by it he forfeits his natural Knowledge and has no supernatural Knowledge in the room of it For how can a man know and understand that which is contrary to all the natural Knowledge and Understanding he has There may be some revealed Principles of Knowledge super-added to natural Principles and these things we may know to be so though we have no natural Notion of them and this perfects because it enlarges our Knowledge as the Knowledge of three Divine Persons super-added to the natural Belief of one Supreme God which does not overthrow the belief of one God but only acquaints us that there are three Divine Persons in the Unity of the Godhead which whatever difficulty there may be in apprehending it yet overthrows no natural Notion this is an improvement of Knowledge because we know all we did before and we know something more that as there is one God so there are three Persons who are this one God and though we have no natural Notion of this how three Persons are one God because we know no distinction between Person and Essence in Finite Beings yet we have no natural Notion that there cannot be more Persons than one in an Infinite Essence and therefore this may be known by Revelation because there is no natural Notion against it But now I can never know that which is contrary to all the Principles of Knowledge I have such men may believe it who think it a Vertue to believe against Knowledge Who can believe that to be true which they know to be false For whatever is contrary to the plain and necessary Principles of Reason which all Mankind agree in I know must be false if my Faculties be true and if my Faculties be not true then I can know nothing at all neither by Reason nor Revelation because I have no true Faculties to know with Revelation is a Principle of Knowledge as well as Faith when it does not contradict our natural Knowledge of things for God may teach us that which Nature does not teach and thus Revelation improves enlarges and perfects Knowledge in such cases Faith serves instead of natural Knowledge the Authority of the Revelation instead of the natural Notions and Idea's of our Minds but I can never know that by Revelation which contradicts my natural Knowledge which would be not only to know that which I have no natural Knowledge of which is the Knowledge of Faith but to know that by Revelation which by Reason and Nature I know cannot be which is to know that which I know cannot be known because I know it cannot be So that Transubstantiation which contradicts all the evidence of Sence and Reason is not the Object of any humane Knowledge and therefore cannot be a Gospel-Revelation which is to improve and perfect not to destroy humane Knowledge I can never know it because it contradicts all the Notions of my Mind and I can never believe it without denying the truth of my Faculties and no Revelation can prove my Faculties to be false for I can never be so certain of the truth of any Revelation as I am that my Faculties are true and could I be perswaded that my Faculties are not true but deceive me in such things as I judge most certain and evident then I can no more believe them as to any Revelation then I can as to their natural Reasonings for the same Faculties must judge of both and if the Faculty be false I can trust its judgment in neither 3ly The Doctrine of Transubstantiation destroys all possible certainty what the true sence and interpretation of Scripture is and thereby overthrows all supernatural Knowledge The Scripture we know is Expounded to very different and contrary Sences and made to countenance the most monstrous and absurd Doctrines Witness all the ancient Heresies which have been Fathered on the Scriptures Now what way have we to confute these Heresies but to shew either that the words of Scripture will not bare such a Sence or at least do not necessarily require it that such an Interpretation is contrary to Sence to Reason to the natural Notions we have of God and therefore is in itself absurd and impossible But if Transubstantiation be a Gospel-Doctrine I desire any Papist among all the ancient Heresies to pick out any Doctrine more absurd and impossible more contrary to Sence and Reason than the Doctrine of Transubstantiation is and then it is no Argument against any Doctrine or any Exposition of Scripture that it is absurd and impossible contrary to Sence and Reason for so Transubstantiation is and if we may believe one absurd Doctrine we may believe five hundred how absurd soever they be And then what defence has any man against the most monstrous Corruptions of the Christian Faith Is this the way to improve Knowledge to destroy all the certain Marks and Characters of Truth and Error and to leave no Rule to judge by If the design of the Gospel was to improve our Minds by a knowing and understanding Faith Transubstantiation which overthrows the certainty both of natural and revealed Knowledge can be no Gospel-Doctrine 3. The Authority of an infallible Judge whom we must believe in every thing without examining the reasons of what he affirms nay though he teaches such Doctrines as appear to us most expresly contrary to Sence and Reason and Scripture is no Gospel-Doctrine because it is not the way to make men wise and understanding Christians which is the great design of the Gospel for to suspend the exercise of Reason and Judgment is not the way to improve mens Knowledge an infallible Teacher and an infallible Rule do indeed mightily contribute to the improvement of Knowledge but such an infallible Judge as the Church of Rome boasts of can only make men ignorant and stupid Believers For there is a vast difference between an infallible Teacher and an infallible Judge which few men observe at least have not well explained for an infallible Teacher is onely an external Proponent and while men only teach and instruct how infallible soever they are every man is at liberty to use his own Reason and Judgment for though the Teacher be infallible he that learns must use his own Reason and Judgment unless a man can learn without it But now an infallible Judge is not contented to teach and instruct which is an appeal to the Reason of Mankind but he usurps the office of every mans private Reason and Judgment and will needs judge for all Mankind as if he were an Vniversal Soul an Vniversal Reason and Judgment that no man had any Soul any Reason or Judgment but himself for if every man has a private Reason and Judgment of his own surely every man must have a right to the private exercise of it that is to judge for himself and then there can be no such universal Judge who must be that to every man which in other cases his own private Reason and Judgment is
which is to un-Soul all Mankind in matters of Religion And therefore though there have been a great many infallible Teachers as Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles yet none ever pretended to be infallible Judges but the Church of Rome that is none ever pretended to deny People a liberty of judging for themselves or ever exacted from them an universal submission to their infallible Judgment without exercising any act of Reason and Judgment themselves I am sure Christ and his Apostles left People to the exercise of their own Reason and Judgment and require it of them they were infallible Teachers but they did not judge for all Mankind but left every man to judge for himself as every man must and ought and as every man will do who has any Reason and Judgment of his own but an infallible Judge who pretends to judge for all men treats Mankind like Bruits who have no reasonable Souls of their own But you 'll say this distinction between an infallible Teacher and an infallible Judge is very nice and curious but seems to have nothing in it for does not he who teaches infallibly judge infallibly too And must I not submit my private Judgment which all men allow to be fallible to a publick infallible Judgment which I know to be infallible If I know that I may be deceived and that such a man cannot be deceived is it not reasonable for me to be governed by his Judgment rather than my own I answer All this is certainly true as any demonstration but then it is to be considered that I cannot be so certain of any man's Infallibility as to make him my Infallible Judge in whose Judgment I must acquiesce without exercising any Reason or Judgment of my own and the reason is plain because I cannot know that any man teaches infallibly unless I am sure that he teaches nothing that is contrary to any natural or revealed Law. Whoever does so is so far from being Infallible that he actually errs and whether he does so I cannot know unless I may judge of his Doctrine by the Light of Nature and by Revelation and therefore though there may be an Infallible Teacher there never can be any Infallible Judge to whom I must submit my own Reason and Judgment because I must judge of his Doctrine my self before I can know that he is Infallible As for instance when Moses appeared as a Prophet and a Law-giver to the Children of Israel there was no written Law but only the Law of Nature and therefore those great Miracles he wrought gave authority to his Laws because he contradicted no necessary Law of Nature but had any other person at that time wrought as many Miracles as Moses did and withal taught the Worship of many Gods either such as the Aegyptians or any other Nations worshipped at that time this had been reason enough to have rejected him as a false Prophet because it is contrary to the natural Worship of one Supream God which the Light of Nature teaches When Christ appeared there was a written Law the Writings of Moses and the Prophets and all the Miracles he wrought could not have proved him a true Prophet had he contradicted the Scriptures of the Old Testament and therefore his Doctrine was to be examined by them and accordingly he appeals to Moses and the Prophets to bear testimony to his Person and Doctrine and exhorts them to search the Scriptures which gave testimony to him and how the Miracles he wrought gave authority to any new Revelations he made of God's Will to the World since he did not contradict the old The Law of Nature and the Laws of Moses were the Laws of God and God cannot contradict himself and therefore the Doctrine of all new Prophets even of Christ himself was to be examined and is to be examined to this day by the Law and the Prophets and therefore though he was certainly an Infallible Teacher yet men were to judge of his Doctrine before they believed him and he did not require them to lay aside their Reason and Judgment and submit to his Infallible Authority without Examination So that all this while there could be no Infallible Judge to whom all men were bound to submit their own private Reason and Judgment and to receive all their Dictates as divine Oracles without Examination because they could not know them to be such Infallible Teachers till they had examined their Doctrine by the Light of Nature and the Law of Moses and we cannot to this day know that Moses and Christ were true Prophets but in the same way Since the writing of the New Testament there is a farther Test of an Infallible Teacher if there be any such in the world that he neither contradicts the Light of Nature nor the true intent of the Law of Moses nor alter or add to the Gospel of Christ and therefore there can be no Infallible Judge because be he never so Infallible we can never know that he is so but by the agreement of his Doctrine with the Principles of Reason with the Law and the Prophets and with the Gospel of Christ and therefore must examine his Doctrine by these Rules and therefore must judge for our selves and not suffer any man to judge for us upon a pretence of his Infallibility Could I know that any man were Infallible without judging of his Doctrine then indeed there were some reason to believe all that he says without any inquiry or examination but this never was never can be and therefore though there may be an Infallible Teacher there can be no Infallible Judge to whom I must submit my own Reason and Judgment without asking any Questions Which by the way shews how ridiculous that Sophism is The Church has not erred because she is Infallible when it is impossible for me to know she is Infallible till by examining her Doctrine by an Infallible Rule I know that she has not erred And the truth is it is well there can be no Infallible Judge for if there were it would suspend and silence the Reason and Judgment of all Mankind and what a knowing Creature would Man be in matters of Religion when he must not reason and must not judge just as knowing as a man can be without exercising any Reason and Judgment And therefore not only the reason and nature of the thing proves that there can be no Infallible Judge but the design of Christ to advance humane Nature to the utmost perfection of Reason and Understanding in this World proves that he never intended there should be any for to take away the exercise of Reason and private Judgment is not the way to make men wise and knowing Christians and if Christ allows us to judge for our selves there can be no Infallible Judge whose Office it shall be to judge for us all 4ly To pretend the Scripture to be an obscure or imperfect Rule is a direct contradiction to the
vertue from the Death of Christ could not wash away all sin What use can there be then of the new propitiatory Sacrifice of the Mass of humane Satisfactions and Merits and Indulgences Truly none but this that when our sins are expiated by the Death of Christ and the pardon of all our sins applied to us in Baptism the Gospel exacts a holy life from us and therefore men forfeit the baptismal Pardon of their sins by the Bloud of Christ unless they either live very holy lives or make some other satisfaction for their not doing so And for this purpose the Sacrifice of the Mass humane Penances and Satisfactions serve It will not be unuseful nor unpleasant to draw a short Scheme of this whole matter which will explain this great Mystery and make it intelligible which now appears to be nothing but nonsence and confusion Christ then has made a perfect Atonement and Expiation for sin this is applied to us at Baptism wherein all our sins are forgiven and while we continue in this state of Grace we cannot be eternally damned though we may be punished for our sins both in this World and Purgatory But every mortal sin puts us out of the state of Grace which we were in by Baptism and till we be restored to the state of Grace again we must be eternally damned because we have no right to the Sacrifice and Expiation of Christ's Death the only way in the Church of Rome to restore us to this state of Grace is by the Sacrament of Penance and the Absolution of the Priest which restores us to the same state which Baptism at first put us into and therefore very well deserves to be thought a Sacrament And thus we recover our interest in the Merits of Christ's Death and therefore cannot be eternally damned for our sins but still it is our duty to live well for the Death of Christ does not excuse us from Holiness of Life which is the condition of the Gospel and therefore if we are in a state of Grace and thereby secured from eternal damnation yet if we live in sin we must be punished for it unless we can find some other expiation for sin than the Death of Christ upon the Cross which still leaves us under the obligations of a holy life and therefore cannot make such an Expiation for sin as shall serve instead of a holy life Now here comes in the Sacrifice of the Mas Humane Penance Satisfactions Indulgencies For the sacrifice of the Mass as I observed before does not serve the same end that the Sacrifice of the Cross does the Sacrifice of the Mass is a propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and the dead But what sins is it a Propitiation for For such sins for which men are to satisfie themselves that is for all sins the eternal punishment of which is remitted for the Sacrifice of the Cross This is evident from their making the Sacrifice of the Mass a propitiatory Sacrifice for the dead that is for the Souls in Purgatory who suffer there the temporal punishments of sin when the eternal punishment is forgiven the Souls in Hell are capable of no Expiation and therefore an expiatory Sacrifice for the dead can be only for the Souls in Purgatory and that is for the temporal punishment of sin for which the Sacrifice of the Cross is no Expiation and the Mass is in no other sence made a Sacrifice for the living than for the dead and therefore is not to expiate the eternal but the temporal punishments of sin as appears from hence that the saying Masses or hearing Masses or purchasing Masses is reckoned among those Penances men must do for the Expiation of their sins and yet they can by all they do only expiate for the temporal punishment of sin and therefore Masses for the living are only for the Expiation of those temporal punishments of sin for which the Sacrifice of the Cross made no Expiation And I shall be so civil at present as not to inquire how the Sacrifice of the Cross and the Sacrifice of the Mass which are the very same Sacrifice of the Natural Body and Bloud of Christ come to serve such very different ends that when Christ was Sacrificed upon the Cross he expiated only for the eternal punishment of sin when Sacrificed in the Mass only for the temporal I need add nothing to prove that Humane Penances Satisfactions Merits Indulgencies are onely to expiate temporal punishment of sin because it is universally acknowledged Now if these temporal punishments be only in lieu of Holiness and Obedience which the Gospel requires to intitle us to the Expiation of Christ's Death upon the Cross as I have already shewn then it is evident to a demonstration that the Church of Rome has overthrown the Death and Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross consider'd as an argument of a holy life by setting up the Sacrifice of the Mass Humane Penances Satisfactions Merits Indulgencies instead of the Gospel-terms of obedience and holiness of life 4. The Intercession of Christ for us at the right hand of God is another powerful motive to Holiness of Life It gives all the encouragement to true penitent Sinners that can be desired For if any man sin 1 John 2.2 we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who is also a propitiation for our sins But then Christ mediates only in vertue of his Bloud that is only upon the terms and conditions of the Covenant of Grace which was sealed by his Bloud that is he mediates and intercedes only for true penitent sinners which obliges us as we hope to be heard by God when we pray in the Name of Christ truly and heartily to repent of all our sins and to live a new life This the Church of Rome also seems very sensible of that Christ of his own accord will not intercede for impenitent and unreformed sinners that he who is the great Example and the great Preacher of Righteousness will not espouse the Cause of incorrigible sinners who are very desirous of pardon but hate to be reformed and therefore they seem to think it as hopeless a thing to go immediately to a holy Jesus as to appear before the Tribunal of a just and righteous God without a powerful Advocate For this reason they have found out a great many other Advocates and Mediators a great deal more pitiful and compassionate than Christ is who by their interest in him or their great favour with God may obtain that pardon which otherwise they could not hope for such as the Virgin Mary who is the Mother of Christ and therefore as they presume has as great interest in and authority over him as a Mother has over her Son besides those vast numbers of meritorious Saints whose Intercessions cannot but prevail for those sinners whose Cause they undertake And that this is the true reason of their Addresses to Saints and the Virgin Mary though they