and seen them in like-manner fall down before him making him rich presents upon the admonition as they said of a miraculous Star which had appeared to them in their own Country such circumstances as these would sure have strangely urged us to the belief of that wonder of wonders And to make use of a homebred example Who would have taken our Gracious Soverain Charles the Second for the King of Great Brittain France and Ireland that should have seen him under the disguise of a Sheepherd Sea-man or other habit he was forced to assume to secure his Royal Person But could you and I have peeped into this private Chamber and seen his small Retinue all bare before him and some one of them upon his knees presenting him with a cup of Beer or wine should we not think you have begun to suspect Surely this Person however and for whatsoever reasons he may disguise himself is of another quality then his outward garb represents him to be Nor do I less perswade my self did you and I see the many thousands all over the world as well of the Grecian as Roman Church who upon their knees with an assured Faith devoutly adore a Consecrated Wafer as their Creator and God if we have any respect to reason and man-kind and do not imagin all the world to be Fools except our selves Such a prospect as this would make us suspect in the secret of our hearts Surely under this disguise of a contemptible Wafer there is veiled some hidden Majesty or other who forces the highest adoration from such vast multitudes of all Nations and many of them so sharp-witted and of such solid judgements and such impartial enquirers after Truth and of so good and holy lives Say then and we have reason to say it heartily and without the least scruple or doubt 'T was the same out Gracious Soverain who lay hid in a common Oak at White-Ladys under the disguise of a Peasants weed who sits now at Westminster in his Princely Throne invested in his Royal Robes And 't is the same Christ Jesus our only Saviour and God who under the humble disguise of common bread and wine is immolated here below every day upon our Christian Altars who in transcendent splendor and glory sits at the right hand of his Eternal Father in the Heavens Sir I have done my part the Almighty do the rest and make you a happy Child of his holy Church But Sir I beseech you give me leave to add A Postscript to my Fellow Collegians My dearest Companions whom with my soul I wish the same happiness with my self both in this Life and the other I beseech you before you be engaged in the world and hindred from an industrious impartial enquiry after Truth by the cares of a Family and fears of wanting a competent subsistance do your selves and your Country that right as to consider with as little passion and prejudice as you can these my scattered thoughts and do not rashly conclude against Transubstantiation until you have fully heard what its Affertors as well as what its Deniers have to say for themselves I was once as you are and many suspicions of the truth of the Roman Catholick Faith came into my mind but still I was hindred from examining of it with this one thought If I turn Papist I must believe Transubstantiation but I know that 's an impossibility and this made me sit down contented with the Religion in which I was educated But afterwards making it my business more in good earnest to save my soul and setting my self impartially to examin what was the belief of the Primitive times concerning this mystery and finding mostclear Testimonies for the Real presence in the most renowned Primitive Christian Doctors I was much amazed having been always taught they were of a contrary Faith I read the citations to a Clergy-man of my Acquaintance I demand of him what he thought their belief was who in those words expressed their Faith He told me no doubt but they believed as the Church of Rome believes I consult the Authors themselves read the context before and after the said citations I am still more and more convinced S. Augustin Chrysostom Cyril c. believed as the Church of Rome now believes Hereupon I resolve not to venture my soul upon a point of Philosophy for example whether God Almighty by all his Omnipotency can make a body be in two places at once or no I believe two mysteries already both which puzzle and shock my reason as much as Transubstantiation to wit the B. Trinity and the Incarnation of the Son of God why may not I believe a third as well especially when I have the same Arguments for one as the other clear Scriptures the immemorial belief of all Nations ever since the Apostle c. And indeed if God Almighty will oblige me to believe what was taught sixteen hundred years before I was born how should he expect I should come to the knowledge of this but by such books as were written in those times and near those times and by the testimony of all Christian Countrys what has been immemorially believed by them ever since they were Christians Now if it be too long a journey to go over all Christendom to ask of them what is and what alwaies has been their Paith as to Transubstantiation and how they have always understood the holy Scriptures that speak of that mystery go but to the Royal Exchange in London and there you may meet with persons which at least have been in all or most Christian Countrys and ask of them what the belief and practice of Christendom is and you will find they all believe and adore the B. Sacrament and have done so as they say immemorially ever since they were Christians as Roman-Catholicks do in England or else if they do for so me numbers amongst them believe and practice otherwise 't is only since such a time above c. And then reflect how by such an Argument you prove as you think efficaciously against an Antiscripturist that the Books of the Old and New Testament are infallible and you securely believe every particular Story in them though never so strange in like manner the change of Saturday-Sabbath into Sunday against the Sibbatarians and Fasting in Lent as Apostolical with Bishop Gunning against Non-Conformists And indeed it is impossible such an universal effect should ever be without a proportionate universal cause That so many several Christian Countrys should immemorially abstain from certain meats on Fridays every week and in Lent every year or adore a Consecrated piece of Bread as their Creator and God unless they had been either first taught so to do by the first Planters of Christianity or by some Preachers since or had agreed so to do in some General Council by their representatives is impossible Should we ever think you even in the single City of London have fall'n by little and little to have shut
was not begun in the seventh or other Century but was alwaies believed since the Apostles seeing that in the nineth Century Christians universally believed that in the holy Eucharist the bread and wine were changed into the body and blood of our Saviour and as such adored them and embraced this doctrine of the real presence not as a doctrine newly found out by themselves or their immediate Fore-fathers by reading the holy Scriptures or other means but as taught them by their Fore-fathers uninterruptedly from the Apostles and seeing likewise this has ever been the way of the Catholick Church to teach and pretend to teach Posterity not new Doctrines of her own but what she had learnt from her Ancestors Hence S. Vincent Lerinensis twelve hundred years ago in his Golden Treatise against the profane Innovations of Heresies upon those words of S. Paul Siquis c. If any one Evangelize to you besides what you have received let him be Anathema Sed forsitan c. But perhaps those things were commanded the Galatians only Then those things also which follow in the same Epistle were commanded the Galatians only Be not desirous of vain-glory provoking one another envying one another Or perhaps was it then commanded if anyone announce besides what has been announced let him be Anathemaâ—ized but now it is not commanded Therefore and that also which he there saies But I say walk in the Spirit and do not perfect the desires of the Flesh was then only commanded but is not now commanded But if it be impious and pernicious to believe so it necessarily follows that as these things are to be observed by all Ages so those things also which are established concerning not changing the Faith are commanded to all Ages Wherefore it was never lawful it is not now lawful nor ever shall be lawful to Christian Catholicks to announce any thing besides what they have received Let him cry and cry again and to all and alwaies and every where let him cry by his Epistle that Vessel of Election that Master of the Gentils that Trumpet of the Apostles that Preacher of the World Conscious to the secrets of Heaven let him cry if any one preach a new Doctrine let him be Anathematiz'd And on the contrary side let certain Froggs and Cynifes and Flies that are to perish such as are the Pelagians reclame and this to Gatholiks We say they being Authors we being Heads we being Expositors Condemn what ye did hold hold what ye did Condemn reject the ancient Faith the institutions of your Fathers the depositions of your Ancestors and receive but what I have a horror to mention them for they are such proud things c. But may not general Councils at least presume to reach new Doctrines Hear the same S. Vincent chap. 32. Hoc semper neque quicquam praeterea c. The Catholick Church excited by the Novelties of Hereticks by the decrees of her Councils even did this and not thing more than this what she had received by Tradition only this she consigned to Posterity by writing comprehending a great sum of things in a few letters and for the most part for the light of understanding signing the not new sense of Faith with the propriety of a new name Take notice that the Christian Church using this means to preserve the Faith first received its impossible she should ever lose or change it For if Fathers from the beginning had resolved to teach their Children what they had learnt or even thought they had learnt from their Parents as to the point of the Real prefence or other doctrine its impossible they should teach another doctrine For should they teach another doctrine it must happen either because they were ignorant what was taught them by their Parents which is impossible not only to whole Nations but even to the Inhabitants of one small Town or else because though they knew what was taught by their Parents yet they would teach otherwise than they had been taught but then they must forsake their first resolution of teaching their Children what they thought they had learnt from their Fathers contrary to the Supposition But on the other side let us suppose a book fully written as to all points to be believed by Christians by the first teachers of Christianity Let them together with this Book give charge to their 〈◊〉 Converts neither to add to it nor to diminish it and to believe as in their Consciences they shall think that Book shall teach them Though Generation after Generation be never so faithful to such a charge yet they may in after Ages come to lose or change their Faith because the Book may seem to one Generation to bear one sense and to another Generation to bear another Especially if the mysteries to be believed be very sublime and the Book obscure in many places and admit of divers senses when it speaks of those mysterieâ— For example these words This is my Body may seem to one Age to bear this sense This is a sign of my body and â—o another This is really and truly my body But no ten Families who have been taught by their Parents either to believe our Saviours body is in the Euecharist or that it is not there can possibly mistake what their immediate Fathers taught them and frequently inculcated to them as to this point both by themselves and choice persons ordained on purpose for this end to teach what they learnt from their immediate Masters and Fathers Nothing can make a change here but a resolution to go contrary to what they know was taught them by their Parents Wherefore seeing God Almighty is resolved not to teach every Age by immediate infallible Missionants from himself but to send inspired Ambassadors to one particular Generation only and to leave that Generation to teach their Children successively till the day of Judgment what they learnt from the immediate infallible Messengers of Heaven And seeing also a Book with a charge not to change or alter it and with a charge also to follow what should seem to every Generation to be the sense of it and supposing every Generation faithful to such a charge would not have been a sufficient means to keep the first divine Faith from Corruption we may safely conclude the Almighty has not taken that way to teach the world But seeing Oral teaching by inspired Pastors at first with a charge to every Generation to follow what they thought was taught them by their immediate Parents and Teachers provided every Generation were true to this charge would have kept the first Faith inviolate we may also conclude the Almighty has taken this way Especially finding a Congregation of so vast a spread in being who pretends to have made use of this means to preserve her first Faith taught her Ancestors many hundred years ago nor can she be evinced by any History or Tradition or any thing but mere sayings and ungrouâ—â—â—d surmises to have lost
rather wonder at their stupidity and fond credulity who can believe any such thing But to get a right strong and well grounded Faith concerning this high mystery what must we do First Reflect we are Christians and as such must necessarily believe very many strange things unless we will renounce Christianity For example we must believe that there are three distinct Persons and every one of these is God and yet there are not three Gods but only one God We must also believe this one God is infinitly merciful and yet he will permit millions of souls to lament and howl amidst scorching Flames for ever though with a word he could ease them of all their pains Moreover we must believe that 1600. years ago one of the three divine Persons was incarnat and became a true mortal man flesh and blood as we are and after 33. years which he lived upon our Earth he was nailed to a Cross Hands and Feet till he died and after three daies came to life again and after 40. days ascended into Heaven where he remains to this day These would seem strange things to believe to one that should never have heard them before and yet stranger to one that from his Childhood should have been taught to laugh at such stories as mere Fables and idle fictions of cheating Priests who knew them well enough to be such but for their own gain and interest seem'd to believe them and with a great deal of Confidence taught them for infallible Truths to the credulous multitude Which being so Reflect 2d y. No Christian must bogle at any thing as to the belief of it merely for the strangeness of it and seeming unlikeliness to his senses or reason But must consider what grounds he has to judge the strange mystery he is required to believe was taught his Fore-fathers by our B. Saviour and his Apostles and if he find he has good grounds for this he must immediately submit his understanding and believe it 3dly Let us reflect upon the state of our own Country as it is at present and as our Annals represent it to have been ever since our first Receiving of the Christian Faith At present we have a considerable number of Families who believe Transubstantiation and have believed it from their Fore-fathers time out of mind and they say ever since the first planting of the Christian Faith amongst us We have also far greater multitudes who do not believe it but yet so as there 's scarce one who is fifty years old whose great Grand-father did not believe it but when his great Grand-father or his great Grand-fathers Ancesters began to believe it we are able to give no acconnt Moreover two hundred years ago in all the several Shires or Provinces of England we all universally Bishops Priests and People Rich and Poor Learned and Unlearned believed it And this not as a new Doctrin found out by themselves by reading the holy Scriptures No. They were Enemies to all Novelties and professed they must hold fast what had been taught by their Fore-elders and interpret Scripture in the sense their Fore-elders had done Now how is it possible they should come to believe such a strange Doctrin unless it had been taught them from their Fore-fathers and the first Preachers of Christianity in our Nation Especially they not reading the holy Scriptures as we do now nor having such store of Bibles that they might perhaps by their private reading have come to believe this hard and high mystery contrary to what had been taught them by their Fore-elders How came they to learn it then Did they some strange morning or other all awake of a different belief from what they had been of the Evening before Or did it come into some Schollars head by studying the holy Scriptures reading for example those words This is my body so often repeated in the Evangelists S. Paul and he hereupon was convinced they had all been in an Error for so many years and by Preaching and Disputing perswaded others But how comes it to pass then we having had Historians that have mentioned far less Matters yet say not a word of any such thing Or did the Britons before S. Austin the Monk believe no such thing How came they then not to clash about it or if they did how comes it to pass other differences are recorded and this is omitted Besides if S. Austin taught it our Ancesters he confirm'd the Religion he taught by miracles as all our Stories testifie And also he lived within the first 600 years to which Dr. N. N. in one of his Sermons appeals Nor did that blessed man pretend to teach us a new Religion neither newly found out at Rome but what was alwaies believed ever since S. Peter 4. Let us consider why we are Christians and we shall find if we be so rationally and groundedly and not merely because we were so brought up from our Childhood I say we shall find our Faith to be grounded upon such principles as if we be true to them they will force us as strongly to believe Transubstantiation as the Incarnation the Real presence as the Deity of our Saviour For example I believe the man Jesus Christ who lived 1600. years ago was also God And why Because he said he was so and proved by evident miracles that he was sent to teach the World Truth and nothing but Truth And why all this Because it could not stand with the providence of God to suffer a Deceiver to work such miracles as he wrought teaching withal and practising such sanctity as he did For then the most sincere desirers to know the Truth would be most subject to miss of it But how do I know Jesus Christ wrought such miracles Because I find them Recorded in certain Books which several Nations all over the World have immemorially looked upon as faithful true stories ever since the time the miracles are said to have been wrought Now 't is not possible but the men then alive must needs certainly know whether he did work such strange miracles or no. And if they had known no such thing was wrought by him but that these things were at first feigned by some of his Friends and afterwards committed to writing by them they could never contrary to the evidence of their own knovvledge have told unanimously such notorious Lyes to their Posterity and have made them believe them as they did Nor could have recommended the Books vvherein they vvere Recorded to their Children and have made them reverence them as unquestionable and infallibly certain Histories as they did But hovv do I knovv that Jesus Christ taught that he vvas God vvhy certainly the Apostles understood him vvhat he said concerning himself vvhether he vvere only a holy man like to their great Moyses or else vvere true and substantially God and consequently to be Worshipped by them as such And no doubt but they taught their first Converts vvhat they had learnt