they shall go to confusion together that are makers of Idols And saith God by the Prophet Habakkuk Habak 2.19 Wo unto him that saith unto the wood Awake to the dumb stone Arise it shall teach Such Woes and Curses and Confusion await the makers and worshippers of Images and such must they expect And to conclude this particular we may see that Idolaters are to be excluded and shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven and to have their portion in the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone And it is plain by the sacred Scriptures that the worshipping of Images is flat Idolatry And from hence it doth appear that all Image worshippers are like to be utterly excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven and to go to the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone This is plain that Idolaters are not like to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Cor. 6.9 Know ye not saith St. Paul that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters shall inherit the Kingdom of God And saith he again Gal. 5.19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleaness lasciviousness Idolatry of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God It is clear that all Idolaters are like to be shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven and to have their part in the Infernal Lake of fire Rev. 22.14 saith St. John Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the tree of Life and may enter in thorow the gates into the City For without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and Idolaters Those that keep and not those that so notoriously violate and break the Commands of God are the persons that are to inherit his blessed Kingdom And Rev. 21.8 saith St. John again But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and Idolaters and all lyars shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death We see that Idolaters must go to this dreadful place of fire and brimstone and it is clear that Image worshippers are great Idolaters and that they are like to go to this dreadful place of Torment It doth plainly appear that the worshipping of Images is flat contrary to the blessed Word of God in a multitude of places and that all the Pretences of the Papists that they worship Almighty God or our blessed Saviour or the Saints by them signifie nothing at all to excuse them from Idolatry and breaking the sacred Commands of Almighty God and that these Pretences are no more than what the old Idolaters both Jews and Heathens have made which are so much condemned in the Word of God and that all Image-worshippers are like to go to the dreadful Lake of fire and to perish to all Eternity This one Particular doth shew that there is no hope of Salvation for Papists so long as they practise such abominable Idolatry VI. Their worshipping of the Saints and Angels is not agreeable to the blessed Word of God This is the making of them Gods and is contrary to the first Commandment Exod. 20.3 Thou shalt have no other Gods before me The worshipping of Saints and Angels is to make them Gods and contrary to this great Commandment and many other places in the sacred Scriptures God hath declared that he will not give his Glory to another Isa 42.8 But by worshipping of the Saints they give it away And our Saviour hath shewed us that God alone is to be worshipped and served Matt. 4.10 Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve But in worshipping of Saints and Angels they go directly against this Precept and do not worship and serve him alone And St. Paul shews that the blessed Angels are not to be worshipped but that it is vanity of mind in such as attempt it Col. 2.18 Let no man domineer over you that is a volunteer in humility and worshipping of Angels intruding into those things which he hath not seen vainly puft up by his fleshly mind The Translation in the Bible differeth a little here but this seems to me to be the true meaning of the Greek here And here the Apostle dissuades us from being drawn away by others to the worshipping of Angels who thro' the vanity of their own mind run inconsiderately into such things as they understand not and for which they have no warrant And much less are we to be drawn then to the worshipping of Saints And we may see that the blessed Angel would by no means suffer St. John to worship him Rev. 19.10 And I fell at his feet to worship him saith St. John and he said unto me See thou do it not I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus worship God And Rev. 22.9 saith he And when I had heard and seen I fell down to worship before the feet of the Angel which shewed me these things Then saith he unto me See thou do it not for I am thy fellow servants and of thy brethren the Prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this book Worship God The blessed Angel would by no means be worshipped we see but sheweth that God only is to be worshipped and if the blessed Angels are not to be worshipped but God only we may be sure that the Saints are not to be worshipped And we are not to make Mediators of them for we are taught that there is but one Mediator between God and Man and that is our blessed Lord. 1 Tim. 2.5 For saith the Apostle there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus Our blessed Saviour alone is our Mediator and we are not to make Mediators of the Saints The worshipping of the Saints is the making of them petty Gods and the worshipping of them by Images is gross Idolatry and both are contrary to a multitude of places in the sacred Scriptures And by what hath been said before we may see that those that practise such things are like to perish eternally if they do not betake themselves to a speedy Repentance and Amendment of their sinful Practice herein VII Their Doctrine of Transubstantiation that is That the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament after Consecration are changed into the real Body and Blood of Christ our Saviour is not agreeable to the blessed Word of God St. Paul hath plainly taught us that it is Bread after Consecration and that it is still Bread when it is eaten 1 Cor. 11.26 27 28. For saith he as often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye do shew the Lord's death till he come Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the
to the great Commandment Exod. 20.3 Thou shalt have no other Gods before me For this is to make and have a multitude of Gods before him And saith Moses Deut. 11.28 And a Curse if ye will not obey the Commandments of the Lord your God but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day to go after other Gods which ye have not known And Deut. 28.14 And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day to the right hand or to the left to go after other Gods to serve them But here is a new Breed of God's brought up and which is a deplorable thing by such as pretend to be the Disciples of the blessed Jesus who came to teach us to worship and serve God alone in spirit and truth God hath declared that he will not give his glory to another Isa 42.8 And therefore we must not give his Glory and sacred Rights to the consecrated Elements in the Lord's Supper Our blessed Saviour hath told us that we must worship and serve God only in a Religious manner Matt. 4.10 and Luk. 4.8 And therefore we must be careful to keep this great Commandment and not be so profane as to fall down and worship the bread that we eat St. Paul chargeth this upon the Heathen as a grievous Crime Rom. 1.25 That they changed the truth of God into a lye and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed for ever Amen And we must not now run into the like Crime when we have so clear a Light shining before us For if we do we shall be greater sinners in so doing than the Heathens were By these and many other places we may see that this is contrary to the blessed Word of God and gross Idolatry to fall down and worship the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament and to make Idols of them From all such Idols must we keep our selves as St. John hath commanded us 1 Joh. 5.21 if we would not have our part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone wherein we are told that Idolaters shall have their part Rev. 21.8 IX Their pretending to sacrifice and offer up Christ to God the Father for the Quick and Dead is not agreeable to the sacred Word of God We are taught in the sacred Scriptures That Christ hath offered up himself once for all and hath purchased Eternal Redemption for us and that there is no need that he should be offered up again for our Salvation Heb. 9.12 saith the Apostle But by his own blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us And ver 25 26. Nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high Priest entereth into the holy place every year with the blood of others For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world but now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself And ver 28. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Christ was not to offer himself often as the high Priest offered every year but one offering was sufficient and by it hath he put away our sins and obtained eternal Redemption for us and there is no more need of his suffering again And saith the Apostle Heb. 10.10 By the which Will we are sanctified thro' the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all And ver 12. But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sat down on the right hand of God And ver 14. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified By one offering hath our Saviour perfected and compleated his work of our Redemption and there is now no more need of his being offered again and it is but a vain thing to pretend to more offerings of him and to pretend that the Bread is his real Body We are taught that Christ is to dye no more and therefore he cannot be sacrificed and offered up to God the Father in the Mass-service Rom. 6.9 10 saith the Apostle Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him For in that he dyed he dyed unto sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God Christ we see is no more to dye and return under the power and dominion of death again and therefore it is a great piece of vanity and wickedness to pretend to sacrifice and offer him up to God the Father for the sins of men We are redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 and without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins Heb. 9.22 And how then can the Mass-sacrifices signify any thing It was a very sinful Crime in those that put the Son of God to death And how then can it be deemed an acceptable service to God in those that pretend to act it over again This is a grand piece of impiety for men to pretend that they have such Power over the blessed Son of God as to sacrifice and offer him up here at their own pleasure whenas we are assured by the sacred Scriptures the word of Truth That Christ is in Heaven at the right hand of God X. Their keeping the Cup in the Sacrament from the Lay-people is not agreeable to the sacred Scriptures Our blessed Saviour gave the Cup in the Sacrament to all and commanded that all his Disciples should drink of it Matt. 26.27 And he took the Cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying Drink ye all of it Here our Saviour commandeth that all his Disciples should drink of the Cup and his Command is as positive and clear as well can be And Luk. 22.17 And he took the Cup and gave thanks and said Take this and divide it among your selves This we see is no less to be divided among them all than the bread was And St. Mark tells us that they all drank of it Mar. 14.23 And he took the Cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them And they all drank of it This is the plain and positive Command of our Saviour that all without any exception should drink of the Cup in the Sacrament and this we see all his Disciples did And St. Paul doth plainly shew that all are to drink of it that partake of the bread 1 Cor. 11.26 For as aften as ye shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup Whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. This we see is the Apostle's command that every one after due examination should both eat of the Bread and drink of the Cup The keeping the Cup in the Sacrament from Lay-persons we see is flat contrary to the positive and express Command
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
the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest Here the Apostle plainly sheweth that such as understand not the Language cannot join in the Prayers and Thanksgivings that are made therein and say Amen to them when they understand not what is said And ver 17. For thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not edified Such Service we see is altogether unedifying And saith he again ver 27.28 If any man speak in an unknown tongue let it be by two or at the most by three and that by course and let one interpret But if there be no Interpreter let him keep silence in the Church and let him speak to himself and to God All we see here is to be so done in the Church that all may understand it And he that could speak a Tongue which the Congregation understood not was to be silent in the Church except there were some Interpreter and not to speak what could not be understood by the Congregation By this Chapter it is clear that the Practice of the Romish Church in performing their publick Worship in an unknown Tongue which the common People understand not is directly contrary to the Word of God And our Saviour forbiddeth all vain Babblings and vain Repetitions Matt. 6.7 But when ye pray saith he use not vain repetitions as the Heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking And yet such vain repetitions do the Popish repetitions seem to be V. Their worshipping of Images is directly contrary to the sacred Scriptures This God hath expresly and strictly forbidden in the second Commandment of the Decalogue and given positive Command That no Image nor Likeness of any thing whatsoever should be made for Worship and that men should not bow down to any such Image or Likeness or any ways else worship and serve them Exod. 20.4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth Thou shalt not bow down thy self to them nor serve them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God And so Deut. 5.8 The Command we see is very full and clear against the making of any Image or Similitude for Religious use and against the performing of any kind of Religious Worship and Service to any such Image or Likeness of any thing whatsoever But for Ornament where they were not to be worshipped this Command doth not forbid the making of Cherubims as we may see Exod. 25.18 and 26.1 But these are no Plea for the Idolatrous uses of them The making of Images or any Similitudes for Religious Worship and the performing of any Religious Worship and Service unto them either as the mediate or ultimate Object thereof is flatly and clearly here forbidden And this we may see is confirmed by a multitude of places more in the sacred Scriptures Exod. 20.23 Ye shall not make with me Gods of silver neither shall ye make unto you Gods of Gold And all kinds of Images and Figures for a Religious use are forbidden of what matter or fashion soever they were made as the Law of Moses sufficiently sheweth Lev. 19.4 Turn ye not unto Idols nor make to your selves molten Gods I am the Lord your God And Lev. 26.1 Ye shall make you no Idols nor graven Image neither rear you up a standing Image neither shall ye set up any Image of stone in your land to bow down unto it for I am the Lord your God And Deut. 16.22 Neither shalt thou set up any Image which the Lord thy God hateth The setting up any Image whatsoever for Religious Worship is strictly forbidden and declared to be hateful to Almighty God And we are not to think that the Idols and Images and Statues and Pictures of the Heathens only are here forbidden For there is no such restriction and limitation in any of these places to shew that they were solely designed against them and that the modern Image-worship of the Papists is not forbidden hereby but the Images that the Papists use are as strictly forbidden as the other and there is no exception to shew that Images may be used in Religious Worship when they are for the Worship of Almighty God or his blessed Son or the Saints and blessed Angels The Idolatrous Israelites and the very Heathens did pretend as much as this as we may gather from several places in the sacred Scriptures and yet they are condemned as very grievous Idolaters It doth appear that the Israelites made their golden Calf for the Worshipping of the true God thereby because the People said These by thy Gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt And when Aaron proclaimed a feast for this Idol he said To morrow is a Feast to the Lord. Exod. 32.4 5. And he received them at their hand viz. the golden ear-rings and fashioned it with a graving tool after he had made it a molten calf and they said These be thy Gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt And when Aaron saw it he built an Altar before it and Aaron made proclamation and said To morrow is a feast to the Lord. This Calf and Idol that they had made we see was to represent and personate the great God that brought them out of the Land of Egypt and the feast of this Idol was to be a feast to the Lord. And saith the Psalmist Psal 106.19 20 They made a Calf in Horeb and worshipped the molten Image Thus they changed their Glory into the similitude of an Ox that eateth grass Their Glory that is their glorious God did they thus change into this similitude of a Calf By these places it is clear that they intended to worship the true and great God by this molten Image of theirs And yet they are condemned as notorious Transgressors of the sacred Commands of Almighty God and as Corrupters of themselves for what they did herein Exod. 32.7 And the Lord said unto Moses Go get thee down For thy People which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them they have made them a molten Calf and have worshipped it and have sacrificed thereunto and said These be thy Gods O Israel which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt And the Lord said unto Moses I have seen this People and behold it is a stiff-necked People Now therefore let me alone that my Wrath may wax bot against them and that I may consume them They pretended as the Papists now do to worship Almighty God by this Calf but notwithstanding this God abhorred them for it and his Wrath was ready to break forth against them and consume them It appeareth that Micah's Images were for the service of the true God Judg.