to examine the Sacraments of which so much being said already little remains to be added By their dividing the Cup from the Bread they destroy Christs Institution and so make it no Sacrament and the hearing of Mass without communicating though it make up the greatest part of their worship yet is purely a service of their owâ—… devising without warrant from Christâ—… Institution who said take eat this is my Body thereby shewing he intended the vertue and benefit of that Ordinance only for those who received it And in a word let any read and compare the Institution of the Lord Supper as it is in the three Gospels and the Epistle to the Corinthians together with the whole office of the Mass as it is in the Roman Church and then let him on his Conscience pass his verdict whether they have adhered to or departed from Christs Institution in that piece of their worship Finally one great end of all solemn Worship being the Communion of Saints in their joint adorations and mutual occurrence in divine services what union can they have with God or what communion can they hold one with another who perform all their Worship in an unknown Tongue which is the rule and constant practice of that Church beyond Sea though for the better venting of their sophisticated stuff among us they give the people Books of devotion in their vulgar Language yet continue to say the Office of the Mass in Latine And thus far I have run a round that great Circle I proposed to my self in the beginning of this discourse and have examined the chief Designs of the Christian Religion and have found the great and evident contradictions given to them in all their branches by the established and authorized Doctrines and practises of that Church in which I have fully justified the wise mans observation that he who increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow and have said enough to evince to all rational and considering minds how unsafe it is for any that would keep a good Conscience to hold Communion with them But I have not finished my design till I likewise examine the Characters of the Christian Religion and compare them with these are to be found in the Synagogue of Rome The first Character of our faith is that it was delivered to the World by men sent of God and divinely inspired who proved their Mission by Miracles Now these Doctrines about which we differ from that Church can pretend to no such divine original let them tell us what inspired man did first teach the worship of Images of the Mass of Angels and Saints and of Reliques what man sent of God was the first Author of the belief of the corporal presence of the Sacrifice of the Mass of the Popes supremacy of Purgatory of Indulgences and of all these innumerable superstitions of which the Scripture is absolutely silent for if these doctrines were not the off-spring of Revelations they are none of the Oracles of God nor can we be obliged to believe them as such It is true they vouch Scriptures for proof to some of these but these are so far stretched that their sure retreat is in the Sanctuary of the Churches Traditions but till a clear warrant be produced for proving it was impossible that any falshood could have that way crept into the World we must be excused from believing these Neither is it possible to know what Traditions came from the Apostles for as the vulgar are not capable of pursuing the enquiry so the loss of most of the writings of the first two Ages makes it impossible to know what Traditions came from the Apostles But this I say not that we need fear this trial for the silence of the first and purest Ages about these things which are controverted among us is evidence enough that they were not known to them especially since in their Apologies which they wrote to the Heathens for their Religion and Worship wherein they give an abstract of their Doctrines and a Rubric of their worship they never once mention these great evils for which we now accuse that Church It is true a late ingenious Writer whose sincere zeal and candor had much offended the Roman Court and drawn censures on himself and his Book took a way to repair his reputation by a new Method of proving the truth of the Opinions held in the Roman Church which was that since the present Church held them that shews that they had them so from their Ancestors and they from theirs till you run backwards to the days of the Apostles alledging that a change in the Worship was unpracticable since it could not be done in a corner but in the view of all the World who it is not to be imagined were capable of suffering any great or considerable change to be made in that which was daily in their view and much in their esteem therefore he concludes that every Generation adhered to that belief in which they were born and so no change in any great substantial and visible part of worship could be made It is true he applies this only to the belief of the corporal presence which he attempts to prove could never have been introduced into the Church had it not been conveyed down from the Apostles He hath indeed set off this with all the beauties of wit and elegencies of stile and much profound reading But with how great and eminent advantages both of reason and learning this pretence hath been baffled I leave it to the judgment of all who have been so happy as to read Mr. Claud his incomparable Writings And the common sense of mankind will prove this but an imposture how fairly soever adorned for if we find it certain that any Doctrines or main parts of worship are now received into that Church and if from the undeniable evidences of History and Writings of Ancients it appear that these things were not received in the ancient Church then it is certain there hath been a change made from what was then to what is now though an ingenious Invention may make it appear very difficult to imagin how and when the change came in especially when it was insensibly and by pieces advanced If then it be proved that the Fathers believed the Elements in the Sacrament were really bread and wine and not changed from their own nature but only types and figures of the Body of Christ then we are sure a change must have been made though the ignorance of some ages makes it a hard task to clear all particulars about it It is true the Fathers did highly magnifie this Sacrament with many expressions which though the vehemence of Divine Rhetorick can well justifie yet will not bear a Logical Examen but when they speak in a cooler Stile nothing can be more clear then that they believed not the corporal presence But may not that reasoning of the impossibility of a change in a worship be as well applied to the taking
me But the mention of the Crown calls me tâ—… mind of the literal accomplishment oâ—… that of Mystery being on the forehead oâ—… the whore since the word Mystery was for a great while the inscription on the front of their Triple Crown though it be now altered which being proved by others I may not stay to makâ—… it good From this I should descend to the Cardinals Bishops and Abbots and shew how secular they are become all their design being to engross the power and monopolize all riches which contagion is also derived into the inferiour Orders of the Clergy who by the magnifying of their Images Saints and Reliques use all the Arts they can devise for enriching of themselves and their friends And even these Orders that pretend to mortification and abandoning the world and talk of nothing but their poor and austere manner of life yet have possessed themselves of no small part of the riches and glory of the world It is true there is a young Brotherhood among them which though the youngest yet hath outstripped the elder and made them stoop to it and serve it And what base and sordid ways that society hath pursued for arriving at the highest pitch of greatness and riches and how successfully they have managed their designs is sufficiently cleared what through the zeal of some of the honester of that Communion what through the envy of other emulating orders all these things do fully prove how unlike that Church is to the poor and pure simplicity of Christ and his Apostles and of the first ages of the Church If we further examine the characters of Evangelical purity we have them from the mouth of our Saviour when he commands us to learn of him for he was meek and lowly in heart and he made it the distinguishing badg of his disciples that they loved one another Now for humility it is true the Head of that Church calls himself the servant of the servants of God but how far such humility is from his design his aspiring pretences do loudly declare All the world must stoop to him not only must his fellow Bishops swear obedience to him and become his Vassals but the Kings of the earth must be his footstool and all must pay him that servile homage of kissing his foot an ambition as insolent as extravagant His power must be magnified with the most blasphemous Titles of his being God our Lord God on earth Omnipotent with a great deal more of such servile Adulations offered to him from the Parasites of that Court. In a word a great part of that Religion when rightly considered will be found on design contrived and abetted for exalting him to the highest degrees of insolence but so many proofs of this were already upon other occasions hinted that it is needless to go over them again and that same leven levens the whole lump of their Clergy who all pretend that by their Ecclesiastical character they are only subject to their Head and so enjoy an immunity from the Civil Authority be their crimes what they may be And an in-road on this pretence of late from the State of Venice when they seized two Church-men that were highly guilty drew out so much of their most holy Fathers indignation that he thundered against them and finding the weakness of the spiritual sword resolved to try the edge of his temporal one upon them in patrociny partly of these Villanes and partly of the covetousness of the Clergy to which the Senat had set a small limit by a decree but finding they were like to prove too hard for him he was willing to put up his sword rather then to kill and eat as one of his Cardinals advised him Shall I with this also tell the instances of the ambition of Cardinals who from their first original of being Presbyters of Rome have risen up to the height of counting themselves the companions of Kings and in their habits affect a Princely splendor but have unluckily chosen the Liveries of the Whore for they wear Scarlet as the Bishops do Purple the foretold colours of the Whores Garments Shall I next shew to what a height of pride the exaltation of the Priestly dignity among them hath risen as if it were equal nay preferable to the condition of Princes The Priests giving absolution is a sure device to make his power be much accounted of since he can forgive sin The gorgeous and rich apparel they wear in worship serves also to set off their dignity And what a goodly device is it that their spittle must make one of the sacred Rites in Baptism Certainly that must be esteemed a marvellous holy creature whose very excrements are so sacred Their enhansing the Cup to themselves from the people was another trick for raising of their esteem but above all things their power of transmitting the substance of the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ by uttering five words was a marvellous device to make all the world admire them who can so easily and every day work a miracle compared to which all the miracles of the Gospel may pass for ordinary actions What a great piece of wonder must such a man be held to be who can thus exercise his authority over the very person of Jesus Christ notwithstanding of all the glory to which he is now exalted And it was no contemptible Engine for that same design to possess the people with a belief of the Priests offering in Mass an expiatory Sacrafice for the sins both of the dead and living which proved a Stock for them to trade on both for their ambition and covetousness and from these evidences we may infer how little of the humility of Christ appears in the Church from the highest to the lowest The next branch of the Evangelical Spirit is meekness and charity which leads me unto the consideration of the fourth design of the Christian Religion which was the uniting of mankind under one head and into one body and this it designed to effectuate not only by these sublime Precepts of the highest love and the outmost extent of the pardoning of injuries and of returning them with the best offices of love and prayer which the blessed Author of our faith did enact but by the associating of the faithful into one Society called the Church which was to be united with the closest Bonds of Brotherly love and Charity and was to be governed by Pastors and Teachers who should feed the flock with the sincere milk of the Word and was also to be cemented together by the Ligaments of the holy Sacraments by which as by joynts and bands they are both united to their head and knit together Now we are from these things to consider what opposition that Church we are now considering gives to this branch of the end of Christianity And first whereas the Gospel pronounceth us free and that we are no more the servants of men but of God if
word shall I tell how the Sacramental Actions are polluted by the superfoetation of so many new Rites whereby they are wholly changed from their original Simplicity In Baptism instead of washing with Water in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost how have they added so many adulterated Rites the Child must be thrice blown upon then a Charm used for turning the Devil out of him he must be anointed with holy Oyl and hallowed Salt must be put in his mouth sanctified Garments also must be put on him and a holy Wax candle in his hand and the Priests Spittle must be gently stroaked upon him Whether doth all this look like the Simplicity of the Spouse of Christ or the Attire of the Harlot And in the other Sacrament a great deaâ—… more adoe is made so that any indifferent Spectator who were not waâ—…ned of it would swear it were a solemâ—… piece of Pageantry the Priest muâ—… come in cloathed with rich embroidâ—…red Vestments then he goes to the Altar sometimes reads on the one side then he turns to the other Often he bows and kisses and crosses sometimes single sometimes thrice repeated crosses Most of the Office he mutters though what he says is all alike understood being in an unknown tongue Sometimes he turns to the People and gives them a short Barbarian Benediction Then he goes on till he come to the five wonder-working words And then instead of the Bread which the force of these words hath driven to nothing behold a god to be worshipped by the Spectators And after the adoration the god is to be devoured by the Priest which made the Arabian say he never saw a Sect of Religion so foolish as the Christians were who with their teeth devoured the god they had adored Certainly all this looks so like a piece of extravagance especially if the simplicity of the first institution be considered that many will doubt if it be possible that such worship can be received in any corner of the Christian World And by these hints though a hundred more could be instanced let it be guessed what is become of the simplicity of the Christian Religion when it is so vitiated in all the parts and branches of it And whether that genuine sincere spirituality appear in it which the Gospel holds forth to the world These things having a native tendency for leading away the soul from attending upon God in her acts of worship which is the only thing for which external worship is to be continued in that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we may jointly concur to converse wâ—…h our Maker If from this I should reckon up all the tricks are used in secreter worship what stories should I tell of the pattering over the Beads of the multiplying little unintelligible Prayers the using of Penances some whereof are ridiculous for their gentleness and others of them are as formidablâ—… for their horrour and fitter for the Priests of Baal or the worshipers of Diana Taurica then for those that worship the living God with joy and gladness of heart Now by the performance of these the simple deluded people imagine themselves reconciled to God and secured from his wrath And so go about them meerly in the opinion of a charm But I must next shew how the multiplicity of the Jewish rites was also brought in upon Christendom though Christ came to set us at liberty from that Pedagogy which was made up of Ordinances and lifeless Precepts that could not make the doer thereof perfect nothing being enjoyned in the Christian Religion but that which was of it self easie and proper for the great design of purifying our souls Now such as have brought in a yoke of ordinances that have no tendency to the cleansing of our souls but oppress us with their tyrannical burdensomness being both heavy and numerous must be looked on as the introducers of a new Judaism for oppressing the Christian world what a heap of new superadded forms have the High Priests of Rome brought upon these who stoop to their tyranny And how much sanctity do they place in them enjoyning severer censures on the violation of these than on the greatest transgressions against either the Moral or Positive Laws of God How many holy days have they instituted How much distinction of meats of fasting and abstinence And how like are their Jubilees and Pilgrimages to the Jubilees and yearly trotting up to Ierusalem which was among the Iews In a word there is not a piece of worship about which there is not a greater appendage of vain pompous and withall burdensom Ceremonies then were among the Iews Shall I here mention the five superadded Sacraments to the two instituted by Christ with all the rites belonging to each of them or recount all the rites in their multifarious ordinations Shall I tell of the laying up the Bodies when dead and of the forms of their Burials The burning of Lamps in the clearest day together with the Incense that perfumes the worship which are clear pieces of antiquated Judaism In a word no part of the parallel holds more exactly than that they are zealous of the traditions of their Fathers whereby the Commandments of God are made of none effect and that they honour God with their lips when their hearts are far form him And worship him in vain teaching for Doctrins the Commandments of men Matth. 15. 8 9. And hitherto I have discoursed upon the first limb of Antichristianism and have discovered too evident indications of the contradictions is in it to the first branch of the design of Christianity whereby the worship of God is partly adulterate and partly smothered by a heavy and troublesome load of useless and lifeless perâ—…ormances which must needs lead out the soul from an inward attending on God or free converse with him The second branch of Christianity is â—…he holding forth that Mysterious contrivance of the wisdom and goodness of God for reconciling the World â—…o himself by his dear Son whom â—…e gave to the death for us and also raised up making him both Lord and Christ Whose glory and dignity is vulgarly branched out in these his three Officeâ—… of Prophet Priest and King By the first of which he revealed the Father and his whole council to manking in plain and simple discourses afterwards committed to writing by the faithful eye and ear-witnesses of his Majesty His Prophetiok office therefore is chiefly acknowledged in our grateful receiving these discoveries and our studying to adjust both our Faith and Practice to that unerring rule But can any thing bâ—… more contradictory to this than to keep the knowledge of these writings from Christians to accuse their darkness and defects and to apprehend great danger from their diligent perusal to vilify that sacred study preferring the lame and lifeless discourses of men to the words oâ—… eternal wisdom For we must consider that our study of the Gospel is of thâ—… same nature with a personal following oâ—… Christ when
these Practices Another Art not very remote froâ—… this for detracting from the value 〈◊〉 Christs death and the confidence wâ—… should have in it is the Priestly Absolution wherein after the Sinner hath gone over his sins without any sign of remorse â—…nd told them to the Priest he enjoins a â—…enance the doing whereof is called a satisfaction and the Vulgar do really â—…magine that the undergoing the penance doth fully serve for appeasing Gods wrath against sin but as soon as the Priest hath enjoined his penance without waiting that they obey it he lays his hand on their head and says I absolve thee and after this they judge themselves fully cleansed of sin and that they may receive the Sacrament had their former life been never so bad It is true the practice of the Priests in their slight penances and hasted absolutions and promiscuous allowing of all the holy Sacrament is condemned by many in that Church who complain of these Abuses with much honest zeal but these complaints are so little regarded that their Writings are condemned and the Corruption continues unreformed Now what can take off more from the value of the Death of Christ than to believe it iâ—… the power of a Priest to absolve from sin All the power of the Church being either Ministerially to declare the absolution offered in the Gospel upon the conditions in it or to absolve from the scandal which any publick trespass hath given It was counted blasphemy in Christ when hâ—… said Thy sins are forgiven thee Mar. 2. 5 10. of which he cleared himself from the power was committed to the Son of Man on earth to forgive sins which shews it to be blasphemy in all others to pretend to absolve from sin it being an invasion of his Prerogative To this I might add the scorn put on Religion by many of the penances enjoyned for sin such as the abstaining from flesh for so many days the pattering over so many Prayers the repeating the penitential Psalms the going to such Churches and such Altars with other ridiculous Observances like these which cannot but kill the Vitals of true Religion and lead away Souls from these earnest Applications to Jesus Christ for pardon and renovation And who can have any sad apprehensions of sin who is taught such an easie way of escaping punishment I confess in this as in all other parts of Religion the Masters of that Church have so contrived things that their Doctrines might according to the fable of the Manna taste pleasant in every mans relish for if any be grave and melancholy then silence solitude and retirement are enjoyned them if their tempers be more fiery and sullen severe corporal mortifications and disciplines are tasked on them such as cruel and perhaps publick whipping or other unspeakable austerities with which the Lives of the modern Saints are full but if one be of a more jolly temper who desires Heaven at an easie rate then some trifling penance shall serve turn These are a few of their Arts for diverting Souls from flying unto Jesus as to the sure and safe refuge from the Fathers wrath in whom only we can find sanctuary and whom the Father hath sent into the World to seek and save lost Sinners Now whether the Priest in the injunction of easie penances and giving absolution do not violate thâ—… Prerogative of Jesus and insensibly deâ—… bauch Souls from that affectionate anâ—… grateful Duty they owe their Redeemer into their trifling methods and appointments I refer it to all who know them Another opposition made to the Priestly Office of Christ is their conceit oâ—… the sacrifice of the Mass which they believe is a formal expiation of sins both for the living and dead who are in Purgatory Christ once offered himself up for taking away sin which he did bâ—… that one Sacrifice and this is by the Apostle stated amongst the differences whicâ—… are betwixt the Sacrifices of Moses whicâ—… were to be daily and yearly renewed and râ—… peated whereas Christ offered one Sacrifiâ—… in the end of the World so that there wâ—… no need of more Heb. 10. 1 2 3 12 14 Now to imagine that the Priests goinâ—… through the Office of the Mass and hâ—… receiving the consecrated Elements 〈◊〉 have a virtue to expiate the sins 〈◊〉 others especially of the dead is a thing so contrary to the most common impressions that it will puzzle a mans belief to think any can credit it And yet this is one of the Master-pieces of the Religion of that Church It is true in a right sense that Sacrament may be called a Sacrifice as it was by the Ancients either in general as Prayers Praises and Alms-deeds are called so in Scripture or as it is a Commemoration of the Sacrifice of Christ but to imagine the Action hath an expiatory force in it is a visible derogation from the value of Christs Death and all the value is in any outward Sacramental Action can only be derived into the Soul of the Receiver but it is absurd to think one mans action can be derived to another and it clearly appears from the institution of the Lords Supper that its end was the joint communicating of Believers which is perverted manifestly by the practice of these Priests who communicate in name of the Spectatours Finally what a derogation is it from the Priestly Office of Christ one branch whereof is his Intercession to join Saintâ—… or Angels with him in that work nay and prefer them to him Which will be found too true if the Office of the Virgin and the Prayers offered to her be compared with those offered to her Son Did Christ by the Merits of his Passion acquire this honour at so dear a rate and shall we for whom he suffered rob him so injuriously and sacrilegiously of his honour and bestow it on these who are our fellow-servants But having touched this in the former part of my Discourse I advance my Enquiry to the opposition given the Regal Office of Christ And first how contrary is it to the glory wherewith even his humane Nature and Body is refulgent in Heaven to believe that five words muttered out by the Priest shall have the virtue to produce his real and glorified Body instead of the annihilated Elements of Bread and Wine and yet under their accidents and appearances This is a new and strange kind of humiliation if true by which he who is now cloathed with Glory must be every day exposed under so thick so dark and so contemptible a covering as are the resemblances of Bread and Wine What low thoughts of his Person must it breed in such minds as are capable of believing this contrivance Again he as King of his Church hath given her Laws and Precepts to whose obedience she is obliged to which none can add without they acknowledge another Head and whose obligation none can untye or dispense with for Christs dominion consists in this authority he hath over
any attempt upon that liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free he changeth the authority of the Church into a tyrannical Yoke much more if all the new articles of belief and rules for practice be imposed under the severest certificats But here we are to consider that all these things which that Church hath imposed on all of her Communion for which we withdrew from her are additions to our faith for in this we mainly differ from that Church that whatever we acknowledge they acknowledge likewise but with a great many additions we believe the Scriptures are a rule for Christians and they believe the same but they add traditions and the authority of the Church to the Scriptures We believe that God is to be worshipped spiritually they believe the same but add that he may be worshipped by Images and sensible Figures We believe Christ to be the Mediator betwixt God and Man they believe the same but add to this the intercession of Saints We hold that God and Christ are to be worshipped they hold the same but add Saints and Angels to our worship We believe Heaven and Hell to be the several States of the future life they believe the same but add Purgatory betwixt them to the day of Judgment We believe Baptism and the Lords Supper to be the Sacraments of the new Covenant they believe the same but add five more We believe Christ is spiritually and really present in the Lords Supper this they believe but add the unconceivable Tenent of his corporal presence In a word it might be instanced in many other particulars how they have driven us from their Communion by their additions to the truth and sincerity of the Gospel which they have adulterated by their Inventions and not only have they imposed all these things but thundered out Anathema's on all that question them and have so wreathed all their fopperies with that main and fundamental article of their belief of the infallibility of their Church that it is impossible to hope for their recovery till they renounce that Principle which is so dear to them For if their Church be infallible then in no matter of faith or practice can she decree amiss and therefore the lawfulness and sanctity of all her decrees must be maintained with an equal vigor and zeal for if in one of them she step aside her infallibility is for ever gone And by this we may see to how little purpose it is to treat of accomodating matters with that Church since there is no possibility of our union with them without we turn over entirely to them since they cannot part with one of their errors without they first renounce that which is the dearest of them all to wit the unerring authority of their Church How cruel then is that Church which addeth the severe sanction of an Anathema to all her decrees even about the most trifling matters and about things that are by their Confession of their own natures indifferent And a consectary to this is that cruel opinion they hold that none can be saved out of their Communion pretending there is no Salvation without the true Church which they restrict to these who are under the obedience of the Roman Bishop and this is what they usually frighten all with But it is to be considered what the true notion of the Church is that so we may see through this frightful Vizar The Church then is a Society of Christians united in the same faith for worshipping of God jointly And another definition of a Church cannot be proved from Scripture for the Church being called the Body of Christ its union with him as its head is held forth by the Apostle in these words Col. 2. 19. The head Christ from whom the whole body by joints and bonds having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God From which words we see what constitutes a man a member of the true Church which is first his union to Christ as his head together with a dependance on him for growth and nutriture and next his being knit to all others who are thus united to Christ which is first the inward union of divine Charity by which he loves all who cleave to Christ as their head and next his associating himself with them in outward visible acts of worship which every Christian is bound to do with all that worship God in Spirit and truth But if a Society of Christians do visibly swerve from Christ in many great and signal contradictions to the honour due to his Person and to the obedience due to his Laws and do grossly adulterate the worship so that communion cannot be had with that Church without departing from the head Christ then it can be no departing from the Church to adhere to Christ and his true worship and to separate from the corruptions are brought in upon the Christian religion If then it appear that the Church of Rome hath departed from the truth and simplicity of the Gospel in so many great and main points these who attempted the reforming her to her first purity and finding that not to be hoped for did unite among themselves for serving and worshiping God aright cannot be charged with separation from the true Church But by that cruel Tenent of theirs they breed up all their Children in the greatest uncharitableness imaginable condemning all who cannot believe all their strange Doctrines or concur in their unhallowed worship Thus they are the Schismatiques who have departed from the true Church and who force from their Communion all who adhere to it but this cruelty rests not in uncharitable censures but hath extended it self to as much bloody and barbarous rage as ever sprung from Hell for all the cruelty of the heathen Persecuters cannot match the practices of that Whore that hath been so often drunk with the blood of the Saints and of the Martyrs of Iesus What enraged cruelty appeared against the poor Waldenses for the separating from their Corruption how many of all Sexes and Ages were cruelly butchered down by the procurement of the Rulers of that Church and because the Albigenses lived under the protection of Princes that favoured them how did the Popes depose their Princes and instigate other ambitious invaders to seize on their dominions which to effectuate a Croissade was proclaimed that had been formerly practised against the Enemies of the Christian Faith and heaven was promised to such as went against these poor innocents whereupon they were killed by thousands without all mercy Never was there any who had the zeal or honesty in these dark ages to witness against the apostacy of the Church but the Pope and Clergy used all means to get his zeal rewarded with a faggot And when the time of reformation came with what rage and spite did the Pope by his Letters and Legates instigate all the Princes of Europe to cruelty against them but as these things were not done in corners so