on earth to see his miracles and hear his doctrin the same is also to bâ—… said of the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles Now to bar the Vulgar from this is to hinder them to hear and see Christ and his Apostles as if that were a Priviledge restricted to Church-men What shall be then said of these who call the Scriptures a Nose of Wax the Sourse of all Heresies a Book written not on Design but upon particular Emergents and do assert its incompleatness unless made up by the Traditions of the Church Is not this to add to the Words of that Book and to accuse the faithful Witness of unfaithfulness But worse than all this is held by these who will have all the Authority of the Scriptures to depend on the Church which must be believed in the first place But here a great difference is to be made betwixt the testimony of a Witness and the authority of a Iudge the former is not denied to the Church and so the Iews had the Oracles of God committed to them but that doth not prove the Authority of their Sanhedrim infallible or superiour to Scripture and in this case more cannot be ascribed to the Christian Church than was proper to the Jewish in our Saviours time But further if the Scripture be to be believed on the testimony of the Church then upon what account is the Church first believed It cannot be said because of any testimony in Scripture for if it give authority to the Scriptures it cannot receive its authority from their testimony How then shall it be proved that the Church must be believed or must it be taken from their own word and yet no other reason can be given to prove the Church infallible For to say that they have continued in a Succession of Bishops from the Apostles days concludes nothing unless it be first proved that the Doctrine of the Apostles was of God otherwise the Mahometan Religion is as much to be believed since for many Ages a Succession of Priests have believed it Further the Greek Churches drive up the Series of their Bishops to the Apostles days as well as the Roman why then should not their Authority be likewise acknowledged infallible In fine must the Vulgar go and examine the Successions of the Bishops and judge about all the dubious Elections whether the Conveyance have been interrupted or not Certainly were this to be done it were an impossible Atchievement and harder than the study of the Originals of both Testaments Therefore the Vulgar must simply believe the Authority of the Church on her own testimony which is the most absurd thing imaginable and this to every individual will resolve into the testimony of their Priest Behold then a goodly Foundation for building our Faith upon Christ Prophetick Office is also invaded by the pretence of the Churches Infallibility in expounding Scriptures for if this be granted the whole Authority will be devolved on the Church for by this Doctrine she may teach what she will and were the Scripture evidence never so full to the contrary yet whatever wrested Exposition she offer though visibly contrary to the plain meaning of the words must be believed But with whom this Power and Authority is lodged is not agreed to among themselves some yielding it to the High Priest of the Church when in his Chair others to the great Sanhedrim of Christendom in a General Council others to both jointly but all this is asserted without proof for that of Christs of telling the Church Mat. 18. 17. so often repeated by them is meant of particular offences and so is restricted to the case of differences among Brethren and relates not to points of Doctrine Besides the Context of these Words doth clearly shew them applicable to every Parochiaâ—… Church and yet their Infallibility cannot be asserted So it is clear that Christ doth only speak of a jurisdiction for quieting of differences among the Brethren That of the gates of Hell their not prevailing against the Church Mat. 16. 18. proves not the pretence of Infallibility And indeed the Translation of that place deserves Amendment and instead of hell that Word is tâ—… be rendred grave so that the meaning of the Phrase is Death which is the mouth and gate through which we pass â—…nto the Grave and is so used by Greek Writers shall never prevail against the Church that is the Church shall never die Neither will that of the Spirit of truth leading out into all truth Joh. 16. 13. advance the Cause a whit since that promise relates to all Believers and it is a part of the happiness of the new Dispensation that all in it shall be taught of God And the promise of founding the Church on St. Peter Matth. 16. saith as â—…ittle for suppose the Rock on whom the Church were to be built were St. Peter himself which I shall not much contravert that is not peculiar unto him since we are all built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets and on the twelve foundations of the new Ierusalem are written the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb but what will that prove for a series of the Bishops of Rome And finally for the keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 16. 19. their being given to St. Peter that saith no more but that he was to open the Gospel which is usually called the Kingdom of God or of Heaven in the New Testament Now the use of keys being to open the door this was peculiar St. Peters honour who did first publish the Gospel both to Jews and Gentiles and in particular did first receive the Gentiles into the new Dispensation But this hath no relation to the Bishops of Rome nor to the pretended infallibility of that See That which hath the fairest appearance of reason is that if there be no absolute unerring Court on earth for deciding of controversies there shall be no end of them but every private man may upon the pretence of some ill understood place of Scripture break the unity of the Church and so the peace of the Church is in hazard of being irrecoverably lost But how specious soever this may appear it hath no weight in it For it is certain that vice as well as errour is destructive of Religion and it will be no â—…mputation on our Religion that the one be no more guarded against than the other is if then there be no authority for repressing Vice but the outward discipline of the Church it is not incongruous there be no other authority for â—…uppressing of errour but that same of the Discipline of the Church It is certainly a peece of humility for a man to suspect his own thoughts when they lye â—…ross to the Sentiments of the guides and â—…eaders of the Church But withal a man ought to be in all he does fully perwaded in his own mind and we are commanded to try the spirits and not to believe very spirit 1
the Chalice from the People who in reason should be imagined so tenacious of so great a priviledge that no consideration should have obliged them to part with it and yet we know nor do they deny how it was wrung from them about 250 years ago What may seem less credible then for the People to consent to have their worship in an unknown Tongue and yet we know that all once worshipped in their Mother Tongue but that after by the overthrow of the Roman Empire the Latine Tongue decayed the barbarous worship was obtruded on the World And what piece of worship is both more visible and more contrary to the clearest evidence of Scriptures especially to the commandments in which the people were always instructed then the worshipping of Images And though we know well enough that for the first seven Centuries the Christian World abhorred them yet within a hundredth years after that we find a great part of it bewitched with them And what can be thought more uneasie for the World to have received then the Popes absolute authority over all the Churches and States of the World One should think that though Religion and Reason had lien out of the way yet Interest and Ambition had withstood this yet we see clearly by what steps they crept up from being Bishops of the Imperial City in an equality of power with their neighbouring Bishops into that culminating hight to which they have now mounted In a word we refuse not to appeal to the first four Ages of the Church in these matters that we quarrel the Roman Church for We deny not but humane infirmity begun soon to appear in the Church and a care to gain on the Heathens made them quickly fall upon some rites and use some terms which after-ages corrupted But the ruin of Religion was when the Roman Empire being overturned by the incursion of the Northern Nations in the beginning of the fifth Century both piety and Religion being laid to sleep instead of the Primitive simplicity of the faith and worship of the Christians they turned all their zeal to the adorning of the outwards of Religion hence the corruptions of the Church took their rise But I had almost forgot to name some Revelations which that Church pretends to even for some of her most doubtful opinions which are the visions and extraordinary Inspirations of some of their Saints from which they vouch a divine confirmation to their Doctrines I confess there is a great deal of extraordinary Visions Rapts and Extasies to be met with among the lives of their Saints and I fear a great deal more then truth for really whoso will but read these writings he must confess they are so far from being probable or well contrived that they speak out their forgery Alas whereas St. Paul being put to Glory of Visions and Revelations was to run back fourteen years for one Their Saints are found in them every day Are they not very credible Stories they tell of Christs appearing to some of their She-Saints and kissing them giving them Rings being married to them and celebrating nuptial rites making them drink out of his side and leaving on them the prints of his wounds with many other such like apparitions of the Virgin and other Saints which were either forgeries dreams or the effects of melancholy or histerical distempers and yet these extravagant fables are given out to the people as sacred pieces of Divine Revelations But the inspiration of the holy Writers on which we found our Faith was proved by their miracles which they wrought publickly in the sight of many and in the presence of their adversaries many of whom were convinced by them and it is certain that whosoever offers any thing to anothers belief pretending he comes to him in the Name of God must have some evident proof of his Divine Mission since none are bound to believe him barely on his own Testimony Otherwise there should be no end of Impostures if every pretender to Divine Inspiration were to be believed without proof Now the way it must be proved is by some evidence of Gods extraordinary assisting such a person which appeared alwayes either in Prophesies or Miracles but chiefly in miracles under the New Testament and therefore both Christ and his Apostles appeal to the mighty works they wrought as the great confirmation of their Doctrine If then there be new Doctrines brought into the Church they must have the like confirmation otherwise they are not to be believed But here those of that Church think they triumph For miracles they have in abundance not a Relique they have but hath wrought mighty wonders nor a Countrey-Saint but the Curat of the place can gravely tell a great many deeds of his puissance nor want the Images their marvellous atchievments but wondrously wondrous are the feats the Hosty hath performed Here I am upon a sad Subject of that trade of lies and fictions wherewith the Merchants of that Babylon have so long traffiqued of which the sincerer among themselves are ashamed How ridiculous are many of their miraculous narrations Was it a worthy piece of the Angelical Ministration for Angels to go trotting over Sea and Land with a load of Timber and Stones of the Virgins house till at length they set it down at Loretto that great devotions might be shown to it It is a goodly story for to tell of a Saint that walked so far after his head was cut off with it in his arms resting in some places to draw breath yet he will pass for an Infidel that should doubt of this at St. Denis-Church Who can look on the lives of the late Saints of that Church without nausea Gregories Dialogues begun this trade which indeed hath thriven well since The miracles of the Christian faith were grave and solemn actions but what ridiculous scenical stories not to say blasphemous ones meet us about the miracles of their Saints He that would know this may read the Lives of St. Francis and St. Dominic St. Bridgit and the two St. Catherines and he will be satisfied to a surfeit The Miracles also of Christ and his Apostles were acted publickly in the view of all but most of these narrations of their Wonders were transacted in corners none being witnesses but persons concerned to own the cheat And the Doctrine of Equivocating was a good cordial for the ease of their Consciences though they swore what they knew false according to the natural sense of the words which they uttered Thus we have many fables of Christs appearing in the Hosty sometimes as a child and sometimes as crucified when but a very few of the whole company present were honoured with that amazing sight Further the Miracles of the Christian Faith were written in the times in which they were acted that so enquiries might have been made into their falshood and the powers that then governed being enemies to the Faith it was safe for its opposers to have proved
believe because Miracles were clearly seen by these who first received the Faith And Christ said believe me for the very works sake Ioh. 14. 11. And so their sight of these works was a certain ground for their belief therefore the senses unvitiated fixing on a proper object through a due mean are infallible therefore what our sight our taste and our touch tell us is Bread and Wine must be so still and cannot be imagined to have changed its substance upon the recital of the five words Shall I add to this that throng of absurdities which croud about this opinion For if it be true then a body may be in more places at once triumphing in glory in one and sacrificed in a thousand other places And a large body may be crouded into the narrow space of a thin Wafer they holding it to be not only wholy in the whole Wafer but also intirely in every crumb of it A body can be without dimensions and accidents without a subject these must be confessed to be among the highest of unconcievables and yet these Miracles must be believed to be produced every day in above a hundred thousand places Certainly he hath a sturdy belief who can swallow over all these absurdities without choaking on them It is little less unconceivable to imagine that a man of no eximious sanctity nay perhaps of noted impiety nor extraordinarily knowing nay perhaps grosly ignorant in Theological Matters shall have the Holy Ghost so absolutely at his command that whatever he decrees must be the Dictates of the Spirit And what an unconceiveable mystery is the Treasure of the Church and the Popes Authority to dispense it as he will No less conceivable is the efficacy of the Sacraments by the work wrought nor is any thing more affronting to reason than the barbarous worship And of a piece with this is the blind subjection is pleaded for the Confessarius his Injunctions and their opinions of expiating their sins by a company of little trifling penances which tend not to the cleansing the Soul nor killing of the life of sin much less can be able to appease God either of their own inbred worth or by reason of any value God is pleased to set on them either by Command or Promise But should I reckon up every thing is among them that choaks reason I should dwell too long on this and reckon over most of the things have been through the whole Discourse hinted which seem to stand in the most diametrical opposition to the clearest impressions of all mens reasons But to bring my Enquiry to an issue easiness and gentleness are by Christ applied to his yoke laws and burden and whatever opposition or trouble they may give to the carnal man by mortifying his lusts and contradicting all his inordinate and unlimitted desires yet by the rational faculties and powers they are both easily understood and practised Indeed Religion lies in few things and its chief work is the reforming and purifying the inward man where it mainly dwells and exerts its force and virtue but these who have added so much both to be believed and done beyond what our Lord prescribed as they accuse his unfaithfulness so bring unsupportable burdens on the Consciences of Christians These therefore who lead out the mind by presenting a great many foreign objects to it do introduce superannuated Judaism instead of that liberty Christ brought with him unto the World But shall I number up here all the Impositions of that Church whose numbers are great as well as their nature grievous for it is a study to know them all but what a pain must it be to perform them It is a work which will take up a great deal of time to understand the Rubricks of their Missals Breviaries Rituals and Pontificals In a word they have left the unity and simplicity of Religion and set up instead of it a lifeless heap of Ordinances which must oppress but cannot relieve the Consciences of their Disciples Shall I add to this the severity of some of their Orders into which by unalterable Vows they are engaged their whole lives Now whatever fitness might be in such Discipline upon occasions for beating down the body or humbling of the mind yet it must be very tyrannical to bind the perpetual observance of these on any by an oath for thereby all the rest of their lives may become insupportably bitter to them wherein they stand obliged under perjury to the perpetual observance of some severe Discipline which though at first in a novitious ferâ—…our might have had its good effects on them yet that drying up it will afterwards have no other effect but the constant dejecting of the soul and so their life will be a rack to them by their perpetual toil in these austerities This I speak of those who seem the chief Ornaments of that Church whose Devotion doth for most part turn to outwards and rests in the strict observance of their rules not without voluntary assumed mortifications which they add to them â—…ut wherein they for most part glory and so the life of pride and self-love the â—…ubtillest of all our enemies is fed and â—…ourished by them Neither can we think that these whose exercises are so much external can be so recollected for the inward and serene breathings of the Mind after God and Christ without which all externals though they seem to make a fair shew in the flesh yet are but a skelet of lifeless and insipid things But indeed they have studied to remove this objection of the uneasiness of their Religion by accommodating it so that the worst of men may be secure of Heaven and enjoy their lusts both according to the corrupt conduct of some of their spiritual Fathers But what I have hinted of the uneasiness of their Religion is taken from the Nature of their Devotions in their highest altitude and elevation And thus far I have pursued my Design in the tract whereof I have not been void of a great deal of pain and sorrow for what pleasure can any find by discovering so much wickedness and so many errours in the Christened Regions of the World and see the holy and beautiful Places wherein the former Ages worshipped God in the Spirit turned to be habitations of Idols and graven Images by which God is provoked to jealousie God is my witness how these thoughts have entertained me with horrour and regret all the while I have considered them And that I am so far from being glad that I have found so much corruption in the Roman Church that it is not without the greatest antipathy to my nature imaginable that I have payed this duty to truth by asserting it with the discovery of so many Impostures which have so long abused the Christian world and if any heat or warmth hath slipped from my Pen I must protest sincerely it is not the effect of anger or passion but of a tender and zealous compassion for those