no evidence in Courts of Justice sufficient to ground a condemnatory Sentence upon Eye-witnesses tho' of the greatest integrity will be of no signification all will be left in a perfect state of Scepticism The grand pillars which support Religion will be utterly overthrown and demolished How can we be assured that there is a God but by his Word and Works And how can we perceive the Contents of his Word or be acquainted with his Works without using our Senses We cannot be sure that The Heavens declare the Glory of God or that this Proposition This is my Body is contained in the New Testament if we may not conside in our eyes Miracles the great Seals of Evangelical Verity are rendered insignificant if the Senses of those who were present when they were wrought may not be trusted to their attestation will be of no value Indeed we are told that the Sense is not deceived in the Sacrament The accidents of the Bread and Wine are its proper objects and they remain there according as they appear but as for the Substance that is miraculously changed and Sense is no competent Judg about it To which the reply is easie Accidents alone are not the proper objects of Sense but Accidents together with those material subjects in which they inhere It is matter which properly makes the impression upon our Nerves the Particles of it are under diverse modes and figures commonly stiled Accidents The Essence of these consists in inhesion Accidentis esse est inesse So that if they be separated they presently cease to be and by consequence have no power to make any impulse upon Sense They can have no more a solitary existence than the height breadth and length of a house with all the colours and modes of every room may remain after the whole fabrick is demolished If there be any miraculous change in the substance of the Bread and Wine nothing can be more sit to discern it than our Senses The essential effect of a Miracle is to work wonder and admiration and nothing can produce this but that which is manifest to our faculties Tho' the mode of doing is latent yet the thing done is clear and accommodated to the apprehension of every Spectator These four Topicks Scripture Antiquity Reason Sense standing in an irreconcileable opposition to the doctrin of Transubstantiation nothing is left to support it except these two pretences the Declaration of the present Church and an impossibility that what she declares should be an Innovation As for the first If by the Church we understand the Universal no such thing is done by her The Eastern Churches declare the contrary The Greeks in their Liturgies have nothing of this nature expressed They adhere to the seven first General Councils only which are wholly silent in this matter Tho' they have a proper word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to express Transubstantiation by yet they never use it when they speak of the Eucharist When they call the Bread the Body of Christ it is with an extenuating term as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi or the like After Consecration they give no adoration to it They deny that an unworthy Communicant receives the Body and Blood of Christ Cyril Patriarch of Constantinople says in the name of the Greek Church Vid. Hotting An. Appen p. 422. We confess and believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the true and firm Presence of our Lord Jesus to wit that which Faith offers and gives us and not that which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the invented Transubstantiation doth inconsiderately teach These are his words in his Oriental Confession of the Christian Faith To say notwithstanding all this that Transubstantiation is the declared belief of the Universal Church is to cut off the Greeks from being any part of it altho' they receive the Holy Scriptures embrace the ancient Creeds submit to the seven first General Councils have an uninterrupted succession of Bishops If it be said That Schism and Heresie has deprived them and all other Churches of this priviledge and dignity who do not submit to the Papal Supremacy this may be as easily denied as asserted The Universality of jurisdiction contended for is a perfect usurpation which can never be legitimated by length of time against the institution of our blessed Lord who constituted all the Apostles in a parity No Man can with justice be charged with Schism or Heresie for not owning of that which bears an opposition to the appointment of the Supreme Head of the Church If we must believe the declaration of the present Church in the point under consideration what were those obliged to do who lived in the time of Pope Gelasius when there was a declaration diametrically opposite The present Pope declares That the Bread and Wine do not remain in the Sacrament Gelasius a person of equal Authority and every jot as Infallible declares That they do Both these we cannot be obliged to believe they being contrary one to the other If the present Church of Rome must be credited whensoever she thinks sit to declare her self How is this to be known She has no peculiar promise made to her That to the Universal is nothing to the purpose she being but a part and a very corrupt one too All that the promise imports is that there shall be always a people with their Pastors in the World retaining all the points which are fundamental and of peremptory necessity to Salvation which may be tho' the Community of Rome utterly cease As for any Universal Tradition about this matter it is but a futilous and vain pretence as is evident by the contests betwixt the Roman and African Bishops If the last had known of any such Tradition and believed the first to be infallible a sudden stop would have been put to all contradiction No man will dare to oppose a Church which he believes cannot err Neither are there any motives of Infallibility efficacious enough to induce us to receive this doctrin Bellarmine has reckoned up fifteen but they are so far from evincing that the Church of Rome is Infallible in her declarations that they will not amount to prove her a True Church as will be manifest in the Fourth Section As for the Second pretence the impossibility of Innovation it is in vain to alledge it against so much evidence as may be produced for the matter of fact The antient Church for many Centuries did assert That the substance of the Bread and Wine remains after Consecration as I have already proved The doctrin of the present Church of Rome is That it doth not remain Here is an undeniable change To set up an imaginary demonstration against so clear a matter of fact and to commend it to our belief with all the advantages of Art is a method not unlike to that of Pericles who when he had received a fair fall by his Antagonist attempted to impose upon his Spectators with his Rhetorical flourishes and
is essential made the faculty He formed it with a design to find out Truth He requires no other condition in any object to qualifie it for assent but clearness We have as much clearness in all points necessary to Salvation as the nature of the thing will bear So that in this case we have a security from the divine Veracity and Goodness with which it is no reconcileable That our faculty should be so formed as to be deceived when the Proposition we assent unto is manifest and perspicuous So that the ultimate resolution of our Faith is not made into the fallible testimony of a private Spirit but a testimony given by an infallible attribute of the immutable nature of the Deity which assures us not only That what God has revealed is true but that those things are revealed by him in the Bible which are plain and manifest to a duely qualified mind Errour proceeds from the giving too hasty an assent to propositions upon such grounds as are irrelative to their Nature as Education Interest c. He who will devest himself of his prejudices which way soever contracted and sincerely apply himself to the use of such means as are of Divine designation as Praying Reading Hearing Meditating consulting the living Guides which God has set up in his Church will certainly arrive at the perception of that which is necessary to his Salvation He has the highest degree of assurance that this sublunary 〈…〉 â—â—pable of Nothing can be thought 〈…〉 an addition to it but a new revelation and if this was granted as many difficulties would emerge about the meaning of it as there are about the true importance of the old No acquiescence in it could be obtained but upon such considerations as now induce us to believe the Bible and the clear sence of it to be the Word and mind of God All this will evidence That there is not a peremptory necessity for such a Guide as the Church of Rome contends for 2. It is not true That the Church of Rome has all the evidence that can be reasonably desired that she is such a one Three Topicks are commonly made use of in this case Scripture-promises Universal Tradition Motives of Credibility As for the first Let the Text be cited where any such promise is made to the Church of Rome S. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans is so far from insinuating any thing of this nature that he gives them advice which evidently imports the possibility of their fall He acquaints them if they boast against the branches as it is manifest they have done and grow insolent that they shall be cut off To mention those promises which respect the Universal Church is wholly irrelative The Church of Rome is so far from being the Universal that she is but a part exceedingly degenerated Pessimum acetum ex optimo Vino She hath obtained the title Catholick by the same method which Abimelech used to make himself King and Phocas Emperour She attempts to murder the right Heirs and true Sons of the Church with the unjust imputation of Heresie that she may enjoy the inheritance alone Her deportment has been as if one member of the body which has a distemper in it should value if self upon that account and pronounce all the other parts to have no interest in the whole because they are not infected with it Indeed it is said That the Catholick Church is One and always visible which can be applied to none but the Church of Rome But this may as easily be denied as affirmed She has not been in any age the One only Church The Eastern Churches have had always an existence as well as the Western in which from the first age there has been the Baptism of Christ the Creed of the Apostles an uninterrupted succession of Bishops In the Western when abuses began to insinuate themselves there was always a number not only of private but publick persons which gave their testimony against them as will be manifest to any who have leisure to peruse the History of the Ages betwixt Boniface the third and Luther These persons we have more reason to account the Church which God has promised always to preserve than those who were willing without any reluctancy to submit to the grossest innovations Tho' they were not equal in number yet there were enough of them to make the little flock to which a Kingdom is promised The Church of Rome as it is now has not been always visible There was no such thing in the three first Centuries Where was then the doctrin of Supremacy Infallibility Transubstantiation worshipping of Images Invocation of Saints Praying in an unknown Language keeping the Scripture from the People mutilating the Sacrament making the Apocryphal Books equal to the Bible These are some of the Characteristical notes of the present Church whereby she stands distinguish'd from others Those Ages were utterly unacquainted with these Tenents We dare appeal from the Church of Rome as it is now to the Church of Rome as it was then and stand to her arbitration In the following Ages errours began more to shew themselves yet they did not grow to such a height as to be received for the Faith of the Church The infernal Spirit has been always busie to sow his tares yet those Ages were not so blind as to take them for wheat Insomuch that we lawfully say That there was not a man in those days which may be properly called a Papist As for the Promises which respect the Universal Church the utmost that can be made of them is That there shall always be upon the Earth a people owning the fundamentals of Religion together with Teachers which shall have a sufficient assistance in order to the directing and inabling them to discharge their duty But there is no assurance given that this aid shall be so efficacious as to furnish them with such an universal Infallibility as the Church of Rome pretends to Such help is promised as is sutable to the exigencies of every Age. In the Primitive it was necessary That it should be so powerful as to secure the first Proponents of our Religion from errour But in after ages this necessity did not continue Greater skill is required to make an exact rule than when it is made to draw a line exactly conformable to it The foundation of Religion being completely laid and the rule of Faith and Worship given out by an unerring hand such aid only is ordinarily to be expected as if we be not wanting to our selves and prevent the effects of it by a voluntary neglect will lead us into the sence of what is revealed God has endued us with a faculty whereby we are in a capacity to make a free choice of that which is propounded unto us He helps us to do it by such means as are agreeable to an intellectual nature He does always enough to enable us to make an advantagious election and therefore
who by a Divine appointment notwithstanding his notorious miscarriage was to joyn with the rest of the Apostles in teaching all Nations he is commanded by Christ as many times to feed his flock as he had denyed him All this will make it evident That the Church of Rome has no promise made to her in the Scripture of Infallibility As for Universal Tradition That will be as hard to be found as a Scripture-promise It imports the delivery of this doctrin from one age to another ever since the Apostles times and an acknowledgment and reception of it in all places by all true Christians The following particulars cannot be reconciled with such a Tradition Many Heresies did emerge in the first Ages by which the Church was exceedingly disquieted Yet we never read in any authentick Record that the Bishop of Rome did summon those which adhered to them to appear in his infallible Consistory If any such Judicatory had been then known it is incredible he should so far neglect his duty as not to attempt the reducing of them to a sober and orthodox mind by his unerring Authority The Bishops of that Church lived so near the Apostolical Age that they could not be ignorant of the power which Christ had left with them and they were so pious and good that it would be a manifest injury to their memory to think that they would not exert it in matter of such importance If these Hereticks were summoned altho' no such thing is rècorded and did refuse to submit to the Authority which is pretended it is unaccountable how it comes to pass that Irenaeus Epiphanius Theodoret who have composed Catalogues of Heresies with which the Church was then infested should be so forgetful as not to reckon That in the number which those were guilty of who would not acquiesce in the supposed Authority This is now reputed an errour of the first magnitude All others are esteemed but trifles in comparison If it had been so accounted then it would not have been passed by in so profound a silence The African Bishop's denial of a compliance with Sozimus Boniface and Celestine Cyprian's refusal of a submission to Stephanus Irenaeus's opposing the decree of Victor do manifestly declare That they knew nothing of the Tradition which is pretended Had they been acquainted with it their integrity would not have suffered them to be engaged in so much disrespect towards the Church of Rome When Tertullian and Vincentius Lirinensis apply themselves to prescribe the best method how to prevent the spreading of Heresie they speak not one syllable of an infallible Judicatory at Rome If it had been known in their days no doubt they would not have failed to mention it as the most sovereign expedient If a Man sets himself to write a Book concerning the best way how to cure the Plague and knows of one infallible remedy it is not consistent with the rule of common honestly to pass it by in silence and to entertain his Reader with some uncertain conjectures It was anciently decreed That Controversies should be determined in the Province where they did arise If it had been believed That there was then such an Oracular Judge as is now asserted this had been a very unjust decree What can be more injurious than to oblige men to acquiesce in the decision of those who may impose upon them when they might if left to their liberty have had recourse to one in whom there is no possibility of deception A belief of this infallibility would have drawn such respects upon the Bishop of Rome That no other would have dared to account himself his equal and yet S. Cyprian treats him in such terms as plainly import a parity He stiles him Frater Collega Co-episcopus S. Jerome says That all Bishops are of an equal merit and the same Priesthood wheresoever they are whether at Rome Eugubium Constantinople Rhegium c. In the Communicatory Letters no more respect is expressed to him than to others The primacy which is some times spoken is not of jurisdiction but order He living in the City where the seat of the Emperour was when he did convene with other Bishops some regard was signified upon the account of his relation to that place but none upon the account of any Infallibility and Oecumenical jurisdiction which he was believed to be invested with When applications were made to him by those who were in distress it was not done with an opinion That he was inspired with an unnerring Spirit to determine their case but because he was of the same Sentiment with them and had great advantages by reason of his residence in the Imperial City to procure their relief What he did in favour of such persons as S. Athanasius and Chrysostome was not done juridically but declaratively He did not act as an authorized Judge but a sincere and resolved Friend to that Truth for which they were oppressed The infirmity of these pleas for Infallibility makes the Defenders at last'to fly to the Motives to Credibility as the securest Sanctuary The chief of them are Antiquity Diuturnity Amplitude uninterrupted succession of Bishops agreement in Doctrin with the ancient Church union of Members holiness of Doctrin efficacy of Doctrin holiness of Life the glory of Miracles If we should enter upon a particular examination of these they would be so far from proving the Church of Rome infallible that they will not amount to prove her a True Church The Church of Rome in those points which are peculiar to her is not so ancient as is pretended The novelty of those things in which she differs from the reformed Church is notoriously manifest as Supremacy the Worship of Images Transubstantiation c. When she has screw'd every thing to the highest pin it will not appear That any point of difference was before the Mystery of Iniquity began to work Diuturnity may with as much efficacy induce us to believe That the Mahometans are a True Church for they have been a thousand years in the world much longer than some Articles in the Roman Creed Amplitude may as well prove the Community of Rome Apostatical as Apostolical Antichristian as Christian Antichrist is described as sitting upon many waters and those Waters are interpreted people and multitudes Rev. 17.1 15. Those who have taken the greatest care to survey the World assert That if it be divided into thirty parts nineteen are inhabited by Polytheists Of the eleven that remain six be Jews and Mahometans Of the space which is left the greatest part is possessed by those who refuse a submission to the Bishop of Rome as Protestants Greeks Nestorians Jacobites He who takes a deliberate view of the vast body of the first in Poland Transylvania Hungary Germany Sweden Denmark Britany France and Ireland Of the second in Achaia Epirus Macedon Thrace Bugaria Walachia Podolia Moscovia Russia Natolia Syria Of the third in Assyria Mesopotamia Parthia Media India Tartaria Of the fourth in
Properties and Attributes of the most high God 66 c. This truth acknowledged by all sorts of men the Primitive Christians 69. the Jews 71. the Heathen 72. Our not comprehending the difficulties of it no reason against it 73. Some considerations added to lead us thro' 'em ib. 4. Proposition This One God is to be Worshipped For First consider'd as essentially his nature and perfections justly challenge the deepest veneration 75. Then Secondly considered personally the Scriptures require him to be Worshipped 76. 5. Proposition This God only is to be Worshipped This shewn First from Scripture 78. Secondly from Reason 79. Thirdly from Antiquity 81. What the Papists say in opposition to this considered with respect to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Invocation of Saints and Images 84. 1. As to the Eucharist That the Papists pay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to it ib. and thereby put the greatest affront upon Scripture 91. upon the analogy of Faith 94. upon Antiquity 97. upon Reason 106. and upon Sense 108. The declaration of their Church in this matter and the impossibility of an innovation considered 110. 2. As to Invocation of Saints This injurious to the peculiar honour of God 115. and of Jesus Christ the only Mediator 116. and has not the same grounds and reasons as our praying to each other here below For First the Saints and Angels are at a distance 117. And then Secondly 't is the prerogative of Jesus Christ only to be our Mediator in Heaven 118. as the Primitive Christians thought 119. The Origine of Invocation c. 122. 3. As to Images 123. They who use them are of three sorts First such as say they use them only as memorials to quicken their devotions which has no kindly influence on Religion 124. Secondly such as say they give only inferiour worship to 'em which yet is either vain or sinful 125. Thirdly such as profess to give the same worship to the Image as to the Prototype in kind thô not in degree i.e. relative or respective worship only ib. the vanity of this distinction shewn 126. and that 't is Idolatry 128. contrary to the Second Commandment 132. and unknown to the Primitive Church 135. SECT III. Concerning the True Worshippers of God THE whole reduced to Three Inquiries 142. I. Enquiry Who they are that are obliged to Worship ib. And they are in general all rational Beings as Angels 142. and Men whether secular 143 or more especially Ecclesiastical and consecrated to the performance of Religious Offices 145. the necessity of these shewn ib. such have been in all ages 147. before the floud ib. between that and the Law 150. that the First-born then were Priests 151. such also there were from the giving the Law till Christ 154. as appears from the Priests and Levites ib. from the Schools of the Prophets 155. from their studies there 156 from their Ordination by imposition of hands 157 from the place where they exercised their function 159. such lastly there were under the Gospel ib. II. Enquiry How men are to Worship God 163. This shown in several Propositions 1. Prop. We are to Worship him with all our Soul and heart and strength ib. and 2. Prop. Outwardly with our Bodies 165. 3. Prop. All the modes of external Worship must be decent orderly and to edification ib. 4. Prop. Different deductions from this general rule are no just grounds for distinct Churches to differ among each other and so violate the Vnity of the Vniversal 166. 5. Prop. Yet in the same Church 't is very expedient and desirable That there should be the same external mode of Religion 167 but yet 6. Prop. If contests arise in the same Church about external modes a ready way to compose them is to appeal to Primitive Order and give the preference to those that come nighest to it 169. And 7. Prop. If it cannot be known what the Primitive Order therein was the next step to Peace is to make prudent condescensions on each side before Authority has made any determinations 171. Then 8. Prop. If condescensions cannot be had and yet a determination is necessary all both weak and strong are obliged to acquiesce in such a determination 173. which is neither against nor inconsistent with the perfection of Scripture as a rule 174. nor prejudicial to our Christian Liberty 175. nor yet induces any necessity of violating the Law about scandal 176. III. Enquiry What ends we are to propose in the acts of Religious Worship ib. This shewn in three particulars First and chiefly The Glory of God 177. Secondly The Salvation of our Souls 178. Thirdly The good of the Community 179. The tendency of Religious Worship to all these shewn under each SECT IV. Concerning Assistance relating to Divine Worship THE Introduction from the general and acknowledged depravation of our Natures whereby we want Light to direct and Strength to enable us in the Worshipping God a-right and Merits to render our Services acceptable 185. Against all these God has provided sufficient helps and remedies in that 1. We have the holy Scriptures to direct us 186 2. The Holy Spirit to communicate strength 186 3. The Merits of our Saviour to procure acceptance 186 All which are treated more largely of And 1. Of the holy Scriptures to direct us which that we have grounds to depend on shewn in several Propositions as First The Worshipping God is absolutely necessary to Salvation 187. Secondly Moses and the Prophets Christ and the Apostles did by Oral Tradition reveal all things necessary to this purpose ib. Thirdly What they spoke was evidenced to be the real mind of God by inward characters of Divinity and external miraculous operations ib. Fourthly This word of God thus evidenced was faithfully committed to writing 192. Fifthly This Writing is digested into 24 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New 193. Sixthly These Books have been transmitted to us without corruption 194. Two opinions inconsistent with what has been said considered 1. That the Church of Rome as being infallible is to be our guide in matters of Religion 206. 2. That every one ought to rely upon the conduct of his own reason ib. As to the First Proved that the Pope is not infallible 207. nor a Council ib. nor the body of the People 210. nor all these together ib. nor are the reasons they urge here sufficient such as first The peremptory necessity of such a Guide 211. nor secondly their having all reasonable evidence that the Church of Rome is such a Guide 216. For they have not first The evidence of Scripture ib. shewn as to the chief places they urge 221. nor secondly Vniversal Tradition 228. nor yet thirdly the motives of credibility 232. shewn particularly as to Antiquity Diuturnity Amplitude ib. uninterrupted Succession of Bishops 235. Agreement in doctrine with the Primitive Church 236. Vnion among themselves 237. holiness of doctrine 239. efficacy of it 240. holiness of life 242. Lastly the
personal favours of his Prince to pay the Rights which belong to the Crown yet the formal object and reason of his so doing is the Sovereignty and dominion which the Prince is invested with As the Son so likewise the Spirit is the Object of Adoration He is placed in the same rank with the Father and the Son Mat. 28. v. 19. Jo. 1.5 7. and honoured with the attribution of the peculiarities of the Deity as Eternity Immensity Omniscience The dishonour done to him by Blasphemy has as black a character in the Scripture as the dishonour of the Father or Son It is represented as a delinquency of the first magnitude and excluded the benefit of pardon He who is thus dignified and secured by the most severe commination against dishonour must necessarily of right challenge the same degree of Honour and Worship which is due to the Father and the Son The Adoration given to them all must be so directed that we may worship the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity The ground of divine Veneration is the unlimited and peerless perfection of God The motives conducing to it are the benefits which none but so transcendent a Being can conferr The same internal eminency is common to the Three Persons Every external benefit is the product of their joint concurrence They having all an equal interest in the foundation of Religion and the motives conducing to it it is very reasonable when we direct an act of Worship to one that we should not exclude the other When we name the Son only the Father and holy Spirit are to be understood or the Father only the Son and the Spirit or the Spirit only the Father and the Son Consonant to this doctrine are the words of Nazianzen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Let us Worship in Three one Deity and the practice of the universal Church which is apparent by the Latin and Greek Liturgies Now I have done with the fourth Proposition This One God is to be Worshipped 5. This God is only to be Worshiped This is the express assertion of the Holy Scripture the dictate of Reason the sence of the Ancient Church 1. The assertion of Holy Scripture It is the first of the moral Laws Thou shalt have no other Gods but me and placed in the front of the Gospel Him only shalt thou serve In a sense of this appropriate allegiance to Jehovah the Angel did forbid S. John and S. Paul and Barnabas the people of Lycaonia to pay them any Divine Veneration Daniel's refusal of the portion of meat which was first consecrated to an Idol will easily induce us to believe that he had an equal disgust of the Idolatrous worship which was given to him If Abraham's deportment when the Angels appeared had more than a moral or civil respect The Son of God his being in the company will excuse him from Idolatry one of them is expresly dignified with the incommunicable name of the Deity 2. The dictate of reason Worship is either internal or external Internal includes a deep and reverential esteem as an ingredient essential to its nature This esteem must be of an elevation agreeable to the excellency of the Object it is terminated upon There being no object that can be a Rival with the Supreme Being in point of perfection it is not possible that the same esteem which his transcendent dignity challengeth from us should with justice be given to any other External imports a declaration of inward esteem by some outward acts As the Veneration terminated upon God is peculiar and appropriate So must the Acts be which are designed for the signification of it Betwixt the sign and the thing signified there ought to be such a similitude that the one may be known by the other This cannot be done in the present case except there be such an appropriation as we speak of The nature of Divine Supremacy requires in outward as well as inward Worship a discrimination from that which is given to the Creature Earthly Monarchs expect an agnition of their Sovereignty to be made by the payment of an appropriate homage They have some Jewels in their Crown which they will not permit any of their Subjects to wear Tho' Moral and Civil regards may be tendred to a Creature yet if they rise so high as to have any mixtures of those peculiarities which are devoted by nature or institution to signifie Divine Veneration they are as distasteful to God as it would be to a Prince to stand by and see the Allegiance which is due only to himself given to another This Truth is warranted with so much clear reason that those who have had no other advantage but the light of Nature have taken notice of it Among those instructions which Orpheus left with Musaeus Lib. de Monarch Det p. 104 108. This is one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adore him alone who is the King of the World It was the advice of Menander 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to honour him alone who is Lord of all Ad Antolycum p. 122. The Verses of the Sibyl in Theophilus Antiochenus are of the same importance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laâ—t de â—â—lsa Relig. p. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Ruler of the World alone adore Who ever was and shall be ever more 3. The Sence of the Ancient Church Among those Truths which are owned by the most early Writers this is of the first magnitude that God only is to be Worshipped They never mention the worshipping any thing else as the Sacrament the Cross the Relicks of Saints When they delineate the rites appertaining to the Eucharist there is not the least intimation of that Veneration which the Romanist say is due to the Sacrament They were far from asserting that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae debetur vero Deo is to be given to it Circumstances purely accidental as the time when the Institution was made the place where the mingling Water with Wine are recorded Those who had leisure to preserve the memory of these circumstances would not have omitted a point so material in case any such thing had been known to be agreeable to the mind of God As for the individual Cross upon which our blessed Lord suffered there could be no Adoration directed to it for the first three hundred years It is confessed that it lay concealed under ground till the time of Helena mother to Constantine the Great Neither is there the least signification of any religious addresses made to artificial imitations of it When the Veneration of the Cross is objected by the Heathens against the Christians Mirâ—â— Fâ—l it is answered by them Cruces etiam nec colimus nec optamus We neither Worship Crosses nor wish for them Bellarmine indeed infers that the objection implies that some such practice was then in use but he may by the same reason perswade us that the Christians Worshipped the Head of an Ass because their
which the Prince resides and to Worship the Prince residing in that Palace To say that no Catholick is bound to believe more than that Christ in the Sacrament is to be Worshipped because this is enjoyned under a particular Anathema the other of Worshipping the Sacrament not is nothing to the purpose The intent of the Decrees is veritatâ—m dicere to set forth the true doctrin of the Church as the Council has declared Every jot of this doctrin is to be received whether there be a particular Curse denounced against the Refusers of it or no. The Curse doth not make the obligation to comply with the doctrin but shews only the danger which those incur who refuse it If the Church of Rome does not think fit always to set before us the danger in a particular Anathema upon some prudential considerations best known to her self yet the obligation to entertain her doctrin doth not cease but remain in full force Her Authority is as much in a Decree without an Anathema as in a Canon with one and it is her authority which creates the obligation To say that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Council speaks of falls upon the Accidents of the Bread and Wine in an inferiour manner cannot be reconciled with any good reason For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is either internal or external Internal imports a superlative esteem in the mind of infinite Excellency External the doing some action or speaking such words as are appropriated to signifie this internal veneration Neither of these can be terminated upon the Bread and Wine in an inferiour manner For what is outwardly done or spoken being but an expression or indication of internal veneration and the inward veneration being of the highest nature if it falleth upon any thing in an inferiour manner or degree it ceaseth to be what it was the superlative degree being essential to it and not separable from it Neither do they mend the matter who assert that Latria as it is terminated upon the outward Elements is not absolute but relative Christ only under the Elements is adored per se or absolutely the Symbols by virtue of their relation to Christ as the garments with which he was cloathed when he was upon the Earth were worshipped when adoration was given to his person When the Council says that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is due to the Sacrament absolute and not relative Latria is intended It is in express words such a Latria quae debetur vero Deo and that is undoubtedly absolute Tho' there may be relative honour yet if we speak properly there can be no such thing as relative Latria For it is agreed that the word signifies that Veneration which is peculiar to the Supreme Being and if this be divided into two species Absolute and Relative then it may be predicated of both for every Genus is predicated of its species and if so then either equally or unequally not equally for then the relative species will participate as much of the nature of the Genus as the absolute not unequally because Latria as I have before intimated consists in a point of which there can be no unequal participations An inferiour Latria is as much as an inferiour Superiority I grant an honour due to many things upon the account of their relation to God but to make this honour equal to that which is due immediately to God is highly injurious For the relation which the Creature has to the Creator is but a finite mode or accident And a finite mode cannot merit the same species of Worship or Honour which the infinite perfection of the Divine Nature does When our blessed Lord was upon the Earth 〈◊〉 garments were not worshipped by the same individual act with which his person was For Worship is an acknowledgment of excellency and none will assert that the same acknowledgment of excellency can without a palpable injury be terminated upon his Person and his Garment As the Accidents are worshipped so likewise is the substance of the Bread and Wine The Church of Rome believes that by the Priest's pronouncing the words of Consecration the Body and Blood of Christ become corporally present upon the Altar that by the same words in the same moment the substance of the Bread and Wine is changed into them that what the substance of the Bread and Wine is converted into must have the same worship terminated upon it which is peculiar to the person of Christ God-man Now if there be no such change as is pretended but the Bread and Wine retain their pristine nature it must necessarily follow that the substance of the Bread is Worshipped in the place of Christ If it be said that this cannot with justice be charged upon a Romanist because he believes that the substance of the Bread and Wine do not remain and we must not impute the Worshipping of that to him which he believes not to be in the Sacrament I answer that tho' this excuse at the first sight may appear plausible yet upon a due examination it will be found to be of no validity By the same method of Reasoning it may be concluded that a Jew reflects no dishonour upon the True Messias when in the Synagogue thrice a day he curseth Jesus of Nazareth because he believes that Jesus of Nazareth is not the True Messias or that the Persians do not Worship a creature when they make their religious Addresses to the Sun because they apprehend he is the first Being and maker of all things or that the Heathens did not sacrifice to Devils as they are accused in the holy Scripture because they were far from believing that their Idols were animated by infernal Spirits It must be confessed that an error springing from the nature of the object may contribute something to an excuse Suppose there had been a Man when our blessed Lord was upon the Earth every way like him in the features of his face and all the lineaments of his Body and another induced by that similitude had given to him the veneration which is due only to Jesus Christ it had been tolerable in him to have pleaded his error it deriving its original from that which it was not in his power to help But whâ—â— the error springs from a voluntary distemper in the Subject it can have no propitious influence upon his justification And this we have too much reason to believe is the case of those who adhere to the Community of Rome who when they assert the Body of Christ to be corporally present in the Eucharist and the substance of the Bread and Wine not put the highest affront upon those Topicks from which we usually derive our assurance in all other points of Divinity namely the Scripture Antiquity Reason Sence 1. Scripture They affirm that which is contrary to the Words of the institution when Christ says This is my Body he means This is a sign or memorial of it To this interpretation we
which the ingredients of a humane body are exposed unto To what is received in the Eucharist the primitive Church in relation to the body attributes the power of Nutrition The Analogy of Faith obligeth us to believe that God will not command inhumanity But if the sence of the Church of Rome be true the greatest inhumanity is practised according to his Will What is more savage than to eat the body of a living man much more must it be to champ with our Teeth and swallow down the living Body of our blessed Lord to whom supreme Veneration is due This made a Pagan to say Who dost thou think Cott. in Cicer. de nat Decr. l. 3. can be so mad as to believe that to be his God which he eats It was an abomination to the Aegyptians to eat with the Hebrews Gen. 43.32 The Chaldee paraphrast gives the reason because the Hebrews eat those Cattle which the Aegyptians use to worship Those words except ye eat the flesh of the son of man c. Joh. 6.55 give no countenance to what is asserted by the Church of Rome By Flesh is meant the bread spoken of v. 51. The bread that I will give you is my flesh and by the Bread we are to understand our blessed Lord himself I am the bread of life v. 35. and by eating believing on him as is evident by the consequent words he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst As eating and drinking satisfie our natural appetite so believing in Christ our spiritual By faith we draw out of his fulness and plenitude a supply of our necessities This spiritual Sence is pointed at v. 56. and very agreeable to the manner of speaking amongst the Jews with whom Christ conversed when he spoke the words under consideration Maimon More Nevoâ— par 1. c. 30. The Hebrews use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comedere not only to express the feeding upon that which conduceth to the nourishment of the body but likewise the acquisition of Learning and Wisdom such as faith imports which tends to the nutrition of the Soul Psal 33. or 34 v. 2. S. Basil says that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an intellectual mouth of the inward Man With this we receive the impressions made by external objects and ruminate upon and digest them by meditation All this being considered it is evident that Transubstantiation is contrary to the Holy Scripture 2. Antiquity Those who assert the Body of Christ to be corporally present in the Sacrament and the substance of the Bread and Wine not speak contrary to the sence of all the primitive Fathers Ignatius who lived in the first Century 〈…〉 calls that which is broken and given in the Sacrament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr in the second Century Apol. 2. stiles it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and attributes to it a nutritive power in relation to the body Tertullian in the third Century asserts L. 4 cont Marc. that Christ made the bread which he took to be his body that is a figure of his body Origen says L. 8. cont Celsum we have a symbol of thanksgiving to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bread which is called the Eucharist S. Cyprian affirms 〈…〉 that the Lord calls the bread compounded of many grains his Body Eusebius in the fourth Century terms L. 1 â—emon Evan. c. ult what is received in the Sacrament symbols of the Body and blood of Christ Cyril of Jerusalem stiles it Bread and Wine Catech. Mystagog 1.3 and compares the change which is made by consecration to that in consecrated Oil which doth not lose its old Nature but is dedicated and set apart to a higher use and purpose S. Ambrose affirms L. 4. de Saâ— c. 4. that the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament sunt a â—â—â—e panis vinum altho changed into the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ Gregory Nissen owns that which he calls the Body of Christ by the name of Bread Orat. de San. Bapr and expresseth at large that the Bread and Wine being Consecrated retain their pristine nature even as Baptismal Water an Altar a Priest do after Consecration has passed upon them Gaudentius represents the Sacrament as an image of the passion and figure of the Body and Blood of Christ Tract 2. in Exo. S. Chrysostome in the fifth Century useth these words Epist ad Casâ—arium Monashum Before the Bread is sanctified we call it Bread when the Divine Grace hath sanctified it by means of the Priest it loseth the name of Bread and is held worthy to be called the Lord's Body altho the nature of the Bread doth remain in it and is not called two bodies but the body of the Son S. Austin says Ad Adamantum â— 12. That the Lord doubted not to say This is my Body when he gave the sign of his Body Cyril of Alexandria asserts L. 4. c. 14. in Evang. Joan. that our Lord gave fragments of Bread saying Take eat This is my Body Theodoret affirms 1. Dial. cont Eutyc that our Saviour honoured the visible Symbols with the name of his Body and Blood not changing the nature but adding grace to nature Gelasius is of the same mind De duabus Christi naturis The Sacraments which we receive of the Body and Blood of Christ are a divine thing by means whereof we are made partakers of the Divine Nature and yet the substance of the Bread and Wine doth not cease to be Bellarmine in his Polemical Discourse concerning the Eucharist useth most of the names which I have mentioned to a contrary purpose and brings them into the field with a great deal of pomp His policy seems to resemble that of a great Commander When he had drawn up his Souldiers into a military order and was ready to engage the enemy a great part of them declared they would not fight He being not in a capacity to retreat with honour or security told them that the only kindness which he desired of them was to march to a Hill a little way of and there be Spectators of the courage and fate of their fellow Souldiers hoping they might appear to the enemy as a Reserve and prove as great a discouragement to them as if they had actually engaged them I cannot imagine why these antient Fathers who have so positively declared in the Testimonies above-cited that they will not fight should be continued in view except it be with the like design to impose upon the Faith of those who are strangers to their intentions To the Authorities already produced I might add many more which do evidently manifest that the Church was a stranger to the doctrin of Transubstantiation for many hundred years What might be alledged I will sum up in the following particulars 1. They all agree in an imitation of the stile of Scripture and
of Nazianzen can be nothing but an Oratorical excursion adapted to the circumstances of his own Age in which the remains of the Martyrs were held in great estimation sometimes expressed by such sort of Actions as he attributes to the Mother of the seven Brethren tho' nothing was intended which did exceed a civil deference and respect The Invocation of Saints by degrees did creep into the Church The First step was a belief That the Saints departed did freely without any asking implore the Divine Majesty in the behalf of those which were left upon the earth without any apprehension of a duty incumbent on them to address their Prayers to them The Second was the practice of some who when the Martyrs were going out of the World did before their departure intreat them to remember them in Heaven The Third was occasioned by the Rhetorical Expressions of some in the Fourth Age who in their Panegyrical Orations made Apostrophe's to the Saints departed in order to the moving the Passions of their Auditors but withal did often insert such words as plainly intimate they had no assurance they were heard by them So that all that can be made of them are rather Oratorical Wishes than proper Invocations When these Flowers of Rhetorick were transplanted into the minds of the Vulgar the badness of the Soil made them to degenerate into Weeds They not rightly understanding the meaning of the Orators did by their ill construction encourage themselves to pray to Saints in their private Devotions which practice is fully condemned by S. Austin and Epiphanius and manifestly declared to be grounded upon the Superstition of the People and not the Doctrin of the Church The publick Offices of the Church are the proper Standard whereby we are to judge of the Worship of every Age and none such are found so early in which Prayer is directed to Saints in a state of separation Now I proceed to the last particular which is plainly injurious to the divine Honour namely the using of Images in the Worship of God Those who are concerned in this practice may be reduced to Three sorts 1. Such as pretend they give no Worship to Images but use them as memorials to quicken their Devotion and excite in them the remembrance of what they represent These do that which has no propitious influence upon Religion It will be difficult for them to kindle the fire of their Devotion at an Image and yet so to order the matter that no sparks shall light upon the Image it self It is not easie to conceive how they should kneel pray burn incense before Images and yet give no religious honour to them This is contrary to the Cathecisme ad Parochos p. 321. and the Decree of the Council of Trent which say That due honour and veneration is to be given to them Material representations of the Deity tho' not intended for exact similitudes are very apt to indispose the mind and produce apprehensions very disagreeable to the nature of an insinite Spirit Tho' they are said to be Books adapted to the infirmity of the Vulgar and very fit to instruct them yet in the sacred Oracles they are represented as holding forth a doctrin of vanities Jer. 20.8 and as teachers of lies Hab. 2.18 They lessen reverential fear and impress incongruous notions upon the mind The mischief from them is greater than any good that can reasonably be expected by them When Books are more apt to lead us into errour than acquaint us with truth it is better to lay them aside than to use them The humane nature of Christ in glory and the spirits of just men made perfect cannot be represented in colours by the most curious Artist A blind man may as well draw a picture as those who have not seen them make a true delineation of them The Images which are used are as injurious to them as a deformed picture would be to the greatest beauty The hurt which they do to the Understanding by impressing false Idea's upon it is much greater than any advantage that can accrue to the Will and Affections by them That heat which is in the Affection is of small moment except it be produced by a true light in the Intellect 2. There are others which confess they give Honour and Worship to the Image but say it is inferiour to that which they give unto God Now these ought to declare whether this inferiour Worship be Religious or Civil only If Civil namely such a value as a man has for the memorial of his friend this nothing concerns the matter under debate the dispute being wholly about Religious Worship which ultimately terminates in God If it be Religious it is to be inquired whether it stays in the Image or only passeth thro' it to the Prototype If the first then God is not Worshipped by the Image which is supposed in this discourse for the Worship ends in the Image If the second a Worship is given to him inferiour to that which is due and so a double fault is committed Too much is given to the Image and too little to God 3. There are those who profess to give the same honour to an Image which is due to the Prototype They say That the Saints and their Images are to be honoured with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Virgin Mary and her Image with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and his Image with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When it is urged That the Image of God is but a creature and therefore not to be joyned with him in the same kind of Worship They endeavour to secure themselves against this inconvenience by taking Sanctuary under some nice distinctions They say that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 given to the Image is not terminative but relative not absolute but respective such as is given to the Commissioner of a Prince It doth not stay in him but redounds to the honour of his Master Tho' it is a fault to give the same absolute honour to God and his Image yet there is no hurt in giving the same relativé But this will not salve the matter Absolute Worship is that which is given to an Image absolutely considered Relative as it stands in relation to God Now the relation which is the formal object of Worship being but an accident or finite mode inherent in the Image having no other foundation but humane invention There is as much hurt in giving the same Worship which is due to God unto the Image upon the account of this relation as if it was absolutely considered The Image is a substance the relation an accident appertaining to it If it be an injury to God to give his peculiar Honour to a finite substance which is of his own formation it can be no less to give it to a mode which is nothing but the product of imagination As for what is said concerning the honour done to a Commissioner it is true it does not stay in him but
is usually more violent than that which ariseth from a diversity in Civil The pretence of a Sacred Institution communicates an edge to the Spirits of those who are concerned for them They are easily induced to believe That they are engaged in the quarrel of the Deity and that their zeal for them will render the Divine Power propitious to them This consideration pushes them forward and makes them as fierce as the Poet represents the Combites to be against the Tentyrites An old grudge to immortal hatred turn'd Juv. Sat. 15. Betwixt the Tentyrites and Combites burn'd A wound in those adjacent towns past cure Because that neither people could endure Their neighbours Deities or would have more Held to be Gods than they themselves adore Such heats are frequently attended with very direful consequences Rev. 8.5 They produce strong Convulsion-fits in the Community Thundrings Lightnings and an Earthquake are represented as proceeding from the Fire of the Altar The Fire which consumed the Senate-House in Constantinople began in the Church Socr. p. 727. Nothing can be safe when Men are inflamed with a zeal for their own private Sentiments They think every one is under an obligation to submit to them The want of power is the only thing which gives a temper to their deportment So soon as they are numerous and prevalent enough nothing will satisfie but a complete Conquest all must stoop to their perswasions They account it an evidence of weakness if they cannot and of irreligion if they will not settle that which they conceive to be best And they believe they are not secure in the enjoyment of their power except they suppress others and bend them into a compliance with them 6. If Contests arise in the same Church about external modes a ready way to compose them is to appeal to Primitive Order and give the preference to those who come nearest to it If we view it as it lies in the Holy Scriptures and those undoubted Records which are next in Antiquity we shall find it to be not pompous and theatrical but grave and comely not calculated for the gratification of the Sensitive but Intellectual part not apt to divert the Intention from the import of Worship and yet sufficient to secure it against the assaults of Rudeness and Contempt The Ministerial part was appropriated to Three Orders of Men Apostles Elders and Deacons persons sound in Doctrin Sober and unspotted in their Conversation Presbyters were ordained in every Church and City The solemn time for Sacred Conventions was the first of the week In the Assemblies The Men were uncovered the Women veiled The Minister began with Prayer This he directed to God with the most important expressions of Devotion without the help of such a Prompter as the Ethnick Priests use to have lest they might forget the names of any of their Gods which were very numerous After this were read the Writings of the Apostles and Prophets And because some things are hard to be understood and those which are easie ought not only to be entertained in the Head but the Heart in the next place followed Preaching with the most pathetical Exhortations to Practice When the Sermon was finished all did rise from their seat and joyn in Prayer After this succeeded the celebration of the Holy Communion in which the President poured forth Thanksgiving and Supplication with all his might the People expressing their concurrence by saying Amen All was concluded with a contribution for the relief of the Poor Besides these circumstances There were some Symbolical Rites in use namely The Love-Feasts the Holy Kiss As the laying of these aside in some time doth plainly express That the Church did not believe they were grounded upon a perpetual institution but taken up upon Prudential Considerations in a Conformity to the general rules of Scripture So the Practice of them in the purest Age when Christian Simplicity was in its greatest vigour doth manifestly teach us That we have no just grounds to condemn our own Church because she retains some Rites not burdensome in their number and as innocent in their meaning as They were 7. If by reason of paucity of records or any obscurity in those which are extant it cannot be agreed what was the Primitive Order The ready way to Peace before Authority has made any determination is for the several Members of the Church to make prudent Condescensions one to another so as none may be nourished in their errour nor any have any just reason of offence administred to them This was the condition of the Romans when S. Paul did address his Epistle to them Their contests were violent Authority had not yet interposed The Counsel of the Apostle has an entire aspect upon this purpose Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him who eateth not judge him who eateth One man esteemeth one day above another another man esteemeth every day alike Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind Matters were not then ripe enough in that Church for a decision The converted Jews had not a full insight into the liberty which Christ purchased for them Therefore S. Paul doth not determine the case on either side but adviseth every member to a prudent demeanour and To follow the things which make for peace and things with which one may edisie another The Apostle suspending the exercise of his authority in these circumstances cannot be brought into an argument against all determinations about things which are adiaphorous for he in other Churches did decide this matter as appears by his Epistles to the Galatians and Colossians How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage ye observe days months times and years Gal. 4.9 10. Let no man therefore judge ye in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the New Moon or Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ Col. 2.16 17. Certainly if the Apostle had believed That all Churches are to enjoy a freedom equal to that in which he left the Romans he would not have been so positive as he is with these eminent Churches 8. If Condescensions cannot be procured and circumstances become such That Rulers believe it prudential to make a determination both weak and strong are bound to acquiesce in the decision Such a determination is within the Sphere of humane authority God has commanded all that is Good and interdicted all Evil. The only things which are left to be the immediate object of Sublunary Power are those which are neither They may become useful or not useful as circumstances happen but in their own nature they are neither good or evil If any apply themselves to the doing of them for the sake of some intrinsick bonity which they fansie to be in them and others stand at a distance from them upon the account of some
Titulars and Pensioners sent from that Court with many other devices P. 18 19 20. insomuch that a Romish Priest in his Letter to the Bishop of Ferns saies That the Council was neither Oecumenical nor Occidental nor free He who considers all this will be under no inclination to believe That the Council of Trent was inspired with any thing besides the infallible Spirit of Worldly Policy As for the People They can make no just plea to infallibility If the Head cannot justifie his plea much less the feet which are guided by and take their measures from him If the Head and Members together are the recipients of it for it is not agreed whether the Decrees of the Pope without a Council or the Decrees of a Council without the Pope or the Decrees of the Pope and Council without the acceptance of the whole body of the People be authentick Some say one thing some another Their Language is confounded that they may be hindred from building the aspiring tower of Infallibility it ought to be examined how this comes to be known Two things are alledged 1. There is a peremptory necessity for such a guide 2. The Church of Rome has all the evidence that can be reasonably desired that she is such a one 1. The necessity is not apparent It was necessary that the doctrin concerning Religion should be revealed by God the first Proponents of it infallibly guided by the influence of the Divine Spirit but there is no just reason why such persons should be continued in the Church to the end of the World The certainty of Religion may be secured without them We have an infallible rule to steer our course by The Books in which it is contained are conveyed to our hand with all the desirable assurance That they are not forged but really such as they pretend to be We have as much evidence for this as the nature of the thing is capable of The Tradition whereby they are delivered to us is so universal That could the like be produced for those points which are in controversie betwixt us and the Church of Rome we should not be backward in the entertainment of them We have far less evidence for many Writings as Plato's Tully's Caesar's which without any hesitancy we believe to be genuine These are conveyed unto us but by a very few hands in comparison but the Books of the Scripture being of general concernment were perused by all sorts and by this means have gain'd the most universal attestation Porphyry and Julian with other implacable enemies to the Christian Faith did acknowledge those books to be composed by those whose names they bear The Books being thus delivered when we come to consult the doctrine contained in them we find ingraven upon it peculiar characters of Divinity agreeable to the impressions of the Deity made upon the Souls of all men together with the broad Seal of Heaven annexed unto it many Miracles which God never gives to any a power to do for the confirming an errour In order to the gaining the true Sence and meaning of this doctrine we have great advantage from the clearness of the stile in all points of absolute necessity to Salvation Truths of this importance are set in a very clear light What is more manifest than the following particulars There is a God a peculiar Worship is due to him in the Deity are Three Persons The Second cloathed himself with our Nature that he might be in a capacity to transact the work of our Redemption Those that would have a title to the benefits of his Redemption must Believe Repent lead a holy Life An eternal reward will be given to those that do these things and an everlasting punishment inflicted upon those who neglect them A day is appointed when all must stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ These particulars with many others of a-like nature are written with the greatest perspicuity If any complain of obscurity it is in themselves and not in the object If men will devest themselves of their prejudices dissipate those mists which are cast before them they cannot remain long unacquainted with these Truths If any controversie arise we have visible Guides to advise with who are devoted to the study of the Sacred Oracles and solemnly set apart by a Divine appointment to this purpose even as in secular concerns there is not only a Law to walk by but Men wholly devoted to the search of the meaning of it who are able in difficult cases to assist us Tho' these Persons whether alone or congregated in a Synod are not infallible yet when they are duly improved sincerely Religious free from the Bias of an irrelative interest they give us a high degree of assurance That their thoughts are agreeable to Truth and just Reason if we cannot internally assent to keep our Faith to our selves and not to disturb the Peace of the Church by an imprudent publication We attribute to the Divine Spirit speaking in the holy Scripture supreme and infallible Conduct To the Governours of the Church Subordinate and Ministerial To private Men who are under their Government we dare not deny the judgment of discretion God requires of them a reasonable Service 〈…〉 a compliance as is in brute creatures who are entirely subject to the discretion of those who use them and can give no account of the action they are directed to He expects the concurrence of the Heart He has endued us with a freedom to determine our selves and requires that our election be made upon such evidence that in case our Rulers command us to do otherwise than we apprehend to be right we may be able to give a sober account of our dissatisfaction an answer to every one that asketh us a reason of the hope which is in us with meekness and fear We are obliged to prove all things try the Spirits whether they be of God This Exhortation is not directed only to Fathers and Governours in the Church but such as are stiled young men and children who are under their conduct This liberty in point of discretion doth not lessen and impair the certainty of Religion Those who use it have a rational power conferred upon them by the Supreme Being for the searching and finding out of Truth They have visible Guides to make their application to in order to the removing their scruples They have the enjoyment of the publick Ministry which by Heaven is designed as the ordinary means to convey information to them the promise of the divine Spirit which doth accompany it and will be assistant to them if they do not resist it but expose themselves to its operations a power to suspend their assent till the matter be clear and evident When the object is so and the faculty duly prepared by the use of such means as have been specified it will be unreasonable to assert That we may in such circumstances be imposed upon He to whom veracity
Armenia Aegypt Aethiopia will be under no temptation to believe That the Romanists have any such great cause to value themselves upon the account of the amplitude of their Community I know that it will be said That all these are cut off from the Church by Heresie But the best way to try whether it be so or no will be to examine the Confessions of their Faith and compare them with the unerring rule of Scripture Upon an impartial inquiry it will be found That the worst of them has a much better consistency with the Primitive Standard than the Creed of the Romanists has The greatest fault which is found with the Protestants is their compliance with the advice of S. John Little children keep your selves from Idols with the Greeks The believing the words of our Saviour which evidently import an equality among the Apostles and their refusing to stoop to the imaginary Supremacy of S. Peter Indeed the denial of the procession from the Son is pretended which altho' it be an errour yet was never accounted fundamental The Pope has done with the Church of Christ as the Jews say Herod did with the Temple of Solomon enlarge the foundation If the errour of the Greeks be fundamental it is not because it is opposite to the foundation which a greater than Solomon laid but the additional laid by the Bishop of Rome Filióque in the Nicene Creed is believed to be inserted by Nicolaus the first about eight hundred and fifty years after Christ when the animosities betwixt him and Photius Patriarch of Constantinople were very high Sguropulus has given assurance enough That what was done in the Council of Florence was brought to pass by the collusion of the Roman party The Greeks being forced by their necessities and tempted by the most alluring promises into such concessions as their whole Church was highly dissatisfied with As for the Nestâ—rians it is evident by their Confessions that they have abandoned that errour which was condemned by the Council of Ephesus the Jacobites Breerw Iâ—quâ— p. 15.4 altho' they retain their denomination from Jacobus Sanzalus a defender of the Eutychian Heresie yet they renounce his doctrin Leonard Legate of Pope Gregory the Thirteenth in those parts of the World where the Jacobites live hath recorded that their Patriarch professed to him That tho' indeed they held but one personate nature in Christ resulting of the unity of the two natures not personated yet they acknowledge those two natures to be united in his person without any mixtion and confusion and that they themselves differ not in understanding but in terms from the Latin Church From all this it is evident That the Romanists have no reason to insist upon their amplitude as a character of the Truth or Infallibility of their Church the next Motive is the uninterrupted succession of Bishops by which is meant the coming of one Bishop into the place of another from S. Peter to the present Bishop of Rome without the interposition of any unduly qualified Such a Succession they are never able to demonstrate For those who are rightly qualified according to their own Principles must be no Symonists no Schisinaticks no Hereticks Men and not Women And yet it is confessed That some of them have obtained their dignities by Symoniacal contracts as Alexander the Sixth Sextus the First Others have been under the guilt of Schism The Council of Pisa deposed Benedict the Thirteenth and Gregory the Thirteenth under that notion and elected Alexander the Fifth who continued in the place without deposition the Council of Basil deposed Eugenius upon the like account And yet after the Council was ended he recovered his dignity without any Conciliary Act And from him all to the present Bishop of Rome are descended So that whether the Pope be above a Council or the Council above the Pope the Succession is interrupted Some of them have been under the imputation of Heresie Liberius was an Arrian Anastasius a Nestorian Vigilius an Eutychian and it is believed by some That one of them was a Woman For this we have the unanimous consent of all the Romanists till Luther's time They were so ingenuous as to confess the thing till the Protestants began to urge it to their prejudice To all this I may add That those Churches which have as good a Succession as they contend for are notwithstanding branded with the infamy of Heresie as our own and the Greek Church Therefore their Succession which is only personal and not doctrinal can be no motive to induce us to believe That they are a True much less an Infallible Church As for their agreement in Doctrin with the ancient Primitive Church This would be a motive indeed could they demonstrate any such harmony Till they have reconciled their Doctrin of withholding the Cup from the Disciples of Christ with the words of our Saviour drink ye all of it Concerning Prayer in an unknown Tongue with the words of the Apostle If I pray in an unknown tongue my understanding is unfruitful Concerning the Worshipping of Images with the Second Command and the Primitive Christians not allowing so much as the making of them we shall not easily believe that there is a consent in all things betwixt their doctrin and the doctrin of the ancient Apostolical Church The next Motive is the Union of the Members amongst themselves He who well considers the Schisms betwixt the Anti-Popes as Novatianus and Cornelius Foelix and Liberius Vrsinus and Damasus Eusebius and Bonifacius the second Vigilius and Sylverius c. with many others Six and Twenty in Bellarmine's account Thirty according to Onuphrius and thinks fit to enlarge his Meditations with the consideration of the divisions betwixt the Emperours and Popes the last pretending a power from Christ to devest the former of their Authority and with the differences betwixt the Popes and the Bishops about their Power Whether it be derived immediately from the Pope or from Christ the Bishops and Regulars these pleading an exemption from their jurisdiction the Regulars and the Parochial Priests with all the diversities betwixt the Jansenists and Molinists Franciscans and Dominicans the Sorbonists and the followers of the doctrin of Lombard and Anquinas together with the grand contest about the fundamental Article Infallibility some making it Canonical some absolute some saying it is in the Pope some in a Council will not find himself under any strong inclination to believe That the Concord so much boasted of is so perfect as is pretended Indeed they say Tho' they be not actually agreed yet they have the most ready way that leads to it They all acknowledge one visible Head in whose judgment all are to acquiesce So that when differences arise they have nothing to do but to speak with him But this is nothing to the purpose For the Motive is not potential but actual Union not what may be but what is It is no good consequence that they are United because they
8. and the Law requiring That those for whom the Sacrifice was offered should be present and put their hands upon the head of it and there being an impossibility That every Man should appear in his own Person it was appointed That the several stations should appear in their turns as the representatives of the whole Community These Maimonides stiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Men of the station Those which were near to Jerusalem belonging to such a station constantly appeared in their course according to what was appointed Those who lived at a greater distance Vid. Temp. Service 62. used to assemble themselves in Synagogues and to pray and read the Law that they might maintain Communion with their Brethren at Jerusalem Besides the Temple the Jews had their Proseucha's and Synagogues By the express words of the Law the Males were obliged to appear thrice a year at Jerusalem The same Law obliging them to the celebration of a Sabbath every week their reason did lead them to make choice of such places where they might conveniently assemble for that purpose These are stiled Proseucha's and Synagogues Such was the Sanctuary in Sichem Jos 24.26 And the place of Prayer in Mizpeh 1 Sam. 7.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Macc. 3. â— 40. And the houses of God Ps 74.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aquila translates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jerusalem it self was not without them as is evident from S. Paul's words He making an Apology for his behaviour there says They neither found him in the Temple disputing with any man nor raising up the people neither in the Synagogues nor in the City Act. 24.12 Tho' there is some distinction usually made betwixt a Proseucha and a Synagogue as that a Proseucha was in the Field a Synagogue in the City The Proseucha open at top The Synagogue covered The Proseucha built in some place near a River The Synagogue in the highest place of the City The Proseucha might entertain the least number The Synagogue no fewer than Ten yet we find the words promiscuously used by Philo Judaeus He calls the Synagogues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De vita Mâ—sis l. 3. It is probable where the Magistrate would not permit the Jews the exercise of their Religion in Cities that they built places in the Fields equivalent to them where they might convene for the Worship of God So that tho' a Proseucha and a Synagogue might differ in some external modes yet they did agree in the main end After the Law when the Messias was come these places were frequented for some time Notwithstanding there was corruption in the publick administrations yet our Blessed Lord did not forsake them The Scribes and Pharisees Ministers in the Jewish Church were chargeable with many personal defects by their procurement unnecessary Rites were blended with the Worship of God The persons which they ministred unto were so enormous in their conversion That the Temple upon the account of their presence is stiled a Den of Thieves Yet for all this our Saviour did not withdraw himself from their Assemblies Into this Church he was admitted by Circumcision Luk. 4.16 did frequently celebrate the Passeover with them honour their Synagogues with his presence every Sabbath and commands his Disciples to hear the Scribes and Pharisees Jo. 11.49 Tho' there was an innovation about the Priesthood the Office of the High Priest which was perpetual by the Law of God was made annual by the Law of Man yet when he had cured the Leper he sends him to the Priest Mat. 8.4 He continued in a Proseucha praying all night Luke 6.12 After his Death his Disciples did tread in his steps So soon as he was ascended the principal of them which were a Hundred and Twenty did presently gather together in an upper room belonging to the Temple and continued in Prayer and Supplication When such multitudes of Converts were added to the Church as one room would not contain them they made use of diverse They continued in the Temple and brake Bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from room to room S. Peter and S. John went up to the Temple at the hour of prayer Act. 3.1 The Disciples were all with one accord in Solomon 's Porch Act. 5.12 The Apostles are bid to speak in the Temple to the people Act. 5.20 S. Paul preached Christ in the Synagogues Act. 9.20 At Antioch in Pisidia he and Barnabas did repair thither on the Sabbath day Act. 13.14 This was his practice at Iconium Thessalonica Corinth Ephesus and so much a general custome That the assembling of Christians together is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10. This Communion of the Christians with the Jews continued as long as their circumstances were reconcileable with it Afterwards they held their Assemblies apart and had peculiar places for their Sacred Conventions known by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When ye come together in the Church 1 Cor. 11.18 Here is first a coming together which makes the Congregation and then the place is expressed where the Congregation is met 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word imports something antecedent to and distinct from the Assembly Upon this account the Church is opposed to private houses Have ye not houses to eat and drink in or dispise ye the Church of God Let the women keep silence in the Churches and if they will learn any thing let them ask their husbands at home 1 Cor. 14.34 As Houses and home signifie private dwellings so the rule of opposition will justifie us in asserting That the Church or Churches which are opposed to them must signifie publick set apart for Religious Conventions Such were the Houses of Nymphas Philemon Priscilla and Aquila Col. 4.15 Rom. 16. Priscilla and Aquila We read of the Church in them that is The Congregation which use to meet there for the Worship of God these persons having set apart some part of their dwelling for that sacred purpose If by the Church in their Houses we must understand only the members of their families which were converted to the Faith no good reason can be given why the same form of salutation should not be addressed to others as well as to them Rom. 16. â— 10 11. There were many others as Narcissus and Aristobulus who had in their housholds those who did embrace the Doctrine of Christ We are not destitute of very early Testimonies to the same effect in Ecclesiastical Writers L. 8. c. 1 â—u l. 2. c. 17. Lamprid. Eusebius stiles the Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ancient edifices Several of them were in Alexandria in S. Mark 's time Alexander Severus upon a controversie did adjudge such a publick place to the Christians Irenaeus and Clemens Alexandrinus use the word Ecclesia in the sence which we contend for Such a place is stiled Domus Dei in Tertullian and Dominicum in S. Cyprian These words import a resignation of the right
perswade them that no such thing was done Not only Bellarmine as I have before intimated but likewise Sirmondus acknowledge That Transubstantiation was not exposed to a clear light before the Ninth Century In the following Ages the profound ignorance of the people and the ambition of the Priests gave a great advance to it The Priests being desirous of deference and respect from the people knew no method more expedient to promote their purpose than to adhere to that doctrin which has a direct aspect upon it What could more readily commend them to the first place in the thoughts and opinion of the Vulgar than to perswade them that they were so highly favoured in Heaven as from thence to be invested with a power to turn Bread into the body of Christ This if sincerely believed must inevitably be as efficacious to secure to themselves an eternal veneration as the doing the greatest miracle recorded in the Sacred Oracles After all the commotions about this doctrin and the definition of Innocent the Third in the Fourth Lateran Council the greatest men for learning were at a loss what to six upon Joannes Parisiensis did afterwards publickly maintain That the Bread after Consecration really remains as the humane nature of Christ does after its being advanced to the dignity of the Hypostatical Union At the Council of Trent This business was brought to its perfection yet when the definition was to be made the Dominicans and Franciscans could not agree but fell into warm contests insomuch that at the last the General Congregation did prudently resolve to use as few words as possible and to make an expression so Universal as might be accommodated to the meaning of both parties All this to which much more might be added is sufficient to assure us of the novity of Transubstantiation and to give us some light into the steps which it took before it could arrive at the dignity of being an Article of Faith in the Church of Rome Now if we will give our selves leisure to sum up what has been spoken we shall find too much reason to suspect that the error of the Romanists about the Annihilation of the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament doth not arise from the nature of the Object but a voluntary distemper in the Subject and therefore can contribute little to an excuse from the Charge they lie under of alienating the Divine Honour when they give supreme Worship to the Sacrament And now I have done with the first particular the terminating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the Eucharist 2. Invocation of Saints The Romanists in this do that which is highly injurious to the peculiar Honour of God When they direct Mental Prayer to the Saints the action in its own nature imports an acknowledgment That they understand the Heart which is a priviledge appropriated to the Supreme Being in the Holy Scripture Thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men 2 Chro. 6.30 There is not a tittle in any part of Divine Revelation whereby it appears that God makes known our Hearts to them but on the contrary many clear intimations That he reserves this knowledge entirely to himself When Vocal Prayer is made to them for Grace and Glory it involves a confession of a power residing in them to confer that which is the gift of God alone thro' Jesus Christ If it be said That they are invocated not as Authors but Intercessors for these things they contradict the stile of their Devotion O Maria gratiosa dulcis mitis formosa applica nobis gratiam O Maria gloriosa in deliciis deliciosa praepara nobis gloriam In the Psalter of the Virgin all the Addresses made to God of whatsoever nature are directed to Her It is said That God the Father has done for Her what Assuerus promised to Esther given one moiety of his Kingdom namely That of Mercy to Her reserving the other of Justice to himself But let it be so That one thing is spoken and another meant which is not decent at any time much less in the Worship of God and the Saints are prayed unto as Intercessors yet this action cannot be excused from the blame of usurping the Honour of the second Person in the Sacred Trinity who is appointed to be the only Mediator betwixt God and Man We know of no other in the Scripture and it is not for mortal Man to appoint new Advocates in the Kingdom of Heaven and make them Rivals with the great Master of Requests who is of God's designation An Earthly Prince looks upon it as an insufferable insolence for Subjects to appoint who shall be his great Officers without his Order and Command If it be said That the Saints are invocated not as co-ordinate Intercessors but subordinate to Christ this will not much mend the matter For whether they be the first or last yet it is plain that when one particular Saint is Invocated the same hour and instant in diverse places for things of a different nature a capacity is supposed in that Saint to hear all their Petitions at once and by consequence to have an infinite Understanding A Finite Intellect tho' in the fruition of the greatest advantages either from the Revelation of God or Relation of Angels can understand but one object at a time To have an actual apprehension of more than one at the same moment is a peculiarity belonging to an unlimited and infinite capacity If it be added that the Sense of the Church is That we must have recourse to the Prayers of the Saints departed as we have to them while they are living here this will not amount to any reasonable satisfaction There is not the same reason for praying to Saints in Heaven as there is for our desiring our Brethren here to pray for us 1. They are at a distance These are present If a man residing in England should fall upon his knees and supplicate his friend in the Indies to assist him with his Prayers the very Action in its own nature would import an attribution of an immensity to him which is peculiar to God If he should daily use his picture to excite his devotion and kneeling before it make such religious applications as are usually made to the glorified Saints before their Images every one would look upon him as a person doing that which is highly prejudicial to the Divine Honour There is as much reason to believe that the Saints on Earth may hear our Prayers at a distance as the Saints in Heaven There is not one Syllable in the Bible to assure us to the contrary Abraham is ignorant of us Isa 36. And if Abraham the Father of the Faithful is a stranger to our concerns much more his Children who are in his Bosom God and Angels may reveal our necessities to our friends in any place yet no man looks upon this possibility as a sufficient ground to pray unto them when they are at a distance from us The Prayer
errour is charged in sacred Writ upon the Will as the original of it This doth not render Religion uncertain Fallibility and certainty are not inconsistent There may be an actual certainty where there is no absolute infallibility A Judge is not infallible and yet he may be certain that the sentence which he pronounceth is right A man may be sure of what he sees plainly demonstrated before him altho' he is not out of the power and influence of all deception When a foundation is laid and some build gold silver and precious stone upon it others wood hay stubble it is as easie for one who is not infallible to discern the difference betwixt these superstructures as to distinguish a wall of marble form that which is made of brick If there be no certainty without infallibility Scepticism must be admitted and a stop put to all proceedings of Justice No Man ought to be condemned to suffer a penalty except it be certain that he deserves it and who are there but fallible Men to give evidence and judge of his demerits If the Promises of Scripture have sâ—â—â—â— sence as is contended for how comes it to be known It is a received principle amongst those with whom we are concerned That they cannot be sure of the meaning of the Bible without the interpretation of an infallible Spirit and by consequence we must be sure that the Church is infallible before we can be sure of the Sence of Scripture and if so the promise cannot be alledged as an argument to prove infallibility for then there will be a perfect circle The sence of the promise is justified by the infallibility of the Church and the infallibility of the Church by the sence of the promise From hence it is apparent That the meaning of the promise may be known without the interpretation of an infallible Spirit and if so why not the sence of other places of Scripture If we should enter upon an examination of the particular Texts of Scripture which are pretended to favour the Infallibility which the Romanists contend for they would be found no way answerable to that purpose for which they are produced They are such as these If he neglect to hear the Church c. Lo I am with you to the end of the world He will guide you into all truth He that heareth you heareth me It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and to us The Church which is the pillar and ground of Truth He that will not hearken to the Priest shall die Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church I have prayed that thy faith fail not Feed my Sheep To all which we briefly answer in order 1. When we are commanded To hear the Church This Church may be the Greek or Protestant as well as the Roman and hearing doth not imply the infallibility of it Every Parishioner is commanded to hear the Minister which is set over him and yet no body from thence will infer that he is infallible This Church we are not to believe without making any scrutiny but lie under obligation to try all things and hold fast that which is good The command of the Church doth not free us from sin in our conformity to it The Jews contracted a deep guilt in compassing the death of our blessed Lord tho' they did it in obedience to their Governours Not only Pastors but the Sheep know the voice of their supreme Shepherd and are in a capacity to distinguish it from the voice of a stranger 2. When it is said I will be with you to the end of the world This assures us of the presence of Christ with his Ministers so long as the world endures but not that he will give the same measure of assistance which the Apostles did enjoy That which is sufficient in every Age is ascertained by this promise but not that which is efficacious to such a degree as will secure them from all errour for then every particular Pastour will be as Infallible as every Apostle was 3. When it is asserted That when the Spirit of Truth is come He will guide you into all truth it cannot be proved That this promise is made to any besides the Apostles The context plainly appropriates it to them I have many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now These words have an evident aspect upon the Disciples only If we should grant That not only the Apostles but their Successors are the objects of the promise what is intended to be proved will not follow namely Infallibility The direction of the Spirit may be opposed He gives in all ages a sufficient but not an irresistible guidance Many tho' they are put into a right way by him yet desert it and follow their own erroneous apprehensions 4. Those words He that heareth you heareth me are spoken of the Seventy Disciples not assembled in a Council but as going up and down from place to place to preach the Gospel So that if they be construed in such a fence as to favour Infallibility they will prove more than is desired namely That this priviledge of not erring belongs to every Preacher who has a lawful authority conferred upon him to publish the Gospel 5. Those words It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and to us do not argue That the blessed Spirit will infallibly assist in all future Councils They assert what was done at this present Convention but hold forth no promise of the same degree of assistance in all Ages The reason of this extraordinary aid was peculiar to those times The Apostles then were to lay the foundation to fix an unerring rule both for the converted Jews and Gentiles The rule being once setled the necessity of the continuance of the same degree of assistance did cease The Heavens did forbear to rain down Manna so soon as the Israelites were in possession of a Country furnished with all convenient provision It is no good consequence That because the Sanhedrim in Moses's time was endued with an extraordinary Spirit therefore the same favour must be indulged to all their Successours even to the Council which put the Lord of Life to death 6. In those words The Church of the living God the pillar and ground of Truth The word Church must import That in which Timothy is directed how to demean himself and that undoubtedly was the Church of Ephesus of which he had the Ecclesiastical inspection That Church did hold forth the True Doctrin of the Gospel in its publick Profession even as pillars upon which the Edicts of Princes are fastned expose them to the view of all that pass by The expression alludes to the Temple of Diana much celebrated for its magnificent Pillars upon which the rules of the Religion of that Goddess were inscribed The Apostle intimates That those Columns were the Pillars of falshood but the Church of Christ in the City the Pillar of Truth holding forth the True Doctrin of
Heaven The words do not speak the indefectibility of that Church but the present state only This Pillar began to decay in Domitián's time Rev. 2.5 and is at this day utterly demolished If it be granted That the words under consideration have an aspect upon the Universal Church no advantage will from thence accrue to the plea for Infallibility She is not represented as the ground and pillar of all Truth but of Truth in general which may be limited to that which is fundamental Tho' she cannot fail in this particular for then she will lose her essence and cease to be yet she may in other points very useful to be known If by Truth we understand all Truth the words may set forth the duty of the Church what she ought to do and not the actual performance what she always does When the Disciples are stiled the salt of the earth this doth not argue an invincible quality in them whereby they are secured against the danger of losing their savour but a constant obligation upon them to retain it and season others with it 7. When it is said Dent. 17.12 That man that will not hearken to the Priest shall die no advantage will from thence redound to the Bishop of Rome except he can make it appear That He is Successour to the High Priest under the Law and vested in the same priviledges which he will never be able to do If this was so it would not amount to prove him infallible The high Priest with the whole Sanhedrim was liable to mistake as appears by the Sacrifice appointed for the expiation of their errour Lev 4.13 He that would not hearken was to die not because he was of a different opinion from the Priest but by reason of his Pride and contempt of the Supreme Authority which is plainly intimated in those words That Man which will do presumptuously c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is a common case in all Communities In superbia where there is no such thing pretended to as Infallibility When a cause is under debate and the Law requires the last appeal to be made to the Supreme Authority and the person concerned so to do turns his back upon it arrogantly refuses a submission and by consequence evidently endangers the Peace and Security of the whole Community this is a fault of the first magnitude and justly deserves the most severe animadversion If it could be proved That the Bishop of Rome with a Council called by him has as good Authority over All the Churches of the World as the high Priest with the Sanhedrim had over the National Church of the Jews Tho' from thence it would not follow That he is exempt from errour yet none would doubt to assert That his power is not to be treated with contempt 8. That Text Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it is no more propitious to the Infallibility contended for than those which have been already considered It is not agreed Whether by the Rock is to be understood Peter himself or Jesus Christ who is stiled a Rock or the confession which Peter made The ancient Fathers incline to the two last If they be preferred the Church of Rome can from thence reap no advantage If we should grant That S. Peter is the Rock spoken of it will not argue any Infallibility promised to him but the declaration of a Divine purpose to make him a firm and successful instrument in the propagation of the Gospel as the rest of the Apostles were and many of their Successours Here is nothing peculiar to S. Peter The other Apostles are represented to be as intimately concerned in the foundation of the Church as he Eph. 2.20 Rev. 21.14 The following words the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it rather prove That the Church shall never cease to be than any universal indefectibility It is certain That there shall be a Church upon the Earth teaching all truth of peremptory necessity to Salvation until the coming of our blessed Lord But that it shall be exempt from errour in all matters of Faith is contrary to experience It was once received as a truth That Infants ought to have the Eucharist administred to them and now it as unanimously exploded for a grand mistake 9. The Prayer of Christ That the faith of Peter might not fail argues rather his not finally falling away than a total exemption from errour He was under great misapprehensions after these words had been spoken to him He believed That Christ would continue upon the Earth and in those dayes restore the Kingdom to Israel That the Gentiles were not to be called in and made partakers of the like priviledges with the Jews If it should be granted That the Petition of our Lord did secure an Infallibility to Peter this would be of no advantage to our adversaries in the present controversie It cannot be made to appear That the Bishop of Rome is concerned in all the Prayers which were made for S. Peter There is in them no mention of any Successour If there had it would be difficult to prove That the Pope is the person Some doubt whether S. Peter was ever at Rome The Scripture is silent in this matter The first Asserters were but of a mean reputation Many figments were devised to support the credit of their relation The common fame which by degrees did grow out of these beginnings cannot be accounted a demonstration so long as there are Catalogues of errours which not only the Vulgar but Persons of Learning have been surprised with To erect Infallibility upon such a fluid foundation is as if an attempt should be made to build a Castle in the Air. If S. Peter was at Rome and left the Bishop of that place to succeed him this might be only in his ordinary power and not in his extraordinary qualifications as personal Infallibility a power of doing Miracles There is as much reason for the Pope to challenge to himself the last as the first and yet I cannot understand that he pretends to it The Miracles in the Church of Rome are usually attributed to some persons that cannot easily be spoken with in order to the knowing the truth If this power had been ascribed to the Pope daily experience would have given the Asserters a flat contradiction 10. Those words Feed my sheep c. do not import the conferring upon Peter any priviledge above the rest of the Apostles but only the insuring to him his interest in the general Commission given to them They were commanded to teach all nations It might lie as an objection against him That he was not included in the number of those who were thus commissioned By his denial of Christ he had in appearance forfeited his right to the Apostleship as Judas by betraying him fell really from it To give him and others assurance That he was one