pretended Demonstration of Reason against plain Experience and matter of Fact This is just Zenoe's Demonstration of the impossibility of motion against Diogenes walking before his Eyes For this is to undertake to prove that impossible to have been which most certainly was Just thus the Servants in the Parable might have demonstrated that the tares were wheat because they were sure none but good seed was sown at first and no man could give any account of the punctual time when any tares were sown or by whom and if an Enemy had come to do it he must needs have met with great resistance and opposition but no such resistance was made and therefore there could be no tares in the field but that which they call'd tares was certainly good wheat At the same rate a man might demonstrate that our King his Majesty of great Britain is not return'd into England nor restor'd to his Crown because there being so great and powerfull an Army possess'd of his Lands and therefore obliged by interest to keep him out it was impossible he should ever come in without a great deal of fighting and bloudshed but there was no such thing therefore he is not return'd and restor'd to his Crown And by the like kind of Demonstration one might prove that the Turk did not invade Christendom last year and besiege Vienna because if he had the most Christian King who had the greatest Army in Christendom in a readiness would certainly have employed it against him but Monsieur Arnauld certainly knows no such thing was done And therefore according to his way of Demonstration the matter of fact so commonly reported and believed concerning the Turks Invasion of Christendom and besieging Vienna last year was a perfect mistake But a man may demonstrate till his head and heart ake before he shall ever be able to prove that which certainly is or was never to have been For of all sorts of impossibles nothing is more evidently so than to make that which hath been not to have been All the reason in the world is too weak to cope with so tough and obstinate a difficulty And I have often wonder'd how a man of Monsieur Arnauld's great wit and sharp Judgment could prevail with himself to engage in so bad and baffled a Cause or could think to defend it with so wooden a Dagger as his Demonstration of Reason against certain Experience and matter of Fact A thing if it be possible of equal absurdity with what he pretends to demonstrate Transubstantiation it self I proceed to the Third pretended Ground of this Doctrine of Transubstantiation and that is The Infallible Authority of the present Church to make and declare new Articles of Faith And this in truth is the ground into which the most of the learned men of their Church did heretofore and many do still resolve their belief of this Doctrine And as I have already shewn do plainly say that they see no sufficient reason either from Scripture or Tradition for the belief of it And that they should have believed the contrary had not the determination of the Church obliged them otherwise But if this Doctrine be obtruded upon the world merely by virtue of the Authority of the Roman Church and the Declaration of the Council under Pope Gregory the VII th or of the Lateran Council under Innocent the III. then it is a plain Innovation in the Christian Doctrine and a new Article of Faith impos'd upon the Christian world And if any Church hath this power the Christian Faith may be enlarged and changed as often as men please and that which is no part of our Saviour's Doctrine nay any thing though never so absurd and unreasonable may become an Article of Faith obliging all Christians to the belief of it whenever the Church of Rome shall think fit to stamp her Authority upon it which would make Christianity a most uncertain and endless thing The Fourth pretended ground of this Doctrine is the necessity of such a change as this in the Sacrament to the comfort and benefit of those who receive it But there is no colour for this if the thing be rightly consider'd Because the comfort and benefit of the Sacrament depends upon the blessing annexed to the Institution And as Water in Baptism without any substantial change made in that Element may by the Divine blessing accompanying the Institution be effectual to the washing away of Sin and Spiritual Regeneration So there can no reason in the world be given why the Elements of Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper may not by the same Divide blessing accompanying this Institution make the worthy receivers partakers of all the Spiritual comfort and benefit designed to us thereby without any substantial change made in those Elements since our Lord hath told us that verily the flesh profiteth nothing So that if we could do so odd and strange a thing as to eat the very natural flesh and drink the bloud of our Lord I do not see of what greater advantage it would be to us than what we may have by partaking of the Symbols of his body and bloud as he hath appointed in remembrance of him For the Spiritual efficacy of the Sacrament doth not depend upon the nature of the thing received supposing we receive what our Lord appointed and receive it with a right preparation and disposition of mind but upon the supernatural blessing that goes along with it and makes it effectual to those spiritual ends for which it was appointed The Fifth and last pretended ground of this Doctrine is to magnifie the power of the Priest in being able to work so great a Miracle And this with great pride and pomp is often urg'd by them as a transcendent instance of the Divine wisedom to find out so admirable a way to raise the power and reverence of the Priest that he should be able every day and as often as he pleases by repeating a few words to work so miraculous a change and as they love most absurdly and blasphemously to speak to make God himself But this is to pretend to a power above that of God himself for he did not nor cannot make himself nor do any thing that implies a contradiction as Transubstantiation evidently does in their pretending to make God For to make that which already is and to make that now which always was is not onely vain and trifling if it could be done but impossible because it implies a contradiction And what if after all Transubstantiation if it were possible and actually wrought by the Priest would yet be no Miracle For there are two things necessary to a Miracle that there be a supernatural effect wrought and that this effect be evident to sense So that though a supernatural effect be wrought yet if it be not evident to sense it is to all the ends and purposes of a Miracle as if it were not and can be no testimony or proof of any
and not to impose their Judgement upon others as if they had any Authority over them And this is reasonable because if it were otherwise a Man would deprive others of that Liberty which he assumes to himself and which he can claim upon no other account but because it belongs to others equally with himself Secondly This liberty of judging is not so to be understood as to take away the necessity and use of Guides and Teachers in Religion Nor can this be denied to be a reasonable limitation because the knowledge of Revealed Religion is not a thing born with us nor ordinarily supernaturally infused into men but is to be learned as other things are And if it be to be learned there must be some to teach and instruct others And they that will learn must be modest and humble and in those things of which they are no competent Judges they must give credit to their Teachers and trust their skill For instance every unlearned man is to take it upon the credit of those who are skilfull that the Scriptures are truly and faithfully translated and for the understanding of obscure Texts of Scripture and more difficult points in Religion he is to rely upon those whose proper business and employment it is to apply themselves to the understanding of these things For in these cases every man is not capable of judging himself and therefore he must necessarily trust others And in all other things he ought to be modest and unless it be in plain matters which every man can judg of he ought rather to distrust himself than his Teacher And this respect may be given to a Teacher without either supposing him to be infallibe or making an absolute resignation of my judgment to him A man may be a very able Teacher suppose of the Mathematicks and fit to have the respect which is due to a Teacher tho he be not infallible in those Sciences and because Infallibility is not necessary to such a Teacher it is neither necessary nor convenient that I should absolutely resign up my Judgment to him For though I have reason to credit him within the compass of his Art in things which I do not know I am not therefore bound to believe him in things plainly contrary to what I and all mankind do certainly know For example if upon pretence of his skill in Arithmetick which I am learning of him he should tell me That twice two do not make four but five though I believed him to be the best Mathematician in the World yet I cannot believe him in this thing Nor is there reason I should because I did not come to learn this of him but knew as much of that before as he or any man else could tell me The case is the same in matters of Religion in which there are some things so plain and lie so level to all capacities that every man is almost equally judg of them As I shall have occasion farther to shew by and by Thirdly Neither does this liberty of judging exempt men from a due submission and obedience to their Teachers and Governors Every man is bound to obey the lawful Commands of his Governors and what by publick consent and Authority is determined and established ought not to be gainsaid by private Persons but upon very clear evidence of the falshood or unlawfulness of it And this is every mans duty for the maintaining of Order and out of regard to the Peace and Unity of the Church which is not to be violated upon every scruple and frivolous pretence And when men are perverse and disobedient Authority is Judg and may restrain and punish them Fourthly Nor do I so far extend this Liberty of judging in Religion as to think every man fit to dispute the Controversies of Religion A great part of people are ignorant and of so mean capacity as not to be able to judge of the force of a very good Argument much less of the issue of a long Dispute and such persons ought not to engage in disputes of Religion but to beg God's direction and to rely upon their Teachers and above all to live up to the plain dictates of natural Light and the clear Commands of God's Word and this will be their best security And if the providence of God have placed them under such Guides as do seduce them into Error their Ignorance is invincible and God will not condemn them for it so long as they sincerely endeavour to do the will of God so far as they know it And this being the case of many especially in the Church of Rome where Ignorance is so industriously cherished I have so much charity as to hope well concerning many of them And seeing that Church teacheth and enjoins the people to worship Images it is in some sense charitably done of them not to let them know the second Commandment that they may not be guilty of sinning against so plain a Law Having premised these Cautions I proceed in the II. Place To represent to you the grounds of this Principle of our Religion viz. That we allâ—w private persons to judge for themselves in matters of Religion First Because many things in Religion especially those which are most necessary to be believed and practised are so plain that every man of ordinary capacity after competent instruction in matters of Religion which is always to be supposed can as well judge of them for himself as any man or company of men in the world can judge for him Because in these he hath a plain Rule to go by Natural Light and clear Revelation of Scripture And this is no new Principle of the Protestants but most expresly owned by the ancient Fathers Whatever things are necessary are plain saith St. Chrysostom All things are plainly contained in Scripture which concern faith and a good life saith St Austin And nothing can be more reasonable than that those things which are plain to every man should be left to every man's judgment For every man can judg of what is plain of evident Truth and Falshood Virtue and Vice of Doctrines and Laws plainly delivered in Scripture if we believe any thing to be so which is next to madness to deny I will refer it to no mans Judgment upon earth to determine for me Whether there be a God or not Whether Murder and Perjury be Sins Whether it be not plain in Scripture That Jesus Christ is the Son of God That he became man and died for us and rose again So that there is no need of a Judg in these cases Nor can I possibly believe any man to be so absolutely infallible as not to call his infallibility into question if he determines any thing contrary to what is plain and evident to all mankind For if he should determine that there is no God or that he is not to be woshipped or that he will not punish and reward men or which is the case that Bellarmin puts that
I shall only observe to you that after the discovery of this Plot the Authors of it were not convinced of the evil but sorry for the miscarriage of it Sir Everard Digby whose very original Papers and Letters are now in my hands after he was in Prison and knew he must suffer calls it the best Cause and was extremely troubled to hear it censured by Catholicks and Priests contrary to his expectation for a great sin Let me tell you says he what a grief it is to hear THAT so much condemned which I did believe would have been otherwise thought of by Catholicks And yet he concludes that Letter with these words In how full joy should I dye if I could do any thing for the Cause which I love more than my life And in another Letter he says he could have said something to have mitigated the odium of this business as to that Point of involving those of his own Religion in the common ruine I dare not says he take that course that I could to make it appear less odious for divers were to have been brought out of danger who now would rather hurt them than otherwise I do not think there would have been three worth the saving that should have been lost And as to the rest that were to have been swallow'd up in that destruction he seems not to have the least relenting in his mind about them All doubts he seems to have look'd upon as temptations and intreats his Friends to pray for the pardoning of his not sufficient striving against temptations since this business was undertook Good God! that any thing that is called Religion should so perfectly strip men of all humanity and transform the mild and gentle race of mankind into such Wolves and Tygers that ever a pretended zeal for Thy glory should instigate men to dishononr Thee at such a rate It is believed by many and not without cause that the Pope and his Faction are the Antichrist I will say no more than I know in this matter I am not so sure that it is he that is particularly designed in Scripture by that Name as I am of the main Articles of the Christian Faith But however that be I challenge Antichrist himself whoever he be and whenever he comes to do worse and wickeder things than these But I must remember my Text and take heed of imitating that Spirit which is there condemned whilst I am inveighing against it And in truth it almost looks uncharitably to speak the truth in these matters and barely to relate what these men have not blush'd to do I need not nay I cannot aggravate these things they are too horrible in themselves even when they are express'd in the softest and gentlest words I would not be understood to charge every particular person who is or hath been in the Roman Communion with the guilt of these or the like practises But I must charge their Doctrines and Principles with them I must charge the Heads of their Church and the prevalent teaching and governing part of it who are usually the contrivers and abetters the executioners and applauders of these cursed Designs I do willingly acknowledg the great Piety and Charity of several persons who have lived and died in that Communion as Erasmus Father Paul Thuanus and many others who had in truth more goodness than the Principles of that Religion do either incline men to or allow of And yet he that considers how universally almost the Papists in Ireland were engaged in that Massacre which is still fresh in our memories will find it very hard to determine how many degrees of innocency and good nature or of coldness and indifferency in Religion are necessary to overballance the fury of a blind zeal and a misguided Conscience I doubt not but Papists are made like other men Nature hath not geneally given them such savage and cruel dispositions but their Religion hath made them so Whereas true Christianity is not only the best but the best-natur'd Institution in the world and so far as any Church is departed from good nature and become cruel and barbarous so far is it degenerated from Christianity I am loth to say it and yet I am confident 't is very true That many Papists would have been excellent Persons and very good Men if their Religion had not hindered them if the Doctrines and Principles of their Church had not perverted and spoiled their natural Dispositions I speak not this to exasperate You worthy Patriots and the great Bulwark of our Religion to any unreasonable or unnecessary much less unchristian Severities against them No let us not do like them let us never do any thing for Religion that is contrary to it But I speak it to awaken your care thus far That if their Priests will always be putting these pernicious Principles into the minds of the People effectual Provision may be made that it may never be in their Power again to put them in Practice We have found by Experience that ever since the Reformation they have been continually pecking at the Foundations of our Peace and Religion When God knows we have been so far from thirsting after their Blood that we did not so much as desire their disquiet but in order to our own necessary safety and indeed to theirs And God be praised for those matchless Instances which we are able to give of the generous humanity and Christian temper of the English Protestants After Q. Marys Death when the Protestant Religion was restored Bishop Bonner notwithstanding all his Cruelties and Butcheries was permitted quietly to live and dye amongst us And after the Treason of this Day nay at this very time since the discovery of so barbarous a Design and the highest Provocation in the World by the treacherous Murder of one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace a very good Man and a most excellent Magistrate who had been active in the discovery of this Plot I say after all this and notwithstanding the continued and insupportable insolence of their Carriage and Behaviour even upon this occasion no Violence nay not so much as any incivility that I ever heard of hath been offer'd to any of them I would to God they would but seriously consider this one difference between our Religion and theirs and which of them comes nearest to the Wisdom which is from above which is peaceable and gentle and full of mercy And I do heartily pray and have good hopes that upon this occasion God will open their eyes so far as to convince a great many among them that that cannot be the true Religion which inspires men with such barbarous minds I have now done and if I have been transported upon this Argument somewhat beyond my usual temper the Occasion of this Day and our present circumstances will I hope bear me out I have expressed my self all along with a just sense and with no unjust severity concerning these horrid Principles and
or any man else could tell me but I took him to conduct and direct me the nearest way to York And therefore after all his impertinent talk after all his Motives of Credibility to perswade me to believe him and all his confident sayings which he gravely calls Demonstrations I stand stifly upon the shore and leave my learned and reverend Guide to take his own course and to dispose of himself as he pleaseth but firmly resolved not to follow him And is any man to be blamed that breaks with his Guide upon these Terms And this is truly the Case when a man commits himself to the Guidance of any Person or Church If by virtue of this Authority they will needs perswade me out of my senses and not to believe what I see but what they say that Vertue is Vice and Vice Vertue it they declare them to be so And that because they say they are Infallible I am to receive all their Dictates for Oracles tho never so evidently false and absurd in the Judgment of all Mankind In this case there is no way to be rid of these unreasonable People but to desire of them since one kindness deserves another and all Contradictions are alike easie to be believed that they would be pleased to believe that Infidelity is Faith and that when I absolutely renounce their Authority I do yield a most perfect submission and obedience to it Upon the whole matter all the Revelations of God as well as the Laws of men go upon this presumption that men are not stark fools but that they will consider their Interest and have some regard to the great concernment of their eternal salvation And this is as much to secure men from mistake in matters of Belief as God hath afforded to keep men from sin in matters of Practice He hath made no effectual and infallible provision that men shall not sin and yet it would puzzle any man to give a good Reason why God should take more care to secure men against Errors in belief than against sin and wickedness in their Lives I shall now only draw three or four Inferences from this Discourse which I have made and so conclude 1. That it is every mans Duty who hath ability and capacity for it to endeavour to understand the grounds of his Religion For to try Doctrines is to inquire into the grounds and reasons of them which the better any man understands the more firmly he will be established in the Truth and be the more resolute in the day of Trial and the better able to withstand the Arts and assaults of cunning Adversaries and the fierce storms of Persecution And on the contrary that man will soon be moved from his stedfastness who never examined the Grounds and Reasons of his belief When it comes to the Trial he that hath but little to say for his Religion will probably neither do nor suffer much for it 2. That all Doctrines are vehemently to be suspected which decline Trial and are so loath to be brought into the light which will hot endure a fair Examination but magisterially require an implicite Faith Whereas Truth is bold and full of courage and loves to appear openly and is so secure and confident of her own strength as to offer her self to the severest Trial and Examination But to deny all liberty of Enquiry and Judgment in matters of Religion is the greatest injury and disparagement to Truth that can be and a tacite acknowledgment that she lies under some disadvantage and that there is less to be said for her than for Error I have often wonder'd why the People in the Church of Rome do not suspect their Teachers and Guides to have some ill design upon them when they do so industriously debar them of the means of Knowledge and are so very loath to let them understand what it is that we have to say against their Religion For can any thing in the world be more suspicious than to perswade men to put out their eyes upon promise that they will help them to a much better and more faithful Guide If any Church any Profession of men be unwilling their Doctrines should be exposed to Trial it is a certain sign they know something by them that is faulty and which will not endure the light This is the account which our Saviour gives us in a like case It was because mens deeds were evil that they loved darkness rather than light For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be reproved But he that doth the truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God 3. Since Reason and Christianity allow this liberty to private persons to judg for themselves in matters of Religion we should use this priviledg with much modesty and humility with great submission and deference to our Spiritual Rulers and Guides whom God hath appointed in his Church And there is very great need of this Caution since by experience we find this liberty so much abused by many to the nourishing of Pride and Self-conceit of Division and Faction and those who are least able to judge to be frequently the most forward and confident the most peremptory and perverse and instead of demeaning themselves with the submission of Learners to assume to themselves the authority of Judges even in the most doubtful and disputable matters The Tyranny of the Roman Church over the Minds and Consciences of men is not to be justified upon any account but nothing puts so plausible a colour upon it as the ill use that is too frequently made of this natural Privilege of mens judging for themselves in a matter of so infinite concernment as that of their eternal happiness But then it is to be consider'd that the proper remedy in this Case is not to deprive men of this Privelege but to use the best means to prevent the abuse of it For though the inconveniences arising from the ill use of it may be very great yet the mischief on the other hand is intolerable Religion it self is liable to be abused to very bad purposes and frequently is so but it is not therefore best that there should be no Religion And yet this Objection if it be of any force and be pursued home is every whit as strong against Religion it self as against mens liberty of judging in matters of Religion Nay I add farther that no man can judiciously embrace the true Religion unless he be permitted to judge whether that which he embraces be the true Religion or not 4. When upon due Trial and Examination we are well setled and established in our Religion let us hold fast the prosession of our Faith without wavering and not be like Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine through the sleight of men and the cunning craftiness of those who lye in wait to deceive
And above all let us resolve to live according to the excellent Rules and Precepts of our holy Religion let us heartily obey that Doctrine which we profess to believe We who enjoy the Protestant Religion have all the means and advantages of understanding the Will of God free liberty and full scope of enquiring into it and informing our selves concerning it We have all the opportunities we can wish of coming to the knowledge of our Duty The Oracles of God lie open to us and his Law is continually before our eyes his word is nigh unto us in our mouths and in our hearts that is we may read it and meditate upon it that we may do it The Key of Knowledge is put into our hands so that if we do not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven it is we our selves that shut our selves out And where there is nothing to hinder us from the knowledge of our Duty there certainly nothing can excuse us from the practice of it For the End of all knowledge is to direct men in their duty and effectually to engage them to the performance of it The great business of Religion is to make men truly good and to teach them to live well And if Religion have not this effect it matters not of what Church any man lists and enters himself for most certainly A bad man can be saved in none Though a man know the right way to Heaven never so well and be entred into it yet if he will not walk therein he shall never come thither Nay it will be an aggravation of this man's unhappiness that he was lost in the way to Heaven and perished in the very road to Salvation But if we will in good earnest apply our selves to the practice of Religion and the obedience of God's holy Laws his Grace will never be wanting to us to so good a purpose I have not time to recommend Religion to you at large with all its advantages I will comprise what I have to say in a few words and mind them at your peril Let that which is our great concernment be our great care To know the Truth and to do it To fear God and keep his Commandments Considering the Reasonableness and the Reward of Piety arid Vertue nothing can be wiser and considering the mighty assistance of God's Grace which he is ready to afford to us and the unspeakable satisfaction and delight which is to be had in the doing of our duty nothing can be easier Nothing will give us that pleasure while we live nothing can minister that true and solid comfort to us when we come to die There is probably no such way for a man to be happy in this World to be sure there is no way but this to escape the intolerable and endless miseries of another World Now God grant that we may all know and do in this our day the things that belong to our peace for his Mercies sake in Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen A SERMON PREACHED At the Assises held at KINGSTON upon THAMES July 21. 1681. TO THE Right Worshipful and my honoured Friend JOSEPH REEVE Esq High Sherif of the County of SURREY SIR WHen I had perform'd the Service which you were pleased to call me to in the preaching of this Sermon I had no thoughts of making it more publique And yet in this also I was the more easily induced to comply with your desire because of the suitableness of the Argument to the Age in which we live wherein as men have run into the wildest extremities in other things so particularly in the matter of Oaths some making conscience of taking any Oaths at all and too many none at all of breaking them To convince the great mistake of the one extreme and to check the growing evil and mischief of the other is the chief design of this Discourse To which I shall be very glad if by God's blessing it may prove any-wise serviceable I am Sir Your very faithful and humble Servant Jo. Tillotson The Lawfulness AND Obligation of OATHS A SERMON Preach'd at the Assises held at Kingston upon Thames July 21. 1681. HEB. VI. 16. And an Oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife THE Necessity of Religion to the support of humane Society in nothing appears more evidently than in this That the obligation of an Oath which is so necessary for the maintenance of peace and justice among men depends wholly upon the sence and belief of a Deity For no reason can be imagined why any man that doth not believe a God should make the least conscience of an Oath which is nothing else but a solemn appeal to God as a witness of the truth of what we say So that whoever promotes Atheism and Infidelity doth the most destructive thing imaginable to human Society because he takes away the reverence and obligation of Oaths And whenever that is generally cast off human Society must disband and all things run into disorder The just sense whereof made David cry out to God with so much earnestness as if the World had been cracking and the frame of it ready to break in pieces Psal 12. Help Lord for the righteous man ceaseth and the faithful fail from among the children of men Intimating That when Faith fails from among men nothing but a particular and immediate interposition of the Divine Providence can preserve the World from falling into confusion And our Blessed Saviour gives this as a sign of the end of the Worâ—d and the approaching dissolution of all things when faith and truth shall hardly be found among men Luke 18.8 When the Son of man comes shall he find Faith on the earth This state of things doth loudly call for his coming to destroy the World which is even ready to dissolve and fall in pieces of it self when these bands and pillars of humane Society do break and fail And surely never in any age was this sign of the coming of the Son of man more glaring and terrible than in this degenerate Age wherein we live when almost all sorts of men seem to have broke loose from all obligations to faith and truth And therefore I do not know any Argument more proper and useful to be treated of upon this Occasion than of the Nature and Obligation of an Oath which is the utmost security that one man can give to another of the truth of what he says the strongest tye of fideility the surest ground of Judicial proceedings and the most firm and sacred bond that can be laid upon all that are concerned in the administration of publick Justice upon Judge and Jury and Witnesses And for this reason I have pitched upon these Words In which the Apostle declares to us the great use and necessity of Oaths among men an Oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife He had said before
thing because it self stands in need of another Miracle to give testimony to it and to prove that it was wrought And neither in Scripture nor in profane Authours nor in common use of speech is any thing call'd a Miracle but what falls under the notice of our senses A Miracle being nothing else but a supernatural effect evident to sense the great end and design whereof is to be a sensible proof and conviction to us of something that we do not see And for want of this Condition Transubstantiation if it were true would be no Miracle It would indeed be very supernatural but for all that it would not be a Sign or Miracle For a Sign or Miracle is always a thing sensible otherwise it could be no Sign Now that such a change as is pretended in Transubstantiation should really be wrought and yet there should be no sign and appearance of it is a thing very wonderfull but not to sense for our senses perceive no change the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament to all our senses remaining just as they were before And that a thing should remain to all appearance just as it was hath nothing at all of wonder in it we wonder indeed when we see a strange thing done but no man wonders when he sees nothing done So that Transubstantiation if they will needs have it a Miracle is such a Miracle as any man may work that hath but the confidence to face men down that he works it and the fortune to be believed And though the Church of Rome may magnify their Priests upon account of this Miracle which they say they can work every day and every hour yet I cannot understand the reason of it for when this great work as they call it is done there is nothing more appears to be done than if there were no Miracle Now such a Miracle as to all appearance is no Miracle I see no reason why a Protestant Minister as well as a Popish Priest may not work as often as he pleases or if he can but have the patience to let it alone it will work it self For surely nothing in the world is easier than to let a thing be as it is and by speaking a few words over it to make it just what it was before Every man every day may work ten thousand such Miracles And thus I have dispathc'd the First part of my Discourse which was to consider the pretended grounds and Reasons of the Church of Rome for this Doctrine and to shew the weakness and insufficiency of them I come in the SECOND place to produce our Objections against it Which will be of so much the greater force because I have already shewn this Doctrine to be destitute of all Divine warrant and authority and of any other sort of Ground sufficient in reason to justify it So that I do not now object against a Doctrine which hath a fair probability of Divine Revelation on its side for that would weigh down all objections which did not plainly overthrow the probability and credit of its Divine Revelation But I object against a Doctrine by the mere will and Tyranny of men impos'd upon the belief of Christians without any evidence of Scripture and against all the evidence of Reason and Sense The Objection I shall reduce to these two Heads First The infinite scandal of this Doctrine to the Christian Religion And Secondly The monstrous and insupportable absurdity of it First The infinite scandal of this Doctrine to the Christian Religion And that upon these four accounts 1. Of the stupidity of this Doctrine 2. The real barbarousness of this Sacrament and Rite of our Religion upon supposition of the truth of this Doctrine 3. Of the cruel and bloudy consequences of it 4. Of the danger of Idolatry which they are certainly guilty of if this Doctrine be not true 1. Upon account of the stupidity of this Doctrine I remember that Tully who was a man of very good sense instanceth in the conceit of eating God as the extremity of madness and so stupid an apprehension as he thought no man was ever guilty of * De Nat. Deorum l. 3. When we call says he the fruits of the earth Ceres and wine Bacchus we use but the common language but do you think any man so mad as to believe that which he eats to be God It seems he could not believe that so extravagant a folly had ever entred into the mind of man It is a very severe saying of Averroes the Arabian Philosopher who lived after this Doctrine was entertained among Christians and ought to make the Church or Rome blush * Dionys Carthus in 4. dist 10. art 1. if she can I have travell'd says he over the world and have found divers Sects but so sottish a Sect or Law I never found as is the Sect of the Christians because with their own teeth they devour their God whom they worship It was great stupidity in the People of Israel to say Come let us make us Gods but it was civilly said of them Let us make us Gods that may go before us in comparison of the Church of Rome who say Let us make a God that we may eat him So that upon the whole matter I cannot but wonder that they should chuse thus to expose Faith to the contempt of all that are endued with Reason And to speak the plain truth the Christian Religion was never so horribly exposed to the scorn of Atheists and Infidels as it hath been by this most absurd and senseless Doctrine But thus it was foretold that †2 Thess 2.10 the Man of Sin should come with Power and Signs and Lying Miracles and with all deceiveableness of unrighteousness with all the Legerdemain and jugling tricks of falshood and imposture amongst which this of Transubstantiation which they call a Miracle and we a Cheat is one of the chief And in all probability those common jugling words of hocus pocus are nothing else but a corruption of hoc est corpus by way of ridiculous imitation of the Priests of the Church of Rome in their trick of Transubstantiation Into such contempt by this foolish Doctrine and pretended Miracle of theirs have they brought the most sacred and venerable Mystery of our Religion 2. It is very scandalous likewise upon account of the real barbarousness of this Sacrament and Rite of our Religion upon supposition of the truth of this Doctrine Literally to eat the flesh of the Son of man and to drink his bloud St. Austin as I have shewed before declares to be a great Impiety And the impiety and barbarousness of the thing is not in truth extenuated but onely the appearance of it by its being done under the Species of Bread and Wine For the thing they acknowledge is really done and they believe that they verily eat and drink the natural flesh and bloud of Christ And what can any man do more unworthily towards his