Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	body_n	bread_n	transubstantiation_n	1,791	5	11.1891	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62629	Sermons preach'd upon several occasions By John Tillotson, D.D. Dean of Canterbury, preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolns-Inn, and one of His Majesties chaplains in ordinary. The second volume.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1678 (1678)	Wing T1260BA; ESTC R222222	128,450	338

be trusted For if they be not then notwithstanding all the evidence the Apostles offer'd for the resurrection of our Saviour he might not be risen and so the faith of Christians was vain So that they represent the Apostles as absurdly as is possible viz. going about to perswade men out of their senses by virtue of an argument the whole strength whereof depends upon the certainty of sense And now the matter is brought to a fair issue If the testimony of sense be to be relied upon then Transubstantiation is false If it be not then no man is sure that Christianity is true For the utmost assurance that the Apostles had of the truth of Christianity was the testimony of their own senses concerning our Saviours miracles and this testimony every man hath against Transubstantiation From whence it plainly follows that no man no not the Apostles themselves had more reason to believe Christianity to be true than every man hath to believe Transubstantiation to be false And we who 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 chang'd 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 impostures in the World For if the clear evidence of all mans senses be not sufficient for this purpose let any man if he can find a better and more convincing argument 5. I will instance but in one Doctrine more 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 up 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 this that in some times and places when it is not seasonable and for their purpose we have much a-do to perswade 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 of them 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 acknowledg 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 worshipping of Images Which practice notwithstanding all their distinctions about it which are no other but what the Heathens used in the same case is as point-blank against 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 blood 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

too apparently destructive of a good life And I begin 1. With their Doctrines And because I have no mind to aggravate lesser matters I will single out four or five points of Doctrine which they have added to the Christian Religion and which were neither taught by our Saviour and his Apostles nor own'd in the first ages of Christianity And the First which I shall mention and which being once admitted makes way for as many errors as they please to bring in is their Doctrine of Infallibility And this they are very stiff and peremptory in though they are not agreed among themselves where this Infallibility is seated whether in the Pope alone or a Council alone or in both together or in the diffusive body of Christians But they are sure they have it though they know not where it is And is this no prejudice against it can any man think that this priviledg was at first conferred upon the Church of Rome and that Christians in all Ages did believe it and had constant recourse to it for determining their differences and yet that that very Church which hath enjoyed and used it so long should now be at a loss where to find it Nothing could have fallen out more unluckily than that there should be such differences among them about that which they pretend to be the onely means of ending all differences There is not the least intimation in Scripture of this priviledg confer'd upon the Roman Church nor do the Apostles in all their Epistles ever so much as give the least direction to Christians to appeal to the Bishop of Rome for a determination of the many differences which even in those times happen'd among them And it is strange they should be so silent in this matter when there were so many occasions to speak of it if our Saviour had plainly appointed such an infallible Judg of controversies for this very end to decide the differences that should happen among Christians It is strange that the ancient Fathers in their disputes with Hereticks should never appeal to this Judg nay it is strange they should not constantly do it in all cases it being so short and expedite a way for the ending of controversies And this very consideration to a wise man is instead of a thousand arguments to satisfie him that in those times no such thing was believed in the world Now this Doctrine of Infallibility if it be not true is of so much the more pernicious consequence to Christianity because the conceit of it does confirm them that think they have it in all their other errors and gives them a pretence of assuming an Authority to themselves to impose their own fancies and mistakes upon the whole Christian world 2. Their Doctrine about Repentance Which consists in confessing their sins to the Priest which if it be but accompanied with any degree of contrition does upon absolution received from the Priest put them into a state of salvation though they have lived the most lewd and debauched lives that can be imagin'd than which nothing can be more plainly destructive of a good life For if this be true all the hazard that the most wicked man runs of his salvation is only the danger of so sudden a death as gives him no space for confession and absolution A case that happens so rarely that any man that is strongly addicted to his lusts will be content to venture his salvation upon this hazard and all the arguments to a good life will be very insignificant to a man that hath a mind to be wicked when remission of sins may be had upon such cheap terms 3. The Doctrine of Purgatory By which they mean a state of temporary punishments after this life from which men may be released and translated into Heaven by the prayers of the living and the sacrifice of the Mass That this Doctrine was not known in the primitive Church nor can be proved from Scripture we have the free acknowledgment of as learned and eminent men as any of that Church which is to acknowledg that it is a superstructure upon the Christian Religion And though in one sense it be indeed a building of gold and silver upon the foundation of Christianity considering the vast revenues which this Doctrine and that of Indulgences which depends upon it brings into that Church yet I doubt not but in the Apostles sense it will be found to be hay and stubble But how groundless soever it be it is too gainful a Doctrine to be easily parted withall 4. The Doctrine of Transubstantiation A hard word but I would to God that were the worst of it the thing is much more difficult I have taken some pains to consider other Religions that have been in the world and I must freely declare that I never yet in any of them met with any Article or Proposition imposed upon the belief of men half so unreasonable and hard to be believed as this is And yet this in the Romish Church is esteemed one of the most principal Articles of the Christian Faith though there is no more certain foundation for it in Scripture than for our Saviours being substantially changed into all those things which are said of him as that he is a rock a vine a door and a hundred other things But this is not all This Doctrine hath not only no certain Foundation in Scripture but I have a far heavier charge against it namely that it undermines the very foundation of Christianity it self And surely nothing ought to be admitted to be a part of the Christian Doctrine which destroys the reason of our belief of the whole And that this Doctrine does so will appear evidently if we consider what was the main argument which the Apostles used to convince the world of the truth of Christianity and that was this That our blessed Saviour the Author of this Doctrine wrought such and such miracles and particularly that he rose again from the dead And this they proved because they were eye-witnesses of his miracles and had seen him and conversed with him after he was risen from the dead But what if their senses did deceive them in this matter then it cannot be denied but that the main proof of Christianity falls to the ground Well! We will now suppose as the Church of Rome does Transubstantiation to have been one principal part of the Christian Doctrine which the Apostles preached But if this Doctrine be true then all mens senses are deceived in a plain sensible matter wherein 't is as hard for them to be deceived as in any thing in the world For two things can hardly be imagin'd more different than a little bit of water and the whole body of a man So that the Apostles perswading men to believe this Doctrine perswaded them not to trust their senses and yet the argument which they used to perswade them to this was built upon the direct contrary principle that mens senses are to

of any duty faithfully discharged the memory of any good we have done does refresh the soul with a strange kind of pleasure and joy Our rejoycing is this saith St. Paul the testimony of our consciences that in all simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world But on the other side the course of a vicious life all acts of impiety to God of malice and injustice to men of intemperance and excess in reference to our selves do certainly leave a sting behind them And whatever pleasure there may be in the present act of them the memory of them is so tormenting that men are glad to use all the arts of diversion to fence off the thoughts of them One of the greatest troubles in the world to a bad man is to look into himself and to remember how he hath lived I appeal to the consciences of men whether this be not true And is not here now a mighty difference between these two courses of life that when we do any thing that is good if there be any trouble in it it is soon over but the pleasure of it is perpetual when we do a wicked action the pleasure of it is short and transient but the trouble and sting of it remains for ever The reflection upon the good we have done gives a lasting satisfaction to our minds but the remembrance of any evil committed by us leaves a perpetual discontent And which is yet more considerable a religious and virtuous course of life does then yield most peace and comfort when we most stand in need of it in times of affliction and at the hour of death When a man falls into any great calamity there is no comfort in the world like to that of a good conscience This makes all calm and serene within when there is nothing but clouds and darkness about him So David observes of the good man Psal 112.4 Vnto the upright there ariseth light in darkness All the pious and virtuous actions that we do are so many seeds of peace and comfort sown in our consciences which will spring up and flourish most in times of outward trouble and distress Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart And at the hour of death The righteous hath hopes in his death saith Solomon And what a seasonable refreshment is it to the mind of man when the pangs of death are ready to take hold of him and he is just stepping into the other world to be able to look back with satisfaction upon a religious and well-spent life Then if ever the comforts of a good man do overflow and a kind of heaven springs up in his mind and he rejoyceth in the hopes of the glory of God And that is a true and solid comfort indeed which will stand by us in the day of adversity and stick close to us when we have most need of it But with the ungodly it is not so His guilt lies in wait for him especially against such times and is never more fierce and raging than in the day of distress so that according as his troubles without are multiplyed so are his stings within And surely affliction is then grievous indeed when it falls upon a galled and uneasie mind Were it not for this outward afflictions might be tolerable the spirit of a man might bear his infirmities but a wounded spirit who can bear But especially at the hour of death How does the guilt of his wicked life then stare him in the face What storms and tempests are raised in his soul which make it like the troubled sea when it cannot rest When Eternity that fearful and amazing sight presents it self to his mind and he feels himself sinking into the regions of darkness and is every moment in a fearful expectation of meeting with the just reward of his deeds with what regret does he then remember the sins of his life and how full of rage and indignation is he against himself for having neglected to know when he had so many opportunities of knowing them the things that belonged to his peace and which because he hath neglected them are now and likely to be for ever hid from his eyes And if this be the true case of the righteous and wicked man I need not multiply words but may leave it to any mans thoughts in which of these conditions he would be And surely the difference between them is so very plain that there can be no difficulty in the choice But now though this discourse be very true yet for the full clearing of this matter it will be but fair to consider what may be said on the other side And the rather because there are several objections which seem to be countenanced from experience which is enough to overthrow the most plausible speculation As 1. That wicked men seem to have a great deal of pleasure and contentment in their vices 2. That Religion imposeth many harsh and grievous things which seem to be inconsistent with that pleasure and satisfaction I have spoken of 3. That those who are religious are many times very disconsolate and full of trouble To the first I deny not that wicked men have some pleasure in their vices but when all things are rightly computed and just abatements made it will amount to very little For it is the lowest and meanest kind of pleasure it is chiefly the pleasure of our bodies and our senses of our worst part the pleasure of the beast and not of the man that which least becomes us and which we were least of all made for Those sensual pleasures which are lawful are much inferiour to the least satisfaction of the mind and when they are unlawful they are always inconsistent with it And what is a man profited if to gain a little sensual pleasure he lose the peace of his soul Can we find in our hearts to call that pleasure which robs us of a far greater and higher satisfaction than it brings The delights of sense are so far from being the chief pleasure for which God designed us that on the contrary he intended we should take our chief pleasure in the restraining and moderating of our sensual appetites and desires and in keeping them within the bounds of Reason and Religion And then It is not a lasting pleasure Those fits of mirth which wicked men have how soon are they over Like a sudden blaze which after a little flash and noise is presently gone It is the comparison of a very great and experienced man in these matters Like the crackling of thorns under a pot saith Solomon so is the laughter of the fool that is the mirth of the wicked man it may be loud but it lasts not But which is most considerable of all the pleasures of sin bear no proportion to that long and black train of miseries and inconveniences which they draw after them Many times poverty and reproach pains and diseases upon our