back that was profitable Doth not this I pray you fully confirm what I said That the belief of any thing more than what is declared in Scripture may prove rather a hinderance than a help to Salvation Nay 't is not only may be but probably if not certainly will be a hinderance and not a help since the Apostle assures us that he declared all things profitable that is all things helpful And doth not St. Peter 2 Epist. i. 8. and following verses discourse to this purpose For there he tells them that in doing those things which he had taught them they should make their calling and election sure and that thereby an entrance should be ministred unto them abundantly Were it not then as sensless as dangerous to venture on any other means or helps as they call them than what the Scripture shews for our Salvation for if we follow that it makes our Salvation abundantly sure But say the Romanists all that the Apostles declared was not committed to writing but some by word of mouth and so passed by tradition from hand to hand and for this they bring us a Scripture 2 Thes. ii 15. My Brethren stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught whether by word or our Epistle From whence say they 't is evident that all things the Apostles taught for mans Salvation were not delivered in writing but some by tradition from word of mouth The answer to this is very easie for though St. Paul did not teach the Thessalonians all things by writing but some by word of mouth yet it doth not follow but that his Epistles to the Thessalonians with other his Epistles as also the Epistles of the other Apostles the Acts the Gospels all together did contain in them all things necessary and profitable also to Eternal Life For this reason St. Paul commanded his Epistles written to one Church to be read to other Churches as I formerly shewed you And so St. Peter in his Epistles commends to the people likewise the Epistles of his beloved Brother Paul And therefore I did not say that any one Epistle two or three did contain all things necessary to Eternal Life Nor did our Saviour tell the Iews that in any one or more Prophets they had Eternal Life but in the Scriptures they had Eternal Life in Moses Psalms Proverbs Prophets in the whole Scripture And if the Old Testament were so perfect and so glorious as to contain in it all things necessary to Eternal Life which glory was to be done away as St. Paul saith shall not the New Testament the Ministration of the Spirit be much more glorious and perfect 2 Cor. iii. 7 8. Would God be less careful of his Church establish'd by his own Son in Person which was to remain to the end of the world than of that erected by Moses his Servant which was but a shadow of that to come Can any man be so simple as to think this though perchance so perverse as to affirm it This and such like things they may whisper in a corner to silly women or men as silly but certainly none can have the face to say this to any man of understanding 't is so absurd and so fully confuted by St. Paul not only in the places before cited but also in 2 Tim. iii. 16 17. where he tells him that all Scripture is given by inspiration from God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works Observe I beseech you That the man of God may be perfect perfect in Doctrine in faith in good works in all things Oh! my beloved God send me and you the perfection of Scripture the Doctrine and Works there taught and let the Papists follow their Doctrines of men their perfection their works of merit yea and of supererogation too Whereas we learn from Scripture that when we have done all we can we are unprofitable Servants but their Doctrines of men teach them that their great Saints Bennet Francis Dominick Ignatius and many hundreds more are such profitable Servants and have done such mighty works of perfection as not only to merit Heaven for themselves but also to gain Heaven for others by their superabundant merits which the Pope hath power when he pleases to apply to Souls scorching in Purgatory and dismiss them away presently to Heaven Sure a hard hearted cruel man that will let any lie long in those raging flames if he have power to release them Who can but pitty those poor silly Souls that are led into everlasting flames by these seducing Teachers so flatly contrary to the Scriptures cited now and others That no man may deliver his brother or make agreement unto God for him For it cost more to redeem their Souls it cost the blood and death of our Saviour Jesus For our sins being trespasses against the infinite majesty of God none but our Saviour who is also of an infinite Majesty both God and man could make a just satisfaction for them Had a thousand Bennets Dominicks c. and ten thousand thousands more been sacrificed on Crosses all had been in vain we should all lie for ever in everlasting flames These Scriptures are shut up from the eyes of poor blind-folded Papists But Blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear Matt. xiii 16. Your eyes and your ears see read and hear these Scriptures daily preached unto you Hold fast these the words of Eternal Life which alone will make you wise unto Salvation and throughly furnish you unto all good works make you perfect without any Doctrines of men as you shall hear more particularly by and by What then must we lay aside all the Writings of the Holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church even in the purest times by no means for they may be very helpful to us in expounding obscure places of Scripture for which several sorts of learning are very useful First The perfect understanding of the Original Languages in which the Scriptures were written as the Hebrew the Syriac the Greek Languages Now many of the Primitive Fathers were either born or much educated when those Languages were naturally spoken and thereby could much better judg of the propriety and full signification of many words which we are much to seek in and each Country Language hath several proverbial sayings and antient forms of speech which in process of time grow out of use and very hard to be understood we see that very few now are able to understand old Chaucers Language English being very much altered since Secondly History and Geography are very necessary for the understanding of several passages in Scripture And certainly those Primitive Fathers living near the times and places when and where our Saviour and the Apostles taught and acted may be able to inform us of several circumstances and give us great light in many
Fathers but by this and the following discourses you will find the doctrine of man is no sure ground to build your Faith and Salvation on but only on the Word of God Moreover were the Doctrines of the Fathers of far more Authority yet among their Writings there are many spurious Books foisted in by idle Monks who were the common transcribers of the Fathers Works before Printing Bellarmine the great Champion of the Papists doth acknowledge this and hath written a Book to distinguish the true from the false yet hath reserved some in his Catalogue for true making for their Doctrines as spurious as those he hath cast out You see then 't is very difficult to know which are the genuine Books of the Fathers and when you know that 't is as difficult to know what is the clear sence of their Writings and thirdly to know which are their Orthodox Opinions which their Errors for there is no learned Papist but will acknowledge they had Errors and after all this we have no warrant to build our Faith and Salvation on their Doctrine Wherefore to save all men this great labour both needless and fruitless I resolved on this short easie plain way to prove That in the Scripture alone without any other Book in the world we have clear full and compleat instruction for matters of belief and practice in summ all things necessary for our salvation in Scripture and that there is no need to consult any other Book but the Bible alone for all And Secondly I do here further prove that it is both dangerous and impious to affirm the Scriptures are not compleat in themselves for our Salvation And Thirdly that 't is both irreligious and idolatrous to believe in any man or assembly of men in matters of Salvation which saves all men the labour of looking farther than the Bible for it And because the Papists pretend Scripture which we acknowledge to be our Rule of Faith for some of their Opinions differing from us I have here I hope fully Explained and Answered those Scriptures especially what they pretend for Transubstantiation and Corporal Presence of our Saviour Christ in the Lords Supper which I shall add at the end in a short Tract by it self because it is not at all contained in that Text whereon my three Sermons depend And thus I hope this little Book if not confuted subservient to Scripture may without any other satisfie and settle any one in all the Controversies we have with the Papists First by having proved we are not to believe any thing with divine Faith but what is plainly contained in Scripture Secondly by having Answered what they pretend from Scripture Thirdly because for all other differences with us they have no Scripture Now if any Papist can confute me in any one of these material principal things I shall heartily thank him and promise in the word of a Christian I shall readily acknowledge my Error and embrace his Truth But if he only cavil or scurrilously scoff at trivial things as some to their own shame and reproach have formerly done I shall thank them also for this for thereby they prove their own Errors and confirm my Truths I have this one thing more only to trouble the Reader with The first of my three Sermons on that Text Search the Scriptures was Preacht in September 1677 and in June 1678. comes out a little book to the same intent of that Sermon expressing several things in it and in the very same manner by what means I know not but this I and many others know that my Sermon was Preached almost a year before that Book came forth and therefore I could not have them from that Author called The same Author that wrote the whole Duty of Man who it seems must countenance Books to the worlds end However I thought it fit to Print that Sermon with the other two first because it contains several things not in that Book and secondly the other two would be very defective without it And now good Reader I beg your favourable Censure if you find any small Mistakes or Errors for you know and I confess being a man I may err humanum est errare sed in errore perseverare belluinum est therefore I abhorr it I conclude all with my Prayers for you and begging your Prayers for me that God in his great mercy by the light of his holy Word and holy Spirit would guide us all into all saving truth And to his Divine Majesty from whom cometh every good and perfect gift be ascribed as is most due all Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen A SERMON ON JOHN V. Ver. 39. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life WHEN I last appeared here my business was to arm you with Christian Courage and firm resolution to fight manfully the good fight of Faith with full assurance of a glorious reward from the sure hand of our most gracious God who never fails to reward those that seek and serve him And this our fight must be not with the arm of flesh and sword of steel which is often subdued and broken by a stronger but with the power of the Word and Sword of the Spirit which no power upon earth or under the earth can subdue because he that is with us is stronger than all that are against us Now for the present I shall endeavour to shew you what we are to fight for And this we learn from the Apostle St. Iude who commands us to contend for the faith once delivered to the Saints once for all the faith which was delivered by our Saviour and his Apostles once to remain to all future Generations for the Salvation of all Mankind Which Faith is contained in the Holy Scriptures and written there for our Learning as the Scripture it self tells us Search therefore the Scriptures for it for in them ye have Eternal Life In these words we have two things set forth unto us First A Command Secondly The Reason of the Command The Command to Search the Scriptures then the Reason of this Command for in the Scriptures we have Eternal Life Both these things are so plain in themselves that they need no explication But the perverse wits of evil men who can find nodum in scirpo have invented some difficulties in them to excuse their pernicious practices clean contrary to them The Governours of the Romish Church guilty of such practices have invented these difficulties For they having many things in their Church Devotions quite contrary to Scripture as I shall shew you e're this business be ended find it necessary to shut up the Scripture from the Laity who would not so blindly be seduced into them had they the light of Holy Scripture to discover the grossness of them And therefore First They will have it that this command of our Saviour to Search the Scriptures belongs only to the Clergy and they are to teach the people out
mercy to stir up Dr. Luther Bucer Melancthon Calvin and several others to open again the Gospel unto us and by the light thereof to discover the Heathenish superstitions of the Church of Rome who had again revived many practices of old Pagan Rome the Pagan had their purifying Waters called Aquae Lustrales in imitation whereof the Papists have their Holy Water to sprinkle themselves withal when they enter the Church So instead of the Pagan Vestal Fires the Papists have their lamps continually burning day and night before their Altars The Pagans had their Tutelary gods as Protectors of this and that place so have the Papists their several Saints for several Countreys St. Dennis for France St. Iames for Spain St. Peter for Rome St. George for England St. Patrick for Ireland The Pagans carried the Idols of their gods about in Procession with great pomp burning Incense and singing Hymns unto them the Papists do the very same to the Idols of the blessed Virgin and Saints to the reproach rather than the honour of their memory as if they had been Heathen and not Christian Saints Many many more are their superstitious fopperies forsaking the body Christ and follow the infatuating shadows of humane inventions Teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men God only knows what a Chaos of confusion we had been sunk into before this had not God stirred up those Worthies I mentioned when the Pope like a God upon earth had usurped that Anti-Christian power as to thwart the commandments of God and Christ our blessed Saviour as I have already shewed you in many particulars But there is one I have not yet mentioned more remarkable and detestable than any of those I mean the countermanding that solemn and last command of our Lord and Saviour Jesus at his last Supper after he had instituted the blessed Sacrament of his body and blood to our endless comfort and commanded his Apostles to do the same in remembrance of him And I pray you take notice of one circumstance therein which perchance you have never yet observed and 't is this When our Saviour delivered the Bread unto the Apostles he said Take eat this and no more but when he delivered the Cup he gave a more exact command for it saying Drink ye all of this As if he had said Be sure that every one of you partake of the Cup let no one omit it And why so particularly command the Cup more than the Bread Truly with great reason He divinely foreseeing the sacrilegious dismembring of this blessed Sacrament which the Roman Church would make in depriving the people of the Cup. Whereas one would think this Command of our dying Lord and Saviour for us should of all other Commands be most exactly performed to a tittle in every point Yet the Pope as ungratefully as insolently presumes to command to keep the Cup from the People Who could have believed such an insolency had not the whole world seen it By the same rule he might and perchance before this time had not his high presuming power met with such opposition in Germany would have taken away the Bread also and made the People only gazers on and admirers of the great dignity of the Priests who alone were admitted to that Holy Supper for so it is among them now for the most part the Priest saying Mass every day but the common people generally receive the blessed Sacrament but once or twice a year Now had the Pope taken away the Bread also he might have given the very same reason for that as he doth for taking away the Cup. They give two reasons First because it may happen that in delivering the Cup to many people the Wine which they call the Blood may be spilt Why so in giving the Bread some crums may fall and they affirm that Christs body is entirely contained in the least crum Secondly They say the People have the Blood of Christ in his Body when they receive that and therefore they need it not again in the Cup. Though 't is apparent in Scripture that our Saviour gave it in the Cup apart to signifie his bloodshedding from his body saying This is my blood which was shed But 't is no matter what our Saviour said the Pope says otherwise and we must hearken to him he says 't is sufficient for the People to receive the Blood in his Body And so should he say that he is the Head of the Church and if he alone receive the Bread and Cup and no other neither People nor Priest receive either 't is sufficient if the Head receive them the Head stands for the whole Body the Pope guided by the Holy Ghost says so and then who dares say otherwise And thus you see that if we once let go the Scripture farewell all Religion all the commands of God are to small purpose what the Pope says must be a Law Good Lord deliver us The time is welnigh past and I must hasten to an end Wherefore I shall now add only a short reflection on what hath been said with a word of Exhortation in the close You have heard Gods Command to the People of Israel concerning the Old Law That all should read it teach it their Children write it on the doors and posts of their dwellings discourse of it in their Houses by the way and in the fields You have heard also Gods Command to the Prophets To go to all the house of Israel to all the people and cry aloud to them all the day long You have heard our Saviours Command to the Apostles To go and Preach the Gospel to all Nations to every creature You have heard how the Apostles guided by the Holy Ghost directed their Epistles To all the Faithful to all the Saints You have heard Saint Paul strictly command his Epistles to be read to all the holy Brethren And now shall any man be so insolently so desperately wicked as to dare to controul the Command of God so often reiterated and countermand the Scriptures to be shut up from the People Man a worm of the Earth thus to oppose his Creator Nay my beloved hearken yet farther The Romanists declare it to be a sin for the people to read the Scripture And you know the wages of sin is death eternal death so then the Romanists declare it to be Eternal Death for the people to read the words of Eternal Life Stand amazed O ye Heavens at this If this be not transcendent madness and transcendent wickedness too tell me what is To say the Sun is darkness is ten times more tolerable than to say the word of Eternal Life is Eternal Death to him that reads it But now I beseech you mark what a ridiculous Salvo they bring for this their horrid wickedness O say they but you may have leave of your Confessor to read the Scripture if he find you fit for it that is if he find you a dull tame Ass ready to bear all the
for St. Paul to declare to the Corinthians this great and hidden mystery if there were any But he declares the contrary telling them it was Bread which they did eat 1 Cor. xi 26 As often as ye eat this bread and the Bread is eaten after the words of Consecration If then it be Bread when we eat there is no change at all And I pray you let us observe also St. Paul's manner of Consecration First he tells them that he delivered unto them what he had received of the Lord to shew his fidelity in the business then proceeds to the form of consecrating the Bread And when he comes to the Cup he saith This Cup is the new Testament in my blood Mark I pray you He doth not say This Wine but This Cup. I here ask the Papists is this a literal or a figurative Speech If literal then the Cup is changed into the Blood so saith the letter Wine is not here mentioned And if you talk of God's Power God can as easily change the Cup into his Blood as the Wine The Papists then will needs have a figure in this Consecration so we in that of the Bread for it were absurd to take one literally and the other figuratively And I presume the Papists will not dare to say that St. Paul here prevaricated in delivering what he received from the Lord yet St. Paul's words differ somewhat from Christ's but if we take them figuratively they are in effect the same which plainly shews all here is figurative The Papists then having no Scripture expressing any substantial change of the Bread and we having a Scripture clearly expressing that it remains Bread after Consecration I suppose their figment of Transubstantiation is sufficiently confuted For had we ten Scriptures declaring the same they were of no more force than one In Humane Evidences many are of more weight than one because Man may erre God cannot Yet there want not other Scriptures strongly implying a denial of Christ's Corporal presence in the Sacrament First Our Saviour at the Institution of this blessed Sacrament commands his Disciples to celebrate it in Remembrance of him and it seems very incongruous to desire men to remember that person who is present before them Secondly Acts iii. 21. St. Peter tells us That the heavens must receive Christ until the times of restitution of all things And therefore we see Acts vii 56. when he was pleased to shew himself unto that blessed Martyr St. Stephen he did not descend from Heaven but opened the Heavens and strengthened the eyes of Stephen to behold him at that great distance Thirdly Ioh. xvi Where our blessed Saviour discourses largely to his Disciples of going â—rom them and their great Sorrow caused thereby he uses several Arguments to allay it and in conclusion promises to send them the Holy Ghost the Comforter of whom they had then but a very obscure notion and could not receive any present comfort by it But had our Saviour promised to return again presently and be daily in the celebration of his last Supper which we find was daily celebrated by the Apostles this would doubtless have been the greatest comfort imaginable to them Who then can doubt but that our Saviour would have given them this great comfort by telling them so had he intended any such thing as the Papists groundlesly believe But of this we find not one tittle 'T is a common saying Facilè credimus quod volumus We easily believe the thing we desire Wherefore were there I do not say a clear expression but any good intimation of that the Papists would have us believe what Christian would not most gladly and readily catch at it and believe it with all his heart For sure it would be a great and daily comfort to us to go to the Altar of our blessed Saviour Jesus that died for us there corporally present as they believe and there with Mary Magdalen adore him kiss those blessed feet that were pierced for us wash them with our tears and receive them and his whole Body into our breasts If it be said All this may as well be done now by Faith I grant a lively Faith of this affords great comfort to the Soul but whil'st our Soul is united to the Body we cannot so refine and spiritualize the affections of it but that we shall still hanker after some bodily comfort And I verily believe the bodily part of the Papists Devotions to this Sacrament as also to the worshipping of Saints with their Shrines Reliques Pictures and such like is a great means to gain People to their Religion To worship God in Spirit and Truth only though it be the only true Christian Worship yet it is a sublime and difficult thing and requires the Spiritual sublimation of Hearts by Grace And this is the reason of the Jews so often and so easily falling away to the gross Idolatry of the Heathens And in a great measure operates in like manner on the Papists And could we find any warrant in Scripture to save our Souls with such bodily worship I believe very few of us would be found so spiritual as not to encline to it Wherefore Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall All this while I have said nothing of their Idolatrous adoring their consecrated Wafer which they will needs have to be Christ's real Body But if it be not then they themselves confess an evident truth without their Confession That they are as great Idolaters as any Heathens adoring a dead Wafer for the ever-living God And I desire them also to remember the Determination of their Council of Constance mentioned before in the Supplement That the intention of the Priest in Consecration of the Host is requisite to effect their supposed Transubstantiation wherein if he fail they grant that there is no substantial change in the Bread nor any Consecration at all Now considering how many careless dissolute yea and villainous Priests are amongst them 't is more than probable that many of them intend not at all this business when they are about it and some as I said before in their Hearts laugh at it as a meer Mock shew to gull the Spectators who notwithstanding with all reverence adore the unconsecrated Wafers of those villainous Priests All which makes their case so dangerous that no man of any tolerable Reason or Conscience would venture without clear Scripture-warrant for it Wherefore I beseech them to consider that we have a plain text of Scripture against Transubstantiation viz. That it is Bread which we eat in this Sacrament after the Consecration of it besides many other Scriptures intimating the same we have both Reason and Sence also on our side which two latter we are bound to follow unless forbidden by some plain text of Scripture which they can never shew bringing only one figurative speech viz. This is my body which they will needs have to be literally spoken whereas there are many more the like