have thought that Reason was not peculiar to Men but that the Brutes have had a competent share of it And therefore they have maintained that 't was Religion that made the Difference between us and them of which they never perceived the least Footsteps in them But if these rare Stories may be believed that Opinion of theirs is utterly overthrown And the Truth of it is I could heartily wish that the Popish Missionaries would give over their Attempts on us and lay out their pains on the Conversion of these Creatures and endeavour to propagate their Faith among them An Employment which they need not disdain seeing so many of their Betters have submitted to it St. Anthony among others preaching to little or no purpose to some stubborn Hereticks that would not receive his Message turns away from them Specul Exem Dist 7. Ex. 34. and by Divine Inspiration goes to the Sea-side and calls to the Fishes Ye Fish of the Sea and River hear the Word of the Lord since the Hereticks despise it And 't was a very serious Sermon that he preached to them and to very good Purpose for some of these Fishes his Auditors open'd their Mouths and spoke and the rest of them bowed their Heads Indeed such Creatures as these are the only ones for them to exercise their Talent upon For 't is hardly to be conceived that they should have any reasonable Grounds to hope they shall ever make Rational Creatures Proselytes to such a Bundle of Nonsensical Doctrines as their Church hath embraced and among the rest this of Transubstantiation which contains many Monsters in the Belly of it which is ript up and they sufficiently exposed to the Reader 's view in the following Discourse Wherein if any Critical Eye should chance to espye some small Mistakes tho I do not know of any in it yet it being published without the Author's Consent 't is possible a few have crept in I hope the Reader will easily pardon such Venial Faults and kindly entertain this Stranger that comes out of the Country and appears publickly on no other Design but that of promoting the Common Good. MATTH xxvi 26. This is my Body THE Church of Rome hath brought in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and made it an Article of the Christian Faith that all Persons in her Communion are required to give their Assent unto and receive as necessary to Salvation Yea it is an Article of the Romish Faith that they are most hot in and have now for some Centuries contended for with Fire and Sword to the disturbing of the Peace of Christendom and shedding of Rivers of Christian Blood Anathematizing Cursing Damning and where their Arms are long enough Murthering and Butchering all without difference that refuse to give their Assent unto it And the owning of it together with the Sacrifice of the Mass that is bottomed on it and riseth out of it is the Mark of the Papal Religion and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Mark or Note of Distinction betwixt a Papist and a Protestant And therefore this was the particular and main Point that most of our Blessed Martyrs in the Days of Queen Mary were first called to answer unto and declare their Judgment about and then burned at Stakes all over the Nation for denying of it and bearing witness against it And I wish that if ever the Romanists gain another like Opportunity they do not take the same Measures proceed in the same Method and make use of their old Argument Fire and Faggot against whosoever shall not admit and embrace this Doctrine It is therefore the great Concern of all Protestants who would not make Shipwrack of their Faith when it comes to a Fiery Tryal to make it their Business to have their Minds rightly informed and Judgments established in this Matter that so they may stand fast in the Faith. Now these Words of our Saviour are the Foundation upon which they would build this monstrous Doctrine of Transubstantiation Of which they say 1. That before the Act of Consecration the Elements are true and proper Bread and Wine 2. That after the Consecration there remaineth no Substance of Bread or Wine or any other Substance but the Substance of Christ God and Man Or the very Flesh and Blood of Christ as he was born of the Virgin Mary and did hang upon the Cross The Substance of the Bread by the Strength and Efficacy of Christ's mighty Word spoken by the Priest being converted into the Natural Body and the Substance of the Wine into the Natural Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ under the Terms of Bread and Wine 3. This Transmutation Conversion or turning of the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is that which they call Transubstantiation 4. This Transubstantiation is made by the Priest pronouncing with an intention to consecrate these five Words over the Bread viz. Hoc est enim Corpus meum For this is my Body Hereby this strange Change is made yet so as the most Learned of them are not agreed among themselves about the Manner of it that is whether the Substance of the Bread be turned into the Substance of Christ's Body productive so as the Body of Christ is made ex materia panis as one thing is made of another or whether it be adductivè by a Recession of the Substance of the Bread and an Adduction or Succession of the Body of Christ into the room of it as one thing succeeds in the place of another the first being voided Thomas is for the former par 3. p. 75. Art. 3. and Suarez and Bellarmine are for this latter which indeed is no Transubstantiation but a meer Succession But leaving them to wrangle this out among themselves tho I believe it is a Matter wherein they will never accord together we shall proceed to take a view of this new and amusing or amazing Paradox Now that Transubstantiation is a most prodigious and monstrous Opinion or Fiction will be very evident from these Three Particulars I. The Original and Rise of it II. The Nature or Constitution of it III. The Products Consequences and Fruits of it I. Consider the Original and Rise of Transubstantiation from what Root or Fountain it is derived And if Enquiry be made after the Birth and first appearing of it in the World it will appear that this monstrous Opinion crept in and came up by degrees in an Age of universal Darkness and Debauchery wherein an easy Entrance and Admittance was given not onely to this but also unto a Deluge of many other corrupt Doctrines and Practices It is confessed by all that the 9th 10th and 11th Centuries were overspread with Ignorance and Profaneness insomuch that Baronius Platina Genebrard Bellarmine and other approved Writers of the Romish Church Men we may be sure that would not say the worst make very sad Exclamations and Complaints Baronius ad An. 900 hath these Words In
they are thus deceived when and while they are in every respect best disposed and fitted for performance of their proper Acts. And further that they are deceived after this manner about a most sensible Object and in a matter wherein it is as hard to think how they should be thus universally deceived as in any one thing whatsoever that is the Object of Sense And now if this be once granted it takes away and quite overthrows all certainty of Sense and consequently all certainty of Faith and Belief in the main Points of Religion as of our Saviour's Person Doctrine Miracles Passion Resurrection Ascension And so undermines the very Foundation and shakes the chief Pillars of Christianity 2. It is against Reason Reason goes beyond Sense but this Transubstantiation goes beyond Reason and not only beyond Reason but against Reason And is contrary to the broadest Light of Reason For Transubstantiation 1. Makes the Body of Christ to be in Heaven on the Earth and in Millions of places of the Earth at one and the self-same Time. Non potest unum corpus esse localiter in duobus locis quia ita idem a seipso divideretur Thom. part 4. dist 44. q. 2. Art. 2. Now this is against Reason Reason dictates this that all corporal Substances or Bodies are in loco circumscriptivè circumscribed in a certain Place and cannot be in more than one at one time It is wholly inconsistent with Reason to say that the same Man is at London and at Rome sitting in his House and walking in his Fields at the same time And is it not as absurd to say that the Body of Christ is locally in Heaven and yet at the same time really substantially and locally in a thousand thousand different and distinct places of the Earth 2. Gives a nutritive vertue unto meer Accidents That the Elements received in the Sacrament do nourish the Bodies of the Communicants cannot be denied Now according to their Doctrine there remains no Substance of Bread and Wine but the Accidents only as length breadth thickness whiteness redness And therefore it must be these that refresh and nourish But what can be more absurd and irrational than such a Fancy Can a Body receive nourishment from Length and Colour and other bare Accidents This is above Reason Yet if Transubstantiation be true this whatever Reason may suggest to the contrary is most true The Monk Amonius lib. 5. de gestù Franc. cap. 29. reports that Ludovicus Pius received nothing but the Eucharist for 40 Days together And other Authors among them have reported that they have had some Holy Men who would feed upon nothing but the Eucharist and so according to their Opinion lived on meer Accidents And thus all the Romanists may live on bare Accidents For as Tolet de instruct Sacerd. l. 2. c. 25. a Priest may transubstantiate at once a whole Pantrey of Bread and a whole Cellar of Wine 3. Sets up the Accidents of Bread as Colour Figure Smell Taste without any Subject or Body in which they subsist They affirm that the Substance of the Bread and Wine is totally avoided yet confess that the Accidents of the Bread and Wine remain such as Whiteness Redness Moisture Now where or in what Subject do these Accidents subsist In the Elements This cannot be for the Elements are quite annihilated or voided at least Do they exist in the Body of Christ By no means this they all deny Where then Why certainly no where Here is color nihil coloratum sapor nihil saporatum quantitus nihil quantum qualitas nihil quale Whiteness and nothing white Savour and nothing that savoureth Length and nothing long Breadth and nothing broad Now this is such Divinity as crosses Reason and offers violence to Nature For accidens est ens in alio Accedentis esse est in esse i. e. esse in subjecto The very Being of an Accident consisteth in its existing in a Substance or Subject and it can be no longer than its Subject is in being 4. Makes that which is plain Bread to be no Bread. This again puts Reason to a Nonplus to conceive how a Wafer that hath the form of Bread the quantity of Bread the whiteness of Bread the smell of Bread and the taste of Bread should yet be no Bread but very Flesh and a whole Human Body This amuseth Reason and is so contrary to it that every Christian who will but make use of his Reason must say as Thomas Spurdance the Martyr when the Chancellor of Norwich asked him Do'st thou not believe that after the Words of Consecration in the Sacrament of the Altar there is the same Body of Christ as was born of the Virgin Mary No said Spurdance for that Body consisted of Flesh Blood and Bones and here is no such thing Thus Transubstantiation is against Reason and brings in such things to be received as no Man can receive without doing open violence to his Reason 3. It is against Faith. As Reason goes beyond Sense so Faith goes beyond Reason and sees farther than Reason can reach when most elevated But Transubstantiation outgoes them all Sense cannot reach it Reason cannot overtake it Faith cannot fathom it It imposes things upon the Belief of Men that are not only very hard to be believed but things that are wholly incredible past Credit or Belief It is altogether incredible 1. That a Priest can make a Body that was made and existent long before he himself had any Being Can make the Body of Christ now in a Wafer which was made more than sixteen hundred Years agoe in the Womb of the Virgin. Can a Father beget a Son that is already begotten and born Can a Man that was born at London 40 50 or 60 Years since be born to Day or to Morrow at Lancaster Who can believe this For as one says factum facere factum intectum facere are equally both incredible and impossible 2. That our Saviour had two Bodies two contrary Bodies and both these at one and the same Time. Is not this incredible Yet whosoever will believe Transubstantiation must believe this Believe that when he instituted and celebrated his last Supper with the Disciples he had two Bodies 1. One speaking moving acting in blessing breaking and giving the Bread another without motion or action 2. One visible and palpable another altogether invisible and hidden under the forms of Bread and Wine 3. One mortal weak and ready to be crucified another impassible and obnoxious to no Suffering 4. One sitting at the Table among the Disciples another at the same time in the Mouths and Stomachs of the Disciples 5. One Body breaking another Body and dividing it among them or rather one giving another whole and entire Body to every one of them Are not all these hard things Is it not past Belief that Christ whole Christ should be eaten by every one of them and yet sit among them That he
Bread as it is evident that the Serpent c. are so called because they had the Form and Fashion of a Serpent c. Nor 3. Doth the Scripture any where teach us to call the bare Accidents of Bread by the Name of Bread. And Accidents are all that the Papists here allow 4. The Body of Christ never was in the Form of Bread or had the Likeness of Bread. I say moreover 5. In saying that the Body of Christ is called Bread because being made of Bread it doth still retain and keep the Form of Bread they with their own Hands throw down this Structure of Transubstantiation which they would rear up For if the Bread were really turned into the Body of Christ it would in this Transmutation lose the external Form and Accident of Bread and take the Form and Accident of a true human Body Thus in all the Transmutations and Transformations that we read of in Scripture the things transformed lost their former Form Shape and Accident and took new ones The Rib out of which Eve was formed lost its own Shape and Form when turned into Woman When Lot's Wife was turned into a Pillar she lost the Form of a Woman Moses's Rod lost the Form of a Rod when it took the Form of a Serpent And the Water turned into Wine lost its former Colour Savour Taste In all these there was a real and visible Mutation that changed the external Form Fashion and Accidents And so whatsoever is transubstantiated doth thereby lose its former Form. And so it would be here if there were any such a Transubstantiation as the Romanists would obtrude upon us But this Key whereby they would loose themselves out of the Chains of this Argument instead of loosing them locks them closer and faster up But they have more Keys for this Lock that may fit better As Divino miraculo fieri ut accidentia panis nutriant ita tamen ut in magna copia sumantur De Euch. c. 23. Thirdly Because it hath the Properties and Effects of Bread. But what are these Bellarmine only names one viz. Nutrition it doth nourish our Bodies as Bread. But if it be not Bread how comes it to minister Nourishment Why he tells us that by a Divine Miracle Accidents may nourish when taken in a great Quantity Mark here 1. Accidents of Bread nourish Mens Bodies 2. Yet it is by a Divine Miracle and this also Only 3. When they take a full Dose of them He might have done well to have prescribed a just Quantity how many Grains Scruples Drams Ounces Pounds or Quarts of Accidents must be taken at once to make the Receipt work But this is left to the Baker's Discretion who may for any thing I know put in more or less at his own Pleasure But in answer to this Reason produced by them to prove that it may be called Bread I shall say two things 1. That this Reason plainly proves it to be Bread. For 1. That which hath the Effects and Properties of Bread in nourishing our Bodies is a Substance Bare Accidents as Length Bredth Colour c. cannot nourish And therefore if the whole Substance of the Bread be gone and nothing of Bread as they say remain but the bare Accidents there can come no Nourishment to our Bodies from them but they say and it is true that they do nourish And from thence I say it must follow that not only the Accidents but the Substance of Bread remains For meer Accidents do not nourish It is confessed that Odours may and do minister some refreshing and Examples may be given of those that have been refreshed by the Smell of Meats and Odours But the Reason of this is that Smells and Savours issue with the Emission of some Corporeal Substance from the Bodies they issue from Therefore an Odour according to Aristotle is fumida quaedam Evaporatio according to Galen Effluxus quidam Corporum But this cannot bestead the Papists in this Case for according to their Hypothesis there is no Substance of Bread in the Host Omnes Theologi Philosophi communi sensu docent quod alimentum in rei nutritae substantiam vere convertatur 1 De Genar Corr. c. 5. q. 11. Art. 2. and therefore there can be no Emission of any Material Savour or Substance from it that can afford the least Degree of Nourishment 2. That which doth nourish our Bodies is converted into the Substance of our Bodies The Colledge of Conimbre tells us that both all Divines and Philosophers with one Consent agree in this that Food is truly converted into the Substance of the Body that is nourished by it But bare Accidents cannot be turned into Substance and therefore cannot nourish if there be Nourishment then there must be the Substance of Bread. But Bellarmine hath a Reserve here that it may be done by a Miracle and so indeed it must if it be done But why should we devise and feign Miracles when and where there is no need of them nor occasion for them 1. It is not once doubted but God can by a Miracle nourish our Bodies without any Meat at all when there is need and he sees it meet But then 2. What need is there of a Miracle to nourish our Bodies by bare Acdents Length Breadth Quantity Colour c. when we have our Tables furnished and stored with all Plenty and Variety Doth the Lord use to work Miracles where there is no want of ordinary means and this ordinarily 3. I would fain know of them for what end this Miracle is done Is it to confirm the Doctrine of Transubstantiation or to declare and manifest the Deity of Christ Then certainly this ought to be visible and conspicuous or openly displayed that it is not any Substance of Bread but only Accidents of Bread that we are thus miraculously fed and nourished by But this is not in the least apparent nor to be any way discerned by our selves or others 4. But the Limitation or Condition which Bellarmine puts in doth in my Opinion quite marr this pretended Miracle viz. That the Accidents may by a Divine Miracle nourish us upon this Condition that they be taken in magna copia or a great Quantity What means this Proviso Why must they be taken in magna copia to make the Miracle take Is there Restraint upon the Divine Omnipotence so that he can feed us with many Accidents of Bread but not with a few Is this the Cardinal's Divinity Strange Here is in his Words a feigned Miracle but a real Blasphemy in limiting the most High and tying up the Hands of Omnipotence And I may with some Variation inform the Jesuit in the Words of Jonathan to his Armour-bearer there is no Restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few 1 Sam. 14.6 So I say there is no Restraint to the Lord to feed by many Accidents or by few if he can by many he can also by few and with the
height of Delusion Men may be left to believe a Lie a Lie that hath scarce any Vail to cover it a Lie that hath no Sense or Reason in it a Lie that bears upon its Forehead monstrous Absurdities and portentous Contradictions Verily in this according as was foretold 2 Thess 2.11 we have a visible and tremendous Instance of one of the greatest depths of the Judgment of God upon them Let it warn to beware to watch and pray that we enter not into Temptation Some are confident enough and think they can never so far lose themselves as to take up the Doctrines and Practises of Rome But Sirs we have need to shake off Carnal Security to maintain a holy Fear and watchful Care and live in a continual dependence on God for preventing and preserving Grace and Help in an hour of Temptation and day of Tryal For if once we begin to warp but a little to leave God his Truth and Way and God leave us I know no Delusions so strange and monstrous but we may be given up to believe them even to this that is made up of nothing but portentous Absurdities c. 5. How just a Cause our blessed Martyrs in the Marian Days were engaged in and suffered for Some Protestant Pens and Tongues in our Days have made unhandsome and sinister Reflections upon that noble Army of Martyrs of whom the World was not worthy But a Reflection upon this monstrous Fiction that most of them went to the Stake and sacrificed themselves in Flames in opposition to is enough to clear their Innocency and justify them in their Sufferings in the Consciences of all that are not given over to a Reprobate Mind Secondly Transubstantiation sets before us matter of just Admiration And we may wonder and stand amazed 1. At the monstrous Impudency of the first Founders of it That ever Men bearing the Name of Christians should arrive at such a height of Impudence as to obtrude upon the Christian World the Entertainment and Belief of a Tale and feigned Devise so portentous and prodigious even beyond all the Poetical Fictions of the Pagans I may without any Breach of Charity pass the Censure on Transubstantiation that Ludovicus Vives passed on the Golden Legend viz. That it was written by a Man ferrei oris plumbei cordis who was lost to all Shame and whom nothing could dash out of Countenance So I say Transubstantiation was minted by Men to be wondered at for their Confidence and Impudence 2. At the lamentable Simplicity and Credulity of the first Receivers and Believers of it As it is a matter to be wondered at that any Men could be so impudent to invent it so it is no less wonderful that any Men should have been so very sottish and simple as to receive such a putid Trump into their Belief It is unimaginable how this could be possible if Men had been waking when it came upon them 3. At the horrible Induration of the present Supporters and Maintainers of it This is yet the greatest and most amazing Wonder of all that now after the breaking out of the clear Light of the Gospel and the frequent exposing of this Monster by such a number of learned Men of the Reformed Churches there should still any appear in the patronizing defence and supportation of it Here is infinite Cause to wonder and we might wonder our selves into an inextricable maze if the Holy Ghost had not given us a Clew to lead us out 2 Thess 2.11 Thirdly Transubstantiation presents unto us matter of Commiseration Matter that calls lowd on us for Bowels of Pity and Compassion towards Myriads of Souls in the Papacy 1. That have such grievous Impositions laid upon them and have no other choice left them but either to swallow down such Contradictions and monstrous Doctrines as this or to be sacrificed in merciless Flames 2. That are compassed about with such a thick Mist of Popish Darkness that they do not in the least see or discern this and other Mysteries of Iniquity that fill the Synagogues of Antichrist This is a most deplorable Case and God knows it is the Case of Multitudes at this day in the midst of the Papacy 3. That are running such infinite hazards of their Souls and eternal Estates from one Generation to another It is far from me to think of using that Uncharitableness towards them which they with one Consent practise against us viz. To pronounce all that are in that Communion to be in a State of Damnation This is a Piece of Cruelty that doth no way become Christians There is a Distinction to be made of Persons Times Places and Practices See the excellent Discourse of Mr. Durham on Revel 14. Lect. 3 about the Salvation of Papists But this I say they run an extreme Hazard on many accounts that live and dye in this Communion tho they do not give an explicite Assent to the complex Body of her Doctrine and Worship Even the Adoration of a piece of Bread rising out of Transubstantiation as very God is the grossest Idolatry that can be used Now in all these Respects the common Multitude are the Object of our Compassion and the Consideration of their hard and hazardous Condition should move our Pity Oh Christians Pity them and pray pray that God would open their Eyes reveal this great Mystery of Iniquity unto them and bring them out of Babylon where they are running such an Adventure Pray down the Antichristian State and pray home the poor lost Sheep into Christ's Fold that are in the Pope's Pinfold and Tents of Antichrist Fourthly Transubstantiation brings matter of great Gratitude and Thankfulness unto all our Doors Sirs when we think of this how can we be enough thankful unto our God for his Goodness 1. That we were brought forth from under the Clouds and Darkness of Popery and in the days of the glorious breakings out of the Gospel Diis gratias agere debeo non quia natus est mihi filius sed quod tuis temporibus ipsum nasci contingit When Alexander was born his Father Philip blessed the Gods not so much that he had a Son as that he had him in Aristotle's Days But how should we bless God for bringing us forth in Gospel-Times This is the Priviledge which that eminent German Divine Abraham Bucholâ—zer was so affected with that he always accounted it his great Happiness that he was born after the Light of the Gospel break forth and bred up under Melancthon And Chytreus acknowledged it as a singular Mercy that God had made him a Man a Christian and that he had his Education under those excellent Lights of the Church Luther and Melancthon Let this be thy Song O Christian and say with the Psalmist I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live Psal 104.33 I will sing Praise unto my God while I have my Being who hath brought me forth not in days covered with the dismal Darkness of Popery but crowned with a clear Discovery of the Gospel 2. That we have enjoyed a Freedom from these Popish Impositions while other poor Protestants have had bitter and bloody Storms falling on them If we look back to the last hundredth of Years now past who can reckon up a thousand Part of those Sufferings that have fallen heavily upon the French German Bohemian Hungarian Netherland Polish and Irish Protestants for refusing to admit of and submit to these things Oh! Transubstantiation and other Romish Abominations have cost Millions of Lives and Rivers of Blood while we have sat in a Calm and not once tasted of the Popish Fury and Cruelty 3. That to this day we are delivered from this and the many other grievous Impositions of Rome O what a Complication of Mercies have we in this one great Mercy that after all the Contrivances and Attempts of the Papists for this hundred years we may at this day set up our Stone and call it Eben-ezer saying 1 Sam. 7.12 Hitherto hath the Lord helped us Fifthly Transubstantiation doth moreover suggest unto us matter of daily Supplication and calls us to our Knees to beg with Eyes Hands and Hearts lifted up to Heaven for Protection Preservation and Deliverance from the return and re-enterance of the Religion of this degenerated and Apostate Church that brings this Monster in its Womb which if embraced will destroy and damn our Souls and if rejected will destroy and burn our Bodies to Ashes and cost us no less than our Souls or our Lives I find that there was in the Liturgy of Edward the sixth a Prayer to be delivered from the Usurpation Tyranny and Enormities of the Bishop of Rome which was afterwards taken out to take away as is said the Offence that it gave unto the Papists but verily how much soever it may offend them we have much need to put it into our daily Litanies or humble Supplications and to pray without ceasing that we may never fall back into that most woful lamentable and forlorn Estate that a Return of Popery will quickly plunge and sink us into The Pope solemnly curseth us upon Good-friday whereupon one prayed that he may so curse us still and never bless us more as he blessed us in Queen Marie's Time. To this Prayer let all that have any Love for their Religion any Detestation of the worst of Errors and Idolatries any Concernment for their Souls any Care of their Estates Lives and Posterities and would not run unspeakable Hazards for both Worlds say AMEN FINIS
A PLAIN REPRESENTATION OF Transubstantiation As it is received in the Church of Rome WITH The Sandy FOUNDATIONS it is built upon and the ARGUMENTS that do clearly evert and overturn it By a Countrey Divine Transubstantiation or the Change of the Substance of Bread and Wine in the Supper of the Lord cannot be proved by Holy Writ But it is repugnant to the plain Words of Scripture overthroweth the Nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many Superstitions Articles of the Church of England Art. 28. Nullum hic errori velúm nullus ignorantiae pratextus neque enim vel vereum Dei praeit vel ratio vel sensus errori ac ignorantiae tum demum aliquid datur ubi obscuritas reperitur sive ex parte objecti sive ex parte medii aut modi illud cognoscendi non veto ubi vitium in subjecto tantum idque voluntarium ac affectatum Spanhem â—ub Evang. Part. 2. Dub. 50. p. 450. London Printed for J. Johnson 1687. THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER IT 's an odd Story that some tell us concerning the Py'd Piper of Halberstadt who being denied the Reward he was promised for drowning those Rats wherewith they were much troubled Tuned his Pipes a second Time and draw all the Children in the Town after him till he had brought them to a Hill which opening it self to receive them presently closed upon them again Many of the Romish Communion have of late been blowing their Pipes in our Streets and 't is not much to be admired at that some Vermin Men of flagitious Lives and some Children in Understanding have been tripping and dancing after them to the mighty danger if not to the eternal ruine of their Souls Our Enemies have been busily sowing their Tares and no doubt had the good Men but slept they would have reaped a much larger Harvest But the Orthodox and Learned Clergy of our City have stood upon their Watch have behaved themselves faithfully towards God and the Souls of Men have so convincingly answered and confuted every Book that hath crawl'd out against our Religion that if Men can but read and understand they have sufficient Antidotes against this Poyson laid before them The Truth of it is all the Arguments our Adversaries have produced are but like the Gibeonites old Shoes only they have new vampt them up again The same Souldiers that have been so often beaten out of the Field only they have new Cloath'd ' em What Success Dragooning hath had in our Neighbouring Kingdom is well known but certainly by their arguing their Priests are like to prevail but little among Us. Indeed 't is an extravagant and most unaccountable thing that they should undertake to perswade any to go over to their Communion For they cannot offer at this without pretending to give Men some good Reason for so doing And yet no Man can forsake our Church and enter into theirs but he must renounce his Reason in order to it For what can be more contradictory to the Reason as well as the Senses of all Mankind than that monstrous Doctrine of Transubstantiation the Subject of this following Discourse 'T is an Argument indeed that hath been frequently treated upon both formerly and of late in our own Language as well as in others to very good Purpose This Dagon which some are so zealously setting up again hath been often beaten down I hope it will not be thought a needless thing to give it a Few Blows more utterly to dash the Stump of this Idol in pieces That is the end of publishing the following Treatise the Author whereof I need not tell thee is a Learned Man the Work it self if thou peruse it will prove that All that I shall say concerning him is this that his Modesty is proportionable to his Learning he lives retired far from the Noise of the World and that he cannot be a greater Stranger to thee than he is to this present publishing of his Writings on this Subject The Manuscript was put into my Hands by a Friend of his and upon the perusal of it judging it to be an excellent Piece I was resolved that it should not continue in the same Retiredness and Obscurity as its Author does And in a time of common Danger when we are invaded by a formidable Enemy I see no reason why Books as well as Men should not be pressed and forced into the Field I thought it also very hard that our learned Clergy here in the City should always be upon Duty and not he a little relieved by some Forces drawn out of the Country However I was not willing to go on my own Head but communicated these Papers to a very learned Person in this City who encouraged me to pursue my Design by his high Approbation of it And indeed tho so many have bater'd this most absurd Article of the Romish Faith yet it can hardly be too ill used 'T is a Point that hath cost many thousand Lives and therefore it deserves no Mercy nor Pity seeing it hath been the occasion of so much Bloodshed and Cruelty Nay not only have Multitudes suffered a Temporal Death because they could not swallow this extravagant Doctrine but Holy Church hath also sentenced them to Eternal Damnation for it And yet as much pains as they take to cram it down our Throats and to impose the Belief of it upon us with such severe Methods and such terrible Threatnings I am perswaded they would be glad to be fairly rid of it themselves if they did but know how But this Brat they cannot drop because of their pretence to Infallibility For there is no one Doctrine of their whole Faith equally absurd and ridiculous with this in the Apprehensions of all Men none which they are so hard put to to defend and none that more exposes them to the Scorn and Contempt of the Infidel Nations as well as that of the Reformed Churches The severe Censure of Avertoes Perr de l' Euch. l. 3. c. 29. Sr. Ed. Sands Europae Specul p. 230. Edit 1629. Orat. 3. c. 25. p. 18 19. cited by Daillâ— against Adam and Cottiby pt 1. p. 116. related by Cardinal Perron himself on the Credit of Sarga a Jesuit is well known that he never found a worse or a more sottish Sect than that of the Christians who eat the God whom they worship This is a thing that is matter of great Scandal to the Jews A thing as one saith that had reason enough to know which they can at no hand digest And Joseph Albon a Spanish Jew in his Book entituled Ikkarim sets forth the many Absurdities of it and in the close of all saith they are things as can neither be comprehended by the Mind nor expressed with the Tongue nor endured by the Ear they are contrary to the Understanding and Sense and consequently cannot be believed nor have any room among the Articles of Faith. Nor do the Mahometans come behind the
should at the same instant sit whole at the Table and be in each of their Stomachs and whole in every one of them whole in Peter whole in John whole in James and so in the rest What may they not believe that can believe these things Verily he must first resolve to believe any thing things past belief who resolves to be a Papist 4. It is against Scripture as well as Sense Reason and Faith. The Word of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is clearly against it and affirms the Elements to be Bread and Wine both before and after the Consecration In the Institution it is expresly said that Jesus took Bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to the Disciples and said Take eat this is my Body Mat. 26.26 Here that which he took was Bread that which he blessed was Bread that which he brake was Bread that which he gave was Bread and that he spake of when he said This is my Body was Bread for by this he meant that which he then held in his Hands and when he spake these Words he held nothing but Bread in his Hands And therefore by this he meant that Bread and consequently by This is my Body he meant this Bread is my Body that is a Sign of my Body So also in the Institution of the Cup that which he calls his Blood v. 28. he calls the Fruit of the Vine v. 29. Plainly declaring that it was not his proper Blood but Wine as a Sign of his Blood that he gave The Apostle Paul repeating the Institution as he had received it of the Lord calleth it Bread four times over 1 Cor. 11.23 26 27 28. and 1 Cor. 10.16 The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ and v. 17. We are all partakers of that one Bread. So Acts 2.46 The Disciples brake Bread from House to House And Acts 20.7 The Disciples came together to break Bread. Now this as themselves confess is meant of the Eucharist Moreover that Transubstantiation is repugnant to the Scripture is plain for if it were admitted then it would follow either 1. That Christ is not ascended to Heaven Or 2. That he descendeth daily from Heaven Now both these are contrary to express Articles of the Christian Faith and plain Testimony of the Scripture 1. If we say he ascended not It is contrary to Mark 16.19 Luke 24.51 Acts 1.9 10. Acts 2.33 Eph. 4.8 9 10. Col. 3.1 1. Tim. 3.16 Heb. 4.14 Heb. 8.1 Heb. 9.24 c. And to his own express Declaration John 16.28 I leave the World and go to the Father 2. If we say that he descendeth daily from Heaven it is no less repugnant to the Testimony of the Angels Acts 1.10 11. This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven i. e. clearly visibly gloriously as Mat. 24.30 and 25.31 1 Thess 4.16 And to the Testimony of the Apostle Peter Acts 3.19 20 21. and of our Saviour himself Mat. 26.11 Joh. 12.8 Me ye have not always Upon which Words Augustin Tract in Joan. 50. Loquitur de presentia corporis Nam secundum Majestatem suam secundum Providentiam secundum ineffabilem in Visibilem Gratiam impletur quod ab eo dictum est Ecce ego vobiscum sum usque ad consummationem seculi Secundum carnem vero quam verbum assumpsit secundum quod de virgine natus est secundum id quod a Judaeis comprehensus est quod ligno crucifixus quod de cruce depositus quod Linteis involutus quod in Sepulchro conditus quod in Resurrectione manifestatus non semper habebitis me vobiscum hath these Words He speaketh of his Corporal Presence For in respect of his Majesty Providence ineffable and invisible Grace that which he said is fulfilled Lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World. But according to the Flesh which was assumed by the Word according to that which was born of the Virgin according to that which was apprehended by the Jews which was Crucified which was taken down from the Cross which was wrapped in Linen which was laid in the Sepulchre which was shewed in the Resurrection Ye have not me alway with you When Jeffrey Hurst of Shakerley in Lancashire was brought before Justice Leland he caused a Mass to be Sung and bad Jeffrey first go and see his Maker and then he would talk with him Jeffrey answered Sir my Maker is in Heaven Christians the Body of Christ is in Heaven Transubstantiation in contradiction to the Scripture places it in the Earth This is the first Transubstantiation is made up of many Absurdities against Sense Reason Faith and Scripture Secondly It is compounded of many manifest Impossibilities and Contradictions Transubstantiation is an impossible Paradox It is impossible that there should be any such thing 1. It is impossible that one and the same Body should simul semel all at once or at one time be both visible and invisible divisible and indivisible one and many in Heaven and upon the Earth all here and all in a thousand other places All these are plain Impossibles yet Transubstantiation carries them all in its Womb. 2. It is impossible that Christ should eat Himself his own Body Now the Papists confess that he ate and drank with the Disciples in the Sacrament whence it necessarily followeth granting Transubstantiation that Christ did eat Himself and was all at once whole at the Table whole in his own Hands whole in his own Mouth whole within Himself whole without Himself devoured by Himself and untouched All these are apparent Contradictions and of such a nature as nothing can be said that is more monstrous or liker to expose Christianity to more open Obliquy and Reproach Yet I say by this Doctrine Christ ate Himself sat at the Table and was in his own Mouth and in his own Stomach Oh Prodigious The Body of Christ was in the Body of Christ Others have told us of Men-eaters but never any but Papists of any Self-eaters who at once eat his whole Self 3. It is impossible that the Body of Christ should be eaten over-night by the Disciples and yet be crucified the next Day What! Could it be both eaten and not eaten It brings to mind the Story of Alice Driver Acts and Mon. Vol. 3. p. 887. She conferring with Dr. Gascoign asked him whether it was Christ's Body that the Disciples did eat over-night He answered Yea. What Body was it then said she that was Crucified the next Day He replied Christ's Body How could that be said she when his Disciples had eaten him over night Except he had two Bodies as by your Argument he had one they did eat over-night and another was Crucified the next Day Such a Doctor such Doctrine This put her Examiners to that Shame that one looked on another and had not another Word to
they go to Mass and to receive their Creator when they are to receive at Easter and so also the Priest carries it to the Sick with these Words Behold my Friend God thy Creator whom I have brought unto thee Thus they ascribe a Power to Man to make God. And Biel setteth every Priest in this respect Virgo Maria si in gratiae plenitudinae creaturas supergrediatur universas Hierarchis tamen cedit Ecclesiae in commissi mysterii executione Illa nempe prolatis octo verbulis Ecce Ancilla Domini fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum semel concepit Dei filium Mundi Redemptorem Isti a Domino consecrati quinque verbis contextam consecrationis formam cum debita intentione proferentes eundem Dei Virginisque filium invocant quotidie corporaliter in sacrificium criminum purgationem Biel Lect. 4. in Can. Missae above the Blessed Virgin. She conceived and bare Christ but once but a Priest can make him as often as he will. But let those Wretches go on in their God-making as long as they will let us say of this breaden God as Katharine Hut Martyr to Bonner I deny it to be God because it is a dumb God and made with Mens Hands 4. It carrieth this Blasphemy also in it that as a Priest can make God so he can make God of a Piece of Bread of that which was but a little before growing in the Field cut by the Reapers threshed out with a threshing Instrument ground in the Mill kneaded and made by the Baker and baken in the Oven Fit Cibus ex Pane Caro Deus ex Elemento What can be more monstrous than this The Athemans sentenced Anaxagoras to Death for affirming that the Sun was nothing else but a fiery Stone those Idolaters counting it a great Blasphemy to make their God a Stone and shall we consent to them who would make our God a Piece of Bread I shall say to you as the holy Martyr John Noyes to the People when he was at the Stake Good People they tell you that they can make a God of a piece of Bread but believe them not When the Chancellor of Norwich asked Cicely Ormes what it was that the Priest held up over his Head she said Bread and if you would make it any better it is worse I mention the Sayings of our English Martyrs and I do profess that I mention them with great Content and esteem them worthy to be graven with an Iron Pen and Lead in the Rock for ever Being the Sayings of those more than Conquerours who sealed the Truth with their dearest Blood and by it they being dead yet speak every drop of their Blood preaching this Truth to us which they sacrificed it in the Defence of dying not only with invincible Courage and Constancy but also with an Exuberancy of Joy and Comfort professing that if they had a hundred Lives they should all go in this Cause 5. Yet it is big with another Blasphemy which is worse if there can be a worse And that is that Man may eat his Maker the Creature his Creator and a People may devour their God. This is their constant Practice first they lift up the Host next they adore it as God and then forthwith eat it up But Cicero could say Quem tam amentem esse putas who dost thou think is so mad and beside himself as to believe that to be a God that he eats Surely it is no less than amazing Madness in any to believe that that they eat can be a God but it is something worse than Folly and Madness for any to eat that which they believe is their God. When Pharaoh King of Egypt gave way that the Hebrews should sacrifice to their God in the Land Moses returned this Answer It is not meet so to do for we shall sacrifice the Abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God Lo shall we sacrifice the Abomination of the Egytians before their Eyes and will they not stone us Exod. 8.26 that is to say if we should sacrifice those Beasts to the Lord our God before the Eyes of the Egyptians which they do worship and give Divine Honour unto animalia quae abominando cultu colunt quae abominantur occidi they would be so enraged with this Fact as they would certainly stone us Will they not stone us doubtless they will. They will never abide to see their Gods sacrificed But tho the Egyptians would not have born this yet the Papists can yea instead of stoning others they daily sacrifice their God with their own Hands eat him when they have done and sacrifice those in Flames that will not do as they do 6. Once more it is a Doctrine that puts God into the Power and makes him subject to the Will and Pleasure of every sorry Priest Who can 1. Make God when he will. 2. Carry him whither he will 3. Keep him where he will in his Pocket or Purse or Trunk or Chest or Box or any where else 4. Do with him what he will tread him under foot cast him to Dogs or Hogs to be devoured by them throw him into Fire or Water as Pope Gregory the 7th who cast the Sacrament or Host into the Fire because it answered not his Demands concerning his Success against the Emperour Yea he may pawn him for Security of Debts As Lewis the 9th of France who being conquered and taken Captive by the Turks in Egypt was restored on Condition that he should pay a great Ransom Lewis for Security of the Mony pawned to the Turk his * The Pyx is a Box wherein the Host or Consecrated Wafer is put and preserved Pyx and Host and he was four Years before he could get his Ransom and redeem his God by which time we may suppose it was in a very pitiful Pickle Fuller's holy War ad An. 1249. Thus Transubstantiation is a Doctrine that carries Blasphemies in Capital Letters upon its Forehead We have now finished the second Particular and from what is said may see that Transubstantiation is constituted of many Absurdities Impossibilities Impieties and Blasphemies III. The Abominableness of this Doctrine will appear from the Consideration of the Consequents Products and Fruits of it And certainly nothing but what is monstrous can come out of the Womb of such a Monster It is the Mother of Abominations that hath brought forth and bred up among many others these Seven Monsters of Abomination and Impiety First The real Presence in the Sacrament or the Carnal and Corporal Presence of Christ's Body and Blood as born of the Virgin The Efficacy of his Body and Blood is not all that is here presented to be received as is confessed by the true Protestant Churches of our Confession But first and principally Christ himself for there is a Participation saith the Apostle of the Body and Blood of Christ who is exhibited as really and truly present not opposing real to