of the World that they could not stoop to the simplicity of the Gospel preferring rather the Appearance of things than the real Truth Those who have read but a very little must confess that they scarce see any thing in their Churches which they have not borrowed from the superstitious Gentiles And not to speak of any thing but what relates to our Subject of Discourse they worshipp'd no Images but what must be consecrated being perswaded the Deities they represented were fixed to 'em by the power of their magical Operations Those Christians who have not been satisfy'd with the Terms of Blessing and giving of Thanks have been so pleas'd with that of Consecration that in time they believed a Virtue and Efficacy in it hence proceeded the Observation of many mysterious Ceremonies an Affectation of certain Words often repeated besides a Presumption of adding others to those of Jesus Christ's that they might not be wanting either in their Numbers or Virtue Hence arose the Name of Transubstantiation so ill understood and so ill made use of that without the Explication they give of it 't would not be in the least significative of what they design it This is a Doctrine which as much as 't is possible destroys the Humanity of Jesus Christ and which frames to it self a God in which no reasonable Creature can believe This is the Source from whence flow such Streams of Contradictions and unallowable Consequences that they both scandalize and discourage the greatest part of Men they obstruct the Conversion of the Infidel and confirm the Atheist in his Unbelief 'T is indeed a horrible Abuse of those Sacramental Words This is my Body to place a Power in 'em in these lattertimes of changing the Bread of the Eucharist into the incorruptible Body of Jesus Christ to be receiv'd in by our corruptible ones without any Need or our finding any extraordinary Effect or Advantage by it The Text is much more express that says The Word was made Flesh yet no one believes that by Transubstantiation the Divine Nature was changed into the Humane So from the Sacramental way of speaking that says This is my Body no one ought to infer that the Substance of the Bread is converted into the Substance of the Body of Jesus Christ What Virtue what efficacious Use has not been allowed to Baptism both by the Scripture and the Fathers By it we put on Jesus Christ and partake not only of his Death and Burial but his Resurrection also By it we are in an Instant made new Creatures we pass from Sin to Justification and ascend from Earth to Heaven However Holy and Celestial the Eucharist is what more abundant Graces can it bestow on us than the Confirmation of these same Priviledges the Operations of the same Spirit the first Fruits of the same Transfiguration and Glory Yet for this only the Learned of the Times have sought out many Inventions that exceed the Capacity of Men and subvert all Orders and the very Principles of the True Doctrine From their hollow brain is produced an idle vain thing that is void of all Substance a real Apparition which presents it self
only to the Eyes but deceives all the other Sences that offers Violence to our Minds and imposes on our Understanding and. Reason A Body that has neither Extent or Quantity an indivisible Point that comprehends the whole Blood that contains the Body in which it is contained at the same time solid and yet to be drank What is really Corporeal they annihilate and make a Body of that which is truly spiritual They utterly spoil the Sacrament by taking the Substance from it they destroy the Body of Jesus Christ by robbing him of all the Proprieties of a Body only attributing to him those of a Spirit 'T is not then to receive the Sacrament unless we have what it exhibits viz. A substantial Sign To be denyed that is to be deprived of what is signify'd since in this Sacramental Communion the one goes not without the other But either let 'em tell us what is it's Substance what it's Elements what it's Figure what it's Relation or let 'em confess that 't is not necessary to represent him in Figure who is present in Person or corporally to receive in the Host the Sign and the thing signify'd together In effect 't is incoherent to be sacramentally present and yet really so The Sign is not what it signifies or the Picture what it represents the Union of these things is made by Relation not Substance The matter in Question is concerning a Spiritual Nourishment represented to us by a Corporeal one without which the other cannot be For what Relation is there between a Sacrament made up of Accidents an appearance only of Bread and the real Body of Jesus Christ broken by which we are nourish'd to Life eternal What subsists not cannot be the Representation of a Substance and to represent a Body by what has no Body is to represent a Being by no Being Every thing by Nothing and if I may so say the Truth by Falshood Hereupon they make Expositions so very obscure and Distinctions so intricate and confus'd that they cannot possibly make others understand that of which they themselves are ignorant and you cannot disturb 'em more than to put 'em on making plain even their own Explications It has always been believ'd That the Mind did better apprehend things than they could be express'd by any Words but these men imagine they express what our Thoughts cannot conceive And when they have said all they can they have Recourse to the Omnipotence of God without taking the least notice of his Will If we are to believe 'em in this God is not Omnipotent unless he can destroy those very Laws which he made to be eternally inviolable unless he can contradict himself and belye the Truth He is not omnipotent unless he can make a Humane Body to take up no place at all or at least that the Whole be comprehended under a Point or Atome He is not Omnipotent unless he can make the Colour and Taste of Bread to subsist without the Bread it self that is to say That Accidents are not Accidents which they pretend is every day done by him in favour of these Gentlemen by a Miracle which no one can evidence having never perceived any thing of it or rather by a Mystery that surpasses all sorts of Miracles kept hid and undiscovered only to be a Refuge for Presumption and Ignorance Who can patiently hear these Doctors and not slight ' em It is not enough that God is incomprehensible they do all they can to make him disbelieved They shelter themselves under a Divinity falsly so called that consists in critical Questions and difficult Answers made insignificant by their own Subtlety that affect the Ears with Sound and Noise but not at all the Understanding They own a Sacrament which they emphatically pronounce and which to speak properly signifies nothing unless taken in the sence of the Reform'd Churches who believe that our Communion cannot be but Spiritual so long as it is Sacramental By such like extravagant and vain Expressions they take off all the Difficulties can be urged to 'em and entertain their Hearers with airy and idle Imaginations by which they take Pleasure to deceive themselves They say there must be a Sacrifice in the Church against that place of Scripture There is no more Offering for Sin after that which has been once made for all Heb. 10. v. 10. 18. They will have their pretended propitiatory Sacrifice and that of the Cross to be but the same thing Besides they will have the Bread of the Eucharist changed into the Glorious Body of Jesus Christ and I know not how they allow to the same Subject Passion and Glory we must receive him whole in remembrance that he was broke and living in Memory of his Death and tho' at their desire he comes every day to 'em both in his Humane and Divine Nature yet we must not forbear doing these things till he come This is called Consecration that is taking away the Substance of the Bread and only reserving it's Accidents therewith to cover the Body of Jesus Christ This is called sacrificing him in Remembrance of himself for the Redemption of the Living and the Dead This is called eating him corporeally altho' the Flesh profits not at all And altho all these things are confuted by contradicting themselves yet that never to be dry'd source of Miracles Transubstantiation reconciles 'em all in defence of a Temporal right that usurps the Name of Spiritual However it is the Sacrament cannot be referr'd but to the time of the Sacrifice and 't is not to celebrate the memory of that by supposing any other Body than that which was broken 'T is not that Blood which remain'd in the Veins of the Body we are to drink but that which was shed which though worthy of having been receiv'd in the Vessels of Election yet fell on the Earth and consequently cannot be drank but spiritually The Sign cannot contain more than the thing it signifies and we take it really tho' after the manner that the Spirit and Faith make things real If it be true that the Bread contains the Body whole and entire what does the Wine add to it What signifies the Superfluity of two Signs 'T was in vain the Lord commanded they should be taken separately if one contains the other by a necessary consequence of this Transubstantiation ' Twou'd be no great matter if it only produc'd superfluous things if it did not such monstrously strange ones that we dare scarce mention 'em being so very offensive to those who maintain 'em that they have not the Courage to hear ' em To what end had the Son of God supping with his Apostles eat his own Flesh and drank his own Blood Was his Body glorious before glorified or else Had he two Bodies at the same time the one passible and the other impassible What necessity in these latter days more than in former oblig'd him to exhibit himself as Corporeal Food to be expos'd as we
Divine Graces that infinitely surpasses the Discourse of Men that obliges us to glorifie him who has bestowed it on us with Sighs and Groans that cannot be uttered A TREATISE Concerning the EVCHARIST IF Religion was only grounded upon the Opinion of men if they might serve God according to their own Imaginations and not his Commands every Religion would be a good one and our Intentions alone would be sufficient to recommend each different Invention to us The World which for the most part is affected with things present would be pleas'd with such variety of Worship one part of it would not be accus'd of Heresie or any other look'd on as guilty of Superstition But 't is not enough to own a God or pay any sort of Homage to him the great bus'ness of Religion is to save men from that Eternal Death which they have merited but their Minds are so clouded with darkness and so involv'd in Sin that they cannot find either a Remedy against it or the way to Salvation or the Paths that lead to Supreme Happiness What likelihood is there that the Children of Rebellion who are under the Curse and Anger of God should have yet strength enough to recover their Fall or sufficient Light to direct 'em out of that profound and dark Abyss into which they cast themselves If they cannot comprehend Divine Truth and that this Faith must be derived from some other Spirit than their own why should they pretend to the making of Laws and so absolutely to determine of Universal Religion They ought to receive Instructions from an Understanding much more perfect than their own for indeed they are so incapable to prescribe or command on this occasion that they are utterly disabled even to obey I cannot imagine how men can be so presumptuous and yet so weak and impotent They are sure become insensible of their Infirmities they are ignorant of their want of Knowledge and flatter themselves that their Light is so very clear that their Blindness cannot be discover'd The same Insolence that at first destroy'd 'em does continue to do so even to the end they have violated the most holy things and if we may so say have laid their hands on the Ark against the strictest Prohibitions Is there any thing more Sacred in Religion than the Sacrament of the Eucharist And ought not that to be for ever preserv'd inviolable since instituted by him who was Wisdom it self Yet what part of it is not alter'd corrupted or brought to nothing at all by the Roman Church What remains then in the celebration of what is now called the Mass of that which was heretofore called the Supper of the Lord 'T is a memorial our Saviour was pleas'd to leave of himself to excite men not only by Words but by visible Signs to a remembrance of that which they never ought to forget What Signs were so eligible To what Elements could he have better compared himself than to those which are most necessary to the preservation of our Lives He who is that Bread which came from Heaven for our Spiritual food and that we might eternally live with him What was more proper for him to do than to take Bread break it and give it us since his Body was to be broke for our Sins and He to be deliver'd up to Death that he might procure Life for us What could He more significantly say than Take and Eat since we cannot live unless joyn'd with him as the Substance of the Bread which we eat every day is incorporated with our bodies so that it becomes the same with us and of two Substances but one The same considerations that invite us to Eat will to Drink also unless one could do the Office of the other as 't is done in the Church of Rome But the Cup being a sign of the separation of the Blood from the Body is inseparable from the Sacrament even because the Blood was separated from the Body for in the double Action the breaking of the Body and the effusion of the Blood ought to be equally represented It is not enough then at this Feast to eat we must drink also as 't is customary at all others in the World for he who invites us to it does command us to do so being pleased to suit himself to our Methods of living and who would have us bear a part in his Sorrows only that we may partake of his Joyes He being the Beginning and the End of all things the true Source of those living Waters whose Streams so refresh the Trees of Paradise that by those they grow flourish and become eternally fruitful I have not here undertaken to examine each particular part of the Mass or to compare it with this first Institution or to search after any conformity to it where in truth there is none The Institutions of men are here so intermix'd with those of God or indeed have rather so quite alter'd 'em that we can discover nothing but the pomp and stateliness of the mystery of Iniquity I will venture only to urge some things on the very words of our Saviour which are the innocent Original of those Controversies Seditions Massacres and Differences that happen amongst Christians and which make the reason of our Communion become that of our Dissention 'T is extremely difficult to add any thing to the thoughts of so many admirable Persons who have said all that can be on this Subject and who seem to have forgot nothing but Brevity but I having no other End than the endeavouring to make my self understood by the stupid and wilfully deaf 't would be to no purpose to serve my self of others Reasons if so be I can make my own perswasive 'T is a manner of speaking usual amongst all Nations the style of all Languages to give to a thousand things the name of what they only put us in mind of and to which they bear some resemblance This also extends even to Persons as we say This is the King when there is only his Seal or Picture and not absurdly we often name God when there is only his shadow or Image This is a Figure so very common that 't is frequently made use of even by those that understand not one Figure in Rhetorick This manner of Speech seems to be particularly made use of in Sacraments not only as a great Propriety but that 't is inevitably necessary Yet the Superstitious or rather those whose Interest it is have made it their business to take it literally and 't is insufferable to hear 'em impertinently repeating He hath said it He hath said it 'T is true that He hath said This is my Body but the Apostle adds to it which is broken for you and shews the necessary relation between the breaking of the one and the other For he took Bread not to eat it himself alone but to give it those who were with him He gave it not as a Sign of his Glorious Body but
may urge to these Doctors to be eaten by the most abject Creatures of the Earth But let us pass by in silence these many Inconveniences which they themselves infer from this so ill-grounded Doctrine and to palliate 'em are oblig'd to have Recourse to Rules and Canons which were they not Superstitious we would call Ridiculous Let us only add that if the Body of Jesus Christ be inclos'd in the Sacrament we may eat it without believing in him Thus Infidels obtain more than they require They eat of Celestial Food they have not asked for nay their very Contempt of it does not hinder 'em from it since they cannot receive the Sacrament without eating it but they are so far from eating it that Believers themselves do it not as 't is understood by the Church of Rome They receive not with the Sacrament the Divine Essence but the Virtue and Essicacy of the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ and since the Wicked cannot partake of his Graces it follows that those Graces are not joyn'd to it by Consecration 'T is not the Words pronounc'd but believed that make Jesus Christ communicated in the Sacrament 'T would be strange if he must be unworthily eaten by his very Enemies and that he who is Holiness it self should every day enter into their defiled bodies only to render 'em more guilty and that he might have more Reason to condemn and punish ' em On the contrary 't is the Devil that would enter into 'em as he did Judas when our Lord gave him the Sop. How is it possible these two Guests so irreconcileable can agree together It is not credible that being fill'd with the most sovereign Good we should only have a sense of Evil from it we receive our Saviour that we may be saved the Wicked take only the consecrated Signs and because such they commit Sacriledge and render themselves guilty of Treason against the Divine Majesty because they have no regard to the Institution of Our Lord contemn his Offers in it and deny it's Vertue They publickly take his Enemies part they again spit in his Face they crown him with Thorns they strike and crucifie him 'T is thus they eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup unworthily 't is thus they eat their own Condemnation not discerning the Body of Jesus Christ For the Symboles Seals and Pledges of his Love are accounted himself by those who believe in him it being Faith alone which makes the Signs inseparable from the thing signified 'T is heavenly Food given to no one for his Condemnation but only for his Justification for Life and not for Death not being under the Accidents of Bread or in the Bread it self but in the Heart of those who receive it Thus the Bread ceases not to be Bread but to be common Bread it loses not it's Substance but acquires Sanctification which changes not it's Nature but adds Grace to Nature for the sake of those that believe The Mystery of the Incarnation unites us to the Body of our Saviour Faith with which he inspires us by his Word unites us to his Spirit which double Union is confirm'd to us by the Communion of Sacraments But as our Union with Jesus Christ cannot be perfect in this World by reason of our Sins and Death which is a Consequence of 'em so though we take the Symboles he gives us corporally yet 't is neither possible or necessary for us to take what they signifie but spiritually For if we take his Body as the Church of Rome imagines it does our Infirmities could not bear his Glory the stronger would overcome the weaker we shou'd doubtless perish or his Vertue would even then blot out all our sins we should in an instant be transform'd and become incorruptible and glorious we should be assured never to see Death But we partake not of one of all these but by the comfort the Spirit gives us but by Faith by which we rely on his Promises and but by that Hope we have of a Life to come Thus to eat the Body of Jesus Christ is to hear his Word is to believe in him to behold him on the Cross loaded with our Sins to be truly sensible of his Wounds and Sorrows and to confess that by the Satisfaction of the Son whose Merit is infinite we satisfie the Father whom we have infinitely offended 'T is to be inflam'd with the love of him who has so very much loved us and to assure him as we do all those we love that he is alwayes in our Thoughts that he fully possesses our Hearts that he is the Soul of our Souls and to use his own terms that He dwells in us and we in him In fine To eat the Body of Jesus Christ is to have a fresh and lively sense of those Favours he has bestow'd on us and to think that we are not only his Servants and Friends but his Brethren his own blood bone of his bones flesh of his flesh and that we are part of that Church whom he has honour'd so far as to make his Eternal Spouse Behold what is the Meat and the Drink which are not given to all sorts of Persons which satisfie and quench the Thirst of those only who hunger and thirst after Righteousness But the Men of this World have not truly relish'd the Simplicity of this Institution they would heighten the Lustre of this double Sacrament and do all things according to the Example or rather in Emulation of the Superstitions of the World The Name of Religion of a Church and even of God himself who serv'd 'em but as a pretence to make themselves more honourable to procure with more Ease earthly Advantages and Preferments Besides this I have often thought what lawful and necessary use they could make of this Transubstantiation 't is what they themselves could scarce tell if so be they would consider the common cause of Salvation as well that of the Jews as of the Gentiles These prodigious Errors are the true Causes of all that Mischief which happens in the World and Mankind will be so long infested with Judgments as Superstition continues to corrupt Religion But the Divine Oracles give us Reason to hope that the days of Sorrow will be shorten'd and that God will confound the Wicked by the Breath of his Mouth The Time will come that Children shall abhor and detest the Belief of their Fathers and will say Is it possible that our Predecessors have been so silly and stupid or so extreamly harden'd by Custom or so very careless in search of the Truth to have believ'd things altogether incredible What Spirit of Pride what high Presumption has possess'd these Councils who have imagin'd they could appoint better Orders for Divine Service than the Providence of God himself had done by the Mouth of his own Son I will then conclude with the Wise Man or at least with his Translator who makes him speak after this manner Ecclesiastes chap. 3.
go and whither would you have me go Can I look on those People without Pitty who know not what they say when they either pray or sing But above all Can I see so many poor miserable Women who have never done and who believe God is only pleas'd with Numbers and Repetitions Can I without Horror take Notice of their Beads and Altars dedicated to any other than the Holy of Holies where the Creature is placed in the Room of the Creator Can I see on the high Altar that which is called the Blessed Sacrament an ineffectual Object an insignificant Sign Bread which is neither broke given or receiv'd by any one that represents neither the breaking of the Body or the shedding of the Blood of Jesus Christ and which is nothing less than the Sacrament Would you have me go every day to observe sacrificing Priests that cannot tell you themselves what they sacrifice and of the Supper of the Lord make a Show only Sometimes they speak with a loud Voice and yet not to be understood and sometimes so foftly and pronounce such Mysterious and Sacred Words that 't is not permitted to those who are by tho' never so devout to hear what is said lest they prophane it They turn to the right hand and to the left in Imitation of what the Heathens called Vertigines and from whence they expect to procure some efficacious and admirable Vertue This is the highest pitch of Superstition They elevate what they hold in their hands to make it adored to which they attribute the Names of God of the Host of the Body of our Lord and of the Sacrament and all these if we may believe them are consistent together without any Contradiction Sure these Men must be of a very easie Belief to imagine that that which they make with their own hands and which they consecrate should be made the God who made them Then not considering that the Supper ought to be a common Meal and therefore must have Company at it or without having Consideration of that Passage which says Stay one for another the Priest for the most part eats alone and sometimes gives it only to some particular Person which from Abuse and Custom they forbear not to call the Communion What is yet worse the taking away of the Cup which cannot upon any Account more at one time than another be justified and that evident Reason of it's Concomitancy tacitly accuse our Saviour of not having well thought what he did do correct or rather violate his Ordinance and so add Sacriledge to Blasphemy Moreover those who have but an ordinary Tincture of Humane Learning very well know from what Invention from what Source have flow'd their Holy Waters some fix'd others running or carryed about Their Ensignes their lighted Tapers at Noon-day their Images of Saints I had almost said Gods To conclude all their Feasts their Processions their shorn crown'd Heads their pontifical Ornaments their pompous Ceremonies that make the Cross of Jesus Christ of no effect do sufficiently of themselves prove that they preserve nothing of the Plainness or Simplicity of the Gospel The principal Heads of the Church of Rome in this truly Universal have been afraid to omit any one single Act of the Religions of this World as if God needed to borrow even from his Enemies new Inventions or other Methods to procure greater Honour to himself Thus Paganism is not quite abolish'd and we may say that there are yet such Remains of Superstition and Idolatry that the Heathens even now do triumph in some Measure over the Christians Here we find nothing pure or compleat nothing that bears any Marks of the first Institution every thing is chang'd and corrupted and to use their own terms there seems to have been in all things a universal Transubstantiation But what would become of the Mystery of Iniquity that was set on Work from the time of St. Paul 2 Thessâ—… 7. and by what would Believers know it if it had not the Marks of Infidels All these Alterations have come to pass for the Promotion of that Kingdom or rather that King who advances himself above all others and who only use the Name of God to authorize his own Laws against those of God himself 'T is with the Head of this Church as with the Church he governs 't is but warily observing him and we may be undeceiv'd He is elected only by political Intrigues and Briberies and his Government is but a Trade for under it Sins are taxed and Pardons to be sold He sets himself up as the absolute Judge of Divine as well as Humane things of the Living as the Dead and disposes even as he pleases of our very Souls sending some to Hell and others to Paradise He bestows on some Ecclesiasticks in great Employments Titles of Vanity and Pride and canonizes only such who defend his Tyranny and Usurpation What a Successor is this of St. Peter How does he imitate Jesus Christ What a Vicar is he to subvert all the Orders of his Lord and who turns his Poverty his Humility and Sufferings into Riches Pomp and Pleasures Yet he has the Multitude on his side the Arm of Flesh and for a Time he is even impower'd to contend against the Saints and overcome ' em These are Ills scarce to be remedy'd because esteem'd Vertues and in which many find all the Conveniences imaginable With these are Hypocrites the Ambitious and Covetous pleas'd and all such who are byass'd by Interest These are agreeable to the timerous the weak the brutish the stupid and to all those who are harden'd by Custom The Antiquity of these Errors is sufficient to make 'em valu'd as Sacred Laws in the Opinion of the Vulgar Even many of the Fathers by suiting themselves too much to the present time and not fore-seeing what might come to pass have confirm'd 'em by conniving at ' em To cite their Testimony on this Account is not to defend our own Cause but accuse theirs 't is to have Recourse to Authority for want of Reason They themselves owâ—… that they are not infallible and in this matter that their best Thoughts are very imperfect if not altogether consonant to the Scripture The Doctrine of the true Church is purely Canonical Divine and not to be authoriz'd by that which is not so These famous Preachers which you desire so much I should hear are Accessories to all these Abuses and deal very unfairly unless they undeceive the People There is no Religion but may be eloquently discoursâ—… nay there are those which preach up Moâ—…y admirably well but we may say of Eloquence as of Beauty that 't is a gift of Heaven bestow'd as well on the Wicked as the Good The Business of the greatest part of 'em is indeed to set forth themselves and to procure some spiritual Preferments which now exceed the Secular Is it to preach Jesus Christ to conceal the â—…ost important and chief part of his Commands