the Wine his Blood c. all this is well and very true we are not ignorant that St. Ambrose St. Chrysostome St. Austin St. Cyril of Jerusalem and many other ancient Doctors name it so But how can the Papists shew by the Holy Scripture that Christ is there in the same manner as they affirm by a real presence which is not only spiritual but material and corporal That he is there in the same manner as he was of old in the Virgins womb in the manger of Bethlehem upon Mount Tabor and upon the Cross and nevertheless that he is in the highest Heavens at the right hand of God the Father Where can they find in all the four Evangelists any Text that mentions this prodigious Miracle of the Transubstantiation or transmutation of the bread into the real Body of Jesus Christ and of the wine into his Blood with a destruction of the first and a creation of the latter by the efficacy of four words uttered by a Priest Where is there a Writer of the Greek or of the ancient Latin Church that speaks of this Mystery in the same manner as Thomas Aquinas who maintained a corporal presence multiplied without division accidents sustained without their proper substance a discontinuance of a being without corruption a production of the same effects by a cause that is not an humane and divine substance under the appearance of a Wafer a God made man where nothing of his manhood is to be seen a body without extension a life without motion an infinite number of equal parts proportionable to their totum in a Mathematical point a relation from the same to the same from the first to a second who are but one a situation without space an abiquity without place a general destruction of all Predicaments by this supposed Mystery or Manhu as he calls it a word which expresseth the admiration of the Israelites when they saw the Manna fall amongst them Did ever St. Ambrose St. Chrysostome or any of the four chief Doctors of the Christian Church speak in this manner they did never imagine that so many absurdities could enter into the minds of men I am perswaded that if this Doctor stiled by them the Angelick Doctor because of the rare Inventions of his Wit had lived in the days of St. Austin and had spoken unto him in these terms that Primitive Father would never have understood him although he understood the Predicaments of Aristotle without Tutor doubtless he had taken him for a man faln from the Clouds dwelling in the Globe of the Moon or for one that maintains that there is there another World Where have they seen in Holy Scripture or amongst the ancient Fathers That the Lay-men must not communicate in both kinds that the Mass is a Sacrifice where the Passion of our Saviour is really renewed that Jesus Christ will be there worshipped in a visible manner by an adoration that relates to the substances as God himself if he were to be seen according to the Command of the Council of Trent I have been several years reading and perusing the Holy Scriptures and its Interpreters but I have found nothing there like to these Doctrines unless it be in the Popish Authors for I have met with an hundred passages contrary to this belief I confess we find in Holy Writ that Christ hath said This is my Body but he hath said also I am the Door I am the Stone I am the Vine and the Shepherd of the Sheep c. If we are to take all these expressions in a literal sonse we must believe that he is a Door a Stone a Vine a Shepherd of Sheep But the Scripture saith that Jesus Christ is ascended up into Heaven and that he sits there at the right hand of God the Father Therefore he is no longer upon Earth for it is not possible that the same Body should be in two distinct places at once If that were likely as the Philosophers tell us the same Body might be in twenty in an hundred in a thousand and in ten thousand places in the same moment From hence we might conclude that it is possible to make one man become a great Army that one man should kill himself a thousand times and yet continue alive that he should be a Saint in one place and a Devil in another damned in one place and saved in another the object of Gods wrath and goodness at the same time these are impossibilities and plain contradictions Christ commands us to do this in Remembrance of Him therefore he is not there really and bodily for we do nothing in remembrance of a man present before us in a corporal manner The Papists instance the Manna which was kept by God's command in the Ark in remembrance of that which God sent down from Heaven which was both the remembrance and the thing remembred the representation and the thing represented This is one of the most plausible Examples of the Papists but it is to little purpose for besides other Reasons that may be alledged against it I think they are mightily mistaken to compare a totum integrans with an individual one and the same may be divided and the parts carried into several distinct places where they may be look'd upon in divers manners but the other is altogether repugnant to division and separation The Manna that was in the Ark I confess was a memorial of that Manna which the Israelites had fed upon in the Wilderness but it was not the same How can they therefore from hence conclude that Christ's body must be in several places under distinct notions Christ informs us That His words are spirit and life and that the flesh profiteth nothing that it is the spirit that quickens It is not possible to speak any thing more contrary than this to the Papists Doctrine for these words assure us that Christ is there really and in truth but spiritually not corporally nor substantially that He is there by his Spirit virtue and efficacy to produce the same effects in us as if he were there in a sensible manner This was taught by the Primitive Fathers and thus the Protestants believe it He commands us also To eat his Flesh and drink his Blood in both kinds St. Paul repeats the words and the Council of Constance which is esteemed by the Papists as highly as a fift Evangil saith that since the Apostles time Communicants did receive in both kinds wherefore did they then take away the Cup why did they establish this Law that forbids Lay-men to drink of the Cup They acknowledge that Jesus Christ hath appointed it to be so that the Apostles did practice and command it and that it had been an universal custom amongst Christians for all men to communicate in both kinds Nevertheless this Council was so insolent to forbid it and command the World to believe that this Prohibition proceeds from the Holy Ghost although it be contrary to Christ's Institution
to be very true when I look'd upon it with the Popish Spectacles which they give to all that read their Writings or study in their Schools and judged this Church to be the best and holiest Hath not Jesus Christ said I have promised to St. Peter that his Faith should never fail doth not he mean that his Successors should be always Infallible hath he not said in celebrating his Holy Supper that the Bread was his Body and the Wine his Blood expresly and in proper terms c. In this manner I did argue upon all the Articles of the Popish Faith concluding always to its advantage But when I had more narrowly Examined these matters alone without partiality I found that I was very far from Truth that all these Articles of Faith were not conformable to Holy Scripture but altogether contrary and the Popish Religion opposite to that of Jesus Christ of the Apostles and of the Primitive Fathers § For where shall we find any thing of the Pope's Infallibility in the Holy Scripture shall not we find rather that the holiest of men are liars Psal 115. 11. and 61.10 That we fail all in many things and that if any man fails not in word he may boast of being a perfect man Jam. 3. and St. John informs us that we are all Sinners Moreover this Infallibility is according to the judgment of the Popish Doctors one of its Divine Attributes stiled by them Uncommunicable how can they therefore say that God hath given it to a man and why to the Pope of all other men seeing that according to the Papists confession he is many times a very wicked man And St. Peter himself unto whom the Son of God had promised that his Faith should never fail from whence they would establish this Doctrine was guilty of a great mistake concerning the Circumcision of the Jews and Gentiles as St. Paul affirms I have resisted him to his face saith he for he was to be blamed Is it possible that the Pope chosen by a company of men who know not whom they pitch upon and promoted many times by Legerdemain by Bribes subtilty temporal Interests Princes favours Is it possible that these Popes who are to be all Italians born elected out of the number of Cardinals and so aged that they can scarce do any good but by others Is it possible that these Popes promoted by the assistance of Whores and the Cardinals Courtizans as Paronius and Bellarmin and others acknowledge should be more infallible than St. Peter chosen by Christ himself How can we imagin that such a man should be a Treasury intrusted with Divine knowledge and the will of God that his voice pronounced out of his Chair should be the voice of Heaven that he should be able to cause the Holy Ghost to go and come at his pleasure and to oblige God to ratifie and confirm all his Laws in the World to command when he commands to prohibit when he prohibits to damn when he damns and to save when he saith the word Before we can believe this they must deprive us of our judgments and make us become beasts before we can become Christians and deal with us worse than Mahomet deals with his Mussulmans The Pope being assisted by some of his Brethren hath pronounced the Sentence which they say is ex Cathedra and condemned Jansenius and his followers he hath declared them to be Hereticks must I believe it as an Article of Faith because he saith that in the Book of this Learned Bishop there are five Propositions the same as were condemned heretofore in Calvin and that only from the information of the holy Fathers the Jesuits Must I take all this as an Article of my Faith although Mr. Arnaldus and other Doctors of the Port-Royal have proved to all that can but read that these Propositions are not be found in his Books The Pope saith that Peter d'Acantara Francis de Sales and Pius V. are He-Saints in Heaven that Mary Magdelen of Pazzi Mother Rose and others are She-Saints he commands us to pray to them If I doubt of it and speak as the wise Son of Sirach Eccl. 9. whose Book is received amongst the Canonical That no body knows whether he be worthy of love or hatred much less doth he know this of others if I should say as the Gospel that it belongs to God to judge men and that all Judgment is left unto Jesus Christ or as St. Paul that the Judgments of God are unsearchable and that therefore I leave it to him I am an Heretick amongst the Papists Since these He and She-Saints have been Canonized it is become an Article of Faith to believe them in Heaven Before I was at my own choice to credit what I pleased but since that time I am no longer free the Pope hath said it we must therefore believe it if I despise their Mediation if I neglect to pray to them out of a distrust of their happiness and credit with God I am an Infidel and an Athiest in the judgment of the Papists Is not this to mock God and men Some of them answer that the Pope may erre in matters of fact but not in matters of right Bellarmin de Po. l. 4. cap. 2. But we all know that most of their questions of right depend upon matters of Fact and that the judgment of right which concerns not only the Doctrines of the Holy Scripture but an infinit number of other things received by Tradition proceeds from the testimony and information which they have received of several matters of Fact Suppose therefore that all these informations should be false as they may be for the Pope who only is to be look'd upon as Infallible according to the Papists Doctrine hath not seen all these things he believes it from the testimony of others For Example It is an Article of Faith amongst them that St. Peter hath been twenty five years Bishop of Rome that he hath added the word enim to the words of the Consecration saying Hoc est enim corpus meum and not as it is in the Gospel Hoc est corpus meum that he did mingle Water with the Wine in the Mass If these things that are all matters of fact which cannot be proved by Holy Scripture be false as we have cause to imagin what certainty can we have of the right and truth which depends upon it § Moreover I find the Papists Sacrament of the Lords Supper differing very much from the description which Christ and his Apostles have left us It is the bread of life say the Romanists the bread of Angels the Heavenly bread the Body and Bloud of Jesus Christ I have always believed it to be so I think there is no good Christian that doubts of it We all know that it is no common Bread no body will contradict them in this St. Justin shall not be condemned for affirming it That the Bread becomes the Body of Christ and
reason to be afraid of this kind of persecution I mean of their Tongues for I may say I have lived amongst them without blame as may be conjectured from the considerable Employments which I have had in the Church of Rome for their Bishops never admit a person into their Cathedrals to preach unless they know him to be of an honest and good behaviour And the Religious of that Order of which I have made profession the Carmelites which doubtless is one of the most exemplary of the Romish Church if these had not had a good opinion of me they would never have promoted me to that degree of honour amongst them which I have held having been three times the Priors Deputy in the same Convent which Office is given to none but to such as are very regular and exemplary in their lives It is therefore needless that any person should trouble himself with an inquiry for the place from whence I came and of my carriage while I have remained in the Church of Rome to discredit this little Book I am not afraid in the least of any such thing I am rather fully perswaded that there is no man in those Towns where I have made my abode nor in the Convents where I have dwelt but will give me the reputation of an honest and just man blameless in my carriage until now as much as is possible in case the change of my Religion be concealed from them I think therefore that thou hadst best peruse this Treatise with a calm and unprejudiced mind that thou may'st be better able to judge of the things therein declared and gather from thence the instructions needful to undeceive thy judgment if thou art yet in the same errours as I have been Those that will read over these lines with that good disposition will approve of my change and of this publication and will be constrained to confess that there are causes and reasons strong enough to oblige any man to forsake the Romish Church and embrace the Profession of the Protestant Religion The Prayer before Sermon O Lord God infinite in goodness and mercy who hast by the gracious hand of thy divine Providence taken and lead me as Abram out of the superstitious Ur of the Caldeans as Lot out of the filthy flames of Sodom and Gomorrha as Israel out of the bondage and tyranny of Egypt as Joseph from his dungeon as Daniel out of the Lions den and as the blind Man of the Gospel out of that fearful blindness which hath since my infancy hindred me from the discovery and acknowledgment of thy Sacred Truth O God who hast preserved me from all perils and conducted me safe out of the hands of enemies with thy powerful and stretched out Arm here I am prostrate at the foot-stool of thy Divine Majesty convinced in judgment with a contrite and an humble spirit here I am in the midst of thy Elect of thy Royal Priesthood of thy Holy Nation of thy People purchased with thy Blood in the midst of Believers not with an intention to offer up unto thee their prayers for I am not worthy of so holy a Ministry my Tongue is not yet able to speak so loud as their sighs and my Lips are too much defiled but I am here to beseech Thee O'Searcher of the Heart to hearken to their vows and the prayers of their Souls for the advance of thy Glory the accomplishment and preservation of thy Church especially for this which worships Thee in spirit and in truth in these three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland for the prosperity of the King that Commands here for his Spouse Queen Catherine for James Duke of York and for all the Royal Family for the Arch-bishops Bishops and other Teachers of thy Church that it may please Thee to enlighten them with the Spirit of thy Truth and enflame them with an holy zeal for the Salvation of Souls for the Lords and others of the Kings Council for the Magistrates and other Inhabitants of these three Kingdoms that it may please Thee to supply and succour them in all their wants whether they be spiritual or corporal But more especially we pray Thee for all such as are yet engaged and plunged in errour take them out of the same depths of sin from whence Thou hast drawn me open their eyes whether they will or no that they may perceive the truth of thy Gospel open their hearts by the divine power of thy Holy Spirit that thy Blessed Word may be received as in a good and fruitful field that it may bring forth an hundred fold In this occasion be pleased to accept of my prayers with thy peoples for I know by experience that Thou alone art able to turn and convince a Soul brought up in errour and change a heart nourished from its infancy with an abhorrency of thy Holy Word Therefore I pray Thee or rather we all pray Thee together to open the eyes of so many blind persons whom I leave behind me in the regions of darkness and touch with the efficacious finger of thy Holy Spirit so many stony hearts that resist the motions and offers of thy Grace with so much obstinacy Lord Thou hast performed in me a blessed change for which I offer up unto Thee my hearty thanks and praises beseeching Thee to pardon my unworthiness and graciously to accept of the thanks which thy faithful people here assembled do render unto Thee for my sake But O merciful God at this same time that I find my self obliged to offer unto Thee my thanks for a favour received from thy hand I find my self in a necessity to beg another favour and mercy of granting unto me the power and ability to declare unto this numerous Congregation the great mercy that Thou hast shewed me by bringing me to my Conversion I am desired O my God! it is but just that I should give glory to thy Holy Name Justice and Reason require that I should declare thy Goodness where iniquity hath so long appeared with impudency that I should employ the members which have been abused in warring against Thee to discover thy wonderful mercy in me these lips this tongue and this voice which hath uttered so many lyes and errours against the light and suggestions of thy Holy Spirit these members that have declared so many falshoods preached up so many abuses confirmed so many blasphemies committed and caused so many sins to be committed it is just that they should glorifie thy Holy Name Forgive O my God! forgive me the sin of having so long detained thy truth in unrighteousness against my conscience and thy secret motions Grant me the grace that I may this day be able to make an honourable amends that I may give the same testimony to thy Blessed Truth which I have given to Heresie and that I may bring forth fruits suitable to my repentance For this purpose O good God purifie my unclean lips touch them with a