but he is so by any that is a Christian and may be demonstrated to be so to any that do doubt if they approve themselves but idoneous Auditors Nor can there be any Reason or demonstration brought against the Mystery of the holy Trinity â—o far forth as the Scripture and the ancient Councils have defined any thing therein But the Triunity of the eternal Deity has seemed to the best and wisest Philosophers so reasonable and venerable a Tradition that without any force or fear of any external Power they have embraced it of themselves and spoken many things therein very consâ—nant to the Christian verity And therefore this Mysterâ— though it be competently obscure whereby it becomes more venerable to say it is as repugnant and as impossible to Reason as Transubstantiation whenas it was Confirmed by so many general Councils in the purer times of the Church and intimated by so many places of Scripture as also is the Divinity of Christ most expresly and indubitably and his Messias-ship not questioned bv any Christian to set these Fundamentals of our Religion on the same tickle point nay on the same impossible point that Transubstantiation stands upon not countenanced by any Council till about four or five hundreds years ago and repugnant to Scripture and Common senâ—e and to the very first Principles of all solid knowledge and science were it not charitably to be interpreted a ranting piece of Rhetorick to befool the â—ulgar as if they would say As sure as Christ is the Messias and that the Mystery of his Divinity and of the Triunity of the Godhead is true Transubstantiation is so itâ— ere either a careless disregard what became of Christianity or a subdolous and operose endeavour of betraying it and oblique insinuation that Transubstantiation and the rest of those Mysteries of our Religion are alike false and impossible But I hope better things of my Adversary and that he is rather an over officious propugner of a beloved falshood and of so great interest to his Church then a sly Impugner or Betrayer of these sacred Truths And now I hope I have fully cleared all the Objections that my Antagonist has brought against this third Chapter or any Paragraph therein So that it remains invincible and unshaken That the Opinion of Transubstantiation is not onely false but impossible and consequently the Adoration of the Eucharist palpable Idolatry Which my Adversary himself cannot deny no more than Franciscus Câ—sterus who has so expresly affirmed it as I have shewed in this eighth Paragraph As for that further oâ—fer towards a plausibilility for the Truth of Transubstantiation for the Mystery of the holy Trinity wants no such small apologies that the seeming Impossibility thereof is an Argument of its being a doctrine Divinely inspired and that that saying rightly here takes place The more incredible the more credible These are fine Lullaby-songs to be sung to babies half asleep But we have most evidently demonstrated even as clear as Noon-day that Transubstantiation is not a seeming Impossibility but a palpable and real one And as for that saying The more incredible the more credible it is a foundation so large that all the Figments even the most extravagant of all the Religions of the World may equally be founded upon it and by how much more incredible and impossible any Figment is by so much the more stronger faith it ought to obtain and may the more firmly be supported by this Foundation For the more impossible the more incredible the more incredible the more credible As for example the more incredible it is that Mahomet put the Moon into his bosome and that it came out at each sleeve divided into two and that he straitways sodered it together and sent it back whole to Heaven again the more incredible this story is the more credible it is That is saith my Antagonist for he explains this venerable Aphorism By how much the more incredible the Mystery is if we onely consult our senses and the bare sentiments of the natural Man by so much the more credible it is that there lyes a Divine Revelation at the bottom Cannot the Mahumetan defend his Religion as wisely as thus from this ground It is not a sign of our meer natural or unregenerate estate when we will not nor can believe things that are apparently repugnant to the indeleble Principles of natural Understanding But it is a sign of their being the slaves of the Man of sin in a doub â—esense who can swallow such gudgeons For for this cause God sends them strong delusions saith the Apostle 2 Thes. 2. that they may believe alye because they love not the Truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness But Iohn 8. 36. if the Son makes us free by his spirit of real Regeneration then are we free indeed even from all such Impostures as these while the world Apoc. 17. 8. wonders after the Boast and the strange stories that he utters But we know who those are that are excluded out of the holy City even every one that Apoc. 22. 15. loves and makes a lye and those certainly are none of the Regenerate And who should those be that love and embrace lâ—es but those that take up such Principles that they cannot discern a lye or withhold their assent from it For the more Impossible which should turn any Mans stomach from believing makes it but the more Incredible and the more Incredible the more Credible But we have harped too long on a string which will sound over harsh to such ears as are less accustomed to Truth My main purpose I had dispatch'd before But I could not but say something to the fine popular fetches of my Adversarie who cunningly insinuates into the minds of the unskilfull and simple that it is a sign of a more then ordinary Religious and regenerate estate far removed above the meer natural Man to believe things that are plainly and apertly repugnant to the light of Nature and right Reason For this is such a gap as may let in the grossest falsities and Immoralities that can be invented and that upon the shew of Religion and Supernaturality For giving up their faith to their Priest and his Church the more incredible the Act to be good or Doctrine true the more credible What therefore may not Men be brought to believe and act upon so unsound a Principle I pass now to his fourth Section which encounters all my three next Chapters at once CHAP. IV. The gross Idolatry of the Romanists in the Invocation of the Saints even according to the allowance of the Council of Trent and the authorized practice of that Church 1. BUT we will fall also upon those Modes of Idolatry wherein the Church of Rome may seem less bold though indeed this one that is so gross is so often and so universally repeated every-where in the Roman Church that by this alone though we should take notice of nothing farther Idolatry may seem quite
to be also that false Prophet that is to be taken alive and cast into the lake of fire and brimstone Apoc. 19. 20 to be that great City that spiritually is called Sodom and Aegypt where our Lord was crucified Apoc. 11. 8. to be the Beast that has the horns of a Lamb but the voice of the Dragon Apoc. 13. 11. decreeing Idolatries and cruel Persecutions against God's people to be that Babylon the great Apoc. 17. Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth the Woman on the seven Hills that is drunk with the bloud of the Saints and with the bloud of the Martyrs of Iesus and lastly to be that Man of Sin 2 Thess. 2. that notorious Antichrist that opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or is worshipped whose coming is with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they may be saved For which cause God sends them strong delusion that they believe a lie That they all might be damned that believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness As well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well all they that love the Romish Lies and Impostures as all they that invent them are here plainly declared in the state of Damnation With this Nosegay of Rue and Wormwood antidote thy self against the Idolatrous infection of that strange Woman's breath Prov. 5. 3. whose lips yet drop as an honyâ— comb and â—er mouth is more smooth then oyl And be assured that that cannot be the true Holy Church wherein Salvation is to be expected which the Spirit of God has marked with such unholy and hellish Chara â—ers let her boast of her own Holiness as much as she will 24. And if she return this Answer to thee That this is not to argue but to rail in phrases of Scripture do thou make this short Reply That whiles she accuses thee of railing against sinfull and obnoxious men she must take heed that she be not found guilty of blaspâ—eming the holy Spirit of God I confess these Propheticall Passages apply'd to such persons as to whom they do not belong were an high and rude strain of Railing indeed and quite out of the road of Christianity and common Humanity But to call them Railings when they are apply'd to that very Party to whom they are really meant by that Spirit that dictated them is indeed to pretend to a sense of Civility towards men but in the mean time to become a down-right Blasphemer against the Holy Ghost that dictated these Oracles And that they are not mis-apply'd any impartial man of but an ordinary patience and comprehension of wit may have all assurance desirable from that demonstration of the truth compriz'd in the eight last Chapters of the first Book of Synopsis Prophetica to say nothing of the present Exposition of the Seven Epistles to the Seven Churches in Asia 25. Wherefore O serious Soul whoever thou art be not complemented out of the Truth and an earnest pursuance of thine own Salvation from a vain sense of the Applauses or Reproaches of men or from any consideration what they may think of thee for attesting or standing to such Verities as are so unwelcome to many ears but of such huge importance to all to hear For no less a Game is at stake in our choice of what Church we adhere to that of Rome or the Reformed then the Possession of Heaven and eternal Life Wherefore stand stoutlâ— upon thy guard and whensoever thou art accosted by the fair words and sugar'd speeches of that cunning Woman who will make semblance of great solicitude for thy future Happiness most passionately inviting thee to return into the bosom of Holy Church be sure to remember what an Holy Church she is according to Divine description and that if thou assentest to her smooth Persuasions and crafty Importunities thou dost â—pso facto pardon the vehemence of expression adventure thy self into the jaws of Hell and cast thy self into the arms of the Devil Matth. 23. 15. God of his mercy give us all Grace to consider what has been spoken that we may evermore escape these Snares of Death Amen THE END CHAP. X. The Answers of my Antagonist to this 10th Chapter and my Replies put together without any distinction of Paragraphs HItherto I have reduced my Antagonists Answers to the Paragraphs of each Chapter But now he does so overflow with humour wit and confusedness and walks so aloâ—t in Generals that I cannot reduce this last Section of his on my last Chapter to any such particular distinctness but must make what I can of things in that order they lye First then my hearty Exhortation to men to take heed how they be drawn into the Communion of the Church of Rome he phancies may fitly be called Dr. Taylor revived or a second Disâ—asive from Popery Whereupon he takes Occasion to give the different Characters of Dr. Taylor and my self For Dr. Taylor is a Person says he of a more refined and plausible Insinuation a smooth tongue and oâ—ly Expression cloaking his many and great Disingenuities with fair glozing words in an affected strain of Scripture phrase pretending to the power of Godliness But Dr. More is a Polemical man of a quite different Temper His fiery zeal wears no mask His disputing is open rayling and his Arguments blustering words not always too much concerned whether true for alse To which I Reply Whether he call my hearty Dehortation Dr. Taylor revived or a second Dissâ—asive from Popery he may please his own pâ—ancy in that he shall find me a man of great humanity and facility in matters of that kind And let Dr. Taylor be of one temper and my self of another so there be no Immorality in these different tempers that is all one to me also But when he talks of the great Disingenuities of Dr. Taylor I suspect they are nothing else but great and hard Arguments against the errors of the Roman Church which they cannot Answer The same crime that I have been guilty of all along this book hitherto and it 's â—ell I be not charged with great disingenuities my self at last which now I think on 't I have been already under an harsher term he calling that calumny in me who seem to be a more rude Writer which in Dr. Taylor that more smooth and oylâ— Arguer he termes a disingenuity But it 's needless for me to say any thing more of Dr. Taylor his learned and eloquent writings will Answer for him and themselves too But now for my own Charge That I am â—olemical I am sure I am neither Souldier nâ—r disputacious Schoolman But if I be Polemical or warlike it is in that warâ—are whose weapons are spiritual as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 10. 4. for the pulling down strong holds and inveterate Imaginations raised against the truth of God and the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
conceive to be the true God made visible by Hypostatical union therewith is maniâ—est Idolatry But let us put the case saith he that some Christian contemporary to Christ our Lord whilest he sojourned upon Earth had through mere mistake adored some other person for Christ. Here the Query arises whether this mans errour would have pleaded his excuse or no The reformed Churches of France in their Apology by Dally declare for the affirmative And if this Errour be not Idolatry he says I shall never be able to prove what I aim at in my twenty-second Conclusion That any Idolatry is committed though it should so fall out that the Host untransubstantiated were exposed to the veneration of the people For as no Adoration is here due so none is intended but onely to Iesus Christ adorable where ever he is This is the main strength of his Answer to my twenty first and twenty second Conclusions The Reply The long stride that is made is made by this Doctor of the Church of Rome not by my self I had rather he would have taken my Conclusions as they lye in order which he does hugely neglect to do in this Chapter But however I am his servant to attend his motions whither he pleases within the compass of this little Treatise And to his Query upon the propounded case I Answer with the reformed Churches of France if they speak no further then to the case of this man for I never saw that Apology by Daille that this mans Errour would have pleaded his excuse But not so as to argue him guiltless of Idolatry but that his sin of Idolatry is more pardonable in these Circumstances pardonable I say which implies a fault or sin And so my fifth Conclusion holds good That to be mistaken in the Object of Worship or in the kind of Worship or in the Application cannot excuse any thing from being down right Idolatry because mistake is necessarily supposed in any Idolatry that is committed in good earnest But the invincibleness of the mistake the sudden surprisedness or inevitable changeableness of the mistake may be a ground though not of making that to be no Idolatry which is yet of excusing the person as to the severity of punishment Whence you may see that it was not for nothing that my Adversary moulded my fifth Conclusion into words of his own that he might the easilyer have something to Cavil at But to let this pass I say the Mistake does not excuse but the invincibleness or inevitableness of the mistake which it does in all other sins whatsoever And in all Idolatries whatsoever besides these committed in the Christian world where ever they are committed upon invincible mistake But as amongst the Heathen those that worshipped the Sun suppose taking it to be the supreme God endued with understanding and Power of making and Governing the Universe and Millions worshipped him under the Notion and as it seems to me were in a manner inevitably by reason of their education and want of opportunity of knowing better detained in this Errour as these by all men are rightly judged to have been Idolaters though more excuâ—able then they that have opportunity of knowing better so it is in the case of this man my Adversary instances in who surprised by an inevitable errour has his excuse to crave pardon but it is manifest that he has committed the fault or rather crime of Idolatry in giving Divine Adoration to him that is not God And if this were repeated and habituated act in him he were as errand an Idolater as the Persians other Nations that worshipped the Sun For mistake even where it is not essential to a fault does not destroy the nature of the fault as suppose one having his hat flung off his head to day by some body he meet with in the streets and next day meeting one like the party that did him the injury should presently fling his hat off the mistake does not take away the nature of this fault so as to make it no injury to this Party but onely makes it more pardonable it being not intended to an innocent person How then can mistake even in faults to which mistake is essential change their nature from being what they are So that though the Idolaters of the Church of Rome were under invincible Ignorance they would not for all that cease to be Idolaters or though they were made such onely by sudden and inevitable surprise But this is not their Case and therefore with the good leave of my Adversary I must tell him the Case he has put is not at all to the present purpose nor that of a Loyal Subject taking Hephestion for Alexander All these Learned fetches will not serve his turn The worshipping of the consecrated Host with them is neither upon inevitable surprise nor invincible Ignorance nor want of opportunity of knowing better For that which is accustomary and continual is not surprise nor is that Invincible Ignorance which common sense Scripture and Reason will so easily dissipate in a very ordinary Capacity For who unless he were under the Power of Diabolical delusion but can easily undeceive himself by common sense Reason and Scripture that a Wafer which Mice and Rats will eat cannot be that adorable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-man the Creator and Redeemer of us all And then for opportunities of knowing better from others what irrefragable evidences have the reformed Churches offered to the contrary and how many Thousands have sealed their Testimony with their very blood Which is a sufficient occasion I think in so easie a Case to undeceive them that are not given up as the Apostle speaks 2 Thes. 2 to believe a lye for their want of the love of the Truth So that the Adoration given to the Host upon the presumption of its being Transubstantiated is most palpable and unexcusable Idolatry according as my twenty second Conclusion infers from my twenty first and that from the fourth and fifth But to say as no adoration is here due so none is intended but onely to Jesus Christ adorable where ever he is is such a laxe Answer and unsound that it will excuse the Persians worshipping the Sun and indeed all the Idolatries in the world as well as the Romanists Artolatria or Bread-worship which is a manifest Demonstration of the falsness thereof For no serious Idolaters give nor intend any Worship but such and to such Objects as they think it due to Answer to the sixth seventh eighth tenth eleventh twelâ—th thirteenth fourteenth fiâ—teenth eighteenth and twenty fourth Conclusions but more particularly to the eigâ—th tenth and twelâ—th and first in a more general way These eleven Conclusions says he talk big against the Invocation of Saints But the best speakers amongst them are the eighth tenth and twelfth He should add the fifeenth also that the foundation may be more square and stable which I desire my Reader to read over and then consider my Antagonists Answer
our Saviour and the Divine graces of his Person shooting through that Image into the Souls and hearts of the beholders faith being wrought in them by the spirit of God according to his eternal purpose as it is written No man cometh to me unless my Father draw him they might behold him and give that Testimony that St. Iohn does of him Iohn 1. The word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld the glory of him as the glory of the onely begotten Son of God full of grace and truth But for others that saw the humane Presence of him who is truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though they could not discern him to be such or to be the Messias so far as they saw it chiefly to be imputed to his humanity being present and not to the Image in the eye which but for his Presence could not represent him to the Soul But I hope the wicked and unbeliever noâ— discovering his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does not at all argue him not to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-man And now if the Image impressed by the very presence of Christ had not not the natural Power of representing that Divine Complexum God-man according to both the natures how far short shall Images of wood or stone or what ever materials be from representing him being absent In the mean time it is apparent how rash and inhumane my Antagonist is to charge me with blasphemy upon such slight and toyish pretenses as he is pleased to take up and every way so weak and insignificant I have insisted on this longer than was needfull But I was invited so to do because my Adversary here seems to have intended to make a show of induing his confutations of this seventh Chapter with so great Triumph when indeed he has one nothing at all he having not taken notice of the close of this â—ixth Paragraph that declares and proves that though there were this natural reference of Images to their Prototypes by reason of personal similitude of Figure yet it would be Idolatry to Worship them Vpon the seventh Paragraph Which I do more-fâ—lly inculcate in the beginning of the last part of this seventh Paragraph And in the first and second part thereof copiously demonstrate that though these Images have the similitude of Signification onely as he loves to call it and not of Figure yet it is Idolatry over and over again to Worship them Which Hypothesis he chiefly or rather onely adheres to and has sported and playd away his time in superfluously and weakly trifling against the first part of my Dilemma is if he would make good the similitude of Figure betwixt the Images and Prototypes when he seems to believe neither any truth nor necessity of it but onely to make a show of confuting this seventh Chapter when he has left the latter end of the sixth Paragraph and this whole seventh untouched which is the main drift of all namely to shew that whether the Images have any similitude with their Prototypes or no yet it is Idolatry to Worship them and that therefore the Council of Trent has no subterfuge in this regard to excuse themselves from the charge of Idolatry in appointing the honour they appoint to them CHAP. VIII The Doctrine of the second Council of Nice touching the Worship of Images to which the Council of Trent refers that it is grosly Idolatrous also 1. BUT now as for the other Reason of these Tridentine Fathers whereby they would support their Determination in this point Viz. the Authority of the second Council of Nice held about the year 780 to omit that long before this time the Church had become asymmetral which yet is a very substantial Consideration I shall only return this brief answer The God of Israel which is the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ has given this express command to his Church for ever Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image thou shalt not bow down to it nor worship it But the second Council of Nice says Thou mayst and shalt bow down to to the Image of Christ of the blessed Virgin and of the rest of the Saints Now whether it be fit to believe and obey God or men judg ye I might add farther men so silly and frivolous in the defense of their Opinions so false and fabulous in the Allegations of their Authorities and the recitall of miraculous Stories as Chemnitius has proved at large in his Examen of the Council of Trent 2. I will give an Instance or two Mat. 5. 15. No man lighteth a candle and putteth it under a bushell therefore the Images of the Saints are to be placed on the Altars and Wax-candles lighted up before them in due honour to them Again Psalm 16. But to the Saints that are on the Earth But the Saints are in Heaven say they therefore their Images ought to be on the Earth c. As for the Miracles done by Images as their Speaking the Healing of the sick the Revenging of the wrong done to them the distilling of roâ—id drops of balsame to heal the wounded sick or lame their Recovering water into a dry Well and the like it were too tedious to recite these Figments But that of the Image of the Virgin to whom her Devotionist spake when he took leave of her and was to take a long Journey intreating her to look to her Candle which he had lighted up for her till his return I cannot conceal For the Story says the same Candle was burning six months after at the return of her Devoto An example of the most miraculous Prolonger that ever I met withall before in all my days Such an Image of the Virgin would save poor Students a great deal in the expense of Candles if the thing were but lawfull and feasible 3. From these small hints a man may easily discover of what Authority this second Council of Nice ought to be though they had not concluded so point-blank against the Word of God But because that Clause in this Paragraph of the Council I have recited Id quod Conciliorum praesertim verò secundae Nicaenae Synodi c. may as well aim at the determination of what these Fathers mean by that debitus honor reverentia which they declare to be due to the Images of Christ and the Saints as confirm their own Conclusion by the Authority of that Nicene Council we will take notice also what a kinde of Honour and Reverence to Images the Nicene Council did declare for and in short it is this That they are to be worshipped and adored and to be honoured with Wax-candles and by the smoaking of Incense or Perfumes and the like Which smells rankly enough in all conscience of Idolatry as Grotius himself upon the Decalogue cannot but acknowledge But this is not all The Invocation of Saints their Mediation and propitiating God for us for adoring their Images â—ealing of Diseases and other Aids and Helps besides