did not see our Saviours Miracles as the Apostles did and have only a credible Relation of them but do see the Sacrament have less evidence of the truth of Christianity than of the falshood of Transubstantiation But cannot God impose upon the Senses of men and represent things to them otherwise than they are Yes undoubtedly And if he hath revealed that he doth this are we not to believe him Most certainly But then we ought to be assured that he hath made such a Revelation which Assurance no man can have the certainty of Sense being taken away I shall press the business a little farther Supposing the Scripture to be a Divine Revelation and that these words This is my Body if they be in Scripture must necessarily be taken in the strict and literal sense I ask now What greater evidence any man has that these words This is my Body are in the Bible than every man has that the Bread is not chang'd in the Sacrament Nay no man has so much for we have only the evidence of one Sense that these words are in the Bible but that the Bread is not changed we have the concurring testimony of several of our Senses In a word if this be once admitted that the Senses of all men are deceiv'd in one of the most plain sensible matters that can be there is no certain means left either to convey or prove a Divine Revelation to Men nor is there any way to confute the grossest imposture in the world For if the clear evidence of all mens Senses be not sufficient for this purpose let any man if he can find a better and more convincing Argument 5. I will give but one instance more of their Doctrines And that shall be their Doctrine of deposing Kings in case of Heresie and absolving their Subjects from their Allegiance to them And this is not a meer speculative Doctrine but hath been put in practice many a time by the Bishops of Rome as every one knows that is vers'd in History For the Troubles and Confusions which were occasion'd by this very thing make a good part of the History of several ages I hope no body expects that I should take the pains to shew that this was not the Doctrine of our Saviour and his Apostles nor of the Primitive Christians The Papists are many of them so far from pretending to this that in some times and places when it is not seasonable and for their purpose we have much a-doe to persuade them that ever it was their Doctrine But if Transubstantiation be their Doctrine this is for they came both out of the same Forge I mean the Council of Lateran under Pope Innocent the third And if as they tell us Transubstantiation was then establish'd so was this And indeed one would think they were Twins and brought forth at the same time they are so like one another that is both so monstrously unreasonable II. I come now in the Second place to consider some Practices of the Church of Rome which I am afraid will prove as bad as her Doctrines I shall instance in these Five 1. Their celebrating of their Divine Service in an unknown Tongue And that not only contrary to the practice of the Primitive Church and to the great end and design of Religious Worship which is the Edification of those who are concerned in it and it is hard to imagine how men can be edified by what they do not understand but likewise in direct contradiction to St. Paul who hath no less than a whole Chapter wherein he confutes this Practice as fully and condemns it as plainly as any thing is condemned in the whole Bible And they that can have the face to maintain that this Practice was not condemned by St. Paul or that it was allowed and used in the first Ages of Christianity need not be ashamed to set up for the defence of any Paradox in the world 2. The Communion in one kind And that notwithstanding that even by their own acknowledgment our Saviour instituted it in both kinds and the Primitive Church administred it in both kinds This I must acknowledge is no addition to Christianity but a Sacrilegious taking away of an Essential part of the Sacrament For the Cup is as essential a part of the Institution as the Bread and they might as well and by the same Authority take away the one as the other and both as well as either 3. Their worshiping of Images Which practice notwithstanding all their distinctions about it which are no other but what the Heathens used in the same case flies as full in the face of the Second Commandment as a deliberate and malicious killing of a man is against the Sixth But if the case be so plain a man would think that at least the Teachers and Guides of that Church should be sensible of it Why they are so and afraid the people should be so too And therefore in their ordinary Catechisms and Manuals of Devotion they leave out the Second Commandment and divide the Tenth into two to make up the number lest if the common people should know it their Consciences should start at the doing of a thing so directly contrary to the plain command of God 4. The worshipping of the Bread and Wine in the Eucharist out of a false and groundless perswasion that they are substantially changed into the Body and Bloud of Christ. Which if it be not true and it hath good fortune if it be for certainly it is one of the most incredible things in the whole world then by the confession of several of their own learned Writers they are guilty of gross Idolatry 5. The Worship and Invocation of Saints and Angels and particularly of the Virgin Mary which hath now for some Ages been a principal part of their Religion Now a man may justly wonder that so considerable a part of Religion as they make this to be should have no manner of foundation in the Scripture Does our Saviour any where speak one word concerning the worshipping of Her Nay does he not take all occasions to restrain all extravagant apprehensions and imaginations concerning the Honour due to her as foreseeing the degeneracy of the Church in this thing When he was told that his Mother and Brethren were without Who says he are my Mother and my Brethren He that doth the will of my Father the same is my Mother and Sister and Brother And when the Woman brake forth into that rapture concerning the blessed Mother of our Lord Blessed is the Womb that bare thee and the Paps that gave thee suck Our Saviour diverts it to another thing Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Does either our Saviour or his Apostles in all their Precepts and Directions concerning Prayer and the manner of it and by whom we are to address our selves to God give the least intimation of Prayer to the Virgin Mary or making use
be saved though with great difficulty and as it were out of the fire But now among those Builders with hay and stubble there were those who denied the possibility of St. Paul's Salvation and of those who were of his mind We are told of some who built the Jewish Ceremonies and Observances upon the Foundation of Christianity and said that unless men were Circumcised and kept the law of Moses they could not be saved So that by this argument St. Paul and his followers ought to have gone over to those Judaizing Christians because it was acknowledged on both sides that they might be saved But these Judaizing Christians were as uncharitable to St. Paul and other Christians as the Church of Rome is now to us for they said positively that they could not be saved But can any man think that St. Paul would have been moved by this argument to leave a safe and certain way of Salvation for that which was only possible and that with great difficulty and hazard The argument you see is the very same and yet it concludes the wrong way which plainly shews that it is a contingent argument and concludes uncertainly and by chance and therefore no man ought to be moved by it 3. I shall take notice of some gross Absurdities that follow from it I shall mention but these two 1. According to this Principle it is always safest to be on the uncharitable side And yet uncharitableness is as bad an evidence either of a true Christian or a true Church as a man would wish Charity is one of the most essential marks of Christianity and what the Apostle saith of particular Christians is as true of whole Churches that though they have all Faith yet if they have not Charity they are nothing I grant that no Charity teacheth men to see others damned and not to tell them the danger of their condition But it is to be considered that the damning of men is a very hard thing and therefore when ever we do it the case must be wonderfully plain And is it so in this case They of the Church of Rome cannot deny but that we embrace all the Doctrines of our Saviour and his Apostles Creed and determined by the four first General Councils and yet they will not allow this and a good life to put us within a possibility of Salvation because we will not submit to all the Innovasions they would impose upon us And yet I think there is scarce any Doctrine or Practice in difference between them and us which some or other of their most learned Writers have not acknowledged either not to be sufficiently contained in Scripture or not to have been held and practised by the Primitive Church so that nothing can excuse their uncharitableness towards us And they pay dear for the little advantage they get by this argument for they do what in them lies to make themselves no Christians that they may prove themselves the truer Church A medium which we do not desire to make use of 2. If this argument were good then by this trick a man may bring over all the world to agree with him in an Error which another does not account damnable whatever it be provided he do but damn all those that do not hold it and there wants nothing but confidence and uncharitableness to do this But is there any sense that another mans boldness and want of Charity should be an argument to move me to be of his opinion I cannot illustrate this better than by the difference between a skilful Physitian and a Mountebank A learned and skilful Physitian is modest and speaks justly of things He says that such a method of Cure which he hath directed is safe and withal that that which the Mountebank prescribes may possibly do the work but there is great hazard and danger in it But the Mountebank who never talks of any thing less than Infallible Cures and always the more Mountebank the stronger pretence to Infallibility he is positive that that method which the Physitian prescribes will destroy the Patient but his Receipt is Infallible and never fails Is there any reason in this case that this man should carry it meerly by his confidence And yet if this argument be good the safest way is to reject the Physicians advice and to stick to the Mountebanks For both sides are agreed that there is a possibility of Cure in the Mountebanks method but not in the Physitians and so the whole force of the argument lies in the confidence of an ignorant man 4. This Argument is very unfit to work upon those to whom it is propounded for either they believe we say true in this or not If they think we do not they have no reason to be moved by what we say If they think we do why do they not take in all that we say in this matter Namely that though it be possible for some in the Communion of the Roman Church to be saved yet it is very hazardous and that they are in a safe condition already in our Church and why then should a bare Possibility accompanied with infinite and apparent hazard be an Argument to any man to run into that danger Lastly This Argument is very improper to be urged by those who make use of it Part of the strength of it lies in this that we Protestants acknowledge that it is possible a Papist may be saved But why should they lay any stress upon this what matter is it what we Hereticks say who are so damnably mistaken in all other things Methinks if there were no other reason yet because we say it it should seem to them to be unlikely to be true But I perceive when it serves for their purpose we have some little credit and authority among them By this time I hope every one is in some measure satisfied of the weakness of this Argument which is so transparent that no wise man can honestly use it and he must have a very odd understanding that can be cheated by it The truth is it is a casual and contingent Argument and sometimes it concludes right and oftner wrong and therefore no prudent man can be moved by it except only in one case when all things are so equal on both sides that there is nothing else in the whole world to dermine him which surely can never happen in matters of Religion necessarily to be believed No man is so weak as not to consider in the change of his Religion the merits of the Cause it self to examine the Doctrines and Practices of the Churches on both sides to take notice of the confidence and charity of both parties together with all other things which ought to move a conscientious and a prudent man And if upon enquiry there appear to be a clear advantage on either side then this Argument is needless and comes too late because the work is already done without it Besides that the great hazard of
Salvation in the Roman Church which we declare upon account of the Doctrines and Practices which I have mentioned ought to deter any man much more from that Religion than the acknowledged possibility of Salvation in it ought to encourage any man to the embracing of it Never did any Christian Church build so much Hay and Stubble upon the Foundation of Christianity and therefore those that are saved in it must be saved as it were out of the Fire And thô Purgatory be not meant in the Text yet it is a Doctrine very well suited to their manner of Building for there is need of an Ignis Purgatorius of a Fire to try their work what it is and to burn up their Hay Stubble And I have so much Charity and I desire always to have it as to hope that a great many among them who live piously and have been almost inevitably detain'd in that Church by the prejudice of Education and an invincible Ignorance will upon a general Repentance find mercy with God and though their work suffer loss and be burnt yet they themselves may escape as out of the Fire But as for those who have had the opportunities of coming to the knowledge of the Truth if they continue in the Errors of that Church or Apostatize from the Truth I think their condition so far from being safe that there must be extraordinary favourable circumstances in their case to give a man hopes of their Salvation I have now done with the two things I propounded to speak to And I am sorry that the necessary defence of our Religion against the restless importunities and attempts of of its adversaries upon all sorts of persons hath engaged me to spend so much time in matters of Dispute which I had much rather have employed in another way Many of you can be my witnesses that I have constantly made it my business in this great Presence and Assembly to plead against the impieties and wickedness of men and have endeavoured by the best arguments I could think of to gain men over to a firm belief and serious practice of the main things of Religion And I do assure you I had much rather perswade any one to be a good man than to be of any party or denomination of Christians whatsoever For I doubt not but the belief of the ancient Creed without the addition of any other Articles together with a good life will certainly save a man and without this no man can have reasonable hopes of Salvation no not in an Infallible Church if there were any such to be found in the world I have been according to my opportunities not a negligent observer of the Genius and Humour of the several Sects and Professions in Religion And upon the whole matter I do in my conscience believe the Church of England to be the best constituted Church this day in the World and that as to the main the Doctrine and Government and Worship of it are excellently framed to make men soberly Religious ◠securing men on the one hand from the wild freaks of Enthusiasm and on the other from the gross follies of Superstition And our Church hath this peculiar advantage above several Professions that we know in the world that it acknowledgeth a due and just Subordination to the Civil Authority and hath always been untainted in its Loyalty And now shall every trifling consideration be sufficient to move a man to relinquish such a Church There is no greater disparagement to a mans Understanding no greater Argument of a light and ungenerous Mind than rashly to change ones Religion Religion is our greatest concernment of all other and it is not every little Argument no nor a great noise about Infallibity nothing but very plain and convincing Evidence that should sway a man in this case But they are utterly inexcusable who make a change of such concernment upon the insinuations of one side only without ever hearing what can be said for the Church they were baptised and brought up in before they leave it They that can yield thus easily to the Impressions of every one that hath a design and interest to make Proselytes may at this rate of discretion change their Religion twice in a day and instead of Morning and Evening Prayer they may have a Morning and an Evening Religion Therefore for Gods sake and for our own Souls sake and for the sake of our Reputation let us consider and shew our selves men let us not suffer our selves to be shaken and carried away with every wind let us not run our selves into danger when we may be safe Let us stick to the Foundation of Religion the Articles of our Common Belief and build upon them Gold and Silver and precious Stones I mean the virtues and actions of a good Life and if we would do this we should not be apt to set such a value upon Hay Stubble If we would sincerely endeavour to live holy and vertuous lives we should not need to cast about for a Religion which may furnish us with easie and indirect ways to get to Heaven I will conclude all with the Apostles Exhortation Wherefore my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast and unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord. Now the God of Peace which brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the Sheep by the Bloud of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS * Tully * Aristotle