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
finding the first or last which alone merits the name of Divinity To what are we come that we must even now with Industry endeavour to prove the Truth of the being of a God! Is not this indeed to affront men as reasonable as our selves to shew 'em what each particular Sence does constantly prove to ' em Is not this to teach those to see who have their Eyes open and tell others they have the use of Reason who profess themselves men Shall we add to these Considerations the frequently repealed Arguments of those who have undertaken so high but just and reasonable a Defence In effect if there was no God How could the World be Could it be the Workmanship and the Workman of it self Could it be before it was How can these agree and yet but the same World If it be eternal and is independent on any first Cause that Order which we observe and must be an effect of admirable Wisdom with all those Powers which are differently communicated to each part would in a manner prove what some have fancied That it is God himself For it is not in the least probable that it's Beauty it 's Order and Duration can be the effects of blind and confus'd Chance Can we imagine that from thence could proceed such long and regular Successions of Time and Motion Can we attribute to that so much Care and Wisdom as to be able to make so different Causes tend to the same Effect This certainly under another Name would be God himself and his Blasphemers would meet in every place what their guilty Souls are afraid of finding any where otherwise What is this Fortune but a vain and insignificant Title an imaginary Idol that exists but in our Fancies to which we erroniously attribute such Effects of whose Causes we are ignorant She appears to us less or greater according to our Proportion of Knowledge and if we could but free the World from Ignorance the Notion of Fortune would be laid aside 'T is then the Deity of the ignorant which no wise man adores and I cannot but wonder how those who plead for her can believe themselves reasonable since according to the Opinion they have of all things they must confess they were made by Chance and consequently that they move act and speak so There are amongst these some who pretend to believe a God but at the same time make him careless and idle slothful and wholly unconcern'd in the Affairs of the Universe at least in all sublunary things imagining perhaps says one that this would be too great Trouble to him As if their Impieties could give him any Comfort or Satisfaction Is not this to deny whilst they own him and boldly to confine the Actions of an infinite Power Is not this to make to themselves a God who cannot barely act as a Man to allow him Understanding without Counsel a Will without Freedom Goodness without Communication in a Word a Being without a Being and less than that of the Elements which comes nearest to no Being at all But not to insist farther on the universal chain of Causes with their Effects which plainly demonstrate that things of the sublimest nature are assisted by those of the lowest and that these necessarily depend on the same Wisdom and Power by which they are made and conserv'd Who is he that in his Anger chastises both Kings and People that removes the Scepter from one and gives it to another that overturns Empires and in an instant changes the Face of Estates and to shew that this is done by his Power has long since foretold it by the Mouth of his Messengers and Prophets Who was it that punish'd the Sins of men by a miraculous Flood acknowledged by all the World and by whose Advice was one only Family saved from it Who was it that promis'd such a Deluge should never return and who has so faithfully kept his Promise What Spirit foresaw the coming of the Messias three or four thousand years of whom the Prophets have so particularly spoke as if they as well as the Apostles had seen him From whom but God himself or some Angel sent from him were those Predictions of the Posterity of Abraham of the Throne of David and of that Lamp which should be kept in his Family of the dispersing and rejecting of the Jews and the Conversion of the Gentiles If it be told me that there are Mathematicians Astrologers and Wise men who foretell things to come I must ask by what hand they are writ in the Heavens in such Characters that men can read 'em and who has plac'd the Signs in the Stars or rather their Vertues and Causes which the same men cannot comprehend It must needs be that those who are not touch'd with these Considerations are blinded with Passion that prevents their Reason who from Custom become obstinate and from Ignorance stupid We find that there are many very wise and knowing in all worldly things nay are ignorant and insensible of nothing but Divine ones But if I am not deceived most bear in their Breast both their Accuser and Judge and will earlier or later be forc'd to say as others have done We are so weary of the ways of Iniquity that we can endure 'em no longer CHAP. III. THUS whatever presents it self to our sight do's speak of a God and prove that he is but what he is neither all those Objects nor all our Reason can discover to us Yet so much as we know of him is sufficient to make us believe and worship what we don 't perfectly know Let it be then that the continu'd course of Causes and Effects is not infinite that all things either reach or tend visibly to their End that from the Ancientest of Books in respect of which all others are but new and imperfect we know the Origine and Rise of all Nations That the Powers of the Heavens are become weak that the Age and Strength of Men are impaired in comparison of that account we receive of 'em in Sacred and Profane History it does evidently appear that God created the World and for an additional Perfection to his greatest Work made Man after his own Image that is wholly conformable to his Will not in Essence but Imitation and as Perfect and as Happy as the Noblest Creature could be He was plac'd in an honourable Station between Beasts and Angels was the Bond of the Universe the End of all created things over which he had eternally commanded had he been only but obedient to his Creator But not content with those abundant Favours he had received rashly aspires to a degree above his Sovereign endeavours to rise higher than the Top it self and aiming at something in nothing was near returning to that first Nothing from whence he came How strangely bold What high Presumption is it to covet being equal with God! What base Incredulity to accuse him of falshood or Envy What horrid Ingratitude and Rebellion to
the external Profession which taking up either from their Birth or Custom they easily forsake what their perverse Humours forbid 'em to love or know and if they have been initiated in good Principles they end in bad ones Thus the Purity of the Gospel in whatever Town or Province it has been received has scarce proceeded to the third Generation and the Apostles themselves lived only in those Churches they founded Errour insensibly creeping into the place of Truth God already threatned them to extinguish their-Light or to transfer it letting 'em see that Faith was not a particular Priviledge to one Place Family or People and that the Church being Catholick could not be subjected to the Power of one King or the Government of one Priest It is in vain Men pretend to settle a durable State or find a lasting Sovereign good in this Life they cannot long endure even Prosperity it self and the alone way to ruine 'em is to grant 'em even their own Desires If our first Parents placed in Innocence amidst the Fruit and Flowers of a delightful Garden could not withstand the Persuasions of the Evil Spirit though he took on him only the form of a Serpent and offer'd 'em but an Apple to tempt 'em how then shall they who are Sinners by Nature resist him when he appears as an Angel of Light and offers them all the Advantages they can possibly desire 'T is certain that the Devil for the most part does seduce men by a Paradise of Pleasures to cast 'em into the bottomless Abyss of Hell and 't is by a Hell of Pains and Afflictions that God does usually try men to exalt 'em to the Glory of Paradise Riches are of so great Disadvantage to their Possessors that they keep 'em as a weighty Burthen from ascending to Heaven They are so incoherent with the Profession of the Gospel that he who had the Command of all and could have employ'd 'em without Abuse voluntarily makes himself poor to procure us eternal Salvation and to make us rich by his Poverty In effect what History asserts is acknowledg'd by all good men that the great Presents of Emperours and the vast Gifts of Lords and Ladies have been the most dangerous and fatal Poyson that could have been spread in the Church for from hence Piety began to grow cold and to yield to the Business of the Age and all Christian Vertues were soon stifled by Luxury and Abundance These Benefactors who are so highly magnifyed do sufficiently prove that they were unacquainted with the Will of Jesus Christ and with the Calling of his Ministers since they bestow on 'em such mighty temporal Riches as to make 'em Sharers of the Kingdom of this World Wealth on a sudden encreasing so much made those who were true Believers plainly foresee that none but the ambitious and covetous none but ill men would be advanc'd to Preferment in the Church and that it would be brought to the unhappy Extremity of being govern'd only by it's Enemies Since then I know not by what Permission of Heaven Corruption has been so rife that the Ecclesiasticks are become worse than Seculars They have receiv'd their Authority from men which they ought to have had alone from God in so religious a Profession and if they have been concern'd in spiritual Affairs it has been rather to command than serve to raise themselves to great Honours and to make themselves Bishops over the rest of Bishops They have imitated him who not satisfy'd with the Joys of his Fellow-Angels boldly aspired to the utmost height of Pride saying in his Heart I will raise my Throne above the Stars and shall be made like to the Almighty Instead of a due Observation of that Worship and Service God himself has appointed they have despis'd it's Simplicity affecting Pomp and Bravery in their Devotions and as they say themselves sanctifying the Ceremonies of Paganism by introducing of 'em into the Church Not being able to endure the Purity of Doctrine without altering and disguising of it into a thousand Shapes they have to this purpose made choice of Preachers after their own fashion who raising nice and scrupulous Questions have understood 'em as little as their Hearers and whatever Colour of Sense they may bear being pronounc'd in elegant and florid Words they both seem equally satisfy'd We have seen that poor Worms just risen from the Dust and ready to return thither again have insolently taken upon them the Title of Gods and commanded the very Angels as their Guards and have dispos'd of Heaven and Hell at their Pleasure as of their Estates But what likelyhood is there that those who are rais'd only by Corruptions by Bribery by Threats Promises or private Bargains should be the infallible Dispensers of God's Will and Judges of Men's Faith What Patience would not be tyred to see those who are alone guided by the Spirit of Interest who make the Church an House of Trade and Den of Thieves transported to such heights of Impiety as to make the Holy Ghost an Accomplice of all their Crimes Their Pretences of having Power in Heaven makes 'em seem to affect less the Good of the Earth that we may believe that the Divine Authority and theirs are equal But as they are Lyons in Cruelty so are they Horse-leeches for Covetousness being always finding out new Methods of laying numberless Impositions on the People For to pass by their several Excommunications Injunctions transferring of Causes and Exactions under pretence of War against the Enemies of Christianity there is no end of their first Fruits Bulls Indulgences Canons Cases of Conscience Pardons for Faults and Penances and superabundant Satisfactions All these Inventions make Sins venial so far as they are vendible for they set to sale their Prayers Sacrifices and prostitute even Heaven and God himself so that he that offers most has the Bargain Horrid Inventions that transform Simon Peter into Simon Magus who make as much as in their Power Jesus Christ a Tyrant and his Apostles Mercenary Hucksters What Divinity That those who are but able to pay for it shall in a Moment be deliver'd from the Torments of Hell at least from those of Purgatory tho' the Sins they have committed are never so enormous whilst others remain there thousands of Years unless perchance Poverty either voluntary or forc'd or Fastings even to the murdering of themselves or some other sort of Severities of Nakedness or whipping do redeem ' em But besides this spiritual Merchandize and exposing things sacred to Sale by what divine Inspiration do they absolve Subjects of their Oaths of Fidelity and dispense with their Allegiance to their lawful Princes whom they endeavour rather to terrifie than reform and that dreadful Inquisition which renders 'em deaf to the just Remonstrances of those who breath after Reformation only is it an Imitation of the Meekness and Clemency of Jesus Christ or of the barbarous Cruelty of Herod who put to Death so many Innocents
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.