this to the purpose when the Scripture expresly condemns the VVorship of Images and giving Religious VVorship to any other Being but to God only and by their own Confession says nothing of the VVorship of Saints and that St. Paul disputes designedly against Prayers in an unknown Tongue and that our Saviour instituted his Supper in both kinds and commanded them to drink of the consecrated Cup as well as to eat the Bread Though I have a great Reverence for Antiquity yet if St. Paul in his days pronounced an Anathema against Angels themselves who should preach any other Gospel we may safely renounce the Authority of any Church that shall contradict the express Commands and Institutions of Christ. To conclude this Argument Were Antiquity our only Guide and Rule in matters of Faith and Worship I readily grant it would be a very uncertain Rule and such as neither the Learned nor the Unlearned could build their Faith on for there have been great variety of Opinions and Practices in other Ages of the Church especially since the fourth Century from which the Church of Rome principally date their Antiquity as well as in our own which shews what an uncertain Foundation the Church of Rome has for her Faith as for all those Doctrines and Practices wherein she differs from us which have no foundation in Scripture and at best a very uncertain one in very late Antiquity But this does not concern us who prefer Scripture Antiquity before all other and own no Antiquity in contradiction to the Scripture which is the Rule and Foundation of our Faith and by this we know that we neither retain too much nor too little because we teach neither more nor less than what the Scripture teaches The Paper But 't is Replied The Church of England gives leave even to Women to examine the Truth of what they teach but certainly this is a Complement they being incapable of Examination neither indeed are Statesmen Lawyers the Busie nor the stupidly Ignorant For if we will be Judges our selves of these matters what Life or Capacity is sufficient for in Justice if I examine I ought to hear all the several Pretenders to the Interpretation of Scripture who make it their Rule of Faith so to examine those Texts that make against us as well as those for us and the several Expositors For in Affairs of much less importance People are thought foolish and partial let one party tell his story to a seeming demonstration not to preserve another Ear for the other side before he determines if he must judge at all Answer The lightness of this Expression of Complementing does not savour of a serious mind in matters of such vast importance Did our Saviour then Complement his Hearers when he commanded them to search the Scriptures for he had Women and very busie People who heard his Sermons The Poor and the Ignorant and the despised People Publicans and Sinners received the Gospel which does not so much require great leisure and capacity for study as an honest teachable Mind and I confess I think it a great reproach to the Gospel of our Saviour to make it so much an Art and a Mystery that none but great Scholars can understand it Scholars indeed have made an Art and a meer disputing Art of it and Hereticks who have corrupted the Gospel have endeavoured by perverse Comments to make plain places obscure and the Church of Rome has more countenanced this Pretence than any other Church in the World to frighten People from Reading that Book which is the most dangerous Book that ever was written against Popery And after all their talk of the obscurity of Scripture their denying the People the free use of it is a plain confession that they think it too plain against themselves so plain that every ordinary Christian would be able to see it But if so very few People are able to judge of the Disputes in Religion what course shall Women and other Persons whom the Paper makes such incompetent Judges take Suppose they have been educated in the Communion of the Church of England and are now assaulted by Popish Priests to go over to the Church of Rome must they make this change with Reason or without it Must they judge for themselves or forsake one Church and chuse another without Judgment Or can Women or Busie or Ignorant People more easily find out the true Church and the infallible Judge than they can read in Scripture that they must worship none but God that they must not worship Images and Pictures that they must pray to God in a known Tongue and celebrate the Supper of our Lord by drinking of the Cup as well as by eating the Bread Whoever ventures to forsake the Communion of a Church wherein he was baptized and educated I am sure ought to be able to judge whether he be or no and those who confess they are not able to judge ought to be kept where they are for it is safer to continue in a Church without Judgment than to forsake it without Reason and Judgment In the first Case The Providence of God in our Birth and Education will make some Apology for our involuntary Mistakes but if we wantonly leave one Church and go to another without being able to judge of either the Act is wholly our own choice and if we leave a better for a worse we must take what follows and therefore this is the most improper Argument in the World to be used by one who is wavering between two Churches for if he must not use his own private Judgment I cannot guess how he should either chuse or refuse Those who challenge a liberty of judging for themselves which is the undoubted right of all Reasonable Creatures may change as they see reason and at their own peril if they chuse wrong but those who disclaim all right and capacity of judging must continue as they are and take their chance for they may as well chuse their Faith as their Guide whom they will in all things believe But still the force of the Objection is not answered That he who will judge must judge upon the whole matter and therefore must be able to know and answer whatever is said to the contrary which the greatest number of Men as well as Women are not able to do but if this be true the greatest numbers of Men as well as Women must never believe there is a God or that Christ came from God to declare his Will to the World for there are very few of them that ever heard or are able to answer the tenth part of the Arguments of Atheists and Infidels against the Being of a God and the Christian Religion and yet it is ridiculous to talk of Authority or a Judge of Controversies in these matters for we must first believe there is a God and that Christ came from God before we can believe that they have appointed a Judge of Controversies So that
we must either say That Common People who have not time nor abilities to understand and answer all the Objections which are made against the Existence of a God can have no good reason to believe there is a God or we must grant that men may have sufficient reason to believe some things without being able to answer all possible Objections which are made against them The plain account of this matter is this That there is such a degree of Evidence Arguments so plain and clear and convincing that the Mind may safely acquiesce in them without examining or answering all possible Objections which may be started Every man finds this in himself there are many things which he can never be made to doubt of though it may be he has but one plain Argument to prove them Though the Philosopher disputed very subtilly against the possibility of Motion he could perswade none of his Scholars that Motion was impossible because they saw themselves and every thing else move every day which was a sufficient confutation of all the Arguments that can be brought against Motion If I have any one unanswerable Argument to prove that a thing is or that it is not this is a sufficient foundation for my Faith though I cannot answer all Objections against it For there are no Objections of any force against a plain and positive Proof but such as weaken the Proof it self and they indeed must be considered but all other collateral difficulties may be rejected for if I can prove that a thing is no other difficulties about the nature notion or operations of such a Being can prove that it is not As for Instance We have a great many positive Proofs that there is a God especially from the visible effects of his Power and Wisdom in making the World now if this be a good Argument and nothing can be said against it which can move a considering man then we may firmly believe there is a God though there may be a great many difficulties objected against the Notion of a God what he is and how he made the World c. which do not prove that there is no God but that we do not perfectly comprehend him And yet this is generally the case that where there is one plain and evident Proof for or against any thing there is no plain and evident Proof on the other side for then indeed we should be in a hard case could there be plain positive Proofs for both sides of the Question It will be of use to shew this more particularly how men of very ordinary Abilities may arrive to a very great certainty in Religion without being able to dispute the Point or to answer all possible Objections and the best way to explain this to the meanest Understanding is to give some particular Instances of it It is a great Dispute between us and the Church of Rome Whether the Sacramental Bread and Wine be transubstantiated into the Natural Flesh and Blood of Christ which I think a plain man who will believe his Senses may determine without disputing for he has the best Evidence that he possibly can have for any thing that the consecrated Bread and Wine is still Bread and Wine not Flesh and Blood for all his Senses tell him so and he who will suffer himself to be reasoned out of his Senses deserves to be deceived and very absurdly complains of want of Evidence and Certainty when he rejects the most certain Evidence that God can give him In matters of Sense the restimony of our Senses is certainly the best Evidence and every man who has his Eyes in his head can see whether it be Bread and Wine or not and therefore this alone is sufficient to create Certainty in defiance of all Objections to the contrary Thus the second Commandment which forbids the worship of all Images without any restriction or qualification is a plain and express proof against Image-worship for whatever Apologies may be made for the worship of Images here is an express Law against it in such plain terms as require great Art and Sophistry to evade them but no Art to understand them now there being a positive Law against the worship of Images and no Law either in the Old or New Testament to give the least allowance to any kind of Image-worship any man who will believe according to Evidence must condemn Image-worship whatever other unscriptural Arguments or Authorities may be alledged for it And I know no need there is of any dispute in the case if men will be determined by a Divine Law Thus if there be a Supream infallible Head of the Church he must be appointed by Christ and that in such plain words that every body may know who he is and what his Authority is but Christ has done no such thing and therefore there is none and this alone is Evidence enough to satisfie the meanest man in this matter without disputing For if Christ hath appointed no Supream Infallible Judge I am sure all the Arguments in the world cannot make one This is so plain and evident that a man who will be convinc'd by Reason cannot resist it for though no pretence of usefulness or necessity can prove that there is such a Judge yet that Christ has appointed no such Judge evidently proves that there is none for he cannot be unless he is evidently appointed by Christ and yet he is not evidently appointed unless it be in such plain words as admit of no reasonable dispute So that this whole Controversie about the Supream Head of the Church and an infallible Judge issues in this one Point Whether Christ hath appointed such a Head and Judge and there is but one way to prove it viz. by shewing where and when Christ has done this and this the meanest man without disputing may judge of for if no such thing plainly appear the want of Evidence for it is all the Evidence we need to have against it And thus it is in most of the disputes between us and the Church of Rome especially where the People are most concerned they are reduced to this one plain Question Whether any such thing was instituted by Christ because without such an Institution they can have no vertue in them and whether they be instituted or not the most unlearned man who can read the Bible at least with the help of a Guide may satisfie himself As for instance Whether the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper be a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead whether the Laity are not as much bound to drink of the Sacramental Cup as to eat of the Bread whether it be lawful to pray to Saints departed and to make them our Advocates and Intercessors with God whether we must pray to God in a Language which we do or do not understand c. I say nothing can justifie these things but an Institution and when no such Institution appears it is a vain thing to attempt
a mind to believe such Doctrines as these must go over to the Church of Rome to enlarge and improve their Faith for we shall never believe them But if they can be contented with the Faith which the Scriptures teach and which the Primitive Church professed we have as much Evidence and Certainty for that as the Church of Rome her self has and how they can better themselves by going over to the Church of Rome as to these Points I cannot tell since we believe as orthodoxly as they Secondly As for those Doctrines and Practices which we reject because we have no Evidence for them but only the Authority of the Church of Rome which is no Evidence to us because it is not evident it self we think our selves much safer in rejecting than we could be in owning them and that for this plain Reason that though we should be mistaken in rejecting such Doctrines as we are very certain we are not yet they are such Mistakes as do no injury to common Christianity no dishonour to our common Saviour and therefore cannot be dangerous to our Souls whereas if the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome be as we say they are Innovations and Corruptions of Christianity they are very dangerous and fatal Corruptions As to shew this in some few Instances What injury is it to Christianity not to believe the Infallibility of the Pope or Council while we believe Christ and his Apostles to be infallible which is Infallibility enough to direct the Christian Church For while we adhere to what they taught we can neither believe too little nor too much but if we believe the Infallibility of the Pope we are bound to stand to his Authority and to receive all his Dictates without examination and how dangerous is this if he should prove not to be infallible for then he may lead us into damnable Errors and we have no way to get out of them While we own the Supremacy of our Saviour who is the Head of his Church and of all Principalities and Powers and the Authority of Bishops and Pastors to govern the Church under Christ what does the Church suffer by denying the Supremacy of the Pope when Soveraign Princes and Bishops may govern their several Churches as well or better without him This indeed destroys the Papal Monarchy but Christ is King still and the Church is never the worse Church because it is not an universal Monarchy which Christ never intended it should be But if we give the Supremacy to the Pope and he has no right to it by Christ's Institution this is an invasion upon the Right of all the Christian Bishops in the world makes it impossible for them to govern or reform their own Churches whatever occasion there be without leave from the Pope which very thing has hindred the Reformation of the Church of Rome it self these last Ages when it has been so earnestly pressed both by Christian Princes and Bishops of that Communion witness the managemént of Affairs in the Council of Trent Nay this is an invasion on the Rights of Soveraign Princes to set a Superior over them in their own Dominions who can command their Subjects with a more Sacred Authority and how fatal this may prove to Princes and what a Snare and Temptation to Subjects some Examples of former Ages may satisfie us Suppose we should be mistaken about the lawfulness of Praying to Saints the Church of Rome her self does not pretend that it is necessary to do it and therefore we want nothing necessary to Salvation by not doing it and certainly our Saviour cannot think it any injury to his Mediation that we so wholly rely upon his Intercession that we desire no other Advocates and that we are so jealous of his Glory that we will not admit the most glorious Saints to the least Partnership with him and this will make him our Advocate in deed when he sees we will have no other But if he be our only Mediator and Advocate by God's appointment and his own purchase let those who unnecessarily apply themselves to so many other Mediators consider how our only Mediator will like it Suppose it were lawful to worship God or Christ by Images which we think expresly forbid by the second Commandment yet will they say That it is an affront or injury to God and our Saviour to worship him without Images If that lovely Idea we have of God in our minds if the remembrance of what Christ has done and suffered for us make us truly and sincerely and passionately devout what need have we of an Image which is pretended only to be a help to Devotion and therefore of no use to those who can be devout without it But he who considers what God's Jealousie means must needs think it dangerous to worship the Images of God and Christ and the Saints for fear they should be forbid by the second Commandment which all the wit of man can never prove that they are not Though Latin Prayers were lawful in English Congregations who do not understand them yet is it unlawful to pray in English Is it any dishonour to God any injury to Religion that men pray with their Understandings If true worship begins in the Mind and our Understandings must govern our Affections I should fear that to pray without understanding what I prayed would not be accepted by that God who is the Father of Spirits and must be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth If we believe That Christs once offering himself upon the Cross was a Sufficient Sacrifice Propitiation and Satisfaction for the sins of the whole world what injury do we to the Sacrifice of Christ though we do not believe that he is offered again every day in ten Thousand Masses If we believe that in the Supper of our Lord we eat the Sacramental Body and drink the Sacramental Blood of Christ which by his own Institution do as really and effectually convey to us all the benefits of his Death and Passion as if we could eat his Natural Flesh and drink his Blood what injury does the Church suffer by denying Transubstantiation And if when we approach his holy Table we worship Christ in Heaven sitting on the right Hand of God Is not this as true an Honour to our Saviour as to worship him under the Species of Bread But if Transubstantiation be false what a hazard does that man run who worships a piece of Bread which the most Learned Romanists themselves grant to be Idolatry If we believe That Christ alone has a Judicial Power to forgive Sins and that the Church has a Ministerial Authority to take in or shut out of the Church which is the only state of Pardon and Salvation and therefore is a Ministerial remitting or retaining of Sins and sufficient to all the ends of Ecclesiastical Authority is not this as much Pardon and Forgiveness as any Christian has need of though we deny that the Priest has a Judicial