to discuss the doubts which may arise from the consideration of that unequal and as it would seem unjust disposal of Men besides other things which may be instanced And without the help of Revelation all that can be known of GOD by meer Nature will not be effectual to counterpoise the corruption of our Natures and to restrain us from following Sensual and Brutish appetites which being cherished drown all sense of GOD and cast out all Fear and Regard for Him As Faith in the Divine Revelations of the Scripture is requisite to qualifie us for being Worshippers of the True GOD So in the next place it is necessarie that we adore the God-head according to that Incomprehensible Mysterie of the Trinity Reason and Scripture both teach That there is but One True GOD For it is impossible there can be more then One supreme Infinite Beeing But though Reason do not yet Scripture doth declare as plainly and clearly as it doth any thing that in the Unity of the God-head there are a Trinity of the Persons viz. the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost each of which is proposed to us as the due Object of all Divine Adoration therefore who do not adore all three and all three as one God doth not adore the true God For the true God is this Trinitie of Persons as he hath plainly manifested Himself and manifested it for this end that he may be so worshipped and acknowledged by men That the Trinitie is not contained within that Idea of God which we have by Nature will not excuse the disbelief thereof when clearly revealed as I suppose every one will find who layeth aside their prejudice We are as much oblidged to believe the word of God as the dictats of our own Reason and when Men will not believe God's word because their Reason cannot fathom the depth of it nor easilie conceive the truth thereof as in the present case then they make an Idol of their Reason and may be said rather to adore it then GOD Seing they will not acknowledge him according to what he really is in himselâ—… which he hath also plainlie declared but according to the appearance of their own Imaginations If the nature and essence of God agree with their sentiments they are very ready to own and acknowledge him but if it differ in any thing from these then they are Stubborn and Refractory Which I may fitly compare to those who make a nice distinction betwixt the name and Authority of the King and his person the King's Authority they profess to regard as much as any but however they are still Plotting and Rebelling against His Person If one should take away Omnipotency from God all would acknowledg that it is not God reallie but a fantome of his own devising which he pays worship too For that is no God which is not Omnipotent Now he doth the same who removes Veracitie from God for Truth as properly belongs to him as Power And therefore as the consideration of God's Omnipotencie doth oblidge us to believe that he can work not only above what we our selves can doe but beyond our conception for all things must be possible to him so the consideration of his Veracity oblidgeth us no less to believe all to be true which he speaks and declares though our reason cannot comprehend it If God had pleased he might have made the mystery of the Trinity and the other Mysteries of the Gospel more intelligible But then he would have wanted the homage and acknowledgement which is due from our understandings which the Scripture calls the Obedience of Faith and which is no less reasonable then the obedience of the will and actions He who doth not submit his will to the laws of God cannot be said to own him or his Authority Neither he who refuseth to yeeld His judgement to God to be informed by him And the withdrawing the submiâ—…on of our understandings will not be excused by paying the obedience of our wills for one duty will not make up the breach of another which is as necessary of it self Hence it is that Faith is so much spoken of in Scripture and made so necessary a duty to the being accounted Righteous before God and therefore also it is that Abraham is proposed for our Patern who against hope believed in hope for being not weak in Faith he staggered not at the Promise of God through unbelief but was strong in Faith giving glory to God being fully perswaded that what he had Promised he was able also to perform and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness Now saith the Scripture it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we likewise believe By this rule Socinians and Quakers will be cut off from the pretences of Worshipping the true God for as much Reason as the one sets up for and for as great Pietie as the other endeavours to make a shew of Thirdly that the True GOD may be our GOD it is absolutly necessarie that we pay all divine worship to Him alone and not share it among others besides him for seing there is but One GOD therefore to have more Objects of divine Worship is to be guilty of Idolatrie and Idolatrie and the worship of the true GOD cannot agree together It is certain that GOD will not accept of their worship who pay the same adoration to others besides him Therefore the First command which He gave to his People of old was this Thou shalt have no other Gods before ME. Intimating thereby that the very foundation of true Religion and the very first thing to be done in the Acknowledgment of the true God is to resolve to Worship him only according to what our Saviour saith thou shalt Worship the LORD thy GOD and him only shalt thou serve Matth 4 10. This Ioshua understood well and laid plainly before the Children of Israel in his last solemn speech to them wherein he endeavoured to reclaime them from Idolatrous practices that is the paying divine respect to any other besides the True GOD by shewing the absurdity thereof and its inconsistencie with the Worship and service of the true GOD for having bidden them choose whom they would serve lest they might have thought that they could well enough both serve Him who had done so much for them and others besides he roundly tells them ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God he is a Iealous God He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins if ye foresake the Lord and serve strange gods then he will turn and do you hurt and consume you after that he hath done you good And when the People expressed their resolution to serve the LORD that they might give a true Testimonie thereof he said to them Now therefore put away the strange gods which are among you and incline your heart unto the LORD GOD of Israel
are these words this is my Body which in Truth when considered are no Pretext at all because none but such as are Prepossest with the Fancy could understand that to be the Meaning of them such a Mystery and Miracle as Transubstantiation is had need to have been asserted more plainly and clearly that is to say in Terms which do more necessarly import it The Disciples who used frequently to trouble our LORD about the meaning of His Words and to raise Scruples when he spoke of things far more Credible it is not likely that they would have let this go if they had understood him as the Papists do if they had so taken him up as to think that he said what He Reached and what they Received and Eat was not real Bread but that same real Body which was before their eyes they would no doubt enquired farther into the matter and asked how such a thing could be But having a little before in the Celebration of the Passover heard our LORD say of the unleavened Bread according to the Iewish custom this is the Bread of Affliction which our Fathers eat in Egypt they could not understand the Bread now distribut to be his Body otherways then the unleavened Bread was the Bread which their Fathers eat in Egypt to wit not the same reallie but only the Symbol or Memorial thereof Thus it appears that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation is a meer groundless Conceit favoured neither by Sense nor by Reason nor Scripture but flatly opposed by all of them And so though the Bread in the Sacrament be Consecrat to an Holy use and though it serve for Holy ends and Purposes yet as to its Nature and Substance it is still Bread and therefore who worship it worship not GOD but a Creature and a dumb Senseless Creature of it self too which is as gross Idolatry as any can be Neither will it excuse them that they think it to be him who is their GOD for then all Idolatry should be excusable he who Worships the Sun should be excused if he fancied a Deitie therein Mens Opinions will not alter the Nature of things nor make that Justifiable which is of it self Damnable otherways the greatest Crimes may prove no Crimes Nor will it acquit the Papists of Idolatry in worshipping the Host that they intend therein to worship JESUS CHRIST seing their Worship is directed immediatly to another thing otherwayes the Israelites who worshipped the Golden calf might upon the same account be freed of Idolatry And yet the Papists in worshipping the Sacramental Bread are more gross then the Israelites in worshipping the Golden calf For they made not the Calf their GOD neither did they terminat their worship in the Calf it self but used it only as the means of conveying their Worship to the true GOD. Whereas the Papists believe the Bread in the Sacrament to be the very LORD IESUS CHRIST himself and do terminat their Worship in the very Sacrament it self Then which I hardly think there can be a grosser instance of Idolatry produced from among the Heathens whither Ancient or Modern If saith Coster a Popish-Writter the Doctrine of Transubstantiation be not true the Idolatry of the Heathens in Worshipping some Golden or Silver statue or any Image of their Gods or the Laplanders Worshipping a red cloath or the Egyptians an Animal is more excusable then that of Christians Worshiping a bit of bread And another of them saith that if there be nothing but bread in the Eucharist they are all Idolaters Thus they confess that it is the Supposition of Transubstantiation only which can vindicat them from the grossest Idolatry but that there is no such thing to be supposed we have already proved and they who will needs believe a thing not only without all ground but contrarie to all Evidence of Sense Reason and Scripture their Errour is wilfull and neither is it to be excused nor the Practises which they build thereupon to be Extenuated And it will be to little purpose here to have recourse to the Fathers for the Defence of this Opinion for first we are not obliedged to believe any of them contrary to Sense Reason and Scripture And secondly it hath been frequently shewed that they say no such thing for untill about the Eight or Ninth Century this Opinion did not creep into the Church it only entered in with the Worship of Images for which among several others see a late discourse of Transubstantiation But though there were ground for the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and that CHRIST should be really in the Sacrament as the Papists imagine yet according to their Principles it is scarce possible yea I may say altogether impossible to know certainly or to have any assurance when the Bread is truly Transubstantiated or that CHRIST is Really in the Sacrament and therefore who Adore it run alwayes the Hazard of committing the grossest Idolatry which is the most Heinous of Crimes According to the Principles of the Romish Church there can be no Transubstantiation if the Elements be not prepared of due matter viz. The Bread of true Wheat and the Wine of ripe Grapes and neither of them any wayes spoiled or corrupted if the Priest who Celebrats be not a true Priest that is to say Rightly ordained and according to them a great many things are requisite to make ones Ordination valid and it is not possible to know when they are wanting or when they are present but thought he should be a True Priest yet if he intend not seriously the Consecration of the Sacrament or doth not pronounce the words or doth not pronounce them right but doth either mangle or transpose them in all these cases there is no Transubstantiation neither is there any difference betwixt the Elements of Bread and Wine which seems to be consecrat and common Bread and Wine And therefore it is impossible to know when the Bread is Transubstantiated or when not when CHRIST is really present and when he is absent for it is one to an hundred but some one or other of these necessarie conditions of a right Consecration is wanting and therefore also who adore the Sacrament can never be certain that they adore JESUS CHRIST really but instead of him may be paying Divine worship to a meer creature to lifeless Bread and Wine which may perplex the minds and consciences of such as seriously consider the heinousness of the crime of Idolatry To evade this Difficultie they tell us that the Adoration of the Sacrament is always with the supposition of Christ's presence that they adore the Bread upon this condition that it is the Body of IESUS CHRIST But this is a sillie evasion and will never free their Church of Idolatry for it is only Doctours or the Learned who may use these subtilties as for the Vulgar they do not make any such supposition nor do they worship the Sacrament with any such salvo And besides both the One and the Other
more then that we should encrease in knowledge The reading of the Holy Scripture should be recommended to People according to the practice of all the Fathers It was not the People who wrested the Scripture and spread Heresies they were the Bishops and Doctors and Persons of the Clergy Arrius Macedonius Nestorius Eutyches Pelagius were all Church-men 2ly The Worship of the Roman Church has not a Resemblance to the Christian Religion because it wants the purity and simplicity thereof to make Worship look like Christian as we formerly shewed it should be Plain and Simple that is free of Ceremonies except what are requisite to Excite and Fix the attention should chiefly consist of Actions which are Grave and Serious and which do properly expresse the Divine Majesty and Glory But the Worship of the Papists is meerly Pomp Pageantry a vain external Shew of Ceremonies fitter for the Theatre then the Church Their Churches are dressed with Gaudy Scenes like Play-Houses and like them too they use not the light of the Sun but the dazling deceiving light of Lamps and Wax-Candles their Priests are sumptuously decked with various kinds of Garments and as for the Service it self it consists in sprinkling of holywater kindling Perfumes Kneeling and bowing and often crossing Turning to the Right or Left Hand according to the Sign given the Elevating and Lowing of the Voice at certain Times the vain repetition of unintelligible Words and in a multitude of impertinent and insignificant Ceremonies which chock the very Spirit of Religion and which would render what is read or spoken to no purpose though it could be understood For 't is impossible that the mind can be attentive or make any Serious application where there is such a multitude of external performances The Worship enjoyn'd and practised in the Church of Rome has more resemblance to Paganisme then the Christian Religion it contains indeed Acts and Instances of the true Worship of GOD but so buried in Heathnish Superstition that they lose their Efficacy both with GOD and Man Their Sprinklings Processions Scourgings Pilgrimages and in a word the most of their Ceremonies both in their Ordinary and Extradinary Devotions are derived from ancient Paganisme and are indeed more suited to Pagan tempers then Christian minds for such as understand the Gospel know that GOD taketh no pleasure in such Actions The hour cometh saith Christ and now is that the true Worshippers of GOD shall Worship Him in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to Worship Him 3ly Popish worship is not only full of Superstition but Idolatry it not only is made up of many foolishly and uselesse Actions which can pretend to no Shadow of Reason or Divine Authority But it contains also many things expresly forbidden as the Invocation and Adoration of Angels and Saints c. What St. Paul said of Rome Pagan holds true of Rome Christian they have changed the truth of GOD into a lie and Worship the creature more then the Creator For the most of their Worship is not tendred to GOD and JESUS CHRIST but to Angels the blessed Virgin and other departed Saints to Images Reliques that is the Bones Ashes and other forged appurtenances of their supposed Saints I say supposed for their is no evidence for the most of them but the Popes Cannonization which is very unsufficient 'T is laid on the name of one Pope Gregory that he should have said multorum corpora venerantur in terris quorum animae cruciantur in infernis that is many are Worshipped as Saints who are damned in Hell The Papists in their publick Worship are required to adore Bread as GOD to Pray to the Dead and for the Dead and to do several other things which not only have no warrant in Scripture but are quite contrary thereto and therefore GOD can be pleased neither with such a worship nor those who offer it more then he was with the Nations whom the King of Assyria planted in Samaria of whom it is said that they feared the LORD and served other Gods besides 4ly The Mass which is the chiefest part of their Worship is the highest abomination For it is used in stead of the Holy Sacrament which our LORD instituted that night wherein he was betrayed but in Truth it is is quite another thing because they have added to it and pared from it and use it in another sense and to other purposes then what that Sacrament was design'd for First they withhold the Cup which is the one half of the Sacrament though it be clear that our Saviour commanded All to drink of it as both the Councill of Constance and Trent acknowledge in their Acts which prohibite the use of the Cup to the Laity And as for the other part of the Sacrament besides that their Wafers cannot be counted Bread they do not use the rite of breaking it which is so essential that this Sacrament is ordinarly denominat by it in Scripture Indeed what the Priest takes to himself he breaks in three pieces one whereof is cast into the Cup another is left upon the Altar until the end of the Service and the third he puts in his own Mouth but this doth not answer to that breaking which our LORD used and which is necessary to hold Forth the purport of the Sacrament That this Action may be agreeable to our LORD'S institution it is necessary that all the Communicants eat and have distribute to them one broken Bread 2ly Our LORD ordain'd the Bread in this Sacrament to be only a symbol of his Body but they give it out to be His very self and command Divine Adoration to be payed thereto which is the greatest absurdity and the grossest Idolatry imaginable as we have formerly made out 3ly Our LORD designed this Sacrament to be only a memorial of his Death and of that satisfaction was given thereby to the Iustice of GOD for the sins of men but they teach and command under pain of damnation to be believed that in the Masse there is a real propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and the dead because according to them Iesus Christ is dayly Sacrificed and Offered therein Which Doctrine contains a heap of Absurdities and makes their Mass a Blasphemous action and most injurious to the Sacrifice of the Cross. For hereby it would follow that Christ was Sacrificed before he was Crucified viz. when he instituted this Sacrament that his Death was no sufficient Attonement there being such necessity for repeating it so frequently and that St. Paul erred grossely in thinking it absurd that he should offer himself often in saying he was but once offered to bear the sins of many and in preferring that one Oblation of IESUS CHRIST upon the Cross to all the legal Sacrifices because they behoved to be offered year by year continually to shew their insufficiency whereas he by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified see Heb. 9. 25. 28. 10. 1.