THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE PROTESTANT RELIGION Asserted By REASON As well as SCRIPTVRE Written in French by the Famous MONSIEVR de GOMBAVD Made English by SIDNEY LODGE To which is added his Letters to MONSIEVR de MILITIERE And other Personages of the French-Court upon the same Subject LONDON Printed for W. C. M. G. and W. H. and sold by W. Davis in Amen-Corner MDCLXXXII To the Right Honourable BRIDGET COUNTESS OF PLYMOUTH Madam DEdications are usually made to Persons of your Ladiship 's high Character as marks of Gratitude or Respect due to 'em This of mine is of that nature there being no one to whom I owe more Acknowledgments or a greater Honour than to your Ladiship Romances and Playes are generally such Books whose Fronts are honour'd with Names of your Ladiship 's Sex but I have made choice of this Serious and Weighty Subject as believing it most suitable to your Inclinations The Matter of it is Grave and Solid but withal Delightful it being writ in an Eloquent and yet unaffected Style I have endeavour'd to make it not less so in our own Tongue If your Honour finds any Satisfaction in the reading of it I shall believe the Pains I have taken in it sufficiently requited and nothing will more encourage me to Attempts of the like nature than your Ladiship 's Approbation of this Because such Applications as these if tedious are presumptive I 'll only beg leave humbly to assure Your Ladiship that I am Madam Your Honour 's most Obliged and most Humble Servant SIDNEY LODGE TO THE READER THE Preface translated out of French gives you a short account of the LIFE of the celebrated Author I intend by this only to let you know that the ensuing Discourse is so Rational Pithy and full of Sense that it will sufficiently recommend it self and withall to beg you to read it with a due Attention and Candour For my own part I dare confidently say I have been very faithful to the Original having taken no more liberty than what a Translator may justly claim and yet I hope I may without being thought Arrogant affirm that I have given it so much the proper Idiom of the English that you 'll find it easie smooth and Natural and as pleasing as 't is useful for such a Mixture being most grateful ought to be aimed at by those who write The Follies the Superstition the Idolatry the Tyrannical Usurpation of the Church of Rome are here represented in such lively and yet deform'd Colours that no man who pretends to be reasonable but will endeavour to avoid ' em Can any one imagine himself safe under that Religion where the Name of God is onely made use of as a Pretext and instead of that Interest set up and really worshipped Religion is both reveal'd and Natural to instruct us fully In the former God has been graciously pleas'd to give us his Word but the Romanists have inhumanely forbid the reading it To attain to a perfect knowledge of the latter he has endu'd us with Reason but that is enslav'd by their positive Determinations nay they rob us of our Senses too by their establish'd Principle of Transubstantiation so that indeed the Peoples Religion does wholly consist in a blind obedience to a Pretended-Infallible-Priest How happy then are we who are under a Government where the reading of the Scriptures the Rule of Faith is not only allowed but commanded by the Church A Church free from the Extremities on one hand of Idolatry and on the other of Enthusiasm so that here we have the Opportunities of improving both our Religion and our Reason not being forbid the free Exercise of the one or oblig'd to do violence to the other of being both good Christians and Philosophers for the one may be consistent with the other which is clearly demonstrated by this short Treatise which I hope will meet with a kind Entertainment in the World THE PREFACE FROM THE FRENCH THOSE who are acquainted with Monsieur de Gombaud know that he set a greater value on his Discourses concerning Religion than on any of his other Works He was invited to write of that Subject upon a pure charitable design of making the Truth known to such who were yet under the darkness of Error and to confirm those in the true Faith who were either born in or had embraced it He frequently complain'd of two things the one was that those who writ concerning Religion were too Voluminous urging Proof upon Proof and Authority upon Authority without being careful to observe a due Order and clearness in their Discourses The other was that many perswaded themselves the true Doctrine was not consistent with an Elegant Style To shew how they were deceived in this particular he compos'd his Considerations on the Christian Religion when he was yet young and in the Vigour of his Age and in this has really demonstrated that an Author may be both strong and perspicuous short and full solid and elegant Having communicated this Piece to many of his Friends and even to some of the Roman Communion it was so well esteem'd by all of 'em that he was encouraged after that to make a Treatise on the Eucharist and then another which he presented to one of his Friends under the Name of Aristander Most of his Letters were writ in a much fuller Age. Throughout his Works the strength and admirable ingenuity of his Mind his extraordinary faculty of thinking of and expressing things will be discover'd I will say nothing of the Reasons that oblig'd him to keep these excellent Writings private I am sure he passionately desir'd to have publish'd 'em believing they would be of great use and it may be there has not yet been any Secular Man known in the World who was more zealous for the Glory of God or had a greater or a more sincere Love for his Neighbour than he had But when the heat and earnestness with which he writes shall be observ'd and withal it shall be consider'd that all he had to subsist on did absolutely depend on Court it will not be thought strange that he did not make 'em Publick in his Life-time That the World might not be depriv'd of 'em after his Death which it might if they had fallen into the hands of any who were not of his Religion he put 'em in his latter days into those of a good Friend whose Fidelity and Kindness he had experienc'd whom he oblig'd to promise him to keep 'em safe till a convenient Opportunity offer'd it self to publish ' em This Friend always design'd to perform these Desires and his own Promise but besides the difficulty of Printing things of this Nature in the Kingdom he met with many other Impediments At length after divers Attempts and Delays he resolved to make the dear Children of his Friend change their Climate in hopes that when they return'd home tho' in a strange Garb they would be own'd as truly French I leave the
afterwards worship the Sun the Moon the whole Host of Heaven or of Hell There is no Religion so extravagant which he does not favour nor is there any one displeasing to him but the true He hath first added Gods to Gods carry'd their Idols to the Holy place and then hath found out wayes of opposing the Scripture by Scripture and by untrue Interpretations on it created false Beliefs He hath served himself of the Light only to dazle and of Truth to disguise falshood the better to put off his Impostures He has his Learned men to teach and dispute his Professors of Religion to give Examples of living well his Priests his Prophets Martyrs and Confessors And yet men are not sensible by what Spirit they are led so obdurate are they and given up to Satan they are so fully possess'd with and infatuated by him that they scarce think that he is They are so profane and presumptuous have so mighty an Opinion of their own Natural Reason that they pretend to reform the Works of their Maker and to judge of the Word of God as if barely Humane They content not themselves with what they learn from Divinity without the aid of Philosophy and confound both the one and the other and thus insensibly forsaking the Profession of Christians become as Heathens They employ themselves in the search of nice and curious Questions and not regarding what is clear and evident take a pride in raising Doubts and Scruples and in a collection of Contradictions and affected Difficulties pervert themselves and others from the knowledge of the Truth They take when they please figurative Expressions literally they make the worst Interpretations on those things that are obscure and doubtful and when they meet with Words of a double Sense they be sure take that which suits best with their Interest and Designs They puzzle each other with specious Reasons and their Judgment is so weak as to allow that two Contradictories may be maintain'd by equal Proofs One would believe they learn that they may be more ignorant and that they study to be Scepticks and by these means they make Knowledge of less Value than Ignorance it self In Effect if Humane Knowledge was grounded on any Certainty those who pretend so perfectly to understand the Art of reasoning well would be all of the same Belief but if their Opinions are so very different and divided and yet that there is but one Truth in what can they be so understanding in a certain crabbed knotty artificial Divinity only full of Metaphysical Terms which neither the Prophets or Apostles judg'd necessary to Salvation or rather have not at all known and of which according to their Example 't is much better to be ignorant than knowing In Humane Inventions in Chimaera's and odd Pictures and indeed in all things capable of producing Errors and of destroying Reason by its own subtilty you meet with some who are always vainly prating eternal Disputants that employ their whole study in contradicting others and who are concern'd more for a false Syllogism than for the Peace of the Church or the Happiness of the World They never engage in any Conference but with a resolution not to yield in the least for the love of the Truth but only to endeavour either to seduce their Adversaries by all manner of perswasions and promises or at least to supplant 'em by Artificial Stratagems They fear nothing so much as granting one Point lest then they should be obliged to allow all If any of 'em does in the least yield he loses all his Credit with his Party and if sincere but in one act 't will be look'd on by 'em as an unpardonable fault They are alwayes armed with the fallacious Arguments of the Schools and Proofs grounded on certain Maxims which they lay down and oblige them to maintain as Principles of unquestionable Truth which must admit of no Doubt or endure any Examination and on these depend the infallible consequence of what they believe or what they endeavour to perswade us to For though their Impostures are apparent yet they so disguise 'em as to make 'em plausible that they may keep the People by their pious Cheats in their impious Devotions They know how to take the advantage of the Enemy they are well skill'd in shifting the most formal Assertions they subtilly refine the very substance of the Matter and the state of the Question they have their Sophistical Distinctions their set Comments their Evasions and Defeats and thus every one in their Disputes as in War aims only at Conquest Execrable Souls who regard more the defence of their Honour and Interest than their Religion it self and who look after what they are to object or answer rather than what they ought to believe who value not their want of Faith provided they appear not to be void of Reason Why should we hope from these men for a candid and faithful Interpretation of the most hidden things who only endeavour to render more obscure those which are clear and evident and who so change the Ordinances of God that 't is easie to discover it for with the assistance even of common sence our Eyes alone may be just Judges of it But we are not to expect other fruits from their Animosity or Obdurateness who are only free and sociable with those who suffer themselves to be instructed or wholly govern'd by 'em For they are not capable of knowing more having as they presume learn't all they can and proposing to themselves only the teaching of others are pleas'd to be rather esteem'd the Masters of Error than the Disciples of Truth But 't will be asked me if in a Consideration of so great weight as this I can pretend without Presumption that my Opinion herein is infallible or at least more enlighten'd than that of the Learned themselves I answer that I profess to embrace no other than what is establish'd on the clear Evidence of Scripture intelligible by the meanest of men and which it has pleas'd God to reveal to the humble and hide from the proud No other than that by which I am taught that no one ought to presume beyond what is written 1 Cor. 4. 6. That 't is absolutely forbid either to add or take from it that those who promote God's Honour and Service barely by humane Doctrines do it in vain and by their Traditions make the Law of no effect No other than that which presses me to avoid profane Questions vain and impertinent Disputes and unreasonable Contradictions of a Knowledge falsly so called which 't is difficult to pursue without erring from the Faith and becoming even impious Besides I answer that these Demands cannot be justly propos'd to those who serve themselves only of their Sense and Reason to know the Voice of their Lord and Father to receive his Commands and obey him who presume not boldly to intermine their own idle Conceits with his Ordinances and who expound the
acknowledge that the Vniverse was as a visible Word that bespake and manifestly prov'd a God and in comparison of which our Eloquence was silent at least so imperfect and contradictory to it self that what it endeavour'd to bring to Light it made more obscure I observ'd that every thing tended to it's natural End punctually did it's Duty unless Man for he from the very beginning took part with the Devils themselves the Enemies of God Almighty and thus ingratefully sinn'd against him from whom he had received such infinite Favours who had made him in as great Perfection as could be though not a God yet after his own Image But as the first Product of his Mind was Vanity and Pride so that of his Body was Cain the Murderer of his Brother and as all his Children inherit his Rebellion and Rashness so consequently his Punishment and Condemnation In the general Observation I have made of 'em I have found some of the Nature of Devils others of Beasts many of both together being guilty of Rapine and Extortion their Hands stain'd with Blood and in a Word the whole Course of their Lives pass'd either in private Conspiracies or open Rebellion and Thefts 'T was then a secret Horror seiz'd me and a Sadness even as the Shadow of Death disturb'd the serenest days of my Life 'T was little Satisfaction to me that God had made me Man or that I was of the number of those who bore the Name of Christians since I saw what Disorders happen'd amongst 'em and that Malice and Ignorance were as predominant here as with Barbarians and Infidels Nothing was so averse to me as those whom I look'd on as my Fellow-members and yet I found 't was necessary either to comply with 'em and so make my self an accomplice with 'em in their Exorbitances or else to render my self perpetually detestable to 'em yet I consider'd that like Accidents did equally surprize both Old and Young and I could not perswade my self that any reasonable Souls could find any real Satisfaction or Contentment under such great Uncertainties that must needs follow My Reason it self and all its thoughtful Results did but yet serve to torment me more till I had carefully consulted the Divine Oracles the best of Books and was assured by them that God in his Providence did reserve and mark out to himself some for whom even the Angels have respect and who shall not be destroyed in the day of Vengeance That this World is but a place of tryal to distinguish the Good from the Bad a way that leads from Darkness to Light from Misery to eternal Happiness These words I had heard with more Fear and Wavering than Assurance perceiving how very few either could or would understand 'em had I not from themselves learn't that even Shepherds and Fishermen have more Knowledge in 'em than the greatest Casuits or learned'st Philosophers and that justly to comprehend their Meaning we stand not in so much need of Logick or Rhetorick as true Faith and Piety That they teach a Knowledge which puffeth not up but does humble and abase men and yet not so far but though mean and low in the World have Courage enough to declare the Truth before the proudest Tyrant and daily to run the hazard of their Lives that by their Endeavours they may save others from Death These divine Revelations attended with a Spirit of Comfort calmed my disturbed mind I found my self so suddenly transformed from what I was that that Sadness which had possessed me though not quite gone yet had changed its Nature for now 't was occasioned only by my Sins and Infirmities If I have any remaining Fears they do but strengthen me and provoke me to strive with more Violence and Ardency to attain that end which Hope and Faith propose I was fill'd with a just sense of Joy arising not from a transitory unsatisfying Pleasure but from a permanent satisfying Good which though communicative encreases and of which though one may liberally dispose will not at all be diminish'd 'T is this which invites me to freely offer what I have received to joyn my Voice with those of the faithful whom God in his Providence has mixed with others that the Truth may be loudly declared so that those will be inexcusable who have heard it and would not believe or those who betraying themselves to their private worldly Interest feared to listen to it lest they should be obliged to follow it's Dictates The Time may come when they will perhaps accuse us of having been too remiss of not having sufficiently informed 'em and then will they be ready to impute their voluntary Ignorance and Obstinacy to our Neglect or Weakness And yet when we endeavour to instruct 'em some pity us others laugh at or despise us and indeed the most favourable Opinion they can have of us is that we are poor simple extravagant Creatures Others are in Passion and angry with us ready to tear us in pieces affront and injure us look on us as Hereticks and Criminals though our Crime is of that Nature that we desire nothing more than to expose it even to the Censure of our very Judges But to whom shall we discourse we cannot be understood by Idolaters The Prophets have pronounc'd such a Curse against 'em that makes 'em void of Knowledge makes 'em like even what they worship and adore We cannot be understood by men of weak or no Judgments they comprehend nothing and do but rather raise Doubts in themselves than find Satisfaction If they are of wicked debauch'd Lives they are disturb'd to hear the Voice that condemns ' em But they are the most dangerous who have the most Learning these use Tricks and Evasions and wrest the clearest Sense and Words to their own meaning the easiest and most natural Propositions when they please become difficult and ambiguous they equally prove and deny every thing and at length as a just Punishment upon 'em they so far neglect the Knowledge of the Truth as to be unhappy enough not to know themselves they have employ'd their Time and Studies so much in superfluous things that they have utterly lost all manner of Care of such that are necessary they have made their humane Learning so much a Judge of the Divine that it has render'd 'em infinitely worse than if they had been altogether ignorant Moreover since 't is hard to perswade any one to what is disagreeable to him I cannot but fancy I hear the Wise men of the Age and our Courtiers saying Prethee talk to us of what is pleasing and grateful to us and don 't you pretend to be wiser than the Church They ought not they believe be better than their Fathers were or follow other Customs than those of their own Country or Towns The Estates they have will not allow 'em to make any Profession which may be in the least in jurious to 'em and at whatever Rate it is God and Religion must suit
lest he should miss of him who was Innocence it self O God! How long wilt thou suffer the Children of Pride to reign who make Religion but a Masque and use thy Name only to render the People willingly tributary How long wilt thou endure that horrible Scandal these men give to the Gentiles who have yet some shadow of Respect for the Law thou thy self hast pronounced and seeing the Objects of thy Jealousie carved Images in the Churches and the Festivals with which they are honour'd the religious Offices paid to 'em believe this is by the Command of thy Christ and that Christians do worship as many Men as the Heathens did Gods When wilt thou by the Breath of thy Mouth destroy those who with as much Insolence as Hypocrisie abuse the People by their Impostures which even the Jews and Atheists discover and from thence believe Religion a Trick since it 's proved only by false and counterfeit Miracles Upon this account we must have Recourse to thy Sovereign Power for we endeavour but in vain to convince 'em having so extraordinary an Opinion of themselves pretending to a Knowledge from Heaven it self that they believe their Sense is far beyond that of other men that their Thoughts are the immediate Dictates of Reason and that whatever Impressions they receive is from the mouth of Truth it self If the Heathens did with that Violence resist the Gospel and the Knowledge of the true God offer'd to 'em those who had no other Gods but such as Men made what Opposition is to be expected from those who shrowd themselves under the Authority of God himself who believe themselves possess'd of all Right both humane and divine and that to the end of the World all Power is given 'em both in Heaven and Earth and who under the empty Title of a Church make their Errors seem fair and plausible and thus too unpunish'd pass their Deceits upon the World Princes who at first might have prevented these Abuses have by I don't know what irreligious Prudence suffer'd them whether from want of a Knowledge of 'em or from some weighty Cares of State found themselves obliged to dissemble that Knowledge or that they were constrain'd to yield to the Appointment of Heaven and could not but in vain oppose the fulfilling of the Prophecies Prophecies which having long since represented to us things as we now see 'em leave in-excusable so many learned men whom Fear or Hope has made silent and who by their unfaithful silence have strengthned what by a just Contradiction they might have render'd weak and invalid or who rather indeed have with too great Ingenuity defended Error which they ought to have buried under an eternal Condemnation CHAP. VIII THERE is no greater Tyrant in the World or that makes himself more obey'd than Custom especially in Matters of Religion and that which makes it the more absolute is the Obligations it layes on mens Consciences which for fear of erring are oblig'd to pursue those Rules it at first prescribed This makes it plain to us that notwithstanding the vain presumption of men and the good Opinion they have of their own Parts they are yet so naturally weak and infirm that it seems to us that their Soul came not from Heaven but is purely Sensual and that all the Perfection which they have attained to is only an Effect of what they have learn'd They lay so great stress upon their Birth Education or Chance it self that that which first takes with 'em does so strongly engage 'em that they are made incapable of believing any thing but that of which they were first persuaded Upon this account I have endeavour'd as much as possible to dispossess my self of those impressions were made on me in my Youth to look on 'em as altogether foreign that the Truth might be the sole Object of my Faith and that Custom might not tyrannically prevail over my Reason Then I have always thought that he ought not to be truly valued as Man who was byass'd by the course of the World who was not in some sort infinitely above the Advice that is commonly given him who was so weak and mean-spirited as to abandon his own Judgment and suffer himself to be enslav'd by Popular Error But men approving for the most part of such things only to which they have been us'd and judging according to their customary Practice have contracted so ill an habit that to remedy it is extreamly difficult the very faculties of the Mind being seized which should be employed to deliver 'em from it they have certain Notions so deeply imprinted on 'em that they become natural and pass for Reason it self they know nothing else they understand no other Language and without changing their very Nature they cannot alter their Belief They are not sensible that instead of maintaining the Truth they defend only the first Opinion they have receiv'd without examining whether it be as true as pleasing to 'em whether grounded on Prejudice on specious Pretences probable Guesses or wordly Considerations They consider not that all Sects whatever claim the same Advantage that all Heresies have some who take their part and with equal Passion promote 'em have their learned Patrons who think they ought not to yield the one to the other either in Opinion or Knowledge They reflect not how strangely they are transported with a fond Love of themselves that persuades 'em they mightily differ from their own kind that they have a much better Conception of things than others that they are enlightened by some Divine Power whilst others have scarce Humane Understanding Then they proceed Nothing is so true or to be so easily comprehended as what they believe The proof of it is clear and it's Demonstration infallible He that perceives not this knows nothing Reason is constantly on their side but Error and Obstinacy on that of their Adversaries What unaccustom'd madness and blind Rage or what Pride keeps 'em from seeing that even those whom they wonder at look on them with Amazement and that they are ridiculous to those they laugh at and that they only seem to pity those who have a real pity and compassion on them Ought they not observing the great Uncertainty of things and the frailty of mens Parts apply themselves to universal Principles and firmly adhere to the Commands of the sovereign Law-giver who expressly forbids us to turn either to the right or to the left But they are so far prepossess'd with what the World presents 'em the Concerns of this Life have so blinded their Judgment that they take no Care to inform themselves better or do they consider that neither Time or Country or any thing whatever can proscribe against the Truth besides this they are captivated with the Belief of their Parents their Examples at home with the multitude and Antiquity it self which we cannot but attribute to Error which has so insensibly crept in amongst us and has been advanc'd from Time
to Time to the height of Power that it's Enemies in opposing of it have been utterly foyl'd or at least very much baffl'd 'T is very difficult without doubt to condemn our Country or our Prince to speak against our Ancestors our nearest Friends or Relations nay even against those who have taught us but the Business is we must strive to disingage our selves from the Falshood of mens vain Imaginations to justifie Truth against the Testimony of it's many Enemies to repair the Decays of an almost-spent Life to seek after our chief Good and Happiness to give our Assents to the Words of him that says Those who love Father or Mother or any thing else better than him are not worthy of him But for all this they persist in their Resolutions of following the Example of those worthy men whose Authority they urge not considering that even the Turks can at least say thus much for themselves and the Heathens more But they choose to stick to these false Principles rather than to give themselves the Pains of examining into the best Doctrine can be proposed to ' em Then they are as it were listed and enslav'd to live and dye and submit to the Tyrannical Power of certain Guides who tell 'em they cannot err that the Spirit of God does necessarily assist in their Assemblies and Determinations that their Power is absolute and besides all this can reconcile Religion with the Advantages of the World Oft thus they very easily suffer themselves to be persuaded it being most agreeable to their Inclinations and for the accomplishment of their Designs They are pleas'd to hear others slander'd and hug themselves to see those convicted of Error who talk to 'em of Truth She is suspected by 'em they dare scarce look on her lest being conquer'd by her Beauty they find themselves obliged to court her or to suffer some just Displeasures on her Account which they are unwilling to submit to The Truth of it is they are wilfully ignorant of those Principles they will not put in Practice finding a certain Satisfaction and Quiet in their Ignorance that Law though never so just which restrains their Liberty is uneasie to ' em It is enough that Afflictions being a necessary part of the Gospel-Dispensation to deter those of this World from it's Profession They rather yield to the violent Stream that hurries 'em on than strive against it they had rather be lull'd into a soft Sleep attended by agreeable Dreams than hear the troublesome Voice of those who waken 'em only to disturb ' em O Brutish Stupidity O Apparent Hardness Must Vice and Error because grown common loose their Name and be call'd Vertue and Wisdom Must Custom be so prevalent as to hinder men from being reasonable But 't is not to be doubted but that those whom the Scripture stiles Drunk are so great Strangers to their own Senses so deprav'd in their Understandings as to take that for true which is false and that they see not indeed what they see And 't is not to be question'd but that they resemble those who had so long us'd themselves to the eating of Poyson that at length it was even Meat and Nourishment to ' em In the mean while they have plac'd all sort of Religion in humane Traditions and Superstition they have not consulted either with Sense or Reason and I don't know from whence it is that the greatest part of Men the most exquisitely curious in other things make no Search at all after that which is most necessary Their Knowledge of God is as that of the Barbarians obscure barren and insignificant and had they been born amongst the Turks they would have believ'd as they do because they have but one Faith called Acquired depending on Tradition that never saved any one This is that of the Wicked as well as theirs nay that of the Devils themselves who as these own a God and that he is Almighty that he created the World and sent his Son who believe the great Mystery of his Birth of his Life and of his Death and who yet must not pretend to have a share in his Kingdom or Glory To observe the inconsiderate Zeal of a People who when they pray are ignorant of what they say is a thing claims both our Pitty and Horror too who satisfie themselves with bare Shews and are led away by such Preachers who rather thirst after the Blood of their Neighbours than desire their Salvation A People abus'd with Vanities imagining God is better pleas'd in one place than another and who searches amongst Strangers for what he may find equally amongst his own An ignorant and unwise People who see not that under the Gospel they raise without thinking of it Judaism again against what is said in Scripture That the time is come that those who will worship God truly must do it in Spirit and in Truth And how do either Places or Pilgrimages serve in order to this How do those Acts of Devotions contribute to it which are looked upon only from their Quantity and not Quality which are not recommended either from their Faith or Piety but by certain Tasks they impose on themselves and by some odd Numbers in which they believe great Vertue and which they vainly affect as the Magicians did of old Superstitious Devotions full of dark and scrupulous Doubts as if they were afraid to know the Truth and that the very Light was offensive to 'em who apprehend nothing of the True Religion but what is said of it by their Enemies and therefore hate and speak reproachfully of it and always represent it after the most dreadful manner they can imagine It cannot certainly be difficult to perswade those to what we will whom we have once brought under a blind Obedience to which they yield with as much Ease and poorness of Spirit as if they said we will be stupid we will be senceless For if if they once say that they 'll follow the Church they contradict themselves and confess they embrace what they know but what more than an ordinary Knowledge is requir'd to discern betwixt what is true and what is false But why must they be blindly obedient whom God has endu'd with Reason and given his Precepts to 'em with this express Command That Fathers instruct their Children in 'em and that all search the Scriptures the alone means to direct us to the Kingdom of Heaven But how can they inform others who are themselves so ignorant who as a just Punishment on 'em for adoring Images are so besotted as to ask their Advise and Counsel this is to consult even Stones and Marble Ye blind perceive ye not that ye become insensible by paying a Veneration to things that are so Understand ye not that even Reason tells you that you are beneath what you worship and yet your depraved Inclinations have made you less valuable than the works of your own hands Be not thus childish but leave these
as that of his Body which was to be broken for us From hence 't is apparent that the Breaking and the Communion are so firmly joyned to this Action that without them 't is not indeed a Sacrament Let those who so frequently urge that He hath said it teach us after what manner He gave his Body to his Disciples during his Weakness before his Resurrection and Glory as also before his Passion and Death Is it not in breaking Bread for 'em himself who was in some sort broken before he suffer'd and that by his own hands and not by those of his Enemies since the Sacrament preceded the Sacrifice Is it not according to the custom of all Sacraments that he spake of it in giving it a Name expressive of the Effect and in saying that 't is not only what he represents but that which he offers to those who desire to receive it Who perceives not that our Corporal eating does assist at the same time and is a means to excite our â—ouls to a â—piritual one which is absolutely dependent on Faith 'T is certain that many have been afraid after the Blessing to give the Bread the name of Bread lest it should be taken for ordinary Bread But St. Paul calls it Bread four times at least for fear that as by the Capernaites or Romans it should be taken for Flesh he said also the Cup is the Communion of the Blood of Christ for fear it should be believ'd the Blood it self We cannot doubtless approach these Sacred Signs with too great Reverence since by their means the things they signifie are convey'd to us or at least so offer'd that 't is but desiring 'em and we may receive ' em Faith serves as a Mouth to us and our Souls in some sort eat and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ as our Bodies eat and drink the Bread and Wine which represent ' em Thus the Fathers to stir up a Peoples Devotion and engage 'em to the profound Respect of Holy Things used certain ways of speaking which were not to have been believed had they not been figurative Their mighty Zeal which perswaded 'em they could never say too much left 'em no room to imagine that their Metaphors Metonymies and Hyperboles would one day pass for Articles of Faith They could never have thought that from the Flowers of their Rhetorick would have grown such a monstrous Doctrine or that from the Weakness or Malice of men their serious and devout Meditations would have been turn'd into Chimerical Notions But having endeavour'd to improve each others Expressions they have unhappily contributed without thinking of it to a Mystery they as yet knew not and have by their Arguments helped to strengthen it's Abuse Their Evidence is every day cited to this purpose the Transports of their Thoughts and their extraordinary heights of Speech are urged as undoubted Testimonies of the simple Truth Though the same Writings of these Fathers are so expounded that we may say of them as of the Holy Scriptures That those things which are clear and manifest remove the Scruples raised by such which are difficult and obscure yet the great Doctors of the Age whatever Reasons have been shewn 'em to the contrary forbear not to impose on the Credulity of the People who as the highest Peice of Devotion daily worship a bit of Bread and in this are so far prevail'd with by Custom that they are even ready to massacre those who will not believe it Add to the Errors of Speech the long Conversation the Primitive Christians held with the Heathens of whom they have not only borrowed Temples Altars and Images but also Habits Gestures Numbers and Mysteries you 'll find that after their Example they have omitted nothing that may render their Religion pompous and suitable to the Grandeur of the World that they could not stoop to the simplicity of the Gospel preferring rather the Appearance of things than the real Truth Those who have read but a very little must confess that they scarce see any thing in their Churches which they have not borrowed from the superstitious Gentiles And not to speak of any thing but what relates to our Subject of Discourse they worshipp'd no Images but what must be consecrated being perswaded the Deities they represented were fixed to 'em by the power of their magical Operations Those Christians who have not been satisfy'd with the Terms of Blessing and giving of Thanks have been so pleas'd with that of Consecration that in time they believed a Virtue and Efficacy in it hence proceeded the Observation of many mysterious Ceremonies an Affectation of certain Words often repeated besides a Presumption of adding others to those of Jesus Christ's that they might not be wanting either in their Numbers or Virtue Hence arose the Name of Transubstantiation so ill understood and so ill made use of that without the Explication they give of it 't would not be in the least significative of what they design it This is a Doctrine which as much as 't is possible destroys the Humanity of Jesus Christ and which frames to it self a God in which no reasonable Creature can believe This is the Source from whence flow such Streams of Contradictions and unallowable Consequences that they both scandalize and discourage the greatest part of Men they obstruct the Conversion of the Infidel and confirm the Atheist in his Unbelief 'T is indeed a horrible Abuse of those Sacramental Words This is my Body to place a Power in 'em in these lattertimes of changing the Bread of the Eucharist into the incorruptible Body of Jesus Christ to be receiv'd in by our corruptible ones without any Need or our finding any extraordinary Effect or Advantage by it The Text is much more express that says The Word was made Flesh yet no one believes that by Transubstantiation the Divine Nature was changed into the Humane So from the Sacramental way of speaking that says This is my Body no one ought to infer that the Substance of the Bread is converted into the Substance of the Body of Jesus Christ What Virtue what efficacious Use has not been allowed to Baptism both by the Scripture and the Fathers By it we put on Jesus Christ and partake not only of his Death and Burial but his Resurrection also By it we are in an Instant made new Creatures we pass from Sin to Justification and ascend from Earth to Heaven However Holy and Celestial the Eucharist is what more abundant Graces can it bestow on us than the Confirmation of these same Priviledges the Operations of the same Spirit the first Fruits of the same Transfiguration and Glory Yet for this only the Learned of the Times have sought out many Inventions that exceed the Capacity of Men and subvert all Orders and the very Principles of the True Doctrine From their hollow brain is produced an idle vain thing that is void of all Substance a real Apparition which presents it self