Bishops of Rome do succeed St. Peter in such a Supreme Power and Authority and are now the Head of all the Christian Church is not consistent with the sacred Scriptures but directly contrary to them This is proved by what hath been said already For if St. Peter had no such Universal Power and Authority over the Apostles and all the Church as it is clear that he had not then the Roman Bishops have no ground to pretend to succeed him in such a supreme Power and Authority This is altogether vain seeing there is no truth in the former And there is no proof at all that they should be St. Peter's Heirs and Successors and be the only Masters of that Power and Authority which he had in the Church And how then can they assume such an Universal Power and Authority which he had not Heb. 5.4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself saith the Apostle but he that is called of God as was Aaron And how then can the Bishops of Rome justly assume to themselves such a supreme and universal Power over all the Church till they can shew some Divine Commission for it And for such Authority they have no Plea nor Colour from the sacred Word of God There is no clear place in the sacred Scriptures to prove that ever St. Peter was at Rome and he wrote no Epistle to them to confer any Power upon them and in those Epistles that he wrote he makes no mention of any such Power and supreme Authority that they were to have St. Peter was chiefly the Apostle of the Jews as St. Paul sheweth Gal. 2.7 And how then can the Roman Gentiles pretend that all his Power is devolved upon them St. Peter was much at Jerusalem and the Bishops of that place might have had a better Title to be his Successors in a higher manner than others if any were to have been so than the Bishops of Rome can have because he was chiefly and primarily the Apostle of the Jews St. Peter was also at Antioch some time Gal. 2.11 And the Bishops of that place may alledg as good a Plea to be his Successors as the Bishops of Rome can Again St. Paul writes an Epistle to the Romans and several Epistles from Rome but no intimation in them that the Bishops of that place only were to be St. Peters Successors and to have an universal Power and Authority over the whole Church And from hence we may see that St. Paul knew nothing of any such universal Power that the Roman Bishops were to have For if he had known that our blessed Lord had designed them to be the Universal Pastors over all the Church we may be sure that he would not have been wanting to have instructed the Churches to which he wrote in this great Point of Duty and to have let them know where the Supreme Power of the Church was lodged that they might have had recourse to it in all weighty Concerns The Apostle commandeth Christians Heb. 13.17 To obey them that have the Rule over them and to submit themselves but not a word of obeying the Roman Bishop nor any regard that is to be had to him more than to another Again if any place should have been Invested with such a Supreme Power over all the Christian Church we may well conclude that Jerusalem should have been the place For more is said of that place tending this way than of any place in the whole World besides This is the place that is renowned above all others in the sacred Word of God and the Bishops of this place might have pleaded the most of all for a Divine Right of Governing the Universal Church of Christ For this was the Holy City as St. Matthew calls it Matt. 4.5 This was the City of the Great King as our Saviour himself calls it Matt. 5.35 Neither by Jerusalem saith he for it is the City of the Great King This was the City of the Lord of Hosts the Great King of all Kings This was the place where Christ the Great Shepherd of all did exercise the Power that God the Father gave him over all the Church and for whose sacred Temple he shewed so much Zeal and was so much concerned Mar. 11.15 Within the jurisdiction of this City and among the Jews who had a dependence upon this City as their great Metropolis did our Lord do all his Miracles and exercised his Pastoral Office This was the great Metropolis of the whole World and here had Almighty God recorded his Holy Name Psal 87.2 3 The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob Glorious things are spoken of thee O City of God Great Matters were spoken and predicted of this City This was to be the City of Truth Zac. 8.3 Thus saith the Lord I am returned unto Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth and the Mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy Mountain This was the place from whence the Law was to go forth according to the predictions of the Prophets Isa 2.3 And many people shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths For out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem And Micah 4.2 For the Law shall go forth of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem From this place was the Law and Word of God to go forth This is the place where God is said to dwell for ever and he promiseth to cloath her Priests with Salvation Psal 132.13 14. For the Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his habitation This is my Rest for ever And ver 16. I will also cloath her Priests with Salvation This is said of this place and the Priests thereof Here the Holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost Acts 2. Here was held the first Council Act. 15. And St. James that was Bishop of Jerusalem was President of this Council of Apostles and Elders And if all this and much more be said of this place in the Word of God we may be sure that Jerusalem should have been the place of Supremacy and Power over all the Church if any place should have been so We may be sure that the Bishops of this place should have been the Universal Head of the Church if there should have been any such Head For more may be said for a Divine Right of Ruling over all the Church for Jerusalem than for any place in the whole World besides But seeing Jerusalem has no such Superiority and doth not exalt it self over all other places we may be sure that no other place ought to do so For Rome or any other place cannot stand in Competition with it for Superiority or urge
Matt. 15.14 Let them alone saith our Lord they be blind leaders of the blind And if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch With blind Guides we see we may go to the Pit of Destruction And what will it profit us to have their company there to encrease our sorrow that we were so miserably deluded by them The Prophet that came to Bethel was slain by a Lion for returning back contrary to the Word of the Lord and yet the Prophet that brought him back pretended that he had an express Order from God to bring him back again 1 King 13.15 But notwithstanding this he was slain for his Disobedience So dangerous a thing we see it is for men to go contrary to the sacred Word of God through the vain persuasions of deluding men And Ahab perished and lost his life at Ramoth Gilead notwithstanding his false Prophets bid him go and prosper 1 Kin. 22. This Practice of the Romish Church to require poor Souls to believe what they please without any ground out of the Word of God is not agreeable with the sacred Scriptures we see and is fit for none but such as have abandoned and cast off all care of their Immortal Souls and are altogether regardless what becomes of them in another World Their keeping the sacred Scriptures in an unknown Tongue from the common People that they may not read them and practise the things therein contained And their imposing a blind Belief upon their Proselytes and Members requiring them to believe without Ground and Examination are both we see flat contrary to the blessed Word God and very sinful IV. Their performing their Worship and Divine Service in an unknown Tongue which the common People do not understand is not agreeable to the sacred Scriptures Such blind Service and Devotion is not fit for Men that are endowed with Reason and Understanding to use towards Almighty God who are to serve him with a reasonable and hearty Service And such vain Service and Babbling is not agreeable to the Word of God Eccl. 5.1 saith the Preacher Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools for they consider not that they do evil And sure to serve God with such a blind Worship and Service can be no better than the sacrifice of Fools when Men neither consider nor so much as understand whether the things which they utter or join in are good or evil We are to serve God in Spirit as our Lord hath taught us Jo. 4.24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth But this can be no spiritual service sure when Men neither regard nor understand what they say or say Amen to This can be no better than pure Lip-service if it may be allowed to be so much which God complaineth of as a thing not pleasing and acceptable to him without the heart Matt. 15.7 8 saith our Saviour Ye hypocrites well did Esaias prophesie of you saying This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me And this is all that such blind Devotions can arrive to viz. to honour God with Lip and Mouth if they do so much And our Prayers and Devotions are to have a good influence upon our selves and to work good upon us That when we beg pardon for our sins we thereby should be made more sensible of our own vileness and unworthiness and the hainousness of our sins that we may be the more deterred from committing the like That in deprecating of Evil and praying for Good we may be made the more sensible of our own needs and wants and of the tender love and care and Fatherly affection that God hath for us and that he is full of Mercy and prone and forward both to give and forgive and that we by his example should be drawn to do the like And that in returning him Praise and Thanksgiving we might see how infinitely we are bound and obliged to him and thereby be moved to a greater sense of gratitude and to have our hearts more inflamed with love towards him again But such blind Devotions as are used in the Popish Church cannot well have such good influences upon our selves nor be so beneficial for the bettering of our Lives A devout performing of our Services to God with the heart and understanding will tend much to the working of good motions and desires and affections in us but such cannot well be affected by such a blind way of Worship God is to be loved with all the heart and mind and understanding Matt. 22.37 And so we may be sure that he is to be worshipped and served and not in such a manner as the Papists make the common People to worship him in an unknown Tongue which they understand not And this is clearly against the Doctrine of St. Paul to use an unknown Tongue in the worship of God which the common People understand not This he sheweth ought not to be done 1 Cor. 14.2 For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue saith he speaketh not unto men but unto God for no man understandeth him This he sheweth to be of no use to Men when they understand not the Language And ver 7 And even things without life giving sound whether pipe or harp except they give a distinction in the sounds how shall it be known what is piped or harped For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound who shall prepare himself to the battel So likewise you except ye utter by the tongue words easie to be understood how shall it be known what is spoken There is an absolute necessity that what is spoken in the Congregation should be understood of the People And ver 11. Therefore saith he if I know not the meaning of the voice I shall be unto him that speaketh a Barbarian and he that speaketh shall be a Barbarian unto me Here the Apostle sheweth how useless and insignificant a strange Tongue is to such as understand it not and that there can be no communion in such a case And ver 14 15. For if I pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth but my understanding is unfruitful What is it then I will pray with spirit and I will pray with the understanding also I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the understanding also The Spirit of him that prayeth in a strange Tongue may be well affected but the Understanding will be altogether unfruitful and to such as understand him not the speaker will be but a Barbarian and they will not know whether he blesseth or curseth And we are to worship and serve God with all the powers and faculties of our Souls and this we cannot do in an unknown Tongue Ver. 16. Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit how shall he that occupieth the room of
body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Here we are plainly taught that it is still bread when it is eaten And our Saviour calls the wine the fruit of the vine Matt. 26.29 But I say unto you I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom Our Lord here shews us that this was the fruit of the vine and wine when he drank it And our eyes and hands and mouth do testify to us that the bread and wine in the Sacrament are bread and wine when we eat and drink them and it would be nonsense and madness to think that our blessed Saviour eat his own body and drank his own blood and gave them also to his Disciples that they might eat and drink them too We are taught that there is but one Christ and that he cannot be divided Ephes 4.5 6. One Lord saith the Apostle one faith one baptism one God and Father of all And 1 Cor. 1.13 saith he Is Christ divided Hereby shewing that he cannot be divided And Christ is the only begotten Son of God and is but one Joh. 3.16 But according to the Doctrine of the Romish Church that will have Christ to be wholely in every bit of the consecrated bread there will be millions of Christs directly contrary to the sacred Scriptures We are also taught that Christ is in heaven at the right hand of God and that he is to abide there till he shall come to judge the World at the last day Acts 1.11 This same Jesus said the Angels which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven And till we see him come in this visible and glorious manner we are to know that he is not bodily present here upon earth And saith the Apostle Act. 3.20 And he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you whom the Heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things And he tells us that he is at the right hand of God Rom. 8.34 And there we are to know that he is to abide until these times of restitution when and not before God will send him again to judge the World And therefore it is plain that Christ cannot be bodily present in such a multitude of places here upon earth at one time as the Papists would have him to be contrary to these places of Scripture and contrary to all the reason and understanding of man We are taught that Christ's body is glorified and spiritualized and made incorruptible Phil. 3.20 For our conversation saith the Apostle is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body And saith he again 1 Cor. 15.42 So also is the resurrection of the dead It is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body Our bodies are to be made glorious bodies like Christ's body and our bodies are to be made spiritual and incorruptible bodies which shews that Christ's body is such And he is to return no more to corruption as the Apostle saith Acts 13.34 And how then can the glorified and spiritual and incorruptible body of Christ be eaten by men and return to corruption again This Doctrine of the Church of Rome we see is flat contrary to the sacred Scriptures and to all the sense and reason and understanding of man And as for those Words of our Saviour Matt. 26.26 This is my body We may see that this is a very common and ordinary way of speaking to call things by the names of those that they signify and represent The Paschal Lamb is called the Lord's Passover Exod. 12.11 And ye shall eat it in haste it is the Lord 's Passover This was to signify and to be a Sacrament of the Lord 's passing over the houses of the Israelites when he saw the blood of this Lamb upon the Door-posts and not suffering the destroying Angel to enter into them but the Lamb was still flesh as is said ver 8 and could not be the Lord 's passing over the houses of the Israelites but only as a Sacrament and Rite to signify this Action of passing over them and shewing them Mercy when the Egyptians were destroyed Pharaoh's kine are said to be years of time Gen. 41.26 The seven good kine are seven years And the seven thin and ill-favoured kine that came up after them are seven years But these kine could not be years of time any otherwise than that they signified so many years of plenty and so many years of scarcity that were to come The bones which Ezekiel saw are said to be the whole House of Israel Ezek. 37.11 Then he said unto me Son of man these bones are the whole House of Israel behold they say our bones are dryed But here we see that no more is meant hereby but that this vision of bones was to represent and signify the House of Israel By these and many more Instances we may see that this is a common way of speaking And hereby it is plain that by these words This is my body we are to understand that this bread was to be a Sacrament and Signification of his Body For we see and are taught by the sacred Scriptures that it is bread still as I have shewed Again our Saviour saith that he is a door John 10.7 And men may as well argue for a Transubstantiation here as upon those other words of his But how ridiculous would a man make himself that should from hence affirm That Christ after he spake these words was turned into a perfect door and that his body was no more flesh and bones but changed into as real a door as ever moved upon hinges Our Saviour saith that he is a vine Joh. 15.1 And men may as well argue for a Transubstantiation from hence as from the other place and say that Christ after these words was no more a man but was then changed into as real a vine as ever grew in the ground and bore grapes But to talk after such a vain and whimsical manner as this is more fit for mad and distracted persons than for such as pretend to Sobriety and Understanding VIII Their worshipping of the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is contrary to the Word of God and gross Idolatry We see that the Bread and Wine are bread and wine still after Consecration tho' they be consecrated and set apart to a sacred use And our Saviour and his Apostles have given us no Command nor Example to worship them And this is to make them Idols and is contrary to a multitude of places in the sacred Scriptures This is flat contrary