14 and the Verb hath been made flesh and dwelt amongst us Phil. 2.6 7. Jesus Christ being in form of God he hath not reputed it rapine to be equal with God so he became nothing himself having taken the forme of a servant made in the likeness of man found in figure as a man he did I say abase himself 2 Cor. 8 9. You know the grace of Jesus Christ our Lord viz. that he made himself poor for you though he were rich that by his Poverty you might be rich John 8.58 Jesus said to them verily verily I say unto you before Abraham was made I am 3. That the Son sent for us is God St. John in the beginning of his Gospel speaking of the word which hath been made flesh vers 14. saith in the beginning was the Verb and the Verb was with God and the Verb was God Rom. 9.5 Christ who is God above all things blessed eternally Titus 2.13 We expect the happy hope and coming of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ 1. 1 John 5.20 He that is to say the Son is the true God and life eternal This is proved clearly thus he who hath created heaven and earth and who now preserveth them is the true God as Esay teacheth who makes the Lord speak thus I am the Lord who makes all things alone expanding the heavene rendring the earth from Esa 44.24 From whence it comes that the Scripture very often gives the quality of a creature to God as an elogy which doth not agree with him but only to distinguish him from all other things as in Esay these things saith the Lord God who hath created the heavens and stretched them out who hath conformed the earth and the things which spring from it Esa 42.5 and likewise Esa 45.12 and 48.13 and 51.13 Now the Son of God sent for us hath created the heavens and the earth and all the things which are in them and governs and sustains them by his power and wisdome St. John speaking of the Verb made flesh for us all things have been made by him saith he and without him nothing hath been done that hath been done John 1.3 and to vers 9 and 10. he is the true light which enlightens every man coming into the world he was in the world the world hath been made by him Col. 1.15 16. The Apostle speaking of the Son of Gods love who is the image of the invisible God first born that is to say Lord of every creature adds in him have been created all things in heaven and in earth visible and invisible be they thrones governments principallities or powers all things I say are created by him and in him and he was before all things and all consist by him Heb. 1.2 3. God hath spoken to us in these latter dayes by his Son whom he hath constituted heir that is to say Lord of all things by whom also he hath made the ages which Son being the splendour of the glory and figure of the substance of him and maintaining all things by his powerful word having made the purgation of sins is set at the right hand of Majesty in high places and vers 10 11. The Apostle appropriates to him these words of the Psalmist Lord thou hast founded the earth from the beginning and the Heavens are the works of thy hands They shall perish but thou art permanent and all shall grow old as a garment and thou shalt change them as a vesture and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years fail not it follows then that the Son sent for us is the true God 2. He who by his intelligence knows the thought of humane hearts truly is God as Solomon teaches 3 Kings Heb. 1 Kings 8.39 2 Chr. 6.20 Where speaking to God thou alone saith he knoweth the hearts of all the Sons of men now the Son of God knoweth the secrets of the hearts of men Reve 2.23 where he sayeth I am he who examine the reins and hearts and will give to every one of you according to his works One must then confess that he is the true God 3. He whomay and ought to be served and worshipped with a soverain worship properly so called is God for the Scripture teacheth us that this worship appertaines but to God alone Mat. 4.10 thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Now the Son of God ought to be worshipped by men and angels with a Soveraign worship John 5.22 23. The Father hath given all judgment to the Son to the end that all should honour the Son as they honour the Father he who honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father who hath sent him Heb. 1 6â— when he bringeth his first begotten Son into the world he saith and let all the Angels of God worship him Phil. 2.9 10. God hath Soverainly lifted up Jesus and hath given him a name which is above all names to the end that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those who are in heaven in the earth and under the earth 4. That the Son of God is the same God who was worshipped heretofore in Israel and who is called the Lord or the Eternal in the books of the Old Testament 1. This appears first from what we have already shown that the Son is God For all the Scripture teacheth us that there is no other God but the eternal Lord known and worshipped in Israel Deut. 4.35 The Lord is God and there is no other besides him Deut. 6.4 Hear Israel the Lord our God is God alone Deut. 32.39 See now that I am onely and there is no other God but me Now Christ is God as we have shewn by the Scriptures It follows then that he is the same Lord or eternal who was worshipped heretofore by the Israelites 2. He whose glory Isaiah saw in the sixth chapter of his revelations is truely the Lord eternal worshipped by the Jews I see saith he the Lord sitting upon an High Seat and lifted up and this appears in the 3 5 7 and 11. verses now Jesus is he whose Glory Isaiah saw as S. John in the 12. Chapter of his Gospel witnesseth vers the 41. where having alledged some words of this passage of Isaiah he adds these things said Isaiah when he saw the glory of him viz. of the Lord Jesus and spake of him It follows than that Jesus Christ is this same eternal worshipped by the ancient people 3. The Lord of the Temple of Jerusalem is the eternal since the Templâ— hath not been consecrated to any but him as it appears through all the Old Testament Now Christ is the Lord of the Temple of Jerusalem as it appears by the Prophet Malachy who foretelling the coming of the Messias the Governor whom you demand saith he and the Angel of the Covenant whom you desire shall come to or into his Temple Malachy 3.1 Christ is then the very eternal
been speaking concerning the precedent Article For since the Eucharist is truly bread in substance every one seeth enough how much this Sovereign service which they give it in the Roman Church is contrary to all Scripture which from the beginning to the end forbids us nothing more expresly oftner and under more grievous threatnings than the adoration of any Creature of what nature and dignity soever Exâ—d 20.3 Mat. 4.10 Thou shalt have no other God before me Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve 4. Vpon Purgatory ROme saith that it often happens that those who die in the faith of Jesus Christ are burnt in a fire as hot as that of Hell The Scriptures saith Apoc. 14.13 Rom. 8.1 2 Cor. 5.6 8. That they are happy that they rest from their labours that there is no condemnation for them that their earthly habitaion of this house being dissolved they have a building of God an eternal house not made with hands in the Heavens That so long as they are in this body they are strangers to the Lord and when they are strangers to the body which is when they quit it they shall be with the Lord Luke 23.23 and tells us that the repenting Thief was with the Lord in Paradise the same day he died 2. Rome sayeth that this subterranean fire purgeth us from some of our sins 1 John 1.7 The Scripture saith that the blood of Jesus Christ purgeth us from all sin 5. Vpon Justification ROme teacheth that we are justified partly by faith and partly by good works How agreeth this with that Scripture which saith Gal. 2.16 Tit. 3.5 that man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the faith of Jesus Christ and that God hath saved us not for the righteous works which we have done but according to his mercy with that which is asserted in so many places Rom. 11.6 that we are saved and justified by Grace since that if it be by Grace 't is not by works otherwise Grace would be no more Grace Rom. 4.4 and that to him that worketh the hire is not reckoned of Grace but of debt and with that which is said that we have not whereof to glory Eph. 2.9 Rom. 4.2 since that he who is justified by his works hath according to the same whereof to glory 6. Vpon the Merit of Works ROme teacheth that we do by our good works so much merit eternal life that if God should not give it to us he would do unjustly How can this agree with the Language which the Scriptures teacheth us Luke 17.10 when you have done all the things which are commanded you to do say we are unprofitable Servants we have done that which we ought to have done 2. Rome holds that eternal life is to speak properly a reward due to the value of our works Rom. 6.23 2 Tim 1.18 The Scripture saith that it is a gift or a grace of God and a mercy and that although we should have kept his Commandments that which we fail much in yet he useth gratuity and mercy towards us in well-doing Exo. 20.6 3. Rome holds that between the vertue of the faithful and eternal life there is a proportion and the Scripture saith Rom. 8.18 That the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come which shall be revealed in us 4. Rome holds that the Lord oweth him who hath lived well and holily eternal life The Scripture Scripture teacheth us that God oweth no body any thing Who is he that hath given him first and it shall be rendered to him again Rom. 11.35 7. Vpon the Worshipping of Saints 1. The Scripture condems those men who worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those which by nature are no Gods Gal. 4.8 Rome worshippeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Saints which are no Gods by nature 2. The Scripture saith 1 King 8.39 that God only knows the hearts of all men that the dead know no more any thing that they understand not whether their Sons are noble or ignoble Eccl 9.5 6 Job 14.20 21. 2 Kin. 22.20 that their eyes do not see the evils which God brings upon the places where they have lived Rome teacheth that deceased Saints know all that is done upon the earth and that they know the most secret thoughts of our hearts 8. Vpon the Worshipping of Images Rome fills her Temples and Streets with the Images of God Father Son Holy Ghost and of the most Blessed Virgin and of all the Saints represented as well by flat painting as in all sorts of Sculpture She will have one render to them an adoration and veneration analogical prostrate before them kiss them offer them Bougies or Tapers go a Pilgrimage to the places which are consecrated to them How agreeth this with what the Scripture saith Deut. 4.12 15 16. You saw no similitude in the day that the Lord your God spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire lest perhaps being deceived you should make you any graven Image in the likenes of male or female Thou shalt make thee no graven Image Exod. 20. nor the likeness of any that is in Heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth Thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them The Hebrew saith thou shalt not prostrate before them and serve them Lev. 26.1 You shall make you no Idol nor graven Image nor rear up any Image nor set up any Image of stone in your Land to adore it It is also in the Hebrew to prostrate before it 9. Vpon the Monarchy of the Pope of Rome 1. Rome teacheth that the Pope is the Sovereign Judge of the world a Monarch assisted by the Princes of his Court who governs Kings who makes the greatest of the earth kiss his slippers who wears three Crowns upon his head who can chastise the States of Christianity with pains not only spiritual but temporal How agreeth this pretended Power and the manner with which he hath exercised it many years since before the face of Heaven and earth with that which the Lord commanded his Apostles The Kings of the earth exercise Lordship over them Luke 25.22 and those who use authority over them are called Benefactors But it is not so with you but he that is greatest amongst you let him be the least and he that governs as he that serveth And with that which St. Peter commands 1 Pet. 5.3 Feed the flock of God which is committed to you c. not as having Lordship over the Clergy and people of God but as being examples to the flock by your charity 2. Rome holds that the Pope is above the Church The Scripture sends back him and every Believer having quarrelled with his Brother to the Tribunal of the Church and obligeth him to submit to
Pâ—â—asch 2. p. 96 A. B and 98. B. and 102. D. and Paschal 3 p. 109 c. 110 B. Bibl. PP T. 3. and for the Hereticks in General Chrysost Hom. 87. in Mat. 7 9. D. and Hom. 59. lat 58. in John p. 298. A. Hierom. com 2. in Mich. p. 378. F. and comm in Agg. p. 506. F. Gregro Mvg. Moral in Job l. 18 c. 14. but nevertheless so let it be since they will have it so Shall their fond imagination wrong truth and that under the pretence of thinking to see that in the Scripture which is not there I cannot assure my self of having found there all that which is there divers men have all reasoned in Mathematicks and drawn from the principles of that Sience some conclusions which are not really there But shall it be denied me under the pretence of this to hold this consequence for good and assuredly veritable that the whole is greater then the part that a triangle is bigger then the basis and the Body of a man bigger then his finger but where is the man how stupid soever he be who notwithstanding the paralogisms of Brison and all the other doth not presently see that this arguing is most true and necessary so there are Authors found in natural Philosophy Astrology and Phisick who have discoursed ill phancying to find something in the principles of these Siences which is not there Would not this be not ony injustice but Sottishness or madness to endeavour to peswade us under this pretence that we cannot receive any of the consequences drawn from these principles as certain and necessary nor assure our selves that if a horse sees hears and runs he is then an animal or if a stone hath nothing of sence then it is no animal now we are exactly upon these terms in respect to the Scripture Many have a mind to draw from it by discourse things which it speaks nothing of Gen. 1.16 and the Roman doctors more then all the others who in the two Luminaries which it placeth in the heavens have pretended to find out the power of their Pope to be above the Emperour and his spiritual monarchies in the Faith and qualifications which it attributes to S. Peter and his power to interdict States to depose Princes among animals Act. 10.13 which it represents to us to have been signified to the Apostle in a vision 'T is by the same Logick that they conclude their purgatory from the parable which saith thou shalt not go out till thou hast Mat. 5.2 paid the last farthing and their Sacrifice from the words of the Lord 1 Cor. 11.24 Matt. 26.26 do this and their transubstantiation from the other this is my Body But if their consequences are false and even absurd doth it follow that I cannot assure my self that the Scripture teacheth us that Jesus Christ hath a Body and a soul since it saith that he is a man that it teacheth that he is the God of Israel since it saith he founded the earth in the beginning and that the heavens are the works of his hands and that he was tempted by Israel in the wilderness certainly neither sense nor reason ever offended without some reasons These are saculties naturally right and every one capable of their functions but sometimes they meet with perticular causes which hinders them from acting so For as to sense who knows not that its errors comes either from the indisposition of the Organs from the Scituation of the object or from the quality of the medium which is between them as for example 't is the bilis with which the tongue of a sick man is moistned which makes it taste all meats bitter and to those who have Jaundies 't is also the spreading of that humour which dieth all objects yellow but t is the too great distance from the sun which makes it appear to us much less then it is and which blunts the Angles of a Tower which we see a far off figuring it to us round when it is really square and which makes the two sides of the end of a long Gallery seem to be very neer each other in fine 't is the diversity of the medium through which we see which makes an oare appear to us in the water as if it were bent and crooked when it is really streight except in these and the like cases the eye alwaies to doth its duty faithfully and the other senses likewise do theirs so that it being most easie to know for a truth whether the functions of our senses are so well disposed or not 't is an insupportable error to conclude that we are not able to assure our selves of any one of their reports under pretence that it happens to deceive them when they fail of any one of the conditions necessary to perform their function well Now 't is the same in reason If she concludes wrong 't is certainly because she takes that for a true thing which is not so or that for clear and certain which is obscure and doubtful As when our adversaries conclude from that which the Lord said to St. Peter thou art Peter that their Pope is by right the Monarch of the Christian Church they conclude falsly because they take that for an evident truth in Scripture which doth not so much as appear there viz first that our Lord in these words promiseth the Monarchy of his Church to St. Peter and Secondly that their Pope is the successor of St. Peter in this quality But if these two things which they take for truth were truth then that which they conclude from them must necessarily be so too and he to must be out of his senses who denies the consequences of them And this necessary connexion of propositions with their conclusions is a work not of the mind and reasoning of man but of the will of God as S. Austin expresly remarkes The truth of consequences says he and connexions which propositions have one with another hath not been instituted but considered and remarked by men to be able either to learn or teach it for it is perpetual and divinely established in the reason of the things themselves for as he who counts the degrees of time doth not make them himself and he who shewes the scituation of places the nature of animals of plants or of Stones doth not shew the things instituted by men and he who shews us the stars and their motions shews us nothing made and established by any man in like manner he who saith when the consequence is false 't is not possible but the thing from whence it follows should be false also speaks most truly and doth not make the thing to be so but only demonstrates that it is so †Aug. T. 3. l. 2. de doctr clic c. 32. From whence it comes that he observes elsewhere that no man in disputeing is reduced to a false conclusion unless he has first granted something false from whence this conclusion
of necessity and whither he will or no form it self * Id contr Crescon-Gram l. c. 20. Now every man who is in his right senses may know certainly if he gives a convenient attention whither the propositions which one first layes down to conclude something from whither I say those propositions be in the Scripture or not For as to the consequence of things themselves it is of necessity so evidently inevitable that no body can contradict it as for example since every man is composed of soul and Body if you grant that Jesus Christ is a man t is not possible but you must confess also that he hath a Soul and Body so if you know that the Scripture puts this proposition as 't is very easie to know whither it doth or not you cannot without renouncingsense and reason deny that the conclusion is also in the Scripture So all this fear which they give us of the incertitude of conclusions drawn from Scripture by reasoning is but a vain Chimera which passion alone hath made them produce to Authorise this redicule Method by which they pretend to reduce men not to discourse and without which they know well enough t is not possible for them to defend their Faith Dial. inter Sab. Pbot. ar and Athon p. 476. For to apply to them that which one of the Fathers above named said of the Arian they know very certainly that if rejecting their Method we would once prove our belief by consequence from Scripture t is very easie to overcome them and so the defiance and fears of this danger carries them to demand of us proofs consisting in Nude and formal words Shall I repeat hear the impertinent objections which they make to us upon this subject that if we believe that which our reason concludes from the Scriptures our Faith will then begrounded upon reason as if our reason in this dispute should declare the proposition from which we draw a conclusion and not the faculty of the spirit with which we draw it certainly upon this account one might say also that our Faith is grounded upon the sense of hearing since the Apostle teacheth us that Faith comes by hearing But where is there a child that doth not see that it is grounded upon the divine word which we hear and not upon the ear with which we hear the ear is the Organ which receiveth this word but the cause which moves us to believe it is the truth which is there and not the ear CHAP. XII That the faith which we add to the truths drawn from Scripture by reasoning is grounded upon Scriptures and not upon reason Rom. 10.17 REason in like manner or to use another tearm less equivocal understanding seeth in Scripture that which is there that conceives discerns and believes it But that which makes it believe it is the Authority of the Scripture in which it hath seen it and not the action which it hath made use of to see it As when the Apostle saith that Jesus Christ is a man you conclude then that he hath a Soul the ground of your conclusion is the saying of the Apostle and not the faculty or act of your reason All that your reason hath done is that it hath found in the Apostles words that which is really so Now this is not to give us Faith but to receive it and to do that which is not onely permitted but commanded If it teacheth any thing of its own growth if it makes its inventions pass for Oracles t is but just to be condemned For usurping that which belongs to God onely but if that which reason believes and perswades others to hath been taught by the word of God if that was there before she believed it that which she hath seen there and that which she hath done to the end that others might see it there cannot be imputed as a crime to her as if she attributed to her self in doing this to be the foundation of our Faith This is all which we require for her in this place that she may have leave to open her eyes to mind and see that which God hath propounded in his word We do not pretend to the gift of revealing new secrets to humane kind nor the priviledge of making articles of Faith We only beg that they would not take from us that which nature hath given to all men the faculty of seeing that which is exposed to our eyes and to understanding that which is said plainly to us and from thence conclude that which evidently follows Rom. 3.10 11 12. Hebr. 4.15 John 3.16.18 It seemeth to us that one may very well judge though he be not altogether a prophet that the Scriptures which tells us that all men have sinned except our Lord saith also that John James and Peter have sinned and that which tells us that all those who believe in Jesus Christ shall not perrish hath also said to us that Paul and Peter presupposing that they believe shall not perish Gal. 3.10 Deut. 27.26 Exod. 20.14 and that which sayeth that cursed is he that confirmeth not all the words written in the law sayeth also to us that he who commits adultery is cursed by the law since 't is written thou shalt not commit adultery Our adversaries will pardon us if we say that to deprive us of the judgment of such consequences t is to endeavour to take from us not onely the light of the Prophesie or the Spirit of perticular revelation things to which we never pretended any thing but the sense and nature of men and to transform us into Geese CHAP. XIII That t is sufficient that one of the propositions be in Scripture to infer a conclusion of divine truth BUt they produce another difficulty upon this point let it be so say they let the consequences take place then when that is done we can receive no conclusions for divine but those which one draws from two propositions both of which are layed down in Scripture if one be not drawn from the word of God but from sense or humane reason we cannot receive that which follows from it unless it be for a humane truth that is to say doubtful and uncertain because in arguing the conclusion alwaies follows the weakest part as Logicions have observed for example if you dispute thus he who hath created the heavens and the earth is the true and eternal God worshiped heretofore by the Isrealites Now Jesus Christ hath created the heavens and the Earth he is then the true God worshiped heretofore in Israel they will make no difficulty perhaps to receive this conclusion for a Divine truth and worthy of an intire and certain belief because the two propositions from which it follows are both of them in the Scripture as we shall see hereafter But if you reason thus a Body which is in heaven is not at that time in the earth now the Body of Christ is in heaven therefore it is not
in the earth and so you think to oblige them by that to hold this conclusion that the Body of Christ is not on the earth for a thing certainly and Divinety revealed they will tell you that it cannot pass for any more then for a humane doctrine since from two propositions from which one is drawn viz. The first is drawn from maxims of reason only and not from Scripture as the second is They triumph in this observation and put it upon all occasions amongst their gravest and most serious conference but I say first that if our particular interest were only concerned in it there were no need to consider it since that which is granted is sufficient for this dispute For it grants us that the propositions which are lawfully drawn from two truths one of which revelation teacheth and sense or reason the other are true at least to the same degree as the truths which we learn by reason and sense and that we may give at least the same kind of Faith to believe them in the same manner as we believe for example that Snow is white the Heavens round or that the whole is bigger then its part Now we demand no more for our designe for we imploy the most part of these discourses mixed with propositions of a different nature only to overthrow their belief and not to establish ours now to destroy a doctrine and render it unworthy of belief 't is enough to shew that t is contrary to some truth and then one ought to hold it for false of what condition or origine soever that truth be which it opposeth whither it be revealed or natural For truth is a simple thing and uniforme alwaies like to it self lies often wound themselves one falsity destroying another but all truth agree perfectly conspire together and t is impossible they should oppose or overthrow one another If it be found then that the Doctrines of our adversary are contrary to some truth be it to that which sense teacheth us to that which we learn in thescholof reason or to that which divine revelation tells us t is enough to justifie that they are by no means veritable far from being as they pretend the articles of the Christian Faith For the Author of Nature Grace Sense Reason and Faith is one and the same God who hath not destroyed in the school of grace what he hath taught in that of nature God forbid but hath polished and perfected in one what he had begun the rough drawn in the other So t is manifest that far from being obliged in this kind of discourse to imploy propositions contained in Scripture only I can use arguments drawn intirely from sense and reason without taking the propositions of which they consist from revelation As for example if I should conclude that the Eucharist is not a humane body because a humane body cannot be held intire in a mans mouth whereas the Eucharist may be held in an infants he would answer impertinently that should alledge that t is not Scripture but sense and reason which learns us these two propositions and therefore the conclusion is not a truth revealed For at this time we have concern about that the question is not about the Master who hath taught these propositions whither it be sense or Faith but about their quality whither they be true or not for if they are both true their conclusion is so of necessity and by consequence your opinion which opposeth its inevitable false it being absolutely impossible that two contradictory propositions should be both true as this the Eucharist is a humane body which is your opinion and this other the Eucharist is not a humane body which is the conclusion of my discourse But I say in the second place that their maxim is false that to infer a conclusion from authority and divine Faith it behoveth that the two propositions be drawn from the revelation of God it is enough that one be revealed and the other evident by the light of nature The Church discourseth thus against the fond imaginations of Apollinaris every man hath a foul indued with understanding Jesus Christ our Lord is a man therefore he hath Soul indued with understanding of the two propositions from whence this conclusion is drawn the second is in the Scriptures the first is not there but we have learned it in the school of reason would you say under this pretext that the conclusion viz. that Jesus Christ hath a soul endued with understanding is not a divine truth but a humane learned from earth and not from heaven but where is the infant that does not see that God revealing to us that his Son is a man doth not reveal by the same means that he hath a body a Soul understanding and in short all the essential parts of the nature signified by this word man Otherwise one must say that in teaching us that Jesus Christ is man it teacheth us nothing but simply strikes the ear with the vain and unprofitable sound of the word for what is it to say that Jesus Christ is man unless he hath a body Soul understanding and the other things of which the nature of the subject consist signified by this word man In the same manner when the Scripture teacheth us that God hath created the earth it teacheth us by the same means that he hath created America and the Austral Countries China and the Isles of the Sound although it be sense and reason and not Scripture which teacheth us that these Countries are part of the Globe of the earth and he would be impertinent to the hight who should say that the Scripture hath not revealed to us that God hath created China or Taproban because it simply tells us that God hath created the earth without telling that these Countries are part of it And so of the rest for God in his Scripture presupposeth every where that those to whom he speaks are men and not beasts that they know if not subtily and Phylosophically that which is not necessary for his design at least grosly and in some measure the nature of those things of which he speaks to them and by consequence that they are capable of applying to every part of a subject what he hath told them in gross so that when he learns us some thing of a whole it is clear that t is as much as if he revealed all and every one of its parts to us perticularly as when he tells us that Jesus Christ is a man t is as much as if he should say he hath a Body formed like ours consisting of quantity occupying a space which is fit to it moving it selfe in time from one place to another in such manner that its parts are not altogether in the same place that he hath a Soul which reasoneth wills loves and in short indued with all the essential faculties of man This is so clear that no Body ever can put it in doubt
Religion which he hath given us to obtain this consists in Faith and Charity that the Father appeased by his Obedience receives to mercy all those who knowing their misery and repenting of their Sins do confide in his bounty and believe in his promises that he pardons them gratis all their faults and treats them as if they had never offended and these being animated and enlivened by Faith live afterwards holily and Christianly in Piety towards God and Charity towards their Neighbours according to the Gospel of Christ For he wills that all his Faithful love and serve God with one love and soveraign adoration and that they have a true Charity towards all men carefully keeping themselves from violating their dignity Life Chastity Estates or Honour neither in Deed Word nor Thought every one subjecting themselves to their Order and Laws of their Civil Societies and to the state of the Country where they live but that they entertain a particular amity with the rest of the Faithful cherishing them as their own Brethren uniting themselves to them that so there may be but one Body in Religion and that for this end there be amongst them Pastors and Supervisers who have the overlooking of their Communion administring to them as well the divine Doctrine as the holy Sacraments which the Lord hath left as tokens of his grace and marks and seals of his Covenant having commanded that his faithful Servants should be baptized in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost for the remission of their sins and that they should eat the Bread and drink the sanctified Wine in commemoration of his Death and communication of his Flesh and Blood We believe that although the truth of these things is most clear yet men are so blinded by the Passion of their malice that they would never understand them if the HOLYSPIRIT true God eternally blessed with the FATHER and the SON did not inlighten their understanding opening their hearts that the light of this heavenly Doctrine may enter in and that God affords them this grace of his own good pleasure giving it when to whom and in what measure it seemeth good to him We believe that to those who shall have believed and lived according to this holy doctrine God will give his Salvation preserving them and taking care of them and when they depart this Life gather their Souls into his repose expecting the last day in which having raised their Bodies will lift them up with Jesus Christ their Head into an incorruptable Heaven there to live eternally in his Glory but the Wicked and incredulous shall perish being punished with the Devil and his Angels in the torments of Hell Reader if thou art conversant in reading the Holy Bible say in thy Conscience whether it be not too great a boldness to deny that these things are clearly contained there onely hearing them named do you not as soon perceive that these Divine Books and especially those of the New Testament are full of them How hard is it to find one verse which layes not down some of these instructions Nevertheless because they will have it so we verifie them Article by Article and to the end that they should not as t is their custome wrangle with us about words we will produce passages of Scripture in those very words into which the Interpreter of our Adversaries hath translated them and then say a little upon every point contenting our selves to mark the rest in the Margint For if we should gather together all the places of Scripture where these Doctrines are positively laid down or hinted we must transcribe almost all of them and as to the Scripture it self we suppose the truth of it without disputing it in this Treatise where the business is only to prove that the Articles whose belief we esteem necessary to Salvation are all found in the Book which we hold for the Rule and principle of our Faith For that is sufficient to bring to nothing the calumny of these new Disputants who to convince the Scripture of imperfection and constrain us by the same means to have recourse to the Authority of their Church crying incessantly that we our selves who make so much account of Scripture cannot prove by it all the things which we believe necessary to Salvation CHAP. II. Of the Essence and Nature of God Of his Qualities and Works 1. FIrst then as to the Article of the Essence and Divine Nature the Scripture layes down at the first word that there is one God in saying that he created the Heaven and the Earth in the beginning and speaks of him every where as of a thing whose being and subsistance every one knows and understands holding them not only for impious and irreligious but for meer fools and sense-less creatures who think there is none Psal 13. Heb. 14. 1. The Scripture makes him Act and speak in infinite wayes and manners from the beginning to the very end teaching not onely that he is but that there is none besides him who truly is all the rest not being but in him and by him So long then as there are passages in Scripture which attribute to God some quality action or word and of this kind there are an infinite number they are so much the stronger and evident proofes of this truth See Duet 4.39 6.4 â—sa 45.5.6.21 John 17.3 and many other places Heb. 11.6 It behoveth him that comes to God to believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him Act. 17.27 28. God is not far from any one of us for in him we live move and are 1 Cor. 8.6 We have one God who is the Father from whom are all things and we in him Exod. 3.14 The Lord said to Moses I am that I am then he said thou shalt tell the Children of Israel he that is hath sent me to you Esaiah 37.16 Lord of Armies the God of Israel who art set upon the Cherubims thou art alone God of all the Kingdoms of the earth thou hast made the Heaven and the earth Esaiab 43.10 11. There was no God formed before me nor shall be after me I am I am the Lord and there is none other Saviour but me Psal 89. Heb. 90. 2. Before the Mountaines were made and the earth and world were formed from age to age thou art God 2. That Godis Eternal Gen. 21.33 See Ex. 15.19 Job 36.26 Psal 9. Heb. 10 8.37 38. Heb. 90.2 Abraham c. called upon the name of God Eternal Psalm 101. Heb. 102. 27 28. The heavens shall perish but thou shalt be permanent and all of them shall wax old as a garment and thou shalt change them as a vesture and they shall be changed but thou art the same thou art and thy years fail not Rom. 16.26 Esai 41.4.43.10.44.6 and 48.12 1 Tim. 1.17 Re. 1.8 By the commandment of the Eternal God 1 Tim. 6.16 God onely hath immortality 3.
That God is Infinite Jerem. 23 24. 2. Kings 8.27 and 2. Paralipom 2.6 and 6 18. Psal 138 Heb. 139 7. Esa 66.1 do not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord. Acts. 7.47 48. The most high dwelleth not in Temples made with hands as the Prophet saith Heaven is my throne and the earth is my foot stoole what house will you build me saith the Lord or where is the place of my rest Job 11.7 8 9. Shalt thou by chance find out the ways of God and shalt thou at length find out the Almighty he is higher then heaven and what wilt thou do he is deeper then Hell and how wilt thou know him his measure is longer then the earth and larger then the Sea 4 That the nature and judgements of God are incomprehensible Rom. 11.33 Exod. 33.20 1 Tim. 1.17 O profound riches of the wisdome and knowledge of God! how incomprehensible are his judgments and his waies past finding out for who is he that hath known a thought of the Lord or who hath been his Counselour 1. Tim. 6.15 16. The blessed and onely powerful King of Kings and Lord of Lords c. Hath only immortality and inhabits an inaccessible light the which no man hath or can see 5. That God is Soveraginly good Exod. 34.6 7. Lord God ruler Merciful Pitiful Patient and of great compassion and true who keeps mercys for thousands who takes a way iniquity and sin Psal 135. Heb. 136. 1. The Lord is good and his mercy indureth Eternally Matth. 19.17 There is one good viz. God or as our bibles are translated there is none good but one viz. God 6. That God is most just Jerem. 12.1 In truth Lord if I dispute with thee thou art just Psal 10. Heb. 11. 8. The Lord is just and hath loved justice his face hath seen equity Psal 118. Heb. 119. 137. Lord thou art just and thy judgment is right 7. That God is Infinitely wise Psalm 146. Heb. 147. 5. Our Lord is great and his Vertue great and there is no numbring of his wisdome Rom. 11.33 O profound riches of the Wisdome and knowledge of God Rom. 16.27 To God onely wise be honor and glory for ever through Jesus Christ 8. That God is all powerful Gen. 17.1 Gen. 1â— 14 35.11 and 48.3 God appeared to Abraham and said to him I am the Lord all powerful Matth. 19.26 To God all things are possible Luk. 1.37 Nothing shall be impossible to God Ephe. 3.20 To him who by his power which Acts in us can do in all abundance above all that which we can ask or think to him I say be glory in the Church in Jesus Christ in all ages world without end Amen 9. That God hath created all things Gen. 1.1 Acts 14.14 God created in the beginning the heaven and the earth Acts. 4.24 Lord who hath made the heavens and the earth the Sea and all things which are there Acts. 17.24 God hath made the World and all things which are in it Rom. 11.36 Of him and by him and for him are all things to him then be glory eternally Amen Gen. 18.25 Job 38.41 Psal 103. Heb 104. 21. 135. Heb. 136. 25. 144. Heb 145. 15 16. 146. Heb 147. 8 9. Prov. 16.1.4.33 20.24 21.1 Isa 45.6 Jer. 10 11 12 13 23. Amos 3.6 Matt. 6.26.28 29 30. Ephe. 3.9 God hath created all 10. That God governes all things according to his good pleasure Matt 10.29 Are not two Sparrows sold for a farthing nevertheless one of them shall not fall to the ground without your father And even the hairs of your head are all numbred Acts. 17.25 26 28. God gives to all life breath and all things and hath made all humane kind of one to inhabit the whole space of the earth determining ordained seasons and the bounds of their habitation c. in him we live have motion and are Rom. 11.36 From him and by him and for him are all things Esa 45.6 7 I am the Lord and there is none other forming light and creating darkness making peace and creating evil I am the Lord doing all these things CHAP. III. Of the Creation nature and corruption of man 1. That God created man at the beginning after his own Image GEn. 1.26 27. Furthermore God said let us make man according to our Image and similitude and let him have dominion over the fishes of the Sea and over the Birds of the heavens Gen. 2.7 8 15 17. and over the beasts and over all the earth and over every creeping thing creeping upon the earth God then created man according to his own Image and likeness he created him according to the Image of God 2. That man is fallen from his happiness by his disobedience You have the History of it in the third Chapter of Gen. and 7 Eccles 30. God hath made man right and he hath intangled himself with infinite questions 3. That by the disobedience of the first man all his posterity have been subjected to sin and death Rom. 5.12 By one man sin entered into the world and by sin death And so death is come upon all men in that all have sinned 1 Cor. 15.22 All die in Adam 4. That all men are from their nature defiled by sin and subject to death Rom. 3.23 All have sinned and have need of the glory of God Eph. 2.23 We have all conversed sometimes in the concupiscences of our flesh executing the desires of the flesh and of our thoughts and were from nature children of wrath as others and in verse the fifth we were dead in sin 5. That this corruption is in men from their birth Psal 50. Heb. 51. Behold truly I have been conceived in iniquity and my mother hath conceived me in sin John 3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh Job 14.4 Who can make man clean who is conceived of filthyness is it not thou only CHAP. IV. Of the Mediator of his person and natures 1. That God by his mercy hath sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world to save humane kinde JOhn 3.16 God hath so loved the world that he hath given his onely Son to the end that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life Rom. 8.3 That which was impossible to the Law in as much as it was weak through the flesh God having sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh c. 1 Cor. 1.30 Jesus Christ hath been made to us by God wisdome justice sanctification and redemption 2. That the Son sent for us John 3 13. comp with John 662. 1 Cor. 10.9 subsisted before he took humane flesh in the womb of the Virgin John 1.1 2. In the beginning was the Verb or the word as our Bibles have it translated and the Verb was with God and the Verb was God he was in the beginning with God and vers the
them all and was the first that layed the foundation of the Church as well among the Jews as Gentiles for it was by his preaching that the three thousand Jews at Jerusalem and the family of the Centurion Cornelius in Cesarea believed the one being the first-fruits of Israel and the other the first fruits of the Gentiles who knoweth not but that is an advantage purely personal proper to St. Peter and incommunicable to any other consisting only in this that he had the honour to preach first the Gospel of Christ and to put his hand first to the building of this Celestial house That which he adds that he would give him the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and that what he should bind on earth should be bound in Heaven and what he should unbinde on earth should be unbound in Heaven is but reason Serm. in Pentic inter opera Chrysost T. 6. p. 233. a. Chrysost Hom. 54. in Mat. p. 483. e. Hom. 21. lat 20. in Joh. p. 106. d. in Gal. 1. p. 961. f. Bazil Seleuc. Orat. 25. p. 142. 6. Vict. Atioch in Mark c. 3. p. 417. c. Bibl. PP T. 1. John Aurel. l 3. contr Claud. Taurin Bibl. t. 4. PP part 1. p. 586. à Carthusan Ferus Titelman Gorran in eum locum Apoc. 21.14 because he promised him For the honour of building the Church of Christ was founded upon the Apostleship which is writ in these words the which in my judgment signifieth only that he will eestablish Teachers in the Christian Church Eph. 2.20 Acts 2.14.41 Acts 10.5 34 47. to teach men what is truly lawful or unlawful commanded permitted or denied For the Key was the mark of Doctorship amongst the Jews and the Lord makes allusions to it where he saith Luke 11.52 That the Doctors of the Law entertained the Key of Knowledge and the Kingdom of Heaven signifieth every where in the Evangelists the Church of the Messias which is also the sense where this word is used by the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebrews both Antient and Modern So that these words I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven promiseth to St. Peter the Charge and Dignity of Doctor or Master as the Jews speak not in the Synagogue but in the Church not in the earthly and carnal Israel but in the Spiritual and Heavenly This binding and unbinding which he adds are the functions of this new and heavenly Doctorship which he promised him For the style in which the Judaical Language runs in which our Saviour then spoke to binde signifieth to forbid something and to unbinde on the contrary to permit and declare that it is lawful from whence it comes that to say a thing is to defend or permit it the Masters of the Jews saying only * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is bound and that is unbound the Lord promised then in sum to St. Peter that he should have in the Kingdom of Heaven that is to say in his Church the Dignity of Doctor to proclaim and declare to the Nations what is truly lawful or unlawful holy or profane unbinding many things which Moses or the Priests of the Gentiles had bound and binding many other things which the vices and follies of men had unbound and all with a wisdom and Authority so ample that Heaven approved all his Doctrines and was the Protector of it Now this dignity is not the Power and Authority of a Monarch nor is it particular to St. Peter the other Apostles having had share with him as it appears clearly both by their Acts and Epistles and namely by the 18th of St. Matthew where the Lord said to them all that which he here said to St. Peter Mat. 18.19 Verily I say unto you all that you shall binde on earth shall be bound in Heaven and all things that you shall unbinde on earth shall be unbound in Heaven Neither can they pretend any particular for St. Peter in that which was commanded him of feeding the sheep of the Lord. For had not the other Apostles also as well as he the charge of feeding common by his testimony to all the Ministers of the word and the commission of all the sheep of the Lord 1 Pet. 5.2 Mark 16.15 2 Cor. 11.28 Preach the Gospel to all Creatures and the care of all the Churches comes upon me from day to day 't is true that the Lord made towards him and repeated this command three times Cyril upon St. John l. 12 64. but as some of the Fathers have very well observed to abolish the failing of his three denials very far from thinking by this means to establish the Monarchy of others Secondly As to this that the Lord being at Capernaum payed the Tribute-money for St. Peter and not for the other of the Apostles that doth not infer any Authority of St. Peters above them For it may be that it proceeded from some other consideration as that the others had already payed it or that they were not present when the Tribute money was demanded of our Saviour or that they were not Inhabitants of Capernaum as St. Peter was who had his family there In brief whatever it be 't is a wonderful Consequence to say Christ hath payed the Tribute-mony for St. Peter therefore St Peter was the Monarch of the Universal Church and the Prince and Lord of the Apostles Thirdly Neither can this be inferred out of that place where Saint Matthew numbring the Apostles saith The first is Simon who is called Peter For a President is the first in his Chamber and a Dean the first in his Assembly nevertheless none can conclude that the President is Lord of the Counsellors in his Chambers or the Dean the Prince of his Brethren I grant that St. Peter either for his age his capacity his zeal or some other consideration hath had the like advantage in the Company of the Apostles he might have been the first of them but yet not the Master much less the Monarch of them Fourthly And that sufficeth to shew that they cannot prove by the Scriptures this marvellous quality which they attribute to the Pope of not being able to err in matters of faith For since all the things which they alledge are grounded upon those things which regard St. Peter who seeth not that they infer nothing for the advantage of the Pope except they prove by the Scriptures that all the right of St. Peter belongs to the Pope that which I think they dare not so much as attempt to shew by the Scriptures Fifthly I say as much of the Opinion of those amongst them who attribute the Infallibility and Sovereignity not to the Pope as at this time the greatest part of their Doctors do but to the Roman Church assembled in the Universal Councel For all which they can draw from the Scriptures in favour of their Opinion speaks of the true Church of Jesus Christ without amusing
teacheth us Seventhly There remains now the Extreme Unction which with a visible Oyl accompanied with certain words pronounced by the mouth of the Priest in form of Prayer remits sins to a sick person who is in extremity And it is here that the Disciples of the Methodists commonly triumph alledging a passage of St. James upon this Subject very express as they pretend and they begin the most part of their Disputes by this last piece of their Devotion Jam. 5.14 Is there any amongst you that is sick saith St. James let him call for the Priests of the Church and let them pray over him and anoint him with Oyl in the Name of the Lord the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall heal him and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him But let Cardinal Cajet Cajetan upon this passage answer once more for us It appears saith he by these words of the Apostles and by the effects that these words were not spoken of the Sacramental Vnction nor of the Extreme Vnction but rather of the Vnction which the Lord Jesus instituted in the Gospel for the use of the diseased For the Text sayeth not Is any one sick unto death but plainly Is any one sick and sayeth that the healing of the sick is an effect of it and speaks not of forgiveness of sins but conditionally whereas this Extreme Vnction is not given but at the point of death and tends directly as its form signifieth to the remission of sins And besides St. James ordains that for one sick body they should call many Priests as well to pray for as to anoint them which is different from the Extreme Vnction CHAP. XIII The Scriptures doth not teach that Ministers should be exempted from the Subjection of Civil Powers nor that the Bishop of Rome hath any right over them in respect of Tempoporals I Do not see that they can reasonably draw from the Scriptures the exemption of their Clergy nor the Temporal Power of their Pope over the estates of Christians First That which they alledge the Lord said to St. Peter Mat. 17.25 26. Of whom do the Kings of the earth take Tribute and Imposts is it of their Children or of Strangers and St. Peter having answered of Strangers Jesus saith then are their Children free This I say doth not prove that the Clerks are of divine right exempted from paying Tribute to the Magistrates For first 't is not evident that the Tribute of the Drachmas of which the Question is was payed to the Magistrate and there is much more likelihood that it was the half Shekel which every Israelite at above twenty years of Age payed to God for the use of the Sanctuary according to the Ordinance of Moses in the 30th of Exodus Exod. 30.11 12 13 14 15 16. which is nothing like these Tributes which the Magistrates raised But although the same Question should be of a Civil Tribute 't is clear that the Lord exempted none from it not so much as himself Now since the Son of God even as he was Man was not of right subject to any Magistrate this is not to say that the Ministers of the Church have the same right seeing the great and infinite difference which is between their persons and his In a word although the Apostles ought to rejoyce in this liberty by the beneficence of their Master so long as he was on the earth it doth not follow that they since his Ascention into Heaven nor those who succeeded them in the Ministry of the Word ought always to enjoy the same exemption For so long as he was upon the earth they were his Family according to Civil Law following and serving him and as Domestiques had part in this his priviledge But since he is retired from the earth as to his humanity neither they nor we are any more of his Family according to Civil Law For as we are his Spiritual and Mystical Family in respect of Religion he gives us not this Priviledge For then one might say that all Christians must enjoy it since every one in this sense is of the Family of the Lord. Secondly As to this power let it be direct or indirect which those of the Court of Rome attribute to the Pope over the Estates of Christians even in respect of Temporals I think it not necessary to consider that which they alledge from the Scriptures to ground it upon since they are things so weak and so far from their purpose that the greatest and best part of our Adversaries themselves have rejected their Consequences and reject with us this pretended Authority of the Roman Seat namely in this Kingdom France where thanks be to God it hath not yet been established CHAP. XIV Resolution of that which the Adversaries pretend that the above-mentioned Articles have been taught by the Apostles although they are not contained in the Scriptures SO evident is it that none of the Articles of the Belief of Rome which we reject from ours can be shewen by Scripture First To which they will answer it may be that although it be so they have nevertheless been revealed by the Lord and taught by word of mouth by his Apostles the Scriptures not containing all the Articles of the Christian Doctrines of which many have been as they say given and preserved from hand to hand by a Tradition not written But I say first that to consider the thing exactly it seemeth to me that the silence of the Scriptures upon these Articles is sufficient to prove that they have been revealed neither by Jesus Christ nor received and believed by his Apostles nor by them given and commanded to their Disciples for Doctrines necessary to faith and Salvation For if at that time they had been kept in the list which Rome at this time gives them if they had been esteemed the principal Fundamentals of Religion and the most exquisite and important parts of the service of God why should not these holy men have made some mention of them in the many Books which they have purposely writ upon Divine things and which by the Providence of the Lord are come to us Why did the four Evangelists conceal them the Acts make no mention of them How comes it that St. Peter St. John St. James St. Jude and above all St. Paul in his fourteen admirable Epistles so full and so abounding every where in Christian Doctrine have not said one word of them I do not now urge that these Books are the Cannon of Faith that they have been set down in writing to the end the Doctrine of Religion should be preserved entirely there Let us suppose since Rome will have it so that they were written by chance and without the designe of giving to us the whole body of faith Yet one cannot deny but they have been written the most part of them upon matters of faith Now who will believe that so many
are Divine and Apostolique Since then that the Articles of our faith are in the Scriptures and those of Rome are not there it is clear that our Religion is certain and assured as founded upon the most authentick Instructions of Christianity and that it cannot be rejected without denying Christianity it self and that of Rome on the contrary in that wherein it differs from ours is doubtful and uncertain and cannot be imbraced with a full and intire faith 11. But I say in the second place that all this Dispute is out of our way For my designe is only to shew that our Beliefs are in the Scriptures and that those of Rome which we reject are not there to destroy the accusations of the Methodists who pretend that to establish our faith we are obliged to have recourse to other Principles than Scripture Whether the Beliefs of Rome be found in other Documents of Christianity as in Books of the Fathers or no 't is another Question 'T is sufficient at present for me that they are not found in Scripture Now this being so it is clear that I have had reason to reject them from my Confession since I receive nothing into it but what is taught in Scripture And this is sufficient as all may see to justifie our Faith by the Scriptures CHAP. XV. That the Articles of the Belief of Rome which we receive not into ours are contrary to the Scriptures and very far from being taught there BUt to fill up the measure of our proofs I will add in the last place that the Doctrines believed by the Church of Rome and rejected by ours besides their not being found in any part of the Scripture shake it divers ways destroying certain things which the Scripture lays down and laying down other things which it destroys This is so clear that whoever will consider the whole without passion and prejudice will incontinently perceive it 1. Vpon the Point of Sacrifice 1. ROme saith that Jesus Christ is and will be every day crucified in an infinite of places even to the end of the world The Scripture saith Heb. 9. â—5 26 27 28 7.27 That he hath not offered himself more than once and that he hath been once offered to take away the sins of many So as 't is ordained for men once to die Secondly Rome saith That Christ is now offered for our sins without suffering The Scripture saith Heb. 9.26 that if he hath been offered many times he must have suffered more than once Thirdly Rome saith That the remission of sins is obtained in his pretended Sacrifice Heb. 9.22 John 19.30 Heb. 1.3 9 26. without the effusion of blood The Scripture saith that without shedding of blood there is no remission Fourthly The Scripture saith that Christ dying on the Cross all was accomplished and before his Ascension into Heaven he himself hath purged away our sins and abolished them How then ought he still as Rome saith to be every day sacrificed for the same thing Fifthly The Scripture saith That none takes the honour of High Priest Heb. 5.4 and possesseth it but he who is called of God as was Aaron How is it then that the Priests of the Roman Church pretend this Dignity since they cannot make appear that God hath called them to it Sixthly The Scripture saith that Jesus Christ is eternal High Priest Psal 110.4 Heb. 5.6 7.3.24 25 28. that he lives eternally that he hath a perpetual Priesthood that he is consecrated for ever that he always lives a High Priest according to the Order of Melchisedec who remains a Priest for ever Why then doth Rome give Successors to him in this Office Seventhly Rome holds That the Priests bless and consecrate the body of the Son of God How doth this agree with that which the Scripture layeth down Heb. 7.7 That without all contradiction that which is least is blessed by that which is greater Are then the Priests of the Church of Rome greater than the Lord 2. Vpon the Transubstantiation and the real Presence 1. ROme sayeth that that which the faithful eat in the Eucharist is not bread The Scripture saith that it is bread 1 Cor. 11.26 27 28. Every time that you eat this bread and drink this Chalice you shew forth the Lords death till he come Wherefore whosoever shall eat of this bread c. unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man then examine himself and so eat of this bread and drink of this Cup. 1 Cor. 10.16 The bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of the Lord 2. Rome saith that that which the Lord made his Disciples drink in the consecrated Chalice was not wine The Scripture saith that it was the fruit of the Vine Mat. 26.27 28 29. Taking the Cup he gave thanks and gave it to them saying Drink all of this For this is my blood of the New Testament which shall be shed for many for the remission of sins And I say unto you that from this time I will not drink of this fruit of the vine till that day that I shall drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom 3. The Scripture saith that we shall not have the Lord always with us here on the earth Mat. 26.11 John 12.9 Acts 3.21 and that the Heaven must receive him until the time of restitution of all things How so if that which Rome holds is true that his body is yet perpetually kept here below upon their Altars and in their Pixes Fourthly The Scripture saith that the Lord is above sitting at the right hand of God his Father in a Sovereign Glory Rome saith that his holy Body is under the Species of a mean Creature inanimate and insensible that it enters into the Stomachs of mortal men yea sometimes of the most wicked and is subject to many other indignities which we hardly dare think on Is this to be in a state of Glory Fifthly Rome believes that the body of the Lord is entire under every crum of bread and in every drop of the wine of the Eucharist and that his head his feet and all the parts of his body are in one and the same place and that his body is altogether above in Heaven and here below in a thousand and a thousand places of the earth above visible here invisible Is this that which the Scripture saith that except in sin Heb. 2.17 he is like his brethren in all things that is to say to the faithful as every one confesseth is there ever a Believer whose body is capable of such accidents the flesh of the Believers is a true body and hath all the properties of it Now there was never seen a body of this nature which is held in a place much lesser than its proper quantity 3. Vpon the Adoration of the Eucharist THere is no need to add any thing to what I have