Protestants examining the Scriptures now but what would have held as well against the Command of our Saviour here to the Jews unless they can shew us a positive Institution of an Infallible Guide but all the Arguments from Reason and the imperfection of our Understanding are perfectly the same in both Cases The truth is all our Saviour's Preaching did suppose this for it had been a vain thing to Preach to People who had not abilities to understand And if we go further to the Preaching of the Apostles we shall find that they endeavoured to prove the truth of what they said out of the Scriptures by which they appealed to the Understanding of their Hearers and made them proper Judges of what they said as far as their own Salvation was concerned in it We see in Acts 17.11 The Bereans were commended as more noble than those of Thessalonica because they searched the Scriptures daily to see whether the things the Apostles preached were so or not The Apostle St. John commands Christians to try the Spirits that is to examine the pretences that any should make to the Spirit of God which supposes that their Understanding how fallible soever was sufficient to judge in these Matters In a word the Writers and Emissaries of the Church of Rome do themselves when they don't think of it in effect confess this for when they bring Scripture and other Arguments to persuade us to come over to their Church I would ask them are we proper Judges of these things or are we not Will our Faith be a true Faith that is founded upon these Scriptures or these Reasons that you here bring If it be so then we may understand for our selves and there is no necessity in order to true Faith of an Infallible Judge but if it be not so there ought to be then an end of Disputes for it 's in vain to Dispute where it 's supposed that we cannot understand or judge and all offering of Scripture or Reason to prove the truth of their Opinions is only affront and mockery But it may be it will be said Don't we see People differ about the Interpretation of Scripture some go one way and some another and yet all are consident of their own how can we be sure that we are in the right any more than they who are as confident in what they say as we are Now this Objection is founded upon this that we cannot have certainty of what is once Disputed which is contrary to the Common Opinion of Mankind who would have done Disputing if they thought they could not be certain when once Men differed from them This does indeed overthrow all Reason and Religion Some have ventured to Dispute the Being of God and many more the Truth of the Christian Religion and yet I hope we may be very certain of the Truth of both these But I would only urge at present this one Consideration Are all the World agreed about their Infallible Judge If not how can they be certain of that But to press this Matter a little more plainly they say for instance that we can't from Scripture be certain of the Divinity of our Saviour because the Socinian's a small number of Men dispute that Matter But the same Socinians deny their Infallible Judge and therefore that must at least be as uncertain as the other And not only the Socinians but all Protestants deny it which must make it still more uncertain and not only all the Protestants but the Greek Armenian Aethiopian Churches a vast Body of Men which must still add to the uncertainty and not only all these but all that in any Age or Nation have ever differed from the Church of Rome for whoever differs from them must deny their Infallibility and consequently this must have been Disputed not only as much as any one Point but as much as all the rest together This I think is a demonstrative Answer to this whole way of Arguing and shews the manifest Absurdity of it for it makes things uncertain because they are Disputed and yet makes the most Disputed thing in all the World the Foundation of all the certainty they have I have been the longer in examining this Point of the Infallibility of your Church as being that which is the great support of all your other Errors I now proceed to speak something to the particulars I promised and first I shall begin with Transubstantiation which is the first thing Renounced in the Test The Sense of the Church of England in this Matter seems to be this That tho' Believers in the faithful and due receiving of this Holy Sacrament are made Partakers of the Benefits of the Death of Christ that is of the breaking of his Body and the shedding his Blood and so may be properly enough said to be partakers of his Body and Blood yet that which they take into their Mouths is really but Bread and Wine but Bread and Wine set apart for a holy Use to represent the breaking of the Body and the shedding of the Blood of our Blessed Saviour and therefore in a Sacramental sense may be called his Body and Blood tho' in truth and reality they are but Bread and Wine Both Sides do in some Sense own a real Presence of Christ in this Sacrament but this one thing if observed will sufficiently shew the difference That Protestants say that in the devout and holy Use of this Sacrament Christ will be present with his Grace and Assistance to the Souls of good People but that the Things which appear before us which we eat and drink are not Christ but Bread and Wine Those of the Church of Rome on the other side say That the Thing which lies before them which they put into their Mouths tho' before Consecration they are Bread and Wine yet upon pronouncing those Words This is my Body and this is my Blood they lose their own Nature and Substance of Bread and Wine and become very Christ the very same Christ that was Born of the Virgin Mary and that suffered upon the Cross And therefore pay them the same Divine Honour and Worship as if God or Christ did truly and openly appear before them Now the whole ground of this Dispute lies in the Words of the Institution This is my Body and this is my Blood They say that the Words ought to be understood in the plain literal Sense we say they ought to be understood as used by Christ in his Instituting a Sacrament that is appointing one thing to be a representation and a memorial of another and which because it does represent may very well be called by the Name of that Thing which is represented by it which we think to be a very natural easy way of speaking and agreeable as to that present occasion so to other terms of Speech of the same nature which had been in use among those People to whom our Saviour spoke But in particular the time in which
Opinion of the Mercy of God to invincible Ignorance be true this is Comfort to us supposing we are mistaken as it is to you supposing you are so and on the other side if your Damning Doctrine be true this is as dangerous to you as it is to us It lies therefore upon you even from the Opinion of your own Divines to be very impartial in examining the Grounds of your Religion tho' indeed our Obligation to search after Truth does not arise chiefly from the danger of being mistaken but from that desire that every good Man should have to please God and to serve him as well as he can and the want of this desire has more danger and malignity in it than a great many mistakes in Matters of meer Belief To be only concerned to avoid those Errors that may Damn us is the same undutiful Temper toward God as it would be in a Son to have no concern to please his Father but only so far as that he may not be dis-inherited Many Errors that may not be fatal to Ignorant People may yet be very dishonourable to God bring a great Scandal to our Holy Religion and do a great deal of mischief in the World and these are things which a good Christian would have a great care of tho' at the same time he might hope that God would pardon him should he ignorantly fall into them This I hope may be sufficient to convince you that you ought to examine well the Grounds you go upon in your Religion I shall now endeavour to shew you some of the Errors which we charge upon your Church and the Reasons why we Renounced them and why we think it your Duty to do so too As to the particulars I shall chiefly confine my self to those which the present Act mentions those to be renounced in the Test and in the Oath of Supremacy But before I proceed to them I would speak a little to that which is the great ground and support of all your other Errors the Infallibility of your Church which if I can shew you to be a meer pretence without any Warrant or Authority from Jesus Christ you will then more easily hearken to what can be said in the other Matters It cannot be expected that I should handle these Controversies in their full extent in the short compass which it 's fit this present Address should have but if you find what is said here to have weight in it and that it gives you just cause of doubting I hope you will be so kind to your selves as to come to some of our Divines who may inform you more fully or to read some of those Books which have at large examined these Matters About the Infalibility of the Church of Rome Infallibility is the thing in the World which a good Christian should have the least prejudice against for tho' I do now believe since I see plainly that God has appointed no Infalliable Judge that it is best all things considered that there should be none Yet I must confess were I to judge of things by my own Reason without any regard to what God has done I should be apt to think such a Judge would be a great Blessing to the World I could not but be very glad to find an Infallible way to end Disputes among Christians but Christianity has now been in the World near 1700 Years and I do not know any Age in which there have not been great Contests and Disputes except some few that were so stupidly Ignorant that Men hardly knew any thing of Religion and then no wonder if there were not many Disputes from whence I cannot but conclude that either it is the Will of God for wise Reasons that Controversies should not be ended or that an Infallible Judge cannot end them or that there has all this while been no Infallible Judge But to consider this Matter more methodically I have these Two I think strong Reasons which make me conclude there is no such Judge I. That you your selves are not agreed who he is And II. That the Reasons commonly brought to prove that there is or ought to be such a one do if well weighed rather prove against it 1. That you your selves are not agreed who he is and this is a mighty prejudice in a thing of this Consequence certainly that which it appointed by God to end all Controversies ought to be a thing out of Controversy it self There ought to be a plain Commission a plain Designation of the Person or Persons that Christians might know where to repair in their Difficulties But is this Matter plain Can you assign us any Man or number of Men that have I won't say such a Commission but that in fact only have ever since the Apostles Days been repaired to by Christians and looked upon as their Judge and their Determinations thought to be Infallible If you can I for my part shall very thankfully submit and own the Authority But let us see what the People of your own Church say about it You are sure that you have Infallibility but you don't know where it is Some say it is in the Pope as Head of the Church and Vicar of Jesus Christ others say it is in a General Council but these differs Some say they are Infallible if Confirmed by the Pope others that their Determinations do not need his Confirmation But besides these there are others that say it is they don't know how in the diffusive Body of the Church Now pray Gentlemen does this sound like the Voice of Truth or a Method appointed by God to end all Controversies In Matters of smaller moment we allow Men to abound in their own Sense and to differ from one another at least we cannot conclude they are all in the wrong because they differ but in this we may and ought because if there were any such thing as Infallibility in the Church and that designed to be the Guide of all Christians it could not be a Secret or matter of Controversie where it was lodged we should see the plain Appointment of God or at least we should see in the History of the Church to whom Christians had appeal'd in all Ages And for the Christian Church to be at uncertainty where to go for so long a time to end their Disputes is the same sort of Absurdity that it would be in a Nation for 1700 Years together not to know where to go for Justice But this Absurdity will appear the greater if we consider besides this that tho' the Church of Rome be united together in a strong Bond of External Government and Polity yet in truth and reality this Difference about the Guide of their Faith makes them different Churches and of different Religions For a different Guide and Judge if he be esteem'd Infallible must make a different Rule of Faith because his Determinations must be part of the Rule of Faith and a different Rule of Faith must
of the former for it will be very difficult to shew how the Church can exert it's Infallibility so as to be a Guide but either by means of it's Head which you make the Pope or else by the way of a General Council there is no other way whereby those of your Communion can be certain what is the Doctrine and what are the Traditions of your Church but one of these and therefore having considered both of them already I shall proceed to consider the way of Reasoning your Divines commonly make use of to prove that there either is or ought to be such an Infallible Judge As for what they say from Scripture it is commonly urged so coldly and with so much diffidence that we may see they do not lay any great stress upon it But that you may not be amused only with some general Words in truth nothing to the purpose I desire you would consider that there being no Infallibility which can serve to be your Guide but only that of the Pope or a General Council nothing from Scripture can be pertinent but that which proves either the one or the other No Man or Number of Men can be Infallible without a particular Assistance and we cannot be sure they are so without a particular Promise And therefore when you hear any thing alledged from Scripture only ask your selves What does this prove Does it prove the Pope to be Infallible Or does it prove a General Council to be so If it do not prove one of them it proves nothing in this Matter for you are never the nearer your Guide for any thing else Now as to General Councils I have shewed already that there is not the least hint of them in Scripture and as for the Title of the Pope to it I shall consider it presently in examining his Supremacy And in the mean time shall take notice a little what they urge from Reason to prove that there ought to be such a Judge ought to be I say for all the Reason in the World without a Revelation from God can never prove that there is one it being a thing that depends meerly upon the appoinment and good-pleasure of God The Writers of the Romish Church it must be confessed talk Plausibly enough when they expose the weakness of Human understanding and the Infirmities of Human Nature and I must say that in reading of them I could hardly forbear at least to wish that if it had pleased God some effectual Remedy had been provided to secure Men from Error But this did not at all influence me to think that God had done so and that upon these Three Accounts 1. Because we see in fact that neither Mankind in general nor Christians in particular have been secured from Errors that there have been as many Contests and Differences among Christians as we can suppose there would have been taking it for granted that they were left in the State we say they were without any Infallible Guide to direct them and therefore whatever force such a Consideration from the necessity of ending Controversies might have had in the first Times of our Religion the matter of Fact does now in a great measure take it off because in 1700 Years the Church has not been freed from them From whence as I said before we may inferr either that it is not the Will of God that Controversies should be ended or that an Infallible Judge will not end them or that there is no Infallible Judge either of which takes away the force of this Argument 2. Because this whole way of Arguing from the weakness of our Understanding and proness to Error and the like proves nothing in particular and consequently does not bring us at all nearer Satisfaction than we were before The most natural Inference from it is That every Man is to be of the Religion of his Country for that makes through work and excuses us from using our Fallible Reason at all in the Matter whereas in your Way however you may cry out of the uncertainty of our own Reason yet you must use it in a great many material Points and indeed found all the certainty you have upon it you must for instance Judge by your own Reason whether the Christian Religion be true or not whether among all the Professors of Christianity yours be the True Church whether there be any Infallible Judge or no and who he is and what his Determinations are These are things of great weight and of a great latitude and indeed take in the chief Points of Religion and yet these things must be judged of by that Reason which God has given every Man or they cannot be judged of at all whereas your whole way of Arguing from the fallibility of our Understanding either proves that we cannot judge with certainty of these Matters or it proves nothing 3. This whole way of talking is to me a strong prejudice against what you would prove by it For if you had a plain Institution or a Promise of such a Judg to shew there would be no need of this Arguing that would be Sufficient and without that no Man can be Infallible and we may be sure that Men have no such Commission or Promise to shew when they are forced to use so much Cavilling and Dispute about the matter which is indeed nothing to the purpose without the other We do with much more reason inferr that since God has not thought fit to give any such Commission that therefore we must make the best of those other means which he is pleased to allow us to search the Scriptures and endeavour to understand them as well as we can And this is the Method that our Saviour directed Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life and they testifie of me From which Words we may plainly infer these following things 1. That the Jews had at that time no Infallible Guide in Matters of Religion for if they had our Saviour would have directed them thither but we see he directs them to the Scripture 2. We may inferr that the Persons our Saviour spoke to had without an Infallible Guide sufficient Abilities to understand the Scriptures and to have true Faith otherwise we may be sure he would not have sent them thither and if they could understand the Old Testament without such a Guide much more may Christians understand the New which is much easier 3. We may inferr that Private Persons for such our Saviour spoke to may have sufficient assurance of Divine Truths from examining the Scriptures tho' they go against the Governors of the Church for our Saviour tells them that they might find in the Scriptures that he was the True Messias tho' the Chief Priests did at that time reject him and were afterwards the Authors of his Crucifixion All which do absolutely overthrow the necessity of an Infallible Judge in order to True Faith And there cannot be one thing said against
AN ADDRESS To those of the Roman Communion IN ENGLAND Occasioned by the late Act of Parliament For the further Preventing the Growth of Popery LONDON Printed for Mat. Wotton at the Three Daggers near the Inner-Temple-gate in Fleetstreet 1700. BOOKS Printed for Matt. Worten The Second Volume of the Remains of the most Reverend Father in God and Blessed Mertyr William Laud Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Written by himself Collected by the Late Learned Mr Henery Wharton and Published According to his Request by the Reverend Mr. Edmund Wharton his Father Occasional Paper N o 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. Angliae Notitia Or the present State of England with divers Remarks upon the Ancient State thereof by Edward Chamberlayne Doctor of Laws The Ninth Edition with Great Additions and Improvements In Three parts Remaks upon an Essay concerning Humane Understanding in a Letter Addressed to the Author N o 1 2 3. The History of the Revolution of Portâ—gal in the Year 1640. Or an Account of their Revolt from Spain and Setting the Crown on the Heads of Don John of Braganza Father to Don Pedro the present King and Catherine the Queen Dowager of England Echard's Roman History First and Second Part. Charone of Wisdome in Three Books Englished by George Stanhope D. D. Farnaby's Rhetorik English Gardiner BOOKS Printed for Matthew Wotton at the Three Daggers in Fleetstreet A Guide to the Devout Christian In Three Parts The First containing Meditations and Prayers affixed to the days of the Week Together with many Occasional Prayers for particular Persons The Second for more Persons than one or a whole Family for every day of the Week Together with many Occasional Prayers The Third containing a Discourse of the Nature and Necessity of the Holy Sacrament Together with Meditations thereon Prayers and Directions for the worthy Receiving thereof To which is Added A Prayer for Ash-Wednesday or any other time in Lent for Good-Fryday and any Day of Publick Fasting By John Inett M. A. Chanter of the Cathedral Church of Lincoln The Fourth Edition Corrected A Guide to Repentance or the Character and Behaviour of the devout Christian in Retirement By John Inett Chanter of the Cathedral Church at Lincoln The Christians Pattern or a Treatise of the Imitation of Jesus Christ in Four Books with Cutts written originally in Latin by Thomas à Kempis now rendered into English To which are added Meditations and Prayers for sick Persons By George Stanhope D. D. Chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty Price 5 s. The same Book is Printed in a smaller Letter and sold for 2 s. Salvation every Man's great Concern written originally in French by Monsieur Rapin done into English An earnest Invitation to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper wherein all the Excuses that Men ordinarily make for their not coming to the Holy Communion are Answered by Jos Glanvil late Minister of Bath A Defence of the 39 Articles of the Church of England written in Latin by J. Ellis S. T. D. now done into English To which are added the Lambeth Articles together with the Judgment of Bp. Andrews Dr. Overal and other Eminent and Learned Men upon them Twelve Sermons preached upon several Occasions By the Right Reverend Father in God Richard Lord Bp. of Bath and Wells His 2d and 3d. Parts of the Demonstration of the Messias in which the Truth of the Christian Religion is Defended especially against the Jews Dr. Stanhope's Sermon at the Funeral of Dr. Towerson His Sermon preached at the Annual Meeting of the Sons of the Clergy The Heinousness of Injustice A Sermon preached at the Assizes at Lincoln by Lawrence Echard A. M. Mr. Bradford's Sermon preached before the King Jan. 30th Mr. Hole 's Visitation Sermon at Bridgwater Dr. Barton's Sermon to the Societies for Reformation of Manners The Character of the True Church in a Sermon Preach'd at the French Church in the Savoy upon these Words How goodly are thy Tents O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel Numb 24. ver 5. by A. D. Astor de Laussac formerly a Prior and Arch-Deacon of the Church of Rome THE CONTENTS THE Design of this Address Page 1. Why those of the Roman Communion have not Reason to expect the same Toleration with other Dissenters p. 4. Reasons to persuade those of the Church of Rome to examine the Grounds of their Religion p. 15. Of the Infallibility of the Church of Rome p. 25. Of Transubstantiation p. 54. Of the Idolatry of the Church of Rome p. 95. Of the Popes Supremacy p. 127. ERRATA PAge 10 in Marg. after Vid. ad 4 Gen. p. 13. line 10. for they read the Romanists p. 27. l. 11. f. it r. is p. 28. l. 16. f. differs r. differ p. 32. l. 14. f. pretences r. pretenders p. 55. l. ult f. thing and lies r. things and lie p. 57. l. 9. f. terms r. forms p. 58. l. 9. after Now r. our Saviour p. 60. l. 21. f. blessings r. blessing p. 117. l. 16. f. Scripture r. Scriptures and dele adds p. 126. l. 5. f. those r. these p. 141. l. penult f. Person r. Persons p. 143. l. 1. after and r. the. AN ADDRESS To those of the Roman Communion IN ENGLAND THE Design of this Address is not by any means to insult over you in the Circumstances under which it has pleased God in his Providence to bring you or to raise popular Odium against you No however necessary I may judge that which has lately been done yet I cannot but have a great compassion for any thing that looks like Suffering for Conscience sake And this I think I owe not only to the Principles of Humane Nature which require that we should have a tenderness and pity for those that are in Affliction but to the Principles of my Religion as a Christian and a Member of the Church of England I have always looked upon it as one of the Glories of the Protestant Religion that it gives the dominion over Mens Consciences to God only that it asserts the natural Liberty of Mankind to judge for themselves what it is that God expects from them that it makes very charitable Allowances for the Ignorance and Mistakes of Men when joined with Sincerity and a true Love of God and that in consequence of these things it does not incline it's Members to a severe inquisition into the private Opinions of Men or to be hard upon them upon that account And on the other side that it has been a great aggravation of the Errors of the Church of Rome that the Belief of them has been so rigidly exacted under no less pain than Damnation in the other World and the being Burnt or at least Vndone in this whenever it has been in their power to effect it But you will say perhaps That if the Opinion of Protestants be so much against Persecution how comes it to pass that there have been so many severe Laws from time to time made against you especially
convinced that if Popery should prevail in England we should not long enjoy our Estates or perhaps Lives if we would not comply with it and we are sensible that more than once we have been in great danger of this efpecially lately when it was almost a Miracle that we were saved from it We are sensible also that they are a restless uneasie Party that they have mighty dependencies abroad which have much prevailed of late that we can't tell what Foreign Power may be invited over or in succeeding times what incouragement they may have at home and therefore we do conceive that meerly in our own defence we may justly take as effectual measures as we can to keep their Priests from among them who we are satisfied have been and are like to be Incendiaries and to divert their Estates into better Hands of their own Relations that they may not be turned against us To conclude this matter notwithstanding these Reasons we have to guard our selves against Popery yet there are here no Cruelties of an Inquisition no Burning no taking away of Life no Dragooning nay the greatest part the Traders and those of the poorer sort are scarce touched in this Act and as for others on whom it is hardest those of Estates yet there is nothing done of a sudden and irremediable there 's Time allowed for Consideration and Place left for Repentance and better Thoughts and in the mean time their Persons are secure and they are at Liberty to go into any other Country with all the Money and Goods they can get without danger of being sent to the Gallies if they are caught which are Privileges a great many poor Creatures we have lately heard of would take to be very great Mercies Reasons to persuade those of the Church of Rome to examine the grounds of their Religion As far as a private Man may venture to give his Opinion of the Actions of his Superiors these I suppose joyned with some peculiar Insolencies at this time very well known in the Kingdom were the chief Reasons the King and Parliament went upon in making this and former Laws against you and if our Religion be true and yours false I believe you your selves will hardly condemn us for it And this is the next thing I would desire you to consider of that you would not take it for granted that you are in the right and so call this Persecution for Conscience sake but that you would take this Opportunity to examin the grounds of your Religion which will be an advantage to you which way so ever the matter end If upon Examination you find your selves to have been in the wrong you will then have the Benefit and Comfort of being converted from very dangerous Errors and Practices and of living quietly and preserving your Estates to your Families but if otherwise you find reason for your present Opinions it will be a mighty comfort to you in whatever you suffer that you do it upon evidence and conviction of Conscience and not upon Fancy and Prejudice from your Education And so much I think in Justice you owe to your Children not to Breed them up in a Religion which must deprive them of their Estates till you have well examined the Truth of it your selves It will indeed be the greatest Blessing to them to Breed them up in the true Religion let the consequences as to this World be what they will but at least Matters ought to be well weighed before you do what will be on all accounts so great an Injury to them if your Religion should prove false which perhaps I may give you just reason to suspect before I conclude this Paper if you will but read it without prejudice and partiality Only one thing I would desire you to have a care of that you be not too nicely sensible of the dishonour of changing your Opinion now it may seem to be for your Interest This I know is a Consideration apt to work very strong and to give a greater Biass to the Minds of some Persons than the greatest Interest in the World But a good Christian should be contented with the Apostle to go through evil report and good report and should despise the Censure of the World so he can but please God and save his Soul And this suggests another Consideration that not only your Interest in this World but your Souls are very much concerned in this Examination Your Church is accused by Protestants as guilty of a great number of dangerous Errors and of very sinful Practices of Superstition and Idolatry of being the Authors and consequently having the guilt of a great Schism in the Church and it concerns you to consider whether this Charge be true or no Whatever Charity Protestants may have for those among you who have no means of being better Informed they have just reason to look upon such Errors and sinful Practices as like to be fatal to those among you who might be better informed and will not But there is another Consideration which perhaps may weigh more with you in this Matter than the Opinion of Protestants which is That if this Charge against you be true if you are guilty of Schism and Idolatry and such gross Errors by the Opinion of your own Divines you cannot be Saved This is a Matter that they themselves often urge against that Charity which Protestants are apt to have for sincere honest People among you that are invincibly Ignorant besides the very same Reasons which they urge to shew the danger that we are in do equally hold against you supposing that you are in the wrong If it be Heresy in us to deny the Articles of your new Creed supposing they are true it must be Heresy in you to believe them supposing they are false the Reason is the same in both and so as to the Schism if your pretended Head of the Church be guilty of Tyranny and Usurpation and Heresy and Idolatry and of imposing these upon Christians it is He and his Followers are in the Schism and not We. And then all those dreadful things which your own Writers say against Schism and Heresy do as much belong to you supposing you are in the wrong as they do to us if we are so And therefore if what they say have any weight with you it ought to make you consider seriously whether you are in the right or no. I the rather urge this because it contains a full Answer to that piece of Sophistry wherewith you often deceive your selves and endeavour to delude us That you are safe by the confession of all Sides but we are not and that therefore we ought in prudence to come over unto you Which is false for by your own Opinion you are not safe but in a Damnable Condition supposing that you are in the wrong There is no difference at all betwixt us and you in this Matter except only where the Truth lies For if our charitable
be contained wholly in that which is less and that not once only but as many times over as there are Points in the Bread and Wine That the same thing at the same time should be wholly above it self and wholly below it self within it self and without it self on the right Hand and on the left Hand and round about it self That the same thing at the same time should move to and from it self and lie still or that it should be carried from one place to another through the middle space and yet not move That to be One should be to be undivided from it self and yet that one and the same thing should be divided from it self That a finite thing may be in all Places at once That there should be no certainty in our Senses and yet that we should know some things certainly and know nothing Corporal but by our Senses That that which is and was long ago should now begin to be That the same thing should be before and after it self That it should be possible that the same Man for Example You or I may at the same time be awake at London and not awake but asleep at Rome there run or walk here not run or walk but stand still sit or liedown there study or write here do nothing but dine or sup there speak here be silent that he may in one place freeze with cold in another burn with heat that he may be drunk in one place sober in another valiant in one place a coward in another a Thief in one place and honest in another that he may be a Papist and go to Mass in Rome a Protestant and go to Church in England that he may die in Rome and live in England or dying in both Places may go to Hell from Rome and to Heaven from Fngland That the Body and Soul of Christ should cease to be where it was and yet not go to another place nor be destroyed These are some of those monstrous Contradictions which are involved in this Doctrine of Transubstantiation I shall only observe these few things more about this Matter and then conclude this Point 1. That you ought not for the avoiding of these Difficulties to content your selves to believe in general that somehow or other you don't know how this Sacrament is the Body of Christ for your Church has determined the Matter that it is the very Body of Christ which was Born of the Virgin Mary and was afterward Crucified and that there remains no substance of Bread but only this Body of Christ after Consecration 2. I would observe that none of these Difficulties are taken off by considering Christ's Body as glorified for besides that if it be a Body still it must have the Properties of a Body this Sacrament was Instituted while our Saviour lived in the World and had just such a Body as other Men of the same bigness and all other qualities as to his Body the same And therefore in interpreting these Words This is my Body all the Difficlties are still the same as if he were now living or as they would be were they spoken of the Body of any other Man 3. I desire that you would consider that you may be sure we do not mis-understand nor mis-represent your Opinion because these Absurdities are what your own Divines take notice of as well as ours and do not pretend to be able to give any direct Answer to them 4. I would observe That tho' these Contradictions are so apparent and staring that no Body that hears of this Doctrine can well miss of them yet they are new and none of them ever heard of in the Church for many Hundred Years from whence we inferr that the Doctrine it self was as little heard of 5. We do not find that any Christian for many Hundred Years ever denied or disputed the truth of this Doctrine from whence we cannot but conclude that it was then unknown in the Church for it must have had strange good fortune to escape without any Contradiction when all the Articles of the Creed had been Disputed round 6. As this was not disputed or denied by any Christians so neither was it objected against the Christian Religion by any Heathen not even by Julian himself who as being an Apostate must have known all the Secrets of our Religion whereas in truth there had been Ten times more weight in this than in all the Objections together which they made use of against Christianity 7. There were several things in the Primitive Church inconsistent with the belief of this Doctrine in particular that of mixing Water with the Wine the Water to represent the People as the Wine represented the Blood of Christ of which St. Cyprian gives us a full Account Vid. Cypr. Epist 63. 8. I would observe That the Church of Rome can assign no peculiar necessity or usefulness of this Sacrament above others that should give a probable Reason of the mighty difference betwixt this and others and of such a strange wonderful Dispensation as the eating our Blessed Saviour himself Nay with them both Baplism and Confession are esteemed much more necessary and the omission of them more dangerous than the omission of this Sacrament 9. To conclude this whole Matter I think I have sufficiently shewed that this Doctrine has no foundation in Scripture I would have considered at large the Sense of the Primitive Church in it and I do not question but to have been able very clearly to make out that it was a Doctrine quite unknown to the Church of God for many Ages but that was not consistent with the Brevity I am at present forced to use I would therefore only observe this one thing That we ought not to conclude this to have been the Doctrine of the Fathers only from some accidental or general Expressions which they sometimes make use of It 's plain that none of them designedly treat of this Matter or explain it to us none of them recite it among the Articles of their Faith none of them take any notice of the difficulties of it no Christians appear to have been shocked at this Doctrine and no Heathens to have Objected it all which could hardly have been avoided had this been the constant Doctrine of the Catholick Church And as for General Expressions the calling what they received the Body and Blood of Christ that could not be avoided the Nature of the thing requiring them even according to our Opinion of this Matter And we see that notwithstanding we have made such express Declarations against the Doctrine of the Church of Rome and that by reason of this Controversy we express our selves more cautiously than we may suppose the Fathers would do before any Controversy was moved ved about it yet some general Expressions of our own Divines are often turned against us by those of the Church of Rome and there is no question but were the Authors of them as Old as the
Fathers they would be as confidently quoted for the Proof of Transubstantiation as any Sayings of the Fathers now are And this shews us how this Doctrine tho' monstrous in it self might under the Covert of such General Expressions without any great stir or bustle insensibly creep into the Church especially in very Ignorant and Superstitions Times tho' after all our Divines have sufficiently traced the footsteps of it and shewed the progress it made and the opposition it met with in the World before it could be Established The next thing to be spoken to is the Idolatry of the Church of Rome In the Sacrfice of the Mass and in the Invocation of the Blessed Virgin and of other Saints as it is practised in that Church Now Idolatry may be of two sorts I. When People worship any thing for the Supreme God which really is not so II. When they give that Worship to any Creature which is due only to God and which he has appropriated to himself As to the first sort of Idolatry that of Worshiping some thing as the Supreme God which realy is not so we do not charge the Church of Rome with it unless perhaps the worshipping of what is but Bread and Wine in the Sacrament instead of Jesus Christ may come under that head I say perhaps here because I would not enter into any thing besides the main cause that may be contested for tho' Jesus Christ be God and they worship some thing as Jesus Christ which is not so yet the mistake being chiefly about his Human Nature I would not positively affirm a thing which may bring on any dispute which is not to our purpose This they do not deny that they give the highest Divine Worship which they call Latria to that Object which they take into their hands and put into their Mouths in receiving this Sacrament which I shall at present call Idolatry but with a promise to recant it whensoever they shall answer the Reasons I have given to prove that what they thus Adore is only Bread and Wine or whenever they shall give me a more proper Name by which I may call that great Sin of giving the highest Divine Worship to a Creature The truth is that such a Worship may not only be called Idolatry but the most absurd and senseless Idolatry that ever the World fell into But this I shall not now insist upon having spoken so much already to that which is the foundation of it the Doctrine of Transubstantiation The other Matter in which we charge them with Idolatry is the Invocation of the Blessed Virgin and other Saints Now in this we do not charge them with owning any of those to be God but only with giving them that Worship and Honour which cannot lawfully be given to any thing which is but a Creature In speaking to this I shall consider these Two Things 1. Whether the giving to a Creature the Worship due only to God may not be properly termed Idolatry tho' at the same time we pay that Worship we own it not to be God but a Creature 2. Whether the Worship given to Saints by the Invocation practised in the Church of Rome be of that sort such as God has appropriated to himself and consequently such as becomes Idolatrous when applied to a Creature 1. As to the first of these Those of the Roman Church cannot deny but it must be a very great Sin to give the Worship of God to Creatures but they deny it to be properly Idolatry We on the other side grant that it is not Idolatry in the highest sense of the Word and in the sense in which they commonly understand it viz. The owning a Creature to be God So that so far we are agreed but then we say that Word may be used in a lower sense to denote what they grant to be a Sin as well as we but will not call it by that Name so that our difference in this Matter is only about the use of a Word Now we think our selves in the right in the use of this Word upon these Accounts 1. Because we have no other Name to express that which is not denied to be a very great Sin The giving God's Worship to Creatures and having no peculiar Name for it we think it not improper to give it the Name of that Sin which is of nearest affinity to it and of the same general kind as is done in many other Cases Thus our Saviour calls looking upon a Woman to lust after her by the name of Adultery and the like The next step to owning a Creature to be God is to give it the Worship due to God and therefore we think it not at all improper to call these two Sins by the same general Name especially having no Word in our Language more proper by which we may express it 2. We think our selves fully justified in the expression because the Scripture does every where charge the Heathen Worship of their Gods and Images in general with the Crime of Idolatry tho nothing can be more apparent than that many of the Heathen owned only one Supreme God and that all of them looked upon many of the Gods whom they Worshipped not as Supreme but as Gods of an Inferior Nature and had much the same Opinion of them as the Romanists have now of Saints and Angels and had the very same pretences and excuses for the Worshipping of them which the Romanists make use of to defend themselves They owned many of their Gods to have been born and to have dyed and it was hardly possible to look upon any such to be the Supreme God In a Word There is nothing more evident than this that they had several Ranks and Orders and Degrees among their Gods and it was impossible to look upon all these to be Supreme And yet the Scripture every where without any distinction charges their whole Worship with Idolatry and so do the Primitive Fathers as well as the Scriptures particularly they thought it to be Idolatry to throw a little Incense into the Fire before the Statues of their Emperors From whence we may plainly inferr these Two Things First That they thought that there might be Idolatry in giving such Worship as was appropriated to God to Creatures tho' they were not pretended to be any thing else but Creatures only Creatures highly exalted and in high Favour with God as Saints and Angels are supposed to be Secondly That they looked upon the offering of Incense to be a part of Worship appropriated to God and that could not be given to a Creature without the Crime of Idolatry which is a Matter the Church of Rome have reason to consider well of who offer it every Day to those who however they may have been better Men are certainly no more Gods than the Heathen Emperors were To conclude this Matter The sense of the Primitive Church in the business of Idolatry is plainly seen in this that they every
any Prayer put up to any Creature It may be it will be said That the Saints were not then in Heaven and so were not in a condition to hear the Prayers that should be put up to them and had not so much Favour with God as they may be supposed to have now since the Resurrection of Christ that he has admitted them so nearly into his Presence Now in Answer to this I shall not at present pretend to determine whether the Saints of the Old Testament were in Heaven before Christ's Resurrection or not nor whether they and other Saints since are there now because a great many Christians of no mean Authority in the Church of God have been of different Opinions in these Matters only I think these two or three Things are very plain 1. That Enoch and Elias were supposed by a great many before our Saviour's time to be in Heaven and they must have been looked upon by them to be very great Favourites of God by being taken out of this World in so strange and wonderful a manner as the Scripture tells us they were and yet we hear as little of praying to them as to any other Person 2. Supposing it not agreed upon then whether Saints were in Heaven yet all agreed that the Angels were And they were altogether as well capacitated to hear and answer Prayers which should have been put up to them then as they are now and yet we find as little of Mens praying to Angels as they did to Saints in those Times 3. Whatever Reason can be assigned for praying to Creatures now would have held as well then whatever necessity or conveniency or advantage or fitness there may be in it were all the same and indeed much greater then than they are now upon these Two Accounts 1. Because the Christian Religion is of it self a State of much greater Perfection than any Dispensation that was before it God has in it revealed himself more clearly and plainly to the World has more evidenced his Love and Tenderness to Mankind has given us greater incouragements to draw near to him He speaks to us in the Gospel as a Father to his Children as a reconciled Father in Jesus Christ and therefore accordingly in that Form of Prayer which our Saviour has left us that is the Appellation which he has taught us to make use of Our Father which art in Heaven Now why should a Child be afraid to approach the Presence of his Father Or what need has he of any body to introduce him Under the Jewish Dispensation when the Law was given with Thunderings and Lightnings when God was called by the terrible Name of the Lord of Hosts there might be more reason to think of some body to introduce them to his Presence which yet we do not find was ever recommended or practised among them How much more may Christians come with boldness to the Throne of Mercy and expect to find Grace to help in time of need But what is more considerable 2. Christians have Christ for their Mediator who is able to save to the uttermost all those that come to God by him He is in Heaven ready to plead their cause and to get their Prayers heard and their Persons accepted and they that have such an Advocate need not fly to any else But it was not so with the Church before Christ and therefore if the thing had been at all lawful they had much more reason to make Saints and Angels their Patrons than Christians have And yet we see that in the Account which we have in the Bible of the Church of God before Christ for near 4000 Years there is not the least hint of any thing of this kind 3. What I have said already that all along in the Old Testament Prayer is appropriated to God and that without any reserve or distinction may be sufficient to shew the Mind of God in that Case But I have this further to add That the same Scripture adds with the same general words condemn as Idolatrous all the Old Heathen Worship Now I have shewed before that much of this Worship was paid to Creatures under the same Notions and Apprehensions that those of the Church of Rome Worship Saints and Angels indeed there was this difference that most of those Worshipped in the Church of Rome were probably good Creatures as most of those whom the Heathens Worshipped were bad ones and it may be Devils But this distinction of good or bad Creatures may make the Worship more or less Impious but not more or less Idolatrous whatever will make it Idolatry in the one Case will make it so in the other The Worship appropriated to God is no more due to a good Creature than it is to a bad one since therefore I have shewed that the Scripture every where condemns the Worship which the Heathen gave to what they owned not to be God and which they did not intend to Worship as the Supreme God I say since this is condemned not only as Impious for choosing ill Creatures but as Idolatrous for giving what belonged only to God this must equally prove all Creature Worship to be Idolatrous 4. This Creature Worship is as litle heard of in the New Testament as it is in the Old Heard of it is indeed but what approbation it met with we may see by considering these particulars The first Instance is that of the Devil desiring our Saviour to worship him upon promise to give him all the Kingdoms of the World But let us see what our Saviour answers he does not put him off with telling him either the Dignity of his own Person or the unfitness of the thing in Worshipping him because he was a Devil but he gives such a Reason as will hold against all Worshipping of Creatures Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve From which words I would observe these Two Things 1. That the Worship which the Devil desires and which our Saviour says must be given only to God was not to offer Sacrifice to him which the Writers of the Church of Rome make the only outward Worship appropriated to God but it was to fall down and adore him from whence we may inferr that to fall down and adore any Creature must be Idolatry which part of Worship its apparent the Church of Rome give to their Saints and Angels 2. I would observe here that the Devil did not pretend to be the Supreme God but plainly the contrary for when he shews our Saviour all the Kingdoms of the World he tells him that all these things were given to him Luke 4.6 in which he plainly professes not a Supreme But a Delegated Power so that had not our Saviour in his Answer condemned the Worship of Creatures tho' owned and acknowledged to be Creatures he had not given a full Answer to the Devil for the Devil did not desire to be Worshipped as the Supreme God Another
order to hold Communion with one another which as it is left off since the Pope's Authority came up so the use of it must have been inconsistent with it for it was taking the Judgment of Things and Persons into their own Hands which must not have belonged to them but to the Sovereign High Priest In a word their forging so many Decretal Epistles for the Bishops of Rome for so many Ages is a plain Argument that they have no true Evidences of the exercise of such Authority in the Ancient Church as is now pretended to Had such Authority been then exercised they needed not have been put to the forging Evidences of it we could not easily have miss'd of as many true Decretal Epistles as we have now forged ones something or other we must at least have heard of theirs upon all the Emergent Controversies and Difficulties that happen'd in the Church In short We must have known of the Authority of the Popes of those Ages by the same methods we know of the Authority of the then Emperors by their Actions by their Laws by their Rescripts by their Bulls and by the whole Course of their Government And therefore we must not judge of a thing of that Nature by some few accidental and general Expressions in Authors or by Compliments which the Bishops of so great a See could not easily miss of The last Argument I shall make use of is this That it is not easily to be believed that Jesus Christ has left such an Authority in his Church without leaving at least some Rules about it such as how and by whom the Person who is invested with it is to be Chosen how his Authority is to be executed and what are the bounds and limits of it or whether it has any bounds or no These are Matters of great consequence which have been the occasion of a great many Schisms and might have been or may still be the occasion of a great many more Besides that so vast an Office without any set limits is mighty apt to degenerate into Tyranny and to betray Men into great Exorbitancies to tempt them to leave the Simplicity of the Gospel to Usurp upon the Rights of other People and to affect at last a Secular Dominion instead of a Spiritual Office In fact the want of some such Rules to limit and confine his Authority has made great differences in the Church of Rome about this Matter Some say he has a plenitude of Power others say that he is confined to the Canons of the Church some say that he is above a General Council others deny it some say that he has the Supreme Authority over all the World not only in Spirituals but also in Temporals that he has a Power to Erect Kingdoms to give away Kingdoms to deprive Princes of their Dominions and to take away the Obligation of Subjects to their Allegiance others there are who either qualify this with distinctions or else quite deny it lastly some there are who say that he is Infallible that what he solemnly determines ought to be a Rule and Law to all Christians and to be taken as the Dictate of the Holy Ghost but many there are who deny this too besides all which thereare many Disputes about his Power of granting Indulgencies his dispensing with Oaths and Vows and with the Laws both of God and the Church These are Differences of great moment both with relation to Faith and Practice and may carry Men as different ways as Light and Darkness are different or as different as Truth is from the most monstrous Heresies in the World Thus if the Pope be not above a General Council he may carry those into a State of Schism and Disobedience who believe he is if he cannot dispense with Oaths and Laws and Vows he may carry those into great Sins who believe he can if he cannot Depose Princes he may carry those into Rebellion Perjury Murther and all sorts of Villanies who are led by him and if he be not Infallible as he pretends to be God knows whither he may carry those who follow him And so on the other side if he has all these Prerogatives they are in as much danger who say that he has not If Christ had thought fit to appoint a Head of his Church I cannot imagine but He would have given the Church some Rules about his Power and the Obedience that was due to him And I cannot but wonder how the same Church holds Persons that are of so contrary Opinions in Matters of this consequence Let us only consider that single Point of the Pope's Infallibility I have already shewed that those who do believe it must have a different Rule of Faith from those who do not because his Determinations must be part of the Rule of their Faith and consequently they must have a different Religion from those who do not believe it But that which I would insist upon at present is this That for a Person to affirm himself to be Infallible and to be appointed by God for the Supreme Guide and Conductor of the Faith of Christians so that whatsoever he shall solemnly determine must be believed true without examining I say for a Person to affirm this of himself supposing it be false is downright Heresy and that as gross and dangerous Heresy as almost any Man can fall into Now to illustrate this I would only propose one thing Suppose Henry VIII instead of those other Matters in which he differed from the Church of Rome had affirmed only this one Point That God had made him Infallible and appointed him to be the Guide of all Christians Would this have made him a Heretick or wâ—…d it not There is no Question but they must say this would have made him and all his Followers so or if there be any worse Name by which they could call them for if he were in their Opinion a Heretick for pretending to be the Head only of the Church of England and that without Infallibility How much more must the other have made him so Now what is Heresy in one must be Heresy in every body supposing it equally false for Heresy is not made so by difference of Persons but by the Nature of Things All therefore that believe the Pope not to be Infallible must as much believe this Pretence to be Heresy in him and his followers as they would in the Case of Henry VIII for the Matter is the same in both and the Pretence supposed to be equally false in both but must be much more dangeroâ—… in the Pope because more People â—…e like to be seduced by him That Reason which makes those of the Roman Church who deny his Infallibility yet not speak or think so severely of it as they would do of the same Pretence in another Man is realy so far from excusing it that it aggravates the Matter and makes it worse and much more dangerous than it would be in any other They do not speak out because the Person who pretends to this Privilege has great Authority among them and is at the Head of their Church whereas this is the very thing which makes such a Pretence the more pernicious that he has great Authority even with the whole Body of that Church and has a very great Number of them who say That if he determines Vertue to be Vice and Vice to be Vertue and the same if he determines Infidelity to be Faith yet he must be followed God knows how many People such a one may carry with him into Heresies or Immoralities or even to Hell it self Perhaps they think that God will take care of his Church and will not suffer any thing of that kind to happen but sure they have little reason to expect such a miraculous care over them who encourage the Pope and his Followers in such a pestilent Heresy by living in Communion with him and owning him for the Head of their Church But besides how do they mean that God will take care of his Church when he has suffered a Person whom they own to be the Head of it to fall into such a dangerous Heresy Will God preserve him that he shall fall into no other Heresies How do they know that or how can they expect it If any thing puts a Man out of the care and protection of God certainly such a false pretence as that is most likely to do it And as for those who will stick by such a Person notwithstanding they see the falseness of his pretences they have reason to expect that God should give them over to strong delusions rather than take any extraordinary care of them while they are in such a way I have now done with what I at first proposed to speak to And I cannot but hope that I have said enough to give you just reason to comply with the Laws of your Country in these matters This I am sure of that I have not willingly misrepresented any thing or made use of any reasoning which did not first convince my self If in this short Address I have not answered all the difficulties in these matters or if you desire satisfaction in the other points of Controversy betwixt us and your Church I must renew my request to you that you would consult some of our Divines or read some of those Books which have been written upon the several Subjects which I am perswaded can hardly fail of Convincing you if they are read impartially As for my self if I find by the success of this that any thing I can do may help forward your Conversion I shall be very glad to take any further pains in it And in the mean time shall not fail to put up my Prayers to Almighty God on your behalf that he would be pleased to take away all Prejudice to open your Eyes and bring you to the knowledge of the Truth FINIS
where accuse the Arians of Idolatry for Worshipping of Jesus Christ for this very Reason because they owned him not to be God or at least not the Supreme God from whence it plainly appears that they had the same Notions in this Case that we now have That Men may be guilty of Idolatry in giving Divine Worship to what they believe is not God Thirdly The Apostle calls Covetousness Idolatry which tho' it be a figurative Expression yet however denotes to us the thing for which I am now pleading The Covetous Man does not look upon his Money to be his God or intend to give it any of that Worship he thinks due to God I believe no Covetous Man in the World can be justly charged with either of these but because he places his Heart and his Affections upon it which ought to be given to none but God because his Money is the thing in which he puts his trust and his confidence therefore it is that he is said to make an Idol of it and to be guilty of Idolatry And so it is as to the Worshipping of Saints tho' their Worshippers know very well that they are not Gods yet because they give them the Worship of God that outward Adoration and inward Reverence hope trust and dependance which are due only to God they do by that make them Idols and are justly chargeable with Idolatry I now proceed to the Second Point To shew that the Worship which the Church of Rome gives to the Blessed Virgin and other Saints by the Invocation practised among them is Divine Worship such as ought to be given to none but God We are not concern'd at present to enquire into the Doctrine of the Church of Rome but into the Practice that being the thing particularly Censur'd in the Test-Act tho' indeed the Practice of any Church is the best Exposition of Her Doctrine The Council of Trent leaves this Matter in general Terms determines that we must seek the help and aid of the Saints Opem Auxiliumque Sess 25. but does not fix the measures of it However since it does not Censure what was then the Common Practice of that Church we may take it for granted that the meaning of the Council was that we must seek their aid and help in the Methods which were then in use for if they disapproved of what was then commonly Practised it concerned them much to speak out as to set their own People right and to keep them out of dangerous Practices so also to vindicate the Honour of their Church which was then openly charged with Idolatry upon account of those Practices We agree with the Church of Rome in this That we ought to have a great honour and respect for the Saints of God That we ought to love their Memory to endeavour to imitate the good Examples they have left us and to bless God for the Benefits he has bestowed upon the Church by their means And above other Saints we ought to have a great esteem and value for the Blessed Virgin who had the Honour to be the Mother of our Lord and by that to be so nearly concerned in the greatest Blessing that ever was bestowed upon the World But we differ from that Church in this That they Adore the Saints and Pray to them and that not as one Friend would desire another to Pray for him but with all the solemn Ceremonies and Circumstances of Prayer and with the very same with which they pray to God they do it in their Churches Kneeling and with their Eyes lift up to Heaven and with all the signs of Devotion which can be shewed not only from one Creature to another but from a Creature to its Creator They make Vows to them burn Incense to their Images dedicate themselves to their Service make Offerings to them and the like They pray to them directly to bestow Blessings upon them Thus in the Office of the Blessed Virgin She is not only called the Gate of Heaven but she is intreated to loose the bonds of the Gvilty to give light to the Blind and to drive away our Evils and to shew her self to be a Mother They pray to her therein for Purity of Life and a safe Conduct to Heaven She is commonly called the Queen of Heaven the Mother of Mercy and which is most Shameful of all The Psalms of David Composed for the Honour of God and which contain the highest strains of Devotion which a Creature can give to God are by a Saint of that Church Bonaventura turned to the Honour of the Virgin by putting her Name where the Name of God is put by David And this was neither Censured by the Council of Trent nor has been by any Pope that I can hear of to this Day but on the contrary the Author of it has been Canonized and the Book is in Common use which perhaps is one of the blackest pieces of Idolatry that ever was in the VVorld And tho' a Church must not always bear the Guilt of what is publish'd by private Persons in her Communion tho' it do pass without Censure Yet considering how careful that Church has been in many Matters of much less moment especially where her own Authority is concerned and how solicitous they are to keep Books that make against them out of the Hands of their People it looks at least like espousing the Blasphemies and Idolatrous Prayers and Praises of it to let this Book go so freely about without Censure and to incourage it so far as to make the Author of it a Saint These and many other Instances might be given of the Worship they give to the Blessed Virgin and tho' they are somewhat more modest with relation to other Saints yet what I have taken notice of already may sufficiently shew that they give them the VVorship which God has appropriated to himself I would only therefore mention further that in many Instances they pray to them to bestow those Blessings which only God can give such as to open the Gates of Heaven to unty the bonds of their Iniquity to heal their spiritual Maladies and many other of the same Nature of which I shall give them Examples at large if required or if I find it necessary to confirm any thing that I have now said I now proceed to take notice of some of those Reasons we have to prove that this Invocation is part of that Worship which God has appropriated to himself and which consequently cannot be given to any Creature without the Crime of Idolatry 1. I desire it may be considered that the Scripture does every where speak of Prayer as applied to God and to none else and that without the least intimation of any such Distinctions as are made use of in the Church of Rome VVe have in the Old Testament the History of the Church of God for near 4000 Years and in all that time there is not the least instance or intimation of